Arsenal have been pitted against Italian side Udinese in this morning’s Champions League qualifying draw.
The first leg will take place on Tuesday August 16th with the second leg on Wednesday 24th. Arsenal were drawn first so will play the first leg at home.
The Italians first qualified for the Champions League in 2004-5 but failed to get out of the group stages. Last season they finished fourth in Serie A but have lost two of their most important players, Cristian Zapata and Alexis Sanchez to Villarreal and Barcelona respectively.
However, Arsenal will go into the first leg without the suspended Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri while the participation of Cesc Fabregas is not guaranteed, if he’s even at the club when the games take place.
It also means a trip away to Italy before Arsenal’s league game at Old Trafford. August is set to be a pivotal month for Arsene Wenger’s side.
Lame.
Talking to yourself?
shit draw
Could have been worse. Going to Russia would have been a nightmare.
would have prefered russia, they are not so strong, FC Copenhagen drew and beat them last year…
I thought there was some sort of seeding so we avoided Italian/Spanish teams???
We avoided Bayern, Lyon, Villareal and Benfica.
Especially when we were unable to draw them? All of them teams and us were seeded
See above comment.
No sanchez, no inler. Should be a cakewalk. Gotta be wary of asamoah, isla and a couple of other blokes though.
As ^^ said, it could’ve been worse
Forgot to add. no zapata as well.
oh! that makes all the differece, 16-0 over both legs
it will be a tricky game but we should progress…….i hope.
Ahhh ok
Predictably we have to do it the hard way, but better than going way out east.
We will still get past the Udes without too much bother, plus its better than being a Spud.
Hahaa, my bad, was worded funny.
At least udinese isn’t too far to travel, and I think we should take cesc just to anger Barcelona so he’s cup tied,
looking forward to the away leg!
Being away in the second leg could be dangerous.
Need to put it to bed in the first leg.
Think this might just be a good draw actually, they sold their best players over the summer. Up the Arse!
Bad draw, any mid-table European team from Spain/Italy/UK can beat Arsenal right now, and Udinese are better than that. With Arsenal’s three best players likely to be out of the game I can certainly see the lack in confidence carrying over from last season and eliminating Arsenal. Not a great draw for Udinese either, but they’ll never have a better chance to beat Arsenal.
Could you be more negative and less supportive? Jesus.
What’s negativity got to do with it? Better to be realistic. Go and look at Arsenal’s last 15 results and tell me why Udinese will be anything but a very hard match. Especially with VP out, as he scored half our goals in those games while the defence collapsed completely.
Actually not true. Udinese is pretty poor except for the rough diamond Asamoah and the ageing Di Natale. They have a leaky defence that we should be able to take advantage of especially at the Emirates!
Why judge us on our last 15 games when we were without key personnel especially in central defence? Even as we currently stand we have way more than enough to deal with Udinese. And who knows who will come in in the meantime?
Like I say: your post is pure negativity. From a realism point of view, we have every reason to expect to win this tie. Arsenal not coming through this will be a real upset. Except for you Pete, obviously.
Typical armchair moaning whinging supporter…..go support city their more suited to you.
Sorry this was for Pete
Perhaps a tad strong…
I DON’T regret what I have said the coward pete is a cunt and loves to fondle his mothers sloppy cunt, he really makes me sad
[…] This post was Twitted by n1rant […]
trouble is we never seem to put games to bed
im not so confident-udinese are a well drilled unit, but as has already been said-they have lost key players in zapata and sanchez-but by the time we play this tie we could have lost cesc and nasri.
its going to be harder than people think-unless aw spends!!!
had enough of our pr bs!!
put your money where your mouth is and buy!
gonna be very tough… without RvP, nasri and maybe cesc
i’ve got a bad feeling ’bout this
What’s this about No RVP? Did I miss something?
Gervinho’s big chance. Can’t see why we wouldn’t win both legs. We are much much better than they are. Much.
