The Arse Club

McClarens' first mistake...

2006-08-10T19:47:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-08T17:49:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-07T12:17:00.000+01:00

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

Great Respect for a Great Man

2006-07-23T13:02:00.000+01:00

There aren't many Arsenal games where the result doesn't matter; basically this one and arguably the Carling Cup, but yesterday wasn't about results, it was about fun and paying respects.

Is there any club that could have done a testimonial in such a classy way? Would Man USA have allowed 3 generations of Bergkamps to kick off a testimonial game? Their equivalent is Keane and surely at least 2 out of the 3 generations of the Keanes are in prison?
From Vieira and Ian WWW to Marco Van Basten and Cruyff; the whole day was spectacular. Bergkamp apparently shelled out for all the t-shirts on the seats and the man was treated like a God and fair play too. It was a truly special day and even some cheeky Ajax gimp scoring the first goal didn't ruin the day.

So, the 'gentleman club' says goodbye to a true legend and gentleman of the game in the classiest and most repectful of fashions. It simply couldn't have happened if it were another club or another player. That shows you how much depth the link between the club and the player has.

Dennis Bergkamp: God of the game.

We've had Dennis Bergkamp!!!

2006-07-21T11:03:00.000+01:00

Dennis Bergkamp hangs up the boots tomorrow after the opening event at the new stadium. No-one deserves that more. Whilst it has been Wenger who has juggled transfers in order to compete in competitions and construct our new stadium, he was one of the first world class players to join Arsenal, probably leading to a knock on effect.

I can't really bring myself to write a full on eulogy about Dennis, this site simply doesn't have enough space to write down all his amazing moments. Whilst it is stereotypical, my favourite moments have to be THAT goal against Newcastle, THAT hatrick against Leicester, THAT goal against Argentina for Holland. Others include the last minute winner against Thun where in the Clock End it felt like we won the competition and also the classic Bergy goal against Brom on Bergkamp day: timinig or what?! Notice that every goal was special and there really aren't that many tap ins or close range headers. Maybe the Thun goal is one of five in about 100!

You hear the 'scorer of great goals, not a great goalscorer' statement a lot - well, it belongs to this man and we know that goals weren't even his main asset to the side!! the through balls, the vision, the runs, the chips, the partnership with TH14 were every defender knew how the play would occur but was powerless to stop it, to the double winning link up with Freddie in 2002.

Dennis had it all, even the mean streak that the true greats (Zidane, Maradonna et al) have. He is a sporting god and in my opinion the best player to ever play forArsenal. Not as prolific as certain others for sure, but Christ, was he the best player.

I don't think there can be a bigger compliment than the fact that I'm gonna try and squeeze into my Bergkamp shirt tomorrow. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't a medium boys shirt from 11 years ago!!!

Dennis Bergkamp - we salute you.

Cashley Cole, Stephen Dennis and the sun...

2006-07-14T02:15:00.000+01:00

Dear Sirs,

Far be it from me to be a moral/academic judge, but I have reason to believe that the most 'intelligent' of the three of you has the claim of being the man that wrote the book based upon the SERVANT of princess Diana? A lady that was much loved but not of Royal blood. So your career highlight is writing the sooths of a helper who may or may not have been drunk at the time of death of a dodgily wealthy Arab and a rejected English tart?

Wow!! Not only am I humbled by your quest for truth, but I'm relieved that you scribe such hard hitting factual journalism! More than that, I'm much at ease that your clients, such as Mr Cole, believe you to be the pillar of society that you truly are; and not simply the 'I'm a celebrity/big brother/love island/girls aloud/poker face/millionaire/x factor/WAG/Johnny-come-lately/ get me out of HER' that the silly people who don't purchase your 'exclusive' version of events in the murdoch daily sun realise you are!!!!

So Cashley Cole wants to go? For 16 million?! Its a good job you told us those two bits of classified info or we'd have never known!

If Arsenal do get 16 MILLION pounds for a world class left back, good business I say.!!
Ashley Cole is an amazing player, but he is the one player at the club we can replace without really trying. With the Cole-Pires-Henry left-hand triangle dead already due to RP7 leaving, Ash would have become merely a great left back rather than be remembered as the dynamic wing back that defences simply pissed themselves over at Arsenal in previous years.

