Thierry Henry Reaction, World Cup Better Off With France In It

Long, long ago, when the world was still new, there was once an Arsenal blog, written by an American. It was updated daily with all the latest news, transfer stories, and thoughts on Arsenal. It was called The ArseNole. And now, The ArseNole is back. That's right, after a shocking absence of over a month, I've made a return to the blogging realm, since there is finally a lot to talk about. Sure, I could have written a lot the past month of how well we have played and how I think we're going to win the league this season, but that would probably have just jinxed us and I'm very superstitious about Arsenal. But as I said, today I have quite a lot of things to burn on, so we'll start with what seems to be one of the most controversial topics in quite some time, and that is Thierry Henry's hand ball that put Ireland out of the World Cup and France in it.

Let me first clarify, that I am not Irish, and I am not French, and if this had happened to the USA I would have been pissed, but I would still not show the hate to Thierry that he has been getting from every corner of the globe. My loyalties lie with Arsenal first and foremost, so in that game I was hoping for a France win due to this simple math:

French:
Arsene Wenger
William Gallas
Gael Clichy
Thierry Henry
Bacary Sagna
Patrick Vieira
Robert Pires

Irish:
Robbie Keane

Yes, I know there have been other Arsenal players that were Irish, but the one that stands out is captain cunttastic, Robbie Keane, the cartwheeling cunt himself. Keeping him as far away from the World Cup as possible is just fine with me. And personally, I'd rather watch the French play all summer next summer than have to watch just one Ireland match. So yeah, it was a hand ball by Thierry, but I think it was mostly instinctual. The play happened so fast that I don't think he thought, "Oh shite I better stick out my hand here to keep this ball in play." I think he just had it as a natural reaction in the spur of the moment. It's the referee's job to make the call, not Thierry's, so why should he have to be the one taking the heat for it? Did you all expect Eboue to tell the ref he dove for that free kick in the Champions League Final? No, because it was Arsenal. And you shouldn't expect Thierry to do it either because at the end of the day, he got his country into the World Cup, and all the Irish can do about it is bitch for four years while they watch.

To me, the fans that say Henry is no longer thought of as a good person, or as an Arsenal legend, or they see him as a cheater now, are ridiculous and stupid. That one millisecond play made you forget about all the things he did for Arsenal, all 226 goals, countless moments of magic, and some of the best teams this club has ever had? Bollocks I say. Thierry Henry is the greatest Arsenal player of all time, and if you want to bitch about him and say his legacy is tarnished because of that one hand ball, then you're full of shit. He didn't launch a terrorist attack, he didn't molest his daughter, or set his ex-wife's house on fire. He fucking hand balled. Get over it. Do I feel bad for the Irish as a whole? Sure I do. Just not for the ones that act like Thierry Henry is no longer an Arsenal legend and instead is the scum of the earth.

Right, so that's about covered, so it's on to other matters.

Eduardo signed a new long-term deal with the club. Solid move. He's going to have to start quite a lot while Bendtner and more importantly RvP are out injured, so we need him to stay fit and start pounding in the goals. I think he's perfectly capable of doing everything that RvP has done for us this season, in terms of goal scoring and making assists. Arshavin, Theo, Nasri, Rosicky, and Cesc are going to all have to step up their games though to make it through this period. First big test for us is this weekend when we play away to Sunderland, who are a tricky opponent. They're playing well this year under Steve Bruce, and Darren Bent has been banging in the goals. We'll probably have Silvestre in at left back, which is a worry, but hopefully our attacking play will be able to put a few past them. This is the type of game you have to win to be Champions. No slip ups allowed just because we have some injuries. Let's get it done boys.

We also have good news on the injury front. Fabianski, Carlos Vela, Armand Traore, and Denilson are all back, and Denilson will definitely be making the trip up to Sunderland this weekend, which is great news. I'd expect he may have to start right away with Diaby being out, although Arsene could opt to use Rosicky next to Cesc in the midfield. Traore could possibly slot in at left back with Clichy and Gibbs out, and honestly I'd prefer that to having Silvestre in there, but I reckon the boss will pick the experience over the youth.

