I’ll have a match preview of the Arsenal vs Bolton game later today, but I just thought I’d quickly bring your attention to something that might have flown under the radar.
The Carling Cup semi-final first leg between Manchester United and Manchester City has been postponed due to bad weather – and it’s good news for Arsenal.
The postponement means the home and away ties have been put back until the 19th and 27th of January, giving United just four days to recover from the second leg before playing us at The Emirate on the 31st.
While Arsenal also have to play Aston Villa on the 27th, the possibility that United may be involved in a gruelling second leg that could involve extra-time and penalties is certainly an advantage to our boys.
Of course, the flipside is that United cruise through or win the second-leg in a confidence-boosting manner but even so, I’d much rather play Alex Ferguson’s team under those circumstances than with them having a free week to prepare.
Thoughts?
Have your say on the postponement of the Manchester derby Carling Cup tie by leaving a comment.
well spotted man! With any luck the Mancs will knock 7 shades out of each other!
Manu will play a second string for these games anyway.
While it won’t bring the much appreciated fatigue to our match with United, I wouldn’t mind seeing Citeh knock out United in the first match like Leeds did. Being knocked out of yet another competition would surely be at least as damaging to their spirit as a knock down-drag out fist fight in the second leg of their tie.
There is a chance our villa game could be postponed pending the date that is set for their own semi final against blackburn…..according to Blackburn’s official website (www.rovers.co.uk) the 1st leg could b on jan 14 (thurs) leaving the 2nd leg on Jan 20 (wed)….
@ carlos – Hmm, I don’t know about that. The HATE City and if the Blues can get a good result at home Fergie’s pride might take over.
Yeah I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference… The title is more important to fergie and because things are so tight it’s going to be a case of key players being rested. Still, better then a kick in the pants!
Hope this will favour us because if not there is no need to cheer this postponement. Gunners all through.
@ Goonzilla – Wouldn’t that still leave our game with them on the 27th though? I’m confused : ?
@Andrew – There is a chance villa’s 1st leg could move to jan 20 and their 2nd leg to Jan 26, hence our game with them on jan 27 being postponed…..but for now we still dont have any confirmed dates for Villa’s Carling cup tie….should know more by tomorrow or next
iv heard wev signed wellington da silva,who wont arrive til next season, and eden hazard…..can any1 confirm,the source was adamant and claimed benzema loan deal is being discussed
@ shambo – The Wellington bit is true, but the Hazard stuff is just rumours. Wellington’s quite young though, so I wouldn’t expect much impact on the first team just yet.
wouldnt have thought of that myself, but all seems to make sense. however villa will also be a very tough fixture.
yeah was wondering andy,i dont see hazard as a player for us right now,great talent tho….iv heard wellingtons ineligible to join us til his 18th birthday later this year anyway…..whispers about carlton cole and danielle de rossi aswel so its hard to find the truth amonst the bull
It doesn’t matter Arsenal-United is Arsenal-United regardless of what happened before. It’s going to be a cracker.
Andy, for some reason I can’t subscribe to this blog. The page never loads for me after I put in my name and email. I had no problem subscribing to Football Nomad though… not sure if it’s just me.
is it true that merida has signed with atletico for the end of the season? why the hell would he want to leave us.
Sure it seem arroagnces and Greed ( United & Chelski) are being punished for it at last. Also Wenger should buy at least two players, My choice would be either Christian Zapata, Inler, Dzeko or Instead of Inler daniel de Rossi. He has to buy early and bring them in to play these key games in case something happened to our first team regurlars.
@ C-Bass – Hmm. I’m not sure. I tested it just then and it worked.
Football Nomad and Arsenal FC Blog use different programs to manage subscriptions (Aweber and Feedburner respectively) so I wonder if that is a problem.
You could always subscribe via RSS?
@ americanarsenal – It appears to be true.
I can think of many reasons – there’s a long list of midfielders ahead of him and he probably feels he is ready to start playing. Madrid are a big club and he’ll feel more at home, etc. etc.