In Gael Clichy we have someone who is not as good going forward but is a much better defender. In time, along with Flamini, we will benefit from selling Ashley. He's a Gooner, he's local, he's part of the INVINCIBLES, he's English, he'll ALWAYS be a legend but he's also a greedy fuck who has wanted to be with the Russian Pillagers for almost two years.

Whether he stays or goes has nothing to do with me, but remember that whilst we may benefit from a having a world class player in our ranks, he doesnt want to be here and for that, 16 million quid in Wengers hands seems like the bargain of the century!

With players like Yaya, Lilly, Appiah, Carrick, Vieira (pls no!) and Saviola presenting like dogs on heat, replacing the only replacable player in our squad is sound business.

Lets not forget that with the new stadium, we are a business more than ever before and along with the above transfers - like yesterday with the bow down to Kolo - I'd like to give even BIGGER worship to Big Phil. Philling (excuse the pun!) Tony Adams' number 6 shirt is a different kettle of fish to KT having Keowns number 5. Arsene has some faith in you boy! Fair fucking play.

When was the last time we had a 4, 5, and 6 in our squad? Was it when we destroyed United at Old TURD-ford in 2002?

Good, its about bloody time...

The rumour mill kicks into gear...

2006-07-12T12:57:00.000+01:00

The rumour mill has began to step up a level now that the over hyped World Cup has finished. I'm not saying the World Cup was awful, but when a team of golden oldies and an insipid but solid Italy team take the Final itself to penalties, it just summed up the tournament perfectly. In some ways it showed the transitional nature of international football right now. There are simply too many domestic superstars not ready to take their form to the international arena. There were no big upsets, not many amazing games and it got worse as it went along. Worth watching, but definately didn't live up to the promise of the first ten days by any means.

In Arsenal news, we're being linked with any large, tough tackling midfielder and without wanting to jump on the bandwagon thats been clocking up miles for years now, its that type of player that will make an impact for us next year. Whilst Saviola look increasingly likely to join, we need to address midfield and defence. Up front we have Henry, Reyes, RvP, Adebayor, Walcott and possible Saviola. Whilst in central defence we've got KT, big Phil, Djourou and Pascal and in central midfield we've got Cesc, Gilberto, Flamini and Song. Quite an imbalance no?

I'd love to see Appiah or Yaya arrive to stiffen the centre of the park and Davies to come to centre back. Davies does seem a good player, but are we judging him on that one good game he had against us? I'm sure many on the net would be screaming bloody murder if £8 million was the fee and he played normally against us. For that reason, I feel Davies would be a good investment but paying Lillian Thurams wages for one or two seasons would be nice as well! KT is an awesome athelete and now defender, but I'm not convinced he should be THE senior centre back just yet. He's one of my favourites and a cult hero but who can say having Thuram as an option would harm our youngsters development.

Thuram, Davies, Appiah/Yaya and Saviola as a luxury would be a good summers shopping...and even if we do sign Javi Saviola first, Wenger isn't stupid enough to not sign in the positions mentioned above...Have patience!!

Oh, and well done to Kolo on his 'promotion' to number 5. Its awesome to see him recognised at last. Anyone think we could see number 10 being retired now? I only see it being given to an uber-signing like Torres but anyone wearing it apart from God simply wouldn't be right.

France v Italy - World Cup Final Preview

2006-07-09T17:45:00.000+01:00

This is gonna be a close one. The 2 teams have let in 3 goals between them so its not going to be an open game in the way Brazil/Argentina could have been. Like the rest of the konck out phases, everyone seems a bit scared of doing a 'Beckham 98' and being the one that gets slaughtered for your team going out.

Whisper this quiet but I really want France to win. As Arsenal fans, we get a lot of Jokes about being French but today I'm going to promote it.

Supporting France simply boils down to the fact that to see Henry, Vieira, Thuram and Zidane win 2 World Cups would be phenomenal. And who out there can say that their contribution to football has been significantly less than Marco Materrazzi and Luca Toni?! Whilst its not about who deserves it more, and its simply about who is the better team over the World Cup month, I really will be rooting for the French...except Barthez.

