Author: GoonerJohn

Thierry Henry is of the opinion that the club still needs to bring can as much as for top players

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is of the opinion that the club still needs to bring can as much as for top players in order to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.

Arsenal have brought in Petr Cech for £ 11 million as their only major signing of the summer. Goalkeeper position was seen as an important area of concern during the summer transfer window and many fans have been happy with this new signing.Cech has been the first choice at Chelsea for more than a decade and he is still a world-class goalkeeper.

However, Henry has recalled that Chelsea finished last season a whopping 12 points ahead of Arsenal and this gap is unlikely to be closed anytime soon if Cech remains the only major signing for the gunners in this transfer window. Olivier Giroud had a major role to play in Arsenal finishing third in the table, but the Frenchman missed a good portion of the first half due to injury.

In his absence, the club was not able to find any replacement goal scorer, in spite of being linked with plenty by the Transfer Rumours website. After they have sold Lukas Podolski, the situation has only worsened. Henry has identified a striker – amongst other positions – that need strengthening almost immediately. Continue reading Thierry Henry is of the opinion that the club still needs to bring can as much as for top players

Can Arsenal resurrect their Champions League campaign?

You would have felt confident upon looking at who the Champions League group stage draw had pitted Arsenal again, but although there is no such thing as easy games in football, the Gunners have made a real mess of what should have been a safe progression to the knock-out phases. Back-to-back defeats against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos have left us with a mountain to climb, especially when you consider Arsene Wenger has to prepare his team for a double-header against the formidable force of Bayern Munich.

Pep Guardiola’s side appear more ruthless than ever before, with Robert Lewandowski’s astonishing goal-scoring form for club and country, including five in just nine minutes in Bayern’s 5-1 rout of Wolfsburg, making him Europe’s leading striker. We should try hard not to take a downbeat attitude into the first meeting at the Emirates, but with Arsenal’s European hopes hanging by a thread, it could require a monumental effort to overturn the Bundesliga champions in our own back yard. Continue reading Can Arsenal resurrect their Champions League campaign?

Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona

Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona.

The defender scored his fourth appearance for the Catalan club, who managed a 1-0 win over Malaga as a result. The former Arsenal defender failed to make any sort of an impact last season as he was injured throughout the campaign. Now, though, he has spoken in length about how he wants to repay the faith of the Barcelona supporters. Vermaelen was a £ 16 million signing from Arsenal last summer. He was brought to the club as the replacement for Carlos Puyol.

His return to the first-team could not have come at a better time since Barcelona are short on numbers especially at the back. Sky Sports pundit Terry Gibson claims that the Belgian international feels like a new signing for the reigning while the champions. At 29 years of age, he still has the ability to deliver for a few number of years at the top level. Barcelona needed a quality centre back in order to avoid overreliance upon Gerard Pique or Javier Mascherano. Gibson says that Vermaelen has always remained a quality player and he is surprised with how Arsenal fans still doubt him. Continue reading Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona

Michael Platini plays a cruel joke on Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen

Even though Thomas Vermaelen did not play a single match or a single minute of European football in the previous season, the Belgium defender was still awarded with a Champions League medal.

Vermaelen was signed by Barcelona for a transfer fee of €15 million on August of 2014 but the defender still hasn’t proved his worth to the Spanish club as Vermaelen has been plagued with a number of injuries that have forced him to stay out of action for the majority of the season.

It doesn’t look like Barcelona has needed Vermaelen to be in form as the Spanish club has still managed to win all the major trophies that they competed on including: La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.

Vermaelen did not an important role in Barcelona’s treble but the Belgium player was still given a taste of success as he received medals of the Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League and after searching around football websites, Vermaelen is recognized as a holder of these pieces of silverware despite being absent from almost all of them. Continue reading Michael Platini plays a cruel joke on Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen

Vermaelen’s career at Barcelona is getting demolished due to injuries

Thomas Vermalen signed a 5 year long contract with Barcelona on August of 2014 but the Belgium defender has not managed to make a single league appearance for his new club due to a recurring hamstring injury.

