Arsenal vs Cardiff Preview : Stan vs Tan

Happy New Year friends!!!

We made it to 2014 and we should be thankful. I saw loads of tweets with folks excited about the coming year wishing everyone success and all the good stuff of life, amazing stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had that every day? Remember the movie 50 first dates where Adam Sandler was dating Drew Barrymore and she had a mental issue which meant her brain resets every night hence she forgets everything that has happened in her life and starts all over? If anyone has to live with that and you had a chance to pick one day she would relive every day, it’s got to be new years day don’t you think? All the joy and excitement that a new year brings. You really don’t want it to be her birthday else you would be throwing a party everyday!! That would kill you.

What wouldn’t kill you is an Arsenal victory on New Year’s day though, we play Cardiff at home today where the last defeat we tasted was against the referee and Aston Villa. Read a twitter a few days ago from @LandofOzil where he tweeted the Emirates is finally beginning to feel like home for Arsenal. I have to agree, over the years the team seemed to struggle playing under pressure from the home crowd but the invincible feel Highbury had is coming back. About the atmosphere at the ground, I guess it’s dependent on who you read, @LeGroove thinks it’s ok and improving while the guys @BlackScarfAFC think differently.

Cardiff

You really have to feel for Cardiff fans, one win in nine matches, 16^th on the table , lost their manager and they are stuck with a clown for an owner. Football has lost its soul and Cardiff is another example of a club showing it, where commercialization has taken precedence over sound footballing decisions. They are stuck with an owner who is plain comical in his decision making. So he invested some money in the club that has seen them come up and now he is doing everything to make the rise as unattractive to the fans that should matter the most in every decision he takes.

This has to be the Worst dressed man in football

Changed the colours of the team, sacked the Head of Recruitment and appointed someone who was painting for the club during the summer, has had a very public spat with the manager asking him to resign or be fired putting the team under pressure, finally fires the manager and you would think considering he wrote a letter asking the manager to resign he had a ready replacement, negative. Mr Tan doesn’t think like that, caught on camera booing his own team after the game against Sunderland and then tells the club he would like them to sign players with the number 8 in their birth date. All these in just one half of the season, if this man doesn’t define foolishness then the word needs to have a new meaning.

Once the owner of a club starts becoming more famous than the club itself then you know something is very wrong. I feel bad for Cardiff fans more especially since they were very nice to us when we visited them a few weeks ago even applauding Ramsey when he scored and wishing Pat Rice well during the game. Listening to the Guardian Football Weekly Podcast on Monday and I have to agree with Barry who said if he were a Cardiff fan he would rather be in the championship without Tan than in the Premier league with him.

A thousand times over I would rather have a Silent Stan than a Vincent Tan ….

Arsenal

Maybe I can get to talk about football here right? Don’t think I have said anything about the game thus far. Arsenal amassed the highest amount of points last year in the Premier League and if we can keep that form we definitely would have something to celebrate in May.

The 3 points at Newcastle didn’t come easy and we have lost a few players to it also. Gibbs is out, Giroud also with an ankle injury, Wilshere and Walcott are doubts. All these add to Ramsey and Ozil who didn’t feature in the game at all and we have a huge problem. We should have a squad that can do a job against Cardiff but for the fixture on Sunday we really could have done with a few more options.

So we might have a whole new forward line today, I would expect Podolski to start on the left, Niklas in the middle and if Theo doesn’t make it one of Rosicky or Gnabry on the right wing. Santi should keep his place in the middle in front of either Flamini or Arteta . Should Gnabry start then Rosicky can do a good job in the middle with Santi and we would be fine. Hopefully Nacho and Vermaelen have recovered from the illness that saw them miss the game against Newcastle and any of them can play on the left side of defence.

We have a huge game at the weekend and it’s important we close this game nice and early, score as many goals so the manager can rest players and prevent any further knocks they might suffer. Cardiff are a team struggling and we should not give them any confidence going into this one. Szczesny might have escaped against West Ham and Newcastle with his howlers but you would expect the manager would have told him the season for giving gifts is over and it’s time for some real work.

Prediction: Arsenal 3 – Cardiff 0

This is the kind of game you like to open a drink, cross your feet and enjoy at the start of the new year and hopefully the players won’t give us any reason to panic. Have a splendid new year friends, I wish you all you wish yourself and more. When you dream, dream big! What’s the point of a dream if it’s not ridiculous.

Until next time, Keep the Canons in your heart.

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