Champions! In the second half of Sunday’s game I was getting really into it and I really wanted us to win the very first Emirates Cup for some reason. So I was really proud that we came from 1-0 down to win the cup. The winner was scored by Robin Van Persie five minutes from time and what a goal it was. If you didn’t see it yesterday, watch it here…and if you did see it yesterday, watch it again.

Gallas captained another strong side in which Hleb started in that same central role as he did against PSG and with 17-year-old Kieran Gibbs out on the left wing. With PSG beating Valencia 3-0 in the earlier game we needed to win or draw 2-2+ to take the cup.

The opening stages of the game were very encouraging and we very nearly opened the scoring after half an hour when Gibbs put through Flamini but it was saved by Cesar. A few minutes later Sagna forced the Inter goalie into action again and just before half time Van Persie had a free kick in a decent position but he couldn’t get it on target.

So at half time it was 0-0, the Emirates Cup win was still in sight. We made no changes at half time; I don’t know if that was Wenger showing he wanted to win this game, or if there was simply none needed, but it was quite a positive move at this stage. 10 minutes into the second half Van Persie was brought down and to me it looked like a penalty. I still have seen a replay since Sunday but to me it looked like it should’ve been at the time.

In the 62nd minute Inter went 1-0 up. It was totally unexpected and undeserved but that’s football. Suazo beat Gallas to a header and it went in off the post past Lehmann. It was the German’s first game of the season and it looked like he was heading for a clean sheet but it wasn’t to be.

It only took 5 minutes for us to equalise though. It could’ve been sooner than that though, their goal made us hungrier…Eboue blasted a shot just wide of the goal a couple of minutes after Inter’s goal. It was Hleb that did score though. Eboue and Sagna linked up well on the right and the new signing played a short ball to Hleb who had his initial shot saved but netted the rebound. One more goal and the Emirates Cup was almost certainly ours. Even though it was a nothing pre-season tournament the crowd seemed up for it and where urging the team to attack.

We had plenty more goes at goal but nothing seemed to pull off. However the way we were playing the belief was there. The winner finally came 5 minutes from time, a cracker from Van Persie (the link to the video is at the start of this post). Ashburton Grove went mad and the cup was surely won. The goal was perfect for the occasion and hopefully Robin can show a bit more of that magic this year.

Then there was the trophy celebrations and that was about it really. It was a great day out and was great to see us picking up a bit of silverware for once. Hopefully more to come…

Just a quick mention of some individuals. Hleb was excellant again, I hope this season he gats many more oppertunities in this central position. Gibbs had a fantastic debut, maybe we haven’t seen the last of him this season? Sagna and Eboue seem to be working really well on that right hand side, it’s looking good for the new campaign. And finally Van Persie is just getting better and better.

It’s off to Amsterdam now. We play Lazio on Thursday. Thanks for reading.

It was back to the Grove again today after what seems like an eternity. First up it was Valencia vs. Inter Milan, I missed the beginning of the game but Valencia looked by far the better team won 2-0. I was looking forward to seeing Edu v Vieira but neither featured; I think Edu was an unused substitute but Vieira wasn’t even in the Inter squad in the programme; I don’t know why that was, I’m guessing he’s injured or something.

Then it was the Arsenal vs. Paris St. Germain game; we started with quite a strong team, Almunia in goal who had a brilliant game. He made about 5 fantastic saves and was very very unlucky not to get a clean sheet for his performance. He played the full 90 minutes today so I’m expecting Fabianski to face Inter tomorrow. The back four was Sagna, Senderos, Toure and Clichy. Denilson and Fabregas were in central midfield with two unfamiliar wingers beside them. Diaby was out on one side, we saw him play there a few times last season and he did a decent job today even though it’s not his best position. Then it was Flamini on the other wing and he gave everything as usual. Then up front it was RVP and Bendtner.

With Adebayor, Walcott, Djourou and Rosicky picking up knocks from Austria and Eduardo still without his work permit Wenger’s selections were limited but it was still a decent side. It was a typical pre-season friendly…not a lot happened in the opening minutes. You’d have to say PSG were on top in the first half, they broke through our defence a few times but their shooting wasn’t good enough to test Almunia. We had a few of chances going forward including Van Persie’s free kick, which just missed the target.

Almunia made a few good saves before half time and it looked like we would go in at half time drawing at 0-0. Just before half time we won a corner, which was no danger to PSG, but on the return attack we did manage to score. Clichy picked up the ball out on the right and put in an early cross to the edge of the box. It came perfectly to Bendtner who unselfishly chested it down to Flamini who scored well putting the ball right in the bottom corner, unstoppable for Mickael Landreau.

