Finally a run out...

Now that wasn’t the best way to kick off a season, was it? Pundits might say that it’s a game of two halves, those of us with our heads in the real World don’t need to state the fucking obvious. A absolutely fantastic first half followed by a dour second in which we didn’t register one shot on goal.  What more can you say? Well, I’m going to have to say something or else this post ends here¹….

For the third or possibly fourth time, the season started today. Out of the Champions League with a whimper to Fiorentina midweek, the match today against Arsenal was to be our launching point. Time to bounce back and take it to a team that hasn’t won in the league at Anfield in a dog’s age. Prophesies come true sometimes and the first half looked like everything was going to plan. Arsenal had nothing going forward²and we had more than one break, most notably when Stevie released Fernando just in the opposition half only to have him shoot tamely at Almunia. Surprisingly enough, it was Dirk Kuyt who broke the deadlock after mopping up a free kick the Arsenal keeper made a hash of. 1-0 at the break and the weather might not be the best but in the Kop the forecast was nice and sunny.

Lots of offence and for one of the only times this season. Belief in the stands. Our visiting friend, Xabi Alonso³, might have been yawning but it was smiles all around for those of us still wearing Red. No Hicks or Gillet and another 45 minutes? At the time I was saying bring that shit on but hindsight makes me wish it was all over. Read the rest…

1. Which might not be a bad thing… [↩]
2. And by “nothing” I mean compared to what Arsenal usually produces. [↩]
3. Oh, how we could have used him today. [↩]

Look how the French give up...

For the first time in forever, we’re going to get some serious offense going. Torres, Gerrard and Aquilani all fit at the same time? This isn’t the twilight zone but something strange must be going on here. I’m not sure if the moon has aligned² and the cosmic forces are smiling down on us but this could signal an upturn in our fortunes. That is, if all 3 start. That is, if we win.

Aquilani is obviously short on match fitness and somewhat injury prone but starting him against the Gooners might be the best way for him to get a run out. Gerrard has been uninspired as of late³. Could the plucky Italian be the foil to get the Scouse monster going again? Will having his Spanish goal machine back up front get him back in gear? Will our season actually get started as Rafa has stated on more than one occasion? Will I write a match preview in the future without asking predictable, rhetorical questions⁴? Could drinking be impeding the continuation of this post? All these answers and more tomorrow at Anfield. GET THE FUCK IN.

-steven.

1. I honestly don’t think they did…. [↩]
2. Is this still the age of Aquarius? [↩]
3. I feel his pain. [↩]
4. All signs points to no. [↩]

Aren't I supposed to be injured?

So a couple of the Arsenal kiddies butted heads with some of the Liverpool kiddies. In predictable fashion, we lost. What’re you gonna do? Since it’s been a number of seasons without a trophy, I wouldn’t be upset to win the Carling Cup but as usual I’m not really that upset to be knocked out of it. Shit, I’m just happy they didn’t put 6 past us this time.

Insua did his Steven Gerrard impersonation and scored a beauty of a  volley from about 25 yards out but that wasn’t the high point. So what was the high point then? Was it Philip Degen finally making it through a match? Nope. Was it Nicklas Bendtner saving the day? Definitely not. Was it Alan Wiley’s dashing good looks and overall sunny disposition? Well….maybe. Alright, enough with this infernal guessing game. Best part of the match was a certain Italian midfielder making his Liverpool debut. It might have only been 13 minutes but it’s been almost 4 months in the making.

Alberto might not be match fit as of yet but as Rafa would say “it’s progressing nicely”. You’d think he was talking about a stock portfolio or the building of an Intergalactic Death Star rather than the fitness of a player that cost £20m but that’s just our Rafa. It’s unlikely we’ll see Alberto this weekend against Fulham but as long as he keep “progressing nicely” I’m sure it’ll be sooner rather than later.

-steven.

One more time, buddy, just do it one more time...

4 goals. 4 goals and we didn’t win. Have we had this conversation before? Hi, my name’s Steven. I don’t believe we’ve met. Don’t mind me. I’m a broken fuckin’ record. I spend my days reading books everyone has already read and bitching when my team scores 4 goals. Most fans would kill to see 4 goals. Newcastle? They’d burn Alan Shearer at the stake and then offer his charred remains to the blokes from Sunderland to score 4 right now. Stoke? I don’t think they’ve scored 4 goals all season let alone in a single match. Not even a single match. One half. Remember we were losing 1-0 at the break. What the fuck? Where did it all go so horribly, horribly wrong? Read the rest…

La France vs El Spain

The Arse tomorrow at Anfield. If we don’t win this, we might as well pack away another season. File it under “O” for OVER. Man U might be playing like a bunch of one legged immigrants but they’re not going to lose 2 matches before the end of the season. That 17 year old man/child will keep stealing points for them and without a sustained push, we might as well go on vacation early. Call up the travel agent, two tickets to Cabo please. Read the rest…

Champions League draw this morning, and you’d have to say it went well for Arsenal. Going in, I thought Porto and Villareal were probably the two weakest teams remaining, and we get Villareal. It also helps that we get the second leg at the Emirates, so if we can grab an away goal or two in Villareal in the first leg, we’ll have a very good chance of going through.

