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This post has been edited by kimhoong: Oct 21 2009, 04:50 AM

The Emotional Highbury and The Grand Ashburton Grove

Highbury 1913-2006

For the majority of their time in south-east London, Arsenal played at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, a three-year period at the nearby Invicta Ground between 1890 and 1893 excepted. The Manor Ground was initially just a field, but the club installed stands and terracing in time for their first Football League match in September 1893. They played their home games there for the next twenty years (with two exceptions in 1894�95), until the move to north London in 1913.



Arsenal Stadium, widely referred to as Highbury, was Arsenal's home from September 1913 until May 2006. The original stadium was designed by the renowned football architect Archibald Leitch, and had a design common to many football grounds in the UK at the time, with a single covered stand and three open-air banks of terracing. In the 1930s, the entire stadium was given a massive overhaul, with new Art Deco West and East stands constructed, opening in 1932 and 1936 respectively; in addition, the North Bank terrace had a roof added, which was later bombed during World War II and not restored until 1956.

At its peak, Highbury could hold over 60,000 spectators, and had a capacity of 57,000 until the early 1990s. The Taylor Report and Premier League regulations forced Arsenal to convert Highbury into an all-seater in time for the 1993�94 season, reducing the capacity to 38,419 seated spectators. This capacity had to be reduced further during Champions League matches to accommodate additional advertising hoardings, so much so that for two seasons (1998�99 and 1999�00) Arsenal played Champions League home matches at Wembley, which could house more than 70,000 spectators.

Final moments - the emotions run high in Highbury



Ashburton Grove 2007-present

Expansion of Highbury was restricted because the East Stand had been designated as a Grade II listed building and the other three stands were close to residential properties. These limitations have prevented the club from maximising the revenue that their domestic form could have brought in recent seasons. After considering various options, in 2000 Arsenal proposed building a new 60,000-seater stadium at Ashburton Grove, since renamed the Emirates Stadium, about 500 metres south-west of Highbury. The project was initially delayed by red tape and rising costs, but construction was completed in July 2006, in time for the start of the 2006�07 season. The stadium is named after its sponsors, the airline company Emirates, with whom the club signed the largest sponsorship deal in English football history, worth approximately �100 million; however some fans refer to the ground as Ashburton Grove, or the Grove, as they do not agree with corporate sponsorship of stadium names.The stadium will be officially known as Emirates Stadium until at least 2012, and the airline will be the club's shirt sponsor until the end of the 2013�14 season.

Construction and completion of the Ashburton Grove

The LYN Gooners
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This post has been edited by kimhoong: Oct 19 2009, 08:05 PM

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Ex-Gunners:


This post has been edited by kimhoong: Sep 15 2009, 07:49 PM

Some latest posts of the previous thread:

bump bump 1st to post

So Standard Liege away. Tricky tie IMO but nonetheless one we should win. Chance perhaps for Rosicky to regain back some of his match fitness.

wanted to watch the standard liege game live on my birthday but since no espn/star broadcast, looks like i'll have to stream. excited to see rosicky play again

sick of hearing bout ade

btw kimhoong, my name's not in the list yet yooo

okie

Wish 1 of the top 4 clubs in EPL, Arsenal luck on their UCL match,

Start with your team first

Sick of this ade and his antics already

Still i believe a minimum 2 match bans for him which means will benefit manU

I think we should focus on how the team performed last week. We lost deservedly I would say. The team did not focus and concentrate and we got pawned.
For all these years I have supported Adebayor, what he done is disrespectful and a disgrace. Since when you saw any ex player done this to their ex club? Anelka? Vieira? Enough said. I want to see how the team will perform in their next match. Don't be too happy Gunners' fan. From the previous 2 EPL matches, it seems the squad is not stable and 100% for the league cup yet.

SPAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st page.woo

Hope to see Arsenal bounce back.c'mon ya gunners

i love arsenal.

