OOOH YEAAHHHHH!!!!!!

I have tried my best to play down my feeling of seeing my beloved team winning the semi and getting into the CL final for the very first time in history. Yes I have tried that when I wrote my previous post. I have tried to act cool until I see Henry holding THE CUP... BUTTTT... I can't!!!!

I can't believe that this Arsenal has made it to the final. The invicible Arsenal failed. The Arsenal side which won the domestic double failed. But this Arsenal side..

We lost Julio Baptista and Robinho to Real Madrid in the summer and yet.. we beat them at their very own stadium.

We sold our captain to Juventus in the summer, he scored few goals at the start of the campaign and Juve looked almost invicible in Serie A and yet.. we outplayed them totally in Highbury.

And Villareal.. they may not be in the elite group but they have got more energy in them compared to the two old elite teams. I have thought that this is the type of team that could beat Arsenal. But things seem to be going for us and not even a soft penalty could ruin the script.

I really like the picture of Wenger celebrating as the final whistle went. And that picture of Lehmann hugging the players. Sol Campbell, for once, stood up to the challenge and fought to the end. And Jens Lehmann, what can you say about him? The man who was dropped a season before has proven to us how good he can be. Kolo Toure should be running out of steam at the moment yet he marched on. Ljungberg was carrying injury and pain yet he worked harder than ever.

Warriors.

Villareal 0 - 0 Arsenal

Totally outplayed, totally overwhelmed. But that matter not as we kept another clean sheet and we have now gotten our ticket to Paris. Can't really complain, eh? I realise that we football fans are very demanding. When we dominate a game and lose it, we hate it. When we struggle the way we did against Villareal and win, we also hate it.

Surely Arsenal players are only human who can't always perform at their best. Villareal are also a solid team with players who have as much hunger for the game. I expect us to overcome them with our superior quality but in the end we were caged inside our own half for most of the time. We rode our luck and Lehmann was at his best.

Jose Mari dived to earn the penalty he didn't get in the first leg but Lehmann saved. Mad Jens has really been a revelation this season. He has shown his strong character in almost every game we played.

As I said, Villareal dominated the game and we could barely have a shot on goal apart from Henry's attempt toward the end of the match. There is nothing much to say. Let's just congratulate the boys for their spirit and effort. Great job gunners!!

On a side note, soccernet has this article that compares Bergkamp, Shearer, and Duncan Ferguson. I like the closing paragraph:

Statistically, Shearer is an astonishing player. Aesthetically and technically, Bergkamp is. But while Ferguson's notoriety guarantees his ongoing fame and Shearer merits his place in both the record books and Geordie hearts, Bergkamp will live longest in the memory.

Wise or Arrogant?

That will be proven tonight when we end the 90 minutes game against Villareal. Whether Wenger was being wise by resting his key players against Spurs, we will see. We all know that before the Spurs game, it was far easier to claim the fourth spot than to beat Villareal and Barcelona or Milan. But it was not only about the next season's Champions League spot. For Wenger it was about winning it NOW. This is one cup that he has failed to win for years. TH wants the 'Champions League Winner' title to be in his CV, so does Wenger.

So I can understand that selfish thought.

But Wenger has to understand that you cannot throw in two forwards who are yet to form any kind of understanding between them. He played Reyes and Bergkamp against Spurs in the first meeting and we were struggling. Only Pires' goal saved us that day. This time, he played Adebayor and van Persie. It's the same situation. But I will not dwell on the Spurs game.

And I will definitely not dwell on the Keane's goal. I don't know if Jol or Spurs players are lying but trying to be objective, I would say that Wenger lost it. He should have known better that you can't expect justice everytime. And this is not even as close as the penalty that Villareal should have gotten for that Gilberto tackle. But to take it positively, it just goes to show how much he wants to win.

Doesn't matter. Henry's goal was good enough to wrap up the last derby we play at Highbury. Now it's all about Villareal. Come on you Gunners!

Arsenal 1 - 0 Villareal

This squirrel must be one of the travelling Villareal fans who tried its best to test our defense with its low gravity, pace and trickery. Of course Lehmann was up for the task of ushering the invader away; he is the best goalkeeper in the season's Champions League anyway.

Villareal are above all, a team. They showed that last night with their tight defense and good communication among teammates. David Platt wrote an interesting piece in the Guardian on how Villareal, by crowding the centre of the park, managed to halt Arsenal while at the same time eliminating spaces needed by their very own playmaker, Riquelme, to operate. But they seemed satisfied with the result. They believe that they could keep cleansheet and score two against us at their own home. To be honest, I believe they could. So does Wenger.

