i give my all to you.

because a bit of heartbreak makes the ecstasy just that bit sweeter.

this isn't the end, its only the beginning. dont give up because we're onto something good and we'll get rewarded for our hard work.



afc; today, tomorrow, forever♥

you know i'd never ask you to change..

...if perfect's what you're searching for, then just stay the same.

frustrating and stressful day thanks to arsenal...
but you always come good in the end.
even though you do stress me out sometimes
would i love you as much if you changed?
damn right i wouldnt.
♥

ps please dont steal, my mummy took this at the game today. we were row 2, it was lush :}

i'll make you love me next time we meet, on the sunny side of the street.

life is too busy at the moment for blogs :(
i regret taking both englishes and media.
all i do is write about crap for hours and when i come home, i want to write about something i genuinely care about and i just dont have the energy.

i'll blog when i can.

ps. next saturday can hurry up. me back home, at the emirates. all thats keeping me going.♥

i won't be lonely when i'm down... cos i've got you.

switzerland 1
england 3.

i would bore you with undying love for england, blah blah blah but frankly i haven't got the time. so lets just summarise the match:

tricky few days. just when the pressure has been temporarily lifted, wayne rooney's 'not so private anymore' life was thrust under a spotlight, not for the first time either. now i have no right to sit here and act like i've never made a mistake in my life but he has a duty not only as a role model, but as a husband and a father. it's not really any of our business what he gets up to off a football pitch but its still not nice to think of a member of my national team doing stuff like... that.

on with football matters:
good game, three points were always the aim and we achieved it. not always one way traffic as sky were making out but we stuck to our guns and looked tough to beat. no one looked out of place and no major mistakes were made. a few people critisced joe hart for a few nervy minutes but he did nothing wrong and the swiss goal couldnt have been prevented by many goalkeepers!

well done england, we're always proud of you. maybe as individuals, you make personal mistakes but as a team, you make the whole country smile.

too much, too much is never enough.

and everything's okay again. well kind of.

they said we needed a convincing win and we ended up with a four - nil victory, will this keep the critics off fabio's back for a while? probably not because as soon as we put in one bad performance at the world cup, they were calling for the axe to fall on him. i didn't hear many cries to get rid off the under-performing players because they'd rather see the manager sacked, simply because it's the 'easy option'. to me it's not hard to understand: consistency is key, changing the manager everytme something goes wrong is rarely to the answer to our problems.



so, sorry mate but i couldn't agree less with you

after being depressed by ITV, we were feeling a bit down to tell the truth. danny murphy telling us that fabio won't be successful because he can't speak good english or something like that. oh, i forgot how good your italian was danny. oh you can't speak italian? well next time, don't use that stick to beat him with!

so the game started in front of a three quarter full wembley. i would have done anything to have been there but due to a lack of money, i was made to sat on the sofa hugging my england scarf, with my fingers crossed.

only three minutes in and we were ahead. nice goal by defoe, what a start! to use a cliche that everyone seems to be using last night, it was the 'perfect start'. the rest of the first half wasn't the most attractive football i'd seen but it was positive. no one looked to be having an off and a big boost for the three lions, someone woke wayne rooney up from his three month, deep sleep! he was back, looking sharp as ever and played a big part. it would have been nice if on the 12th june someone had told him that he needed to perform. but i guess its time to look forward to the qualifiers and beyond, and leave the past behind us.

bulgaria threatened rarely and we looked comfortable going into half time. of course, a couple of goals would have steadied us and put the game to bed early but bulgaria are no pushovers, they're no scotland ;)

and then followed the usual half time talk. 'good but we could do better', i've been watching england for years and i don't think that tagline will leave us until we better '66.

the second half starts, pretty much same as the first half, except maybe bulgara look slightly sharper. as if they've had a few stern words shouted at them during the half time interval.

a few minutes later, the crucial moment in the game came. a good, solid stop from joe hart and fifteen seconds later, it was up the opposite end of the pitch, in the net. game won, superb goal, defoe's second but it all started due to joe hart. finally an england keeper who doesnt make us hide behind a cushion when the ball is our half of the pitch, a keeper who always look solid and reliable. something we've been missing since seaman and it's hard not to question why he didn't play a single minute at the world cup. but i did say i wasn't going to reflect on the world cup again, so lets just leave it there.

two late goals from substitute adam johnson, who had looked good for city early on this season and his goal impressed many. and the last goal, a third from defoe, his hat-trick. three good goals and defoe, with the help of his teamates, brought wembley to life.

