Stuttgart 1-3 Arsenal – (30/07/08) – (Friendly) 31 July, 2008

So we kicked off our pre-season-proper with a decent 3-1 win over Jens Lehmann’s Stuttgart. It was the first game of the new campaign for most of our big names and you could argue our starting 11 was full-strength:

Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Denilson and Walcott have all played a part in our previous friendlies this summer but for the rest of the guys out there it was their first chance to impress the manager this season. Not sure where Senderos is, but Djourou played centre half with Gallas and Eboue had to fill in at central midfield. When I saw the team I assumed Nasri would be in the middle but he did a great job out wide. Eboue wasn’t actually too bad but that is definitely not a viable permanent option.

I’ll start at the very, very beginning, with the kit. How fucking good did that look yesterday? Nike have got it right this time and I can’t wait to get my hands on the new yellow and blue away strip. It’s supposed to be in the post tomorrow, it’s going to be like waking up on Christmas morning.

We started the game quite layed back, like you’d expect in a pre-season friendly. Some players did look a bit rusty footballwise but did look quite fit. Stuttgart weren’t doing a lot with it either however their long balls over the top did sometimes cause our defence a bit of a worry.

However after 8 minutes, we had a really good chance. Adebayor played a great ball through the defence and van Persie was one-on-one with Lehmann. Jens came out and Robin went for the chip but the German’s reactions were quick and it was saved.

It was a great pass by Adebayor but that’s about all he did all game. He didn’t look very sharp at all and got caught with the ball under his feet more than a couple of occasions. He really didn’t do anything extra special anyway to prove to the boss he’s got what it takes to make people forget the past. That pass was pretty good though; I’ll give him that.

About 10 minutes later Alumina made a great save down to his left. Stuttgart made a charge down the right wing, the attacker broke inside and fired the show low inside the near post. Almunia got down to it well though and forced it into the side-netting.

A few minutes later we had another really good chance. This time it was van Persie with a fantastic defence-splitting pass from the halfway line that sent Walcott in the clear on the left hand side of the box. His marker did enough to catch up with him though and as Theo tried to square it with his right foot he blocked it out. If Walcott had the confidence to shoot with his left though it should’ve been a certain goal.

Just before the half hour it was Walcott again with a great chance. It was a typical Arsenal move with one-twos and quick passing that ended up with van Persie inside the box near the touchline. Walcott continued his run though and van Persie squared it gently to him for the shot. Theo went to put it in the top corner but Lehmann made a great one-handed reaction save to deny the goal. Fantastic move and a brilliant save.

The half finished 0-0 and it was time for some substitutions. Almunia, van Persie and Adebayor went off with Fabianski, Vela and Bendtner replacing them like for like. Stuttgart also made a change bringing on Bastürk and it was he who opened the scoring 5 minutes into the half. It was a through ball between our defence and a decent finish by him under Fabianski, who was also playing his first game of the season.

That goal woke us up a bit. Vela and Bendtner were still on a high from the last game and were playing well together, and it was their combination that made it 1-1 in the 58th minute. Bendtner chipped a ball across the Vela who did well to hold off the defender and take it past Lehmann. He finished well into the roof of the goal considering it was on his wrong foot and at a tightening angle. I thought Carlos Vela was going to be a winger/attacking midfielder for us but he’s proving to be a deadly forward.

A few minutes later Nasri was substituted for Jack Wilshere and I thought he had a good debut. He looked great on the wing and wasn’t afraid to shoot either. Was impressed by him but I’m looking forward to what’s to come. Eboue was also taken off for Ramsey.

In the 65th minute we took the lead and it was the front two combining well again. Bendtner won the ball deep and played it to Vela whilst continuing his run forward. Vela chipped it over the defence and Bendtner took the ball down well and it was a great finish low into the corner. Another great goal and those two players really are looking good for the news season.

We scored our third in the 73rd minute. Clichy, ever tenacious on the wing kept the move alive and kept our attack going after losing the ball. Once he had it he looked up and picked out Wilshere who was open on the far side of the box. Jack took the ball down well and finished low on the half volley to get his third goal in two games. Another great goal, well taken by the 16-year-old too.

So it finished up 3-1 to The Arsenal and a not so happy night for Lehmann. A decent run out for some players but it was the ones who’ve played in the previous matches that shone again. Vela and Bendtner linked up really well and deserved the two goals between them.

Afterwards Wenger said the chequebook was closed on the striker situation:

“We are not as short of strikers as people thought. We have Vela, who has integrated well into the team, and Bendtner was a force at the end of last season. He will confirm that again this year. In all the areas in total we are perhaps one player short. But up front we don’t need anybody.”

It’s true, we really are in quite a good situation in attack but it’s defensive midfield where I’m worried.

Yesterday we signed a midfielder by the name of Amaury Bischoff. He’s an U21 international for Portugal but was born in France. He’s from Werder Bremen but hasn’t played much first team football and seems like a bit of a risk to be honest. He’s currently out with a long-term injury and wont be fit for another 3 months or so and Wenger admits he’s a gamble. I’m a bit confused about his arrival so I don’t really know what to say at the moment but his position will become clear later this season, then we’ll see. He’s will wear the no.28 shirt.

Ok that’s it for today I have to shoot off to work, no time to read back through so excuse any typos!. See you soon.

There are quite a few stories to talk about today so I’ll just get right into it.

Cesc Fabregas returned to training yesterday and there are pictures of him training with Kolo Toure if you click that link. Cesc got an extended break because of his long run in Euro 2008 but now he’s back with Arsenal. He was at the London Colney training centre with Kolo yesterday whilst most of the squad are still in Austria but are due back tomorrow.

Toure was out on the continent with the rest of the lads but he had that Malaria scare last week and came home. Well he’s now back in training in Hertfordshire and Wenger says he will be fit for the start of the season. Arsene says he recovered quickly after only two days and is now back in training aiming at that first game against West Brom.

Tonight we mark the end of our Austrian pre-season camp when we play our first competitive Pre-Season friendly against Stuttgart. We’ve played three games already but you can argue those where just run outs for the lads but now we’re down to business with Stuttgart tonight, Juventus on Saturday and Real Madrid on Sunday. It’ll mean a reunion with Jens Lehmann after he moved back to Germany this summer. Manuel Almunia has had some kind words to say about his old rival but it will be interesting to see how they act on the pitch tonight. Don’t be too surprised to see Lehmann charging out of his box like a lunatic when Stuttgart win a penalty for him to take it.

Robin van Persie is also looking forward to facing his old team mate. Tonight will be his first run out of the season and he’s said he’s keen to score lots of goals against Jens like he used to do in training. I’d like to see Robin score tonight but his main target is just to stay fit at the moment:

“Last year I missed too many games and I am still disappointed about it, but that is life. That is football and things can happen. I accepted it. This is a new year with new chances. Hopefully I can be injury-free this year. Last year I played 16 games and scored seven goals — that is nearly one out of two. It is not too bad. I just want to have the same results this season with a few more matches.”

I think we all want to see Robin string a few games together next season, if this guy can stay injury free for a whole season he is going to be deadly. Fingers crossed.

Arsene Wenger has played down he hype over Jack Wilshere by saying he doesn’t want to pick out one player as being special. However he has said he rates him highly otherwise he wouldn’t have gone on the pre-season tour. Jack is a really exciting player, looks confident on the ball and knows what to do with it too. A lot of people are calling for him to be put into the first team squad but this kid has still got a lot of developing to do. I’d say that the Carling Cup should be about it for him next season, unless we get desperate of course. Still very much one for the future but a very exciting one for the future.