Arsenal the best!!
Hope the players stay FITTTTTT!

wah... already new page...
nex up Standard Liege, so the team need to bounce back...
hope no abuse for dudu in belgium la

Best in wht?

yup. the best.

no live means no watch. streaming here suxie so better for me to sleep and wait for the result..which we should probably win..

no live champions league match on astro? =(

when is the game? tonight or tomorrow?

tommorow aka thursday morning~

nvm..still got stream rite..

Hi Arsenal fans,

Not sure if I can ask about this. But I am curious what happened to Adebayor last season that leads him to the exit? Read somewhere that it was because of some internal fight with teammates, is that true? Hope someone can enlighten me and sorry to bring this up.

-fight with bendtner..
-meet milan ppl without permission..
-teribble finisher last season!

cantdecide

it's the season before last. the thing started with Ade thinks that he's bigger than the cause. Hence, he started flirting with other clubs, in particular AC Milan over a possible transfer. Then his agent went around and try to shop him. Having just completed an excellent season, Arsenal bows to him and give him a pay raise to 80k/week. Happily, he signed.

Then, Pre-season starts. He did the worst thing by kissing the arsenal badge after he scores a goal,... and the fan didn't take it lightly. to many, he's a traitor to the cause. Selfish and demanding, he didn't do well last season and was injured most of the time. According to reports, He and Kolo, along with some other African players started their own clique in the dressing room. He fell out of favor with Bendtner and even had a fight (head butt) with him.

Then he openly criticised AW for not bringing in reinforcement. Then, offseason, again the rumors surfaced about AC Milan and Real Madrid and what not. His agents were at it again... AW seems to had enough and decided to cash in on him and Kolo.

then, just before the game, he slammed AW and ARsenal and the fans.

then during the game, he stamped on Cesc and RVP... worst on RVP than Cesc. Then he ran the pitch to celebrate in front of Arsenal fans.

u tell me... who is he... If AW didn't bring him to Arsenal, he's a nobody. He didn't even get into the first team at Monaco.

he was a rebel without a clue... check out his wikipedia. he used to punch Lampard too.... ahahaha..

Srry if im a slowpoke

Ade Verdict



This post has been edited by bobotorix: Sep 15 2009, 10:12 PM

why arsene sell ade adebayor to city. better sell to other league club at a cheaper price. AW wont use the money anyway~

for own use perhaps...

because AW wants him to react the way he did.... that'll justify his selling even more.

Guys, bad news!

RVP, Almunia & Denilson will not be available for Wedn champion league.

Arsenal must cope without goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, striker Robin van Persie and midfielder Denilson in tomorrow's Champions League tie against Standard Liège.

Almunia has a chest infection, and with reserve goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also unavailable due to a knee injury Arsenal must choose between Vito Mannone and Wojciech Szczesny.

Van Persie has a knee injury and Denilson a back problem, however Eduardo is available after Uefa overturned his two-match ban for diving.

Arsenal have also not listed England forward Theo Walcott in their squad, with Russian midfielder Andrey Arshavin (groin), defender Johan Djourou (knee) and winger Samir Nasri (broken leg) also absent.

What??damn the curse is back again

Btw.Where did you get that info?

This post has been edited by gummerz: Sep 15 2009, 11:28 PM

even if without the 3 of them, i believe arsenal's youngsters are strong enuff to win the game

best in buyer players for cheap..

and then selling them for more !!


Whenever. Wherever. Arsenal.

---

Added on September 15, 2009, 11:37 pmoh its out on the www.arsenal.com

enjoy

This post has been edited by trustmeiamlegit: Sep 15 2009, 11:37 PM

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-...uters&type=lgns

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/se...-standard-liege

i will not be surprised at all if Average Al was dropped and the injury is just a cover up. about time to for players to be played based on merit rather than seniority

Finally, will AW start Bertner in the center?

aiyak diaby will for sure play if like this.Who do you guys think will play Mannone or Szczesny?

