The man of a million questions

Stoke 2 Arsenal 1

Some of the shit we are being subjected too is simply to shit for words. There is no single culprit, its the whole damn lot of them.

We knew what the danger would be, Delap. Did we stop him? did we fuck! I'm livid, Chester bleedin City could have stopped those throw ins, but could a top 4 soon to be bottom 4 side couldn't?

This is disgusting stuff and you just have to ask yourself if there were more English players in the team, would they have shown more passion and given more? Cesc has been shocking this season, Denilson... the jury is out. Adebayor is inconsistent, as is RVP who was a right twat today. Drop him. Fine him and tell him to sort himself out or piss off.

I have to confess i have not seen much of the game but in all the reports there is a distinct message of no passion and grit from these players. Calls for Wenger to go are getting louder and we face Man Utd next without Walcott, Adebayor Van persie and possible Cesc who may have picked up a yellow card. Looks like its Bendtner and Vela then...

I'm stunned.

I really don't know what to say.

Were back to the standard of 2005/06 season, losing most away games.

We need to buy badly in January, and if we don't i think Wenger's position will be in serious threat, we have to get silverware, we have to.

I'm chatting shite here and i know it, I'm disillusioned thats for sure. What do i believe?

Do i believe Wenger when he says that we have massive potential? We have had potential since 2005, that was suppost to be the transition, its the 08/09 season and are we still in transition? or are we just not good enough and do we need a change?

Our midfield tells the story of the whole team, we have 1 world class midfielder, other teams have many more than that. We are lacking the class to take us up a level. Maybe we need a shake up, we are complacent, arrogant and cocky.

At this rate we are not even going to finish in the top four. I know there is a hell of a long way to go but i just cant see things getting any better,

and of course, things are set to get much easier with Man Utd visiting next week.

Will we win? will we fuck!

im talking shite, goodnight.

You have to earn your corn now Arsene

Time to cut the crap Arsene!

With rumors rife that some sourcey fella heard a massive argument in the Arsenal dressing room, apparently a fair few members of the team are going to be dropped. (Wenger has since denied it of course). I think this is a total and utter fabrication as Wenger will put in taller players to deal with the aerial bombardment we will face from Rory Delap. The chances are that Diaby will replace Nasri and Bendtner may well come in for Van Persie, Gallas is also 'injured' along with Eboue. Maybe Djourou will get a game this time alongside Silvestre or Toure.

I wish Wenger would stop with the whole 'we have great team spirit' and 'we have great potential', 'we showed good strength in character' stuff in his press conferences because after years and years of it its starting to wear a little thin. I would be worried if all the squad were fine after that defeat, they should be having a go at each other because that way we can get rid of this arrogance, naivety and down right complacence. Its about time they learnt something. They are not even learning from the hard way this season.

They are going to need to literally use their heads on Saturday, otherwise this bowl headed mong will cause us all sorts of problems.

Im really looking forward to seeing the team selections because then we will get a real idea of how Wenger feels about 'that' draw, the Spuds loved it so much they are releasing another DVD! Dickheads.

This game against stoke is a real biggie, we have Manchester Utd next weekend and the boss has conceded that he is rotating with that game in mind:

"It is at the moment rotation without being detrimental to the balance of the team. We play again on Wednesday and then on Saturday morning against Manchester United."

I would not be at all suprised to see a very young line-up against Fener in midweek.

Wenger is already saying the big games will decide our participation in the title race this season.

I just want to point to your attention a quite fantastic point made by the 'Le Grove' blogger Pedro. It points out the convienient releasing of financial information and Wenger talking about transfers. Just around the time for season ticket renewals, and club level renewals. Interesting eh?

I qoute;

Do you remember back in February when Danny or Keith came out and announced record pre tax profits? It’s no coincidence that around the time that story came out the club sent out the renewal letters for Club level.

How about late May? Do you remember the stories that came out from the club that we needed a centre back, no more players would leave and the fans wouldn’t be disappointed by this summers transfer activities… well that ties nicely in with normal season ticket renewals.

The next nicely packaged portion of bullshit came from the AGM. Apparently their was such a lack of decent centre backs on the market this summer, AC Milan had to sign Phil (Who I am sure Arsene said was a great player).

I think someone inside Arsenal FC is very astute at spinning stories and is taking the fans for a bit of a ride. Dont bite off the hand that feeds you. Respect it.

Anyways, im not sure if i will be blogging tomorrow but il certainly be back soon.

T'ra.

Still angry, still bitter, still think we need changes.

12 hours on from my blog last night and im still angry, there is an undercurrent in this Arsenal team that just gives opposition confidence. We are far too soft. Its not the result that makes me angry, its the manner of the result.

To have realistic title chances we have to go to January without dropping any points and stay undefeated, we play Chelsea and Manchester United. Do i see us winning both those games?

No.

I think we need a change of formation, we cant have a midfield of Walcott, Denilson, Cesc and Nasri because there is no defensive player protecting the defence, we cant have Diaby in there because he is an attacking player, Bischoff is a playmaker, Wilshere and Ramsey are far too young. Rosicky is not a defensive midfielder and Eboue isnt even a midfielder. Song looks ok but nothing special. Il spell out the point im making.

We. need. a. defensive. midfielder.

We. lack. balance.

We have to face facts, the team needs changing and Wenger didnt do his job over the summer.
One more trophyless season and an ever growing anti-Wenger contingent will get louder and louder.

We have to shut them up Arsene.

4-4 - Our nuts need a little tightening.

For one of the first times in the history of this blog i am going to have a moan at Arsene Wenger. His comments after the game have kind of made my bad mood darker. I'm going to nit pick here I'm afraid, like it or not.

“I believe that we produced an excellent game and the positive side is that we were really superior to Tottenham."

Well going forward we were pretty good, not excellent. I feel we could have been a lot more clinical with our finishing and decision making, again there was just too much overplaying. However now I'm going to get really critical.

"The negative side is that we didn’t win and I believe that was down to a lack of maturity. I would like to keep the positives tonight because I believe we were really outstanding and I don’t believe that the lack of maturity is linked to experience."

So it was down to a lack of maturity, but experience has nothing to do with it?

The meaning of maturity: The state or quality of being fully grown or developed.

Right young players are not mature; as they are young they are not experienced, as they have not played as many games as a 'mature' player. So there is a link Arsene. You just wont accept that we need a midfielder that has grown his pubes and knows how to damn well defend! We have to win something this season Arsene, its time to admit that letting Flamini go was a big error.

Wenger was also critical of our negative approach to the game in the closing minutes of the game,

“I believe we were too cautious, we wanted to keep the ball in a negative way instead of scoring goals number five and six."

