ARSENALISM©

I Wonder if Harry has changed his view on 'soft' penalties at The Lane?

"Manuel Almunia will miss Arsenal's Champions League game against Partizan Belgrade due to an injury"- The Guardian 27/09/10 "What should be of more concern is that should Almunia get injured we would , based on Wenger's previous practises, be left with Fabianski in goal. This should concern all Arsenal supporters far more than Almunia's mediocrity."- arsenalism 01/09/10 It's inevitable that Wenger will select Lukasz as he has such faith in him as our number 2. I cast my mind back to Fabianski's performances in Europe and shudder with horror, I can only dream that Cpt Robert Hatch comes out of retirement as he has a far better record in Europe than Fabianski. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE4E6khAzII

As Michael Turner of Sunderland took a free kick in the 5th minute at Anfield . which the player claims was just him giving it to his keeper to take the kick,Fernando Torres pounced on the 'loose ball'  which Sunderland apparently thought was still dead, and squared for Kuyt to score. This signalled another 'it's not fair' rant from  Blades manager Steve Bruce. He should have saved his anger for the ineptitude of the referee in not giving England's Steven Gerrard a red card for an elbow. "This is the second time it has happened to me, the first time was at Arsenal in the FA Cup [as Sheffield United manager in 1999] when they were going to throw it back to our goalkeeper and they threw it to Kanu who ran down the wing and crossed for Marc Overmars to score"-Steve Bruce 26/09/10 What Steve 'it's not fair' Bruce failed to point out is that Arsenal where honourable enough to offer to replay the game; an unprecedented act of sportsmanship! ...

http://football-talk.co.uk/7926/video-goals-arsenal-23-west-brom-watch-almunias-horrific-mistake/ highlights of todays debacle Roberto DiMatteo is no tactical genius but he clearly saw a chink in Arsenal’s armour today at the Emirates. Playing what was ostensibly a 7-2-1 formation he knew that by the law of averages WBA would have a couple of opportunities to have shots on target from open play. He also knew that Arsenal is a club with aspirations of winning the Premier League. However, he knew that Manuel Almunia is not a goalkeeper of the requisite ability for a title chasing side therefore the probability would be that those chances that WBA would have would, to a degree, be better chances due to the standard of our keeper. So it proved to be. Their first goal was standard fare that we could have done better defending, but these things happen. Goals 2 & 3 were poor goalkeeping. Yes we rallied in the later stages but realistically when you are in a position where League lea...

Once there was a bar of beauty that revelled in beer and proximity to the home of Arsenal now there remains a less than beautiful frump with bad manners. Standing in the rain having my thin and flexible plastic glass of beer topped up by heaven's tap. Crushed in the patience sapping queue at the bar surrounded by shouting newcomers and being audibly assaulted by ear shattering Latin music. Queuing to use the urine soaked toilet and obeying the orders of the mini bouncers who are guardians of the velvet rope. Surrounded by refugees from the current BT advert questioning the logic of inconvenience. The benefits are therefore only two; the proximity to the stadium and the obvious attractions of the barmaids. Some of you will know of which I speak... ...And now the dream is over. What really matters now? Regardless of pre game ritual today we meet WBA and make a decision; it's about the Arsenal and the next game and the next... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tFYe8...

Far be it for me to indulge in cheap, obvious and immature humour but after beating Sp*rs 4-1 on Tuesday, damn it, I'm going to!  A capacity crowd watch Arsenal's fourth goal go in Sp*rs team photo before Tuesday's game The last time there were a pair of decent strikers at WHL Bentley shows his understated, subtle and ego less approach to life off the pitch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826PTEuHKhE Arsenal fans' thoughts on Extra time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-sUUqIk_e4 tears in the face of beauty Sp*rs committed 23 fouls against Arsenal as they struggled to deal with Arsenal's passing game as a resounding 1-4 victory was achieved at WHL. Arsenal's fourth goal sparked a mass exodus from the ground. As the oles rang around the half empty stadium there were more Gunners supporters in the decrepit shit hole than home fans. And how we milked the moment. It was Arsenal's biggest win at WHL in 32 years and revenge for the 5-1 DVD inspiring loss in the same competition two years ago. I assume VanDerVaart was watching and I wonder if he still holds the opinion that Sp*rs are a bigger club than Arsenal. I am still curious as to the basis of this assertion; is it based on Size of Fan base? Size of stadium? Number of trophies won? Head to head encounters? Number of domestic doubles? Length of time in top flight? Number of League titles? Amount of unbeaten seasons? Number of ...

