Better Late Than Never...

First off, apologies over the lateness of this post, and the complete lack of anything yesterday, but I've been kinda busy. I'll get on with the Arsenal...

I hate Robbie Savage. It's a rather pointless kind of thing to say, like saying I like boobs, or I hate being stabbed. Because everyone hates Robbie Savage. I'm sure even Blackburn fans hate him inside, even Mark Hughes probably does.I wouldn't be surprised if his own mother though he was at least a bit of a twat. But I feel I have a special hate for him, he is the epitome of all that is going wrong with football today. He is a cynical, cheating, thuggish, diving, Welsh, nasty mercenary. I mean he's not quite a Frank Lampard levels on the hate scale, but he is definitely in the top 5 or 6. He disgraced himself again yesterday. Diving and trying to claim Toure tripped him; clutching his face when he was hit in the stomach, just generally kicking and shoving people. He is a cunt.

Blackburn on the whole aren't a huge amount better. I was very impressed by the way we dealt with their physicality, we didn't give up like we might have last season, we didn't let the bullies have their way. From what I saw (the highlights) we did well in the first half, and not so well in the second, but you can read everyone else's match reports, as they'll have seen the game and be in a much better position to comment on the ins and outs than I am.

The problem that has left me puzzled over the last couple of days is Lehmann. We all know he is a top keeper, but he has made two massive errors in two consecutive league games. What I can't decide on is whether he should be dropped or not. Back in 2005 (or was it 2004? I can't remember) when we brought Almunia in for a while it forced him to improve, and it does seem that he has lost focus without much competition for his place, but it could be that keeping faith and letting him play through the bad patch might help. I don't know, I'm not a football coach or a sports psychologist! If he is dropped however, we will be in a much better position than before. Manuel has come on in leaps and bounds, and while I still don't feel he commands the area and marshals the defence as well as Jens can, he is a lot better than he was when he came to the club. it would also be interesting to see whether he or Fabianski is considered our No. 2 these days, and if it is the young Pole, I'd like to see him get some games under his belt. Cesc has told arsenal.com that the team has faith in Lehmann, so I guess he'll be staying in the team for the foreseeable future.

In other news:

Wenger has told the press that he doesn't expect to make any more signings before the transfer window shuts. I don't think anyone really expected him to, so it's hardly big news.

Gallas is out for two or three weeks. It's bad news, but we can cope. Big Phil has the chance to prove he can fulfil his 'Swiss Tony' moniker, and I for one, have faith in him. He showed his talent in the Cl run-in two years ago, and now is his chance to prove the doubters wrong. Things might get a bit worrying if either he or Kolo gets injured, but I'm sure Djourou will have a recall clause in his loan deal to Birmingham, so it shouldn't get too bad. I just hope Gallas recovers properly and we get more games out of him than we did last year.

Dennis Bergkamp has been shortlisted to enter the Football Hall of Fame. He deserves to get in there, as he was a truly fantastic player for us over a long time. He was and still is one of the best players ever to grace the Premiership.

Our youngsters have beaten Chelsea's 3-1. Ha!

And in a very sad bit of news, a true Arsenal legend, Paul Merson, after the ignominy of having to declare himself bankrupt earlier, has now signed up to work in Butlin's, Minehead. I hope today's players take heed and learn a bit about fiscal responsibility.

Slow day at the office...

Well there's not been a huge amount of news today, which isn't too surprising really, as its a Saturday so all the papers and bloggers have been concentrating more on today's games than on anything really Arsenal-related. As per usual, all the big 4 are playing tomorrow, so I'm not too concerned about today's results, but hopefully Spurs lose again!

One of the main stories I've found today is Dunga (the Brazil manager) being a bit of a twat. Apparently he has told Gilberto to leave the club, saying: "I think he is ready for an experience in Italian football and for Juventus." Of course, despite the poor way he was treated over the captaincy, there is no way Gilberto will be leaving the club. He is far too important to the side and there is no time to replace him before the transfer window shuts, so as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to worry about. I'll just add Dunga's name to the long list of footballing twats.

We've been linked with Morten Gamst Pedersen and Luka Modric again, but both are from tribal football, so it makes me even less inclined to believe them that I would have been anyway.

Wenger has been telling the world that he believes “we are mature enough to be title winners,” but well, I don't think we have much of a chance of the title this year. I hope and expect us to stay in contention until at least late-March, but I think it is asking too much of us to win it - maybe next year! He's also spoke about how the youngsters are growing up and getting tough this season, but it seems there's hardly a day when one of the squad isn't telling us this. Finally he talked about his new contract, that he expects to sign "very, very soon", which is good news, though I imagine most of us have been expecting him to sign up for a while now.

Rosicky and Eboue have joined the injury list that already included Adebayor, Diaby and Gilberto, which is very irritating, as it was only the other day that Tomas was telling us how he plans to stay fit more this season. Hope fully Eduardo gets a start tomorrow, as I am really looking forward to seeing him in an Arsenal shirt.

Anyway, here's to a Derby victory, and no more injuries until tomorrow!

Gooneriffic: The Beginning

Hello fellow Arsenal fans!

I have decided to start my own Arsenal blog and join the many others who document the life and times of North London's finest. I'm starting this because I enjoy thinkign and talking about the club, I need something to do at work and uni and, well, I just thought it would be laugh!

I'll keep this to just a brief introduction, then start blogging for real tomorrow (if I get round to it). I'm a young Arsenal fan, living down south, but studying up north. Sadly, on my student budget I can't afford to get to many of our home games, but I hope to attend matches around the north of the country. Doubtlessly they'll be cold, depressing affairs, watching other teams hoof both our players and the ball upfield for 90 minutes, but it'll be worth it!

I doubt many (if any!) people will be reading this, but hopefully if I carry on, eventually others will be seduced by my wit and charm, and a thriving blog will be born.

Well I'll hopefully be back with more tomorrow, so until then my friends, adieu.