Ivan Gazidis: All talk and no walk?

So there hasn't been much going on in the Arsenal world as I'm sure you know, the usual crazy rumours from people who are blatantly making up a complete load of bullshit. Over the past few days I've seen reports linking us with more players than you can count. We've gone from the ridiculous: "Arsenal trigger £22m release clause in Fellaini's contract" to the even more ridiculous "Wenger to spend £40m on Lewandowksi". Now anyone with any common sense will know that both of these statements are going to be well wide of the mark but the fact that it only takes one person to come out with a rumour for it spiral out of control is a sad fact of the off-season. 

That said, going back to the post last week about this being an enormous summer for Arsene and the pressure being on, Ivan Gazidis was interviewed in the Mirror the other day talking about Arsenal's new "financial firepower". Again this goes back Arsenal showing intent and making it public that the money is there and it is at Wengers disposal. As a natural skeptic I'm still not sure he's ready to spend it or will spend it, which makes his position vulnerable should be fall further behind this season. Have a read here Gazidis Interview with John Cross.

So naturally with all this money that we have available fans, including myself, are starting to wonder just who (if anybody) we'll be spending it on. Of course the rumours about Higauin are flying all over the media and depending which paper you read we've either: agreed a deal, made contact with his agent, have a gentleman's agreement for him to sign or have not even registered our interest. Personally I doubt we've made contact with his agent yet, that's not really our style. Reports are also suggesting Madrid aren't willing to sell until they have a new manager in place along with Juventus being strongly linked with the striker. Honestly at the moment I believe he will end up at Juventus but that's just the way I think.

Aside from that potential-in's range from older keepers to young strikers and everything in between so I'm not going into detail. However Arsenal have confirmed the departure/release of Squillaci, Denilson and Arshavin. Now I've never really be a fan of any of them but I don't I'll ever forget the moment when Arshavin fired his shot past Victor Valdes at the Emirates and I'm sure it's a moment that will stay with many Arsenal fans to come. I wish these three players all the best in the future, they all have their qualities and abilities but they just weren't in the frame at Arsenal.

Those 3 players have on the plus side freed up £175k-a-week which hopefully will be re-invested in players although with Arsenal you never really know. But between now and my next post we'll be linked with more players, there will be more outlandish statements and we will have signed more players that we've never heard of. Until then enjoy the summer.

Bradford City (A)

3 BIG points. 3 points that we desperately needed after poor results recently. A lot was made of Santi Cazorla's dive to win our penalty, firstly it was amusing seeing United, Tottenham and Chelsea fans all go crazy over it, despite the fact they have some of the worst divers in league. But we were good value for our win, despite only scoring 2, both penalties and both expertly taken by Mikel Arteta. It could have been 3 or 4 as Wilshere and Podolski wasted chances.

Tonight we once again compete in the competition that sadly is out best chance of a trophy this year. After the most ridiculous game of football I've possibly ever seen we earned an away tie at League 2 Bradford City. Similarly to the last match I think we'll see a bit of a mish mash of a team with first team regulars being left at home before reading on Monday. That said Giroud, Walcott, Koscielny are all still out but Vito Mannone returns to the squad.

Picking our team tonight is bound to be impossible so I won't even try. There's an interesting piece on Thomas Eisfeld on the Arsenal site this morning that might suggest that he's in for a start. I really like Eisfeld, every time I've seen him start he's been quality and if he starts tonight, I might just fancy him to grab a goal. Other players to look for are Serge Gnabry who looks to be a really good footballer. I think we might see the likes of Arshavin play (here's a bit of trivia for you: Andrey Arshavin played his first professional game against Bradford) along with Chamakh. 

Similarly I'm not going to attempt to guess Bradford's line up. What I will say is that if we underestimate them, we'll be stupid to do so, just ask Bolton. There's nothing more dangerous than a lower league team with nothing to lose going at it. Bradford also have a remarkable record of winning 8 consecutive penalty shoot outs and let's face it we don't have a great record on penners, so should it come down to that tonight it will be a complete 50/50.

All that said I expect us to win, but I also expect Bradford to score, possibly even first. I think be a high scoring match, but who knows in this competition. On a side note, as a token of good will, the Friends Of Bradford City have organised to give out 1000 Santa hats to travelling Arsenal fans which is kind of them and hopefully will promote a fun atmosphere for all.

Prediction: Bradford City 2-4 Arsenal