Damn you international break!

We lost our momentum. We lost our in form striker. The players looked a little sluggish. I hate international breaks, especially for meaningless friendlies or games that don't really mean anything to us.

Sunderland had no real momentum to lose. They last won against a big 4 team when they beat Liverpool. I guess they felt they didnt need to raise their game when they lost to Spurs in their last game.
Perhaps Sunderland benefitted from not having any major players out due to internationals. Why it should make such a difference baffles me a little. We can easily win 2 premier league games with a Champions League game sandwiched in the middle. So why not an international victory sandwich?

From the highlights I have seen, Song looked our best player. I love the fact I was so wrong about him. He's beginning to be one of my favourite players and a consistent performer.

Still, win next weekend and we'll have an almost identical record to Man Utd, reclaim 2nd and have a superior goal difference to them. We'll have made up some ground on Chelsea too, by virtue of beating them.

The downside is, I'm not sure we'll do it. I want to stay positive. Its very simple this year. The team that finishes above Chelsea will win the title. Here is our chance to stake our claim.

Lets get back to winning ways against Liege. No excuses, no sluggishness. A solid, confidence building win is required.

Luck o'the French

Malouda said they were lucky....because the referee didn't see it. He is right. The hand of le God well and truly helped France to the World Cup finals in South Africa.

Henry has cheated, it was wrong, but I would have done the same and I think any other footballer in that position would have done the same. Handball, not get caught (by the referee) and play in the world cup. Yes please.

The media has gone wild again. As they always do when Johnny Foreigner cheats. Would the reaction have been the same if it was Rooney? I think not.

Is his reputation in tatters. Of course not. He has had the grace to admit it was a handball. Something Maradona never did. But it wasn't the Argentine's handball against us that tarnished his reputation, it was his continued drug abuse, of cocaine in particular and his use of ephedrine that caused his expulsion from the 1994 World Cup. I think the referee in last night's game has more to worry about in terms of reputation.

It means we have France in the finals. It would be a lesser tournament without them, and even worse if the Irish were there. They are not a good team and I hate Robbie Keane. He bitches and moans his way through every match. At least this time he has something genuine to moan about.

Now we get to see some of our own play on the biggest stage - Sagna, Clichy, Gallas, maybe Diaby and ofcourse Henry - who will always be Arsenal. And he'll be back at the club one day, in some capacity. And I can't wait.

Even more gutted that Arshavin won't be there. He really would have lit up the tournament. Instead we have Slovenia. Know any of their star players??? I think not. However I am pleased that UEFAs blatant attempt to get all the best teams in by deciding to introduce seeding at the last minute failed. Cheaters don't always prosper.

Nearly back to proper football. The team is damaged but not destroyed by the international break. Bring on Sunderland.

Arsenal's number 9 and Kiwis

Apologies (to the zero readers!) for not blogging recently.
My world has been overtaken by an issue (read "incompetent fool") at work. This has coincided with a break from domestic football. So there haven't even been any decent matches to take my mind of it.

I promised myself I would never watch an England friendly again, after Sven took over and used them as an exercise in motonony and tedium. Nothing has really improved. I care when its competitive, because the players do - a bit. And I cannot wait for the World Cup. I love it, for the festival of football that it is. Regardless of whether England are there or not.

Until a few years ago,  I really struggled to decide what I would prefer - England win the World Cup or Arsenal win the Champions League. Now there is absolutely no contest. Its the UCL every time. I'd love to see England win the biggest tournament in the World, but I still enjoy the tournament as much without them.

Not overly happy about New Zealand qualifying for it though. How can they be there when Ireland or France won't? They were beaten at home by Fiji! And I don't care that this "home" game was actually away, as my Kiwi mate tells me. It's still a disgrace and it devalues the tournament. Still if you want it to be a "world" cup, then its the price we pay.

Apart from the disruption to the domestic game, especially when Arsenal were in such a rich vein of form, I hate the fact that we always seem to pick a heap of injuries.

I am a little worried about Gibbs' niggle picked up with the U21s. My biggest concern is RVP. Just when he was beginning to change my mind about who was the best striker in the premier league (I've always gone for Torres) he gets injured again!! Lets hope the placenta-massage or whatever it is works because we need him back.

Nevertheless. If you told the Arsenal faithfull (and especially the not-so-faithful who are too quick to criticise) that we had just bought Croatia's star player, a Brazillian who scored something like 83 goals in 111 appearances for his previous club and 18 in 28 for his national team, they'd go mental!

Now its time for Eduardo to step up and truly prove his worth.

I think he is outstanding and has the talent to do it. I'll never forget the goal he scored against Burnly in the FA Cup, nearly a year to the day after he broke his ankle. He used the same ankle to slice the ball (on purpose) in such a way that it improbably hit the top corner. I love poetic justice.

Sunderland away looms this weekend.

You broke your leg and now you're back And Darren Bent... is still crap. Eduardo Silva Arsenal's number 9. na na na na na na na na ........................

Kids vs School boys

School boy errors led to all three goals yesterday. The first thing they teach you is 'play to the whistle' - to be fair Sagna seemed to forget this too for the third goal. However he remembered before any of the Spurs players. Giving him enough time to whip in a cross that somehow rebounded off both Gomez and the nearby defender to allow Van Persie a simple tap in.

A lack of concentration allowed a more clinical Arsenal to take the lead after some solid play by the visitors and I'd love to say the second goal was down to the genius of Fabregas but a significant proportion of blame must go to the Spurs team for switching off, being in shock and terrible tackling. Nevertheless it was pure joy watching Cesc slalem his way through their team from the centre circle and he showed maturity and composure in his finish.

Nevertheless in all three cases - it was the skill and class of the Arsenal players that made the goals. Van Persie reacted quickly like the fox in the box we always hoped to have. Cesc still had plenty to do once the Spurs midfield conspired to give him the ball so soon after the first goal. Harry was a poor sport in saying that "there wasn't a good goal amongst them" but I did enjoy him looking seriously pissed off in the post-match interview.

I loved the way the team shoved Robbie Keane's comments back down his throat. Better squad! Well lets start with the first team and there is no comparision. Factor in that Defoe, Lennon and Modric were missing and the inadequacies of the Tottenham squad were fully exposed.

I also loved the fact that Arsene got so frustrated with his team that he threw his jacket. The reason - he couldn't get them to hear him due to the noise in the stadium. The legend of the "Highbury library" is well and truly buried, especially if we can keep that kind of noisy support up every week. That he couldn't hear might also be down to Wenger being bunged up due to a cold, but I'd rather go with the reason being the vociferous home support.

Let's hope we can despatch AZ in the same way on Wednesday.