The return of the orange moustachioed villain to the Arsenal pantomime

It was with a sigh last night, that I remembered today's kick off is a late one. I hate late kick offs. Those extra two and a half hours are the generally the worst two and a half hours of my life. I'm not even sure why it's a 5.30 kick off today. The only other match in London today is all the way at Fulham, so it's not like it's been delayed to avoid having two busy events at the same part of town. Perhaps, after all Wenger's complaining about fixture congestion, the FA took pity on him, and moved the match back two and a half hours to give Arsenal some vital power nap time.
The two and a half hour tedium is intensified today due to it being against the lying moustachioed (although he's not anymore, but looks like he still should be) perma-tanned tw*t and his bunch of little Tigers. You remember the lying moustachioed (although he's not anymore, but looks like he still should be) perma-tanned tw*t? The one who's story had more holes in it than a block of swiss cheese. And I don't mean those swiss cheeses which are mainly cheese, with only a few holes, I mean those swiss cheeses where it is mainly air with only a bit of cheese. One of those cheeses you could inflate with a bicycle pump. In my eyes, after his, and his assistant's, ridiculous antics, Hull were turned from a plucky newly promoted side punching above their weight (the way I feel about Burnley now) to a bunch of dicks who I wanted to get relegated and die.

So it truly is a shame that Cesc can't play today and run the game. But look on the bright side, if we do win, Cesc has the opportunity to come on the pitch afterwards to celebrate again, and that would really piss Brown off. Also, I want to keep a close eye on Brown. I want to see if he trots away down the tunnel, immediately after the final whistle, waving his hands in the air shouting "Even if I run away, it still counts as Wenger not shaking hands with me!" Just so this time, if he does say Wenger didn't shake his hand, he technically won't be lying.

On to the team news, and as mentioned above, Cesc is unavailable. Don't worry though, Denilson is back, and that could mean us fielding the midfield three of Denilson, Diaby and Song. Otherwise known as the most boring midfield three of all time, ever. Now don't get me wrong, I am a massive fan of Song, and I appreciate Denilson, but when you see those three names together on the team sheet it doesn't exactly invite you to think "wow......creative!". Hopefully Wenger will address this by playing Ramsey or Nasri in the middle. However, the prospect of playing his two love childs with Song in the middle may be overpowering, and for good measure he'll probably chuck Eboue into the midfield somewhere. Having said that, I wouldn't be upset at all if Eboue stood in at right back today instead of Sagna.

Tonight it may not be a bad idea if Wenger rotated slightly, although not completely. Giving Fabianski a chance over the rapidly deteriorating Spaniard would be nice and not entirely undeserved. Allowing Ramsey to play in the middle (perhaps even alongside Nasri, as this is a home game) would be nice, and maybe Vela and Eduardo together up front. Last time those two played together up front was against Burnley in the FA cup, and they ran wild. Merida must be cursing Fabian Delph that he is suspended, for this may have been a match where he featured briefly, what with all the injuries to the first team. For those of you who don't know what happened with Fabian Delph, allow me to explain. In a recent reserve match against Aston Villa, in an off-the-ball incident, cameras clearly showed Fabian Delph grabbing Merida round the face and taking a swing at him. Eventually after a five minute discussion with the nearest linesman, the referee proceeded to ludicrously send the young Spaniard off whilst only booking the angry little Villa midfielder. Anyway I digress, this is 3rd of Merida's three match suspension, so he won't be on the bench, chances are however that Wilshere will.

So this is the team that I want to play today:

Fabianski

Eboue Gallas Vermaelen Silvestre(only due to no other options)

Song

Ramsey Nasri

Arshavin Eduardo Vela

However, I am fully aware that this is not the team that will play. I am merely indulging in fantasies. Regarding a score prediction....God knows. Who knows what Arsenal team will turn up? If Brown continues his recent trend of having Geovanni on the bench in away matches, it should be immeasurably easier. If not, we should still win, although I can see our defence leaking a goal. I'll get behind the Arse and say a 3-0 victory today.

Right, I think that'll be all for today.
See you after the match Gooners.

