Up the Arse! Goons thread. :)

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DB10

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Thread starter #1,855
Hafnarfjordur or BATE Borisov vs. Zaglebie or Steaua Bucharesti
Tampere United or Levski Sofia vs. Astana or Rosenborg
Spartak Moscow vs. Celtic
Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb vs. Werder Bremen
Ventspils or Red Bull Salzburg vs. Pyunik or Shakhtar Donetsk
Zilina or Slavia Prague vs. Ajax
Debrecen or Elfsborg vs. Valencia
Racing Genk or Sarajevo vs. Dynamo Kyiv
Fenerbahce vs. Anderlecht
Crvena Zvezda or Levadia vs. Rangers or Zeta
Toulouse vs. Liverpool
Kobenhavn or Beitar Jerusalem vs. Benfica
Dinamo Bucharesti vs. Lazio
Sparta Prague vs. ARSENAL
Zurich vs. Besiktas JK or Sheriff Tiraspol
AEK vs. Sevilla

Sparta Prague again! :mad:
 

lion_gooner

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As a former Feyenoord player, Robin van Persie won't win any popularity contests at the Amsterdam Arena this week. But while Arsenal's in-form forward is unlikely to seduce the Ajax fans, he is admired by the Ajax players.

Take Wesley Sneijder. He and Van Persie are expected to cross paths when Arsenal face Ajax in the final match of the Amsterdam Tournament on Saturday. Since they last faced each other, in a Champions League tie at Highbury in December 2005, both men have made their mark on the international stage.

As Dutch team-mates, Sneijder and Van Persie harbour a deep respect for each other. So it was no surprise that there was something of a 'love-in' when both players faced the media at the pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday night.

Sneijder hailed Van Persie as "one of the best players at Arsenal" and his compatriot was quick to repay the compliment.

"I like Wesley as a person and even more as a player," said Van Persie. "I've been playing for the national team for two years now and he has been playing for the national team a bit longer, and I always like to play alongside him.

"He is always looking forward, he's always trying to make things happen. He is like an Arsenal player. Arsenal players always look forward and want to make the game.

"Wesley is a player like that and I think he made the right decision to stay one more year [at Ajax] and get everything out of it. He can achieve nice things and it is good for Ajax too to have him."
 

lion_gooner

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Though it should be taken with a pinch of salt, as anyone can edit entries, Lassana Diarra's profile on Wikipedia has him currently listed as an Arsenal player, with a medical scheduled on Sunday August 5th.

This transfer has been, and remains, hearsay at this point in time. However, if it actually happens it will be yet another remarkable coup by Wenger, providing sorely needed cover for Gilberto in the holding role, at a fraction of the market price.
 

giantroo

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Adebayor set to miss Premiership opener

Arsenal v Fulham

Premier League

Emirates Stadium

Sun, Aug 12, 2007, 12pm





By Richard Clarke
Emmanuel Adebayor is set to miss the start of the Premiership season because of a groin problem.

The Arsenal striker picked up the injury at the Club’s Austrian training camp and it has meant his pre-season action has been restricted to just 69 minutes against Genclerbirligi on July 19.

The 23-year-old is scheduled to return to training next week but he is highly unlikely to be in the squad for the big kick-off against Fulham on Sunday, August 12.

“Adebayor has a groin problem,” said Arsène Wenger after Thursday night’s win over Lazio. “He missed the Emirates Cup and will miss the Ajax Tournament.

“At best he will be back next week. We hope he can come back in to normal training on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“But I think he will miss the start of the Premiership.”
 

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giantroo

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87th Minute. Go RVP!!!

Match Report

Amsterdam Tournament
Saturday, August 04, 2007, 9.15pm (CET)