Mannone I supposed, he's the reserve keeper in most matches right?

and this is worrying
if almunia is gonna out for few weeks are we gonna bank on a 21-year-old mannone?

I suppose the drop of Almunia is to cautious him. He has been ..... well ... a bit crap recently.

Anyone think that this is the same situation when Lehmann got drop?A couple of blunders early in the season.Then he got injured after that then got drop on the bench for the whole season.

Lehman was dropped in a similar way too, by AW declaring him "injured".

Watch this space...

i hope wilshere, merida and ramsey
will have chance to play tomorrow.
our future gunners ! ^^

at the rate Almunia is going, i think it would be of no harm to try some new keeper..=P
we may find another lehmann!

When Lehman was dropped, we got Almunia. But now if Almunia is dropped too. Who do we have? Fabianski? I doubt that. I am no Almunia fans anyway since the Barca final. Not a standard of Seaman or Lehman, but I still respect him as a great shot stopper

he's a decent goalkeeper. but far from worldclass goalkeeper.

Everything is short about him, legs, hands, height...

why AW never try to lure Igor Akinfeev before? He is amazing. Consistent and have a decent Physique. 6"1

This post has been edited by chypher: Sep 16 2009, 01:45 AM

I reckon

-----------------Eduardo------------------

Diaby----------------------------Bendtner

---------Cesc------------Eboue-----------

------------------Song--------------------

Clichy------Vermy----Gallas-------Sagna

----------------Mannone-------------------


I don't think Tomas will be handed a start so quickly due to his fitness but expect him to play a part in the match that is for sure.


As for Almunia I have repeatedly remarked of how poor he looked since day 1 of preseason and that he would cost us a fair share of goals if it continued but well no one seemed to notice and cared back then because we still kept winning and that sort of papered over his performances in the eyes of everyone. Its unfortunate my worst fears are proving to be true. However I'm still backing Manuel to improve and recapture the form he showed last year and hopefully he does just that sooner rather than later.

This post has been edited by sigheart: Sep 16 2009, 01:48 AM

Although I believe Almunia is just enough to accomplish his job in Arsenal as a decent GK, I do agree with you guys that he is still some distance from being one of the current great GKs.

Diaby wannabes? jk jk

I understand that we are short in attack, so putting Diaby ahead of others is very likely to happen - especially for AW

am i a slowpoke or what..

eduardo's appeal accepted

a little bit slow actually.


Like one said here, the damage is already done - no thanks to the media and the rival clubs to glamorizes our wrongdoings but never do the same when the appeal shows that Eduardo should NOT label with the shameful diver tag.

ooh almond dropped for the next game? interesting move, tbh that OG of him, cant be avoided. those things happen. but putting aside that moment, he's been decent at best. i didnt replace almunia with sebastian frey in my game for nothing igor akinfeev's in my squad too hahah

This post has been edited by Thumpy Ick: Sep 16 2009, 03:15 AM

indeed,the damage has been done but now is his chance to prove the world his abilities.i wanna see him lead us to a glorious moment this season.

this is not a football manager game.lol.you can buy anyone you want if you have the money but in reality,money always been a problem for us.we can only manage to buy cheap keepers.i bet akinfeev won't come cheap.with all the hype around him,he's probably requires at least 10m pounds for his service.

almunia dropped.now who will be picked?we had a torrid time with fabianski in the post and now fabianski's not even in the bench.who do we have?mannone?the other polish guy?omg.it's up to the defenders now to perform 200% in next game.

We were linked with Akinfeev before, and the rumours back then was that he was too short and we didn't get him in the end. How true is it, only those involved with the team will know.

