International injuries, a return to form and Guy Fawkes a Sp*rs fan?

Well after another illustrious international break us gooners were blessed once again with injured players. Two of the back four, Gallas and Sagna, and the ever improving Bendtner were all relegated to the nurses office for the return to the premiership. Luckily they’ll only miss a couple of games (and we did OK without them), but how many times do these breaks plague us with injuries? To be honest I’m amazed RVP is still walking. Did he play at all?

Walcott didn’t really get a chance to improve on his first touch after being pretty quiet during both England games. The poor lad has a good run of form and all of a sudden the hitmen from Kazakhstan to Belarus are all over him like an Arab at a mid table club. However, I see this as a blessing in disguise because while the rest of the world are conquering Mount Walcott, the rest of the squad are banging them in left right and centre. Who needs Heskey when you have Walcott.

So with a return to the Premier League, things were not looking great having half the team handing in sick notes. And although the toffee munching, phlegm clearing, curly haired scouser's were having a bad run themselves, we needed a return to form after the embarrassment against t’Ull and Sunderland. Against the hubcap nicking, shell suit wearing, giro getting scouse scallies of Everton with only 9 minutes in however we were chasing the game once again and an early injury to Touré (and fair play to him for getting to half time. That’s why he’s the King) I was not looking forward to the end result. But with an injection of pace, a sprinkle of teamwork and an ounce of finishing we walked away with a smile. Got a little lucky on the first goal, but a great header from RVP and a nice cool finish from Walcott finished the game off. Overall I was pleased with our performance, we looked a lot better after going one down so early and it all started to gel after the break. A fine home performance.

So with things looking up and despite another first teamer comparing injuries with the rest of them, I was quietly confident going to Turkey. And what a game. We were simply outstanding, well going forward at least. Diaby in particular was excellent, as good on the ball as Hleb but Diaby can actually finish them too. Walcott caused problems and took his goal very well. His transformation from the boy who went to the World Cup has been truly remarkable. All in all we took our chances and played with huge confidence. We looked a little shaky at the back at times with Song being caught out (but redeeming himself with a great volley), but Manuel Almunia was fantastic and made a great Captain. Totally impressed with that result, it’s not an easy place to go.

So after two great results all we need now is a little consistency. If we can be a bit more solid at the back, find a permanent fixture in midfield then there's no reason why we can’t actually pick up some silverware this season. Jesus, even Fat Frank believes in us.

Which brings us once again to the comedy club. With about as much teamwork as a one man band, I bring you spurs©. I had a bet with a mate of mine last week, he’s a spurs© supporter. So confident he was that they would actually get a win against the potters he bet me that if they lose he would give me his poor excuse for a football shirt. I don’t know about you, but I reckon Guy Fawkes was a spurs© fan.

By Steve Ward - Our man in the sheepskin

'Thomas - it's up for grabs now' - Where was you?

As part of this season and trying to tie in with all the 20th anniversary shenanigans of that famous last minute championship win, allgoonerdup.com is doing a 'Thomas - it's up for grabs now' moment. Every Gooner knows where they were when that goal went in and we're going to post your tales. So get amongst it and send your emails in via the contacts page and mark the subject line 'Thomas - it's up for grabs moment'. I'll be doing some sort of fancy graphic and that just to give the piece some 'air play'. Hopefully your tales of that wonderful night will get other people sharing their 'Thomas - it's up for grabs now moment'!

Girl in a shirt

Allgoonerdup is looking to give the Goonerbabe page a bit of a boost and we're going for a 'Girl in the Shirt' approach. Do you have any pictures of your girl in the shirt or girls get yourself seen on the Goonerbabe wall and send in your own pictures. Lets get this party started right. Send your pictures in and tell us your name, favourite player, favourite all time player, favourite drink and if you have anything else to declare to babe@allgoonerdup.com

Competition winner...

The winner of the spanking brand new bit of kit 'The Joy of Cesc' is David Taylor a Birmingham Gooner. So well played that man by telling us the t-shirt is based on that famous 1970's book - The joy of sex.

There will be another competition starting next week, however you can have a butchers and grab your own choice of design from the Online Shop.

Son of Allgoonerdup comments section

As well as the main site Allgoonerdup has the comments section Son of Allgoonerdup. You don't need to sign up - so jump on and have a skive when the boss isn't looking.