That said, the Italians are just about favourites and rightly so. They've been typically Italian in their defending but in their last match they didn't even dive! Seriously, they are a quality side and would be deserving winners if Zidane et al start to fade in the final quarter as they have done recently.

One more big performance from Zizou and Lilly would be amazing and they really would go doewn as some of the very best players EVER. However, I see a 1-0 Italy but penalties (with these defences) would never be a suprise!

Enough theorising, lets just enjoy something that comes around only once every 4 years and hope its a game to remember!

Allez Les Blues!

Captaincy Issues

2006-07-04T00:22:00.000+01:00

Terry or Gerrard? Neville or Jar Jar?

Ok, the last two were a joke and its pretty clear its between the balding pikey and the scouse midfielder. Its also obvious that both men would excel at the job far more than their well meaning but meek Tim Henman-esque predecessor.

For me its got to be Gerrard. John Terry is a natural leader and can hold up 2 consecutive Premiership medals as captain of the Russians as testament to his abilities. However, I don't seem to remember him single handedly turning a 3-0 half time deficit into a penalty win in the second most important match in the World and also dragging an insipid Liverpool team to an FA Cup Final win against West Ham.

Gerrard simply led by example and maybe some of this has to do with his position.
From the back, Terry can survey the match and shout orders and central defenders are almost prime choice for captain. Even our greatest ever captain was a centre half.
Whilst Adams and Terry are great captains to have in a 'backs against the wall' display, a last minute tackle showing the rest of the team how its done type thing, the one thing they can't do is grab a game by the scruff of the neck in an attacking sense that a midfielder can. For me, this position is the place to have your skipper.
Gerrard is in a position to positively influence the game that Terry simply cannot do in his position on the field.

I respect John Terry, even as a Chavski player, but Gerrard for me is not only more important to the England team (we have a lot of great centre backs, but do we have another world class midfielder?), he is more influential in big games as Champions League 05 has shown, but his position allows him to influence the game in a positive sense, not only a 'lets cling on for this 1-0 lead, 0-0 for penalties' way that a centre half can.

If Terry gets it, I'll be relieved that we finally have a real captain and I'm pretty certain he will as its the safe MacSven, sorry, Maclaren option. But Gerrard is the bold and positive choice that could help revamp and restructure a team in desperate need of such an overhaul.

The Big One

2006-06-27T12:37:00.000+01:00

Whilst Sven has another 6 days to single handedly turn England into the most insipid, uninspired and unmotivated team in the entire world, arguably the biggest game of the last 16 is finally upon us. Spain v France seems to have everything you would want in a football match. Both teams have excellent individuals but the French are getting old and out of sorts whilst the Spanish can never seem to gel as a team and always always ALWAYS flatter to deceive.

Lots of Arsenal interest in this one - another chapter in the PV4 v Cesc battle and after such a comprehensive whipping at club level, Old Patrick will be up for this one. Henry can finally do some damage to the white-pointy hat wearing Aragones whilst Zidane and Raul battle it out for who is living off their name the most! For me, Raul wins this hands down as Zidane was at least world class once!

Putting Zidane back in the team is going to stifle the French and if he plays, I'd have to favour Spain. However, if France play 2 up front, the wily old heads coupled with the worlds best forward should mean they have just enough to get past a Spain team determined to hinder themselves by playing Raul. Old v Young, midfield battles, racism revenge, Arsenal players past and present...this one has the lot.

Spain should be favourites but France got exactly what they needed against Togo and I can see them doing just enough again if sans Zidane.

Either way, its going to be special. If I were you, after reading my Zidane/Raul kicking, I'd run down to the bookies and put money on a 3-3 with those two scoring all the goals. Typical.

Let Down

2006-06-25T22:45:00.000+01:00

we were crap crap crap. more tomorrow.

Derby match

2006-06-20T14:43:00.000+01:00

So many players in the Swedish side have played in the Englsish and Scottish leagues that todays game will have the feel of a local clash about it. From our very own Fred, to Linderoth and Everton, to Alexandersson and Sheffield Wednesday, its a practically a Premiership game. The players will be accustomed to the tempo that we try (and usually fail) to impose on a game and both temas play similar solid styles with one of two flair players and I'm not convinced this bland approach will take either team past the quarter finals.

