2008 March archive at Gunnerblog

Archive for March, 2008

Gunnerblog is away on business

Add comment March 14th, 2008

To be honest, it’s not business.Â Business is something I know little-to-nothing about.Â But I’ll be back very very soon.

Till then,

Is this our kit for 2008/09?

Add comment March 12th, 2008

This computer generated image has been floating around a little while:

It seems to have been corroborated by these photographs from footballshirtculture.com:

The away kit looks like a retro classic, but I’m not sure about the white strip down the sides of the home shirt.

I’ve been at work for 15 hours, so that’s really all I can muster.

What do you reckon on the kits?Â Do you care?Â Will you buy one?Â Are these just opportunistic fakes having their fifteen minutes of fame?

Answers on a postcard.Â Or in The Guns.

Wigan 0 – 0 Arsenal: Some of my thoughts

Add comment March 11th, 2008

So we drew with Wigan. After the high of Milan, bit of a low to even things out. So low, in fact, I couldn’t find it in myself to write about it yesterday. Sorry about that.

Funny thing is, I actually wrote some stuff on Sunday. Rather than write a traditional match report, I sat with my laptop on (of all places) my lap, typing my thoughts as they came to me. Enjoy. Some of it is deadly dull.

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1 min: Cesc slips a ball through to Adebayor, who races beyond the defence but can’t bend his shot around the onrushing Chris Kirkland. Good chance to take an early lead. I suppose Henry would’ve scored. But then he wouldn’t have scored several of the goals Ade has got this season. Give and take.

6 mins: Wilson Palacios fires a volley over. I am convinced he will score today.

9 mins: Bendtner has a decent effort from range deflect wide for a corner. The midfield looks very fluid, with Gilberto holding and Cesc, Flamini and Hleb all appearing to roam.

11 mins: Cesc just skied the ball out of play. That must be the pitch.

15 mins: Bendtner goes through on goal then takes an embarrassing air-shot as Adebayor tumbles to the floor in the middle. Oh well, at least the pitch makes the game pretty funny. Wigan are very deep and we have all the possession.

17 mins: Hleb, Bendtner and Adebayor tip-toe through the penalty box attempting to work the ball to Cesc. Doesn’t quite come off. The big two up top are linking up more often than in previous, niggly weeks.

20 mins: Philippe Senderos is playing like a man high on confidence. Good to see.

21 mins: Bendtner looks dangerous. His cross towards Adebayor is knocked out for a corner, which is hacked away by Edman.

24 mins: Bendtner booked for nothing. He should be careful now. Starting to get a bit of a reputation.

27 mins: Unsurprisingly, we’re very narrow. That’s not a problem going forward, when Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna can bomb on. However, it’s important Cesc and Hleb get back to help out the defenders against Valencia and Koumas. Wigan appear to have woken up a bit and are showing more ambition, which could be good for us.

30 mins: Bendtner gets down the outside but his cross is cleared. Patience required today.

33 mins: Wigan have a free-kick. I bet they score. They don’t. Phew.

35 mins: Andy Gray says the game is ‘nice’. Wigan must be trying to lull us into a false sense of security. Clichy’s cross is headed towards goal by Cesc and turned round the post. Good effort.

40 mins: Idiotic commentator Ian Dark says, “Everywhere you look there are blue and white shirts”. Try looking in the Arsenal half. There are none. This looks destined to be 0-0 at half-time. First-half has pretty much gone for nothing.

42 mins: Adebayor seems to be playing off Bendtner. I think we might be better served the other way around.

42 mins: Great interception from Alex Hleb prevents a threatening-looking Wigan attack actually becoming threatening.

45 mins: Heskey turns Senderos but Gallas comes across to prevent the danger.

46 mins: Half-time. Apart from that early chance for a clearly frustrated Emmeanuel Adebayor, it’s been pretty stale. I’m off for a cup of tea.

48 mins: Kirkland can only punch as far as Adebayor, but then saves the Togolese striker’s tame effort.

49 mins: Cesc goes through in goal and tries to find Bendtner but fails. Promising start to the half from Arsenal.

50 mins: Gilberto caught in possession. That’s symptomatic of his form this season. Robin van Persie is warming up. Good news. I also wonder if it might be worth sticking Kolo on the right wing…

55 mins: Heskey is coming off for Sibierski – a player I really rate. He’s capable of turning our defenders inside out. Hopefully we can keep him quiet.

56 mins: We’re really not at it, I think it’s safe to say. I don’t think I can name a single player whose played well.

57 mins: Koumas’ volley is deflected wide. Hmmm. Toure for Gilberto soon, please.

66 mins: Toure and Van Persie are back; Bendtner and Gilberto off. The right changes at the right time.

70 mins: Sorry dear readers. At this point, I have officially decided that this game is simply destined to be a 0-0. Goodbye.

—

So there you go. I think my desperate walk-out was in part an attempt at reserve psychology, in the desperate hope that our fortunes would then immediately swing and we’d run out three or four nil winners. Sadly, it didn’t happen.

The fact is that we’ve let a five point lead slip through our hands. Frustrating though that is, we’re still very much in the title race. The games at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford are going to absolute humdingers.

Midfield Generals Must Marshall Wigan’s Quagmire

Add comment March 9th, 2008

Arsene Wenger’s great sides have always had a pivotal midfield partnership at their fulcrum.Â In the double-winning of side of 97/98, Vieira and Petit combined to form arguably the best partnership of Arsene’s tenure.Â The Invincibles, meanwhile, had World Cup Winning pair Vieira and Gilberto.

Fabregas and Flamini Last season, Gilberto and Cesc Fabregas formed a decent partnership.Â Although Gilberto got into double figures with his goalscoring contribution, the twosome didn’t seem to dominate the field in the way one would expect.Â When the Brazilian missed the start of the season by attending the Copa America, Mathieu Flamini came into the side.Â Arguably Flamini was only there because Diaby was injured and Lassana Diarra’s transfer from Chelsea had not yet gone through – he had spent most of the Summer being linked with a move away as he sunk further down the extensive pecking order.Â And yet, there he found himself – in the first team.

The rest, as they say, is history.Â Arsene says:

“They have a good understanding, although they are less physically strong than Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit. They are very mobile going forward and are technically very good. Â Before we had players more with impact, now their strength is more about ability.”

Whilst I obviously agree with Arsene, I think he forgets that physical strength is only part of what allows Cesc and Mathieu to win the midfield battle.Â It is their mental fortitude – their desire to win at all costs – that makes them such a fearsome pairing.

That aspect of their game may be more important than their supreme technical ability on a horrible pitch at JJB Stadium today.Â Not only will they have to contend with a difficult surface, but also with certain players who appear to be more interested in taking the man than the ball – mentioning no names.

I think we may see Bendtner and Adebayor play together, with a narrow midfield of Hleb-Flamini-Gilberto-Fabregas.Â If we can use a direct early pass to our towering strikers well, and get the midfield forward in support, victory seems more than possible today.Â As Adebayor insists:

“It would be a big mistake to draw or lose at Wigan.Â We cannot even think about doing that after the win in the San Siro. It will be a tough game but we’re ready for it and we have to think about getting three points in every game from now on.”

ps. Wilson Palacios to score?Â Don’t bet against it.