7 games to go. 7 reasons why I’m back.

Hey everyone. Andy here after an extremely long hiatus.

Rather than blabber on about why the blog hasn’t been updated — work, work and more work for both Mark and I — I’ll get straight to the point.

I’m back and I’m going to be blogging about the last seven games of this season. The seven games that will decide whether we manage to nab an automatic Champions League spot and whether we get to snigger, giggle or howl with laughter at Spurs.

Things are tight at the top at the moment, no doubt. After a run of seven straight wins we hit an inevitable bump at QPR that has brought us back to reality.

The response to the defeat, one of disappointment and panic, was understandable given the nature of the performance and the quality of our opponents. We were drab, mistake-strewn and unprofessional.

But looking at the table you can see a loss is no big deal. Our tendency this season has been to win games or lose them. Very rarely do we draw.

In fact, despite sitting in third place we have lost more games than any team in the top six. The trick is that we’ve also won more games than the three teams below us.

We all know (Tottenham, in particular) how quickly a five-point gap can be eaten up but my feeling is that our handy lead over fifth-place Chelsea will prove decisive.

A loss to Manchester City — an unexpected outcome given their poor recent form and our rather good recent form — would undoubtedly cause significant panic, but a fairly simple run to the finish line (including a home game against Chelsea) leaves the power in our own hands.

Playing City at home is going to be interesting. We were desperately unlucky to come away without a point in the reverse fixture at their place and with both sides having so much to play for, it could be a tense affair. An early goal would certainly spice things up but it’s anyone’s guess as to who might strike first.

Anyway, I’ll be back in the near future with another post. In the meantime, here’s a picture of Thierry Henry looking happy in New York.

Spread the Arsenal love by leaving a comment.

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Updated: April 5, 2012 at 7:04 am
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Comments

  2. I really think that we could beat City comfortably on Sunday. Over the last few years they have been extremely negative when playing us, especially at The Grove. On Sunday they HAVE to win which will play into our hands perfectly. I’m not denying that they have some wonderful players but if we can start like we did against Milan, I think they’ll completely full apart.

  3. Welcome back Andrew
    Ok here’s the plan
    1 kick the hell out of balotelli
    2 whip round to fund Lefties air fare so he can do a hit man job on the Chinless one
    3. Pass the ball to Clichy in their area, he never looks comfortable to me

    good luck lads

  4. Waayyheyyyy..New blog post.. Pretty much tabula rasa in the comments. Which way will this go?? Full of possibilities.. Excitement about the match? Trepidation? Belief? Pessimism? Tactial analyses? Predictions? Fights? Declarations? Abuse? Joy?? Ok..It’s been so long since I saw a new post, I’m excited and got carried away 🙂

    I hope Bendtner can repay some of the faith shown in him by Wenger and help Sunderland beat that lovable team from the wrong end of the road. That would be a good start to the weekend, and if that happens, a point against ManCity would be a good result. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I think we can’t win. We are definitely good enough, and we will be up for this one I think. Well, we better be, cos City need to win too. If they play an open game, maybe we can take advantage.

  5. City need to win because ManU will win and they (Citeh) know it. This should leave them open and Walcott and the Ox should be able to exploit that to great effect.

  6. Hi Andy great to have you back and what a turnaround its been since you took a break! My feeling is we will get 4th due to our 5 point lead on Chelsea already, their tougher run-in in and the fact we only have to concentrate on the league while they have 2 other competitions. All these factors make us favourites for that in my opinion. Tottenham however does worry me. Level on points with them and they have what SHOULD be a very easy run-in while we have city and chelsea not to mention stoke away grrrr. I sadly think we’ll finish behind them. However, with this current set of players (the weakest I have ever seen though admittedly that is only the last 14 years) combined with the fact this really is a transition time (7 senior players out and 8 in) and we lost our best midfielder for the whole season through injury…4th would be a wonderful achievement for this season and a very good platform build on. Lets not forget last season with cesc, nasri, wilshere and clichy we finished 4th in the end. I always thought the worst we could do this year was 6th and the best 4th. The fact we have a great chance to finish 3rd really does show what a remarkable manager wenger is and would be astonishing given the gap between us and spurs was 13 points at one stage . Over and out. Great to see u back for the rest of the season.