One interesting point is that since we will know the German score by kick off; will we purposefully try and avoid them by going hell for leather or allowing a loss? Whilst the media would never forgive this, along with the IN-GERLAND van drivers, surely its just a more extreme version of resting players for the second round? If it means we get Ecuador then I'm all for it.

I can't see this being a particularly open game, rested players and the similar styles will make sure of that. Ibrahimovic is out for them, but when I've seen him play at Ajaz, Juve or international level, I've never seen him live up to the hype bar 1 hooked goal (against Italy I think) in Euro 2004.

This gives Rooney and Owen a chance to gel and recover fitness and allows the Canuck/Kraut/Taff of Hargreaves to finally get a full 90 minutes. Win or lose, at some point we'll have to play a team far better than the Germans if we get to the quarters so maybe so much shouldn't be read into the 1st or 2nd place finish. And as for Frank the Tank, if he plays he gets a game to recover form and if he gets booked, it means we can play a more defensive midfielder next and a more advanced Gerrard, which if not in this tournament, is surely the way forward.

I'm intrigued about Hargreaves, but as my esteemed beer swilling arm chair overlord of the World Cup mate noted; can we expect much of Rooney if he is short of fitness and isn't the most naturally athletic player we have anyway? We then remembered the last time we slagged him off before he single handed spanked Boro in the FA Cup with a few awesome goals! TOnight is a 1-1 or a 1-0 to England for me.

Enjoy tonight; its the only World Cup game where the result doesn't matter!!

Red, White and New

2006-06-19T15:12:00.000+01:00

Having studied E Commerce law for far too long I'm quite sure that the link below will not get me into any trouble and quite honestly, I don't care if it does, I'll just take it down. Stupid Copyright laws...along with Teddy Sherigham they are surely the most boring, useless and out of date concept in the entire world.

Anyway, here is the new home shirt as seen through drinking glasses...

http://www.arsenal.com/images/pics/kitlaunch2006_b.jpg

Its obviously back to red and white and is in line with the retro/classic kits that Brazil are wearing at the world cup this year with the piping on the collar etc... Personally I really like it, not only for being back to our true colurs (Cindi Lauper should be added to the Sheringham/Copyright list come to think of it) but it has a badge in the proper place and definately hits the spot. Good stuff.

I'll get back to the World Cup tomorrow before the England game when Sweden will surely 'out-England' us again at our own game. If Jenas plays, I'm leaving the country.

Normal service resumed for Germany

2006-06-15T11:46:00.000+01:00

Uninspired, static, workman-like, efficient, poor, jammy and just plain lucky.

But is that not how the Germans have won so many World Cups? On what occasion have they actually had the best team in the World? Whilst it is true that the best team in the world rarely wins the World Cup, they've won it so many times by being exactly what they were last night, its not even funny! Still, they'll plod their way into the quarter finals; momentum may take them past Sweden, but when they come up against a team with creativity, their flat footed defence will be beaten silly. YET, we still wouldn't put it past them to win the damn thing would we!?!

Spain were very good yesterday, but refereeing decisions meant all it showed was that they could seize initiative once handed to them on a plate rather than how great a team they are. Brazil v Spain quarter final could be rather tasty though. Fair play to Cesc for breaking yet another record for one of his teams!

England v T & T at 5 today...people are talking about how we need a performance as well as a result, but if we are gonna grow into this tournament, another 1-0 win and another slating in the press could well happen and would set us on our way at least. If you offered it to all the people killing England, I bet they'd love to win a World Cup in the same way Germany have so many times! I don't believe we'll get further than a lucky semi final appearance at best, but it can't help to slag off the team, and that England team is a long way away from the one I would pick!

A ground out result tonight then should see us qualify for the second round with a game to spare, and EVERYONE would have taken that one week ago, no matter the way it was achieved!

Oh, Harry 'used car salesman' Redknapp; take your son and go to hell when talking about Walcott like that.
P.S. Could you take Sol Campbell too?