And finally, it won’t be Aston Martin, Ferrari and Maserati branded across the Arsenal car park this season, oh no. Expect to see one or two more Citroëns amongst Arsenal’s star’s exquisite car collections.

That’s enough for today. Enjoy the game tonight, it’s on Arsenal TV again and kicks off at 7.15pm GMT. Speak to you tomorrow.

10 goals for The Arsenal & other news 28 July, 2008

Well the latest news is that we’ve just beaten Burgenland 10-2 on our Austrian tour. It’s not really a game worthy of a proper match report, especially because the game kicked off 2 hours before I thought it did. Shit. I only managed to watch the last 40 minutes of the game but I have seen the highlights. If you want to read a match report here’s a link to Arsenal.com

It wasn’t a full strength side, there was no Nasri like I thought there might, he’s playing on Wednesday though according to Arsene. The first goal came in the very first minute of the game, the ball ran through the box to Wilshere who stubbed the shot but it very slowly looped in and just crossed the line. An odd goal but we had learnt already how poor the Burgenland defence we’re.

Bendtner got the first of his four in the 14th minute. He completed his hat trick only quarter of an hour later and then added a forth to his collection just before half time. Nick showed some great skill and cool finishing for his goals and has had a great pre-season so far. He’s been really keen to impress and he’s come up with the goods. He was replaced at the break by Jay Simpson, he had a really good second half but he just couldn’t score! He had some great chances but the ball just wouldn’t go in the net for him, easily could’ve had a hat trick, I hope this doesn’t dent his confidence.

It was 7-0 by half time thanks to Carlos Vela, he scored his first goals for Arsenal this evening and he made it a hat trick early in the second half. I was a bit disappointed with him last week against Szomagufbgjkfgfhkhfl, he had some great chances to score there but didn’t. Well he more than made up for it tonight against Burgenland. There were two great finishes from him tonight and one tap in but he still did well to take the touch under pressure and make sure he scored. He still takes a touch too many at times but still looks a nice little player.

Wilshere got his second from the penalty spot in the 65th minute. It was his run into the box that earned the spot kick but I will admit it did look like a bit of a dive. Cool finish though. A few minutes later Walcott grabbed a well deserved goal but credit must go to Wilshere again, it was a sharp little run and he showed great vision to square it to Walcott. Nice Arsenal goal.

The two Burgenland goals came in the second half and both times it was down to poor defending. The first came from a corner, it wasn’t cleared and the shot went high above Mannone who couldn’t stop it. The second was embarrassing for Sagna and Gavin Hoyte. The striker went through but our defenders couldn’t decide who was going to track him and he went straight through. Really bad defending but now’s the time to do it if you’re going to do it at all this season.

So it finished 10-2 and a good little run-out for the lads. Next up it’s the first serious game of the season against Jens Lehmann’s Stuttgart on Wednesday. I’m expecting a decent team for this one, could be the first chance to see Nasri, van Persie, Gallas etc this pre-season.

Right now on to the news. Yesterday I spoke to you about Cesc Fabregas and how he’d speaking about Real Madrid and our lack of trophies. Well it turned out to be a load of bollocks; Cesc never even spoke to the press. It’s really not that much of a surprise that Marca (a Spanish newspaper) made this up, they do it all the time. I’m glad though that Cesc was so quick to react to this and completely deny it all:

“I have not spoken to any media so it’s frustrating to read quotes that I have supposedly said about my future. I have spent the summer relaxing with my family, friends and girlfriend and I return to training with Arsenal tomorrow.

I think that some people are just trying to make mischief but my intentions are very clear. I am happy here at Arsenal, my future is with Arsenal and the priority is to achieve success and win trophies at Arsenal.”

Still, my comments yesterday all still stand, we cannot carry on without winning anything and I still believe that Cesc will leave one day, it seems inevitable to me. Of course I hope he doesn’t, I love Cesc, but I couldn’t stand in his way if he wanted a new challenge.

William Gallas has been talking about the coming season and how he wants to change the way he acts as captain. At the moment, I personally don’t believe we have a captain decided for the new season yet. I think everyone is on a level playing field and I am awaiting Wenger’s announcement. It wouldn’t surprise me if Gallas kept the armband though, I thought he was ok but made some vital mistakes, if he changes that then good. He says he learnt a lot last season and says he wants to change the way he speaks to the players.

As we all know, there is a vacancy in central midfield this summer and no one quite knows who is going to play with Cesc next season. Denilson and Diaby have both shown interest in the position. They’ve both been at the club for a few years so you can understand them looking at a promotion into the first eleven. They’re two very different players but they both have their talents. Whether they have what it takes to hold a starting position in the top flight is yet to be seen, good luck to them both though. Hopefully I’ll get to talk properly about our central midfield situation soon when I get a moment, something to talk about when there’s no news anyway.

Ok that’s all for tonight. Thanks for reading.

“10-2, to The Arsenal! 10-2 To the Arsenal…”

Cesc’s leaving…one day. 27 July, 2008

Ah Jesus there’s fuck all going on at the moment. I bet it’s just as bad for you, the reader, looking around all the Arsenal websites looking for something interesting. Well you might as well carry on searching because it’s dead here too.

News? Well I suppose the best thing that’s come in the last couple of days has come from Cesc today. There was a story this week linking him with a move to Real Madrid but he’s said he’s not leaving Arsenal…yet. Kind of shit news really but I think we all know Cesc’s not hanging around forever. Here’s what he said when asked what he said to Real Madrid:

“I told him that now wasn’t the time to go to Madrid. That you are wanted by Madrid, one of the biggest teams in history, is important.

To be four seasons without winning any titles would be too much for me. Real Madrid are the favourites to win La Liga this year.”

Cesc has not been shy before to say that he’s thought about a move to Spain in his future. No one really expects him to end his career at Arsenal. He’s always been a Barcelona boy, so it would surprise me if he went to Madrid instead of them but he has said before he does fancy Barcelona’s rivals. I dunno, but one thing’s for sure, he’ll be leaving Arsenal in the next few years.

It’s clear that trophies are an important thing for Cesc and he’s also said there that to go four seasons without winning anything at Arsenal would frustrate him. It’ll frustrate everyone; we haven’t won anything since the FA Cup in 2005. We came close last year but it’s a fine line between success and failure and we have to get it right this year.

If we finish the 2008/09 season trophyless then we really should be looking at ourselves. Arsene Wenger is no doubt a great manager but you would have to question the man’s record on paper. Premiership, Champions League or even FA Cup, it doesn’t matter, we just need a major piece of silverware to add to our cabinet. Fucking Tottenham have won more than us recently, that is just not on.

So it is no surprise that Cesc is concerned about this, how long can he wait and wait for a trophy until he gets to the point where he doesn’t think it’s going to happen anymore? Liverpool still look some distance off a Premier League trophy but at least they’re making up for it in Europe. Since 2006 we’ve come very close a few times in different competitions but that counts for nothing in the record books.

Samir Nasri’s been talking. He seems really happy to be at Arsenal as he’s been telling us about the move again:

“For me, Arsenal are the ideal club when you see the number of players who have gone on to develop there and have proved themselves there. It is important to go to a stable club, where there is no revolving door.

At Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has brought through players, he is French, the team is young, and we know the quality of the atmosphere there. For me it was the wisest choice. I like their game and the culture of Arsenal’s football makes me dream. Last season, I got so excited watching all their matches.

I have chatted to Arsene Wenger and I am going to play on the flank since it is there where the playmakers are, doubling up as wingers. That system suits me. I have played there for four years in the France youth team and also in the senior team. The left or the right, it doesn’t matter to me.”

