Highbury1913 - An Arsenal Blog

Confirmed: Arsenal Sign Dimitrov For £700k

2008-04-29T23:25:00.002+08:00

Bulgarian newspaper The Sofia Echo have confirmed that Arsenal have signed Levski Sofia midfielder Nikolay Dimitrov for a reported £700,000 rising to £1 million.

Dimitrov plays on the left wing and at 20 will probably start the season as first choice LM ahead of Vela. As it currently stands, Eduardo, who broke his foot is set to return to first team action before Rosicky who continues to have injury problems.

The 20-year-old Bulgarian international came to Arsenal on a 15 day trial and impressed Wenger greatly. Unlike the other trainee Mputu, Wenger did not need a 2nd invitation and started negotiations straight away.

Dimitrov said, "Its so exciting. The coaching staff are very kind and Arsenal are a very good team with good young player. I hope to lead Arsenal to as much silverware as possible but right now I must focus on my career."

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NEW Arsenal Kits for 08/09 Season Revealed

2008-03-25T21:11:00.003+08:00

Will we see Carlos Vela stepping into the Emirates Stadium wearing this?

(click for larger image)

I am not sure if this is it or so take this with a pinch of salt. There is also a new away kit which means that one of the current kits will only last 1 season. Usually Nike would have a rule of rotating the 3ed kit and the away kit every season. So I think the infamous 'Champions league' kit (aka Barcelona kit) will get the chop. The white kit would become the 3rd kit as this dirty yellow will become the away kit.

I love the home kit, never liked the added gold or yellow trimming in recent kits. I would definitely buy this complete with 'Vela' on the back. The away kit though, I would have preferred a brighter yellow similar to that of the double winning season in the 97/98 season.

Post your thoughts on the kit in the comments section below.

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An Asian View On The '39 Matches' Idea

2008-02-08T15:29:00.000+08:00

I woke up today and read that The Premier League had proposed an idea to extend the premiership season to 39 matches, adding an 'international round' in January. Being a Malaysian Gooner I was obviously excited by the prospect of Gallas leading out my heroes in Kuala Lumpur but after giving it some serious thought it doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Firstly, I would just like to point out to English fans that say that the integrity of the game is in jeopardy. One English fan said,"We are not loaded. We can't pay to go watch our team abroad. We are the people who pay the player's wages, we are being treated unfairly!"

For those of you who feel the same way, here are some facts about football:
Manchester United are the richest club in the world for 1 reason only. ASIA. They make far more from merchandise sales and contracts in Asia than they make from their earnings in the UK. Man Utd have a lucrative contract with Air Asia, a low budget airline service in Malaysia. That is the same airline service that you see plastered at the side of premier league referee shirts every week. It makes sense from a financial point of view for the premier league to have this as most of their money come from Asia. Ever wondered how Sky managed to pay The PL so much for the rights to show premier league games? Simple, Sky have a partnership with Asian sports channel giant ESPN Star. Now I have no idea how much the deal is worth but I'm sure it isn't cheap. Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few more clubs are all sponsored by Asia companies like Samsung and Emirates Airlines. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE.

But...
Adding another game would take away the fairness away from football. We all remember how Man Utd gloated when they ended our 49 match unbeaten run how would you feel if their excuse would be,"Sure, you played Wigan during the international round while we had to play Everton!" It just doesn't make sense. Football would become unbalanced. Only last week Wenger said that he would never take his players so far away from home just to make some extra cash after Man Utd were paid 1m to play a friendly in Asia.

My Idea...
Having watched Arsenal from afar for so many years it definitely is appealing to see them play in front of my eyes. It would cost me upwards of 1,000 pounds to see them play in the UK. I could buy a good 2nd hand car for that price. Also, having watched the Barclays Premier League Asia Trophy twice it has become obvious to me that Asian fans DO NOT need to see a premiership match to be happy. We just want to see premiership teams play. My idea is simple, closed season exhibition matches for us international fans. The stadiums will still be full and I'm sure it would be a success yet it still doesn't make a difference to the current system of the premier league.

Post your thoughts in the comments section.

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Arsenal 2-1 Sp*rs: Aftermath

2007-12-23T00:45:00.000+08:00

Emmanuel Adebayor has admitted that Arsenal had to fight for the draw against a disciplined Sp*rs side, the Togolese international told Sky Sports 1,

"It was a tough game, in the first half it was very difficult.

"We opened the scoring but Tottenham did well and came back.

"We won, it was the most important thing.

"Today's game was to fight to the end and we had to show the fans that.

"We are going to celebrate very well but focus and win as many games as possible."

Manuel Almunia mean while admitted that he doesn't practice penalties and that they save was down to luck. He said,

"It was guess work. It's intuition, lucky, I don't practice too much."

Le boss praised Sp*rs for making a game of the match tonight. Arsene said,

"It was difficult. I believe we were a bit flat in the first half and not at our best. Tottenham played well.

"In the second half I think we dominated from the start but at 1-0 up maybe we wanted too much to keep the result.

"Tottenham played a good game and came back to 1-1. But then Manuel saved the penalty and it was a mental blow for them.

"We got another goal but it was a tough game."

Source

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Arsenal 2-1 Sp*rs: Player Ratings

2007-12-22T23:28:00.000+08:00

Barclays Premier League
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham Hotsp*rs
ARS: Adebayor (47) , Bendtner (74)
CUNTS: Berbatov (65) , Keane (71- missed penalty)
Emirates Stadium

Manuel Almunia
Played well and made a VERY important penalty save. Some might blame him for the goal but I think the shot was hit with so much power that it just flashed past him.
Player Rating: 8 *MOTM

Bacary Sagna
Pushed forward when he could but a lot of his runs went unnoticed by the Arsenal players as Eboue frequently ran inside inside of playing 1-2s with Bacary like they usually.Still had a good game though.
Player Rating: 7.5

Kolo Toure
As always a rock in defence. His partnership has become very important to this team and losing him to the ACN will be a big loss. Gave away the penalty but thanks to Almunia went unpunished. His speed made sure that no Sp*rs player could get past the Arsenal back line.
Player Rating: 7.5

William Gallas
Was silently doing his job which is always a good thing for a defender. Got rid of danger with minimum fuss, perhaps should have tracked down Berbatov faster for the Sp*rs goal.
Player Rating: 7

Gael Clichy
Like Sagna played well but did not get the service when he went up. Although he didn't get to push up as often as Sagna due to Sp*rs playing Aaron Lennon very high up the pitch. Kept the mini-dude quiet for the most of the match, his speed makes it hard for any forward to get past him easily. Make countless interceptions with broke up numerous Sp*rs attacks.
Player Rating: 8

Emmanuel Eboue
Like most of Arsenal's attacking players played well below what was needed. Made a few good passes but didn't make much of an impact and went inside too many times when the obvious choice would have been to pass to the overlapping Sagna.
Player Rating: 5.5

Matthieu Flamini
Was the leader in midfield. Which was very important today as Hleb and Cesc were not as good as they usually are, Cesc especially.Controlled the midfield well. Hope he doesn't leave, sign the new contract please Matthieu. Though he didn't do too much defending, it proves that we need a DM that can also attack which to me would signal the end of Gilberto's time at the club. A commanding performance, but nothing to go hyper about. It just shows how bad the rest of the midfield played.
Player Rating: 7.5

Cesc Fabregas
Didn't do too much until he set up the opening goal. Almost all of his through balls were cut out easily and was robbed of the ball quite a few times in the Arsenal half. Having said that, the assist for Adebayor's opener was just as important as that Almunia save, what vision! Average performance.
Player Rating: 6.5

Tomas Rosicky
Largely ineffective and was pretty much absent in the first half. Played the perfect ball to Cesc for the opening goal but besides that didn't too too much until the last few minutes. It looks to me Rosicky looks best when Arsenal are not the counter and seems to disappear when Arsenal play are forced to push forward.
Player Rating: 6.5

Alexander Hleb
Was his usually tricky self. His first touch and turn is probably one of the best in the business. But like Cesc, his passes went nowhere and was caught out in Arsenal half more than once.
Player Rating: 6

Emmanuel Adebayor
Did exactly what his job was. Chase the ball and hold it up until help arrived. Cant blame him for the below par performance from the midfield today and took his goal excellently. There was this one occasion when Ade worked his butt off to pressure the Sp*rs defence and crossed the ball to the with an over head'ish kick only for there to be no one else anywhere near the box.
Player Rating: 8

Nicklas Bendtner
Well he was deployed to get the winning goal and he did it in. Can't say much else. Like Adebayor was chasing shadows in the last few minutes as Sp*rs threw everything forward.
Player Rating: 7.5

Gilberto Silva
Didnt play long enough to be given a rating.
Player Rating: -

Like the ratings show, the Arsenal side were full of 6 and 7s. This would have been another draw last season but this season the side have showed that they have the resources to change things when needed. Interesting enough, the midfielders were playing well below par today, whether it was good tactics from Juande Ramos or just a bad performance, I don't know. But the defenders stepped up when needed. When we were losing the ball in midfield, Toure pushed up and put a little more aggression in attack. Let's hope we don't see a performance from the midfield like this again, what if we played a side with actual quality today? :D

I know a lot of you do not agree with my ratings, feel free to post your views in the comments section below. Just click the red link.

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Arsenal 2-1 Sp*rs: Almunia To The Rescue

2007-12-22T22:51:00.001+08:00

Barclays Premier League
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham Hotsp*rs
ARS: Adebayor (47) , Bendtner (74)
CUNTS: Berbatov (65) , Keane (71- missed penalty)
Emirates Stadium

What a match...or at least what a second half! We have now opened up a 4 point lead at the top with Man Utd only playing tomorrow. Well 2 of Arsenal's playing staff replied to the press with good performances. Almunia answered Lehmann's comments that Almunia has never won a match for Arsenal by doing exactly that, making a crucial save from Robbie Keane's penalty to keep the game at 1-1. Younes Kaboul said before the match that whenever he plays against Adebayor, the Togolese striker never scores. Adebayor will be laughing is ass now wouldn't he.

The first half was a boring affair with Arsenal the passing the ball around the midfield area while while Sp*rs also did not do much harm when they were on the ball. Both keepers didn't have a lot of hard work to do. Almunia was largely left to picking out crosses and making one save from a free kick. Robinson was tested twice, though both were quite save-able efforts from Eboue and Toure.

In the 2nd half the game opened up and on 47 minutes a good pass from Rosicky found Cesc who fought off Tainio before back heeling to to Adebayor who curled it home for 1-0 and Kaboul's pride...shattered! Arsenal kept pushing forward for the second but couldnt find the breakthrough in a game where the Sp*rs defence showed stubbornness beyond their potential. And on 64 minutes a cross from Aaron Lennon found Robbie Keane on the far post who blasted his shot against the cross bar and away for a throw to Arsenal. From the resulting throw in, Arsenal gave the ball away and the ball somehow found its way to Dimitar Berbatov who hit it with such power that even though it was at Almunia's near post he could do nothing about it, 1-1.

Now the momentum was with Sp*rs and they ventured forward looking for the winners. They were given the opportunity when Toure brought Berbatov down in the box. Penalty and Robbie Keane stepped up confidently to take the penalty but the pressure got to him as he failed to hit his shot as well as he usually does and Amunia made a save that proved decisive in the end. Arsenal made a change, taking off Eboue for Bendtner. And Bendtner's first touch is to head in a Rosicky corner for Arsenal to take the lead slightly against the run of play. 2-1 Arsenal and Sp*rs now make attacking substitutions to chase the equaliser. Wenger replied by replacing Hleb with Gilberto as Arsenal looked to defend their way to the final whistle and they did exactly that.

You cant help but think that this match joins the many many matches last season that would have ended a draw but this Arsenal side are a lot more resourceful than last season and with Arsenal going into Christmas guaranteed top spot, no pundit can deny the Gunners' ability to challenge for the premiership title this season. Man Utd now have to beat Everton at Old Trafford to close back the gap while Arsenal win visit the Merseysiders on Boxing Day which should prove another stern test for this Arsenal side.

Make sure to post your views on the match in the comments section.

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Arsenal 2-1 Sp*rs: Just look at Lehmann!

2007-12-22T22:41:00.000+08:00

Barclays Premier League
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham Hotsp*rs
ARS: Adebayor (47) , Bendtner (74)
CUNTS: Berbatov (65) , Keane (71- missed penalty)
Emirates Stadium

We all remember Jens Lehmann's stab at Almunia when he said "Almunia has never won a match for Arsenal". Well, that changed today. Almunia superbly saved a Robbie Keane penalty just minutes later at the other end Nicklas Bendtner scored the winning goal as Arsenal won 2-1 and open up a 4 point lead at the top, temporarily at least.

Full match report here.

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Carling Cup: BLA 2-3 ARS (Player Ratings)

2007-12-19T14:34:00.001+08:00

Match Report

Lukasz Fabianski
Played well in goal. A few of his throws weren't too good but overall performance was good, made some good saves especially that one-on one against Santa Cruz.
Rating: 6.5

Justin Hoyte
Played well, got forward and was among the few players to still have pace in extra time,very good stamina.
Rating: 7

Alex Song
From the player that everyone made fun of to one of the best CBs in the squad. Sure he is 4th choice but he played like a star and looked like a regular starter. Was calm defensively and added some into attack when needed. Alex Song, from laughing stalk to Man of The Match.
Rating: 9 *MOTM

Philippe Senderos
Played well enough, no mistakes which is always good when it comes to Senderos' clumsy defending. Had to good chance to score once but was offside.
Rating: 7.5

Armand Traore
According to Adebayor the fastest player in the squad and you wouldn't be surprised by the way he ran all over the pitch. Like his senior Clichy, has to work on his crossing. A little more polish in defending and we could have a world-beater on our hands.
Rating: 7.5

Mark Randall
Started out well and played his part in the opener. Did start to look nervous when Blackburn started attacking and gave the ball away a lot. He is still a young kid though and has the time to get better.
Rating: 5.5

Denilson
Plays the Cesc role with less of him joining in attack which is understandable since he was actually a DM at Sao Paulo. He sprays the ball all around the field well and if he didn't get that red card (which he deserved), he'd be right up there with Alex Song in the ratings.
Rating: 8

Lassana Diarra
Was excellent in the DM role. Got himself out of trouble more than once with pace and good dribbling. Didn't offer much in attack but that's not really his job.
Rating: 8

Abou Diaby
He was outstanding in the first half but gave the ball away a lot in the second half. Very good in attack and was OK in defending. And he scored another fantastic goal to add to his collection.
Rating: 7.5

Nicklas Bendtner
He could replace Adebayor very easily. In fact in some aspects he is already better and today he showed he has pace, strength and a very good passer of the ball. Didn't really test the goalkeeper much but he played largely as the 2nd striker.
Rating: 7.5

Eduardo
He is still settling here in England and you can understand that with the weather and speed of the game here being much higher but one thing a striker has no matter where you put him is an eye for goal. His finishing is outstanding, if Adebayor could finish like him he would be the complete player. He was largely quiet throughout the game but popped up with 2 goals that sent Arsenal through today. In the end when you are the main striker in a side, this is what you want, GOALS. And he delivered.
Rating: 8.5

The substitutes didn't really have that much time to make an impact so I wont rate them. Barazite was on the longest but got injured before he could get into the game. Gibbs and Merida came on too late to do much.

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League Cup: BLA 2-3 ARS(aet)...MOTM: ALEX SONG!!!

2007-12-19T12:50:00.000+08:00

Carling Cup
Blackburn Rovers 2-3 Arsenal (aet)
BLA: Santa Cruz (41 , 59)
ARS: Diaby (6) , Eduardo (29 , 105)
Ewood Park

An impressive display at Ewood park showed why the 2nd string team are not ready to be regular starters but can be called upon when needed to. With Theo Walcott not feeling well it was a chance for Wenger to show off another Englishman that is currently being groomed at the Arsenal Academy, Mark Randall. Randall started out on the right, sometimes changing places with Denilson who played in the middle throughout the match. Denilson's partner was none another than the impatient Diarra while Diaby played on the left. Fabianski started in goal and had Hoyte (RB), Song (CB), Senderos (CB) and Traore (LB) in front of him. Nicklas Bendtner started in his usual Adebayor type role and he was accompanied by Crozillian Eduardo.

The game started out with Arsenal doing the attacking. Blackburn's defence looked unusually weak, giving lots of space to Arsenal and we all know what happens when teams give us space. On 6 minutes, A good passage of play between Bendtner and Randall ended with a Bendtner cross which was put into the back into the net via Diaby's left foot, 1-0 Arsenal. I have often said that I like Bendtner better than Adebayor and today he has shown again why he is in more ways than one better. His cross for the goal was perfectly weighted, Adebayor has drifted to the right and crossed on occasions as well but rarely deliver crosses of any quality. This is not the first time Bendtner has done this, he also played an outstanding cross for Eduardo in the 3-1 loss to Sevilla in the Champion's League.

Arsenal continued to dominate the match and on 26 minutes Denilson if I remember correctly played Cesc-like ball behind the Blackburn defence, leaving Eduardo with the simplest of finishers. Some might say that it was a mistake from Samba and that goal could have been prevented by I believe Denilson's ball was hit with such perfection that you cant really blame Samba for not getting there in time. 2-0 to The Arsenal and it looked as if this was going to be a fun away day. The 4000+ travelling Arsenal fans sang the 'To Be A Gooner' Chant while Blackburn fans were obviously silent. But Blackburn were handed a lifeline late into the first half, ex-Arsenal boy Bentley played a ball behind the defence to Matt Derbyshire who was in an offside position but thanks to the linesman play was allowed to continue. Derbyshire played a first time ball low and into the 6 yard box where Roque Santa Cruz slid in for his 4 goal in 2 matches. At the end of the first half, Blackburn were filled with hope as despite being pretty much played off their own pitch they were still only 1 goal down at the break.

Mark Hughes obviously reminded them that as well and they game out for the 2nd half and looked a totally side. Almost instantaneously, Santa Cruz found himself one-on-one with Fabianski. Santa Cruz tried to get past Fabianski but Fabianski got a hand to the ball, leaving Santa to just get the ball from behind him and shoot into an empty net. Then comes, ALEX SONG to the rescue, speeding back and clearing the ball away before Santa Cruz could shoot. On 59 minutes, a Blackburn free kick found Santa Cruz's head and he would not be denied this time. 2-2 and Blackburn look the more likely team to score a third. Alex Song shouldn't have let Santa Cruz get in front of him for the goal but he would end up doing more than enough for us to forget this little mistake.

Arsenal slowed the speed of the game down and started passing the ball like they usually do and found their way back into the game. Nacer Barazite came on for Randall to give more attacking impetus into Arsenal's play. It was quite even going into the last few minutes with perhaps Blackburn being the slightly better side but Alex Song was incredible and it didn't look he was going to let Arsenal concede a third. A late challenge from Denilson on Richard Dunn which was fuelled by the annoying cunt Robbie Savage saw him get a straight red while Savage was booked. Leaving Arsenal one match short for the rest of the 90 minutes and maybe even 30 minutes of extra time.

Arsenal survived the last few minutes of the 90. Arsenal regrouped and looked more balanced in extra time as ALEX SONG was working overtime to fill the space left by Denilson, bombing up to join in attack every chance he could. Substitute Barazite was forced off with a shoulder injury after an awkward fall and he was replaced by another English talent, Kieran Gibbs. Arsenal made sure going down to 10 men didn't mean they were going to defend for the penalty shoot-out and just at the end of the first half of extra time, another ALEX SONG attack saw him play a through ball putting Eduardo through on goal. Although he still had lots to do, one thing Eduardo hasn't had a problem with since moving to England was his finishing and he made the finish look easy by calmly passing the ball past Brad Friedel. Arsenal holding on wanting to make it to another League Cup Semi-Finals but the extra 30 minutes was taking its toll and Eduardo was getting cramps and was replaced by Catalan and U17 World Cup star, Fran Merida. In the dying minutes, Morten Gamst Pedersen saw his free kick go just wide and Samba, now pushed into attack hit the post. Arsenal did just enough in the end and showed that Arsenal do have the squad to challenge for major honours this season.

Overall, not perfect but a good performance and win is a win no matter how you put it. This Arsenal side proved that the so called 'weakness' that the media is claiming, Arsenal have no depth in the squad is rubbish.

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I can almost smell Barcelona in the last 16

2007-12-13T22:40:00.000+08:00

Not a bad time to start blogging again after my exams. The win over Romanian side Steaua Bucharest wasn't enough for top spot in the group. The result of this is that we can play Real Madrid, Porto, Inter, holders AC Milan or the club that made us £16.1 million richer Barcelona. Anyone else playing for a reunion with The King himself. Everyone can remember the last time we had a reunion with a former captain of the club. Patrick Vieira was on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline at Highbury 2 years ago. If that isn't bad enough, he lost the ball for the opening goal when Robert Pires decided to make his first ever tackle to get the ball, a few seconds later the ball was in the back of the net. Scored by PV4's 'replacement', Cesc Fabregas. Hopefully we can see a similar reunion when Titi visits with Arsenal winning thanks to goals from Eduardo(he can score in Europe, its the league that he has problems with).

I will definitely want to avoid Real Madrid, they made not be the Galácticos anymore but they are definitely much better than the has-beens we played against in '05. This Real Madrid side have a strong attacking line up in Robinho, and THAT guy. They now also have a strong defence as Bernd Schuster has built on Fabio Capello's success on building a strong team that can defend.

The obvious choice most people would want will be Porto but I remember how they dominated us in Portugal last season and I dont want a repeat of that. I would much rather test our ability against the holders or Inter which in previous seasons have proved how inconsistent they are. That just my views. Feel free to post your views in the comments section below or at the GoonersWorld forums.

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FFC: The people want Jose, not Walrus Face!

