Arsenal Need To Reorganize For Upcoming FA Cup replay and Champions League Match

SOCCER : ARSENAL HAVE vowed not to let the shattering League Cup final defeat to Birmingham City derail their pursuit of the season’s bigger trophies as thoughts begin to turn to the remaining three prizes for which the team are competing.

They play Leyton Orient at the Emirates in an FA Cup replay tomorrow – win that, and they will travel to Manchester United for a quarter-final – while they face Barcelona at the Camp Nou holding a 2-1 advantage from the first leg.

In the Premier League, the trophy manager Arsene Wenger appears to want the most, they sit four points behind leaders Manchester United with 11 games to play. They might take heart from the fact United still have to visit Chelsea, Liverpool and the Emirates.

“Mentally, the cup final was a huge blow, but we really have to focus on our other targets now,” said striker Marouane Chamakh.

“We’re lucky that we can play again straight away (against Leyton Orient). We have to forget the final quickly and make sure that the defeat doesn’t stay on our minds. We will bounce back. We still have a lot of big games to play and we will fight on until the end.”

Midfielder Tomas Rosicky added: “We’ve three trophies to go for and we need to pick ourselves up. We’ve got a game on Wednesday and we have to perform. The season doesn’t finish now, we are in a good position in other competitions so we have to forget the Carling Cup.”

Most of the players are still smarting after the 2-1 defeat, which was inflicted in the final moments at Wembley following an excruciating mix-up between Laurent Koscielny and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny which allowed Obafemi Martins to tap in the winner for Birmingham.

To make matters worse, Arsenal are also anxiously awaiting the results of a scan on Robin van Persie’s knee. The striker damaged it while scoring his team’s equaliser and he is a doubt for the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie in Barcelona next Tuesday.

Arsenal’s irritation was also reflected by Jack Wilshere, who revealed his annoyance at how Barry Ferguson had ruffled Koscielny’s hair as he sat hunched in despair after the winning goal.

“Well done to the BCFC player who slapped Koscielny on the head when they scored, very big of you,” Wilshere said on Twitter.

So far, Birmingham have not commented.

Guardian Service

A Blow For Arsenal Despite A Win With Stoke City?

SOCCER (23/2/11): Arsenal 1 Stoke City 0 ARSENAL ARE now only a point behind Manchester United but the price could be particularly costly after Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott both suffered injuries on what became a frustrating evening for Arsene Wenger’s team after the brightest of starts.

With Arsenal’s next outing the League Cup final against Birmingham City on Sunday, before an FA Cup fifth-round replay next Wednesday and the Champions League last-16 return leg in Barcelona the following week, Wenger will pray that Fabregas and Walcott can recover quickly from what appeared to be hamstring and ankle problems respectively.

Arsenal had required around 90 seconds to illustrate they were in slick working order, eight minutes to fully breach the Stoke City defence. Their opening attack featured Jack Wilshere marauding forward then linking with Fabregas on the edge of the area. The Spaniard delivered a perfect pass to place Walcott in behind the defence before he blazed a shot that beat Asmir Begovic but smacked off his right post and back into the goalkeeper’s hands. Already it appeared to be Arsenal’s three points to throw away, though this sense would become muted as the half wore on.

After Rory Delap had been jeered a couple of times for launching his long throws, which were repelled comfortably enough by Arsenal, the home side moved down-field and won a corner on the right. Wilshere’s left boot flicked this over and though Ryan Shawcross stuck his head on the ball he merely moved possession on to Nicklas Bendtner, who was lurking beyond the far post. He chose correctly in scooping the ball on to the head of Sebastien Squillaci, who was stationed in front of the goal, and the defender finished coolly for his first goal since joining last summer.

The next major incident was not pleasant for any Arsenal loyalist. On 12 minutes Wenger and his players faced the sight of an injured Fabregas sloping reluctantly off the pitch.

The captain was replaced by Andrey Arshavin, which meant Samir Nasri going inside to occupy Fabregas’s central position. While this did not cause any break in Arsenal possession it did stunt their earlier fluency, with many of their attacks becoming static around Stoke’s 18-yard line.