Will confirm when this is official though.
about merida,
athlethico are his boyhood heros and we supposedly get a compensation package of around 2m so goodluck to him….you just know hes gonna become a great player tho,we got so lucky wit cesc with how he adapted and fell in love with the club…maybe it was too much to ask for a repeat
I would like to see Veira back at Emirates maybe just for sentimental value. I hate the idea of him going to Man City.
@ Andrew. Merida has impressed me and he is only 19. I just think that if he stayed on for a few more years he might get some good playing time. Fabregas certainly likes him, which I saw during the Liverpool Carling Cup match
but I can see why he would want to go back to spain, and to a club where he could have better playing time opportunities
The game for Wednesday night is not looking good.
The snow has arrived in London…
damn, i want that game to be played and won by arsenal so they can finally be level on games with man u and chelsea. plus they will officially be above Man U and one point below chelsea
@ andrew , too bad d snow are heading 2 london, just hope d snow is not too bad 2 destroy d game.
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Sent on a phone using T9space.com
news fom The Sun reports that arsenal are going to launch a 9mil bid for carton cole of west ham ………dont know whether it is confirm or not……if it happens i think it will be a good signing since he also can play in the champ league
Ja its a pity about Merida. He is gonna be a great player
Don’t believe the Benzema rumours, not going to happen..and why are we signing Carlton Cole whoes injured and Bendtner coming back in less than 2 weeks time, I hope the boss don’t make a mistake in signing Cole.
I never understand what time you boys get on this site. Its just before 8am in essex but it looks like some people have been at it for ages. Ive not long got out of bed. Shambo, Carlton Cole will not happen in this transfer window because Zola has had strong words with the board about lack of fire power. Carlton could b the diff between staying up and going down. You dont mean Micky Hazard do you, Benzema will be your best bet.
Ianinja, sorry mate Carlton is better than Bendtner. Not that he is going.
sorry but Carlton is just not the person we need … another injury prone striker n just because hes had a good run of games this season doesn mean hes any good …. well apart from the ‘ usual suspects ‘ dzeko , gignac etc even if we dont sign someone i think bendtner is good enough to play central striker …. we cant say hes no good now because everytime hes played out of position on the right when a player with his height should be played in the center …. if hes given a regular run of games he will get better … the signin we need is a good backup for our CD cause if one of them get injured i really dont wanna see Sylvester playin thr
as for the article … being a carling cup game i dont see fergie playin a full strength squad so it wudn make much of a diff …. but that said i guess carling cup is their only realistic chance of silverware this season … Suckers
fergus-scum will play the best he has available against Man shitty. After the last leg he said he’d ‘stick with the kids’ or some such crap but he always says that, then bottles out when the game comes, maybe leaving one or two younger ones in to try and make it look good. After they got their asses kicked by Leeds he said ‘he’d make big changes for the man shitty game’ – in other words – he realised it was a chance to renege on his promise while using some excuse to try and save face.
Man shitty will field their first team – they’re desperate to win ANYTHING. So does fergus-scum have the guts to put out a team of kids and reserves against man shitty’s first team? Does he bollocks. They’d be crucified. Expect to see Rooney, Berbacrap, Valencia, Bryan Giggs and every main player he has available. All good news for us, as Andrew points out, as hopefully, man shitty will kick the crap out of them – then they go to us.
One of the reasons Ramsey chose to come to Arsenal was because AW promised he’d get good first team action – good choice Aaron. He’d still be paying once or twice a season at any of the other big clubs.
@billi – are you teasing me with those smiley face things?? I want the real thing – not those :} things!! You had loads of them! Awww c’mon guys, tell me how I get them. Waaaaaaaahhh!!
Fair game Ice, to each his own, I hope Cole stays at West Ham. Bendtner will be a big player just watch the world cup. The only english striker who could play with Arsenal is Defoe and that is like opening the 7th gate of hell.
Test Test :shout
hi gees
If you would have asked me whether Carlton Cole was good enough for Arsenal 18 months ago I probably would have pissed my Superman pants with laughter.
