The ArseNole Podcast - Episode 3

Morning everyone. The ArseNole's 200th post is also the post for the third ArseNole Podcast. I know you're all so excited, and so am I. Joaquin and i recorded it during the first half of the Stuttgart match yesterday. The sound quality should be better than the last time but we're still trying to improve it every time we do it. Comments and feedback are much appreciated and you can send any comments or topics you want us to talk about to ArseNole@{removethis}arsenole.com. Thanks for listening and please comment!


You can listen to the podcast here, or you can download the podcast here, or you can subscribe using iTunes by clicking here. Or just visit the podcast page and catch up on the previous ones here.

Cheers!

Arsenal Sign Amaury Bischoff

Just a quick post to say that Arsenal.com have confirmed that we have signed Amaury Bischoff from Werder Bremen. He's a 21 year old midfielder that hasn't played in two years. He moved to Bremen in 2005 but only played one senior game there. He can play on the center or the right side and he isn't costing the club anything. He's been handed the number 28 kit and will report to training tomorrow.

I wish I knew more about him but when someone hasn't played in two years it's hard to know all that much about him really. I'd expect he'll play in the Carling Cup this season but I wouldn't expect too much from him. Does anyone else know anything about this guy? If you do feel free to tell us all in the comments. Thanks.

Adebayor vs. Van Persie

Morning everyone. I woke up early this morning unintentionally and can't go back to sleep even though its now 3 1/2 hours until the Stuttgart game starts...I think. I hate all these time changes when they travel all around Europe.

So as I was thinking last night I thought of a question that really puzzled me; why does Emmanuel Adebayor take so much stick while Robin van Persie always gets the benefit of the doubt? We know that Robin is a quality player that can be a game changer when he is fit, but he is hardly ever capable of playing a slate of several games in a row. Adebayor, on the other hand, played almost every game for us last season, yet he takes the blame from several sectors of Arsenal "fans" for the fall from the top of the table.

Maybe it's because people say you can't blame someone for an injury, but doesn't being reliable come into play at some point? Playing football matches, not watching from the stands, is the players' job. If I constantly missed work because of being sick, I wouldn't have a job much longer. If I was an important piece of the process at that job, then it is very feasible that the company's product as a whole would suffer. Robin is supposed to be a key player for Arsenal, one that can win matches singlehandedly, yet when he cannot even make the squad because of a "thigh strain," we lost a lot of that ability in the squad.

I will get lambasted for this, but the Adebayor/van Persie strike force is in some ways like that of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. Was Thierry Henry ever as effective on his own up front as he was when Dennis was in there as his strike partner? No he wasn't, you couldn't expect him to be. His game was played off of Dennis who created space for him and could lay on some passes as well as score goals. Yet when Adebayor is in the game all year scoring thirty goals, well then he should have scored more by God. Before you say that Adebayor is no Thierry Henry, please see that I have said this myself before. I am just saying that to score goals like he has this past season is a remarkable feat. Playing on his own up front, after never being a proven goal scorer in his previous time at Arsenal or Monaco, it was nothing short of fantastic. Meanwhile van Persie gets all the credit in the world for being a "great player" but when did we see that talent last season? In a sports world of "What have you done for me lately?" it appears that the question does not apply to these two. Robin van Persie is lauded for his past accomplishments, (which by the way include zero 30 goal seasons) while Adebayor is blasted for squandering chances.

I'm not saying Adebayor is a better player. I'm not saying van Persie isn't a brilliant player, because I think he is. What I AM saying however is that if you want to point blame, point the blame where it is due. At some point van Persie has to have the toughness to play through slight injuries or Arsenal need to realize that they will never be able to count on him. Adebayor may be a twat, but at least he plays every match for us.

Robin says he's looking forward to the new season and says he hopes he can be injury free. That's what we are all hoping for, because it would help out the team immensely.

"Last year I played 16 games and scored seven goals - that is nearly one in two.

Sixteen games. Sixteen games from our star striker. And you blame Adebayor, who played 36 of 38 league matches and scored 24.

I know you Adebayor bashers out there (and there are many of you!) are taking this as an insult. "Van Persie is clearly the much better player!" you'll say, and "If Robin had had the chances Adebayor had he would have had 50 goals!." But the fact is, he doesn't. He had seven goals. And he only had eleven the year before. At some point van Persie has to put his talent to use for the club. Touches of brilliance yes, but otherwise, I must say there has been a lot of disappointment.

I think Robin is a fantastic player, don't get me wrong. I just think the fans' attitude toward the two strikers is so misguided and I cannot understand why. Maybe it's just the style of play, or the way van Persie's goals seem to always be fantastic while Adebayor's finishes seem ordinary. It certainly didn't help these opinions with what Adebayor has said this summer, but looking strictly from a footballing point of few...who has been more productive for Arsenal?

That's all I've got for the day. Try to take it easy on me and take a logical approach to your comments. Stuttgart match today, so we could hopefully see Mad Jens again. Cheers.

Why Arsenal Will Win The Title This Year

Morning all. Not a lot of news following the demolition of Burgenland yesterday. Cesc Fabregas came out and killed off anyone saying that he was going to Real Madrid, in fact saying that he made no statement about Madrid at all. Good work from Cesc yet again. I think he does everything well, football, handling the press, his hair, etc.

Now since there is no news today I want to go on a bit of a rant. Bear with me. I'm going to go over a few things I have learned this summer and in the season past.

Football is a tough game. The English Premier League is a tough league. There are twenty teams and no matter how well all the teams play, only one is going to win the trophy at the end of the year. Over 38 games in a year, you have to be the best and most consistent team. So you have to ask yourself, is Arsenal ready to make that step up with the likes of Chelsea and Man United out there? I think we can be. Arsenal will never be a club like Chelsea that goes out and buys every player that has a good season or superstars that are past their primes. We probably won't be like Man United either, spending money that will knowingly increase the club's debt. So we have a manager that majored in economics, and his job is to keep the ship afloat, WHILE managing our club. Arsenal are the smallest spenders of the big four teams, yet have we ever been considered the least successful? Liverpool haven't won the title since 1990 and Chelsea just started winning win Abramovich came.

The transfer market has changed, but Arsenal Football Club will not. As long as Wenger is our manager, we will be shrewd spenders, with a focus on the future and youth. Has this not been successful in the past though? Tony Adams was made the club's youngest ever captain back in 1988 at age 21, did anyone say he was too young and inexperienced to win a title? Cesc Fabregas is that same age, maybe he is the right man to lead us in that same way.

