Mr. Wenger pops into Singapore for a night.

Block 93, Upper Tier

Another trip to The Emirates.

One of the perks of the job is that I get to watch The Arsenal 'Live' in action at their home ground.

Luck would have it that the match was going on general sale while I am in London. After a few keystrokes I had booked myself a seat at The Emirates Stadium for the showdown between Arsenal and Burnley.

The Sunday started out well enough. I took a

 short tube ride to Holloway Road station on a crisp morning. The Arsenal scarf wrapped snugly around my neck, I was ready for an afternoon of FA Cup action.

The stadium was but a short walk away and I quicken my pace, eager to get hold of the ticket to the match. Alas, I was early there. So across the Armoury I went for a quick breakfast of beef fried rice and milk tea. For 4 quid it is good value.

The atmosphere at the stadium was festive, the small group of away fans of Burnley FC made their presence felt. It's nice to see the fans turn up to support their local team, no matter their rankings in the league. 

After receiving my booked ticket from the reservation booth, it was a bit of window shopping at the Armoury. The new spring/summer collection of Arsenal merchandise just came out and people were in long lines snapping them up. I had to bite my tongue, held on to my credit cards and came out of the store unscathed.

Anyways the journey was the watch The Arsenal in action. Climbing the few steps up to my seat, I was looking forward to seeing The Red Army in action.

The view was magnificant, it was like watching the match on a gazillion-inch TV. Lest I do a bad job at commentating about the match, here's a link to it.

Arsenal 3 Burnley 0

All in all, I am impressed with Bacary Sanga's workrate, Kieren Gibbs' defending, and even Emannuel Eboue, who seem like a new player! The goals scored were so...Arsenal. Alexander Song, though not a Fabregas did put in both assist that led to Edu and Eboue's goals. I caught flashes of our new Russian Andrey Arshavin's brilliance too. 

As Siren says,"Even Eboue scored!". 

The temperature after the match dropped a few more degrees, but I was feeling all warm inside. Arsenal are slowly getting back on track, one match at a time.

Ooh to be a Gooner!

2 down..1 to go

Yeahhhh!!!

Cheat$ki 1 Arsenal 2

15minutes of joy...

Set my alarm for 3.30am to watch a "Live" Champions League match.

Only got up at 20mins before end of the match.

Still I turned on the computer and click on my favourite "watch-football-for-free-so-don't-have-to-pay-those-bloodsuckas" channel.

A quick and sublime free kick on the 86th minute by newly (deservedly too?) appointed Captain Cesc Fabregas up the field picked out an advancing Nicklas Bendtnar to score the only goal that takes Arsenal to the top of Group G.


I didn't see how the match was 75minutes before this, but am damn glad I still climbed outta bed to watch 15 minutes of football...

1-nil to the Arsenal!!

Hush, you naysayers...

Nobody gave us a chance. Even a fan in the entertainment line was not too kind when talking about us.

The papers? Well, they would do anything to sell a few extra copies, by appealing to the lowest common denominator. So called "local football analyst" spouting bullshite nonsense in the afternoon paper, while the rest gave a more even tempered view.

Interestingly, a friend observed that there were less followers in their club colours than ours. Guess it goes a long way in distinguishing between the pride of a staunch faithful and one who chose to go with the blinking masses.

All huddled in our home ground, with wings flying and beer flowing, we chanted the club's tune over and over and over again. Every move met with either gasps or cheers, every decision met with derision from us.

In the end, we came out tops and laughing. Many did not want to leave, hoping the 90-odd minutes will be replayed over and over again.

This was a night for the faithful, for the believers, for the Gooners...

Arsenal 2 Man United 1

Let's see what they have to write about us on Sunday...

Once upon a time...

So there I was, stumped at how I'm gonna capture the attention of the small but important audience in the room.

The presentation slide was staring back at me, the words daring me to repeat them back to the floor. The fonts challenging me to a battle for the attention of the audience. It was threatening to turn into a borefest.

A friend sits me down to tell me as much during the rehearsal. I had 30 minutes before the real thing starts. It was counting down to the last 15 when it struck me.

