What's Stan's Plan?

I know I wasn't alone in dreading this game. It was our first home game of the season & I wasn't looking forward to it. It was a massively important match. We needed to keep away from Thursday night wafer cup games & potential clashes with the spuds. Nobody seemed hugely confident after a less than impressive run around in Newcastle. The team looked as flat as the fans feel. We've played these qualifiers before but I can't remember so many nerves.

We won! That's two games unbeaten with two clean sheets. Not bad eh? One foot in the £££ league draw? I wish! How Udinese got nil is as big a mystery as to why the club are refusing to buy the players we need (for that is what they are doing. It's the only explanation.) Udinese were impressive. They were fit & quick and in periods out Arsenaled us. It was heart in the mouth stuff. The second leg will be as tough as Joey Barton in a nightclub. I'd rather it were as tough as Joey Barton on the pitch but we'd need a 5-0 lead for that.

If our first game centred around the Hitler tribute then our second was all about injuries. What odds would you've got before this game that Gibbs wouldn't make it to September? He has proved once again that he is made of feathers and those little sticks they expect you to stir your coffee with in Starbucks. I feel sorry for him. He's a talent but with a squad this thin we have no room to carry these injury prone boys. Djourou's another one. 9 minutes after coming on for the stick man & he is limping off with a memorial Cesc hamstring pull too. We end up holding onto a 1-0 lead with two 19 year olds coming off the bench to make their £££ league debuts. How has this been allowed to happen? We got away with it but on another night that could've ended up 1-3 & kids on the bench wouldn't be looked at so kindly.

The other main talking point was Arsene's ludicrous touch line ban for calling an idiotic referee an idiot. He sat next to Boro Primorac who spent the evening on Twitter & trying to clear that Angry Birds level he's been stuck on for weeks. UEFA want to tell Arsene off for allegedly passing messages to Pat via Boro. Why did the club not prepare for this? Arsene simply needed a glove puppet that could whisper onto Boro's ear. I'd love to see The Arsenal answering a charge of passing on messages via Sooty. We had a chance there to make UEFA look as stupid as they really are. The 437 pizzas that arrived in the name of Primorac will certainly confuse them.

Since Monday the latest score is Leavers 3 (Cesc, Eboue, Vela) Newcomers 0. Nesri has come close to making it 4-0. Have the Newcomers even had a shot? I've no idea but we unless we act quickly we could be in trouble. The end of August is crashing towards us like a shawcross tackle. Rumours that our only signing will be Kate Middleton as she is Royally F****d too are unfounded!

Yet if we don't sign players (& I mean players in the plural) there may not be any room for jokes. It's clear we won't win the league this year. I'm worried about getting past Udinese.

I'm genuinely concerned. What's the plan? Get all this transfer money in pound coins and pile it up in front of our goal mouth?

We need players, good results against top teams & miracles in the treatment room in the next few days or there may be no way back.

You get one man in
One man out
Out out out out
Shake it all about
Do The Arsenal Hokey Kroenke
It will save a few pounds
Cos that's what it's all about.

(thanks to @ChargingThrough for polishing that rhyme up)

Up The Gunners.


- Posted using BlogPress from an iTelephone in a lovely cafe by the sea.