I'm really quite happy to have Denilson back, even though he seems to not get much love from the majority of Arsenal fans. He's clearly better than Diaby, that is for certain. He can pick out a pass almost as well as Cesc, can hit the long shots, and is solid defensively. I think he'll be a real boost to the squad over the next few months.

Ok, that's about it for the day. Leave your reactions about Thierry and Ireland, or Arsenal, or whatever you want to in the comments. I'm expecting a lot of angry Irish folk mostly. Also, if anyone plays Football Manager Live, let me know so we can play a match on there. My keeper is Fabianski, woohoo! That's about all I've got. Vive Les Bleus, hehe.

Cesc Back To Face Manchester City And More

Morning all. I'm watching Family Feud this morning, because there isn't much else on tv and for some strange reason I do enjoy family feud. This braniac on there just had this question:

Host: "Name something that has wings."

Wife: "A bird!"

Host: "Do I see a bird? Yes, number one answer! Ok now you sir, name something with wings."

Husband: "A chicken!"

Host: "Amazingly sir, the judges classify a chicken as a bird. Try again."

Husband: "A pidgeon!"

Yes, he really had that exchange. That is why I watch this show, because of fools like that man there.

On to Arsenal news though, and it looks like Cesc Fabregas is going to be back playing this weekend against Manchester City! Arsene Wenger had this to say:

“He is ready to play again. But he needs three games to be back [at his best]. We are due to play eight games in 25 days, which are all decisive.”

It's true they are all key games. We've got the match ups with Villareal which are of course a huge priority and we also have to keep the space between ourselves and Aston Villa with some tough league matches left to go. Cesc is the captain of our team and the creative force behind it, one that has been sorely lacking before the arrival of Arshavin. With Nasri, Arshavin, and Cesc in as creative hubs, the goals have the potential to start flying in, granted our strikers can finish.

Striker could be a problem for the weekend, with RvP and Bendtner injured on international duty. It looks like Adebayor is ready to go though, as he made a scoring return for Togo over the last week. He could be paired with Eduardo, which would be interesting, or he could be up front on his own, which would allow a five man midfield with Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin, Denilson, and Song. Either of those would be good to see and we need to avenge the beating City gave us earlier in the year. We were playing like shite back then though and we're playing well now, not to mention we have Arshavin and Eduardo with the squad now who we didn't have back then. I'm really looking forward to Saturday.

Bakary Sagna has been linked with a move to Juventus, but he basically told them that they could blow him. He said he's happy at Arsenal and has a contract till 2014, which I thought was a ridiculously long contract when I read it until I realized that that is only five years. Can you believe in five years it'll be 2014? Crazy. But yes, he said he enjoys playing for the club, likes the team, likes the manager, and doesn't want to leave. That's the best answer you could possibly give. Full credit to Bak on that one, and that's why he's one of my favorite players.

There isn't much else today. Match Saturday, NBA playoffs coming up (Go Celtics!), and baseball starts again for me tonight so there is a lot going on in the next couple of weeks. Hope you all have a good one. Cheers.

Villa Lose, And The World Is Bright Again - Man's Game Time

Morning all. I could lead into this post with a headline like "It's funny how things change" or "Football really is a funny game" or something else, but apparently all the other blogs beat me to that one so we'll just go without. I did predict Villa losing and us winning on Tuesday, so boom, outta here, correct. We're now within 3 points of Villa after their loss to City and our injured players are all going to be coming back at just the right time to really give us that boost.

Aston Villa aren't a team who are used to fighting for the Champions League places near the end of the season, and maybe the pressure is getting to them a little bit. They have a good team to be sure but none of those players have ever been locked in a battle to get into Europe like this and all that comes with that honor. They don't have it easy the rest of the way either.