Do we need a lot of major signings to make sure we win a trophy? Will a Gareth Barry or a Miguel Veloso really be a huge improvement over Abou Diaby? Maybe they are somewhat better right now, but Wenger is one of the very, very best at getting the most out of his players' potential. Imagine if Diaby got a lot of games in the holding midfield role under Wenger's tutelage. I think he could easily be at that level.

Is it a crisis to lose Gilberto, Flamini, and Hleb? I don't think so. Nasri has been brought in to be a new and hopefully improved Hleb, and as I said I think Diaby can fill in next to Fabregas admirably. Who thought Flamini was going to be the player he was before last year? Not one person, I guarantee it. The summer before last season everyone thought he was going to be off to Birmingham for a couple hundred thousand pounds, and now he's playing for Milan. It just shows what the boss' guidance and a run in the team can do for a player.

What is so wrong with Manuel Almunia? I see loads of comments saying he is a rubbish keeper and we need to bring in someone else, but when did he make these awful mistakes that you base these claims on? He played well throughout the entirety of last season. Every keeper allows some goals and he was no different, but he kept us in more games than he lost us. And if we did get a new keeper, who would you have brought in that is so much better? Don't give me Buffon or Casillas or Cech, because it isn't happening! We have a solid keeper right now that gets too much stick and I'm sick of it. Keep up the good work Manuel.

Emmanuel Adebayor is probably staying. While he's messed up badly this summer, it does make us a better team with him staying. If van Persie is healthier and can properly partner with Adebayor all year, we have one of the most dangerous strike forces in the league, if not the world. Hate Ade all you want, but he is a good player. Some people say "well a proper forward would have scored 60 goals with the service he got this year." Remember that he was on his own up front for most of the season and he scored as many league goals as Fernando Torres, who is worshiped as a god almost. He scored a lot of important goals so I don't know why everything thinks he's a terrible player, because you're just dead wrong. Runs his mouth yes, bad player no.

My point in all this is that I never want Arsenal Football Club to be a huge spending club like Chelsea or United or Liverpool. I want my club and your club to stick with what has gotten it this far, dedication, intelligence, and passion. Give Arsene the chance to run the team. He has won lots of trophies before and he can do it again. Remember that Eduardo, van Persie, and Rosicky are all potential starters that were hurt a lot of last year, as well as Sagna's injury at the end of the year. If we can get all those players back and healthy it's like 2 1/2 singings that we didn't have at all last year, when we almost pulled off the title. We are not as far away as people think, we are not in a crisis, we are just Arsenal Football Club, and this is how we work.

So that's all I've got. I hope that made some sense. Agree or disagree, you can put it in the comments or the forums. Cheers.

Burgenland 2-10 Arsenal Match Report

So it was a much better performance than all of our previous friendlies, and while it was against far inferior opposition, it was nice to see Arsenal be able to get into the flow of a game and work their pass and move attacks.

The lineup looked like this at the start:

Almunia
Sagna-Hoyte-Hoyte-Clichy
Wilshere-Ramsey-Denilson-Traore
Vela
Bendtner

So it was a side almost unchanged from the last friendly but Walcott was on the bench instead of starting this one. It didn't take long for the scoring to begin.

In the 1st minute, Armand Traore ran down the left side and crossed the ball low into the box. Aaron Ramsey got a touch on it but it fell to Jack Wilshere who decided to lob it into the corner and the ball just got across the line. So 1-0 to Arsenal and we were off to a flyer.

Not long after that Bendtner got on the score sheet in the 15th minute. It was a screamer from the edge of the box that really had a lot of power on it. Before that goal Bendtner had wasted several chances and didn't look confident at all, so it was good to see him get on the score sheet early on.

The third goal was almost right after that and it was Bendtner again. Wilshere cut inside from the right wing and sent a great through ball to Bendtner who slotted it coolly home. The pass was just as spectacular as the goal and Wilshere had an absolute cracker of a game.

Goal number four saw Carlos Vela get on the score sheet for the first time in an Arsenal shirt. A great goal from him and it was good for him to get off the mark for Arsenal.

It was still less than thirty minutes into the game when we scored our 5th goal. Bendtner got his first half hat trick when he was sent through and sent the ball into the far corner and beat the onrushing keeper.

Vela got another shortly after to make it 6-0, and Bendtner made it 7-0 before the half. So we went in up 7 at the half and we really could have had 3 or 4 more at least. Vela probably should have had a penalty that the ref waived off because the score was so embarrassing and as I said earlier, Bendtner missed a couple of chances that he probably should have put in. Armand Traore picked up a slight knock and had to come off before the half and was replaced by Henri Lansbury.

Half time changes were as follows: Clichy, Denilson, Bendtner, and Almunia off. Mannone, Randall, Walcott, and Simpson on.

Vela scored again shortly after half time to make his hat trick, which was very impressive and made it 8-0 to Arsenal.

Wilshere got the 9th goal. He made a darting run into the box, dummied the defender and went by and was fouled on the way past. The referree gave the penalty and Wilshere stepped up to take it himself. He struck a perfect, collected penalty into the bottom right corner.

Walcott got his first goal of the match late in the game after he received yet another assist from Jack Wilshere and hit it past the keeper. So that made it 10-0 and we had reached double digits.

Then you could tell Arsenal sort of took off the gas and Burgenland decided to try to mount a comeback. They scored one off of a corner kick that was scrambled around in the box and put past Mannone. That made it 10-1 and while it was disappointing to concede a goal, the game was so out of hand that it didn't matter. They scored another shortly after to make it 10-2 but Arsenal weren't really playing at that point.

So the final was 10-2, in a brilliant performance.

Man of the Match: Jack Wilshere, shortly ahead of Bendtner. He made about five assists and scored two goals and was overall outstanding. I know he's only 16 and you shouldn't build up the youngsters so much but I can't help but be excited every time he touches the ball. He has great vision, great dribbling ability, and is just a smart player. I can't wait to see what he can do in a few years.

Needs Work: Well, the two goals at the end shouldn't have happened, but I won't really fault them for losing a bit of concentration after being up 10-0.

So that's about it for this match. Stuttgart on Wednesday should be our first real test, and Arsene Wenger confirmed that Samir Nasri WILL PLAY in that match. So that's something we can all look forward to.

Hope you all enjoyed the match. Cheers!

Arsenal vs Burgenland Lineups

Morning all. Today's friendly against Burgenland starts in about 20 minutes and I've just gotten the starting lineups. Not many changes from the last match really, but Theo drops to the bench. Still no sign of Nasri, RvP, Ade, and the rest.

