Aye, all over Canberra they have spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars erecting fences on the sides of bridges, why? To stop young folk throwing rocks off the sides of those bridges.  Bastard young folk, why would you even consider doing such a thing, I hope all ill happens to them, and them alone.  Why do I write this?  well I am a young lad, 20 to be accurate, and I have never even considered throwing rocks off bridges, I spend too much time blogging, maybe they should too, but I am writing about the mistakes that young people make.  Specifically the young folk of Arsenal FC.

Now let me be real here for one minute.  I didn't expect us to win this morning against Man City.  I didn't, We had mere lads up against some of the most overpaid and overpaid-for players in the world.  Sanchez Watt or Carlos Tev'z?  Lets have some common sense here.  However I wasn't impressed with the performance of the young 'uns this morning.

It just seemed as though they were a bit silly, take Armand Traore's yellow card, fully deserved.  Armand is a quick player, really really quick, but while taking on SWP he sliced him down after a dodgy touch from SWP! no need, no need at all.

I would never question Arsene ... except for now, why did he play 4-3-3 with kids, who, from past Carling Cup games, have always used the midfield to dominate the play, we were getting stuck in defense and were not able to pass the ball out effectively, and when we did get into our own half we didn't have enough players in the midfield to move the ball around effectively.

The last point is possibly the biggest.  The control and first touch of all players was shocking, from the defense to the forwards, every players first touch looked like a long ball.  There was no control and this allowed the millionaires to pounce on our loose touches and attack.

To add one more point, a bit rough, the millionaires are.  And we had 6 yellows, go figure.

IN OTHER NEWS

I hate Adebayor, Seeing him play this morning was horrible, I hate him.  I don't understand, apparently when he celebrated his goal in front of the arsenal fans at Middle-Eastlands earlier in the season he was angry about a chant about his fathers menial labour profession and mothers occupation of convenient affection.  Really? Because he hasn't had 30 000 scousers singing that to him at Anfield? but it was 3000 odd away fans that did it for him?

Well, I'm off to throw some rocks of the remaining bridges before Stanhope gets there to put up some fences, hey, you have to enjoy your youth while you still have it.  Ahh youth, its wasted on the young.  I'm going to watch Cold Chisel, Bitches.

I could make up some lies, oh yes.  I'm good at that kind of thing, like Kranjcar going to Spurs or whatnot.  But I shall not.  But then I think, the only reason that people are not drinking themselves into a steady stupor is due to the fact that they want to be mildly conscious when Arsene has a massive (yet not fatal) brain injury that leads him to believe that Arsenal should sign Messi, and the corpse of the late, great, Johnny Warren.  As such, they trawl the internet looking for the news of the latest bid, therefore, it would be irresponsible for me, the Time's Person of the Year winner from 2006, to not lead you astray with my complicated web of lies.  However, in a mind-bending and boring paradox, I have no real interest in deadline day.  Mainly because Arsenal never sign anyone, save Arshavin, but that was exceptional.  So I will report my usual story, but inside that story I will post some lies that you can tell your mate, or the Sun can report as a 'source deep inside x'.

I digress however.

What I actually want to write about is a subject I've had on my mind for some time, indeed the title of this blog should not be the title that you read above, but 'If we can see it, so can Arsene'.  As I can mentally see you all closing this page in Mozilla (anyone who uses IE is not allowed to read this blog), time for a lie, methinks.  however, I will do this in a more scientific way than most of the tabloids.  I have in my hand Rothman's for 09-10, I will open it to a random page, pick a player, then open it to another random page, and say that the player will transfer to the club on the second random page.

20 year old Sunderland player Jamie Chandler will move to Barnsley for 850 000 quid.

Too often I watch Arsenal games in frustration.  This is unfortunate, yet true, especially after last year.  And I will often think that a player is not good enough for Arsenal, say Denilson or Diaby.  I like both of these players, but at the moment I don't think that they are up to the Arsenal calibre.

29 year old Brentford midfielder Adam Newton will move to Dundee United for 150 000 quid

Denilson seems a bit anonymous and Diaby is a player that is only good at a certain time.  however, as I pondered what I was to do for my next blog entry and wondered how many people will take notice or care (0) I thought.  If we can see this, so can Arsene.  If we can see what we think are problems in the Arsenal side, he can see them clearer, if we think a player is not good enough for Arsenal, he sees it more accurately.  In short, Arsene Wenger is the only manager that Arsenal should have, and if things go balls up like they did last year, then I am behind the manager, and will not waver in that.  Arsene Wenger is a hero of mine and I hope that Arsenal fans remember this when we next have a disappointing game.

