Arsenal Internationals

Moving on from van Persie, Cazorla starting for spain right now. Vermaelen just finished 90min with Belguim in a 4-2 win over Netherlands.

Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Moldova v England, September 7
England v Ukraine, September 11
Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been called up to England's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker
Germany v Faroe Islands, September 7
Austria v Germany, September 11
Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker have been called up to Germany's squad for World Cup qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Austria.

Santi Cazorla
Spain v Saudi Arabia, September 7
Georgia v Spain, September 11
Santi Cazorla has been called up to Spain's squad for matches against Saudi Arabia and Georgia. Vicente del Bosque's side host the former in Friday's Pontevedra friendly before facing Georgia in a World Cup qualifier on Monday.

Thomas Vermaelen
Wales v Belgium, September 7
Belgium v Croatia, September 11
Thomas Vermaelen has been called up to Belgium's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Croatia.

Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Abou Diaby
Finland v France, September 7
France v Belarus, September 11
Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Abou Diaby have been called up to France's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Finland and Belarus.


Johan Djourou
Slovenia v Switzerland, September 7
Switzerland v Albania, September 11
Johan Djourou has been called up to Switzerland's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Albania.

Lukasz Fabianski
Montenegro v Poland, September 7
Poland v Moldova, September 11
Lukasz Fabianski has been called up to Poland's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro and Moldova.


Aaron Ramsey
Wales v Belgium, September 7
Serbia v Wales, September 11
Aaron Ramsey has been called up to Wales' squad for World Cup qualifiers against Belgium and Serbia.

Gervinho
Ivory Coast v Senegal
Saturday, September 8
Gervinho has been called up to Ivory Coast's squad for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal.

Francis Coquelin
Slovakia Under-21s v France Under-21s, September 7
France Under-21s v Chile Under-21s, September 10
Francis Coquelin has been called up to France's Under-21 squad to face Slovakia in Friday's European Under-21 qualifier. Les Bleus face Chile in a friendly three days later.




Ivory Coast vs Senegal is a play-off for the African Nations Cup. Two legged tie, next match next month, loser misses out on the tournament. So here's hoping Senegal prevail.

Will be interesting to see what France do with Diaby. Playing him twice in 5 days will test his fitness that's for sure.

Doubtful whether Cazorla starts both games, I would imagine. But he has started the season very well so who knows. Hopefully he doesn't.

Doubt Mertesacker will start if the Euros are anything to go by and Podolski has competition for his spot from guys like Reus, Schurrle and Goetze. Ideally he starts the Friday game and not the Tuesday one.

Koscielny, Walcott, Djourou, Ramsey, Coquelin, Fabianski - would be nice if they all played both games to get them up to speed as they don't have as many minutes under their belts as they would have liked.

Mario Leontiou wrote:Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Doubtful whether Cazorla starts both games, I would imagine. But he has started the season very well so who knows. Hopefully he doesn't.

Yeah I'm worried about him. I hope he doesn't start. Spanish leagues have winter breaks and players who move from La Liga will most probably get tired by January. Happened to David Silva.

Good to see a lot of our fringe players get some game time.

We are lucky that Arteta, probably our most important player at the moment, doesn't have to play these matches.

It would be United's luck if van Persie doesn't get injured during internationals ever again.

That said, what does Arteta have to do to be included in the NT?

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:That said, what does Arteta have to do to be included in the NT?

Besides hire assassins to dispose of Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Sergio Busquets, and Fabregas?

Hisham El Mawan wrote:

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:That said, what does Arteta have to do to be included in the NT?

Besides hire assassins to dispose of Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Sergio Busquets, and Fabregas?

Actually I'm happy with him NOT representing his country. One bad timed tackle could hurt our season. He is very important to us.

That said, he actually can still make it to the NT. As a back up for Alonso. The rest are different position players.

Hisham El Mawan wrote:

Van Roy Bostanian wrote:That said, what does Arteta have to do to be included in the NT?

Besides hire assassins to dispose of Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva, Sergio Busquets, and Fabregas?

As Sam said, if he can carve out a new niche as a DMish midfielder, competing with Busquets and Xabi, then he may get some minutes. But that ship may have sailed.

Diaby scores for France!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhmOUo1yq6c&feature=g-all-u
Diaby's goal

Santi scored for Spain apparently

He got an assist too and just hit the woodwork.... god I love him already

So,

Germany 3-0 Faroe Islands - Mertesacker played 90 minutes. Podolski last 15mins.

Finland 0-1 France - Diaby scored the winner and played 90mins. Hope France are careful with him, for their sake as well as ours.

Moldova 0-5 England - The Ox made an assist and played 58mins and Theo replaced him, making an assist of his own.

Wales 0-2 Belgium - Ramsey and Vermaelen both played 90mins. Ramsey captaining the side.

Slovenia 0-2 Switzerland - Djourou played the 90mins.

Slovakia u21 2-1 France u21 - Coquelin sent off in the 75th minute.

Diaby getting praise from all quarters, need to keep him fit and he needs to show some consistency. Is he in the last year of his contract?

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/diaby-signs-new-long-term-contract-at-arsenal

^ that was in 2010 so I'm guessing he has at least a couple of more years to go.