  7. a new post and I have writers block! I need GunnerBoss to get on here and throw me a bone!

    Nice one Andy, welcome back. We should be careful what we wish for as we have been on a decent run in your absence!!

    I wonder who is getting the left sided attacking spot this weekend. My money is on Squillaci or Djorou.

  8. Great to have you back ~ if we can win on Sunday I will happily forgive the faux paux at QPR ~ don’t think Mancini will play the ball~o~telli last thing I heard is that he wants to punch him in the face. Aguero is the reall worry for me
    Anyway onwards and upwards or onwards and onwards ~ Come on you gunners still everything to play for, wherever you are I hope you get to enjoy the game!

  9. Looking at the fixtures, on paper Spurs hardest game is away at Sunderland on Sunday. It seems that B52 has finally found his shooting boots, if we are going to stay ahead of them I think we need Sunderlland to get something.
    One slight advantage we have over them is we have 4 at home 3 away, whilst Spurs are 4 away, 3 at home.

    City should be a good game, the past few times they came they just shut up shop, probably one of the most negative sides I have seen. This time they have to go for it

    Here’s my prediction for an Arsenal goal. Szs will boot the ball out right, Sagna will glance a header on to Theo, he will skin Clichy who will end up on sitting on his rear. Theo will put in a low cross which RVP will slot home at the front post. Wonder what odds you could get on that?

  10. All in all, if you’d told me after the 8-2 that we’d be sat in 3rd at this point of the season, i’d have been happy (“,)
    OOH TO BE A GOONER!!!

  11. Oh to be a gooner…

    Welcome back Andy, how’s mark doing? Record breaking comments on the last page….

    Yeah everyone…happy Easter holidays

    Heres to beating the shittey silly…..

    Yeah

  12. A Freshy !!! Wuuuuhuuu!
    No Writers block here Mr.T. I think that despite all the statistical acumen we will get a draw with the wealth of $ity. They don’t seem to play any better under pressure than we do and because of our respective situations. (we’re in better shape for a Champions League spot than they are to win the Prem) The onus will definately be on them.
    My question is will the chinless one play and if so would it be possible for the Verminator to kick him right in his tiny nuts! Now I’m not nearly as wealthy as Man $ity but I would pay good money to see that.
    @ Sir Retsub Rfishbobs OBE
    If TGSTEL has found some effective shooting boots it’s a good bet they aren’t his. I’d check Djemba Ba’s locker I bet he’s missing a pair 😉

  13. @Terry – A bone is all we need.

    U talked about Lord of the Flies and I gave u excerpts from it mixed with a little Arsenal and South Park after u had finally clicked AGREE ….

    I love good humurous comedy, hilarious too…

    Cheers

  16. 3 points for the Chavs, 1 for the dreaded Hotsquirts.
    We need to pick up something tomorrow with Spurs 1 point ahead and both Chelsea and Newcastle only 2 back now.
    The QPR loss has us in a very tight spot indeed. We must respond.
    COYG!

  17. i think arsene can go with the options available for him in the first half to hold it calm since city has lot of players to hit us in the second half rather than first half. A milan formation would clearly indicate that we will get tired in second half. Instead arsene should hold in the first half with benayoun and other best options available to him . During second half arsene can switch to the milan formation with introduction of walcott , Gervinho and Ox. The three fresh speedsters will be too much for any team in the world to take on in the second half added with our home support and also city will keepdown in second half rather than attacking us.