So we went in at half time 1-0 up, probably not deserving it…but who cares? Toure, Sagna, Fabregas, Flamini and Van Persie came off at half time replaced by Gallas, Hoyte, Traore, Eboue and Hleb. We now had Traore and Hoyte at full backs with Gallas and Senderos in the middle. Then Eboue on the right wing and Clichy on the left. Gael had been getting forward really well in the first half so when he was pushed up into left midfield it allowed him to explore the pitch even more. I don’t know whether this was a planned change or whether Wenger saw his first half performance and decided upon it but it was a really good move. Clichy had a brilliant game and maybe he’ll be another young player who’ll have a great 07/08 season.

In the middle we then had Denilson and Diaby with Bendtner as a lone striker. Then Hleb was playing centrally between Bendtner and and the centre midfielders in a 4-4-1-1. He’s not one of the most popular Arsenal players and had some bad performances last season but today was a completely different story. Alex had a brilliant game in the centre of the midfield, a complete contrast to some performances we’ve seen from him out wide.

This second half Arsenal side dominated PSG and we should’ve scored a few. However, our 2nd goal came in the 70th minute from Nick Bendtner. Denilson took a good corner which Bendtner got a head to, it came off another player and rebounded back to the Dane and he finished passed the PSG ‘keeper to make it 2-0 to the Arsenal putting us at the top of the table with Valencia.

PSG scored 10 minutes from time against the run of play. Luyindula finished past Almunia’s near post from a low cross. It was a silly goal to concede and puts us in 2nd place for the Emirates Cup. We nearly made it 3-1 though when Bendtner had a penalty saved in the 83rd minute. It finished 2-1 and I think it was a deserved win for Arsenal.

My man of the match has to be either Almunia, Clichy or Hleb. Those three had brilliant games and really gave PSG some problems.

Right then, we face Inter Milan tomorrow and Valencia play PSG. Will we win the very first Emirates Cup? I think we can. Thanks for reading.

If he is I will eat my hat. Or a cake. I’ll eat something anyway but he won’t be captain. After last night’s game Arsene was questioned about why the new captain hasn’t been announced, here’s what he said:

“In every game you need a captain. William has all the ingredients needed to be a captain along with Kolo and Gilberto. He has a lot of experience. Also centre back is the best position to captain the team because you are in a position to see all the problems on the pitch. It is a better position than a centre forward or a wide player. But we go game by game right now. At the moment the captain problem is not the biggest one. The biggest problem is to be fit.”

There Wenger has explained why Gallas had the armband for the pointless pre-season game. Well not pointless but it didn’t mean anything. The reason Kolo was not captain is because he was brought in as a late replacement for Johan Djourou. Arsene would’ve told William some time before the game that he would be captain and I’m sure he was happy with that. However when it was decided that Kolo would play, Arsene couldn’t have exactly gone to Gallas, “Sorry mate, Kolo’s playing now. You aint captain anymore.” I don’t think Bill would’ve been best pleased.

So when Sky Sports News.com come out with this headline: Wenger: Gallas could be captain, it is absolute bollocks.

Yes Gallas does have the credentials to be a captain, but just because he captained a friendly it doesn’t mean he will be the new Arsenal captain. It will be Kolo or Gilberto as Arsene said in his interview.

That is all.

Well Last night we lost to Red Bull Salzburg 1-0. Highlights are below.

It might be a nothing pre-season friendly, but still…we lost. And whatever game it is, when Arsenal lose I don’t like it. All the optimism I had ahead of the new season has died down and I’m starting to worry. It’s not becasue of last night’s performance or result…nothing like that. It is just the fact that Arsenal lost. That’s it. I dunno, I just don’t take defeat too well as some of you might’ve read in some of last season’s match reports.

All I saw of the game was the highlights above, however what I can note from that video is that Fabianski is definately a third ‘keeper. He’s going to have to do a lot of work to one day be an Arsenal first team goalkeeper. Also I did pick up of Eduardo’s talent; he looked exactly the player I thought he might turn out to be, everywhere on the pitch taking snap shots at goal at any oppertunity. Wenger said ‘he should’ve scored four’ and he’s right. I just hope he can transfer his skill to the Premier League. Diaby and Denilson looked good in midfield from what I saw and Sagna looks a good right back.

I can’t really comment on the gam from only seeing those hihglights but it still looked like we deserved the win. Their goal came from shit defending and mad goalkeeping with the shot going in with a deflection. Oh well, this loss doesn’t mean anything.

The next game is on Saturday in the Emirates Cup against PSG, then we face Inter on Sunday.