In other news

I stayed up to watch the first half of the Arsenal Man U game.  As I went to bed I thought, 'tomorrow, I should do a blog about Diaby, and why I don't think he is good enough for Arsenal.'  I wake up, Diaby, OG 63rd minute.  Bow down and worship my footballing knowledge which is matched only by my ego.

Joey Barton (this should be good) to League 1 side Colchester United for 3.5 million, which Newcastle will pay in installments over the next two years.  

Best, Goon 

I am sat at my uni library, and friends, I am downcast.  A fellow student may walk by and ask if I was crestfallen, yet I would reply yes, although I just have a naturally crestfallen face.  they would have to look only at my Arsenal beanie to realise the true meaning of my mood.

Normally after a player has been sold I will look at our reserves, pick out a few with the best names and, voila, we have a replacement.  Or I could point out that over the course of the season last year we had many injuries, and that losing a centre-half will not matter.  Or I could point out that Silvestre was in poor form, and that he still has a few years in him.  Or I could point out that our young squad is maturing, and that the overall sum of improvement in our young players will be equal to losing one experienced player.  But this time, I won't.  My heart tells me to say these things.  But my head disagrees.

Now I realise that I may not be the most knowledgeable man in football, and that many others have supported Arsenal since long before I was born.  But I feel that losing Kolo Toure will hurt Arsenal.  If we got 15 million for him, as some reports say, then we have that amount to add to our backline of Gallas, Senderos, Djourou, Vermaelen, Clichy, Sagna, Gibbs, and Silvestre.  Now most people would look at that and say that we are fine, no problem with that as it is.  Let's look at Manchester United: Erva, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fabio, Rafael, John O'Shea, Johnny Evans, Gary Neville and Danny Simpson. Ten top class players, even though they are all wankers.  Chelsea has nine and Liverpool has nine.  We have eight, and one of those isn't up to the job, and another has just come from the Dutch league, and will inevitably need time to adjust.  Each of the big four has one great bastion in defense.  Terry, Vidic, Carragher and err...Gallas.  No disrespect but he is hardly Tony Adams, he had the captaincy stripped and allegedly threatened to score own goals against Chelsea if a move was not forthcoming. 

I would love to see Wenger bring someone in, not Hangeland but a young lad, with some coal on his face.  How much for David Wheater?  Firstly because he is a good young defenders and secondly because that would piss off a boro fan I know.  Will Wenger buy? Who knows.  What I do know is that Arsenal do have a chance to win, yesterday I claimed that I would put money on Arsenal winning the Carling and FA cups.  Then someone asked if I would put $50 on it (25 quid), I replied that I would not, as the odds are very long.  But we do need a bit of investment back there, we have the money, hell, we have 40 million from transfers alone.  A good bit of transfer business from Arsenal could see this season be our most productive in six years.

In other news, I am currently writing a report on ownership of football clubs, what is the current feeling towards Usmanov versus Kroenke?  Arsenal will do a deadline day deal for a young defensive midfielder.  Watch Arsenal this year, we will surprise many people.  Also a quick F Off to The Daily Mail (saying we will not finish inside the top four) The Sun (same reason) and especially the racists at Talksport.  How I hate you all, I wish ill on you.

It is a day of great joy, brethren.  vindication, as they say, is a dish best served immediately.  Firstly, we have Mr. Phil 'Are you [sniff] questioning my integrity' Brown, on the radio more than Waylon Jennings.  Secondly, those grand disciples at Arseblog unearthing video of Arsene and Mr. Integrity himself shaking hands after Mr. Integrity swore on his integrity that there was no hand contact.

Yes we are lead to believe that Mr. Integrity is the greatest man on earth, the beacon of goodness in this wretched world of Cesc and Arsene (those demons of Hades).   Imagine my joy, when I saw this on www.TheFA.com

"At a Regulatory Commission hearing today, Hull City manager Phil Brown was warned as to future conduct and fined £2,500.

