So the transfer window deadline came and went yesterday and we never brought anyone in. It means Manuel Almunia keeps his place with Fabianski and one of Mannone and Szczesny as back up with one of those two likely to go out on loan. Much like Manuel’s future, I was up in the air yesterday on a flight back from Los Angeles. I have to say I rather enjoyed being on a plane in an internet free and Sky Sports News free environment, my flight landed at 4.30pm so I skipped right to the ending of the story just in time to see that nothing happened. It turns out we never even made any final day bids so I didn’t waste a day sat in front of Twitter waiting for nothing.

As disappointed as you might be in the lack of signings there’s nothing we can do about it now. Sebastien Squillaci’s arrival pretty much sorted out our defensive issues so it was really just a goalkeeper we wanted; our options were Given or Schwarzer, Man City wouldn’t sell to us and Fulham wanted too much so nothing happened. I’d just like to say at this point that I have no insider information on any of that but that’s how I see it. We were willing to Spend £2m on Schwarzer which I guess is about right for a 37 year old with injury problems and a year left on his contract but that wasn’t enough for Fulham. In the end for whatever reasons it didn’t happen and we shouldn’t get too upset about it. He’s not all that much better than Almunia really if you think about it, I think we just wanted someone that wasn’t Almunia.

Now we just have to get behind our no.1. A couple of weeks ago I started to wonder whether Manuel is all that bad and I remembered how not that long ago he looked a decent ‘keeper. So now I’m hoping that with our support he can get back to that level. We don’t really have a choice now, it’s him or Fabianski and I think I’d rather have Almunia play with one arm tied behind his back than the Pole, I have absolutely no confidence in him. I do know that on his day Almunia can be a good ‘keeper, this season so far he’s shown that, apart from one missed cross at Anfield he’s had a solid start to the campaign and lets hope it continues. He is a bit accident-prone but so is every ‘keeper, we have to get behind him now because as I said it’s him or Fabianski.

So I’m not going to worry about the goalkeeper any more, I’m going to put those concerns on hold and see if Manuel makes the most of this opportunity. I would’ve felt a bit better with Schwarzer on the books as well but never mind. My concern now is our attack, the one position that’s looked fine for months! We’re now just one injury away from having no proper central striker again, with these injuries to RVP and Bendtner we’re relying on Chamakh now. Robin’s knock at Blackburn was initially going to see him out for just the international break but now it looks like a few weeks, and we know with Robin his injuries can go on and on. Also, this new Casualty List I’ve got there on the right has highlighted to me anyway how much Bendtner’s injury has gone on and on and on. Initially when I set it up I had him missing the Liverpool game and since then it’s been extended every week and now he’s looking at November! It’s a real shame for both Nicklas and Arsenal if that story in The Sun is true, before this latest article he was due back in a couple of weeks and now it’s another month. Apparently this is all to do with that car crash he had last season, I hope this is the last set back he has because we really need options up top.

We have Walcott and Eboue on the right, Arshavin and Vela on the left and Rosicky who can both either side. However it’s down the middle where we’re lacking now, Chamakh is the obvious choice but then who’s behind him? It’ll have to be one of those other names coming from the flanks into the middle into a less natural position. It’s not just whether Chamakh stays fit now but it’s also unhealthy not to have options in any given position. Touch wood, Marouane can stay fit otherwise I if Theo can keep this form he might find himself in the middle earlier than expected.

On the subject of Walcott he’s been talking about his improved start this season. He has said before he wanted to make an impression after missing the World Cup and so far he’s doing a good job of that, he says he doesn’t blame Capello – he just wants to improve his game. He’s been spending more time in the gym and says he wants to bulk up more which is good. He says he doesn’t want to lose pace but strength will help him beat defenders just as much as speed.

Also in that first link he talks about being a winger and is doing a lot of crossing work in training. I don’t think he is ready just yet to start as a central striker but it has been nice to see him getting into those positions at times during games. He has a bit of work to do before I consider him a back up to Chamakh but the progress he’s made already is fantastic. Keep it up Theo.

The only bit of transfer news we did have yesterday was that Armand Traore has gone on loan to Juventus which I expect has an option of permanent move and Nacer Barazite has been loaned to Vitesse Arnhem. Good luck to the both of them on their season abroad, we will have to wait and see if we’ll see them back at Arsenal again.

Today Premier League teams have to name their 25-man squad for the season. Ours isn’t out at the time of me writing this but I’m not expecting any surprises or anything, we’re comfortable with making all the requirements and we have plenty of players under 21 who don’t have to be named.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading.

Good morning from Hermosa Beach California, while you might be tucking into your dinner or getting ready for a Friday night out on the town it’s 9:30am here. Sorry I haven’t kept the blog updates but I am on ‘vacation’ and not a lot has happened. Every morning I’ve woken up here expecting Squillaci’s signing to be announced and every day I’ve been just as confused as the rest of you as to what’s going on. Yesterday news broke that Wenger had confirmed the signing and today I see it’s all official and up on Arsenal.com. He will wear the famous no.18 shirt, made dear to all Arsenal fans by the likes of Silvestre and Cygan.

Wenger says:

“We needed a centre-back of quality and experience if possible, and at the right price – he was all of that,” said Wenger.

“He is a real defender and is good in the one against one, good in the air, and can score goals on set-pieces as well. I believe he will be suited to the English game.”

We’ve captured him for €4 which is a bit of a steal as I expect him to come in and compete directly for a first team spot. Koscielny was a decent signing but he has nowhere near the experience and strength of Squillaci and I feel a bit more confident with him in the side. He trained with us this morning but won’t be involved tomorrow, instead he has another couple of weeks with us to settle in, as there’s an international break next week and should be fighting for a place against Bolton.

Also yesterday was the Champions League draw and I’m pretty happy with our tie of Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga and Partizan Belgrade. Aside from the distance we must travel for the away legs they we can’t really complain about that draw – we should be winning these games. It’s also nice that Eduardo will be coming home so soon, he’ll get a great reception at the Grove.

Right moving on, lets look at tomorrow’s game away at Blackburn. The team news is as follows: Denilson and Koscielny are back in the squad returning from injury and suspension respectively but I’m not expecting the Brazilian to start. He will be joined on the bench by Djourou but Cesc and Robin should be OK to start now. So with that, we could shape up something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) – Rosicky
Chamakh – van Persie – Arshavin

Picking that team made me realize we’ve got more options that I thought. We’ve also got Diaby, Wilshere, Eboue and Walcott who could easily start but I have a better feeling with the XI I’ve selected there. Theo had a great game last week but this is Blackburn, they will stop those run by taking his legs out and he might be a better option coming on late off the bench. Wilshere will be looking to keep his starting place but with Cesc’s return and Rosicky’s fine form I think he might find himself back on the bench.

Whatever happens though, we’ll field a pretty decent team and one that should be beating Blackburn. Ewood Park is a tough place to go though and we’ve struggled there a number of times in the past. However as this Arsenal team matures you hear a lot about us not allowing teams to bully us anymore. Tomorrow is the first test of this season to prove that and I’m eagerly anticipating our reaction to it.

Not only will Blackburn be rough but also they will close us down, get men behind the ball and fill the gaps. They will attempt to stop our free-flowing football, which is why we need the likes of Fabregas and Rosicky to be on top form to be able to do their stuff in the narrowest of gaps. Arshavin has also been saying this week he wants to be remembered as a magician so how about a bit of magic tomorrow then?

The game is live on Sky Sports 2 for you guys back home and on ESPN2 over here at 4:45am. Unfortunately they only have ESPN in my hotel room so at the moment it looks like I’m going to have to try watch this one over the internet.

Just before the game is the draw for the Kiddies Cup so look out for that and enjoy the game. Thanks for reading, COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

I’m writing today’s match report on the Gatwick Express train still beaming from yesterday’s great performance and emphatic victory. Our 6-0 was not quite so special when Chelsea went and completed the same score against Wigan but that Wigan side lost 4-0 to Blackpool the week before so think how shite they must be. Blackpool were truly outclassed, I’m not bias saying that – they just were. Even manager, Ian Holloway admitted it after the game and spoke of it as a lesson in football:

“It was an absolute education. Everything about the place is class – and this was a master class. The grass is better than my living room carpet. It was an honour to come here and I’m just relieved it wasn’t 10 or 12.”

That’s no exaggeration, yesterday was our biggest league win at the new ground but it could’ve been double what it was. We were creating chance after chance, the Blackpool ‘keeper made a couple great saves and we missed a few sitters so they’re really lucky it was only 6. It was too easy for us really, on Match of The Day last night they were saying they haven’t seen such a one-sided game in the Premiership for as long as they can remember, I can’t either; the visitors started well but when Evatt was sent off early on conceding a penalty leading to our second goal there was no way back.

