Category Archives: friendly

Wenger’s efforts and Jack/Bac’s return

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Apparently there was some kind of football match on whilst most of us were at work yesterday. Personally, I think it’s a rouse to get us to click through onto BBC Sport, Football365 and Sky Sports webpages, but there you go.

Sarcasm aside, yes folks, we can finally put our laces firmly into the groin of the October international break and look forward to a series of games that are all things Arsenal. I don’t know why people get so outraged with England when you know you have the joys of the gooners. Arsenal are the Halls Soothers to the stabbing pain in your throat that is international football. Yesterday England apparently played out a poor 1-1 draw away to Poland, yet all the media and also some fans are acting surprised, like people haven’t seen England play boring, drab, dull, under-performing matches before? Baffles me really. Well, luckily don’t have to think about it too much because we can switch our attentions to Norwich. Arsene, the sneaky devil that he is, has thrown the odd surprise with his pressers this season. Sometimes on a Thursday and sometimes on a Friday. Now, if I was any type of blogger that spent time researching things, I could probably find out. But ignorance is bliss sometimes, so I think I’ll stick with a comfy stable statement of:

We’ll get an update on the returning players from Arsene sometime within the next day or two.

There, can tick that one off the list, but we’ll know we’re definitely one man down in the shape of Theo Walcott, so we’ll just have to hope that no other bumps, bruises, or downright assaults have happened to any of our players.

Mikel Arteta has taken up the official title of PR love child from Johan Djourou, and he spoke to the official site yesterday, talking about the possibility of being a manager one day. The perfectly groomed Spaniard spoke of the pressures of being a man-manager whilst also dealing with international stars, personalities, tactics and everything that comes with management, talking of how hard he felt it was these days. Have to say – totally agree with him. When Arsenal aren’t playing or training or being involved with youth/charity projects, whilst the players are left to their own devices, we as fans are expecting Arsene to be scouring the globe (or at least thoroughly reading through his scouts’ notes) for the next star that we can sign to ensure the continuing quality of the team. In fact, when I think about being a manager, particularly during the January transfer window, I wonder how the wiley old French Professor sleeps at all. Training during the day, interviews in the afternoon, meetings with agents of existing players in the evening (sometimes at his own house) followed by discussions over players thereafter. In fact, I bet he doesn’t sleep, instead utilising his vast wealth to but one of those dream machines that the bad guy in Die Another Day had to keep him sane.

Whatever tangent I’m spiralling into, the fact remains that a Premier League managers job is bloody hard, and to be fair to all of them, they should all be respected. Except Allardyce. Or Pardew. Or Villas-Boas. So actually, only a select few should be respected.

Finally for today, it was great that Jack and Bac got a run our in a behind closed doors friendly against Chelski yesterday. Both played 90 minutes and the fact that both appear to have got off the field without any major issues is a massive boost for us. Both will add yet more depth to an impressive squad and I think we’ll possibly see one or both a little quicker than we might think. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Jack named as a sub for the QPR game in ten days, which will allow him a further under-21 game and a chance to gleam yet more match fitness from minor games before being introduced. The question of Sagna will be based purely on the performances of Jenkinson. I can see Carl keeping his place in the side for a little longer.

Plenty of reasons to be happy today guys, so go forth and spread the smiles: Arsenal will soon be back.

Arsenal Press Office on their toes: Miyachi, Arsene and internationals

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Ain’t it just the way: you spend all summer scratching around for some juicy Arsenal news tit-bits to feast on, getting nothing but the occasional Arsenal.com poll or an interview with Johan Djourou, then you see the count down to the season begin and a flurry of Arsenal-related issues all jump up and down like a seven year old at a five-a-side tournament shouting “pick me! Pick me for your reading and commenting pleasure!”.

It seems like the beginning of the season has kicked the Press Office at Highbury House into gear and I for one am happy about that. Ryo Miyachi will be joining the pie capital of the UK to ply his trade behind an out of town retail park venue called the JJB Stadium. It’s a good move for him that gets game time playing for a manager who likes to play football on the deck. It also keeps him in the Premier League and his acclimatisation to the style of our game can only help his potential future at Arsenal. Personally I would like to see every exciting loan player stay in the UK. Not for any xenophobia of other nations, but because it allows us to see them develop a little bit closer to home, they get a better understanding of how to play in our league, and it makes you think that they have a potential future at Arsenal. It’s true, there are some perfectly good examples of how a player has matured on loan overseas – just look at Coquelin – but there are also examples of players that have gone abroad and never really been the same (*cough* Carlos Vela *cough*). To me, the Spanish League requires a different type of player and so sending both Wellington and Joel Campbell there on loan spells doesn’t really do anything other than potentially increase their own value in Spain for a sell on. But perhaps that is why Arsenal are going down that route? Anyway, loan move for Miyachi which means I suspect we’ll see a bit more of him this season.

