Posts Tagged ‘Cesc Fabregas’

The EPL gets underway this weekend. With the crazy rioters in London, the match between Tottenham and Everton is cancelled.

The other puppies will go on as scheduled.

My guys from Arsenal battle Toons outta the box at Newcastle’s house St. James Park.

The Gunners will be without Cesc Fabregas who will be on his way to Barcelona.

Wenger took the obtuse road-which means this cat is gone.

We are all replaceable. All the cemeteries are full of replaceable people,” he said.

“But you do not want to lose big players, we fight to have big players so you do not want to lose them.

“I’m not disappointed in Cesc’s behaviour. My personal feelings are not important. I take nothing personally.”

“I have not been disappointed by Cesc’s attitude and not by Samir’s attitude. They have both been professional.

“The transfer speculation is disruptive but not an excuse. We have to deal with that, it is part of our job. People come in and out.

“We have had speculation every year. I believe it is part of our job and we have to deal with that.”

Wenger insisted that losing Nasri and Fabregas  means Arsenal are no longer a big club.

“Manchester United let (Cristiano) Ronaldo go, do you think they are not a big club?”

Nasri is just about outta Arsenal também.

Newcastle will be without Hatem Ben Arfa won’t be in the lineup.

Liverpool battles Sunderland.

Queens Park Rangers open their promotion to the big boys against Bolton.

Chelsea and Man U open their respective seasons on Sunday.

The Red Devils battle West Brom.

The Blues take on Stoke City.

Gunner for life.

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It’s one week. The EPL season begins for real. My Gunners will have a lot to prove this year.

There are many questions that remain unanswered.

Will Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri be with the club this season or will they go the way of the transfer window.

If Wenger uses Fabregas in this round of the Champions League qualifying round he won’t be able to play in the Champions League Group stage if Barcelona is the destination or any other European club.

Wenger said this about the questions hanging over Gunner land- “Ideally I would have finished all [our business], but it doesn’t work like that. “We work very hard, we are non-stop working throughout the summer. It’s all kinds of things you meet during the transfer market, but I can understand the impatience of people.” Arsenal will battle Udinese n the final qualifying round. The winner of this home and away series will advance to the Group Stage of the Champions League.

The first leg will be played at our house Emirates on August 16^th.

The return leg will be played on August 24^th at Bianconeri’s house in  Italy.

Wenger said this about their Italian opponent – “I would say [the draw is] difficult but possible,” he said on Friday ahead of the Eusebio Cup in Lisbon. “Who would want to play against an Italian opponent? We know we will have to be at our best to qualify.“Udinese have lost Sanchez and Zapata [this summer] but they have many other good players. They have Di Natale and plenty of players who have quality.

“Let’s try to be at our best as quickly as we can because it is important for us to go through in the Champions League.”

In our final tune up of the season my Gunners lost to Benfica 2-1.

Robin Van Persie scored in the 34^th minute.

My guys from Flamengo have a huge match with Coritiba at Mengao’s house in Rio de Janeiro.

Rubro-Negro is in second place while Coxa is in tenth place.

We need to win this sucker to keep Flamengo’s unbeaten string alive and well at fourteen going on fifteen.

Flamenguista and Gunner for life.

www.palau.org

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It is a glorious two weeks until the EPL season begins. I can’t wait. Now my Saturday’s will be full of futebol.

Where we live in the middle of bum fuck Egypt the cable system and Internet suck big time.

No Globo TV.

The guys are putting the finishing touches on the pre season to get ready for the real deal.

Manchester United marched through the MLS like Sherman marched through Georgia.

None of the matches were close.

Man U destroyed the MLS All Stars 4-0.

This sucker was a total whitewash.

On Saturday night Man U and Barcelona have a rematch of the Champions League finals.

This puppy will be played in Landover, Maryland.

I wouldn’t expect to see the top guys like Messi, Rooney and the rest playing that much if at all.

My guys from Arsenal tied the Argentina club Boca Juniors.

The Gunners led 2-0 and low and behold Arsenal let Los Xeneizes score two goals in four minutes to escape with the tie.

Is this Déjà vu all over again?

Let’s hope not.

I don’t know if I can take another season like 2010-11.

Cesc Fabregas sat this baby out.