The complimentary Sunday Telegraph on this train praises Theo Walcott for his performance yesterday but I think everyone is in agreement on that. OK I take Alan Hansen’s point last night about it not being against the best defence but it was still a fantastic display from the 21-year-old.  A well deserves hat trick (which could’ve been more) and a handful of great assists probably make it the best I’ve ever seen Theo play live.

They were three well-taken goals too, his finishing has been a criticism of his and apart from one or two miss-shots yesterday he was perfect every time. The first a simple low-driven shot into the opposite corner after a great pass and move build up, the second he picked the ball up in the box with his back to goal, turned and shot and the third was a great move coming in from the right weaving through the box curving it low into the bottom corner. Great stuff from Theo, now lets see if he can reproduce it at a higher level.

As I said the second came from the penalty spot, Arshavin the scoring putting it perfectly in the corner, the other two came from Diaby and Chamakh, who will still be rueing missing a tap-in but will be glad to get on the score sheet on his full home debut. It was the sort of goal we signed him for, a perfect van Persie cross and Chamakh rose way above the crowd to head it in.

The corner came off the back of a nice piece of Vela skill, chipping the ball over three players heads before seeing his shot get deflected for a corner. He came on for the last 25 minutes. A couple of minutes before that Fabregas and van Persie we introduced, this point at 5-0 down Blackpool must’ve been shitting themselves. Cesc came on to a massive reception, “WE’VE GOT CESC FABREGAS” rang round the ground before he’d even stepped on the pitch and when he did come on there was a massive cheer. However I never once saw him that bothered by it; he was probably just focussed on the game and he did make a few good passes and tackles in his half an hour run-out but I didn’t see him acknowledge the crowd once the whole time, even when he went over to take corners to a standing ovation. Maybe he did and I just missed it but he seemed to play the whole match with his head down, either sulking, tired or focussed on the game. Lets not focus on this too much though, he’s our for now so lets just enjoy him – just a shame not to see him his usual self exchanging applause with the fans and such.

Before the game was the official unveiling of the new stand names, The North Bank, The Clock End, The East Stand and The West Stand. Also the new Clock End clock was up and running plus new banners, into music and montages. The pre-game atmosphere was great and looked fantastic so a tip of my hat to your Sir, Ivan Gazidis. I don’t think the club got their ‘We’re the North Bank…etc. etc.” that they expected but that might come with time, I think people are happy just to finally see ‘The Emirates’ feeling more like home.

So in all, a great day yesterday. Every so often you watch Arsenal and they put in a display that you know they’re capable of. The passing was exceptional, some good goals were scored, there were great performances all round and it wasn’t even our best team. The only complaint you can have is that we didn’t finish off a few more of our chances but that’s just petty. Yes, Blackpool weren’t of the same standard as us and they did have 10 men but we should be playing football like that if those are the circumstances.

There’s no WIFI on this train so I’m hoping there is at the airport so I can post this before I can get on my flight. I’m off to Las Vegas and Los Angeles for a few days so I don’t know how regular posting on here will be.

Thanks for reading and speak to you soon. Come on you Gunners!

Bad news is breaking this afternoon that Emmanuel Frimpong has done his cruciate ligaments and will be out for 9 months (the whole season). The story is spreading on twitter and Young Guns are reporting it too. He’s with the reserves in Ireland for a mini-tournament out there with United’s reserves and Shamrock Rovers but obviously wont play any part after this bad injury in training.

Frimpong played a large part in pre-season this year and was looking to break into the first team as cover for Alex Song but it looks like that’s not going to happen until the 2011/12 season now. It’s such a shame to get an injury like this and I hope he can fulfil the potential he has shown in the future. There’s no official word on this yet from Arsenal.com but I’m expecting something soon, the initial diagnoses says he’ll be out until May so I’m not counting on seeing anything from him again this season.

Edit: It’s official. Six to nine months they say.

So that leaves us a bit short in defensive midfield, our back up to Song is… no one. Wenger will play Denilson there no doubt but I still can’t agree that he can play there. However I don’t think that means Arsene will buy anyone other than a defender or a goalkeeper this transfer window. Denilson will get game time there, whether we like it or not and there’s Craig Eastmond who broke into the side last year but looked like being overtaken by Frimpong this season; this might be Eastmond’s chance to establish himself now.

In transfer news we’ve had a bid turned down for Sevilla’s Sebastien Squillaci. He was left out of the side’s Champions League qualifier against Braga to avoid being cup-tied and Sevilla have confirmed that it was due to an approach from Arsenal. They have described the current offer as ‘insufficient’ but their decision to allow Squillaci to sit out last night’s game leads to me believe they will listen to further offers for him. He’s 30, which would be an unusual signing for Wenger, but we have lost a lot of experience in defence with Campbell, Gallas and Silvestre all moving on. Squillaci has won a lot of trophies in his career so maybe Arsene has seen that as a quality he thinks we need to add to our squad.

He wont be coming in as first choice, but instead a direct competitor for Djourou and Koscielny to be Vermaelen’s partner. That will be really healthy for the squad to have those three fighting to make the first team. Other clubs would just splash out £20m or £30m if they needed a first choice central defender but we can’t really justify spending that much on one player, as much as I’d like to see us make a bold move in the transfer market like that I just don’t see us doing it at the moment. This could be a good addition if it does go through and it would mean we have 4 decent centre backs in the squad. Squillaci plus one more would be perfect but we’ll see how this story develops.

Finally today, it looks like Lansbury could be joining Watt on loan at Leeds and Jay Simpson is close to securing a transfer to Hull.

Tomorrow will be Arsene’s pre-Blackpool press conference so expect to hear a load of news on Nasri, Frimpong, Schwazer and Squillaci. This is the second day in the row I’ve had to report an injury so hopefully no more tomorrow Arsene.

Thanks for reading.

News broke earlier today that Samir Nasri will undergo minor knee surgery that will see him out for at least a month. It was a shock and a massive disappointment hearing the news, not only because he was out stand-out player in pre-season but that it has only been announced now that he picked up an injury on Sunday – I was totally unaware he had a problem and looked fine all 90 minutes. Well it was confirmed today that he picked up a meniscal injury, which with a quick Google tells me that he’s torn the cartilage in his knee.

This was supposed to be Samir’s season; he’s fully settled in England now and talk from the training camp is that he’s twice the player compared with when he arrived. He had a fantastic pre-season winning man of the match almost every game, that was coming off the back of missing out on the World Cup and is obviously out to prove a point. I have always been a fan of Nasri and I was surprised to see that he wasn’t selected for France, we benefited from that though having him back from the summer all fresh and very hungry. But now this, I hope he can return from the lay-off and come straight into the side with the impressive form he’s shown already this season. Get well soon Samir.

I guess this injury is good news for Jack Wilshere though who will almost certainly continue in to side for at least a few more games. Chances like this are what turns a reserve/youth player into a proper first team member so hopefully he benefits from it. Also coming in is Cesc Fabregas who missed the opener through a lack of match fitness but should be back by now. He has all this week to get ready for Blackpool on Saturday and I expect to see our captain starting. I’m really looking forward to our opening home game, it was nice to be back for the Emirates Cup but this is for real now and I can’t wait. I’m sure all you with tickets are getting excited too and the club are urging us to get in extra early on Saturday for the official renaming of the stands including the new Clock End clock and unveiling of some new banners. So make sure you’re at your seat at 2.45pm the latest, I know I will be.

Back to injury news and it appears Johan Djourou is fit which is handy with Koscielny’s one match suspension coming up. Johan has had terrible luck with injuries his whole career and I’m surprised to hear that he’s fit actually because I thought I heard he had another couple of weeks out but we’ll hear confirmation from Arsene on Friday. If that Telegraph article is correct then I’m looking forward to seeing Djourou play and hoping he can maintain a bit of fitness for a while, we’re dangerously low on centre backs at the moment so we can’t have everyone getting injured and sent off.

Hopefully Arsene has a signing up his sleeve though; he’s said a few times that he intends to add at least one more centre back but I’m not hearing anything as yet. The only news today is that we could be in fact losing one more defender in Armand Traore. Well, you can argue if the term ‘defender’ is an accurate description of his job title. I don’t think anyone will have any complaints about letting him go though, he’s the third choice left back so he’s probably not going to get any game time here. If there are unlikely quite possible injuries to both Clichy and Gibbs I’m sure we’ll manage with some Flamini-style replacement anyway like we did in 2006.

David Seaman thinks we should buy Schwazer and Fabianski would like us to sing his name. Maybe one day we will.

