Merry Christmas from Da Admin Gooner
Happy Christmas
In the next few days most of us – if not all will be spending time with our families enjoying Christmas dinners and the like or we will be wondering we’re has everyone gone and why is noone writing anything. But in the spirit of the season I would like to extend a very special Christmas thanks to all of you the readers of You Are My Arsenal.
In the six months since we launched I believe we have developed in to an excellent forum for all sorts of discussion around our beloved Arsenal. SOme of us haven’t liked what others have said and others have found what I have written to be “tabloidish” at atimes. But all in all we have a respectful (to a degree) discourse with each other and it has made writing this blog more enjoyable than I could’ve imagined. Really.
We’re heading into the new year watching our team do its annual fits of convulsions as it strives for silverware. I am the optimist and think there i still something to be had by this squad especially if Arsene delivers in January. At YAMA I am busy looking for new content ideas to make the site more robust for all of you. IN the coming months I am going to launch the Gooner Store – YAMA’s online store. I had wanted it opened after Thanksgiving but problems with software and contracts have delayed that. I am thinking about opening a forum for us to conduct non blog related subjects and carry and ongoing dialogue. I remember at AA reading how people were tired of scrolling down to find the next topic. And finally in 2010 I hope to launch the YAMA podcast. I’ve been in touch with some excellent Arsenal and EPL bloggers and am formulating an idea.
When I started YAMA, I wanted this site to be more than what AA offered. Not as a knock to AA. It has its niche and I wanted YAMA to more than that. You guys have really made doing that enjoyable.
So there will be more to come in 2010. Heck there is still a very important fixture in 2009 – a winnable one. It will be hard but I think we won’t be in it. Of course my usual pre game review will be up – likely Friday evening after every one has succumbed to their tryptophan comas.
But just for conversation sakes some of the headlines floating out there are:
1. Diouf gets granted his UK work permit – is he the answer to United’s woes.
2. Will Arsene Wenger sign the striker we think he needs or will he find a 5′ 8″ dynamo that doesn’t answer our lack of height.
3. Arsene Wenger – a man who understands clubs history has asked 1970 Captain Frank McClintock to appear before the opening of the Villa match. McClintock was the Captain of the 1970/71 double winning side and will be 70 years old on 28 Dec. He appeared in 403 matches.
4. With the turmoil at City could Shay Given really be looking to get out? If so would you take him? Heck since it looks like Everton won’t have any money coming in from Europe would you make a play for Tim Howard – knowing that Everton need money.
5. Kolo Toure looks like he wants to leave City. If that is the case is this likely the most brilliant move by Arsene? He seems to have an uncanny knack of knowing when players need to move on. He also seems to know when certain players are ready to step up (e.g. Song) but to be fair he also has a blind side to some players out of pure loyalty when it really does look like they have lost it.
6. Looks like Melo is already worn out at Juve – he hasn’t been great since his move from Fiorentina? What do you think? Make a play?
7. Arsene is wary of the ACoN affect on his squad – he is happy that at least this year its only two players and he feels that the squad is prepared to cover their loss. We can only hope that at least Cameroon goes out early.
8. Really interesting is that our league rival Chelsea may have more woes added to their current run of form. Nicholas Anelka is currently slated to miss the next two games for the Blues. There is the possibility he could actually miss more. I have always thought that the potency of Chelsea lie when they have both Anelka and Drogba on the attack. You can’t focus on one player. And given the strengths of both inevitably one is going to get you. Should Chelsea have an extended run without Anelka or Drogba (ACoN) they are going to falter. Yes they will likely buy someone but that impact isn’t going to be immediate. This is why I like where Arsenal are right now in the standings. If we win or draw against Villa and win the game in hand against Bolton we will be 3-4 points off Chelsea going into January. And up until the end of the month we have a favorable run of can-win matches. January will decide the EPL title winner I think.
9. Have you heard an EPL manager was found outside a brothel by the Sun. When he was confronted he siad he knew it was a brothel. UK privacy laws forbid the Sun from revealing who it was. I am thinking it is Harry Redknapp.
10 I think if Wilshere goes out on loan – send him the Newcastle. Yeah I know its an EPL team but they are playing good football in the Championship. It will be good for Jack to be in a team that is competing to win a league title and in fairness they are as close to an EPL team in the Championship as they can get.
11. Finally, I am up for desiging a YAMA T Shirt but as I am not the most witty or pithy writer I am looking for suggestions for a slogan to have on it. Let me know what you think our slogan should be. The winner – I will pay for their shirt myself. But the shirt will pay homage to all the active readers and writers.
In closing guys Happy Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanza or ChrismaHanuKwanzaKah. – You Gooners are the best
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They all sound like whiners from time to time, but Phil Brown really takes the cake (and then apparently eats it all by himself).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/hullcity/6880074/Hull-boss-Phil-Brown-slams-FAs-decision-to-charge-his-side-with-misconduct.html
(If you don’t feel like clicking the link, just imagine Phil as an 8-year old boy on the playground who just got his ass kicked, then found out he had to go the Principal’s office with the kid who kicked his ass…
Essentially, “Well, they started it!”