Yesterday I talked about our squad and how with the loss of Ljungerg we definately need a winger for the squad. Well after last night’s game Arsene said he will ‘not necessarily’ buy a replacement and that it is ‘too early to say’. Well if he doesn’t I personnaly think he should’ve done. Maybe he’ll wait until January? Who knows. In Arsene we trust.

Lastly there’s the news that Lehmann has been called up the German sqaud for the friendly against England at Wembley on 22nd July. Jens got a clean sheet in the first half of the Salzburg game last night. Also Traore has been named in the French U18 squad and Fran Merida gets a call up to the Spanish U17’s.

Thanks for reading.

I think it’s about time to weigh up our team before August comes. If there are to be any more departures I can only see that being Reyes and possibly Flamini, more on him in a bit. I’ll start at the beginning and that’s the goalkeepers.

Goalkeepers

Lukasz Fabianski was brought in at the beginning of the transfer market, predominantly as a replacement for Mart Poom who joined Watford. ‘A replacement for Mart Poom’ doesn’t sound too flattering does it? However at the time of his signing, Jens Lehmann’s future was in doubt and when Fabianski was brought in, it was as the long-term successor to Mad Jens. Now Lehmann’s future has been sorted (ish), Lukasz will be fighting with Almunia for that no.2 spot; I think for now he will be our 3rd ‘keeper but he is a young prospect who is due to step up and take the Polish no.1 jersey over the next few years which will do him a lot of good.

Back at the start of the summer after Jens sorted out where he would play Wenger said that if he had left, then Almunia would’ve been promoted. I believe this is still the case but if Fabianski shows his potential this season it might be another story.

For now anyway, Lehmann is definitely our no.1. This might be his last season at Arsenal, I’m not exactly sure, and if it is, well this season it is up to our other two goalies to see who impresses Wenger the most to become our no.1 for the season after. I believe Jens has another year after this left in him, but if he wants to go and play back in Germany then that’s fair enough.

Defence

At centre back I think we’re sorted, there is no problem there. Gallas and Toure are two of the best around and any striker in the world will find it difficult getting past them. Backing up them two are Djourou and Senderos who we know are good quality and can do a more than good enough job in our defence. However Steve Bruce is still trying to get Djourou on a season long loan which would ruin our plans. If that was to happen then we’d have to call up a reserve player or someone who isn’t traditionally a centre back.

At full back we’ve just brought in Bacary Sagna. He’ll slot right into the first team ahead of Eboue and Hoyte. It seems a bit strange that we’ve bought Sagna even though we have two right backs but it’s looking quite likely now that Eboue will be converted into a right midfielder with our current lack of wide players. Wenger was quoted the other day including Emmanuel in a list of wingers we have at the club so it looks like Hoyte is now the back up to Sagna. Also there’s Gilbert who has just come back from loan at Cardiff who’s a pretty decent play but I don’t think he will be called upon too many times this season.

Clichy on the other hand hasn’t got such a wealth of players behind him. Gallas can play at left back but you can see that it does not come naturally to him. Other than that there’s Traore. I’m a big fan of the youngster and whenever I’ve seen him he has impressed me. I think the combination of Traore and Gallas will be enough to back up Clichy. The luxury of another left back would be great but that’s not something we can afford at the moment.

Midfield

Central midfield is probably the strongest area in our squad. We have Fabregas, Gilberto, Denilson, Diaby, Flamini and Song. However there are a few problems with them: Fabregas picked up a knee problem yesterday and has gone for a scan today. We’ll probably find out how bad that is when we play Salzburg later. Then there’s Gilberto who is having an extended break until September because of the Copa America. Song is just Song. Finally there’s Flamini, at the beginning of the summer he publicly announced he would leave and everyone knew he’d be off and thought a deal would be done soon. However it’s now nearly August and he’s still playing with us. The departures we’ve had this year have really shifted things around the club and possibly Mathieu might be staying. I’m a fan on Flamini; he has a great work rate and puts everything he has into every game. He put in some good performances in last season; one that stands out is Chelsea away so I think he is an asset to the squad. We’ll just have to wait and see on him I suppose.

I think this will be a great season for Diaby. He’s growing from strength to strength already but I feel the 07/08 season will be a big one for Abou. He’s third choice centre midfielder so there will be plenty of opportunities for him to play. I’m very exited about this player. Denilson too is looking good and at his young age has impressed me a lot when he’s got the chance to play. Definitely one for the future but I think he too could be in for a good season.