good win for england, next to switzerland. never an easy place, so as long as we keep calm and stay confident, we can come back with three points.




we are england and impossible is nothing♥

an example of better things to come.

we've heard and seen it all,
no one's talked us out.
the problems that have come,
haven't yet torn us down.

the fixture that nearly always give us trouble and yesterday's win was no exception. ewood park is hardly our stomping ground, actually not many people can claim that tile. only three clubs (other than the home team) picked up all three points there last season; arsenal being one of the teams to come away from there with zilch.

so with a postive, yet realistic outlook, i predicted a hard fought victory. and i wasn't wrong.
the first half wasn't particularly pleasant to watch to be honest, a bit nervy, even after theo walcott's goal (alan hansen looked sick as a dog on match of the day, having to justify his critiscm of theo for the second week running.)
you know how much power he put on the shot because it was revealed at half time, that he broke the net. not bad for someone with no 'football brain'.

but as i was saying, after theo's goal, we didn't look comfortable at all and a few minutes later, blackburn got the equaliser. smart, quick, clever goal. our defenders were caught napping and blackburn got their goal.

the first half ended on a negative, after seeing robin limp off. hardly the first time it's happened and i somehow doubt it will be the last but we've heard it's not too serious. so fingers crossed, he'll be back soon.

second half started more postively and we got our second goal. up until then, he'd been pretty quiet but his goal was vital and turned out to be the winner.

the second half was alot more comfortable than expected but this is arsenal, very few games go without a scare and in the dying moments, blackburn looked threatening but the final whistle blew, three points for the arsenal.

good game and manuel played well, very solid performance. i really hope that wasn't his last game. he's not world class but we could do alot worse and he's put in some decent performances for the club. the schwarzer rumours are impossible to keep up with; one day he's put pen to paper, other days mark hughes is refusing to even talk about the prospect of him leaving.

yesterday was sign of better things to come, if we can win at blackburn, we can win almost anywhere.
the sky's the limit..♥

cos we're the young, we're alright.

i know this blog is expectionally late but i've had one of the craziest weeks ever and i'm sure you'll understand!

arsenal 6
blackpool 0

my first game of the season and what a way to kick off the season at the emirates. after last week's point at anfield, we knew improvement was needed. we weren't exactly dreadful but we hardly threatened and at times, the team looked a mess.
so we set ourselves up for a tricky match against blackpool, knowing that this was probably the most dangerous time to play blackpool. recently promoted and coming to the emirates after thrashing a sorry wigan last week, we knew that we'd have all the pressure on us and they could just play freely in front of their travelling tangerine army.

i predicted an arsenal win but even i wasn't confident enough to predict the comfortable win.

sitting in the emirates before kick off, we were all buzzing with anticipation. the blackpool fans played their part with balloons and songs: we were all looking forward to a good game.
i won't bore with fangirl ramblings about how much it meant to me being there and witnessing theo's first arsenal hat-trick. blah blah blah.

lets just say: the game was amazing. i enjoyed seeing an arsenal performance like that, where we looked so in control from the first minute and a world class peformance by theo walcott. the hat-trick was fantastic but he also had an amazing game. everytime he came forward, the full back couldn't handle him and the headline in the Daily Mail summed it up, 'Thats what we needed in the world cup fabio!'

so we all left the emirates extremely happy and purring after a performance like that. 'it was only blackpool' or 'you were playing against ten men' have been said by fans of other clubs but i'm still so proud. take nothing away from my boys, we looked good and in that sort of form, theo walcott would give any defences nightmares.

next game: blackburn away. hardly my favourite game of the season and always a tricky game for arsenal. come on lads! ♥

now every feburary, you'll be my valentine.