That’s about it really for today, as I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere the Arsenal Fanshare scheme was launched today. I think it’s a great idea but I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to get involved buying a 1/100th of a share for £100 but it’d be nice to own a tiny piece of Arsenal and get to go to the AGM meetings and things. Maybe I will. If you want to read more on this go here.

Build up to the Blackpool game to come this week. Until then.

I came across this yesterday from ex-captain Stewart Robson saying that he thinks Manuel Almunia is a better option than both Mark Schwarzer and Shay Given and it got me thinking. It made me look back to not last season, but the one before when Manuel established himself in the Premier League and actually looked like a decent ‘keeper. We were very happy with him as a successor to Lehmann and we were even singing for him to take the no.1 shirt for England. However it all went wrong for him last season, a massive drop in confidence affected the whole defence and since then we’ve been linked with a move for a new goalkeeper. This is what Robson said on Sky Sports News yesterday:

“I don’t see that Schwarzer, the player that everybody’s talking about, is a better goalkeeper than Almunia – I think Almunia’s a better goalkeeper than Schwarzer.

Shay Given is a very good shot-stopper, but most of the criticism of Arsenal’s goalkeepers is that they don’t come for crosses or haven’t been dominant in the air. Shay Given’s not that goalkeeper. He’s a very good goalkeeper, we all know that, but he’s more of a shot-stopper than someone who’s going to dominate his penalty area.

It’s true that our problem is the organization of the defence and dealing with balls in the air, Almunia isn’t a bad shot stopper on his day, not as good as Given but not bad. He went on to say that he thinks we can win the league with Almunia in goal but we have our defensive strategy to sort out, he defends the ‘keeper saying our defenders need to up their game too and Almunia really isn’t as bad as Arsenal fans make out.

Maybe he’s not, but we’ve seen him make too many mistakes now and I’m afraid being a goalkeeper you get judged by your mistakes. He’s made some great saves in his time at Arsenal you cant deny that but the fans have forgotten about that now due to all the dropped balls, missed crosses, bad decision making and poor ball-handling. You could see clearly how badly that affected the defence in front of him, they no longer trusted the ‘keeper behind them, they didn’t know what he was going to do and it made them nervous and jittery too. I’m afraid it might be too late for Manuel now, he may still have the talent to make it but the damage has been done already.

This is illustrated perfectly by this image of Almunia missing a cross against Liverpool on Sunday leaving Sagna and Clichy bewildered on the line. Pretty funny actually! The image is from an interview with the current no.1 saying he may look to leave if we bring a new goalie in. You can’t blame him for saying that but in an ideal world I’d want him to stay, he’s a great no.2 goalkeeper – I don’t think he’s quite good enough to be the permanent choice but can fill in well when needed. However with a taste of first team football now I wouldn’t be surprised if he left.

As for the options for his replacements well we all know about Mark Shwarzer and Shay Given. The Manchester City goalie looks to have lost his place as no.1 thanks to the emerging Joe Hart who put in a great performance against Spurs. Given made it quite clear that he’s not happy to sit on the bench and will look for first team football elsewhere if not selected. Obviously he’s going to be linked with Arsenal straight away but I don’t think it’s going to happen if I’m honest with you. Why would City allow a rival to strengthen their squad? There’s a chance they might let us have him but I doubt it as it looks like they are ruling out a move to Tottenham for Craig Bellamy. It’s not like they need the money, they can do whatever they please. I imagine a move to Celtic or a team outside of the Premiership’s top six will be more likely for the Ireland no.1.

Given’s former team mate at Newcastle, Warren Barton has been misquoted about his future. Typical Sport.co.uk have used the headline ‘Barton: Given is going to Arsenal’ when all he has said is that he could see him at the club. Many Arsenal fans have seen this and taken it as a given that he’s on the way (no pun intended). He could be, but I think this is just a case of Sport.co.uk twisting quotes again.

I think the most likely options is Schwarzer. He’s actually handed in a transfer request, Fulham didn’t play him at the weekend, he says he wants to come to Arsenal and we are actually interested in him – all signs point towards a move. At the weekend Fulham played second choice David Stockdale against Bolton claiming Schwarzer was ‘injured’ and the 24-year-old put in a great performance. It has left Fulham fans a bit more relieved about the whole situation. I think the main thing stopping a potential move to Arsenal would be if they couldn’t find a replacement for him but they may already have one in Stockdale; maybe Given will even join up with former boss Mark Hughes at Fulham, who knows?

So a move for Schwarzer looks like it could be on the cards. I take into account Almunia’s past good performances for Arsenal but as I said I think the damage has been done now. A new, reliable ‘keeper would do the defence’s confidence a world of good and hopefully bring a bit of defensive stability to the squad. All it takes now is for us to make an acceptable offer and we have ourselves an established, respected Premier League goalkeeper.

This doesn’t get away from the fact that we still need one or two more centre backs but one baby step at a time guys…

Thanks for reading.

So we’re back underway with a new Premier League season and I guess at the end of the day I’m happy with a point. Anfield is always a tricky place to go, it’s one of the hardest opening fixtures I can remember us having and going into the match I probably would’ve taken the draw if it was offered to me.

A lot of the pre-match talk was on who we were actually going to play, with so many injuries already, a couple of players not quite match-fit yet and a goalkeeping dilemma that just wont go away it was anyones guess. Before the match Arsene said whoever he picked in goal would be his no.1 for the season, whether that meant we weren’t signing anyone or not I don’t know but I think a lot of us were worried he would stick Fabianski in nets for the season. In the end he did the right thing starting with Almunia but it was obvious we still need a signing there. With Mark Schwarzer‎ handing in a transfer request and Shay Given set to do the same with Joe Hart being picked this weekend I think we will be close to signing one of the two before the transfer window closes.

The two new additions we have already made had eventful games yesterday. Koscielny and Chamakh can be reasonably happy with their debuts I think, the latter was named Arsenal.com man of the match which I guess was for his part in our goal or for the fact you couldn’t really pick a stand out player yesterday. Koscielny can be happy to for the simple fact he hasn’t got a broken leg. Joe Cole was rightfully sent off just before half time for a wild lunge on our new centre back. I accept that Cole was probably just trying to get a block on the ball but it was ridiculous challenge, especially in that area of the pitch and he was lucky not to have broken Laurent’s leg.

I felt that we made a good start to the season with those first 45 minutes; we had lots of the ball and looked threatening but just lacked that little bit extra in the final third.  With Liverpool down to 10 men and some tasty options to come off the bench I fancied us for the second half. However that was all scrapped when Wilshere miscontrolled on the edge of our own box allowing Liverpool in and David N’Gog to make it 1-0 just seconds into the second half.

It galvanized the home side and for a long period we found it hard to break down the 10 men. Wenger finally made some changes bringing on Rosicky and Walcott for Eboue and Wilshere. Eboue looked upset to be taken off but we needed Theo on to threaten Liverpool and Arsene went for a straight swap on the right, as for Jack well his first league start for Arsenal wasn’t his greatest performance, he looked a bit out of his depth but it’s early days for him I’m sure he’ll do much better if selected next week.

I was praying for van Persie to come on and eventually he did with 10 minutes to go. Once all three of our subs had been made we really did look like scoring. Rosicky missed a great chance late on when his quick feet on the edge of the box made room for a shot that looked like it might’ve just been dipping under the bar but Reina made a great fingertip save. It was looking like we were heading for an undeserved opening day loss when in the 90th minute Chamakh rose for header beating Reina to it, the shot hit the post but rebounded back into the Spanish keeper and he embarrassingly fumbled it over the line. There was a few moments of uncertainty whether the referee might give a foul on Chamakh but he saw nothing wrong and the goal stood. What a relief! I know everyone’s said this already but it’s just perfect karma for his part in the Barcelona shirt ‘prank’ on Cesc Fabregas.

In the 5 minutes of injury time we pushed for a winner but I think the draw was a fair result in the end. Debut-boy Koscielny was sent off for a completely undeserved second yellow with a few minutes to go; the ball was kicked up into his arms and there was nothing he could do about it. I don’t know if we can appeal it but I certainly think we should, it was the definition of ball-to-hand. It leaves us very short at the back with a one-match suspension for Laurant, however I guess we can look on the bright side that he’s not out for months with a broken leg. Our only first team centre back is Vermaelen and unless Wenger makes that signing in the next few days we’re going to have to play Song or Nordveit there. Alex Song was on the bench yesterday so maybe he will be alright to start this Saturday, I would be confident with him at the back next week but it doesn’t get away from the fact that we’re desperate for at least one more defender, ideally two.

The match proved that Wenger still has lots of work to do in the transfer market and needs to get it done quickly. I believe Schwarzer‎ could arrive imminently and I’m hoping a top class defender too. We’ve only played one match and we’re already in a crisis with the squad down to the bare bones! Same old Arsenal, we’ve missed you.

