Arshavin Finally Signs For Arsenal

Photo Courtesy of Arsenal.com

Hello all. What a ridiculous day yesterday was, eh? I think the Arshavin deal was off and then on about five different times in the span of about three hours. When we went past the 5:00 pm deadline it looked like we weren't going to get him signed at all, but the news broke an hour and a half later that Arsene Wenger was confident we had him signed but the Premier League office had all gone home so they couldn't approve the deal yet. It sounded pretty strange but that was confirmed this morning when the Premier League confirmed that Arshavin is an Arsenal player. To quote Arshy:

"Now I can say only one thing - that if I play for Arsenal, it will be at number 23."

Number 23 huh? That's a big act to follow since the great one wore that number. That's right, I'm talking about Michael Jordan. I wish he would have said more than "only one thing" though, like that he was determined to help the team, was going to score 45 goals in this half of a season, and would once again kick John Terry in the face.

It's a relief to me that we were able to bring in somebody to help the squad out in this time of need. I would have prefferred a defensive midfielder or a defender as you all know if you've read the site before, but we do need some help with goal scoring lately so he should be able to help with that. However, I don't like that we've pursued this player since last summer and it took us until almost February 3rd to finally get him signed. Don't say it was to get his price down, because it wasn't. To quote Zenit representatives:

"The conditions of the contract are very favourable for Zenit," Petrov said. "The value of the deal is much more than £12million."

So chances are the deal is around the 12 million + 3 million in installments. So why did it take us so long and why were there not other options when it looked like the Arshavin deal had collapsed?

I think we really do miss David Dein in a way. Yeah, he has a totally different way of thinking than the rest of the board, but maybe he is half right. He is certainly wrong to team with someone like Alisher Usmanov, and I'm not saying we need a sugar daddy, but maybe we do need a board a little more willing, maybe even one that encourages, spending money. To me it seems like Arshavin was our only target and that does concern me because we haven't even adressed all the team needs. Maybe Arsene thinks that Alex Song is good enough...errrrrr...capable of playing in this league...errrrr...no he's shite. We needed a defensive midfielder. Gallas isn't getting any younger or any better either, so we're going to need a defender soon too, but no, we wouldn't want to go ahead and sign say, Micah Richards while his value is at it's lowest point because of his dip in form.

For now though, we must be happy to have Arshy the Gunner. I'm sure he'll help the team, especially while Cesc and Theo are out, and maybe with a little luck he'll win us the game over Sp*rs this weekend, who may start the old duo of Defoe and that cartwheeling cunt Robbie Keane. Sp*rs and Liverpool are really just a bunch of horrible cunts are they? Selling players back and forth six months apart, good business you wankfests.

I don't have much else today. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of Arshavin in training soon. Cheers.

Nasri Makes His Impact, Fenerbache Preview

Morning all. It appears Arsene Wenger is quite happy with Samir Nasri's start to his Arsenal career. While it sometimes takes time to settle in for foreign players in a new league, especially younger players, Nasri has caught on to the system quite quickly.

"I didn't count Nasri in here for the first six months of the season, like I do for everybody we buy at such a young age.

"When you look at the impact he had already here you can say he's ahead of what I planned for him."

Yes, Arsene I agree with you, he's a really, really good player. The scary thing is since he's come here he's been injured a good bit. It's a scary thought because of what has happened to the last player we've bought from another country and played on the left wing...When he has been fit though he's been great, and I've already ordered my Nasri home kit and am looking forward to it. We need him to have a big match for us if fit against Fenerbache.

The best news heading into the match against Fenerbache tomorrow is that Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner have been declared fit after missing the last match against Everton. Djourou's return is especially key because Gallas and Toure will both be missing the match. So Djourou should slot right into the center of defense, probably along with Alex Song or Silvestre. My guess would be Silvestre.

Here's how the lineup will probably look:

Almunia
Eboue-Silvestre-Djourou-Clichy
Walcott-Diaby/Denilson-Cesc-Nasri
Rvp, Adebayor

I know Walcott is worn out and Arsene really wants to rest him but he can't really afford to at this point because we don't really have much cover there. If he knew Walcott would get tired during the season he should've invested in another winger during the transfer window. Plus, right now he's our biggest impact player and we need him in the squad. Big ups to Theo, keep it up lad.

Want to hear some funny stuff? Tottenham have played 8 games this season so far, and guess how many points they have...TWO! That's right, they lost again yesterday, this time to Stoke City, and they are still without a win. It's one of the worst teams I've ever seen in the Premiership, and even Derby had more points last year than Sp*rs have after 8 games. I really hope they get relegated, because I hate them so very, very much.

