They collapse against Tottenham, then rebound for a huge home win against Man United.

Their captain goes haywire before a loss to Man City, and then they roll into Stamford Bridge and come away with a gutsy 2-1 victory.

So naturally Arsenal’s youth – perhaps the most consistent performers for the Gunners so far this season – managed to bow out with a 2-0 loss to Burnley in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

The theme at the Emirates this year is something to the tune of: collapse, rebound, and repeat, with plenty of beautiful attacking football thrown in the middle. No one has any clue what will happen from one game to the next – especially manager Arsene Wenger....read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m12d2-Arsenals-topsyturvy-season-continues

You’ve probably seen this ridiculousness already if you pay attention to the EPL, but we haven’t mentioned it yet on this site.

Stoke City, in their first Premier League season since the 80s, is sitting at 12th in the table right now with 14 points in 12 games. And without midfielder Rory Delap, there’s not telling where the club would be.

Delap has a God-given ability to throw a soccer ball harder, lower and longer than you’ve ever seen in your life. Seriously, if he had taken up baseball I bet his fastball would be untouchable. Whenever Stoke gets a throw-in anywhere past midfield, Delap’s rocket-slinging arms send a certified missile into the penalty box that functions as an extremely dangerous free kick.

Not a believer? Well check out this five-minute highlight clip and then get back to me.

Count Arsenal among the first-hand witnesses after Delap’s throws produced both goals in Stoke’s 2-1 victory on November 1. His unusual skill means that defenses have to deal with far more aerial threats each game, which means there are that many more chances for headers, deflections, etc. It’s a keeper’s worst nightmare, and it gives Stoke the ability......read the rest at:

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d11-The-human-rocket-launcher

With their backs against the wall and the Premier League campaign starting to look shaky, the Gunners delivered a nice little statement to the EPL on Saturday afternoon at the Emirates.

Game on.

Given all the injuries and the awful stretch of play lately, this game against Manchester United easily could have been the latest headache for Arsenal. But despite the lack of a striker, they managed to take advantage of their opportunities and hang on for dear life as the final stoppage time minutes ticked down.

With only Nicklas Bendtner up front, Samir Nasri was a stud in the midfield and ended up with two goals to show for it – although the first was pure luck off Gary Neville’s deflection. But the Gunners were able to utilize their midfield to exploit United with superior spacing several times and counterattack whenever possible. They certainly didn’t control the game, but given the lack of presence up front it was the way they had to win.

And while Arsenal capitalized on their opportunities, United was left to wonder how Ronaldo missed a point-blank volley or Rooney skied a great first-half opportunity over the bar. While playing at the Emirates..........Read the rest at: 

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d8-Arsenal-takes-a-stand 

There’s no getting around it, tomorrow’s a big one. Man United/Arsenal never fails to get the juices flowing, and even though it’s still early in the year, that won’t lessen the intensity.

For Arsenal, the season has hit a nice, big two-week rut that is threatening to potentially define the 08-09 campaign. Coming off three disappointing results in a row, Arsene Wenger’s bunch is pretty desperate for a result. And it’s not everyday you hear talk about the man himself quitting, although he has nixed that rumor.

The big problem right now is the injury situation, which doesn’t make things easier against a United team that seems to be finding its form. Check out this article on the problems facing Wenger tomorrow – van Persie out (red card), Adebayor out, Walcott maybe, Gallas maybe, Silvestre maybe, Eboue out.

That doesn’t bode well for the Gunners, but at least they’ll be playing at the Emirates. And we should get some more looks at those exciting young players who have been tearing up the Carling Cup. But fully fit are not, there are no......read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d7-Breaking-down-ArsenalManchester-United

While 11 matches played isn’t any normal marking point within a given EPL season, who says you need to reach halfway before doing a little table-wide analysis? Let’s check out a few key developments so far this year and see what might lie ahead.

1) The Big 4 are doing their thing. People might want more parity within the league, but we once again look like we’re heading toward the normal tight finish between the usual suspects. Aston Villa and Hull City both sit tied for fourth with Arsenal at 20 points, but right now only Villa looks like they could make a run at breaking into that select group.

2) Title already looking like a reach for Arsenal. Granted, it’s early. Quite early. But some things start to make you wonder about a team in the long run, and Arsenal’s last couple weeks have started to put those questions into our heads. The four-four draw at home against Tottenham, while a thrilling game, was an absolute disaster from the Gunners’ standpoint. Blowing a two-goal lead at home in the last couple minutes doesn’t bode well for a squad trying to build on last year, when they jumped out to a great start only to falter near the finish line. Even worse, they’ve failed miserably to bounce back from that defeat with a 2-1 loss to Stoke last weekend and then a draw at home to Fenerbahce (who they beat 5-2 away) on Wednesday. And those who read the papers see Wenger getting a bit edgy. You can’t call games must-win at this point, but losing all three points on Saturday at the Emirates to Man United would be rough to say the least.