One man who won’t be plying his trade elsewhere just yet might be Alex Song, who has surely lost all interest from Barcelona by having the temerity to not announce his desire to sign for the club because of his Afro-Catalan DNA and instead has pledged his immediate future to Arsenal. Rosell must be incredulous with rage with his Barcelona players: they have failed miserably in their open tapping up attempts of the player to make him hand in a transfer request and now if they want to get their man they will have to pay over and above his market valuation. How could they do this to him? For us it’s a bit more positivity to snatch at as the season begins. Arsene also cleared up a strange debate going around that Song’s contract ran out in two years time, instead saying that it runs until 2015. Good stuff, as it means that at least next year (sharp intake of breath here as I say this) we should not have another star forcing his way out with a year to go on his contract. I was a doubting Thomas of young Alex, but as his importance in the team has grown, so has my appreciation of what he brings: physical presence, the occasional eye for a pass (Ben if it takes him four goes to get it right) and the ability to win the ball deep in the midfield.

To continue with constant flurry of succulent Arsenal news, even Arsene was once again been quoted in the press yesterday, following his fairly obvious statement that Arsenal wanted to keep hold of their captain and football writers player of the year last season. What is he thinking? Defending the interests of the club he loves and trying hard not to bend over backwards to accommodate a potential rival and strengthen them without making them pay a premium price. For shame Arsene…

It’s interesting though that Wenger once again re-iterated his position that he is keeping one eye on the transfer market as well. He did say he’s got two eyes on the existing team, so I’m looking forward to plenty more ‘third eye’ jokes over the coming weeks and days. Maybe he’s got the Eye of Sauron looking across Europe whilst he can focus on the team. That would be awesome by the way. He wouldn’t need to worry about lighting in his back garden, that’s for sure.

What type of player he’s looking for remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he already has another striker lined up for an instant swoop should we lose van Persie. As fans we’d all feel slightly deflated if/when the Dutchman goes to another English side, so an instant response by picking up a player like Llorente would see the balance firmly swayed back into the positivity camp like it currently is. I know Llorente is ‘in talks’ with Juventus right now, but just think how long we were ‘in talks’ with Cazorla – theres still time should a deal for Robin be struck. And with the Bilbao chairman announcing that Llorente wants to leave it puts the Basque outfit in the same delicate position we find ourselves in. Hey, here’s an idea: straight swap RvP for Llorente. We offload him somewhere abroad, he can fight for his trophy in the Copa Del Ray and Europa League, and we’ll have Llorente to bolster our attacking options. No? Yeah, you’re probably right, Bilbao aren’t quite the ‘direction’ van Persie was looking for.

I don’t really want to go over the Vincent Kompany quotes because, quite frankly, it bores me. Ask any player if they’d like Messi at their club and they’d tell you ‘yes’, so this gets a big fat ‘meh’ from me.

Usmanov may have to have his scornful next press release/open letter sat comfortably in his inbox for an instant ‘send’ if it RvP does leave for an English team – the window is getting smaller by the second and Arsenal would have to act straight away to get another player in.

And getting players in might still be on the agenda if the injury news filtering through turns out to be half true. Arteta picked up a knock last week, Koscienly sent back from the French squad and the Ox not included through potential injury. Adding to that Rosicky, Sagna and Wilshire who have all been absentees, and there’s nearly an impressive ‘crocked 11′ we could field. What ever happened to those days in the 90s when every single player started the season fresh and ready for action? I’m sure I’m not just dreaming it…

One final rant, if you’ll indulge me before I sign off for the day: who in that moronic and frankly farcical organisation responsible for governing the game, Fifa (and no, i’m not capitalising all the letters – they don’t deserve more attention than they already get despite being corrupt and generally useless at EVERYTHING), decided that it would be a great idea to have a round of international friendlies the week before most domestic seasons start and just over a month since a major international tournament finished? So now do we not only have to face the possibility of having players back that are slightly tired having probably spent the last week or so conditioning their bodies for a new season, but we also have the possibility of some of them not playing because they have to travel to far flung corners of the globe like Puerto Rica and Russia. Absolute madness. I’d put money on an injury to one of our lads and the only people that suffer will be the teams that receive the broken players that are returned. And you just know they’ll be some belligerent old international manager that will give some of our players 90 minutes – regardless of whether they need it or not. Grr…

Anyway, I’m off into the smog for another round of pushing paper from point A to point B. adios amigos.