The Midas Touch

2006-06-13T21:20:00.000+01:00

Thats what one of the BBC muppets said Wenger has when it comes to spotting a player, and on yesterdays evidence, the man still has it. Denied one of the greatest World Cup hatricks of all time, Tomas Rosicky really does look a player. If that can be transferred to Ashburton Grove, we could be in for a treat and not miss Pires as much as I first thought. Also, having a player that isn't scared to shoot from long range will help, I mean look at Frank the Tank at Chavski, most of his shots are heading wide but by playing a percentage game, some are bound to deflect in...he just seems especially lucky at it!

Brilliantly, Robin Van Persie is picking fights with the Old Age Pensioner that is Arjen Robben. His looks however had nothing to do with his electric performance. He didn't even dive too much! As great as he was though, if john motson (he doesn't deserve capital letters) points out that he should pass it to other players in better positions, Robin Van Persie is justified in saying it too. Still, its always fascinating to see just how the Dutch will implode and ruin their own chances this time around!

The France v Switzerland game today was as I thought it would be. Whilst the BBC take pot shots at Henry for not being the same player for France, they would do well to remember that this team is instead built around Zidane's friends and thats why France won't get any further than the quarter finals at best. I fancy the English team against the French more than I do us playing the Germans. There is something of a mental block when we play the Krauts, and even though niether France or Germany are not as good as they usually are, the English just don't have the big game bottle to get past either team...especially Fritz!

Brazil are on tv now and obviously the BBC novices (I feel sorry for Strachan and Leonardo) are killing them for not having won the World Cup in their first match. The Italians looked solid without being spectacular and I still have a sneaky feeling about them this year.

This time tomorrow, all the teams will have played and whilst European teams are completely dominating proceedings, there will be a suprise or two come qualification time for the next round. For me, its France, Sweden or Holland not to make it through to the knock out stage.

Czeching In

2006-06-12T16:44:00.000+01:00

Its the first chance for us to see Rosicky in action for the Czechs since he signed for us last month. Personally, I'm especially interested to see how he links up with Koller as he is in effect, an Adebayor big boy type player. Rosicky and Koller were at Dortmund together so they know each other inside out. If he could take that experience of playing with a big man to Ade next season then it could be another handy weapon. No need to address whether he'll work with Henry. If he plays on the left of midfield, then I have real hopes of a quality partnership for those two.

The Czechs in genreal are a very good team. Cech in goal, solid at the back, technical in midfield and in Baros and Koller, have finishers up front. Their best chance of glory came in Euro 2004 and to say they were the best team at the tournament wouldn't have been far off. The 'Greek Incident' was a one off and won't (hopefully) happen again. The Czechs finest hour is gone, and with a tie with Brazil if they qualify, they won't go too far this year. I'm pleased they aren't in our side of the draw as they are still a very very good side on their day, but too many players are not only the wrong side of thirty, but thirty three.

Still, Rosicky will be interesting

3 points is 3 points...

2006-06-11T13:13:00.000+01:00

Or so the saying goes. Lineker and his joke collection of 'experts' slated the team for a long while, but surely we don't want to peak too soon? I'd much rather Frank the Tank started deflecting them in and Stevie G was inspirational in a quarter or semi final than an opening game in what is a very favourable group. Would you rather we scored 5 against Paraguay when one would do the job or would you rather the magic was turned on when we are up against Holland/Portugal in the quarters? No contest really.

Lets just use this very easy group to adapt to the heat, the expectancy and allow the players to settle. We beat a South American team by one goal in hot conditions. What would we give for the same solid and unspectacular performance against another South American team in 6 games time?

Patience, 'tis a marathon not a sprint.

Why don't Madrid just move to London?

2006-06-05T10:34:00.000+01:00

Thats right. Not only do the candidates for Presidency want Wenger, but they are reeling out old comments on Reyes and Cesc. Why stop there you greasy twats? Why not change your name to Arsenal Football Club, take over our new stadium (that we funded ourselves because we aren't bank rolled by the Spanish Government/King/Tosser) and buy every single one of our players. Indeed, why don't they change their 'I've always wanted to play in the famous white of Real Madrid' kit which is the trademark of any new signing there, and wear red and white next year?