We need to be at our best defensively to protect the lead and try to score a precious away goal early in the second leg. Villareal, on the other hand, will play more attacking football and Riquelme will be unleashed to roam more freely. Riquelme can dictate the tempo of the game and we must not allow that to happen. We will probably see the best of Riquelme in the second leg. So we will need the best of Gilberto to deal with him.

Gilberto earned praise for his performance and as much as I dislike him, I have to say that he has played very well lately. He has taken up the responsibility of being the senior player. His passing is still awful at times but he shields the back four excellently. He was even involved in our attacks last night. If Wenger says that the quiet Brazilian is a leader, then he probably is. Well done, Gilberto!

Wenger thought that there should have been another goal and I agree. We created quite a number of chances. Henry's precise timing and Arsenal's fast pace once again 'backfired' as Henry had a good goal disallowed. Villareal themselves had a rather sound penalty claim not given. But no one can disagree that Arsenal deserve the win. And what an Arsenal goal.

Henry's clever pass found the industrious Hleb who made a run into the goalline and cut it back for Toure to score. 1-0 to Arsenal. What a precious goal. And Toure, of all, deserves to be the scorer. He has been giving his all and never stop fighting. A friend of mine asked me few days ago 'Who is your favorite Arsenal player at the moment?' That man is Kolo Toure.

I just love this pic. Looking at Senderos, Cesc, and Flamini hugging the goalscorer. They are all our future. They are the bunch of kids who have grown unbelieveably in the last few months. Senderos took a huge blow for his mistakes against Drogba but the big Swiss kept his head down and worked hard to improve. He showed that above all, he is not a quitter. So was Cesc who was expected to replace PV. Flamini has of course been even more exceptional. He is the one with limited talent but he has been our new Ray Parlour. I said this before and I will repeat this. Flamini is a great soldier Wenger has to keep in the side. A man who knows his limit and play to his strength is one who can win the battle.

And in Kolo Toure, these kids have a leader whose passion and determination is there for them to see week in week out. Awesome.

*pics taken from the Sun's website

Arsenal 3 - 1 WBA

I have to admit I feared for two points lost when Quashie equalished seconds after we took out Henry, van Persie, and Hleb. 'Oh no.. here we go again', I thought. For them to score straight from a goalkick was rather pathetic. It showed our lack of focus. But with so many games being played I think it is understandable.

And that equaliser was just right for Dennis as he made sure that those who came in orange didn't go home with no particular moment to keep in their memory. And what a moment. That Dennis Bergkamp goal that cemented our three points was the Ice Man trademark in every sense. To be honest there has been many times in the past where his curling shoot didn't go in. But this was Dennis Bergkamp day so it had to go in. And of course you can't forget that determined run by Eboue who cut inside and with most WBA players attention diverted to him, DB had the space to take his favorite shot once he got the ball.

And before that goal, there was the second goal, the winning goal. Robert Pires' calmness to take his second attempt and score was something worth praising. The Frenchman replaced Hleb who scored a beautiful first goal. While Hleb's twist and dribbles are amazing, Pires' ability to link up the attack and position himself in the box to score the so called simple goals are equally valuable. Adebayor will have to learn from Pires to score the simple goals.

All in all, I was really satisfied with the team's effort, especially after the equaliser. They worked hard and kept their belief. It wouldn't be too nice to not win the game in such a special day.

The Villareal game will be interesting. Some people call for Bergkamp's introduction for our next CL game. But I personally prefer to see us playing our 4-5-1 which has so far worked in CL. Cesc will return for the game and with Reyes suspended, I think Pires will play.

It's a big big week ahead.

West Brom tonight

This is the kind of match Adebayor should be able to impose himself on. I really hope to see Toure rested but it's a bit risky now that we have made things difficult for us with the draw against Porsmouth. I expect West Brom to fight, the way Sunderland did against Man Utd last night.

It seems that the title race is all but over now and Chelsea are the champion again. But let's just hope that Man Utd still have enough hunger in them to beat Spurs come Monday. We need them to play the way they did against us.

Finally, some proper Arsenal football for me after two weeks of being away.

Bring on the last five

Didn't get to watch the Juve, Man Utd and Porsmouth game so I couldn't comment much. I only get to see a small article in Japan's newspaper with a picture of Flamini tackling a Juve player I couldn't quite recognize. Didn't expect the game to be a 0-0 but all is good. Villareal are flying high at the moment and it will take a disciplined performance by our five men midfield to silence Riquelme who is easily their Rooney. I still believe that we have what it takes to go into the final of CL.

I didn't expect us to beat Man Utd but I must admit that I began to believe that we could get the three points last week. We were just playing so well that you start to believe that this team could overcome anyone. It proves that we couldn't. But it's alright. That goes to remind the manager that we still need another 2 or 3 top players in the summer.

