Arsenal's Journey towards Glory : Huge win for Gunners

[Karachi Xpress]

Lets see how Jose gets the team to perform in the first game. Go ARSENAL

KUTGW!

 

[saladguy]

Nice start mate, I hope you lose!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Match Report : Fulham 1 Arsenal 3

Samier Nasri celebrates his debut goal

Samier Nasri scored the winner as Arsenal beat Fulham in the London derby on the first day of the new Barclays Premier League season. The Frenchman, who was brought by Jose Mourinho this season for 12m , struck with a right-footed shot nine minutes from time to claim the points for the Gunners.

Robin van Persie had put Arsenal ahead in the first half before new signing Alan Thompson levelled just after the break.Emmanuel Adebayor administered the coup de grace with an injury time goal.

Arsenal were in control in the first half and had a hatful of chances after van Persie's opener.That goal came after 22 minutes when the Dutch drove home after the Fulham defence had failed to clear.

Rosicky's effort from 25 yards was spilled by Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer but the Australian bravely prevented Roque Santa Cruz marking his debut for Arsenal with a goal from the rebound.

Another Rosicky long-range shot was then brilliantly tipped over by the Fulham keeper. Santa Cruz raced onto a low centre from Fabregas but the ball grazed the former Blackburn player's studs and went wide.

Just before half-time, Cesc Fabregas burst through the Fulham defence but with options available he went for glory and blasted wide.

Arsenal came out cold for the second half and Fulham took advantage by levelling within three minutes. Some clever work by Jimmy Bullard allowed Thompson to drive the ball into the roof of the net for his first goal for Fulham on his debut.

Fulham kept the pressure on and Zoltan Gera saw his header from Alexi Smertin's cross scrambled out by Igor Akinfeyev. Arsenal then began to get back into the game, and after 72 minutes Fabregas's precise pass put Nasri through and the Frenchman slotted the ball home.

Adebayor made sure of victory when he rammed Theo Walcott's pass into the top of the net in injury time.

-------------------------------------------------

* Lawrie Sanchez

"Arsenal played totally in different class today under their new manager . It going be very difficult to break into the top this season for any other club . They are totally in different class and its going to be very hard to beat them ."


* Jose Mourinho

"I am very happy with the performance of all players . Nasri , Barry , Santa Cruz and Akinfeyev made really good debuts today and I am impressed with the young Nasri a lot after his performance . He is a big star of the future ."

-------------------------------------------------

Fulham: Schwarzer ; Paintsil, Hangeland, Stefanovic, Queudrue(Konchesky 61') ; Murphy(c)(Jansen 61'), Bullard, Smertin ; Gera, Johnson, Thompson.
Subs Not Used: Niemi, Davies, Nevland

Goals: Thompson 47.

Arsenal: Akinfeyev ; Eboue, Toure, Gallas, Silvestre ; Rosicky(c), Fabregas(Walcott 79'), Nasri, Barry ; Santa Cruz, van Persie(Adebayor 82').
Subs Not Used: Almunia , Ramsey , Sagna

Booked: Fabregas

Goals: van Persie 22, Nasri 72, Adebayor 90+2'.

Att: 21,938

Ref: Alan Wiley.

Man of the Match: Emmanuel Eboue​

 

[Karachi Xpress]

YAY! Nice start for Arsenal! Good start for Nasri at Arsenal too!

Nice presentation! KUTGW!

EDIT: Try having red text. It should look good

 

[treva]

Expected a win and Jose delivered. Nice to see Nasri score on his debut for the club. Nice pres Shantanu, there's now two quality BBC presentational stories

 

[saladguy]

Nice win there mate! Btw, Roy Hodgson is Fulham's manager.

 

[freddiw]

good win, if only we could to that in real life

 

[shantanu_rooney]

YAY! Nice start for Arsenal! Good start for Nasri at Arsenal too!

Nice presentation! KUTGW!

EDIT: Try having red text. It should look good

I wanted to make it BBC style

 

[freddiw]

its awesome mate, just dont quit :happy

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Match Report : Levski Sofia 0 Arsenal 2

(Fabregas celebrates his important goal)

Arsenal FC have secured for their eleventh consecutive appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage after second-half goals from Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor secured victory at Levski Sofia.

Off the pace for long periods, Cesc Fabregas touched in a free-kick at the far post after 78 minutes before Adebayor added a second eight minutes from time. The Bulgarian hosts, under the guidance of coach Atanas Karasalov, had looked the more enterprising prior to Fabregas' strike, but deflated by the concession of an away goal, failed to threaten thereafter, leaving the English Premier League side in pole position to progress.

It was competition newcomers Sofia who were first to threaten when Angelov headed wide at the far post. Arsenal had not settled, two corners inside the opening quarter the sum total of their attacking efforts, and they almost fell behind when Bardon swept past Toure into the penalty area only to slice high and wide. Arsenal responded, albeit ambitiously, as 20-year-old summer signing Samier Nasri's long-distance effort sailed over.

Bardon was proving a handful and it was his pass which sprung the visitors' offside trap nine minutes before half-time, but one-on-one with Akinfeyev, Bornosuzov's first touch let him down. Arsenal still had not slipped into gear, their best chance of the half being a Theo Walcott's shot wide after Sofia goalkeeper Mihailov had spilled Rosicky's effort.

