Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to All Arsenal fans and All my friends......

I woke up feeling bery bery tired... not from partying but from all the shifting of my stuff into my new house.... YES. I got my new home.....

my back is aching from all the cleaning and washing, but you know what? its kind of enjoyable since its your own house and its somewhere we ( the Mrs and I ) are going to stay for some time...

Every piece of dirt removed, every gleam restored in the stainless steel, every drop of grease cleaned and every wall washed brings a certain amount of joy to my heart.. hahaha...... so much mush on the christmas day......

Ok. here we go.. round 2 of shifting......

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Arsenal vs Blackburn: 6-2

And how we ROARED!!!!!!??!!?!

What a magnificent performance after going down to a 3rd min sucker punch (which I personally DONT think THAT is a penalty) .... the way we responded is simply sensational... and all this done without captain sensational......

what is amazing to me is how this crop of youngster can play... the passes, the crosses, the dribbles... they have the confidence to take on anyone in the league and maybe in the whole world......

And what a job Mr Giberto Silva is doing as CAPTAIN!!! I believe he has already scored more goals than he did for the past 2 years..... hahahhaha.... with a couple more goals, he will score more than the total 9 goals he did in the past 3 years.... What a season he is having... maybe... just maybe he should be captain for the rest of the sesaon so that he can be inspiring and Henry can just concentrate on scoring..... Hey. Whatever works for the Gunners!!!

What a great way to welcome Christmas....

To all Gunners and Friends, Have a wonderful wonderful Christmas....!!!
:)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Tired........

Been a very very busy week for me...... no time at all to catch up on my Arsenal news and articles.......

Its counting down to my marriage... less than 30 days from now!!!! Time flies like dont know wat... super fast i tell you.......

Sent out almost all the invites, finalized my program, called all the friends, brothers, sisters etc etc.... met my hotel coordinator, meeting my camera man, will meet my other key ppl.... and in between start a new project of SAP with my new job......

I tell you, I have never been so busy in my entire life...........

Well, as they say, better busy and learning than rotting away.....

GAMBATE!!! GAMBATE!!!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Liverpool vs Arsenal (Posting from non-chelski Fan)

Ahead of Tuesday's Carling Cup quarter-final, Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is keen to gain revenge for Arsenal's 3-0 Premiership win over his side when facing the Gunners. The Carling Cup may be fourth in lists of importance but Benitnez wants to win it. Benitez has revealed that he is set to play a weakened side at Anfield to give some of his more important players a much-needed rest. A busy festive period ends with the two teams meeting once again in a potentially-explosive FA Cup third round tie on 6 January. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger sees rotating his squad as the only way to get through the busy Christmas and new year period. Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia is set to captain the side at Anfield.

Monday, December 18, 2006

EPL Round up

Arsenal has 'flopped' with a 2-2 draw at home to Portsmouth. As a result, we are now 4th behind loserfool..... who have started to win away from home....

Lucky chelski came back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to win 3-2 with a very very good goal from Drogba..... while we gain a point against manure after their shock 0-1 loss to a very motivated west ham......

Things are heating up and I really hope the gunners are in the running after the christmas program..... we can really do with Captain sensational making a quick come back then having all the young guys up against the veterans of other teams....

Go Gunners!!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Champion League Draw - Its PSV!

ITS PSV!!!

Its a good draw. Although there are no weak teams left in the CL, it was a relief not to draw Barcelona or Real Madrid. Due respect to PSV, but we managed to beat them 4-0 in the last meeting and current stand-in Captain even scored the fastest goal in CL history against them. So, its away in Holland first before coming home to the Emirates stadium.

Side note: Lucky manure got lille while pool got barca (big match there... ) My good friend, Kun sms me and complained about their ill luck...... hahahaa..... my condolescene.... well, i think pool can beat Barca, ..so Good Luck there...!!

Chelski got Porto. I hope Porto thrash the s%^T out of Mourinho.. Go Porto!!!...

Lastly, I think my Gunners will go on and win the CL this season for the first time in Franchise history!!!

YEAH!!! Go GUNNERS!!!

Tribute to the King ( From non-chelski fan)

Thierry Daniel Henry is born on 17 August 1977 in Les Ulis, Essonne, France. He is Arsenal's all-time leading scorer in both league matches and all competitions. He is now the captain of Arsenal, replacing Patrick Vieira after his departure from Arsenal.