The central midfield is great; but out wide it’s another story. With Freddie going the other day we now have Rosicky and Hleb who are naturally central attacking midfielders, we’ve got Walcott who is really a striker who is just getting experience out wide before he moves up front and we now have Eboue. None of which are natural wingers. People I know out in Austria following the team have said Mark Randall is out there training with the first team squad. He also started the Barnet game out on the wing, this could mean he’s being brought up to the first team, but I don’t thing he is anywhere near ready yet and possibly he’s filling in until we make a signing??? Very optimistic I know. We need to sign a winger in my opinion.

Strikers

We are considerably weaker in our squad for strikers now but I think we will manage this season with what we have. Aliadiere, Baptista and Henry have left now which does ruin things, I won’t go into that too much because we’ve heard it all before but we can cope without Thierry Henry. We have as strikers Van Persie, Adebayor, Eduardo, Walcott and Bendtner. This season will be an amazing one for Van Persie. I’m not guessing he will, I know it. He was our top scorer last season even though he was out for most of it but the few times he did play he looked brilliant. I think this guy is definitely a good bet for Premier League Golden Boot 2008. I believe Robin will flourish in Henry’s absence and from here on, become an Arsenal legend. Very exited about him.

His partner will definitely be Adebayor to start off with, we all know what to expect from Emmanuel. However, depending on how well Eduardo fits in, he might take Adebayor’s place. He scored more goals that appearances last season for Dinamo Zagreb but it’s just a question of whether he’s got the strength for the English league. I’m desperate to see how he does…he could be a right flop like Baptista or be the latest sensation to the Premiership.

Walcott will switch between striker and winger depending on the game and injury situation. His hunger in the pre-season games looks great and this could be another lad who’s in for a great season. Bendtner will be lucky to get the amount of games he thinks he’s going to get. I think he’ll be a regular in the Carling Cup and that but really, his first team chances really depend on injuries. He must be patient and realise that he is one for the future.

Right. A bit of a long post, sorry. It’s kinda a once a year thing. Well done if you read all that though. In conclusion, we need one winger at least. Laters.

Nothing properly official has been announced yet so I can’t give you a 100% that he’s gone but it looks as though he has. West Ham have announced a 2pm press conference which is believed to be to unveil Freddie. He’s like the only player left from that old Arsenal I used to know, it will be sad seeing him play for another team but if you think about it maturely, it really is time for him to go. He’s 30 now and he’s not the quality he used to be, and with the salary he’s on, it’s just not financially worth keeping him.

Next season he would only get a handful of games which would’ve been sad in it’s own way. Just last week Wenger was saying how valuable Freddie is to Arsenal. After the Barnet game Arsene said it’s 90% that he will stay and after the Gencleribabighisigh game he said this:

“Freddie is a winner. We have a very big squad, maybe not in numbers but in quality. We have many young players so the experienced ones have to show the way - not only footballistically but mentally - for a successful season. Last season Freddie had tremendous problems with his hamstrings so we will see how it goes this season. He will be part of the squad.”

Quite a bit of rubbish there to be honest; ‘we have a very big squad’ no we don’t, and ‘footballistically’ a new word invented by le boss? Anyways, he couldn’t have exactly said ‘yea he’ll be off soon’ so it’s fair enough.

In one way I don’t want Freddie to go, but I know it is what’s right. Even with our lack of wingers he might have a job at Arsenal but obviously not. Now that he’s gone (or at least that’s how it seems) I believe we must make another signing. We need another winger for the squad. Rosicky and Hleb have been brought in recently but both were attacking midfielders, not wingers. We need to sign someone who is a bloody winger. Also, someone who is older than 21 please. If Wenger insists that our ‘very big squad’ is good enough then I’m sorry to say it but he’s wrong. He can’t put it down to money either. We have £10m+ left over from sales this summer not the mention the fee for Ljungberg and Reyes, which are still to be settled. At least one more signing must be made.

I’ll be watching Sky Sports News later to see this 2pm press conference. Will be a bit sad but at least I will officially know that Fredrik Ljungberg has left the club. I leave you with this.

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, that’s down to a number of reasons but I wont go there. Right I’ll start at the beginning and we beat Genclerbirligi 3-0. There were debut’s for Sagna and Eduardo and a fantastic performance from Walcott who got one goal and Van Persie with the other two. Next we play that Red Bull team on Wednesday.

The pub where Arsenal Football Club was founded has been knocked down to make way for some train station or something. This is were a group of lads met up, had a few, and thought ‘oi, fuck it! lets make a football team innit.’ And it was so. It’s kinda sad this pub’s gone. If I knew about it earlier I would’ve gone for a pint there. Oh well.

Edelman has explained Kroenke’s bid to buy the club and why we will not be taken over. He says that Stan is welcome as a shareholder and I think this guy will have quite a decent share but the board will not let the club be bought up. Quite an interesting read.

