Lay Off Aaron Ramsey

The abuse I've seen thrown at Aaron Ramsey lately has been a sick joke.

Some of it has even bordered on things I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemy.

I couldn't believe my eyes at some of the stuff I've seen. I mean death threats?! Over a game of football?! Come on behave yourself.

That kind of shit has no place anywhere, let alone football.

Putting that aside he also has taken a lot of stick for his performances in a very unnecessary way.

People saying he is 'shit' isn't going to get him very far is it?

Aaron is a young man of 21 years of age. Just a baby really.

There is no need to destroy him. A little bit of constructive criticism is fine. But don't make him into a scapegoat because of your frustrations.

Take the game against Swansea, I thought he was below-par. But I tell you something, he certainly didn't hide and still wanted the ball despite not playing well.

That says a lot for me. The best players don't hide and although I wouldn't rank Ramsey alongside the best in the world, yet, he certainly has the character of one of them.

Some people forget he suffered a career threatening injury and was out for a long time with it. Just for him to actually be playing football again is a miracle.

We need to remember that and we need to remember he is a year behind in his progression as a footballer.

I think some people are annoyed that Cesc Fabregas left the club and that Ramsey is his supposed replacement.

But they are two completely different types of player. You can't compare them because Cesc was a one-off. Cesc is a genius.

Lately some of us Gooners seem to love someone to have a pop at. Eboue, Bendtner and even Arshavin have been victims. I've even seen Per Mertesacker get unfair stick.

Lets not start to dig Aaron Ramsey out too. People need to lay off him because he has all the attributes to be a top player.

Trust me, Aaron Ramsey is a gem and I am glad that we have him at Arsenal Football Club.

I'd hate to see him go somewhere else and become the talent I'm sure he will be.

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Wayne Rooney Over Robin van Persie Is A Disgrace!

On a serious, and I mean se-ri-ous level, I have no idea how Wayne Rooney could have been voted into the FIFA World XI over Robin van Persie.

Apparently over 50,000 professional footballers from across the world submitted their votes for the World XI team. And somehow, Rooney was voted in.

How did this happen? Did Rooney send round a few glamorous OAP call girls to each and every player to seal the deal because I am baffled?!

Robin van Persie has had one of the best years ever seen in the English Premier Leagues stinking existence. His performances, not to mention his goal tally, have been unbelievable.

The only player (in England) that has got near to his level of play has been David Silva of Manchester City, who has also been phenomenal over 2011. But he is a midfielder, a different position.

Wayne Rooney is a great player but he hasn't touched Robin van Persie over the course of the year. So how he stood side-by-side with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (as strikers) in the FIFA World XI stumps me.

It may seem like sour grapes because I am a Gooner but did Rooney actually do the counting of votes? I only ask as I doubt he can count over 20 because he'd run out of fingers and toes.

In my opinion, the only players who has performed above the Arsenal man over 2011 are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Those two have been unstoppable and are on another level to anyone.

Robin van Persie should have been stood alongside those two and claimed his rightful place in the top 3 strikers of the world. Not Wayne Rooney.

I bet something dodgy went on there. 

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Salomon Kalou-Oo To Be A Gooner?

Twitter (Follow me on @_Wrighty7) and the interweb is buzzing like a bumble bee today that Chelsea man Salomon Kalou could be on the move to Arsenal.

Now I believe this is the sort of deal that will be like Marmite to Gooners. Some will like it, and some will hate it.

I happen to think that Kalou would be a very good signing for the club. And if the reported fee of £3m is true then we have got a real bargain.

Of course I concede that the Ivorian isn't the 'Galactico' transfer that a lot of Arsenal fans want Wenger to make, but he is a proven EPL player. And a decent one at that.

Arsenal's style of play would suit Kalou as much as a sarong suits David Beckham. Very well indeed.

He is rapid, works hard, can score goals, and is very versatile. Kalou wouldn't need time to adapt to England, and from what I have read in the past, would love to join us.

What more do you want?

The fact that Chelsea want him to sign a new contract with them speaks volumes to me. They clearly still want him there, so if they rate him surely he isn't the 'shit player' I've seen him called?

This is the sort of signing I can see Wenger making. Yes it may appear like another stingy deal, but Kalou is a player that the Arsenal gaffer has admired from afar for a long time.

Kalou has six months left on his current Chelsea deal. Arsene is not being 'tight' nor is he hunting round the bargain bucket again.

This a real opportunity to gain a decent acquisition to the squad at a very good price.

Put it this way, if S*urs signed Salomon Kalou for £3m then I would be very pissed off and would question why Arsenal didn't.

Wouldn't you?

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Arsenal Need This FA Cup

Being realistic the FA Cup is the last throw of the dice for Arsenal to win silverware this season.

We have as much chance of winning the league as Frank Lampard trying Diet Coke, are out of the pint of Carling Cup and the way Barcelona are playing UEFA may as well hand them the Champions League trophy now.

Now I know that Arsene Wenger counts getting into the aforementioned Champions League as a trophy but I don't.