Again, excuse making, we had a corner and Sagna wanted to take it short and keep it in the corner, Fabregas told him to go away and delivered it into the box, and Spurs broke away.

Times like that you just need to get to the final whistle, keep it in the corner or buy a cheap free kick, tick down the clock. There is no need to Ponce around weaving pretty patterns! So no Wenger, we lacked experience AGAIN, it was a stupid decision by Fabregas. Would any of the other top 4 teams to that?

I say this now and i mean it. No title for us this season. If we do win i will make a donation to the Arsenal Charity.

Now, the defence;

I could easily blame Clichy's naivety and Almunia's blunders but I'm not going to single them out.

I'm going to rate the defenders 1-10 and go through their game;

Almunia; Poor, poor game. Stark contrast to the Big Al we have seen this season, we was woefully out of position when that comb over cunt hit that 40-yard screamer. That was forgivable though. The second isn't so forgivable. Huddlestone hit a shot and Almunia hit it out into the path of Darren Bent, a schoolboy error for a goalkeeper, it hit him in the face but he should have got hands behind it. It didn't swerve a great deal and it looked like the Almunia of old. Poor. 3

Sagna; Didn’t do much wrong, not much to say really. No moments of brilliance or no moments of poorness. Not up to last seasons standard yet. 6

Gallas; Fantastic game in my opinion, little wrong. Makes a change really. Shows that he and Toure can't play together. Silvestre or Senderos would be his ideal partner. Nice goal. Could have closed down Jenas better if i wanted to be harsh. 8

Silvestre; He is improving every game i think, a good goal and didn't do too much wrong. MAybe could have closed down Jenas too. 7

Clichy; Fantastic until he got naive. Then the shit really hit the fan, he could have pumped it up to the corner but he decided to try and play pretty. He has not learnt from previous mistakes. 5

As you can probably tell i am not happy. For the first time i am doubting our ability to win things, today the team needed to win for the fans, you had your atmosphere at the start Arsene. The place was alive with Arsenal chants but the team didn't deliver until just before half time.

We need to be ruthless, the past 10-11 years has set the standard very high and at this rate we are going to get nowhere near those heights.

We finished teams off in the first 25 minutes of games in the glory years, now we are giving up good leads against our fiercest rivals.

People are getting fed up.

I am a member of the BBC 606 message board and this user has wrote a very good article;

Anyone else a bit disillusioned?

Ok firstly I want to say I love Arsenal and Wenger and would never support another team, even if we became as bad as Tottenham.

However...at the close of the transfer window when our rivals had strengthened and we had seemed to have weakened with the loss of experienced players such as Gilberto and Flamini without adequate replacements (in my eyes) I was absolutely gutted.

However I showed my faith and did my best to be positive that Wenger had something magic up his sleeve. I fear it may have been false optimism.

It annoys me that our fans pay the highest ticket prices in the world and our club are unwilling to spend the market rate for players worthy of our club. I'm totally for the youth policy and i'm glad we're not run like Chelsea/Man City but I think that our fantastic youth need to be supplemented with quality, experienced players from time to time. I know we are paying off the stadium debt but we still have more money than before the move.

Can anyone realistically see Arsenal win the league this year? I doubt it and thats because our strength in depth is so far behind Chelsea's and Man Utds. Our team couldn't win the ball back against Hull because we played WITHOUT a holding midfielder. Our team concedes goals to set pieces regularly because both our CBs are short in comparison to the physical forwards in the PL eg. Didier Drogba and Kevin Davies.

I love Wenger but I feel he is somewhat sacrificing the quality of our team in order to stubbornly prove a point. I just hope that he can strength in DM and CB in the January window as I cannot see a sustained title challenge this year.

Am I the only one who is becoming disillusioned that our great club is not going to see silverware again during Wenger's reign?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Update after 4-4 against Tottenham:

I still find the fact that we haven't got any proper holding midfielders or CBs who are commanding in the air ridiculous and results like tonight's show how bad it has become.

When will we learn to close out matches?

By 'Wengers Magic Hat.'

An enlightening article and i agree with pretty much every word of it.


To be honest I'm gutted we didn't win today. I feel let down, how many more times will we be disappointed?

Right, i apologize for any errors. Blogger is crap.

Anywhoo il be back soon.

Take care.

Time to mash those S*uds

Its time for the North London Derby, its time to take revenge for that beating we took in the Carling Cup semi-final.

You all know the S*uds have had a naff start to the season, but after Redknapp's arrival there they will probably be looking at this game in a totally different light to what they would have been looking at it a week ago.

They got their first win at the weekend and anything but a loss will be like beating us 10-0 to them. Wenger is of the opinion that despite 'arry's appointment, nothing much will change for a while;

"don’t think that [the new manager] will change a lot for this game.

“Certainly in the longer term future, the fact that Harry has taken over will change things for Tottenham. But I believe, in this specific game, it is more about how well we will play. That is more important than anything else.”

I think it will be a rejuivinated Tottenham team that will be chasing the ball all over the place, thats why i hope we attack and peg them back, an early goal would be fantastic to dent their confidence that would have risen after the Bolton win.

I think we need to have Song and Fabregas in the middle for today, Modric was dangerous at the weekend and we need a player to sit back and stamp on the little buck toothed rat, Fabregas on the other hand needs to be up the businuss end of the pitch doing what he does best.

I think we will start with Theo because he can try and get in behind the defence and cause mayhem, Adebayor is a constant threat, once described by Paolo Maldini as one of the toughest players he has ever played against. A compliment indeed. I think Theo will be rested for the two games after this against Stoke and Fener.

Adebayor wants to win this game for the fans. Saying;

"We know it is going to be tough. The fans love these games. We have to give everything, we have to make them happy and we have to win. We just have to win."

We do have to win this game, we have to win the Stoke game on Saturday and the Man Utd game the week after that. This is a critical part of the season, any dropped points will be punished, but tonight is a special night because we will be up for this game, the S*uds will too but i think we are out for revenge. Big time.

Hopefully the fans will turn the stadium into a couldron of abuse for the Tottenham players, and as i said, a goal in the first 20 minutes and they might just sit back and try to limit damage. They dont have the physical players to try and kick us, i think its time for us to get a little physical today against the likes of Modric, i dont mean kick him off the park, just using physical strength to let him know we are about. They will get dangerous if he starts scampering about.

Paul Merson thinks we don't want to win this as much as we want to win against Man Utd and Chelsea. Lets just say that 5-1 beating hurt. It pissed us off, its time to put them back into their place, i think over the last couple of seasons the NL Derby has been a fantasic game because the Spuds were after 4th, and they did get close once.