eighty nine minutes in, one nil down and playing pretty poorly. i didn't want the season to start like that, negativity and disappointment. in the second half, we created absolutely nothing against ten men. the defence looked good but as for individual players, they looked ordinary. i had my head in my hands, praying for some sort of gift from god. sadly, god was busy but he sent pepe reina to deliver my gift instead. i couldnt believe it! i don't think i've celebrated an own goal so much in a long, long time!
that was the best bit of the second half for me, liverpool had competley dominated. average players like ngog suddenly became superstars and we didn't have a shot on goal until rosicky in the eighty fifth minute. completely different to the first half, when we looked extremely confident and capable of scoring many goals. obviously, the first half ended on a sour note, joe cole being sent off and making the whole game incredibly controversal for the first time. i've heard from many liverpool fans that 'it was no way a red card, maybe a yellow but not a red' or 'NO WAY, THATS NOT A RED CARD IN A MILLION YEARS' or the best one i've heard 'OH MY GOD, THE DEFENDER CHEATED, ITS SO OBVIOUS'.
let me just sum up my views of the red card.
1. i doubt he was going in to hurt laurent, so i'm in no way saying that what he did was intentional.
but...
2. it was a dangerous challenge and koscielny could have been seriously injured. his legs came off the ground and from the referee's angle (and all of ours), it looked reckless. so was it a red card? yes it was, surely liverpool must have believed this too seeing as they have not appealed against the referee's decision.
3. i will not accept in any way that laurent cheated to get joe cole sent off. his shin pad saved him from alot of damage and he was lucky to come back on the pitch after the half time interval.

early second half, liverpool score. good goal but i like to think quicker thinking from the defenders and almunia could have prevented it. although, i have to give ngog credit, it was a nice shot.

i am a big fan of manuel almunia but i can't help thinking that we need to get a new keeper in. someone like shay given would be perfect. experience, talent and has consistently been one of the best goalkeepers in the country.
but until we get someone else in, manuel has my full support and i trust him to do well for the team.

the majority of the second half was shocking from an arsenal perspective and the less said about it the better.
well until the eighty-ninth minute, which then it became pretty good. an uncharacteristic mistake from a world class keeper that gave us a point, a deserved point though.
last real action of the game was laurent being sent off, for a second yellow. probably a bit harsh seeing as ngog's handball was more obvious but all in all, good game but improvement is needed.

blackpool at home on saturday and i'm there!
looking forward to the unveiling of the clockend, a good game and seeing olly!

so come on you gunners, three points please?♥

maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano.

last night wasn't exactly about getting the perfect result. putting 7 past hungary wouldn't have been too bad but it was all about the performance, being back in front of the home fans at wembley and proving that there was more to come from the team. before the game, captain steven gerrard said, "england fans are the best in the world and we'll be doing everything we can to reward your loyalty" and we all hoped that tonight we could turn it on and for now, keep the haters quiet.
me, like 72,OOO made our way to wembley yesterday with heavy, yet hopeful hearts. a shocking world cup (when you think of what could have been) but we still turned up to support the team. well nearly everyone turned for that reason. i refuse to spend time writing about those people. i understand why they do it but at the end of the day, who's it going to help? boos don't encourage players, cheers and support do that. however stupid they may or may not be, the players themselves know the world cup was poor and people sitting their seats booing, won't make them realise this anymore.
yesterday for me proved that england fans are the best in the world, for 44 years, we've come barely come to close to winning anything but we still turn up to the games and sing our hearts out for the cause.

i was really worried about the game on the way there. i'd heard reports of only 2O-3O,OOO turning up. but luckily when i stepped off the crowded tube, i was met with the most beautiful sight in football. a jam-packed wembley way, a sea of red and white with the sound of singing and the occasional vuvuzela. i knew then that it was worth spending all this money for a friendly but as jermaine defoe said, 'there's no such thing as a friendly in international football'





so i was sat in my seat, i was calm for the first time all night and waited for the match to start. the players came out and there was alot of shouting and cheering. the national anthems were sung and then the teams were read out:
joe hart, then glen johnson. no boos at all. then ashley cole, a few boos but his private life could be the reason for that. steven gerrard and jagielka both received cheers but then john terry's name was read out and the boos rang around wembley. i couldn't understand why. this is our former captain, yes he had a bad world cup but on the england team, who didn't? i'm still struggling to understand why all the hate is directed at him when others had a bad world cup too. all the other england players faired okay with the crowd, apart from a few jeers for rooney.

the referee blew the whistle and the game started, finally we could our talking on the pitch...
but half time came. still O-O and england were booed off. i kind of wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. i was embarassed for the manager and for the players. i was almost praying "please let the second half be better"

and it was, thank god!
going one nil down was terrible, especially to a goal that shouldn't have been allowed. i was pretty sure that it hadn't crossed the line sitting right behind thr goal but i checked when i got home and sure enough, the goal had not crossed the line. just proof why goal-line technology is a must.
but two goals from steven gerrard, who had played excellently. a real captain's performance. he's often accused of not putting any effort in for england but last night, that statement could not have been more wrong.
the players who made their debuts all looked comfortable playing for the england senior team. also, joe hart looked reliable, something that we couldn't call some england keepers in the past!

so not an amazing result but a win is a win. and we can't complain can we? but there will be many that i will i'm sure!

heads up, keep the faith and remember there's light at the end of the tunnel.♥

make it a sweet, sweet goodbye.