2007-11-30T12:10:00.000+08:00

The good people at FFC have sent me the results from a survey of 3,000 England fans following the Euro 2008 "campaign". Interesting that most people don't agree with Arsene about the next manager being English, cant say I'm surprised though considering 'walrus face' is the MOST TALENTED English manager.

Only 4% Of Fans Back England To Win World Cup

London 27th November 2007 … A Football Fans Census survey of over 3,000 England fans from all Premier and Football League Clubs has revealed that only 4% believe England will win the tournament in 2010.

The survey comes hot on the heels of the FA’s announcement to conduct a 'root and branch review' into the senior England set up following the defeat to Croatia. Fans will be hoping for some positive steps, as only 13% of them currently believe that the side will get beyond the Quarter Final stage in the 2010 World Cup.

England’s Poisoned Chalice?

The majority of fans (54%) believe the England Manager’s job has become a poisoned chalice. 60% of fans think there is too much pressure on the England Manager and 25% think that there is “way too much” pressure.

Worryingly, for everyone who has the best interests of the English national team at heart, 76% of fans feel there is a possibility that the amount of pressure on the England Manager could make it difficult to attract the best candidates.

Others Should Share Responsibility

While 94% of fans endorse The FA’s decision to sack Steve McClaren - they also feel that others should shoulder the responsibility.

When asked who they would blame the most for England's failure to qualify for the European Championships, 45% of fans blame the players - only 6% less than those who blame the manager. In another indictment of the “Golden Generation”, only 35% of fans think that the players still care enough about playing for England, although the majority of fans (58%) do not feel that individual players should be booed.

81% of fans feel it was right to sack Terry Venables, but their discontent does not end in the dressing room; 67% of supporters feel that Brian Barwick, The FA Chief Executive, should take “a lot” (45%) or “full” (22%) responsibility for England's failure to qualify for the European Championships. The majority of supporters (54%) also feel that FA Chairman, Geoff Thompson should take a lot (40%) or full (14%) responsibility.

Nationality Not An Issue

England fans want the best person for the England Manager job, regardless of nationality, and they feel that that person is Jose Mourinho.

The results are a clear indication that the majority of fans want the best man for the job, regardless of nationality. Non-English managers picked up 70% of the total manager vote, while only 14% of fans state that the next manager ‘has to be English’.

Fans were asked who they would like to see appointed as the next England Manager from a choice of 20 of the bookies’ favourite candidates on the day Steve McClaren was sacked.

Jose Mourinho emerges as the clear favourite among England fans as the man they want to succeed Steve McClaren. The “Special One” polled 36% of the vote, and in doing so received over four times as many votes as the two next best placed managers - Martin O’Neill and Harry Redknapp - both on 8% each.

Club & Country

The club v country debate is often central to discussions about the national side. While fans are most loyal to their clubs, they are also signalling that they want football’s decision makers to ensure that future developments in the game strike a balance between club football and the strength of the national side. When asked which is most important for them, a majority of fans 51% said their club, but 43% replied that club and country were equally important to and 6% said their country was most important.

The majority of fans aren’t too concerned about the effect the number of club games played has on the English National side (57% of think that the current amount of club games played has a neutral impact) however there is a significant minority of 31% who do feel that there is a negative impact.

Premier League Power

Fans are also questioning whether The FA has enough power within the game to implement the right strategy, only 14% of fans feel the balance of power between The FA and the Premier League is about right. 54% of fans feel the Premier League has too much power compared to The FA, while only 20% feel The FA has too much power.

Foreign Players

Whilst the quality of play in the Premier League may have benefited from an influx of foreign players, 59% of fans think that the current level of foreign players has a negative impact on the English National side.

Coaching System

There is a feeling that the coaching system is partly to blame for England’s failure in the Euro 2008 campaign, 76% of fans think that the English coaching system is not producing enough good English players, while 66% of fans feel that cutting the number of foreign players training through the club Academy systems would have a positive impact on the English national side.

A full copy of report is available to download at:
www.footballfanscensus.com/england

Many thanks for your support
The FFC Team

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Sp*rs 1-3 Arsenal: Arsenal Go Top After 3 Year Wait!

2007-09-16T12:47:00.001+08:00

This stat needs confirmation but I think this is the first time The Mighty
Gunners have gone top since our 49 match unbeaten run was ended at Old Trafford. The way the weekend panned out, I was left baffled by how biased so-called pundits have been against our young side. Liverpool couldn't beat a weak Portsmouth side that would have lost to even Derby County, Chelsea are obviously struggling with the loss of their 2 best players and Man Utd were not the least bit convincing in their win over The Toffees. But somehow Arsenal, who always looked like they were gonna win at WHL even when they were a goal down, have been labelled for the past few season:
a) Inability to beat the smaller sides. (Liverpool vs Portsmouth)
b) Over reliant on star players. (Chelsea vs Blackburn)
c) Even when they win, they don't convince as title contenders. (Man Utd vs Everton)

I personally don't care what they say but its something to ponder. Why cant we do anything right but the other 3 can get away with a passionless performances?

Gareth Bale opened the scoring with a free kick. Almunia has still not been convincingly beaten, a ridiculously lucky goal from Kanu and an unstoppable free kick from Bale. Arsenal pressured in the first half but were kept out by an under pressure Paul Robinson. The second half and Arsenal were being more direct in their attempts to score and the Sp*rs defence were struggling to cope. The constant attacking though left our defence in disarray and we nearly conceded a 2nd. But when a free kick came looping into the box midway through the 2nd half, despite missing some glorious chances earlier- almost everyone fancied Adebayor to get his head to the ball before Robinson. Sp*rs tried to get a 2nd but Arsenal changed to a counter-attacking style that suited us, and on 80 minutes, Cesc makes it 5 goals in 6 as flashes of the Jenas goal at the death last season flashed in my mind. There would not be a similar situation this season as Adebayor completed the rout with a Drogba like goal from the edge of the area.

View the full match report here.

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Gooners will live longer if Arsenal can score first

2007-09-03T23:46:00.001+08:00

An easy match which I have to say I expected us to win. I did worry though if they took the lead, Arsenal would have problems breaking down a Portsmouth defence which is very strong. As it turns out, Portsmouth didn't even turn up for the first half and after Adebayor's grass cutter of a penalty gave us the lead I knew it was 3 points in the bag. If Arsenal take the lead, rarely do I worry about the result, my heart doesn't pound like I'm having a heart attack, it must be because we have the excellent ability to turn defence into attack faster than Frank Lampard can say 'doughnut'. If Arsenal scored first in at least 70% of their games this season, the title will definitely return to North London. Some stats on how we do if we score first would be nice. Anyone got any info? Post it in the comments section.

The early goal that was so important came after Robin van Persie was brought down in the box by David James, who seems to do better when he doesn't get England call ups. About the penalty, although it was DEFINITELY a penalty, no doubts about it I hate it when strikers see the keeper come and and intentionally look for the penalty. I'm not saying RvP is a cheat, because he isn't, he didn't dive he just made sure that no matter what happened, James would get nothing of the ball and he succeeded. This is not the first time strikers have looked for penalties, you know what they are trying to do when the touch away from the 'keeper is not only away from goal but also rather strong which if it were a normal touch would force the striker to the corner flag instead of a goal scoring opportunity. Like I said earlier, it is legal but I don't like the players look for penalties. We don't hear of it enough because even the best players do it, Mr.Barcelona himself Thierry henry has done it, Wayne Rooney has mastered the art so well that he could make it a sport of its own and the great Alan Shearer use to make this move popular by drifting around in the box until a defender committed himself to the tackle. Anyway, Adebayor stepped up as the famous Arsenal rule where the player that is fouled cannot take the penalty forced RvP to watch on as the Togo international slotted home to James' left(and James went right).

A Rosicky corner found Gilberto's head late in the second half. the Brazilian's header only went as far as Cesc Fabregas' chest. Fab chested down the ball, turned and shot all in a quick second. Arsenal 2-0 up and looking comfortable. On to the 2nd half and Pompey started out well but it was Arsenal that created the best chance when Big Phil's header was saved impressively by James. Minutes later, Kanu got behind the defence and before he could even think of running was gunned down by Senderos, not intentional but he was the last man and it was a straight red.

How did Arsenal react by going 10 man down? Gilberto moved to CB to compensate for Phil's loss. After a brief spell of Pompey pressure, it started. If any sports team ever believed in the phrase 'the best form of defence is attack', it would be Arsenal. Instead of going defensive and keeping the tight, the team pushed forward for the 3rd. You could say this was naive of the players but to be fair to the players, they kept a good balance between attack and defence. The pressure paid off when Pompey were caught ball watching, literally, and Rosicky blasted a ball through Glen Johnson's legs and past James in a flash to give Arsenal a 3-0 lead. But only 18 seconds after the restart Pompey hit back with a Kanu turn come deflection....against himself!

The game went stale after that as Arsenal started to just maintain possession and not attack to much and even when Portsmouth had the ball, they never looked like scoring. Diaby came on late in the game and played as a 2nd striker and looked lively for a few minutes before making sure we knew how bad of a header of the ball he is when he missed a sitter from 6 yards out. A good win, and we look a lot better than we did this time last season but we are still only 4 matches into the season and as any Gooner would know, a lot of things can change in that time.

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Arsenal improve squad and still make £13m profit

2007-09-01T14:41:00.001+08:00

Transfer windows closes and despite Arsenal having 'Boardroom Wars', 'Chaos at Arsenal' and 'Lack of Ambition by Gunners', our superb side not only are off to a better start this season (06/07: 2D, 1L - 07/08: 2W, 1D) but we have also improved our squad while making a profit on transfers. Its no wonder Mr.Edelman is so happy about the clubs profits which is to be announced in September.

A quick look at the transfer ins and outs will tell the story:

IN
Lukasz Fabianski (Legia Warsaw, £2m)
Havard Nordtveit (FK Haugesund, £2m)
Bacary Sagna (Auxerre, £6m)
Eduardo Da Silva (Dynamo Zagreb, £8m)
Lassana Diarra (Chelsea, £2m).

OUT
Jérémie Aliadière (Middlesbrough, £2m)
Matthew Connolly (Colchester United, season loan)
Johan Djourou (Birmingham City, loan till Jan)
Ryan Garry (Bournemouth, free)
Kerrea Gilbert (Southend, loan till Jan)
Thierry Henry (Barcelona, £16.1m)
Fredrik Ljungberg (West Ham, £3m)
Arturo Lupoli (Fiorentina, free)
Fabrice Muamba (Birmingham City, £4m)
Mart Poom (Watford, free)
José Antonio Reyes (Atlético Madrid, £8m-estimate)
Jay Simpson (Millwall, loan till Jan).

Note: Red=First Team Blue=Squad Players Purple=Youth

SUMMARY

First team: 2-in, 3-out.
Now you would look at 3 outs and 2 ins and say that its a bad thing that we have lost more players than we have gained but if you look at the players we have lost compared to players we have gained its a positive exchange. Thierry Henry went 7 years without getting any serious injuries at Arsenal, every loved the fact that he not only scored all the time but he also rarely missed a game through injury but his last season at Arsenal is one to forget. Besides the fact that he was injured for most of the season, the times that he played showed us that he wasn't the player he used to be. Entering into his 30's and nowhere near the top of his game, I think Arsene made the right decision is letting the talisman leave. The transfer fee of £16.1m seems about fair to me. Some might argue that if Darren Bent is worth £16.2m then Thierry Henry is worth £100m, I cant say I disagree but we have to remember when you are trying to offload a player it becomes a buyers market and they dictate the price. Thierry henry didn't want to start the season with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger didn't want him here either. Actually, I was quite surprised we got £16m but I guess Barcelona didn't want to let negotiations stall miss another chance to sign a Beckham like shirt-selling superstar. Not much needs to be said about Freddie Ljungberg, he has continued to lose his ability over the past 3 seasons or so. If there ever was a player that the Arsene wouldn't mind off his team sheet it would have been Freddie Ljungberg. Losing his ability by the day and burning £70,000 p/w in the clubs account. Jose Antonio Reyes is a prime example of what the transfer market is like. If he had wanted to stay in Arsenal he could easily have been sold for £13m but because everyone knew that he wanted to return to Spain he price tag dropped so much that even real Madrid didnt want to pay more than £5m for him. In the end, the loss of a player that played no part in the team last season is not really going to hurt us. The replacement, Eduardo Da Silva will give more to Arsenal's new style of football than Henry would have and at 24 he is definitely got a future ahead of him. Bacary Sagna becoming our first choice right back and made Eboue the replacement for the departed Ljungberg. Unfortunately we have not seem a replacement for Jose Antonio Reyes which is a slight worry as Rosicky is the only player in the squad that can play naturally on the left wing(thoigh even he is more suited in the hole). Even without a 2nd choice left winger, this first team is definitely better than the one we had last season.

Squad players: 2-in, 2-out, 1-getting experience on loan.
The thing about the squad players who left over the summer is that they seem to have caysed improvements to the squad. Jeremie 'Horrible Cockney' Aliadiere's departure has made way for Danish wonderkid Nicklas Bendtner to agree to rejoin Arsenal after finishing his loan spell with Birmingham. Mart Poom I think only made one appearance for Arsenal and was getting on the wrong side of 30 so obviously he was not going to stay for much longer. His replacement though, is 22 year-old Lukasz Fabianski who is highly-rated in Poland, some even consider him better than Artur Boruc which is a compliment in itself. He looks very impressive and make be a long-term replacement for our No.1...Almunia. Djourou going out on loan though I'm sure is a mistake but I doubt there isn't a recall clause in the loan contract.

Youth: 1-in, 3-out, 3-getting experience on loan.
Not much about the youth either. Most of them are just out on loan. Arturo Lupoli is a loss but Havard Nordtveit is a future star.

Im starting an online petition to put Almunia in goal

2007-08-20T01:52:00.000+08:00

Im not gonna sit here and lie that I watched the match because I didn't. I watched Man Utd get beaten by Man City and lady luck must be Russian because Chelsea should have walked away from Anfield with their first loss of the season.

Watching the highlights of what the pundits described as another physical match for Arsenal I felt happy in a way, after the way Arsenal played against Sparta and Inter we would definitely be able to take on any physical sides. But soon after, Mad Jens did it again...a stupid mistake! He shot that he should have tried to catch, hit right at him, he tried to punch away. I want that given as an own goal! Last week I said that I felt more confident if Almunia was in goal because he was improving and Lehmann has gotten lazy, maybe he feels that this is the last year of his career so he has nobody to impress, maybe, I don't know. But today, I stand before you fellow Gooners and admit: "ID RATHER HAVE ALMUNIA IN GOAL!". Imagine how the players must feel, if it wasn't for Lehmann we would have kept clean sheets against both Fulham and Blackburn and with a 100% record! The defence has worked so hard only to see their efforts gone to waste by a silly mistake by the goalkeeper. If they didn't lose confidence in him before, they have now.

Watching the Man Utd match was so funny. It was like watching Arsenal last season only with less passing ability and more horrible shooting, at least we tested the keeper a few times last season. The highlight was probably seeing Alex's face when he went from an ecstatic face to a 'I cant believe I paid 30 million quid for a striker that cant get a header from 2 yards out on target' face. To be fair to Tevez, it was more like 3 yards.

Watching Liverpool play against Chelsea was like watching Arsenal play well...Chelsea. I never knew that Rafael Benitez heard of attacking tactics, what a shocker! Liverpool dominated the match, and despite what Jose says, played better than Chelsea in both halves. Chelsea got lucky when Malouda tried to block a Liverpool defender(can't remember who) from getting to the ball by throwing himself at him, if it was a proper referee Liverpool would have gotten a free kick but since only English referees referee in England, Chelsea got a penalty that Lampard converted. I also don't care what the ref says, he booked Essien twice without sending him off! He can lie as much as he wants that the card was for Terry but he had already shown a yellow card to Terry earlier and why would he show a yellow card in the direction of Essien when it was intended for Terry(who was 10 yards away standing in the wall). Im sorry ref but you made too many mistakes and Liverpool have every right to feel hard done.

No report for the Blackburn game so off you go.

Player Ratings: Arsenal 2-1 Fulham

2007-08-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

2 late goals and Arsenal get their first 3 points on the board.
For the full report, go here.
Player Ratings:

Jens Lehmann 5
Besides making one save right at his face he didnt really have much as to do than clear the ball, which he screwed up.

Bacary Sagna 6.5
Looked good going forward, combined well with Eboue. Tackling was good but was caught out of position too often.

Kolo Toure 7.5
Made a mistake but looked strong most of the time.

William Gallas 7.5
Looked tidy throughout. When we needed a goal in the 2nd half he didn't mind helping the attackers out.

Gael Clichy 7
Looked his usual tireless self. Was caught out a few times but his speed saved him.

Emmanuel Eboue 6.5
Played well in his new position. Linked up well with Sagna but looks a little one dimensional without Sagna overlapping.

Matthieu Flamini 7
Was invisible most of the time, which is good for a DM. Most wont realise the countless times he filled in when Sagna was out of position.

Cesc Fabregas 7
Played well but being marked well limited his capabilities.

Tomas Rosicky 8
Looked good and fit. Took shots when they came along which is always good with this Arsenal side.

Alex Hleb 9.5
Would have gotten a 10 for an outstanding performance but he did hold the ball for too long on some occasions. I love the new Hleb who shoots!

Robin van Persie 7.5
Played well but didnt threaten to score much. Extra .5 for having the balls to blast that penalty.

Niklas Bendtner 7
Played well in the short time he was on.

Theo Walcott 6
Did make much of an impact

Alex Song N/A
Didnt get to touch the ball.

Hleb Impresses: Arsenal 2-1 Fulham

2007-08-12T21:53:00.000+08:00

Can we at least say its an improvement? We complained when we only got draws at the Emirates last season and the Gunners have delivered 3 important points as it looks like the other big teams (Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Sunderland) all got opening day wins. Some positives to take from this game. We're going to see 4 strikers battle for one forward spot as Hleb is playing amazingly well in his new position. He has also kept his promise of shooting more as he had a few pops at goal, and what a finish for the winner! Bendtner is looking exciting, I had a big grin on my face when he beat the Fulham defender to a header by a couple of feet and nearly scored. He will definitely be challenging for a start if RvP isn't fit. Eboue, although not as exciting as he was against Inter, he still looks better than Hleb on the right and he links up with new signing Bacary Sagna very well.

Speaking of our no.3, he played well going forward and although he tackled very well when he was defending, he was caught out of position on more than one occasion, forcing Toure to move to the right and Flamini slotting in at CB temporarily while Sagna returns to his position. Without Gilberto, I think Flamini will have to play an important role as a DM, he is not only our only capable DM besides Gilberto (Song who?), but he also knows a thing or two about defending in a back 4. Toure despite a mistake looked very strong and looked like a leader throughout the 90 minutes. His partner Gallas, also looked good. Gallas looked invisible for most of the game, which is a good thing. And in the second half when we needed a goal, he didn't hesitate to makes runs forward to help the team. I didn't see this side of Gallas last season and I'm happy I saw it today. Clichy played well and proved that his speed will make him a force to be reckoned with going forward, his crosses still need improving though.

The biggest plus I can think of is the partnership of Rosicky and Hleb. They compliment each other very well with both players being very good on their feet. Rosicky wasn't afraid to take long range shots and it looks like his pre-season fitness worries are behind him. Hleb like I said earlier, was outstanding and looked like the most likely to score among the starters.

Now on to the negatives, lets start with the obvious...LEHMANN. After that horrible mistake I got scared whenever he touched the ball. And (forgive me all Gooners around the world for saying this) for a brief moment I mumbled, "Id rather have beach blonde Almunia in goal!". After realising what I said, I quickly said my prayers and apologised to the Arsenal gods. Another worry is that sides are beginning to realise that everything goes through Cesc and they put 2 and as Fulham did today, sometimes 3 men on him. Cesc managed to wiggle away from those mediocre guys(no offence to Fulham but you guys are not Man Utd) but if he comes up against Essien, Scholes or Gerrard he might have a few problems.

The biggest worry though remains that we over rely on Van Persie now. Its worrying when a guy that scored2 goals the whole of last season looked more threatening in front of goal than your main striker. Now, dont get me wrong I think van Persie is one of the best, if not the best striker in the premiership but when he is having an off day or the oppositions defence is dealing with him well, like Fulham did today then we may have a few problems. Theo Walcott came on late in the game and didn't make much of an impact aside from going very close from finishing the game off in injury time. Alex Song came on seconds before the final whistle.

Player ratings coming up shortly.

CYC Cup '07: Arsenal 0-0 Ajax Amsterdam

2007-08-08T22:15:00.000+08:00

I watched the Arsenal-Ajax match today which took place here in Malaysia. The young Arsenal team sent here which included defender Ogogo, Jay Simpson, Rui Fonte, the outstanding Nazer Barazite and new signing Gilles Sunu did not inpress me one bit. I hate to be honest, but if that match is anything to go by for the future of the Arsenal team, not many if any of those players would make it to the first team.

Jay Simpson definitely is one of the players that impressed me. The striker played more to the right and on more than one occasion used his speed and trickery to get past the much bigger Ajax opponents. Nazer Barazite showed glimpses of the potential world beater he can be but overall didn't really make an impact. He has good movement but the passing can sometimes let him down and his finishing needs working on. Ogogo impressed me in defence but he made an absolute ridiculous and horrible challenge on an Ajax man, which not only started a mini-brawl but also resulted in both players receiving their marching orders. The new signing Sunu didnt really see much of the ball so ill reserve my views on him till the next match.

Overall, a performance that I hope we will not see again against AC Milan and Flamengo. Its important to point out though that we have one of the youngest squads in the tournament and we shouldn't expect the kids to come away with a trophy. The match as a whole was not entertaining. Usually 0-0 matches are filled with stories of hero defenders and how the two teams defended very well. This match though, just showed 2 sides with inexperienced strikers.