Thanks for reading.

Just a quick update to let you know I won’t be around much for the next week. I’m heading to Heathrow in a bit to fly to a remote part of Ireland that still isn’t quite sure what this internet business is yet. If somehow I find a computer with access I might update but don’t hold your breath.

Hope you all enjoyed the Emirates Cup last weekend, Frimpong and Wilshere continued to impress and look like they could play an important role in the first team squad this season. New signings Chamakh and Koscielny didn’t do badly either but we’re still on the look out for at least one more defender. I’m hearing we’re still interested in Per Mertesacker but this new guy Emir Spahic looks the most likely new addition at the moment. He’s highly rated in Ligue 1 and I hear he’s a bit of a nutter which is always welcome at Arsenal. Maybe they’ll be some developments on that over the next week so check out some of the other excellent blogs on the links bar.

Alright I best be off to the airport then. See you soon.

I can’t believe the Emirates Cup is tomorrow, I’ve spent all summer moaning that I miss proper club football and now the start of the Premier League season is just two weeks away! The Emirates Cup is always a good day out, nice to be back at The Grove to see Arsenal play, good to see a few familiar faces and it always turns into a day long piss up which is a laugh. This afternoon there’ll be a press conference with Arsene ahead of the tournament which will probably immediately render this blog post out of date and useless but I’m going to go ahead and update you anyway.

Wenger has revealed that he is still in the market for at least one centre back which is suppose is a relief. However as much as we know how reluctant he is to spend cash in the transfer window there’s no way he could avoid this problem. With Campbell finally making his mind up and joining Newcastle we’re left with just Vermaelen, Djourou and Koscielny – A guy who’s had one good season with us, a player who has never had a run in the first team and has consistent problems with injuries and newcomer with unknown potential and work to do to become Premier League standard; I don’t want to sound negative but that’s the reality. Here’s what Wenger said anyway on potential new signings in that area:

“I wouldn’t like to give you any names. There are plenty of names that we consider and we analyse. We look at the financial possibilities and the technical potential. But it is impossible for me to come out with a name.

We are still on the search because at the moment we only have three centre backs and we have seen last season you needed five. I believe we need at least four because we have some other players who can fill in this position but overall we are still on the search.”

I don’t like how he says he found out last season you need five centre backs so he needs to get four. Hopefully he is working to have five just to be safe, however I have a feeling that fifth member will be Havard Nordtveit. Wenger says he is trying to build up his experience by playing him at right back, I guess it’s not as important a position as centre back and mistakes made by him on the right wing might not be as costly as ones made in the middle. It makes sense and he could be the back up to Sagna this season who we’ve seen does need a little rest now and again freeing Eboue up to focus on his attacking play. In today’s Gunnerblog Gilbertosilver speaks to a Nuremberg fan and it does sound that despite his three different loan spells he needs more experience. Maybe the departure of Gallas, Silvestre, Senderos and Campbell this summer will open a door for the reserves captain. I’m expecting him to make an impact in the Carling Cup this year, which might lead to first team opportunities.

We’re still looking weak in the goalkeeping area too, I hear Mark Schwarzer is still our main target but we’ll have to wait and see what Mark Hughes’ plans are for the club and see whether he’s willing to let him go. There’s talk in the Daily Mail of them lining up Rob Green as a replacement for the Australian but we’ll see. Lukasz Fabianski has been talking about how all the goalkeepers are fighting for the no.1 spot this pre-season. He says that the games so far haven’t been very testing for us but the Emirates Cup could be a good chance to impress. I can see him, Almunia, Szczesny and Mannone getting 45 minutes each against Milan and Celtic with all of them in competition for that first team spot. A week tomorrow we’ve got that friendly against Legia Warsaw which is the final chance to pick a ‘keeper out of the four before the trip to Anfield 8 days later. That is of course unless we sign someone, so I’m hoping the auditions are cut short by a new arrival.

Another day, another story about Cesc Fabregas. These quote appeared apparently from him saying he loves Barcelona etc, etc, but is captain of Arsenal and he must respect that or something but they turned out to be old quotes recycled to create a story. However Carlos Puyol has decided to open his trap again and give his thoughts on the situation. Again. Why don’t they get it? You cannot afford him. It’s that simple. I really want a nice shiny new sports car but you don’t see me going into the garage every day with only half the money it’s worth complaining that I really want it and it’s not happy sat in the garage. It’s just not how it works unfortunately, Carlos; otherwise I’d up to my neck in speeding fines.

Well that’s about it for the moment, there should be a load more news later this afternoon from the pre-Emirates Cup press conference so look out for that on the official site. I hope you like the new look of the blog by the way, I’ve taken on board some feedback and changed it a couple times already but I think it’s looking alright now.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the football this weekend.

Last night was the second and final match of our pre-season tour of Austria and we beat SC Neusiedl 1919 4-0. It was easy for us really, they’re a third division side and never caused us any problems. Well, they nearly did in the second half when out of nowhere Chamakh handled the ball in the area gifting them a penalty but Mannone guessed the right way and it was an easy save for him. Our goals came from Walcott, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chamakh (pen) and Vela; good for all of those forwards to have opened their accounts for the season even if it’s in a friendly like this. Vela frustrates me sometimes but now and again he’ll do another trademark lob and I’ll be on good terms with him again!

It could’ve/should’ve been more but what can you do. Wilshere impressed again and broke through twice in the first half but only to be brought down in the area. Neither time a penalty was awarded and on the second occasion he was flagged offside but those forward runs, the intricate passing and skill from Jack was enough to please me even without getting on the score sheet. However the man of the match was Samir Nasri again, he and Wilshere both got 21% of the vote but Samir just nicked it. It’s been a great pre-season for him though, I think he’s been man of the match in every game so far and is looking to start the season running. I’m excited to see him when it really matters once the season starts; I think he could be a very important player for us this year.

The friendly was marred by Johan Djourou being taken off injured after half an hour. Knowing what he’s like, I think everyone feared the worst. With Bendtner and Denilson already injured and Fabregas and van Persie looking like they’ll be short for the first week of the season it’s not going too well so far is it! Well it now looks like Johan was just taken off as a precaution because Wenger says he should be fit for the weekend. Also in that he says Rosicky had a small problem which is why he did not play but it’s nothing serious.

The latest on Bendtner and Denilson is that they wont make the Emirates Cup, Denilson should make the friendly against Legia Warsaw on 7th August but Bendtner looks likely to miss the start of the season. Also there’s another injury revealed in that, Diaby also has a problem but he might return for the Warsaw game too. It’s a joke how many niggles we’ve got already, every season I hope we can stay fit but every season it seems to get worse. Our squad is far to thin to compete for the Premier League when we’re guaranteed to get injuries left, right and centre. I’m going to start a tally on injuries this season and see how it adds up. I’ll do something on the sidebar or a new page at the top.

Edit: There you go, an up to date list with links on the toolbar. I’ll jazz it up a bit soon as I’m looking at redesigning the whole site.

We still need new faces and especially now Sol Campbell has opted to join Premiership-newcomers Newcastle. We had a deal on the table for him but he’s chosen to move up north for the money. I don’t blame him although I am surprised that they’re only offering a one-year deal too. Anyway, good luck to Sol, I’m not going to bother writing another testimony because I did that the other day – what we need to do now though is be looking for at least one more central defender. We’re being linked with German defender, Per Mertesacker at the moment which would be a good addition. He did well at the World Cup and wont come cheap but if Wenger wants quality he’s going to have to spend money. He’s already spent a load on bringing Koscielny in which worries me into thinking he wont spend a lot more but Arsene can’t deny we need signings there. At the moment we have Vermaelen and Koscielny, plus Djourou if he can manage to stay fit but even then that’s nowhere near enough. There’s Nordtveit but he’s a reserve player; we need two in really, one top class defender and maybe another understudy would suit us.

There’s still time to make some new additions and now Wenger’s back in London he might be able to get some business done in that area. This weekend’s games will be a good test of how strong we really are going into the 2010/11 season and I’m looking forward to seeing how well, or badly, we do.

Thanks for reading.

There’s not much going on at the moment as the players knuckle down on getting fit. There are a few quotes from players out in Austria that I will get to in a minute but we don’t look close on any signings at the minute. We play SC Neusiedl 1919 tomorrow, which is our last game of the camp, and then it’s back to London ahead of the Emirates Cup this weekend.

The pre-season camp in Austria is a testing time for the players with two sessions a day in order to get match fit. I suspect Wenger is more focussed on seeing out the remainder of the camp than bringing anyone in at the moment. I think hope that Arsene will do most of his work in the transfer window when he gets back to England this week. We have about 3 weeks until the season kicks off for us at Anfield so there’s still time to do some business.

