Sunderland, Song and Sahin?

OK so as you know I'm currently on my hols but as I have a few hours to kill I thought I'd just go over recent events and goings on.

Well let's start with the game on Saturday that sadly didn't get off to the start we all wanted. I didn't watch the game but was getting updates and saw the highlights after. It's always a gutter when you boss the game and create 20 plus chances to end up 0-0. We, in all honesty should have scored and won, the chance the fell to Giroud should have been 1-0 Arsenal but I think potentially nerves got the better of him and he put it wide. I said when we signed Giroud, it had the potential to be a really good buy, but I think he will take some time to settle. Podolski I'm not so worried about coming from a league with a much higher calibre of football, but Giroud may take a bit of time to bed in, let's hope it's not too long. Cazorla looked phenomenal, a real star, he could easily be our best player this season. His real test will come when we travel to middle earth on Sunday and take on that colony of orcs known as Stoke. If he stands up to them and still shines then we know we are most definitely on to a winner.

Unlike the RvP deal, I was really disappointed with Song. Firstly because the deal we struck was pitiful. £15m for someone of his quality with 3 years left, really Arsenal is that the best we can do? I am sad to see him leave after he said "I am happy at Arsenal" but once again greedy agent Darren Dein (wanker) turned his head away from us like countless other players over the last few seasons. I can't see Song playing much this season and it just feels like another deal that Dein had engineered in an effort to spite us fans. However the good news is that Song was our last player tethered to that unbearable fucker so we're rid of him at last.

Finally and I must say take this with a pinch of salt, the Sahin deal seems to be moving in the right direction with 'according to sky sources: a deal has been struck'. I suggest much of this has to do with the fact that the Luka Modric deal also seems to be moving in that direction. But please don't take this deal as done these are the same sky sources that claimed RvP was staying at Arsenal a day before he signed for United so...

Anyway looking ahead to Stoke on Sunday where hopefully we can get our first win of the season. Until then have a good week from a rather stormy Orlando.

Pre-season round up

I apologise that I haven't posted in a while, I'm currently still in the US although I return home soon. Since I last posted a lot and not a lot has happened. We managed to draw with both Boca Juniors and New York Red Bulls to lose the Emirates cup although it was a nice thing to see Thierry raise the cup. After a young lad put the ball through our own net minutes from the end there were thunderous boos from our own fans. Really? At a pre-season friendly? I dread to think what the reaction will be when we lose at home during the league. I think booing the team in a pre-season game is excessive and also bad for moral, you must remember that these games are simply warm up exercises to bring fitness levels up so losing them isn't the end of the world.

I understand the fans frustration at what seems to be a poor summer of few signings and few improvements. I understand that because I am a fan, but surely booing the team off the pitch after a pre-season tournament isn't the way to go about supporting our boys. Following the Emirates cup we suffered our first defeat of the pre-season , going down 2-1 away to Benfica. Now this may not appear good, but we bossed the first half with a team that I imagine will resemble the starting line up (minus Cesc, Samir and Jack) with the Dutchman RVP scoring. There were 6 changes at the half and a much younger untested squad took the field and this showed a problem for us, which is that the squad is lacking depth. Looking at United, Chelsea and City they all have players on the bench who can fill in when needed and do the job well. We, on the other hand offer little in the shape of stand ins. I'd like to say that we will strengthen by dipping into the transfer market but looking at developments today I highly doubt that, more on that in a bit.

 
So the saga of Cesc continues and it has reached a point now where all parties involved at our end seem totally fed up of it. The board have stated they want to sort this sooner rather than later, but with Barcelona continually pissing around its still going on. I really hope the pathetic way that Barcelona have treated us this summer comes back to haunt them. But the fault doesn't only lie with them it lies with us, I read that Hulk as he is known has a 100M Euro buy out clause in his contract. 100m! Now why didn't who drafted Cesc's contract agree a £40m buy out, that's what we want and that ensures that we get it. Anyone who knows the ins and outs of football contracts and clauses, answers on a postcard please. Cesc was left out of the squad for both the Emirates and Eusebio Cups, due to a "Thigh Problem", whether this is true or not who knows but we seem no closer to a conclusion than we have all summer. 