The other Group A match between AC Milan and Flamengo finished 1-1.

Spata Prague is not Dinamo Zagred and RvP is not Titi

2007-08-04T11:40:00.000+08:00

Not the easiest draw we could have gotten in the CL but its better than getting Fenerbahce or AEK Athens. Liverpool, despite what the English press are saying, will breeze past Toulouse who were lucky to even finish in a European spot last season. Celtic though will struggle against Spatak Moscow and I wont be surprised if Gordon Strachan and Co end up playing UEFA Cup football this season.

This tie will undoubtedly remind most fans of the Thierry Henry Show in Prague 2 years ago when he famously equalled and broke Wrighty's record. The words "Record Breaker, History Maker....Thierry Henry" will forever ring in my head. 2 years on the weird coincidence the CL loves giving us, just like how beating Vieira's Juve proved a point, this match will either tell Arsenal if this new strike force is better than the one-man firing squad of Thierry Henry.

One things for sure, Robin van Persie is not Thierry Henry. It worries me how much pressure he is under as Arsenal fans look to him to become our new talisman. Unlike previous years where you could probably guess Arsenal's starting strikers in a match, this season all 4 of Arsenal's strikers(Theo not included, he plays at RM) are potential starters, but only RvP would probably start every game he is fit. Arsenal are looking to Van Persie to fill the huge Titi shoes when what they should be doing is making sure the attack doesnt revolve around one striker. Van Persie doent have Titi's speed and if the likes of Everton and Sunderland were to put 3 men on him, like sides use to do against Titi, he will not get by them as easily. Titi was a runner, RvP is a shooter.

Arsenal have a chance now to show the world that they are better now post-Henry and there's no better way to prove it than by reminding Sparta Prague that 2 years ago, Arsenal beat them, not Thierry Henry.

The 1st leg will be played in Prague on the 14 or 15th of August while the Czechs will visit Emirates Stadium on the 28th or 29th for the 2nd leg. I fancy Eboue to start on the right instead of Walcott who is still quite raw, and despite his blistering pace his technical ability needs improving. I watched him at Barnet and despite playing against a team obviously inferior to the Arsenal, the only thing that got him past the Barnet defence was his speed. Eboue on the other hand, embarrassed the Inter defence on more than one occasion during the Emirates Cup and I never want to see him play in a full-back role ever again. With Bacary and Eboue on the right we now look like the old Arsenal, great on one side, shit on the other. The Arsenal that did the double in 02 had the best left side in Europe, but the right side on the team were invisible not because of lack of quality but because Ljungberg loved travelling inside instead of staying on the wing, much like Hleb but with a lot more goals. Now, Arsenal left has the Gail Force that is Gael Clichy but in front him he has a player that will probably never be in front of him in Tomas Rosicky, who is 10 times more affective in the middle or behind the strikers (similar to Hleb). If Arsenal can get their hands on Quaresma(although highly unlikely), we would have the balace that no Arsenal team have ever had, NOT EVEN THE INVINCIBLES!

My predictions over 2 legs:

Arsenal 3-1 Sparta Prague (a 1-1 draw in Prague)
Liverpool 5-0 Toulouse (3-0 trashing at Anfield)
Celtic 1-1 CSKA Moscow (CSKA through on away goals rule :D)

Is Rodrigo Palacio about to sign for Arsenal?

2007-07-15T20:50:00.000+08:00

Pix: Rodrigo Palacio... yes, thats a pony tail!

Strong rumours in Argentina seems to believe that the Boca Juniors star's possible move to Barcelona for £15m has been stalled due to ongoing negotiations with his two previous clubs, Huracán de Tres Arroyos and Banfield. The two clubs are believed to still own a percentage of the player but Boca seem unable to reach an agreement with them. Rumours have been circulating in Argentina that Arsenal would swoop in for a while and a Boca Juniors fan blog has confirmed (or added flame to the fire) that Arsenal have reached an agreement with all parties but haven't negotiated with the player. How reliable is the source? I have absolutely no idea!

Palacio is widely considered to be one of Argentina's top strikers and it is believed Arsenal, if we have in fact got an offer accepted, would have to pay an amount around ~~£17m~~ €21.5m(did the math wrong)! Thats a huge sum considering the last time we spent that much, we got Jose Antonio Reyes!

Palacio made his first appearance at a World Cup in 2006 when he came on as a substitute against Ivory Coast in their group stage match. He has scored 39 goals in 79 appearances for Boca. Boca president, Mauricio Macri labelled the 25-year-old the best striker in Argentina when he said, "For Palacio, we will have to receive the biggest offer in the world because for me he is the best forward in Argentina,".

Youtube video!
(+ pinch of salt)

PS: He is Boca's no.14! Make your own conclusions...

Official: Its spelt BACARY

2007-07-12T22:08:00.000+08:00

Arsenal.com have finally confirmed that Arsenal have signed BACARY Sagna for an undisclosed fee. I will talk more about the transfer in another post. Till then fill your transfer-hungry appetites on these:

BACARY's first interview.

BACARY's photoshoot with the no.3 shirt.

BACARY's factfile.

Ill give it 2 weeks before he does an Adebayor and gets a haircut! He take our hairstyles very seriously here in the EPL!

Arsenal sign Sagna for £6m...And he gets the infamous No.3!

2007-07-11T18:48:00.000+08:00

The Sun have reported the Arsenal have signed Bakari Sagna for £6m. They also have an image which, judging by the quality was taken by a Nokia phone or is a photoshop. Anyway, if the image is to be believed, he will wear the number 3 shirt previously worn by...Nigel Winterburn! The article though is slightly misleading as The Sun, being the reliable paper it is, never confirmed the deal instead they just posted quotes from Gallas' rants on his site. Anyway, other sources say that the deal with Sagna is settled but Auxerre dont want to settle for anything less than £10m which is way too much.

Speaking of Gallas, his well reported rant on his website has been met with mixed reactions. While I understand while Gunnerblog can put up with him, I feel Arsenal have always been the kind of club to keep problems internally especially in England where the press take small quotes and turn it into back page news. It not only unsettles the fans but it also makes potential signings think twice about joining the club.

Freddie Ljungberg is set to leave for Fiorentina in a £5.5. deal, thats of course only if he decides to accept a wage cut as I doubt Fiorentina can afford his £70k a week wage bill that we're currently paying him. If he does leave that should Arsene with more than enough money to sign a winger, a position we definitely need to fill.

Arsenal are set to activate Obafemi Martins buy out clause by offering the Magpies £13m for the highly-rated 28 or 21 year-old striker. I would rather Arsene spend the money on Huntelaar but Wenger knows best and if he feels that Oba is worth £13m, who am I to question him?

Finally, it is important to remember Ricardo Quaresma is still at Porto. If we can get £5.5m for Freddie, I would add about another £8 and sign Quaresma tomorrow!

Eduardo and so much more...

2007-07-04T16:58:00.000+08:00

Well, there are so many quotes regarding our new signing that they deserve their very own post. It appears that Dudu will have Eduardo on the back of his shirt. What is it with the Silva's? Why aren't they proud of their names? It is kinda scary the amount of pressure the press is putting on this kid...

Croatian national coach Slaven Bilic and former Gunner Devor Suker have heaped praise on Eduardo. Bilic claims that Eduardo can do more than just score goals, which is important for him to say as the British press have been labelling him a poacher since his arrival.
"He's very young and very quick. He's a goalscorer but his game does not just depend on scoring goals. He's a team player and he opens up space for others." -Bilic
Devor on the other hand feels Eduardo will bring a new dimension that Arsene Wenger's side has lacked in past years, a poacher. Wait, im getting confused...
"He is good quality and exactly what Arsenal need, one guy who can score easy goals," -Suker

Eduardo doesn't want to compare himself to Henry (smart kid). He give the usual political answer that he will work hard for his place in the team and blah, blah, blah...Anyway, although the press will no dount compare his first season in the premiership to Titi, anyone who has a functional brain would notice that he is nothing like Henry as many people have pointed out. He is not like Henry, he will not carry the ball from midfield, he will though be involved in build-up plays and will arrive late in the box. A Pires with heading ability.

Lastly, Arsenal.com has published an interview with Dudu and he talks about what he thinks of Arsenal, English football and how it compares with the Croatian league.

Sagna Gonna Cost A Lot More Than £6m

2007-07-04T16:21:00.000+08:00

Lots of news today so lets start off with Bakari Sagna's latest plee to join Arsenal. I have to say though, after seeing Robinho go on striker to join Real, then Essien went on strike to join Chelsea..its nice to see a player wanting to join us so badly. But if he ever goes on strike Arsenal should not sign him as thats disrespectful and it shows immaturity. Anyway, about Sagna, he has been telling Football365 that he wants to join the Gunners but the Auxerre BOD are asking for way too much money. One quote in particular caught my attention:
"Regarding at what price Auxerre want to transfer me, I can't join another French club. So if I leave, I will go to England.
"Auxerre directors ask for a lot of money, I am not lucky. It is capital for my future."
Ok 2..Surely at least half of the french clubs in Ligue 1 can afford £6m. Basically what this tells me is that Auxerre want something close to £10m which would not be the best deal for a defender unless we have the money to spare. I have stated many times that I want Sagna at Arsenal because that means we can push Eboue to the wing but at £10m, is he worth it? A quick search in FM found Anthony Vanden Boore (Fiorentina), Rafinha (Shalke 04) and Eduardo Ratinho (Corinthians, i think). All wonderkids according to my scout ;-)

Arsenal.com has confirmed that we have signed 17 year-old Norwegian defender Harvard Nordtveit from FK Haugesund on a long term contract for an undisclosed fee (£2m). Another one for the future. He played for Norway at both the Under-17's and Under-19's European Championships.

Paul Merson is worried about Arsenal now that Thierry Henry has left. You cant take him seriously after the first paragraph when he says the spuds have a 50% chance of finishing 4th. I wonder why everyone is saying that Henry's absence means Arsenal will crumble. We went nearly the whole of last season without him and we still got 4th place quite comfortably. Eduardo will bring something we didn't have last season which was someone in the box to put away all those crosses so we are definitely stronger. The return of RvP from injury, Gallas building a partnership with Toure and a new keeper to challenge Lehmann, this side will not only finish 4th but it will give Man Utd and Chelsea more of a title race than the 06/07 side did.

The Sun reports that the board have offered Wenger £75k to remain at the helm for another 4 years. Wenger is currently paid £50k but I doubt money has anything to do with the decision to sign a contract or not. They also claim that we are battling with Juve to sign Obafemi Martins and that neither side has tabled the £13m offer to trigger his get-out clause. hard to believe anything The Sun says but if it is true, I would still prefer Huntelaar.

Something tells me we're gonna sign another player within the next week,
Till then...

Its No.9 For Dudu...The Cursed Number Returns!

2007-07-03T20:54:00.000+08:00

Arsenal.com have confirmed that Dudu will wear the number 9 shirt. The number has been worn in the past by amazing players such as Francis Jeffers, JA Reyes and Julio Baptista... ohh crap!

Anyway, more important news appeared on newsnow today, like Watford and Portsmouth blogs saying that Djourou MAY be on his way to their respective clubs. I would personally be very upset if Johan left, I not only rate him above Senderos, I feel that he is the future of Arsenal's defence. I would hate to see hi leave but considering that he signed a 6-year deal only last season, he probably wont.

PHW speaks, and says some interesting stuff...for once:
"Arsene is full of surprises and he knows what he's doing. This player is certainly better than some of the forwards we've been linked with.
That was for Anelka!

"As always with Arsene there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes,"
Possibly Sagna. Probably not Anelka or Martins that some of the British papers have been saying.

News on Arsenal's new hero, the fabster himself. His agent says that Henry's departure has no impact on Fab's future with the Gunners. And Cesc himself has been talking about how TH14 will regain his form and become a big hit at the Nou Camp.
"The summer is now over for me. I am going back to pre-season training very soon at Arsenal. My team.
"I am staying in London."
I love the way he said that.

Amid all this attention towards the new signing, Arsenal's record signing...Mr. Sylvain Wiltord has been arrested! He will now claim that his celebrity status should allow him to stay out of jail, and if he does not succeed, he will claim to be sick and leave for Paris...France that is.

€24m for Da Silva? Crap Thats a Lot Of Money

2007-07-02T21:52:00.000+08:00

Eduardo Alves Da Silva, better known as Dudu has expressed his delight at signing for us. The problem I find though is the statement by Dinamo Zagreb's president who said that the deal is worth €24m! That the whole of Henry's fee! If this is true, surely Huntelaar, Babel, even Anelka would have been cheaper and with proven pedigree?!

Dudu said:
"I am excited and happy in the same time, also a very proud that I am going to play in such a big club. Every football player want to play for [FC] Barcelona, Real [Madrid CF], Manchester United [FC] or Arsenal one day and so do I. I want to progress in my career, but it is be hard to leave Dinamo Zagreb after eight years. I will miss the club, the guys...I will be back one day, but now I want to accept a new challenge."

Mirko Barišić, NK Dinamo Zagreb president, added:
"I think the transfer is worth €24m from the money Arsenal got after selling Henry to Barcelona."

-UEFA.com

Now if the transfer fee the president is talking about is true I can confirm that the transfer market has seem a huge inflation over the past 12 months and the £16m we thought earlier was good money now seems like peanuts. That would only leave us with £2m(Muamba), £8m(Reyes), Larsson(£1m), £3m(Aliadiere) + the transfer budget of £12m that was supposedly part of the contract agreements with the banks when we refinanced the stadium last season. That means £26m left, still enough to get Sagna(£6m), Huntelaar(£12m) and Quaresma(£8m) ;-)

Tell me what you think of the new signing. Click the comments link below!

Finally! Eduardo Da Silva...Is he another Suker?

2007-07-02T21:18:00.000+08:00

When I told my sister we signed another unknown instead of Huntelaar she said, "Remember last time we bought a Croatian?" Before I begin, Tsabo Tavoc (from the comments) deserves a million bucks for being the only person to predict that Arsenal would sign him! £6m is apparently the transfer fee, one wonders if its so easy to find out the transfer fee why do clubs seem to love saying undisclosed-fee? Anyway, not much info on the 24 year-old yet other than he was born in Brazil and that he holds the record for most goals scored in a season in the Croatian league, 34 goals...in 32 matches! And I was drooling over Huntelaar's goals ratio...

Youtube video... remember, pinch of salt!

(Part II) What Can They Bring To The Team? ...Anelka

2007-06-30T19:24:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I posted an article on possible Thierry Henry replacements and readers posted their own thoughts on players being linked to us. You can view the article here.

Before I begin let me just mention why I didn't add Nicolas 'Le Sulk' Anelka to the list. I could give you a 300 word essay on why I think he should not even be considered by Arsene Wenger but I would be lying. The truth is I forgot. Simple as that. So without further delays,

Nicolas Anelka
Anelka left Arsenal nearly a decade ago to play football the galactico way. His young age brought with it a lack of maturity that Anelka would later regret. Despite Arsene Wenger wanting to keep Nicolas Anelka, Le Sulk sulked his way out of the club. Little did he know that his leaving would be the best thing to ever happen to the club. His £23m move to Real Madrid saw Arsene sign Thierry Henry as his replacement and at only £12m Arsene Wenger made a profit of £11m plus a player that was not only more loyal, respectful, talented and mature than Anelka but also a player that would go on to rewrite history as Arsenal's top goalscorer with 226 goals. Why am I giving a history lesson? Because the belief that nothing else matters as long as you win is not true. We may win the league after a 3 year hiatus, we may finally win Mr. Big Ears, we may make history as the first club to go a whole season unbeaten TWICE! But how much fun is it when we don't feel the love for the player that's scoring those goals. I celebrated every Henry goal like it was his last and if Anelka joins Arsenal I will celebrate every goal HOPING that its his last. I never forgave him for what he did to the club and I never will. He angered me by celebrating goals against us while at Man City and now at Bolton. How can you be so disrespectful to the club that gave you your career. I don't want Nicolas Anelka at Arsenal because I will not reach fever pitch when he scores. I would rather see us finish 4th again than see Le Sulk pun on a red and white shirt again!

I know there are many Arsenal fans that see Anelka as the best candidate to replace Henry. And I can agree to an extent. He has speed, his finishing is probably one of the best in the league, his experience at this level is critical and he doesn't mind taking a pop from 30 yards out. But its not always about the W's. I cant even put my hatred for him into sentences.

Again, I would like to say these are just my views on Anelka and you guys can freely give your points on why we should / shouldn't sign Arsene's former prodigy.

What Can They Bring To The Team? Tevez/Babel/Sagna

2007-06-29T20:53:00.000+08:00

Here are my views on the players we are linked to and how they would contribute to the team. We are currently being linked to numerous players but lets just concentrate on the ones that we actually know of and not include the ones we've seen on Youtube. Which means I wont talk about any unknown Nigerian nicknamed Edu, no young teenage sensation only known in the most rural areas of France...none of those.

Obafemi Martins
If we were to sign any striker from Newcastle, Oba would be my choice. He is definitely a good prospect but Arsenal have never been successful with bulky strikers. Baptista can be used as an obvious example. What makes Oba different though is that he is bulky and fast. A combination Arsene has never tried and certainly something I would like to see him try as strikers with speed always seem to prosper at Arsenal.

Michael Owen
Michael would be on every premiership team's shopping list if it were not for his inability to be fit for more than 2 weeks. At £9m, he would be the best choice for a side working on a shoe string budget, like Arsenal. But if the reported £30m Arsene has available is true, he should definitely consider a fitter striker. Owen should not be considered unless we find ourselves in a situation where the transfer deadline is approaching and we still don't have an Henry replacement. His transfer clause makes him the cheapest England player outside the under-17 side so we are guaranteed that his price will not change between now and then. You know the English transfer window is whacked when Owen would cost £9m while Darren Bent joins the Spuds for £16.5m!

Samuel Eto'o
He is not leaving Barcelona. Nuff said.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar
Any player that can score 37 goals in 48 matches is worth a shout. I would be licking my lips if Arsenal were to sign Holland's next big superstar. I actually watch the Dutch league quite a lot and have been an admirer of Huntelaar's ability since his time with Heerenveen. Huntelaar does not take a lot of shots from outside the box but what he will give you is a striker that will be in the six yard box when a cross is delivered. Many consider him to be a similar player to van Nis...(I'm not gonna say his name!) but most people would notice that he is a lot more hard-working and does contribute more than just goals. He can head the ball, he is an excellent finisher, he is quick, not Henry quick but quick enough and he has the 'look' of an Arsenal player.

Ryan Babel
Babel unfortunately is no where near as good as his Ajax team-mate. I know there are lots of gooners out there that fancy this guy but he has a horrible first touch. He is good on the ball and with the right guidance could become world class but he certainly isn't anywhere close to that yet. Although he can play as a striker he is far better suited as a left winger due to his bad first touch. I would love to see him in the red and white but if he wants another season at Ajax, Arsenal should give it to him.

Bakary Sagna
Ok, I havent really seen this guy a lot due to the low quality of the french league. Reviews though say that he is very talented. He is not as good attacking wise compared to full backs we have had in recent times but he is, in the few times i saw him, far better defensively than any of the full backs we have had in recent times. And in a way that is what we need, we were caught out too many times last season on the right side due to Eboue's inability to defend coupled with old or pass-to-opponent friendly RM's in front of him. I would love this transfer to go though simply because I want to see Eboue pushed to RM or RW where I'm sure he will excel. Arsenal have never been known for having good defensive wingers and Eboue most definitely will be no different. He is perfect for the job! He can still deliver all those beautiful crosses but now he doesn't have to worry about his defensive duties.

Carlos Tevez
He rejected Inter for Arsenal? At least we know he has good taste...
Tevez would be a great addition to the squad that is if we dont get Huntelaar. He is in the bulky mould like Oba but with better finishing but less strength. He played most of his life in leagues where skill is everything and flying challenges were unheard of. You could certainly notice when he joined West Ham that despite being big he couldn't get used to the gritty nature of the premiership. He found his footing towards the end of the season and showed why he is a prized asset around Europe. I have my doubts but at a sum close to £30m, Arsenal are not gonna sign him anyway.

To sum up, Huntelaar and Sagna would be welcomed with open arms to the Emirates. Martins should be considered if we cant afford any of the world class strikers on sale. Michael is a last resort. Eto'o will not leave Barcelona now that Henry is there. Babel is one for the future but another season at Ajax should be good for him, perhaps a deal that will see him only join us at the start of the 08/09 season? Tevez is fantastic but at £30m I'm sure we could tempt any top striker from Spain and Italy for much less. Again, this is my views and I don't expect any of you guys to agree with me. Be sure to post your thoughts on these players or any other players you would like to be seen at the club.

What No Other Blog Will Tell You

2007-06-24T17:12:00.000+08:00

Now, I know I haven't posted for more than a week because well..When every headline is linking Henry to Barca you kinda don't have the mood to type.

Anyway, Thierry Henry's move to Barcelona has been met with a surprising quiet reaction of Arsenal bloggers, that says a lot considering that Arsenal have the most fan blogs anyone can think of. The reason why everyone is talking of replacements instead of actually commenting on the King's departure is probably to maintain a good image. No blog wants to be labelled the blog that called Thierry a cunt. After all, only an idiot would call the club's all time top scorer with 226 goals to his credit a cunt. But if you want the idiot's point of view then im here for you. The blog that doesn't give a damn about image.

No gooner will openly admit it, but in our hearts we all now feel that Thierry is a cunt. The shocking turn from "I'm buying a shirt that says im staying in London" to "I'm leaving because a board member is no longer at the club". C'mon Thierry, you cant expect anyone to actually take that as a reason you are leaving a club where you have spent nearly a decade. A club where the fans hail you as King, not even the Liverpool fans hail Gerrard as King.