Outside Harry's DVD manufacturing plant all was quiet... ...but inside all systems were ready to go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M83cCk3e8D0 wanna buy dvd?

The world’s gone mad! Sam Allardyce says Wenger is not a better coach than him! Denilsen says Arsenal are currently better than Chelsea ! Steve Bruce criticises Wenger for not drinking! Van Der Vaart says Sp*rs are a bigger Club than Arsenal! No Bergkamp or Vieira in Barclays English greatest ever Premiership XI! Wenger to be charged for ‘pushing’ 4 th official! And Harry says... “Arsenal looked fabulous running six past Portuguese side Braga without reply. Chelsea won 4-1 away at Slovaks MSK Zilina,” said Redknapp. “What total mismatches. Surely this means clubs like Braga and MSK Zilina do not have the right to share the same pitch as teams like Arsenal and Chelsea?” ..err ,Young Boys anyone!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpN_TOP9hg8

Here we go again, it's have a pop at Arsenal time again. Wenger is on the receiving end following a night where the principles of football as art were seen in all their glory at the Emirates. The managers of recently defeated Bolton and Blackburn take exception at the thought that they produce teams that may be perceived as being the ugly sister of the beautiful game. The Press, as per usual, pile in against the 'Frenchman'. Owen Coyle says “Maybe Arsenal know they were in a really tough game,maybe that is a compliment. I like to think we have endeavour, commitment and quality. “ What quality? And let’s not get bamboozled by word play we all know what Endeavour and commitment actually mean. Allardyce spews “He's a very clever man in terms of influencing referees, officials and everybody in football," Who’s he talking about here? His old mucker, British Manager Alex Ferguson? "In saying people are trying to injure players he is trying, through the media, to...

On Matchday 1 of The European Champions league here's some news from around Europe Arsenal are cursed I tell you cursed! Juventus defender Armand Traore is set to miss about a month. The Frenchman, on loan from Arsenal, injured his left thigh during training on Saturday and will now be sidelined for about four weeks. Giant kills Giant Barcelona suffered a humiliating 2-0 home defeat to Hercules when Nelson Valdez struck twice to give the tiny promoted club a shock victory at a stunned Camp Noú; I think that result, along with Inter's win in last seasons ECL shows that Arsenal where too starstruck to beat this so called 'team from another planet' another planet? pah! Liver bird not flying high The fact that a team with such a great pedigree as Liverpool, in the Champions League/European Cup are not competing on matchday 1 should be a lesson to all supporters on how easy a fall from grace can be. Catalan to Birmingham “If I had known before what was going to happ...

And it goes a little something like this… Song Fabregas Denilson Rosicky Arshavin Koscielny Gibbs Rosicky Fabregas Arshavin Denilson Eboue Song Koscielny Song Rosicky Arshavin Vela Eboue   Denilson Squillaci Arshavin Song Rosicky Denilson Fabregas Vela! http://arsenalist.com/2010/09/11/arsenal-vs-bolton-highlights-koscielny-24/ Arsenalist Blog-here's the goal

An hysteria free assessment. Paying hard earned money for my season ticket it is reasonable to expect that each game I go to see has an Arsenal team trying to win the tournament that the game relates to. With this in mind I also have an expectation that we have a squad that is able to compete in a season's worth of tournaments. If this is not the case due to financial constraints then there needs to be clarity to each and every person that commits their wages to the club. If the board or the manager are unable to produce an Arsenal team that wins games, trophies and the moral high ground at the behest of debt and financial planning then let's have transparency. Let's get one thing straight Arsenal are NOT in crisis. The facts support that Arsenal are a) a successful Premier League Club b) solvent and c) by and large fulfilling the remit that Football is meant to entertain. The issues that are raised time and again relate to the recent history of the club and how from a p...

