Well we won…St Michael Thomas t-shirt up for grabs..

August 14, 2008

Good day to all you Gooner’s out there.

Well all I can say is that we won, that’s it, oh and thank feck that FC Twente strikers are about as lethal as a doughnut, not the ones with jam inside, the ones you see in the Sainsbury’s bakery bit with the hundred’s and thousand’s – who buys those? Anyway I digress FC Twente are a poor side when it comes to finishing although they play a great passing game. At times they reminded me of The Arsenal (without the flair) with their quick one-twos and passing in triangles. When I say they remind me of The Arsenal I don’t mean The Arsenal that played last night because they played like Bolton the amount of times the ball was in the air I thought my neck was going to give, I mean The Arsenal we know and love that can play the short passing game. I wont knock our team as we won, I wont say it was convincing but we won. 

One thing I would say is that I think Le Gaffer is papering over the cracks citing that the team was very young, well you know what, it shouldn’t be now should it? I’m not sure how many ‘big’ teams would field a 20 year old and a 17 year old in the middle of the park. I know injuries to key players are partly to blame for fielding these youngsters, however timing and a cheque book could of put a potential disaster completely out of mind. Well as I’ve said we won but there was some woeful performances out there and if anything the game does show how paper thin we are when we lose key players. I mean come on Emmanuel Eboué playing on the left wing? FFS! I know Wenger subscribes to the idea of Totaalvoetbal but I think he’s taking it too far now. Eboué is many things, he is a great athlete, but a a greater actor but he certainly isn’t no left sided player, Abou Diaby must be spinning on his treatment table bed. 

I’ve seen on some sites Gooner’s arguing with each other about spending money and injured players etc. However you can’t legislate for the injuries we’ve got already, no one would of thought The Cesc would be injured or new boy Samir Nasri but I think the clever money would be Abou Diaby not playing more than three games in a row and the less said about Tomáš Rosický the better – he makes Darren Anderton positively seem almost Frank Lampard-like, no I don’t mean a fat kebab eating chav but not missing something like 100+ Premier League games in a row. I know surprising isn’t it that Frank Lumpard has a record like that I think it’s something to do with a bonus of every game played he gets to go the Fat Fuk Chinese on Brompton Road and do the all you can eat menu. 

Anyway Gooner’s joking aside, we were dire – I actually missed the first goal as I was texting my brother Brian and keeping him in the loop as he doesn’t have Setanta and even when we scored I didn’t get overly excited. I’m glad we won, of course I am – I just think we need to seriously address what we have in the middle of the park and not have to rely on two youngsters to get us to a big fat mouthwatering prize worth potentially £10-£15m. Also with Aaron Ramsey we only bought him in the summer when many thought he was going to sign up for Manchester USA, who the hell would play in the middle if we didn’t have him? Another 17 year old, a 16 year old? Could you imagine if we lost or drew that game? The money Wenger thinks he’s saving or more to the point not spending wouldn’t be an issue as there would be huge pressure on us and the worst case scenario would be too horrific to consider. I know one player with experience we wont be getting is Xabi Alonso as the hubcap nicking, shell suit wearing, giro getting Liverpool Scallies USA played him in their 0-0 draw with Belgium champions Standard Liege – so bang goes that signing. But as much as I faith in the kids we need some much needed experience to help them out. We got away with it last night but a better team and yes there will be better will punish us. However I will say – well done boys! And Wenger please get your wallet out before it’s too late.


We got your number…Arsenal in De (La) Red..Michael Thomas t-shirt up for grabs – it is now…

August 5, 2008

Morning Gooners and what a miserable one it is too – looks like England’s five days of summer is officially over – bah! It’s absolutely chucking down here. 

