This is certainly great news considering how lacking we've been at the back so far and how much we lacked in creativity in midfield. Amuary played in offensive role, supporting the forward line and played 56 minutes before being replaced by Sunu. Silvestre, on the other hand, stayed on until the end. Let's hope these two keep on regaining their fitness by taking advantage of the upcoming break for International matches.

Early days of course, but one could sense that Bischoff may replace Rosicky in the same way Vela can replace Eduardo, until these two come back. But will we ever see Tomas back? According to mirror.co.uk, he "is in danger of missing the rest of Arsenal's season". That is quite shocking when you consider that the season has just started. Not long ago I read an article hinting on a possible early retirement from the Czech; it would be sad, let's hope we get to see more of him, especially because when he joined many did say he was injury-prone and would not last long for us and it hurts to see this become reality.

Tomas has started another stage of recovery, including training with the ball.

But recently his knee reacted badly to that. It is very difficult to predict if he will be ready for the World Cup qualifiers against Poland and Slovenia in October.

Without the permission of Arsenal I am not allowed to be more specific on Tomas' health.

It's funny, yet sad at the same time. What is going on with him? Why is he so prone to injury? Remember that when a player comes back from injury, he always needs something like a month to properly settle down and hoping not to suffer an additional setback.

I wish, and hope, to see Rocky back at full strength in early 2009. I have a feeling that Rosicky, together with Eduardo, will give us in the last part of this season what we missed in the last part of last season.

Am I the only having this feeling or Rocky is gone for good?

Arsene Wenger spoke to the media ahead of Saturday's trip to Ewood park and the questions were mostly transfer market with a chance of Theo and a smattering of match preview. But, before I get into all that, tomorrow is the very first 7am kickoff of the season! That's 7am local time and since the only channel in the States that is offering the match is Setanta, I will be posted at Doyle's (link on the right) tomorrow morning. See you there if you're one of the locals -- or if you're in town!

Wenger on Supermaket Forces

Wenger and I are of the same mind on this one. How is it that City can come out and say that they will be offering £135m to Ronaldo in January without their being some kind of inquest by the FA? How is that not tampering with the player? And before you non-Arsenal readers (I have a few) point out, as the press did a while ago, that Wenger mentioned Barry and that somehow that's the same thing. It's not. You're full of it. What Man U did with Berbatov and what City are trying to do right now with every player in the league is despicable. Arsene Wenger mentioning that Barry is a good player is a world apart from City saying that they will make a £135m bin, in January, for Ronaldo. The boss, as always put it best:

Football is not a supermarket, we have to all understand that. You cannot come out and say 'we pay £250,000-a-week to Ronaldo and £135million', when the player has a six-year contract with Manchester United. It is not possible or acceptable. 

Why bother have contracts at all?

His broader point though is even more important, and that is that there's a destabilizing effect that money like ADUG is tossing around has on all aspects of the game. Already rumors are flying that Wenger will have to up Walcott's salary to keep the flies off him next season. That right there is the epitome of destabilization: the kid scored one hat trick in one international game and the next day there's talk of having to work a new contract to keep him at Arsenal.  

You only need to look as far as City's new signing, Robinho, and his confusion over what team he really signed for in order to see the end product of this destabilization.

Injury Report

More than just about any other day this year, tomorrow's team is going to be a mystery. First, the promised debut of new signing Silvestre may have to wait until Wendesday and I won't be surprised if the guy gets moved back another few days on Tuesday as well -- not that this is a pattern with this player or anything. 

Also doubtful is Samir Nasri, who may have some kind of knee injury. The club is being vague, only saying that whatever it was that kept him out of the France match may rule him out for tomorrow.

Rosicky was slated to return this month and was, by all reports, doing splendidly in his recovery. Then Czech coach Petr Rada spilled the beans and told the world that Rosicky's knee failed him again. I will be shocked if we ever again see this player on the pitch in an Arsenal uniform.

Obviously, Eduardo cannot play yet, but Diaby might get a start tomorrow and in his favored central midfield role. I'm really interested to see 1) how Diaby handles the role; can he tackle without being reckless? can he hold back his attacking instincts? does he have that sort of "spider sense" that the defensive midfielder needs? and 2) will he play the whole 90 minutes without injury?

Which just leaves "rotation" as the reason that a lot of players will or will not see action tomorrow. Fabregas is fresh, having only played a 1/4 of an hour on Wednesday, so I fully expect him to anchor the midfield. Depending on the fitness of Nasri, Theo could (and should) be left out of the squad tomorrow so that he can be fresh for Wendesday.

This means that I fully expect Eboue on the right side of midfield and if Arsenal.com's "Key Battles" is any indication then both Gallas and Sagna will start in defense.

The other two defensive positions are up to the fitness of Silvestre, which means that Toure and Clichy will almost certainly play.

Up front we will see Adebayor (since he didn't play for fear of death) and his partner will likely be RvP to start with Bendtner coming off the bench; Vela is out because it took too long for him to return from the Americas.

Given all of this, don't be surprised to see a very strange lineup tomorrow.

The Opponents

Blackburn have proven to be a tough opponent even if Arsenal have run rough shod over them in the last handfull of matches (knock on wood) and I expect that new boss Paul Ince will have them up for the challenge tomorrow. Given the number of players Arsenal had out on Internationals and the fact that they haven't had a practice together in a week and a half, I am nervous about this game. Arsenal haven't had a chance to really gell yet and this latest international "break" could set that back a little. Plus, all the injuries and just plain tired legs... ugh.