Its pathetic. If the 'biggest team in the world' (again a trademark of their latest wank-tico) need to have every single player and manager from a North London club, what the hell is wrong with them?! Vieira, Henry, Cesc, Reyes, Wenger, Overmars, probably Kolo Toure...its been going on for years and I'm fucking fed up. Why do they think they have this right to come in and think we are a feeder club? If they or there players hadn't noticed, it was us in the Champions League Final this year and in the last 3 years we've won the 2003 FA Cup, had the best Premiership season ever in 2004 and won the FA Cup in 2005. What the fuck have those over paid, over weight, over the hill, badly run wankers won in those years? Why would these players leave a successful club for a dying one? CHRIST, even there ancient embarrassment of a left back Bobby Charles wants out.

EVERY FUCKING SUMMER its Barcalona or Madrid. Do there club puppets of papers not realise that no one significant from Arsenal has gone to these clubs since Anelka? Even then we raped them for him.£22 million and Suker...hahaha! Did Vieira go there? did Henry? will Cesc? GET OVER YOURSELVES.

FUCK MADRID, FUCK BARCALONA, FUCK SPAIN.

Their fans deserve a decent World Cup and they have far more talent than England but I hope they bottle it again.

But they can have Sol Campbell for free...he makes Jamaicas forwards look good

TWATS

Tumble Weed...

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000+01:00

That seems to be what you find if you log onto any of the news wires at the moment. Just as in those western films, the dust kicks up and the tumble weed rolls across the screen.In short, there is not much to comment on.

Transfer speculation is a strange time for us Arsenal fans. As a whole, the club are very secretive about transfers and whilst we get linked with players day in day out, the next time we here from them is usually when they've signed! We don't deal in the press like the corrupt Catalans or the morally void Madrid (see Wenger link at the moment in elections!). Neither do we chat up pie eating Brazilians like Mourinho tried to do with Adriano. It really is a case of linked with a player and either never here of it again, or see him holding up a Red and White shirt at a press conference!

Due to this, speculating on transfers can either seem prophetic, or an entire waste of time for Arsenal blogs. You look like a moron if you say how a player will improve the side but then we never here of him again, but on the other hand you seem oracle like if you get lucky and comment on someone that signs!

As mentioned when this blog started up, things here will go a bit World Cup as the tournament steps into gear, and with the real England playing a friendly tonight, the count down to Germany has begun.

Tomorrow I'll go through who I think can and can't make an impact in the World Cup and over the weekend the red carpet will be rolled out for the First 'Arse Club End of Season' Awards.

See you

Bye Bye Bobby

2006-05-25T11:40:00.000+01:00

The worst kept secret of the close season was confirmed today when Robert Pires left Arsenal to join Villareal on a two year contract.

It seems quite a simple one in one out transaction with Rosicky coming in to take up that creative role in the team.

Pires has always been one of my favourite Arsenal players of the last half decade. Whilst he is the most steroetypically French of the muskateers, can you imagine how much the press would have loved him if he were English?! A left sided goal scoring creative metronome that kept the side ticking and can have an impact from the bench! The fact he is French and made one dive that resulted in a penalty against journo favourite Harry Redknapp meant he was never going to be a media darling.

Being French was never a problem for me, but these idiot writers never wrote about the good parts of his game.
The 19 goals in the unbeaten run, the fact he was consistently in the top scorer charts as a midfielder, his amazing form before he did his knee in during the 2002 Double season. Put simply, he did what Paul Scholes had done in the 1990's but being French, the press wouldn't take to it. Imagine if Lampard was French; they wouldn't give him half the coverage and praise he gets and Frank the Tank has only done what the influential Pires has done for under half the amount of time!!

I had a conversation once with a mate of mine about Overmars leaving. He was gutted but when I heard Pires was coming, I thought there was potential for a better player there. Whilst Overmars was great, he was very much a 'match winner in 1 game, disappeared for the next 2' type of player. Pires however, had as much influence as a central player, even though he was out on the wing. And if he hadn't scored, you could be damn sure he's played a part in the build up.