Carlos Vela has decided where his next loan is going to be at and he’ll be at Osasuna next season. I have no idea what the situation is with him, I don’t know when he is eligable for a British work permit, do you?

We’re not getting Anelka. Thank fucking god

And finally it looks like Vito Mannone is heading north. Gretna are interested in our young ‘keeper and the quotes from that article sound like a deal will be done shortly. Good luck to him there; he never made it at Arsenal but I hope he goes on to good things. Unless he goes to Spurs one day. Then he is a twat.

Right I’m off. Sorry, I know this has been quite a weird/shit post. Back to normal soon etc. Bye bye

An even quicker post becasue I just noticed these and thought you’d be interested. You might’ve seen these pictures of the 3rd shirt floating around the internet but now it’s official. Some say it’s too Barcelona, and it is, but I think I like it. I might just be getting it to stop me getting the white one. This shirt will only run for one season as a third shirt though. What’s you’re view?

And there’s a pic of the new Emirates Cup. Looks a bit tacky to me. More here. Right now I really must go to work. Have a nice day.

Just a quickie today ‘cos I’ve got work in a bit but I’m just gonna point out an article on GloryFootball.com that I have written. It’s a nice little site that new to the world-wide-web and might be worth ‘avin a butchers at. Here is what I wrote for the article:

Your view of Arsenal last season

Last season was very average for an Arsenal fan. Were never in the title race, the FA Cup disappointed and an early Champions League exit was terrible. We did well in the Carling Cup with our youngsters losing in the final to Chelsea. Other than that the double over United was brilliant.

Your view on the season ahead for Arsenal

07/08 will be interesting, Henry’s gone but Van Persie will have a brilliant season in his absence. He looked good last year but got injured halfway through; he still ended up our top scorer though. Walcott and Adebayor will also be looking to step up and I predict good things from those two.

Eduardo was incredible at Dinamo Zagreb scoring more goals than appearances last season; lets see how he does in England. I predict 4th again, the top three have strengthened this summer and will be too much for us. Give our young side a year or two and the title will be back to where it belongs.

Who is your enemy and why?

The enemy? Well there can only one answer to that, Spurs. I despise everything about their players, the manager, their fans and the club. Growing up as a Gooner, this hatred was forced upon me, but I generally loathe this team and seeing them slip-up brings a smile to my face.

Where you think you’ll finish in the Premiership this season?

4th

Right that’s all the copying and pasting I can do for ya today. God this is hard work. Laters

This article on Arsenal.com featuring a not so flattering photograph of Arsene explains why we still haven’t replaced David Dein. His departure has really unsettled the club and it’s down to Arsene to find a suitable replacement. Arsene explains that director Ken Friar has been helping him out with transfers at the moment as a stand-in but someone needs to be found soon. Here’s what Arsene said about the situation:

“I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling. But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things. I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us.”

So maybe we’ll have to wait until September to see a new Director of Football at Arsenal but I’d rather Arsene takes his time appointing the right man than rushing into a decision.

There’s a long piece from Arsene on last season, the new stadium and that sort of stuff here which is quite interesting. He’s also said we’ll all get a chance to see our new signings in action in the Emirates Cup. Also Arsene has told us not to compare Eduardo with Henry. The striker was signed not long after Thierry’s departure so it’s easy to try and draw a comparison. Here’s what Wenger has told us to expect from our new forward:

“Eduardo is a completely different player (to Henry), he is less individual. Thierry Henry could take ball in the middle of park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score. Eduardo is more of a mobile guy around the box with a nose for a goal. He is more a team player but he does not have the individual potential that Thierry had to score from anywhere.”

Not very uplifting words there in my opinion. We all know how incredible Thierry’s talent is was, and Arsene has basically said that Da Silva isn’t as good as him…he’s more of a player that knows where the back of the net is when needed. To be fair though, that’s exactly the sort of player we needed in most games last season, however after seeing him on Saturday, he doesn’t look very built up and we’ll have to see if he’s got the strength for the Premier League.

If you saw Arsene’s interview after the Barnet game, he was asked about whether he’d be signing a new contract. He didn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but it did sound quite promising. Anyway, Hill-Wood is hoping he will extend his contract.

That’s enough for today. See ya.

It was quite strange going back to see Arsenal again. It’s only Barnet but I had been looking forward to this game for a little while just for the fact I would be back in the stands watching and supporting Arsenal again. It was quite a strong starting line-up: Almunia, Toure, Clichy, Flamini, Denilson Walcott, Adebayor and Van Persie all started and I thought we could be in for a thrashing, but after a few minutes of the game you could tell it was a typical pre-season friendly and this was actually the first game of football these players have played since May.