Meanwhile Blackburn are coming off a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of West Ham and have had a week and a half to prepare for this game. They should be fresh and focused and Arsenal will be tired and distracted, so I'm going to say that a draw would be a good result for Arsenal, a win would be more than we should expect and a loss is not unreasonable.

We'll see!

Arsenal confirmed that they are back on track with a definitive 3-nil dismantling of Kevin Keegan's Newcastle at the Emirates on Saturday.  This definitive result followed on the heels of their 4-nil victory in midweek over another England failure, Steve McClaren and his new Dutch side, FC Twente.  Arsenal needed to make statement Saturday afternoon following their dismal showing at Craven Cottage last weekend and they now head into the always disruptive international break with their confidence restored.  Will Saturday's performance settle the supporter's nerves?  Most still expect the Boss to make one more signing before the transfer window closes on Monday night but it is not at all certain that that will happen.

The team found its way back to style Saturday afternoon and Newcastle paid the price with their third consecutive 3-nil defeat at the hands of the Gunners.  van Persie's two goals were a bit overdue and though he came off due to injury, reports claim that he will be fit enough to go on international duty this week.  Though Adebayor's scoreless streak remained unbroken, he played a key role in setting up both of the open play goals.  Of course, the miss following two great passes from Fabregas and van Persie to set him free in the box tends to stick in the mind.

Perhaps, the biggest surprise of the afternoon was Arsenal supporters finally seeing in Emmanuel Eboue what the Boss has apparently seen in him this whole time.  Eboue had the best match in midfield that I can remember him having.  His runs were threatening, as they were at Fulham, but what he's always lacked in his midfield role is intelligence in decision making.  Denilson finally made something of a claim on the DM spot after a few very sub-par performances in the opening weeks.  His passing was much improved over the Fulham match (though it would've been a real challenge to top that performance for passing ineptitude) and his decision making was also far more sound.

On the left, it looks like it's gonna be very hard for Tomas Rosicky to get back into the side if and when he ever gets healthy.  Samir Nasri has proven in the opening weeks that he is a true Premiership quality player and both is overall adjustment and his understanding with Gael Clichy are already sufficiently developed.  He also showed he had the ability, like Hleb, to hold the ball in the midfield and his coolness in the box with his back to goal and a defender hanging on him saw him take two touches and find Adebayor who set up Denilson for the third goal.  Fabregas seems as though he's just about back to full match sharpness and the team's movement as a whole seems to be finding its stride which makes these international breaks all the more disconcerting - especially when they are followed by away trips to Blackburn and Kiev.

Regarding the two incidents from Saturday's match, I must say that Kevin Keegan deserves an Oscar award for the two outrageous claims he made after the match with an absolutely straight face.  First, he claimed that the penalty on N'Zogbia was weak because he was only "two feet away."  The replays show not only that the defender was much farther away than "two feet" but also that he not only raised his arm (a stupid mistake by a defender in that situation) but also that he moved it in the direction of the ball.  It doesn't matter whether it's intentional or not, it's still a penalty and Keegan should know that.

The second is his claiming that Joey Barton, following his very rough challenge, was "sliced down" by Samir Nasri.  Replays show Keegan to be wrong once again.  Nasri barely clipped Barton's heel as he was running away which sent him to the ground flat on his ass... oh wait, that was his face.  Perhaps he didn't see the full recklessness of Barton's initial challenge which he only got away with because he was lucky enough to get some of the ball.  Joey Barton the hack was then followed by an appearance by Joey Barton the punk (as it usually is) as he smiled at Nasri following the tackle.  For Keegan to complain that Barton was treated unfairly or played roughly is the absolute height of irony.  It was irresponsible on Keegan's part for playing him in the first place with an FA hearing pending on Friday.  The key thing to keep in mind wasn't that Barton was targeted by Nasri but that he was being retaliated against - being targeted implies Barton didn't bring it on himself.

Arsenal now have two weeks off following which we will make the trip to Blackburn who despite the positives drawn from their opening day win at Everton have since drawn Hull at home and got demolished by West Ham 4-1 this weekend.  In other fixture news, Arsenal's third round match in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United will take place on Tuesday, September 23rd at 7:45pm at the Emirates.

I have finally decided to start my blogging on Arsenal and my expectations for the season... So i will recap the transfers, and the last 2 games.

Today I have to admit that once again I am worried about my team... but this I am used to so I am hoping that the tables turn 180 and we see better football from "the" north Londoners. This transfer window so far we have lost the little depth that existed at Arsenal with the departures of Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, Hoyte and the loan of Traore and Barazite . These were key players in the arsenal ranks(with the exception of Hoyte and Barazite) and sadly the incoming freshmen are not up to the level of the graduating class. The new boys were Nasri, Ramsey, Bischoff and Silvestre (I question Arsene's judgemnt here). So the midfield seems really depleted, and with Toure, Diaby, Rosicky and Fabregas sidelined the seasons opening games were sure to be tough. So said so done.

Now the game against West Brom saw Nasri bag his first goal for the Gunners, Arsenal's top scorer for last season seemed to be below par on the day. Fortunately they held on to the 1-0 lead and took the three points. The positives from the game would be that the team were able to hold out for the win, Denilson looked fit to play in Fab4's spot. However, in the game against Fulham the team looked substandard. Lack-luster would be an understatement as far as I am concerned. Adebayor might have renewed his contract but he needs to renew his goal tally too... I think he depends on feeds from Fabregas to get into the game. Turnovers galore and poor targeting riddled Arsenal's game. Hopefully with the return of Cesc in midweek we will see a better team performance.

