Lucky Mancs

Sky Sports named Wayne Rooney as ''Man of the Match'' after yesterday's debacle at Old Trafford. What exactly did Mr Rooney do to deserve such an accolade? I am still scratching my head. Was it due to his body weight dropping onto Almunia's arms to earn a very dubious penalty? Or was it the fact that he is an 'honest' Englishman who can do no wrong in the eyes of a biased English press? Because make no mistake about it, Thomas Vermaelen had him well sussed and allowed him very little time and space to show anything to earn such praise.

Everything about yesterday's game was rather skewed in my mind, the result, the penalty, Fletcher remaining unpunished, our stonewall penalty denial and Arsene's unfair treatment by the officials and their 'fans'. I may sound pissed off and that is because I am. Whenever Mike Dean is involved, we seem to get well and truly shafted. Remember that last minute penalty he gave against us at Birmingham City a couple of seasons ago? Fuck you Mike Dean!

There are an awful lot of positives we can take from yesterday. We were the better team and as long as we continue to play like we did, not many teams will get points off us. I feel a lot more confident regarding our defence. Vermaelen and Gallas look a very solid central pairing. The Belgian is definitely future captain material from what I have seen since he arrived. Our young players have stepped up to a higher level and I have been particularly impressed with Song and Denilson.

So now we go into an 'Interlull' and have a long wait until we run out at Eastlands, but on yesterday's performance we need fear nobody. Yesterday was a hiccup and I doubt that many Mancs will be very confident of retaining the title with their squad. It has taken a while, but quality wise, I believe we have now overtaken them.

Weak and Unjustified

I just sent an email to Scotland's Minister of Weakness:

Mr Macaskill,

I write this as a subject of this country that was once held in high esteem worldwide. I am afraid that your recent actions have indeed made a mockery of any reason why we should have our own government. In the climate of terror that we currently have to live in, I am astounded and indeed embarrassed at the total lack of respect you have shown the victims and their families on both sides of the Atlantic.

The main thing that I can't get my head around is HOW you managed to come to such a bad decision, because make no mistake about it, you made a terrible call on this. Our troops are being killed on an almost daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Western World is under constant threat, so you decide to show compassion and release a terrorist. It is not compassion, it is weakness and I am disgusted.

Yours,

Angry Scotsman.

A Very Pleasant Day Out

I don't get to attend many Arsenal games due to my location and modest income, so when I get the chance to go to two games in four days you can imagine the anticipation as our supporters bus parked up at Goodison yesterday. I made my way into the Lower Bullens stand after a hopeless attempt to procure a beer from a bar that seemed to cater for the lucky few or the persistent ones prepared to miss the start of the game. I fell in to neither category and I made sure I was seated early.

I don't feel the need to do a match report as there are plenty blogs out there to tick that particular box. 6-1 to the Arsenal was not a song I or anyone else expected to be singing, especially at Goodison Park where points are usually very hard to come by. I did manage to capture some video of us singing 5-0 to the Arsenal. I even managed to get myself into the video.

Everton may not have been at their best, but let's not take anything away from the clinical manner of this victory. Every Arsenal player was well up for this and I was most impressed with our new signing Thomas Vermaelen who looked like he has been at the heart of our defence for years. I have not been Bentner's biggest fan in the past, but hell he was very impressive yesterday and his movement off the ball was excellent. Alex Song too was most impressive and hardly put a foot wrong the whole game. Our team did Arsenal Football Club proud yesterday. A magnificent first day of the season for us and a fantastic atmosphere in the away section with lots of high fives and hugging going on. We all sung our hearts out and it was great practice for Tuesday night where we will need to up the singing volume to compete with the electric atmosphere in Celtic Park.

I am very excited about my trip across the city in two days time and I expect us to beat them home and away. Celtic, be afraid, be very afraid, because The Arsenal are coming to town.

Six Days And We're Off

This afternoon the Community Shield between the Mancs and the Chavs signals the opening of the new season. A season where Arsene Wenger and his squad really need to step it up and get some kind of silverware in the cabinet.