Maybe there is a certain amount of jealousy towards the success we have had, but there are a few Tottenham fans that are not deluded like the ones we so often laugh at, some are decent football fans and commend us on our style of football. Miss Goon is a Spurs fan and we were watching the West Ham game and she said;

"Adebayor is such a brilliant player"

Some praise indeed.

Tottenham are a team i dislike but they are not the worst team to watch, i would prefer to watch them over Liverfluke. I respect their attacking play and they respect ours.

Anyway i think tonight will be a close run thing, it all depends on the first 20 minutes i think, if we get an early goal i see us running out 3-0 winners. If it goes past half time and its still 0-0 anything can happen.

And i mean anything. No form book for this game.

Enjoy.

Ade turns the tide but will he match his ambitions?

Before todays game Adebayor set out his ambitions as clear as day. Win everything.

Now i not only think that is ambitious, i believe it is a pretty stupid thing to say, heaping attention on himself and with that attention expectations will follow.

But those comments must mean there is confidence in him and in the team, that is a good thing until it becomes over-confidence, arrogance and down right disrespect. Its good to see players confident but it has to be just right or the defeats by Hull and the likes will become more common. And by that i do not mean any disrespect at all to Hull.

It seems that faith in the team, by the players, is running high so lets hope that turns into those big silver things they call trophies.

Now, to the game. 65 minutes or thereabouts had gone, we had caused West Ham problems and their defence had been in pretty decent nick, Theo threatened and had gone close and Bendtner had had a decent effort clawed away by a brilliant Robert Green who always seems to up his game against us.

Then Diaby and Adebayor came on for Nasri and Theo, giving Van Persie the license to hover and pop up wherever he pleased. He hit a fantastic effort on goal that produced a splendid save from Green, he kept popping up on the edge of the area, causing big problems. Cesc was then fouled and VP hit a pile driver that smashed off the post, we were getting closer and closer.

Adebayor then appeared in the box, beat a defender and aimed a low cross towards Bendtner and the absolute Muppet of a defender prodded it into his own goal. West Ham's work was undone in a second.

Later on Adebayor was freed by a Bendtner pass, he rounded the keeper and finished quite marvelously with two defenders pretty much blocking the majority of the goal, cool, composed and clinical. That's the Adebayor we will need week in and week out to reach those ambitions he set up.

Fire us to trophies Ade, i dare you.

A good, solid and patient performance was praised by the boss. He said this reflecting on a 'big win';

"if we had come out of it with a frustrating 0-0 draw, we would have felt that we had wasted an opportunity

“We knew before the game that we couldn't afford to drop points today but I must say that West Ham can feel frustrated because they defended very well and gave absolutely everything today."

We had to win today, and we did. Liverfluke got very lucky again today, they are having a purple patch and are not managing to look the best team in the league. I doubt they will win the league and i think we will finish above them, Man Utd dropped points and Chelsea are only a point ahead of us now. We have had an inconsistent start and are only 4 points off the early leaders. That is really not bad at all i have to say, we are most definitely in the title race and 3 more points on Wednesday will go a long way to getting through a tricky week.

Wenger was particularly happy with Adebayor's impact from the bench, saying it shows his good attitude;

“What is fantastic is that he is a regular starter in my team and he fights very hard. Today he came on with 25 minutes to go and fought for every ball. That is more than any speech I can make."

And on team spirit he had this to say;

"We have a great spirit in the side and we have great quality"

But the boss was not done yet and gave an opinion on the development of Theo Walcott and how he envisages his improvement over the coming years;

"There is already a lot there but of course there is a lot more to come. We have all been 19, we were not all better at 21, but he will be better. “

He is in fantastic form at the moment and is now a key player in our team, if our team really lacks something sometimes its pace. Clichy and Walcott are our speed merchants and are a threat in every single game. That's why i think it is important to hold onto Armand Traore, he is one quick kid.

Right that's about it for now, onto a new feature i am starting on the blog.

I will sometimes write articles that i cant really write in the detail i want on the blogs. It will not be a weekly thing or anything like that i just want to make some points every now and again, they might not be about Arsenal in particular, they may just be about football and the issues in general. I hope you will read them as i will enjoy writing them. I'l keep you posted.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: First article is up, your thoughts? Click here.

Set the standards, Gallas out. The AGM, and more

In today's blog i will be covering a lot;

• The AGM
• Gallas and the fag
• Beckham training at Colney
• Blaise Matuidi
• And of course a preview of Sunday's London Derby.

The AGM took place on Thursday, (good summary here) and Arsene Wenger made a hell of a lot of points. By now you are probably up to date with what he said but i will go over the important points.

Peter Hill-Wood on squad investment.
Arsene on how to get the fans going.
Video technology is on Arsene's wanted list.
Hunt for the MD

Find all the articles here

Overall it was a positive AGM, Arsene spoke out for the first time about the fans and i feel that part of the lack of confidence is because we don't support them as much as we probably should, I'm not hitting out at the fans i just feel we could be a little more vocal when things are not going our way.

I don't go to many games so who am i to talk about it after all.

Now, the Gallas picture;

It took me a hell of a long time to find that!

Wenger has spoken here and here about it.

Now a captain is someone you look up to, the face of the club in many respects. He is the role model, the father figure.

Look at the picture, is he those things?

Is he heck!!

I call for him to be stripped of the captaincy and dropped, his attitude is a disgrace and I'm ashamed to see an Arsenal player like that, this is a club of class, our players do not stumble out of nightclubs in the early hours with fags in their mouths. I used to support Gallas 100% but now i think he just has to go, he must have lost all of his respect from his fellow players. Come on Arsene, it is a very bad example to our youngsters and it has embarrassed the club. Strip him of the captaincy.

Ive got a few comments of Arsene on the incident here;

“He has a responsibility as captain of Arsenal Football Club and [smoking] cannot be accepted.”

“It is a public job with a public responsibility,” he said. “That is exactly the same for everybody."

He then said this in my previously linked article earlier. Maybe trying to deflect some criticism off him.

Ive made my views clear, i will not comment on them any more unless absolutely necessary. I just hope he wasn't drinking and driving but I'm not going to make assumptions.

Update: This article seems to say its the early hours of the '25th October' and as that day is yet to occur, i am a bit sceptical of the purpose of this picture and whether it is designed to make mischief.

Last year when the MLS season finished in America David Beckham trained with the first team to improve his fitness in hope of England suggestion. This season the tabloids have been doing their usual crap churning duties and Arsene Wenger has said he will help Beckham but he won't take him on loan;

“I wasn't in touch with him at all and I'll certainly not [sign him] as a player for the Club,” Wenger said at Friday’s press conference. “Certainly not.”