My personal opinion is that Arsenal needs a defensive midfielder. I heard speculation that Tore will be converted to that place in the meantime and either Silvestre, D'jourou or Song will play as centre back... hmmm not too sure of Toure in the defensive midfielder's role but one thing i know is that he would do the best he can. And in the preseason  warm ups we saw Wilshire and Vela having some impact so it's a wonder when we will see them on the pitch.

Finally as i said before i usually have these doubts about Arsenal in the earlies but Wenger always seems to calm my nerves.. I know he will ready the Arsenal for the rest of the season.

Peace out Homies!!!

Oh Thomas...  just shut up already.

The World's Least Reliable Newspaper ™ has reprinted a story from some Czech newspaper which quotes Arsenal's ubiquitously injured Thomas Rosicky as saying

I hate everyone on the team.  Especially Gael Clichy because he lacks talent.   But also William Gallas because he is a huge baby.  Oh and Arsenal would have won the quad had it not been for those two.

...or something like that.  I don't know what he actually said because A) I don't read The Sun (not that I would trust their translation) and B) I don't speak Czech so even if I were to see the original quotes I wouldn't know what to do with them.

The important thing here is that Rosicky get on with rehabbing his knee/groin/thigh/calf/whatever and play some football and shut his pie-hole about the team and what went wrong last year.  It's not his job to complain about teammates, everyone knows that's why God invented bloggers.

Of course, this whole story could also all just be made up stuff from The World's Least Reliable Newspaper ™ or a mixture of truth and fiction or... well, Rosicky is sort of denying it without really denying it.  If he were an American he'd just use the old "quotes taken out of context" canard.  Either way, this story is a non-story.  It's not like Rosicky is actually part of the team, I mean, I haven't seen him in an Arsenal uniform in a dogs year.

Speaking of injured players, Samir Nasri has been ruled out of the France friendly this week with a thigh strain.  What are the odds that he'll be fit for Saturday against WoeFulham?

Transfer Speculation

After a summer where the press, literally, went alphabetically through the list of every decent player in the world and linked them to the team, the wire has suddenly and auspiciously gone dead.  This means one of two things; either Wenger is close to spending some of that pot of money he keeps promising us that he has or that he's ready to stand pat because performances matter more than signings.

I have to admit that this whole juxtaposition of two equal and opposite stories on the dot com is a bit surreal at first glance but if you tease it out you can see what the grand scheme here is; that Arsene recognizes the fan psychology behind wanting a big signing and he's trying to use that psychology to let you down easy.  In other words, there won't be a £30m signing before the transfer window closes on September 1st.  There may be a small signing (>£5m), there is very little likelyhood of a medium signing (£5-10m), but there is absolutely no way that Arsenal are putting pen to paper with any team for any figure over £12m.  Here's the relevant quotes to support my argument, they come out of both articles so bear with me.

Manchester United are in the £20-30 million bracket of the market, Chelsea are in an unlimited bracket, and we have to be in our own bracket - reasonable, but shrewd.

Basically, we balance the budget in the way we run the Club, I have the money available to buy the players, but we go into the competition with that target.

I think you always want to buy the players at the right price.

We have gone three or four years into a different policy [of bringing on our own players] which we have to see through.

Big signings reassure the fans, but performances are better.

And frankly, I agree with the man.  Football isn't about wealthy patrons running around using the team as their personal prestige pot, outside of Chelsea that is.  For better or worse, Football is a business and it needs to be run as a business.  Right now, Arsenal's business is in lean times, because they have just used a lot of capital to nearly double their capacity.  In a few years time, that condition will likely change and Arsenal will have bags of money (maybe) but until then, frugality is the name of the game.  Bringing in young men, molding them into team players, challenging for a trophy, and then selling them on for a profit if they ask to leave is what Arsenal is going to be about for the next 5 years or so.  In short, Arsenal are a selling club.  And so what of it?  Everyone says this like it's a bad thing.

If Arsene Wenger's talents lie in spotting a good deal and his nose for talent, then it behooves the business side of Arsenal to take advantage of that talent.  Just as any business uses the talents of thier best employees to maximize profits.

We, as fans, need to acclimitize ourselves to this shift in Arsenal because no, Arsenal cannot compete in the transfer market or salary wise with Chelsea and Man U.  That's not the same as saying they cannot compete on the pitch: this is a solid team and though we lost two very important pieces from last year's title race, we've replaced one (Hleb) with a player who's not afraid to shoot and score and can put in a decent cross and we're trying to find a replacement for the other.  Either that will come from the existing squad or from abroad. Either way it's not going to cost the team £20m to do it.

And I wouldn't be surprised one bit if next week we see the "This squad is big enough" story.  After all, if the squad were in need of bodies, would the team really let Hoyte and Nordtveit go?

As the new season draws ever near closer, Arsenal's training regime moves into full throttle as the players prepare for another long, hard and tiresome league campaign.

Today was Members Day, the inaugural event giving thousands of Gooners the opportunity to watch the squad train at the Emirates Stadium.

North London was damp, wet and cold but it didn't stop the 5,000-strong crowd turning up to view their Arsenal heroes.

New-signings Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey appeared along with the Gunners' senior stars such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Kolo Toure.

