Arsenal v Spurs

sunday 3rd march
16:00 shite hart lane



well thought i would get this one up and cracking...huge game as we all know....cannot afford to lose or draw...i just want to see a simple 1-0 no fucking around...bag the points...then of course if we can stuff them 5-2 i will take it


early team news.....


Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of the north London derby at White Hart Lane:
on Bacary Sagna...
He is not ready for Sunday. It is too short for him.
on other team news...
Abou is an uncertainty. He has a calf problem, a minor one. It is question of days. He will have tests and then we will see if we can use him on Sunday or not. It is a 50:50. Actually maybe a bit more for him playing.
on Kieran Gibbs...
Kieran is not back. That was as we expected.



well that keeps jenks in the team...as a true gooner he will understand the importance of this game and hopfully put in a cracker..

the center backs who... wenger goes with need to keep an eye on the free roaming bale...ol monkey boy is in a good bit of form

Bar Cazorla who got two goals, Jenkinson was the best player on the pitch against Villa for me, so glad he is (probably) starting this game too. Bit of a unit, a lot quicker than he looks, great crosser, gets stuck in etc and of course he is a proper fan of the club so he will be up for this along with Jacky boy. He will probably be up against Holtby and I reckon Jenkinson will get the better of him too.

If we had a proper DM then he'd stick on the free roaming Bale but I don't know if that would play to Arteta's game. Arteta is a smarter player but Bale is stronger/quicker than him. It'll be interesting to see how that one pans out.

i was tolling the spurs forums today having a look at what they think of this one...so many of those deluded fuckers think they will smash us...i wont hold it to past games and the last 5-2's but i feel we will have the edge in this..keep bale quiet a.nd its a win,he may be bang on form at the moment but when he plays bad the entire team is useless...i dont see them winning this i would prob say a 1-1 or sneaky 2-1 to us.....
jack and jenks fight they should put up should also show the rest just how important it will be...forget the rival this is about us 3 points and getting right behind them so they fail...how they have got so high is mainly due to chimp boy...and that cocky hugely over hyped prick will be let down come 5:45 sunday...clatternberg is reffing this one as i found out today...with only one red card against us in the league since 2005 and given us 5 pens in that time hopefully he will want to give some more..hahaha

I'm undecided over this one. We are able to beat them cunts but they are able to beat us as well.

can someone please kidnap Gareth bale prior to this game, he's the only one that worries me
i'm not looking forward to going to this one bit at the mo, but happy to surprised!!

I think they have two goals in them (Bale will score). Unfortunately, I don't think we have three goals in us for this one. I'd take a draw and try and make up the difference in points elsewhere.

I'm going for a tight Spurs win, 2-1 or 3-2. They just seem, well, Bale seems to have hit some really good form. With the gaps we leave throughout the middle and defence and tendency to give away free kicks in dangerous areas it will just play in to their hands. God I hope I'm wrong.

I find myself caring less and less about 4th place and CL qualification, but if we lose this and go 7 points behind Spurs it's basically out of our hands.
We need to win or draw this week and then hope that Spurs and /or Chelsea implode just a little in the run in. We then need to win at least 9 of the remaining 10.
Could happen !

We got to the point a couple of years ago where continually justifying our mediocrity and failure to solve problems in the team by saying that merely qualifying for the CL was a success had become incredibly frustrating. Nothing has changed. Excellent bloggers have made the case politely but convincingly that it really is high time that AW called it a day. He now presides over a team that doesn't seem to have any tactical nous, just an inefficient plan A. In the long run we are miles better off thanks to his 17 years at the helm, but we can't continue with this mediocrity forever, it's getting so dull. We're capable of so much more. Pointing to our lack of cash is purely obfuscation. Our less wealthy rivals that we play on Sunday have signed cleverly. Who would've guessed that Dembélé would be a good signing? It's not like he was hugely impressive in our two games against them last year.

I always want us to win, but if failing to qualify for the CL meant that we could end this mediocre cycle then I'd take it.

John Foxall wrote:We got to the point a couple of years ago where continually justifying our mediocrity and failure to solve problems in the team by saying that merely qualifying for the CL was a success had become incredibly frustrating. Nothing has changed. Excellent bloggers have made the case politely but convincingly that it really is high time that AW called it a day. He now presides over a team that doesn't seem to have any tactical nous, just an inefficient plan A. In the long run we are miles better off thanks to his 17 years at the helm, but we can't continue with this mediocrity forever, it's getting so dull. We're capable of so much more. Pointing to our lack of cash is purely obfuscation. Our less wealthy rivals that we play on Sunday have signed cleverly. Who would've guessed that Dembélé would be a good signing? It's not like he was hugely impressive in our two games against them last year.

I always want us to win, but if failing to qualify for the CL meant that we could end this mediocre cycle then I'd take it.

Well put , John.