Wenger had this to say about the match- all quotes are taken from www.arsenal.com

The second half let down-
You never want to concede goals, but overall I do not give too much importance to that. What is important for us it to find a collective rhythm. When we could we managed to play at a good pace for 60 minutes, after it was much more difficult. It was expected, we came back from a training camp in Germany with heavy work and I knew that the second half would be much more difficult.

Boca Juniors are a good team and we got caught counter-attacking when were 2-0 up and we tried to build up the game, but when you are tired you miss some passes and were a bit more under threat.

What lessons did the guys learn- That we can score goals and Gervinho is a good addition to our squad. He is very interesting because he gives us options on both sides and through the middle. He can integrate well with our team. Also we have some improvements to make in some areas, especially the way we win the ball back. On set pieces we were not convincing today, but overall it was quite positive.

On Gervinho-

We can be extremely dangerous on the counter-attack with the players we have, we have Walcott who was not involved today, we have Gervinho and with the midfield we have I believe we can be very quick in the transition to go forwards, so that is always something very interesting. He can add that.   

 What about the future of Nasri and Fabregas-

don’t know. I play the players who are available and Nasri is available so I play him. Yesterday, I made a check up of all our situations and, I must tell you, nothing has moved since yesterday. Not one way, nor another way.

 If Fabregas is committed to this Club and wants to stay, no money will get him out of here. We are not in a position where we need to sell our players. We want to keep our players. We are not looking after money. We want the players to stay here, from our side that is clear.

What about Nickolas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue- They are both on the verge of a move but nothing has been concluded with anybody. I don’t have any club in mind for Nicklas Bendtner because we are far from having done anything with anybody. I cannot give you any club because we have given him the permission to move.

Wenger added this getting nothing for Nasri and him staying- It’s not ideal for us on the financial side but, on the sporting side, he is an important player. We have to deal with the situation one way or another. In the next ten days we have to be clear on that front. 

If you ask me if I want to keep him, I say yes. But he needs to be committed to that as well. I don’t give them ten days, the transfer period is until August 31. Ideally, we go into big games in two weeks, in the next two weeks we have to sort out problems out. There is no specific deadline of one day or 24 hours. It’s not like you shoot a shuttle into space. Sometimes it’s very quick on that front and sometimes it’s very slow.

Lots of question to still be answered by my Gunners. So we will see how this sucker plays out.

I don’t want another heart break season but this what one expects when you are a Gunner for life.

Just like my Philadelphia Stinko Eagles.

Gunners and Eagles find a way to screw up a wet dream.

Flamenguistaand Gunner for life.

www.palau.org

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http://www.bolaradio.com.br/

It’s the weekend and it’s time for the EPL. The guys are back in action. I love it.

Man U has a hot date at Old Trafford with Fulham.

The Red Devils are in the catbird seat with 66 points.

My guys from Arsenal are in the second slot with 59 points.

City is third with 56.

Wayne Rooney will be MIA due to cursing out a ref in last weeks match against West Ham.

Sir Alex and the boys should not miss a beat with the leagues top scorer Dimitar Berbatov. Berbatov has found the back of the net 20 times.

Rio Ferdinand will be back anchoring the “D”.

Man U cannot afford to be lax in this puppy.

Remember my guys from Arsenal have a game in hand.

The Gunners battle Blackpool at Bloomfield Park.

The Seasiders have a habit of playing the big boys tough at home.

We have to be very careful.

The Barca hangover is still a loom of gloom over the Gunners heads.

Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, and the rest need to attack, attack, and stop giving up stupid goals.

Cesc Fabregas will play. Wenger said- “Cesc is fit to start,” confirmed the manager at his pre-match press conference. “We have some problems with Sagna and with Song, who will be out [with a knee injury], and Walcott as well. 

Wenger went on to say- “Song definitely won’t play but he should be available for next week. There is a big doubt about Walcott, it’s his ankle again. He will have a late fitness test.

“Sagna has a knee problem and has a scan today [Friday]. Everybody else should be available.”

City is nipping at my Gunners heels in third place only three points out.

City takes on Liverpool on Monday at Anfield.

Chelsea is at the friendly confines of Stamford Bridge to battle heave –hoe bound Wigan.