Nasri worryingly disappeared down the tunnel whilst pointing to his leg, the 21-year-old was reported to of sustained a slight knock.

Eduardo took part in some light running with new physio Neal Reynolds and Tomas Rosicky ran several laps of the field along with French fullback Armand Traore.

Theo Walcott, Justin Hoyte, Jack Wilshere, Ramsey, Carlos Vela and Lukasz Fabinaski all joined in training ahead of their inclusion in tomorrow's pre-season friendly against Huddersfield.

Click On The Thumbnails Below To View Exclusive Pics Of The Players:

I for one would vehemently support the Profs cause if he does select Gallas as captain of the Arsenal football club.

For starters,a team needs leaders in every part of the field if they want to win something....like arsenal had in the times of tony adams,vieraand henry....maybe the leaders are not captain material but you need them to inspire the players around them..have you Forgotten the Bergkamp effect on Arsenal..and pardon me even manu won the double last year on this very fact---van der sar in goal(holland captain),ferdinand in defence(england captain-maybe),scholes & giggs in the center and ronaldo forward...you have a long list of potential captains there....got my point!!

Considering Arsenal at this point of time, Gallas is one of the three to four players in the squad who have tasted premier league glory and will have enough grit, firepower, wounds to lick from last season and a relentless urge to score(which helped us a lot last season)...a tiger on the prowl..what say??

As for the present arsenal squad---Almunia in the post is no mean machine, lets see how he does to encourage the defence.Gallas is strong enough in a defence consisting of Toure,Clichy and Sagna-all possible captains.Moving on to the central midfield,Fabregas is the only noted motivator...and maybe the czech leader rosicky-if he says fit...Finally up front we dont have many options---maybe persie--again the question of fitness??

Notably--monsieur Wenger has not signed a Defender and looks highly unlikely to do so....and If he does so whom does the new defender replace...Gallas...which is highly unlikely!!!

So now do you see the need of experience and Gallas in the squad.....

To Victory:-)

PS.hey guys pls put forward some comments to make the writings more fun....cheers

I have to admit; I'm getting excited for the new season.  I know, we're three and a half weeks out but I'm still excited and yesterday's 10-2 drubbing of some pub team in Austria only helped raise the level of excitement a bit.

It's not the score line that got me excited, it's the fact that some of the young players looked so good.  Jack Wilshire in particular is pretty obviously a rising star in the Arsenal academy.  Yesterday, all he did was score 2 goals and set up Theo for another.  Now, Wenger has warned us all not to get too excited about the player while at the same time reminding us that Wilshire is the only 16 year old that he's brought with him to the camp.  It's too early to say "he's the next Fabregas" but I would not be surprised at all to see this kid get his chances in the League Cup and maybe even a Premier League start.  Just like Fabregas did when he was 16 (ZOMG!!! He's the next Fabregas!)

The rest of the team is starting to shape up as well, with only two players still ruled out due to injury; Rosicky and Eduardo.  Rosicky is still recovering from a May knee surgery, which he underwent to correct the problem that had plagued last season with niggling injuries, and will be out until at least September.  Don't be shocked if that date is moved to October then November, etc etc.  I'm just going to say it: this season really has to be his last chance at the club.  If he's injured again this year, I say sell him on.  There will no doubt be a significant loss in transfer fees but it has to be worth it when you consider the gaping hole on the right side of the midfield that is filled currently with Eboue.

Meanwhile, van Persie, Arsenal's other ubiquitously injured all-star, is praying for an injury free season.  Me too, his goal scoring (nearly 1 goal every two games), vision, powerful free kicks, and footballing guile are all needed if Arsenal are going to seriously challenge for silverware this season.

I don't know who's going to hold all these sick ward players together now that Gary Lewin is off to be chief Physio for the England national team.  Though I make light of this, it is a tremendous loss for Arsenal.  Gary's quick thinking is widely credited for saving Eduardo's foot after he was brutally attacked by Martin Taylor.  Good luck Gary and thanks for 28 years of service to the club.

And finally, Arsenal are rumored to have bid £5m for Goekhan Inler.  I've watched him pretty closely in several games and remain unimpressed; he reminds me of a poor man's Gilberto.  That said, he's a physically solid player and if Arsenal do buy him we can trust that Wenger will polish him up and turn him into something he currently is not.  If that happens, £5m would seem a good bit of business.

That's it for today.  There's a friendly against VfB Stuttgart tomorrow which is supposedly going to be broadcast live via Arsenal TV.  If you live in the U.S. you can NOT watch the match on Setanta, according to my research.  Oh well.

Is Abou Diaby going to be our new starting centre midfielder? Having been deployed primarily on the left wing since his serious ankle injury against Sunderland, are 4 weeks of pre-season enough for him to claim this role for the opening day fixture at West Brom? Certainly depth looks to be a problem at centre midfield now Gilberto has packed his bags for Greece, with only Denilson and Song looking the obvious choice for cover should Diaby be unavailable - however both have only limited first team experience. Nasri or Rosicky would be the likely cover for Fabregas should he be unavailable but that would similarly strain our coverage for the wings and probably be too much for Rosicky's fragile frame anyhow. 