I was in the North Terrace and behind the goal were a group of fans singing so I thought I’d squeeze my way over there. At points they would sing some quite racist songs about Tottenham, I didn’t join in but to be honest with you I didn’t really mind the singing. I know it’s all a joke and they don’t actually mean the things they say but I can very much see how inappropriate the songs are. One Gooner turned round and said something about them singing these songs, which resulted in a big squaring up. Wasn’t nice but in the end they ignored each other.

It was great to see the boys back in action on the pitch, especially Robin Van Persie, it’s too early to talk of performances but you could definitely see that bad injury he got last year was not hindering his play whatsoever. Also he did make quite a few good shots, flicks, displays of skill and good through balls; 07/08 could be a very good season for Robin.

The first goal came after 18 minutes from a corner. Van Persie took it and it came in low to Walcott who played it into the danger area. Adebayor was there to stick the ball in the back of the net and it was 1-0 to the Arsenal. The goal was scored down the other end of the pitch in a crowed area so it was quite hard to see exactly what went on, and I haven’t seen a replay since. We’d got our first goal and that’s all that mattered.

Barnet came vary close to scoring a few minutes later. A loss in concentration in the Arsenal defence and the home striker was through on goal. The real slim shady Almunia did really well to come out and block the shot. A great save; it could’ve very easily been 1-1 at this point.

We should’ve scored again before half time, the closest effort was Van Persie’s header, which came off the underside of the bar and bounced out. Anyway half time came and we were 1-0 up. At the break we made 6 changes, Almunia, Gilbert, Clichy, Song, Randall and Van Persie all came off to be replaced by our new ‘keeper Fabianski, new 16-year-old defender Nordtveit, Traore, Gavin Hoyte, Gibbs and Barazite. A slightly weaker side now but we still had Toure, Walcott and Adebayor remaining from the first half.

We had a few more decent chances in the opening stages of the second half but nothing too dangerous for the Barnet goalie. However 10 minutes into the second 45 Denilson was tackled badly and was down on the floor for quite some time. Eventually he was stretchered off and it looked like he had suffered quite a bad injury. However later in the game it was announced that the injury was not serious and after the game he was seen walking to bus fine.

Adebayor missed a good chance to double the lead but not long after, half time substitution Nacer Barazite did just that with a brilliant goal in the 66th minute. He charged into the box but was getting pushed away from goal giving him a difficult angle to finish from, forcing him to cross. However he turned and powered a shot into the top corner of the net. It was unstoppable for the Barnet ‘keeper and that was 2-0 to Arsenal.

Just after that we made another round of substitutions: Toure, Walcott and Adebayor came off to be replaced by Paul Rogers, Merida and Rui Fonte. I don’t really remember the rest of the game to be honest. Not a lot happened really but I was distracted by the funniest thing in the crowd. That group of fans I said I was with sarcastically cheered the announcement that Paul Rogers had come on and for the remainder of the game we sang as many songs we could think of about the young defender. There was a bit of confusion as to who we were looking out for when we sang ‘Rogers give us a wave’, but he eventually did. It had me in hysterics.

The atmosphere was all ruined at the end when the two who were arguing about the racist songs got into a bit of handbags. In all it was a good day out, 2-0 the final score but really I just came to see the Arsenal boys back in action. Sorry about the poor quality of match report, it’s hard to do with these sort of games but there you go.

Just a quick mention of some individuals: Fabianski had a good debut with a clean sheet and made a few stops when needed. He seems a bit of a Lehmann character that doesn’t mind coming out of his box a bit to stop the ball. A few crazy moments but he’ll be pleased with the clean sheet. Walcott had a good game, his pace was way too much for the Barnet defence. Also he was getting quite involved in the game giving 100%. At one point he was tackled quite badly and went on a bit of a tackling rampage, which was quite amusing but was all in good spirit. Van Persie who I mentioned earlier had a good first half, a player who I’m very exited to see next season. Nacer Barazite will be please with his goal but I think we had quite a good 45 minutes, maybe one for the future.

There were no poor performances; it was just your average pre-season friendly. The next game is on Thursday against Genclerbirligi in our Austrian tour.

Thanks for reading.

I’m sure you all know by now but yeah Bacary (apparently it’s not Bakari) Sagna has been officially signed. He’s said all the usual stuff a new signing says but this is what Wenger had to say:

“We are delighted to have signed Bacary Sagna. He is a very capable defender and has played consistently well for Auxerre in recent seasons. He plays mainly at right back, but can also play along the defence or in midfield. He is strong, quick and enjoys defending but also has a good offensive side to his game. He has a fighting spirit and will be a very good addition to our squad.”