One sequence of passes ended with Arshavin unloading a shot that hardly threatened to double the score but this was as encouraging as it got for a side who were then offered a reminder of the effectiveness of direct play after 33 minutes. John Carew’s powerful 25-yard volley forced Wojciech Szczesny to fling himself across goal to keep the ball out.

Wenger’s men closed the half virtually becalmed. Nasri stepped up to pull one free-kick wide but, beyond Tony Pulis complaining after Jonathan Walters was booked for fouling Walcott, Fabregas’s exit had proved to have slowly drained the contest of quality and incident.

Nearly a year since these sides had met at the Britannia Stadium, where a challenge from Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey left the midfielder with a double leg fracture to provoke bitter feeling between Wenger and Pulis, the emotion began bubbling. It started with Carew and Johan Djourou having a mild clash near the corner flag that drew abuse from the home support.

Djourou then played a crucial role in stopping a Stoke attack. Jermaine Pennant collected possession from a throw on the right, motored down his flank, and then delivered the cross. Shawcross’s header was on target but it hit Djourou to go wide.

Robert Huth also came close to an equaliser when the Delap slingshot landed the ball in the area and the defender rose above a melee to head over.

Having missed badly after Arshavin had expertly teed him up in the area, a subsequent coming together with Dean Whitehead ended with Walcott carried off on a stretcher.

Guardian Service

ARSENAL : Szczesny, Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy, Fabregas (Arshavin 14), Song, Wilshere, Walcott (Denilson 71), Bendtner (Chamakh 80), Nasri. Subs not used: Almunia, Rosicky, Eboue, Gibbs. Booked: Clichy.

STOKE CITY : Begovic, Wilson (Wilkinson 87), Shawcross, Huth, Pugh, Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Whelan, Walters (Fuller 78), Carew. Subs not used: Sorensen, Higginbotham, Collins, Jones, Diao. Booked: Walters, Wilson.

Referee : Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).

Arsenal Tumbang Di Tangan Jonathan?

"Jonathan masuk menentang Arsenal dan menggelecek melepasi dua pemain pertahanan sebelum menjaringkan gol jadi ia mengangkat namanya. Maksud saya, mereka (Arsenal) baru saja mengalahkan Barcelona jadi ia sesuatu yang menakjubkan! "Saat-saat seperti itu boleh mengubah karier seseorang pemain.
"Saya memiliki memori indah buatnya. Dia benar-benar seorang lelaki yang baik.

"Apabila saya menyaksikannya, saya lantas terfikir dia mempunyai kualiti yang tepat untuk bermain di England." Baudu segera menghantar mesej kepada Tehoue - untuk membelikannya sekeping tiket bagi perlawanan ulangan di Stadium Emirates.

Beliau berkata: "Saya tidak pernah menaiki kapal terbang mahupun kapal laut tapi adalah menarik untuk menyaksikannya. Satu jemputan pastinya hebat, malah satu panggilan telefon untuk berkata 'Hello'.

"Kami pernah melahirkan beberapa pemain muda berbakat, seperti Michael Pereira yang kini bermain buat Real Mallorca. Begitu juga Jimmy Kebe yang bertindak baik di Reading.

"Kami ada seorang pemain remaja, pemain berusia 19 tahun yang amat bagus, dan kini berada di Toulouse.

"Anda patut memberitahu beberapa kelab Inggeris mengenainya! "Jika kami boleh membawa mereka ke Manchester United atau Arsenal, maka ia pastinya hebat!"


>PROFIL
NAMA PENUH: Jonathan Kahne Tehoue
TARIKH LAHIR: 3 Mei 1984
TEMPAT LAHIR: Paris, Perancis
TINGGI: 1.79 meter
POSISI: Penyerang
KELAB SEMASA: Leyton Orient
NOMBOR JERSI: 18
KARIER SENIOR:
* 2003-2004 SC Bastia
* 2005 Apoel FC
* 2006 R E Virton
* 2006-2007 FC Brussels
* 2007-2008 Kasimpasa S K
* 2008-2009 Konyaspor
* 2009-2010 UJA Alfortville
* 2010-kini Leyton Orient

