I do a fair bit of boxing. Purely amatuer stuff. Im in a league in Basildon where twice a week 14 guys fight 3x2 minutue rounds. Unlike professional boxing there are no weight divisions, meaning an 8 stone bloke can be put up against a 19 stone bloke. Im 11 stone, boasting a record this season of 6 wins (2 by KO) and 2 defeats. Last week was my second defeat. I had to fight a geezer called Tommy The Tank Engine..........16 fucking stone this cunt went. I got through the first relatively unscathed, even manged to wobble the cunts legs with a sweet uppercut. 13 seconds into the second though, the cunt caught me with a left hook and I was out cold for a minute and half. Preparing for them 6 minutes filled me with fucking pure fear. I knew there was a chance I was gonna get knocked the fuck out and I knew it would hurt. For 2 days before the fight I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep and was just a bag of spanners. It is this feeling, the very same feeling that I feel this morning. My ruck was 2 guys, 2 mates, fucking about in the square ring. Tonight is professional, but there is still a feeling that I am going to get knocked the fuck out, smacked about and made to feel like shit in the morning.
Going into any fight fills you with adreneline - the fight or flight chemical your body releases. My old man brought me up to use this adreneline to your advantage. Fuck the "flight" shit off and use its power to add to the fight. It takes alot of bollocks to do it, but when you do, you feel like fucking superman. So Im trying my hardest to put my old mans tutoring into practice. So no longer do I feel worried or scared...........Im up for a fucking ruck. Fix bayonets, load the shooters, sharpen the blades and fill those socks with batteries.........Im going in.
Most of the talk this morning is centred on Cesc. We still dont know if he'll make it. To be honest, if he was unable to play yesterday, I cannot see him playing tonight. Is it mind games though? I doubt it. Will he play or wont he? All this speculation can only count in our favour. Barca would of accounted for the little spaniard and would of put a game plan together. Will know how to play without Cesc, but do Barca know how to play against us WITHOUT Cesc? I dont think anyone gives Nasri the recognition he deserves when he's playing in his prefferred central role. Barca may well look at the line up without Cesc and overlook Samir. If they do, they could well find themseleves up shit creek without a fucking boat let alone a paddle.
Yes, Im looking for positives, and look hard enough, you'll find them. We are Arsenal, a team, on its day, that is capable of fucking up the best of teams - I see no change tonight. Whilst Barca are not a leaking ship, their hardly rock solid at the back. They have the very efficent Pique. One man dont make a defence. In Spain, its possible to kill a team purely with attacking play. If Barca tried playing that way week in week out in the PL, they'd quickly find themselves conceeding a fucking lot of goals. This is something I think we can exploit tonight. They're gonna come at us from the get go. We can hit them on the break, somthing which we've been fucking awesome at this season - though to keep it in perspective, we've also been hit too many times ourselves in the same way.
In terms of the line up, its still a bit of a mysetry. So may options, though I think we're safe to say our shape wont change.
.................................Alumina.......................................
.....Eboue..............Gallas.... Vermalen............. Clichy.........
...................................Song.........................................
..................Nasri ........................Cesc...........................
..........Walcott...........Bendtner..........Arshavin..................
This is how Id like to see us line up. I think we'll see Sagna drop to the bench in favour of a more attack minded Eboue. Eboue and Walcott on the right gives us so much fucking pace its unreal. Focus Barca on the wing, draw out their wing backs, creating spaces for Nasri and Cesc.
Of course, the more realistic line up is:
.................................Alumina.......................................
.....Eboue..............Gallas.... Vermalen............. Clichy.........
...................................Song.........................................
..................Diaby ........................Cesc...........................
..........Nasri...........Bendtner..........Arshavin..................
Although the pace is no longer there, it brings in Diaby, someone so important in a game like this. If we start like this, Id expect to see Walcott introduced around the hour mark to inject that pace onto a tiring barca defence. Lets face it, Walcott seems to be alot more effective from the bench. Teams just dont seem to be able to handle the sudden change in tempo. Lets hope this is the case tonight.
Plenty of rallying cries in the papers this morning as well. Vermalen stating he aint scared of Messi. I dont want you to be scared of him Tom, I want you to snap the cunt in half, after 12 seconds of play. Sorted.
Wenger himself is the perfect picture of composure. Ive printed this quote out and stuck it to my office wall:
The best way is to first win the game," he said. "Is the ugly way the best way to win? That is where you have to convince me.
"I believe the most efficient way is to play good football and not to kick the ball in the stand, because there is no goal there, the goal is on the pitch.
Is that not fucking poetry? I love the fella. I want his babies.
I could go on all fucking day about potential line ups and tactics, truth be known, it dont fucking matter one iota. Wenger is the gaffer (thank fuck) and this is his headache. As Tony, Apollo's trainer once told Rocky "See! He's just a man! He's not a machine! Be more of a man than him!"
Same applies tonight, Barca have a tag of being the best team in the world. European Champions League and 2 Spanish Domestic Titles as well as the best player in the world makes it hard to argue against that - but they are just a team. And Us? Well, we're the fucking Arsenal.
Im gonna be shitting through the eye of a needle until the full time tonight. COME ON YOU CUNTS!!!!!!!!
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Bayern 2-1 Manc Cunts
92nd minute goal? Mwhahahahahahaha!
Know what fucked me off the most watching this? The commentators arguement that Man U were average. No they fucking wasn't, Bayern were awesome, making them look average. Im fed up with soppy cunts saying that Man U were average and never really played as an excuse to why they lose games. That said, I still fancy them to do it at OT - though if Bayern play like that, ze Germans could well find themselves in the semis.
Lyon 3-1 Bordeaux
What surprised me the most about this was how fucking well Bordeaux played - Chamakh in particular. Speculation that we've already signed him is rife. On last nights performance, its not hard to see why Wenger is a fan.