Thierry Henry didn't like the fact that Patrick Vieira was sold, he didn't like the fact that Bobby Pires was allowed to leave, he didn't like the fact as Arsene Wenger was rebuilding a side for the next 5 years when he had less than that to win major honours before his ability would start declining. He signed a 4-year extension to his contract in a moment of emotion. Losing the CL final to not only the side he was about to join, but losing it will being kicked about by their defenders. He signed the contract more out of anger towards Barcelona than towards his love for Arsenal.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that Thierry loves the Arsenal fans and that it probably was a tough decision to leave but I think he is a cunt because he didn't come out and admit that he wants to join Barcelona because he doesn't feel this team is good enough. He took us for a bunch of idiots, even now as he packs his bags for Catalonia, he is giving 20,000 explanations for his leaving, everything from Patrick Vieira to David Dein but not once does he mention his own name for the reason of leaving. When you make such a drastic change in your career you have to take at least some responsibility for the decision. His reasons:

1. David Dein being axed off the board.
2. Arsene Wenger MAYBE leaving next season.
3. The players are unsettled at the club.

Thierry took us for a ride. The thought by being politically correct in interviews he could still have a place in the hearts of us gooners when all it actually did was make the pain of him leaving all the more painful.

To Thierry:
That place you had in my heart is now occupied by Robin van Persie.

You can disagree with me all you want but everyone has at least some anger towards Henry for the way he handled things. No about of sucking up to the Arsenal fans will ever change that.

Next up on Highbury1913, a post on Henry's replacement! :D

1 Week Changes Nothing

2007-06-16T16:17:00.000+08:00

Have been away for the past week, I went to Borneo. No internet. No TV. No radio. When I came back I found out how much didnt change. People still complaining about the white kit, Henry still linked to Barca. Its almost as if the world stopped for me. But some news still deserve to be talked about, so its time for news in point form!

~Lyon want £17m for Maluoda
It looks like we wont be signing Malouda. Lyon want an outrageous amount for a mediocre player in my opinion. I watched him at the world cup and was not impressed. I condemned the french left side during the world cup as I felt neither Malouda nor Abidal were good enough. The 17m could easily be used to fix both wings instead.

~2nd signing- Havard Nordveit
Remember this name, Nordveit is a highly rated 16-year-old from Scandinavia and even Man Utd were scouting the kid. The fee appears to be around £2m which is definitely not a small sum for a 16-year-old but the price of potential is rising and even clubs outside the major leagues (England, Italy, Spain and to an extent France) command large transfer fees. Anyway, not signing we were waiting for but still a signing.

~Wenger in Paris discussing Henry
The big news coming out of Frace is that Wenger is in Paris negotiating with Barca over the sale of Thierry Henry. No proof, I dont trust the french press any more than I trust the British press. If Wenger has finally decided that Henry is not worth keeping, how much is a fair fee for one of europe's top strikers? Watch this space.

~Babel possibility
Ryan Babel is a Gooner. Why is everyone going crazy? He says that he would love to play for Arsenal. The debate is if he is what we need. I dont think so but I also cannot think of another winger to solve our LM problem. Ive watched him numerous times for the Dutch national team and he doesnt seem very skillful. He has pace but he is clumsy, has a horrible first touch and his finishing is random to say the least. Of course we can say that Wenger can groom him but the players wenger has groomed have all had good goal scoring records pre-Arsenal, Babel doesnt have that. He, despite being very attacking minded, hardly gets on the score sheet for Ajax. Just my 2 cents.

Till my next post.

Weekly Round Up: Less Barca, More Malouda

2007-06-08T19:41:00.000+08:00

Pires talked to the Daily Star and said that Thierry Henry should join Barcelona as Arsenal is 'at the end of a cycle'. Now, I'm not denying that Arsenal are at the end of a cycle but Bobby, being an Arsenal legend shouldn't have made that comments as he knew how much we love Arsenal. Here's what he said:

I think Thierry Henry would be very happy at Barca. I should not be saying this as Arsenal, their manager and their fans are all very good. But it would be best for him to make a change. Arsenal are at the end of a cycle. They have signed some good new players but they are still very young.

Adebayor signed Arsenal being tagged Togo's Craig Bellamy and yet he has been nothing but a total pro since joining us. He is one of those player, though he will never be your favourite player but because he is such a nice guy, you cant help but love him. Anyway, he said that he is improving everyday as an Arsenal player.

Franck Ribery has joined Bayern Munich. I have lost all respect for this kid. First he says he will only leave the club he loves (I'OM) if they don't qualify for the CL. They go one better and automatically qualify and he still leaves!

Yaya Toure wants to join Barca. Why is this Arsenal news? Because the english press love making every player an Arsenal target. Wenger was offered Yaya and declined a few years ago, its hard to see him wanting Kolo's brother now.

Thierry Henry has stated his frustration last season with the exit of David Dein. I have to agree with Arseblogger, no player should get involved in the board room, they are paid to play football
and that's what they should do. It scares me that he may be using this as an excuse to leave the club...

The biggest news of the week is that we apparently we are planning to sign Malouda from Lyon, Liverpool's 8m bid was accepted but there are problems with agreeing personal terms.

Would anything less than the league title be considered a successful season?

2007-06-05T23:45:00.000+08:00

Martin from insidearsenal's post on winning the FA Cup will not be a successful season made me ponder a few things. Although I disagree with the article, I feel the FA Cup has never been a priority for Wenger in his 11 year reign. In fact, I remember during our unbeaten season, he rested Titi in the Fa Cup semis, AGAINST MAN UTD! If that doesnt say how much of a priority the FA Cup is...

Anyway, it raised another question? Would anything less than the league title be considered a successful season?

With Liverpool making the CL finals for the 2nd time in 3 seasons despite playing quite badly both season, the CL has now become more of a cup title, a competition where 'luck' is very important. Those days, during the domination of Real Madrid, every club would dream of a CL final but since Porto's trashing of Monaco, Liverpool winning in 05' despite only being the 5th best team in England and also (this is hard to admit), Arsenal's 06' finale against Barca despite having a horrible season the CL doesnt appeal to me as much. The CL has lost its glory, thats what I'm trying to say.

Seriously, if we had beaten the Russians at Wembley during the Carling Cup finals, would that have made last season a successful one? Some gooners are saying that since we have not won the title for 3 seasons now and finishing 4th for the 2nd time, we should lower our expectations accordingly. I disagree, I feel Chelsea are moving backwards since they started playing 4-4-2, Chelsea under Mourinho built those 2 title winning season from a strong defense and last season, being more attacking minded to make room for Sheva made their defense weaker. Also, Im willing to bet $100 that Drogba will never score that many goals in a season for the rest of his career. Man Utd are signing players but these are players for the future, Man Utd are gonna keep playing Giggs and Scholes next season and Liverpool will never have a consistent first team. Arsenal have team chemistry and that is a very important ingredient in winning the league, just ask the untouchables!

Despite the top 2 ending the season more than 20 points ahead of 3rd and 4th, on one weekend last season, when Chelsea visited Anfield and Man Utd visited Emirates, it was proven that the only difference between these sides is consistency. So why lower expectations? In fact, if anything Arsenal should take advantage of the fact that the other big 4 clubs are rebuilding while Arsenal have rebuilt.

Will I be happy if we finished 2nd? No.

Click the comments button to condemn me all you like. :)

Gilberto is the new Henry...

2007-06-05T23:29:00.000+08:00

Gilberto will miss the start of the new season as he is set to captain the Brazilian squad at this years Copa America. According to the Daily Mail, he will miss the first leg of our CL Qualifier and the first match of the season. Its sorta like Deja Vu, I remember Henry starting the season similarly last season and we all know how his season went. I just hope Gilberto doesnt suffer from fatigue after the tournament as he was our saviour this season and his experience will be very important next season.

Barca's Xavi is already dreaming of an Henry-Eto'o partnership. He can dream all he wants but as far as I can see is Henry is being lined up as a replacement for Eto'o. Eto'o has already made it clear that he is unhappy with his surroundings at Barca and probably wants out. Barca would probably settle for a lot less than what he is worth as most clubs know that Eto'o wants out. The only question remains, IF (and thats a BIG IF) Henry is to join Barca, does he want Eto'o there? Apparently Titi is friends with the Barca star but ive never heard him admit it. I only hear Eto'o saying this.

White Kit: Why NOT to go psycho...

2007-06-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

Since Arseblogger confirmed the new away white kit everyone has being going crazy with discontent, anger, disappointment with Nike....pretty much everything negative. But why? Tell me gooners, what makes us better than the spuds? Is it because we wear red and white instead of just plain white? Or is it because we have won 13 league titles and 10 FA Cups?

I definitely would not care even if we wear that butt ugly green kit Liverpool had in the 90's as long as we win some titles. Kits do not make a team good or bad. Arsenal will always be the red and white army and the spuds will always be the team OUTSIDE the top 4!

Tell me, if we win the league next season, will anyone care what kit we wore when we won the title? Probably not.

If anyone is unhappy about us wearing white, then just dont buy it. I certainly wont, not because of the spuds but because its just plain ugly(just look at those clown socks!)!
But we should remember that this isnt the good old days where only football fans buy kits. Kits are a part of fashion and Nike want to sell kits that EVERYONE will buy. Just think of it this way, the more kits they sell, the more cash they will have to cough up when its time to renew the sponsorship contract with us.

So, dont buy the kit if you hate it, but dont blame the club for this kit, its a simple mathematical equation that the club can do nothing about:

Arsenal want= $$$
Nike have= $$$
Nike want= PROFIT
Nike + Arsenal + Fashionable White Kit = Lots of PROFIT for Nike and lots of $$$ for Arsenal!

When Arsenal signed a contract with Nike, the lost all their rights in picking what colour the away kits are. Thats all.

KITS DONT WIN TROPHIES, PLAYERS WIN TROPHIES!

Ribery - A Gunner or Galactico?

2007-06-04T18:43:00.000+08:00

Reports in Spain suggests that Franck Ribery only wants to go to Real Madrid. A new era in the club's history began in the 06/07 season as for the first time in more than a decade, Real signed young, potential kids instead of established superstars (although they still cost a ton of cash). Real Madrid though are not yet convinced and have yet to make a bid which is why Bayern's £17 million bid hasnt been accepted, because Ribery doesnt fancy Germany.
Keyword: Reports in Spain

AC Milan will look to sell Gilardino after he threatened to walk out on the club and it appears Ancelotti sees Titi as Gilardino's replacement. Now, I dont actually rate Gilardino very highly and im 100% sure Henry does not want to return to Italy. The funniest part though, at least this article has some quote unlike the 154 articles linking Titi with Barca.

Aliadiere is off to Boro. I think the deal was done in January but because we had so many injuries the transfer had to be delayed. Good luck to Ali though, he is definitely a good player but the failed to take his chances with us and we all know scoring 50 goals in the reserves doesnt always mean you can get into the first team.

We are linked to Morten Gamst Pedersen but I wont look too much into it if I were you. Even if the reports are true and the top 4 clubs and Sp*rs want him then he will surely pick United as Giggs is probably closer to the exit door of United than Rosicky is to Arsenal. Just my 2 cents though.

Atletico Madrid apparently want Merida on loan. Doesnt seem realistic for 2 reasons:
1. Surely Wenger doesnt want him to 'enjoy' Spain, he may get home sick and might never want to come back.
2. If he needs first team experience, he is better off at Wolves, Spanish football and English football are nothing alike.

Jose Antonio Reyes might be on his way back to Sevilla, good piece of business for Sevilla in my opinion.

Gael Clichy finished 4th in our player of the season poll which makes me wonder who is no.3? Of course Gilberto will finish 1st and probably Cesc 2nd, but who played better than Gael this season? Something to ponder while you await my next post...

Arsenal splash the cash on Italian striker!

2007-06-03T14:19:00.000+08:00

Reports in Italy are saying that Arsenal have agreed a deal with Sampdoria to bring in promising Italian striker Fabio Quagliarella for a massive £10 million. It is believed that the clubs have come to an agreement but Arsenal have yet to negotiate with the player as the club officials are busy singing another player from Olympique de Marseille (dont get your hopes up, its probably not Ribery).

Now I dont know how reliable Reta24 of the Italian press is but £10m could either be genius or a waste of cash. The player seems to have tons of potential but potential is not what we need right now. I would have saved the money on a winger but if Wenger can afford £10m for 'potential', that tells me that he has a healthy transfer budget. Fabio is 23 but seems a little short at 180cm though.

Now heres a video of him, like always take every video from Youtube with a pinch of salt!
Watch him!

He can shoot too!

UPDATE: This rumour is confirmed as a fake! Would have been a good signing though...

Man Utd indirectly win battle against AFC

2007-05-24T17:57:00.000+08:00

Despite this news being published at the front of every newspaper in South East Asia, it has come to my attention that the general UK population doesn't even know Man Utd are involved in a heated battle with the Asian Football Confederation(AFC) and FIFA which may change the way English football is presented in Asia. So, being the loving, kind and friendly blogger I am, heres whats going on in Asia.

It all started when Man Utd planned their Man Utd Asia Tour which was set to take place between the 17th-27th July. Starting in Tokyo, Japan on the 17th and ending in the home of one of their main sponsors, Air Asia in Malaysia on the 27th. The only problem is that it disrupts the Asian Cup also held in Malaysia(jointly hosted with Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam) between 7th and 29th of July. The AFC feel that Man Utd's presence in Malaysia will be a distraction from the Asian Cup as Man Utd are the most supported club in South East Asia. The called on Man Utd to postpone their tour so that its stop in Malaysia will not interrupt the Asian Cup. Man Utd didn't want to do it as they have other friendlies planned(as far as I know) but were considering not going to Malaysia, instead ending their tour in Macau, their second last stop.

This did not make the Football Association of Malaysia(FAM) very happy as they, along with Malaysia's Tourism Board were planning on making Man Utd's visit apart of their 50 Years of Independence Celebration, a campaign known as 'Visit Malaysia 2007' has ads all of Old Trafford encouraging people to join Malaysia in celebrating 50 years of independence.'

So what did they do? They did what any smart organization would do...listen to the people. The people of Malaysia obviously prefer watching the Man Utd players at their Bukit Jalil Stadium than watch Asian football -known for its lack of quality. So the FAM called David Gill and said, "Hey you, yes you the guy who replaced Double D on the FA Board! You can come to Malaysia, we will support you against the AFC." I'm guessing at that point Gill wide smile on his face.

In what the Malaysian media interpreted as the first time the FAM showed some balls it appears all their work may end up useless. It appears Man Utd may still cancel the trip to Malaysia because they don't want to get on AFC's bad side, especially since Man Utd make billions in merchandising in Asia. These are only rumors though. It remains to be seen if Man Utd will crawl under AFC's armpits or bring their tour to Malaysia...

Did Liverpool just 'do an Arsenal'?

2007-05-24T17:38:00.000+08:00

Great match last night and for the first time in ages Liverpool played out an entertaining CL match and guess what, they lost proving that 'pretty football' is almost never fruitful. 2 goals from Inzaghi means Paolo Maldini lifts 'Big Ears' again despite Dirk Kuyt handing Liverpool a lifeline. This means Liverpool have just repeated what Arsenal did last season, putting all their efforts towards the CL only to fall at the last hurdle.

Anyway, now Liverpool fans will be feeling exactly the way Arsenal fans felt last season, except:

a) They can't use transition as an excuse.
b) They lost it with 11 men(compared to Arsenal's 10 for 70 minutes)
c) Even with 11 men, they only scored after Milan netted 2.
d) The referee refereed the game well, and knew when ~~Eto'o~~ players were offside.

Thats all...

UPDATE: Im not here to kick Pool fans when they're down, Im just still bitter over Paris!

Who is more excited, Silent Stan or PHW?

2007-05-22T20:20:00.000+08:00

It kinda makes you wonder doesn't it? Who is more excited about Peter Hill-Woods flight to the States? Silent Stan is obviously living up to his reputation as he is being exacted that...silent. Hill-Wood is obviously going there in behalf of the Board as its unlikely he wants to sell his tiny 0.1% of shares. And they did state they want to meet Stan to 'discuss' his intentions, which I'm sure means, "You either be a sugar daddy or NO!". Stan though despite making it very clear that he will make time for AST doesn't have the time for PHW (no offense to AST but clearly the chairman is more important when it comes to negotiation -if there ever was something that the Glazer family proved this is it: Fans can hate you all they want but if the board are convinced..) and is only going to have the meeting months after spending 70m+ on it. And of course the most important question...will Double D be there? It can happen but something tells me if Dein wanted to help Stan that badly, he would have sold him his shares already, just a hunch though.

Well, thats something to ponder on 'while we wait for the kids to deliver', which Wenger said to the clubs official magazine, will happen next season. To me that comes as no surprise as Wenger has always been a motivator and he definitely wont say, "This team is crap, I'm buying a new one!"
To me though the fact that Wenger has not made it clear that he will sign an extension is something to be more worried about than signing any superstar. All the titles in Newsnow will tell you the same thing, "Wenger staying" or "Wenger leaving" (depending on which article the Daily Mail decided to release today), but all go on to state wither that Wenger will be with Arsenal next season or he is leaving in the summer. To me that is not the problem, there is no doubt in my mind that Wenger will honour his contract but its more important that he signs an extension. His and Arsenal's future is anything but safe.

Adebayor has been rewarded for being the 'Spud-Destroyer' this season by getting a new long term contract. I think he deserves a new contract but I still do think he is a utility striker that should only be used when the situation arises. He should be paid well, but anything near Freddie's wages is way to high. Thats my two cents on the matter.

Henry thinks Beckham deserves to get into the England squad again. I do actually think that England do look weak on the right without Becks but a return to the starting 11 is out of the question, his return will make Lennon's progression harder. He would make the perfect super-sub though. And although England fans can never boast at winning anything since 66', they can proudly say we have a player who's weekly wage can slowly cure Africa of poverty....sitting on the bench!

Transfer crap:
Arsene wants Owen. Well it probably isn't crap since he would bring a lot to our team but after a season that saw us finish so badly because of injuries to strikers, the last thing we need is a 27 year-old striker who gets injured ~~more times than~~ as often as Pennant gets drunk!

I'OM amazingly finshed second! Yes, second and get an AUTOMATIC CL spot....thats better than Arsenal. That means the chances of Ribery leaving I'OM has gone down about 0.2%. I have to say though, if Marseille could finish that high up the table, eventhough it is the french league....thats a sign from above!

And finally, while Liverpool will be at their 2nd CL final in 3 years, and Milan's 3rd in 5... I will be sitting at home wondering if Larsson's pass to Eto'o was offside! I'm gonna be supporting Milan by the way...

Im sick of Gallas and his rants

2007-05-20T11:57:00.000+08:00

Don't get me wrong Gallas is an excellent player but I cant stand players who seem to enjoy talking to the press instead of working it out with the manager. Yes, our kids are not world class yet but you cant blame them for a bad season. You can blame Wenger, Dein, Hill-Wood but you cant blame the kids as they don't pick the teams, they just play to the best of their ability. Its not their fault their not the finished article yet.

He seems to think he is bigger than the team just because he is more experienced than most of the players. He thinks Wenger should make the team should revolve around him. Now Arsene has always done that, shape a team around one player but it surely isn't going to be around an aging DEFENDER. It use to be Henry but as he gets older Wenger seems to be shaping the team more around Fabregas now which is understandable. Gallas though thinks he is the best player in the team even though he has yet to prove that he is even better than Kolo.

I think Arseblogger was spot on when he said we have the new Anelka. I do believe Willie Gallas is a world class defender but if he thinks he is better than Arsenal than he should think again. His return to the team from injury hasn't made our results any better and he even had the nerve to complain about Arsenal's physio team, the best in the country! I remember clubs use to ask for advice from Garry Lewin how to get players back from long term injuries quicker as Arsenal have such a great record with treating long term injuries.

Despite all this I don't want him to get sold especially not before Senderos who I think has lost some of the ability he had in our CL run last season, maybe its fatigue but Djourou certainly is our 3rd choice CD now ahead of his international teammate Senderos. I think Gallas should just work any problems he has in the squad out with Wenger instead of thinking the press will answer his problems. Having said that, maybe his rants are a plea to Real to come get him...

FA Cup Aftermath: Arsenal Double Safe

2007-05-20T00:34:00.000+08:00

Arsenal remain the last English team to do the double as Man Utd suffered a dramatic loss as a 116th minute strike from Didier Drogba wins Jose his first FA Cup.

In what was a worse final than the one in 2005, Chelsea looked liked they had literally cloned the Carling Cup final as despite playing like well...Chelsea for the majority of the game a late goal from Mourinho's dog gave Roman something to smile about.

Its sad to say but neither team ever looked like scoring and what makes it more painful is that Arsenal were not apart of Wembley's unofficial re-opening!

Blackburn make shocking revelation!

2007-05-19T20:00:00.000+08:00

Apparently Francis Jeffers is not only still alive but he is also worth a few quid! Ipswich are just the latest club to think that he is the answer to their problems and they rate him so highly that they have offered Blackburn a huge fee said to be around 'the low hundred-thousands'! Blackburn though think the skunk in the box is worth at least a million.

Arsene Wenger's war chest is apparently filled with 40m pounds worth of borrowed money from Barclays. This of course means we can now sign all those players who 'wanted' to join us but were ruled out because we didn't have the cash. By the start of next season we will see Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Mavuba, Kone, Babel, Huntelaar, Scott Parker, N'Zogbia, Torres, Ribery and Renato all wearing the red and white or white and red of Arsenal. [/sarcasm]

Despite all of our new world beaters we still have a place in the squad for Freddie Ljungberg who WILL stay at the club, at least thats what his agent says. I think Wenger is seriously looking at selling Freddie but only if Arsenal get a 7 digit offer instead of the 700k being reported.

And finally Thierry read my post yesterday and just repeated what I said about width and fitness! What a thief!

Highbury1913 gets a revamp!