"The past few days have been very emotional for me. Although I am excited about the challenge ahead with my new club Shakhtar Donetsk, I am so sad to be leaving my home for the past three years - Arsenal Football Club.

"Arsenal is a very special football club and I will miss so many people - my team mates, all the staff and of course, the wonderful Arsenal supporters.

"I would just like to thank everyone for your support during my time at Arsenal. When I first came to England, I could not speak the language and knew nobody, but as soon as I arrived I was made to feel at home and part of this big family. Also, I want to say thank you to the Arsenal supporters - you have been fantastic to me and always sung my name and I will never forget this.

"I had some very difficult times with my injury, but Arsenal was always there for me - the medical staff, the management, the players and the supporters. Thank you everybody.

"Although I have now left the Club, Arsenal will always be in my heart. I will always look for the Arsenal results and of course, I wish Arsène Wenger and the great players at the Club well for next season and the future."


you became one of my favourites instantly and seeing you go is heartbreaking. you're a real team player, so unselfish and just exceptionally talented.
if it wasn't for that tackle, i believe you could have been amazing. you had just fully settled into the arsenal way and you were in good goal scoring form, then that happened.
less said about that the better, i don't want to mention its name. he's not worthy of a place on my blog.

to come back from an injury like that, is amazing. not everybody could cope but you stayed strong and to see you back in an arsenal shirt again, filled me with pride.

everytime i went to a game at the emirates and you were playing, i'd always give you a big cheer. i admire your bravery, courage and just goddamn amazingness.

i will miss you so bloody much and i wish you the best of luck, you really do deserve it. you'll always be in my heart.

and just one more time...


He came to us when Henry went: Eddie, Eddie,
He scored more goals than Darren Bent: Eddie, Eddie,
He broke his leg,
But he'll be back,
And Darren Bent will still be cack,
Eduardo Silva Arsenal's Number 9!♥

it's a shame that we never saw the three lions roar - more of a miaow and a whimper.

Some people fly,
Some people fall,
Others pretend they don't care at all.
If you want to fight I'll stand right beside you.
The day that you fall I'll be right behind you...
to pick up the pieces.

Those forty four years of hurt are about to continue and the heartbreak of watching another team life the trophy yet again, is almost too much to bear.
Why do we put ourselves through it every two/four years?

It’s like running for the bus that is just a bit too quick for you. It’s unlikely that you’ll get it and the reach your target but you try and hope, sometimes just for the sake of trying.

I didn’t assume that we had a automatic place in the final, I’m not that arrogant and I know that getting to the final takes incredibly hard work but going into a major tournament without believing we have a chance, is so ‘un-English’. The press build us up to be world beaters and although their intentions may be good, all they were doing was putting unnecessary pressure on the team. There was already enough pressure on Fabio and the boys after our almost perfect qualification campaign. That’s not an excuse by the way, I know that South Africa 2010 was inexcusable and I’m still searching for a proper reason for the disaster. It’s not as if we woke up on the 12th June and were instantly sh*t all of a sudden.

Well anyway, lets start from the beginning and try to solve the mystery:



ENGLAND 1 USA 1
(Summed up in a few short sentences)

Good performance. Not the end of the world result-wise. Overall, quite positive but nowhere near world champions, yet. But we still believed.

ENGLAND 0 ALGERIA 0

Poor, poor performance. Not far from being the end of the world. Not many positives to take from the game, Fabio under real pressure for the first time since he got the job. We couldn’t have looked more unlike world champions. Did we still believe though? Of course we believed things would get better because it’s that sort of blinkered hope and optimism that gets us through football matches, they are qualities all football fans seem to have.

So after two disappointing draws, we were third in the so called ‘easy group.’
Win against Slovenia and we’re through, anything else and… well that wasn’t even worth thinking about.

Before we could play our ‘do or die’ match, there was a volcano of trouble brewing and it erupted, with horrible consequences.

