Bleacher Report - Articles by kenny smith

Eduardo: Outrageulous

kenny smith — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:02:01 -0400

The sheer brass neck of it. To even think about scoring a goal like the one Edaurdo scored yesterday is outrageous but to actually execute it as well is...well...outrageulous. That's not a typo.

Let me explain what I mean. Theo Walcott described it as "ridiculous" and i have described the very thought of it as outrageous. So I cut the two words in half and combine them to form outrageulous simply because i can not find a word that does it justice.

A special goal indeed but what we have to remember is that it came from a man who is just back from a career threatening injury and previously had just an hour of competitive football under his belt.

It's actually quite scary when you think about it. If he can do that just back from a year out, what will we see from a fit Eduardo?

Since the very first moment i saw him play I liked this guy. When he suffered that horrific injury at St Andrews i was absolutely devastated. I wrote into the Arsenal website with a message of support for him and have been counting the days until he returned.

And return he has. Better than before? Maybe, but seeing him back playing again has lit up a pretty horrible year for me so far and even before he got injured I preached to many people that Eduardo is the best striker we have, and ill explain why.

But before I do let me make one thing clear. This is not an Adebayor witch hunt so for all the Ade lovers please do not remind me of his goals tally for last season. This is not last season.

I think Eduardo is our best striker because he has the ability to do the unexpected as well as the simple things. Most football players form has a lot to do with confidence.

I do not think Eduardo ever loses confidence because he knows through and through that he is a world class player.

I think that a lot can be compared to Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of confidence. I think he is one of the most confident players in the world and shows it in his arrogance. Where he and Eduardo differ is that Eduardo is not arrogant.

He is quietly very confident in his own ability.

You see that in the way that he does not extravagantly celebrate his goals when most do. Its almost as if he expects himself to score every time and its not that big a thing.

Take any other player, if they scored that goal yesterday they would have run around jumping and ran into the fans or stood with their arms out reveling in the limelight. But Eduardo punched the air once and then looked like he just wanted to get on with the game.

You cannot fault his game. And here is how he figures against our first choice strikers.

The only criticism you can have, if your being picky, is that he does not have the physical presence of an Adebayor. Whilst that might be true, I urge you to remember that no one player is perfect and everyone has a weakness. Adebayor is lazy, has a horrible first touch and can not stay onside.

Robin Van Persie is showing us all now why he merits a starting place in this team and has been excellent this season. But he has a tendency to waste a lot of chances. Can anyone actually remember a chance that Eduardo has had that they can say he should have really scored and he didn't?

And before anyone says that RVP makes alot for the team and comes deep to collect the ball and can take free kicks ill remind you that I use the word striker not midfielder. And ill also remind you he is yet to score a free-kick this season.

Its just so great to see him back playing again scoring outrageulous goals. You can not stress enough the courage of the man. Its been a long road back and i know that i could not do what he has done.

Many before him have not and i think yesterday shows the undoubted class that he posseses.

Oi, We're All Arsenal Fans, Nikki Forget The Boots Let Your Feet Do The Talking

kenny smith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:33:39 -0500

Let me begin by telling you that if your reading this as an Arsenal fan i hope you have read the important note from our co-community leader. Albeit a bit "hormonal" but justified I think.

Upsetting people, name calling and general slagging of other people's opinions is not big, hard or clever.

I used to fly off the handle a bit when I first joined here, usually with Spurs fans, but I've since learned that you can get your point across without shouting and swearing. I have changed my ways to make the Bleacher Report community a better one and so can you if you're guilty.

I expect abuse from rival supporters but its totally out of order from one Arsenal fan to another.

No matter how much our opinion's differ on Arsenal topics at the end of the day we all have something in common ... WE'RE ALL ARSENAL FANS!

If someone does not agree with something you say then do not be nasty about it. Just be grateful they took the time to read what you have written. And if you wish you can debate the topic with them, that's fine, that's what we are all here for, to learn and to perhaps to use your knowledge to let others learn. Everyday is a school day!

Moving onto Saturday and we deservedly beat Bolton.

It took us so long to score and it came courtesy of a second half substitute Nicklas Bendtner.

His form had been indifferent of late and I can't help thinking that he will become a great striker if he can just get his attitude spot on.

I will not be drawn onto an argument about Emmanuel Adebayor being much better than him so don't even think about making the comparison.

I think Nikki, as I like to call him, worries a bit to much about style when he is on the pitch. Take his boots for example. In the picture above you will see they are a horrible lime green colour. But he has previously been pretty in pink!

I do not know when these colours came back into fashion, or even if they are back in fashion but wearing these boots and then not playing very well brings so much unneeded attention to yourself.

And then once you have a bad game or two people remember that guy with the pink boots who has not been playing well and there is even more pressure on you to perform which I think he could do without.