2007-05-19T16:06:00.000+08:00

A new day, a new season and a new layout! Highbury1913 gets a much needed revamp after 2 seasons of the old layout. This layout is still in Beta though so please notify me of any bugs (especially if theres a problem with the comments, I have been having some trouble trasferring the data) in the coding. Contact me by clicking the email button on the navbar at the top of the page!

By the way, check out the new quotes above, I will update them randomly but these Sp*rs themed ones seem perfect at the moment! :)

Are 'super super class' players really that important?

2007-05-18T21:15:00.000+08:00

Consider this a season review if you want but ive not posted the whole of last season, a combination of laziness, having no hunger to write about our losses to crap team like Sheffield Tuesday and Man City...also dont forget despite doing the double over Man Utd, West Ham did the double over us(thats a new low!).

Anyway, on to my point. Henry, who apparently said "I'm off" to teammates, has come out and said that injuries have cost us the season and im sure no one can disagree with him on that. Looking at our squad you have to say, on paper we SHOULD be challenging for the premiership.

Sure you can say that we have no width with both Rosicky and Hleb preferring to make runs towards the middle of the park but since when have Arsenal ever done that? Our best side was made up of the best left side the premier league had ever seen and none of those players ever made runs anywhere near the corner flag. Asshley, Pires ands Henry made the left side unbeatable but none ever crossed the ball(its not like there was anyone in the box anyway). Cole made run to the edge of the are before laying it on for Henry and Pires would always shoot after taking the ball to the edge of the box. Although I agree that Hleb doesnt cut it on the right, he still has his uses and sometimes he does show glimpses of why Wenger signed him.Im sure we would all lick our lips if Ribery signed but if I'OM dont get into the CL, they will definitely not let him go for anything less that 17m pounds, is he worth that much? Not unless he can score 20 goals a season from the wing!?

Everyone has been complaining we need another striker but actually we probably have 3 very good strikers with 3 very different uses. Henry gives us speed, Robin gives us power and Ade gives us height, something Kanu never gave us despite the similarities. Walcott cannot be considered a striker just yet, and could possibly play on the right if Wenger decides he has seen enough of Hleb and with Bendtner coming back to prove himself we will have 4 strikers that can definitely score goals. I think Henry will not be a weekly feature like he use to be and we will see a few games next season where Robin will partner Ade. Although a fully fit Henry can do pretty much anything but we have yet to see a fully fit Henry since Paris. If Wenger can get the 80% of his job done, Arsenal wont have any problems up front. Its also important to point out that before Henry and Robin got injured, our problems were not scoring but it was that we conceded first so often that they ended up playing against 11 defenders. Bringing in any of the 83 strikers we have been linked to over the course of the season will only make Bendtner's progression slower. Its highly unlikely all our strikers will suffer injuries (and 3 match suspensions for not punching Wayne Bridge) at the same time again.

We also have Denilson, Diaby and Hoyte all looking like good prospects and Fran Merida, Carlos Vela and Traore and probably only a few seasons away from the first team as well. Bringing in players for the present will make it longer for them to get first team football as no star will sign for Arsenal if he is only offered a 2-year contract. Lukas Fabianski shows that Arsene still believes that youth is the way to go. Although, I agree that we do need some traditional wingers that can actually play on the wing, the price of wonder kids like Ribery is not something Arsenal can afford at the moment. If Wenger does not make any big signings I wont be too upset, Wenger has a master plan. Just remember, Arsene only signed one player during our unbeaten season, JENS LEHMANN!

Stats:
Players who have had at least 1 month out with an injury this season:
1.Henry
2.Rosicky
3.Hleb
4.Walcott
5.Van Persie
6.Baptista
7.Gallas
8.Clichy
9.Eboue
10.Diaby
11.Aliadiere
You could almost build a new team with this lineup!

In Wenger, I trust.

By the way, a very Happy Birthday to the-cannon which turned 1 today! Congrats and all the best for the future.

Eboue: Pat Rice taught me a lot

2006-12-04T21:48:00.000+08:00

Emmanuel Eboue has admitted that he owes a lot to Assistant Manager Pat Rice for his big improvement this season. He had this to say:
"I used to get confused and not know when to go forward and when to stay put," says Eboué, the midfielder turned flying full-back. "But Pat Rice has taught me a lot about defending. He turned me into the player I am. Without him I would have been lost in England."
He also thanked former ASEC Abidjan academy coach Jean-Marc Guillou for helping him start his career.
"I owe Guillou a lot," says Eboué. "It's thanks to him I feel comfortable in defence, but can attack too. I know how to play in lots of positions. I didn't always play at full-back before, I've played in midfield and I played in central defence in Belgium. Guillou helped us with our technique, with the physical side and the mental side."
He also mentioned how studying his 'big brother'(Kolo Toure) tackles helped him improve defensively.
"I feel comfortable now when I'm up against a forward - I know how to go about stopping him. I make a point of watching matches, the right-back in particular, seeing how the team play. I needed to work on my tackling - I copied my big brother. Now I don't have a problem."

Click here to read the full interview with UEFA.

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Preview: Porto v Arsenal, Porto Gunning For 8th

2006-12-04T21:09:00.000+08:00

Porto's completed 7 straight win in all competitions this weekend when they beat rivals Boavista 2-0 at home. Quareasmo and Helder Postiga got on the score sheet with the latter scoring his 8th goal of the campaign. Although the Portuguese league probably doesn't have the quality of the Premiership but 7 straight wins is impressive at any level.

Porto though wouldn't mind a draw as it would see both teams progress, Arsenal especially as it would mean we will go into the final 16 draw as winners of our group. Porto didn't really impress during the tie at Emirates Stadium where Arsenal dominated from start to finish and could have won by more than the full time score, 2-0. I think Porto are sort of like Reading of the Premiership, they can give so many teams a run for their money but Arsenal passing style is a total mismatch with their tactics, at least I hope so.

We will be without Thierry because he is suspended, though probably he wouldnt have played anyway because of his pain in the neck(this phrase is being used way too often!), despite the rumors that he had a bust-up with Wenger. Porto though have no players suspended. Also, neither clubs have any players that are on 2 yellow cards.

This match may just end up being the match to see the winners of the group if CSKA Moscow fail to beat Hamburg(er) in Germany. Hamburg have failed to score even a point in the champions league this season and will probably not field a full strength squad as they are trying to recover from an unimpressive start to the Bundesliga. Hamburg have absolutely no chance of even qualifying for the UEFA Cup and will probably look at this game as a chance to save some pride.

CSKA though will have to make do without the services of Elvir Rahimic and more importantly Vagner Love, the player that caused Arsenal so many problem during our visit to Russia and nearly stole a winner in London. they also have Yuri Zhirkov on 2 yellows cards, along with Rafael van der Vaart though it wouldn't really make a difference.

On to my prediction, I think Arsenal will get a point at Porto, with RvP scoring in a 1-1 draw that would put both teams through but CSKA wont do their job and I think Hamburg will score their one and only point in a 0-0 draw.

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Arsenal To Play Liverpool In FA Cup 3rd Round

2006-12-04T01:59:00.000+08:00

Arsenal will play defending champions Liverpool in the Fa Cup 3rd round at Anfield. This tie of the round will surely bring more joy to us Gooners as we have already convincingly beaten them 3-0 albeit at Emirates Stadium. Then again, Liverpool tend to do better in cup competitions so were will need to guard against complacency. Other ties takes the Spuds to Cardiff, While Man Utd host Villa and Chelski host Macclesfield.

The full draw(all ties are scheduled for the 6th and 7th of January):

Blackpool v Aldershot/Basingstoke
Barnet v Colchester
Sheff Utd v Swansea
Reading v Burnley
Portsmouth v Wigan
Mansfield/Doncaster v Bolton
West Ham v Brighton
Leicester v Fulham
Derby v Wrexham
Wolves v Oldham
Bury/Chester v Ipswich
Man Utd v Aston Villa
Sheff Wed v Man City
Tamworth v Norwich
Salisbury/Nottm For v Charlton
Cardiff v Tottenham
Preston v Sunderland
Liverpool v Arsenal
Bristol Rovers/Bournemouth v Hereford
Watford v Stockport
Crystal Palace v Swindon
Bristol City v Coventry
Peterborough v Plymouth
QPR v Luton
Southend v Barnsley
West Brom v Leeds
Hull v Middlesbrough
Birmingham v Newcastle
Torquay/Leyton Orient v Southampton
Everton v Blackburn
Chelsea v Macclesfield
Stoke v Bradford/Millwall

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Arsenal 3-0 Sp*rs, Ade Cannot Play With Henry

2006-12-04T00:45:00.000+08:00

What a game! You can say 1, 2 or all three goal should have been disallowed but Arsenal deserved the win on the night.

This performance was absolutely nothing like the Fulham match, we looked like the players had a huge morale boost eventhough they lost their captain and were facing a Sp*rs side that beat Chelsea, and they also had the final Champions League match against Porto on their minds. The match looked fairly balanced until about the tenth minute before Arsenal found that extra gear that worked so well in past seasons but we have yet to see this season.

Ade's goal in my opinion is onside, in my opinion he was not played onside by the LB and actually the CB on the right, Ledley King I think. Still we should not take anything away from Ade who had a great game but I have to say when he went one-on-one with Robinson I didn't expect him so score, he doesn't usually do well when he comes up one-on-one against keepers, but that obviously an area of his game thats improving.

The first penalty was obviously not a penalty but the pundits here on ESPNStar Asia(Steve McMahon and Paul Masefield) made a good point when they said that the ref was in a position where all he saw was a tackle from behind and it was almost impossible for him to see if Chimbonda got a touch on the ball or not. So, to sum it up, it was a good tackle from the Sp*rs player, Rosicky didn't dive, Graham Poll got it wrong but we cant blame him.

The second penalty though, the only person who can tell you if its a penalty or not is Robin van Persie. The tackle was Jenas was definately a foul but after watching the replay like 10 times I still cant make out if the handball from RvP was intentional or not. RvP though has intentionally touched the ball before, though the handball against Liverpool was a lot more obvious.

Now, Adebayor's performance made me think. He can infact play football, though I still think he needs to prove he is worth the money Arsenal payed for him. Maybe he doesnt do well when partnered with Henry. His two best performances was the away win against Man Utd where he played alone up front and this North London derby where he played with RvP. Despite Wenger mentioning his similarities with Kanu, I really dont see any similarities on than height and hair style. Kanu was a holding striker, sort of like a target man, he was famous for his trickery at the edge of the box and he was one of the best finishers in the league at the time but he never really had much pace and was never really that good in the air. Kanu and Ade are like Chelsea and Arsenal, totally different. Ade brings us that aerial ability that we need during set-pieces and crosses. Its a shame that he doesnt seem to be the same player when he plays with Henry, maybe its because Henry demands every ball from the midfielders, even when he may not be the better option. Ade seems to see a lot less of the ball when he plays with Henry. Or maybe its just that he is afraid to shoot as Henry demands every players to be at his standard, 'you either score or pass it to me'. And we all know what happens when you shoot and miss, just ask RvP.

In conclusion, Ade has two options, adapt to the way Henry plays(which is almost impossible unless you are Dennis Bergkamp or a similar player) or hope Henry gets a pain in the neck more often because I dont see him shining when played with Henry. Despite what other blogs are saying, I feel the jury is still out and he needs to be able to play with Henry, because Henry is not going to be dropped very often.

Use the comments button ;)

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Arsenal Youngster Wins YPOTM/ Ade Available

2006-11-04T01:17:00.000+08:00

Good news ahead of our clash against West Ham, Manu Adebayor has a 90% chance of returning after he picked up an injury in the Carling Cup tie against West Brom, a match we won 2-0 thanks to Jeremie Aliadiere. Adebayor was originally expected to be out for up to 3 weeks but has had a fast recovery. Bad news though is that Eboue and Ljungberg are still short of match fitness.

Rosicky says that the sitter he missed against CSKA was the worst of his career. I feel sad for him though because eventhough he missed that chance, all our attacking players missed chances too. The press have made it seem like he was the cause Arsenal didnt win.

Arsene Wenger praised Nigel Reo-Coker's footballing ability but denies making a bid that supposedly unsettled the player in the early weeks of the season. Sir Wenger said: "I like Reo-Coker but we never made a bid to West Ham for him," Wenger praised him for his performance against us last year at Highbury that will be remembered for the day Sol Campbell walked out on the club that gave him silverware that he never got from 'others'.

Anthony Stokes who is currently on loan at Falkirk has won the SPL's Young Player of The Year award. He said that he doesnt mind extending his current loan deal that keeps him at Falkirk until January if Arsenal decide that they do not need his services for the moment.

Finally, Arsenal have apparently given a trial to Chinese youngster, Mao Jianqing. Mao had a trial with Feyenoord in 2003 but failed to impress the Dutch side enough to earn a permanent contract.

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News: Toure's Contract/ Wenger Unhappy/ Sp*rs Screwed Up

2006-10-23T13:55:00.000+08:00

Dont really have much time but heres the daily roundup in very brief:

Kolo says he is happy at Arsenal and doesnt mind ending his career at Arsenal. He also says he wants to succeed Henry as captain one day. And what a fine captain he will be :)
He said: "One day I would love to captain the club," he added. "Thierry is doing a fantastic job, he is a tremendous leader. But one day, yes, I would love to." This should put an end to the romour that he wants to leave.

Arsene is unhappy that 'some' clubs spend more money than they make.
He said: "To succeed or to win the league by spending £30 million or mortgaging your future receipts, that's cheating in my book." Thats right, 'some' clubs seems to think that they will be profitable in 2010 while spending 30m a season.

Sp*rs crew their own fans!

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Reading 0-4 Arsenal, Coppell Read It Wrong

2006-10-23T12:52:00.000+08:00

I guess the title is slightly misleading as we will never really know what Reading were sent out to do as they fell behind after just 58 seconds thanks to Fabregas(8 more years of this) and Thierry who finally looks like he is back to his best. I think Reading were looking at the way The Blades and Watford played against us, they both parked the bus in front of the goal, Sheffield held on for an hour or so and Watford just didnt have the defensive qualities to hold out Arsenal. So, [i think] Steve said, you know what...lets play like we did against Chelsea....no, not injuring the keeper...I pity the idiot who picks a fight with Mad Jens. What i meant to say is to close the wings, unfortunately Coppell only watched our last few matches and forgot the way we have played for the last 5 seasons....direct, fast, attacking, ENTERTAINING football, through the middle of the park. Cesc found the hole between the CD and the LB and passed the ball back for Henry who will never miss from about 16 yards out, calming slotting it into the bottom corner.

Anyway, the early goal threw Reading's game plan out the window as there's really no use defending when you're losing. Forced to push up, all it did was make more gaps for Arsenal to exploit. Alex Hleb deserves just as much praise as Cesc in this match, if only 2 players can get the Man of The Match award. He constantly found himself playing 1-2's and behind the Reading defence, he was soon rewarded with a goal when he played a 1-2 with Rosicky before blasting the ball past the helpless Reading goalkeeper.

On to the second half and Reading came out firing, they had a few corners early on. Like most Arsenal fans, everytime the opponents get a corner, you wondere if this can lead to one of them fast-paced counter attacks...this happened lots of times as Reading had quite a few corner but couldnt capitalise on them, usually though the ball ended up with v.Persie who seemed to pick the wrong option everytime. Anyway, about 5 minutes into the second half, another Hleb 1-2, this time with Henry lead to Arsenal's third. This time instead of shooting Hleb squared it for v.Persie to score Arsenal's best goal of the match. Like I said earlier, I wasnt too impressed by v.Persie's preformance but then again, he won the match due to our pace and v.Persie has a lot more pace compared to Ade.

The final goal came from the penalty spot when a through ball from Rosicky was met by Fab(8 more years) but was caught by the Reading goalkeeper. I was watching it on TV, and felt insulted when they looked at the replay to make sure it was a penalty, Cesc would NEVER dive!!! Anyway, Henry slotted in the penalty via the post getting his second and Arsenal's fourth. A minute later, Rosicky found himself one-on-one with the Reading keeper, he managed to trick the keeper, went passed him and shot the ball, only for the keeper to recover and make a fantastic save.

Arsenal then went down a couple of gears and Reading took advantage and started attacking, unfortunately their closest chance was made by Gallas when he nearly put Seol's cross into his own net.

In the end, a well deserved 3 points that keeps us in touch with the leaders...Man Utd, Chelsea and.....BOLTON! But we have a game in hand....

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Wenger's 3rd Gen Has Wenger's 3rd Great Trio

2006-10-17T12:10:00.000+08:00

Watching the Watford match at the weekend made me realise a few things about our club. For those who dont know, Wenger says that he has managed 3 generations or 3 versions of Arsenal since he joined the club 10 years ago with fluffy hair and Harry Potter-like glasses.

The Trio: Vieira/Petit/Anelka
The first generation consisted of mostly English players(97/98), most of which he inherited from George Graham and Bruce Rioch combined with his own creation- the partnership of Vieira and Petit, the latter having just joined the club and was switched to defensive midfielder from his position with Monaco which was centre-back. The partnership together with the youthful Nicolas Anelka, the trio helped Arsenal to their second ever Double(Premiership and FA Cup), beating Newcastle 2-0 in FA Cup finals after they overhauled Man Utd's lead in the dying weeks of the season.

The Trio: Vieira/Pires or Ljungberg/Henry
The second generation surprisingly isnt the 'Invinsible' side but the side that did the double 2 years earlier(01/02). The team that did this double was for me the best Arsenal team, even better than the 'Invinsibles', the trio Vieira/ Pires(or Ljungberg after Pires got injured)/ Henry helped Arsenal to the 3rd double and second under Wenger. Robert Pires was the star of that season, finally repaying his 6m pound signing fee by scoring 14 goals that season and led the assists charts. He then suffered a cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him for the final 2 months of the season. Many feared that Arsenal would lose their lead in the title race that season but then a certain pink haired, Swedish winger decided to step-up and take over Pires' scoring duties. Ljungberg scored in most of the remaining matches that season, almost all of which were through balls from Bergi. While Arsenal were showing great attacking football, scoring in every match that season, Vieira made sure that we didnt concede, with Tony Adams out with injury almost every few week, Vieira was indirectly already leading the team. Tony Adams retired at the end of that season and lifted the FA Cup trophy together with Vieira after beating Chelsea 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium.
And Thierry Henry...do I really need to talk about him?

The Trio: Cesc/Theo/Henry
In the 3rd generation of Arsenal or as Arsene likes to call it Arsenal III, it looks unclear what the trio might be. If you look at the 05/06 season, which was really when the 3rd gen started, after Patty left, no 3 players stood out. Of course Thierry broke a few records but it was more of a team effort that got Arsenal to the CL finals, winning most our games with our heart. We saw the introduction of Cesc to consistent first team football but something was missing. A third man, someone to combine with Cesc and Henry to create another Wenger 'trio'. The past generation of the trio always contained 2 midfielders and a striker, so you would look to the midfield. Ljungberg is obviously past his prime, Hleb is a great player, one of my favourites but doesnt really have the eye for goal and his passing can sometimes let him down,Gilberto became more of a 5th defender after Vieira left as we saw last season and Tomas Rosicky was bought to help us add another dimension of football to our game, shooting from outside the box. So, unless people wanted to include Alex Song to that list there was really no midfielder that could fill the boots of Pires, until Theo. One start is all he took to impress me. He runs with the ball, while searching for players to pass to, something not many can do. In only one match he managed to play through ball with Cesc and Henry, easily drifting in and out of the Watford defence, which really were not that good anyway. He had 'that' fantastic ability to play through balls for strikers to chase, something none of us have seen since a certain non-flying Dutchman retired. And all it took was for Arsene to convert another player from a position he thought he was best at, to the position that Arsene KNOWS he is best at. Of course its only one game, i know that, you dont need to send me 200 emails to tell me that, but if he can do this in one match, what will happen when he becomes a consistent starter? I feel like an drug addict, once you get a taste of it, you just cant get enough. Post your theo-ughts through the little comments link below.

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Charlton 1-2 Arsenal, A Volley At The Valley

2006-10-01T19:54:00.000+08:00

Not a spectacular performance but a win and 3 more points towards chasing Chelsea at the top. The win leaves us only 2 points behind Man Utd who dont play until later today and 5 points behind Chelsea with a game in hand.

Well we didnt start that well but still had the lions share of possesion. We created a few chances but as usual fell behind to a Bent goal that MAY have been offside, until now I still have not seen a camera-angle that can either say that Hasselbaink was on or offside. Anyway, we struck back 10 minutes later thanks to Van Persie after some good work on the right from Henry and Hleb. We definately went into the break looking the more likely to score in the second half.

After the break, there were a few chances for both teams before Eboue's fantastic cross/cut back for Van Persie who volleyed a ball 3 feet in the air, the ball rocketed into the top(well, almost) right corner. After that Arsenal relaxed a little more and everyone took a more defensive position, playing on the break as Charlton were now being forced to attack. Well, it didnt really work as Charlton were playing the long ball game, so counter attacking was useless. So, Arsenal cautiously attacked(thats the best way to put it I guess), apart from Henry's one-on-one miss and Van Persie's open goal miss we didnt really looked like we were going to get a third. Anyway, all of Van Persie's hardwork could have gone to waste if it wasnt for Lehmann stopping Reid's bullet shot from close range and Hasselbaink missing a free header.

Anyway, I sort of liked seeing us having a tough night out. You have to admit, Sheffield United and Porto didnt really give us a real game as both decided to park the bus in front of the goal. I happy though to say that Arsenal have found their way around the pass by Eboue's sudden ability to deliver world-class crosses(credit to him for working on it in training), and Henry's also sudden ability to head balls! Thats 3 games in a row now that Arsenalhave scored from crosses.