Friday 18th – Wayne Rooney’s controversial comments after England were booed off. He stormed off the pitch at the final whistle but not before speaking into a nearby camera, questioning the England fan’s loyalty. Never a good thing to Wayne. I don’t agree with booing because I don’t think it does anyone any good in the end but those people had paid thousands of pounds and flown thousands of miles to get to South Africa. Instead of seeing courageous England, they saw a performance that did not reflect all the hype. We looked average and that’s putting it nicely. So, to be honest, they were totally entitled to their opinions. Yes, it was on the heat of the moment but think before you speak next time please?


Sunday 20th – John’s Terry infamous press conference. Honesty or the work of a trouble maker? I don’t know JT personally but I like to think that he cares for England and he is honoured to play for his country. So surely that press conference was just what we all thinking? Maybe what he said came out wrong but I respect him for saying it.

Fabio retaliation – In an interview, telling the world that John Terry had made a ‘big mistake’ in going public with his views. I hate to say bad things about Fabio (because personally I think he’s a genius) but I didn’t agree with this: Slating John Terry for saying too much to the media but yet he didn’t think to talk to John about this in private, he thought he’d do it through… the media.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Less than twenty four hours, John had apologised. I’m not really sure what he had said sorry for but we vowed to raise above all this and win on Wednesday.

So the big day was upon us, finally.




ENGLAND 1 SLOVENIA 0

Finally, something to smile about: It was only one nil but it meant the world. The performance was a million times better than the previous game and we finally looked as if we were playing with confidence, with a smile on our faces.
Did we believe? YES. Of course, we were going through, it’s on again; a repeat of 1966 was still possible!

I wonder who we’ll get in the next round…


‘AND THE USA HAS GRABBED A LATE WINNER! THEY WILL TOP THE GROUP ON GOAL DIFFERENCE, LEAVING ENGLAND TO PLAY… MAYBE GERMANY.


Germany beat Ghana later on that day to set up a tasty last sixteen game with us. It was bound to happen and if we wanted to lift that trophy on July 11th, then we needed to beat one of the ‘top’ teams to settle those nerves and to prove the critics wrong. Why not start with the Germans?



ENGLAND 1 GERMANY 4




So we’ve been dumped out, in spectacular fashion, by frankly an average German side. We were poor from the first minute till the last. You could argue that 4-1 flattered us slightly. We can talk about the disallowed goal until we’re blue in the face but that wasn’t the reason for our loss, dire defending from the back four killed us. David James was our best player, we were battered and he kept it from being an even more embarrassing score line. It hurts to talk about but there are so many questions that need to be answered.
What happened to Wayne Rooney? Well in fact, what happened to the whole team? You can’t pin point our failure on one particular player; the whole team destroyed their Premier League reputations. How can players on a hundred grand a week perform so badly on the world’s biggest stage?

One last thing to say – Fabio must stay. Chopping and changing managers won’t do us any good. If one of the best managers in the world can’t change us from being ‘un achievers’, who can? I don’t think a change in manager will help but I think a change of a few players could.

Who’s up for this all again in Rio 2014?


it's not always easy but i'm here forever....♥

everybody knows the end...

... the curtain hits the floor.
everybody knows the end, don't wanna get there wishing that you'd given more.

arsenal 4
fulham O


it's not over. till it's over.


but it is over, the O9-1O season is finished. overall, it's not been a bad campaign. two little words; 'what if', pretty much sums up our season.

we won today though, comfortably. first win since april 3rd and first time we've played well in the league since early march.

i'm happy with the lads though, we've tried our best and our best wasn't quite good enough. we'll try again and again until we get it right.
roll on august!


♥

the almost, sort of, kinda, nearly season.

end with a bang?

blackburn 2
arsenal 1

slightly predictable.

more like end with a whimper. i always like to think my boys try their hardest in every game and i can't ask anything more than that. however monday i couldn't help but feel that we didn't exactly put 1OO% into the game. except from the first quarter of an hour, we seemed lack lustre and tired; even after a nine day break. it wasn't exactly a lazy approach to the game that made me think this. i thought it because many parts of monday's game were sloppy and we made alot of careless errors.

we've been out of the title race for several weeks now but i wanted to have the best possible ending to a season, which overall has been better than the previous one! to make sure of third place, we needed points and we couldn't afford to throw them monday was a perfect opportunity to show that we're not a bunch of 'nearly' players, that in fact we're champions in the making. opportunity wasted.

arsene wenger told the press that he thought that in the scoring of both goals, the keeper was fouled. i can see what he means but honestly, we shouldn't have excuses prepared. for both goals fabiankski looked, frankly a liability but also, the players in the team around him weren't looking too clever.

my team put in so much hard work in training everyday and during matches; i just want them to be rewarded for all their efforts. to me, trophies aren't the most important thing but these players deserve some praise. after all, we get slated week in, week out. win, lose or draw.

last game on sunday,
last game of season O9-1O. it's been a pretty okay season for me on a personal level.


