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.

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.

No Defense for This Type of Defense

Well if you forgot we had a match yesterday, woke up knowing we didn't have Cesc or Adebayor, and saw that we had drawn 2-2 at Aston Villa, you would have thought it was a good result for us. However, if you actually watched the match, then you realize that we should have been able to hold on for a win. Was it our best performance? Hardly. But anytime you are up 2-0 in the second half you need to be stout enough to hold on for a win. Gallas brought down Agbonlahor for a penalty that Gareth Barry converted, and then our ultimate failure came in extra time. A cross came in from the right side to the left of the box and a simple one touch back in to the middle of the box for Zat Knight spelled our demise. He took the chance well and hit it right into the back of the net as the clock was about to run out.

Looking at the replay just makes you feel sick. It's the 92nd minute in a match that you are leading and we only have three defenders in our box when they are sending crosses in. Why are we so far up the pitch when there is so little time left while defending a lead? It's coming down to the wire and we're letting them pass it around in our box like they're on a damn training pitch. Can anyone really argue now that Senderos is not as good as Silvestre? What was the purpose of buying him? Did Wenger really still think he was a quality player or did he just want an extra body to put in defense? I can only imagine, but he just isn't very good.

While Arsene Wenger is still talking about winning the title, I think our goals must now change. Liverpool are ten points up on us halfway through the season, and are playing much better than us. And while we have shown that we can play with the best teams on our day, our consistency has been awful this year and a realistic expectation needs to be just qualification for the Champions League next season. We are three points behind Aston Villa and Manchester United now, with United having two games in hand. We have only nine wins and five losses so far, which is hardly a statistic to brag about. It will be an uphill battle with Villa playing so well, and I am hoping that a couple of buys in January will strengthen our squad enough to overtake them. In the end I still think we are the better team with better players, but it is the mental side of the game that we must adapt to in order to take back our Champions League spot.

While a lot of the fault does reside in our defence, our midfielders must also be back helping to close down and defend. When we only had three in the box on that last goal they were all defenders. You would hope that you would have some of your midfielders coming back to help in that situation but none of them are even close to the ball.

We've all been over who we think we need to bring in. Some have said Arteta, some have said Xabi Alonso, and still others have been wanting a defender. I think we could probably use all three, but I still want a defender more than anything. Gallas is very incosistent, Toure has not been at his best all year, and Silvestre is just not very good. The problem is, which defender would you buy? I'll leave that up to Arsene Wenger, because he is one of the best at finding talents from abroad. But let there be no doubt that we cannot continue like this.

I must have a little bit today on Bacary Sagna, who was truly inspired yesterday. I've always loved Sagna and he put on one of his best performances for Arsenal yesterday. He was brilliant from start to finish and definitely was man of the match for me. I also will give some credit to Denilson for taking the advantage when a little opening was given to him in the first half. Against the run of play, he struck and we took advantage of it. Credit to him.

So it's on to Portsmouth next, who have been pretty dreadful since Tony Adams took over, unfortunately for him. It is however, a chance we need to take to get three points. The January transfer window is only days away, and we may, for the first time in awhile, see some new players coming in in that window. We need to fight on. The Champions League is not far out of our reach and we have to want it more than Aston Villa wants it. Let's go Arsenal, Come on you Gunners!

Gallas Could Be Sold, So Let's Make It Happen

Morning all. Today is July 21st which means that all the players that played in the Euros, including Samir Nasri, report for training today. So welcome to Samir, welcome back to van Persie, and not welcome back to Emmanuel Adebayor.

So we'll start with the boss talking about Theo Walcott. He improved dramatically at the end of last season, sparked some might say by that amazing run against Liverpool in the Champion's League. (Great run but tough memories right after the conclusion of that goal.) However, he wants to play striker, not on the wing, and Arsene has said he intends for him to be moved up front down the road. Arsene had this to say about him:

“Theo made a step forward last season and you expect him to improve again,” said Wenger after the 2-1 win over Barnet on Saturday. “The target last year was for him to play 15 to 20 games and show quality. The target this year is to become a regular player.