Well, the story of this match really is Robin van Persie, who just recently said that he feels this is his season to shine, and so far it looks like he is on his way to cementing his place in the Arsenal starting lineup. Something tell me though, that Wenger will pick Henry's partner depending on the opponents as Adebayor may be favoured against a more physical defence.

In Wenger we trust...to 10 more years of 'beautiful football'.

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Arsene Who?

2006-09-29T22:26:00.000+08:00

Today, Arsene Wenger goes into his 11th year of managing Arsenal Football Club. He turned an Arsenal side that were content in finishing the season in a European spot into a side that MUST win silverware every season. Many managers, current players, past players and people ive never heard of have praised Wenger's influence in the Premiership over the past ten years.

Roy Keane is definately not Wenger's best friend and probably doesnt expect a Christmas card every year from Arsene but he praised Wenger for his contribution to Arsenal, something that Roy Keane wouldnt usually do. He said:
“He has done a brilliant job at Arsenal,”
“I watched them last week against United and they were outstanding. The way they play the game, the way he leads himself — I have to say, the way he keeps his head or he seems to keep his head, even at the start of the season when people were starting to doubt Arsenal, maybe myself being one of them.
“I read something about him the other day and a thing he said about football. He said some people live off football and some people live for football. He clearly lives for the game, I will give him that, and all credit to him.”

Double D was also full of praise for Wenger saying that when the day comes that Wenger decides to hang us his ummm..... whistle, he will always have a job in the boardroom available for him. DD said:
“We want him for the rest of his career,”
“If he wanted to give up the tracksuit he’d be invaluable in the boardroom in a technical role.
“He’s a miracle-worker, turning players into world-class players. Since he’s been here we’ve seen football from another planet.”
“We have a young team and want to continue developing,”
“Reaching the Champions League final last season gave us belief.”

Iain Dowie says that Wenger brought professionalism into English football, eventhough it should have happened a long time before he arrived. He goes on to say that Every manager should aspire to be like 'The Professor'. He said:
"You have to admire Arsene,"
"He wanted to create a totally professional club.
"It (unprofessionalism) is something English football should have addressed earlier and he has been at the forefront of it. People initially don't like it when you change things around and there was a question mark over him for six months.
"The senior players might not have been happy but they would have seen that he would not be turned. He has done a tremendous job. He has been amongst the best, if not the best, in his time here.
"He has a great belief, he has a massive desire to win and to have things done the right way too, which is very important. Arsene Wenger is the epitome of what every manager should aspire to be."

Stuart Pearce says that Arsenal have come on leaps and bounds since Wenger took over at the helm. He talks about how the English players use to rave about him at the England training camp eventhough the first thing he did when he joined Arsenal was to ban drinking before and after games and he changed their 'balanced' diets to some more healthier ones. Pearce said:
"His track record's been fantastic, where Arsenal were to where they are now has come on leaps and bounds,"
"I think how they are perceived in European and world football has come on leaps and bounds.
"I remember the Arsenal players meeting up with the England squad when I was involved there and they raved about him. The Adams' of this world, the Dixon's, Winterburn's, no-one has had a bad word to say about him or his methods.
"He's galvanised a team with a good team spirit and passing wise, for me they are probably the best passing side in the Premiership and have been for the last few years.
"All credit to him, it's a pleasure to have him in England and hopefully for the next ten years."

Wenger though, as usual, never looks too far into the future, saying:
"I believe a manager's job is always the next game and the next game for me is Charlton,"
"I have not got my head at the moment in celebrations. I am much more focused on the next game.
"The best way to celebrate is to win the next game."

No comments from me today.

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Cesc: I have to pay Wenger back

2006-09-28T16:30:00.000+08:00

In what is a great week in Arsene Wenger's career. Former and current Arsenal players have been talking about the influences Arsene has had on Arsenal and the Premiership. Freddie has pointed out that Wenger will always be remembered for bringing 'Total Football' to the premiership and that he will also be remembered for his creation of the 'Invinsibles'. Cesc Fabregas said that he will always be grateful to Wenger for giving him a career in football and says that he has to pay him back for what he has done for Cesc's career.

Willian Gallas is is expected to be out for up to 3 weeks after picking up a hamstring injury against Porto. And with Djourou also out, a defensive injury crisis just became worse.

And Rosicky believes that the win against Man Utd gave him and the team the belief to tirn the early season problems around.

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Mysery Invester Buys £3.5M Worth Of Arsenal Shares

2006-09-26T21:36:00.000+08:00

The Times have reported that a mysterious investor has bought £3.5m worth of Arsenal shares. The shares were sold at £5000 each, the highest in 18 months. They go on to state that the investor may be a company called Lansdowne Partners. A company known to buy shares of companies before takeovers. Lansdowne Partners did also buy shares in Man Utd before Malcolm Glazer's takeover. Time to call Arsenal Trust.

Robin Van Persie says that this is his season to step-up and he says that Arsene agrees with him. I actually think he was suppose to make the step-up last season, in preparation of Bergi's departure and he did make the step-up in true Arsenal fashion. He never scored an ugly goal, I will never forget that goal against Blackburn. The occasional kicking-of-air is just a minor setback to a players with lots of potential.

Kolo Toure says that the reason why Arsenal did so well last season in the Champions League was because of team spirit, togetherness and that the senior players dont mind taking advice from the youngsters. It actually sounds like the players are turning into Arsenal's PR. This comments coming just over a week after Ashley Cole said that there was no atmosphere at Arsenal and that the players didnt socialise with each other.

And Arsene Wenger says no matter when he retires, he will always feel that he didnt finish his job at Arsenal, even if we won 3 Champions League titles. The taste of the CL final loss last season is still a little bitter in his mouth though, just as bitter as it is in all our mouths. He said that lack of experience was the reason that we lost eventhough the players gave 110%.

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10 Years Ill Never Forget

2006-09-23T09:45:00.000+08:00

Arsenal's Champions League match against Porto will mark Arsene Wenger's 10 year anniversary as Arsenal manager, and what a fantastic 10 years it has been. 3 league titles, 4 FA Cups, 4 Charity/Community Shields, Uefa Cup finalists, and Champions League finalists. Quite a feat for a club that was 10 years ago sliding down the table. Thierry believes that only a win against Porto will be able to mark the occasion. Wenger though, has said that when he retires, he wants to help African football develop.

There have been reports that Real Madrid may decide not to sell Baptista to us. But as far as I know is that Arsenal get to make the decision. The fee has been agreed and if Arsenal want to buy him there is nothing Real can do about it. The same goes for Reyes, Arsenal cant keep him from going to Spain if Real want him.

Thierry will probably start against Sheffield United alongside Manu Adebayor as Robin van Persie has just started training again after returning from injury. Henry though, has been training for the past week.

Lets hope for a win today...

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Reserves: Arsenal 2-0 Portsmouth

2006-09-21T23:47:00.000+08:00

Denilson got his debut for the Arsenal in the reserve sides 2-0 victory over Portsmouth. Merida, Walcott and Alex Song also featured in the match. Aliadiere was the start of the show though, as he scored both of Arsenal's goals. Ive been thinking and I think that Arsenal are the only side I know that doesnt only focus on their first team squad. Arsenal reserves have always been among the top teams in their league and the Arsenal Ladies doesnt really have a challenge in England anymore after following a succesful season last season with a better than perfect start to this season which includes a 14-0 win over Fulham. Anyway, I was looking at the teams still remaining in the Ladies European Cup and very few were really famous football clubs. Its good to know that Arsenal are good at everything :)

Claude Davis believes that Sheffield United's Carling Cup win will give them the confidence to test us at Emirates this weekend. Arsenal are familiar with Sheffield United as we have met them in cup competitions so many times that it feels like the draws are rigged(the draws are NOT rigged). I especially remember when we played them in the FA Cup a few seasons ago when Seaman made a fantastic save in the 78th minute when he scooped the ball of the line to give us a 1-0 win. Sheffield United matches against us have always been enjoyable and tight affairs and I was so happy that they got promotion last season just so we could play them more often this season.

It will take Arsenal 25 years to pay off our depts. I have mixed feelings despite Edelman's encouraging words. On the positive side, we have a new 60,000 seater stadium thats among the best in the UK. We will have houses built on the legendary that is Highbury. We will host lots of top-class friendlies that we wouldnt have gotten while we were at Highbury. And of course the main reason we built the stadium, 40m pounds more profit compared to Highbury. The negatives though are scary, what if we continue to slide down the table and lose our European spot? It would mean less tickets sold, less kits sold, less profits and the posibility that we cant pay off the depts. Of course this may not happen, but my heart beats faster everytime I think of the dept. I wanted to point this out as many Arsenal fans have said that they dont care about the financial situation of the club, they should know that we may not have a club to support without the profits.

Nothing else really that interesting in the news so, BYE!

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I praise the Man Utd fans

2006-09-20T16:14:00.000+08:00

What a game! A great result and what a way to get our first win of the season, winning at Old Trafford! Anyway, I would like to praise the Man Utd fans who admitted that they were not the better side, all that is except one. This article shows the disease that I like to call, 'My Team Always Plays Well Syndrome'. It happens when a fan believes that his team is so good that they always play well, and a loss is either 'unlucky' or bad-refereeing. This Man Utd fan cant seem to admit that Arsenal played better than Man Utd, instead blaming 'dishonest commentary'. He claimed that Man Utd played better, Hleb was invinsible throughout the game and that Djourou did not play as well as the press said he did. Well, all I have to say is that I'm glad that most all us bloggers do not suffer from this symdrome and admit when our team does not play well. And a special salute to this Sp*rs fan, for having the balls to post this article.

On to footballing matters,
It looks like Jens Lehmann is under investigation for kicking a bottle into the crowd at Old Trafford. Arseblogger though got an e-mail from a fan saying that Lehmann was being called some terrible words by the United fans, if its true...i would like to see some action taken against those United fans.

Arsene Wenger wants the Arsenal fans to stop singing homophobic chants about Ashley Cole at matches. I dont really see a reason why we should chant about Cole, he's gone, get over it. Wouldnt it be better to sing songs that can lift the atmosphere at the great Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal are apparently chasing Southampton left back Gareth Bale and have already had an a bid during the transfer window rejected. I dont really know much about him other than he is not English, which can only be a good thing.

Wenger has explained that the reason Baptista is not starting is because he didnt have a good pre-season and is lacking fitness. I hope he gains fitness fast, he amazed me in the short period he was on at Old Trafford.

And Arsenal have more depts, 100m pounds more to be exact. But thanks to our fantastic run in Europe lasts season, he also made a profit of more than 100m pounds. Which leaves me to wondering how rich Real Madrid really are...

And the biggest news this week is BBC's Panorama film about bungs. Sam and his son Craig Allardyce look to have gotten themselves into trouble while Chelsea tried to 'tap-up' a 15-year-old.

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Arsenal Sets New European Record

2006-09-16T18:27:00.000+08:00

For 41 minutes agaist Hamburg, Arsenal had 11 players from 11 different countries, a Champions League first. It started in the 28th minute when Hoyte replaced the injured Toure and ended in the 69th minute when Baptista came on. It comes as no surprise as Arsenal have always been a club to look at talent instead of passports, yes Im talking to you Alan Pardew...I STILL REMEMBER! The Arsenal 'World' XI were: Jens Lehmann (Germany); Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast), Johan Djourou (Switzerland), Justin Hoyte (England), William Gallas (France); Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic), Gilberto (Brazil), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Alexander Hleb (Belarus); Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo) and Robin van Persie (Holland).

Despite what everybody has been saying, Willian Gallas has said he doesnt mind playing left-back until Clichy comes back from injury. He also said that he used the World Cup to show everyone how good a central defender he was, and he did. France couldnt have gotten to the finals without him.

Just for those of you who didnt know this, Arsene Wenger tried to sign Michael Carrick a few seasons ago when Vieira was set to leave for Real Madrid. Well, Wenger has finally talked about it, and says that if he had managed to get Carrick, he would have ruined Cesc's chances of playing.

Now to shorter news:

Van Persie says he didnt dive.
and
Arsenal are not for sale.

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Arsenal are sponsored by 'Dubai' for one night

2006-09-13T15:55:00.000+08:00

Arsenal.com have confirmed that we will wear a 'unique' kit against Hamburg tonight because Hamburg also have Fly Emirates as their shirt sponsors and UEFA rules state that no clubs with the same sponsor can play each other. So the two clubs came into the agreement that Arsenal will wear the away team will wear the 'Dubai' kit. Which means we will wear 'Dubai' tonight and Hamburg will wear the kit when they visit Emirates Stadium in November.

Thierry Henry is out and will take no part in the match as he has suffered a minor foot injury that he sustained against Italy while playing for France. We will be our for 2 or 3 days so nothing to worry about, he is still available for the Man Utd match. Anyway, the 18-man squad list is out and the only surprise entry is Alex Song.

Our ladies had to fight back from 3 goals down to beat WFC Rossiyanka 5-4 in our opening match of the UEFA Cup. All 5 goals were scored the the Scottish captain Julie Fleeting.

Cesc Fabregas has apparently signed a contract that will keep him at Arsenal for the next 8 years! Although there have been reports that the contract will earn him about 20m pounds, over the next 8 years im sure he will prove he is worth every penny.

And another part of Ashley Cole's book 'My Defence' was released. This time i found it more interesting as it involved the infamous 'Buffet Battle'. And he seems to blame Fabregas for starting it(by throwing a piece of pizza at Fergie), though all he said was, the player was not French or English. Anyway, you should take everything you read from his book with 7kg worth of salt!

Till tomorrow, bye.

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We should be grateful to Barcelona

2006-09-12T18:36:00.000+08:00

Barcelona have probably the best youth system in the world and we can thank them for Fab Cecscand now Fab Fran(Merida). They seem to be able to gather the best youth team players from all over the world, building a youth team capable of trashing opponents 20-0(ive heard) but they dont seem to take advantage of it as Cesc Fabregas and now Fran Merida fell through the cracks because they didnt believe that they could make it into Barcelona's starting lineup. And Arsenal have taken advantage of Barca's youth players lack of confidence but getting two outstanding players.

The reason why im saying this is because i saw the footage of Merida's debut against the Sp*rs reserve team, a match with ended 2-2 with Fran being awarded Man of The Match. He set up one and scored a fantastic freekick as Arsenal came from 2-0 down to salvage a draw.

Anyway, i know I didnt give my review on the Boro match but I really didnt even watch the match. But from the highlights and the stats i can probably guess how the match went, i just hope this doesnt become a norm.

Well, Ashley Cole continues to keep irritating Arsenal fans as he now is saying that he was 'sacrificed' by Arsenal in Arsenal's desperate chase to catch Chelsea in the title race. Im so bored of his crap im not even gonna comment on it.

Arsene Wenger has explained why Flamini is not playing left-back. It seems that it is the player that doersnt want to play there. Arsene as we know doesnt like forcing players into doing things, so as it stands we have the best central defender playing left-back and the player who should be playing there not wanting to play there. I cant wait for Clichy to return!

And Baptista can play the ukelele!

Im off.

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Season Starts Here: We aint gonna beat Boro 7-0

2006-09-06T22:13:00.000+08:00

Well, since the introduction of the famous 'transfer window' a few seasons ago it became clear that the season starts after D-day. And I hope we will forget those two maches and go on with the rest of the season. I must say, I feel like a small kid having a remote control car without the batteries. Im so excited about seeing Gallas and Baptista that I actually forgot who we were playing this weekend. As it turns out, Boro will be our second visitors to Emirates Stadium.

Boro has always had weird records against big teams, our results against them last season says it all. We beat them 7-0 at Highbury but lost 2-1 at Riverside. The difference this season is that it will feel more like 2 away matches. Anyway, its hard to confirm that Baptista will play as he played nearly the whole match against Wales. I will though be surprised if Gallas didnt play, but will he play on the left or in the middle and if he does play in the middle, will Hoyte play next to him? We cant accept anything less than a win as I dont want to be 10 points behind Man Utd this early in the season.

Gallas has supposedly been given the no.10 shirt which was DB's just 4 months ago. I know alot of people have been saying that its not a big deal and that you should remember the player not the number but Bergi was my favourite player and I didnt want to see anyone wearing that jersey for atleast one season. People were also saying that Wenger gave Gallas the no.10 jersey so that people cant compare him to Bergkamp. I dont think this is the case as Arsenal.com had reported that Gallas was going to wear the no.3 jersey before quietly changing the number on the first team page. Which probably means Gallas didnt want the no.3. Cant say im upset with him for that, the no.3 jersey is going to be remembered for 'Cole Saga' instead of the jersey wearer for atleast the next decade.

If Baptista plays, I wonder who will Arsene drop? I guess the most obvious choice whould be Freddie as he is not getting any younger but Baptista played on he right against Wales but didnt look dangerous until he drifted to the middle.

Also, everyone from Vieira to Ranieri have trouble believing that Gallas threatened to score own-goals it he was played for Chelsea. Still no proof but it looks like Chelsea's PR strategy just backfired in their face.

And finally, a note/warning/FYI....

The onlinegooner pointed out that the ownership of our club lies in the hands of a very small amount of people. And with more and more foreign $$$ hungry fellows buying Premiership clubs Arsenal look pretty tasty. Arsenal already have a huge fanbase around the world, we dont really need an influx of cash for transfers like Portsmouth and excluding our stadium depts we are pretty cheap at about £300m. Just a reminder that the Glazers paid £790m for United. Anyway 4 shareholders hold 2/3(66%) of Arsenal shares. The required amount to take over Arsenal is only 75%. Anyway, Arsenal lies in the hands of the following people:

Danny Fiszman- 25%
Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith- 16%
David Dein- 15%
ITV- 10% (for sale)

So it wouldnt be hard for some billionaire to take control of the club. And im sure none of us want someone like Roman or MSI running our club. "The Arsenal Supporters Trust is actively seeking to broaden the ownership of the Club to more supporters as well as trying to unite the current small shareholders."

For more info:
www.arsenaltrust.org

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I wish Arsenal played like girls

2006-09-04T20:31:00.000+08:00

Seriously, the Arsenal Women's team beat Bristol Academy 6-0 leaving our team on 9 points and a 23-0 record! Thats right, 23 goals in 3 matches and you thought Chelsea were dominant last season.

Well, i guess Gilberto was being politically correct when he said we will miss Cole and Reyes. And he even backed up Cole by saying that he doesnt think Cole said all the stuff in the papers leading up to the transfer. I guess he is saying this just incase Real realise Reyes is crap and dont sign him.

Baptista has revealed that Arsenal has the option of signing him on a 4-year deal if he impresses Wenger during his season-long-loan. I would like to take this time to say sorry to Baptista for saying he was overrated, apparently, after doing more research, he actually scored 8 goals in the few matches Real gave him last season. Reyes played almost all our matches and scored 6. Ohh, and he turned down Sp*rs too!

Arsene Wenger revealed that he was looking into signing Bellamy while he was at Rovers but changed his mind because he thought we had too many strikers. I agree.

Thierry has said that the pain of losing the World Cup finals was far less compared to the pain of losing the Champions League finals as losing through a penalty-shootout is far less painful than losing through bad refereeing. Again, I agree. Ive given it alot of thought and I realised that at the end of last season, we could have had Henry or The Champions League title, not both. And I think we came out with the right prize. The Champions League title is probably the dream of every Arsenal fan, but whats the use of winning it, losing your best striker and probably finish mid-table the following season.

Arsene Wenger says that international football is getting boring and very one-sided. During the weekend we saw scores like England 5-0 Andorra, Georgia 0-3 France, Spain 4-0 Liechtenstein and Slovakia 6-1 Cyprus. Arsene says that the increase in nations taking part has caused congestion in international matches. Its result, as he says, the value of playing for your country has dropped. Clubs dont longer rate players based on the performance at international level.

By the way, Arsenal bagged a nifty 2mil pounds from the Brazil-Argentina match that the brazilians won 3-0. Batista came on as a substitute and looked lively.

There are hardly any news floating about after the transfer window. We can expect alot more once we play our next match.

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Baptista's move is permanent not a loan deal!

2006-09-02T23:56:00.000+08:00

Either this is a typo or Baptista has joined for an 'undisclosed-fee'. Here is a quote from an article on Arsenal.com:

"Brazilian international Julio Baptista has joined Arsenal from La Liga side Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee, with Gunners forward Jose Antonio Reyes joining the Spanish side in a reverse move."

By the way, he has been given Reyes' no.9 jersey.

Wow, that was a short post.

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We Win: Kenyon happy but Jose furious

2006-09-02T10:57:00.000+08:00

Well, its reported that the 'NOT so special one' has had a bust-up with Peter Kenyon over the sales of William Gallas and Wayne Bridge to title rivals. Gallas of course came to the Emirates Stadium through a swap deal with Chelsea for Ashley Cole with Chelsea also adding 5m pounds to our account. Wayne Bridge was going to Newcastle before Newcastle changed their minds and wanted him on loan instead leaving Jose Mourinho angry by the fact that Kenyon sold(almost sold Wayne) players that Mourinho didnt want him to sell. The sale of Gallas made Mourinho angry as Jose wanted him to rot in the reserves after the refusal to travel to the United States with the rest of the club.

And Atletico Madrid want £1.3mil from Reyes and they claimed that one of his parents supposedly signed a document that indicated Reyes would join them. Reyes replied by saying he wouldnt do it cause its illegal.

We have also signed 18-year-old Brazilian defensive midfielder Denilson from Sao Paulo for £3.4mil. He would be our second 18-year-old signed in less than a week joining Sho Ito. Denilson though will need international clearance before he can play for Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger has revealed how happy he is by the prospect of 'The Beast' playing at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal striker(women's team) Kelly Smith scored a hat-trick in England's 4-0 win against Holland in theor world-cup qualifier.