A player who began his career at Chelsea, spent loan spells at Wolves, Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa before finally signing for West Ham (confused yet?) on a permanent deal. Does this sound like a player who is Arsenal material?
Probably not.
Nowadays I have to say that my opinion on Cole has completely changed. If you would ask me whether Carlton Cole was good enough for Arsenal at this moment I wouldn’t piss my Superman pants with laughter anymore. I would say yes. Why, yes he is.
Carlton Cole has been transformed from the player he was early in his career. The credit for that must go to West Ham and Gianfranco Zola. They have given him the belief to become the force he is today in the Premiership.
An aerial threat, strong, imposing and a handful for any defence, not to mention that he can play as a lone striker, Cole would be ideal for Arsenal. And I think that West Ham, rather reluctantly, would accept an offer below their real valuation of him because of their financial difficulties.
There is also the added bonus that Cole would be available for selection in the Champions League and FA Cup. Not to mention that Cole is very much in mind for Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad. The England man will be very keen to impress Capello in the build up to South Africa 2010.
A move to us from West Ham wouldn’t unsettle Cole either due to the fact that both clubs are based in London.
My only gripe with Carlton is that in the past he hasn’t scored enough goals. Well, he has even improved that aspect of his attributes in recent times scoring 10 times in 27 Premiership appearances last season whilst netting a very impressive 7 in 13 games this campaign.
Well, Adebayor scored many goals for Arsenal so if he can, so can Carlton Cole!
Of all the rumours flying around about who we will sign, and Wenger openly admitting that he wants a striker, I see Cole as a very realistic contender. He is definitely good enough for Arsenal.
hello all,
yeah ice i dont see cole being allowed to leave,and 9m wouldnt be enough,and hes injured….and dare i say it hes english….id be shocked if the boss was looking at him this window….also am i right in saying that theo is the only english player that arsene has forked out on??i know we got sol but that was a free….kinda strange in 12 seasons we bought one english player for an english league,more likely that it may be gignac altho iv no idea wot he can offer bar theres a pie eating contest
It’s been snowing here (south London) most of today, but I’ve just heard that a large snowfall is expected late this afternoon. Our kids are even being sent home from school early. Tonight’s match is looking increasingly likely to be postponed.
@shambogunner – Francis Jeffers. Plus of course Ramsey is British, if not English. AW says English players are always over priced, and he’s right of course. But I think Carlton Cole would be worth having for, say, 10 mil. – if it helps us win something this season. I reckon he fits the bill. Unfortunately he’s also bleedin’ injured right now.
you have all read this speculation from but but see what Wikipedia is saying,funny! That onn 5th January, 2009,
Lacina Traoré was signed by Arsenal FC, in a deal believed to be worth around €5m. True or not? below is the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traore_Lacina
ofcourse as i write this now,no confirmation from the official arsenal website or any other site.
@nonny,
oh yeah,i wonder how i cuda forgot jeffers….hmmmmmm. i know he views them as overpriced but then again he is too rigid when it comes to his own assessment of a players valuation,like refusing the extra million for chamakh and barely getting arsha last year…….i wonder do utd think rooney and ferdinand are worth it,or pool fans about torres???we only need a hungry frontman (no not pie man gignac) and maybe a CM as backup for the majestic song,this is why,with our current comfortable financial positiion, i feel we should splash out on proven quality,lets say dzeko,pay the 24mil and then id happily see us remain inactive in the transfer market for the next 3 years…after all wev tied down all but gallas to longer contracts and the likes of nic,vela,traore,djourou,fabianski,deni,etc are all pushing for 1st team spots
almunia,fab,mannone
sagna,eboue,verm,gallas,djourou,bartley,traore,cliche,gibbs
cesc,song,arsha,nasri,deni,diaby,theo,ramsey,wilshere,rosicky,vela,jay emmanuel,eastmond,INLER
RvP,DZEKO,eduardo,nic 52,sanchez watt/luke freeman
imagine that squad……all it takes is 40M investment and wed be good for years..it doesnt hav to be those 2 players but its that quality that wud make us a serious outfit
by the way the groundsmen and volunteers are workin hard to make the outside of the ground safe and accessible and the club are confident of the game going ahead…..wooohoooo
arsenal v bolton game is off.