Tottenham - Home
Liverpool - Away
Man United - Away
Everton - Home
West Ham - Home

I figure they probably lose to United and Liverpool away and probably either Everton or Sp*rs will take some points off of them. That's a lot of chances we have to take that 4th spot from them. While we still have to go to United and Liverpool, I'd take our schedule the rest of the way over theirs any day. Ten games left in the season, it's Man's Game time.

Theo Walcott and Eduardo are back in the squad Sunday for the match against Burnley. I can't wait to see Theo back. I feel like he's been out about ten months and it'll be great to not see Eboue out there and to have someone that is actually a cool guy that has skill, pace, and ability, unlike Eboue.

"I will see how they (Walcott and Eduardo) look tomorrow and Saturday but they will certainly be in the squad, especially Theo. We have to wait and see how Eduardo reacts and responds to his injury."

On the defensive front, Arsene Wenger says that Gallas should be back for Sunday and Kolo should be back for Roma next week, which is great news. Djourou had been playing well earlier in the year but last match he was a bit shaky. It's probably just because he hasn't gotten many matches lately but for the Champions League I'd prefer to have Gallas and Toure, who have been doing well together. Never thought I'd say that.

The next league match isn't until the 14th against Blackburn, so we have to wait a while for that. Maybe by then we could have Adebayor back as well, and who knows what Rosicky's status is. (By the way, calling him Rosicknote or some variation like Rosick List is not funny or imaginitive, so please come up with something original or just call him by his name) Cesc could be back in April for the stretch run against the other big guns so all is looking up.

Optimisim is the key now! Remember 2005-2006? Sp*rs thought they were going to be Aston Villa that year and steal our Champions League spot. But the lasagna saved the day then, and the lasagna will find a way to infect Villa as well. 4th place here we come!

Arsenal - Sunderland Preview

I titled this post wrong. It's called an Arsenal vs Sunderland Preview, but really there isn't going to be a whole lot about the match. The news today is all about Andrei Arshavin, who is probably going to make his debut tomorrow. This was something we all expected anyway so it doesn't really count as news. There isn't much that annoys me more than having multiple articles all on the same story, which isn't really even a story at all. The headlines on Sky Sports' page today:

Arshavin Set For Arsenal Bow

Wenger Ponders Arshavin Role

Sunderland vs Arsenal Preview, Arshavin Set For Debut

Is there even a point in all three of those articles being posted? They all say the same thing, that Arshy can't play against Roma so he'll get a lot of hard work in this week. He'll probably start I think, and if not then I'd expect him to play at least thirty minutes. There, I just summed up three articles for you in two sentences. That's talent.

So without going into all that Arshavin nonsense, we do have some bad news, and it is that Eduardo will be out for at least two weeks with a minor hamstring injury. It's a shame that he's hurt right away after his amazing comeback, but hopefully it won't turn into a long term injury. He's really a spark for us for the rest of the season and we need him back.

And my last piece of Arsenal news today is that Barcelona and Arsenal are arranging a friendly in the summer. It hasn't been confirmed by anything or anyone but apparently there is some discussion about it. How exciting.

So the Oscars are this weekend so everyone is talking about terrible movies winning awards. The favorites for Best Picture are Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino and some other shite. I've seen Gran Torino and Slumbdog Millionaire, and I thought Gran Torino was good and Slumdog sucked. But thinking about the Oscars made me think about something, and it's how the movies that I really like never are the ones to win awards. If I thought of my top FIFTY movies of all time, I would say that none of them have won an academy award. I don't really know how they judge these things. Like how did Top Gun not win like every award ever when it came out? Billy Madison, that should have won best comedy in my book. But yeah this segment really doesn't have a point but I just wanted to see if I could think of my top ten movies and see if any of them have ever won an award. So here goes.