“What position he’ll play in I don’t know. At the moment he looks more at ease wide than as a central striker. But we have to wait through the preparation games and see how ready he will be. The Barnet game was not a good opportunity to judge him.”

And I agree with him whole heatedly. I think if he continues to improve on the way he played near the end of last year he can certainly win the starting spot on the right side of midfield and if he pushes on from there he can get some games as a striker as well. Think about what options we have on the right, Walcott, Eboue (no comment), and maybe Rosicky or Nasri if the other is playing on the opposite side. Not exactly an impossible spot for Theo to lock down as his own. I'm looking forward to seeing more of what Theo can do this season. He didn't look good at all up front in the Barnet match but that's to be expected as he hardly ever plays in that role plus it was the first game back. I have grown out my facial hair to match Walcott's chin-strap style beard and have dubbed it "The Theo." It's actually quite nice.

I hope the boss doesn't persist with Eboue. Surely he realizes that the man brings nothing to the table. It's been a lingering thought in the back of my mind all summer, that of having to deal with another full season of Eboue starting on the wing. But I think the boss may finally realize that Theo can bring much more to the team playing in that spot. Eboue is no more than a backup right back and it should be kept that way. The farther away from the pitch he is kept, the better. We should just get him a cage that he can be locked in to watch all the matches, so that Arsene isn't ever tempted to play him. Have I mentioned I'm not an Eboue fan?

Theo Walcott Run Box To Box - 8 4 08
Uploaded by yuksel7

It took me ages to find this video so I hope you enjoyed it. Not the best quality video but if you watched it live it'll still be amazing to relive it; it was for me.

As far as transfer news, The Telegraph reports that PSG and Barcelona are interested in William Gallas for 6 million pounds and that Juventus could put in a 15 million pound bid for Robin van Persie. For once that actually sounds like a player Arsene Wenger might not mind losing. I wouldn't be upset at all to see us sell William Gallas for 6 million pounds. He's 31, he shouldn't be captain and this would be a great way to make sure we bring in a new defender and keep Kolo Toure in the starting lineup. There's not a bad way to look at it. Then Kolo would get the captaincy, we'd get our powerful defender and we have no whining from Gallas. I don't know if the interest from PSG is real or not but if it is then I'm begging Arsene to sell him. It would just take care of a bunch of problems all at once. Anyone disagree?

As for Robin van Persie, I don't think Arsene would let him go, especially with the fragile state of Emmanuel Adebayor's relationship with the club at this point. So I don't think we have anything to worry about there. I'd probably take 20 million for him though, if they offered that.

Bakary Sagna spoke about his injury and how well he's recovered from it, saying that there is still some pain but he can play normally.

"I needed to find my performance level again and be prepared to give more than I have before.

"I do think, though, that I will be fit for the start of the season.

"I want to focus on my own game, perform for Arsenal and see what the season brings. Hopefully it will be some cups."

I love Bakary. He always has a great attitude and works hard, not to mention he's the best damn right back in the league. Here's to your full recovery mate! Cheers!

New Kit Leaked and More!

Morning all. A special shout out to Dr Whiff today for being such a cunt. Thanks. Top bloke there.

To start off with we've got the new home kits for next season! I for one have to say that they're good looking kits. I know the sleeves aren't all white this time around but I think they still have enough white to keep them traditional. It seems like there's extra white down the sides too which is cool. I'm going to be getting one, just not sure if I want a Sagna one, a Cesc one, or a Clichy one. Or maybe even Adebayor. The away kit I've only seen low quality pictures but they go back to the yellow with a bit of blue. I'm not as much of a fan of those but I haven't seen any really good pictures. What do you guys think?