Will Rosicky and Eduardo be fit for the start of the season? If Rosicky fails to be ready for the first game of the new season it would likely mean a debut at left midfield for either Samir Nasri or Aaron Ramsey. Typically Wenger has tended to avoid throwing new signings straight in from the start, particularly as he feels players need time to adapt to the Premier League (learning how to not get your ankle broken for example). Though Eduardo has obviously come along way in his recovery from his serious leg injury, he is unlikely to be available to start against West Brom. This would mean Emmanuel 'Retirement Package' Adebayor having to start up front despite question marks over his commitment to the club and the reception he will get from the fans is likely to be less than friendly. Is his head in the right place? Well, yes, it is still sitting underneath that extremely disappointing haircut, but whether he is completely behind the new campaign is questionable. The other options would be to throw Theo up front alongside balsa wood Van Persie, or starting with Bendtner, who had a strong first season off the bench. However if Adebayor is not able to start then there seems little point keeping last seasons top scorer on the bench where his value is only going to depreciate. 

On the right wing, I'm particularly keen to know who Wenger's preferred option is. Does Hleb's departure mean Theo going to be a regular starter, or will Nasri slot in on the right (assuming Rosicky is fit for the left)... and what does this mean for Emmanuel Eboué? Hopefully an extended spell as a bus driver.

Turning to our defence, despite Wenger claiming at the end of the season that he was interested in bring in a new defender who was strong in the air, the distractions of Flamini, Hleb and Adebayor means that has well and truly been shelved for now. So are we to assume Philippe Senderos has been rehabilitated or is he still a nutter? And what of Djourou? He looked average on loan to Birmingham and Wenger seems to no longer rate him. So does this mean Alex Song is our 4th choice Centre Back, as well as possibly being backup for the holding midfield role? The young lad surprised a lot of gooners and did reasonably well at the tail end of the season, and of course he has the hair style that I always consider a mark of potential (see the Valderama Theory) but any extended spell where Song could end up partnering Senderos in our back line scares the Danny Shittu's out of me.

Of course the most positive news of the off season was Gael Clichy signing a new deal, and with Sagna also tied to a long term contract, we arguably have the two best fullbacks in the league at the moment. The depth at these positions is far more questionable. Gallas is certainly able to cover Clichy's left back slot if needed, whilst Armand Traore looks far better on the wing than at left back at the moment. I doubt many Gooners would want to see him get any extended run in the league there if Clichy were to be unavailable. 

Right back certainly became a problem position for us once Sagna got injured. Despite his problems, Eboué remains a reasonable option as cover for right back, far more so than Justin Hoyte, who despite his wonderful loyalty to the club, doesn't look to have the quality nor the potential needed to play for a title challenging side. Touré can also provide cover though he looked lost at times slung out wide right. 

On to the goalkeepers, with Mad Jens gone, will things be a little too comfortable for Manuel Almunia now? Fabianski and Mannone are by no means Premier League quality yet, let alone players you'd feel comfortable throwing into the mix in the Champions League should Almunia be injured. I would hope Wenger is looking seriously at the availability of top quality goalkeepers at the moment because we look extremely vulnerable in this position. If Almunia were to blind himself peroxiding his hair, and we had to face Chelski, United or someone like Barcelona in the Champions League, I'm not sure our defence would feel particularly confident with such an inexperienced goalkeeper in Fabianski behind them, despite his obvious potential. And of course Mannone is a completely unknown quantity playing at the top level. 

That all said, a look at our current squad size indicates that unless some players are loaned our or sold, very little is likely to change between now and the start of the season. I had a look back at our squads since 1999, and it seems Wenger favour's a first team squad of 25 players - in fact in each season since 1999 his first team squad has been 25 (this doesn't include the occasional run in a dead tie at the end of the season, or League Cup game). With Flamini, Gilberto, Hleb and Lehmann all gone, but Mannone, Vela, Nasri and Ramsey coming in, we are currently sitting at 25 players. But we surely need a centre midfielder, and the link this week to Garry Barry of Villa has certainly taken a lot of Gooners interest. He ticks all the boxes - has loads of Premier League experience meaning Wenger could throw him in to the starting XI for the West Brom game and know he'd be able to do a job, is versatile as he can cover left back and left midfield if needed, takes a good penalty and is a natural leader. We know Villa have an interest in Justin Hoyte, who, if the Eboué experiment is ended, would be surplus to requirements as a reserve right back. We also know Wenger has long been an admirer of Barry going back several years. The real question is whether or not the funds are there for a player who is up for sale for 18 million. So was the money spent on Nasri and Ramsey knowing we have to recoup it by selling Hleb and Gilberto (which totals around 17 - 19 million depending on who you believe) or is it now available to Wenger for further replacements? 

Whether it is or not, I think almost everyone would agree that right now, and despite what we all thought prior to the end of the season, some money needs to be spent to bring in someone to bolster our defensive midfield position. What amount of money is available will probably determine the quality, but I cannot imagine that we can go into the new season without strengthening this area. Some may be prepared to give Diaby time to prove himself, and Denilson time to mature, and point to Flamini's sudden emergence last season before discounting them. However Flamini excelled at a time when there was strong competition for the job. Diarra was still on the books and Gilberto had come off his most successful season with us plus of course Diaby and Denilson in the mix as well. Flamini proved himself to Wenger, who equally knew he could fall back on two other strong players if needed. If both Diaby and Denilson fail to raise their game, there is currently no other option available to Wenger other than moving another player out of position (such as pushing Touré forward) and would be a huge gamble once the transfer window slams shut. 

One this is for sure though, there isn't currently room or money available for an Arshavin this summer.