People are criticizing Adebayor for wasting two good chances against Porsmouth but I think it is clear from the beginning that Adebayor is not a finisher. He plays in the box and he is willing to shoot but he hasn't got that predator instinct. His technique isn't the best but did we not praise his strength and workrate few weeks ago? I think it's unfair to blame him. He is just an average player who is good at few things and bad at few other things. You can't expect him to be as good as TH.

If we want a complete forward then it takes more than 7 million really. You can't get a Rooney or Torres with that amount of money nowadays. But Adebayor is young and depending on his talent, he could still grow into a good player.

As for van Persie, I have always loved his knack for scoring good goals. I always think that he is better than Adebayor. But you have to admit that he is not as strong as Adebayor and he doesn't work as hard. He will fluorish when his teammates play well and dominate the game. He will make sure that we turn the dominance into goals. But when we are struggling, he won't be able to fight for the ball the way Adebayor would.

So it all depends on Wenger's judgment now. The manager has to be able to predict the kind of game we would get into and choose the right players.

Now we are back to the situation where we need Spurs to drop points. We have five games to go and we can't drop any point anymore. I don't know if we could do that but hey, it costs nothing to keep your faith!

Revenge of the Old Lady, Return of the King

Sigh.. I will be midair on my way to Japan when the match at Turin kicks off tonight. I don't think the plane has ESPN and I can only hope that I can somewhat get connected to the internet the next day. I can't get anyone to sms me because Japan use their own CDMA which is different from the GSM phone I am using.

Juve will be without PV, Camoranesi, Zebina, and very likely, del Piero. It will take great great performance from the Italian club to overturn the tie. But considering the humiliation they received last week, each and every one of their players will want to give their 120% for this match. Nedved will be very dangerous and we will hope the rested Hleb will be be at his best to stop the great winger. Eboue who will most likely play is probably only at his 70% and therefore, Hleb will be vital to cover for Eboue.

The key, as we all know, is the first goal.

Arsenal will logically try to attack from the start. We will press for the first goal because once we score the first goal, we know that it is 90% over for Juve. They know they can't score four goals against us. They know what we want to do yet they can't just sit back and defend because even if we don't score they still need to score.

But football is a strange game. What if Juve manage to score the first goal? This will make the match very interesting. Juve will grow in confidence and Arsenal young players will be under pressure. Our players have to keep their focus because the rule is still the same. They have to try to score one away goal while keeping the defense compact.

King Henry is back at Turin, this time for a much bigger game. He reckoned that this is going to be the biggest game yet for us this season. It is a good sign when our talismanic striker says so. He lives for big games and his inspiration is at its best in big games. Just witness his goal against Real.

This will be a big night for the travelling gooners. I wish them a great night at Turin.

I will still be in Japan when Arsenal go to Old Trafford to halt Man Utd's winning run. Both teams are in good form in the league with Man Utd back at their best. This is unlikely to be a 0-0 game with Man Utd now having the chance of catching up with Chelsea and Arsenal needing every points to secure the fourth spot. Let's just hope that the ref won't spoil the game.

The fact that Spurs and Bolton losing last weekend means that our fate is, to borrow Wenger's favorite phrase, mathematically in our own hands. If we keep on winning the remaining games, we will secure the fourth spot.

This ride is getting more and more exciting. Come on you gunners!

Being A Distant Fan

Is not Fun. At all.

Distant fans are, by my very own definition, those fans who only relate to the club through the matches they see on TV and news they read on the media. Their financial contribution to the club is but the limited purchasing of merchandise, e.g. buying the new jersey annually. Some of them don't even know what Highbury looks like. And I am one of them.

I have never been to Europe, let alone Highbury. My love for football started only ten years ago, thanks to my younger brother. The first match I watched on TV was Serie A's match featuring Juventus and the other side which I totally forgot. At that time in my country, Premiership was second to Serie A. Everyone was talking about del Piero and Super Pippo. The only English club actively reported on the news was obviously Man Utd. Those who dislike Serie A's slow game, they worshipped Cantona.

I am never shy to admit that I am one of those fans who have never seen the pre-Wenger Arsenal play. Although I follow Arsenal a year before Wenger arrived, I only get to watch Arsenal on TV regularly during Wenger's first double season. And I liked what I saw. Adams and co. impressed me with their toughness and Anelka was a great surprise to everyone.

It was such a coincidence that Arsenal won that famous double that year.

Fast forwards to 2006. Yet to attend any Arsenal match, I am still a fan who could only follow his team through TV and media. Yes I get involved in forums and I try to write my own blog but that's all.