Purring about The Arsenal

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Happy post Olympics morning to you great people. The Closing ceremony yesterday was distinctly average for the first hour I watched it, but thankfully there was an Arsenal game on yesterday, so I can talk all day about that! Woo hoo!

Yesterday’s game against a recently relegated FC Koln was our last chance for some semi competitive football to watch before the real thing kicks off next Saturday. It was also our opportunity to see some of our new signings in action for the first time.

As seems to be par for the course these days, I inevitably got the starting line up completely wrong on who would play. Yesterday I talked about how Le Boss would want to see as close to his first team as possible starting yesterday so when the team lined up with Mannone, Yennaris and Mertesacker, I chortled to myself save in the knowledge that now not only do I get transfer announcements wrong (“I don’t think Podolski will sign this week” – signs the next day), I also get formations and team selection incorrect too!

The match itself was a mouthwatering display from the kick off. New signings Giroud, Podolski and Cazorla began and all three looked assured, composed and ready to embrace the Premier League with open arms. It was the latter of the trio that impressed the most by all accounts. Cazorla looked like he’d been playing for Arsenal for years and jinked past opposition midfielders, proved to be pivotal in the build of of attacks and was getting his head up looking to spray the ball around to one of the front three. Whisper it quietly to yourself, but it was almost Cesc-like.

Giroud looked good too. He held the ball up at times, looked to have some really good movement, plus he even carved himself a few chances in front of goal. The only thing missing from his afternoons work was the goal he so richly deserved.

Podolski started the game a little quietly for the first fifteen minutes or so, but after the second goal was scored (the first coming from a Bould/Adams reenactment from Mertesacker and Vermaelen) from the penalty spot he grew more and more in influence first on the left, and then in the second half up top. His finish for goal number three was deadly: hammered home with precision from a Kieran Gibbs cut back inside the penalty box.

It’s always great to see new signings perform from the first game, and whilst we must be mindful not to use this performance as a barometer on which all other matches are played, I think it’s fair to say that it left many of us salivating for what may come over the next nine months. We are hopeful of a trophy at the end, but let’s just see how we go for now.

For me, what is just as satisfying to see is not just the new signings, but the established players as well. There were some really assured performances for players like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, but most notably Gervhino. The Ivorian was without doubt my man of the match. He might have only played a half, but he was easily the most influential player on the pitch in the second half and his performance got a well taken goal added to it as well, slotting in at the keepers near post after driving inside along the by-line. This could be a big year for the lad. Of he adds a more prolific finishing side to his game he could easily become one of our stars. He did have a couple of times where he didn’t quite choose the right option yesterday, but he looks like a different player to the one that finished the season in May. I remember many fans seeing him last year and saying the same during pre season, so we should of course be careful not to expect too much, but he’s had his year to acclimatise so let’s hope this season is a big one for him.

I could go on purring all day about the performance and how good we look at the moment, but we all know that friendlies essentially count for nothing, it’s the real thing we care about. But as a sneak preview of how some of our players might perform goes – it was pretty juicy stuff. But do you know what the best part about this blog has been? I’ve managed to go the whole time without mentioning a Dutchman. He got 20 minutes. That’s all I need to say really.

Until tomorrow.

Season begins from now

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Morning you gooner you. Hopefully you’re as excited to the count down of this season as I am, which really begins in earnest from this afternoon when our squad lines up against FC Koln of the German second division.

We have less than a week to go until the Premier League starts and, whilst the rest of pre season has been focused on getting game time to younger/peripheral players with a smattering of first teamers to improve their fitness, today’s game will be the last bit of prep the players will have before the big kick off.

We’re likely to see a full strength Arsenal squad playing against the recently relegated and former home of our new signing Lukas Podolski. They will also be keen to get their new season off to a successful start in preparation for their season in the German second tier, so hopefully we’ll see a competitive but not leg breaking, match with plenty of positives.

One of the key decisions that will be made is how much game time certain players will get. A certain Dutch striker being a prime example. Robin has played no part in pre season games up to this point, so to my mind will surely be lacking in match fitness come the start of the season, assuming he is still at Arsenal on Saturday. His pre season has not exactly panned out how he would have liked and I’m sure he would have preferred to be house hunting in Manchester and working out what Wayne Rooney is saying half the time by now. Well guess what bud? Sir Alex clearly doesn’t value you that highly if he hasn’t stumped up the cash for your services just yet.

It’s not just RvP that haven’t played much part in pre season though. Koscienly, Mertesacker, Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla have all not got much game time under their belts since the Euros, but whilst Robin can say that he played plenty during the Euros, the rest were not as active in their respective national sides.