So it sounds as if Arsene has plans to use him as a defender. Maybe Eboue will be pushed up to right wing? Especially with Ljungberg’s move looking likely. We’ll have to wait and see.

You can read Sagna’s full interview here and there’s all the stats and stuff here.

Only had time for a quick update of the squad pages. See ya.

Well last time I wrote something on the site I finished saying another signing would be nice, and we got one. Today The Sun published this mobile phone picture of Bakari Sagna trying on his new Arsenal shirt last night at Ashburton Grove. It seems the tradition for a new signing to go to the stadium in his new shirt for a photo shoot but I’m surprised there’s nothing on arsenal.com yet. As you can probably make out, Sagna will be wearing cAshley’s old no.3 shirt.

There are 2 reasons why arsenal.com hasn’t made an official announcement. 1. The lazy bastards who run the site couldn’t be arsed to put it up yet because they’re too busy trying to get the Barnet tickets to sell. Or 2. We’re waiting so we can make an announcement of two new signings. Obviously I hope it’s the latter and I think it is quite possible. I have no idea who that could be though, apparently it will be this bloke.

I know The Sun publish all sorts of bollocks but this is one story I believe; they’re saying it’s a £6m move on a five-year contract but I’m not relying on that information. So we’ve now got three right-backs, Hoyte, Eboue and Sagna. One of them must be turning into a right midfielder or maybe there’s the chance Sagna will be deployed at left back. I’m waiting to see what plans Wenger has because he surely can’t have bought him so we have three players for one position, especially after Hoyte and Eboue signing new contracts this summer.

When I see something official released by Arsenal I’ll let you know, but for now all we’ve got is that picture to go by.

It looks like Freddie Ljungberg will be on his way out shortly. That Sun article said he might make a £5.5m move to Fiorentina. It does look quite likely. He has said a number of times he doesn’t want to leave Arsenal, but at £70,000 a week (I think it’s that, off the top of my head. It’s a big amount anyway), who wouldn’t. Fiorentina seem linked with Freddie the most, and his agent has confirmed there are talks in progress, but there are other clubs interested, he might even stay in the Premiership.

Looks like we’re in for a busy week.

Ever since he’s got here he just won’t shut the fuck up and is always moaning and putting down the team. It’s been a little while since his last outburst so he was due one. Sure enough, he’s at it again:

“What is sure, is that several players are questioning the club’s future. Around us, all the teams are recruiting but what is planned to compensate for the departure of Titi Henry? I am not at Arsenal to play for third place. It is necessary to recruit players of reputation because the young players have many qualities but the season is very long. The young players are thirsty for victories but Arsenal must obtain results to gain titles. If not, one will have to change policy and do the same as the other teams: recruit with more means.”

“I will have a discussion with Arsene Wenger and board members to know the objectives of the club this season and what they wish to set up to build an even more competitive team. Today I am at Arsenal but I do not know what can occur tomorrow. It all happens so quickly in the world of football.”

“I am not at Arsenal to play for third place”….“Today I am at Arsenal but I do not know what can occur tomorrow”…WELL FUCK OFF THEN!

Seriously, I mean it’s fair enough if he’s concerned at the current state of our squad; I think everyone’s a bit worried. But this crap you see quoted above from hi personal website is not the sort of stuff you should go around saying just before the beginning of a new season. Of course we don’t want to come third, but we have to fight and do the best we can. Also this thing about I might not be at Arsenal, well if you’re not committed, go away.

I think Gallas is a quality player, our second best centre-back and one of the best around, but I’ve simply had enough of his attitude. It’s not as if it’s a one off though. The other times I’ve just let it slip but this is pretty much the final straw for me. I don’t really want him to leave so much, our squad could do with as many players staying as possible, but I do want him to shut up.

I’m not going to go on and on about this but I wouldn’t be surprised if he handed in a transfer request soon and frankly, I wouldn’t give a shit if he did. Twat. Not usually like this over current Arsenal players but I hate it when they’re not committed.

Other news is Matthew Connolly has gone to Colchester on loan. I think this experience in the Championship will do him good; I really rate this guy and believe he is a future Arsenal captain. Walcott’s said some good words about the upcoming season and Torres says his move to England was suggested by Cesc Fabregas.

A week since the signing of Eduardo. Another one this week would be lovely. See ya.