Pires and Henry Celebrate at Highbury

It’s also notable because it will be a return to London for Arsenal legend Robert Pires. Pires notched 62 goals in his time at Highbury, and was a crucial member of the team that won two league titles (including The Invincibles) and two FA Cups. We haven’t won any silverware since the Frenchman left the club. This offseason, Arsenal fans voted him the club’s 6th best player of all-time, and even though there were some hurt feelings in 2006 when he left, I expect him to get a very warm welcome from the Emirates faithful. The two teams do have some history, as we nipped them 1-0 in the 2006 semifinals on a Jens Lehmann penalty save. As for the other quarterfinal matchups: Read the rest…

Sorry for the bad pun, but sometimes I have to unleash my inner Rick Reilly. We managed to come back from a 1-0 deficit to beat an extremely negative Hull side 2-1 at the Emirates. We play Chel$ki on April 18 at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup semifinal, and the winner of that game gets the winner of the next day’s ManU-Everton match-up.

It was Mr. Fabregas, in the Library, with the Loogie

If the FA took any action, it would speak volumes about the organization’s priorities if John Terry can get a red card for rugby tackling a man on a breakaway reversed, El-Hadji Diouf doesn’t get suspended for intentionally injuring our goalkeeper, and Morton Gamst Pederson receives no sanction for intentionally trying to cheat his way into a penalty, but an injured player gets a suspension for an accusation of “spitting at” an assistant manager. Even if he did, couldn’t we just declare Fabregas healthy this week and have him “serve his suspension” against Newcastle while he’s too injured to play? So worst case scenario, some idiotic fans of other teams make up some stupid chant about him spitting, which he doesn’t care about, and he comes back and leads Arsenal to lots and lots of trophies between now and 2015.

Also, while we’re on the subject: Fuck Hull. Seriously. Read the rest…

Well, that was fun. Happy days are here again at the Emirates. You know how some people say “I hate to say I told you so…”? I’m not one of those people. I’m so seldom right about anything that when I am, I frakking LOVE to say I told you so. On Friday, for the first time since I’ve been writing here at BigFourBlog, I went out on a limb and predicted a specific Arsenal player would score a goal.

Reservoir Gunners

We destroyed Blackburn 4-0 Saturday (MOTD highlights here–you should watch the highlights if nothing else for our 2nd goal, by Arshavin, which was spectacular). We were fantastic yesterday, maybe the best we’ve been all season, certainly the best we’ve been in 2009. So much of our problem this year, discussed at length here on this blog and elsewhere, has been our willingness to just pass the ball back and forth instead of attacking defenders one-on-one. But with Arshavin up to fitness and Walcott healthy, all of a sudden we’ve got some aggressiveness and pace, and they were our two best players Saturday. Bendtner got in on the act, too, and made a number of runs behind the backline, and was rewarded with several scoring opportunities as a result. Read the rest…

Blackburn

Will the little Russian get on the scoresheet tomorrow?

Away Form: 4-4-6

Recent Form: LLWDW

Last Meeting: Blackburn 0-Arsenal 4

Aston Villa Watch: Tottenham

Everton Watch: Stoke

Blackburn tomorrow, and what is there really to say that hasn’t been said about most of Arsenal’s other recent games? We’re better than they are and we should beat them, but they’re going to be coming in looking for the 0-0 draw. Teams like this have posed a real problem for us this year, especially during our spell of four consecutive scoreless draws. This game will all come down to whether or not we can manage to create some chances and capitalize on those chances with some decent finishing.

Neither has been our strong suit this year, and may be particular tough tomorrow given that many members of the squad may be physically and emotionally spent from 120 minutes (+ penalties) in Rome on Wednesday. Arshavin and Vela, two of our most creative attacking players, did not play at Roma and I expect they will both start and play key roles tomorrow. Read the rest…

The Easiest Penalty Save Almunia Will Ever Make

I meant to post a recap yesterday after the game, but passed out from all the “excitement” and just now came to. Basically, Arsenal were complete and utter crap yesterday, and probably didn’t deserve to advance. The less said about the game the better, really.

We conceded a goal in the 9th minute on some of the worst defending you will ever see. A cross came into the box ON THE GROUND and rolled directly past Toure and Gallas before finding an unmarked Juan, who only had to slot it home to equalize the aggregate score. The rest of the game, although we had a couple of scoring opportunities, we just looked really sloppy and lethargic, and didn’t create any clear-cut, “he definitely should have scored there” chances. Aside from Almunia, who was great all night, no one on the team covered himself in glory.

On the other hand, Roma created an incredible opportunity for former Arsenal man Julio Baptista, who received a cross in the center of the box on a run. Literally all he had to do was get a solid foot on it and knock it in to either side of Almunia. Fortunately, as you probably remember, Julio Baptista sucks. He sucked when he played for us a couple of years ago, and apparently still sucks, because he missed the easy opportunity and let us off the hook.

Then, it was on to penalties. Read the rest…