Could Arsenal really be CHAMPIONS????

When I saw the startling line up for the Manchester United vs. Arsenal match at old Trafford, I really felt it was a game that would end with the Manchester united fans calling for the head of their in pressure manager Loius Van Gaal (LVG) following the injury flu that struck the Manchester United starting eleven but apparently Arsenal had other plans. A plan they have successfully executed for a number of seasons now.

But mind you the signs were there. This arsenal team had failed to score on their last two outings. One of those being against the best team in the world right now, FC Barcelona. Not much people expected them to win (I know I didn’t) but one would expected that they would score a goal at least given the match was played at the Emirates Stadium. And the other was against Hull who they broke their trophy barren spell against at the FA cup final. Arsenal was expected to make light weight of the championship side but we all know how the match turned out.

Manchester United started the match with Guilermo Valera at right back a 22 year Uruguayan who has only 3 senior caps to his name. Michael Carrick who was United’s captain for the night as a make shift centre back partner for Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo who just recently recovered from an injury completing the back line at left back. Now! nothing says shaky defence more than that backline, but somehow Arsenal let their opponents outscore them with the help of a brace from an 18year old who is surprisingly one of the few players Arsene Wenger doesn’t know and who the match was just his 2nd senior cap the 1st being against FC Midtjylland where he also bagged a brace.

Truth be told nothing says ‘I DON’T WANT TO BE CHAMPIONS’ more. This loss not only set Arsenal back on their title challenge but I think it more or less defined their character. It now leaves them 5 points behind league leaders Leicester, 3 behind London rivals Tottenham and if Manchester city should win their outstanding they would be just one point behind.

Coming into the match Arsene Wenger spoke of his belief that
"there is a better focus and stronger mentality in the current Arsenal squad compared to previous years when their title chances fell away."
But getting into the game Arsenal showed just the opposite, Against a United side that had struggled for goals all season, Arsenal gifted their hosts all three of their goals courtesy of what I call shambolic defending. But that’s not all, after the match Arsene Wenger who should be ashamed of how poorly his team played given they were second best in everything and were just passive during the match as if to say that their greater quality would automatically give them the points said
“Let’s not go overboard. They had a very experienced midfield and spent a lot of money”. He also added
“Yes their strikers were young but they had quality” when asked the impact the defeat would have on the title race he said
“Nobody knows, we dropped three important points today. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. Mathematically what it means, we will know at the end of the season”.


Unfortunately Mr Wenger, I do know, here is the answer to the question everyone has been asking COULD ARSENAL REALLY BE CHAMPIONS? And the answer is NO, not with this type of performances. But there's a saying, "in football, anything is possible" I think Arsene Wenger and Arsenal have to put in a lot of work physically and mentally, if they wanna prove me wrong.

Can Siasia deliver as the new head coach of the Super Eagles?

It came as a shock to supporters of the Nigerian senior team as Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh announced his resignation through his Twitter handle on the early hours of Friday after just 8months of being in charge.
He tweeted
"Due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages, benefits to my players, assistant coaches and myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach"

However, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) immediately had a 3hours long meeting with the Technical and development committee at Abuja and later announced through its website that the former Super Eagles striker and Head Coach of the Dream Team VI, Samson Siasia will lead the team ahead of crucial African Cup of Nation qualifiers against Egypt next month.

Further adding that he[Samson Siasia] will be assisted by Nigeria U20 coach Emmanuel Amuneke, Salisu Yusuf and Alloy Agu. The coaching crew where also directed to work under the office of the NFF Technical Director Shaibu Amodu.

Now, the question that pops into the mind of everybody is "Can Sampson Siasia  deliver?"
Its no doubt that Samson Siasia and Emmanuel Amuneke have a fantastic and awesome record with the Nigerian junior teams but handling the senior team[Super Eagles] will be a very difficult task for the tactician, following the fact that he[Samson Siasia] failed to qualify the Super Eagles to the 2012 AFCON in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea and was also sacked after just 10months in charge.

Also, NFF tweeted on Friday to confirm date of Friendly Match with Brazil. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and the Confideracao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) have confirmed that their U-23 squads will play a friendly match in Brazil on Thursday, March 24, 2016. which is clashing the AFCON qualifier match scheduled for Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016. at Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna where the Super Eagles of Nigeria take on the Pharaohs of Egypt.

With these two clashing hot matches, can Samson Siasia still handle the work load and pressure of Nigerian teams? I must say that the odds are against him and that he needs a miracle. He has to fly back to Nigeria immediately after the International Friendly Match at Brazil or forfeit being present at one of the clashing matches. Considering the preparation the Pharaohs of Egypt are making to qualify ahead of Nigeria and the scandals facing the Nigerian senior team together with NFF, the Nigerian fans should have their fingers crossed.

Arsenal Fans reaction after Barcelona loss

Following the 2-0 Barcelona defeat at home, Arsenal's chances of reaching the UEFA Champions league quarter final grows very impossible.

An arsenal fan tweeted "deep down we always knew barca was gonna win, they're are the team to beat this season, so there's no reason to be vexing"

And further adding that stopping MSN (Messi, Suarez, Neymar) was always gonna look impossible for the arsenal defense. But funny enough I thought they were gonna pull it off still it came to the closing 20minutes of the match when they were struck with a fantastic counter attack by MSN.

Lionel Messi struck twice in the closing 20minutes of the match for FC Barcelona, to earn the defending champions a huge advantage following the return leg match at Camp Noun in a month's time.