The good news afoot is that gifted l’il ‘un Jack Wilshere has been given a squad number and it’s a proper number too. Jack the Lad who has been sporting the NFL numbered 55 in the pre-season games has been handed the legendary and immortal number of 19 handed down by ‘Invincible’ Gilberto Silva – so no pressure there then to fill that those boots or shirt as the case may be. Arsene Wenger did say he planned big things for the pint sized pocket dynamo and he’s stuck to his word. Given Wilshere’s performances in pre-season and the amount of games The Arsenal will hopefully rack up in the Premier League, Uefa Champions League and the two domestic cups – Jack the Lad should get a nice little look in. So well done Jack – you’ve done ever so well fella – and who says if you’re English you wont get a look in at The Arsenal? Oh that tosser David Bentley is one I can remember spouting that nonsense. If you’re good enough you’ll play, simple as – bit like Bentley – a bit simple. Although we all have to be careful with Jack the Lad and not to place the burden of expectations on him, he’s only 16 after all and he could turn out to be another Gary Shaw. If you know your football and are old enough you’ll know who I’m on about. But without being negative and with loads of sugary spoonfuls of positiveness lets see how Jack Wilshere’s Arsenal career progresses. So nice one Jack – well done for grabbing your chance. 

Fresh from being linked to Gareth Barry, Xabi Alonso or anyone else for that matter The Arsenal have now been linked to purchasing Real Madrid’s Ruben De La Red – you have to love that name. Seeing that the Spaniard was in town over the weekend playing in The Emirates Cup some backroom brokering deals might of taken place, who knows? Many a site/paper are reporting the same thing, I guess it will be a new name or another player tomorrow or whenever until Le Gaffer pulls of his ‘mystery’ signing.

We have made a signing which may of gone under the radar though folks. Well a signing of sorts anyway and that’s French youngster Armand Traore or knuckles as he’s known to his mates who’s signed up for that old chestnut of a ‘long-term’ contract. So well done Traore, I think this player will come good in time so I’m quite happy he’s signed up for longer, lets just see if he manages to gatecrash the first team party or if he’s put on loan to give him some more game time this season.

It’s up for grabs – it is now – Win a ‘St Michael Thomas’ t-shirt

You lucky people have the chance to win an Arsenal inspired t-shirt. We’ve added some new wares to the Allgoonerdup Online Shop and you can be the proud owner of this brand spanking new Michael Thomas inspired number. All you need to tell us is, what number was Michael Thomas wearing when he scored ‘that’ goal at Anfield in our title winning match up on 26 May 1989? 

Send your answer, t-shirt size, name and postal address to: iwannafreebie@allgoonerdup.com

Competition closes Monday 18 August.

Good luck Gooners.

Girl in a shirt

Allgoonerdup is looking to give the Goonerbabe page a bit of a boost and we’re going for a ‘Girl in the Shirt’ approach. Do you have any pictures of your girl in the shirt or girls get yourself seen on the Goonerbabe wall and send in your own pictures. Lets get this party started right. Send your pictures in and tell us your name, favourite player, favourite all time player, favourite drink and if you have anything else to declare to babe@allgoonerdup.com

Score predictor Mini league – join up!

There’s still time to join the Allgoonerdup.com score prediction game mini league. There will of course be a prize for the winner. To join the fun just follow the link below:

http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/landing.htm

Enter the code: FCCDA-XVB to join the Allgoonerdup.com mini league.

The deadline is August the 16th!

Join the Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

If you think you can outdo Arsene Wenger or more to the point want to give it Charlie Big Potato’s over the other armchair managers out there jump on board and join the Allgoonerdup mini league, this year in the guise of our comments site Son of Allgoonerdup. There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary Championship winning feel to it, that or a keg load of beer for the lucky punter! To get your team in and get your game on click the below link to get started.

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it

Design your team

Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!

(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)

Then you are away!

The deadline is August the 16th!


Wenger boys get fans salivating… Is Benitez a mentalist.. New t-shirt competition..

August 4, 2008

Easy Gooner’s and good day to you all. 

