A tribute to an outstanding footballer called David Rocastle who died tragically at the age of 33 on the 31st of March 2001.

Enjoy the video and let us know how you feel towards our captains positive views.

Gooner of the Goonerforum

Manuel Almunia has predicted he could be as close as 12 months away from playing for England.

The Spanish shot-stopper has given up on any hopes of playing for his own country, but his five-year spell at Arsenal means he can switch allegiances to England.

Fabio Capello seems far from settled on his first-choice keeper as he prepares for a friendly with Slovakia this weekend, which can be seen live on Setanta Sports.

With World Cup 2010 looming on the horizon, Almunia could even lead Fabio Capello’s defensive effort in South Africa, and the Arsenal keeper admits he might apply for his passport in January of next year.

“People are asking this question now because I have been in England for five years and am able to apply for a passport,” Almunia said in a webchat on Arsenal’s official website.

“I am taking in the information, what I need to do for a passport.

“I think, for January next year, maybe I can have the permission.

“Maybe I will get a passport, then after, if I get the call-up [from England], I will think about this.”

Taken from Setanta, will our keeper be representing England? How would people see to this, we all know it would be to hard for Almunia to climb the ladder in Spain and goalkeep for his country with all the wordclass keepers they have already.

I think it shows his serious and that he’s gaining confidence towards his career, good luck to him! Tell us how you feel about the situtation.

Gooner of the Goonerforum

Summary & Opinion

It has been a great day for us. Two top teams failed to gain three points as we are starting to creep up the league table. Man United lost away to Fulham, Spurs also did us the favour beating Chelsea.

We went to Newcastle today and played an outstanding game. We made several chances to open the game up early on, but don’t get me wrong Newcastle also attacked well during the first fourty five minutes. The game could have went a whole different way if Obafemi Martins had scored the penalty Almunia gave away early on in the game. He held strong and saved the penalty to keep us level, well done on him making up for his mistake.

It was only twelve minutes after half time when Bendtner headed a great free kick into the back of the net which was delivered by Andrei Arshavin. On the downside that lead only kept us infront less then a minute. Martins scored an equaliser seconds later to keep them in it.

Now on the positive side as we seemed at the beggining of the season, fans would have been less confident in the team to score another, it seemed when the going used to get tough we would drop in terms of spirit and end up just holding on or losing. Tonight we pulled it back nicely when Diaby belted in a great goal assisted by Van Persie to make it 2-1. Then just three minutes later Nasri added to the score sheet to finish the game off, again with Van Persie assisting the goal.

It was ashame the Dutch striker couldn’t get on the score board after a decent game. Would be nice to see him getting some more goals now. Another good performance pulled off by The Arsenal, we’re looking good and progressing week in week out. I believe we will now secure that fourth spot, if not higher.

Player Ratings:

Manuel Almunia (6.5)
Bacary Sagna (7)
William Gallas (6.5)
Kolo Toure (7)
Gael Clichy (7.5)
Andrey Arshavin (7)
Denilson (7)
Abou Diaby (7.5)
Samir Nasri (8.5)
Robin Van Persie (8)
Nicklas Bendtner (8)

Subs:

Alexandre Song (6.5)
Emmanuel Eboue (6)

Gooner of the Goonerforum

The draw took place early this morning were we drew out Villarreal. I think we are quite fortunate to have got them as they very may well be one of the weaker sides left in the Champions League, along with Porto.

If we are successful and win over the two legs then we will go on to face either Manchester United or Porto in the Semi-finals. I personally believe we can reach the next round and even get to the final with our squad reaching peak at the right time and injured players returning by then.

High hopes for The Arsenal at this stage, come on you reds!

I came across this article and it is now clear what Hull have become along with their assistant manager. A bunch or sore losing tossers.
To criticise our club in a way he did and then leave himself in such a whole he can’t escape it serves him right for all the lies he has accused us of.

Arsenal’s current public enemy number one (A.K.A. Hull City manager Phil Brown) has been fined £2,500 and warned as to his future conduct.

The fine has been imposed due to his touchline spat with Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear in January.

Talking of spat, Brown claims Cesc Fabregas spat at his assistant Brian Horton immediately after Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Hull in the FA Cup, which is prompting an FA investigation.

Cesc denies ever spitting in his career, though there is some inconclusive video footage circulating showing a previous incident with Michael Ballack.

Cesc says he simply shouted at the German, then playing for Bayern Munich.

There is a suggestion that if Cesc is found guilty he will serve a four-match ban, which might result in his comeback game being postponed.

Cesc and Arsenal seem confident of a not guilty verdict, particularly bearing in mind that Brown said Arsene Wenger has never shaken hands with him – despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

Brown’s recent warning and fine may prompt the FA to decide that the temperamental manager is guilty of false allegations and his club’s shenanigans could backfire quite spectacularly.

Despite talk of Arsenal bias, it was interesting to see that a two-footed lunge on Theo Walcott in the box received no punishment at all. It should have been a penalty, as ‘jumping’ for the ball results in a direct free kick regardless of whether the ball is played before the man.

The TV pundits failed to notice this transgression of the rules and ex-Spurs midfielder Tim Sherwood reckoned Theo hardly had a touch! Now that’s what you call bias, or is it blindness?

A personal friend of mine and my father was at the game sitting fairly close to Phil Brown. And stated to us that everytime Arsene stood up in rage Phil Brown laughed in joy. He also said he felt so annoyed he wished he went over there and kicked the shit out of the Hull manager.

Clearly they had this planned from the start. It was a plan to get The Arsenal irritated but towards the end their plans went bust leaving them in something they can’t get out of. He also claimed Wenger has never shaken his hand after a game, there is clear proof of this all over the net.

Well i don’t really want to continue criticising Hull City as i can go on all day, but i would just be as bad as them if i did. Several articles, videos and commentary speeches have been published about this.

I think it’s time we show who the bigger club is and let it go now. I’m sure Cesc has as he has nothing to hide.

Gooner of the Goonerforum

Summary & Opinion

After a 2-1 victory at Emirates tonight we have finally made it to Wembley Stadium to face Chelsea in the semi-final. We conceded to go one nil behind after a deflection spun past Fabianksi just thirteen minutes after kick off.

It looked like it wouldn’t go our way tonight missing several chances later on, but we managed to get back in the game dominating possesion and netting two goals to make victory.

On the overall performance i must say we played well. We created a bag full of chances and just kept failing to score as Hull played a very defensive game with eight or nine players behind the ball when we broke forward. It made it tough for us to break them down but after two great substitutions and the brilliance of Nasri it changed the whole game.

Many complain he should have played Nasri from the beggining and Toure in defence which i believe is very true, it could have easily cost us the game and with the F.A. Cup being the only silverware we have a high possibility of winning he needs to take it more serious. We can’t afford to take risks of playing younger players. If our players are fit, send them out with out doubt so we can win the games from early on and later rest them. It becomes a pain worrying about coming back from a team battling relagation this season.

I would like to congratulate the Arsenal on getting through yet another stage, you’ve made us proud this last week with some worrying but great wins. It has been a good week or two for us and it looks like our season may be promising. Lets just wait and see!

Player Ratings:

Fabianski (6.5)
Sagna (7.0)
Gallas (7.5)
Djourou (6.5)
Gibbs (7.0)
Walcott (7.0)
Song Billong (7.0)
Diaby (6.0)
Vela (6.5)
Van Persie (8.0)
Arshavin (8.0)

Subs:

Bendtner (7.0)
Nasri (7.5)
Eboue (6.5) (Didn’t have much to do really)