1. Die Hard
2. Top Gun
3. Green Street Hooligans
4. Billy Madison
5. The Departed
6. Clerks 2
7. Blow
8. American Gangster
9. Lucky Number Slevin
10. Half Baked

After extensive research I have determined that the only one in the group to actually win an academy award was The Departed. So basically the judges don't have any clue about these things.

There that probably wasted at least five more minutes of your time, but feel free to leave your lists of movies or Sunderland previews or anything else. Cheers.

Pele Wants to Join Arsenal

Not that Pele though. Just some other dude named Pele who I've never heard of or seen play. If there were any other headlines I could have used today then I would have. It would be easier if you didn't have to have titles for posts. This one would be called Post 277. Christ, 277, that's a lot of posts. Considering sometimes I've disappeared for like a week or so every couple of months, that's a lot of shite I've written. You know how many hits I got on my first ever post on this site? Three. And I think one of them was me. You should go back and read it though, it's pretty hilarious and terrible. On to the news though!

So about that Pele guy, it's a goalkeeper that plays for Le Mans named Yohann Pele, and he says he'd be interested in a move to Arsenal. Really? You play for Le Mans and you'd consider playing for Arsenal? Wow what a shocker. I can't believe somebody would make that move. That'd be like if I played for Oxford United and I said, "You know, I think I might be interested in a move to Real Madrid." Ok it's not quite that big of a step up but really, not many people would not be interested in a move from Le Mans to Arsenal. His contract runs out at the end of the season and we're reportedly interested in him, along with Bordeaux. As I said, I have never seen him play and don't know anything about him, but I suppose if he's any good then it wouldn't hurt to have him. Fabiasnki does look promising though.

My brother just brought me in a quesadilla for lunch. Pretty exciting stuff.

Remember Martin Taylor? He's the wanker that broke Eduardo's leg and then said he went to the hospital to apologize to him. Well according to Eduardo, who is most certainly a more trustworthy, kind, and generally is a better person, says that Taylor has never spoken to him, even to this day.

"I have received lots of mail from other people. I've had around 25,000 emails - from Croatia, Brazil and England - wishing me a speedy recovery and I've had letters by the sackful.

"But he's never sent anything directly to me.

"But I don't want to talk about the incident. It's probably best left alone now."

What a horrible cunt that Martin Taylor is. Hopefully someone breaks his leg, then rips the lower half off, beats him over the head with it, then feeds it to a pack of lions.

Emmanuel Adebayor has said that he is putting his personal accomplishments far behind the club's goals.

"I know having scored 30 goals in a season that people will always be waiting for more this season but the most important thing is to keep on going and to progress. "I have 12 already but to score another 18 now would not be easy. "But I don't care if I stop on 12 goals if we win something with the club. "To win trophies is more important than scoring goals but if we are to win trophies I will need to score some goals.

And that's the kind of attitude you want from your players. Adebayor has taken a lot of shite this season, and I've always probably rated him higher than most Arsenal fans. I think he really, really wants to win, and I think his words there are genuine. So no, he hasn't scored as many goals as last year, but wouldn't we all take a trophy over a 30 goal scorer? The answer better be yes.

That's about all I've got today. Time to go eat this quesadilla and play some rugby on Xbox. I start culinary school tomorrow too. Craziness. Talk to you tomorrow. Cheers.

Edddduardo! Edddduardo! A Magical Arsenal Moment

What up dudes? Yesterday was a pretty awesome match wouldn't you say? I won't bore everyone with a match review that includes a minute by minute rundown of all the action, but I will just go over what I think are some of the most awesome parts of it.

Obviously the important thing of the day was Eduardo's return to first team action. And what a return it was. Eddy scored the first goal as well as the third goal from the penalty spot. The response from the first goal was immense. The roar from the crowd was deafening, and the joy shown by Eduardo and the rest of the team made it even more special. I've got the clip right here.