By Paul Wright

Other stuff

I'm in the process of nicking up the site and doing stuff 'in the background' a bit like the way I hope Wenger is doing transfers - without anyone knowing. There will be slight changes, cosmetic ones, you know that sort of malarkey. So apologies for the lack of activity yesterday Gooners, but don't fret, the 'newish' look will be up either tomorrow or more than likely - on Monday. 

I would like to add some bits about the Hleb transfer. Well thank f*ck for that - he's gone, It's over. We don't need to hear from that bleating twat about 'noisy' London life and such. One thing that did get me was when he got to Barcelona was that the Bell-End-Russian said it was 'a dream' - don't get me wrong I'm sure it's a dream to go to Barca, I'm not that short sighted but when Hleb said:

"I love this team"

That kind of stuck in my throat. There was no thank you to Arsène Wenger, his former team mates or even the fans who put up with him playing shit for three years and when he did finally come good (well goodish if you actually check Hleb's stats) he can't get away quick enough to live his tranquil life. Well all I can say is Hleb I hope you you love the bench as much as you love the team. Sour grapes? You betcha! 

Also on the subject of a Barcelona love-in, Zenit St. Petersburg's play maker Andrei Arshavin is getting increasingly desperate especially after his agent basically did a 'please, please, please come and get me' plea for his client towards The Arsenal. Well it turns out Arshavin's love for The Arsenal is so great he wants Barcelona to sign him. You can guess the next installment on this if The Arsenal don't make a move for him and Barca don't come a knocking Arshavin will no doubt say how much he loves spurs! 

Lastly, the video below was sent in to me by a reader. you may of seen it on another Arsenal website but in case you haven't, have a butchers, it's well worth your pocket money. So big up to Chris Jake's to sending this to us. Good work Gooner.

That's about my lot today, have yourself a great day Gooners - see you in the comments

Rumours circulating today suggest that Arsenal are interested in Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero although Manchester United or Liverpool could also be possible contenders to sign the Spanish maestro.

The 20-year-old Argentina international, who scored 19 goals in La Liga last season, has emerged as one of the hottest young talents in Europe and has been reported to be rated at around £35 million.

A move to the Emirates Stadium could certainly be possible with the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb looking for big-money moves to AC Milan and Barcelona respectively.

Segui is reported as saying:

“I have had interest from a leading English team and they have asked me to approach Atletico with a bid.

“I cannot say more until I have spoken to the club about the offer. All I can tell you is that it is one of the best teams in Europe and it's not Chelsea.

Arséne Wenger is known to be a keen admirer of Aguero and if he was to move to north London it would certainly create more competition for places upfront.

With Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner and co ready for first team action next season, Aguero to Arsenal seems virtually impossible - but who knows?

Frankly anyone who voted for him should be locked in a room with an angry dragon who has cancer teeth and can breathe fiery AIDS at them. Cuntley Cunt is the biggest cunt ever to play for Arsenal football club. What he did before being a cunt is irrelevant.

Hear hear.

In Switzerland Portugal have become the latest national outfit to find themselves knocked out of the competition and on their way home. There will be no sympathy from me. The game was a good one. I switched on a bit late and was surprised to see Germany winning 2-0 so early on. Portugal pulled one back before some terrible defending or suspect goalkeeping rather allowed Michael Ballack to header in Germany's third. Portugal pulled back another very late on to make it an exciting last few minutes and I for one was hoping they would pull it off just to make things that bit more interesting and have the game go onto extra time.

Former gunner Fabrice Muamba was sold to Bolton from relegated Birmingham for a fee believed to be in the region of £5.5M. We get a percentage of that, albeit one and a half million is not much in football these days. Not much for most clubs that is. For Arsenal that's four Gael Clichy's, three Kolo Toure's and an infinite number of Fabregas's. Not bad what you can do with 30% of Fabrice Muamba's transfer fee.

Tomas Rosicky looks set to miss the start of the new season. I expected to see him back far earlier and didn't realize the injury to be as serious as it actually was. Apparently though he's had an op and the problem should be sorted. I do recall the Czech physio I think saying Rosicky had an irregularity in his muscles or something that could be rectified in order to sort out his injury woes once and for all but if that happened he would be out for some time. Maybe that's what the op was.

Samir 'Zidane' Nasri looks likely to fill in in Rosicky's absence. Reports are that he underwent a medical today or will otherwise do so tomorrow. More thoughts on Nasri though when his mug pops up on the Arsenal website to say it's all official.

Talk that we are after Raul Albiol, who can play either in a defensive midfield role or as center back. We have been linked with him for a while now, a young and highly rated player who plies his trade at Valencia, whom of course didn't enjoy the best of seasons in the La Liga. His agent says we haven't made an offer however.

Barcelona reckon they are in negotiations for Hleb but have other targets in mind if we do not wish to sell him. If a player wants to jump ship you let him do so but not for pittance. Barca reportedly offered a cheeky eight million, less than we paid Stuttgart for his services three summers ago. What do I think about that? I think they can fuck off. Seriously though, there is a real possibility that we could keep onto Hleb which would not be the worst thing in the world.

Hleb isn't the only player Barca are interested in. They also have a fondness for Adebayor, who they are lining up to replace Samuel Eto'o. I don't want us to sell him, no not even if it means we could buy David Villa. I'll explain in more detail tomorrow. But yeah, Barcelona are said to have bid twenty four million. Nope. Arsene Wenger does not seem to be at all interested in selling Adebayor. AC Milan also say it is Adebayor or no one. Good luck with no one.

Arsenal are not a selling club and have never been under Wenger's reign. We let players go when we want them to, Flamini and Anelka maybe the exceptions but look how the latter turned out. Arsenal will not suddenly turn into a selling club this summer.