“If he wants to be fit and practice, why not? But we have Theo Walcott who plays in this position and Emmanuel Eboue who plays in this position so we are not looking for a right midfielder.”

I don't see why we don't sign him just to have his leadership in the team, the time he would with with us would be important in the season, and with our seemingly lack of leadership, he could have been there to offer his advice and experience.

We have been linked to a January move for French midfielder Blaise Matuidi. I don't think we will sign him, i think there are probably better players out there with more to offer. Saying that, i have never seen him play. We have enough young midfielders and i think it is total and utter cal.

Our dearest Eduardo will be 'back in three weeks' according to Arsene at the AGM. It is truly fantastic news and i will be digging out the best comeback situations for him from months ago now.

Preview: West Ham v Arsenal

This will be a tough game but West Ham are another team struggling for consistently and they will not think twice about sticking balls into (no, not like that), the box for their strikers to get their head onto. Therefore, i think they will score at least one.

I think that we might go for the 5 man midfield again, it would be a good decision, carrying on the momentum from the midweek win and a win is vital to get 6 points from this weeks London derby's as we do play the Sp*ds on Wednesday, a truly stupid day for a derby.

I predict a 1-3 win. I just feel we will have too much in attack but i will be glad of a win, however it comes.

Right, that took a while.

Back soon guys.

Football is coming home - literally.

Well Saturday is here, kick off is in just less than three hours and i am really looking forward to this one. We still have the players out that i said on the previous blog and a team re-shuffle is bound to happen, i think the team will look something like this:

==============Almunia==============

Eboue=====Toure=====Silvestre=====Clichy

Denilson======Cesc======Song======Nasri

========Van Persie===Adebayor========

Van Persie had a knock over the international period so i don't expect him to play 90 minutes, maybe Vela or Walcott will come on after 60 or so minutes as Bendtner is out. Silvestre will make his first start in the absence of Captain Birds Eye, (no more capi) and Eboue should go to Right Back in the absence of Sagna. All except Gallas are expected to be back for the Turkish trip.

Theo will be rested after his international exploits, Wenger thought he was tired after the Sunderland game two weeks ago;

“We play Tuesday again so that would be four games in 10 days,”

“We have done our observation [tests]. They are not linked especially with the England matches but we do know how the individual players respond to repetitions of games.

“Before Walcott went away with England I already felt, after the Sunderland game, he looked tired. He’s the kind of player who plays with a lot of energy, every time he goes he goes 100 per cent.

If he does come on late i wouldn't rule out a goal for him because his against a tired defence can be very interesting to watch!

Arsene Wenger has compared Theo Walcott to Messi, saying that at Theo's age, he is a better player than Messi was;

“He’s different [to Messi at that age] and I think he’s more,”

“If you have to look for a weakness in Messi you would say it is his ability to run without the ball, behind the defender.

“When he takes the ball to his feet he’s like a Ferrari. But Theo is more a guy who has the timing to run off the ball and that is something that is difficult to find.

“We had Marc Overmars who was especially good at that and I’m a great, great lover of movement off the ball.”

And i am a great, great lover of Marc Overmars. A truly outstanding footballer, i still remember being in the Wembley crowd in May 1998 when he poked the ball through the legs of Shay Given. What a player.

Aaron Ramsey is close to the first team says Arsene, and he could be in line to feature today;

“He is close because he is in the squad tomorrow,”

“He is 17 and a half years old, you have to be realistic as well. I think nowhere in the world do players so young get regular chances in the squad as much as here at Arsenal Football Club.

“On top of that, you cannot rush me to make it any quicker.”

I think he has a brilliant future ahead of him. I cant wait til he is 20-21 and a first team regular. Him and Cesc in the same team and with the creativity they have is a truly orgasmic thought.

Expected debutant Silvestre will give us help defending free kicks according to Arsene, and Almunia still wants to play for Engerrrrrrland. (ATVO only).

Well, here's hoping for a nice 3-0 today, i doubt it though, i have been wrong with every prediction so far!

til' tomorrow and up the Arse.

Bad team news as we approach the trickiest week of the season so far

I will warn you now, what you are about to read will contain a lot of injuries!

Arsene Wenger spoke this evening about the state of the squad returning and the following are out of the visit of Everton and the trek to Fener in midweek.

Definitely out: Gallas (Hamstring) Bendtner (Ankle) Sagna (Knee)
Rosicky & Eduardo (Long Term)

Possibly out: Van Persie (Hamstring) Fabregas (Broken nose) Djourou (Concussion)

Well that is a right royal pain in the arse! The plus side of all this is that despite the break Fabregas should be alright for the weekends game, Wenger saying;

"It should not stop him playing. He is here now [at the training ground] and is being assessed."

Diaby will also be back in the squad for the weekend. I have a feeling Wenger will be really careful this time in bringing him back, building his fitness up gradually, maybe a few reserve games will do him good.

There will be one thing for certain and that is that its going to be a brutal week for the squad, many players put out 90 minutes twice this week and i would not be surprised to see a little bit of squad rotation with a very hardworking performance needed in midweek.

It seems we are always hit hardest by the international breaks, that's 5 injuries this time. Its damn unlucky.

It also seems Armand Traore may move on next summer if he does not get a guarantee of regular football. I found this quote particularly interesting though. He has been playing on the left side of midfield a lot this season but this, just maybe hints at the fact he prefers to play at left back;

"Obviously I want to play every game now but Gael Clichy is a great player in my position there at the moment."

Another youngster, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has stated their desire for first team football, i can really see this becoming a regular occurrence, especially when Merida, Lansbury and Randall are wanting first team football. We have to face the fact that many of them will leave.

I'm not really that eager to go over topics other blogs have covered but Fabregas's comments the other day do have me worried a little, maybe he is starting to get a little frustrated. However, the most concerning part is this phrase;

"We find it very hard to win matches, as we do not possess enough experience."

Winning is very much a habit and we are very inconsistent at the moment, that is down to the inexperience i am sure. But the question is, do we stifle youngsters with a more experienced player?

The answer, yes or no, will have people disappointed.

Right thats your lot, thanks for reading and i will be back with more team news when its about.

Injuries, Hleb is annoying me still, Gallas on the captaincy + Free Stuffs!

Afternoon Gooners, as the International break is the most boring time in the universe like ever i have left it off a few days to give you one big, informative Goon!

As you probably know, Van Persie is broken again, a hamstring injury i am told. What has he done this time? wrapped it round his neck and hung himself on it? Really, its getting really really stupid, maybe just maybe Arsene will have had enough and ship him out to Italy or something and try to cash in, he must have cost us millions in medical bills. Gallas is also injured, but his injury has not been met with the same attitude, the 'feduppiness' and dismay that Van Persie's has recieved or the same sort of attitude that an injury to Cesc would recieve.