Now, we have all been wondering where West Ham got the money to buy Tevez and Mascherano. That and why would they want to go there in the first place(no offense). Well, i read a couple of long articles about MSI's role in recent South American football history. I really didnt take it seriously until i read this article from TheFA.com. Moments after that, I saw this article on the SkySports website. Now im getting scared for the future of football. Thank god Arsenal are not backed by these companies. We can thank Hill-Wood for that. You can the stories i read about MSI weirdly enough from goodplaya's comments section. I wish the West Ham fans the best of luck, i personally love West Ham fans, very friendly and loyal compared to some fans from North London that wear white/blue.

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We were chasing 2 Argentinians and ended up with an overated Brazilian

2006-08-31T22:59:00.000+08:00

To start things off, take this as good news, bad news or the funniest news you have ever heard this transfer window. Tevez and Mascherano have joined West Ham, yes I said West Ham on a season long loan deal. I really wanted Mascherano, Tevez was tempting but I never really saw him fitting in our set-up.

And its finally over, I hope, Reyes has left Arsenal for Real Madrid in a deal that sees Julio Baptista and 2mil pounds come in our direction. Not a bad deal as I never really liked Reyes that much, having said that Baptista doesnt seem like he can score lots of goals. And where will he fit in the squad. He plays the attacking midfielder role, he plays just behind the forwards. I cant see Wenger dropping Gilberto and Fabregas is out of the question. I dont think he will replace any of our strikers so this all points to our 4-5-1 formation in Europe. I see the formation turning into more of a 4-4-1-1 this season with Baptista sitting behind Henry. I dont think Arsene will go with this formation in the premiership though, so ill be surprised if he isnt 'forced' to play right-wing, replacing Freddie who isnt getting any younger.

Arsenal are also trying to secure a work permit for Sho Ito, a promising Japanese 18-year-old before the transfer deadline. Arsene though, instead of making us foam at the mouth with the posibility of another young talent decided to compare him to, well read the quote yourself.
"I like him, I want to sign him and we are applying for a working visa for him on the basis of exceptional talent," Wenger said.
"Last season we had an exceptional talent visa for a Cameroon international, Alex Song, and this player looks another exciting prospect."

Dennis Bergkamp has been awarded the World Top Scorer Award for 1992. It apparently took a panel from IFFHS (International Federation of Football Historians and Statistics) 14 years to decide how many goals César Augusto Obando scored for Honduras in 1992.

And apparently with Mascherano joining West Ham, Reo-Coker is on his way to Arsenal, supposedly the transfer fee is 15mil pounds but I doubt West Ham will sell their captain(i think) that easily.

I hope the Cole saga ends today and doesnt drag on till January. If he isnt leaving now, Ashley should come out with a statement that says he will stay at the club till the end of the season, cause im sure Arsenal wont sell him in January. This will mean that all the tabloid rumours will stop and we will get Gallas for free :)

Thats all for now....lets hope we wake up Friday morning and see Robinho, Ronaldinho and Messi in Arsenal kits, lol!

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Cole Not Leaving! But Unlike Gallas, Will Play 1st Team Football

2006-08-29T21:50:00.000+08:00

Im really busy today so lets keep today's news simple and short.

Ashley Cole was part of the Arsenal reserves side that beat Charlton 4-0 at Underhill. This could either mean Arsene is feeding him to the sharks[sharks meaning reserve league football i guess], or he is staying at Arsenal for atleast another season. I have to say, I may not like his attitude, but Ash the a world-class player and we cant expect Hoyte to play there until January atleast. We would be mid-table, I would rather have Flamini there than Hoyte. Hoyte's a good player, but is very inexperienced and it showed against Man City the other night. If we dont get a replacement for Cole quick(if he leaves), more and more teams are gonna start using Man City's tactics against us, and teams with good strikers will take advantage of that.

Arturo Lupoli scored two goals for Derby County against Colchester but still ended up on the losing side as they went down 4-3. Seb Larsson and Niklas Bendtner were both involved in Birmingham City's 2-0 loss to Cardiff. Kerrea Gilbert was apart of the Cardiff team that did the damage.

Fernando Torres has encouraged his employers at Atletico Madrid to sign Jose Antonio Reyes. At this point all i can say is just take him.

Some pundits have been stating that Buffon is about to sign for Arsenal. Juve though, have repeatedly stated that no other players will leave the club before the end of this transfer window.

Our new no.7, Tomas Rosicky has stated that he is not worried about our bad start to the season and says that we should not panic because we lost a match that we had numerous goal scoring chances. He goes on to say that all they need to do is start scoring.

Finally, this is article deserves a read from caughtoffside. The writer seems to agree with me(my article) on the most part about how our former-midfield made us the team we were.

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Man City 1-0 Arsenal... Please Just Shoot!

2006-08-27T22:05:00.000+08:00

A disappointing result from a performance that deserved better. Losing this early on in the season is not good for team morale.

Thierry was obviously still feeling the effects of the world cup as he looked more like Emile Heskey that the striker that broke Ian Wright's record last season. Van Persie looked sharp but never looked like he was going to score. Unlike the past two games, the introduction of Theo Walcott didnt do much help as Arsenal still tried to pass their way behind the Man City defence.

Adebayor also came on to replace Hleb in the centre of midfield but didnt make an imapct. Arsenal had two penalty appeals, one from a tackle on Cesc and another when Van Persie was brought down, the referee gave a free-kick when it was obviously in the box.

Man City's goal came when Hoyte took out Sinclair in the box, it definate penalty but harsh on Hoyte who had his eyess on the ball. Barton then put the ball in the back of the net.

In the end, a typical Arsenal performance. Every attack ended without a shot, and this season with a defence thats the weakest ive seen under Wenger, the defence cant bail us out.

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2006-08-25T17:26:00.000+08:00

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CL Draw: A good draw for us

2006-08-25T16:39:00.000+08:00

CL draws are in. Arsenal are in Group G against Porto(POR) from pot 2, CSKA Moscow(RUS) from pot 3 and Hamburg(GER) from pot 4. I think this is a good draw for us. None of the teams will be push-overs, Porto have won the Cl before, CSKA have some experience in Europe and Hamburg did very well in the Bundesliga last season. We should not have any problems against Porto and CSKA but Hamburg are a good side and may be our toughest opposition. And everyone would have laughed when Chelsea got drawn with Barcelona in Group A.

The Reyes saga is becoming just as exciting*rolls eyes* as the Ashley Cole saga as Atletico have offered Arsenal first option if Torres decides to leave the club next season. I dont think it makes a difference though as Atletico have priced him at $40m, which means the 'first option' is useless for us cause we cant afford him anyway.

Freddie has come out and said that Chelsea's loss to Boro has given the rest of the premiership a confidence boost as it proves that Chelsea are beatable(and that all the money in the world still cant help you beat Boro, lol!).

And finally, remember Anelka, that kid....the one that played for us a while back and decided to move to Real Madrid for more $$$. Well, he's joined Bolton.

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Wenger not done in the transfer market...

2006-08-24T14:44:00.000+08:00

First off, Atletico Madrid have 'joined' Real Madrid in the race to sign Jose Antonio Reyes. Atletico have lots of money to spend this transfer window, but from what ive heard they have offered the same 8m pounds bid as Real Madrid.

Wenger though is probably not done buying new players so admitting that Arsenal have 'a chance of getting' more players. "Gallas is not the only player we have a chance of getting. As you know there is always a lot happening in the last few days - but he is a player we have a chance to get." It is rumoured that Man Utd and Arsenal have been alerted to the availability of AC Milan defender Kakha Kaladze, a 28-year-old player from Georgia. I cant really say anything cause ive never seen him play.

Remember guys, Champions League draw is today and Arsenal are ranked in the top seeds which means we cant play Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Lyon or Valecia. And for those who dont know, we cant play teams from the same country either so Man Utd(top seeds), Liverpool(top seeds) and Chelsea(2nd seeds) will have to wait for the knockout-rounds to play us.

Also, the best news last night was that Chelsea lost to Boro thanks to 2 late goals for Southgate's men. Which means one less team to worry about breaking our unbeaten record. Man Utd though beat Charlton 3-0.

Im done. Good night....

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Arsenal 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb...Walcott impresses again

2006-08-24T14:29:00.000+08:00

Ahh...a good 2-1 win. My prediction was right but I didnt like the way we were caught on the break so often. Dinamo Zagreb could have had a 3-0 lead by the 60th minute if they took their chances. Like against Aston Villa, we failed to get past the opponents back four. To be fair to our players, Zagreb did the exact same thing Villa did and put 11 players behind the ball.

We didnt really look like we were going to score before Henry and Walcott came on. Van Persie had a few chances, one hit the bar and the other(after some magic footwork) saved by the keeper. Adebayor looked OK but didnt get the crosses that he would have wanted.

Anyway, some bad defending lead to Zagreb taking the lead after just 12 minutes. That goals means that Arsenal have yet to score first in any match at Emirates Stadium(Ajax, Villa, Zagreb). Arsenal dominated the match and scored from a set-piece when Freddie Ljungberg(our captain for the day because Henry and Gilberto didnt start) headed Arsenal's first European goal at Emirates Stadium. Unfortunately, most of us missed the goal cause there were some technical problems that caused us to miss the goal on TV. In injury time Henry held the ball up for a long time before passing it to Theo on the right-wing, Theo crosses the ball and Flamini scores to give Arsenal their first competitive win at Emirates Stadium. That goal was Flamini's first goal since you beat Everton 7-0 two seasons ago.

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CL 2nd Leg: Zagreb Preview

2006-08-23T23:52:00.000+08:00

Arsene Wenger says we have completed 80% of the Zagreb job. Cant say I disagree. 3-0 from the first leg. Only the dumbest gambler will bet on Zagreb going through. Its not impossible though, with the right strategy, Zagreb can find themselves in the group stage and 15 million pounds richer.

It will be hard though as their most experienced and i guess famous player, Jens Nowotny is injured and wont be back till Christmas. Well, our Jens(Lehmann) has joined the growing list of injured players which includes Reyes and Rosicky. Reyes didnt feature in the first leg but Rosicky did and played very well in the left-wing position formerly played by Robert Pires, now on the treatment table at Villarreal.

The 3-0 with should give us some confidence to relax and play our favourite counter-attacking football as Dinamo Zagreb will have to attack. I just hope they dont go and do something stupid and attack and leave the defence wide open. In our 2 matches we have played in Emirates Stadium, we have conceded the first goal both times. Lets hope it doesnt happen again.

I do not think Henry will play as Wenger has been pointing out for the past 3 weeks that Henry isnt as fit as Wenger wants him to be. The french national team coach, Raymond Domenech didnt help eaither by playing Henry for the full 90 minutes against Bosnia. I suspect the strike force to be Adebayor and Van Persie, while Theo will occupy the left-wing position. I dont think Freddie will play either. Dont expect another big win though, I think this match will be much tighter, but we should still win.

For those of you living in UK, you can watch the match on ITV4 at 7.30pm. And for those of you in South East Asia like me, watch it on Astro Supersports at 3am(Aug 24th). Enjoy the match.

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Dont expect a title this season...

2006-08-23T16:53:00.000+08:00

First off, its great to be back. I was planning to start the new season with my review of the Villa game, but a combination of the bad result and this bad new layout stopped me from doing so. By the way, if you're good at making layouts/templates and can make one for me for free, contact me at highbury1913@gmail.com

Now on to my thoughts on this season. I would like to start out with what i would think would be a good job this season, finals of the FA Cup, 2nd in the league, Quarters of the Champions League and I dont give a damn about the League Cup.... why are my expectations so low? 2 reasons, Robert Pires and Highbury.

For all the babbling we Arsenal fans gave last season about how we lost the title because Vieira was gone, it really did not make sense to me how an 'Invinsible' team can finish only 2 points ahead of Sp*rs without one player. Yes, Vieira was a great leader and sets up tons of goals but he was/is still admired for his defensive abilities and we went a whole season unbeaten not because we won 1-0 tons of times but because no matter how many goals our opponents scored, we scored more... My point is, Robert Pires has been scoring 10+ goals each season for the past few seasons and i think he scored something like 16 goals in 1 season which was a Premiership record for a midfielder until Frank Lampard broke it(or he may have equaled it, i cant remember). He scored more goals than most strikers in the Premiership. My question is where are we gonna get those goals from now? Before anyone says Tomas Rosicky, let me tell you that he does not score that many goals despite the display at the World Cup, he only scored something like 5 goals for Dortmund last season. Thierry Henry can score 30 goals a season but what about those matches where defenders shut him out of the game, like how Chelsea and Man Utd did last season? Even Villa showed it last week, Eboue had more scoring chances than Henry! This is gonna be the first season in a long time that Arsenal are gonna struggle to score, no Pires to score from midfield and no Bergie to set up Henry.

Now, Highbury. What wrong with Emirates stadium? Nothing, its the best stadium in UK and maybe even Europe but its not 'home', and it wont be until the players get used to the wide pitch. Everyone is talking about how the wide pitch with make Henry's runs much easier and painful for defenders, but what about our own defenders? How are they gonna cope with the wide pitch. What's gonna happen when Eboue runs up the pitch, this pitch means more space for Kolo to cover and more space for the likes of Defoe, Rooney and Sheva to make room for a shot. Also dont forget that almost every time a club moves to a new stadium, it has problems. Remember the season when Man City moved to the City of Manchester stadium, and when the Siants moved to the Saint Marys stadium. Look where are they now, struggling in division 1, still rambling about how Walcott should have stayed there. Now im not saying that Arsenal are gonna get relegated, im just saying that we wont have a very good home record this season. We will have to do well away, and if our away record is anything like last seasons record, then forget qualification of the Champions League, we will be fighting with Bolton and Sheffield United(i think they will do well this season) for the last UEFA Cup spot.

Well, that was a long first post for the season. Im not talking about Cole, im hoping that people will come here just so that they dont have to read about it. Not talking about Gallas either eventhough Wenger admitted offering 5m pounds for him. Instead im gonna predict the 2nd leg of our CL qualification, 2-1 to Arsenal. Henry probably wont play, Walcott will probably play, Lehmann is injured(i think) and Wenger already said that Cole wont play, which means Reyes wont play either...eventhough he is not leaving for Real Madrid.

As usual...show how much you disagree with me by clicking the comments button below.

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2006-07-16T16:32:00.000+08:00

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Thierry Could Have Been The World's Most Expensive

2006-05-21T13:27:00.000+08:00

Arsenal had rejected 2 £50m bids from 2 Spanish clubs[Real and Barca] for Thierry Henry earlier this season. The deal would have made Henry The World's Most Expensive Player ahead of Zinedine Zidane who joined Real Madrid for £47. David Dein told the Sunday Express: "We turned down two world record deals from Spanish clubs. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out who they were,". He then added, "Our message was clear - he wasn't for sale. I'd like to think he heard that."

Barcelona's hero Juliano Beletti who scored the winning goal in Paris said that Thierry Henry's time at top-level football is over. He said: "Henry is Arsenal's best player but his time at the top level of the game is over. He aded, "He might just make it into the world's top 10 at the moment but that's not for certain. He ended, "He needed to leave London to become one of the top strikers but if he doesn't leave Arsenal, he never will." He also went on to talk about how Barca took advantage of Arsenal's weak link which was Ashley Cole. He also said that Arsenal are a 'tired' team and that there are problems among the players. How does he know all this? Does he play for Arsenal? He doesnt know 1 thing more about Arsenal than we know.

Arsenal Offer Pires 2-Year Deal, Cole 80K Richer, Jose Salutes Wenger

2006-05-20T23:31:00.000+08:00

It appears that one of Thierry's clauses of signing Arsenal's 4-year contract extention worth £130,000-a-week is that Robert Pires be offered a 2-year contract extention. Pires though has mentioned that 3 clubs have offered him 2-year deals including Champions League semi-finalists Villarreal.

In an attempt to stop Ashley Cole from leaving London for Spain, Arsenal have offered Cole a £80,000-a-week. Cole had signed a contract extention last summer but it appears that was just to up his pay to £60,000- a-week. If Cole signs this contract, it would make him Arsenal second highest paid player behind Thierry Henry who pockets more than half a million pounds each month!

Arsene Wenger has said that he intends to add 2 players of 'great calibre' to the club this summer. He said: “Normally we would sign at least one or two players of great calibre,” he said. “It is very difficult but we will try very hard to strengthen the side." The keyword there was normally, so dont mistake 'great calibre' with 'popular'. What Wenger probably meant was he tends to bring more Cesc-like players to Arsenal which I dont have a problem with.

Frank Rijkaard is looking to Barcelona's director of sport Txiki Beguiristain for an explanation why the Catalan club didnt get Thierry Henry to sign with them. "When something like this happens it is Txiki who must respond, I can only talk about people who are already in the dressing room." ,he said. "After Txiki has spoken perhaps I will be able to add something more." ,he added.

Jose Mourinho feels that Arsenal deserve to be European Champions. He said that Wenger deserves to win the title because of the great career he has had as a coach. He made sure that everyone knew that he didnt support Arsenal or Barcelona but said that England should be proud of Arsenal and that he felt sorry for Arsenal at the end of the match. He said: "I think English football can be proud of what Arsenal did in Paris because they played a very good team." He added: "I am not saying I was supporting them but at the end game, I felt sorry for them."

Henry: My Team Showed Me I Didn't Have To Leave

2006-05-19T15:13:00.000+08:00

Thierry Henry is staying at Arsenal, 5 words that is healing the pain of Paris. On the flight home from Paris, Henry picked up the intercom and said: "We must pick ourselves up and make sure we come back stronger next year."

Now, our King Henry has finally decided to stay. He told The Sun: "I hope to stay for as long as I can keep running. I couldn't face leaving the fans. They're like my family,". He then added: "I hope to finalise all the details today."

Henry also admitted that his sides amazing display against Barcelona in Paris helped him make up his mind, eventhough Arsenal lost 2-1 to 2 late goals from Barca. He said: "My team showed me I didn't have to leave. They showed me they had heart,". He added: "Everything was up in the air for a very long time. But at the end of the day, the team raised their game." Henry admitted his admiration for Barcelona but it was nothing compared to what the Arsneal layers showed him on Wednesday, "Don't get me wrong. I love Barcelona. But on Wednesday night, Arsenal showed me they had heart."

The Pain Of Defeat... Especially When It Was 10 Against 12

2006-05-18T21:30:00.000+08:00

The pain of losing the one match we have wanted to win more than any other...It would have hurt less if Arsenal deserved to lose but playing 10 aginst 12(11 Barca players and the referee), I'm sure none of us Arsenal fans were already celebrating before barcelona scored. I'll talk about a few points:

Lehmann Sending Off
I have to say, until now I still cannot see the replay of the through ball to Eto'o, I still dont know whether he was offside or not. Now, when Lehmann pulled down Eto'o there was no doubt that he got none of the ball and got a lot of Eto'o, the ball that falls to Giuly and he taps the ball into the back of the net. The referee decided not to give the goal instead he sent off Lehmann and gave a freekick when Lehmann brought down Eto'o. First of all, in the rule book it states that if a player or goalkeeper commits a foul and denies the opposition a goal-scoring chance, which Lehmann did, the player should be sent off. But the problem is that, its a final, and sending off a player 17 minutes into the game is spoiling the game for everyone and eventhough im an Arsenal fan, I think the ref should have given the goal and maybve give Lehmann a yellow card. I also think that Arsenal who have equalised because Arsenal, up to that point were in full control of the game. So, it was not a mistake, but lack of common knowledge of the game. Who to blame? The ref....no one else!

Sol's Goal
Nothing wrong with the goal but the freekick that was the cause of the goal has some problems. To make it clear, Puyol did make contact but it was minimum and in reality Eboue wouldnt even have gone down but the minute Eboue felt contact the literally 'jumped' down to the ground and made it seem like it was a serious tackle. What I dont understand is, the linesman was about 5 yards away from the incident, how did he see it as a tackle, even on the tele, with a worse angle and the camera positioning being further away, you could see it was obviously a dive. Who to blame? Not the ref this time, but Eboue and the linesman.

Eto'o's Goal
Along with the many decisions that went Barcelona's way, goal goal that should'nt have been brought them level. A though ball to Larsson from Ronaldinho[i think] and Larsson push to ball in the path of Samuel Eto'o who put the ball past Almunia at his near post. When Larsson's passed to Eto'o, Eto'o was offside and therefore the goal should not have been allowed. It was obviously offside to most of us humans with eyes but it appears that the linesman who made quite a few mistakes himself that day, cost Arsenal the match.

Title Slips Away
When that goal went in, everyone knew it was over. The Arsenal players, fan and probably even the commentators knew Barcelona would finish off Arsenal, it was just a matter of when, it would either been in the remaining 13 minutes of the game or in extra-time because the Arsenal players were already looking tired, to put them through another 30 minutes of pain and suffering was just plain sad. It was not long before Belletti put Barcelona in front and ended some little bit of hope that Arsenal had. Arsenal down in confidence, tired and beaten couldnt even try and attack for the equaliser and not long later it was over.

Arsenal Football Club, Runners-Up of The UEFA Champions League 2006.

Barca Linesman Replaced! Messi In or Out?

2006-05-17T15:13:00.000+08:00

The Norwegian linesman who was photographed wearing a Barcelona jersey has been replaced by another Norwegian, Arild Sundet. Though I try not to pronounce either of their names, I would have liked Ole Hermann Borgan, the 'Barca' linesman to keep his place. You would think because of him wanting to show he is not biased he would give Arsenal all the 50/50 decisions. Unfortunately, it will not happen and a linesman who isnt even in Paris yet will replace him.

Frank Rijkaard will leave it to the absolute last minute to announce his squad for the final because he is not sure if Messi is fit enough. He has though said that Messi has been improving in training and Messi will take part in Barca's last training session before the final and Rijkaard wants to wait till after the session to make his decision. He said: "We still have one training session, including Messi and we will have to wait and see what happens. We are all happy that Leo is improving."