Manny has been dropped due to a chest infection... some may say it's like Jen's "injury" but Manny might really have fallen sick.
Let's just hope Mannone will be able to face the heat and if he doesn't, don't bash him - some fans are really obnoxious in attacking our own players rather than supporting them.

im sure arsene will start diaby....they have special connection

I think we really need to improve on our goalkeeping lineup. Our 1st choice is not even an international. Even Fabianski have played for his country before. All the other top 4 teams' keepers are internationals (Cech, VDS, Reina, Givens). Well, Chelsea didn't have an international keeper before Cech. Almunia have been with us for quite some time now. Dun tell me a club like Arsenal can't even attract an international goalkeeper to come & play for us. Our goalkeeping line-up have always included internationals or ex-internationals. Height is one thing, I'd reckon 6'2"-6'3" is good enuff for a keeper in EPL. Too tall & U'll have probs dealing with low balls (VDS, 6'5"). Too short & U'll really have problems all over. Now that we have improved on our CBs, perhaps it's time we take a look at the GKs as well.

argh fark.. first i missed out on Grafite.. now RVP dropped? bad start to ECL fantasy for me. Damn!

---

Added on September 16, 2009, 9:44 ambtw... AW didn't lure Akinfeev away because he just returned from career threathning injury. So, let him recover fully 1st.

This post has been edited by sakaito: Sep 16 2009, 09:44 AM

Time for Mannone to step up and show Almunia he ain't the best keeper in Arsenal yet.

I hope Bendtner will start ahead at the front line attack.Playing a winger again means fail.

Totally agreed!
We need a goalkeeper that is also an international goalkeeper.
At one point during last season, Given wanted to join us but not sure what happen
and he went to MC instead.

Fabianski, still too inexperience.
He haven't earned the experience to read the game yet.
Likes to come out too early.

I hope Mannone will be a better keeper that we have yet to show off.

The chest infection is more like he is now sakit hati b'cos kena drop mah............hehehe

You know what, i actually hate critisizing any of our players, i hardly ever done that in the past but having read some of the comments and seen how Almunia played for us this few years, i must say we're lacking a quality GK. Dont get me wrong, Almunia is a decent GK, he gets us there and saved us a couple of times but he just lacks the cutting edge. If you've seen how Reina plays, you'd get what i mean. Its his ability to pull and outstanding save out of nothing that makes Reina or even Cech or even Casillas special. While Almunia has done his share of 1 v 1 saves or the very normal save that GK's make, he hasn't able to replicate his form during big games and i question his concentration during the game.

The one that had me thinking was the goal he conceded against Pompey, or was it Everton when he hestitated in coming out to collect the high ball and when he came out, he was beaten by a towering header from one of the opposition players. And then there's the opening goal that Man City scored against us which sent Almunia scrambling.

Wont go as far as saying he should be replaced but AW should do something about that really. Maybe Almunia was getting complacent with the fact he has no competition for the GK spot. I thought he was doing alright and at one point was being linked as England's potential GK.

I that is it. Almunia's best times were when Lehmann was on the bench pushing for a spot in the first team. Now with no one to put Almunia under pressure, he thinks he can afford to be luxurious in goal.

This is the ideal game to try out our other GKs. I think we should go with the polish dude. Haven't seen him play so I don't know what he is all about.

that was the goal conceded against portsmouth when he hesitated and was beaten to the ball by kaboul, a former spurs player. crap.

but yes, i agree with the view of people giotto, sigheart, toshio14 that almunia has been below par. he's never been one of the world's top keepers, but even by his own standards, he's been found wanting this season. and i will stick my neck out and reiterate that i fault almunia for the first goal against city. the unfortunate bop on the head on the rebound was unavoidable, but he took too long to decide about whether he was gonna rush over and save that ball. by the time he decided, the ball had gone past him, and after the rebound, became an own goal.

however, to say that arsenal need a goalie who is an international, i'm sorry but i do not agree. the arsenal way is to get a great player, who will then be recognised by his country. we take the rough gems and turn them into precious stones.

but yes, i think almunia needs serious competition to make him work harder. otherwise, like sigheart has prophesied, he may become our new archilles heel. i think having diaby is bad enough, we don't need another one. =)

Arsenal's Arsene Wenger blasts Mark Hughes and Emmanuel Adebayor



Source: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Arsen...icle158503.html

Standard Liege preview and favourite line-up: Theo, Denilson, RVP, Almunia and Arshavin all out!