Gallas has, for the first time described the incident at Birmingham last season, conceding he 'flipped his lid';

I made a mistake. I must admit I flipped my lid. We should have won that game easily.

"Before Arsenal, I spent six years at Chelsea. That team was capable of getting ugly wins. If we had an opportunity to win a cup, we would never miss it.

"There I became imbued with the winning culture, which doesn't exist yet at Arsenal.

"Of course, some of my Arsenal team-mates could not have appreciated my behaviour against Birmingham.

William. Shut up. This is Arsenal, not Chelsea, we are not a similar club, we are not run by some oligarch cunt with billions in the bank. We had a winning culture in the invincibles season but that was when the whole team were at their peak, this team is not even near its peak. Its bound to be inconsistant.

He also said he was made a scapegoat;

"The controversy about my captaincy? People had to find a scapegoat as we didn't win any trophies last season.

"So, they talked and talked again about the Birmingham match. Indeed I made a mistake. I must admit I flipped my lid. We should have won that game easily

Well you should be keeping your head held high, picking your players up. Not them picking you up, you are the leader so lead them. Its your responsability as captain of this great club to help them win things, something you are not doing at the moment.

O and Gallas, there are no easy games mate. Thats why we lost to Hull.

Now, when you think back to last summer when Hleb went to Barca did you consider that it might be part of a ploy to get Cesc there? Just think... They are best mates, its Cesc's hometown and he has confessed he loves the club. Something not right about that and now Hleb has tried to get Cesc at Barca, the cunt.

He said;

"We get on very well on and off the pitch. For me he is like a brother. We call each other a lot to talk about things,"

"He tells me he misses me at Arsenal and, without wanting to detract from anyone, I would love it if he came to Barca to be a part of all this.

"I will keep boring him until he changes his mind. If in the end he listens to me, I think it would be great for Barcelona."

He is a grade A prick and it looks as though he wont have his way though;

he doesn't stop insisting that he is very happy at Arsenal and with Arsene Wenger.

Thats 100% Cesc, honest and doesnt let people influence his decisions, unlike the mug that thought Barcelona was a hamlet.

This is a few days after the Spanish press yet again twisted the qoutes of an Arsenal player, claiming Cesc will leave at the end of the season.

Roy Keane has had a dig at Arsenal this week, claiming Arsene has little to do with the youth at the club;

"But you go on about the kids coming through but a lot of them have been bought from other clubs, not through the academy at Arsenal. It's the same with Chelsea."

Roy, to be fair some have been brought in from other clubs but there are a lot that have been raised at Arsenal, and just buying in a young player doesnt mean they are instantly fantasic, it takes years of teaching and nurturing. Cesc was good when he came but he is now great. Wenger has taught him a hell of a lot and it will be the same for Merida, Barazite and Ramsey to name a few.

Also, Adebayor has again gone back on a decision to retire from his country, he does like changing his mind. How much money do you think they paid?

Sagna has also said Arsenal need to defend much better. Not that we really needed to know that son!

Now for a little tip off on how to get a free, yes FREE Grolsh pint glass!

http://www.grolsch.co.uk/signup/?campaign=GLASS

Go to that site, register, and then enter GR50004 as the promotion code and the store as Tesco.

Bang, you have a free glass coming to your house!

Oh and a tip, it doesn't do the old 'You already have used this address'. So send to however many live in your house!

Any way of getting through the credit crunch!

No need to thank me! Leave us a comment.

Anyways il talk to you again soon.

Enjoy watching Theo tonight.

Interview with a cultured left foot and a Sunderland preview.

The other day i had a discussion with Jogi's Warrior of 'A Cultured Left Foot'. I asked him about the Financial status of the club, the midfield, the kids and the Porto win.

How do you see Arsenal in 3-5 years time? And in the light of the well publicised 'credit crunch' will Arsenal benefit from other teams lack of profit and financial security?

Financially, Arsenal are better placed than most to ride out the current storm. I think in the short-term it is unlikely that the Board will recommend a sale of the club to the other shareholders, especially if Usmanov is involved. He, on the other hand, will not want to sell his stake unless it is for a profit, an unlikely scenario given that he paid too much for some of his shares.

Once you get to 3 - 5 years, there will be other circumstances to bear in mind such as the directors ages and other financial circumstances - inheritance tax, etc. - come into play. I would not be surprised if after three years, there is a new owner or someone else who has a high % stake in the club, such as Kroenke.

We all know about the fantastic 6-0 demolition job our kids did over Sheffield United, Just how good do you think that win was and who will make the grade at the club?

If you look at the team, few of them will not make it. Fabianski will take over from Alumina in the next two seasons, similarly Song and Djourou in the center of defence. Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere, Merida all have the potential to do so. If I had concerns, it would be over the likes of Hoyte and Gibbs where the current players - Sagna and Clichy - are young, on top of their game with more to come. It will then depend on whether the current 'reserves' are prepared to wait for their chance.

What is your stance on the midfield, its been highlighted as our most thinly covered position, should Wenger have bought or would it be a block for the youngsters coming through such as Randall and Coquelin?

I hope I am proved wrong but I think it is an area where Arsene needs to look at signing someone. Denilson has outperformed expectations - mine at least - but the season is not even a fifth passed so it is far too early to make a judgement on him. Wenger would not buy simply for the sake of it and he must balance the immediate needs against the long-term futures of the young players but if he can get hold of a world class central midfielder now, it is of benefit to them as the youngsters get chance to develop at a natural pace rather than being thrust into the limelight too soon.

What are our title chances, and silverware chances in general? and just how many games can we afford to lose in the league?

In the league, we have as good a chance as any. The team has the experience of last season to draw upon and if they can get some consistency going, they stand a good chance of winning some silverware. Crucial to the league will be the results at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford. Avoiding defeat is key, winning damages your rival. United proved last season that you can lose half-a-dozen games if you keep the number of draws down in the other games. If you win 26, draw 6 and lose 6, that is 84 points and you will be there or thereabouts.

How far does the Porto win go towards making up for THAT defeat by Hull?

To be honest, I don't think it does but then no win ever compensates for a defeat unless it is a two-legged cup tie. The Hull game is over, finished. They played well, got their result. We all move on. It is one less game that Arsenal can lose this season but at the moment, the saving grace is that we are winning all of the rest of our matches. Come Christmas when the top four have all played each other at least once, we'll have a good idea of the context of the Hull game. If they beat anyone else in the top four, people will feel a whole lot better.

I have to say he talks an awful lot of sense and i totally agree with the last statement. Arsenal needed to beat Porto for the fans and their own confidence. We cant get those 3 points back and never will. We just have to be even better in the future.

