I am home at last from my journey to The Emirates. It was a very enjoyable day out and I spent a fortune in the club shop as just about everybody else there seemed to be doing. We had a couple of beers in a restaurant where we were staying at Earl's Court first and then 1 beer in the stadium. After the game we went back to the Twelve Pins and had some more beers with some friends and there was a great atmosphere there and we all shouted abuse at Ronaldo as he dived his way through the game with Sunderland and sung to our hearts content. Later on we went up West and had a great night and I can't wait to get over there again.

On to the match now and the obvious talking point is the performance of Eboue. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen a player play as badly in my life. He made Gus Caesar look like Pele. I couldn't understand how he was brought on to play wide left when Nasri got injured. I thought Vela should have got a run out as Eboue had not played in 5 weeks and he is a right back or a poor replacement for a wide right player. The manager's team selections are quite bizzare at times. There seems to be a clear pecking order at the club and I don't know when some players will get a chance in the league. We were crying out for some width yesterday and we had 3 central midfielders and a right back in midfield. Vela was our only option in a wide position on the bench but once Eboue came on we knew we would never see him. I know Vela is a striker but he can do a good job on the left and surely the manager can see that. The manager created the situation that Eboue found himself in but after that it was all down to the player.

From the first time he got the ball almost everything he did was awful. He got so bad in the last 15 minutes that the amount of abuse he got from the crowd was growing at a vast rate. The final straw was when he tackled Kolo on a run forward and then passed the ball straight to the opposition. I can't ever remember seeing Wenger substitute a substitue but he was left with no option and it looked to me like he wanted to come off. By all accounts he was visibly upset at the reception the crowd gave his substitution and I really feel for him as I don't know how can ever contemplate coming out at the Emirates again. If he does play again he will have to be broken in away from home as the fans will not accept him on the team sheet even. Not only did he have an absolute nightmare but he didn't seem to try even. He offered Clichy very little help and Clichy got worse as the game went on. Most of the time Clichy got the ball he had nobody on the left to pass to or if he passed to Eboue it was lost almost immediatly.

Eboue was seen popping up as a centre forward or wide right but most of the time he was where the ball wasn't. When he lost the ball he didn't bother to chase back and in my opinion he did not want to be on the pitch. What I couldn't believe was that Silvestre then came on for Eboue just to show us fans that the manager doesn't trust the Carling Cup youngsters in the league. Silvestre proceeded to play awfully in that position for the last few minutes and at one stage he was playing centre back and jumping for the same ball as Djourou. I have to seriously question the managers decision making. Is there nobody at the club who will question him. Surely somebody(Pat Rice ?) should have said that Eboue was the wrong player to play in that position. The funny thing is that Eboue had 1 or 2 good performances before he got injured.

I don't think he would have been booed by the majority of the fans if he had tried but he really did not try a leg. A lot of fans have said that we should never boo our own players and I did not boo him but I can fully understand anyone who did. They all pay good money to watch the club they love and they see a player having a nightmare in terms of how he plays but also not trying. The only thing you can do when you are playing badly is try your hardest and he clearly did not do that. I saw it with my own eyes.

Back to the match and we scored a goal from some scrappy play which Adebayor finished quite well. Apart from the goal he also hit the post and missed a good chance from a header. I didn't think he played well though and he didn't put everything he had into the game either. I thought RVP had a good game and tried his hardest at all times and could have had 2 or 3 goals with some luck and some better finishing. Song was a little better than I thought he would be, which is still pretty bad. Cesc played alright but at times there was nobody moving for him so there was nothing he could do. Clichy is obviously still a little short of confidience after his recent mishaps. Kolo and Djourou were OK together but nothing special. I do think that Djourou seems to be getting better as he plays more games. Almunia made1 very good save but he still needs to command his area properly. Sagna was very steady at right backand after a poor first half Denilson played well for the last 35 minutes. He is very lightweight though and he doesn't seem to make decisions quickly enough. He is not fast enough to play wide right or strong enough to play alongside Cesc which means he shouldn't be in the team really.

The good news was that we won ugly for a change this season. When I say ugly I mean we were very ugly at times. We had very little tempo to our game and as the game progressed and we didn't get the 2nd goal the players got very nervous and so did the fans. Unfortunately it was Eboue who suffered mostly for this but it was his own fault as I have said already, in my opinion. We have won 2 league games in a row and a win at 'Boro next week is a must. To be honest, it is a must for us to finish 4th because that team that I saw yesterday cannot win the league. Unfortunately when it was obvious how badly things were going for Eboue there was nobody to take him aside and talk to him as surely Tony Adams would have done in his day. Cesc is a super player who leads by example but we need a captain who does that and talks to the players and takes control on the pitch. We do not possess such a player at the club and we need 1 immediatly.

On to other news and it seems our new CEO will be busy trying to get us some new deals in January as the club seem to think the shirt deal and stadium deal were not all they could have been. That is probably why his predecessor left us 6 months ago. The boss says clubs are very fearful of the Webster case and he is right as it could change the way players move from clubs for free when under contract. Contracts could be virtually worthless and transfer fees non existant if the ruling gets fully acted upon. Arsenal received £732,760 as a result of their players playing in Euro 2008. That was the most that any team in the Premier League received and The Spuds received nothing as they had no players at the tournament. Eduardo will play against Portsmouth for the reserves on December 16th as I predicted yesterday. We need him back as I was wholly unimpressed with Adebayor's attitude yesterday and Bendtner's attitude is seemingly worse. Our youths continued their good form with a 3-1 win against Charlton. Kolo has asked the fans to lay off Eboue but will he play for us again ?