Nikki is only 21 and in my opinion should be playing free from pressure. When you're under pressure things become so much more difficult. I really rate Nikki and he does not need fancy footwear to prove he can be a hero.

So Nikki I believe in you just like Arsene does.

Please leave the fancy boots at home and wear some nice white ones. Or perhaps some sexy black ones like Arsene apparently has and let your feet do the talking. You have the ability, you showed us that on Saturday. Its not your boots that has the ability. I would like nothing more than to see you silence the boo boys.

This has been a good week. A win against our so called bogey team and some good grit shown. Lets hope Arshavin signs soon and he has defenses watching replays of the Euro's and having nightmares of playing against him!

A final word on Kevin Davies who has said that Arsenal players "scream" when they are tackled and that it is "laughable".

Your manager came out pre-match and said that Arsene Wenger is a whinge. You got beaten.

Stop whinging mate!

Back For Transfer Time: Arsenal Players Talk Crap & We Can't Fill the Stadium

kenny smith — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:16:41 -0500

I have managed to shrug off the disappointments of our poor season so far to motivate myself to resume writing about Arsenal.

I could continue as to why I have been away for so long but it will just add pointless information to this article so there is no point in wasting your time.

I could not fit everything I wanted to talk about into the headline, so beware this may end up a lengthy piece (don't laugh that's not meant to be dirty!!!).

First up is the long awaited January transfer window.

How I have missed this! A whole month of speculation about our players' futures and about which two thousand players we are supposed to be signing.

Only one out of those two thousand has emerged and its Andrei Arshavin.

Now lets be realistic. You can not have a name like Arshavin and not be playing for Arsenal! We have confirmed that we are in talks with him and it seems like the hold up is Zenit St. Petersberg's asking price which is £20 million.

We all know Arsene Wenger will not spend that on a player so this is where our new Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis comes in. I can not see Arsenal paying a penny more than £15m for him so lets hope we can get the price down.

Wenger has confirmed that no one will be leaving the club in this window, thank God for that. But what about William Gallas and Kolo Toure???

You have all herd the speculation surrounding these two of late but its a case of too many people talking too much crap, which almost everyone seems to be doing right now...even our own players!

It seems that the transfer window brings out the worst in everyone. The following is a list of Arsenal players who have been speculated on recently and also players who have been running their mouths and obviously not thinking before they do it—and explanations as to why I think they should just keep silent.

Manuel Almunia—Has come out and said that Arsenal are no longer afraid of high balls and that we can deal with them. Think before you speak Manuel old son, just look what Robbie Keane did to us a couple weeks ago.

Emmanuel Adebayor—Has publicly backed William Gallas's outrageous outburst about lack of fight in the team and says that Gallas is like his big brother and does not want Arsenal to sell him.

Just as everyone has got over what Gallas has said and its all calmed down and the team looks like it has got some confidence back he goes and brings up the subject again. Nice one Ade!!!

You can not be that desperate to keep playing with him as you almost sleezed your way to Barcelona in the summer. If it wasn't for Arsene slapping a £30million price tag on your head you would be there just now.

William is a good defender, he just makes a howler every now and then but no matter how much you like him he can't keep his mouth shut just like you. I can see why you two are like brothers!

Kolo Toure—Handed in a transfer request and then promptly withdrew it once it had been rejected. Kolo has fallen out with William Gallas and to be fair I don't blame him.

He has been less than great this season but I think that is partly down to Gallas. Kolo hates playing with him and cannot perform playing alongside him. What you have to remember is Kolo is Arsenal through and through and has given a lot more for the club than William has.

Kolo needs to get his head down and work on his game. I am not saying he is perfect but he is obviously unhappy here now and that shows in his game. Its not a witch hunt to get rid of Gallas, but get rid of Gallas and I think you will see Kolo, with some hard training, return to his best.

Onto the stadium.

Arsenal ticket prices are horrendously expensive. Recently there have been gaps appearing at the Emirates. I think people are getting tired of paying so much money to watch mediocre football this season and with the economic crisis people are generally in a bad mood and don't want to watch their team concede really soft goals and throw away two goal leads.

We need a new tall centre back, a quality defensive midfielder and Andrei Arshavin, then we could compete for the title. The way things are just now we do not have a chance. This should be very concerning for the board as if the fans start disappearing then their won't be any money to pay back the debt of the stadium.

Our defense is what we need to improve on. We need Arshavin because we have so many attacking midfielders out injured but a defensive midfielder and centre back is where we really need to address.

I know Arsene will not address these problems but I can hope and any other business in areas other than the areas I have just highlighted is bad business.

And so is doing nothing!

Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United: I Have No Nails Left

kenny smith — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:26:07 -0500

So this week I vowed not to write a preview article on this game as I felt I was a jinx. Since I had started writing previews Arsenal had not won a game. In all honestly, I really don't think the two are related but with the kind of form we had been in, I didn't think we had much of a chance yesterday.

So I vowed not to do a preview article and look what happens...we won! Yay!

I am now promising Arsenal fans that I will not write another preview article until the next time the Gunners lose (hopefully not again this season). I'll just write recaps. This way I will feel that I am not a jinx.

Anyway enough of that.

I was in two minds whether to go watch the game as the injuries and form things didn't look all that great for us. But I finished work at 12.30 and rushed to the nearest pub showing the game.

I experienced the most nerve racking 96 minutes of my life. Chances came thick and fast at either end, and some real sitters were being missed, until Samir Nasri had two shots at goal. Usually being two up I would have relaxed, but United looked very dangerous throughout, in what was probably the best game of football I can remember.

From the minute Manuel Almunia decided to pick up Mikael Silvestre's bad back pass I felt nervous and began to bite my nails. This continued until the end of the match, I'm sure if there had been someone next to me I'd have bitten their nails as well, as I had almost none left by half time.

But in the end it was worth it. Two goals from Samir Nasri gave me some rest bite at least. The first was deflected and some people will say it was lucky, but you don't get lucky if you don't shoot (Alex Hleb take note).

The second was after some quality possession football. A Theo Walcott run distracted the centre backs for Fabregas to slide a perfect pass into Nasri who hammered the ball home from 20 yards.

No luck about that one.

So Sammy deserves a lot of credit and people are already likening him to old Bobby Pries and I think rightly so.

Bought as a replacement for Alex Hleb he has scored four goals in eight games in the league. Alex Hleb's record stands at seven goals in 89 games so Sammy is already over half way there with 81 games to go.

Who would you rather have at Arsenal? Samir Nasri or Alex Hleb?

OK Sammy has had a couple of disappointing performances this season but it took Alex Hleb two seasons to adapt. For me Sammy is miles better.

Man Utd pulled one back after a lot of pressure and I almost threw the bar stool at the T.V. when the fourth official held up the board displaying six minutes of injury time. But we held on.

It was an all round performance to be proud of. Everyone played well and the belief and desire was there.

This has kick started our season and hopefully we can take this belief forward and get the team motivated for the not so big matches. But every game from now on is a massive game if we are serious about challenging for the title.

A Horrible End to a Horrible Week, Cesc for Captain, And Play the Kids Midweek

kenny smith — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:29:13 -0500

Right...

I have been busy this weekend and been having problems with my internet connection so i have been unable to fend off the flack that Spurs fans seem to think they have the right to give me after the jammiest win in the history of their ridiculous football club.

I didn't see the game against Stoke, I had to settle for audio commentary and reading reports on the game.

It sounds as if we "lacked spine". What I know for sure we did lack was a sensible team selection. Arsene Wenger picked four central midfielders—Abou Diaby, Denilson, Cesc Fabregas, and Alex Song.

What the hell was he thinking about? No width whatsoever. I think he was trying to out muscle Stoke...why?? The only time Stoke are ever going to threaten us is at throw-in's. Stoke are a technically inferior side to Arsenal (no offense Stoke fans) so why didn't we just play our normal team?

Okay, Stoke might have been physical but who isn't against us nowadays? It turns out that Rory Delap's throw-ins decided the game. Once again poor defending from dead balls from us but the guy has some throw!

Maire has rubbed it in by saying I told you so.

I think the players must have still been suffering from the Spurs game. Apparently Adebayor looked as if he didn't want to be there—but I don't want to point fingers at players. The manager is in the wrong here.

Poor, poor team selection and tactics. Although Robin van Persie was really stupid to get sent off and with Ade and Theo injured then that leaves us with little attacking options for our next league game—which happens to be against Manchester United.

We need a leader and Cesc Fabregas has said this week that he wants to win things with Arsenal and he would love to be captain. He couldn't make a worse job of it than William Gallas or Kolo Toure are just now. I think Arsene Wenger should give it a go. Who knows, it might even work. Which ever way you look at it we need something to change.

So I propose to give the players a rest to get mentally and physically ready for Manchester United next weekend and put out our Carling Cup team for the Champions League game at home to Fenerbahce.

They did very well against Sheffield Utd and although Fenerbahce are a different prospect I think a whole team of fresh players ready to go and ready to impress could do a job on them. We have almost qualified from the group anyway and I think its a risk we can afford to take!

Something has got to change somewhere. If it really is all down to Arsene then I'm afraid to say he must go. A lot of fans just now are after Wenger's head so he needs to do something and quick to restore the fans faith in his ability.