Sky Sports reports that Arsenal had a 10 million pound bid rejected for Cristian Zapata of Udinese. He's their star defender and captain even though he's only 21 years old. He could be just the type of defender we need to bring in and if we really did bid for him then that is great news to hear. He's 6' 2" (I don't know metrics well enough to convert, sorry) and is big and strong enough to challenge for the long balls, which has been what we couldn't do in the past seasons.

This morning one of our readers, Joshua, and myself were talking about if you could sign ONE defender in the whole world, who would it be? He said Per Mertesacker and I said Sergio Ramos. Who do you think our best defensive option would be if you could choose one from anywhere?

Everton have also joined the race to sign Aaron Ramsey, and have had a bid accepted. So it's really up to him to decide where he wants to go now, but I think he'll probably end up and Man United. I don't really care though. We have 17 year olds that are coming up that could probably do most of what Ramsey has done in the Championship. This article says that he will wait until he is able to speak to Arsene Wenger though.T

Bacary Sagna signed a new deal, so my favorite player gets to stick around longer.

"I love Arsenal, they are a great club," Sagna stated.

"The manager is also very good and next season we will be fighting for all the trophies."

Sounds like he actually enjoys it here, who would have thought? If you read other stories you'd think everyone hated Arsenal.

Here's a story that Gilberto washed his Visa in the laundry and that made him late for training. Sounds like Gilberto needs to come up with better excuses.

There have been several reports such as this one in the Telegraph saying that Emmanuel Adebayor has agreed personal terms with AC Milan. I think it's probably all bollocks. He just said he loves the club and will be back next year a few days ago. It's all sources from Italy saying it so it's probably just trying to unsettle our best striker. I think he'll be here though.

Alright that's a wrap on this one. Apparently posts are only good if they get comments but if you actually have a life and are too busy I understand. Till tomorrow, cheers!

Arsenal To Sign Nasri

Ok so it's a very very late post today, and it's not going to be a long one because I am sick at the moment and I'm also tired after work. I was going to wait until tomorrow for this but it appears our first signing of the summer is going to be Samir Nasri. Quotes from the Marseille playmaker seem to point to a move to Arsenal in the next week.

“I’ve maybe played my last game at Stade Velodrome,” said Nasri. “In any case I wanted to finish well.”

Several sources are reporting that the fee is going to be 13.5 million pounds and that it should be completed within the next ten days. It looks like Alexander Hleb may be moving to Barcelona and Nasri is seen as his replacement.

This article contains a quote from his agent confirming that there have been approaches for Nasri.

In other news, Roman Domanech has again proved how much of a cunt he is by leaving out Gael Clichy AND Bakary Sagna from the Euro 2008 squad. They both were in the team of the season and yet can't make it into the French squad at all. Absolute bollocks.

Also, Justin Hoyte has been linked with a 4.5 million pound move to Aston Villa. I like Hoyte more than I like Eboue, but I think Wenger likes Eboue more and he isn't really listening to me, so I'm guessing he'll probably be off. At least it'll bring us some money. I'd be sorry to see Hoyte go though.

That's about all I have time for right now because I've got to lay down. More tomorrow if I get a chance but cross your fingers on the Nasri thing. Cheers.

Kroenke To Join Arsenal Board

Morning. Let's get right down to it. The Independent says Arsenal are going to offer Stan Kroenke a place on the board. This is a far contrast from the way they feel about Usmanov, and indeed felt about Kroenke some time ago. When Stan from the States first bought into the club everyone thought that he was part of a takeover plan which never came about. He simply bought 12 percent of the club and has worked well with the board ever since, even signing the lock down agreement to not sell his shares before 2012. The moral of the story is the whole team of Arsenal board members and shareholders are doing their part to keep that fat oaf Usmanov out of the club and it appears to be working.

Good news on the injury front sees Tomas Rosicky had a successful surgery on his knee. The surgery was yesterday and was supposed to be an exploratory procedure to try to find out the problem but they discovered and then reportedly fixed it by attaching the tendon with two titanium anchors, which should keep it in place. The doctor that performed the operation said that after his rehabilitation he should have no problems and get back to having full functionality in the knee. Great news and I can't wait to see Tomas back next season.