Gunners will overcome Man United to grab the second position if they win this match. The title race is closely with the sight and Arsenal should put every focus in Premiership.
The record shows that Arsenal is having 77.8% home wins in Asian Handicap betting. I will go for Arsenal even if the handicap is high.
AFC have announced that due to adverse weather conditions in the Highbury area tonight’s match against Bolton Wanderers has been postponed.
A new date will be announced in due course.
goddamn snow now i cant even go 5aside
Damn snow!
Jim, r u Carlton’s agent, im sure even he couldn’t do as good a job of hyping him up as you have done. You have probably added 2 more zeros to his transfer value. Hopefully it will put Wenger off. Laninja, the only reason Carlton gets injured is because he is over played as a loan striker, just like Parker was in the midfield. Unfortunately we have no replacements. If you get him which i doubt, he will be better than Ade who i rated, and more prolific than Bentdner, who is slightly gun shy infront of goal. Shambo how much did Arsene pay for that fox in the box……..whats his name…..oh yeh, Franny Jeffers. Wasn’t e english! Talking about Theo, do you think he will come through, i keep saying it till im blue in the face…he needs to play down the middle. Whats Arsene waiting for.
Atglance, why is it that people are beginning to use my ‘bombing tag’ Ice. ‘Graffiti from the eighties. See icebaba, now Lacina Ice cold Traore. Why cant people more original and creative.
Another thing, I cant understand why the game is being called off. I use the A406 heading north every day from the a13 to the turnoff at the m11, not that means anything to all, and the roads were fine. Does that mean from now on when ever there is a snow fall that all games will be cancelled. Whats the point in investing all that money on under soil heating, when the fucking game gets called off because of snow on the pavement or sidewalk for you people in the states. Maybe all you so called fans up north of london should get your spades out and do some work. Im not being racist here, we never work in the cold!!!!!!!!
wel ice i think jeffers cost us 12.5m……wot a travesty.as for theo he just hasnt progressed and i dont see wot puttin him in the middle will achieve at the mo,to me hes not a great hold up or link up player and his only attribute thru the middle would be his pace behind defs which is hard to execute and any team with sense wud sit their back for on the 16yard box and negate him,we need to see big things from him this year but i cant see him flyin to south africa bar its on his hols
Shambo, arnt you to old to be balling…..joke mate. What type of a player are you. Target meat and pie man or slick and slippery as a snake on the wing. Whats your goal to game ratio.
I would like to see Theo up top because of the number of creative players you have. How many balls would Fabs lay on for him 20 yards outside of the box. Or just imagine Diaaaaaby running at the defense and making all that space for Theo to run into. Surely he would get at least 5 chances during a game and score at leas 1 or 2. Cant you see what im saying….
@Andy how do i get to see the earlier comments, i haven’t read them all yet, where have they all gone.
AC Milan v Geona live on ESPN kick off 19:45. A good chance for you Becks fans out there to see how passed it he really is. Better than nothing with all that snow.
hey ice im only 26 dude!!!i play behind the front two,up top or in the middle……goals to games wasnt impressive last season id say 8 in 22 games…the gaelic football clashes with the soccer season head on so your split most the time,more often the gaelic demands you give them priority,am not gonna list my attributes for the obvious reason of sounding like an arrogant twat….but il tell you this much theres gonna be some poundage shed come pre-season or il be as big as gignac!!!!!or robinho since hes come back,that dudes discovered english food since hes been injured,he looks like one of those cabbage patch kids……….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
@Hey Nonny Mouse , are you teasing me? or do I misunderstand you? you have to tape this :} thing into the input box, and when you post it it will be replaced by the smilie, so try just this: type : and ), then post your comment and afterwards you will see the happy smilie at the place of colon rightparenthesis 🙂
and so it was meant with all my : wink : things, but without the space character between the characters 😎 ❓
test :wink
Pls sum1 correct me if i am wrong,didn’t pat say that he woud return 2 epl but only play 4 arsenal
@andy, news just in from Talk Sport radio that Patrick V has just signed 18 month contract with Man City. Do you think he can last that long, ive been watching him ESPN and he looks in good shape. Im off to work.