I really have a good feeling about Nasri, not only has he got the talent but he sounds to me like he has the ambition to play. If he can settle in to English football successfully then we could have a great player on our hands.

I was expecting Nasri to play on the wing next season. Wenger likes selecting general playmakers out wide, allowing them to cut in and get goals. His two most recent experiments Hleb & Rosicky haven’t quite worked out to plan for different reasons but they have been two great players on their day. Nasri will be looking to get to that standard and better in the coming years, if he can be anything like as influential as Robert Pires then we’re in business.

So that’s about it for today then. Just as well, I’m knackered. We’ll get our first chance to see Nasri in action tomorrow night as we play Cheeseburger United in our second friendly of our pre-season Austrian tour; I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for reading.

Friday News Roundup 25 July, 2008

Hi people, sorry I haven’t been very active on the blog this week, haven’t had a chance to sit down and write anything. Thankfully, there hasn’t been a lot going on anyway so I haven’t missed much.

I’ll start at the beginning and we drew 1-1 with Szombathelyi on Tuesday night. I could write a match report but there is really no point now. It wasn’t really a game to talk about anyway really. It was the second warm up friendly of the season and it was played in a very relaxed manner.

We did see Carlos Vela for the first time. He looked sharp and should’ve scored twice and set up one in the first half. If it weren’t for Walcott stubbing his foot after going through on goal on the ground and Vela’s decision making then it would’ve been a very exciting debut.

However, I did still manage to take some negatives out of his performance don’t you worry. He seemed to think he had all day on the ball and often took a touch too many. Very early on Bendtner put a great cross in for him and it looked like an easy header but he tried to take it down on his chest and was dispossessed. However all his faults can be excused seeing it was his first game of football since May and it’s way, way too early to judge. Looks exciting enough though.

The home side went 1-0 up after some poor defending from the Hoyte brothers, Almunia came out but he was chipped. Gavin Hoyte did well to get back and tried to clear off the line but the linesman gave it. Did look to me though that he stopped it from crossing the line, oh well.

The Arsenal goal came just before half time. The ball was crossed early from the left, Bendtner leapt like anything to take the ball down beautifully and played a calm little ball through to Walcott who finished perfectly in off the far post. Good goal.

There weren’t as many changes at half time in this match but by full time it was pretty much all reserves. In the second half Wenger gave Sagna and Clichy a new challenge by partnering them at centre back. It was a valuable experience for them as being full backs they often need to get back and cover the central defenders. They did ok there, Clichy had a good game overall as captain (again) and nearly score a free kick late on.

It finished 1-1 and they all lived happily ever after.

I suppose the top story this week has been Kolo Toure contracting Malaria. His pre-season preparations were halted and was taken to hospital in Austria for checks. Although common in Africa, it’s a very serious and life-threatening disease. I haven’t heard any updates since the news broke but I’m assuming he’s going to be ok. He might miss the start of the season through illness but it looks like he’s going to be alright.

Also this week, Emmanuel Adebayor has reportedly said he’s staying at Arsenal. This comes after him discovering no one actually wants him, not at his ludicrous valuation anyway! He was ordered back to pre-season training this week but it was unsure how long he’d be with us; now it looks like he’ll still be at Arsenal come September 1st. There’s a picture of him training here with all the other players. This is the first photo of Adebayor that’s gone up on Arsenal.com in about two months and it does feel a bit strange to see him wearing the Arsenal kit. If he says, ok, and if he gets another 30 goals, fantastic, but that’s not going to stop me forgetting what he’s done this summer.

And finally Bendtner says he’s looking to get into the first team this season. He looked handy the other night in Austria so if he carries on improving he might get a shot. At least he’s trying rather than complaining.

That’s it for today people, you’re officially up-to-date. Thanks for reading.

Austrian tour kicks off today 22 July, 2008

As you know, the players are in Austria at the moment preparing for the new season. Tonight is the first game of that tour against Hungarian side Szombathelyi. It kicks off at 5.30pm English time, not 6.30 as it says on the right hand side there. It’s live on Arsenal TV so tune in if you can.

I’m not expecting a full team though. These pictures show the team in training but I’m not expecting the likes of van Persie and Nasri (who are pictured in that link) to start tonight. This match is being viewed as a warm up to the games ahead; however there might be some cameos from some more well known players.

[Edit: I've got Arsenal TV on in the background and it's quite a strong squad that has gone to Austria so it could be a decent team. Doesn't look like we've taken too many reserves, Coquelin, Wilshere, Barazite, Nordtveit, Lansbury, Mannone and Randall all went but apart from them it's all first team squad players. Saying that, those names above will be looking to push into the first team squad for the 08/09 season.]

We could see Ramsey tested again though. He’s looking to impress this summer and got off to a good start at Barnet. The manager has warned him that there’ll be tough competition for a place in the team but does say that the 17-year-old is part of his plans. So Aaron will be looking to impress Wenger again tonight if he gets a game.

If you’ve ever wondered why we go to Austria every year then Pat Rice has got the answers:

“What happens is whenever we get there, we have a block of about nine days. Obviously that is interspersed with a few games but this is when we can get some good, hard pre-season training into the players which will help them and make sure they are in good shape for all of the season. Not just the start of the season but the whole campaign.

Some managers think there is no problem with that [long-distance summer tours] but we are not one of the clubs who go down that route. Our Austria training camp has proved very successful for us for the coming seasons because we have always been in the top four and we think the preparations we get there is good for our young players.”

I used to think we just went there because it was easy for Bergkamp to drive there. But that does go to say how long we’ve been going to Austria for. Don’t try to fix what aint broke, that’s what Pat Rice is trying to say. It works for us, so fair enough.

Some teams might be travelling to America and Asia on big publicity stunts but we stay closer to home and work hard in a quiet and relaxing environment. I think today was the first day of actual training and tonight some players will get a chance to play in a game.

Samir Nasri has joined up with the squad for the first time on this trip. He explains here why he chose to join Arsenal in the first place. He says that stability and Arsenal Wenger are the two main reasons he came; he says there won’t be any sudden changes at Arsenal like you might get at Real Madrid or something.

Manuel Almunia talks about how he can be a good example to the youngsters at Arsenal.

Paris St. Germain have admitted they’d love to sign William Gallas. I ‘m not sure Wenger would let him go unless we have a replacement signing we can make. Wouldn’t surprise me though if Gallas left.

Right I’m off to watch tonight’s game. I’ll try do a match report tomorrow but I don’t know if I’ll have time, I’ll try. Thanks for reading.

Monday News: The players are back to training 21 July, 2008

Good Monday to you. There’s not a lot going on today as the squad have been travelling to Austria. However, today’s the day that some of our internationals were due back, including Emmanuel Adebayor.

Apparently he was in training today, as expected. Wenger said at the weekend that he expects Adebayor to stay. The manager wants him to stay, but after what a fool he’s made of himself this summer no one really knows what to expect. As I’ve said before, if Ade is going to stay at Arsenal this season then I want some sort of formal apology to the fans and the club.

He’s going to get a horrible reception next season if he stays without saying anything. There were songs sung about ‘Greedybayor’ on Saturday at Underhill and I expect them to continue in protest.

I’m not sure if the whole squad is back in training, but I know most of them are. You could excuse Cesc Fabregas for another week seeing as Spain reached the final of Euro 2008, but then again he didn’t play every single minute of their games so you never know. There’s no information or pictures up on Arsenal.com anyway.

