CL: Arsenal-Ajax, Feb. 26, pre/post match [R] Desktop Wenger popped up to tell me the traveling squad to Ajax. Remember, in the CL you have seven on the subs bench instead of five: David Seaman Stuart Taylor Lauren Martin Keown Kolo Toure Sol Campbell Pascal Cygan Ashley Cole Patrick Vieira Giovanni van Bronckhorst Sylvain Wiltord Ray Parlour Edu Gilberto Robert Pires Thierry Henry Dennis Bergkamp Francis Jeffers
Can't find a full Ajax squad list at the moment, but I did see somewhere that John O' Brien is likely to make the bench for the first time in ages following lots of injury problems.
-Ajax have four players who will miss their next match if booked: DeJong, Mido (don't even know if he'll play), Van der Meyde, and Ibrahimovic. -Arsenal have no players who will miss the next match if booked (unless it's a red card). -The ref is Valentin Ivanov (Russia). He has never reffed an Arsenal match, but has reffed ManUre twice and England once. The assistants are Alexey Monakhov (Russia) and Gennady Krasyuk (Russia). The fourth referee is Iouri Baskakov (Russia).
Conflicting news about Mido. The English version of the official Ajax site says he was suspended from the first team and moved to Ajax 2 "for disciplinary reasons.": http://english.ajax.nl/show/id=118083/contentid=27356 But a more recent story, this one in Dutch, says Mido is in the side for tomorrow's game: http://www.ajax.nl/show/id=1322/contentid=27430 (The headline translates to "Koeman obtains Mido back at selection" at least according to WorldLingo.com.)
As a result of Ajax injuries (been going on almost all season) Mido has been put back in the first team after a talk with the players council. The general idea is that at this time it would be irresponsible to keep Mido out of the team. So he's on the bench.
Singin' Sol Campbell Sol Campbell is gay He's a homosexual Up the Arse every day! What's all this about Campbell being gay? PS. had a few drinks with some Arsenal tonight. Nasty lot but fun though.
I dont know anything about the sexual tendencies of Arsenal players but where has Toure been? He hasnt seen any CL action that I can think of. It looks to be a strong line up and Im confident in the three points.....that is if we come to play. Which Arsenal team will pull up to the Arena? Some one got PBP? Nudge nudge wink wink know what I mean?
A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? Know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more squire. I hope somebody'll pick up PBP, cuz I don't have any money for anything on my computer. We do good on open pitches and the ArenA is huge, so I think we'll pull out a 2-1 to the Arsenal. Vive le AFC! OPArsenal
I'm gonna miss the first 1/2 hour due to a meeting about a possible promotion. then hopefully i'll be getting some pbp from ya guys.
Soccernet prematch: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/preview?id=71498&cc=5901 http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=259178&cc=5901 Note second article: Koeman blasts Bergkamp It seems the Ajax manager didn't take too kindly to some of the Divine One's play last week. I love this quote, though... Koeman: 'That's the trouble with strikers. When they try to tackle, it's usually a bad one. But, in the end, it's not a problem for us - it's a problem for him." We shall see, Ronnie.
I'm really biting my nails on this one. I think this is really a must win with an away tie at Valencia on the horizon. Please Arsenal don't choke on this opportunity! How is it that we could not manage three last week against a side as young and injury plagued as Ajax? hy does ManUre perform so well in Europe while we seem to always shoot ourselves in the foot? Freaking 3 goals in Turin! DB10 my hopes will be riding with you tonight.
arsenal.com has its live text which does some good pbp even though it is not as often as someone use would like it to be, but the best part about it is it is free.
Hey Ken - didn't Toure get sent off in a CL game during an unfortunate stint at LB? He's also in the squad of 18. I'll go ahead and do PBP, everyone else join in as desired. Yes, even the Ajax fans (although that song about Sol certainly isn't very nice).
Lineups. Ajax 1 Lobont 2 Trabelsi 4 Galásek 5 Chivu 7 van der Meyde 8 Witschge 9 Ibrahimovic 10 Pienaar 13 Maxwell 16 Pasanen 26 De Jong Bench 21 Didulica 3 Bergdølmo 11 Hossam 15 Sneijder 22 Yakubu 24 Van Damme 28 Boukhari Arsenal 1 Seaman 3 Ashley Cole 4 Vieira 5 Keown 7 Pires 10 Bergkamp 11 Wiltord 12 Lauren 14 Henry 19 Gilberto 23 Campbell Bench 13 Taylor 9 Jeffers 15 Parlour 16 van Bronckhorst 17 Edu 18 Cygan 28 Touré
i dont expect gunner supporters to be, but im all nerves right now - regardless of the result, however, i believe both sides will advance by winning their final 2 games