Ajax 0



Arsenal 1 Van Persie 87



Arsenal scooped their second tournament trophy of the week with a battling 1-0 victory over Ajax on Saturday night.
Arsène Wenger’s side had won the Emirates Cup last Sunday thanks to a late strike from Robin van Persie. It was a case of double Dutch this evening as the striker finished off a marauding run from Gael Clichy three minutes from time to win the Amsterdam Tournament.
The victory was deserved. Ajax keeper Maarten Stekelenburg had been by far the busier keeper, saving point-blank from Kolo Toure and Van Persie during a lively 90 minutes.
Of course, pre-season form will count for nothing when the campaign starts properly at the weekend. However, in the past eight days Arsenal’s young side have strung together wins over PSG, Inter, Lazio and now Ajax.
They will be all the better for the experience.
As you would expect just days before the Premiership opener, Wenger’s selection over the course of this tournament had been based on getting his players fresh and sharp. Tonight he put Emmanuel Eboue in front of Bacary Sagna on the right flank once again, and, as against Inter at the Emirates Cup, Alex Hleb supported the main striker.
Cesc Fabregas was named in the starting line-up but dropped out with a slight throat infection. Substitute Denilson stepped up and Alex Song replaced him on the bench.
Apart from the Spaniard — and assuming Gilberto and Emmanuel Adebayor will be unavailable — this could be the side Wenger will be fielding against Fulham next Sunday.
With that in mind, the manager will have been pleased for the competitive edge injected into this fixture. Both sides had won their opening game in the tournament this was in effect a title-decider.
In the early stages there was a noticeable change in intensity and Arsenal looked the sharper for it.
They had the better of the few chances created in the first 15 minutes. Van Persie floated a free-kick wide and Tomas Rosicky saw another deflected off the wall leaving Stekelenburg sprawling.
Dead-ball situations continued to be Arsenal’s best outlet and, in the 19th minute, they should have taken the lead via that route. Van Persie lofted the ball into the area and Toure shovelled a volley straight at Stekelenburg from point-blank range.
Former Charlton winger Dennis Rommedahl replaced Gregory van der Weil in the 22nd minute and nearly put the hosts ahead with his first contribution. Wesley Sneijder sent him racing through in the left hand channel. He cut inside Sagna but blazed his effort over the bar.
Arsenal’s response was immediate. Van Persie took a free-kick short to Toure who broke forward down the right. He fed Eboue who whipped in a cross to the far post and only the intervention of Hedwiges Maduro stopped Denilson converting at the far post.
Van Persie was starting to exert an influence. On the half-hour he skinned his marker down the right and poked the ball across goal from the byline. Unfortunately no one was on hand to convert.
Eboue fired over from distance at one end then Maduro did likewise at the other end. It was evidence that the game was both livening up and levelling up.
Just before half time Lehmann had to save twice — at full stretch from Sneijder’s free-kick then low from Rommedahl’s shot.
The final act of the period saw the former send the latter clear on the left once more. This time Sagna managed to recover just in time and snaffled to ball beyond the byline
Ajax continued on the offensive at the start of the second half but Arsenal had much the better chances. Clichy ended one rampaging move down the left with a fierce shot to the near post. Stekelenburg batted the ball behind for a corner. When it came over from the left, Flamini nearly managed to turn the loose ball home.
Sneijder had been impressive all evening. He fizzed a free-kick just over the angle of post and bar 10 minutes after the restart.
By now both sides were pushing forward. It was turning out to be the most serious friendly of Arsenal’s pre-season campaign. Jurgen Colin’s heavy challenge on Clichy certainly suggested so just past the hour.
But the spicy nature of this game affair only served to make Arsenal play better,
In the 74th minute, Gallas powered forward, exchanged passes with Hleb and found Van Persie on the area. The Dutchman cut inside his marker and let fly but Stekelenburg made a sharp low to his right.
Five minutes later, Eduardo scampered onto Sagna’s punt forward. The Croatian managed to muscle in front of Vermaelen and get his shot away. Stekelenburg blocked that effort and Van Perisie’s follow up was stymied.
Huntelaar sent a header just over the bar to give Ajax hope but, in the dying minutes, Clichy roared forward, cut into the area and passed the ball to Van Persie in the area.
He did the rest.
 

Corrosion

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Another solid game by the Gunners. Have been really impressive all over the ground, which is a very promising sign.

Eduardo and RVP will be the starting Strikers against Fulham on Saturday. We need to win this game, not draw or lose. Need to smash the "smaller" clubs, for lack of a better term, to put pressure on the other title contenders.
 

GhostofJimJess

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Aaaghh, I watched the game up until the 75th minute, but it got subbed out for "Deadwood".

Really intense game up until that point. Clearly no love lost between Arsenal and Ajax and the game was played accordingly. Some great work at the back last night. Sagna has some real promise back there and Eduardo also showed glimpses pushing forward. It's not quite there yet, as shown by 87 minutes before scoring, but a couple of great saves by the Ajax keeper prevented what really should have been an earlier lead for the Gunners.

This was by far our best performance of the preseason.
 

Arsene Wenger

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Well - our pre-season form has been very very good.

Ade out for the season opener means Eduardo will probly get the nod..

I feel we will go with this lineup next week.

-----------Jens-------------
Sagna--Gallas--Toure--Clichy
Rosicky--Cesc--Gilberto--Hleb
------Eduardo-- Rvp---------

Gilberto to be confirmed as skipper- Bench to be - Eboue, Almunia, Walcott, Bendtner, Senderos, Diaby
 

DB10

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Well - our pre-season form has been very very good.