Boo boys stay away please.
I was thinking this as well. Without RVP and Samir, and possibly Cesc, Gervinho has got to be in the frame to play up front with Jack (if he’s fit), Rambo and Song behind him). Theo (if he’s fit) on the right, Arsh on the left. Gibbs, Verm, Kos, Sagna and Szcz at the back.
Ya arsene should spend on mata sneijder mertesacker jagielka benzema buffon. . . And then il be happy and we’ll win everything.
This is u get to read on arsenal forums.wtf.get a life guys.and u guys should buy a condom so that u dont reproduce.the world cant take too many more of u.
Regards,
Gunner4life.
Please read for future comments – http://news.arseblog.com/index.php/comment-policy/
To right there is no need to slag a persons family down
As a fan of each team, and watching every game each played last season, we need to be really really careful of Udinese. This team is very very dangerous even without asamoah inler and sanchez. Di Natale is easily one of the top 5 in Europe. Leading Serie A scorer for a no name team…..that speaks volumes for itself. I hope Gibbs is ready….Isla is going to eat him alive.
Haha bullshit. If they are in the CL qualifier they are obviously not a no name team. Di Natale is a great player in the slow italian league. Crank up the tempo and he is not able to dominate.
There is a huge gulf in quality between these two teams.
You must have missed some of the other teams in the draw then…I am sorry to see someone as ill tempered and childish as you on an Arsenal supporters blog. Please don’t cry too much from hurting yourself when getting off the bandwagon you thought Arsenal was. True fans stick by what is and what isnt. Gooner till the day I die.
Andy Johnson. Crystal Palace, 2005. That is all.
I think this draw is OK. We traditionally get good results against Italian sides, especially if we play at a high tempo. I doubt they would be able to cope with our pace and power. However, I am worried about our ability to concentrate for 90 mins, and we haven’t exactly been banging in the goals this pre-season compared to previous ones. I know we shouldn’t really judge our form on that basis, but in previous years I would be optimistic, but now, not so. I think teams have sussed out how to negate us for a long time now,… Read more »
My God! The toughest possible draw! The only good thing about our August fixtures is that facing Udinese (twice), Man U and Liverpool before the month ends, the frailities in the squad shall be exposed before the transfer period ends. Hopefuly, even Wenger shall be compelled to move.
If we lose and I mean a big “IF” it won’t be the end of the world coz personally I envy the Scum and Liverpool that they’re not in the Champions League – they can concentrate just on the league. Yes I know the Scum are in the Europa bullshit but ‘arry has already said he’ll use his youth team for that. Liverpool made sure by losing to the Scum at home that they’re not even in that! I think it’ll be great for us to be able to concentrate on the league. Would you rather be the champions of… Read more »
I think if you garantee me – by your mighty power – that we’ll won the European League if we get out of the CL, then I SIGN THE PAPER RIGHT NOW !
Well just watch Liverpool this season – far less games to play, far less travelling, distractions etc. I’m not saying that Liverpool will win the league or even get in the top 4 but I believe that we would be much better in the league without it. Those Barcelona matches over the last 2 seasons may have been fun for us supporters but at the end of the day a complete waste of time.
Tough draw, but we should have enough quality to win it.
If we dont win then weve only got ourselves to blame for that pathetic end to last season.
We shouldnt even be playing this match.
Jesus, you would think we’ve drawn Barcelona reading some of the comments. Why do some of you guys follow football? It appears from reading these threads over the last few weeks that you don’t actually get any enjoyment from it.
I expect The Arsenal to progress quite comfortably, as we have in previous seasons. I beg Arsene to sign a couple of players just to shut the fucking Whingers up. The end of the world is not nigh!
Good old Arsenal, I’m proud to say that name!!
Fucking well said Corporal!
Second that
I think there is a divide between intelligent supporters who can see that whatever Wenger is doing is not working and those (you) who are impervious to the fact that Arsenal are slipping behind all the competitors and out of the top four.