listen fellas his first choice wuda been us but the manager has once again dragged his feet and missed a trick…..i mean can any1 say he cudnt cover for song for the month and then play a bit part for the remainder of the season if hes not up to it????now we hav to watch one of our greatest play for them wankers…..typical of the manager really….deni,as good as he has become,does not offer the same energy or relentlessness as song and he wont provide the same protection during the ACN,so for AW to let a player hes knows is capable of repacing song go for peanuts to an opponent,who might i add already have the impressive barry and de jong, indicates we wont be looking at a DM.
hugely dissapointing and worrying with the fixture list ahead of us,we really needed song and i genuinely believe deni is not so good in this role and if he gets a recurrance of his back injury who hav we got???dont tel me nasri or diaby
IF you don’t like Bendtner you ARE NOT a “true” Arsenal fan. If you don’t like Bendtner you are probably the fan who once hated Song, Denilson, Ade (before he hit 30 goals), Diaby, Ramsey and our other underrated players. Only 12 months ago Alex Song was talked of as the worst Arsenal player in the history of the club. Today, he is probably the first name on the team sheet even ahead of Cesc. He is that important to us. Bendtner is a freaking 21-22 year old striker who scored 15 goals for us last season (Tevez scored 15 and Berba scored 14 during the same period). To say that this player is crap and shouldn’t be given a chance is to repeat the same mistakes you made when you wrote off Song, Diaby, Denilson and the likes who are all responsible for our current position in the table ( possibly 1 point off Chelsea). Stop jumping on the hate-wagon and be a supporter because Bendtner will (I have no doubt) be a massive player for us. He has the physical attributes and technique not to mention work ethic that will make him a special player. He has to work on his finishing but is at the right place to do so.
Here Here jim well put. Im with u there!!!!!!!!!!!
errr…who hates Bendtner?..have some koolaid guys cheers 😛
@laninja you were nearly right you missed the : after the wink, then it would have been replaced with 😉
Test 😉 :shout:
Thanks Billy…hehe wheres nonny 😛
England have hung on all day to draw another test match with South Africa. There should be a change to test rules where if you dont beat the other teams score you cant just block and hang around all day. What a waste of time.
Jim, who is that directed at, name names mate. I myself have always rated Song, Ade and my man Diaby. Den is a good player but he is not physically strong enough to reach the level that is required of him. Thats Wenger’s fault to demand it off him. When Eboue was going through a rough spell because of the boo boys, i knew he would come through because i could see that something in him. Maybe its the eye of the tiger. Bendtner is missing that something, Im not saying he wont get it …..but not quite at the moment. He is still young though. If and when Jay Emman Thomas gets his chance i hope the boo boys give him time.
It look as if Wenger is going to be getting the cheque abook out according to Talk Sport Radio 1089 mw, get on it now gooners. City will be splashing the cash too.
So now that the transfer window is open and West Ham striker Carlton Cole is being talked about as a potential signing for Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United, Hammers fans must be browning through their trousers when they see the official West Ham calendar.
The transfer window closes on Monday 1 February and West Ham’s Mr February is……Carlton Cole. He’s as good as sold! He’ll probably sign a deal on that very first day of February, leading to mass calendar violence up Essex!
Might that signing be for the Arsenal? Should it be? I can’t say I am hugely taken with Cole but he is a tall young hungry striker and, as he hopes to play for England at this summer’s World Cup, Cole would at least be very much ‘up for it’ (© Arsene Wenger) for the rest of the season.
Carlton Cole is fast, he can score goals with either foot, from close-range or long range and I believe he gets the odd headed goal. He’s already in the Premier League, he already speaks English and he’s already in London so he wouldn’t even need to move house. That ain’t a bad combination. All Cole’s got to do is sign for the Arsenal and change his Sat Nav for training.