Arsenal 4 Tottenham 4: Spurs Strike It Very, Very Lucky

kenny smith — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:25:51 -0400

What an utter shambles!

I couldn't have been more wrong in my predictions for this game but I will have to admit that this game was out of the ordinary, and I'm sure I speak for almost every Arsenal fan when i say that a draw has never felt so much like a defeat as it did last night.

Yesterday, I referred to Heurelho Gomes as a "dodgy 'keeper", well it seems that last night Heurelho Gomes killed Manuel Almunia before the game, stole his skin and went in goal for Arsenal.

I do not see the need for Almunia to be standing so far out of his goal when Tottenham were in our half of the field as David Bentley scores from 43 yards. No keeper should ever be beaten from that range.

For the second goal, it is basic goalkeeping to parry the ball away from goal, although it was a belter of a shot, and I think Manuel might of even saved it with his face.

Gael Clichy made a horrendous mistake when he fell over and gifted Spurs their third goal, and when the fourth official held up his board displaying four minutes of injury time I just knew they would equalise.

If anyone can justify four minutes of injury time last night then by all means feel free to leave a comment as I cannot remember a single stoppage in the second half.

However, I am not going to bother blaming that on our failure to win this game. Individual errors cost us two points here.

A lot of people will try to blame Arsene Wenger for his substitutions and tactics after we went 4-2 up, but if it wasn't for Clichy's error then the game would have finished 4-2. For me Manuel and Gael need to hold their hands up and admit they made mistakes and just get on with it. They will earn a lot more respect from their teammates and the team will grow because of it.

William Gallas and Mikael Silvetsre had a good game tonight, both grabbing goals and there wasn't much they could have done about any of the Spurs goals.

Up front and in the midfield we did well, nothing special, but I was happy with the effort.

We controlled most of the game and, in short, Spurs were very lucky, make no mistake about it!

I just hope Arsene can motivate the team for our next game and I hope the players will be men, admit their mistakes and learn from them.

Why I Just Can't See Anything Less Than An Arsenal Win Against Spurs

kenny smith — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:43:56 -0400

This is the first article that I'm writing for this website. It falls kindly at a time when its almost derby day in North London. I'll try to be as unbiased as I can, but being an Arsenal fan it's easier said than done, especially when "Top Four Tottenham" visit the Emirates this week.

Everyone is aware of Tottenham's worst start to the season ever, so I don't feel the need to remind everyone too much of that just now. The appointment of Harry Redknapp as manager is nothing but positive for Spurs and after a result at the weekend, albeit against Bolton, the confidence will be a lot higher than in previous weeks.

However, a poor team does not just turn into a good team over a few days.

You can give them all the confidence in the world, but if the ability is not there then it just won't happen. Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane leaving in the summer has crippled Spurs and left them with very little depth in their forward line.

Berbatov and Keane both have Premiership experience, and both are very good strikers. With Bent and the Russian guy (I'm not going to attempt to spell his name), they lack the quality Berbatov and Keane have.

From what I'm led to believe, Dawson and Bale will be suspended for receiving straight red cards at Stoke and although Ledley King looks like he will play, I don't think their back line will be strong enough to handle Arsenal's attacking options, considering the fact that Arsenal score in just about every game we play.

As for the Gunners, coming off the back of a hard fought victory over West Ham has done a lot for an already confident side. But I think the reason why Arsenal will be victorious tomorrow night is down to their quality. As long as Arsene Wenger does not pick a stupid team, with players out of position, then the red half of North London will be singing at the end of the 90 minutes.

The first point I will make is that of the home advantage. Although Wenger has made comments recently about the crowd not getting behind the team enough, a North London derby is certain to bring a very vocal crowd into the stadium.

David Bentley will, for one, be a focal point of mass booing and cheering when he does something wrong. I expect the crowd to get right behind the team tomorrow and if Arsenal score early on I fear the worst for the Spurs fans.

The second point is the quality of the Arsenal team. With Spurs leaking goals left, right and centre, a dodgy 'keeper and a few players suspended, I don't think it will be a case of when—just a case of how many.

Arsenal have four strikers in Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, and Carlos Vela along with Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, and Samir Nasri in midfield who can not only score, but score stunning goals.

I would be very, very surprised if Spurs could nullify the Arsenal attacking threat.

The third point is that Arsenal basically have a fully fit defense again, and while we have conceded soft goals from set plays this season, William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre had a good game at the weekend against West Ham and they will be up for this one. With Manuel Almunia recently showing world-class form, coupled with Spurs lack of attacking options, I don't think Spurs will trouble the scoreboard too much.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the Spurs will be up for the occasion with some inspiring words from Harry Redknapp, but Arsenal's quality will shine through on a ground that we have only ever lost twice on in competitive matches.