You can not hold Champions League qualification above your head to thousands of Gooners like a cup can you?

That's why I think Arsenal need to win the FA Cup this season more than ever.

Arsenal need a trophy to shake that trophy-less monkey from our backs. We need to shake that little bastard hard.

People say that the FA Cup is a little disrespected these days, that it takes a back seat in the priorities. Well, I'd agree with that.

Maybe to get the magic of the cup back it needs a little shake up.

Perhaps the winners should gain entry into the Champions League instead of 4th place in the league?

Then, if we won it, I'd actually agree with Wenger that getting into the Champions League was like winning a trophy!

Whatever the case, Arsene must take the FA Cup even more serious than ever.

In the past the Arsenal gaffer and the FA Cup had a love affair deeper than the Mariana Trench. He loved the cup and the cup loved him.

We need that passion back. We need the FA Cup to flirt with Wenger and bring out his romantic side again because I truly believe winning it would launch Arsenal into competing again.

Arsenal just lack that winning mentality. That's why losing the Carling Cup final last season had such a deep impact on the rest of the season. We collapsed in a spectacular way after that defeat.

Who knows? If we had won that final we may have gone on and had another historic season.

This campaign hasn't been ideal for Gooners. At times I have wanted to pull my hair out and find a little bloke to beat up. Unless he is hard.

Winning the FA Cup would be wonderful. We need it. We need it bad.

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Arsenal Should Raid The Bundesliga Again. And Then Again.

As we know the transfer window is open and that means its silly season time again.

Arsenal will be linked with every Tom, Dick and Harry from the Tombs of the Nobles to Outer 'order' Mongolia.

Some of the rumours will make you laugh, others you can take more seriously.

Lukas Podolski is a player that Arsene Wenger is supposedly looking at. And by all accounts he is a serious possibility.

If the German joined the club I should imagine that at least 99% of Gooners would be happy with his arrival.

He would be welcomed to the home of football by his compatriot Per Mertesacker, who I think should start talking about Podolski's Arsenal DNA in the press.

I read today, and was quite intrigued, that Wenger was looking at a Bayern Munich player too.

For a change it wasn't Franck Ribery, a player mooted to join the Gunners by Nostradamus in 1547.

It was a winger though, and a very good one at that.

Arjen Robben is that player. 

Now whether or not there is any substance to the Dutchman rumours I don't know, but I would welcome him to the club with open arms.

I know that Robben is a bit of bitch at times, to say he doesn't like getting stuck in is an understatement, but there is no doubting his quality.

Of course he has had injury problems in recent years so that would be a worry, especially with our injury record!

However with Theo Walcott's contract situation, and Andrei Arshavin's lack of form, Arsenal could do with a decent wide signing.

Some will dislike Robben's Chelsea connections but personally I wouldn't give a shit about that and if it meant he would sign then I would go collect him myself.

I have no doubt that Robin van Persie would be over the moon if Robben joined and if Lukas Podolski signed too he would probably pen a new contract within seconds.

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St Totteringham's Day Or Champions League?

When I look at the league table I get a shudder down my spine.

Of course S*urs sitting higher than us in the league table contributes to that shudder massively, but what really causes that horrible feeling is that we sit outside the Champions League places.

Now don't get me wrong, the thought of that lot finishing above us is indeed truly horrific. It hasn't happened since I started puberty in 1995 so I guess it is taken for granted.

But the most important thing, in my opinion, is that Arsenal qualify for next seasons Champions League. Even if that means finishing below S*urs.

I have no doubt that there will be Gooners aghast having read that and I fully understand why. I just feel the most important thing for the club is too be involved in the most elite European competition.

Maybe we have started to believe we have a divine and holy right to be in the Champions League as we have been involved in it for so many years. It becomes something we can take for granted.

But believe me, you have to earn your right to play alongside the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Apoel Nicosia season after season. 

For 14 years we have earned our place amongst the cream of Europe and I want to be there again next season regardless if St Totteringham's Day happens this campaign or not.

Some of my pals are Spuds and the banter can be quite amusing. One thing I love taking the piss out of them about is the fact they compare themselves to us all the time.

  

For me, there is no comparison. Check the history. They are in our shadow and the Rafa Benitez fact of the day is they would rather finish above Arsenal than win the league.

Over the the years they have become infatuated with us and truly believe finishing higher than Arsenal is the be-all and end-all. Lets not become like them

Our ambitions have always been higher so I am not going to start worrying about them. 

Years and years have gone by since they finished above us and one day it is bound to happen. 

They think it's wrapped up for them already and that's fine by me. Personally I believe that the Premiership is a marathon, not a sprint. There is a long time to go and football is a funny 'ol game.

So I am not panicking any time soon and the only time I will be is if our Champions League place is very much on the line.

Despite S*urs making massive strides and impressing, I actually think they will blow up sooner or later and we will catch them. 

But if we didn't, and if that was the case, I would sacrifice St Totteringhams all day long to make sure we were in the Champions League.

Or maybe we should get the Lasagne out again.

Follow me on Twitter @_Wrighty7

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