The latest story is an interesting one though, Igor Akinfeev, CSKA and Russian no.1 has declared his interest in moving to England after talking with Andrey Arshavin:

“Arsenal and Manchester United are two of the very best clubs in the world. If both of them are going to be looking for keepers this summer – or even the next summer – then of course I am interested.

I have spoken with Arshavin about Arsenal and London life. He has only had good things to say about the club and the city. He said some very nice things about me going on to be the best goalkeeper in the world – and that he would like me to reach that goal at Arsenal with him.

He went on to say that it would also be an honour to play for Man United and there could be interest from Juventus but Arshavin has sold Arsenal well to him and believes it wouldn’t be a problem sorting out a move away from Russia.

Good work Andrey! Akinfeev is only 24 but he is a top level goalkeeper and the sort of signing that would bring a lot of confidence to Arsenal fans. At the moment this is just idle talk but hopefully Arsene will look into this and Andrey Arshavin can work his magic on Le Boss too! As I said, there’s nothing in this story yet but I’m hoping there might be in the near future.

There are more quotes coming out of the Barcelona squad about Cesc Fabregas but it actually seems like they’re finally understanding the situation now. Andres Iniesta has been saying that he thinks Fabregas will remain at Arsenal for now and actually wishes him well here! I know, unbelievable! I didn’t think they were capable of talking about Cesc this way but here you have it:

“Cesc wants to be with us, but he told me how close the Arsenal fans are to his heart. He is a special player and I hope he wins the title at Arsenal this season. For them to win Cesc will have to stay fit and injury-free but he deserves to finish with a title. For all the work he has put in at Arsenal it would be a shame if it was all fruitless.

Cesc is such a special player that he could carry a team to the title on his own and I hope he does it this coming season. It would be brilliant if Arsenal’s hero could lift the title as captain during his last season. I think that it would be fantastic for everybody.”

It’s a bit shit him talking so confidently about this being Fabregas’ last season at Arsenal but he’s right. It’s about time we all come round and understand that this will be his last year as an Arsenal player. He’ll give his all this season, I have no doubt about it and I’m sure he’s on the same wavelength as Iniesta there in that he’d love to end his time with us by lifting the Premier League title. It’s a dream and it’s going to take a lot of work to get there but it’d be nice if he went out on a high note.

We can’t just expect to win the league though, it’s going to take months and months of focus and determination but not only that I think Wenger needs to add a couple of signings to turn this into a side really capable of winning the league. Akinfeev would be a big step towards that; him plus a central defender or defensive midfielder would be perfect. Thomas Vermaelen is the type of player we need to fight for a challenge this year and he’s been talking about his title ambitions. There’s no point in judging the team yet because there’s still time to go but as it stands I think we’re going to fall short of the top but a couple of quality additions and we’ll be well up there.

Vermaelen’s defensive colleagues have been talking too, Koscielny has been saying he likes the physical side of the game despite looking one of the least built players in the squad. He still has time to bulk up though and maybe he uses his brain and skill to his advantage to make up for his lack of size, we’ll see. Also, Djourou says it’s time for him to make the first team and he also talks about adding a bit of aggression to our game. I’m really looking forward to seeing these two battle it out for a first team place, they really are in direct competition with each other with neither having any right to Gallas’ vacancy. I saw them both at Barnet the other week but that was very early days, I’ll be at the AC Milan game on Saturday, by which time both should be fit to compete and I’m interested in seeing how they do.

So, we’ve got that match tomorrow at 6:00pm against SC Neusiedl 1919. They’re in the third division in Austria so really we should be knocking quite a few goals past this lot. Seeing as there’s not much else going on I might do some designing for the blog, so look out for that.

Thanks for reading.

[click to enlarge]

As you can see FC Barcelona are pulling out all the stops to get their baby-soft hands on scrumptious Cesc Fabregas.

More as I hear it.

This summer we found ourselves in a dangerous position with three centre backs all reaching the end of their contracts and all three looking likely to move on. Last week at the Barnet friendly Arsene Wenger confirmed that Gallas and Silvestre were unlikely to be with us next season and have since been removed from the squad pages of Arsenal.com. However he said Sol Campbell’s future was still up in the air, he is still listed on those squad pages and is now looking likely to sign a new one year deal with us. He was in talks with Celtic and Sunderland but it looks as if both of those have fell through and we will stay with Arsenal.

He was a shock addition in January, joining on a six-month deal as back up but ended up playing an important role with Gallas out injured. It was clear that he wasn’t quite as fit as everyone else but his commitment was still 100% there and he could definitely do a job in the centre of defence. Not only that but his leadership qualities were vitally important, he was one of few experienced players in the season run in and I believe his presence really helped us keep going. He knows all about what it takes to play in this league, he might not have the legs so much but he still has the brain.

So what if the rumours are true and Sol is staying another year? I was hoping we would sign another defender in his prime but knowing Wenger if he takes Campbell on for another year I think that might be chequebook closed in that department. It would mean we have four central defenders in the first team; Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou and Campbell which I guess isn’t bad – Koscielny and Djourou will be fighting for that place alongside Vermaelen with Sol taking more of a dressing room role and filling in where necessary. We can’t expect him to play 90 minutes, week in, week out but we can expect him to give everything when the chance comes.

Sol plus one more defender would be ideal but I think we might be just about alright with those four you know. We’d have Nordtveit, Eastmond and Miquel behind them and the former has impressed in pre-season so far. I suspect that Wenger will see how it goes with the current lot and if it isn’t quite up to standard he may add one more before the window shuts but if Sol does sign in the next few days then I don’t think we can expect much more activity in that area, sadly.

Moving on and there’s a bit of injury news to report. Yeah I know – start as you mean to go on! Denilson and Bendtner are missing from the Austrian camp due to two groin problems but Wenger insists they are nothing serious and we can expect them back soon:

“Bendtner has a groin and Denilson has a groin as well. The injuries do not look big but at the moment they cannot fulfil full training sessions. They will be one week behind the rest.”

With Eduardo gone and Wenger not looking to sign another striker this season is another chance for Bendtner to impress. I thought he did alright last year and he still has age on his side to improve his game. I do like Bendtner and I can be patient with him, he knows what he’s doing, he brings players into play well and he has become a lot less selfish than when he first joined. He scored 12 goals last season which isn’t bad going, his target this year should to be to reach the 20-goal mark; if he makes that then I’ll be happy with him.

David Villa has joined in calling for Cesc to join Barcelona. Yawn. Everybody knows that Fabregas wants to go back to Barcelona, everybody knows about his ‘DNA’ and everybody knows that all the players there want him to join them. However everybody knows that Barcelona can’t afford him, so how about upping your bid or shutting the fuck up? That’s all I have to say.

Jack Wilshere’s been talking about his need to play. After tasting first team football at Bolton I think he might want some sort of promise from Mr. Wenger about what kind of game time he can expect next season. I hope he doesn’t opt to go out on loan again because as I said previously I think he could do a great job in our team if we picked up an injury in his position.

And finally Thierry Henry scored in his debut for New York against Spurs, which is just absolutely sweet. I was up late last night to watch the game on the net and there were thousands of Gooners in attendance outnumbering the travelling scum to see Titi put another one past the old enemy. It was great to see and I’m sure he enjoyed that one. If you haven’t seen it yet you can see that goal here.

Happy Friday everyone. Enjoy your weekend.

Last night we played our second pre-season friendly of the season and the first of our Austrian training camp. We beat SK Sturm Graz 3-0 with Nasri getting two in the first half and Lansbury getting the other. I did watch the game over the internet but I don’t really feel like I studied it well enough or the game had enough meaning to deserve a full match report! I will say though that Nasri had a good 45 minutes, which is to be expected against lesser opposition, but I am looking forward to his season. I do like Samir as a player and I hope he has a successful year. Emmanuel-Thomas, Frimpong and Wilshere impressed again, if they have a successful pre-season then they could find themselves in the first team squad this year. I don’t think any of them will be in our favourite starting XI just yet but the way we are with injuries I see these lot getting a chance this year.

There was another run out for both our new signings who did alright. They’re still getting used to things here and still need to get to full fitness before we can judge them properly but it’s good to see them in action. Nordtveit did well in defence though and he could be looking at the vacancy left by Gallas and have set his sights on it along with Koscielny and Djourou. This pre-season will be really important for determining which three of those is preferred to partner Vermaelen but I’m still kind of hoping we add one more to the squad.