Gunner for life.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp

http://www.bolaradio.com.br/

We are now in an international break so the EPL and the other leagues have a two-week break as the European Countries prepare for the European Championships qualifying rounds.

I hate to sound like a broken record but these matches are ruining the top stars of the world.

Why do you think Wayne Rooney has struggled these past few years?

Rio Ferdinand is always hurt and I will give you three guess and the first two don’t count.

The players need to form a union and stop this insanity.

Cesc Fabregas is coming back from and injury. So is Robin Van Persie.

Kaka just blew out his knee again.

What part of players need a rest don’t these federations get?

Oh yea, I forgot it is all about the Benjamin’s.

Money talks and bullshit walks.

News outta Flamengo is this. The club is making an effort to keep their young star players under a long-term contract.

Williams just signed a new deal- UOL had this to say about it-A diretoria do Flamengo vem se mexendo nos bastidores para renovar os contratos com a base do time profissional e promover a manutenção dos atletas das categorias de base na Gávea. Desta forma, o clube prorrogou o contrato do volante Willians até 2015 e lhe deu um aumento salarial. A assinatura do novo compromisso ocorrerá nesta quinta-feira.

Na verdade, Willians irá rescindir o atual contrato para assinar o novo vínculo, prática comum envolvendo uma reforma contratual quando determinado jogador ainda não está na metade do compromisso em vigência. A diretoria vai aproveitar a suspensão pelo terceiro cartão amarelo para inscrevê-lo novamente na CBF. O goleiro Paulo Victor, reserva nos profissionais, também irá assinar a renovação por cinco anos.

When Flamengo lost keeper Bruno due to murder charges filed against him, Mengao was in a world of hurt.

Rubro-Negro almost was sent packing. Sure, Marcelo Lomba played but he was not the answer so finally Patricia Amorim did the right thing and signed Felipe as the new keeper.

So far, it has worked out well for us Flamenguistas. Felipe has given up eight goals in 13 matches.

Way to go garoto.

Felipe does have a wild side and this was a cause for concern. He likes to wear the Mohican hairstyle however he cut his locks.

Globo Esporte put it this way- Depois da prisão de Bruno em junho de 2010, a camisa 1 ficou guardada no armário da Gávea. Com o número 29, Marcelo Lomba teve a missão de assumir a posição num momento de extrema pressão. Ao fim da temporada, foi anunciada a contratação de Felipe. Na chegada, ele trouxe questionamentos sobre sua conduta fora de campo. Fez questão de dizer que não era santo, mas deu início ao milagre da mudança de imagem. Agora, o goleiro usa os números para enfrentar quem duvidou de seu potencial: é o menos vazado do Campeonato Carioca, com  oito gols sofridos em 13 partidas.

Flamenguista for life.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp 

http://www.bolaradio.com.br/

My guys from Arsenal picked up a huge 1-0 win over Stoke City on Wednesday.

The Gunners win cuts Man U’s lead to a point.

The Red Devils have a game in hand.

Sebastian Squillaci nailed the match winner in the 8^th minute.

The bad news is this- Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott were injured.

This will hurt us in the stretch run of the EPL, Champions League, and the Carling Cup finals to played on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger had this to say about the injuries to Fabregas and Walcott- It is of course a concern that he is injured but it can happen unfortunately. He was very upset, I am as well, but it is not his fault and it is not my fault, it is part of sport. It’s strange that it happened early in the game but we have to face it. Theo is disappointed of course.

Wenger added- We did the job in a very professional way. We faced a Stoke team that defended very well, very compact, but we were intelligent, calm, patient and overall I believe that we were resilient as well when Stoke had their strong moments because we didn’t give in when they did what they do very well.

Wenger said this about the guys not playing at their nest yet still were able to come away with the win- Tonight was a night when nobody else played [well] and if you can take three points and glide closer to the top, that means that your team is really hungry for success. The number of games we play, not to make a mistake at any stage… we were less sharp creatively but you could feel the team did not want to make a mistake and that’s a very positive sign.

What about the pressure on Sir Alex and his guys- Well we all have pressure now because that’s the period where it starts, in March, everyone is under pressure. Chelsea will be, Man United will be, everybody is, but that’s part of being in the position we are in. Three months ago when we lost here against Newcastle, who would have given us the chance of even being in the top four. We have come back in a strong position and I will not complain, I am very happy that we have a chance to be in there.