Almunia
Sagna-Hoyte-Hoyte-Clichy
Wilshere-Ramsey-Denilson-Traore
Vela
Bendtner

So another look at Wilshere, Ramsey, and Vela which should be good. I'm not too thrilled about Hoyte & Hoyte starting in central defense but hopefully they have a better game than they did last match. I'll get a match report up after the match but I just wanted to get the lineup out there. Up the Arsenal! Cheers.

Update: Aaron Ramsey has scored his first Arsenal goal! 48 seconds in he scored on a nice lob that barely crept into the net.

Update 2: 2-0 to Arsenal through Bendtner in the 15th minute. He hasn't looked good before that moment but he took the goal quite well.

Update 3: 3-0 to Arsenal after another goal from Bendtner. Assist from Jack Wilshere who has looked outstanding. He really is incredible. But great finish from Bendtner.

Update 4: 4-0 to the Arsenal! Carlos Vellllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaa. Great goal from him. Still only the 26th minute.

Update 5: Hattrick for Bendtner makes it 5-0. Good calm finish into the corner.

Update 6: 6-0 to Arsenal with another one from Vela. It's getting really embarrassing for Burgenland.

Update 7: 7-0. Another one from Bendtner. Can't believe I picked today to do goal by goal updates. I'm having to update every 3 minutes.

Halftime: 7-0 remains the scoreline at the half. The first goal has been taken away from Ramsey apparently and given to Jack Wilshere, and looking back that's how it should be. Henri Lansbury has come on already for Armand Traore, who I thought played very well. Expect Theo and Vito Mannone to come on in the 2nd half and maybe a couple of others as well.

Boats 'N Hoes

Morning all. That video is hilarious. If you don't know what it's from it's from the movie Step Brothers that just came out. I saw it last night and I didn't stop laughing.

So it's been a quiet few days in the world of Arsenal. No matches till Monday so I suppose they've just been training away. One bright spot however is that Kolo Toure appears to have made a miraculous recovery from his malaria. It's the Sun reporting so take it for what it's worth but they say he could start light training as early as next week. That would definitely be a boost for the team and hopefully he'll be ready by the beginning of the season and fully fit. Now that 's recovering I can start my "Sell Gallas" campaign again!

Samir Nasri, as expected, will be playing out wide this season. I thin we all knew he was a replacement for Hleb but now Nasri himself is talking about playing out wide in the coming year:

"I've spoken with Arsene Wenger and I'm going to play on the wing, because that's where the playmakers evolve, overlapping with the fullbacks," Nasri told French sports daily L'Equipe. "That system suits me, I played that way for four years with the French youth team and at the last European Championship. Either on the left or the right, it hasn't been defined yet."

He went on to talking about how he needs to improve his game to succeed in England and pretty much said all the general things that new players arriving say. He seems genuinely excited to play for Arsenal, and I really don't think you can ask for much more from him in the way of how to act and what to say so far.

Manuel Almunia had some nice things to say about Aaron Ramsey, saying he could be the New Cesc. He has looked pretty decent in preseason so far, but it's preseason against much weaker clubs than ours. So let's keep it all in perspective for now, but yes he does look a very good player and Wenger wouldn't have signed him and promised him that he could be in the first team at age 17 if he wasn't special.

There really isn't that much else. Go see Step Brothers. I still haven't seen Batman, but I'll be doing that at some point. Cheers.

Sp*rs Jokes And Other Stuff

There really isn't anything to write about today. Seriously there is almost no news. I should have saved my report on Toure's malaria until today just so I had something to write. I guess there is a little bit of good news, in that Eduardo will be back to watch the Emirates Cup. He's still rehabbing in Brazil but he is on schedule for his recovery and everything appears to be going well. So that's great to hear and I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing him back at the Emirates.

The only other real news it that Thierry Henry and Bertie Mee will both be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. Bertie was the manager of our first double-winning side in 1971 and Thierry Henry needs to explanation. Legend. So well deserved to both of them and congratulations.

So for the rest of the blog I'm going to try to entertain with you with some jokes about some of our rivals!

Tottenham:

Q: What do you call a tottenham fan with lots of girlfriends?
A: A Shepherd

Q: Why do tottenham supporters have Moustaches?
A: So they can look like their Mothers

Q: What do you call a tottenham fan with no arms and legs?
A: Trustworthy

Q) Two spurs fans jump off a cliff- who lands first?
A) Who gives a f**k

Q: What's the difference between a dead dog in the road and a dead tottenham fan?
A: Skid marks in front of the dog

Scousers:

Q: How many Liverpool fans does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Yeah, as if they have electricity in Liverpool...

Q: What do Liverpool Fans and sperm have in common?
A: One in 2,000,000 has a chance of becoming a human being

Q: What should you do if you see a scouse jogging?
A: Trip him up and give the lady's purse back to her

ManUre:

Q. What do you call a Manchester United fan with half a brain?
A: Gifted

Q: What's the difference between listening to Alex Ferguson's after-match interview and childbirth?
A: One's an extremely painful almost unbearable experience, and the other one's just having a baby

Yeah I thought a couple of those were entertaining, if you have any other good one feel free to throw them out there. I didn't get around to doing the Chelski ones but I'll leave that for another day when there's nothing to write about. Cheers all.

Kolo Toure Has Malaria

Just what we needed. The man I've been wanting to captain this team for the new season contracted malaria over the summer in the Ivory Coast. He was feeling a little weakness during the training camp in Austria and was taken to the hospital for a check up, and they discovered...wait for it...that he has contracted the deadly disease. He stayed in the hotel during the match yesterday, which finished 1-1.

He's said to be "in good spirits" and "not too concerned" about the illness, which by the way can kill you. A couple of other African players have gotten Malaria in the past few years, and Yakubu and Lomana LuaLua are still living so that is a good sign.

It does look though that he'll miss the beginning of the Premier League season, which means we are even more in dire straights than we were before all of this. Arsene really is going to have to look into bringing in a defender now. Depending on how long Toure is out, we'll only have three central defenders going into the season, Gallas, Senderos, and Djourou. So now is the time to spend some money and go find a defender.

The other main news of the day is that Arsene wants to buy a midfielder. It's not really surprising since Flamini is gone but he hadn't confirmed that this was his intent until now.

“We will need one more body in there,” said Wenger when asked about his midfield. “At the moment we do not have Alex Song who is going to the Olympic games, Abou Diaby was not here tonight and nor was Fabregas.

“If we find a reasonable target then we will do it. But there is no special name on the list.

