End of the Weekend News Roundup

There are a dizzying number of rumors and reports out there to sort through at the moment, as well as some semi-news from the preseason tour in Asia. And while it’s somewhat tiresome to keep up with all the rumors, I’ll do my best to sort through some of the bigger news items of [...]

Things beginning to stir

A quick Sunday round-up for you. The squad for the Asian Tour was announced yesterday and there were no real surprises. Cesc was absent, as expected, Eboue, Diaby and Fabianski didn’t travel because of injury concerns, while only the omissions of Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia raised eyebrows. The BBC then reported that both players [...]

Losing (Dead) Weight Can be Hard to Do

Many of us had hopes that we were going to do some significant house cleaning this summer, with a number of players leaving, as well as many coming in. I think it’s safe to say at this point, we’re not headed for a very big turnover. The fact that we’re likely to hang [...]

Arsenal target giant keeper to replace Almunia

It has been reported today that Arsene Wenger is lining up an £8m bid for the giant Italian keeper Emiliano Viviano to replace Manuel Almunia at the Emirates. Viviano is currently at Inter Milan, but with Julio Cesar cemented in as the Italian giants …

2010/11 Player Analysis: Almunia and Lehmann

Despite speculation that he would be sold last summer, Manuel Almunia started the 2010/11 season as our first-choice goalkeeper. However, Almunia picked up an injury in the game against West Bromwich Albion on September 25th and was subsequently kept out of goal for most of the season by Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski. Almunia joined read more »

Player-by-Player Season in Review, Part I

Here it is, the annual “calculating of the ratings.” Like the Running of the Bulls or Airing of the Grievances, this annual event draws spectators and thrill-seekers from far and wide. Well, not really, but let’s have some fun with it, okay?
First, some caveats. This is a list of the players who played enough to [...]

Transfer Talk: Wednesday 18th May

Manuel Almunia With the emergence of Szczesny and the improved Fabianski, Almunia has found it hard to make the first team this season. It is true that with Manuel between the sticks there is an uneasy feel about the team. With Szczesny, however, the defence seems more confident in their keeper and overall looks less [...]

Rambo & The Verminator? Arsenal team against Stoke

Injuries to Fabregas, Nasri and Diaby mean that Aaron Ramsey is sure to start today at the ground where heRead the Rest…

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Our Rock

There will be no shortage of inquests and post-mortems in the weeks to come about this Arsenal season…and rightfully so at that. Given United’s dip in form (and of course I miss one of our best performances of the season when trapped in a location wi…

Arsenal United!

It’s been a tough time as we fell out all the competitions and now we’ve been falling out all over.Read the Rest…

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Arsenal team against Spurs

This should of course have been a more decisive occasion – our game in hand that put us head-to-head forRead the Rest…

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Arsene Wenger’s injury news ahead of Tottenham, Bacary Sagna and Alex Song fit to start

Bacary Sagna is back in the Arsenal squad to face Tottenham today as Arsene Wenger gave positive injury news ahead of the North London Derby. Arsene Wenger, while speaking to Arsenal TV Online on Tuesday, confirmed that Sagna has recovered from his inj…

Arsene Wenger’s positive injury update ahead of Liverpool, Wojciech Szczesny set to start in goal

Wojciech Szczesny is set to start in goal against Liverpool on Sunday as Manuel Almunia won’t be risked with his knee injury. Arsene Wenger, at his pre-match press conference, confirmed that Szczesny has had a full week of training after recovering f…

Blackpool, Jens, Stan

So I got home from work yesterday just to see Sky cut to the adverts right before the game. As they returned there was some focus on Jens, it didn’t register straight away, but he was starting. It transpired that Almunia had been kicked by Jens in the warmup picked up a knee injury in [...]

Arsene Wenger on the ‘necessary’ Blackpool win and fight for the title

Arsene Wenger was clearly delighted after Arsenal ended their three match draw streak with a deserved win over Blackpool. Speaking after the match, the manager said that it was a good performance as the players responded positively after a flat game la…

Arsene Wenger on Lehmann’s performance, Almunia’s Knee injury and Szczesny’s return

Jens Lehmann did well during Arsenal’s win over Blackpool after his surprise start due to an injury to Manuel Almunia in the warm ups. Speaking after the game, Arsene Wenger praised the performance of Lehmann by saying how his decision making was spo…

Blackpool vs Arsenal: Preview and Starting Eleven

This past week has been too long for my liking and I have no doubt it will have been the same for many Gooners. I have missed most of what has happened in the football world in the last week due to my work. Nonetheless,  the team and the manager have…

Arsenal 0-0 Blackburn Rovers: Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over

Originally, my post was going to be exactly this: “I will put as much heart and fight into this match report as Arsenal did into this match itself: That sucked, the end.”However, this result is important enough – not only in the frame of this season bu…

It’s about time that Wenger made some changes to the squad

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of recent updates on Straight Talking Gooners. The team was dumped out of the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Champions League in quick succession, and then had a 2 week international break. As a result Arsenal news has significantly dried up in the last few weeks, [...]

Sleepy Arsenal let title slip away

It isn’t over yet, eight games to go, but the overwhelming impression from Saturday’s performance was that the players areRead the Rest…

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Player Ratings: Arsenal 0 – 0 Blackburn

Well, our season is going from worse to oblivion. It seems a distant memory when we were in four competitions and now it is more than certain that we will end this season without a trophy. Has the Carling Cup final defeat really caused more damage tha…

Arsenal vs Blackburn: Preview and Starting Eleven

The last two weeks have been really boring to say the least and I am really looking forward to the games this weekend. The international break might have been too long for my liking but it did came at the right time for our team and I really hope that …

Arsene Wenger confirms Manuel Almunia’s start in goal against Blackburn

Manuel Almunia will start in goal when Arsenal resumes their Premier League challenge this weekend. Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arsene Wenger put an end to all speculations as he confirmed that Manuel Almunia will be in go…

Arsenal team against Blackburn

For a change, the injury news is relatively good.  Fabregas, Walcott, Diaby and Song all fit and ready to go. Read the Rest…

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Back to the action – with familiar news!

Sometimes we say, “you couldn’t make it up could you?” But mostly we say, “Van Persie scores twice in aRead the Rest…

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