Apparently Arsenal have announced that the new captain is Gilberto Silva and inspirational youngster, Cesc Fabregas is the vice. I say apparently because nothing has been confirmed by the club although the Telegraph seem to think they have. Hmm. Before you say I stole this story off gunnerblog, I’m telling you I did. Well there’s nothing else to fucking talk about ok.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this story is true though. Gilberto as the new captain is a no-brainer; if he doesn’t take on the armband I’d be very surprised. However personally I’d love Toure to take on the role as the new captain’ it’s not that Gilberto isn’t good enough, I think he’s an excellent choice and if he does get it I will have no compliant. It’s just that I love Toure’s attitude on the pitch. He gives 110% every single minute and literally throws himself at any ball that looks anywhere near threatening. Also he can really lift the spirit on the pitch, not only as an inspiration to others when they see him getting stuck in, but his rallying calls to his team mates too. If Kolo gets the captaincy I’ll be over the moon but I’m not expecting anything.

As for Cesc, well even though he’s so young I think he has got the mentality to take on the responsibility of vice captain. He is a leader on the pitch anyway, not only does every single youngster at Arsenal look up to him and follow his every step, his attitude rubs off on even the older players. This is a big step and a massive chance for Cesc to take his game to the next level if what the Telegraph are reporting is true, but you have to wonder, is this too much to take on at his age? And will it get in the way of his development as a player? These are things Arsene will think about when appointing his new captain and vice.

I like for it to Gilberto as captain because he knows what to do and we know he does the job well and then have Kolo as the vice captain. I’m looking forward to an official announcement from Arsenal.

The only other story is Arsene being linked to Real Madrid. It’s all bollocks. Calderon says he’s had talks with Wenger. If anything it would’ve been about Reyes. End of.

Have a good weekend.

Well after a signing there isn’t really any news around, hence the lack of activity on the site recently. I have been doing some working the background though don’t worry; I’m making all the new squad profiles from the squad page at the moment, you can see Eduardo’s below. The only thing really to talk about is Da Silva’s first interview which says the usual stuff someone says about joining a new club. Nothing really that exiting in there.

I said before that this signing might be in addition to someone else, but that doesn’t look like that’s going to be Carlos Tevez. He’s being strongly linked with Manchester United and if they are interested then their bank balance would surely beat off any other clubs sniffing around. It’s quite worrying seeing all Liverpool, United and Chelsea boost their squads ahead of the new season. We have only signed a back up ‘keeper and a striker who is yet to prove himself. It’s quite worrying but I think another signing or two and we should be safely in that top 4.

The new away kit is out today, and if you pop down to the armoury a bit later you can see the famous Chapman bust and get your shirt signed by Theo Walcott.

5 young players have been given professional contracts ahead of the new season: Nacer Barazite the 17-year-old striker, Rui Fonte the strong forward who’s goal tally is looking quite good, Paul Rodgers who got the most appearances last year, Jay Simpson the scorer of Ashburton Grove’s first hattrick and Wojciech Szczesny the 17-year-old ‘keeper.

Right that about all the shit I can come up with today. Back to making the squad profiles. Hopefully there’ll be something more interesting to talk about soon.

Well I said a signing this week would be nice to see and Wenger has made one. We’ve got Eduardo da Silva from Dinamo Zagreb, the scorer of the first goal in the game at Ashburton Grove between the two sides.

The 24-year-old was born in Brazil but moved to Croatia as a teenager and has made 12 appearances for the Croatians, scoring 7 goals including this header against England.

He’s been signed for £16m so he is pretty much Henry’s replacement. Although I have technically seen him play twice (and might I add he scored both times I’ve seen him), I can’t really judge him at this point. He’s not going to be as good as Henry was straight away, but I think we must give this guy time. It might even take a season or two for him to really prove himself; he’s only 24 so he can afford to take his time to adapt.

I’m really exited about seeing him in action for us. That list of possible signings I gave you last week were all pretty well known names and we would’ve known what to expect from one of those strikers if they were to sign, but this guy is quite unknown. All the stats seem good on him though, 7 in 12 for Croatia, he scored 34 goals in 32 games last season which is fucking impressive and totalled 71 in exactly 100 games at Dinamo. As I say I’m very exited about seeing him in action and I’m not going to judge him at all at this early stage. £16m seems a hell of a lot of money for him so he must be good. I trust that Arsene has made a good choice.

I’ll talk more about our new signing as I see him play and hopefully he’ll feature against Barnet in a couple of weeks. As one striker joins the club, another one leaves; Arturo Lupoli has gone to Fiorentina. You can’t say we weren’t expecting that though, we all knew he was off. He formed a good partnership with Bendtner in the reserves but it seems Arturo was going to step up to the next level like Nicklas now has. He’s seen out his Arsenal contract and now I wish him the best of luck in Serie A.

So quite a busy Monday then. Thanks for reading.

Edit: I’ve been informed on the comments that there was a confusion in the fee and it’s actually something nearer £5m-£8m. Much better