“We have some time. We have until August 31. We left 11 players back in Austria for this game. They will play in Stuttgart [on July 30].”

I think the comment about it being "no special name" may be a hint that it isn't going to be Xabi Alonso or Gareth Barry. It could be though, who knows with Arsene?

Sorry it's so short. Had work early today but I'll get something together tomorrow. Cheers!

Szombathelyi H. v Arsenal Match Preview

Morning all. It's hard to write up match previews for these friendlies because there isn't shite for news before them. You can't find starting lineups, you can't find anything on the other team, and the manager doesn't speak before them. But we're going to throw one out here anyway because I'm just that nice.

Today's game could possibly bring about the debut of Mr. Samir Nasri, who I am very excited about seeing. He just got into training yesterday so I can't be sure that he'll play but I would think he'll get some amount of time today. Depending on his injury status we could also get to see Carlos Vela make his friendly debut. I think it'd be cool to see Nasri on one wing and Vela on the other today at the same time. That would be an exciting combination. I think they both primarily play on the left though so that may not happen, along with the fact that Arsene Wenger said Vela is more of an Eduardo type forward than a winger.

The rest of the squad is also back in training (not sure about Cesc), so we could also see the return of Robin van Persie, Phillippe Senderos, Emmanuel Adebayor, William Gallas and others. Cesc I think might have gotten a longer break because Spain going so far in the Euros, and I'm not sure what Adebayor's status is really.

I'd expect the lineups to be stronger overall than against Barnet but I think it'll probably be a game of two completely different halves again, since Arsene won't want to work the players for a full 90 minutes yet. I think Aaron Ramsey should get some more good playing time, which is good for him and us, because he's fun to watch.

Pat Rice spoke about the preseason in Austria and explained why Arsenal go to Austria instead of going on a long summer tour:

"What happens is whenever we get there, we have a block of about nine days," explained assistant manager Pat Rice earlier this summer.

"Obviously that is interspersed with a few games but this is when we can get some good, hard pre-season training into the players which will help them and make sure they are in good shape for all of the season. Not just the start of the season but the whole campaign.

"Some managers think there is no problem with that [long-distance summer tours] but we are not one of the clubs who go down that route.

"Our Austria training camp has proved very successful for us for the coming seasons because we have always been in the top four and we think the preparations we get there is good for our young players."

Thanks Pat for that quality information. If you want more information on Szombathelyi you can find out here.

And that's about it. That's probably the worst match preview I've ever written but I'm sorry there's really not much information about the match ahead of time. I'll go out on a limb and pick 3-0 to the Arsenal. Time to go watch the match. Cheers.

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!

Arsenal 2-1 Barnet Match Report

Our first preseason friendly is done and dusted, and while it certainly wasn't Arsenal at their best, we did get the job done eventually. It was great to see so many youngsters along with some of the veterans, plus our new signings Ramsey and Coquelin on display. Carlos Vela was not included in the squad, presumably due to some type of injury.

In the first half we went with the more experienced lineup, and also saw Aaron Ramsey make his debut in midfield. The lineup looked like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Nordtveit-J. Hoyte-Clichy
Lansbury-Ramsey-Denilson-Traore
Bendtner-Walcott

It was good to see Sagna back after his injury and while he didn't have his best game he did get forward a lot and provided crosses but we just couldn't convert any of them.

At the start of the game Arsenal had a lot of the ball, and we had a chance pretty early when Ramsey played a great ball through to Bendtner who really should have done better with the chance. He took a bad touch and tried to play it back but couldn't get anything behind his pass.

This seemed to be a continuing theme throughout the first half, Bendtner getting chances and just not being able to put any of them away. His whole game really looked to be off as his passing wasn't very good either. Walcott didn't give him much help though as he seemed drift in and out of the game.

In the fifteenth minute Arsenal gave away a free kick in a dangerous position because of a foul I believe against Havard Nordtveit. Barnet took the kick brilliantly to beat the wall and Manuel Almunia to give Barnet a surprise 1-0 lead. They certainly hadn't had much of the possession and the goal was against the run of play, but they took advantage of the chances, which Arsenal hadn't done so far.

Aaron Ramsey looks to be a wonderful signing already. He completely controlled the midfield for the first half, showed great awareness and ability on the ball. He always seemed comfortable, even under pressure, and his passing was precise. He looks like he could be (forgive me for the reference) the new Cesc Fabregas. I'd say he was the best player on the park for the first half. After the game however, when asked about Ramsey's performance he said simply that Aaron "looked tired but works hard in training." He must not agree with my thoughts on his performance.

Unfortunately though Arsenal were unable to create much in the way of chances in the first half and went in at the half 1-0 down.

The start of the second half saw us make 11 substitutions, so I'll try to remember them all.

Mannone
Ogogo-Rodgers-G. Hoyte-Steer
Wilshere-Randall-Coquelin-Barazite
Simpson-Fonte

So it was a complete change to the side and it was a team full of youngsters, plus the debut of another new signing in Francis Coquelin.

The youngsters started a bit sloppily at the beginning of the half, giving some passes away and looking a bit shaky sometimes in possession but they got into form soon enough. Jay Simpson for me looked particularly impressive, making good runs and mixing his passes well.

It wasn't long before we had equalized. Jack Wilshere, who was brilliant (he's the type of player that I get excited every time he gets the ball) fed a beautiful pass to Jay Simpson, who was making a run into the box. Simpson hit it first time and sent it into the back of the net. It was a great shot that the keeper would have done very well to save. 1-1 was the score and Arsenal were looking for more.

The second goal also involved Wilshere. He fed Jay Simpson running through the middle who sent a perfect ball across to the left side of the box which Nacer Barazite met first time and sent into the bottom right corner of the net, past the onrushing Barnet keeper. 2-1 to the Arsenal and looking much better.

The rest of the match was pretty uneventful. Arsenal were content to keep the ball and Barnet didn't really have much going forward. They did have a free kick right outside of the box with about 8 minutes to go but they wasted it.

So the match ended 2-1 to Arsenal and while it wasn't the best performance by the regular starters, the youngsters came in and got the job done, which was great to see.

Man of the Match: Jack Wilshere, closely followed by Jay Simpson. Wilshere is already a master of the pass even though he is the youngest player on the pitch. His awareness going forward and willingness to run at defenders is exceptional and he's a player that is very exciting for the future. Hopefully Arsene will keep him grounded so his potential doesn't get to his head, but I'd expect to see him in some Carling Cup games this year.

Needs Work: Just the team's sharpness as a whole. Bendtner and Walcott looked extremely rusty but that will come with time.