Henry has been nominated three times for the FIFA World Player of the Year, finishing runner-up in 2003 and 2004, with the announcement of the 2006 winner to come in Zürich on December. Also, he was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He was recently named a starting striker on the 2006 FIFPro World XI team.
He has surpassed Ian Wright to take over as Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with over 200 goals for the club. In 2006, Henry became the first player to score more than twenty goals in five consecutive seasons (2002–2006). He won the European Golden Boot in 2004 and 2005, making him the first player to retain the trophy (the Golden Boot did not exist when Ally McCoist was the first player to have scored the highest number of goals in Europe two seasons in a row). He has received the Barclays Premiership player of the season award for four years due to his skill, pace, control and teamwork.

Henry trained at Clairefontaine, one of the nine French Football Federation's elite academies and played at a youth level for CO Les Ulis (1983–1989), then Palaiseau (1989–1990), Viry-Châtillon (1990–1992) and FC Versailles (1992–1993). Henry started his professional career at AS Monaco and was given his début in 1994 by then Monaco manager, Arsčne Wenger, at the age of 17. Wenger put Henry on the left wing because he believed that Henry's pace, natural ball control and skill would terrorise full-backs better than they would centre-backs. Wenger changed his view later, when he signed Henry for Arsenal.
Having impressed in the French national team's triumph in the 1998 World Cup, Henry left Monaco and moved to Italian club Juventus along with David Trézéguet in January 1999 for
Ł10.7 million. He was made to play on the wing. Unable to cope with Italian defensive discipline in an unfamiliar position, Henry scored just three goals in 13 starts for the Bianconeri.

Non-Chelski Fan.

Cheers,
Go Gunners!

Wigan vs Arsenal : 0-1

Yeah, Emmanuel "the Panther"Adebayor scored his fifth goal of the season with a late winner at Wigan to lift Arsenal up to third in the Barclays Premiership. Ade struck the only goal of the game in the 88th minute to continue Wigan's misery against the top-flight's big guns. Poor Wigan have mustered a solitary point in 14 matches against last season's top five of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and the Gunners ever since their promotion.

Adebayor was roundly jeered at the final whistle, and again as he left the pitch by the Wigan fans who felt he dived in attempting to win a penalty shortly before he scored the winner.
It was rough justice on the Latics who deserved a point, and who showed a marked improvement on their last home performance when they were hammered 4-0 by Liverpool 11 days ago. Against a revamped Gunners lacking the services of the inspirational Thierry Henry, they more than held their own.

We left three main playmakers Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Alexander Hleb on the bench following the exertions of Sunday's 1-1 draw at Chelsea. Freddie, Julio 'the Beast' Baptista and the lightning-quick Theo Walcott all started, the latter duo starting only their second and third games in the Premiership respectively.

We were certainly quick out of the blocks, but the fact goalkeepers Jens Lehmann and Chris Kirkland were relegated to the role of spectators in the opening period spoke volumes of the action or the lack of it.....

There was a shot from Mathieu Flamini in the third minute that was sliced over the bar, and a curled effort from Adebayor in the 28th that finished considerably wide.
Josip Skoko also produced a remarkable diving header from inside the six-yard box in clearing Flamini's right-wing cross.

Although picking up four points on their travels at West Ham and Middlesbrough since the Liverpool debacle, the memories of that game were undeniably still fresh for the Latics players.
They were in no mood to be so generous, yet while tightening up at the back, they struggled themselves in attack.

There was also one skilful effort from Henri Camara, who skipped past two challenges before driving a 25-yard shot wide, that at least raised cheers from the home crowd.
The game was in desperate need of a lift and mercifully it arrived after the break as the tempo was raised, and so the chances came.

Two minutes after the restart Camara sent Emile Heskey through, but in attempting to lift a shot over the advancing Lehmann, he slipped, sliced his opportunity, allowing the German to claim.

Within a minute Arsenal countered, with Adebayor playing Baptista in behind the Wigan defence for a crisp first-time drive which Kirkland parried for the first save of the match.
He followed that up seven minutes later by racing off his line to bravely block at the feet of Adebayor after captain Gilberto had split the Latics defence with an incisive pass.
When Wigan were cut open again minutes later, with Gilberto sending Walcott sprinting clear down the right, the opener looked on the cards.
Racing into the area, the teenager unselfishly opted to square to Adebayor, but the pass had too much pace on it for the lone striker who was also put off his stride by Emmerson Boyce.
A dipping volley from Skoko that stung the fingers of Lehmann briefly interrupted Arsenal's dominance.
After Fabregas and Van Persie came on in the 75th minute, Lehmann again denied Skoko from 20 yards, with Kolo Toure following up to block Camara's attempt on the rebound.
After opportunities for Ljungberg and Camara, and then Adebayor's theatrics, it was the latter who had the last word.
Fabregas' ball over the top was inch-perfect for Adebayor who toe-poked a low shot underneath the advancing Kirkland, much to the delight of Gunners fans and disgust of Wigan supporters.

