Everybody wanted action. Everybody wanted changes. Fresh faces to get excited about, to plug the gaping holes in a squad that looked nowhere near challenging for the title. But surely NOBODY expected this: From left to right we’ve got André Santos, a stereotypically attacking Brazilian left-back signed from Fenerbahce; Mikel Arteta, an experienced, reliable Spanish […]
Tag: arsene wenger
Sunday the 28th of August, 2011. The day when the Arsenal Football Club, our club, were handed their heaviest defeat in Premier League history, conceding eight goals and slumping to 17th on the table. It was painful. It was embarrassing. It was surreal. A six-goal loss to a team we aim to compete with each […]
The following is a guest post from Gareth McKnight of Soccerlens.com. The next two weeks may very well make or break Arsenal’s season, as the ongoing transfer sagas of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are potentially set to be solved, and the current squad’s abilities to be assessed on the upcoming pre-season tour to Asia. […]
Long-time readers of this blog will know that I am not a person who regards winning as the be-all-and-end-all of football. There are so elements to football that draw people in: the entertainment, the aesthetic beauty, the presence of team dynamics, the narratives, the tactics, the learning of right and wrong, the representation of culture. […]
Defending Emmanuel Eboué I said in my wrap-up of the game that “Emmanuel Eboué dug deep into our bag of tricks and found yet another creative way to prevent us from winning”. I now wish to alter that statement. Yes, we found another creative way to prevent us from winning the match. But it was […]
Arsene Wenger speaking after yesterday’s game: “He has a dislocated shoulder. His season is over.” Spread the (little bit of) Arsenal love (that’s still around) by leaving a comment.
This is not a proper match report — I am still in Sweden for another two days and things will get back to normal for the Manchester City game on Wednesday — but a quick look at the things that stood out to me in our comfortable win over Birmingham. Firstly, the squad rotation. Arsene […]
In the aftermath of our 1-0 defeat to Manchester United Pete Triplow from The Beautiful Groan (a hugely underrated and relatively unknown Arsenal blog) made a very astute observation: “It is a popular myth that you have to be perfect to win the league. You constantly hear how ‘Arsenal can’t win the league without a […]
With Christmas fast approaching and Arsenal sitting atop the Premier League (woo!!) I have decided to slash prices in The AFCB Shop. Think of it as a huge thank-you to everybody who has read, commented and generally participated in the Arsenal FC Blog for 2010. Every single shirt is now on sale for the brilliant […]
I realise this is a delayed comment on the Newcastle game — heck, I haven’t updated the blog since Thursday! — but my brother has been in town and it has been very difficult to get anything done. Given that it is now Tuesday it is tempting to mark the loss to Newcastle off and […]