Related:
Is Stephen Hunt his real name, or is that rhyming slang?
“Is Stephen Hunt his real name, or is that rhyming slang?”
LOL. I see what you did there.. Nice
Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.
And thanks for this site DAG. It does take a lot of time and effort to get articles written for every game and at times it is a thankless job (yes bad AA memories still linger in some part of me). But trust me, it is completely appreciated :)
Seriously wanting some more Arsenal and finding the build up to xmas a poor substitute….
Some interesting talk after the Hull match and before Villa. I think Stag put it well by saying (about the Hull match) that it was a day when the goats were heroes–that some of the players (Almunia, Denilson, Diaby) that we tend to pick on, got a little injection of confidence and carried the day. Whether or not their confidence and good play can carry over to the Villa match is the big question.
It’s a measure of how fragile things are for our team that there was even a little talk about how Diaby is a better player without Cesc and that maybe rushing the latter back from injury (for the Villa match) isn’t the best idea. That’s madness I say and if he can play we need the captain. Of course we also need Diaby to keep imposing himself and getting to the by-line and all those things. With Diaby, Vermaelen, Gallas, Song and Silvestre on the pitch I don’t see why we can’t be the stronger team from set pieces against Villa.
These are big games coming up and six points (before the new year) and no further injuries would be spectacular. Chelsea have definitely blinked at the top and look less formidable without Anelka and Essien and with their Africans going off soon. It will be interesting who they buy given their transfer ban reprieve. The bottom of the table is fascinating as well, with premiership long-termers (Portsmouth, West Ham and Bolton) currently residing in the drop zone and clearly able to take points off any team (at least in their home stadiums).
We’re still a team with tons of question marks but we’re definitely not alone in our vulnerability, so the sense of opportunity seems massive. It’s time to make and take our chances.
Happy holidays and great work on the site DAG!
Beautiful football and people talking about it are some of my favorite things. Here’s to a new year filled with both!
I’m with LDE above….not much of a holiday guy, every day’s the same….except Match Day!
Thanks again, MPradamacue for given us a spot to carry on….
Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas lads.
Just realised we’re playing the day after boxing day. Arrgh!
Yeah. That pisses me off. Last year- like most years- every team in the league played on Boxing Day. I just assumed this year would be the same, b/c that’s the tradition. Maybe b/c it fell on a weekend they felt like they could spread it out over two days. Whatever. It’s still annoying.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
I’d take Shay Given in a second… he is NOT the flavor of the month, he has always been a good keeper, and he is much better than what we have. I’d take Tim Howard as well… we need an upgrade at keeper, which will in turn give our defense more confidence.
No to Melo.
But yes to a legitimate… experienced… talented … tall-ish… striker!
We could use a DM too… as Song will be at ACoN… and who knows, he could come back injured or fatigued.
Chelsea… in January… are absolutely going to be going after players… to cover for the ones going to ACoN… AND in case the transfer ban takes effect at season’s end.
I’d be SHOCKED if they didn’t bring in at least two players.
I think Arsenal need the same… 2 players in January.
But they can’t be kids.
Arshavin mold.
Happy Holiday to everyone …
… And special thanks to DAG for running the site flawlessly.
And great site DAG. Keep it up. Especially like gameday chat- or the way HT puts it, our virtual pub.
Missed you there for the Hull match, Ozi, 2nd half was awfully fun….
Yea I had a house party to go to. Watched the game though.. Going to be out of town till after new years so probably won’t see me on chat till after that.
Happy Holidays to all…..
Despite varying degrees of opinions, from wild speculation to mild speculation, DAG’s sight is a cyber haven to cheer Arsenal, and discuss all the pointless gossip surrounding football.
Wishing everyone a year filled with good health and happiness.
Not a big festive guy n stuff , all days the same for me :D . All the same, despite my relatively fewer posts its been great seeing all of you and chatting with all of you here. Despite all our difference in opinions I’m 100% sure we all sing from the same sheet. Here’s wishing AFC wins something this year :) .
A big thank you to DAG who’s kept the site going on his own. While I do not read every article in great detail – I like the continuous improvements that he makes all the time. I love the new team skittles in the match thread for one :)
p.s.. The Andez so called self righteous smug 10 pointer list is still awesome and so true ;)
Actually, as you probably remember, that was only Andez inasmuch as he cut and pasted it here.
Now the response Fred wrote on his own, that was awesome and true. ;-)
Well all the same, lets just say the original writer was awesome then.. incase ur in a nitpicking mood ;)
Another hilarious piece of work from Arsenal.com.
In one article, Arsene says that Diaby and Vieira are not the same as Diaby is more attack minded.
In the very next article, Diaby says he can fill in Song’s shoes.
:)
Arsenal.com says that Theo is faster than Henry.
Finally, something he is good at.
Pity Arsenal are competing in football and not some sprint event at the Olympics.
I didn’t realize Vela was as fast as Arsene’s comments suggest. Hope he comes good soon because I can see him turning into an Aliadiere if he doesn’t.
Happy Festivus to all! (It is today you know, the 23rd.)
