Friday, September 30, 2011

Facebook Page

Our Facebook Page has been up and running for more than two months and we are now delighted to announce that we have finally obtained our own Facebook URL, which is www.facebook.com/ArsenalSpain.

Many thanks to those people who Liked our Page. Without their supports, we couldn't have achieved this target. If you haven't joined us on Facebook, click on the Like button in the column on the right-hand side of this post.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Arsenal 2 Olympiacos 1

It was another tough game, but we got what matters most, which was all three points. A home win against Olympiacos was a must if Arsenal are to progress to the knockout stage.

The starting line-up came as a surprise. The makeshift defence and changes on the flanks were much expected due to the injuries to Koscielny, Walcott and Gervinho, but leaving the in-form striker on the bench was something nobody predicted. Arsene Wenger has recently admitted that the hard-fought wins over Udinese and the tough draw against Dortmund cost his side dearly on the domestic front, so his intention was probably to field a team just good enough to see Olympiacos off without stretching their key players' fitness too far ahead of the weekend's north London Derby.

Our defence looked once again vulnerable, but once Vermaelen is back from the injury, hopefully he should form a steady defensive partnership with Mertesacker to play most of the Premer League games, stabilising the back four.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's dream debut in the Champions League has already been talked about by many, so I would like to mention Chamakh's effort here. He has been under heavy criticism since January, but there have been signs of his returning to the form, including his first goal in 6 months and man of the match performance against Blackburn. In last night's game, how Chamakh held three Olympiacos defenders to himself and pave the way for the opening goal should be applauded as much as Chamberlain's goal. His intelligent pass to Chamberlain in the second half nearly set up a third goal for Arsenal. All he needs is luck and once his confidence is back, we will see him start scoring goals again just as he did in the first half of the last season.

The "man at the post" issue caught my attention again last night on two occasions; first of which was when Arteta cleared off the line, saving Arsenal from conceding a quick equaliser. It looked like it was totally his initiative to take the action. It showed how important placing a man at the post was.

The second occasion was when Olympiacos scored their only goal from a short corner. Szczesny signalled his team-mates to move the defensive line forward, so I presume that he did not want his defenders as well as the opposition's attackers to sit too deep in the box. Then unmarked David Fuster planted a header into the corner, to which our goalkeeper did not even move. Should Arsenal have a man at the post? Yes, we should.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Man at the Post

You cannot win a game by conceding two own goals and an offside goal, especially away from home, but if it hadn't been for Robinson's superb saves, Arsenal might have just done it. Although defense was shocking, there were plenty of positives to take from the game against Blackburn on the attacking side. Many fans predicted after the Swansea match that we would see a few more "1-0 to Arsenal" kind of games, but this game proved that Arsenal are still capable of dominating a game in possession and creating chances and they showed their quality and skills in some eye-catching attacking moves. There were three great goals: Gervinho and Arteta's first EPS goals in Arsenal shirts and Chamakh's first goal since March.
 
On an Facebook Page called "Ultimate Arsenal Gooners", somebody asked an intriguing question: why Arsenal don't have a man at the post anymore. I haven't paid attention to this point up till now this season, but there was definitely nobody at the post, when Song put the ball at the back of his own net from a free-kick, because otherwise the own goal could have been avoided. If I remember rightly, there were players on this duty last season and Nasri and Clichy at the post cleared the ball on the line, rescuing their team on different occasions. The Page administrator wrote he had no idea about why, either, but he suggested it may be to prevent the attackers from sitting too deep and playing on-side. As Yakubu's offside goal proved, so close to the goal-line anyway, this tactic doesn't always work and the risk it poses is far greater than its benefit. Should Arsenal bring back a man at the post?

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Mikel Arteta Interview

Arteta - I cannot wait to start playing
Arsenal invited us to submit questions from our club for Mikel Arteta for this interview (now available on Arsenal player for subscribers or read the article from the link above), but unfortunately it was too short a notice for us to organise ourselves for the questions. It would have been a great opportunity to get involved with the Arsenal Football Club and the player.  We have communicated to Arsenal that  if similar occasions arise in the future, we would be very  keen to participate.

If you are a member and have not registered your email address with us, please contact us at pfgooners@gmail.com. We will get in touch with you next time when we get a chance to participate in such a project.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Transfers

Quite pleased with the new transfers especially Mertesacker who should give some top quality experience to the defence. If he stays fit Arteta should be a good addition but his fitnss record is not good and he is probably past is very best at 29. Benayoun is a goal poacher and could be just what we need, but another one with fitness issues.