Watch him do a van Persie. Finally an injury free season, then he leaves. He just admitted it in his recent interview that at any other club, he would have been thrown out by now, so hopefully he stays loyal to Wenger (all this if he doesn't get injured and keeps this kind of form).

Nice goal. Clever to take the ball to the right, then knock it past the keeper the opposite way.

I have been critical of him in the past. A frustrating player. But undoubted potential. Really could be one of the best in the world.

It has been revealed that England coach Roy Hodgson was delighted with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s performance in victory over Moldova.

The Arsenal winger was impressive in the 5-0 win.

Hodgson said: “I’m really pleased with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half and Theo Walcott in the second half.

“Alex hasn’t played much so we were worried about keeping him on for too long. At half-time he was really tired and we eventually took him off.”

http://www.totalfootballmadness.com/2012/09/08/roy-hodgson-full-of-praise-for-arsenal-youngster-alex-oxlade-chamberlain/

After his sensational performance against Liverpool last weekend, Abou Diaby continued his dominance against Finland. He scored the only goal of the game and was hailed by Didier Deschamps, coach of the French National team:

"He is a boy with a lot of qualities, but I knew that. He is a complete midfielder."

Diaby himself is pleased by his return for club and country. In an interview with Le Parisien, Diaby said that he wants to take revenge for the time he lost in injuries.

“I had some very difficult moments, some days when I was depressed when it was tough. But even then, I always kept faith. I always told myself that some people were in a worse position than me.

When you see Eric Abidal, you think twice about yourself. I just had to get my body sorted.

I am 26 and I am aware that I am at a key moment in my career. That's why it was so important that I came back this season. Last year I told myself, ‘I am injured again, I am nearly 26 and I am at a key turn. Either, I take the turn well and I succeed, either I don't take it and it will become very, very difficult.’

Now, I am careful about every detail, I leave nothing to chance. I am much more mature. I also had a full pre-season for the first time in ages. It's such an important season for me that I am working harder than ever to succeed.

I have revenge to take over the time I lost but I want to prove to myself that I can go higher. I am getting to an age and to a time in my career where I need to show what I can do on the pitch in the long term. I don’t want to miss out on anything. I know what my qualities are and I want to use them to go higher. I have played three games this season, I am getting better but I can do more. Physically, I am only 70 per cent.

[When you have] a season without playing you're never sure of anything. I am usually calm but last season it started to play on my mind. Before, I was never apprehensive before a game after an injury. It was almost like I had never been injured. But last season, before the Fulham game, I was shaking on the bench because I was scared of getting injured again. It was incredible.

All I wanted was to play again. I am born with a strong temper. I never give up. Maybe some people would have given up in my position but it was out of the question for me. It was my destiny, it was written [to come back]. I had to fight to put an end to all those injuries and to be able to express myself on a pitch again.”

France will play Belarus on Tuesday and Diaby is expected to start. That could also mean that he won't start for Arsenal against Southampton on Saturday. With Diaby's return, Arsenal's squad is looking complete again. Like always, players left but the club moves on. Let's hope he stays fit for the whole season.

http://www.goonerthoughts.com/2012/09/diaby.html

Ivory Coast 4-2 Senegal

Gervinho scored a nice goal, made an assist, won a penalty and crossed for Drogba to score in the last minute but it was ruled out for offside or something.

Gervinho goal - http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/video-arsenal-forward-gervinho-shows-he-can-finish-in-ivory-coast-win-over-senegal/

Full highlights here. He assisted Ivory Coast's first, scored the 2nd, won penalty for 3rd and his final cross was right at the end of the video - http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/ivory-coast-4-senegal-2-3/

Chuks Aneke
Crewe 0-0 Tranmere
Saturday, September 8
Chuks Aneke made his Crewe debut on Saturday, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in their 0-0 draw against Tranmere.

Daniel Boateng
Oxford United 2-4 Exeter City
Saturday, September 8
Daniel Boateng was an unused substitute in Oxford United's 4-2 defeat at home to Exeter City on Saturday.

Samuel Galindo
Sporting Gijon 1-1 Deportivo Lugo
Sunday, September 9
Samuel Galindo came on as a second-half substitute in Lugo's 1-1 draw against Sporting Gijon.

Denilson
Sao Paulo 1-1 Internacional, September 6
Santos 0-0 Sao Paulo, September 9
Denilson played twice as Sao Paulo completed two games over the weekend. The midfielder played the full 90 minutes in their 1-1 draw against Internacional on Thursday before being sent off in a 0-0 draw with Santos on Sunday.

Wellington
Ponferradina 0-1 Villareal
Saturday, September 8
Wellington did not feature in Ponferradina's 1-0 defeat to Villareal on Saturday.



Is that Denilson's 3rd or 4th red card since he's been back to Brazil?

Since when is Denilson that type of player? Besides, wrong topic Mario. I'm gonna hold this against you during the annual group member awards

Haha, whoops.

So Diaby and Walcott injured?? Giroud a doubt.. ffs

I kinda hope the Diaby injury is a fake one just so he doesn't play 2 games in 4 days..