After the Barnet game Arsene spoke to the press and said he was looking to bring in at least one more player. He said it would be a maximum of two but he hopes to get one in. He (obviously) didn’t name any names but I think it could be midfielder he’s after. We know that he’s enquired about Gareth Barry and Xavi Alonso; if he was to get one of them then I think it’d really boost the team. We’re not used to big name signings, especially Premiership ones. If a deal can be done in either case, I’d be really happy but we’ll have to wait and see.

Back in May, Arsene hinted we might be buying a defender but there hasn’t been much news on that this summer. If it does happen it won’t come at a great surprise but we haven’t been linked with anyone yet.

As usual, when asked about signings Arsene reminded us that we have players coming through the youth system and players coming back from injury. He reminded us that we have van Persie and Rosicky coming back but if either one of those can pull together a string of games without injury then I’ll be very pleasantly surprised.

Wenger also said he expects more from Walcott this season. He’s backing him to carry on improving and cement a place in the first team. Theo has just taken on the no.14 shirt and a lot of expectation will come with a move like that. Of course realistically I know that nothing is going to change because the number on his back is different but if he’s asked for that number he must be up for fighting for a first team spot.

Sagna’s also been talking. He missed the end of last season through injury but he hopes to be on top of his game come mid-August. His dismisses that he might suffer from ‘second season syndrome’ and is hoping to win some silverware.

That’s it for today then. We play Szombathelyi Haladás from Hungary tomorrow evening, not sure what sort of a team we can expect to put out for that one but hopefully there’ll be some news about it tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Barnet 1-2 Arsenal – 19/07/08 – (Friendly) 20 July, 2008

We’re officially back to business! I’ve been waiting all summer for this game, it was never going to be a classic but no one really cared. The fact is we were in a stadium, watching Arsenal again, and that was all I went for.

We started almost full-strength considering who we’ve got back for pre-season training. The Euro 2008 players and a few others are due back tomorrow to go to Austria. This was our starting eleven:

Almunia
Sagna – J. Hoyte – Nordtveit – Clichy
Lansbury – Ramsey – Denilson – Traore
Walcott – Bendtner

So not a bad side, a mixture between 1st team players and guys who would normally be on the bench. There was also a couple of reserves thrown in, Nordtveit and Lansbury played for the reserves last season but did alright yesterday. I was particularly impressed with the defender, Nordtveit. I knew this kid was a great little player but yesterday he showed again how capable he is of playing at the top level.

He was quality, made some great tackles, clearing headers and read the game very well. We were playing against Barnet but he did show a lot of technical skill. He made one or two little slip ups but you can forgive that in a game like this, he’s still got plenty of time to get to match performance levels. It’s scary because he’s only 17, would you trust a 17-year-old at the heart of your defence? If I were blind to his age, then yes, I’d have him playing in the Premiership. I’m looking forward to seeing how he performs this pre-season.

There was another 17-year-old out there yesterday, and that was new signing Aaron Ramsey. He played central midfield with Denilson and looked quite exciting. I never really followed him last season with Cardiff so I was keen to see what he could do. Bearing in mind that this was his first game of football since May I thought he did very well.

I’m not sure whether Arsene has brought him in to go straight into the first team, but it does look like he’s not far off. He said in an interview a little while ago that he was aiming to impress in pre-season and was aiming for that first match against West Brom, to make the starting eleven. He did well yesterday, showed some good skill going forward but he’s still got work to do.

On to the game itself, rather than individuals, we weren’t actually playing that well. It was very obvious that this was the first pre-season game of our season. There wasn’t the usual Arsenal link-play and players such as Walcott, Bendtner and Denilson did look rusty. We were finding it hard to break the home side down and we weren’t creating many chances.

Barnet however have had a few games already this summer and had their first team out for this one. They were playing quite well actually and if there was the threat of a goal it was going to come from them. Then after a quarter of an hour played Nordtveit mis-timed a tackle and conceded a free-kick in a dangerous area.

Kenny Gillet placed the ball down and whipped a great free-kick round the wall and inside the post. Almunia had made a great save a few minutes ago but he couldn’t stop this one. A good goal by Gillet and a deserved early 1-0 lead to Barnet.

The goal didn’t really change our attitude and we were still finding it hard to get past the Barnet defence. I think our first shot came from Ramsey, he found the ball at his feet in range of the goal but he couldn’t manage a decent shot and it went wide, this was after about half an hour gone.

Clichy and Sagna started to really get down the wings and we had a little spell where they were starting every attack. We nearly scored from a great move between Clichy and Traore on the left wing. I think it was Traore who put the final ball in, Bendtner made the ground to the near post to meet the low cross but he sent it just the wrong side of the post.

It was a great move and the first sign of ‘Arsenal football’ this season. After that Walcott had a dipping shot saved and just before half time Clichy hit a screamer but it went sailing over.

At half time we made 11 changes. Bit disappointing but it was only a warm up game. The second half was pretty much this seasons reserve side. The notable names were new signing Francis Coquelin, Mark Randall was in there, the exciting youngster Jack Wilshere and Nacer Barazite.

Obviously, these substitutions completely changed the game. Barnet made one ‘keeper change and one outfield change so they were effectively the same side. However, it was quite clear that we were now watching an Arsenal side that had played together before. I’m not sure how long they’ve been back in training but it was obvious that our reserves knew what they were doing.

There was good passing and nice football, a world apart from the first team side of the first half, which was the only time some of them have played together before.

Just after the hour we’d got level at 1-1. Wilshere played a great ball through the defence for Jay Simpson who finished well just inside the post. Was a really nice move actually and a well deserved goal.

Ten minutes later we’d taken the lead. Wilshere started the move off again setting off Simpson. He was calm under pressure of the defence and put Barazite through on goal. Nacer tucked the ball away nicely inside the far post and it was 2-1 to Arsenal. A great little move and you felt we had the game won now.

A mention must go to Jack Wilshere though. The youngster was the star of the second half, playing an important part in both goals and most attacks. He was exciting, clever, quick, skilful and very comfortable on the ball. He looked the all-round player. He’s still really young though but he’s definitely one for the future.

We did end up winning the game 2-1 and it was all thanks to the reserves really. I though they did very well and I’m looking forward to them improving. If they carry on getting better then we could be in for another Carling Cup run.

It really was a game of two halves though; technically it was Barnet 1-0 Arsenal, and Barnet 0-2 Arsenal Reserves. That’s the story of yesterday really. I wouldn’t say our first team was outplayed but we just found it difficult to get going and we were clearly lacking match practice.

Next up it’s erm…some team from Austria with a really long name. Look, it’s written on the side there in the next match thingy. Yeah. That’s on Tuesday evening in the first game of our pre-season tour. I believe it’s on Arsenal TV too.

Thanks for reading. Speak to you tomorrow.

Quite a lot has happened in the last couple of days… 19 July, 2008

Sorry I haven’t kept you fully up to date but I’ve been in Bournemouth the past couple of days. I’m back now though and I’ll get you right up to speed.

Firstly, Alex Hleb’s move to Barca was finally sorted. Last time we spoke he was having his medical but the deal was fully signed up soon after that. We’re getting something around £12m for him, which isn’t bad. You should’ve seen the look on Thierry Henry’s face at the press conference though. Sorry Thierry, but it was fucking hilarious. Just break his leg of something.

Whilst on the subject of Henry, he was voted our greatest ever player on Arsenal.com, and was very proud of it.

Whilst Hleb was in Barcelona, Gilberto Silva was in Greece sorting out his own move. He’s signed a three-year-deal with Panathinaikos. It was an emotional moment for Arsenal fans and the official website (and blogs across the world) were full of tributes to the Brazilian which but the Hleb move to shame.