Ade out for the season opener means Eduardo will probly get the nod..

I feel we will go with this lineup next week.

-----------Jens-------------
Sagna--Gallas--Toure--Clichy
Rosicky--Cesc--Gilberto--Hleb
------Eduardo-- Rvp---------

Gilberto to be confirmed as skipper- Bench to be - Eboue, Almunia, Walcott, Bendtner, Senderos, Diaby
No Gilberto, he's only just come back from his extended break. It'll be Diaby and then Denilson off the bench. Otherwise :thumbsu:
 

Arsene Wenger

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Yeah forgot about Gilberto.

Eboue has been a bit up and down in the pre-season.

DB - what do u think of Myles Palmer's ramblings - how close is he to the club ?


Sample from 2 aug ---

Arsene reconfigures his Arsenal team
By Myles Palmer


What I've been hearing this week is unprintable.
And that's a shame.

But all of it makes me more optimistic about Arsenal's immediate prospects.

There's stuff I can't write for legal reasons and stuff I've promised not to publish.There is also stuff I could spill about upcoming transfer deals but since there's a slight possibility that spilling that news might jeopardise those deals, I'd better stay silent for the next few days and see what happens. If I rate the players involved, as I do in this case, I always shut up and wait.

The capture of Eduardo showed me that Arsene was thinking along the same lines as I was. He is the striker who will make Hleb, Fabregas and Rosicky look good.

Will Eduardo get his work permit today? I hope so. It will be a farce if he doesn't.

Tonight's Lazio game in Amsterdam is interesting because the team is now in the post-Thierry era after a very long pre-season which started on March 8, the day that Arsene said Henry would not play again last season. He wanted to see the training without Henry, to see the group evolve without Henry, to play games without Henry.

The future is going to be a more collective and abrasive future, a more democratic future, less of a one-man show where everybody waited for the virtuouso to turn on a bit of magic.

Five months down the line, Arsene is reconfiguring his team and one of the most crucial new components is the powerhouse on the right flank.

Eboue was a loose cannon as a right back because he has as much positional sense as a clockwork mouse. But he is a thrilling raider who can provide width on a broad pitch, destroy defences, and lift fans off their seats in Row Z.

Arsene Wenger loves power and he knows that his team was under-powered last season. Too many small footballers making short passes. To finish higher than fourth his new Arsenal needs to be more aggressive, more solid and more powerful. He loves the raw power of Eboue, so he's bought the steady Sagna to play behind him. That makes a lot of sense and it will make even more sense in the upcoming months.

In other words, he's found a new way of using Eboue. And, with Arsene, that par for the course. He turned Overmars into a striker, and he turned Petit into a midfielder, and he turned Lauren, a midfielder, into a right back, because he needed a reliable passer in his back four.

When the African Cup of Nations comes round in January, he will lose a striker, a centreback and a right winger. He won't lose two of his back four - he'll only lose one. He needs a stable defence, so he doesn't want to lose half his back four for over a month. He has options. He's already shown us that he is willing to play Gilberto at centreback, a ploy that divides opinion, to put it mildly.

He has assembled a talented squad with plenty of fire and energy and skill. We are about to find out whether they are organised enough and mentally tough enough to win games consistently, go on long unbeaten runs, and win the home games that finished 1-1 last season.

Last season, when some of my most discerning friends were saying, "This season is one in the bank" I was dubious. But I've been slowly coming round to that point of view. Yes, the Arsenal players have plenty of faults but I'm not gonna list them today - there will be plenty of time for that.

If this team plays as it can do and should do, they will beat Lazio and Ajax.

But, of course, you never know in football.

Last night I thought Manchester United would annihilate Inter Milan and almost backed them to win.Then, at the last minute, I went for more than 2.5 goals. United started at an awesome tempo, Rooney scored a fine goal, and then, suddenly, it was a train crash: three goals conceded in 15 minutes in front of 73,738 people, a record crowd for a pre-season friendly. A fanzine spell : one nil up, three one down.

Bloody hell ! Inter's first goal, from a ball into the box that any Manchester United defence should deal with, fell to David Suazo, the hot Honduran whose header rocketed in at the Emirates, and he made it 1-1.

OK, it's only a friendly. But I'm surprised when Inter beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford. Maybe it was jet-lag. Maybe Italian football is on the way back. They did win the World Cup and the Champions League, after all.

How good are Lazio?
We'll find out tonight.