He has been an integral part of the Arsenal teams of the last 6 years and will be sorely missed. Personally I think it may take more than Rosicky, in his adapting debut season to replace Pires. Even if the new boy becomes the new 'oil in the machine' - as Wenger once described Pires - how do we get 15-20 goals a season with Ljungberg forgetting to shoot and Hleb being scared to do so?
Replacing Pires is going to take more than one player and I think thats about the biggest compliment you can pay one individual footballer.

For his amazing double season where he won player of the year 2002 despite being out since March,
For his countless goals against Spurs,
For his infinite through balls to Henry that always produced goals,
For his partnership with Ash on the left hand side,
For his even more goals against Spurs,
For his amazing goal against Aston Villa,
For his sheer French-ness that annoyed everyone else so much and
For his jaw-dropping munching of PV4 in the Champions League.

So here's to Robert Pires, the Premierships most consistent and influential goal scoring midfielder of the twenty first Century and a true an Arsenal Legend.

Rosicky Business?

2006-05-23T17:04:00.000+01:00

Nope, not Risky, but good business!
Especially if it was at the £6-8 million mark thats being thrown around. He seems to be an Arsenal type of player and for once, is an established international between 24 and 28. Thats what we've all been wanting surely?

Rosicky seems to be one of those players that people talk about being brilliant but haven't actually seen him play that much! The Cassano, Torres, Emre (even though he's a magpie!) type player that trades off reviews to a certain extent. So rather than say he's going to be brilliant, I'm just looking forward to what he can do.
Yeah I remember that great goal he scored against us in the Champions League, but outside the Czech side and that one match, I can only rely on what I've read and on Pro Evolution. And we all know how awful that is when considering a players true worth...Raul, sod it, the whole of Real Madrid being good anyone? Thought not.

Surely it means the end of Bobby P though? If it does, he deserves a huge amount of thanks. But i'll come to that if it arrives. And is the newbie too similar to Hleb or Cesc?

Its an exciting signing and will either change the shape of our midfield, or give it depth where we've been lacking. So either way, we win.

A few more names to go with the youngsters would be excellent though. And if Campbell leaves, I really want an Englishman to replace him. I don't know much about Davies of WBA but he impressed me in the Highbury game and if we signed him now, I'm sure Sven would put him in the England side instead of Dawson just because he is contracted to Arsenal! Which is worth the rumoured £5 million all on its own. Stupid Spurs.

So, Tomas Rosicky...Exciting, talented, established and yet another reason to do nothing in June apart from watch the World Cup. Just what we all wanted!

Good work Arsene!

Sol going to Turkey?

2006-05-21T18:07:00.000+01:00

I'm not one for transfer rumours as a whole as they can make you look very stupid (cough, Barcalona, cough!) but this is quite a big one.

Apparently Sol Campbell is going to Turkish side Fenerbache for around £8 million. Thats a great deal of money for an ageing centre half who, apart from the Final last week hasn't really been very good recently. His wages are also massive so it may ease the burden of TH14's new pay packet if he is indeed off.

A suggested headline: 'Chicken Sol leaves for Turkey'. Hehe. That'll teach him for wimping out at half-time against West Ham!

As I said, I won't go into details until its confirmed or denied. But its an interesting one...

TH14 Stays!

2006-05-19T15:47:00.000+01:00

Wow. Thats one way to lift the mood of a club that just lost the biggest game in their history! I woke up this morning and was shocked to see the news on the internet. Maybe its just me, but as he said 'by the World Cup,' I thought it would be another few weeks until we heard a decision we didn't want to hear.
One point is whether he would have stayed if we had won the Champions League? I'm not entirely sure that one match would have such a big influence on a man like Thierry. As well as one can know someone they've never met, he doesn't seem volatile enough to base 7 previous years and the next 4 on 90 minutes ruined by a referee. Also think about what would have happened if the Final was against another team and he seemed as pissed off with them as he was with Barca. Would he have gone to Barcalona then?

As fans though, would we rather have won the Champions League and see him go or lose the Final and see him stay? Its a tough one but for the long term future I'm glad its happened this way round. Granted we'd make a fortune from Champions League winnings, but would the financial difference between winning and losing the final have got us an adequate, ready made replacement for Henry? NO! Not in a million years!!