Kolo Toure admitted the Gunners were lucky to edge out Wigan tonight. Toure told Sky Sports: 'It was really difficult for us. Wigan are a really good team, really strong and make the job really hard. 'Adebayor scored a fantastic goal, I am really happy, we needed it.
'I think they played very well and we are lucky they didn't score but we had some chances. We were lucky at the end we made the difference.
'We showed great character and it is really good to give us confidence for the rest of the season.'

Wenger felt his side had needed to be `strong' to secure a win that lifted them back into third in the table. 'It was a difficult game, Wigan were up for it. It could have gone for them but it went for us. 'We created chances but they had one or two and we needed to be strong to claim the three points. 'Sometimes when you play every three days you have problems getting into the game but it gets better.'

Wenger felt there was nothing wrong with Cesc Fabregas' tackle on Henri Camara that preceded Adebayor's goal.
'From outside it looked like Cesc got the ball,' he said.
Arsenal were without talisman Thierry Henry for the match and Wenger added: 'We hope when he comes back we will be even stronger. (William) Gallas and (Tomas) Rosicky are also out but the team has a fantastic spirit and we will fight.'
Wigan manager Paul Jewell admitted his team would have been happy with a stalemate against their illustrious visitors - and was frustrated at the eventual outcome.
'I thought we were terrific. They had a few chances in the second half - but I thought we played really well,' he told Sky Sports.
'People will say it was a great pass for the goal. But we just lost our concentration, switched off for a second.
'We paid the ultimate price, losing the game - which I didn't think we deserved.'

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The King is out till the next year....

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has ruled Thierry Henry out until after Christmas and admitted the France striker is unlikely to play until the new year because he has a hamstring injury.

Henry has already been troubled by a neck injury but Wenger is more worried by the new problem.
'Thierry Henry has started his rehabilitation,' he told Sky Sports News.
'He's still not completely free with his hamstring but he starts to work again.
'We hope we can build him up and make him competitive again.
'The neck problem is sorted out. It was sciatic nerve problem but the hamstring is the most troubling at the moment.'

Tragic news for the Gunners... but on the bright side, we have able replacements in the form of Adebayor or RVP to take their chances and shine in the coming weeks..... I watch in hope that the kids will grow up fast.....

Go Gunners!!!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The Title Race is not OVER!!

Looking at the EPL, it feels like we are left far far behind in 6th place... 18 points behind man united... with half the season gone, the feeling is now of hope only.... realistically, even if we are able to put together a run of 21 wins, we might not be holding the trophy at the end of May 2007.......

BUT,

as the Professor declares, 'If you ask me whether I would prefer Manchester United to win the title, or Chelsea to win it, my answer is simple - I would prefer Arsenal to win it. 'It looks a bit difficult and United will need to drop points, but we have a young side and it takes time to achieve consistency.'

I have the same view as Wenger. We are not discouraging but just realistic..... we still have to do our part to push all the way to the finishing line.... Players like Henry, Gilberto, Toure and Freddie must give more support, encouragement and even scoldings to the young ones such as RVP, Eboue, Glichy, Senderos to be more assertive and confidence...

One particular player that stood out during the chelski game was Adebayor. He was alone upfront but how fierce and how well he played! He was constantly taking on the defenders. Not 1, not 2 but sometimes 4 althogether..... Although the result is not always positive, he was not afraid to try and also not intimidated by their reputation. 100 points for the man!!.. We should start giving him a nick like the black panther or something....

Dont give up, Gunners!!
Manure and Chelski will fall or drop in form somehow... and we will be there at the end..

Cheers...

Monday, December 11, 2006

Post from Non-Chelski Fan

Hi everyone,

I made a friend recently and he has an interest to be a guest blogger on my website....
hahahaha.... here is his first posting...:

Arsenal Ladies are the women's football club affiliated to Arsenal. Founded in 1987, they turned semi-professional in 2002 and are the most successful team in English women's football today. They are managed by Vic Akers, who is also kit manager for the men's side, and play in the FA Women's Premier League. Arsenal Ladies are currently reigning champions, having won their eighth title in 2006.
They also won the FA Women's Cup seven times, the Women's League Cup eight times, and in 2006-07 reached the final of the UEFA Women's Cup, the furthest any English women's club has ever got. While the men's and women's clubs are formally separate they have quite close ties; Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein is president of Arsenal Ladies, and they are entitled to play once a season at the Emirates Stadium (they usually play their home matches at Boreham Wood).