The most amazing thing happened when the whole stadium started chanting Eduardo, Eduardo. It was the first time in a long time I've heard the Emirates sound like that. What I also noticed about the third goal that Eduardo scored was when he was fouled in the box he picked the ball up with resolve, almost as if he was going to prove a point right then and there with that one kick that he was back. When you saw the look on his face you knew there was no chance he was missing that kick, and once again the crowd broke into chanting of his name. It gave me shivers hearing it like that, and I wish it was like that all the time, but we all know there are some fans there that just aren't going to chant and sing no matter what. It does make me very proud to be a fan though when we see someone so deserving get such a warm response. I was singing along way over here in Florida.

I think Eduardo may be just the inspiration this team needs to get the season back on track, in the same way that his injury sucked the life out of the squad last season. He certainly looks like he's fully recovered and ready to roll, and he's already scored half as many goals as Bendtner has scored the entire season, in only one appearance! Keep it up Eddy, we all wish you the best.

There weren't many downsides to the performance yesterday, as it was pretty much vintage Arsenal, but I thought Song in particular was pretty bad. His passing was miserable, it seemed like every time he tried to pass it went straight to a Cardiff player. The good news of course is that we kept the clean sheet, so it didn't hurt us too much. After having such a good performance against Sp*rs though, I was hoping for much more from Song.

Man of the match, for me, without being too sentimental and giving it to Eduardo, goes to Bakary Sagna, who I thought was immense. His forward runs drove Cardiff mad all game and he was on top of every defensive situation on his side. What I like just as much as his play though is his attitude. I'm pretty sure if you looked at the statistics I bet he's played more matches in the past two years for us besides anyone but maybe Gael Clichy, and that is only because he was injured for the end of last year. He never runs his mouth, rarely even gets carded, and is one of our top players. I love the guy, and he played a great game.

Kieran Gibbs, Eduardo, Nasri, and Fabianski were the other players who I thought did quite well. Nasri is a real creative force and I really liked him up in front of Sagna. It will be nice to maybe see Nasri and Arshavin being able to switch flanks when needed to switch things up. Fabiasnki looked very comfortable and confident in goal all game, and while there weren't a whole lot of saves he had to make, he did what he had to do easily.

So hats off to the team, and specifically Eduardo, and let's hope his return is just the boost we need to really kick this team into high gear. Cheers all. Podcast to come soon hopefully. Maybe Thursday.

"I Have Seen Him On YouTube A Lot." - Theo

That is one of the best quotes in history from a professional footballer. Theo was talking to Arsenal.com about his rehabilitation on his shoulder, and he said he hopes to be back in the next month. He also talked about how he had a problem in his other shoulder that they had to fix as well.

"I am nearly there, and hopefully [will be back] by the end of this month. I am doing a lot of rehab work now with the shoulder, landing on it, and also in the gym with a lot of weights to build the muscle strength back. I just feel it will be when I am ready. Obviously I do not want to do it again, so I have got to be 100% fit.''

Then they asked him about Andrey Arshavin, which led to the best line ever.

"Hopefully when I am back fit again, I can play a lot of football with him. When he gets his [match] fitness back up, he will be a top player for us, definitely. I have seen him on YouTube a lot, watching how he plays, the balls he can spot. He can do unbelievable passes."

I effing love Theo already, but this just makes me love the guy even more. Can't you see Theo reading NewsNow, seeing that Arsenal are trying to sign Arshavin, then going and looking up clips on YouTube? I think that is amazing. I don't think you'd see William Gallas or Alex Song on YouTube looking at new signings. Theo, you are the man. Free beer on me if I ever happen to see you. And not just one either, you can have all the free beer you can drink. You're the best. Get well soon mate.

In other good news, Eduardo is going to be back in action this week, playing for Croatia. I think in this second half of the season he can be a huge player for us, one we've certainly missed. If he comes through this game without getting any injuries (cross your fingers) then he could be ready to play for us against Cardiff or at least Sunderland. That could especially be huge while Adebayor is out. We've been needing goals lately and this man can certainly provide them. I'll be watching that match on Wednesday and hoping for the best for Eddy.