Wenger told Milan he will not be selling Adebayor for money nor gold.

Russian star Andrei Arshavin has been linked as a possible replacement for Hleb if he does go. Wenger said he likes Arshavin but no. He may though be a possibility should Hleb leave (my take, not Wenger's.) I do not believe that Nasri is a replacement for Hleb, more that he is the cover for the flanks that we so desperately needed and a player of such potential that Wenger could just not turn the opportunity to sign him down.

Some talk that Samuel Eto'o was spotted at Arsenal toady in the a friend of a friend who had no reason to lie saw him vein. I've seen so many of them this summer it's funny. Don't let yourself be duped. Unless I'm wrong and there really is some sort of Eto'o for Adebayor swap going down, which would be unlikely.

Silly season is without a doubt in full flow.

The Premier League released the fixtures list today and Arsenal start the season at home against newly promoted W.B.A. on the 16th of August. The first real road trip is in September and the squad have to play both Blackburn and Bolton away. Blackburn is currently courting Fat Sam Allardyce and given our history with Bolton I see this trip as the first big test.

The traditionalists would want to know that the first North London Derby is scheduled for October 28th and it's a home match: the second leg is Feb 7th.

There's two points in the season where Arsenal essentially play Man U and Chelsea back to back; the first of those is in November and the second is a true back-to-back on May 9th and 16th. One of the things that kind of bothers me here is that the Premier League scheduled Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man U around the Champions League quarter and semi-finals. It's not entirely unlikely that we could see a repeat of last year's 3 fixtures against Liverpool congestion and if they make it past that a further 3 match congestion against Chelsea or United in the semi-finals.

Which, frankly, is bullshit and is pretty widely recognized as the second toughest schedule behind Man U. Liverpool got the easiest schedule of the big 4, with home matches scheduled after most of their Champions League matches. I hope they draw Man U and Arsenal get some tiny club. Additionally, I hope that their American owners continue to act like a couple of Yosemite Sam's and throw the club into further turmoil and greater debt. I have other things that I could wish for but we'll leave it at that for now.

Looking at the schedule, my annual mecca is going to have to be in February or April. Normally I go in March but I don't really feel like watching Rovers again and that is the only home match in March. Anyway, more on that trip, uhhh, next year.

And that's it, Arsenal got jobbed on the fixtures list, again. It will truly show this squad's character and quality if they come out of this with any trophies much less one of the two league trophies.

Squad News

Rosicky is feeling better... just kidding! He's now saying "It will be yet a long time before I return" and is targeting August as the point where he will start training again. If I ever see him in an Arsenal uniform again I'll be shocked.

Speaking of the perennially injured, Robin van Persie wants to join Inter Milan's sick room because Arsenal don't pay enough, or so claim the papers. I'm not worried, this story has less meat on it than Victoria Beckham.

And Finally...

I have had a vision, there's a cloudy future ahead, but I have seen the path through the fog: Ronaldo will go to Real Madrid without talking to the boss which will anger Sir Alex Ferguson and he'll quit football. This dream exodus will be followed by Lampard slinking off to Inter Milan and David Bentley will go rot on some bench in Europe. And in the last coup, David Villa will snub Litterpool and go to Barcelona.

So it has been foretold.

A lot of Gooners reading this will probably think: Oh no, not another "promising youngster!" But do you think Wenger buys all these "blossoming stars" for no reason? No, he has a plan and I think it be finally unleashed next year. Fabregas, Walcott, Clichy, Bendtner, van Persie and many more have been bought as promising youngsters, along with a number of experience, it seems that everything has fallen into place for 2008/09. 

The key to Manchester United's success of the past two season has undoubtedly been their ability to pick a quality, but different side every week. Now, with signings like Ramsey and eventually Nasri, we will have that same ability. 

For the rest of the summer, I only really see Hleb, Lehmann, and possibly Eboue leaving the club, leaving an array of talented future and current stars for Wenger to choose from. 

In the position of striker, we will have just about every option available. We a huge African consistent goal-scorer, but he is not 100% realiable. We have a Croazilian poacher who will score every chance in the box that you give him, as well as a bunch from outside. We have a Dutch play maker and reliable goal scorer, and a young Big Dane who can have an impact on every game as a substitute, and is inching closer and closer to being able to regularly start for Arsenal. Obviously van Persie-Adebayor will be Wenger's preferred partnership, but Eduardo and Bendtner are capable of starting the Premier League, and will get their fair share of minutes as well. Also Vela and Walcott can always play up front in emergencies. 

Midfield is where we currently, and always have had the most depth. Our options in center midfield range from possibly the best center midfielder in the world to an aging Brazilian who can still help Arsenal but only when HE STARTS***. In between that we have a French talented, yet inconsistent player who can play anywhere in midfield, but will be playing in his preferred center midfield next season. If we don't signing anyone in that position, expect to see him there. I remember being very impressed with Diaby's runs to the touch line in pre season 2007. Frenchman Samir Nasri is expected to sign after Euro 2008, and "the New Zidane" will surely be a hit in 2008/09. Then we have Denilson, another young, talented Brazilian, who will have to fight for his place at the club, but will still have a great affect on the club no matter what his role, he is a great player. Then in our youth system, we have newly signed Ramsey, Merida, Lansbury?, and Jack Wilshire. And I almost forgot about the possibilities of Alex Song and Johan Djourou playing next to Cesc next year. 