Source: http://www.thegunninghawk.com/2009/09/15/s...shavin-all-out/

^ interesting how the gunninghawk website fails to list diaby in his starting 11... heheh.. =)

but i do like his starting 11. hopefully that's the way it starts...

almunia got 1 probelm=respons too slow...mata sudah rabun ka cik abang?

Anyone here reads Bleacher report?

Would anyone mind if i post it here?

I found it quite interesting.

i've noticed almunia's problem since the start of the season.and even in preseason.remember the cheap goal he conceded in the first preseason game?and how he hesitates to come out in portsmouth game.and diaby's own goal at manchester.he can do better than that but he failed.i guess he's been too complacent for being arsenal's no 1 without any real competitor out there.

2nd that, if all the big 4 have international GK, i think arsenal shud oso sign intrntnl GK like
akenfeev, artur boruc @ sebastien frey.

As far as reflexes and eyesight go, I doubt Almunia has a problem.

The only thing lacking with Almunia this year, is one thing only - FOCUS!!

Keepers tend to play up to the ages of 35-38 (heck Dino Zoff won the World Cup aged 40!), so I wouldn't say its old age or slow reflex or eyesight problems, etc. Its all about the focus and concentration. Classic example of a keeper with super reflexes but bad focus is David James. At one point in his career, he even admitted he lost focus because of playing too much video games.

I doubt Almunia is PS3-ing of XBOX-ing too much, but yes rightfully as Kazek and a few others pointed out earlier, there is no tough challenger from him which allows complacency to set in and thus the loss of concentration.

---

Added on September 16, 2009, 12:20 pmAkinfeev and Boruc is ok. Frey... er... Akinfeev and Boruc is ok.

This post has been edited by Zan81: Sep 16 2009, 12:20 PM

What's that?

Post it lar.

if we're going to get a 2nd goalkeeper then we should aim at those who are not playing in UEFA competition.akinfeev and boruc have played.i don't want another arshavin's case this time.carlos kameni maybe.or ochoa.i watched a glimpse of him during gold cup's final and he is very good in reality.

guilermo ochoa? keeper for mexico? vela would have another mexico partner... but worried if the keeper also bring H1N1..

i still think we need a world class keeper bcoz most of the match ref always choose side to the team against us.

now is like playing Football manager 2009. I always get Ochoa and Akinfeev. They both are very good keeper in the game. lol

yup.and i was quite sad that dos santos went to spurs instead of us for cheap.

we're talking bout reality now.hehe

how about buffon. he is on top of aw list. how old is he right now?

This post has been edited by matju: Sep 16 2009, 01:02 PM

Have any of U guys read the article in The Star today ? About Toure coming out to defend Ade's actions during the last game. I can't find an online version of it anywhere, not even in Soccernet. Toure said that Ade was forced by AW to leave becoz we needed the cash. & that Ade shud've directed his actions against AW & the board, not towards the fans. Word to Toure : STFU.

---

Added on September 16, 2009, 1:06 pmI've always thought the best keepers in the world is from Germany, Italy & England. Brazil used to produce the worst keepers before Tafarrel. Buffon maybe too expensive when there are other keepers around that costs less.

---

Added on September 16, 2009, 1:07 pmAgreed. He's got that confused or staring on empty look on him.

Well, let this rest be a lesson to him. Our goalkeeping coach is top-rated, let him work his magic on Almunia.

This post has been edited by tenno: Sep 16 2009, 01:07 PM

Yes, FM rates Akinfeev and Ochoa highly, but I haven't seen that much of them IRL to make a judgement.