Arsene's Post Game Comments: He is VERY adamant that Emmanuel Adebayor will not be leaving. He said after the match that his is a very different situation than Hleb's was and will not be leaving under any circumstances. So it would be a good time for Adebayor to start rebuilding the ties with the team. Arsene was asked about which players were likely to be included in the first team squad and would only say that "a few of them" would be included but gave no names.

I'm really looking forward to the next preseason game. It's quite exciting to see all the youngsters get to play. Lots to talk about so let's hear your comments about the match and Arsene's comments. Cheers!

Can't Wait For the Barnet Match!

It's now 12 minutes from kick off and I have to tell you that I am super excited. It's been far too long since I've gotten up and thrown on the Arsenal kit to watch a match. I'll have a match report up right after the match with full reports on young Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do! Ramsey and Denilson are starting in the midfield so we should get to see a lot of him.

Cheers

Update: It's 1-0 to Barnet after 15 minutes. They scored off a wonderful free kick. Carlos Vela has not been included in the squad for some reason, which I am not sure of. Francis Coquelin has been sent on for the start of the second half so I'll have a full report on his play, as well as Jack Wilshere. Ramsey has looked good, Hoyte and Bendtner have looked not so good.

Wenger Glad To Be Rid of Hleb

And it doesn't sound like he gives a toss about him leaving either. Hleb was unveiled at Barcelona yesterday formally, and I'm happy to see him go. As I said yesterday I think Nasri, Walcott, Vela, and Rosicky (if healthy) are all better assets to have on the wing than the Hlebanator. Arsene thanked him for his service but didn't seem too upset:

'We must firstly thank Alex for his contribution towards Arsenal during his time with us. 'He played a significant role in the three seasons he was with the club. 'We are comfortable with our decision to let him go and we are all looking forward to continuing our preparations for the new season ahead. 'Everyone at Arsenal wishes Alex the best of luck for the future.'

Except for me. I wish him terrible look in the future and hope he never wins anything and his career ends when he's 29 because he loses the ability to kick a ball. Nah that's a little bit harsh but not too far off. Isn't it ironic that we won a trophy the year before Hleb arrived and haven't won anything in the three years that he's been here? Hmmm...he may have brought a non-trophy curse?

I think Arsene had this whole thing planned out really. When people originally came in for Hleb he said "No, no we'll never sell Alexander Hleb, he's a big player for us and won't be going anywhere." I think this was just to get as much money as possible for him, and what do you know, we've made a profit from when we bought him even though he's three years older! Great bit of business Arsene.

Arsene is very happy about the transfer.

So I want to go over what has happened thus far in the transfer window, in case you aren't keeping track. We've lost Hleb, Gilberto, and Flamini, all midfielders, and Jens Lehmann. We've brought in Nasri and Ramsey, who are also both midfielders. So why does everyone seem to think we are going through some sort of a crisis? It looks like Adebayor will be staying now, we replaced Hleb and Ramsey could be a big player for us in the future, and we still have some money to spend if Arsene wants to. He may be confident enough in Song, Diaby, or Denilson to not bring in a replacement at defensive midfielder. Nobody thought Flamini could do the job before last season, and look how well that turned out. Frankly I think most people thought Flamini was a bit shite before last season, now he's making loads of money at Milan. Arsene Wenger knows what his players can do. We'll find out in the upcoming preseason games, starting in two days with Barnet, which player he's going to try to fill in that role with.

I have to say though I'm sad about losing Gilberto. I'll miss that man. He was a good player for us for a long time and Arsenal.com have put together a great picture special that you should really check out. Good memories they are.

There really isn't that much else. I'll get something together tomorrow to preview the Arsenal vs Barnet match on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. Other than that let's talk on the forums or the comments, they are much appreciated. Cheers.

Xabi Alonso To Arsenal, Hleb Confirmed By Barca

Morning all, how's it going? I'm super so that's good. Let's get right down to it. Did you see AC Milan finally signed Ronaldinho? Imagine two years ago if Ronaldinho and Kaka were in the same squad. How unfair would that have been? Now that Ronny has fallen off a bit though it's not as daunting. Still should be fun to watch though. The signing does mean that AC Milan will have no more signings, which means no chance for Adebayor to go there. Sucks for him as Barca haven't got any money left either.

So on to Arsenal where we have a couple of interesting bits today. First off is Alexander Hleb who is in Barcelona right now and will have his medical at 7 pm. He should be unveiled by the club officially tomorrow, but they have confirmed it already on their website. Looks like the fee is going to be 12 million pounds, which is more than we paid for him even though he's now 3 years older so I'm quite happy about that, it more than pays for Samir Nasri's transfer and leaves us with more money to spend. On the move, Hleb said:

'It is a dream. I love this team. I will give my best. I have spoken with (Barcelona coach Pep) Guardiola and for me it is very important that he wants me, and I will give my best for the team and I want to win everything with Barca.'

So did you hear? Hleb's going to give his best. He didn't say it enough times in that statement so I read between the lines and figured it out. I'm so happy Barcelona are wasting their money on Hleb, because the more I think about it, the more I realize just how useless he is and how I'd much rather have Nasri and Walcott on the wings. It'd be really nice if we played them in the Champion's League too. We would undoubtedly win and then we could laugh and laugh at how he still won't be winning any trophies. Wanker.


In the search for a new defensive midfielder we've seen Arsenal linked with a ton of names, but now a new one has cropped up: Xabi Alonso. And why not? Liverpool don't want Alonso and they need money to get the guy they do want, Gareth Barry. Juventus were supposed to sign Alonso but they've pulled out and Liverpool are left badly needing to sell him if they are to make the signing they've wanted all summer, which could mean we could get him for a discounted price. He's quite a good player for one, and he plays with Cesc for Spain as well. I had never thought about him as a possibility until this report came out, but it seems to make sense to me. There haven't been any official bids yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one comes in this week or next.

The first preseason friendly comes up this Saturday and Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela have been included in the squad. I can't wait to see how Vela looks myself, and I'm sure Ramsey will put on a good display. With any luck they'll get to play at least a full half of the game so we can all get a good look at them. Remember that Samir Nasri is joining up for training on the 21st which is why he isn't in the squad. Young prodigy Jack Wilshere is also in the squad and could be involved.

And that's all I've got. Gilberto looks to be on his way to Greece but that's all for the news. Can't wait until Saturday. Until then, join our fantasy Premiership League to win an Arsenal kit, talk on the forums or the comments, and get ready for the new season!

