Bolton Up Next, Hopefully Arsenal-Land Will Follow
Sep 19th, 2008 by 'holic
I was thinking this would be a good Friday. I had the afternoon off and no meetings scheduled for the evening. I was thinking a couple of lunchtime pints, a look at the Friday press conferences, write the preview and have maybe a pint or two more.
Real life doesn’t work like that does it. For a variety of reasons the plan changed and now I have just sat down at eight in the evening to convert my random thoughts into words. At least I am now enjoying a pint of the black stuff.
So to tomorrow, and Bolton it is at the Shoedome. It’s a venue that saw us experience all of the emotions in ninety minutes last season but hasn’t always been a happy hunting ground. As we are on the road for the third time in a long tough week it goes without saying that the attitude will need to be more ‘Blackburn’ than ‘Fulham’ if we are to get anything. Predictions are complicated by the fact that Bolton too can vary from the sublime to the ridiculous.
In his interview yesterday Arsene Wenger spoke of ‘a little rotation’ after the trip to Kiev. Whilst we understand what he meant the fact that none of the walking wounded are fit to return limits his options. The goalkeeper and back four are likely to remain unchanged, you would think. Song and Djourou provide options but the defensive unit looked a little more solid in midweek, and it is very early for fatigue to set in.
A return to a 4-4-2 formation is probably on the cards which probably means a recall to the starting line-up for Emmanuel Eboue, with either Song or Denilson making way. I think the time has come for Song to be given an opportunity to operate in front of the central defenders and afford them a degree of protection.
Up front we may see one change, but probably not two. I would go with Adebayor and Vela, but don’t be surprised if Bendtner and van Persie get the nod. The ‘holic pound has consistently found a new home this season, but I am being bullish about a 2-0 prediction in the visitors favour. I’m due a win.
Kroenke and Finance
I’m not a believer in overly long posts so I will return to this subject once we have got Bolton out of the way.
Good Luck Arsenal-Land
I cut my teeth writing bits and pieces for the excellent Arsenal-Land site, and I am indebted to the encouragement and practical support that Darren, and his team, and his readers, gave me in the early days of ‘holic.
Tonight it looks as though they have suffered a pretty catastrophic server crash and the early prognosis is not good. A fabulous resource for Arsenal supporters everywhere is in danger of being lost to us. I hope the worst predictions prove unfounded.
Good luck to all the lads and lasses there who have worked extremely hard to put together a great site. I’ll be thinking of you, and if there is anything I can do, you know….
18 Responses to “Bolton Up Next, Hopefully Arsenal-Land Will Follow”
Just a quiet beer, ‘holic, and bon week-end to you.
one would like a yard of baileys please
Bonjour, et merci singe.
A yard Wayne? That would make you very ill. I used to be able to put a yard of ale away, although I doubt I could do it now. And I do mean a yard, the old three pint vessel, not the half-yard that most places had.
yes a yard, of baileys, please.
i’ll have my yard of baileys from a shoe, if you please.
i want my yard of baileys to be drained from several pairs of sweaty socks please.
Oh and could i have 3 glasses of merlot thrown in with my baileys please.
OK, and what about the game tomorrow. Do you see us winning?
I think calling Bolton ‘sublime’ even at the height of the Fat Sam days is a bit generous, but yet you can’t deny they were a bogey team for a few seasons.
Looks like they and Rovers are experiencing the same pain of losing a quality manager and having everything thereafter go to shambles.
3-1 Arsenal
Newsflash : Ramos was spotted today doing 80 along the Seven Sisters Road in a desperate attempt to get 3 points.
3 – 0 to The mighty Gunners. Bring it on.
i feel for in midfield araea its just about riding out unitil at least risisky and diaby comes back and i think wenger will bring more playern january,but so far arsenal seem to be coping with the injuries very well. they are young team but mature wellbeyond there years and have been playing the prem a good 2-3 years now,so i dont think stamp them as inexperienced now,
Fair point jck, perhaps the wording could have been a tad inaccurate but it got the meaning across.
🙂
im concerned about tomorrows game. euro hangover is a possibility and also were notoriously poor at the reebok. it will not be a fluent performance and probably wont be enjoyable to watch. if we can get an early goal we will win.
im more concerned about my drink howevere, but with breakfast nearing i have changed my mind. can i have a bacon and sausage sandwich smoothie with 5 shots of brandy please.
Cheers, keep up the good work!
BTW, Bendtner is due to start I think. I’d tip him over Vela anyway, who’s only played 30 minutes so far in the league this season, when we were already comfortably ahead and at home. Nik’s year slogging it out in the Championship gives him exactly the experience needed to deal with ugly, ugly Bolton.
I’m sure Vela will start midweek in the CC though.
Noooooooo not my a-land, my sweet precious a-land….what am i gonna avoid work with now????
Doesn’t look good, does it ave?
If I get time I will try and talk to Darren later and I’ll update on here if there is any more news.
Hey guys,
Thanks for the mention ‘holic, our hosts kept the back up on the same server, fools I say! There is some hope with the home page, our developer had a 6 week old copy and is attempting to ‘hook it up’. Signs look good for the home page. He may also have the forum database, he’s got something we are not yet sure whether it’s the whole thing though. Chance yet also that the hosts may get something off the damaged hard drive (forum).
Either way we’ll be back, don’t worry ave.
Thanks for mention again ‘holic
Darren
Good man Darren,
If you want to run something temporary on here until you are sorted you know it’s not a problem.
Cheers.
well thank fuck for that, work during the day was looking like an unfortunate reality.