Last nights two nil defeat at the hands of Valencia was hardly the tonic we needed going into Saturdays game against Everton. I managed to see most of the game after having some first half problems with video feed. Apart from a promising first five minutes of the second half, we didn't do anything to convince anybody that the coming season is going to be any better than the previous. It was a strangely lacklustre showing in our blue golfing type polo shirts. Surely our home kit doesn't clash in any way with the home sides and was probably worn to boost sales. I for one will be sticking with my yellow top when I travel to Goodison next weekend.

Pre season has actually been fine until last night but there are still a few things I am concerned about as we approach the real stuff. A big defensive signing is absolutely essential in my opinion. How can we bank £40 million and play Silvestre? It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me at all. When he was signed, I really believed that it was a short term measure from the boss to add some experience to the squad at the tail end of the season. I expected him to be sold on to some French club in the summer to end his career. I was obviously wrong and I guess there are few Gooners who can fathom out his part in what lies ahead. He was awful last night too and I am very worried about our defensive options.

Nicklas Bentner playing wide is another thing that doesn't sit well with me. It just doesn't work in any way. I am not Bentner's biggest fan but if he is going to play, surely he is more suited to a central role or as an impact sub. He does give 100% every time he plays though and I really hate to be critical of anyone who puts forth his effort. I just have my doubts that he is good enough. Diaby is another player I have doubts about. He can either be sublime or just a big clumsy liability and unfortunately it is more often than not, the latter.

I am not going to say any more about the Valencia game as at the end of the day it was only a pre season friendly. We are six days from our opener against Everton and then we have a very tricky visit to the cauldron that is Celtic Park. My visit to Celtic Park is going to be tricky as I have to get from one side of Glasgow to the other in my Arsenal shirt. Parkhead is a very intimidating place for visiting fans. I remember when Man U played them and my partner who is a Man U fan went to the game with her son. I recieved a text from her ''This place is a jungle. Get me out?'' She has sworn never to set foot there again and she arrived home quite disgusted by the whole experience.

I am excited at the prospect of going to our first two games of the season and I am confident we can do well but we are at least two signings short of a serious league challenge so I can only hope Arsene is of the same mind.

It's Been A While

The football season is only two weeks away, and like many I am getting very excited at the prospect. It has been a long summer of tennis, golf and cricket. I don't mind the tennis and the golf but I'm afraid that the cricket bores me even more than sitting through a Paul McCartney concert on Sky+ and rewinding it to the start every time he does that Frog Chorus shit. It just ain't cricket, only marginally better.

Before I go any further I would like to say how sad I was to hear of Sir Bobby Robson's death yesterday. The world of football has lost a great, great man who will be sadly missed by genuine football fans the world over. The memories he gave us over the years have certainly enriched my football experience and had it not been for that cheating little Argie bastard using his hand, who knows how the history books would have looked. RIP Sir Bobby, a true legend and gentleman.

Today is the opening of The Emirates Cup and as I write, Rangers and PSG have just started as the anticipation of the main event grows. Since I last wrote there has been a quite a bit of transfer activity and rumours. Adebayor and Toure have both left us and as far as I am concerned, good riddance to the former. He was lazily coasting to his fat pay cheque last season and I hope he does the same in the future for his even fatter pay cheque. These rich fuckers have little respect for the beautiful game and I sincerely hope their project fails miserably. As far as Kolo goes, I wish him well as he never gave less than 100% for us and Arsene obviously didn't see him as part of his future plans. I really don't know how I feel at the prospect of Vieira re joining us. I can see that his presence and legendary Arsenal status could be a good thing and signing him could be a masterstroke. On the other hand I feel that we really need to sign a defensive midfielder to complement the current squad and who is going to be around for years to come, someone of this stature. Naldo of Werder Bremen is another player I would like to see at Arsenal but I may be biased as I signed him for my FIFA 09 team.

Anyway, I am off to relax and watch the aperitif that is Rangers v PSG. Until the next time.... WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL, WE DO, WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL, WE DO, WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL, WE DO, OH ARSENAL WE LOVE YOU.