I don’t know a single person who has anything against Gilberto. He was always so professional and passionate. He was an integral part of our side; he won the Premiership unbeaten in 2004 and gave us strength as captain when Henry was injured in 2007. Those two campaigns stand out in Gilberto’s Arsenal career but he has had a career full of highlights.

Arsenal.com had a good piece on Gilberto’s attitude to football but I’m sure you read round the blogs yesterday seeing all the personal tributes.

It’s strange because he played almost no part in last season but we’re all still upset by his departure. In reality though, his time at Arsenal was coming to a sharp close. Gilbertosilver of Gunnerblog.com had the idea of Gilberto coming back into the first team next season, I supported him on that. If he could get back to the form of a couple of season’s ago, that’d be fantastic.

I was Gilberto all the best in Greece. I hope the move works out well for him and we get to see him again. Cheers.

Tomas Rosicky has spoken the inevitable: He will miss the start of the season through injury. He says he should be back in for September but who knows with him. If he gets a string of games next season, well it’ll be remarkable. I’m not being sarcastic here, I sincerely hope that Tomas can get back to full fitness and overcome his injury nightmares.

We’ve signed someone too. It’s 17-year-old Francis Coquelin. One for the future obviously.

Today we get back to football in what seems a fucking lifetime. We travel the short distance to Underhill to play Barnet. It’s always the first pre-season game of the summer and one I always really look forward too. It might not be the biggest of games but my cravings for some football are going mental.

It’s not going to be full strength but we should see a few decent names in there: Walcott, Ramsey, Clichy, Sagna, Almunia and more. Vela was meant to be in the squad but I’ve heard he’s not now.

I’m setting off for the game soon. I’m standing on the uncovered North Terrace but just as I’ve been writing this the sun has come out. Fingers crossed it stays like this. For those of you not going though, the game is live on Arsenal TV on Setanta. There’ll be a match report up tomorrow. Until then.

Hleb has Barca medical, Ronaldinho to Milan…what about Adebayor? 16 July, 2008

Alexander Hleb is in Barcelona having a medical today which was revealed on Barca’s official website. The move is set to be completed within 24 hours and the transfer fee is expected to be something around ₤11m. Well I’m glad that’s finally getting sorted. Hleb’s been looking to move all summer, at first he was going to go to Inter Milan but then Mourinho took over and he didn’t really fancy that. Since then he’s really had his eyes set on a move to Barcelona and it’s happened for him.

Barca were initially interested in Arshavin, but they would’ve had to pay double what we wanted for Hleb. Arshavin is now desperately searching for a club but he’s realising that nobody actually wants him, especially not for ₤24m.

As I said the other day, the Hleb transfer has kicked everything off. Now AC Milan have agreed to sign Ronaldinho, just check out their website home page. Milan were outbid by Manchester City (sounds strange doesn’t it?) but the Brazilian didn’t fancy it and chose a move to Italy.

You’ll remember the AC Milan president clearly saying that they were going to go for either Ronaldinho or Adebayor. He said they could not afford to keep both big names happy at the club, and they probably can’t afford to buy both of them either.

So with AC Milan splashing out on Ronaldinho, and Barcelona getting out their chequebook again. It does looking worrying for Emmanuel Adebayor. Milan and Barca are the only two clubs who have shown any interest; well they’re the only two clubs stupid rich enough to pay his incredible new wage demands.

His only hope now is that Barcelona sell Eto’o and decide to replace him with Adebayor.

It’s quite worrying for Arsenal fans to, I mean I hope we get rid of him. I don’t want to keep him. It would be so awkward, and I hate it when you have an unsettled squad. We are having to consider the possibility of keeping the knob though. It would take something dramatic for me to start respecting him again.

There’s been speculation of Eto’o/Ade swap deal. I just don’t see it happening. Eto’o has had a few injury problems recently and he’s not so young anymore. Still, on his day he’s a great player. It’s up for Arsene to decide, but at the moment we sit and wait to see what happens with Eto’o or see if there are any more takers for Adebayor.

In other transfer news. Gilberto Silva looks close to a move to Panathinaikos. Sky Sports say that the 31-year-old has gone to Greece for a medical and is set to become the highest paid player in the Greek league. I’d be kind of upset if Gilberto leaves, I feel like he’s leaving on bad terms, but I suppose it’s not our fault if he’s not the same player he used to be. I’ve got a lot of respect for Gilberto so whatever he decides to do, I’ll support him.

If he does go, I’m quite certain we’ll be signing a central midfielder. We’ve been liked with Gareth Barry recently. He’s back in training with Aston Villa today but where he’ll be at the start of the season is still undecided. Both Liverpool and us are interested, but Villa are holding out for ₤18m. Liverpool have had bids rejected but I think we might be lining up one.

Another option would be Liverpool’s Xavi Alonso. His agent has confirmed that we are interested in the player, but that could just be agent-speak to hype up his player. He’s an exciting player and is already familiar with playing alongside Fabregas after Spain’s Euro 2008 win.

Both those stories are fairly fresh though and not a lot is going on with them at the moment. I’ll keep you updated.

There’s a Q&A here with Peter Hill-Wood in which he talks about a number of things: The new stadium, our financial situation, transfers and the modern footballer. Worth a quick read.

Well that’s it for today, the summer’s just starting to get exciting isn’t it? Thanks for reading.

Arshavin flirts, Santa Cruz talks & Aguero linked 14 July, 2008

Hello to you on another Monday. Sorry I didn’t write anything yesterday, you didn’t miss much anyway.

I guess today’s top story is the continued speculation on Andrei Arshavin’s future. His agent has been flirting with us again paying us some rather nice compliments and insisting that if buy Arshavin everyone will be happy:

“If Arsenal go for Arshavin it could be really good for both parties. Arsenal is a very young team and Arshavin is 27. There’s something about combining young and older players, they propagate attacking football.”

Yeah ok. The truth came out today, Arshavin was a top player at Euro 2008 and was very quick to say he’ll be leaving Russia, well now we’ve found out that no one has actually bid for him. Ouch. Well Barca did offer £12m for him, but that was rejected as Zenit St Petersburg as they want double that. Now Barcelona are going for Hleb because he can leave Arsenal for around that £12m mark.

The Sun said that Hleb would be unveiled at Barca today but that didn’t happen. However he might get closer to that move to Spain at some point this week. Not sure what the current status on his move is but it could be sorted out very quickly.

There’s quite a mixed opinion on Hleb’s move. I know some of you will be quite upset that we’re losing this skilful playmaker, however others will be cracking open the champagne. Well we’ve got Samir Nasri now and I hear that he is a direct descendant from Jesus. You’ll see.

The Adebayor story has no further developments but his possible replacement has been speaking about his future today. Roque Santa Cruz had a great season with Blackburn last year and he’s been lined up as a possible replacement for Adebayor. He’s spoken today for the first time since this speculation but he’s said he’s not thinking about it:

“A lot of people said my transfer to a bigger club was about to happen, but I live in the present and I’m focused on Blackburn. I’m happy for the good season that I had and the important goals that I scored. I am motivated by the other teams’ interest, but if I am not transferred then I want to have the best possible season at Blackburn.”

He’s still left himself quite open to speculation though: “I am motivated by the other teams’ interest, but if I am not transferred…” This to me says that he is thinking about a move, not seeking one, but he’s not against it happening. With this story, we’re going to have to wait and see what gets sorted out with Adebayor before we start speculating too much.

There’s a fresh link today and that’s with Athletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero. He’s a great player and wouldn’t be cheap but his agent says that someone in England is looking at him:

“I’ve had interest from a leading English team and they’ve asked me to approach Athletico with a bid. I can’t say more until I’ve spoken to the club about the offer. All I can tell you is that it’s one of the best teams in Europe and it’s not Chelsea.”

So, it could be us, Man United or Liverpool. It could be us; if Wenger has verbally agreed something for Adebayor then he could be looking into his replacement. It won’t be Man United if all these stories about a bid for Berbatov are true. Liverpool just never seem to stop buying so you wouldn’t be surprised if it was them. Or it could just be more bollocks from an agent to try and earn some money out of his player. Who knows?

Last Monday, I signed out with this:

Ok that’s it for today. Every Monday I think about whether we’ll come any closer to some transfers in the next 7 days; and usually I say we are. However this week I’m predicting precisely fuck all.

…Then a couple of days later we finalised the Nasri transfer. So this week I’ll leave you with this:

I predict Emmanuel Eboue wont leave; he is completely committed and has no interest in leaving. Also, Kaka’ will definitely not be joining us plus cash as part of the Adebayor deal. I don’t think Robbie Keane will fly to Liverpool to discuss his future when his plane goes down in which he is the only fatality. And finally,  I predict that Cristiano Ronaldo won’t break his leg in an unfortunate catwalk incident.

That is all.

Transfer latest: Ade, Hleb, Arshavin & Gareth Barry 12 July, 2008

It seems the ball is very slowly getting ready to roll in the transfer market. We’re still stuck at stalemate but it does seem that it’s all about to kick-off.

The transfer that could start making things happen is Alex Hleb’s he is apparently very close to a move to Barcelona now and could be unveiled early next week. So if that does happen, then it draws the following conclusions:

1. Arshavin will not be going to Barca
2. Barcelona are unlikely to be able to afford Adebayor

so therefore…

3. Surely, Barca are going to have to sell (Eto’o/Ronaldinho) before they can buy again
4. Milan are the only team in the running for Adebayor

So once Hleb’s gone, we really only need one more transfer to happen before everyone inevitably falls into place.

However, AC Milan are now saying the Adebayor deal is off for the moment until they sort out the futures of their current players. So if that’s the case, Adebayor is staying at Arsenal for the time being, unless a new bidder comes in.

Also, Andrei Arshavin has now dramatically changed his tone. Remember how he was desperate to play for Barcelona and it was the club of his dreams blah blah blah. We’ll now this is the latest from his agent:

“Andrei is desperate to join Arsenal. His style of play would suit them perfectly.”

Oh really now? What I really think is that everyone has backed away from him and now they’re desperate to try and find a top European club for him. Barca are getting Hleb so they don’t need him, Chelsea don’t need him, Milan don’t want him, United haven’t shown any interest, Madrid are too busy with Ronaldo so now they’re flirting with us.

I just don’t think it’ll happen; He’s 27, Zenit St Petersburg want £24m for him and we’ve just bought Nasri. Those three reasons are why I think Wenger wouldn’t go near him. The only thing I can think of is if we seriously consider that Tomas Rosicky’s career is over. Then we might be interested.

There’s a fresh link to talk about today. The Telegraph say we’ve enquired about Gareth Barry. He still hasn’t moved to Liverpool, which is just unbelievable. Aston Villa just need to let go and realise that Barry wants to move on, they can’t just force him to stay by rejecting bids. He’s very publicly said he wants a move so they shouldn’t really have a choice. I’m sure Wenger doesn’t really want Adebayor to go but he knows that he has to sell him; Martin O’Neill needs to act this way in regards with Gareth Barry.

Anyway, the deal to Liverpool hasn’t been done so we’ve poked our heads in to see what’s going on. Apparently we might offer a player in return as part of the deal, possibly Justin Hoyte. Barry would be a great addition after Flamini’s departure, but whether we can afford him is a different matter. Might just be a silly rumour but if this one takes off it could be interesting.

Nasri talks about why he chose Arsenal and says that Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry both recommended he came to us.

And finally, some of the televised fixtures have been announced and we will now be officially the first game of the season. Our opener against West Brom is now a 12:45pm kick off which will be the first of the 2008/09 Premier League season. I can’t wait.

Wow, a busy Saturday today. Hopefully we get some transfer action next week. Thanks for reading.

We’ve finally signed Samir Nasri! 11 July, 2008

It’s been the longest transfer ever but we’ve finally got our man. Samir Nasri has agreed to join us from Marseille. Back at the end of last season Wenger said we could expect a signing within a couple of weeks, which was going to be Nasri. Then excuse after excuse came and it was the most tedious signing in history.

I should be looking at Arsenal.com this morning excited about our new player and wondering how he’ll do for us, but the fact is we all knew he was signing a long, long time ago. I’m just glad it’s finally sorted now, it was getting to that stage where I thought it was just never going to happen.

He does sound a good player though. He was voted Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year for in 2007 and was also Marseille’s Player of the Year that season. The fee is undisclosed, as per usual, but back at the end of May the sum of £13m was being reported so I’m getting we’ve paid a decent amount of money for him.

He’s 21, and was one of the young stars in France and certainly at Marseille. He hasn’t quite broken into the France national side yet, he only played twice, as a sub in Euro 2008 but I’m sure he’ll be very much pat of their future plans.

Here’s what the manager and the player had to say:

Arsène Wenger:
“We are delighted to be signing Samir Nasri. He is young, quick and technically an outstanding player. He has shown great potential with his performances for Marseille and the French national team over the past two seasons and he will add great quality to our squad.”

Samir Nasri:
“I’m very happy to become an Arsenal player, it means such a lot to me. This is a very important step in my life as a football player because Arsenal is a massive club. I really hope everything will go well for me here. I will do my best for Arsenal and its fans and I am honoured to be part of such a great football club.”

Nasri will wear the no.8 shirt and joins up with the team for the first time on 21st July for pre-season training.

Kerrea Gilbert has joined Leicester on loan. The young defender will be there for the duration of the season. Will we see him back? Who knows, I did think highly of him but we all know how difficult it is to break into the side at Arsenal. Good luck Kerrea.

That’s about it for today. There are other bits about but nothing worth talking about really. Hleb says he doesn’t like London.

Right I’m off now. Happy Friday everyone.

Adebayor and Hleb to be flogged soon 9 July, 2008

As much as Arsene would want to keep them, he knows that Alex Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor want out. He has no option but to sell them now and cash in as much as he can. Both are still under contract, so technically we could force them to stay, but that would be no good. We need to sell them now and get as much for them as possible.

A couple of weeks ago, Milan said name your price for Adebayor. We said: ‘€45million’, they said: ‘Fuck right off’. Now we know Milan wont pay that kind of money, Arsene’s had to go back to them saying the price can be negotiated. AC Milan’s vice-president, Galliani has said we’ve been in touch:

“Today Arsenal sent us a letter saying they were willing to talk to us about Adebayor. The letter from Arsenal that says, ‘Following our communication of 13th June, in which we informed you we were not willing to deal over Adebayor, now we are writing to tell you that we will consider a deal if it still interests you’. If Adebayor decides to leave, Milan definitely want him but it is clear that if an offer arrives from Barcelona it would be difficult for him to say no.”

So how much are we going to offer him for? That €45m we asked for before converts to £35.8m, I suspect Wenger will hold out for £30 million. He can’t look too desperate to sell though otherwise we’ll get fuck all for him. I think it’ll be somewhere between £25m and £30m, that wouldn’t be a bad price for him.

Hopefully a meeting is sorted out soon so we can get rid of him and carry on with our business.

Alex’s Hleb is reportedly much closer to his move away. Sky Sports ‘understands’ that Hleb is in Spain to discuss terms with Barcelona and eventually have a medical. I’d be pleased for Hleb if he completed a move to Barca. He wants to go there, and I think he’ll fit in.

I have no hard feelings against Hleb anymore. It’s clear to me, that all he wants to do it be an attacking midfielder and have a new challenge. He hates playing on the wing and with our lack of players in that position Wenger insists on playing him there. He’s very humble towards us in his latest quotes. He praises Arsene Wenger’s work and says that he’ll always be fond of Arsenal.

Am I sad to see these two go. No, not really. I’m just sad they weren’t everything I expected.

Thanks for reading, speak to you soon.

SHOCKING HLEB QUOTES!!!…just a mis-translation 8 July, 2008

“My view of how I should be playing didn’t coincide with the manager’s. I told him last season I wanted to leave and think he was quite upset about it. But ask him. It may turn out he’s happy to see me go. I don’t know where I’ll be next season but I’d prefer Barcelona. It is being negotiated and, hopefully, will be decided soon.”

When we get scoring opportunities, Fabregas is much more selfish than me. Given a chance to shoot, he always goes for it — unlike me.”

When I heard these quotes this morning from Hleb, I was absolutely fuming. How dare he?! I was especially upset with that second statement, about Fabregas, I screamed at the television: “Well maybe you should fucking shoot then, you twat.”

However, I had the afternoon to think about these (out of the blue) quotes whilst I was very, very bored at work. It’s obvious that this has just been lost (or should I say ‘manipulated’?) in translation. These quotes in this morning’s Sun were quite shocking, but you have to be suspicious…

Apparently, these quotes are from ages ago, from the Russian media I think and they have been totally twisted. It’s understandable. I think what Alex probably said about the manager is that they have different ideas and that a move for him is for the best. And on Cesc, The word ‘selfish’ has been slotted in there purposely to cause a fuss. In translation, it would be a different word, not meaning selfish, but just saying that Cesc likes to take the ball on his own and has the confidence to shoot, and that is not Hleb’s game. That’s all.

Hleb was quick to deny these quotes on his official website:

“I am shocked by some media-reports. In some newspapers it was mentioned that I have attacked Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas. But let me tell you: This is not true! The statements in the papers are definitely not my statements.

I would never ever say something disrespectful about them. And there is a simple reason for this: Cesc is a very good friend of mine and Arsene is one of the persons, I respect most.”

I believe him. It’s The Sun’s job to make stories like this out of nothing and it is a perfect example of the tabloids twisting words. Hleb is still yet to sort out his move away but any news on that and I’ll update you here.

Today is officially the first day of the season; the first set of players went back into training today. Photos are here. It was basically all the players that haven’t been involved in international fixtures this summer.

And finally, Ray Parlour is set to retire. No, he hasn’t retired already, if you remember, I actually told you a while ago that he joined up with Barnet’s training sessions last season to work on his fitness but it looks like a knee problem is going to stop him from playing professional football again. Shame really, good luck to Ray anyway.

Thanks for reading, speak to you soon.

Ramsey & Hill-Wood speak… 7 July, 2008

Aaron Ramsey has spoken to the media for the first time since his transfer to Arsenal earlier this summer. Aaron has spoken to the press in Wales about his move and how excited his is to be playing for us next season. He says he’ll always have a place in his heart for Cardiff City but Arsenal is a great opportunity for him. He also says he’s aiming towards that first game of the season vs. West Brom and will fight to make the first XI. Here’s what he had to say:

“I am just so looking forward to the start of pre-season training on Tuesday. Obviously the plan for me is to have a good pre-season and try my hardest to get up to the fitness levels the Premiership requires. I will try my best to get in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season against West Brom.

I’m so happy to have signed for Arsenal and I can’t wait to meet my new team mates. I am joining one of the biggest clubs in the world, one which always gives young players an opportunity at the highest level. I am going to work my hardest to be part of future successes there.

I supported Manchester United as a youngster because they were on the TV the whole time and my footballing idol was Roy Keane. But once I had spoken to Arsene Wenger, the way he described the Arsenal set-up and their plans for the future impressed me. I just had a gut instinct that the right move for me would be joining Arsenal. It was my decision. I thought about where the best place would be for me to develop as a player…and that was Arsenal.

I don’t think too many people wouldn’t look forward to coming under the guidance of Arsene Wenger and playing next to someone like Cesc Fabregas. Arsene is a great manager and Cesc can make something happen out of nothing on the pitch.”

I like his ambition, and I’m sure if Wenger sees that Ramsey is giving 100% in training, then he will give the boy the game against West Brom to prove himself. Arsene loves a player that is committed and tries his hardest so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him starting along side Cesc.

As he is a new player, he’ll get plenty of action in our pre-season friendlies. I’m quite looking forward to seeing what this guy has to give. I’m guessing he’ll start against Barnet on the 19th, we’ll all get our first glimpse of him in the Arsenal shirt then and I bet he’ll be out to impress.

The top story today comes from the mouth of our Chairman, Peter Hill-Wood. He’s been speaking to the Daily Telegraph about various things and of course Adebayor’s future was the first thing he was asked about:

“We want him to stay, definitely. Adebayor still has a long time left on his contract, and we have absolutely no intention of releasing him from that contract. You want to keep your best players and Adebayor is one of those.

Personally, and I think most fans are of similar opinion, Ade has gone too far and I have lost interest in him. The club might be doing their best to keep him but at the moment I hope we flog him for a decent price. He is under contract though, for three more years, so we aren’t forced to sell him. That gives us the advantage because a large fee will have to be paid if we are to let him go. This story goes on and on, there must be an ending soon…

Hill-Wood goes on to talk about the contemporary footballer; the way that contracts now must be renewed every year to secure their future and that money rules everything. The chairman believes there is no loyalty any more like their used to be:

I’m afraid that’s the way of the world. It’s annoying, but it is modern football. The idea that you are going to have a number of your team playing for you for 15 years, as one used to have, has disappeared. It makes it harder for the manager, but he is fully aware of what is happening.

It’s the modern way, so we have to adapt. Arsene will manage the situation to the best of his ability. But it’s true though, years ago you never used to get worried about Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Ray Parlour etc leaving every summer, you just knew they would be staying, unless they said otherwise.

The chairman also admitted that Hleb might not be an Arsenal player for much longer:

Hleb has made it clear he wants to go. I think maybe he will go.”

I thought he would be long gone by now but the search for a club goes on. It’s gone a bit quiet over Hleb recently, but that could just be because it’s been overshadowed by the Adebayor saga. Recently, I started to think about whether Alex might stay, but Hill-Wood today confirmed that his intention is still very much to leave.

And finally, Cesc Fabregas is our official Player of The Season. Well done to him. He did have a fantastic season, and at the start he was unstoppable when he went on that goal scoring run. He was an inspiration to us every single game and truly deserves his award. Thank God some people have some loyalty and we can look forward to him doing the same again next season. Nice one Cesc.

Ok that’s it for today. Every Monday I think about whether we’ll come any closer to some transfers in the next 7 days; and usually I say we are. However this week I’m predicting precisely fuck all.

The players go back to training tomorrow. Yipee.

So, we’re a selling club now? 6 July, 2008

Arsene Wenger:

“The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players.

We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions – national and European – while having to free up – for 17 more years – an annual surplus of £24m to pay for our stadium.

The club’s strategy is to favour the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game.”

These are the latest quotes from Arsene Wenger which made disturbing reading for Arsenal fans. For a few years now, we’ve usually ended up making profits in the transfer window. I assumed it was just a nice coincidence but the manager has told us this is now our strategy. Last summer we sold our top player, Thierry Henry, and bought less expensive players (Eduardo). Now we’re set to sell Adebayor after a great season.

It’s horrible thinking that if a player has really successful year with us, he won’t be there to help us the next. If this policy is true, how long until we have to sell Fabregas? Then van Persie? Then Walcott? Then who next? We might have great youngsters coming through but everyone knows you can’t just keep selling your best players.

Arseblogger reacted to these quotes saying they don’t sound right to him. It’s true, Wenger keeps his cards close to his chest when it comes to matters involving transfers; it’s unlike him to come out with such a bold and negative statement (i.e. the first sentence of that quote).

If it is true, then it is quite depressing for Arsenal fans. It shows a lack of ambition and togetherness. An ever-changing squad is not a good thing.

I used to get so worked up about transfers, but now I realise all I can do is just sit back and watch. It’s a much less stressful approach but I’d hate to just be sitting there watching Arsenal collapse.

It’s all very, very depressing so let’s move on shall we?

Andrei Arshavin‘s agent reckons that his player’s transfer in our hands. Not because we’re trying to sign him, but because the futures of Hleb and Adebayor need to be sorted out before Arshavin can sort his deal out. If Hleb goes to Barca, then they won’t need Arshavin. If Barca buys Adebayor, they might not be able to afford Arshavin too. So if Adebayor goes to Milan, then Barca might have some spare cash. Etc, etc…

All these players all need to go somewhere. Once one high-profile transfer gets done, then I’m sure there’ll be loads to follow.

Justin Hoyte says he’s going to stay and fight for his place. I thought he might be leaving this summer but he says Arsene has a plan for him so he’s going to remain at Arsenal and do his best. Fair play.

On the subject of selling. A company offered to buy The Cannon off me yesterday. I told them I couldn’t do it. So I hope all you lot appreciate my crap. Thanks for reading, again.

Saturday Stuff: Martins, Nasri, Ade & more 5 July, 2008

Hello to you from a sunny Saturday in London. Oh how I’d love to be going to football today. So much. TWO MORE WEEKS. In exactly a fortnights time I will be in Barnet for our first pre-season friendly at Underhill. I can’t wait.

No massive news to report today, still no signings, still no departures. There are some little bits though…

Obafemi Martins has said he’d quite like to play for Arsenal. We’ve been linked with him…like forever, so it’s no real surprise his name has come up again. I’ve always been a bit of a fan, and when Newcastle signed him for £10m I thought he’s be a great signing for them.

He’s been ok; I just feel that if he had the quality at Arsenal feeding him balls then he’d play to his full potential. He’s quick, not afraid to shoot, packs a good shot, good on his feet and remarkably he’s only 23; I swear he was older than that. Anyway, here’s what he said:

“Arsenal is a big club that everyone wants to play for. I am thrilled and it will be nice to play for such a team. But, now that I am a Newcastle player, there is nothing much to say. If it is true, both clubs would have to reach an agreement.

Is Arsenal a good club? Yes. Would I love to play there? Probably, if Newcastle are ready to listen to them. But if Newcastle says no then it’ll be no because I still have a contract, I expect the club to speak to me when I get back. I am not saying I want to go but, if anything happens, that’s football.”

Nice. I’d still like us to have Martins in our squad. If Ade does ever go then I’d put him on our shopping list. He might not have taken the Premier League by storm up at Newcastle, but I still maintain that if he played in a team with the likes of Fabregas etc, he’d be scoring for fun.

His signing would depend entirely on Adebayor. Wenger’s not going to sign any more strikers with the squad as it is, but if he does go then he might be tempted. The latest on his situation is that nothing has been decided. His agent says no decisions have been made, even though the clubs were meant to be in talks this week. He also said that they’re keeping quiet for a little bit; I think maybe they’re realised how much they’ve pissed off the Arsenal fans.

The latest on another transfer: Nasri is on holiday and will sign in about 10 days time. OK then. This must be the longest transfer, ever. We were meant to be signing him back in May, then it was before the Euros, then it was after the Euros, then is was after July 1st, now it’s after his holiday. I’m just hoping we sort it out before 1st September.

And Wenger says he told his squad to go off this summer, have a rest, forget about football, then come back with a desire to win. Last season must’ve been hard on the players but if they can rediscover that attitude they had at the start of last season, and hold it, then we could be on to something.

Right, that’s your lot for today. It’s 3:00pm on a Saturday. I want to go to football. Argh! See ya.

Wouldn’t it be awkward if Adebayor stayed? 3 July, 2008

This week, news towards the Adebayor story has sort’ve gone in ‘Arsenal’s favour’. That’s in inverted commas because I’m not so sure we’d want to keep him anymore.

Earlier this week, AC Milan ruled themselves out of the race saying that they cannot afford our valuation of the striker. He has three years left on his deal, and he’s in great form, so there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be a hefty price tag dangling from him.

According to their chairman, we apparently asked for £35.8million to secure Adebayor’s services. That’s 45 million euros! If we could get that sort of money for him that’d be great. Not surprising that Milan have opted out of a deal. Maybe they will re-negotiate? However it does seem like they’ve lost interest and will now fight Manchester City for Ronaldinho’s signature…haha!

Since Milan pulled out, it’s all gone a bit quiet; haven’t heard much from Barcelona. Now, his agent has spoken about it again. Doesn’t sound quite the same as last week; He’s not going ‘we demand this’, ‘Adebayor deserves that’ and ‘we’ve had offers from so and so…’. Now this is what he’s saying (I’ve highlighted 3 sentences that I’d like to answer specifically to):

“It is vital that Arsenal show their motivation to keep him. (*1) There has been a love story between Adebayor and Arsenal and his relationship with Arsene Wenger (*2) is based on trust and respect.

If this was a money problem, then he would have asked to leave. He is a man of heart, not of money. He is not greedy. (*3)“

BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!

Haha! Someone’s changed their tone. From the sounds of this, a transfer is falling through.

*1 – What?! We never tried to get rid of him. You engineered all of this!

*2 – You didn’t seem to care so much about this special relationship last week when you were flirting with Barcelona and AC Milan.

*3 – I’ve never heard such shite in my life! Last week Adebayor clearly explain that this was a money issue. He said he needs to save for his retirement and feels he should be on a much better salary. This third part is hysterical.

For me, he’s crossed the line too far. I’m not sure I could accept him back. If a transfer does fall through, and he does end up playing for us next season, I won’t know what to think. Do I boo him? No, but I’m certainly not singing his name. I’ll probably give him evils. Then he’ll feel sorry.

It’s not over yet so we’ll have to see what happens. My prediction? This’ll go on and on until 1st September until we finally find out he’s staying. But to be honest, I don’t give a shit what happens.

So who got their new shirt today?

New Away Kit Poster 2 July, 2008

I’ve just come across the new poster for the away kit, and I thought I’d share it with you. Basically, I’m too tired to write a post.

I quite like the kit, I mean, most of you will probably have seen it before but this is the first time I’ve seen the team wearing it. It’s based on the 1988/89 title-winning kit, that’s why there’s Alan Smith, Steve Bould, Micky Thomas and Paul Merson in the poster with the Division One title in the background

The new home kit come out tomorrow morning, mine’s in the post.

Right, I’ll write a proper article tomorrow, until then.