First up, I wont bang on about The Arsenal’s performance in our one nil win over Real Madrid in yesterdays match up in The Emirates Cup. I’ve only been on the interweb less than an hour and read plenty of reports and opinions so there’s pretty much no need for me to repeat what’s all ready on offer and no I’m not being a lazy bastard! What I will say about the game in a very concise manner is that Jack Wilshere, frigging hell. Is he really only 16? He will be some player but we have to remember not to pile the pressure of expectations on his very young shoulders. Did you see how he rode the GBH assault charge from Garcia when the Spanish thug tried to do a open theatre amputation on the young lad? Jack roasted him and made a £24m rated defender look like a spurs player. 

Now Emmanuel Adebayor with his badge kissing shenanigans, WTF? It’s going to take more than scoring a penalty to win the fans over fella. Did anyone else throw up in their mouths a bit when he kissed the badge? It was interesting to see the reactions of the fans in the stand in front of him when he started doing all that crap. The fans aren’t silly Ade, you have much work to do and kissing off The Arsenal badge isn’t going to be the way forward to make the fans love you again. I said last week the only way for The Togonator™ to get the fans back on side is to works his nackers off, score a bag full of goals and perhaps get a dose of humbleness wont go amiss either. Lastly on our players, Denilson looks like he’s getting better, Diaby when he fancies it does like the business, although as we know he can get a bit sloppy, Sagna is the nuts, Robin van Persie we need to keep the sicknote waving Dutch Master fit as he’s vital and Theo Walcott looks like this season could be the one he blows up, he should glimpses of what we’re all hoping for. But I must admit as a team we looked proper. I know it’s only pre-season but I bet Real Madrid didn’t expect to come away with a loss against us. 

Lastly, many a report has The Arsenal linked to the hubcap nicking, shell suit wearing, giro getting Liverpool Scallies USA’s play maker Xabi Alonso. The Mail on Sunday that staple diet of all things that’s wrong with England even reckon a deal has been struck. Now everyone knows The Gunners needs an ‘experienced’ midfield man and Alonso would tick all the boxes including the one which says ‘Premier League experience’ which with our new look midfield will be very important. Now I wouldn’t mind either Gareth Barry or Alonso they would both fit the bill however Barry can play at the back as well, fitting in perfectly with Le Gaffer’s rhetoric jack of all trades of a player having about five jobs.

However what cracks me up with this proposed move for Xabi Alonso is that Raphael Benitez has priced him up at £18m. This guy is truly a mentalist. Benitez even as Stevie Wonder could see is going hell for leather in his pursuit of Barry and nothing it seems will stop him. What with having Argentine Javier Mascherano in midfield Alonso will be surplus to requirements. So you would think Benitez would put a realistic price on him, seeing that he wants to shift him. It’s been reported that ‘allegedly’ Le Gaffer has asked to lower the price of the wanted away player, so we’ll see what happens. Benitez who you would think would take the money and run said:

“Xabi is very good player and will not be easy to sell because his market value is really high (£18m). We are pleased because we don’t want Alonso to go unless we get a very good price.

Remember this is the same manger who thought Peter Crouch was worth £15m! What makes me laugh is the way Benitez tries to conduct the price, he was told by Aston Villa originally that Barry would cost £18m and he said ‘Nah, we’ll pay you £12m and throw in a player.’ Er, sorry mate, the player is under contract, it’s you that wants to buy him – so stomp up the cash fella and that was after he tried to make an illegal approach for Barry, some people, the nerve. He’s either trying to be very crafty or he has a big set of cojones on him. Same with Crouch, the beanpole striker who couldn’t get in the team. Crouch only got a run out when Liverpool played in the Makita Cup or pre-season friendlies, any ‘proper’ games and old Robot dancing boy was consigned to getting splinters up his jacksey. But as soon as it came to selling, Crouch was the best player in the world, Liverpool’s most important player, found the cure for cancer and his worth had rocketed to £15m. WTF? Anyway this is an Arsenal site so I shouldn’t be banging on about other teams, but Benitez is mental. But to draw a conclusion I would definitely take Alonso but seeing that Liverpool will need to sell in order to buy Barry you would think that Benitez would meet in the middle somewhere. Wenger has said he’s going to bring in one more – it might turn out it’s not even anyone we’ve thought of, fecking hell Le Gaffer might be lining up a move for Joey Barton!


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