Thierry Quits France, Joins the Red Bulls

'Ello boyos! Been almost 4 months since I wrote anything on here. Full time jobs will do that to ya, not to mention our season didn't end in the best fashion, and the World Cup has been on for the last month, so those are my excuses.

So Thierry Henry, Arsenal legend, made two big announcements this week. The 2010 World Cup was a disaster for the French team, and Henry has decided to retire from International Football in the wake of the fiasco. He's France's all time leading scorer, (as well as Arsenal's of course) but will probably be remembered as much for his hand ball against Ireland as he will for being a part of the side that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Honestly I couldn't give a shit about the French team so I'm not arsed that he's retiring from internationals. But it is a blow for France for certain any time you lose a player from the golden generation.

The second big announcement this week was that Thierry is moving to my beloved United States to play in the MLS for the New York Red Bulls. Now I'll be the first to admit that I think MLS is a shit league with shit players and overpaid fucks like David Beckham only make the league look worse. This however, is in my opinion a brilliant signing. Henry still has plenty of gas in the tank, and against lower quality teams and players he should be able to get into top form. He doesn't have the pace that he used to, certainly, but he still has that knack for finishing and finding the right spaces on the pitch. When you look at him paired with Juan Pablo Angel, the Red Bulls instantly have the best strike force in the league.

Awesomely enough, his debut for the Red Bulls is going to be against some huge cunts, Tottenham. If there's one thing I can guarantee in that match, it's that Thierry scores a goal. Out of all the people who love scoring against Sp*rs, Thierry is especially good at it. While he'll only be here for half of the MLS season this year, I would put a good bet on him to be the league's top scorer next year. I wish him all the best and hope that I can make it up to one of his matches before he finally retires.

In other news, Barcelona are absolute fucking cunts. I don't think there has been one day since the summer began that one of their players came out and said how much they'd love to have Cesc Fabregas with them at Barcelona. Well that's good for them. Ya know, I think Cesc would fit in perfectly with my 7 a side team. We've been looking for a good midfielder this whole season and I think he'll fit right in. Cesc isn't going anywhere, so Barca should really keep their holes shut.

The World Cup was fun, but at the same time it kinda sucked. The matches didn't really stand out, with the exception of the Ghana-Uruguay match. That was mental. I really couldn't believe the insanity that happened at the end of extra time. The Final was awful. The Netherlands played like a bunch of cunts, fouling all over the place and never trying to actually do anything. Spain wasn't brilliant but they got the job done and so fair play to them and especially to our Captain.

Ok that's about all the time I have since I have to get back to work. I might do another post in the next few days (gasp!) with an Arsenal season preview. If not then I predict that we win the Treble - League, FA Cup, and Champions League. Cheers.

Nasri Finally Signs, The ArseNole Turns One

Ok so it took a lot longer than we all expected, but Samir Nasri is finally an Arsenal player. Sky Sports is reporting the fee at a massive 15.8 million quid, which is a lot more than I expected, and also makes me wonder if they really know what they are talking about. Arsenal almost always signs people on "undisclosed fees."

However, this signing has not yet been confirmed on Arsenal.com. I'm basing this headline on the fact that generally Sky Sports is a respectable news source who doesn't usually make things up just to get people to read. For those of you that are skeptical, I have heard from several sources that he will be taking pictures with his Arsenal shirt this week. It was also confirmed on Nasri's official website, but it seems that the site has now been taken offline...interesting.

Are you all really excited and satisfied that Wenger knows how to manage a football club now? For all of you out there giving him shite about taking a holiday and not signing anyone, well we've now signed two players in less than 2 weeks, even while the Euro's are going on, so piss off. I can't even get that excited about the Nasri signing because of all these wankers that bitch and moan every day about how this club is going down the tube. Go support Chelsea you glory hunting arseclowns. Here's a story for your type about us trying to sign Messi and Henry. It's completely made up so you'll probably like it.

Yeah I don't know where that rant came from. I know it's so terrible of me to think that our manager knows what he's doing. But I'll lay off the coffee.

Disclaimer - For those of you that actually think Wenger does know what he's doing and realize we won't sign every player on the planet, that rant does not apply to you.

As for the Euros yesterday, it was supposed to be a great one with Spain vs Italy. It wasn't great at all. Luca Toni started the whole tournament for Italy and couldn't get one goal. Great return from "one of the best target men in the world." Italy never really had any attacks, and Spain were mostly limited to long range attempts that weren't ever really going to cause Buffon any problems. The one part of the match I did enjoy (other than the ending) was seeing the two best keepers in the world in the same game. They are both absolutely fantastic keepers. It would be nice if we could somehow discover the next Buffon in our youth academy.

But anyways, the match ended 0-0 and had to go to penalties. Spain won 4-2, with Cesc Fabregas netting the winning penalty against Buffon. It was incredible and I honestly cheered. I hope Spain win it all. It'd be great to see Cesc get that trophy. I think he may get to start next match but you know how Aragones is, the old twat. We'll have to wait and see.


The new Arsenal squad numbers are out for this coming season, and there are only a few new ones so far. Aaron Ramsey will be wearing number 16, so it does indeed like he'll immediately be a part of the first team. Manuel Almunia has moved up and taken the number 1 shirt from Mad Jens, who of course has signed with Stuttgart. Carlos Vela, the Mexican prodigy and future Arsenal hero, has chosen number 12. That was Lauren's number. I miss Lauren. He was my favorite. Other than that everyone has stayed the same, which means Samir Nasri can choose between numbers 8, 14, 18, 23, 28, and 29. I'm betting on him picking number 8. You watch.

Speaking of numbers you can pre-order the new kit now. I actually just pre-ordered mine right now. I got Bacary Sagna on it. Are you getting a new kit? If so, who are you getting on it? Vela or Ramsey would be a nice one...although I wouldn't get Alexander Hleb or Adebayor just yet...

Last for today is a nice article on Vito Mannone, who has just been promoted to the first team squad. Congrats Vito, be that next Buffon.


Now is my moment to talk about my website's birthday.

I missed it while I was out of town but on June 18th the ArseNole turned one year old. How crazy is that? When I first wrote I had no contacts and no readers, I just wanted to write about Arsenal. Now a year later we have some frequent readers, some up and coming forums, a podcast, and loads more. If that same kind of improvement happens in this next year then who knows what this site can become. I want to thank you all. Those who read, who comment, who post in the forums, who tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, who clearly know more about it than I do, and those who have made the past year of writing this fun. Everyone have a Guiness to celebrate, and here's to many more years of The ArseNole!