But one keeper that is rated highly in the 09 version and one that I saw playing is Sergio Asenjo. He signed for Atletico this season and he looks quite solid during the Emirates Cup. And best part is, he's only 20 and playing Champs League football this year!

Trust me, he will take over from Casillas one fine day.

This post has been edited by Zan81: Sep 16 2009, 01:19 PM

i mentioned this before but i will say it again. when you are a GK and you play for a top club and having a good central defender partnership i.e. like we have now with Billy Gallas and TV concentration and focus are the most important aspect of your game. because opponent's attack will be less and less because it'll be cleared by your teammates in front of you be it your DM or your CDs. this is where you will see the difference between top class GK and an average GK

unless Al improve on his focus and concentration, he will never be a top class GK and i afraid in a very competitive world of football nowadays, that will not do it for us

also fully agree with the point that most probably complacent had creep in since he no longer has Mad Jens breathing down his neck for the #1 spot

Bleacher Report

First things first, it was an amazing second-half of football, which was overshadows by the moronic antics of one crazy man. I'll get to him later but first let me say a few things on the footballing side of the game.

I must say that I wasn't really shocked that Arsenal lost at Eastlands on Saturday as the warning signs were already there for all to see.

The sirens went off in my head as soon as I saw the starting line-ups for both teams. Manchester City had a nice balanced team with Barry and De Jong anchoring in midfield; and Bellamy playing just off Adebayor. It was clear that Mark Hughes has done his homework.

Almost every Manchester City player was playing in his natural position.

On the other hand, Arsene Wenger has learned nothing from Arsenal's recent matches against the big four and still insists on playing his players out of position.

Cesc Fabregas turned up on the right with Bendtner and Diaby on the left. Can someone please explain to me why the boss keep playing Abou Diaby on the left when everyone can see that his best position is in the centre of midfield?

He doesn't have the pace or the trickery of a winger and this makes it very easy for the fullback to shut him down. On Saturday, Micah Richards kept showing him the inside and his job was done.

Midfield Destroyer Needed Badly

Mark Hughes understands that grace and elegance alone would not bring a top four finish and as a result he has added the requisite steel needed in defence and midfield (i.e. Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong, Kolo Toure, and Joleon Lescott).

This is exactly what was missing from Arsenal, especially in midfield.

Denilson, Fabregas, and Diaby are all great going forward, but they will never give you the discipline and physical edge you need to track back and close down opponents.

Song is the best option for the Gunners as a defensive midfielder, but there's not much he can do when he's facing two world-class midfielders in his position in the form of Barry and De Jong.

Having said that, Song's attempt to make a tackle on Richards for the second goal was simply pathetic to say the least. Also, Gael Clichy had an uncharacteristically poor game at left back, but the required cover for his mistakes was non-existent.

As a result, the usually solid pairing of Gallas and Vermaelen suffered from the lack of adequate midfield cover. The running from midfield from the like of Ireland, Wright-Phillips and Bellamy caused all sorts of problems for the back four.

Arsene Wenger must understand that you need some steel to go along with the beautiful football so that the more creative players can freely express themselves on the pitch. He must sign an experienced defensive midfielder in January.

Misfiring Strikers Need To Sharpen Up

Another problem most of you probably noticed is the shortage of goals from our centre forwards. This season Wenger opted to play Robin Van Persie (RVP) at the centre of the three forwards, with Bendtner on the right and Arshavin on the left in a 4-3-3 formation.

This works relatively well when Arshavin is playing as he's versatile and clever enough to know when to take the fullback on the outside, and when to tuck in on the inside. He gives the team some width on the left, and more importantly, gives some support to Gael Clichy in defensive areas.

However, with the silent assassin missing, he gave the job to Abou Diaby and he was absolutely hopeless. This is not his fault at all as he's not a winger by trade.

Bendtner wasn't any better either, and the lack of width in the team's play was there for all to see.