Insightful... Thank you my friend....
( WE HATE CHELSEA!!!!)

Go Gunners!!!

Chelsea vs Arsenal - Full time Report

In a simple word, lucky. We were lucky..... just not lucky enough to win it.... shucks....

When Flamini scored that beautifully struck shot, I thgt we are going to pull off a sensational 1-0 win just as I have predicted.... However, Essien scored a rocket of an equaliser that even I have to applause ( albeit after a bit of swearing....)

well, in the end, its a fair result...... They struck the post a few times, lehman pushed drogba, drogba pushed back.. blah blah blah.... that is why I LOVE FOOTBALL!!!....

Yeah......

Go Gunners!!

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Champions League - 6 Dec

Arsenal are Thru to the last 16!!! In all honesty, we played badly and suffered a bit on this trip to Porto. Without Henry, we looked listless and aimless at times..... However, the defence held firm and with a bit of luck (Thank God for the thickness of the right post), we survived the attack from the Portugese and top the group.......

Porto joined Arsenal together with Man U (who had to come from one goal down to win their home match against Benfica), Celtic, Real Madrid, Lyon, Lille and AC Milan ( who were absolutely HORRIBLE at home...).

Next week, 15 Dec, we shall see who draws who... but the amazing news is all 4 EPL teams are top of their groups.... and they would avoid each other for the next round....

YEAH!! GO GUNNERS!!!

Arsenalnfriends

Someone ask me why your blog use the name: arsenalnfriends? Why not arsenal and friends? or why not just arsenal?

Actually, I wanted to use Arsenal and Friends to represent my love for Arsenal and my friends. It is to share the adoration for my club with fellow gunners and friends and to also use the blog to allow my friends to add comments and information.....
Btw, my favourite comedy is the now ended series of "Friends"..... hahahaha...

There... that is how arsenalnfriends got started.....

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

The big match: Porto vs Arsenal

Preview: Porto vs Arsenal

The Gunners travel to Porto for the most important CL match of this season. With a draw or win, we will be in the last 16, heading towards the final again. A draw will allow both team to qualify for the next round while a defeat coupled with a win for CSKA will force the loser to join the loser cup. ( i.e. UEFA Cup).......

Henry is out for at least a month with his neck problem. This will raise questions of who will be playing upfront and leading the hunt for goals. Personally, the more physical approach of Adebayor should be preferred to RVP. Or even better, we should play 2 upfront so as to make the Portugese defend more. Well, ATTACK is the best form of Defend......

Porto is hitting form at the moment with 3 wins in the last 3 CL matches.. They are also sitting 5 points clear at the top of the Portugese league, with their most recent win of 2-0 over Boavista...

However, Arsenal is upbeat with the most recent 3-0 win in the local derby and Stand -in captain Gilberto has declared that we are ready.!!!

Go Gunners!!! Expert pick for the match is 1-0 to Arsenal.
I hope we can go on to win the next 15 matches as I boldly predicted........

Champions League - 5 Dec

Barcelona are through with a well fought 2-0 victory over the unlucky Bremen. The mercurial Ronaldinho and Eidur did the job for the Catalan team.. Objectively, if Bremen is put in any other groups, they would have been in the top 2. Well, that's soccer... ... My condolesence to my good german friend, patrick for the lost of his team..better luck next time for the Germans

Chelsea eased through with another steady performance with the much critised Sheva scoring a goal and "i just destroyed my career by joining Chelsea" Shaun Wright Philips grabbing the other goals. Levski offered little resistence in a boring tie....

Elsewhere, Inter and Bayern fought to a one all draw with former gunner Vieira grabbing a later equaliser. Both teams qualified for the next round. Roma beat already qualifed Valencia in a steady 1-0 performance. With the victory, the Rome team joins Valencia into the last 16. Pool and PSV both lost in meaningless ties. They have already qualified earlier..

Well, the first 8 are out... Looking forward to tonight matches with the GUNNERS playing....

GO GUNNERS!!!

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Champions League

Tonight is the final round of the Champions League to decide which teams can qualify for the next round. There is more than pride at stake as every step your team takes closer to the title, the monetary rewards is quite substantial as well.....

The pick of the ties tonight is Barcelona vs Werder Bremen. The Bremen team have surprised everyone with their resolute display and is currently leading the German Bundesliga. In the last round, they even beat Chelsea to secure second place ahead of Barcelona. With German hitman, Miroslav Klose in fine form, they are definitelly annoucing their presence in a BANG BANG way....