Brown admitted a charge of improper conduct relating to a touchline confrontation involving himself and Joe Kinnear during an FA Cup match at St James' Park on 14 January."

Lets remind ourselves what happened on that fateful day:

Kinnear called Brown a wanker, Brown agreed that he was, indeed, a wanker, they both got sent to the stands.

Now Brown is one of those 'smart wankers' we're always hearing about.  Already he has tried to make people forget about his suspension and has just said "Ohhhh, I have so much integrity, its beginning to scare me, so because I have so much integrity, and because I'm just a bang up wanker, Joe shouldn't get a fine, just me, Mr. Integrity"  this is the smart wanker,who has a fine against him, but everyone forgets that and just talks about what a bang up wanker he is.

He has no Integrity, talkSPORT spent the entire day talking about "OHHH Phil 'Integrity' Brown has never lied, and wouldn't lie now, no problem that no one else was there, that Cesc has said he didn't do anything and he changed his story and that we have defended Kevin Nolan about 100 times, Mr. Integrity has never done ANYTHING wrong.  Did you notice that Cesc was a FOREIGNER!!!!  Who do we trust, Mr. Integrity or the FOREIGNER?" talkSPORT makes me angry

Brown, you flippin clown
you think that you're top shit, but I hate you, you git
You say words like Integrity, but Arsene shook your hand, shook it fairly
I had no real problem with you, until you said Cesc spat at your friends shoe
I enjoyed your team talk on the pitch, and next line will rhyme with bitch
So Mr Brown, I hope your team is going down
And you pay your fine, because you were out of line
Just like at the Arsenal game, Brown, that was a right shame
Integrity? more like, there was no spitegrity.

Thank You.

Well as 'cooler than cool' Eboue takes a stint on the sideline we must look at other options (just incidentally, was Eboue playing left or right?).  Now Wenger will undoubtedly unearth a great youngster lost in the infinite depths of our youth system.  Until then he will want to play Walcott, when he puts his shoulder back in his body.  take a look at this video

check out 1'10" on this video

don't worry William, that 50 pounds can just go on Matthieu's salary

But Theo, he lists his position as a striker.  If you watch the game before his shoulder, from his body, was untimely ripped (manchester united) you will notice that when we had a bit of forward momentum he was up on the defensive line, but the passes to him were always blocked by Rio Ferdinand. It seems as though it was more natural for him to be there, I think if we put Denilson there (who played reasonably against Wigan) and put Theo up front we could get a very explosive combination.

I would like to see Theo as a striker in the mould of Gabby Agbonlahor or Theirry Henry.  Give him a chance I say.

In other news:

What are our feelings on Eboue? I'm a bit disappointed that he had to come on, as Arsene spent last year waxing lyrical about how 7 subs meant he could have specialist players on the bench. The commentator on foxsports stated as Eboue was pulled that 'the reaction of the fans disgusts me' and then got all self righteous about people who live in North London and make mistakes. hit a comment to give me an informed and philosophical comment/tell me that I am a wanker who touches himself while you yourself contribute nothing to society. Its the old 'Boo Boys' debate, I mean, he only ran into Kolo, but he did pass to Wigan about 100 times.

off the post, give us sweet video

A Tabloid newspaper writer sits at his desk, a sweaty, furrowed forehead suggests that this has not been the best day.  He begins to write, whiskey on one side, cigarette on the other, what sordid scemes is he writing about? Cristiano Ronaldo touching the ball like he touches Anderson? Ashley Cole making shennanigans with some more unwed women? lets watch.

 GoonArenotaverygoodsiders

Arsenal F.C. are on the verge of sacking their controversial manager Arsene Wenger.  My drunk mate at the pub said A source today said that Peter Hill-Wood has held talks with the Arsenal boardroom to see if he had backing from the board to drop the manager who has put Arsenal in 5th position on the Premier League ladder.  In other Arsenal news, the outspoken left back Gael Clichy has been censured by the board and put on probation for remarks he made to a national newspaper yesterday.  Arsenal will get relegated this season and there is no way back for the team that is a shadow of its former self.  Arsenal must be the worst team in the world and the fact that tottenham are nearly above them on the ... (sips whiskey, as he glances at the TV on the other side of his near deserted office, Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1, he Ctrl+A's his work and deletes it, he starts again)

The outstanding team of the season today beat Chelsea 2-1.  The team that has not had any problems this year wiped Chelsea aside in a game that I am surprised they didn't win 100-0.  No problems for Arsenal as they are assured of victory in everything this year ...