Sergio Aguero Could Come To Arsenal

Morning all. You know when you sleep for like a pretty long time and you really shouldn't be tired but you're tired all the same? That's how I am right now. I'm also in the mood to eat some Subway, but that's another story entirely.

So on to the news. What news you might say? Well it seems Sergio "El Kun" Aguero has been linked with Arsenal after some quotes from his agent.

"I can't say more until I've spoken to the club about the offer. All I can tell you is that it's one of the best teams in Europe and it's not Chelsea"

Interesting quote that is. These days agents usually tell you every club that is interested by name to try to work up more speculation and to try and draw other parties into the mix. I don't know exactly why everyone thinks it's Arsenal after such a broad statement but we have been linked with him in the past. He's a player with absolutely astounding skill on the ball that could certainly help out Arsenal, as long as he could handle the physical nature of the English game. We just saw how Alexander Hleb got sick of the physicality after only three years and Aguero is even smaller than Hleb. He is a brilliant player though and any team would love to have him. So keep your fingers crossed and maybe, just maybe, we'll sign him.

Arsenal Legend Nigel Winterburn has joined Blackburn's coaching staff as a defensive coach. I guess Arsene Wenger didn't think he could help out our defense or surely we would have given him a job. Winterburn is class. I hope Blackburn is still shite though.

Gilberto Silva looks to be on his way for 1.2 million pounds to Panthinaikos in Greece. Arsenal Analysis reports that the papers have been signed and sent to Athens for everything to be finalized and Gilberto is having his medical on Wednesday. I'm sad to see him go. You were a good player for us Gilberto, good luck to you mate.

Here's a picture of Cesc in our new away kit. I'm not sure what to think of it. I don't think I'm a fan though. It is definitely a lot more Arsenal than the white one last year for sure.


The Arsenal interest in Gareth Barry was very real indeed. According to Martin O'Neil, Pat Rice called Villa to ask how the transfer to Liverpool was going because Arsenal "might be interested." When Villa told Rice how it was going, Pat (according to O'Neil) said "That's fine, we'll let you know." So it seems that Arsenal were interested but it doesn't look like are going to follow up on it with a bid. Villa want about 17 million for him and Wenger will never pay that for him. Interesting to see that we did make the call about him though.

That's about all I have. Discussion is good, so get on the forums and chat it up. What do you think about Aguero and the Barry situation? On a scale of 1-10 how sick are you of the Adebayor and Hleb stories? I'm at a 10. Cheers all!

Adebayor, Arshavin, and Other Transfer Stories

Howdy. That's how we do it here in Florida, with a howdy. We've got a good bit of stuff today actually, so that's good because there hasn't been much to write about for oh...about six weeks. So let's get right down to it!

First off, Robert Pires has been selected as the 6th greatest Arsenal player of all time! Well deserved for Le Bob as he is quite the legend. Unfortunately he's not still in the team because he's still doing brilliantly for Villareal. How we could have used him last season. That leaves only five left and it's going to include Henry, Adams, Vieira, Wright, and Bergkamp almost certainly. There's definitely a more modern bias about the rankings but that makes sense as younger people will have voted for more recent players and not old legends like say...Ted Drake.

On to the Adebayor news and according to Ade's wanker of an agent we've apparently offered him to Milan for "just over half" of the 32 million quid we originally asked for. Milan said they weren't going to pay 32 million and they're probably smart not to. Now with Hleb seemingly headed to Barcelona Milan don't really have any competition for Ade's signature. There is word that the sticking point in the deal could be the inclusion of Yoann Gourcuff. He's never really made much of an impact at Milan even though he had lots of promise, but he does seem like a Wenger type player. Young, with lots of talent that others haven't been able to fully use. I'm not sure if this is all talk or not but I'm thinking that something is up if our price for Adebayor has dropped that much.

Andrei Arshavin, who wanted to go to Barcelona last week, wants to come to Arsenal this week.

"Andrei is desperate to join Arsenal. His style of play would suit them perfectly."

That's from his agent today. Zenit St Petersburg apparently already turned down a 19 million pound bid from an "unnamed English club" and if they're turning down 19 million then there is no way he'll come to Arsenal. Good player, but not THAT good of a player. I'd much like to see him and Nasri in the same team honestly but unless they really want Emmanuel Eboue in a swap deal or something I can't see Arsenal paying that much for him.

Have you checked out Samir Nasri's girlfriend? She's a fox.

Charles N'Zogbia of Newcastle says he has dreamt of playing for Arsenal for his whole life. He says he'd love to join the Gunners, but if not, then he'd like to join Sp*rs. What? I've wanted to play for Arsenal my whole life too, but I would never, ever join Sp*rs. What a twat.

Meanwhile, several sources are claiming that Arsenal may come in with a Justin Hoyte + cash deal for Gareth Barry, since Liverpool still haven't locked up that deal. Call me crazy, but I don't really want Barry. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he isn't the Arsenal style, the fee is too high, and he's English. I have nothing against the English, don't get me wrong, but they couldn't even get in to Euro 2008. Regardless of whether I want him or not though, it could be interesting if we do make the offer. Barry really seems to want to go to Liverpool but it'd be nice to do one on the scousers.

So that's about it, good bit of discussion to be had today, so let's have at it! Forums, comments, all that good stuff. Up the Arsenal!

Nasri Finally Confirmed By Arsenal.com!

Morning all. The transfer we have been waiting for all summer it seems like has finally gone through. Samir Nasri's signing has been confirmed by Arsenal.com. In usual Arsenal fashion, it's a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee. I love it. People speculate on fees all summer for this guy and when he finally signs Arsenal just says an "undisclosed fee." Arsene Wenger had a few things to say about the boy:

"We are delighted to be signing Samir Nasri. He is young, quick and technically an outstanding player. He has shown great potential with his performances for Marseille and the French national team over the past two seasons and he will add great quality to our squad."

Then Nasri spoke about joining Arsenal:

"I'm very happy to become an Arsenal player, it means such a lot to me. This is a very important step in my life as a football player because Arsenal is a massive club. I really hope everything will go well for me here. I will do my best for Arsenal and its fans and I am honoured to be part of such a great football club."

So it seems everyone is all very happy and I have to say that I am too. It was drawn out for ages but we all knew it was going through and now it has. There are pictures of Nasri in the new home kit as well if you click on the link above. He's on schedule to join up with the rest of the squad July 21st for training. He's taken the Number 8 shirt, so if anyone wants to go ahead and get me one as a free gift that would be awesome!

You can also read an interview with him here. It's good stuff.