This arrogance people show saying “WE ARE ARSENAL, WE WILL WIN” shows they are completely oblivious to reality.
Try taking amitriptyline….might help with your anti-depression 🙂
I think there is a divide between miserable cunts like you and supporters who remember how much Wenger has achieved until the massive financial burden which is our global class stadium. We are slowly pulling free of that and the massive disruption that is cesc is not Wenger or the boards fault. And as no one else knows what deals are being sounded out amy comment to the contrary is just more needless negativity. I’d rather read a rose tinted comment from a real fan getting behind his team during difficult times than your miserable comments spouting media negativity based… Read more »
Perfect draw for us. It will be a tough week for us buts that’s just want we need. We will show everyone we have character still. Can’t wait to book my trip to Italy! Up the gunners!
Cheers PerryGW. I used to love going to The Arsenal as I felt like I was part of a community with one common goal. It now feels like there are all these ‘expert fans’ hoping we fail just so they can tell everyone they told us so and feel superior. I genuinely think it would piss a contingent of our fans off if we won a trophy. Haven’t man utd just bought a very yOung keeper to replace VDS? We’ve got an excellent young keeper and an decent back up (better than hilario) but you still hear people harping on… Read more »
Remember. This Arsenal team contrived to lose to Braga, yet beat Barcelona. Chances of going through 50:50. Too erratic to be confident of a win. Folly of last season’s foot off pedal decline all to apparent now.
Actually the only time I can recall us Goonersville being united in the last 2 months was the day we were invited to call Paul Scholes a ginger Cunt………those were the days.
Gooners not Goonersville, bloody predictive text
In all honesty……
Can’t see a problem here.
Was more worried about Celtic a couple years back…. and that’s feckin saying something!
Sp*rs put the best team in the Italian leagues out last year so anyone saying we won’t beat their 4th best is dooming. Bookies have us 2/7 to qualify.
It should be an easy game, though weather we make it easy is something else.
So did Udinese…..
well… its a problem without RVP…
Chamack is not in good shape, then we have vela…cause we insisted selling b52…would love to see b52 against udinese..actually…
why are we selling bendtner and keeping Vela…dont get it..
Because Vela is our new Left back. You might say almost like a new signing….
The transfer window does not close until midnight Wednesday 31st of august,..
Just saying,.. (comedy sniff),..
Pete, there certainly is a divide, but youre being arrogant claiming you’re more intelligent. The mistakes of the past don’t include exiting the Champs League in the preliminary round, the mistakes are falling at the last hurdle. I don’t think AW is faultless by any stretch but I’m not going to wet my pants being drawn against Usinese, get a grip man. Try and look beyond the media hysteria of 6 (wow 6) years without a trophy and consider what has happened in those six years. Two billionaires throwing hundreds of millions at their clubs, a new stadium, the fact… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more with this. Was sat next to some knob blister when Sunderland came to the Grove and he had already called Arshavin a “little Russian prick” before he’d even touched the ball. Beggars belief. I don’t think it’s just an Arsenal thing though, some people just go through life thinking they have been wronged by existence itself. What can you do? I suspect we’ll never solve it on internet comment boards.
I think the key to this angst is that we are always so close but yet so far.. 1) Super Nicks last min miss at the nou camp 2) Last min calamity at the carling cup final 3)Eboue being eboue in the 157 min of injury time against liverpool… We are always so close but that winning mentality is not there as this team has very few winners. I’m not talking about Charlie Sheen kinda winners I mean players who havent won anything in this league. Signing players will help but the whole team ethos on winning has to change… Read more »
I know we will win this and we must get behind the team no matter what. However I still cant help feeling that Nasri is a cunt who should be fired from a circus cannon into the Thames.