3) Hard to differentiate between Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool at this point.  There’s no doubt that Man United suffered early from both injuries and a brutal schedule, but they look to be back on track now with an in-form Ronaldo and 21 points with a game in hand. Still, letting Hull back into Saturday’s game wasn’t a very impressive display, and the Reds have had some finishing issues lately (ending with Dimitar Berbatov’s miss last night that could’ve given United the win against Celtic). At this point, Chelsea and Liverpool have looked consistently the best, although both have suffered defeats in the last few weeks (Chelsea to Liverpool and Roma, Liverpool to Tottenham). Chelsea can’t be pleased with the 3-1 loss away to Roma on Tuesday, but they still l........read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m11d6-Five-talking-points-so-far-from-the-EPL 

If all Wednesdays are like that one, then mid-week specials should become a more prominent feature of the EPL’s schedule. ‘Cause after yesterday’s fireworks, there must be something to this whole playing under the lights thing.

Where to start? Let’s go with the best GAME, first, which also included one of the top goals of this year. Perhaps we should have known it would be special after David Bentley’s stunning 40-yard volley for the opener. Count Manuel Almunia as a shocked witness to that piece of brilliance, and it would only be the beginning of a tough night for the Arsenal keeper.

I arrived at a pub at the start of the second half to meet some friends, and luckily it was pretty evenly divided among the two teams in terms of support. What a half – six goals, a two-goal comeback by Tottenham starting in the 89th minute. The roars were deafening, and goals were so frequent it was like a boxing match, left, right, left, left. Those are the games we sit around praying for, and when they come you can’t tear yourself away.

Of course Arsenal will lament the defending near the end that allowed Jermaine Jenas the space for his sublime strike to make it 4-3, but for the neutral viewer this was one to remember. When Aaron Lennon deposited the rebound in the final minute of stoppage time, my friend looked over and told me not to die after seeing my expression. This could end up the game of the season.

And meanwhile, we had the reemergence of Cristiano Ronaldo with a brace at Old Trafford in the...read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Breaking-down-a-crazy-Wednesday 

By now, most people have heard that Seattle Sounders FC has signed Swedish star Freddie Ljungberg for their first season in the MLS next year. By nabbing the former Arsenal star as their designated player ($2.5 million a year), Seattle is now set to enter next season with two certified stars: Ljungberg and local boy Kasey Keller.

This can only mean good things for a club that looks like it will have MASSIVE local support from the moment it steps on the field. In Ljungberg, they now have an international face for the club who is just 31 years old and still has some solid years left.

On top of that, Seattle has sold more than 17,000 season tickets and has a supporters group looking to grow quickly. As the team’s owners have said, this club looks like it will hit the ground running and figures not to be an ordinary expansion team struggling its way through the first couple of seasons. As a Seattle native, I can tell you that the excitement has been....read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Anticipation-in-Seattle-heats-up-with-Ljungberg-signing 

The question is where Carlos Tevez will be fitting into this lineup with Dimitar Berbatov up front now. Tevez played some beautiful football during the first month of the season while Rooney seemed to struggle at times, but he has now started only one of United’s past five games. There was talk earlier in the season about signing the Argentinean to a long-term deal, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be excited about such a move now. ......read the rest at: 

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d8-EPL-discussion-and-the-Tevez-issue

Fine, I admit it. I’ve laughed at scarves, made fun of people who wear them, and generally think they look really dumb/preppy. And yet on Tuesday night I found myself as one of probably 30,000 people strolling into the Emirates Stadium sporting that particular clothing article with an Arsenal/FC Porto half-and-half pattern, thinking I was pretty much The Man. When you see all these people doing it, it somehow becomes extremely cool (yea, OK, I was kind of a follower in high school).

The purchase of that scarf came following a stroll around the area (which I thought had a really nice, low-key vibe to it) and some fish and chips to tide my appetite. My buddy Andy and I then had the necessary pre-game pint with Arsenal supporters in a pub before heading into the stadium.

The Emirates is the anti-White Hart Lane, as I quickly found out. While Tottenham’s stadium employs the ragged, ordinary warehouse-looking style on the outside, the Gunners’ home is new-age, flashy and just flat-out cool. Nothing wrong with it, just completely different, more modern and a huge money-maker thanks to the 60,000-plus people it can fit.....Check out the rest at:

 http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d1-Taking-in-ArsenalFC-Porto-at-the-Emirates

Also, I feel it must be mentioned that the brightest star in Carling Cup competition last night had to be Arsenal, and among that group 19-year-old talent Carlos Vela from Mexico was spectacular with a hat trick as the Gunners absolutely throttled Sheffield United by a score of 6-0 at The Emirates.

Check out all the goals right here. My favorites are Vela’s first one – a smartly curled ball with the left foot into the left corner of the net while running into the box from the right of the goal, and the youngster’s second – a sublimely controlled pass followed by a perfectly executed chip over the keeper that showed not even the slightest hint of nerves......

Read the rest at:  

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m9d24-A-youthful-display-from-the-Gunners