As for Samir Nasri, well fuck only knows whats happening about his future. He was also left out of the squad with a muscular problem but Wenger seems confident he will be an Arsenal Player this season. However the window is open till August 31st so who knows what could happen between now and then.

Now to the transfers I touched on earlier and we have made another one! Don't get too excited this one has been in the pipe line all summer and its that of 17 year old Alex Oxlade-Chamerlain. Another winger, just what we need right now. Another for the future but hardly one that at the moment, with all respect, gets the blood rushing, I really don't understand the signings of winger after winger unless we're planning to play 1-1-8 next season but hey, I'm not ruling it out. Also during last week we had another bid rejected for Jagielka but as I said, I think that deal is miles away from completion so we shall see what happens this week. Arsene said we were looking to sign "super quality", if a 17 year old Southampton winger is his idea of super quality then god help us all.

Anyway the season is almost upon us and men (and women) everywhere are starting to get excited about that first game of a brand new season. The dullness of a football-less summer is nearly over and the harsh reality of the Premier League starts for us with a tricky trip to Newcastle, followed by our Champions League qualifier with Udinese, who also may be a challenge. But at least we avoided the trip to Russia the following week. 

Next post will be Thursday, until then enjoy your week.

Pre-season continues as Arsenal leave Asia

So the week draws to a close as does our pre-season tour of Asia. It ended yesterday with a 1-1 draw with Hangzhou Greentown, yeah bothered. To be frank it doesn't matter what pre-season results are its just a way of improve fitness and trying to build a fan base. Vela scored with his second of the pre-season campaign so to speak. I must say top marks to the fans that turned out to greet the team and watch them play from what I saw and heard it was tremendous which has shown that the Arsenal brand is certainly popular. 

Anyway onto transfer talk and well, there hasn't been a lot so to speak apart from Mancini and Wenger having a bitch at each other. With respect to Wenger to I see what he says, Mancini saying he's hoping to have Nasri by the end of the week is pretty disrespectful but at the end of the day Wenger can do as he pleases with Nasri. If he really wants to keep him then he can and from what he was saying the during the week he fully intends too. I'm still torn at the moment as to what I think we should do. Theres no doubt he's good but if he doesn't want to sign a new contract then is it worth keeping him for this season when he'll leave next summer on a free? I'm not so sure it is, but I'm not a Premier League manager.

Not a lot coming out of Spain this week except one piece found by the arseblogger where Johan Cruyff has come out and said:

Arsene Wenger looks after their interests and it is Arsenal who control the situation. Cesc signed for many years and now he has to play for them. If Barcelona want him, they have to pay for him.
When you sign for a club, you are bound to it. It is logical to want Cesc but he is under contract to another club.

Which is exactly what everyone is thinking. Whether or not Barcelona will do this is a totally different question. After chatting with a few friends the other day they weren't entirely sure whether Barca will make another bid and I'm inclined to agree. Although their team mates find it funny to wind Arsenal fans up (Xavi, you two bob piece of shit), I don't think Cesc is at the top of their Christmas list at this current moment and since we've asked for more than what they offered they seem to have other plans.
 

The usual stuff from The Mail about how Juan Mata is ours and the deal has been done and so on. As much as I'd like to believe that I doubt it. Apparently we've also signed "Costa Rican kid", Joel Campbell (yes that really is his name) can't say much on this one cause I don't know much about him, I saw that he was a striker and lost interest. No further news on Samba, Cahill, there is a long way to go but I can't help but feel that if anything was going to move on this front then it would have done but only time will tell.

Finally some good news on players going out. It has been mentioned (ESPN) that Denilson may be on his way to Sao Paulo, admittedly a loan move but fuck it at least he wont be shitting up our squad. Whispers on the grapevine are that a deal between "a German club" and Bendtner will begin this week now this is by no means a solid source so take that one with a pinch of salt.