Sofia continued to look the more assured after the restart, yet out of nothing, Arsenal took the lead. Roscikys free-kick from the right was allowed to run on by the deep lying Sofia defense leaving Fabregas to bundle in from close range. Buoyed by their lead, Arsenal assumed control and added a second when Aaron Ramsey latched on to a long ball over the top to square for Adebayor to slot under Mihalov.

-----------------------------------------------

*Atanas Karasalov

"We played good in first half . We created good chances but we didnt convert them . Bardon was very good today and we missed Georgi Angelov . After we conceded the first goal we lacked the ability to comeback and then we slipped further down by letting in a second one . "

*Jose Mourinho

"I am happy with my team . This is a difficult place to come and win . We hope to carry forward our form in the main Champions League group stage . I am very happy with the performance of my all players and they completely deserved this win . "

-----------------------------------------------

Levski Sofia: Mihailov ; Aneglov, Minev, Stoichev, Tomasic ; Borimirov(c), Bornosuzov, Bardon, Koprivarov ; Domovchijski(Ogynyanov 59'), Angelov(Vangner 65')
Unused Subs: Mitrev, Topuzakov, Baltanov, Ivanov, Telkijski

Booked: Borimirov

Arsenal: Akinfeyev ; Sagna(Eboue 56'), Gallas, Toure, Silvestre ; Walcott(76'), Fabregas(Bischoff 83'), Nasri, Rosicky(c) ; van Persie, Adebayor
Unused Subs: Almunia, Denilson, Djourou, Merida

Booked: Walcott

Goals: Fabregas 78', Adebayor 82'

Att: 10,365

Ref: Yuriy Valeryevich Baskakov

Man of Match: Cesc Fabregas​

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Nice easy win there. Although the goals came in late!

Good job! KUTGW!

 

[Jaztheman]

Nice start to your season as Manager, Shantanu. Two very good wins with Arsenal playing some very good football. Two away wins aswell which has got to give your team confidence.

Very nice so far Shan, keep it up. Oh and it's Samir Nasri, not Samier by the way.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Arsenal face Arsene's men

Arsenal have been given a competitive Champions League group consisting of Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan, Turkish side Galatasaray and Ukraine Champions Dynamo Kiev . Here is what Peter Hill-Wood had to say about each club in the group .

* INTER MILAN


"This would be a special game for both the teams . As Arsenal would be facing Inter who is being managed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger . It would be a difficult to play against them at the San Siro . The fans over there would be supporting their home side in large numbers . Well surely this is not a child game to play against inter when they have some great stars like Figo, Adriano, Ibramovich etc."

* GALATASARAY


"Galatasaray are a good team but I do think we should pick up three points at home. To be honest I don't think they are the best team in Turkey, I think they are behind Fenerbache but it will be still be tricky on there home turf. They have a good defence so we will have to keep pressing to try and break it down."

* DYNAMO KIEV


"Dynamo Kiev has produced many good players who have now played at the highest level like Shevchenko. They are the league champions and it will always be difficult to play on the home turf in Kiev . I think this would be a tricky tie"

The full draw is as follows:

Group A

1)AC Milan
2)Lyon
3)Sporting Lisbon
4)Austria Vienna

Group B

1)FC Porto
2)Bordeaux
3)Anderlecht
4)Werder Bremen

Group C

1)Inter Milan
2)Arsenal
3)Dynamo Kiev
4)Galatasaray

Group D

1)Real Madrid
2)FC Bayern Munich
3)Benfica
4)Macc. Haifa

Group E

1)Valencia
2)Chelsea
3)CSKA Moscow
4)Derbecen

Group F

1)FC Barcelona
2)AS Roma
3)Ajax
4)FCK

Group G

1)Liverpool
2)PSV Eindhoven
3)AEK Athens
4)Shahtkar

Group H

1)Manchester United
2)Celtic
3)Olympiakos
4)Slovan Liberec
​

 

[Jaztheman]

My predictions:

Group A
1)AC Milan
2)Lyon
3)Sporting Lisbon
4)Austria Vienna

Group B
1)FC Porto
2)Werder Bremen
3)Anderlecht
4)Bordeaux

Group C
1)Arsenal
2)Inter Milan
3)Galatasaray
4)Dynamo Kiev

Group D
1)Real Madrid
2)FC Bayern Munich
3)Benfica
4)Macc. Haifa

Group E
1)Chelsea
2)Valencia
3)CSKA Moscow
4)Derbecen

Group F
1)FC Barcelona
2)AS Roma
3)Ajax
4)FCK

Group G
1)Liverpool
2)PSV Eindhoven
3)AEK Athens
4)Shahtkar

Group H
1)Manchester United
2)Celtic
3)Olympiakos
4)Slovan Liberec

Great presentation Shantanu and nice round up of the update. I think Galatasaray will be harder away than Dinamo Kiev, personally. Hopefully you can do well. None of the English clubs should have a hard time getting through.

Good luck.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

You'll probably win your group. Once again a great update, I haven't commented much but I'm totally following it.