Blues Are Out From The FA CUP (19/2/11)

Everton progressed through to the fifth round of the FA Cup after knocking out holders Chelsea on penalties at Stamford Bridge.
90 minutes of football failed to produce a goal but Chelsea thought they had done enough to set up a fifth round clash with Reading when Frank Lampard finally found the back of the net in the 104th minute.
However Leighton Baines took the game to penalties when firing home a spectacular free kick in the last minute of extra time.
Baines missed the first spot kick to swing the tie Chelsea's way again but both Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole also missed before Phil Neville slotted the decisive spot kick to send the Toffees through.
Manchester United made hard work of their fifth round clash before eventually edging out non-league Crawley Town 1-0 at Old Trafford.
Crawley matched United for large parts of the game but it was Wes Brown that finally broke the deadlock when he headed home Darren Gibson's cross in the 28th minute.
Richard Brodie struck the post deep in stoppage time but United to survived and will go into the hat for the quarter finals.
Elsewhere, Stoke cruised through to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Brighton, with all the goals coming in the first half.
John Carew got things underway in the 14th minutes with a close range header before Jonathan Walters made it 2-0 with another header, this time at the near post.
Ryan Shawcross made it a hat-trick of headers on the stroke of half time to send the Seagulls crashing out.
Birmingham City also made light work of Sheffield Wednesday with a 3-0 victory at St Andrews.
Jean Beausejour opened the scoring after just six minutes before Obafemi Martins made it 2-0. David Murphy got the third after the break to put Birmingham in the draw for the quarters.

Arsenal Vs Barcelona (Champions League 16/2/11)

MATCH FACTS:
Arsenal have scored a joint-competition-high 18 goals in the Champions League this season.
Arsenal and Barcelona have been drawn together three times in Europe, the 1999-2000 Group Stage, the 2006 final and last season’s quarter final, with Arsenal winning none and losing three of the five games.
There have been red cards in three of the five matches between Barcelona and Arsenal.
No team from continental Europe has won away at Arsenal in the Champions League since Inter beat the Gunners 3-0 in September 2003 – a run of 36 games with the only defeats coming against English sides (Chelsea and Manchester Utd).
Only two teams (Barcelona and Manchester United have scored more than once in 33 Champions League games at the Emirates, with 21 sides failing to score at all.
Arsenal have won penalties in eight of their last 11 Champions league games at the Emirates Stadium and each of their last five.
Arsenal have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight Champions League games.
Lionel Messi has scored 13 goals in his last 11 Champions League starts including four in one game against Arsenal.
Arsenal hit the target with 63% of their shots in the Group Stage, the highest percentage in the competition.
Barcelona had the tightest defence in the group stage, allowing their opponents just eight shots on target against them.

Marouane Chamakh has scored three goals from just six shots in Europe this season.
Barcelona have made the semi-finals of the Champions League in the last three seasons.
Source: Eurosport / Opta

Wayne Rooney bicycle kick goal against Manchester City (12/2/11)

LONDON - Wayne Rooney berkata, jaringannya pada perlawanan menentang jiran tetangga Manchester City kelmarin adalah yang terbaik.

Pengurus Manchester United, Alex Ferguson pula menyifatkan pemain itu adalah penyerang terhebat yang pernah dilihat di Old Trafford.

Kecemerlangan Rooney menenggelamkan semua masalah yang membelenggu pemain itu pada musim ini apabila menjaringkan gol penyelamat buat United ketika menentang City, kelmarin.

Pada perlawanan kelmarin, penyerang England itu berusaha sedaya upaya untuk mendapatkan jaringan pada minit ke-78 sekali gus memberi kemenangan 2-1 kepada United untuk menewaskan City yang juga pesaing terdekatnya.

''Saya dapat lihat peluang untuk menjaring gol dan terus memanfaatkan peluang tersebut,'' kata Rooney.

Aksi akrobatik Rooney kelmarin membuatkan penjaga gol City, Joe Hart tergamam seketika.