  19. oops the refs did it again, total bias in united’s favour. Ashely Young gets away with a clear offside and Derry is shown a red for the slightest of touches on Young (if it was a touch at all) and not surprisingly united is awarded a penalty. The refs are not compromising now they are literally handing the league title over to united. If it wasn’t for the referees Man u would have had a terrible season, more terrible than arsenal’s. I do not give any credit to Fergurson this season, in my opinion he failed dismally – an embarrassing early exit in the champions league, getting knocked out of the Carling Cup and the FA and the referees decide to come to his rescue by giving him the league. Zikaka zezinja lemisunu yooreferee nxa

  23. Looks like Ferguson always finds the 12th player in referee.

    I am happy with arsene selection today with benayoun starting but don’t know why gervinho is not in the selection

    Rosicky is rocking . Expecting him to get a goal today.

  24. Santos is going to come for gibbs. Let’s see how well this goes, as there is a concern for gibbs with grion injury i guess.

  26. The ox effect is going to be very soon on the pitch as he is warming up. I am not sure arsene will go for benayoun or Walcott for replacement.

  28. Need to hold on for another 3 + extra time to win this and move up tottenham.

  29. Balotteli on second yellow and red . Sorry for Nasri ,Clichy and Kolo Toure.

    4 mins to victory

  31. Get in there Mikel!!!!
    ! minute to go.
    Can we really do it?
    Come On you Gunners!!!!!!!

  32. Victory for Arsenal .

    Ramsey screwed a easy one with his selfish play leaving us only 1-0 as the final score otherwise it would be 2-0

  33. What a goal from arteta and how did Ramsey miss that?
    Anyway good win and the thug got red too. Perfect.

  35. Enjoy the runners up medal Nasri!

    Cracking goal from Arteta. Does that bloke use hairspary? How can he look so immaculate after a game of football?!

  36. Excellent win…amazing how stubborn Wenger really is.

    What keeps him from changing Benayoun for the Ox is what I have already explained, but I could never have anticipated this sort of stubborness.

    Good we won else he would have looked foolish by not starting the Ox on the left as expected. We should have scored more, could have scored more actually.

  37. I wish to start a petition for Gunnerboss to become our next manager. All those in favour say Aye.. All those opposed..You’re just stupid and arrogant and do you even watch matches?

    SIGH…….

    Oh well.. I’m not going to let that stop me from enjoying a great performance and a great win by the Arsenal. Thankfully Song was ok, because that was a legbreaker of a ‘tackle’ by Balotelli.. Someone please tell Stewart Robson to shut up, and Arsenal to fire him.

    Hopefully we can continue to play as well as we did, and get the right results to stay ahead in the race for 3rd.. Wolves up next. No complacency please guys.

  38. @Shard
    Do you get Tony Gale? he’s a lot worse than Robson

    Great performance they were awesome for the 1st 25 minutes. Not to detract from a great win but just a few throw away comments

    Szs great keeper just what we needed but his distribution needs work

    Kos another good performance, but he will miss wolves and wigan

    Song is key to the side has the potential to be a great player, but he does lose concentration occasiionally

    I thought Benayoun had a good game today, but doubt he can fo it every week

    Santos, the guys an enigma, anything can ppen when he has the ball, good or bad. Certainly makes things interesting

    Proud of the lads today

  39. retsub

    Agree with all of those thoughts.

    Robson, from the time that Rosicky was pulled back by Yaya, was saying Arsenal always complain, always looking to get players booked. When Balotelli was kicking lumps out of Song and Sagna, he was still talking about how Arsenal are ‘making the most of it’. I mean, I’m ok with him not favouring Arsenal (although other commentators wear their club loyalties pretty easily), but this was just constant abuse towards Arsenal for no reason, and it isn’t the first time either.