Barcelona, with their array of stars and as defending champions, should have been comfortably thru to the next round. Yet, the loss of Eto and Messi through injuries plus the lost of form of some players after the World Cup have somehow conjure up such a situation for them. They are now in danger of being the first ever Champions to fail to make it past the group stage. On the other hand, with stars such as Ronaldinho, Giuly, Deco, Iniesta, Eidur and Thuram expected to start tonight, it will take a brave man to write them off.....

Liverpool and Chelsea are through to the next round so there will be little anxiety for their fans in their respective ties although Chelsea will definitely want to win to top their group. For once, Pool fans can rest easy on the Away tie to Galatasaray....

Stay tuned to the big game tomorrow for the Gunners!!!

Monday, December 4, 2006

English Premier League

The title race hots up.......

Man U has opened up a 6 point lead at the top of the league. As much as I hate them, I must admit they are playing pretty well at the moment. And they have lots of scorers for this season!!..

Chelski is still hot on Man U tail being 6 points behind but with a game in hand.... Drogba is firing on all cylinders now although his strike partner, Shevchenko is still like a lost boy in the library......

Arsenal (GO GUNNERS!!) have steadied the ship and then we are in third place with a game in hand... Henry is still out with a neck injury, but I bet he will be back with a bang against Porto this Wednesday....

Hot on the heels are the chasing pack of Pool, Portsmouth and Reading with the same points as Arsenal......

Cheers...

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Are we better without Henry???

Are we better without Henry???

That is a very controversial question to ask, you may say.....

Captain Sensational is always sensational to me. With him around, the oppostion defence pays a lot of attention to him. He sways around, dance through, glides back and basically bedazzled the whole defence. Defenders cant keep up with his speed or his creativity or his style.....

At the same time, the whole arsenal team is so dependent on him. They look to give the ball to him even though there might be a better opening. They see his movement while other teammates are moving into a better position. They pass to him although Henry is surrounded by defenders.... And when Henry is having an off night, the whole team performance drops...and Wenger does not replace him with anyone else.

This season, we got 2 big results without Thiery. A 1-0 win at Old Trafford and a 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium over Tottenham. Is the team really performing better without Henry? It pains my heart to consider the remote possibility of this happening...

What do you think???

Report: Arsenal vs Tottenham (3-0)

YEah Yeah YEah!!!
Its a HUGE win for us last night with a 3-0 thrashing of arch rival Tottenham. Adebayor led the way with a goal in the 20th min and then stand-in captain, the ever reliable Gilberto blasted in 2 penalties to keep the tie safe.

We were fluent and resolute as the spurs attack were almost non-existence and they had only one attack worth mentioning early in the first half by Stead Mal. Btw, Defoe was on the bench the whole time until the 80th min... that was quite baffling to me actually... I hope he gets pissed off and request for a transfer once the window opens next month. He should be able to start in any team in the EPL. Actually, come join us!! :)

Now that we got the monkey off our back, next up is Porto! Lets continue with a run....
Yeah Yeah...

GO Gunners!!

Friday, December 1, 2006

Preview: Arsenal vs Tottenham

Preview: Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur
Barclays Premiership
Emirates Stadium
Sat, Dec 2, 2006

Captain Sensational has a problem with his sciatic nerve and tests will be conducted on Friday. I have no idea what is a sciatic nerve.... but i hope that will not keep him out for long..... Apart from that there are no new injuries in the reversal :( at Fulham on Wednesday.

The Professor rotated his squad for the fixture at Craven Cottage and pledged further changes for Tottenham's first visit to Emirates Stadium. He remain tight-lipped regarding the players who will go in and out but promised that the crucial Champions League game against Porto would have no influence.

Wenger says the most important match this week is to beat Tottenham and keep our hopes alive. I certainly hope the lads have realised their mistakes/problems and have grown a bit with the bitter experience of the straight defeats.

We must raise from this debacle and grow stronger and fiercer..... I predict an Arsenal win and from then on, we will go on a streak of 16 victories....

Come on, you gooners...

Go !!! Arsenal!!!

Joke of the Day....

Carlos Tevez of West Ham was made to wear a Brazilian Shirt for training as his punishment for walking out of the team after being substituted in the 1-0 win over Sheffield United.

His teammates thought of the punishment as a joke. I thought this is totally original and a fine way to push the point across......

For his part, Tevez has apologised and is willing to work hard to improve his performance. Of course he did not wear the Brazil... hahahaha.... what an insult if he did...

Cheers...