There isn't a whole lot else to write about, there is an article about how Nicklas Bendtner hopes to make his place in the first team while Emmanuel Adebayor is out but honestly I don't ever think Bendtner will become a first eleven player ever, and I'm not complaining. I don't think he's that good and I think he has a terrible attitude.

And last but not least, the best band in the world, blink 182, got back together Sunday night at the Grammy Awards. It was also confirmed on their website that they are putting together a new album and a world tour. It's amazing that they are back playing together after four years of not talking, and I'm pretty stoked.

That's all I've got. Leave awesome comments. Cheers.

Eduardo Returns Tomorrow!

Hooray, the day has finally arrived. Well actually it is still a day away but we can start the official countdown now. Eduardo is making his long awaited return to playing for Arsenal, albeit in the reserves. After that horrific injury he went through I think everyone has been looking forward to see how he would recover and come back and he's recovered more quickly than I thought he could have. He's been in training for a while now and Arsene Wenger thinks he's ready to take to the field in a match situation, and I can't wait.

I'll admit, before Eduardo's injury I wasn't his biggest fan. Not saying I didn't like the guy, he just wasn't my favorite player, but now he's right up there. How can you not respect and like a guy who fights back from an injury like that? Plus he is a good, proven goal scorer and we could certainly use that. I'm certainly going to be nervous every time someone goes in for a tackle on him though. I'm sure he will too but hopefully he is not too apprehensive and gets through it without any problems. A lot of times after you recover from an injury you play trying NOT to get hurt and not playing naturally and a lot of times those are the times you end up getting injured, so we'll hope he is in a good state mentally. I haven't heard an interview with him lately so I really don't know how he is feeling but I'm sure he's glad to be back.

I hope nobody expects too much from him. Remember that he hasn't played since February and his leg was horribly injured and it's his first match back. Successfully completing 45 minutes should be considered a success and should help him get his confidence back in his ability to use the leg in a match. Anything he can do on top of that is just fantastic and I can't wait to see him back for the first team soon. We're all rooting for you Eddy, knock em dead!

In other news, Emmanuel Eboue says he is going to silence the fans who were booing him at the Emirates.

"It was sad. I did not expect that reaction from the public because I have always given all for Arsenal. But I am a professional and I have respect for the reactions of the crowd. The manager has encouraged me in the last few days and told me that you get over these things by working harder and fighting. He has promised me that if I give 200 per cent in every game, the fans will applaud me again."

Yes indeed, the fans will applaud you if you give 200 per cent in every game. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be your thing really so we'll see if you stick to it. Fans cheer for players who give everything for the team, so try it.

And the last thing for today is Salamanca wanting to take Carlos Vela on loan again. He's been on loan there last season but I can't see him being sent out again this year. Our squad really isn't deep enough to lose anymore players so I'll expect him to stay with Arsenal. He's a great player with a great future and I hope we get to see more of him in the weeks to come.

That's all I've got for today. I'll probably try to get something up tomorrow so I'll talk to you then. Everyone support Eduardo tomorrow! Cheers.

Rosicky Out Until At Least March, Eduardo Back Soon

Morning all. Bad news today. Coming off our 1-0 win over Wigan we find out today that Tomas Rosicky will be out until at least March. He's been out since last January so it'll be at least a 14 month recovery (longer than Eduardo's broken leg) for a hamstring injury. I think it is fairly safe to say that Tomas' career is in serious jeopardy. They have set dates for his return before now and each time they have pushed it back so we really can't even hold our breath for march. It's a shame that he's injured, but he's had a habit of that since coming to Arsenal and honestly I'm more worried about the health of Arsenal as a whole than the health of Rosicky's hamstring. Being injured really messed us up last year as we were short of wide players going into the title stretch. It's also forced us to buy Samir Nasri (who I think is a great player) when we maybe could and would have normally used it to buy a defender or central midfielder. If he doesn't make it back before the end of the season, then I can't see him ever playing another match for Arsenal. His constant injury problems make him not worth the quality he provides when healthy. So for his sake and the team's, let's hope he can make it back by March.