Robin van Persie is Mr January on the 2010 official Arsenal calendar and it’s his bad injury which puts us in the market to sign a striker, such as Cole, during the transfer window. So who’s our Mr February? Cesc Fabregas. Well that’s him injured or sold then.
walter cole is injured man i dont think wel go 4 him this window,chamakh not moving,gignac too fat,i think the boss cud renew his interest in romas vucinic after tonis arrival
Erm… : ),:
um.. :),
@billi!!! Made it, Ma. Top of the world! :),
Argh, no Veira!
Sorry everyone – I’m a computer moron just trying to figure out how to get smiley faces in the post. 🙂
How many ex-Arsenal in Man Shitty now?? It’s ridiculous. Adebeywhore, Kolo, Sylvinho, Viera, Stuart Taylor, even Wright-Phillips has got a connection. They’ve even got a player called Gunnar!! (ha ha). Are they trying to build a new Jerusalem? Personally I don’t mind them having our old boys. The Paddy thing’s a bit painful but you know…he’s past it now. I reckon he’ll break down after a couple of games back in the Prem, which is probably why Arsene didn’t go for him. What’s the point of buying a defensive cover who’s gonna get injured? We need someone stronger than that to fill in for Song.
@ Hey Nonny – Too bad they’re all past it.
Hi, here’s a link I thought everybody would be interested in. Its an interview done by Skysports with Ivan Gazidis, our Chief Executive. He touches upon how we operate as a club in terms of finance, ownership, transfer policies etc.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5841381,00.html
Its worthwhile watching waiting for the Everton game.
hey dudes latest link to us is mauro zarate of lazio,wer supposed to be offering 30m,personally i dont believe it,but does any1 know if hes got the x factor
Looks like Ade has been shot at by machine gun in Angola. Gunmen have attacked the bus killing the driver and injuring 4-5 players, no confirmation who. Competition in fear of collapse before it’s even started. Can any of our African friends elaborate.
Shambo when you say 30m, do you mean Rupees or sterling and what that in Euros
Togo soccer team’s driver killed in gun attack.
The Angolan driver was killed on the spot and the wounded were taken to local hospital. The wounded included goal keeper Obilale Kossi and defender Serge Akakpo. It is said that several players are in a bad state. Dossevi, who plays for french club Nantes said, ‘We were machined-gunned like dogs.’ We spent 20 minutes under the seat of the bus. The gun attack took place in a region of Angola where a separatist group has waged a three decade war against the government.
Rhys Murphy playing career is in doubt after the injury prone striker sustaind a serious ankle injury in training with loan club Brentford. The early prognosis is that he will be out for six month, meaning his season is over. And just in….. Wenger says he is not signing Victor Moses of Palace and Carlton Cole of the great ammers team but when asked about S. ‘Camp’bell he was more forthcoming and refused to disount the possibiity of him being brought in until the end of next season. He also would not confirm that Phillipe Senders would be leaving either. Unfortunately the chq book still remains dry. More news later.
Arene Wenger has continued his cat and mouse game with me again this evening when he was continually pressed to answer the question’ Are u going to make a big name signing this month.’ He did say that he would be prepared to make a big name than purchase one at such inflated prices. He went on to say to me ‘For me a big name is a player who makes great performances.’ With the rate that Wenger is denying interest in any other players that are linked with Arsenal, i would have to take tonights statement to confirm my new theory that he is unlikely to buy anyone. More news later.
looks like bendtner came through that fitness test ok today and should be playing again in 2 weeks,even when he,s fit we cant afford to go through the remainder of the season with just b52 so time to dust off the cheque book wenger, were into the 2nd week of january and still no transfer activity….get a move on wenger!! this is the best oppourtunity in years to win the league so dont waste it!
Guys, good news! Arsenal will agree to spend 9mil for West Ham superstar Carlton Cole! Is this latest or i’m so slow…