In other news, Gilberto looks to be on the way out, having agreed personal terms with Panathinaikos. The transfer fee could be about 1-2 million pounds, but it hasn't been officially agreed yet.

Gilberto had this to say:

“I am very happy to come to Greece…Panathinaikos is a big club and if an agreement is reached with Arsenal I will be very happy to join you”

And Ken Friar said Arsenal will not stand in the way:

“If Gilberto agrees personal terms then we will not stand in his way. If this happens then it seems that we will agree a transfer fee with Panathinaikos"

So it looks like Gilberto will be moving on. He has been a great servant to this club and I will be sad to see him go. Thanks to Arsenal Analysis for keeping up with that story and sharing it with everyone. Assuming everything works out with the transfer, I just want to say good luck to Gilberto.

The Sun says a Columbian named Falcao is one of Arsenal's top targets. I've never heard of him honestly which probably means that we'll sign him. Although with Eduardo last year not a single paper ever linked us with him until we finally signed him. Strange how these things happen isn't it?

There really isn't much else. I'm putting a Nasri video on here that you can all watch to whet your appetite to see him play in the preseason. Should be good stuff. Cheers all!

Hleb On The Way Out...Finally

Morning all, or afternoon depending where you are. Amazingly, I have been struck by illness yet again and so decided to sleep for a very long time indeed. So when I awoke, I was surprised to see that Alexander Hleb appears to have been sold. Now this has not been confirmed on Arsenal.com but Barcelona seem to feel like the deal is done and dusted.

Apparently the offer is 12.5 million pounds plus an additional 2.5 million in add ons if he meets the incentives. Setanta Sports says that Hleb will likely take a medical this weekend and sign during next week to make it official.

Honestly if/when he does go I'll be quite happy. That'll give us more money than we spent on him originally and we're getting a player in Samir Nasri that can score more goals and hopefully will do all the things that Hleb hasn't done, like pass and shoot. It's a good bit of business by Arsenal here, because the player clearly wanted to go, so getting back all that we paid for him is great work by the club. Is anyone really too sad to see Hleb go for 12 million? I don't know how you could be. 10 goals in 3 years is not good enough. We need wingers that can score at Arsenal a la Pires, Ljungburg, etc. Nasri can hopefully be that man.

As for Adebayor, we'll throw out one interesting bit if true...Arsenal News Review says the club have stopped printing Adebayor shirts. I have no information that will tell me if that's true or not but take it for what you will.

Kerrea Gilbert has joined Leicester City on loan for the whole upcoming season. I remember him playing in the first team a couple of years ago when we had loads of injuries but not much has been heard of him since. I guess the club still regards him as a good upcoming player though or I don't think they'd bother loaning him out, they would just release him.

Arsenal Analysis keeps us up to date on the Gilberto Silva transfer situation, and it looks like he may indeed leave the club this summer. The question is, where will he go? It looked like he may head to Greece but now Ajax appear to have entered the picture. I think it would be a big loss for us if we sold Gilberto this summer. I think this must mean that we have a holding midfielder lined up to come in or else Wenger is really convinced that Diaby or Denilson can do the job. Guess we'll wait and see.

Alright that's all I've got. Cesc Fabregas was named the Arsenal.com player of the season, not surprisingly. And if you didn't see the post yesterday we're having a Premier League Fantasy League competition. The winner will probably receive a home Arsenal shirt or something similar, so join now!

1: Go to http://premierfantasy.soccernet.com/

2: Click on Register and go through the registration and team selection process - it's totally free to play

3: Once you are on your team line-up page click on Mini League and type the following information in the Join A Mini League boxes:

League Name: ArseNole Premier League
Password: arsenal

Cheers folks!

Join The ArseNole Premiership Fantasy League!

Morning everyone. I've got to leave for work in about twenty minutes so I can't be arsed to write about Adebayor yet again today, especially said I'd take a break from all that. There really isn't that much other news for the day so I've decided to do something fun and I've made a Premiership fantasy league for all of us to play in. It's really easy so I've got it in steps for you.

1: Go to http://premierfantasy.soccernet.com/

2: Click on Register and go through the registration and team selection process - it's totally free to play

3: Once you are on your team line-up page click on Mini League and type the following information in the Join A Mini League boxes:

League Name: ArseNole Premier League
Password: arsenal

Just make sure you go to join a mini-league and type the League Name and password in correctly and you'll be good to go! Hopefully we can get a lot of entries and make it a fun competition.

I'm deciding on a prize to give away to the winner of the league, it will possibly be a new Arsenal kit or who knows what else. It'll be something good though because it's a very long contest. So everyone please join and make it fun for everybody.

I'll tell you right now 3 of my 4 defenders are Gunners, 2 midfielders are, and 1 striker who's currently on the bench. And no, I have no Chelski or ManUre players on my team. Cheers!

Is Arsenal Destined To Be A Selling Club?

Morning all. I've been out of town all weekend so sorry for no blog but I had no computer. I'm sure you all survived. If you didn't, then you wouldn't be able to read this anyway.

So while I was away it doesn't appear I missed all that much, so today I've decided to cover possibly the most controversial comments of the whole transfer season (and that's saying something.) Many people are worried because Arsene Wenger reportedly said that Arsenal were going to have to be a selling club for the next seventeen years. The quote reported in the article (from News of the World) was as follows:

'The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players. We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions - national and European - while having to free up - for 17 more years - an annual surplus of £24million to pay for our stadium. 'The club's strategy is to favour the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game.'

So if you go directly by the quote and don't go with what makes sense and read between the lines, you'd think Arsene meant he was going to sell Adebayor this year, Cesc next year, and Nasri in a few years from now. But I do read between the lines and this makes perfect sense to me what he's saying here. Arsenal have a 265 million pound debt that they want to pay off. They have a 20 year fixed interest rate on the loan they took out (thanks Arseblogger) that they want to pay off on time. The loan started two years ago and Wenger is saying we need that 24 million quid surplus each year to pay off the rest on time. That isn't unreasonable. While ManUre and Liverpool are sidled with debt we are trying to pay ours off. At the end of the day football is a business and a business needs to pay off their debts to be successful.

I don't think Arsene Wenger means we are going to be a selling club for the next seventeen years, I just think he means business will continue in the way it has at Arsenal for many years under his watch. Buying Anelka for 500 thousand pounds and selling him for 25 million, selling Vieira and Henry when they were past their primes and bringing in Eduardo for much cheaper. In this way, Arsenal under Wenger have always been a selling club. Our record transfer fee is still 14.5 million for Sylvain Wiltord as far as I can remember. Our transfer sales usually outweigh our transfer buys, that's just how the club has been run.