Dalam pada itu, pemain pertahanan United, Rio Ferdinand yang tidak dapat beraksi kerana kecederaan turut berkongsi kegembiraannya dalam laman sosial Twitter

''Wow... lihatlah jaringan daripada Rooney untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Sepakan gaya kayuhan basikal Rooney itu sungguh mengagumkan,'' tulis Ferdinand.

Sementara itu, Ferguson berkata, prestasi yang dipamerkan oleh penyerang itu mengingatkannya kepada bekas pemain handalan United, Denis Law yang menjaringkan 171 gol sepanjang karier bersama kelab tersebut.

''Itu adalah aksi luar biasa daripada Rooney dan kita berjaya mendapatkan gol yang cukup mengagumkan serta jarang dapat dilihat.

''Walaupun gol yang dijaringkan oleh Nani adalah jaringan yang tidak diduga, namun gol Rooney tetap dianggap terbaik kerana memberi kemenangan kepada pasukan,'' kata Ferguson.

Gol pertama United dijaringkan oleh Nani pada minit ke-41 sebelum pemain City David Silva berupaya menyamakan kedudukan 1-1 pada minit ke-65.

Beberapa percubaan dilakukan pada babak kedua perlawanan oleh kedua-dua pasukan sebelum Rooney memecah kebuntuan untuk memberikan kemenangan bergaya kepada United.

Ketika ini United terus berada di puncak liga dengan 57 mata melalui 26 perlawanan yang telah berlangsung, tempat kedua milik Arsenal dengan 53 mata manakala City di tangga ketiga ketinggalan lapan mata daripada pendahulu liga musim ini. - Agensi

Adakah Cristiana Ronaldo Tenggelam?

LONDON - Lionel Messi memenangi perhitungan peribadi dengan musuh ketatnya, Cristiano Ronaldo apabila mencipta gerakan untuk gol pertama dan menjaringkan gol kemenangan ketika Argentina mengalahkan Portugal 2-1 dalam perlawanan persahabatan penuh dramatik di Geneva, semalam. 

Pemain Terbaik Dunia FIFA dua tahun berturut-turut itu menyempurnakan penalti seminit sebelum tamat permainan untuk memastikan kemenangan milik Argentina, pada ketika Ronaldo, Pemain Terbaik Dunia 2008 terpaksa meninggalkan padang sebagai kapten pasukan yang kalah, biarpun turut meledak gol buat Portugal di minit ke-21.

Messi mempamer keunggulan lariannya pada minit ke-14, dengan membawa bola ke sayap kanan, sebelum menewaskan pemain Portugal, Raul Meireles untuk menghantar bola kepada Di Maria, yang kemudian meledakkan gol pembukaan Argentina. 

Portugal bertindak balas dengan menyamakan kedudukan, tujuh minit kemudian menerusi tindakan pantas Ronaldo menewaskan penjaga gol, Sergio Romero, malangnya ketika saingan hampir berakhir Argentina dihadiahkan penalti selepas Coentrao mengkasari Juan Manuel Martinez.
Ronaldo, 26, menegaskan perlawanan semalam bukan perhitungan peribadi di antara dia dan Messi, sambil mengakui, Portugal tidak wajar kalah selepas menunjukkan satu permainan menarik. 

"Saya puas hati dengan cara saya dan pasukan bermain, saya menjaringkan satu gol dan beroleh beberapa peluang menambah jaringan. Begitupun saya ingin menegaskan, ini bukanlah perhitungan peribadi di antara saya dan Messi. "Portugal agak malang kerana kalah dalam perlawanan hari ini, tetapi itu sama sekali tidak bermakna bahawa Argentina lebih baik daripada kami,'' tegas bintang sayap Real Madrid itu. 

Sementara itu dalam satu lagi perlawanan tumpuan, juara dunia, Sepanyol mencatat kemenangan tipis 1-0 ke atas Colombia, berterima kasih kepada jaringan lewat David Silva di Madrid.
Kemenangan itu mengakhiri persembahan hambar juara dunia itu yang kalah 4-1 kepada Argentina dan kecundang 4-0 kepada Portugal dalam persahabatan terdahulu. Silva yang dibawa masuk sebagai gantian, menjaringkan gol dari jarak dekat pada minit ke-86.