At the Copa Libertadores Internacional picked a huge 4-0 win over Chiapas in Group Six play.

Mario Ariel Bolatti hit the daily double for Colorado in the “W”.

The other Brasileiro side Fluminense and Nacional tied at nil-nil.

Internacional is top dog in Group Six with four points.

Flu is in second place in Group Three with two points.

Gunner for life.

Gunner nation rules.

Flamenguista for life também.

www.palau.org

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http://www.bolaradio.net/extreme/

Let’s make this as simple as possible. I will write this puppy from the eyes of the fan and analyst.

From the out set it looked like Barca was in complete control.

Arsenal was a step slow.

The Gunners couldn’t mount an attack.

It sure looked like Barcelona would win 4-0 or worse.

When Villa scored in the 26^th minute I thought this sucker is over.

RVP missed two really good scoring opportunities in the first half and I knew this was going to be a long match for Arsenal.

The only thing saving Arsenal was the offsides that cancelled the second goal and the Gunners quick counter attack.

We were fortunate to be only down 1-0 at half.

The Gunners showed signs of life in the first half.

One was the outstanding play of keeper Szczesny and the defense of Eboue, Koscielny, and Djourou.

The second was the lightening quick counter attacks staged by Jack Wilshere, Cesc Fabregas, and Robin Van Persie.

Arsenal seemed out of sorts and intimidated by Barcelona and their star power Messi, Pedro, and Villa.

The second half was a different story.

Barca’s passing game and quickness disappeared due to Wenger and the gang pressing the attack and using their quick passing game to disrupt Barcelona’s vaunted attacking style.

Instead of panicking, the Gunners remained calm.

This paid handsome dividends when RVP scored that brilliant short post goal in the 78^th minute.

This goal was the result of the consistent pressure applied by RVP, Jack Wilshere. Cesc Fabregas, and company.

The second was the result of a steal and quick counter attack up the pitch that resulted in the gimmie goal by Andrei Arshavin.

Arshavin had several close calls with the back of the net.

This pressing style and quick counter attacks expose Barca backside “D”.

Camp Nou has great attackers but their “D” is suspect.

During the match, my emotions ran the gamete from despair to joy and every emotion in between.

I was impressed with Barca’s team speed.

Yet, in the second half they seemed a step slow.

Sure Barca had a chance to score the equalizer late but keeper Szczesny and Eboue sniffed out the chance and stopped it cold.

The second leg will be a wild match.

Messi and company will press the attack and force Arsenal to defend.

Barca is good at creating two on one and three on one attacking situations.

Messi, Pedro, and Villa had at four chances in the first half of the match at Emirates.

Barca only connected on one of them.

The Gunners defense will be tested again in spades.

This is FA Cup weekend and we’ll talk about the oldest cup competition on Sunday.

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Still giddy over my guys from Arsenal huge win over Barca on Wednesday I can’t wait until March 8^th when we go at it again at their house Camp Nou.

This should be a head knocker.

Cesc Fabregas had this to say about the match- “It’s a massive victory,” he said “For me it’s the best game I’ve experienced in terms of quality and intensity. They had the ball, they went for it. We had the ball, we went for it. For me, I’ve never experienced a game with so much quality on the pitch from both teams.

“It was the right result and it was definitely uplifting. We are in the Final of the Carling Cup, we have the FA Cup coming on Sunday and two games coming up before the second leg. I’m hoping this will be good for the team because since the New Year we haven’t lost any games.

“Apart from the disappointment against Newcastle we’ve won everything. At the moment we’re on a good run and we want to keep it going.”

Fabregas said about the second leg- “The second leg will be very difficult and we have to perform very well,” he said. “They will go out to win and we want to attack. You never know what can happen in this type of game. We will have to play
our hearts out.

“But we want to prove we can win a trophy like this one. There are 90 minutes to go and we’re playing against a big team. If you want to beat them you have to give everything.”

Arsene Wenger said that Barca is still the favorite- ”I am highly delighted. It was a special football night,” said Wenger. ”The game promised a lot and fulfilled that promise. It was two exceptional teams who tried always to be positive.

‘We are not favourites now, but what is important is the belief that we have a chance. Barcelona are still favourites. We know now that we can beat them, though. We did not know that last year.