SEASON 1O-11; THE SEASON OF THE YOUNG GUNS.
you heard it here first guys.




the boys who make life worth living ♥

the score line says it all...

i'm not going to bore you with a page full of superaltives about a nil nil draw. a dull nil nil draw at that. neither side really looked capable of getting a goal and getting all three points. the match itself lacked entertainment until adebayor came on. and then a couple of minutes later, we were back to the same, end to end action. many people use 'end to end action' to describe the game in a positive light, i'm not. so cheers arsenal, for giving me a good game to report back on (!)

lets forget that game now and concentrate on monday's game at blackburn. never an easy game as chelsea and united fans will tell you and we've had enough problems of our own there in the past.

we all know they play the complete opposite to us but lets them give them a footballing lesson they won't forget, we'll play them off the park fairly and through quality football.

you let me down but giving up on you just isn't a option.

that's the best it got i'm afraid.

i don't really know any other 'top teams' who can go two nil up with 1O minutes to go and at the final whistle, be the losing team.
wigan deserved to win, we played poorly. this is probably the perfect opportunity to slate individual players (and fabianski showed today, that first thing on the summer shopping list is a new, decent keeper) but i suppose, it's a team game and the team performance simply wasn't good enough. even when we were two nil up, we looked nervous and the free flowing football didn't turn up.
on paper, this was an 'easy game' but games aren't played on paper, they're played on the pitch and as today proved, anything can happen for 9O minutes on a football pitch.

just incase we hadn't already lost the chance of the premier league, today made sure that we'll be waiting another year for a trophy.

arsenal football club - you don't half annoy me sometimes and make me want to punch walls but compared to others, we haven't the worst season ever and i'm grateful for the high points of the season :)

the best part of the day;

theo walcott scoring a cracking opener. are you watching fabio?

heartbreak at the lane.

i'm sorry that this is extremely late but i wrote this wednesday night and hadn't got to uploading it yet. this is written before today's game and my next blog will be about the game against wigan.

-

i fear that yet another promising and in places, damn right exciting, season will come to the end without anything to show for it. in a game where trophies is everything, our stunning football doesn't get enough credit but at the same time, maybe it's not quite enough. i'm not going to sit here and make here excuses for not winning a trophy in europe or back here at home. i said at the beginning of the season, that chelsea were the team to beat and overall this season, they've been the best team. it'd take a miracle and a half for us to win the league from here. however, we still have plenty to play for. i mean, united haven't cemented second place yet. in my opinion, it's chelsea's to throw away, without meaning to use cliches. pipping united to second place would be quite satisfying.

arsene wenger said he'd stay at arsenal as long as there was an improvement each season and i believe there has been this year. just 3 weeks ago, we were looking promising in the league and in europe. last season's struggle for 4th place has been almost forgotten as were firmly in the title race past november this time!

one day soon, i'm sure the patience of the true and loyal arsenal fans will be rewarded ♥

season 1O-11; it's got arsenal football club's name written all over it.



5 months but you're back (L)

"life's about grabbing your opportunities and this team can make history"

Barcelona 4 Arsenal 1 - Welcome to the Messi show.

well okay, we won't be making champions league history this year but it's not all doom and gloom is it?

last night proved to that even in the most difficult circumstances and regardless of the situation, we're up for the fight. i mean barcelona are the european and world champions. some teams would have gone there trying to play for the 0-0 for 89 minutes and then nick a goal at the death and if we had have done that, us arsenal fans would have no complaints cos a clean sheet and that one goal would have been perfect. come on though, this is my arsenal fc who i adore and know so well, we can't play for 0-0, so i pretty mich knew we'd go there goal hungry.

only a few minutes in, we were showing that barcelona aren't only ones who can play beautiful football and then i can't believe my eyes, i see theo sprinting with the ball and then giving it to nicklas bendtner and then.. and then.. BARCELONA 0 ARSENAL 1 if i'm dreaming, don't wake me up.