However the top story yesterday was not the 3-0 victory but the confirmation of Eduardo Da Silva’s departure. We all knew that he might move away this summer and in the past week I heard that he was close to a move to Shakhtar Donetsk. Well a deal was finally done and he has moved to the Ukrainian champions for a reported fee of around £6m.

Eduardo’s Arsenal story is an emotional one, there’s no doubt that he was loved here but it all went wrong for him and we all know why. I’ll never forget that day at St. Andrews in 2008, it was a horrible challenge that Martin Taylor inflicted on Eduardo and we all hoped that he would some day recover to continue his fine form he had just found at Arsenal. He was signed after Henry left to join Barcelona and he was starting to show himself as a goal-scoring machine in the Premiership. We never recovered emotionally from that leg break, went on to drop two points that day and signalled the end of our title challenge.

It was a horrible thing to witness but we had to pick ourselves up and move on. Eduardo was gradually reintroduced a year later; he was finding the net but struggled badly with fitness. We were patient with him but as much as we didn’t want to admit it, it became apparent Eddy was never going to recover from his broken leg. He could’ve become an Arsenal great but his career was ruined before it could hardly get going. It’s a terrible shame to see that happen to anybody but unfortunately all we could do was let him go and move on.

The whole diving incident against Celtic didn’t really help either; he was slaughtered by the British tabloids and thus fans of other clubs. In his return to football he really needed a bit of faith and it was made even harder by everyone’s opinion of him. They forgot what a great striker he was, they forgot about the trauma he had been through and suddenly everyone turned on him as some diving cheat. No one cared about that broken leg anymore, for some reason journalists were determined to break his and Arsenal’s reputation. It was very strange how everyone suddenly turned on Eduardo, it’s not like it was the worst dive ever and certainly didn’t change the game but for some reason everyone picked up on it. Diving goes on throughout the Premiership and Champions League but this became an opportunity to have a go at Arsenal and one of our foreigners and Eddy never recovered from it; he was a great guy, never went out to hurt anyone or cheat but his reputation was shattered by one little incident.

I have no doubt that everybody associated with Arsenal Football Club wishes him all the best at Shakhtar Donetsk and he can find that magical goal scoring form once again. Eduardo has left a message for Arsenal fans thanking them for all their support and Arsene Wenger also expressed his sadness at letting him go. I won’t forget the story of Eduardo and his three years here and I hope he goes on to great things.

Moving on and Wenger has been talking about Jack Wilshere. Gunnerblog has been trying to determine whether he’s ready to step up this season or whether he might go on loan again but Arsene has hinted it’s time for him to stay at Arsenal and push for the first team:

“At the moment I want Jack to gain experience, if possible at Arsenal. So I give him a chance now to play so that he can integrate into the first team. But of course we will make that decision later. Ideally it is better that he gains experience with us.

I am a bit keen not to create too much hype around the young English players. They need to work hard and we have outstanding English talent.”

He’s been playing well so far of what I have seen so if he continues this form them I’m sure he’ll stay with us this season. He could make a big impact this year if we pick up an injury in his position and I know that he would snap up the chance if it came to him. He thinks he’s ready, we just need to give him a chance to prove it. The 2010/11 season could be pivotal in Jack’s Arsenal career.

Arsene also spoke about the goalkeeper situation after last night’s match. He’s given me the impression that all our ‘keepers are on a level playing field this pre-season and it’s up to them to impress and stake their place. It’s interesting that Almunia hasn’t featured at all yet despite being fit and ready and everyone else is getting plenty of game time. Who knows what Wenger has up his sleeves but I’m still hoping that he’s going to open his chequebook to solve this particular problem.

We haven’t got another game now until next Tuesday so it’s time for the players to work hard, get fit and fight for those first team places. I’m looking forward to seeing how we’ve improved by next week. It might also mean some time for Wenger to sit down with Gazidis and make some progress in the transfer market. Who knows?

And that’s a whole blog post without mentioning one particular Spaniard. Isn’t that a refreshing change?

Thanks for reading.

So the traditional season curtain raiser ended in a comfortable 4-0 victory for Arsenal. We fielded two different sides for each half, which has become tradition at Underhill but both XI’s easily outplayed League 2 Barnet. Laurent Koscielny started marking his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt alongside Vermaelen at the back; I think the general feeling is that he has a bit of bulking up to do ahead of the Premier League season. He admitted this himself when he signed so I’m hoping he’s planning to get in the gym this pre-season. I thought he did ok though, nothing special but this was against Barnet – against tougher opposition he might’ve been shown up.

Fabianski started the game, which was a surprise; Almunia was nowhere to be seen. Both he and Eduardo were announced in the squad but they were definitely not there yesterday. Wenger said Manuel was ill but I’m taking that with a pinch of salt, both of them are strongly linked with moves away this summer so I think that might be more the reason behind their absence. Denilson was also missing but he wasn’t named in the squad anyway.

Arshavin and Rosicky were the more familiar faces in the starting XI and both played alright. Andrey was his usual self, lazy but brilliant on the ball. He scored after just 90 seconds with a nice bit of skill in the box rounding the ‘keeper making it look easy. I think the first time Barnet touched the ball was from the restart, 1-0 down. He also had a curling shot come off the bar.

Frimpong, Wilshere, Emmanuel-Thomas and Simpson also played the first half and were obviously out to impress. The latter scored two in the first half but it was the other three who caught my eye the most. Wilshere looked great (as he does every pre-season to be fair) and will be bound to be pushing for a first team chance after his loan at Bolton, Frimpong looked strong, composed and reliable at defensive midfield and Emmanuel-Thomas was great in midfield and seems to have grown another foot since I last saw him! He was coming in from the wing well, bringing in players and making some great passes. I’m expecting all three of those to shine in the Carling Cup this season and maybe they will get their chance in the first team. As for Simpson well he’s strongly linked with a move away and yesterday may have been nothing more than a ‘shop window’ display.

It was 3-0 at the break then, both of Simpson’s goals were put on a plate for him by Wilshere. The third was the best of the game; we broke from a Barnet attack with Arshavin who put Jack the left of the box who unselfishly squared it for Simpson to tap into the empty net. Nicely worked goal. There should’ve been another in the first half when Vermaelen struck a loose ball straight at the ‘keeper. He was obviously upset at missing the chance and seconds later blasted a shot out of the stadium, which was met by cheers and applause!

The second half saw a completely changed side including Djourou, Nasri, Walcott and Chamakh. It wasn’t as interesting as the first half with Barnet sitting back more but it was still good to see those players mentioned. It was the first time we’ve seen Djourou in a year but he didn’t have a great deal to do to be honest; he will be fighting directly with Koscielny for a place alongside Vermaelen at the start of the season so both are looking to impress. Nasri looked sharp and it was he who scored the fourth goal pouncing on a defensive slip-up. Walcott looked dangerous too and I have a feeling this season he will be looking to make an impact after missing out on a World Cup place.

It was the first time most Gooners including myself have seen Chamakh play live and I was quite impressed by him. I knew that he was handy with his head and you could see that immediately, not just scoring headers but bringing the ball down from the air and nodding the ball into space. His touch was good and his awareness around him was excellent. He didn’t have a lot of goal scoring chances but he seems like he will fit in well here and I’m looking forward to seeing more from him this pre-season. In the post-match interviews Arsene said he was also impressed with him.

He also answered questions on the goalkeeping situation saying we’re still in the market but are ‘not really’ interested in Mark Schwarzer. We’ll just have to see what happens there, nothing looks like it’s going on at the moment and I can see myself getting worried about that but there’s still time to go.

Of course he was asked about Cesc Fabregas too and he said the stories have to stop because he is categorically not for sale:

“There was a lot of unneeded talk. It is not pleasant to read this every day. Now, the story has to stop. Cesc is our captain, he is so important to us and we want to keep him, that is why we were not listening to any offers. It was not a problem of money, just the desire to keep him at the club.

We can only influence our own behaviour, and I believe things have now gone straight again with Sandro Rosell. We always had a consistent attitude and were always reluctant to talk about Cesc’s departure. It is very important we give the impression that because somebody wants a player from us, we don’t just give in.

We have shown our love and care for Cesc since the start. I believe Cesc loves the club, has shown his attachment to the club many times and I am very confident the story will end there. We want Cesc to be part of our club next year, and that is it. What we want is to build a team for the future, to develop our team and are not in any talks for next year or the year after – we want our players to be focused on the targets we have at the Club.”

I have to say I was pretty sure Cesc was going to leave but I feel confident now that he’s staying for at least one more year. I don’t think that’s because anything has changed with Barcelona or in Fabregas’ mind but because they simply can’t afford him this summer. I believe he’ll have one more year at Arsenal now which I guess is better than nothing, hopefully we’ll get a decent bit of cash for him in a year’s time and at least it gives us the chance to say goodbye properly. Here’s to hopefully another year of Cesc.

