Udinese Preview and the Obvious.

 

 Game : ARSENAL VS UDINESE

 Venue : Emirates Stadium.

 Kick off : 21.45 Kenya time (GMT +3)

So despite the obvious story, I really want to stay focused and concentrate on the game ahead. Although I’ll get to it in a bit. We Play Udinese later today, in the first of the two most important fixtures this month, the other being the away leg obviously. I do know that we play Liverpool and Manure in the same month, but must I remind you that this is a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIER?! We are getting into a very tough patch in the fixture list, which goes something like Udinese (h), Liverpool (h), Udinese (a), Manutd (a). After these games I think we can have a more vivid picture of what to expect this season.

Onto the game, we have Nasri (yes he is still here) and Rvp suspended oh Wenger too, will be serving his touchline ban, Rosicky had a knock against Newcastle and will undergo a late fitness test. Nothing major, I expect him to pass as fit. There is still no date to Jack’s return and Diaby is still a good way out. With those absentees I expect us to line up as follows :

SCZCESNY

SAGNA   KOSCIELNY  VERMAELEN  GIBBS

SONG 

           RAMSEY          ROSICKY (ARSHAVIN)

GERVINHO (WALCOTT)  CHAMAKH  ARSHAVIN (GERVINHO)

With the bench looking something like this: Fabianski, Djorou, Frimpong, Carl, Alex, Miyaichi, Bendtner. If Rosicky is passed fit then I expect him to line up alongside Rambo, if not, then Arshavin should take the central role with Walcott filling in on the right and Gervinho moving to the left. Le Prof says he expects Bendtner to feature as he is still with the club, maybe one last taste of champions league football before he goes? I like the tall dane, in fact I prefer him to Chamakh at the moment, he is a good player (not as good as he thinks he is) but he has such a big ego that it gets in his way most of the time.

Now Udinese is no push over, with the likes of Di Natale, Kwado Asamoah and Mauricio Isla in their ranks you do see why I am abit cautious with this one. Even more that we are playing the 2^nd leg away after facing Liverpool and before facing Manure. That being said, we should have enough in us to see off this depleted Udinese side. The ideal situation would be us demolishing them today, thus taking the pressure off when we meet in a fortnight, but being an Arsenal fan you do know that we don’t normally go the ideal way. I just hope that this will not be one of the many times where we make it really hard on ourselves, at least let us not concede today. 

I don’t have much in stats but I know that we do have quite a record against Italian opposition, four out of five times we have come out victorious in two legged ties! I expect them to defend deep, as any team would at the emirates and try to take us out on the counter. They are also quite a force when it comes to set pieces. I won’t predict a score line but I’ll call a victory for the gunners and No am taking no draws, a non scoring one maybe. 

Wow...you just had to do this!

Now to the story on everyone’s televisions, radios, timelines, news feeds…yes it is finally over! The soap opera that was threatening The Bold & The Beautiful in length. It has taken forever but it’s finally done, not the ideal ending but an ending none the less. I don’t know what to feel right now, rather since the news broke out on sunday night. I kinda feel like a guy who has been left by his super model girl friend for her high school sweet heart, who is an s.t.d infested loser (though he doesn’t look like one). Only time will tell, back to my mixed feelings. Am happy, that the saga is over, then really sad that it had to end this way, then really pissed at the price that we sold him at, then just really mad at the Cunts (As I always am.) This is not very easy for me, those who follow me on twitter (@pitseh_poghie) know that I ranted quite a lot. Moving on swiftly, like the club should. It will be interesting to see who le prof brings in as the replacement.Whispers of Eden Hazard and Marvin Martins are already doing rounds, but I don’t expect him to splash the cash, as according to reliable sources the £30M will be paid in installments, we only have 12M – 14M of that in the account, so yeah. Sorry if I burst a bubble there. The other talking point with his departure is definitely the arm band, as much as I’d like to see the Verminator have it, you feel Robin is already defacto captain with Rosicky his likely deputy or more probably the Verminator. With Rvp’s injury record, whoever gets the deputy’s post will surely see more of that band around his arm than usual deputies do. There is another scenario which I see possible, with Le Prof so keen on keeping Nasri, he might use the captaincy as bait. Recent history has turned our captain’s office to the last step towards the exit door at the emirates. I really hope that I am wrong.What about Sagna? Next, what happens to the ‘Cesc role?’ do we do away with the current system, which was developed to suite Cesc and his abilities? Or do we elevate another player say Jack, Rosicky or Arshavin, Nasri maybe (*hides*) to that role? 

Whether his loss is for the better or not will be a question that only time can answer, but if I were to call it. Definitely for the better, he had become an excesc (it’s not a typo) baggage to the team and his situation had affected the general focus and balance of the squad. As a player he is definitely is a big loss but overall it’s a loss that we can take. I feel that he has left just when he was at the brink of being a legend here, guess he wasn’t patient enough. Whenever I hear the name Cesc Fabregass, I’ll remember the Pizza throwing incident at Old Trafford or that night at Millan, or the one man show goal against Tottenham or even the 20 minute demolition of Aston Villa. For these and many more memories that you have left us, I salute you Francesc Soler Fabregas and wish that you turn out like your friend Hleb! Okey am joking (this part is really hard) I wish you all the best in your future endeavors! (there I said it!) As the best might see you back here. Yes there is a buy back clause in his contract that gives us the first refusal incase the cunts want to sell him. As in we have to refuse buying him first before they can sell to another club. If we do not buy him, then we get a 50% of the fee that they sell him for. Quite the deal huh?! 

As I post this Emmanuel Eboue *sob* has signed a 4 year deal at Galatasary,more to follow.

With that Ladies and Gentlemen….

 

Kwisha.