People would think that this is such a cheap and easy way to follow a team. Monthly ESPN subscription is much much cheaper than match tickets. And when the team is losing or playing badly, you don't have to suffer the mocking from the opposition fans. While the fans have to brave the rain and travel across cities and countries to follow the team, we distant fans only need to have the remote control with us.

You know what? I agree! Indeed it is much easier to follow your team that way. But guess what?! It is not the most satisfying way. And it is not as if we would like to follow our team this way.

It hurts therefore when you got shot down by the fans who claim themselves to be the true fans with season tickets to show and impressive knowledge of Arsenal Football Club to prove and better still, they stay next to Highbury. I don't blame them. I think that is very human. You would feel that you have better right to have your say because you of all those sacrifices and geographical association. I can only regret that Singapore isn't located next to London.

Sometimes I began to wonder myself whether I have the right to critize the team when they play badly. I give nothing to the club so how could I critize the manager and how could I got angry with Cygan? But in the end I decide to carry on with writing my thought here because I care. I would still write about Arsenal and I would still support the club even if Wenger goes, TH goes, and we turn into midtable team.

And I grow to accept all these. It's not that bad anyway as there are some fans who welcome these distant fans as part of them. I would definitely like to meet up with them and walk alongside them to the new stadium. I had this crazy plan to book a plane ticket to London and try to attend one of the remaining games at Highbury but I guess I can never get a ticket.

I have said so much and yet, all those are not the major reasons why I say that being a distant fan sucks. The most important reason for that is the fact that we can never experience what you guys experienced when you saw in flesh the game in which the mighty Arsenal fought hard and prevailed against Juventus. Such a magical night. Or the night when they battled out the 0-0 draw with Real. And all the other historical nights Arsenal have had. TV can show you replays but it can never gives you the atmosphere even if you get yourselves the most advance and expensive TV set. We can shout like crazy in the pub or living room but the feeling is different. It is not even close.

I envy each and everyone of the gooners who have faithfully attend Arsenal's matches and sing on top of their lung week in week out. It makes me proud when I listen to the noise in the TV. I am dying to be part of those noise. Believe me you wouldn't want to be a distant fan.

Chris Kirkland

I don't usually quote or even paste fully article from others, especially non arsenal article. But this is so good, imho, that I just want to put it here. I would bring Kirkland into our squad if I were Arsene. Only because the lad has such a big heart.

========
Oliver Holt (Mirror Football)

KIRKLAND CAN MAKE IT BACK TO THE TOP ..BET ON IT
29 March 2006
SOME years ago, around the time he made a 100-1 bet that his 13-year-old son would keep goal for England, Eddie Kirkland was told he had 24 hours to live.

A cancerous cyst had been growing undetected in his stomach for nearly two years and it had swelled to the size of a small football.

Doctors told his wife Marie that he needed a major operation and he probably would not make it through the night. Even when he survived the surgery, the best guess was that he would only last three more weeks.

But Eddie Kirkland did not die. He had to retire from his job as a crane driver and Marie had to quit work to help care for him.

The debts built up and sometimes they teetered on the brink of despair but Eddie did not give up on life. And he never stopped encouraging his son.

Chris Kirkland only found out a few years ago how hard his father fought to cling to life.

Somehow, his parents had managed to keep the seriousness of his dad's condition from him.

But Kirkland has thought about his courage constantly in the last couple of years as a succession of serious injuries have blighted his football career.

A few months ago, when a collision with Bolton's Kevin Davies injured his kidney and ended his run in the West Brom first team, he thought about quitting.

For a couple of days, he felt overwhelmed by all the setbacks he had suffered and the havoc it had wreaked on his England prospects.

He was exhausted by the gruelling, soul-destroying cycle of injury and recovery that ruined his Liverpool career and had now followed him to his loan spell at The Hawthorns.

He was tired of being known as the unluckiest player in football even though he was still only 24. Tired of people saying he was just too brave when he injured his knee in a collision with Dele Adebola playing for Liverpool against Crystal Palace.

He'd had enough of pity and sympathy and lying flat out on the West Brom team coach after the Bolton game because of the pain in his side, knowing his team mates were looking at him and thinking 'not again'.

A week earlier, he had turned in the best goalkeeping performance of the season against Arsenal and reminded everyone that when he's fit, he's England's best goalkeeper.

He was so desperate not to yield to this latest blow that he did not tell anyone at the club the next day when he started to urinate blood.

It was only when a specialist told him he could lose the damaged kidney if it took another hit that he had to bow to his bad luck. He told himself he was sick of the heartbreak. He had always wanted to be a fireman when he was a kid. He thought now was the time to pursue that dream instead.

