Gooner Talk

Important contributions and some solid performances for Arsenal have earned Cameroonian midfielder Alex Song GoonerTalk.com’s Player of the Month award for November.

How Alex Won The Award

The 21-year-old defensive midfielder started the month with a loss at Premier League newcomers Stoke City. After Ricardo Fuller’s first half goal, French tactician Arsene Wenger introduced Dutch maestro Robin van Persie looking to add some power and class to the Gunners attack. It didn’t happen, and after conceding goal number two, van Persie kicked out at ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen and got his marching orders.

A poor start for Alex, and Arsenal’s inconsistent form didn’t help him. Fenerbahce travelled to the Emirates next and after putting ten men behind the ball for the majority of the match, Luis Aragones’ side forged a 0-0 draw out of a drab game – Robin van Persie came frustratingly close for Arsenal after hitting the upright in the first half.

Samir Nasri proved to be the star of the show as the Gunners triumphed 2-1 over a tough Manchester United team. The Frenchman bagged an astonishing brace after some pin-point Arsenal pass and move work brought a deserved three points home. Alex once again impressed, and protected Arsenal’s backline astutely.

The win against United coupled with drab defeats at Villa and Man City pretty much summed up Arsenal’s season so far. However, after a 1-0 win at the hands of Kyiv, Alex’s season was set to get started – big time.

West London minnows Chelsea hosted the might of Arsenal and it proved to be a tricky but fairly comfortable evening for Alex. After conceding a own-goal close to half time, Robin van Persie came out in the second half and immediately made an impact. His first chance was arguably offside, but Robin smashed it into the top corner of the rippling net and made it 1-1. Then, just 4 minutes later, the Dutchman struck again, this time with a turn and shot, a superb way to win the game and grab all three points.

An improved month for Alex, and there’s surely more to come from the tough-tackling midfield star, Gooner Talk look forward to following Alex’s progress throughout the season.

Theo Walcott’s sparkling form for Arsenal has earned the teenager the GoonerTalk.com Player of the Month award for October.

How Theo Won The Award

The 19-year-old started the month in decent fashion putting in a hard-shift against Roy Keane’s dogged and determined Sunderland team and despite going 1-0 down, Cesc Fabregas headed an equaliser in the dying seconds of added stoppage time.

Things improved for the England whizkid two weeks later when he was given another start at Everton by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger – a sign of the Frenchman’s continued faith in Walcott – and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Theo wrapped up a comeback for the North London giants in the final few minutes with a crisp effort struck past Tim Howard.

It was to get even better for Theo though, as Arsenal took on Turkish giants Fenerbahce – a team unbeaten on their home turf for over 17 games. Emmanuel Adebayor gave Wenger’s side the lead before Walcott doubled the Gunners’ tally in the most extraordinary of fashion’s from an acute angle. The Ashburton Grove-based side capped off a fine peformance in the second half coming out unbelievable 5-2 winners.

Two London Derbies were to follow for England’s most promising young star as Arsenal travelled to Upton Park for a game against a weakened West Ham team. Gianfranco Zola made sure his new club pressured and held their line, but when Theo Walcott came racing through on goal before unleashing a spectacular shot that hit the crossbar, he knew his luck wasn’t going to be in for long. Togolese frontman Emmanuel Adebayor scored two decisive efforts which won the game late on.

Walcott’s final game of the month came at home in the first North London derby. Harry Redknapp worked wonders with Portsmouth last season, claiming the FA Cup for the South Coast side for the first time since 1939, he managed to work those same sort of wonders at the Emirates.

Trailing to David Bentley’s stunning opener, Arsenal exposed Spurs’ weakness at defending set-pieces to lead through Mikael Silvestre and William Gallas. Emmanuel Adebayor added his obligatory goal – he now has eight from seven starts before Darren Bent pulled one back. Robin van Persie netted his 50th goal for Arsenal to make it 4-2, but Spurs have a new resilience under Redknapp and Jermaine Jenas’ late strike gave them hope before Lennon struck at the death.

A superb month for young Theo, and there’s surely more to come from the teenager, Gooner Talk look forward to following Theo’s progress throughout the season.

Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner has won Gooner Talk’s Player of the Month award for September after his fantastic contribution in the Arsenal side.

Bendtner – who struck up a magnificent strike partnership with Mexican Carlos Vela – joined Arsenal from FC Copenhagen during the summer of 2005.

In August 2006, he moved to Birmingham City on a season-long loan, but returned to the Gunners in time for the 2007/08 campaign after impressing at St Andrews.

He scored his first league goal against arch-rivals Tottenham in December 07, and continued his impressive development for the rest of the season.

How Nicklas won the award

Nicklas started the month rested after sustaining a knock whilst on International duty for Denmark. He quickly bounced back from that and made an impact after coming on for Robin van Persie against Dynamo Kiev.

Little did he know, Bendtner’s biggest impact was to happen in the next two games. Against Bolton Wanderers, the 21-year-old capitalised on some slack defending to tap home past Jussi Jaaskelainen. Earlier on in that game, he set up Emmanuel Adebayor who subsequently smashed his shot straight onto the post.

Next up, was Sheffield United at home in the Carling Cup. Out came the young Guns and Bendtner was welcome back into the side along with strike partner Carlos Vela. The latter grabbed a hatrick while Bendtner scored a brace, the first with a placed finish outside the box, while the second was scored after a neat backheel from Aaron Ramsey.

Arsenal’s defeat to Hull City was the worst result of the season so far, and Nicklas managed to catch the eye with some decent passing and play, unfortunately the score didn’t change and the players went in disappointed after a poor days work.

Against Porto, Nicklas came on and immediately made an impact by winning a penalty. Freddy Guarin hacked down the Dane and up stepped Emmanuel Adebayor who finished with aplomb.

A fantastic month for Bendtner, and there’s surely more to come from the young Danish starlet.

Midfield maestro Samir Nasri has claimed the first of Gooner Talk’s Player of the Month award’s after a magnificent debut month in an Arsenal shirt.

The 21-year-old, who made two appearances as a substitute for France during Euro 2008, signed a “long-term” contract with the Gunners two months ago for a reported fee of £13.5million.

Nasri, who has been dubbed the new Zinedine Zidane, joined Marseille as a nine-year-old and made his league debut during the 2004-2005 season.

He can play on either wing or through the centre and won the French First Division’s Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 2006/2007 campaign, as well as being voted Marseille’s Player of the Year by supporters.

How Samir won the award

Samir begun his Premier League campaign in the most awesome of fashions with an early debut goal against West Brom.

A fantastic well-worked goal from the Frenchman, and there was much more to come from Samir in the following three fixtures for the Gunners.

An abysmall away defeat to Fulham mean’t that Arsenal dropped early points in the League. Despite this, Nasri continued to impress and proved to one of the most consistent performers in the side.

Nasri’s big moment came in the return leg of Arsenal’s Champions League qualifier against FC Twente. Samir scored the first goal after neat footwork which took him into the box before striking a sweet shot under the rookie ‘keeper in what managed to finish a 4-0 win for Arsenal.

The 21-year-old’s latest game was a 3-0 mauling of Newcastle. Samir was fantastic throughout and after being taken out by Joey Barton late on, he showed his cheekiness with a little kick out at the disgraced ex-convict.

Well done to Samir for the award, and hopefully he can continue his superb work for the Arsenal.