The formation will be an interesting one to see, and may give us an indication of Wenger’s thoughts for next weekend. I think Arsene will line up close to his first team upon kick off, to try and get them all understanding each other better in an actual match scenario: training games are one thing, but it doesn’t compare to the real thing and so I hope the first teamers are given at least 60 minutes today, rather than two sides getting 45 minutes. But this assumes that Arsene already knows his starting eleven. I think that it’s realistic to look at the squad now and real question who will play in some of the positions and that is a fabulous position to put the manager in. Who will start in defence from Gibbs, Santos, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Koscienly? Who gets the nod in midfield from Arteta, Song, Coquelin, Diaby, or even possibly Cazorla? And which three from Walcott, Cazorla, Gervhino, van Persie, Giroud or Podolski will line up in the attacking trio of the side?

I suspect that Wenger will be cautious with his selection today, and keep some of the new signings on the bench. I think Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud will all be given a run out, but I suspect we’ll see a lot of familiarity with the starting line up from the one that finished the season. So I’ll go for Szczsney in goal, a back four of Jenkinson, Koscienly, Vermaelen and Gibbs, midfield three of Arteta, Song and Diaby, with Gervhino, van Persie and Walcott up top.

It will be interesting to see how the team performs, but not the be all and end all. Remember, we’re still in friendly territory here gooners, so don’t start panicking if we don’t win 12-0.

Until tomorrow.

That new season smell, plus RvP and Gnarby

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Another day and another counting down until the Premier League season starts. Eight days people. Eight long days and then it’s show time. As you could probably garner from my opening gambit in today’s blog, I’m excited.

I’m excited about our team (as I said yesterday), I’m excited about the pre match beverages (hopefully bathed in North London sunshine) and I’m excited about reliving the match day experience.

For me it remains something that is a magical experience. Up until I got my season ticket a few years ago, my Arsenal watching experience was limited to a few times a season as a red member, then before that any time I there was a spare from my Dads mate Roy. I still get that nervous anticipation when I begin my journey from home. Yes, my start destination may have changed over the years (from Harlow, to Hoddesdon, to Uxbridge), but my finish station has always remained the same, and so have some of the vendors outside too I would imagine.

Everything from the trip along Holloway Road swerving amongst a sea of red and white companions, through to the steps up to the stadium from the Armoury shop: it all feels like a new and exciting experience. And I’ll be doing it all again very soon.

What I will be trying to do differently this season, however, is meeting new gooners. I have had a season ticket for a few years now and I go with the same people, which will not change, but what I would really love to do is to know more of the Arsenal fraternity that share that match day experience.

And what better way to meet new people than the wonderful world of social media. Putting a little bit more into the ‘social’ element than already exists. So this is is a call to you: if you are around on match days and you fancy meeting somebody new, Direct Message me on Twitter or drop me an email in the ‘Contact Us’ section and let’s share a few jars on match day. Let’s converse over a bit of the amber nectar on all things football, tactics, transfers, but most importantly: Arsenal.

I suppose I should probably also mention some of the latest goings on with the first team as well. If I sound a little reluctant it’s probably because the main talking point is still that man van Persie. After Fergie decided to adopt the Barcelona model of openly tapping up players to try and force Arsenal’s hand, he’s now enlisting the help of Wayne Rooney to make positive noises about the Dutchman joining United. Brace yourself for a Paul Scholes ‘Manchester DNA’ and we’ll know we’re into Def Con 5 people.

There are a few reasons why this protracted saga is not the same as the Cesc situation, but from what we’ve heard, we’ll not be held over a barrel like Barcelona did and we’ll be demanding a premium price for his transfer and an ‘Ultra Platinum’ price if it’s an English club.

My personal gut feeling on this is that it will drag into the beginning of the season and will end at the end of August with Man Utd paying close to £20million with some instalments/add ons of some kind to ensure Arsenal get close to their asking price. Don’t be surprised if there is a cheeky City bid though. They have the money and could put £25million down right now if they wanted to.

Whatever the result, I’ve now resigned myself to the fact we’ll never see RvP banging in the goals for Arsenal, which is a shame because the way the team is shaping up his influence could have been all the more important had he just signed a new deal and embraced the love and respect he got from The Arsenal faithful. What’s more annoying is that I have a front cover programme mounted in a frame in my hallway with an article I did for the match day programme last season with his smiling face on it saying ’100 up’ – after he hit his 100th goal milestone for the club. Amazing to think you could etch your name in Arsenal’s history and scratch it out (in the eyes of fans) in the space of a season.