Thanks for your time Jogi.

Anyways, i gave some brief team news yesterday and nothing much else has appeared so i take it that its just the regulars out injured. I also expect Song to play in midfield tomorrow, we will need some extra muscle to deal with what is bound to be a physical approach from Keane's men. If RVP didn't make as bigger impression as he did in the week i would have expected Bendtner to get a game but i don't see how he could be dropped now.

I expect an Arsenal win and i have not got one result right as yet so I'm going for a 3-1 win. hopefully.

Arsene Wenger has supported Joe Kinnear in his rage against the scummy press saying this.

Wenger has also talked about the abuse he receives from opposition fans.

Id like to take this opportunity to say this.

You know the 'Adebayoooooor his dad washes........ and his mum's a .............' song?

Well i think that song is racist, saying someones African father washes Elephants for christs sake!

Now, once an Englishman gets this kind of abuse there is outcry! Why didn't everyone kick up a stink about the Adebayor chants? Arsenal fans were going mad but nobody listened, now its an English person everyone is listening. Double Fucking Standards. Totally out of order. I'm against any kind of abuse from fans that crosses the line. The Ade chant and the Sol abuse isn't crossing the line, its about 10 miles over the damn line.

Whats your stance on this? Drop me a line!

Right, il be back late tomorrow, sadly I'm missing the game again but il blog when Ive seen the highlights.

Til then Arses, il leave you with this.

Post match round up

“I think it was perhaps the most complete performance of the season.” - AW

After the win yesterday Arsene Wenger has praised the teams attitude. I feel it was a much better overall performance, despite the opposition being total and utter rubbish, but you can only beat the team in front of you and thats what they did in style.

Wenger said;

“We were focused. I thought at times we were a little bit too tense, especially at the start of the game. But we were focused and at that level, whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League that is vital. I believe that on Saturday we were caught by a lack of focus.

“I think the team is maturing and there is big potential in the side. We want to be intelligent and in the end you measure that on how well we do together.”

The start was nervy but that wasn't surprising, i feel the crowd didn't help, there were massive groans everytime a player made a mistake and that cant be nice at all. Saturday is done, this was a different game and we needed to get behind the team, im not having a dig at fans i just feel we dont help ourselves sometimes. Liverpool and Fenerbache fans make their staduims a couldron, so should we.

Theo and Cesc were picked out for special praise after a fantastic performance from them. The boss said;

[cesc]“I think he was outstanding tonight. He was good defensively and offensively and overall it was the ‘complete performance’.”

[theo]"Theo was dangerous again and he makes big progress and a big improvement. It was the response I wanted. It is half of the response of the week, the other half comes on Saturday"

The boss also confirmed that Theo is not injured. Great news.

Manuel Almunia has also praised the performance and expects it to be repeated at the weekend, the 'keeper is an important part of our team i feel, he is not experienced on the pitch but he has sat in many dressing rooms many times and offers the experience of knowledge and also experience of life to the younger players, some of whom have not yet seen 20 years of age.

He has though admitted attitude was our downfall against Hull;

"I think Hull deserved the three points because our attitude wasn't very good during the game."

Onto Van Persie now; he seems to have really pissed Sneijder off when he was at the Euro's, apprently their conflict stems from Van Persie taking a free kick 'against his team-mates wishes' Just seems the latest bust up in a long line of bust ups in the Dutch camp.

He has also been spoken about by Adebayor, who believes their partnership can fire us to glory this season;

"We are working hard for the team - he has got the same ambition as me,"

"We are here to help this team, we are here to help win something so I'm very pleased with the way he played against Porto.

"I gave him a pass and he gave me a pass. That shows there is a good relationship between the two of us.

"We are very happy and hopefully we can help this team win something this season."

Why not? on their day they are two of the worlds best strikers so they really should be firing us to glory! I have faith in them.

Well thats about it today. Join me tomorrow for an interview with Yogi's Warrior from 'A Cultured Left Foot'. A link can be found on the links section to his blog.

Thats it from me, take care gooners.

A change of mentality

Well, that was all rather shite wasn't it! I'm sorry i have not been here for a few days, i will try and get someone to blog when im not available!

First things first, I think we were piss poor, Ive only seen the highlights and it was enough to make me sick, the pints of beer didn't help either but you can see why Arsene Wenger feels sick, i think that players that do not give 100% should be dropped from the squad. And if they do it again just get them the hell out of the team. I don't care if its Gallas, Adebayor, Van Persie or even Cesc, it just cannot be tolerated. They get paid far to much to piss around on a pitch and give 50%, at the end of the day the fans pay their bloody wages so they best sort themselves out or fuck off to Man City. Its Monday evening and im still fuming.

Now, Gallas. He feels that complacency wasn't an issue? It was clear to see the team thought they could smash a few in in the first 20 minutes, run around, look interested and be back home in time for tea and paella. It doesn't work like that in the Premier League. Gallas, sort your damn attitude out and lead the team. But, sort out your bloody defending, its shocking! that's about the third time he has made a mistake that has lead to a goal this season, it cant carry on. We are behind as it is and if we play like that against a Chelsea or Man Utd, we will get torn a new arsehole. The captaincy needs reconsidering because Gallas' attitude is poor, his defending is poorer and his captaincy is just plain crap. If Benitez managed this club he would have been played up front now and who knows, he might be more clinical than Adebayor, its not hard.

But the focus now switches to our game at home tomorrow night and god help up if we screw this one up. The manager has said there will be changes but denies they will be punishments to players. I feel Vela and Bendtner deserve to start up front, Vela has been fantastic since his return from Spain and Bendtner has been scoring also, they have showed commitment, something lacking on Saturday evening. Van Persie is a great player technically but is inconsistent, he has to improve and if he doesn't I'm afraid he may be on his bike. I feel we will go in with a 4-4-2 but whoever makes up the team i don't know, Song is out, Nasri back in and i feel the team will probably be pretty much the same. Maybe Bendtner being started in place of Ade would give him a kick up the arse?

I would love to see Djourou start instead of Gallas but i don't think it will happen, that is the one place that Wenger really annoys me. The partnership of him and Kolo does not work and it will hardly fill the team with confidence!

For once Arsenal will go into the Porto game as probably the most experienced side, no inexperience excuses now please, its time for this team to win something and they had better do after Saturday, and the performance at Fulham.

I am at a loathe to say this but this year, and by year i mean 2008, we have now turned in three totally half cut performances, the defeat at Old Trafford in the FA cup, the Fulham game and now the Hull game, its a habit that is starting to become more and more common and Wenger has to stop it, at the end of the day the buck stops with the players but Arsene has a big influence on them and therefore he has to take some of the blame too as he concedes.