Anyone thats about it for now, should anything happen then I will keep you posted. Next weeks regular post may be a bit late as I'm on hols for a few weeks and after having my seat kicked to shit on a plane for 9 hours doesn't put me in the mood to write a post so yeah. Time to watch the end of the golf. Well lets face it theres fuck all else on. 

Barca bid for Cesc

It emerged today that Barcelona have made their first bid for Fabregas a pathetic £27m which when you compare to the £31m they offered last year which we also turned down, is rather insulting to Arsenal, the fans and Cesc himself. The argument that they gave that over this season he's undergone "wear and tear" is complete bullshit. Thats simply Barcelona not wanting to pay top prices for top players. Claiming that a player who is 24 is suddenly worth less than when he was 23 is absolutely pathetic. I can imagine once they stated the offer our representative simply getting up and walking out. When they pay 40m euros for David Villa, they should be aware that we aren't letting Cesc go cheap.

Anyway rant over. So what else is on the grapevine? Well quite honestly nothing new. Apparently we are preparing a bid for Samba who has stated that he is open to a move, which I would welcome should it materialise. I think he's a strong, tall player who is what we need at the back. The other piece of old news once again links us with Cahill. Another play who I would welcome at the back as he clearly has talent. However not talent worth £17m.

I understand a lot of fans are getting impatient with Arsenal as we dont appear to be doing much, but apart from Manchester United who have signed Ashley Young (why?) not a lot of clubs are doing tonnes of business. I'm sure behind the scenes we are sorting things out, Arsenal have a habit of doing nothing, then out of the blue making a signing. I also see that we have apparently signed Ricardo Alvarez according to the Metro (about as reliable as the mirror). Hey even his Wikipedia page says he's an Arsenal player so it must be true!

Well should anything dramatic happen (not bloody likely) then I'll keep you posted but until next time enjoy the weather while you can!

Barcelona (A)

So this is it. The big game of the round. After playing superbly in the home leg and coming away with a deserved 2-1 win, the pressure is on to come away from the Nou Camp with a result. I think you'll find it doesn't happen often. So to proceed to the next round we need to either win or draw. However a loss of one goal with us scoring 2 or more would also see us qualify (3-2, 4-3).

This is the section where I normally highlight the strong players in the squad, however this is Barcelona so to save time I'm going to highlight the players that I think are the weaknesses. Namely the one weakness I can see and that is the fact that Carlos Puyol wont be fit for tomorrows game. Which suggests that they will play a similar back four and there the weakness will be with Maxwell who I see as a weak left back and he showed this in the first leg with Walcott causing all sorts of problems for him, however with Walcott out do we have the capabilities to exploit this left hand side? Instinctively I would suggest that Wenger will play Bendtner, so I'm saying no.

Now Bendtner fans will be quick to point out his performance against Leyton Orient, however the fact is that was against Leyton Orient, this is Barcelona. A small difference in quality. So to our squad. Well Van Persie has been included which although it sounds promising I would doubt he will start and may have been included with the intention of coming on as a sub. However the return of Fabregas is welcomed and I think he will start along with Jack Wilshere who is also fit to play. The loss of Song could be problematic as he is a strong holding player who when playing a team like Barcelona is vital to win the aerial balls, although Abou Diaby has travelled. The starting line up is anybodies guess apart from Szczesny in goal and the current back four. In terms of attacking who knows after Saturday. I would prefer to see Chamakh upfront with Arshavin and Nasri on the wings, however it is impossible to say what Wenger will go for.

There is no doubt that we are out and out underdogs in this tie and getting a result at the Nou Camp is probably one of the biggest achievements a club can get in football. But they aren't unbeatable and in football stranger things have happened. I think the vital thing is the first goal. If we score first then we're in with a shout, if Barca draw first blood then I can see it being hard coming from behind away from home. Critics will be quick to write us off and sadly I personally can't see us pulling it off, but maybe, just maybe it will be our night in Spain.

Prediction: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal