Goodbye Kolo & 1-0 vs. Hannover 96 29 July, 2009

It’s a done deal, Kolo Toure has joined Adebayor at Man City for a reported fee of £16m. As good business as it is, this is a sad day for Arsenal fans. He joined us from Ivorian side Asec Mimosas in February 2002 for a mere £250,000 but quickly became an Arsenal great. We loved him for his tenacity and he was extremely good at what he did. He put everything into every game and that pace plus tackling ability he was a tough man to beat for any striker.

He won a lot here and was a vital part of the 2003/04 invincible squad. He leaves today as the last full member of that unbeaten side proving how much we have moved on since then. However, I think it’s fair to say he has been in decline and has not been the same player since he picked up Malaria almost a year ago to the day. You know he would still give everything but he’s just not the player he used to be.

This move has been on the table for quite a while now. Kolo handed in a transfer request in January when City came calling but we convinced him to complete the rest of season. Now we’ve sold him 6 months later and with a few million thrown in on top. It’s a great deal considering we only bought him for a quarter of a million but the fans wont care about that. Arsene always knows the right time to sell a player so I’m going to have to trust him.

We have to move on now. This Arsenal side has been going through a lot of changes in recent years and we just have to get on with it. Kolo will always get a great reception when he faces Arsenal and that’s how we’re just going to have to end it. He is one of football’s nicest blokes and I’m sure he will be missed just as much around the dressing room as he will in the stands. I hope things go well for him and he enjoys his big payday up north but I have to admit it does hurt seeing him holding another shirt, especially another Premiership one.

The future in defence is Vermaelen and Djourou. Gallas needs to be strong for us next season but I don’t see him staying much longer than that. We have to hope that Vermaelen can become our new Toure – chasing after every ball, dispossessing every striker and putting a halt to any attack.

So that’s two African’s to Man City in a short space of time and it looks like we could be down one more very soon. There’s no more news on Emmanuel Eboue’s situation but after tonight’s game he went up to the Arsenal section throwing his boots in the crowd and waving to all the fans. It looked a lot like he was saying his goodbyes and it wouldn’t surprise me if he leaves Arsenal very soon.

We used to suffer quite a bit when the African Nations Cup came around by the looks of things it could just be Alex Song who’ll have to leave us mid-season to represent his country.

Well talking of tonight’s game we beat Hannover 96 1-0 thanks to an 8th minute goal from Cesc Fabregas. It was the captain’s first appearance this season and he got it off to a great start rounding the ‘keeper after getting onto van Persie’s clever ball through.

We fielded quite a strong starting eleven playing a 4-3-3 with Cesc, Song and Denilson playing in midfield and Arshavin, van Persie and Bendtner playing the forward roles. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this formation this pre-season and it could become a more regular thing. It makes sense with the players that we have and it seems to be working for us.

Bendtner had a good first half, he was doing his best to make an impact and was unlucky not to score. Arshavin was a bit quiet but I’m not worried about that. The defence made a few slips letting the striker through on more than one occasion but managed to get back every time. Thomas Vermaelen had to come off early but I’m not sure what went wrong, hopefully it was just a precaution.

I quite enjoyed the game, it was a bit more competitive than the other friendlies we’ve played and against a better quality opposition. Robin van Persie was getting a bit too into it though and had to be brought off to save him from a red card. There was a bit of a shoving match when he went in late, nothing happened but it showed both sides were definitely up for it.

Last night an ‘Arsenal XI’ beat Maidenhead 7-1. The reserves are looking good this season and after the game Jay Emmanuel-Thomas told us he has his eyes on the Carling Cup. Hopefully one year our kids will do it, we keep going so close but it says a lot how our reserve side can compete in a competition like that and still be one of the favourites.

And finally Eduardo has been named in the Croatia squad for a game just three days before our opener against Everton. You just know he is going to get injured in that. He’s also been talking about the threat of Man City and admits it will be hard to win the league.

Ok well that’s it for tonight. Goodbye Kolo, you will be sorely missed.

Thanks for reading.