Well that’s the story of yesterday’s game at Barnet then. A nice day out for all, a 4-0 win and by the looks of it – no injuries! Next up we’re playing Sturm Graz on Wednesday. We’ve got more players coming back from holidays tomorrow and I’m guessing we’ll be flying out to our pre-season camp in Austria very soon too.

Thanks for reading.

We play our first bit of football of the 2010/11 campaign tomorrow afternoon at Barnet but there’s also the small matter of whether our captain will be with us or not this season. The speculation continues over Cesc Fabregas’ future but I’m getting a hunch this will all be over soon. Despite us saying countless times that he is not for sale and we will not even think about it unless a decent offer is made, Barcelona are still persisting. However they’re now saying that if nothing is agreed soon then they will look elsewhere for signings. They’re saying they have €50m (£42m) to spend this summer but we’re asking more like €70m for Fabregas. If they were to offer us that full transfer kitty for Cesc we might be tempted to just get this over with but we wont let him leave for less than £40m that’s for sure.

Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell has spoken to Spanish television and this is the latest from him:

“Arsenal feels very hurt by Barca. They don’t want to listen to offers or sell and they are not putting the player on the market. There was a strong dispute a few months ago and they have not forgotten it.”

He will arrive, even if it is not now, it will be next year. We will see. One thing that is certain is that we will not go mad trying to sign him. No shareholder would pay 60 or 70million euros for him. We will not go all out for him. We would only pay his value in the transfer market.”

You don’t see any other club pulling a tantrum over a player they can’t afford. There’s no doubt that Cesc is a special talent and set to have an incredible career, he’s one of the best players in the world and his transfer fee should reflect that. It’s weird how they seem so desperate to have him yet they ‘will not go all out for him’. Cesc stands by his comments that he wants to return to Barcelona but at the moment it looks like that’s not going to happen until next year for him.

Lets forget about Fabregas for the minute and look forward to tomorrow’s day out at Barnet. We’ve announced the squad for tomorrow, it includes our two new signings, a number of first team members and some reserve players. We’ll probably end up fielding all 22 players in that squad, giving everyone a run out and not to tire anyone out. We usually start the game with the stronger XI then bring on most of the subs for the second half but here’s my guess at how we could line up tomorrow afternoon:

Almunia (c)
Djourou – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Eastmond
Rosicky – Nasri
Arshavin – Chamakh – Walcott

Whatever the team is, I’m looking forward to seeing Koscielny, Chamakh and Djourou in action and seeing how they get on. It’s no time to judge but it’s a chance to see how they play and what they’re capable of. Djourou’s spent a long time out injured but he has to make a step up this year with Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell all set to leave (despite still being on the squad pages), I’m hoping Johan can recover well from his absence and I’m sure he’ll be keen to make a good impression this pre-season.

I usually go to this season-opener at Underhill and I’ll be there again tomorrow. It’s still not sold out if you are free tomorrow and don’t have a ticket so come along. I’ve seen us win 10-1 there, I’ve seen a 2-1, a 2-0 and last year it was 2-2 but whatever the result it’s just a good feeling going to watch Arsenal again and being with all the Gooners.

I’ll be in the North Terrace hoping the rain holds out for a few hours. See you there.

Thanks for reading.

So with the World Cup finally over it’s time to start thinking about club football again. Hooray! Most of the players have been training for a little while now but those who were involved at the World Cup will have a break before rejoining the squad. Wenger had his first day back at the office today taking charge of training ahead of Saturday’s friendly with Barnet.

I’m really looking forward to the game, it’s always a good day out at Underhill, nice to be back watching Arsenal. It’ll be a mix and match kind of side and nothing too serious, it’s really just an afternoon kick-about for the players and a chance for the fans to see them in action but that’s exactly what I want. If you’re not going and fancy coming along there are still tickets available so get involved. There’s a list here of the 1st team players that are around and could feature along with the reserves but as I said don’t expect to see any of those away in South Africa this summer.

I suppose I should congratulate Spain on winning the World Cup. They were the favourites and despite losing their opener to Switzerland they got the results to lift the trophy for the first time. Cesc looked like he was loving the moment, he came on as a sub and made a massive impact for his country. He was really dangerous to Holland and ended up creating the winning goal. Afterwards he was asked about his future but all he really said was to dedicate the win to Arsenal:

“All I can say is that this is for all the Arsenal players and fans, they are a world-class club. I am an Arsenal player and proud to be.”

Then as I’m sure you’ve seen, Reina and the epic cunts at from Barcelona, Pique and Puyol ‘pranked’ Cesc at the victory ceremony in Spain by pulling a Barcelona shirt on him. It was quickly removed and has since been played down by Fabregas and his Father as nothing more than a practical joke and nothing should be read into it. I was on that wavelength too really, all it did was confirm how I feel about FC Barcelona, their players and staff. Classless wankers.

Now the World Cup is over attention does really turn to club football and that means transfers. Cesc’s future will be decided over the next few weeks. I’m still hoping that he’s going to shrug them off and stay but I have a feeling his time at Arsenal is over. I’d love to be proved wrong but I think the taste of success with the Spanish squad might tempt him to not bother coming back and join up with Barcelona. There’s no point in speculating really, lets just see what happens and get it over with.

Moving on Thierry Henry has signed for New York Red Bulls. It’s hardly been a secret but I hope the move works out for him. I just love this quote though from the transfer announcement:

His debut for the Red Bulls is expected to be on July 22 against English Premiership club, Tottenham Hotspur, in the Barclays New York Challenge at Red Bull Arena.

How amazing that could be. I’ll definitely be watching that if I can pick it up on the internet. I bet Titi is relishing the chance to stick a few more past Spurs. Good luck Tel.

Ok that’s it for today. Remember to get your tickets for Barnet on Saturday. Thanks for reading.

Not a great deal going on at the moment but that’s to be expected I guess. The 2010 World Cup is nearing the end now and once that’s over with there should be plenty of club news. I’m hearing that there should be a bit of major news soon, Koscielny has apparently all but dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s and might even be getting his photos with the shirt today. So I’m expecting confirmation on that in the next few days.

We’re being linked with Portugal no.1 Eduardo who has a buy out clause in his contract at Sporting Braga of £3.4m. I watched a few Portugal games this summer and he seemed a decent enough ‘keeper, an improvement on Almunia but nothing amazing. He struck me as the sort of goalie that put that extra jump in his saves to make them look even more spectacular but if he saves the ball then I couldn’t give a toss what he does. He was destined to sign for Genoa but the Daily Mail are saying we’re coming in to make a late offer. The fact that he’s reported to be moving from Sporting Braga to Genoa doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence though, is that the level of standard we’re at?

Also in that article the Mail reckon we might sell Almunia to bring in both Eduardo and Mark Schwarzer but I don’t see that happening. I can see Manuel staying on with possibly one of those two coming in but as to which one I’m not sure who I’d pick. Schwarzer is probably the safer option but the novelty of Eduardo coming in and taking the no.9 shirt does interest me somewhat.

In other transfer news I’m sure you’ve seen what Gerard Pique said about Cesc yesterday. Well if you haven’t here it is in all it’s glory cuntitude:

“I have known that Cesc wanted to join Barcelona for many years – but now it is more than about wanting to do it. Now it is something he feels he must do.

The World Cup has not been a good thing for Arsenal. It has meant that he has been spending every day with myself, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Victor Valdes – and he has made his feelings very clear to us. He is keeping his mind focused on Spain but his heart is in Barcelona. I think already in his heart he is wearing a Barcelona shirt next season.”

Fuck the fuck off Pique, you fucking fuck. I was always weary that a summer spent with the Barcelona players might tempt him to return to Spain after the World Cup. I think Cesc’s off to be honest with you, as much as I would love him to stay and commit to Arsenal I’ve got to the stage now where I’d be surprised if he was our captain come the end of the transfer window. We’re in a good position because he is well under contract and we have no obligation to sell but if he doesn’t want to be here then we can’t force him to stay. As sad as it is to think about, if Fabregas doesn’t want to be at Arsenal anymore then we have to let him go.

I always hoped he’d stay for a couple years longer but if he feels the time has come to move on then whatever. Barca’s bank balance has just been boosted by the sale of Yaya Toure so they should be able to reach around the £50m mark that would probably get us to sell. There’s talk of Cesc doing one more year in London before moving on (and possibly joining Wenger out the door) but I’m not so sure about having a captain that isn’t fully committed to the club. I love Cesc, and I’d be over the moon if he stays but I’m not holding my breath. We coped when Vieira left, we coped when Henry left, we’ll manage without Fabregas.