To the press, you know nothing, I hate you, losing one or two matches does not put us in crisis, Arsenal are a great side and will always bounce back, you vile stinking filth, you are nothing to me, you sink so low I am surprised that you are still breathing. Rupert Murdoch, in my eyes you are no longer Australian.

 In other news ... I've got ammunition against my Everton and Liverpool supporting friends (although I thank Everton for beating the filth), injuries a plenty.

Skilled
Dutch
Scores with his first touch
Van Persie

“Right. That’s it. Season over, and it’s not even bloody December. Arsenal were pathetic yesterday. No, hang on, that’s too generous… For 10 years I have worshipped this charming, intelligent Frenchman as he won Arsenal trophy after trophy with the type of dazzling football even opposition fans drool over. But I think he’s hit the wall, I really do. His obstinate, ridiculously blinkered insistence that he can ‘win it with kids’ has now been cruelly, horribly exposed.”

That quote is from Mr Morgan, some of you may know him as the insufferable Piers 'rent a soundbite' Morgan.  I don't believe it, sack the manager, good idea.  Something goes wrong - sack the manager, we have a bit of bad form - sack the manager.

This is ludicrous, I don't know how late he was for his deadline but he was obviously running on some insane cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs that it is a wonder how he managed to even raise his right hand to write that article.  I'm not defending our loss to Man City, I'm not defending the team, the fans pay their wages and they should at least look like they have a heart beat.

In the cricket (I'm going somewhere with this) Australia recenty got scarfed by India, they really took us apart, and Ricky Ponting was under fire for using two part time bowlers at one point even though he was under fire for using our full time bowlers because they couldn't take wickets (I swear I do not understand the press, they have the memory of a goldfish).  He was really torn in the press, calls for his head and all.  He took a risk, if it had come off he would been hailed the greatest creative genius the world had ever seen.  Arsene took a risk, trusting his young players and not seriously reinforcing the team was a risk he took, give him a break.  It took guts for Ferguson to sell Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis, and as such Alan Hansen is now a laughingstock.  Please fellow gooners, I'm not saying that the boss is above accountability, the opposite, but calls for him to be sacked? really? stop renting a soundbite, the boss should not be sacked, he should be supported for taking a risk. We are fifth, not twentieth (but I swear the press can't tell the difference).

In other news I hate Rupert Murdoch and wouldn't trust him with my glass of refreshing Pocari Sweat, I say this because the advertising hoarding of Pocari Sweat was more interesting (and played better) than Australia this week, that was possibly the most disgraceful performance I have ever seen from Australia.

If you want my opinion, I think that we will be fine once Eduardo is back and Bendtner can be sold.

Well Glenn McGrath is signing his new book so I'll be off.

being primarily the work of the guardskeeper of Hades I have done away with HTML this week and used a more friendly process, one which the great paraclete may use, when he is in a rush to do his online musings.

In any case, in a rage, I decided to write this, I have sent it to Barwick as well, by post no less, $2.05 AUD.

Dear Mr Barwick

As a referee I was disgusted by the overruling of the red card given by Rob Styles in the Manchester City versus Newcastle United game of the 20^th October.  I have a number of grievances with The FA about the decision The FA made.

The Laws of the Game state that a direct free kick can be awarded if a ‘player tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball’.  This seems to be the reason The FA rescinded the sanction.  But I believe that Robinho was tripped.  Habib Beye came in from behind, hit the ball with such insignificant force that Robinho was still in control, and caused Robinho to fall heavily after coming in contact with his legs, this is a trip and the free kick was warranted.  The Laws of the Game state that ‘A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the Referee to be careless, reckless, or using excessive force’.  The second offence listed is ‘trips or attempts to trip an opponent’.  Beye hit Robinho recklessly; he came in from behind and at speed with realistically little chance to win the ball.