On the flanks we have Rosicky, who is expected to have gotten rid of his injury problems with his recent surgery, but if he hasn't we have Carlos Vela and Kieran Gibbs in that position, both of whom are incredibly promising prospects. On the right, Theo Walcott has his eyes on a starting place with Alex Hleb set to leave, Theo should make the position his own, with his recent impressive displays. 

The back is a different story, however. We are a bit thin, especially in the positional of full back, and Armand Traore, who is now considered a left winger by many, looks set to go on loan next year, most likely to Portsmouth. We have no back up left back or right back, and we need one. Hoyte and Eboue are both not good enough in my opinion, and we need to buy players who would be satisfied with that role until a youngster comes up and takes it from them. In central defense the biggest question of the season was: Can Gallas and Toure partner each other? The answer is no, and the reason is because they are the same defender. Statistically, when Senderos played alongside one of those two defenders we let in less goals. We need a big defender to play alongside Toure. I doubt it is Senderos, there is very little possibility of it being Song, and there is some possibility of it being Djourou. 

That is the other signing we need to make, besides Nasri and Rasmey. It is a big defender. Whoever it is, I don't care. Wenger knows and he will make the right signings to help us win trophies next year. 

Como sempre, a Nike contrata os melhores jogadores do mundo para estrelar seus comerciais. A diferença é que, dessa vez, as estrelas estão em segundo plano. A visão de jogo é de um cara comum (como os leitores desse blog) que se empenha sempre mais cada vez que algum jogador adversário o deixa no chão.

Não há quem nunca tenha, pelo menos, ouvido falar desse comercial. Instiga qualquer perna-de-pau como eu a treinar com mais determinação...

Deu pra sentir como seria tentar marcar Rooney e Cristiano Ronaldo do Manchester,  Ibra Cadabra da Inter ou até Ronaldinho Gaúcho do Barcelona?

Há quem diga que a visão no comercial é a da história de um jogador real....Você que acha que entende de futebol, arrisca dizer quem pode ser esse jogador?

a) Van Persie

b) Hleb

c) Adebayor

d) Rosický

e) Algum traveco do Fenômeno

Deixe um comentário com o seu palpite furado!

Clique aqui para mais detalhamento do comercial.

- Ericorvo -

L'appuntamento calcistico dell'anno dunque comincia così, con il botto, con il protagonista annunciato, la nuova rockstar del calcio internazionale, e con le speranze di una aggrappata alle sue spalle, anzi ai suoi piedi da 12 milioni di euro, che hanno fatto già vedere grandi cose in Europa a livello di club, e sopratutto in Inghilterra.

Cristiano Ronaldo è il protagonista annunciato di questi Europei metà svizzeri come il Novi, metà austriaci come Freud. C'è poco da fare, tutti i riflettori sono puntati su di lui, perchè i suoi 42 goal stagionali pesano tantissimo, forse troppo, perchè le 2 coppe che ha vinto con il Manchester rimangono non solo negli occhi, fugaci, degli spettatori, ma anche negli albi d'oro, e vengono scritte nella storia, ma sopratutto perchè non si fa altro che parlar di lui, un pò per la splendida moglie, un pò per il Real. Calderon andrebbe a piedi in Svizzera a prenderselo, ma lo nasconde, Ferguson invece si appellerebbe al Parlamento Inglese pur di tenerselo, ma ostina tranquillità.

In realtà, non è che io ami così tanto Ronaldo, il mio modello di calciatore è un misto fra l'agonismo e la forza di Gattuso, la determinazione e il cuore di De Rossi, i piedi da Pallone d'oro, l'amore e la fedeltà di Totti, ma ormai, dopo aver visto quel volo, quel gol extra-terrestre che ha segnato alla mia Roma, mi sono dovuto inchinare: è lui il più forte.

Però, alla gente che lo guarda, e che paga 16 franchi svizzeri (circa 10 euro) per guardarlo solo in allenamento sfuggono alcune cose. 42 goal si, ma quanti segnati ad avversarie importanti? 1 all'Arsenal in un deludente 2 a 2, 1 (su rigore) nel 3 a 0 al Liverpool trasformista (in Premier massimo quarto, in Champions sempre in Semifinale). In Champions è un'altra storia, ok, capocannoniere, ok, ma ha rischiato di rovinare i sogni inglesi per 2 volte, con 2 rigori. Quello di Barcellona, errore annullato poi dall'eurogol di Scholes a Manchester, quello di Mosca, annullato dallo scivolone di Terry e dalla parata di Van Der Sar su Anelka. Chissà, se Terry avesse segnato quel rigore, forse adesso Ronaldo non sarebbe l'iper-celebrato campione che è, amato da tutti, temuto da tutti, però alla fine quella finale l'ha vinta il Manchester, e per Terry sono rimaste solo lacrime da versare e non coppe da alzare. La storia la scrivono i vincitori, non i vinti, e Ronaldo, anche se una coppa, un campionato, si vince in gruppo, per quest'anno lo è stato. Che lo dimostri però adesso, di fronte a tutto il mondo, di fronte alle migliori formazioni d'Europa, dalla piccola Austria, ai campioni del mondo dell'Italia. Noi lo aspettiamo, chissà magari in finale, nella speranza che in lacrime questa volta finisca il diavolo rosso (o bianco?) e che ad alzare la coppa sia un altro che con i gol ha molta confidenza: Luca Toni.

E allora buon Europeo a tutti.