He’s just been passed fit for Wednesday’s semi-final if you’re interested. He had a scan on his shoulder but will have pain killing injections in order to play. That’s if he’s selected though, he hasn’t got a lot of minutes this World Cup which might make him think about where his place in the Barcelona set up might be…

And that’s about all I can update you with today. Thanks for reading.

Hello again, it’s been a while hasn’t it? Sorry about that, a mixture of no Arsenal news, a stressful and long house move, some rare English sun and general laziness accumulated in me not getting round to doing the blog. We’ve had the World Cup though so at least that’s something; I’ve quite enjoyed it this year despite all the 0-0 and stalemates, been watching most games including yesterday’s two quarter finals. Robin van Persie’s Holland beat Brazil 2-1 to go a step closer to their first ever World Cup triumph. Just as I type this though Sky Sports News are saying that there’s an injury scare over Robin, he’s been taken to hospital for a scan on his arm so I guess by tomorrow we’ll know just how bad it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have to amputate. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope RVP can do the same come tomorrow.

Cesc Fabregas’ Spain are still in it of course and they take on Paraguay tonight for a place in the Semis. They’re the favourites this year but like Holland they’ve never won it, in fact they haven’t even made the semi-finals before. There’s a good chance there could be a tasty Cesc vs. Robin, Spain vs. Holland World Cup Final with both sides fighting for that first star above their badge.

As for Cesc’s club future, no comment. If he’s not going to get into it until after the World Cup then neither am I. Barca say they wont pay over the odds for Cesc and the only way we will sell him if for a figure that represents his incredible quality and potential. Barcelona have just received 20-odd million off Man City for Yaya Toure so they have the cash, they’re just being cunts. We’ll see how this turns out over the rest of the summer but whatever happens lets get it done sooner rather than later.

Back to the World Cup and from an England point of view it hasn’t been the best ever. I did manage to get behind my country despite the massive cunts that played for us. I found myself looking at the badge rather than the faces at the national anthem. England never really clicked that’s what went wrong, there’s a lot of quality players in that team but until they learn to play together they’ll never get anywhere. There were some nice exchanges between Gerrard and Rooney but that was about it. It sounds like a big problem was ‘team spirit’ in the camp and fatigue. Well everyone at that World Cup has just finished an enduring season so that comment is invalid and as for the ‘team spirit’ issue I’ve heard that rather than a lack of togetherness there was more a loathing feeling inside. Apparently the camp was split after a big argument between Gerrard and Terry over who’s shagged the most colleagues’ wives or sold the most crack or something. Anyway once it was all over I couldn’t give a shit and I’m looking forward to the backlash some of England’s ‘stars’ will receive this season. It’s time for Capello to start fresh, get rid of the troublemakers and bring through the talented youth.

I saw this article this morning which made me chuckle, it’s from a Stoke City blog and they reckon it’s Arsenal’s fault England are so useless despite not having a single player in the squad. He reckons our pretty football and our endless diving and moaning have ruined the English game and therefore the national side:

After watching the disgraceful capitualtion that was england’s world cup tournament and seeing the bloated cash rich whinging players moping round the pitch constantly moaning and groaning it seems to beg the question, is the style of arsenal football club ruining the game in england. England seemed to think it clever to pass the ball around in their own half, buliding up possession statistics like they are the important and win games. Arsenal’s fault, the tippy tappy culture in full effect. Everything about the north londoners contributes to the poison spreading through the english game.

It’s laughable really. I couldn’t care less what other fans think of us, I know we’re not the most loved club by some and quite frankly I quite like it. I think it’s funny how everyone’s looking for reasons why England have failed so badly and they’ve pointed the finger at the manager, the players, the FA, the referees and it’s come to nothing so now someone’s thought, “I know! Let’s blame Arsenal.” According to this guy Arsene Wenger should be ‘locked up for crimes against football’, apparently we ‘surround the referee like a swarm of locusts’ and Fabregas is a ‘lying cheat’. Well I don’t know what Arsenal games you’ve been watching mate but you seriously need to get your story straight and if you think Arsenal is the biggest problem in football then you are either blind or insane.

If you want to blame Arsenal for England’s failures then I guess you could say that as a top three Premier League side we should have more players in the England team. It is a shame but the simple fact is we can’t afford English players. However that could be all set to change now with Walcott, Gibbs and Wilshere all looking to be a part of Capello’s next generation.

Right on to club matters now and the new kits have both been released since I last wrote and I must say I am a big fan of them both. I would happily buy the home and away if it didn’t mean £100 for two t-shirts that will only remain current for 9 months. However that home shirt is just too good to turn down; it’s red and it has full white sleeves – it’s not very often that Nike bring out an Arsenal kit as it should be so I’m going to take advantage of it. It seems everyone else is in agreement as opening day sales smashed all the records and we sold double this time compared to the last home kit release. Hopefully that says something to Nike.

In transfer news Lorient defender Laurent Koscielny looks extremely close to signing. I don’t really watch French football so I can’t comment on how good he might be for us but I’m glad to see Wenger investing money in defence. Gallas, Campbell and Silvestre are all out of contract now and all three look likely to sign somewhere else. Sol looks very close to signing for Celtic which is a shame because despite his age he was really important in our season run in. Hopefully we can replace his desire and determination if he leads because he was a great example to the side.

That’s probably enough for today then, feels good to be back. Thanks for reading.

So finally some sort of official confirmation of the Cesc deal came out the other day and it was what you would expect really – Arsenal rejecting Barcelona’s offer which was reported to be around the £30m mark. We are never going to accept a figure as low as that for one of the best players in the world, with or without a player coming our way too. If Fabregas is to go, we wont let him go cheaply, I suspect we will hold out for at least £50m, but then personally I wouldn’t even want to sell him for that.

Our response via Arsenal.com was strongly worded and told Barcelona exactly where they can shove it. I’m sure you have read it but this final sentence deserves a bit more air time:

“To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”

Arsenal are pointing Barcelona out for the sneaky, tapping-up, shit-stirring bastards they are – but this wont stop them. They seem to think they have some divine right to take Cesc back because he was a part of their youth system but that bollocks. It’s like us saying to West Ham, “Oh we need a defender, give us Mathew Upson back because he’s pretty much ours anyway. We’ll give you a couple million just for your troubles.” It’s not how it works, if they want Cesc they’ll have to put in a proper bid just like any other side would that wanted him. We won’t enter discussions to agree on a price for our captain but we can’t stop Barcelona making more bids, so all we can do is just let them and keep rejecting them. Maybe eventually they’ll offer us something too good to turn down but until then he will remain firmly an Arsenal player.

However out of all of this it is clear that Cesc has expressed some degree of desire to leave Arsenal, which is quite frankly upsetting. As soon as I hear that someone doesn’t want to be at the club anymore I think, ‘fuck ‘em then, we don’t want them either’ but this is Cesc Fabregas we’re talking about. I refuse to believe he has lost his love for Arsenal I just think that the Barcelona cries have become too much and he’s asking to go at the wrong point in his career. In my opinion as a fan he’s still got two or three years here and then he can still go to Spain in his prime and everyone’s happy, no? Well we’ll have to see, this one’s gonna drag out all summer long and it’s going to be as boring as hell.

Theo Walcott has been left out of the England squad for the World Cup as I’m sure you know by now but I think it still needs comment. It’s the first time in a long time (or possibly ever, I can’t be arsed to look it up) that not a single Arsenal player is representing England at the competition and I don’t like it. I am a proud Englishman and I will support the country every time as hard as I find it but it always makes it that bit better if there’s at least one Arsenal player involved. Now I’m going to have to somehow support that pack of Tottenham and Chelsea players all summer and it’s going to suck.

Theo’s had terrible luck with injury this season and it’s destroyed his World Cup chances. Capello made it very clear that he would be taking players to South Africa that have been playing regularly and are in form going into the competition and you can’t really say that Walcott fits into either of those categories. It’s a real shame for Theo and a disappointment to all English Gooners. However he’s a young boy and he’s got two or possibly even three more chances at going to the World Cup so it’s not the end of the world. This exclusion will make him hungrier next time around and hopefully make him realize he has to achieve more at Arsenal.

The less players going to South Africa the less injuries we’ll pick up too (hopefully). The official squads have all been confirmed now and 11 Arsenal players will be at the World Cup. However that does include Gallas, Senderos and of course Fabregas who are not all certain to be with us next season.

In other news Ramsey has signed a new long-term contract. I think I speak for us all when I say I look forward to his return next season and I hope he makes a strong and successful recovery.

Ok that’s it then. Sorry for another absent period on the blog, just been enjoying the sun a bit too much. Thanks for reading.