I can’t tell you all how much I’ve enjoyed chatting with you, both here and back at AA. Arsenal is only one of a few sports teams I follow, but it is the only one I spend so much time and energy following, and that’s because of YAMA. I don’t know what I’d do without it b/c I don’t think I even know any Arsenal fans personally.
Finally, despite the spirit of the season, I can’t resist getting into some of the points DAG raised:
4. I don’t want Shay Given at Arsenal. If we could get him for free I’d take him, but I don’t want to spend good money on someone who’s a flavor of the month. And that’s what he is. Even with his recent run of form, he wouldn’t be getting all the attention from the English media if he weren’t Irish.
7/8. The ACN may hit us hard with the loss of Song (and Eboue), but it could be devastating for Chelsea who will lose Essien, Obi Mikel, Kalou, and above all, Drogba. (Interesting that Ivory Coast could have an all-Chelsea strike force in Drogba and Kalou.)
But the point is, if Kalou is also gone, who will partner Anelka up front in Drogba’s absence? And on top of that Anelka too may be out injured. Here are the other strikers on their roster: Fabio Borini, Gael Kokuta, Daniel Sturridge. I’ve only heard of the last one, and that’s probably only b/c he’s English. Will they buy? I’ll be a bit pissed off if they do since they were supposed to be banned from doing so!
Also, Man U will not be losing anyone to ACN, but if we can’t take advantage of the problems they already have then we don’t deserve to leapfrog them in the table.
They’re going to switch to a 4-3-2-1 with Anelka up top and Joe Cole and Deco flanking him. I expect Lampard will be encouraged to attack a lot more as well.
Sturridge has very limited experience, I don’t think they will rely on him other than as a sub. Kakuta is also inexperienced, though from what I have seen of him he has bags of potential. Very nice touch, a fair bit of pace, a lot of skill. I wish we had him. But he was the one that got them banned from the transfer market so not all bad that he is at Chelsea. Would be a happy turn of events if after all this he were to leave. Heh.
Here is an interesting fact and what I think ultimately led to the us.arsenal.com site – As of I think it was October there were approximately 3.5 million hits to the Arsenal site from the United States only.
Arsenal America are listed on the site as the offical supporters club but I think they have failed to gather in those visitors to Arsenal.com
DAG, do you by chance know how many total hits Arsenal.com received in that time? I’m curious what percentage of the total were from the USA. Also, perhaps Big Stan had some say in creating it?
I’m sure you guys got the same popup I did that was like “You appear to be visiting from the USA. Would you like to make usa.arsenal.com your permanent Arsenal homepage?”
I said no b/c I figure a USA version can’t be any better: it’ll either be mostly the same or a bit dumbed down.
Perhaps this is a sign of things to come? Say, a preseason visit to the USA perhaps? I know I’d do my part to make it worth their while.
All I can find out right now is that
5.2% of all traffic to Arsenal.com comes from the US.
CG, Every time I get that window I close it w/o making a selection. I’m afraid they call it ‘soccer’ on there, and the next you know I’m drinking beer cold.
(There’s my Festivus ‘airing of the grievances’.)
Yes credit DAG for landing us a new home. I hope Arsenal FC do not refer to our old AA as an indication of how much (or how many) American fans love football and Arsenal, despite their “official” status.
Just got back and have a look on how their new revolution being going, they had less than 10 comments for the past month.. But I gotta say we all saw it coming didn’t we? It’s more predictable than seeing Mark Hughes get sacked.
sorry I shouldn’t. but I can’t help! ;)
Actually, I’m so glad you did. I was noticing the same thing. They got what they said they wanted there. Tumbleweeds galore. Interesting business model. (I know, I know. Not at all in the spirit of the season. Ah well.)
And the thing is – everyone could see it coming (that this is the way they are going to end up) back in the summer.
But then, perhaps that’s exactly what DaveK wanted – a site with a clean image, regardless of the hits.
Yes. It is what they wanted. No upkeep. Nobody complaining about a lack of upkeep or new threads.
AND…
they can control all the Arsenal tickets that go to Arsenal America.
To me, that was the key… control of the tickets for the Big Soccer people, without the headache of actually running a website.
What I’ve found funny is that they are now putting up threads which are eerily similar to the ones we used to respond to, when they were supposedly trying to move away from that.
Yeah I found that quite funny. But I guess the difference being it is completely clean with no criticism or analysis, so nothing to give a bad image. Yawn…
Merry Christmas !!
DAG, thanks a million for starting this excellent website, running it every day and improving it all the time.
Whatever or however you celebrate, Happy Holidays to all!
Special thanks to MP, for making this possible. YAMA has turned out brilliantly so far, and it sounds like there’s even better to come. This is one of only two MBs I frequent, but I would think it pretty unique that we all picked up from one place and moved over to another. Really glad it happened.
It’s been a real pleasure chatting with all of you. Even those who are so frequently wrong. ;-)
Merry X’mas boys!
Oh Hey I forgot one other GOOD piece of news:
Fox Soccer Channel will launch in HD early 2010 -if you want to to tell your TV provider you want it as part of your lineup! Click this link: http://dlvr.it/96D
Thanks for that. I filled it out. DirecTV has a new satellite launch(ed), so hopefully they’ll have room.