Gary Lewin and Ian Beasley could be the most valuable staff members to have left the club. Their value may be significant as they were Arsenal's Physio and Team Doctor. Since leaving it has coincided with more injuries at the club than I can ever recall. Coincidence? maybe. Irritating? definitely. Is it that our players are too finely tuned? like a formula 1 car that needs constant attention in the Pitt as opposed to a VW that never needs the bonnet raised? or is it bad luck, poor coaching technique or some sort of a gypsy curse? who knows but somebody needs to look into this. Either Donald Macintyre going under cover or a physic to contact a other worldly presence that is ravaging our squads limbs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrey1g-Qogg Or maybe there are some other reasons our players spend so much time in the treatment room

Each team that have won the Premier League have had a top notch keeper between the sticks; Lehmaan, Schmeicel, Flowers, Cech, Seaman, Barthez (more on him later). In domestic cup competitions the consensus is that you can scrape through with a bit of luck and a kind draw here and there, but the facts are that the FA cup winners over the last 20 years have all had good keepers.In the Champions league the general standard is higher overall and to actually reach the final you need a high level of consistency. Arsenal's goalkeepers at the start of the 2010/2011 season do not fall into the category of quality keepers; that's as fact. A fact that we, as Arsenal supporters, have to face up to until January at a minimum. We start the season hampered by this fact and one can only wonder at what point, and with how many points conceded will the Manager act to rectify the situation. Let's look at the case of Fabien Barthez. At the start of the 199/2000 season Manchester United s...

Following on from Adebayor’s comments regarding the respective ‘sizes’ of Manchester City and Arsenal, here is a visual representation of the analogy. We see Ping Ping ~ Manchester City peeking up the skirt of Svetlana Pankrtova~ Arsenal. I think that just about sums it up.

Apparently there's a game going on tonight. It's between a group of European no hopers and Bulgaria. The overwhelming feeling is best summed up by a shrug of the shoulders. It's an opportunity for the FA to promote the remarkably ill timed release of the new England Shirt. Clearly the powers that be thought that England would be riding on a wave of post South Africa euphoria and would eagerly fill the stadium in their new grandad style England shirts. What the team will be faced with is rampant ennui. I don't care about the game other than the well being of the Arsenal contingent. I would hazard a guess that the majority of Club supporters probably only have the welfare of members of their team to muster any interest. It's a sad state of affairs but International football has now become just a nuisance and a disruption to the season; particularly with the England/Capello/FA set up that makes every fan feel like a mug. I don't care about the current England...

Arsenal have announced the squad for this season and one thing is noticeable that the decline in standards began in earnest after the 2003/2004 season when the Championship side began to be dismantled. Year on year the quality has dropped. Here's the evidence and the level of achievement has also dropped year on year. The question is does the 2010/2011 squad look like a set of players who will achieve any of the things that the other squads below have? Will the handful of quality players prevail while being hampered by mediocre team mates, especially in the goalkeeping department, and escape these shackles and gain victory? Only time will tell Arsenal squad 2010/2011: Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Gael Clichy, Pereka Neves Denilson, Vassiriki Abou Diaby, Johan Danon Djourou-Gbadjere, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski, Cesc Fabregas, Laurent Koscielny, Vito Mannone, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Bilong Song, Dimitri Alexandre...

As I said in an earlier post , if Wenger fails to sign a new goalkeeper it will prove 'catastrophic' for our season. We are now stuck with what we've got until January at the earliest. That Almunia is a distinctly average keeper is a fair summation; he's certainly not in the top ten Premier Goalkeepers nor is he of the standard a league winning team would expect to have. His mistakes will cost us again but possibly with a better defence he will be protected more, but that is a dangerous situation to be in. What should be of more concern is that should Almunia get injured we would , based on Wenger's previous practises, be left with Fabianski in goal. This should concern all Arsenal supporters far more than Almunia's mediocrity. God help us if we are forced to play in the knockout stage of the Champions League (assuming that we get out of the group stage-definitely achievable) with Fabianski. The mind boggles should we need points away to 'rugby' playin...