Burnley's defending from the front frightened Arsenal into general dreadfulness.

A quite embarrassing performance tonight saw Arsenal draw 1-1 with Burnley. As stated in the match preview, Turfmoor is a difficult place to come, so the result in itself wasn't embarrassing. It was the manner in which we played. Apart from a period between the 5th minute and the 20th, we could not keep possession at all. Part of that would be down to Burnley's excellent defensive play all over the pitch, but part is also down to Arsenal's dreadfulness on the few occassions we did have time on the ball. There was no penetration or composure, and the defending was quite frankly schoolboy. And that's being kind. Cesc took his goal very well, and perhaps should have had another (or at least got it on target). Having him come off just before half time was a massive blow, as he was our only player who showed class, composure and intelligence. We also madly missed Robin van Persie. As well as envious intelligence and goal scoring ability, van Persie is also a physical presence, and Arshavin (and Eduardo when we came on) could not compete with Burnley's centre backs.

On to the player ratings:
Almunia - 4. Unbelievably dreadful. His insane positioning almost led to a Vermaelen own goal in the opening stages before an admittedly good recovery by the Spaniard stopped this. The disallowed Burnley goal (which was a very iffy decision) should never have been allowed to present itself in the first place as Almunia inexplicably let the ball dribble through his fingers. His kicking was also way off tonight, slicing every ball he could into touch about 20 yards outside his goal area.
Sagna - 5. Rubbish. Found it difficult to go forward and was troubled all night by Chris Eagles (really Sagna?!). On this evidence Tyrone Mears is a better right back than he is.
Vermaelen - 5. Awful start, almost scoring an own goal. He later gave away a penalty with a dreadful challenge. He grew into the game as it went on, and this stopped him getting a lower rating.
Gallas - 5.5. Played slightly better than his centre back partner, but still looked panicked and liable to mistakes.
Silvestre - 5.5. Thankfully for us, not as much went down Burnley's right as it did their left. So Silvestre didn't have the chance to cost us the game. Still managed to be a liability, and showed he has the pace of a Slug being held down by heavy shopping.
Song - 7. Had the most difficult job of the team tonight, trying to compete with Burnley's physical midfield, and he did a goodish job. Him and Bikey were at it all night, eventually coming out about equal. In the second half Song took it upon himself to become the playmaker, as Cesc's absence was becoming increasingly notable, which he did fairly well.
Diaby - 5. Perhaps our worst player in the first half. Responsible for 80% of the times that we couldn't keep possession. As the game went on he became slightly better, and showed he has a physical side as long as he is in possession of the ball.
Fabregas - 7.5. Our best player when he was on. Took his goal very well. Almost managed to manifacture a second with a delightful piece of skill, and looked dangerous when probing forward. Showed some fantastic pieces of skill. Fingers crossed his injury isn't too bad.
Nasri - 6. Found it very hard to compete with the physical nature of Burnley. He showed some very nice touches and glimpses of vision though.
Walcott - 4. Absolutely disastrous. He is obviously still not quite up to pace with the game, but even so, he should have been so much better than he was. In the first half he was isolated on the right, and did nothing with the ball on the few occassions it did come to him. In the second half, he saw a lot of the more coming towards him, and then past him as it (almost with fail) bounced away from him following an abysmal touch. When he did eventually find himself in a dangerous position, he proceeded to blast the ball both high and wide, when a low cross, shot or pass would have been easier.
Arshavin - 6. He was ok. After Cesc, he was our most dangerous player. Again he made good runs, but too often his touch would let him down. Also found it difficult against Burnley's physical centre backs.
Subs:
Ramsey - 6. Came on to be the natural replacement for Cesc, but showed he still has a tiny bit more to learn and develop. Couldn't influence the game nearly as well as the captain. He battled very well though, and showed an excellent physical determination.
Eduardo - 5.5. Eddie came on for Theo and really didn't have much to do. Was put through on a couple of occassions by Song but didn't look sharp enough. His confidence really has taken a knock this season.