  40. Really sweet win. I’m baffled at how we can come out and beat Man $ity a side packed with quality and look so Zomnambulent against QPR. Oh well I wexpected we would get 3 points out of the two matches just not this way.
    @King Shard and Sir Retsub
    Agreed; Robson sucks for me. He’s always moanin’ about somebody moanin’.
    He seems to know every aspect of football perfectly. How to play,how to coach,how to referee,how to be a linesman. Being old enough to have seen him throughout his playing career I can only suggest his football accumen is a recently aquired facility. My way of dealing with him is to turn off the volume and listen to Dan Roebuck on Arsenal.com.
    Well gents,Wolves on wednesday. Whattaya say we take all 3.
    COYG!!!

  42. Well done gunnars n fans!,not going to bad mouth arsenal until season end,must say man city didn’t look like the side that campaigning 4 n title quest,not sure why richards,toure and silva were not playing from previous matches yaya toure was our biggest threat until that knee came into effect,ballotelli well there not to say but his attitude sucks for all I care and should of been sent off long along with that leg breaker stuts on song,koscienly will be a miss against wolves picking up that yellow.

  43. Leftie, Shard
    i’m guessing you get a different comentary from me, but the Sky sports ‘expert’ is Jamie Redknapp (Terry they dont come better groomed than him) He made a telling remark after the game which I enjoyed very much. When United lose the ball they all work hard to get it back, ie the whole 11. when city lose the ball Balotelli and the chinless twat (he didnt call him that but i knew who he meant just armt interested….. Happy days

  44. A very wonderful win has enlightened my day and going to bed with full of happiness.

    I believed Arsenal game plan to select benayoun is to have Ox substituted when we need pace up front or a goal down during first half to inject the urgency or speed when needed.

    As far as Benayoun i think he had a very good game and his experience really helped a lot. Some of his defensive full stretched tackles to elegant move across the defenders with ease showed his class and commitment. His chemistry with Rosicky is an added plus.

    My praise goes for the midfield trio and the speedy Gibbs.

    Rosicky – Brilliant with his dynamic turns, passes and quick run . He is the heart of everything towards attack nowadays with his creative ability. Only concern is Ramsey or Wilshere is not the right choice to replace him and given his age and past injury records, we really need someone to fill his spot at time he is not available.But Arsene wants Ramsey to take his role which i think needs more technical ability.

    Arteta – Holding the midfield intact ,supporting Rosicky upfront and our pivot in guiding the team towards attack or defense. His odd long range shots gives a different form of attack which we have seen these days. He is a really a match winner when someone parks a bus infront of goal and against strong defensive teams.Wilshere will be the right choice to substitute when he gets fit .Also Ramsey can get better with experience in this role.

    Song – Defending the role with perfection and is mastering a lofted way of attack and killer pass to give another dimesion to our attack.Coequlin/Frimpong will do but needs experience to fill his boots.

    The Rosicky/Arteta/Song trio operates understanding their roles without crossing their borders and with absolute balance along with support from Gibbs/Santos and Sagna in the flanks is really the secret key for us in winning games .The midfield balance is really helping us to open up and makes it easy for the attacking players and defensive players.

    Whenever there is a change in midfield , the balance is disturbed and it becomes hard in every front.This can be inferred towards the number of shots on target from the opponent teams when midfield balance is achieved.

    Let’s hope Arsene continues the balance of the team and the winning formula continued to next season.

  45. @Shard – Have u seen voley_gun44? Are u not considering him for manager?

    I hope u have no ill feelings towards me cos I still don’t get why you swing at me? I said “he would’ve looked foolish if we lost”. Is this not the truth? I don’t like how u put in word for me like that. I’ve let it go already.