‘This gives us a chance to go to Barcelona with belief. Every game is difficult but we will prepare well and be highly focused.”

Wenger added- ”Against Barcelona you are exposed many times when they have possession but we kept resilient and strong,” Wenger said. ”The problem with their possession is that if you are a fraction late you are in trouble. You have to be tight with the marking and if you don’t it is difficult.

”We were prepared mentally to live with that. Usually we have the ball more than our opponents but we knew that 60% of the time we would have to be focused on them.”

Barca coach Pepe Guardiola said this- ”I think we were okay. We have lost the first leg so we have to win the second leg,” he said. ”We controlled the play for most of the match but we know they can play very well positionally. They are very good and very fast when they counter-attack.

”If we analyse this result it is not too bad. I think in general I am happy with the performance. But we need to score goals in the second leg. They will attack and we will attack too.”

This will be a wild and woolly affair at Camp Nou.

Gunner nation rules.

Gunner for life.

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp

http://www.bolaradio.net/extreme/

Cesc Fabregas saved our bacon against Huddersfield. Fabregas nailed the PK in the 86^th minute to send my Gunners onto the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It was nip and tuck throughout this sucker.

An own goal by the Terriers Peter Clarke in the 22^nd minute was the difference in the match.

Alan Lee leveled this baby up in the 66^th minute off a great header.

This wasn’t a great offensive display by the Gunners but heck we’ll take anything in a pinch.

Arsene Wenger rested most of the big guys.

Only Fabregas saw action late in the match.

His entrance into the match in the 69^th minute was the spark that we needed to get the win.

All in all, I am not that happy with the guy’s performance but a “W” is a “W”.

Headman Arsene Wenger had this to say about the ball buster of a match against Huddersfield- www.arsenal.com It was tough, tough, tough, because it had all the ingredients of a typical cup game. We played a little bit below par and Huddersfield is a good team, they have shown that today. They were efficient, they are always dangerous on set-pieces and crosses, they scored on a set-piece. It had the ingredients of a cup game as well because we were down to ten men so it became very difficult. In the end we had the quality just to make the difference and in the final 25 minutes I felt we had room to score goals. But we play so many games at the moment that sometimes we are not as sharp as we would want to be. That is what happened today.

Wenger on Squillaci’s red card- I found it harsh but you can give it or not give it. It was a foul, it didn’t look to me like an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Is he the last man? I am not sure as well. But I feared the red card and unfortunately he gave what I feared.

 Wenger added about his suspesion for a week-Not more, not less, because it’s three games. For us it’s good because we play three games in a week so it is only one week [that he will be out]. No [I am not likely to sign anyone before the deadline], I leave these headlines to all the other clubs, but at the moment no. I cannot tell you definitely because someone might knock at my door in the morning and says ‘I would like to play for you’ and he is a good player because I would sign him!

Man City escaped with a one all tie against Notts County.

Stoke City beat Wolves 1-0.

West Ham defeated Nottingham Forrest 3-2.

Fulham clobbered Tottenham 4-0.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner for life.

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp

http://www.bolaradio.net/extreme/

My guys from Arsenal have a huge match at home against Wigan. Sure, the Latics are just about at the butt end of the table. Actually, Wigan is in 18^th place with 22 points.

We have to go balls to the wall.

Arsenal needs to kick ass and take names.

Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, Andrei Arshavin, and the rest need to step up to the plate and pepper the goal with salvo after salvo.

Take no prisoners.

Play tight “D”.

And most of all do not and I repeat do not give up stupid cheap goals.

Then and only then, we will keep pace with leader board.

Samir Nasri is our top goal producer with nine.

Arsene Wenger spoke about injury to Thomas Vermaelen- all quotes www.arsenal.com

It was not a real surgery, it is what you call a procedure. I am not a medical specialist but what they took off is what you call the plantaris tendon. This is a structure that is very rarely injured and they tell me many people do not have one at all. It’s a little tendon next to the Achilles tendon where he had the friction.

No. It is a very light one, he is walking today. The time to be back, if all goes well, they tell me is six weeks. A bit more, a bit less I don’t know. But I count six weeks.

To be back competitively. Two weeks without training and four weeks preparation.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone

Gunner for life.

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp

http://www.bolaradio.net/extreme/