Rusia yang masih meraikan kejayaan meraih hak pusingan akhir Piala Dunia 2018, dikejutkan dengan kekalahan 1-0 kepada gergasi Asia, Iran di Abu Dhabi dengan Mohammad Reza Khalatbari dibuang padang kerana membuka baju ketika meraikan gol kemenangan minit terakhir mereka. - ReuterS

Gaji Lumayan Pemain Bola Sepak

 

Nicklas Bendtner

mendakwa pemain bola sepak berhak mendapat gaji lumayan kerana kemasyhuran itu terlalu mahal harganya.
Penyerang Arsenal itu berpisah dengan tunangnya dari Denmark, Caroline Luel-Brockdorf hanya tujuh minggu selepas tunangnya itu melahirkan cahaya mata sulung.

Ia menyebabkan Bendtner, yang menerima gaji STG50,000 (RM245,000) seminggu menjadi tumpuan ramai di Denmark menjelang perlawanan persahabatan mereka menentang England di Copenhagen hari ini.
Bendtner berkata pemain bola sepak masa kini patut dibandingkan dengan bintang filem apabila berbicara mengenai gaji kerana kedua-duanya berada dalam perniagaan hiburan.

Bintang Piala Dunia Denmark itu berkata: "Saya berada dalam perniagaan bola sepak dan di peringkat tertinggi, kerana Arsenal mempamerkan bola sepak kelas pertama yang menghiburkan. Jadi adalah salah membandingkan gaji saya dengan ahli perniagaan, sebaliknya bandingkan dengan aktor filem.

"Saya pasti berbohong, jika saya berkata saya tidak menikmati wang yang saya raih dalam bola sepak. Saya fikir kami menghabiskan banyak masa, tenaga dan tumpuan terhadap karier bola sepak kami, kerana apabila kami tidak berlatih atau bermain, kami masih hidup untuk bola sepak.

"Adalah tidak salah bertanya sama ada pemain memang berhak untuk mendapat wang yang banyak dan bertanya sama ada kami menerima terlalu banyak.

"Saya percaya kami perlu berbaloi dengan gaji kami kerana itulah mekanisma kemasyarakatan. Selagi saya bekerja keras sedaya mungkin, saya percaya saya berbaloi dengan apa yang saya dapat.

"Ada harga juga yang perlu dibayar bagi kami pemain, dan secara peribadi, saya fikir harga yang besar perlu dibayar dengan badan saya, masa saya dan tiadanya privasi apabila saya keluar dan dikelilingi orang lain.

"Jangan silap faham, saya tidak merungut mengenainya. Ia satu kebiasaan bagi seorang pemain bola sepak profesional, tapi pastinya ada harga yang perlu dibayar, sebagai contoh, anda tidak boleh keluar sewenang-wenangnya makan di sebuah restoran dengan teman wanita anda tanpa ada orang yang mengejar anda."
Bendtner enggan menceritakan mengenai kegagalan cintanya dan berkata: "Saya tidak pernah memberi ulasan mengenai desas-desus di majalah mengenai kehidupan peribadi saya. Pastinya saya tidak bercadang melakukannya, sekarang."
Bendtner sudah kehilangan tempatnya dalam kesebelasan utama di Arsenal dan mengakui kecuali dia lebih kerap bermain, dia terpaksa mempertimbangkan mengenai masa depannya pada musim panas ini.

"Saya gembira untuk menjadi seorang pemain Arsenal, tapi pastinya saya perlu bermain lebih banyak perlawanan. Saya sudah cukup bagus untuk berada dalam kesebelasan utama.

"Saya akan bermain musim ini hingga ke penghujungnya dan kemudian membuat keputusan pada musim panas. Jika saya masih gembira maka saya akan kekal, sebaliknya kita perlu lihat apa yang akan berlaku. (Sumber: Harian Metro)

║Cesc Fabregas║Fabulous║

Arsenal FC - 10/11 Promo

Kegemilangan Arsenal dan Jaringan-Jaringan Gol

Kegemilangan Arsenal memang tidak dapat disangkal dengan jaringan-jaringan gol berbisa daripada pemain-pemain berkaliber...