21-Man Arsenal Squad Named For CL Final

2006-05-17T15:05:00.000+08:00

Arsenal have named their 21-man squad that will take on Barcelona in Paris tonight. No big surprises as all the superstars are in the team, superstars meaning Henry, Fabregas and Lehmann!

Heres the 21-man squad:

GK
Jens Lehmann, Manuel Almunia, Mart Poom.

DEF
Ashley Cole, Philippe Senderos, Sol Campbell, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Johan Djourou, Mathieu Flamini.

MID
Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Gilberto, Alexander Hleb, Jose Antonio Reyes, Cesc Fabregas, Alexandre Song.

STR
Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Dennis Bergkamp.

CL Final Assistant Ref Pictured In A Barca Jersey

2006-05-16T22:20:00.000+08:00

Ole Hermann Borgan, no he is not the next Theo Walcott...he is the Norwegian assistant referee at the Champions League final in Paris that posed in a Barcelona home jersey for the Norwegian newspaper Drammens Tidende. He has now come out and said that he was stupid and said that this would not affect his performance in Paris.

He said:
"It was both thoughtless and stupid of me," Borgan told the newspaper's website.

"I didn't think the situation and consequences through when I was asked to put on the shirt."

The referee for the match is also Norwegian, Terje Hauge who is now famous for sending off Asier Del Horno in Barcelona's match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier this season. Terje was one of the referees at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan but has not been called-up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Rijkaard: It Will Be Easier For Arsenal

2006-05-16T19:03:00.000+08:00

36 hours away!

Marcel Desailly reckons Henry will stay at Highb....wait, Emirates Stadium. Marcel believes that he has a good life in London, a life that he wont want to let go off. He said that henry will end his career with Arsenal like Maldini at AC Milan, he told BBC Sport: "He will stay to lead Arsenal into the new stadium and finish his career at Arsenal like (Franco) Baresi and Paolo Maldini finished their careers at AC Milan. He will be the next legend of Arsenal like Tony Adams,".

Thierry told reporters that his passion for the game comes from his inner anger....whatever that means. He also talked about hom eventhough Ronaldinho smiles all the time, he has the inner anger too. All I can say is, with teeth like that, you cant go through life without having anger! Henry siad: "When I see those two[Rooney and Ronaldinho] I see a player from the streets. Everyone talks about Ronaldinho smiling all the time but inside there are no smiles."

Frank Rijkaard believes that he has the tougher job compared to Wenger going into the final because[he believes] Arsenal will be sit back and play counter-attacking football against his Barca side. He said: "It will be easier for Arsenal than for us. They will wait to hit us on the counter attack, and will look for their options this way." I still think Arsenal will not go into the final playing counter-attacking football simply because thats not how Arsenal play. Like against Real Madrid and Juventus, I think Arsenal will try to score an early goal, and if it comes, they will try to slow down the tempo in the second half and then... Arsenal will sit back!

CL Final Preview II: Eboue Warns Ronaldinho, Brazilian Fears Arsenal

2006-05-15T22:32:00.000+08:00

Lots of news coming out ahead of the Champions League final, not surprisingly most have something to do with Ronaldinho. Theo Walcott is also making headlines around England as Sven said that other national coaches will be shocked by his pace at the World Cup.

Lets start off with Eboue and how he thinks he can stop Ronaldinho. Truthfully, Eboue will probably do better against Ronaldinho that maybe Lauren might have. As it stands, I think Eboue will limit Ronaldinho's attacking on the left but I dont think he will make much difference as Ronaldinho almost always drifts into the middle to find space for the perfect lobbed pass to the strikers. Best of luck Eboue, you're gonna need it!

Lehmann has admitted that he was surprised when Arsenal started collecting clean sheets in this years CL. He said that as time went on, it became less of a surprise. He pointed out that a few seasons ago, when Arsenal were at their best, The Gunners could'nt go all the way due to the lack of defence, but now with the young defence line, Lehmann has gone 10 matches in the CL without having to pick the ball out of the net, these includes matches against Juve and Real Madrid.

Arsene Wenger admitted that Barcelona are favourites going into the Champions league final and that Arsenal are the underdogs. Wenger though believes that Arsenal have focused on the Champions league all through the season and The Gunners are capable of defeating the mighty Barcelona. He said: "We can beat them. It's a final and you always have a chance. My team have banked on (winning) this competition and I'm certain they are going to assume their responsibilities, meaning they are going to win."

Ronaldinho fears Arsenal. That was not a typo. The World Player of The Year said that he fears the whole Arsenal team, not just Thierry Henry. He said that the Barcelona players have to respect Arsenal's defensive ability but said that will not affect the way they play. He said: "We will not change our style of play,".

Preview I: Champions League Final, Arsenal - Barcelona

2006-05-14T16:13:00.000+08:00

It less than a week away. The biggest match of Arsenal's history! And the best part is that World Player of The Year, Ronaldinho is more focused on getting Henry to play with him instead of paying attention on whats ahead in Paris.

The Brazilian Barca player said that he has speaks with Henry often and have recently been swapping SMSes through the phones. I'm sure the Barca board have something to do with the recent amount of Barca players 'inviting' Henry to Spain.

Arsenal have released an article stating that both Arsenal and Barcelona will only get 21,000 tickets each eventhough the Stade de France can hold more than 77,000! As it appears, most of the tickets will go to UEFA with 10,000 tickets going to the French Football Federation who I hope will be filled with Arsenal supporters!

Sunderland 0-3 Arsenal... And So It Begins

2006-05-02T22:30:00.000+08:00

If you think 'and so it begins' means ive changed my mind about Arsenal's chances of getting that 4th spot, you are very wrong. What i mean by so it begins is the 2 more premiership matches, like Sunderland... where our opponents decide to be so rough that it seems that they are seemingly trying to injure our players ahead of May the 17th.

The minute I saw that tackle I knew it was bad. Many Arsenal players have condemned Sunderland for the way they played the match. You can say it was Arsenal VS 11 Roy Keanes'. I dont know whether Man City will play like Sunderland but I have to say that if they do, I may start to wonder how much the rest of England want Arsenal to win the CL. I have a few friends(Sp*rs, Chelsea ,Man Utd, etc) who agreed that Arsenal are still 'English' even if they dont contain an Englishmen. But it has come to my attention that a lot of people seem to agree with Alan Pardew, I just hope none of them play for Man City.

Anyway, an own goal, a good goal from Cesc and a freekick from Henry terminated Sunderland before the end of the first half. The match though ended badly as Sunderland player Smith tackled Diaby... Diaby is expected to be out for 6 months. Its really sad, Ive posted countless times how much I enjoy watching Diaby play but we wont see him in Paris.... wait... maybe we will, i heard he lives around the corner of Stade De France

Hill-Wood: We'll Manage

2006-05-01T16:02:00.000+08:00

Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood admits that like everyone, he has no clue where Theirry Henry's future lies.He does though think that Arsenal can continue being one of England's top sides without him. Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports News, he said: "We haven't got a clue want he wants to do.

"He's slightly moody, too. Some days he's up, some days he's down.

"He has a wonderful life in London and gets very well paid.

"We hope he decides to stay with us, but I haven't got any more idea than you have.

"I think he's irreplaceable, but we're fine, we'll manage.

"We've managed before, but it will be a big blow."

Say Bye Bye To 4th Spot

2006-05-01T15:41:00.000+08:00

With Sp*rs winning 1-0 against Bolton, they now only need to beat a West Ham side that will rest 90% of their players for their FA Cup final against Liverpool. A lot may argue that football is a weird game and anything may happen....but 'it' rarely does.

My recommendation to Wenger, starting today against Sunderland, start resting the stars one-by-one(not the whole squad), especially Toure who deserves a rest more than anyone. When Theo recovers from his injury, play him...rest Henry.

Infact, why not rest our best player Lehmann too. The last thing we want is for the match against Barca to go to penalties and see Almunia between the sticks. I also think that we are not gonna score against Barca with that 4-5-1 formation, so rest van Persie too. Give Pires some games before he leaves the club. Give Bergi some starts aswell!

The reason why I want everyone to be well rested is simple, if we want to see the famous CL anthem played at Emirates Stadium, we need to beat Barcelona because i can bet my CK underwear that Sp*rs will beat West Ham...not to forget that Alan Pardew and Wenger are not the best of friends.

But please Wenger... dont replace the whole starting 11 with 16 year old kids. We still need a backup incase we lose to Barca... a UEFA Cup spot is better than nothing!

Cole: Who said I was leaving?

2006-04-29T16:49:00.000+08:00

Ashley Cole has revealed that he never thought of leaving Arsenal. The English defender who was fined for his part in last seasons tapping-up case was said to be unhappy that Arsenal didnt support him in that case. The defender though has recently said: "I´m staying. Who said I was leaving? There has been a lot of speculation about me leaving but I´ve not thought about it."

Jeremie Aliadiere has warned Arsene Wenger that he will leave the club if Arsene tries to send him on loan again. Jeremie has had a tough times on loan with West Ham, Celtic and Wolves and said that he would rather move to another club permanently than on a loan deal. Speaking to The Sun he said: "I've had enough. I don't like going on loan. I've had the experience and it hasn't been great for me.

"I won't go on loan anymore. If I have to leave I would rather it was a permanent transfer.

"I hope my future is at Arsenal and I really want to go back there."

I Doubt Arsenal Will Wear The Black Jersey In The CL Final

2006-04-29T16:09:00.000+08:00

ArsenalTalk recently came out with an article that stated that Arsenal will be wearing a black jersey for our champions league final match against Barcelona. The reason was said to be because Barcelona wanted to wear their orange away kit which will clash with both the redcurrant home kit and the away yellow kit. This is most probably fake for the following reasons:

1. I doubt any team, even Barca, would want to play in their away! The main reason why UEFA has a coin toss in deciding which side will wear their home kit is because both sides will always want to wear their home kit.

2. Barca away kit is neon yellow not orange.

3. If the jersey does clash with both our home and our away kit, we have a blue 3rd kit that we use for this sort of problems.

4. A black jersey will be bad because most of the crowd will not own the jersey thus resulting in Arsenal fans looking more like Barca fans.

This is what the so-called final jersey looks like:

Arsenal 1-1 Sp*rs: Sportsmanship

2006-04-23T14:38:00.000+08:00

A match that was so dramatic it should be turned into a drama. Sp*rs dominated the first half against an Arsenal team missing almost half of their starting lineup. Henry, Fabregas and Eboue were left on the bench to rest their legs for Arsenal's match against Villarreal.

Sp*rs had countless chances to score but Lehmann and some bad finishes kept the score at 0-0 at half time. Adebayor and Van Persie had chances too but failed to convert them, one of the chances saw RvP through on goal, one-on-one with Robinson but the put his shot wide.

Sp*rs started better in the second half aswell, but the game changed when Arsenal made their first substitution, bringing on Eboue on for the injured Senderos, pushing Djourou to the middle of defence. Suddenly, Sp*rs were looking less likely to get away with a point, Arsenal were pushing forward in search of a goal that looked just minutes away. Wenger decided to add some speed to the attacks by bringing on Henry for RvP and Cesc for Diaby, but it backfired...Arsenal pushed to high up and found themselves in a counter-attack. Gilberto and Eboue clashed while trying to get the ball, the ball fell to a Sp*rs player, Arsenal players stopped expecting Sp*rs to put the ball out but were shocked when the player passed it to Davids who crossed it to the far post where Keane tapped it in. I will talk about the goal later but lets go on.

Arsenal started lobbing balls forward in every attack and it finally payed off in the 84th minute when Adebayor used his physical power to snatch the ball from Starteri and passed it to Henry inside the box who finished it like only he or SN14 could have. By the way, the squirrel did not make an appearance...unfortunately. Anyway, Arsenal kept pushing for the win but couldnt find it, but Davids being sent off was good compensation.

Now onto that goal, if you see the replays, you would see that after Gilberto and Eboue clash the ball does NOT fall to Davids straight away, which rules out the statement that he did not know what was happening behind him. If you look at it closely, you can see Gilberto shouting for Sp*rs to put the ball out of play when Carrick[i think] picked up the ball in front of them. And again, if you look at the replay, you can see Davids clearly looking at the incident and decided to pass the ball on instead of put it out when the ball fell to him. That rules out the statement that he didnt know Eboue was down. Im not blaming Keane, you pass the ball to me 2 yards out to an open goal in a local derby, ill shoot too but im blaming Davids and the referee. Yes, that baldy, there was a clear 10 seconds[about that] between the time Eboue and Gilberto clashed and when Keane scored. When he saw Carrick pass the ball instead of putting it out he should have blown his whistle.

All in all, im happy with the result because if we win our match in hand then we are only a point behind them and they have a far tougher run-in of matches compared to us. And I cant post without typing the fab result Liverpool got against Chelsea, a 2-1 scoreline that I will enjoy talking to my Chelsea friends about.

Eto'o Insults Arsenal

2006-04-19T20:14:00.000+08:00

How could two words make me so angry? Eto'o wants Henry at Barca and has decided to insult Arsenal in the process of persuading Henry to join the Catalan club.

"His place is at Barca. All the great players should play for great clubs." -Eto'o
I seriously want him to define a 'great' club. Is it league success, cuz we have that. Is it financial success, cuz we are on our way to that. Or is it European sucess, we may not have that but i dont think a club which has only won it once to be much better. In fact, I saw the repeat of that match against Sampdoria and feel that Sampdoria should have won that match! I desperately want us to win against Villarreal, reach the finals and trash Eto'o and Co.

Cesc Fabregas is fit for the Villarreal match but Sol will miss it due to his broken nose. Ashley Cole will take no part in the Villarreal match but will be playing for the reserves on Wednesday.

Eto'o Warns Henry

2006-04-14T20:10:00.000+08:00

Barca's top-scorer Samuel Eto'o has sent out a warning to Thierry Henry, claimimg that Henry will not be guaranteed a first-team place. Eto'o insists that he will not just hand his starting position to Henry on a silver-platter.

"I'm not in charge of the transfer campaign. I have a contract with Barcelona and I'm not leaving, no matter if Henry, Adriano or even Ronaldo arrive. said Eto'o. "If Henry does really sign for us then it won't be a problem for me, it will be a problem for Frank Rijkaard."

Now in any 'normal' club your top-scorer would almost be guaranteed a starting position but as Barcelona are turning into a european powerhouse, they seem to forget the stars that got them there. Sameul Eto'o is a player with class and has been Barca's top striker for a few seasons now. I think it may be the fact that with the increasing amount of so-called 'top-players'[if Henry joins] at Barcelona, they are looking more and more like Real Madrid, losing the players that can guarantee them success in order to pursuit the 'best' players.

Players like Michael Owen and Fernando Morientes[eventhough he stinks at Liverpool, he scored quite a few goals for Real] we sold to make way for Julio Baptista and Robinho[eventhough I think he is great, he is not getting the goals].

So what im trying to say is, Barca are taking a risk in attempting to sign Henry, a risk that they do not need to take. Some of the current/past best players in Europe have had problems after switching leagues. Diego Forlan is widely known as the biggest flop of the Premiership, took him pretty long to get his first goal for Utd...and it came from the spot! He went to Villarreal and is now one of La Liga's top strikers.

How about some Arsenal players, Nick Anelka, Arsenal's top-scorer one season, Real Madrid mistake next season. Marc Overmars and Manu Petit were a part of the great Arsenal double-winning team od 98 but after moving to Barca for more success and ummm....money, their careers went downhill. Petit returned to the EPL with Chelsea while Overmars ended his career with Barca a few years later.

Villarreal Resting Strikers Ahead Of CL Clash... More Emirates Stadium Pictures

2006-04-14T19:40:00.000+08:00

Villarreal have rested their stars for their La Liga match against Barcelona on Friday. Star players Juan Roman Riquelme, Diego Forlan, Juan Pablo Sorin and Alessio Tacchinardi have all been left out of the squad to face Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Villarreal have an outside chance of getting into Europe next season and they need a miracle to get into the Champions League. Villarreal have 2 points out of a UEFA Cup spot and are hoping European success will keep them in Europe's elite competition next season, much like Arsenal. Barca who play AC Milan on Tuesday are resting Ronaldinho for their match against Villarreal.

Arsenal.com have released more Emirates Stadium pictures. It seems that the stadium is progressing well, nothing like the unknown finish date of Wembley!

Bergi's Testimonial First Match At Emirates Stadium

2006-04-14T18:56:00.000+08:00

Firstly, i would like to say sorry for the lack of posts recently, i have been very busy with table tennis... yes table tennis and lots of other stuff, and the fact that my internet connection was down did not help.

Anyway, Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match will be the first match to be held at the Gunners new 60,000 seater stadium, Emirates Stadium. It will be a fitting end to an Arsenal career of the only remaining player of the Pre-Wenger era. Bergkamp's testimonial will be held on the 22nd of July. Bergi said: "What will make the occasion extra special is not only will it be the first-ever match at Emirates Stadium, it will be an opportunity to see Arsenal players past and present on the pitch at the same time."

The Arsenal Ladies have secured a 3rd straight league title, beating rivals Charlton in the 2-0 thriller Meadow Park. The Arsenal Ladies have had a battle with the Charlton Ladies all season, with Charlton beating Arsenal in the League Cup final, Arsenal beating Charlton in the FA Cup semis and this win to secure the title with 1 game to spare was the decider. Arsenal have the chance for the double if they can now beat Leeds in the FA Cup finals.

Sol Campbell's nose is broken! Not a surprise after seeing the amount of blood flowing from his nose during our visit to Portsmouth. Wenger said that it will be up to the specialist to decide if he needs surgery or he can put it off till the end of the season because he has no breathing problems. He the doctor decideds that he needs surgery, Sol will be out for up to 3 weeks but Wenger believes he can rejoin the squad after a week. No matter how long he will be out, if he does need surgery, Sol will be out of the first leg of our Champions League match against Villarreal, eventhough I doubt he would have started anyway.

Villarreal Have Advantage Over Arsenal... Ferguson: We Trusted Our Young Players

2006-04-08T22:48:00.000+08:00

Villarreal and Barcelona have managed to reschedule their La Liga clash at the Nou Camp 24 hours earlier[Friday] so they can have more time to prepare for thier Champions League tie against Arsenal and AC Milan respectively. Now, Arsenal could ask the English FA for the to help them too but it would actually make things worse for Arsenal's already hectic schedule.

Robert Pires is unhappy that he was dropped to the bench in Arsenal's 0-0 draw at Turin that resulted in the gunners making it to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time under Arsene Wenger. He was also disappointed that Wenger did not explain to him why he made the decision to drop the french 32-year-old. Most people see it as Freddie is more hardworking than Pires and also probably because eventhough Freddie is not a good defensive midfielder, he is still better at defending compared to Pires. Obviously in Turin Arsene knew that they needed to defend well against Juve in Turin, and Wenger opted for extra cover instead of a forward-runner. Pires said: “I would have liked to have had an explanation. I did not get one. It’s not for me to go into the office and ask why I am not playing. I reckon it’s for the manager to talk to you and enlighten you a little bit."

Alex Ferguson has warned Chelsea they will have more competition for the premiership title next season. While Chelsea were writing out multi-million dollar checks for players in pursuit of titles, Arsenal and Man Utd have been developing talent through their youth system. Arsenal and Man Utd have lost their influencial captains but Cesc Fabregas and Darren Fletcher have both helped theirt sides cope with the loss. "Next season could be really exciting as far as the league is concerned,' said Ferguson." said Ferguson. "You can see promise in both ourselves and Arsenal. We cannot have the same expenditure as Chelsea, so we have to do things in a different way." he added. "But both Arsene Wenger and myself are too experienced to let it get to us. We trusted our young players and now that confidence is being repaid."

Lehmann No.1... Pires: No Villarreal Deal... Cole's Agent Guilty

2006-04-07T23:23:00.000+08:00

Jens Lehmann has been named German No.1 ahead of this years world cup. Lehmann's rival and bitter nemesis Oliver Kahn fancied his chances but was disappointed when he heard the news. Klinsmann is said to have picked Jens because of his outstanding display for Arsenal in the premiership and Champions League."This was the most difficult decision of my term," said Klinsmann in a statement released by the German Football Federation. Oliver Kahn decided to look on the bright side, "I will now, in the coming weeks, fully concentrate on my duties with Bayern Munich." said Kahn after admitting his disappointment.

Robert Pires has denied rumours that he has agreed a deal with Arsenal opponents in the semi-finals of the champions league, Villareal. "The Italian press say I am going to Roma or to Fiorentina," he told L'Equipe. "The Scottish press say I'm going to Glasgow Rangers. I am supposed to be going everywhere, but the truth is I have still not taken a decision." he continued. "It makes me laugh. I will make the decision but it is also nice to be watched by other clubs."

Ashley Cole's agent Jonathan Barnett has been charged with breach of conduct[illegal approaches to clubs by players under contract] by the FA and Players' Agents Code of Conduct by FIFA which states that agents are required to respect third parties and in this case, Arsenal would be the third party. Cole, Chelsea and Mourinho have all be charged and fined by the FA already.

Arsenal/Juve To Play Villarreal... Some Great Emirates Stadium Pictures

2006-04-05T17:51:00.000+08:00

Villarreal beat Inter Milan 1-0[agg 2-2] which resulted in the Spanish club making it to the Champions League semi-finals, where they will play either Arsenal or Juventus. I really didnt know who I wanted to win in that match. If Inter won, Arsenal would not have an easy task but would definately be up for it. Some might say the easier tie would be against Villarreal(eventhough they played great against Inter), but Arsenal may underestimate Villarreal like they did Valencia a couple of years ago. But Arsena;'s primary focus should be on Juve and I really scared after seeing how Boro blew it in europe when they conceded 2 early goals against Basel.

Some great Arsenal pictures were caught by The Liverpool Pictorial Website, 57 images that will give a rough image of what Emirates Stadium will look like! Go here.