In better injury news though, Eduardo will be playing in only eight days! Arsene Wenger says he'll play December 16th against the Portsmouth reserves. I'm pretty excited about watching it (thanks ArsenalTV Online) and I'm really really hoping he comes through with flying colors. He's been out so long with such a devastating injury and you don't really know how he'll react to being out in a competitive situation again. The best analogy I could come up with was Top Gun. In Top Gun, when Goose and Maverick eject from the plane and Goose slams into the canopy and is killed, it really rattles Maverick, just like Eduardo's injury will have undoubtebly rattled him. Viper gets him back in the air though as soon as possible but Maverick is still a little tentative and not at his best, but with time he becomes more comfortable being back where he belongs and succeeds in battle. Eduardo, too, will be a bit nervous about his leg and how it will react to playing a match. With time though he'll feel comfortable on it and make a full recovery, and return to top goal-scoring form. Good luck Eddy, can't wait to have you back. I put in the great clip from Top Gun here in case you haven't seen it.

One last thing, Kolo Toure wants the fans to lay off the "heckling" of Eboue. In all fairness, it was his first game back in six weeks but when you play badly then people are well within their rights to boo you. If you pay for a ticket to the match you should be able to boo someone for a poor performance. Eboue was absoultely awful on Saturday and the boos were warranted. You never see a player substituted on and then back off later in the match, and he was. That just shows you how bad he was. If he can't handle a few boos then he is in the wrong proffession. Man up Eboue and play better, and try harder, and then you won't hear the boos. If you keep playing how you have played for us for the last year or so though, it will continue.


That's about all I've got. Maybe I'll do a podcast at the end of the week but I haven't decided yet. We'll see if I get enough emails from you all. ArseNole{@}arsenole.com. Cheers.

Arsenal Need A New Defender - Eduardo Returns

Hola. I'm writing this during half time of the Arsenal-Real Madrid match and it's still 0-0. Yesterday we lost 1-0 to Juventus on a goal that was CLEARLY offside by David Trezeguet. Referee is clearly in preseason form as well. I'm not going to bother with a match report but if you want to read one I'm sure you can find one somewhere.

What I am going to talk about is the defense, which has looked shaky at best against Stuttgart, Juve, and Madrid at times. Going forward we have looked fairly strong. I think Denilson, Wilshere, and Ramsey have all had exceptional preseasons along with Vela and Bendtner. Adebayor and RvP don't have their full match sharpness yet so we haven't put goals in yet in this tournament but they will come with more games. The chances we have created will be put in the back of the net during the real season. Offensively is not where my concerns lie, however.

There have been several cases this preseason where the defensive marking has been questionable. I realize that several of the center back pairings haven't played with each other much and it is only preseason, but they are mistakes that you don't often see from solid defenses at this level. Too much space has been given to opposing strikers, and I remember especially against Stuttgart they had several good chances with strikers getting free behind the defense because of poor marking. Our problem last year was our inability to cope with long balls and pick up the strikers when the ball was on the way in, and that vulnerability seems to remain. I don't know if it is a communication error or just not having the familiarity, but it is something that needs to be remedied as soon as possible.

At the start of the transfer season Arsene Wenger was asked about his targets for the summer and his answer was that we would sign "A playmaker and a powerful defender." Well we have our playmaker in Samir Nasri but it appears that Wenger has forgotten about the defender. Djourou and Senderos have never been convincing over an extended period of time and the Gallas/Toure partnership hasn't ever been as successful as it should be with two players of their caliber. We need a new defender. It's as simple as that. More than we need any holding midfielder, our first priority HAS to be a defender. There are loads of good ones, who have been solid consistently, that can play at high levels, and one of them needs to be brought in. Another season of leaking long balls that turn into goals is unacceptable. If it happens again than Wenger has to be blamed. He said himself that we need a defender and he has failed to bring one in. I'm a Wenger guy 100% but after watching the defense in these matches and having the same problems as we had all last year, I realize that a change has to be made.