I didn’t read every comment, so I’m sure this has already been pointed out. But, Gokhan Inler left Udinese this summer as well. This is good news for us as I’ve always thought he was a strong player (wouldn’t have minded seeing him in an arsenal shirt).
Eff Udinese. We’ll get past these tools no problem.
If Arsenal come out from the first set of fixtures unscaved, they will have all the confidence in the world. August/September could prove to be a huge launching pad for the squad.
OMFGZ!!!!!1!!
TEH MEGATON!!!!!
We’re fucked, Wenger out!
Seriously though it could’ve been worse, Bayern Munich or a trip to Russia would’ve been harder.
Having the second leg away is a bit of a cunt though.
Or….we miss out on CL football (and the 20 mln pounds it brings or whatever), and the board decides to cash in on Nasri and Cesc considering, there will be a big hole in the team’s revenue without the CL. There’s a lot riding on this tie…
Stop you Wenger sycophants! Christ, some of you can’t see reality. Pete is right in that some of you want to kiss Wenger’s ass when it has become abundantly clear that his “youth project” is failing. For those who say, we don’t care about results, Arsenal til I die, very admirable, but you were probably the ones chosen last for sports… Or the ones who needed to be coddled when being the first person out in dodgeball. The point is to win trophies and put the most competitive team you can on the pitch. Those who are happy with 4th… Read more »
I never played dodgeball at school… We had wembley though great playground football game.
[…] start with the biggy then. We’ve drawn Udinese in the draw for the Champions League qualifiers. While none of the teams were ‘pushovers’, this isn’t a stage of the competition […]
Davesagoner, pls copy your comments n replace d name Pete with Wenger. That’s where our angers should be directed. Tell me that a fan who watch us falter to Bolton to stay in d league will have an iota of confidence in us passing through a draw against the usually tactical, mid-table Italians. The problem is not that they r amazing, it is that we are pathetic. Every year we used to slaughter Tottemham…until d last. Cant ppl read d handwriting on d wall, Wenger’s testosterone has run dry, he has no competiteveness left in him. The board waiting for… Read more »
ostensibly ‘tricky’ but Arsenal are actually a really good football team so they should get through without too much difficulty
Thorough, firstly telling AW to rot in hell disrespects a man who has done so much for the club. Judging by your spelling I guess you are if an age to have only ever known Arsenal under Arsene’s management, and he is probably the reason you were attracted to the club. Tell me what happens when the likes of you drive him out? Who do we get in? Do they go to the magical money tree and pick 100million to spend on whoever we want? You need to get a life, show some damn respect and stop fucking moaning. Arsene… Read more »
I think it’s a shame how us Gooners have turned on each other. Turn on the S*urs, Mancs and Chavski’s… there’s enough teams to vent at. Barca?
We may win, we may lose, but I’ll sing in the stands come what may (some of you could even join in, heh) Despite my frustration of lack of signings etc (ZZzzzz). Like my Dad says, you can change your wife, but not your club.
Oh and what’s this about no RVP. Been a very busy week for me. Did I miss something?
RvP’s suspended due to the absurd red he received against Barcelona
Fuck me, that just shows what a shit summer it’s been when I can forget about that ludicrous load of bollocks! Still , here’s to the rest of the transfer window.
He was sent off (for no reason) against Barca, and is suspended for the next european fixture
Does anyone know if Udenese used the Sanchez and Zappatta money to buy some decent young replacements? This will be trickier than Eduardo’s old club, Twente, and Celtic. We absolutely must blow them out of the water in the 1st leg. I don’t even want to contemplate the negativity around the club if the Italian side get a result at the Emirates. Our away form in Europe last season was poor. 3-0 to the Arsenal at the Emirates will do just fine.
Good tie, bring it on. Jeez can’t wait for some footy action to spark proper footy debate rather than the amateur psychology and childish wankfodder that is dominating this website. Who the fuck are Udinese and the reds go marching on on on!!!
Yeah, this should be a great test and a perfect remedy for this unbearable summer.