Arsene and the lads finally find the rythm.

With only 7 games played this season, Arsene and his squad seem like they are on the verge of silencing their sworn critics the so called pundits. Although the team has already suffered two defeats, their displays in those two games were not different from those in which they have secured massive wins and the consecutive losses both in the city of manchester were simply fortuitous wins for the gunner's opposition on the two occasions.

Arsenal started the season with alot of criticism from the football pundits including the club's legends like Tony Adams and most of it came in the aftermath of the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo toure and consequently Wenger's pronouncement that he didn't have to replace both players since he already had cover up with in the squad. The first two games came as a surprise to many including the arsenal fans because no one predicted a free scoring Arsenal given the adoption of a 4-3-3 formation with the injury prone Robin Van Persie leading the attack.

Two consecutive losses in the city of manchester both of which wrested by the opposition out of sheer luck reinvigorated the talk that Arsenal is not a top four material given Wenger's tight transfer policy and Arab owned manchester city's financial clout reflected by their summer spending.

However, Arsenal's last two games against Olympiakos and Blackburn rovers have been the most fascinating in my 11 year spell as an Arsenal fan not in terms of results but the display which i would clearly describe as the epitome of football. I have been particularly impressed with Vermaleen now called Verminator by a section of Arsenal fans who is the club's leading scorer despite playing as a centre back along side gallas. The most impressive departments have been midfield and attack with Fabregas playing the best football of his career assisted by a much improved Song. Though goal scoring has been shared by the entire squad, the Arsenal attack appears the most formidable in europe as it is manned by trickstars the likes of Arshavin, Van persie and Thomas Rosicky.

If the current arsenal form is not simply a bubble, this is the season Arsene' could finally reap big from his youth policy only if they maintain the resilience they showed after two successive defeats at the hands of scrappy football from both manchesters.

Arsene proves skeptics wrong by signing Arshavin

Seasoned Arsenal fans have complained from the first day the Russian play maker was linked to Arsenal up to yesterday when the long protracted transfer was finally endorsed by the FA officials that Le prof is a mean guy who can not bring in a world class player.

What continues to baffle me is the belief these fans have in the tabloid and blog speculations even when there is no formal communication from the horse's own mouth. A number of players have in the past been linked with moves to arsenal and our own players have also been reported to be leaving only for the concerned parties to come out clearly and express their ignorance on the media content concerning them.

I would advise that since these people are at the helm of the management of the club, we should let them do their work for i believe that much as Arsenal's success is more of our success, it is theirs too. In the summer, Wenger was criticised for not signing Gomes, the Spurs keeper who at the time of the fans' lamentation was a world class keeper but who was valued highly. Wenger's counterpart at White harte lane did succumb to the media pressure by signing him as a replacement for atrocious Robinson but am sure, he will live to regret that decision as Robinson has turned out to be better than the brazillian stopper.

Arshavin like many of us do believe is seemingly a world class footballer but who to me is not tried and tested. However, going by his displays against the much anticipated winners of Euro 2008, Netherlands and against Sweden, this boy is simply awesome. He plays so much like Hleb but has an eye for goal and considering that we have a crop of young skillful players, flare architects as i prefer to call them, if he settles in, arsenal's attack will be the most formidabble in europe and i do see defenders world over spending sleepless nights on the eve of arsenal games.

RVP could be the answer to Arsenal's silverware drought.

I have been disappointed since the start of the season due to Arsenal's inconsistency in the premiership and the injuries that have befallen our thin squad but am beginning to think that this is the first season in 4 years that we might lay our hands on some form of silverware.

Alot has been said in the media which leaves one wondering whether journalists in England are paid to write nasty things about Arsenal and it's no wonder that Fabregas at one time asked why the english media only writes about arsenal in its bad times. The reports that have been rife in the media both local and international have strongly affected most arsenal fans world over except the fanatics and most of them believe in the subjective analysis of these journalists who i believe support our opponents.

When we lost Fabregas to a knee injury inflicted on him by Alonso during the liverpool game ,i knew that was the of Arsenal and at that very moment i had a feeling that the fourth spot was also out of reach and this feeling was underpinned by Aston Villa's dramatic comeback at villa park having trailed for the largest spell of the game.