I'm going to leave it at that as I am dizzy from tiredness as I have had 9 hours sleep in the last 66 hours  and I need to sleep.

Here's some highlights from yesterday's game with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/index.php?s=arsenal+v+wigan

And to finish the title track from The Damned which expresses my feelings after yesterday's strange events. I hoped I would feel a lot better after watching a home win but we were quite poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl-uUznWZDE

See You Tomorrow.

Just a very short post before I get 3 hours of sleep and head off to the airport for my trip to the Emirates. I'm really looking forward to the game and I predict a 3-0 win for Arsenal with RVP, Adebayor & Cesc scoring. It may sound optimistic but I believe(or hope) appointing Cesc as captain has helped us to turn the corner. I imagine I'll be having beers before and after the game and taking loads of photos for my home page. The boss had loads to say in his pre game press conference and you can read it here. We really need to win to prove that we have turned the corner. If we can win the rest of our games this month we will be back in the title hunt. It's a big if though. There will be a proper post on Monday and a very short one again tomorrow. That's it for now. Up The Gunners.

Here's a clip of an oldish clip of our new captain.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad_N3CBhEXA

And to finish the title track from The Clash.

I'm off to The Emirates in the morning and hence the title as I'm sure it's a little chilly to say the least. Just a quick post today so with a little bit of news. Gallas is out for the Wigan match tomorrow with Toure back and possibly Eboue too. Cesc says he likes Milan's style but he is going nowhere as we all knew anyway. Gallas is rumoured to be off to Milan in January again. Eduardo is very close to making a return and it looks like he will play a part in the reserve game against Portsmouth on December 16th. Ryan Giggs says that Rambo is the future of wales and they should build their team around him. We almost signed Cristiano Ronaldo a few years ago before United stepped in and tripled our bid according to the player. That makes me happy and sad all at once. I don't like him but if he was one of ours well then maybe. We have been linked with James McCarthy of Hamilton and Felipe Melo of Fiorentina but it's not January yet. That's it for today and my next 2 posts will be short & sweet too as I'm off to the Emirates. Yahoo. Up the Gunners.

Here's a clip of our soon to be returning Eduardo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkU2V-vD-mQ

And to finish the title track from The Sultans of Ping F.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEDCqvlHIvs

See You Tomorrow.

There is not a lot happening Arsenal wise today but I will try to put together the little that there is. Silvestre has said that the kids will learn but that they need to learn fast after our loss at Burnley on Tuesday night. The boss has said that some of the kids will be going out on loan to get some experience and Randall seems to be a definite candidate for this. As I mentioned yesterday Norwich appearently want to borrow Jay Simpson from us too. The boss has more or less said that we will play a full strength side against Plymouth in the FA Cup which will hopefully mean that we take it seriously as it is by far our best chance of a trophy this season.

We have been linked with Paul Pogba of Le Harve and Brede Hangeland of Fulham with the transfer window approaching. Cesc is appearently a fan of Milan and would join them if he left Arsenal and went to Italy. We all know he is going nowhere though(I hope). Yaya Toure is not interested in joining us he has said, so I fully expect him to join in January. RVP won the O2 player of the month award for November which was a bit of a surprise as he missed 3 games due to suspension but I guess the brace he scored against Chelsea at the end of the month helped him. Finally we are on the look out for a new club doctor as Ian Beasley is joining the FA. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of some good goals by Arsenal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSFAAE0dR2c

And to finish a song by The Wedding Present for Bendtner and his boots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqwo9_tAlQ

See You Tomorrow.

The title above comes from the fact that I have "Many Rivers To Cross" on my journey to North London this Saturday morning. Luckily I will cross all but the Liffey and the Thames by plane and I'll be in plenty of time to get to see my beloved Arsenal considering I leave home at 4.30 am on Saturday. I cannot describe how much I am looking forward to my first trip to The Emirates but I intend to put as many pictures on my home page as I can take so that I won't forget in a hurry.

On to matters to do with last night now and our kids lost 2-0 at Burnley in the last 8 of the Carling Cup. By all accounts they played well enough in what was a good game and if they had taken their chances things might have been a lot different. The manager reckons they missed 6 one on ones with the Burnley keeper who was man of the match so it wasn't all doom and gloom. The main culprit seems to have been Bendtner and his laid back attitude can be infuriating at times. Here's a good funny item on him by Gooner Talk. Sadly it means Arsene has lost his proud Arsenal record of never having lost to a team from a lower league but all records are made to be broken as they say(whoever they are). The press somehow have seen this as a bigger giant killing than when Burnley beat Chelsea's first team at Stamford Bridge in the last round but they need to write any old garbage to fill their pages.

In other news Jay Simpson has been linked with a loan move to Norwich and Cesc has again been linked with a move to Milan. Whatever about young Simpson we all know that Cesc is going nowhere. we have also been linked with Diego Capel of Sevilla and he might not be a bad player to strengthen our options on the wings. Our ex captain Paddy Vieira has been quoted as saying Roy Keane was his best opponent. I used to love the two of them squaring up to each other in the good old days when we won a barrow load of trophies. Our FA Cup match with Plymouth will be played at The Emirates at 3 pm on Saturday January 3rd and that's about it for today. I'm in a bit of a panic as to how I will manage my blog on Saturday & Sunday but I will find a way(I hope).

Here's the goals from last night if you can watch.

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/burnley-vs-arsenal-live-cup-action/

And to finish the title track fromJimmy Cliff.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMzuXlKQv8

See You Tomorrow.