Then he spoke to his wife and his mum and his agent. And then he spoke to his dad. And he changed his mind.

"I thought about what my dad had been through with his cancer," Kirkland said. "I thought 'my dad's beaten that so a few injuries aren't going to beat me'.

"He is a great inspiration to me and so is my mum. My mum held everything together when my dad wasn't well and times were tough.

"I'm proud now that I am in a position where I can help them out and that's one of the reasons why I'm so determined my career is going to recover from all this.

"I know there's nothing wrong with me that a change of luck can't fix. People have talked about me having brittle bones but believe me, I have had all the tests to check my bone density and everything's fine."

A finger injury Kirkland sustained last week ended what slim chance he had of forcing his way into Sven Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad.

You want an irony: he did it saving a shot in training from West Brom's other goalie, Tomasz Kuszczak.

But this time, Kirkland is not dispirited. This time, even though Liverpool plan to offload him in the summer, he's counting his blessings and desperate to make a fresh start next season.

"I don't want people to feel sorry for me," he said. "I've even stopped thinking about myself as being particularly unlucky.

"An unlucky player is someone like Paul Lake who had to give up the game because of injury.

"After I hurt my knee at Palace, I got a letter from Alan Shearer telling me not to be downhearted. He said he'd had 14 operations and he was still going strong. That meant a lot to me when I opened that letter.

"I hope now that the injuries just disappear as quickly as they started coming. I'm hoping I have the next seven years injury-free.

"Next season, I want people to stop talking about bad luck and start saying 'this kid can play, he's a good goalkeeper and he's back to his best'.

"I know I'm a risk for a club at the moment. It's going to be a gamble for them but whoever does take me, they'll see how hard I work and how determined I am."

Kirkland is such a genuine, honest, dedicated man and such a talented keeper, he could easily be the biggest transfer steal of the summer.

Something tells me that next season, his dad's finally going to collect on that bet.

And that the fire brigade may have to wait a little longer for a new recruit.

Arsenal 5 - 0 Villa

Another good piece by Amy Lawrence: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1744910,00.html
Though I would like to encourage you not to get carried away by all these good press, especially with Juve and Man Utd on the horizon. While the Wednesday match will be extremely important, the Man Utd game will be an ultimate test to our ability in reclaiming our superiority in the league. Probably I was a bit more concerned with Man Utd because we have 2-0 lead against Juve and all in all, as I have said, our CL progress has surpassed all my expectation.

As for the 5-0 trashing of Villa, the scored could have been 6-1 or 7-2. Villa had some good chances wasted and so did us. I think we played with slower tempo at times, which is good. Another game where I have hard time picking my man of the match as almost everyone excelled. But I will pick Adebayor. It takes a special player to work well with Henry.

He looks like a forward who can be up there on his own and link up well with the rest. His first goal was typical Adebayor. I think Hughes did well to anticipate Henry's attempt on goal. Unfortunately for the lad he ended up having part in the first goal as he tried to clear Adebayor's header that hit the bar.

The second goal was the combination of Reyes' quality pass and Henry's magnificent touch and quick thinking. Sublime.

The third goal was a long pass. Yes.. A LONG PASS. We have been scoring goals from long passes this season. Again, who teach them to do that?! Thank God we have finally vary our play. Adebayor make a run into the penalty box as if he was trying to receive a long ball from Eboue. I think two Villa defenders followed him and they failed to notice Henry who was waiting outside the box. Adebayor excellently back-heeled the ball for Henry and now he has all the time in the world to think of what to do.

When Henry has the time to think of what to do, you are in a big trouble. And so it seemed as Henry sent the ball into the top right corner of the net. Sorensen was beaten completely.

Apparently this is the reason Wenger bought Adebayor for. He has impressive work rate, strength, and technique. He has got some pace and most importantly, he gets inside the box. He draws defenders away and create space for his teammates. My only concern is that he still need to work on his shooting. But that can be trained.

van Persie then came in as Henry was given rest. I have always wanted to see how well van Persie-Adebayor partnership can be. I didn't see enough this time but at least I was treated to that van Persie's goal. Any other Arsenal player would have pass that ball but not van Persie. van Persie is van Persie. Scoring from that kind of angle with Sorensen and a defender in front of him. A true striker.

The fifth goal reminds us of PV. Diaby was at times playing so much like the young PV. Again Adebayor, who made the assist, was involved heavily as he drew to defenders away and they failed to see Diaby's run.

Our only concern ahead of Wednesday's game is Cesc and Eboue's injury. But I think we should be okay without Cesc if Diaby plays like this.