Tell a story. One that I know well, where I know the characters inside out. One that would engage them, and tickle their funny bones at times. One that would inspire them, lift them out from the mundane dribble that was 10 minutes worth of slides before me.

I told them the story of Arsenal Football Club.

Fitting it into my presentation got much easier as the minutes went by. I was not reading from an index card, I didn't have to regurgitate boring facts. My audience were not dozing off.

Best of all. I was enjoying myself. At the end of my presentation, I got approving nods from my important guests, and rousing applause from my classmates.

Thank you Arsenal FC. You saved my ass.

To a fantastic 12 years at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger!

Top o' the League

We are top o' the league!!


Say we are top o' the league!!

How much for your John Hancock?

Being an Arsenal fan invariably means buying the home and away jersey every season. I know of a local fan who even buys the matching socks!

I've always resisted from printing players' names/numbers on the back of the jersey. Not only does it add to the already pricey garment, I find that my allegiance is to the Club, and not a player.

Sure, I will always have something to say about one player or another. However, the contracts they sign are as worthless as paper towels as soon as they are suckered into a huger payout somewhere else.

Which is why I am not over the moon with Adebayor's "commitment" to the Club with his newly-signed long term contract. The guy who got himself in the news for all the wrong reasons during the off-season. The guy who can't figure out how to beat the offside trap. The guy who can't control the ball effectively. The guy who fancies himself to be the next Henry of Arseanal ( and tries to emulates his moves, but FAILS!). The guy who lets his agent runs roughshod over the Club that gave him a chance.

I'd much rather take a closer look at RvP's return to fitness, look forward to Eduardo's rebirth, Bendtner's partnership up front with any other striker, the fringe players that Arsene's gonna put on the field ...

And this guy

Samir Nasri

The season's gonna be damn watchable...

Gunning for the Kick Off!!

It's finally here, the best sporting event on TV.

No. Not the Olympics, but the English Premier League!!

Regular service will carry on from here on. Weekends will be spent following my Arsenal, topics with the boys (and some girls) will revolve around the play of the week, Arsenal fan sites like Arseblog, A Cultured Left Foot, and our local Siren will be refreshed countless times.

Obviously, the season will focus on Arsene's non-spending during the summer break. His stubborness not to spend on big names, whether its due to finances or not, has given many a young faces a place in the first XI that are most would not dare to dream of in other big European clubs.

To recap, I didn't start following Arsenal because of the trophies it has picked up in its long history. I am a visual person. And when I first saw TH14 bring a ball, seemingly attached to his feet, all the way from his own half to the other, and calmly slot in a goal, I was hooked.

I was to find out, 3 years on, that the beauty of Arsenal's football has a lot to do with one person's philosophy, his altruistic vision, and knack for spotting unknown, unproven talent when they are young (and spitting them out when they are past their prime!) .

I have visited the hallowed grounds, spent a small fortune watching their matches, and even swallowed my pride to sit in the away section once. Memorabilia of the Club is slowly filling up one of my room in my flat.

Having a local fan club helps to fuel my allegiance to the Club. The fact that we can use it to do some good work for the community is a nice touch too. Match days at The Liz is an attack in all one's senses. The singing, the crowd, the food and drinks.

One big happy Arsenal family.

There are more passionate, hardcore fans out there, but I'll do it in my own "mild-tempered" ways.

Come on Arsenal!!

April "Pool" Days

I must admit I was concerned about SgGooner ending his blog. Even till the time I met him, I was trying to convince him to keep it going, perhaps with additional authors added to form his blogging team.

Until I read this...

SgGooner - And for my next trick

I thought, as adults, we were over this April Fools' jerking joking around. Nice to know some people still have the sense of humour to play it though.

Me? I sent flowers to the office. Dunno whether the florist/recipient thought it was a joke on my part, cuz I haven't heard from either yet...



So Arsenal plays against Liverpool thrice this month. I will miss the first 2 of the trilogy of matches, due to my work schedule. I was gonna pack my pillow and get ready to cosy it up at The Liz, but then someone has to be serving the ingrates passengers on a full flight, right?

So while I'm 40, 000 feet up in the air, I am hoping that;

• RvP to score more after he put in his 1st during the Bolton match
• Cesc finds his form back and scores from midfield
• The backline to contain Torres

Will rush to tune in to any updates about the match as soon as I touchdown in Johannesburg.

