McClarens' first mistake...

Well, after a rest due to our early and expected exit in the World Cup, we are officially back to square one with international football in England.

Steve 'I'll do it my way and differently to Sven' McClaren has done a very Sven like thing and given the captaincy to John Terry.
Whilst Terry will make a good captain, the opportunity to cast away doubts of Svenism has been blown because its a very predictable, safe and obvious choice. If you could sum up Sven's reign in 3 words then those three are going to be near the top.

Gerrard as captain would have sent out a postive, attacking message that would breathe new life into the England set up. For someone who is interested in distancing himself from Sven, he's really has dropped a bollock here. Yet can someone who was his predocessors right hand man for 5 years really seperate himself from his former boss? Are we to think that Sven NEVER listened to McClaren? Of course not, and as I've said before, the McClaren appointment is dull and uninspiring and was made to please the 'little England tubthumpers.'

Come to think of it, if that's what this national team is going to represent, Terry will make a fine figurehead.


Arsenal wise, there is deadlock between us and that small team with lots of money over the Cashley transfer fee and Reyes' phone is constantly on its charger "incase he misses something important."
I like Reyes, he always appears to try hard but he will never be the player he can over here. If we can get money back and quickly spend it before the new season then its best for everyone involved.

But for Gods' sake, lets not just take the money for these two and keep it in a bank account. So far, I think Wenger is justified in allowing the youngsters to step up to replace those players already gone, but if Assssssssshley Hole and Jose go without established players being purchased, then the experience and youth balance will dangerously distorted for this coming season.

Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal

Season proper begins tonight then!

Getting Zagreb was a tough one in the draw; not only is the Croation league stronger than say, the Lithuanian one but they are already into their season and will therefore have far more match fitness than us.

The team put out will be a young one with a few big names missing but my real interest comes in whether Adebayor and RvP can perform together provided they both start. If the 4-5-1 served us so well last season, will we see this stick or will we go 4-4-2. Away from home in a tough qualifier against a team more up to speed than us would make me favour the lone striker approach today and then use 4-4-2 at the Emirates. Rosicky will also be someone to watch tonight; he won't be starting apparently, but when and where he comes on could be interesting. Also, if we see Reyes start, assume that all the Madrid talk is just the kind of thing that their piece of shit papers bring up every week with our players.

If we want to go only eleven minutes further and win the European Cup, we'll have to beat better teams than Zagreb but a draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world; leaving it entirely in our hands back home. For me, this soon after an 11 month season for most of our players would do me just fine for now.

Apparently there are always goals involved with Zagreb, but we aren't shy either and I'm going for a narrow win with Ade-cool being a pivitol figure.

Come on you goooooners!

The wait is almost over

The wait is over in more ways than one this week. I am back after an absence of birthdays and seeing the best hard rock band on the planet, but more importantly the wait is almost over for the new season and.........new players apparently!

All sorts of swap rumours are flying round that I'm sure you know of - the Gallas/Cole and Reyes cash for Ribery type things, but rarely do swap deals happen. Capello doesn't seem like the type to tolerate Reyes; his wingers at Juve were Nedved and Camoranesi. Much more centrally focused than if you put Reyes out wide, although he can, debateably, play up front.

Ash is off and everyones feelings on that have been clear for a long time. If Gallas is included, great, but lets not get our hopes up. The knock on effect of getting £16 million + is that other clubs know we have cash and we have to pay over the odds. Ribery is realistic but we don't need him is Jose sticks around.
Wenger has come out in the press and talked about experienced players today; one, perhaps two of them. To me, depth is as important as some earth shattering multi miilion pound Torres type signing. Our first eleven will compete with anyone, but take out Jens, Kolo and TH14 and suddenly the lack of experience will haunt us.

Its kicking into gear and we will sign players buy the time the new season begins. Its just a matter of patience.

On a lighter note, and as much as it pains me to say it, I've not yet had a chance to congratulate Spurs on bleeding the Mancs dry on Carrick - the twenty first century David Batty.

Just imagine the terrifying midfield pair of Carrick and Peter 'O'shea' Kay! Hehehehe