Some transfer rumors you say? Well it appears that we are scouting Standard's skipper Steven Defour. He's only 20 years old of course, because anything older than that is much too old for Arsene Wenger. He's a midfielder and has an 8 million pound value stuck on him. I've never seen him play before, and don't really know anything about him. I know he's about the average age of our squad and that's about it. Maybe he's a holding midfielder though, or could at least play there. He's a Belgian international already, so that can't hurt.

Some other weird transfer(ish) news comes from Julio Baptista who says he would have loved to stay at Arsenal. He says the only reason he didn't get to stay was because Real Madrid didn't want to buy Jose Antonio Reyes.

"I wasn't fed up and don't regret it at all. I learnt a lot of things from Wenger, one of the top-class coaches in Europe today, and I wanted to stay.”

He wasn't very good for us when he was here, but it does make me feel a bit more fond of him hearing these nice things. I give you props Julio.

Alright other than that I don't have much else. Get your emails in for me to read on the next podcast, just whatever shite you want, funny stuff, talk about Arsenal, make fun of Sp*rs, or just leave some feedback. Email me at ArseNole@arsenole.com and it'll be awesome. Best email gets a prize from SoccerPro.com. So get them in and enjoy the match tomorrow. Cheers all.

Contests, Season Predictions, World Soccer Daily

Morning all. I don't really know what to write about today honestly. I went to bed all excited thinking, "Wow there's a match tomorrow plus I'll have time to write the blog in the morning, that sure sounds exciting," just to wake up and find that there really isn't that much to talk about.

First off, there is a radio show here in America about football called World Soccer Daily, hosted by Stephen Cohen and Kenny Hassan. I listen to it pretty regularly but yesterday Stephen (Chelski fan) said "Tottenham Hotspur will finish ahead of Arsenal this coming season." He's absolutely lost it. When's the last time Sp*rs have finished in the top four? I'm pretty sure they haven't finished above us since 1995. But I suppose it's good to set lofty goals, eh? They sold their captain and they're going to lose that sulking cunt Berbatov as well. Who is going to play striker, Darren Bent? You're havin a laugh. Cohen you wanker, go back to your Russian chums and stop making stupid comments like that one.

Anyways, moving on, I suppose we could talk about the match against Huddersfield today next. It's quite the drop off from Madrid and Juventus isn't it? You can tell though by how the squad is put together. It's almost all youngsters, and I don't mean youngsters plus Bendtner, Clichy, Sanga, Denilson, etc. The oldest players in the squad are Vela, Djourou and Theo, and everyone else is, for the most part, a reserve player. We have Little Jack in there as well as Aaron Ramsey, but it's basically another good chance to see what the youngsters can do.

Speaking of Jack, he's been given Gilberto's old number 19 which means he's listed officially as part of the first team squad. I guess not even Arsene Wenger could deny how well he's played this preseason and decided to include him in the first team. He could see a decent amount of action this year I think, with seven subs on the bench in the league plus hopefully a sustained Carling Cup run. Arsene always did say if you're good enough, you're old enough, and that's certainly the case with this young man. I really feel like I'm getting old, a kid five years younger than me is in the first team squad, whew.

Can you believe the first match that actually matters is one week away? We've got the Champion's League qualifying stages against FC Twente on the 13th! Exactly one week away and I can't wait. I'm even more excited about West Brom at home on the 16th to open the Premiership season. Football is finally back again!

Today I'd like to hear your season predictions. I want to know where you think Arsenal will finish, who the top scorer will be, how many goals he will have, and what (if any) trophies Arsenal will win. Let's get some discussion going on just how successful this team can be. Will Diaby or Denilson start next to Cesc? Will we bring in someone new? It's all crazy isn't it, which is why it's more fun to discuss with other mental Gooners.

Also, I'm going to have not one, but two new contests today, just off the top of my head here. Whoever can make up (make up, not steal off the internet, believe me I will check) the best new banner for the top of this site will receive an ArseNole Stein Mug which is absolutely fantastic. I have one myself and it's great looking and can hold coffee, beer, or whatever else you choose to drink. You can email it to me at ArseNole@{remove this}arsenole.com. So let's get lots of banners in so I can spruce up the site a bit. All you graphics people out there get to work.

The second contest is just about being humorous, if you can think up the funniest story about Wayne Rooney's death and put it in the comments, I'll pick whichever I think is the best and that person will receive some sort of Arsenal or ArseNole gift that I can come up with. I'll figure something out depending on just how good the stories are. Just leave it in the comments or you can email it to me, either way.

So there is lots to win today so get on your stories, your banners, and your season predictions. Good luck to the young guns today against Huddersfield and here's hoping Little Jack scores about 230582 goals. Cheers!