Tomorrow the boys need to step up to the plate, a defeat today could well prove terminal in our Champions League campaign and after we have already flushed half out title hopes down the shitter we just have to win, and win well too. I don't expect a cricket score but i sure as hell don't want a 1-0.

I made the mistake of expecting a cricket score against Hull and i well and truly damaged my credibility as a blogger that talks sense. That was a mistake that wont happen again.

Ive cut the quotes out today as i wanted to add more of my view, the weekend was a step backwards, tomorrow has to be a step forward and its got to be twice as big.

Come on Arsenal.

Please leave your views on the game, your comments are needed to keep this alive!
I will come back to them in the following blogs!


Til' Tomorrow.

Hull preview, Denilson and Wenger on leaving

Arsene wenger has said that he will decide his managerial future in 2011. It will be then when he will have served 15 years as Arsenal manager and even he concedes he didn't expect to last this long;

"To be honest I would have laughed if someone had said I'd be here for 12 years.

“I was lucky in my career. I stayed for seven years in Monaco which is a good record in France, so in 19 years I had two clubs. Just to be a manager for 19 years needs luck.

He has made this club what it is, without him we would be a mediocre mid-table team and with a name like 'Arsene' you can tell he was born to manage this club. The guy is one of my heroes and i will be eternally grateful of what he has done for this club.

He said yesterday that he has not thought about his contract and is just focusing on the job in hand;

“I've not thought about my contract,” he said. “I will give myself to the end of my contract in 2011 and then have a serious check-point. You don't want as well to go on too long.

“I don't want to walk away at the moment, but in two or three years things can change in any job.

You just have to admire him, is there any other manager apart from Sir Alex and Arsene that stick to their word and their contracts? I dont like SA but i think he has done a brilliant job at Man Utd and as the two of them grow older i think they are starting to admire what both have done for the clubs, the league and the world of football. Wenger also admits that he is not setting an age to retire, even though he promised his wife!;

"But I said to my wife ‘at 55 I stop, I promise you’. And at 55 I said ‘60’.

“Now I just don't speak about it any more!"

You devil you Arsene!

He also admits that he has only built two Arsenal sides, athough most argue he has built four, i think the 98 double showed that he has the skill to get something out of a team without buying in players, it shows his personal skills along with his teambuilding skills;

“I feel I have completely created maybe two teams, The first one [in 1998] I did not create, I had an exceptional ‘old-guard’ at the back.

“I think I added something to this team and we were successful. But Adams, Bould, Keown, Winterburn, Seaman, Dixon - they were already here. I added the offensive force but Bergkamp was already here when I arrived as well.”

The legend also confirmed that he has had chances to leave Arsenal but never even considered it;

“I was offered the chance to leave but I never considered leaving,

"The longer I stay the more difficult it becomes to envisage leaving. But I know one thing - you have to prepare yourself.

"You have to work inside the Club like you will spend your whole life there. But as well you have to accept the idea it can stop from one minute to the next.

"But that is basically life as well - you expect to live for 100 years but you can die from one minute to the next."

To be honest i don't even want to imagine the man leaving, he is Arsenal and Arsenal will be a totally different club without him!

Now onto Rosicky, the boss has said that it may be two days or two months before he is back, and concedes he is speechless over the niggling injury;

"I believe that all the checks we made are reassuring, but it's difficult to say, It's an inflammation that's going on in his leg that has to settle, to calm down."

“We are a little bit speechless on that at the moment because we feel it is all going well. It is a problem of re-coordinating his muscle with the exercises he does.

"There's nothing really that harms his future, but, as well nobody can tell me on the 10th of December he will play.

“He can be on the 31st of December, he can be on the 10th of November, nobody knows with him. In the next two months he should be back but what date, nobody knows.”

He is a vital part of Arsenal and he improves an already brilliant team, hopefully he will be alright and be back soon!

Young midfielder Denilson has targeted the double this season, pretty ambitious but there is nothing wrong in that. I hope the lad keeps improving because he has the potential to be a hell of a footballer, and hopefully he can fulfill his potential with Arsenal as Arsene watches another of his gems grow into a diamond.

Now, onto the Hull game.

Sadly it kicks off at gone 5 so i wont be able to watch the game, or match of the day later as im out. Meaning i will have to rely on internet highlights!

Anyway i predict we will win 3 or 4 - 0, the strongest team will be out there and i reckon Van Persie and Ade will grab a couple of goals and i wouldn't rule one out for Theo as well. To be honest if we don't get 3 points from this game we shouldn't be in the title race this season. We should batter them.

I will try and put a few streams up for you lot, hope you enjoyed reading.

Back tomorrow evening.

Wenger, tackles, Platini, Cesc and youth

To start with then, Cesc Fabregas has spoken of how the young gunners are keeping him awake at night. No, its not them playing with their little kiddie toys, its their class on the pitch that worries him, he reckons they will be after his first team slot soon and recognizes the fact that he has to raise his game;

“I cannot go to sleep as one day or other they will want to play more and more and the manager will want them to play more.

“I will have to be better and better. Wilshere, Ramsey, Merida — they all play in my position. This is great for me. I love competition.

“If the players are so young you can feel your place is too secure.

“So it’s fantastic to have competition — to wake you up and make you a better player.”

Well if he raises his game he will be a truly sensational player, and you know what, the guy is years away from hitting his peak and thats a very scary thought for the opposition.

He has also pledged his future to the Gunners, as long as we continue to play football the way we do he will not go;

“It was not a hard thing for me to stay. I was really relaxed during the summer because I knew I was going to stay at Arsenal.

“I am so happy here that I will never think about moving as long as things keep going the way they are.

“For me it’s not a problem. My mentality is the same since the day I signed for the club.

“What’s the point in having millions and millions in the bank if you don’t enjoy playing and you are not happy?

“I am happy, I love the way we are playing and the fact I’m still here after three season’s without winning anything means something.

“It’s because I love the game, I love the club and I love the way we play football.

“I really enjoy the way we play on the field and for me, that’s the most important thing.”

What a legend he is, a truly remarkable player. I hope we get the success he deserves.

He says when this side wins something it will be very, very special;

“I won the FA Cup and that was a great feeling but I won it with Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp – the team was already done.

“To win something with this team that is completely new would be something really special. I really want to do it.”

You know what? i really think we can win any competition, we are good enough and after all, we've got Cesc Fabregas!

Sticking on the subject of youth, Wenger has spoken about why he didn't sign a player on deadline day, the youth we have. The Genius said;

“I believe we have many good players here and we try to sort out any problems collectively as a team,

“We lost some top-class players in the summer but we always try to produce good young players and develop them. I always feel with the youth policy, the Club has a security and even if one or two players leave, we are strong enough to cope with it.