Furthermore, we all know that RVP is not a centre forward, but more a second striker. Most of his good plays on Saturday came from deep positions—his goal was a classic piece of improvisation, in which he nicked the ball from the lunging Lescott and then placed the shot low to the keeper's right.

Clichy and Sagna don't cross the ball often enough because they probably know that RVP will not win the header. He's not physically imposing enough to win headers against the likes of Vidic and Lescott.

Arsenal could've done with someone like Chamakh on Saturday to give them the aerial option in the box, hold the ball up as teammates advance and out-muscle defenders.

Also, Arsenal have had 19 shots on goal, nine on target, had much of the ball and created more goal scoring opportunities than City but still managed to lose the game.

This is because Arsenal strikers, for many years now, do not convert enough of the numerous chances they create. This was also the case in the Man United game the previous Saturday.

Arsenal are in desperate need of a world class striker, who has the necessary pace and power, along with his technical ability, to unlock defences and convert higher percentage of chances into goals.

I'm fairly sure that if Arsenal had one of Rooney, Drogba or Torres; they would've at least drawn the game against City. These strikers don't mess about, they just put the ball in the back of the net.

The other centre forward options available to Wenger are Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo. I still have serious reservations about them for two different reasons.

Bendtner has a fantastic future, but clearly he's not ready to assume responsibility as the main man in attack. Eduardo, on the other hand, is born for that role as he's the best finisher we have. However, I don't think he's fully recovered psychologically from that horrific injury he suffered last year.

It's very important that Eduardo stays injury free this year so that he slowly gets his confidence back and starts scoring like we know he can.


Final Thought

I think what concerns Arsenal fans and Wenger is the fact that we dominated matches against two top teams but managed to lose both games.

"It's worrying," Wenger said. "The only thing I can say is we played four times, and three times away, and unfortunately we lost these two games and that’s very difficult to take because we have to learn to take the maximum with the performance we produce and we didn’t do that."

However, you have to also say that the boys had little go their way at Eastlands on Saturday. Richards was definitely offside for the first goal, although I think Almunia was a little slow on his feet.

Furthermore, the referee Mark Clattenburg was shocking as he managed to deal with...pretty much nothing. He should've sent off Adebayor twice—first for the stamp on Fabregas's ankle in the first half; and then for the disgraceful stamp on Van Persie.

How the referee missed both incidents i'll never know.

As for Adebayor, I don't think I've ever seen a player conducting a personal vendetta against former team-mates during a game. He was not playing for City...he was playing for team Adebayor.

However, it's crucial that we don't lose sight of the big picture. Arsenal were beaten the Arsenal way: quick, incisive counter-attacks with width; executed by skillful forwards with plenty of pace to burn.

Now it's down to Wenger to address the problems in attack and defence. The players must lick their wounds, regroup and come back stronger.

Its Standard Liege next in the Champions league opener, le'ts hope the team returns to winning ways against the Belgian champions.

---

Added on September 16, 2009, 3:11 pmStandard Liege Preview
By: Martin | September 15th, 2009

Well, before we get to the preview, Adebayor looks to be in trouble. He’s facing a 3-match ban for violent conduct for stomping van Persie’s face, and could be facing an additional ban for inciting the Arsenal supporters at the Eastlands. Referee Mark Clattenberg said that he didn’t see the van Persie incident, but that if he had, he would have sent Adebayor off. We’ll see what happens, but as I’ve said, what he did was malicious, dangerous, and unsporting, and he deserves a ban of at least 3 matches.

Anyway, onto tomorrow’s Champions League matchup with Standard Liege. It’s a short hop across the channel to Belgium, so travel and jetlag shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Although Standard is currently the defending Belgian First Division Champions, they currently sit 5th in the table through 6 games. They’ve lost several top quality players in the past few seasons as Marouane Fellaini left for Everton and Oguchi Onyewu left for AC Milan. Their captain and best player (and rumored Liverpool target) Steven Defour is out of the match with a broken foot, and midfield hard man Axel Witsel is out due to suspension (UPDATE: Apparently I may be wrong about this–I was under the impression Witsel’s suspension applied to European competitions, but the Mirror is reporting that it only applies to Belgian domestic matches). Their fans aren’t known for being particularly boisterous or intimidating.