    Cheers

  46. Down in the Arse end of the arse end of the world we get both sky and ESPN commentators. Today’s game we had Robson. And yeah his anti arsenal nit picking is really grating. Sometimes I think he is Gunnerboss! Or Kel! I prefer Gale who seems balanced in comparison. Whenever I read the uk websites nearly everyone says how good Gary Neville is but we never seem to have him on our coverage. At halftime we have Bozza (mark bosnich) who is pretty funny but not very analytical.
    Anyway, back to the match. Great performance and result after the QPR game. What a shambles $ity are though. $500 million plus and they threw it away.
    As soon as Ramsey missed that sitter I felt sorry for him knowing the abuse that was heading his way. Hard to see beyond Arteta as MoM in my opinion. Not just for the goal but he is just so calm in the middle and frees up Song to.go forward.
    I doubt that Rvp Torres (4 games now) will be buying either Ramsay or TV a beer tonight though!
    Only negatives are the injury to Gibbs and Koscielny’s ban. Two forced changes at the back never a good thing.

  47. @The Earl of Terry
    ILike Ramsey very much and hope for continued improvement from him.
    But without trying to sound too Gunnerboss one sure way to avoid some of the abuse is to put those sitters away. The last couple he’s missed haven’t cost us any points but it’s only a matter of time.
    I look for him being back in the side this mid-week against Wolves. More composure and concentration is needed. The same may be said for the sometimes too scintillating Santos.
    Still, you have to admit all in all a very satisfying win.

  48. The Wolves game worries me. We have the current form side against A rudderless Wolves, probably the worst side in the prem. If it was a boxing match they’d stop the fight. But we’ve all seen it before. But anyway back into positive mode.

    I am guessing as well as the enforced changes, Wenger will rotate the squad, not too much I hope

    As I watched City get demolished for the 1st 25 minutes a terrible thought crossed my mind. If we had dropped RVP Torres and had an old English powerhouse of a centre forward attacking all those crosses I wonder how many goals we would have got? Will wash my mouth out with soap

    Wonder how many City fans realise Etihad is Arabic for ‘United’

  49. @Gunerboss is very right Wenger was going to look foolish in his stubbornness gain. He almost fucked up the game for a draw.Realistically there were no shots to their goal and until that Arleta screamer we looked headless with no vision. Why Man city didn’t punish us i don’t know . The game could have gone either way. Why on earth must Ramsey start as a winger. This shows you Wengers stupidity and as along as he continues to tinker i have no respect for him if we had opportunity to change. Our lovely captain is in goal drought but Ramsey couldn’t play for him the simplest of passes to score. The look on Persie’s face tells it all. He is not fit to playin a top four team but Wengers sturbonness is relentless. We should have killed off City earlier had we made the right substitutions earlier. Doe any one have any idea why Gervinho is benched. He is one of our best players and we need his speed on the flanks other Ramsey.

  50. G’day Senor Costa Izquierda
    I hope so about Ramsay. I think he is a real trier – he is not a lazy sod like some others we have had in the squad lately. You could tell from his expression after that miss how bad he felt. My point was that TV was responsible for two equally glaring fuck ups yet no one is on his case (and I am not suggesting they should be), but Ramsay comes on for fifteen minutes, carves out a chance for himself and misses and he cops a heap of abuse.

    Had a lazy day today at home with the kiddies running amok in the yard so could sit down and watch the game over again in relative peace. Am becoming a big fan of Arteta and the midfield with him, Rosicky and Song seems to tick, with each one complementing each other. I was also struck by just how hard Rosicky works defensively, scampering back and harrying the player with the ball to win back possession. You think he has drifted out of the game because he is not dribbling past players and attacking all the time but his workrate was fantastic.

    I am worried that I am slipping back into some weird feeling of optimism for next season. Kel or someone please set me straight!!! Insert smiley icon here.

  51. @Delano

    Why City didn’t punish us? hmmm let me think

    1 They weren’t good enough

    2 Our team played them off the park

    3 Stupid stubborn Wenger is a far better manager than Mancini. Can you see Wenger putting up with a clown like Balotelli?

    4 Still on Wenger, the Chinless Twat was a far better player at Arsenal than he has been at City. I could list many of similar ilk, Hleb, Flamini etc etc. Do you think its possible this may have something to do with the Stupid stubborn one bringing out the best in them?