Either way, expect the next five days to be exciting.

http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/...cleid=687&cntnt01origid=30&cntnt01returnid=42
 

lion_gooner

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Yeah forgot about Gilberto.

Eboue has been a bit up and down in the pre-season.

DB - what do u think of Myles Palmer's ramblings - how close is he to the club ?


Sample from 2 aug ---

Arsene reconfigures his Arsenal team
By Myles Palmer


What I've been hearing this week is unprintable.
And that's a shame.

But all of it makes me more optimistic about Arsenal's immediate prospects.

There's stuff I can't write for legal reasons and stuff I've promised not to publish.There is also stuff I could spill about upcoming transfer deals but since there's a slight possibility that spilling that news might jeopardise those deals, I'd better stay silent for the next few days and see what happens. If I rate the players involved, as I do in this case, I always shut up and wait.

The capture of Eduardo showed me that Arsene was thinking along the same lines as I was. He is the striker who will make Hleb, Fabregas and Rosicky look good.

Will Eduardo get his work permit today? I hope so. It will be a farce if he doesn't.

Tonight's Lazio game in Amsterdam is interesting because the team is now in the post-Thierry era after a very long pre-season which started on March 8, the day that Arsene said Henry would not play again last season. He wanted to see the training without Henry, to see the group evolve without Henry, to play games without Henry.

The future is going to be a more collective and abrasive future, a more democratic future, less of a one-man show where everybody waited for the virtuouso to turn on a bit of magic.

Five months down the line, Arsene is reconfiguring his team and one of the most crucial new components is the powerhouse on the right flank.

Eboue was a loose cannon as a right back because he has as much positional sense as a clockwork mouse. But he is a thrilling raider who can provide width on a broad pitch, destroy defences, and lift fans off their seats in Row Z.

Arsene Wenger loves power and he knows that his team was under-powered last season. Too many small footballers making short passes. To finish higher than fourth his new Arsenal needs to be more aggressive, more solid and more powerful. He loves the raw power of Eboue, so he's bought the steady Sagna to play behind him. That makes a lot of sense and it will make even more sense in the upcoming months.

In other words, he's found a new way of using Eboue. And, with Arsene, that par for the course. He turned Overmars into a striker, and he turned Petit into a midfielder, and he turned Lauren, a midfielder, into a right back, because he needed a reliable passer in his back four.

When the African Cup of Nations comes round in January, he will lose a striker, a centreback and a right winger. He won't lose two of his back four - he'll only lose one. He needs a stable defence, so he doesn't want to lose half his back four for over a month. He has options. He's already shown us that he is willing to play Gilberto at centreback, a ploy that divides opinion, to put it mildly.

He has assembled a talented squad with plenty of fire and energy and skill. We are about to find out whether they are organised enough and mentally tough enough to win games consistently, go on long unbeaten runs, and win the home games that finished 1-1 last season.

Last season, when some of my most discerning friends were saying, "This season is one in the bank" I was dubious. But I've been slowly coming round to that point of view. Yes, the Arsenal players have plenty of faults but I'm not gonna list them today - there will be plenty of time for that.

If this team plays as it can do and should do, they will beat Lazio and Ajax.

But, of course, you never know in football.

Last night I thought Manchester United would annihilate Inter Milan and almost backed them to win.Then, at the last minute, I went for more than 2.5 goals. United started at an awesome tempo, Rooney scored a fine goal, and then, suddenly, it was a train crash: three goals conceded in 15 minutes in front of 73,738 people, a record crowd for a pre-season friendly. A fanzine spell : one nil up, three one down.

Bloody hell ! Inter's first goal, from a ball into the box that any Manchester United defence should deal with, fell to David Suazo, the hot Honduran whose header rocketed in at the Emirates, and he made it 1-1.

OK, it's only a friendly. But I'm surprised when Inter beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford. Maybe it was jet-lag. Maybe Italian football is on the way back. They did win the World Cup and the Champions League, after all.

How good are Lazio?
We'll find out tonight.

Either way, expect the next five days to be exciting.

http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/...cleid=687&cntnt01origid=30&cntnt01returnid=42
hmmmm very interesting
 

desie

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Myles Palmer wrote a book about Arsene Wenger called "The Professor" a few years ago, and from what I can gather he attends a lot of Wenger's press conferences.

Other than that, I'd say he's got one or two sources around the club, however, I think he likes to make out he is far more clued in than what he really is. Gives me the impression he likes the sound of his own voice.

If you go back over what he writes, I think you'll find that a lot of it ends up being rubbish.
 
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