Our worry has always been creativity since all most all our creative midfielders are out injured but in Nasri and Van persie, we seem to have found a long lasting solution and special tribute goes to the dutch who has been the most influential in Arsenal's 8 match unbeaten run.

RVP without a shed of doubt seems to be the most skillful player in the premiership now. Football pundits have always rated him highly but his last two seasons have been plagued by injuries which unfortunately, he has been picking up while on international duty and most of them have come at a time when he's been in superb form. He is currently the clubs top scorer along side Adebayor and the two have scored the highest number of goals between themselves compared to any other partnership in the league which makes them a formidable force. He is currently premiership's joint leader in assists and statistics from the last game show that he completed 27/29 passes in addition to making three assists in the 3-1 demolition of Hull city.

Back to silverware, our chances are now higher in cups than the league owing to our performance against top teams this season. RVP himself has come out to express his sympathy with the fans for the trophyless seasons we have had but also said they too would wish to have something to show and even commited himself to ensure this dream is achieved come May this year. However, i would be driven nuts if we lifted the champions league and to me, this does not look an impossible feat as some fans think. Our obliteration of the big teams this season even without some of the most influential players is enough manifestation that this dream is achievable hoping that you will not liken this to Obama's pursuit of the USA presidency. The only players alluded to in this article have performed exceptionally well against giants particularly RVP who scored wonder goals past Chelsea and Liverpool.

The onus is now on the RVP and Nasri since fab is injured and their first test will be against Roma in February and personally, i expect nothing other than qualification to the next round because the potential of these two coupled with their displays against giants this season gives alot of hope and they won't disppoint us.

What a come back!

The last two or three weeks have been the worst in my life as an Arsenal fan. It all started with our arch rivals(Spurs) dramatic display at the emirates which cost us two vital points and Stoke city added more pain though in my view it is le Prof to blame for that historic loss against such minnows.

As usual, the media both local and international escalated the so called crisis as both print and electronic media were awash with stories of how Wenger is the reason for the trophy drought at the emirates owing to his obstinance in not signing senior players. However, one person who i believe most of us would sneaze on hearing his name(Dein),having not forgotten he is the one who brought little known Wenger to England, has come out to his defence and described him as a "miracle worker".

Back to the good things, The saturday Man united clash at the emirates was one of those things that will stick in the mind of many fans. Without the first choice partnership upfront, Arsenal were clear underdogs but that didn't last even for five minutes. Ofcourse our confidence was low at the start and had Rooney utilised the opportunity that befell him, it would have been a different story. Fabregas and Nasri "Na-Fab formation" all over a sudden turned things around and the pinnancle of excitement was the build up to the second goal and the goal itself. Never had i seen at club level, a team passing the ball around up to their opponents back of the net and with the flair and astuteness nasri did it with more over against the reigning european champions. Credit though has to be given to Fabregas to the wonder turn some thing i only thought can only be done by only Robin Van persie.

The sensation form in the senior players has continued even with the second string side. I happened to watch this game when very tired and i was even contemplating to retire to my bed because the start was alittle bit scaring. later, the lads stablised and put up a fine display even better than the senior squad members. As i conclude i would to invite your ideas on a number of issues. Don't you think Sylvestre and Djourou partnership is the answer to our inability to handle aerial balls? Since we have only lost to small teams, is not wise for Wenger to always field the carling cup squad against such teams?

Season's Review

Mighty gunners, i took a break because there was almost nothing to report about owing to our unpleasant end of the season.

However, i would like to give my own review of the season and whoever has any divergent ideas should feel free to express their views.

On the whole, it was the most disappointing season Arsenal fans have seen in recent years. A season which looked very promising with dominating the premier league for close to 7 months and San siro massacre being the major highlights, ended trophyless like the two previous seasons. There was generally an improvement in the overall performance and statistics wise. All players have looked rejuvenated compared to the previous seasons except Eboue whose form has been the epitome of undoings at the emirates, Van persie who had a season plagued by injuries and Toure who fell short of the consistency we were accustomed to.
We had a 15 points improvement from last season, more goals from the sides top marksman, more assists from the usual suspect Fabregas and unprecedented performances from Hleb, Song, Flamini and Adebayor whose performances prior to the season elicited them to insults from the fans.