John Foxall wrote:We got to the point a couple of years ago where continually justifying our mediocrity and failure to solve problems in the team by saying that merely qualifying for the CL was a success had become incredibly frustrating. Nothing has changed. Excellent bloggers have made the case politely but convincingly that it really is high time that AW called it a day. He now presides over a team that doesn't seem to have any tactical nous, just an inefficient plan A. In the long run we are miles better off thanks to his 17 years at the helm, but we can't continue with this mediocrity forever, it's getting so dull. We're capable of so much more. Pointing to our lack of cash is purely obfuscation. Our less wealthy rivals that we play on Sunday have signed cleverly. Who would've guessed that Dembélé would be a good signing? It's not like he was hugely impressive in our two games against them last year.

I always want us to win, but if failing to qualify for the CL meant that we could end this mediocre cycle then I'd take it.

We are not mediocre. That is press talk.

It is not dull. But if you want excitement, maybe a relegation battle would be more exciting?

Many fans have called for managers' heads, but the replacement fails to deliver. All because the previous manager had risen expectations. Any expectation you have now is because of Wenger, or maybe Graham before him. But it will not always be like that. Newcastle fans calling for Bobby Robson's head comes to mind. They have never been as good since. Even Liverpool getting rid of Rafa Benitez. Be careful what you wish for. There is a high chance that changing manager will see us become mid table battlers.

Dembele is a good player, but cannot pass and does not interact with his team mates or midfield. In this case, I trust Wenger over others with opinions.

I have not heard Wenger blame 'lack of money'. He cites the financial doping of other clubs, and the very very high transfer fees and wages being paid because of this. It is not sustainable to compete on those terms, and would undo all the great work he has done to transform the club into a European financial powerhouse of a football club.

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:

John Foxall wrote:We got to the point a couple of years ago where continually justifying our mediocrity and failure to solve problems in the team by saying that merely qualifying for the CL was a success had become incredibly frustrating. Nothing has changed. Excellent bloggers have made the case politely but convincingly that it really is high time that AW called it a day. He now presides over a team that doesn't seem to have any tactical nous, just an inefficient plan A. In the long run we are miles better off thanks to his 17 years at the helm, but we can't continue with this mediocrity forever, it's getting so dull. We're capable of so much more. Pointing to our lack of cash is purely obfuscation. Our less wealthy rivals that we play on Sunday have signed cleverly. Who would've guessed that Dembélé would be a good signing? It's not like he was hugely impressive in our two games against them last year.

I always want us to win, but if failing to qualify for the CL meant that we could end this mediocre cycle then I'd take it.

We are not mediocre. That is press talk.

It is not dull. But if you want excitement, maybe a relegation battle would be more exciting?

Many fans have called for managers' heads, but the replacement fails to deliver. All because the previous manager had risen expectations. Any expectation you have now is because of Wenger, or maybe Graham before him. But it will not always be like that. Newcastle fans calling for Bobby Robson's head comes to mind. They have never been as good since. Even Liverpool getting rid of Rafa Benitez. Be careful what you wish for. There is a high chance that changing manager will see us become mid table battlers.

Dembele is a good player, but cannot pass and does not interact with his team mates or midfield. In this case, I trust Wenger over others with opinions.

I have not heard Wenger blame 'lack of money'. He cites the financial doping of other clubs, and the very very high transfer fees and wages being paid because of this. It is not sustainable to compete on those terms, and would undo all the great work he has done to transform the club into a European financial powerhouse of a football club.

I have no interest in what the press say in Britain. The only people with anything interesting to say are genuine football writers such as Michael Cox and Jonathan Wilson, not really journalists.

No, the idea that this team is fairly mediocre is my own, and frankly it doesn't take much watching Arsenal of late to come to that opinion. We are such a tactical mess, we leave ourselves wide open to be dissected and can never resolve our problems. I've simply come to the point of view that AW is not doing his job well enough. I don't claim to have a fantastic understanding of football or of what it takes to be a football manager, but what I see from the team is too average. To not address our weaknesses year upon year takes quite some doing. The club succeeded before he arrived and will succeed after he leaves. Of course there is always a risk that we will take a step back before we improve, but all things in football are cyclical so this can hardly be avoided. To his credit, AW could leave us with a solid British core to take the football club forward. I think it needs that because the club is at risk of losing its identity. Certainly the ownership, the stadium or the foreign players that leave after a few seasons don't carry a sense of our history, so only young British players who would die to wear the shirt can do that.

Dembélé seems to have been a success for them and was certainly a pain in their side last season. He is athletic and most importantly an all-round midfielder, with some muscle and no little skill, something we could really do with. The importance of getting the right players to give balance to the side and to get players suited to this league seems to be more and more lost on AW imo.

I doubt we'll agree, but this is no time for head in the sand. AW is getting older, he is quite simply not the future. We'll have to cross this bridge sooner or later. Romanticism has no place nowadays.

The thing is about Groundhog Day football is that there is just bound to be a moment tomorrow where Gareth Bale gets the ball in miles of room and scores or sets up a goal.

As a fan, we will be saying to ourselves: "Well that was predictable, wasn't it Arsene? So why as a paid employee of the football club didn't you do more to plan for such an eventuality?" At least I fear that will be the question.

Dembele is good but I was always figured he was only signed because they lost Modric? Whether it is an improvement on what they had or not is arguable.