Just look at last year for an example, when we lost Thierry Henry. We sold Aliadiere, Henry, Reyes, Ljungburg, Muamba, and lost Lupoli on a free for a total of 31 million pounds. We brought in Eduardo, Sagna, Diarra, Nordtveit, and Fabianski for a total of 23 million pounds. Can anyone say that our team got worse? No, in fact the team did better statically. Yet the club made an 8 million pound profit on our transfers. Would you say that we were being a selling club or improving the team with those moves? I don't think many would. While nobody wanted to see Henry go, it was a shrewd business move to sell him because Arsene could tell (as most people can now) that his best days are past him.

So does it make a little more sense now? Arsenal have a debt and want to get it paid off. Does it mean we are going to sell all of our best players in their primes to pay it off and have a mid-table team for the next seventeen years? Not at all. We're going to be sticking with the same system that has worked for Arsene his whole career here. A lot of people are making this out to be worse than it is, but remember: 1: Arsenal is never been a club that spends more than everyone else, they are shrewd businessmen, and 2: The source of this article is News of the World. Not exactly the most respected of journalistic enterprises.

Hopefully this clears up what this all means, at least in my opinion. Maybe I'm wrong and we'll sell Cesc tomorrow, but I certainly think I'm right on this one. It'll definitely give you all something to debate on the forums and comments at least, but I wouldn't let it worry you. Business at Arsenal will continue as usual.


The other main news of the day is Mr. Aaron Ramsey, who I call Mr. because he seems to deserve it. These quotes demonstrate that:

“Obviously the plan for me is to have a good pre-season and try my hardest to get up to the fitness levels the Premiership requires,” said Ramsey in the South Wales Echo

“I will try my best to get in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season against West Brom."

Perfect statement Mr. Ramsey. You have the right mentality exactly. He's been here two weeks at age 17 and is already talking about making the starting lineup for Arsenal in the first game of the season. Spectacular. I love it. I don't think there is much chance he makes it into the starting lineup for the very first game of the season but who knows? Maybe he really is that good. It's only 11 days until the first friendly of the season against Barnet. We get to see him in action on that day and I can't wait. Hopefully Nasri will be here by then too because I really want to see these new signings plus all the youngsters. Football is in the air again! I can't wait.

Cheers all, comments, forums, email (arsenole{@}arsenole(.)com), all that good stuff. Till tomorrow!

Also, in non-Arsenal related news, I have recently acquired a new domain name (http://worldcupUS.com). If anyone can put together a website idea for me I would be willing to pay someone to design a page to put on that domain. Please let me know if you can do anything for me.

The ArseNole Podcast - Episode 2

The second episode of the ArseNole podcast is out now! It's much longer than the first one, because Joaquin and I had loads to go over. We talk about Euro 2008, Adebayor and Hleb, other transfer stories, and some early predictions for the squad next season. The sound quality isn't great but we're figuring it all out as we go so please bear with us on that. We're new at this so give us a chance, not to mention we live 3000 miles apart!

We want to hear from you! Let us know what you think of the format and the content and also what you want to hear on future podcasts! It's only going to get better so I hope you all enjoy it and please tell us what you think.

Cheers!

You can listen to the podcast here or download the podcast here or subscribe to it using iTunes here. If you missed the last episode you can find it by going to the main podcast page here.

Comments much appreciated!

Cesc Speaks About Hleb and Adebayor, Senna Linked

Morning all. Sorry I haven't been updating as recently as I'd like, I've just been really busy lately.

So Samir Nasri hasn't been officially signed yet, which makes my prediction from two days ago wrong. I'm positive he will sign though, but I am going to stop predicting when. I would assume it will be this week but every other time anyone has guessed it's turned out to be wrong so I'll just wait until it's officially announced. Marseille's president seems to agree with me.

Setanta Sports reports that Pascal Cygan has heard about Arsenal's interest in his team mate Marcos Senna of Villareal. I wouldn't understand that move at all. People say Gilberto is too old at 32 but Marcos Senna is 31. That's certainly not a typical Arsenal signing. He's a good player and all but how much do you shell out for a 31 year old? He was sensational in Euro 2008 but in my opinion he's too old and I can't imagine that Arsene is really interested in him.


In other BS stories, Adebayor's agent says that his client is not greedy. HA! You're having a laugh.

“Emmanuel is a man of heart, not of money. He is not greedy. He is a kid from the street, has sensibilities and is humble.

“If this was a money problem, then he would have asked to leave. I know that Arsenal’s political position is that they don’t pay high salaries.”

“It is important for Emmanuel that Arsenal show their motivation to keep him,” Courbis said. “Whatever they will decide, the decision will be taken with respect.”

Well if this isn't about money, then what were all those statements a few days ago about how he deserves to be compensated the same as Thierry Henry was at Arsenal? Why would he be interested in a move to Milan (who have pulled out of the race to sign him) who aren't even in the Champion's League next year? I think he's all about the money. He pretty much said that when he said he needed to start thinking about his retirement already. His agent is a twat.

Cesc spoke about Adebayor and Hleb and said he hopes to see them both when he arrives for preseason training. It's tempting for me to say, well since Cesc wants them both to stay I should want them to stay too, but I just can't. I think it would be awkward for them to come back at this point. When you make all the statements that Hleb and Ade's agents made you don't just walk back all happy into the locker room and everyone think the same about you. Players want to know that all the other players are just as committed to giving 100% as they are. You think Kolo Toure or Gilberto, who never complain about money, are going to be really happy with these two? They won't say anything about it because it's not their style but I can't see Kolo especially being thrilled with them. Kolo remember came to Arsenal in very much the same way as Ade. The both were born in Africa and ended up at Arsenal for fairly small transfer fees because they were not developed players. Arsene made them into what they are now. Kolo has been here since 2002 and not looked for a move, Ade has been here for 2 years and now he's ready to bail when people finally think he's a good player.

All I can say is if they do stay I hope it doesn't really upset the locker room chemistry, because that would be a far worse problem than not bringing in Samir Nasri on time or losing Mathieu Flamini.

Goonerholic's article is great today. I think the transfer season would still be a lot better without newsnow honestly. People just sitting there watching it all day, waiting for Nasri to sign, it's terrible.

That's all I've got today because I've got to go prepare for the second podcast which we should be doing today! So look forward to that, and remember that we have arrived in the month where we start the preseason, so we have something to look forward to! Cheers!