How excited I was, Mr Barwick, when I stayed up until 3am, the day before university to watch the Community Shield Final.  The way Peter Walton refereed that match was a credit to himself and The FA’s new Respect policy.  But I was down hearted at the treatment of Mark Clattenburg.  Clattenburg is in debt, yes, but if a player makes a misdemeanour, they request a personal hearing, and they are allowed to play during that period, but Clattenburg isn’t.  Is that fair?  It is, because the referees are easy targets.  There was a decision given by Mark Halsey to eject John Terry from the pitch, it was a brave call, but The FA rescinded the call.  The guidelines given by FIFA state that excessive force should be sanctioned as serious foul play, but other offences can also be sanctioned as serious foul play.  You must allow referees to be present at the regulatory commission hearing to let them give their side of the story, and to defend and argue their case, to the disciplinary board.  You let players take cheap shots at the referee in the media; the least you can do is let the referee defend his decision.  Due to The FA rescinding these decisions, every club is now appealing red cards, and with the cost of appealing being a measly £1500 why wouldn’t they?  It seems even the most straight forward red cards can be overruled at the regulatory commission.

You may sit, in your high backed chair, Mr Barwick, and think that football is in great condition.  I referee in Australia, you may think, as you sit in your luxury office, that this decision has no ramification for me.  But Mr Barwick, I referee a match, I send a player off, and they can go to Capital Football and say, this referee is incorrect, and they know that it is easy to get off a red card in England; they might as well try it in Canberra.

Mr Barwick, I am very, very disappointed.

Yours

I thought it was witty, in other news, West Ham v Arsenal, again my prescience was proved when a gritty display from Arsenal played out in front of my eyes, well not really, I missed the game because I was asleep.  Hull City for the Champions League, or is it just a Wiganesque turn of events?

damn, why are all my blogs becoming correct?

quick spot of perspective, Tottenham, you beat b-o-l-t-o-n, not a title contender, touch yourselves. 

I'm slightly embarrased, so if you do not like seeing the mighty goonbag with its tail between its legs then go do some ironing/play championship manager/ check out my article to win stuff at soccerlens.

After brushing up on my HTML skill I can now add many links for you to peruse at your leisure, of course, that doesn't mean that you will want to.
First things first, I was slightly wrong in my first ranting post, it seems we do need some more players, and the AGM was the perfect time for Arsenal to agree with me. I CAN LINK . I still maintain that the ranting at Arsene was incorrect, but to say that our squad was fine may have been a little naive. So I was partially incorrect, thus the title of this 'bag.

After Arsene agreed with my last post about being rusty defensively he has assured us of a more gritty effort. I must remember to stay awake for this one as it could be one of the turning points of our season
I'm sick of coding, going to play Championship Manager (that link again)

I reckon I may have a decent point here, in the 2002 (I think, may have been 98, but I'm not that interested in perfection to waste time) Brazil played a formation of genius, no it wasn't 4-6-0 but 5-3-2, or according to some camps 3-5-2.  now let me get this straight, if Brazil played 5-3-2 then they got rid of the midfield, the ulitmate Brazilian power force.  No their backline was 3 central players with Roberto Carlos and Cafu on the wings to give them the most attacking freedom.  This is an idea for Arsenal. Heres how it will look

                                                             Almunia

                                Toure                     Gallas                 Silvestre 

Sagna                                                                                                             Clichy
     |                                                                                                                      |
     V                                                                                                                     V 

                            Walcott                      Fabregas            Nasri

                                       Adebayor                       van Persie

Any arguments?

I want to see more of Sagna attacking, every week Clichy is awe inspiring with his runs but i think they can hit us on the counter-attack more easily.  If we had this formation we would always have 4 at the back.  Again our defense let us down against Fenerbahce, you may cry that if we can score 5 goals every game, who needs defense.  our backline looked strongest when we had a bit of time to organise and then we hit them with the counter attack, so drop, organise, win the ball, streak ahead, get Clichy and Sagna weave in and out with Nasri and Walcott, score. Simple

 IN OTHER NEWS

A salary cap would be torrid for football, read my last post.  Wacott, lets just hope he doesn't catch 'great young english player' syndrome like Owen, Fowler, Lennon, Bowyer, Downing etc.  Wenger should keep his feet on the ground though.  Good luck to Adelaide United as they take on Bunyodkor, it can only be good for the A League.  Oh and that 4-6-0 is mine, use it wisely, it is the coolest formation ever, as I tried explaining to the Northern Territory Football Association President at a recent tournament, but oh no, he ridiculed it, but I'll get my own back...