for three minutes, i was living in a fantasty world. i wasn't quite prepared for this and an even bigger surprise was that we had added an extra physical element to our game. we were no longer the pushovers or the soft lads from london. we were actually tackling! (not always succesfully though) not something i'm used to if i'm being honest.
for a short perioid of time, our attacking players were bossing the game and looking alive, whereas the defence were beginning to lose the plot. for the last 25 minutes of the first half defended poorly and without giving our players excuses, did you see who we playing against?!

adjectives fail me when it comes to messi. sensational? world class? execeptional? all these and more. as i'm watching, i find myself holding my breath and waiting to see what magic he creates next. i wouldn't say he's the best player that ever lived because i think it's incredibly hard to choose out of plauers of such quality but he's up there for sure.

our wounded defence had to deal with bojan and pedro who are very promising and quick young players, as well as the brilliant messi. the quality of the barca forward three illustrated that this year, at this moment, we're not able to compete at that level, we don't have the options available that they do.

they coped with their injuries and suspensions by bringing in extremely talented replacements, we did not, we couldn't cope with the loss of so many players.

as the match carried on, their attacking players shone and our faded into the background and at times, became spectators like the rest of us.

on occasions, we did show promise but unfourtunately those moments were far too rare. an excellent and exciting run by gael clichy, my heart started beating a bit faster but the thought of a comeback was destroyed just 30 seconds after it was born.
nicklas bendtner was getting as frustrated as the arsenal fans at the nou camp and back home. the midfield weren't creating anything for him. maybe we could have swapped midfields at half time to give us a chance?

even when the barcelona players were more relaxed, they still looked so comfortable in possesion, i was green with envy.

so in simple terms, we were outplayed and outclass. they were pretty damn brilliant and we were nothing special. what really hurts is that i know we're capable of so much more and that our performance at the nou camp doesn't reflect all our efforts in the competition this season.

i'm praying now that we can build on this defeat and hopefully, we can take our frustration out on tottenham hotspur.

yes i'm upset and heartbroken but football has broken my heart on various occasions and i'm not dead yet and neither's our season. we're not dead or finished either.
even though tonight we suffered a heavy defeat, my lads never gave up and they'll have no idea how much that means to me.

so come on the arsenal, the premier league could still be ours, so lets not this slip away from us. a nice 5-0 win against spurs will mend my broken heart ♥





so maybe if we do go another season without a trophy, people will give up on us. but don't you worry arsenal fc, you're not getting rid of me. you're pretty much stuck with me FOREVER.

that's the wonder, the wonder of you.

this how thierry described last night - ""Emotional, special, amazing". i couldn't agree with him more.

after such a game of beauty, i should write pages and pages full shouldn't i? but the truth of the matter is, 20 hours later, i'm still speechless.

i haven't seen a game liked that in many years of being an arsenal supporter. usually, it's us playing the beautiful football, those passes and tocuhes which make you stop breathing for a second. however yesterday, we had competition, stiff competition.

first half - we were completley outplayed. i mean, our minds and our feet were still in the dressing room. they deserved to be two nil up within 1O minutes and i was getting worried, if we'd have carried on like that, it would have been a cricket score! the rest of the first half was pretty similar, to go in at half time level, we were extremely lucky.

the second half starts; 23 seconds in - we're one nil down and after his heroics in the first half, manuel almunia was in a poor position and let the lanky rat take full advantage.

not long after that, we give the ball away and the same result. ball in the back of the net and we're staring defeat in the face.

then comes the change.

COMING OFF FOR ARSENAL, NUMBER THREE, BACARY SAGNA. COMING ON NUMBER FOURTEEN, THEO WALCOTT

and what a change that proved to be. as soon as our theo came on, the game changed. the amount of pace he has, never fails amaze me. i was always think, 'how can he get to a ball like that when it's yards and yards in front of him?'.

then that goal was scored.