To put it simply, Champions League away matches don’t get any easier than this, and anything short of 3 points will be a massive disappointment. Given our fixture congestion, we need to win these early group stage matches so we can rotate the squad a little bit later in the fall and still make it to the knockout stages. This is particularly true given that our last group stage match is against Olympiakos in Athens, which is always a tricky fixture and one I’d just as soon not need to win to move on.

Anyway, this should be a good chance for us to break our 2-match losing streak and get some good feelings going around the Emirates again.

The injury news isn’t great–Robin van Persie is out with a knee injury, Denilson has a sore back, and Almunia has a chest infection. Theo Walcott is still not fit enough to play, and hasn’t travelled with the team. Combined with the existing injuries to Nasri, Vela, Djourou, Fabianski, and Arshavin, that really leaves us with pretty much a bare bones squad. Vito Mannone will make his second senior start in goal, and depending on how fit he is, we could see Rosicky make his first start in some time as well.

My best guess at a lineup:

Mannone

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Rosicky-Song-Fabregas-Diaby

Bendtner-Eduardo

It wouldn’t entirely surprise me to see a little more squad rotation than that, either. Guys like Traore, Ramsey, Wilshere, Gibbs, Eboue, or even (gulp) Silvestre could see some action as Wenger tries to rest some players and avoid more injury, although you’d have to think all those guys will be seeing action in the Carling Cup fixture next week.

Anyway, here’s to 3 points and no injuries. I’ll be DVRing it so I won’t be watching it live, but I’ll go ahead and put up a game thread tomorrow so those of you that are can leave your thoughts.

Come on Arsenal.


This post has been edited by JoyLee1055: Sep 16 2009, 03:11 PM

Our last three games is all full with controversies.The alleged Eduardo diving against Celtic, Arsene Wenger got sent off at Old Trafford and now the Adebayor incident againts City.When will it stop?haih

Btw, are we playing home or away?

Away.

Sorry guys if you find this too boring but I like what is written here :-


After the match Adebayor claimed, “I was trying to kick the ball. My feet touch his head. I feel sorry for him. Straight away, and at the end of the game, I said sorry.”

Van Persie subsequently issued a statement in which he denied any such apology was forthcoming and said he was “sad and disappointed” by Adebayor's “mindless and malicious stamp”. The Dutchman added: “He set out to hurt me. I do feel lucky that I have not received a greater injury. The contact was only centimetres from my eye.'

Wenger — who said Adebayor had not been in touch with the club — added he backed Van Persie’s powerful choice of words. He said: “If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn’t say, ‘thank-you-very-much’ and turn the other cheek. Only Jesus Christ did that'

^ wow... good stuff from the gaffer! =) and as usual, adebayor and his lame @$$ excuses aren't fooling ANYONE.

A gentle reminder to all members who post articles/news/blogs/etc., please state your source (URL) to credit the original owners

yeap, need to do referencing..give credit to the people who publish it..
btw, our game against standard liege no LIVE right?
haih..have to stream edi

This post has been edited by Liuism: Sep 16 2009, 04:45 PM

got delay at 6.30...too late for me...

i wonder why not delay at 4.30..stupid astoro

Just watch online lar.

Oops, sorry.

here is the link http://www.arsenalinsider.com/2009/09/16/w...anuel-adebayor/

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Added on September 16, 2009, 6:02 pmhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1213719/Arsenal-boss-Arsene-Wenger-asks-rookie-goalkeeper-Vito-Mannone-grow-fast.html

Aiyoh, why Arsenal so malang!

Even the 4th choice goalkeeper has broke both his arms in an accident in the gym.

This post has been edited by JoyLee1055: Sep 16 2009, 06:02 PM