Thats in then. Whilst the gloom has been lifted by a brilliant bit of news, lets not forget we need to strengthen in the summer. I have a feeling that we've got something big tucked away thats helped Henry stay; I mean in players, not just that big new shiny building down the road!

For now though, lets salute Dennis for everything he has done for us, and salute Henry for everything he will continue to do.

Here's to the next four years!!!!!!!!!

PROUD

2006-05-19T12:44:00.000+01:00

There we go then. Eventually one of the best teams in the world beat our ten man side with 9 minutes to go. It was proper old school Arsenal balls to the walls stuff. I am obviously gutted, but the performance and the grit were things we can be proud of. If it took a very bad referee plus Barcalona to stop us, then we have nothing to be ashamed of. I saw a Manc in a pub afterwards and he had this big grin on his face when he saw me. As I said in the preview, I simply asked him how United got along in the Champions League knock out stages. Oh, hang on, they couldnt make it out of a group as easy as ours. He said nothing and by the time I turned around after getting a beer in, he had run away. Idiot.

So, lets be proud of what we achieved for so long in adversity and those circumstances, yeah we can regret it, and its hard to argue with the sending off once the ref had blown the whistle, but imagine how the experience is going to make our players bond and believe and grow. This team needed a game of balls to the walls fighting to forge a real togetherness, and although it wouldve been better had that togetherness be formed in victory. We still have it, and lets see where its gonna take us next season.

Well done boys, an amazing European campaign.

Will update the site later today after (hopefully) a rather famous Frenchman has scribbled on a bit of paper for us!

Believe!

2006-05-17T13:19:00.000+01:00

I've waited so long for this and I'm only 22. God knows what is going through the minds of some of you older gooners out there!
The red hair dye is primed and ready, the lucky unbeaten season home shirt is ready, the designated public house is ready and £1.50 all drinks all night. In fact the only thing that isn't ready is my head!

I'm so excited and I'm so nervous. I went out for a curry last night and the only thing that came out of my mouth was about tonights game. (sorry Lianne!) I found out one of my mates is wearing the blue away shirt that we lost to United in when out 49ers came to an end. I immediately text him back and told him he can't wear it.

I am a wreck; an excited wreck.

I respect Barcalona, their club, their players, their history. But no-one is really giving us a chance. Its a one off game. Our players are ready for this. Sure, they are young, but can you imagine how good they'll be after this experience; win or lose?
We can win this. Like I said yesterday, its our collective cell against their individuals. I think its gonna be tight until the first goal is scored. After all, there is no second leg to claw anything back. THIS WILL SUIT US. Fabregas and Pires given space to thread balls to Titi like only they can? yes please!

I'm not sure about Le Bob starting, I'd quite like him fresh off the bench for the last 20 minutes. And Arsene, if we are losing, don't be afrais to make a change, not a suicidal McClaren change, but after 65 minutes or 70 minutes, Hleb for Dennies, Van Persie or Pires won't hurt anyone. I just have a feeling about Pires or Freddie tonight. Big games, Big players. Consider that their big influence doesn't have to be the goal though. It could be the pass or the creation of space.

If we lost tonight, we have lost to the best team in Europe. Not like Liverpool were just cos they won the trophy, but the real deal. If we lose, I'll be gutted, but if we've given it our all, we are still the second best team in Europe. Tell that to any bitter and jealous fans that taunt you after the game. Chavski fans? Got beaten by Barca before the final. Man USA fans? Sorry, didn't get out of your group. Trotts fans? Have you ever been in the Champions League? No.
Be proud of our team, win or lose.

I won't go through the line ups or talk about their danger men, we know that by now. But I truly believe in our youth, I believe in Jens, I believe in our defence and our five man midfield, I believe in the home-coming boy - TH14, but I believe in this unit more than anything right now. If its 0-0 with 30 minutes to go, we are fitter, fresher and faster than them.

For the last time whilst we represent Highbury, for all the sub plots, for all the talk of fourth place, its come down to the European Cup Final and we can do this!
For the Final time this season...

COME ON YOU GOONERS!!!

Believe