A few weeks ago, Vermaelen was seen in the training grounds with the rest of his teammates of Barcelona and it was rumored that the player was going to be featured for the remaining matches of the season but the 29 year old defender still has not made a league appearance for the team of Luis Enrique.

This isn’t the first time that Vermalen has had to sit on the sidelines of a club for a significantly long period of time as this has occurred in the past when he was a player of Arsenal and was not able to play for a large amount of matches due to consistent injuries.

€15 million is the price that Barcelona had to pay in order to sign Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal and this is a very high amount of money for a player who still has not performed in a competitive match since having been signed. Continue reading Vermaelen’s career at Barcelona is getting demolished due to injuries

ARSENAL HAVE A CHANCE

You would have laughed if somebody had told you at the start of the New Year that in three months’ time, Arsenal would be in a position to give Chelsea a run for their money for the Premier League title, but, that’s what has happened.

The Gunners have been unpredictable in the Premier League in the recent times. They always tend to play differently in the two halves of the season. Continue reading ARSENAL HAVE A CHANCE

Barcelona not concerned about Thomas Signing

Barcelona have stated that they are not worried about the fact that summer signing Thomas Vermaelen has not been able to feature in a single match for the club so far. The Belgian international was seen as the popular replacement for Carlos Puyol, who retired at the end of last season.

Vermaelen may not have been an Arsenal first-team regular for the last 12 months, but he has undeniable quality that propelled him to the position of being one of the top defenders in the Premier League upon his £ 10 million arrival from Ajax.

The 29-year-old has not been able to make a start for his new club, Barcelona. However, this does not put him in a difficult mental state. This is largely because Barcelona appear to have convinced Vermaelen that he remains an integral part of the team despite his continued absence. The club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizaretta has revealed that Barcelona were aware that the player had a fair bit of injury problems even before signing for the club. Hence, he is confident that the Belgian international will be ready to play top-level football sooner rather than later. Continue reading Barcelona not concerned about Thomas Signing

Arsenal line up move for Martinez

Colombian striker Jackson Martinez could be set for a move to the Premier League with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger heaping praise on the FC Porto man ahead of his side’s FA Cup match against Middlesbrough.

The Gunners have been linked with the 28 year old striker, who played for Colombia in last summer’s World Cup for quite some time as they look for a top quality man to partner Frenchman Olivier Giroud up front. Continue reading Arsenal line up move for Martinez

Luis Enrique wont criticize for his Players

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique says that he cannot criticise the performance put in by his players in the recent 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid. This was a must win match for his team given that they needed to recover from the 1-0 defeat against Real Sociedad in the previous league match.

The victory was an essential in order to keep in touch with Real Madrid. Barcelona failed to take advantage of Madrid losing their last league match, but there were no repeats this time around. Despite playing against a very confident Atletico Madrid team who are defending the title, Barcelona dominated the match from start to finish.

The mouth-watering combination of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar were once again paired up front. Continue reading Luis Enrique wont criticize for his Players

Thierry Henry quits from Football

Thierry Henry finally called it a day after entertaining the whole world with his magical soccer skills for a period of almost two decades.

The Frenchman would now make his way to England where he would be working as an analyst for the official broadcaster of the Premier League.

Henry must be really satisfied with his achievements as a player. There would hardly have been anything that he did not do on the football pitch. Any young player coming up would dream to have a career like him.

Henry used to intimidate the opposition back line with his presence especially in the in the late years of the last decade when he was in his prime playing for the Gunners.

And, the thing which separates Henry from some of the other great footballers is that he has left football on a high.

There have been some greats in the past who continued their career until they hit the rock bottom, but, not Henry.

Whichever club Henry went to, he happened to be successful. Yes, a few months that he spent at Juventus in 1999, that might not be his best, but, if that is barred, he served each and every club, that he was a part of, magnificently well.

Most of Henry’s success came during his stay at the Emirates Stadium. The French legend shook the net 228 times in different tournaments for Arsenal and to date; there is nobody who has scored more goals than that in the Gunners’ shirt.

Henry had great careers at Barcelona and New York Red Bulls too, but, he would be remembered by the Football fraternity as an Arsenal legend.

Henry also played more than 100 matches for Les Blues. His last international appearance was in 2010 versus South Africa.