    5 three quarters of your post is aimed at Ramsey, he was only on the pitch for 10 0 15 minutes

    6 Is Gervinho really one of our better players? Not yet un my opinion.

    At the end of the day a great win, once again in my opinion this is because Arsenal are a team, sure not the finished artricle, but heading in the right direction. City however are not a team and when you consider the invetsment from Abu Dhabi they are a huge failure.

  56. Hello fellow gunners!
    What a performance yesterday, ruthless, single minded execution from a team that were determined and believed in what they were doing.
    Sagna-beast
    Song- beast
    Arteta- beast
    Rosicky- irrepressible, personally its been the highlight of the season for me to see him resurface, his ability was never in question but off field tragedy obviously took its toll for a long time but his confidence is now sky high and with a new contract under his belt the kid is rollin back the years we didnt get go see him at his best.
    Verm and Kos are a serious partnership now, aerially or across the ground they compete and pressurise, really pleasing to watch.
    Listen, we wanted that win more yesterday, Nasri and Clichy were
    exposed for what they are, fairweather players, no stomach for the fight.
    If there is one complaint I have, Shard you wont like this, and its something Iv said before, its that I still miss the togetherness and fight that we used to have, I dont want to see a player sent off or a melee but if I was on a pitch where a thug like Ballotelli did that to Song I dont think ould have played out the way it did yesterday…people talk bout Utd gettin decisions, and they do, but if that same instance occured vs a utd side u can be sure there would have been a reaction that induced a red from the ref, what Im saying might sound strange but anyone whos played will recognise what it is…we had it with Vieira Keown Petit etc etc…us vs everyone mentality where punks like ballotelli or jason robinson didnt dare pull that shit…maybe it will come with experience but when it does, thats when youll know were ready to contend again.
    PS Spurs made my day today.

  57. Hola you dudes,
    Hots***s go down at home today. Perhaps the Cottagers might do the same to Chelsea. That would be capital.
    @ Terry I don’t think Wenger is stupid however, being stubborn is a two-sided blade and it has more than a few times cut deeply in our direction.
    Football like all sports is a game of adjustments. Sometimes that means changing things or doing something you hadn’t originally planned on. When this flexibilty is needed Arsene does not possess it. That can hardly be called a character asset.

  58. @Shambo

    Interesting you think I won’t like that. It’s funny that you criticise them for not doing just what Robson accused Arsenal of doing 🙂 Hmmm.. I don’t know.. I don’t think that is why United get decisions in their favour, and my feeling on it is that the referees come down harder on us for doing the same things as everyone else. ARe we too ‘nice’? Maybe, but the referees are shit, and they prove it every week almost. No more blatant example than this week. Including today. Norwich were denied 3 penalties against Spurs today. They still won, so it won’t be made an issue of, but my god, what are the referees doing? So, I wouldnt trust them. When we do react, we get red cards. A la Gervinho against Barton, who only got a yellow. In this case, the referee didn’t even call a foul. Do you think he would have been understanding towards Arsenal if we got in Balotelli’s face? Or the referee’s? At this point of time, I would rather we ‘got on with it’. If we react, we are deemed soft as well. “Arsenal don’t like it up ’em” Sound familiar? There’s no ‘winning’ situation here.

    So after all that wishy washy, I don’t really disagree with you, but I think our (lack of) reacting is down to us having learned that we will get no sympathetic ear from the referee and in fact are likely to be punished for it.

  59. Interesting debate, not sure i go either way on this one, but from a historical perspective we did go through a period a few years back when we were having players sent off every week. . My personal bugbear is the ‘take one for the team yellow card’ it seems nowadays you are entitrled to one cynical foul to break up a promising attack. you see players comitting cynical fouls and walking up to the ref saying book me thats my cynical foul i am allowed. its just dan cheating as far as i am concerned

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