Having ended the season short of honours as we all anticipated, the manager has to strengthen the squad as we must win something next season or else we shall be dubbed perennial entertaining underachievers. This seems to be under way but we are experiencing problems with some players wanting to leave and others complaining of salaries. we have lost Flamini one of last season's best players over unresolved contract matters ascribed to club's salary ceiling. This should however be broken and players handed good contracts before we lose other players which will make us a fishing ground for european football giants.

Some fans are complaining that Wenger is to blame for lettingFlamini go but i would like to rest this case by posing to you a few questions. who of you thought that Flamini would play as good as he has and there fore extend his contract as per July last year?
Can an employer tripple a worker's salary based on one year's performance?
Which player has left Arsenal against the manager's wish and succeeded?
I would like to remind you that most of us complained at the start of the season that Gilberto was being benched so let le professeur do his thing. As he put it, he makes the players and he can still make another one.

I would like to end by concluding that arsenal's season was ruined by misfortune. No team including those credited for their innumerable players can succeed in a season without their most dependable strikers, midfielder and defenders for large spells coupled with injustice from referees both domestically and on the continent. Bye for now, i will be back with news of any signings.

Fabregas' Champions Final dream not over

After last night's draw against liverpool at the emirates, many football fanatics think that arsenal is as good as out but i hope the mighty gunners don't buy this idea.

Many football analysts and pundits argue that having got an away goal which was Rafa's wish, then the Kops have an easy task at Anefield something i think is so much attributed to Liverpool's performance in Europe over the last three years especially at their mersey home.

However their arguments seem to be oblivious of the fact that arsenal this season set out to prove its critics wrong and have over the past including recently done the unthinkable by destroying teams perceived to have pedigree in the champions league at their home grounds through their excellent passing football.

The gunners recent success at san siro will be their major boost if they are to qualify for the next round of the most prestigious competition in europe. Barely two months after the Milan game, i see a similar encounter at Anefield and the gunners emerging victors if they handle the next leg with the determination they showed in Italy.

For starters, Arsenal was last nignt unlucky on two occasions one being when Kuryt"s compatriot and villagemate referee denied Hleb a penalty and the other being a Fabregas goal bound shot which was cleared by Bendtner though it appears the lines man could have still ruled it offside had it kissed the net. These two scenarios are a replica of what transpired at the emirates agaist Milan before grabbing a historic win at san siro.

I don't see how the gunners won't feature in this years final provided they reproduce their determinations six days from now. Fabregas who is already dreaming of the final has an opportunity of realising his own dream alongside Hleb if they produce master class performances.

Arsenal back to winning ways

Good evenning gunners. Am sorry for taking so long without any post on the mighty blog but some times emotions get the better of a person and this time it has been due to Arsenal's worst performance in nine years.

I won't dwell so much on our form but even the most fervent arsenal fans were beginning to get frustrated because every player looked tired particularly the two centre backs who have specialised in playing what i can substantively describe as pathetic football. However, having got our first win in over one and half months moreover with our next game in the much coveted champions league against a team we have always handled well domestically, then we can kick start the talk.

Arsenal's performance in europe is not under any scrutiny even from its foes this season ( media) and the Italy football pundits following its demolition of Milan at the san siro. From the look of things, the champions leagues seems the only probable silverware having lost our grip in the premiership and now that Van persie is back though he is yet to rediscover his form.

Liverpool despite having pedigree in this competition is one team that has not troubled Le prof irrespective of its manager and the team Le prof employs to do the needful. However, this being the first time these two teams are facing off in europe, the managers have alot to do and personally i feel that Benitez might be fooled by Arsenal's recent form and forget the obliteration the kops were subjected to at Anefield at the hands of Fabregas and Company

Before i sign off, allow me to make a prediction about the game. Although the entire Arsenal squad looks tired, players like Hleb, Fabregas, Petulant Gallas and Van persie are all big game players and till thursday, i hope for a two nil victory for the gunners.