'It was not just a goal. It was a lifeline.'

as soon as we got the first goal, for the first time in the game, we were on top, we were the ones doing the pressing. all we needed was that second goal, the goal that would send us to the nou camp with just some hope.

thierry comes on and the tears run down my face. seeing him playing at the emirates not in an arsenal shirt actually made my heart hurt. the reception he got as he came on shows that he's still the one.

cesc chases down a pass in the penalty area before getting taken down by puyol. the referee points to the penalty spot and brings out a card. a red one. the challenge wasn't meant with intend to cause pain but he was the last man, so he had to go.

against his beloved boyhood team, cesc scores a penalty. an excellent penalty, seeing as he only has one fully working leg.

we found out a few hours after that he took that penalty, that at the very moment, he had a broken leg. and the way he scored that penalty, you shouldn't have thought it would you?

and now he's out for the rest of the season. another thing going in united favour's, them losing rooney for 2-4 weeks gave us and chelsea more of a chance but then after cesc's injury and also william's, again its looking unlikely.

but as last night proved, we're no quitters. we fight till the death and i love that about this team. we didn't win, it wasn't our best and scoring three goals at the nou camp is going to be bloody hard but it's not over yet.

it's only half time.

Why we can win the World Cup (but we might not)

Yes - you've heard it all before. Every year since '66 we've been saying it. Yet every single time, we're let down. The hand of God? The tears of Paul Gascoigne and Beckham's red card in France? Like you need reminding. On a more positive note though, since the appointment of Mr Capello, things have been looking up. Fabio's target is for us to reach the semi finals at least but you know what? we could win it.

WE'VE GOT WAYNE ROONEY.

No other country can say that can they? The best striker in the world at the moment. He really is on fire and no premier league defences can handle him, so will the great defenders of Italy or Germany or Spain be able to contain our wild child? His fitness is vital to our campaign. I'm not saying we're a one man team, it's just without him - we don't exactly scare defences in the same way. We saw Gary Lineker in 1986 win the golden boot and I'm pretty confident that 2010's top scorer will be Wayne. Of course the competition for the golden boot will be fierce. Spain's Villa and Torres are the best attacking pair in world football in my opinion and we all know about Didier Drogba and his goal scoring ability (especially against my beloved arsenal, so thanks for that Didier.) Back to Rooney though, we are extremely lucky to have such a talented striker playing for our country. Just one thing Wayne, please let your football do the talking?

IN FABIO WE TRUST.

21st November - 2007. england 2 croatia 3 in the rain. The referee blows the full time whistle and we're out. We didn't make it. Actually, wait lets see if Andorra can score against Russia. In Moscow. We could yet be saved?

"It's all over. England are out and we can confirm that Russia have beaten Andorra by one goal to nil"

Or maybe not then. We were all gutted, you could see the players were as they came off the pitch. Our (former) captain looked close to tears so did David Beckham, as he applauded the fans at Wembley.

"Welcome to Sky Sports News. We can officially confirm that Fabio Capello will be taking over the England managerial vacany next month".

and we haven't looked back since.

(Under Capello)

P22. w16. D2. L4. have faith in the man, he's the best manager we've had in years and look what's he done to us. he's turned us into potential winners.

INJURIES FREE - WE'RE NOT HALF BAD.

There's several players in the England team you can argue who are world class. We have John Terry, a fantastic player (football player I meant, that wasn't meant as a dig at Terry's private life). In my opinion, he's probably the best central defender in the world. He's taken so much stick over his perfomances lately but that's due to our press and the pressure he's now under. As an arsenal fan, I'm glad of his defensive errors for Chelsea but as an England fan, I believe he can put all this behind him. He's not the official captain anymore but the way Rio's looking fitness wise at the moment - he might not even be able to travel to the world cup. So, we need old you John.

Steven Gerrard & Frank Lampard - Again whatever your opinions of them are, you can't doubt their ability. Passionate fans of Stevie and Frank will even be able to confirm that they haven't always looked world class in England games. Lack of commitment for friendlies - I understand that friendlies don't fill them with excitement but come on - this is our England. We know what you're capable of, so please lads?

This isn't just an oppotunity for me to slag off those two because I know they're not the only player who do it. Hands up who has ever said - "if he was playing for his club, i bet he wouldn't have done that."

As a massive fan of Theo Walcott, I believe he should be going to South Africa as our first choice right winger. I mean a hat-trick in Zagbreb, pretty impressive huh?

Before you all start screaming at me; i know he hasn't been in amazing form but that's what a season where injuries stop you from playing consistently, does to you. If David Beckham goes to South Africa to help our preperations for games (like we all hope he does), then i'm confident that David can pass on some advice to Theo.

AND FINALLY...BELIEF AND PRIDE.

if we give up before we get on that plane, then what's the point? they might as well book their summer holidays tomorrow if that's going to be our mentality.

and in the words of Smithy, "can we win the world cup - YES WE CAN"