Kids doing the darndest things

The Haven visits Modesto's.

Hosted by Arsenal Singapore

Head and shoulders above Ade

I was standing outside of the Liz pub by then. Then it happened.

A penalty was awarded to Spuds. Keane took his shot. Almunia saves it!!

More was to come. Bendtner came on for Eboue right before Cesc took a corner at the Spuds half. The match was gonna turn around, I could feel it.

Will let the video speak for itself.





Start the boy along RvP I say!!

Worth staying up for...

I cannot do as well as SgGooner or Siren for match reports. So only in point form la.

• My favourite goal, check out the cross from Bendtner!

• Bendtner is looking very good to me at the moment, start him alongside RvP, at least give him 60min la.

• Eduardo has proven to be the fox in the box.

• Alex Song is doing a Toure, defending decently but goes up too high up the pitch too often for my liking.

• Fabianski looks like a future No.2 in the making.

• Oh, and Robbie Savage is a c**t, as usual.

10 boys!
We only need 10 boys!!

Blonde Hero, as witnessed by an Aussie Gooner

What a night out.

Arsenal had all of their injured back, whom while still rusty, provided the impetus we needed to perform like we should do. Almunia was in top form, and he kept us in the match with his point blank saves and that tip over from Shev-whatawasteofmoney-chenko in the dying minutes of the match.

My man of the match.




Other than that, it was business as usual. The ref had stamps on both his eyes, and Ashley Cole is a true, true wanker. He should've been carded and got a red in the dying seconds, but as mentioned before, the ref had his blinkers on.

I met up with Cyrus from Melbourne. He found my posts on Arsenal Australia forum and decided to come over to watch some real football after that pathetic show by Liverpool at Anfield, which he watched at the Cavern. I dare say that he was impressed, especially with the girls who actually knew what was going on on the pitch.

He will make his appearance on the Singapore forum soon enough...

We are top of the league
We are top of the league...

A warm, fuzzy feeling

Usually I spend much time online doing a whole lot of nothing.

Past few days I have been hammering at the keyboard like a crazed monkey, sending out emails left, right, centre.

The reason being Arsenal Singapore is trying to put together an event for some young teenagers from The Salvation Army's The Haven on 12th Jan '08.

"The Haven is a residential home for abandoned, abused and neglected children, mostly referred to The Salvation Army for care by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports."



Yours truly here have been tasked to put things together.

My inexperience showed, right from the first email I sent out; it's always better to call the organization up first before sending out the email, so I've been told.

That and other helpful tips has got me closer to achieving the club's objective of not only being a supporters' club, but a supporters' club that cares for the community as well.

There are flyers to be printed, volunteers to be canvassed, equipment to be borrowed, activities to be planned out...

I actually am feeling quite useful in all this, it's been a while now.

I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough...

Arsenal 5 Derby County 0

Yes, 5. Count them all!

If I had 10 mins to live...

This is what I'd be watching

Moblog: WTF!!

Arsenal v Sevilla was coming on when this happened!

Perhaps I was too trigger happy when I went on to cancel my sports channel subscription...

Spuds 1 Arsenal 3

We have an active forum in Arsenal Singapore. Many Gooners head there for the latest in all things Arsenal, and then some.

Recently though, a troll has made its appearance and the so called "flame wars" began. It is not something I am proud to see in a forum that I often visit and contribute to. It is all right if one who puts up posts are fans from another football club, but if you can't be constructive, at least be friendly.

Anyways, boohoo to the Spuds fans who thought this was a clash of the titans, or David versus Goliath. It was more like taking candy from a child.

Martin Jol may just be updating his resume now... Darren Bent? That dude should spend some of the ridiculous transfer fee they spent on him on a big pair of glasses; it was an OPEN goal dude!!


No matter, the Gunners put their poor cousins in their rightful place, and are top of the league at the moment with 1 match in hand.

Just wished the Gooners who watched this were at The Liz.

FYI: Just cancelled my sports channel. Save the money for beer more worth it.

Let's party like its..2011!!

Wenger will be with there when we lift the silverware!!