Some other observations...As I said earlier, I think Denilson has been great this preseason. He has looked strong in the tackle, comfortable on the ball and with his distribution, and not afraid to take a shot when he has a sight of goal. We haven't gotten to see a whole lot of Diaby, but I think Denilson has made the most of his run in the team. Do you think he could be up to the job of playing beside Cesc? Judging by his play so far I'd say he can.

Last, I wanna talk about Eduardo, who returned today to a massive reception. It was great to see him walking around and they interviewed him as well. Great to hear from him and especially great to hear the roaring of the crowd when they saw him. Big ups from myself to all the fans who showed him how much we are all rooting for him. Get well soon mate, we're all praying for you.

Let me know what you think about everything. Hope Arsenal go out and win in this 2nd half. Cheers.

Eduardo Back Soon, Yaya Toure a Possibility?

Caught Offside has to post more bollocks per day than any other site. If there was a ratio, and somewhere a statistic for the ratio like, "Who posts the most made up shite per day?" I'm pretty sure Caught Offside would win. Yet continually they are the top Arsenal story on NewsNow.

Today however they actually post something that makes sense, and something a lot of us have been calling for, which is a swap deal with Alexander Hleb and Yaya Toure. Yaya is the ideal replacement for Flamini, already capable of playing in a similar style of play to ours at Barcelona, and Hleb is of course, a complete and utter cunt. I don't want Hleb back next season or any other season, so I'm hoping if he does piss off to Barcelona that we actually do get Toure in return. I would personally love to see the brothers Toure destroying Cristiano Ronaldo by kicking him repeatedly in the throat.


Arsene Wenger spoke about the transfer market, and how soon it will end as we know it. Due to the Webster ruling, players age 28 or older can buy out the last two years of their contracts and move clubs. Arsene spoke very accurately about what this could lead to, saying that soon people will say you should be able to do it at an even younger age and should be able to buy out more than two years. This would virtually eliminate transfer fees as you could just buy out the rest of a player's contract for much cheaper. More importantly even, for a club like ours, is you couldn't build a team over time. You'd pretty much just have to build for one season and maybe hope all of your players didn't leave. It's looking like it could be a bad situation if something is not done about it.

William Gallas talked about how he'd love to kick the shite out of the Italians at the Euros to get revenge for the World Cup 2006 final. Everyone remembers what happened then, Materazzi called Zidane's mother a whore or something and Zidane placed an incredible head butt right into his chest. France lost of course but it was good stuff to watch as a neutral.


There is great news regarding Eduardo Da Silva, who now looks set to come back as soon as August or September! There is a video here shot in Brazil that shows Eduardo walking, working out, and even kicking around a ball. He's really looking great and I can't believe the progress he appears to be making. It's got to be really good for his confidence as well that he has recovered so fast thus far when it looked like he'd be out until at least December. While he certainly shouldn't be rushed back, it is great that we could have him back sooner and that everything is on track and going well. Get well soon Eduardo!

Robin van Persie is set to begin talks on a new contract. Hopefully it has a clause that says if he misses half the season again he has to give back half of his wages. It's a shame RvP has to play in the Euros because I feel like if he just worked on fitness and getting some rest this summer he could come back a lot healthier. He's a great player but he's as bad as Rosicky when it comes to injuries. Keep your fingers crossed whenever he's playing this summer.

That's about all I have today. The entries are coming in for the Euro 2008 contest which is great, keep them coming. Remember all entries have to be in by the time we start matches on June 7th. Also, register for the forums and all that good stuff. And that's about it. Off to work now. Have a good one all, cheers!