John Foxall wrote:

I have no interest in what the press say in Britain. The only people with anything interesting to say are genuine football writers such as Michael Cox and Jonathan Wilson, not really journalists.

No, the idea that this team is fairly mediocre is my own, and frankly it doesn't take much watching Arsenal of late to come to that opinion. We are such a tactical mess, we leave ourselves wide open to be dissected and can never resolve our problems. I've simply come to the point of view that AW is not doing his job well enough. I don't claim to have a fantastic understanding of football or of what it takes to be a football manager, but what I see from the team is too average. To not address our weaknesses year upon year takes quite some doing. The club succeeded before he arrived and will succeed after he leaves. Of course there is always a risk that we will take a step back before we improve, but all things in football are cyclical so this can hardly be avoided. To his credit, AW could leave us with a solid British core to take the football club forward. I think it needs that because the club is at risk of losing its identity. Certainly the ownership, the stadium or the foreign players that leave after a few seasons don't carry a sense of our history, so only young British players who would die to wear the shirt can do that.

Dembélé seems to have been a success for them and was certainly a pain in their side last season. He is athletic and most importantly an all-round midfielder, with some muscle and no little skill, something we could really do with. The importance of getting the right players to give balance to the side and to get players suited to this league seems to be more and more lost on AW imo.

I doubt we'll agree, but this is no time for head in the sand. AW is getting older, he is quite simply not the future. We'll have to cross this bridge sooner or later. Romanticism has no place nowadays.

Sorry. I was thinking of Demba Ba! Not sure about Dembele. May have been a decent signing for us. Don't know. But what we are talking about does not hinge on one signing. But amazing to think he would have costed double the amount of Robert Pires!

Anyway, Wenger leaves us more than a British core. He has transformed the club. Leaves a legacy greater than any other manager in history. Money in the bank, great stadium, great core of young and improving players. Great systems and culture in place.

You say that he has been unable to fix obvious problems. Problems that any fan can see.

- Firstly, I think if you watch any of the other Premier League teams this season, you see they also struggle to contain opposition. How many goals have United conceded this season? And they are top! Gareth Bale has walked through goals against many opposition. He may do it against us also. Not Wenger's fault.

- Secondly, before making those conclusions, you have to accept the number of things that he has had to deal with. How many injuries we get. Gallas and Toure falling out, and having to leave. Flamini leaving. Adebayor and Cole being cunts. Culminating in the loss of Nasri, Cesc and Van Persie. What a team we would have with them. But they didn't want to wait for that to come together. If anything, I agree Wenger should have bought earlier to try and keep those guys. Surround them with quality.

But anyway, I disagree that we are mediocre, that it is dull, and that Wenger blames a lack of money.

I personally think the plan all along has been once the board had seen how much he has revolutionized the club would be to move him upstairs and bring in a manager....not any manager and if it took time to wait for the right one they would....I fully expect Wenger to be with us next season..now all this money has started to roll into the banks and transfer funds it could be a major chance to finish with Wenger buying some quality players to sit with the as said good British ones we have...not only that this end to the season and into the next could be a major step up for us....things are falling apart at Chelsea,Ferguson is all but gone..Liverpool and spurs are floting about as usual...and while we are having (according to everyone) a disaster season we could very well finish in the top 4 and taking a shit load of money into a transfer window knowing we can attract players because of champions league football as well as the FFP rules kicking in a very stable and well run business.....this is nitty gritty time for the club.....finish this season well...and the next could bring us more than expected.....

Agree Michael. But on the other hand, next season could be the same as the last 5. But I too am optimistic!

Fuck it. Buy Cavani and Schweinsteiger and get on with it!

We must win this because Chelsea and Everton won. A draw still wouldn't be a bad result and we'd still have the chance to close the gap later on, but I'd rather start doing that today.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!! COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!!

Game day!

Really worried about Bale for this one, that cunt's been scoring for fun for a few weeks now for them, good thing though is that he's virtually their only scoring threat these days. Dafoe? Adethewhore? They've both lost form for a ehile now already especially ade, he rarely scores these days, what a wasted talent he turned out to be.

On the game, i think bale will definitely score and also it's likely to be a draw, which i'll take right now considering they're just 4 ahead of us and they haven't had their annual meltdown yet, preying it comes though...

So head says draw and heart says win, so lets smash these delusional fuckers and show them who rules north london!

Arsenal Gentleman tweeted this and I started laughing while working:
"#GreatMomentsInTottenhamsHistory: Ipswich Hospital Charity Cup Winners 1951/1952 (joint) #Champions (from their official website)"

The stats seam to be with us on this...let in less goals on our travels the 5-2 thrashings just hope we keep it up..much more than 3 points at stake.....

30 mins to go....

link..

http://mybestlink1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/arsenal-2.html

LINE-UPS- Tottenham v Arsenal

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Dembele, Parker, Lennon, Bale, Sigurdsson, Adebayor.

Subs: Friedel, Gallas, Naughton, Defoe, Holtby, Livermore, Carroll.



Arsenal: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal, Ramsey, Arteta, Walcott, Wilshere, Cazorla, Giroud.

Subs: Mannone, Koscielny, Rosicky, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Gervinho.

Links guys