We've been warned off Obafemi Martins by Kevin Keegan, which is fine because we don't want that cunt anyway. It does say we haven't approached him thank God because we really don't need Martins and if we paid 15 million for him I'd shoot myself.

It looks like we're going to be loaning out some potential first team players next season, as Armand Traore may be going to Portsmouth with Alex Song going to West Brom. I have no problem with Song going to West Brom because I think he will get games there and get to have good experience in a team that will almost certainly head right back down to the Championship. The only problem I have is with Traore going to Pompey, where I wonder if he will get games on the wing. Don't they have better options for the wings, including one we're trying to buy? Either way, let's hope they both get good experience if they do get loaned out and they'll be better off for it.

The Times reports that Yaya Toure would be interested in a move to Arsenal if there was a bid for him. He had this to say today:

"I am conscious of interest from certain Premier League clubs. I can't say anything for the moment, but it's true that it would be great to play for a big club with my brother. That would be fantastic, but you never know."

I love Yaya as a player. I thought he was immense against Man United in the first leg at the Nou Camp. He's a ready made Flamini replacement and he would never want to leave Arsenal. It'd be a brilliant signing in my eyes, and I just have a hunch that it may happen.

There is a poll on Sky Sports for the goal of the season. Adebayor's goal versus Sp*rs is in the lead so let's keep it that way.

So now it's time for player review number two, about our favorite number 3, Bakary Sagna!

In the Past: As Sagna just joined Arsenal last summer we don't have much of a past on him besides that he played for Auxerre before coming to Arsenal and nobody at all had heard of him when we signed him. He made 87 appearances for Auxerre in Ligue 1 and 17 appearances in the UEFA Cup and was part of the team that won the French Cup in 2005, and he was also named in the French team of the season that year. He moved to Arsenal for 6 million pounds.

This Season: Sagna pulled off something that doesn't happen very often when foreign players move to England, he hit the ground running. Wenger said when he came in that he didn't expect Sagna to play right away and that he had intended to give him half a season to adjust before throwing him into the league games, but his performances in the pre-season gave him the starting right back slot and he fit right into the English game. Many people a season ago thought Emmanuel Eboue was one of the best if not the best right back in the Premiership, and it shows how well Sagna has played that he has fully replaced him and made that spot his own, forcing Eboue to the wing. He scored his first goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge off a beautiful header from a corner kick. He got injured later in the match which turned out to be what ended his season unfortunately. He was rewarded for his performances by being named in the 2007/2008 Premier League Team of the Year. He notched a total of 5 assists and 1 goal in the league this year, which is quite an impressive tally coming from right back. In defense, he only received three yellow cards all season, received 40 fouls while only giving up 12, and won 39 tackles while only losing 17. He is also a candidate for the Arsenal Player of the Season award.

Next Season: I think you have to say that going forward we should count on Sagna to be one our most reliable and best players. His impressive first season gave evidence of what he can do for the team and I think he will be able to build on that due to the great attitude you see from him. He is a very humble guy and a hard worker who seems to genuinely love playing. What we don't want to see is injury problems of course. We have to hope the injury he suffered near the end of the season this year won't come back and cause him problems because that will effect his consistency in his performances. He certainly has the right back spot locked up though, which may end up forcing Justin Hoyte out of the club because it doesn't appear he will be getting very many games. If Sagna can keep up the level of performances he's had this season, or even raise the bar a little more, it will make that right side of defense one that no striker or winger wants to come up against. And yes I am a fan of his hair.

One last note, I'm still looking for contributers for the upcoming ArseNole podcast. If you would like to co-host with me I am looking for one and if anyone can think of anything funny or interesting to put on there that would be great. Just add it on the comments, forums, or email me, ArseNole@arsenole.com