Well there we have it. We knew this would be a difficult game, but still it should be one of those that we win. We're going to have to play so much better against Aston Villa on the 27th. Credit must go to Burnley though for their indefatigable defending all over the pitch. However next time, when we're not being closed down, we have to use the ball better.

'Til next time Gooners.

Who knew that the media jumps on bandwagons? The arrival of the Arse at Turfmoor.

By now I am well aware that those of you who have stumbled across this blog in the past have now given up on it, but Play the Gooner Way is back after a lengthy absence. Allow me to explain the circumstances. I was very busy. I realise that is a poor excuse, so I apologise.

Recently there have been numerous instances of the press finding a particular scenario and then bumping it up to garner higher viewings, readings, comments etc. This form of lowest common denominator publishings has seen intense hyperbole of: the Eduardo 'dive', the Henry handball, for some reason the Wenger rant at half time at Anfield, and many more. Today, the media are taking a swipe at poor old Mick McCarthy. It is well known by now that McCarthy made 10 changes to his side that went to Old Trafford last night. On Sunday, it will be the third time in 8 days that Wolves will play a match. McCarthy obviously knew his best team didn't have a cat's chance in hell of winning at Old Trafford, and it was best to save his team for Sunday when they play host to Burnley. A match where they are far more likely to get a result. As it was, the second choice Wolves team only lost 3-0 against the Mancs, which ain't half bad.

Now, I can fully understand the travelling supporters being thoroughly pissed off by splashing out on a trip to Manchester, travelling there, and then not seeing the first team. But to 'brand' (along with other painful mental images such as 'label') McCarthy disrepectful is shortsighted in the extreme. To make matters worse for the Wolves boss, the media have built it up so much that now the Premier League has formally written (oooh I bet McCarthy's scared) to Wolves to ask them to explain their team selection against Old Trafford. Presumably, McCarthy will explain what is written above, the Premier League fat cats will realise they are stupid and the whole thing will blow over. I don't know why there is all this speculation anyway. Ferguson was happy with the team Wolves put out yesterday, and what he says goes.

Yes I realise this is an Arsenal blog.

Arsenal travel to Turfmoor tonight, the home of Burnley. For those of you who think it will be a walkover, think again. For those who think 'well we won at Anfield, we will trounce Burnley', you lot can also think again. Make no mistake, at the moment Turfmoor is a more difficult place to win than Anfield. Burnley have only lost once at home, and have beaten ManUre there. Even so, it must not be forgotten that we are Arsenal, and these are the kind of games that we should be winning. In injury knews, Denilson and Traore are out. Eboue is back. Thus my predited line up is:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Silvestre

Song

Diaby Fabregas(c)

Nasri Arshavin Eduardo

I reckon Wenger will decide on Arshavin in the middle of the front three because of all the talk about how good he was against Stoke and Liverpool there. Am I the only one who wasn't particularly impressed by him? Yes he makes good runs, yes he took his goals well against Stoke and Liverpool, and for his size he competes fairly well physically. But against Stoke, his touch was absolutely dreadful. The worst on the park. It let him down on every instance except his goal. Liverpool wasn't much different, although his increased work rate in the second half was commendable.
I would much prefer for Eduardo to play in the middle of the front three, and Arshavin to play alongside him where he seems to have better control but, as I said, I have a feeling this isn't going to happen. Speaking of preferences, I would infact prefer to see Nasri play alongside Cesc as he did against Stoke where he was magnificent (and in my opinion the best player on the pitch) with Walcott, Vela or even little Jack being the final player of the triumverate upfront. Failing that, Ramsey in midfield, with Nasri part of the front three. Whatever means Diaby doesn't start. Anyway, I will say it will be an Arsenal victory...3-1.

Finally, Wenger has said he will 'sort out Silvestre's contact', as it expires at the end of the season. The dot com say it in such a way as to suggest le Boss was just playing with us all along when he didn't think about renewing Silvestre's contract till now. In a kind of 'Ahh got you there guys. It's ok don't worry guys, it's ok, I'll sort his contract out. I had you worried there though didn't I? You thought I was just gonna let him go at the end of the season. Haha good times.' God I want Silvestre to go at the end of the season.

'Til tomorrow Gooners.