“I was convinced by our season last year that we are strong enough to challenge again.

“Of course it is a long, long race, but we want to show we have confidence and belief in our players plus we have the stamina to do it.

“Having been in that position before, our determination not to lose our advantage is certainly greater than ever.

“We experienced a big frustration last season and, in a highly-competitive league, we want to stay where we are.

“We were very close last year and it will be close again. We want to show we have learned.”

Well who could argue with him, we will see if he is right in the last couple of months in the season when the shite usually hits the fan and things get all sticky. I think this season really could be the making of these young players. They have potential that beggars belief.

He also stated his thoughts on what constitutes a tough tackle;

"A defender has to be tough and committed, for me if tough is committed I don’t have a problem with it. If tough is the desire to hurt your opponent it’s not acceptable because that’s not the game.

And thats fair enough, but as he also says, you have to stick to the rules,

"The beauty of sport is to win in respect of the rules. If us as managers start to say we don’t have to respect the rules then it can’t be accepted. That’s in boxing, in football, in every sport. You have to respect the rules.

When you get clubs cheating points off you you have a right to be angry, when your players get kicked off the park its not football, its assault. What happens from this is evident in the injury to the Hull player the other week and our very own Eduardo.

The buffoon at the head of UEFA, Platini, has said that he was a bit harsh on Wenger the other day;

"I was too hard on Arsene.

"My dad [Aldo Platini] told me off. He was the one who gave him [Wenger] his break (at Nancy)."

But still went on to have a moan at Wengers policies;

"When I talk about business, what I am talking about is recruiting players when they are 13 or 14. I can't stand it."

What is wrong in making a childs dream come true Platini? what is wrong in making sure kids become the best players they can possibly be. Just look at Fabregas.

Thats about it for today, take care.

More tomorrow.

Urgent: Signings Needed.

Yesterday was poor. Very poor. As Arsene said.

If im honest we have stepped back 2 seasons on that performance. It seems we are back at the stage were we were when we were losing away to the likes of Bolton, West Brom, Blackburn, Everton etc.

There was no grit in the defence, they didn't know where to put themselves, who to mark and what to do when the ball was delivered. The midfield was shocking, in not sure that that midfield would win an away game in the Championship, let alone the Premiership, Denilson was hopeless, Nasri wasn't in the game at all, he lacked the final ball, Eboue was probably the best of a poor bunch. At least he threatened on occasion, Walcott was poor again, he seems to just run and run, no matter what the direction, his development is starting to worry me.

The strikers were poor too, Adebayor dropped deep to try and influence the play but it didn't work, Van Persie was selfish with the set pieces, even his corners were poor. As i said yesterday, i don't know where he has gone.

Now when it comes to our prize assets it seems that we struggle to keep them, sod their age, class is perminant and a 33 year old pires is better than a 22 year old Eboue. Vieira was missed when he left, yes Cesc stepped up but we missed that force in midfield, Henry is missed, he was that special special player that could change a game in an instant.

Now we suffered after losing those players, but if we lost Fabregas we would be in dire dire straits, thats why we have to appease him. If he wants Xabi Alonso, give him Xabi Alonso. We could do a hell of a lot worse than buy this player i tell you, he is younger than you may think at 26 and would add another dimention to our attack, 3 midfielders that are good from range is a dangerous proposition for any defence. His passing is also fantasic.

Cesc also said;

"For me, Arsenal is Arsenal and this club has something special that no others have.

"We have to take care of it, that's why you have to be intelligent in your decisions "

Wenger can't afford to make a mistake now. We need an addition or 2, theres no denying that. Cesc trusts Wenger and believes he can guide the club to success. Arsene, don't fail him, for the sake of the club.

Now, onto something that really interests me. Tony Adams has again said how much he would like to manage Arsenal one day. And i think he would be a fucking great manager, we know Arsene wont be around forever and i think that recruiting TA back into the ranks would be a masterstroke, he can learn from the great man and it can only improve his management.

Don't laugh but I believe I am stronger in some areas and in others he is far greater than me."

Hes a confident guy and i think, in the future, he is a cert for the Arsenal management.

Theres also news of yet another Rosicky injury setback, he is set to miss the Czech's World Cup qualifier. I recon he is made out of breadsticks.

Now i don't trust BBC Sport, but this worries me, Maybe Wenger is just playing his usual games?

The Gossip columns are turfing out their usual shit. A paper claims that Djourou might me on his way to France on loan... I dont trust a source that cant spell his name right to be honest.

Also, apprently Xabi Alonso will cost 16 million.

Note: There is a poll currently going for 6 more days. Please take part and i will write about the results when it closes!


I would also like the thank the people that have helped me since i set this up.


Il be back this week with the latest news and why i think Spurs are immune to a 'crisis'.

Is this really RVP? + Show that cash AW!

I dont think ive seen Van Persie this poor before. Honestly. He was poor today, and last week too. Ok, he has not had many games over the last two years but he looks a shadow of his former self. On the two games so far this season he has seemed to have lost a bit of pace, become fustrated and therefore maybe tried too hard. This showed when he took freekick after freekick and put them either in the crowd, or the wall.

Remember against Ajax in the Amsterdam tournament and he had a go at Walcott? He did it again yesterday. I think he is trying to re-pay the faith put in him, and re-pay AW and the fans for being injured so much.

Robin has the talent to be one of the best in the world but it seems to have literally disappeared in the last month or so.

Now, it might just be the time for Arsene Wenger to get his cash out and buy a proven class player, be it Alonso, Barry, whoever. Just get your chequebook out Arsene because another trophyless season is just not on. Denilson isnt/wont be ready, he looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights. We need cover for Cesc because without him, we are much much weaker. Nasri may be that player that can replace him but he didnt look too great today either, he still has to adapt, like any other foreign player needs to. Adebayor was good in the build up, he has really improved this side of his game, but the chances were wasted in the end.

Today i think Eboue played well. He ran at the defenders, caused problems and that led to freekicks in our favour. I like the player. He adds a bit of personality (all be it OTT at times) and is very loyal to the club, he gives his all and that is all you can ask of a player.

Now, before i get dismembered by people calling me a pessimist, i really do think that the international break screwed the team up. Denilson and Almunia were the only players training last week and that showed in our passing today, players didnt really know where each other were and we lacked the player to drive the team on when it was needed.


There is something missing from this team and Wenger has days to fix it.

Earn your Money Arsene, and SPEND IT!

Back tomorrow with all the transfer speculation and Arsene's thoughts on the loss at Fulham.