Serge Gnarby – possibly one of the most exciting of the latest crop of youngsters coming through – has been championing Abou Diaby as one of the best players he’s seen in training. No doubt Diaby is very talented and were he not to have suffered injury after injury since Dan Smith (who hasn’t been seen since in a footballing respect) broke him, would have starred for Arsenal at the heart of the midfield, but having seen some of his close ball control and ability to beat a man I can see why Gnarby has spoken so highly of the Frenchman. Diaby has finally managed to get himself his first full pre season under his belt and I am keeping every Falange crossed that Mr Glass survives a season without any serious injury. Were we to have a full compliment of fit players on the books, I’m not sure whether or not he would play as a first team starter, but with Rosicky and Wilshire out and Cazorla only at the club a week, we might just see Diaby given a start against Sunderland at the apex of the midfield with Arteta and Song sitting behind him. Assuming of course that Xavi hasn’t traced Song’s lineage to Catalonia and persuaded him to bunk down with Busquets by the time the big kick off comes.

Last friendly of the season tomorrow in Germany so I’ll stick a few thoughts about that on the blog tomorrow.

Have a good Friday.

Usmanov’s true colours? Santi announced?

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Hello hello party people, hope you are keeping well? You are? Well that’s smashing indeed. Shall we talk about something? What would you suggest? Arsenal? Well why ever not!

The Arsenal squad travelled to Germany yesterday, and whilst the PR executive that manages the Arsenal Twitter account thought it would be mighty humorous to send out the occasional message saying ‘more news towards the end of the week’, keeping gooners everywhere on tenterhooks, the rest of us were left scrapping around the online Arsenal space looking for something interesting to feast on.

Unfortunately, all we seem to have at the moment is the Russian Michelin man himself Alisher Usmanov emerging from his pit of bitterness to cast more stones in the direction of Highbury House. Yesterday evening ITV ran with a story of Russian origination which detailed how Usmanov feels Arsenal are in decline. He spoke of his love for Arsenal as a fan and how he is not happy that Danny Fiszmann ostracised him from the board as soon as it became clear he wanted to run the club and invest his mega millions into Arsenal.

Usmanov maintains he’s been a fan for years and won’t sell the club. Sounds all very admirable, but there was one sentence in his interview that raised my eyebrows higher than a Holly Bleasdale pole vault. When asked about his purchase of shares from David Dein, Usmanov states that he was looking for a possible Premier League club to invest in and Arsenal were by far the most attractive offer. I’m sorry Ally, but I actually happen to be an ACTUAL fan of Arsenal, which means that when I think of other teams I don’t think ‘ooh, wouldn’t it be good to be involved with them somehow?’. How can you pertain to be an Arsenal fan and then in almost the same breath talk about investing in another football club in the same league? Now, I’m not going to get bogged down in the semantics of what a true fan is, but what I will say is that I don’t know many Arsenal fans that would be pleased with the thought of an Arsenal supporting owner injecting billions into West Ham, Fulham or Stoke. Many might say that it is an irrelevance because he has shares in Arsenal, but he has the financial power to gobble up any shares should Stan Kroenke walk away. And then we are left with just one owner who can say and do what he wants, sack who he wants and bring in who he wants – a la Roman Abramovich.

I have to say that at times, at those deepest and darkest of times when ne’er a transfer was to be seen or a captains word spoken, I looked at Usmanov’s position and wavered, contemplating how bad life would actually be if he had more involvement. After all, surely he would not be as bad as a silent owner that never says anything. However, it’s media attention seeking articles like the one posted online last night that i see a steely resolution from within myself not to think like the spoilt rich kids at Citeh and Chelski. After all, the very fact we’re entrenched in a transfer saga as farcical as the one with Malaga at the moment shows how perilous the situation could be if a club is left to the whims of an owner like Usmanov. He is a rich man looking for a toy to play with and sees Arsenal as a great opportunity. Then, if and when he gets bored of his toy, he’ll simply move on to his next venture and leave the real Arsenal fans behind to pick up the broken cannons. An English Malaga if you will.

So my overriding hope is that he doesn’t get any closer to owning the club. Again, don’t get me wrong by thinking I’m in the Silent Stan camp: I’m not, I’m in the Arsenal Football Club camp.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal world we’re likely to see the unveiling of Santi Cazorla today as an Arsenal player. Everything is done and dusted bar the Malaga admin team filing the faxed agreement in a draw somewhere and Arsene has a press conference today so I would have thought he’d at least give us a smile and a hint that the deal is done. There are even rumours that Cazorla will play at the weekend despite nothing being official. I have to say I think that is unlikely, but you never know – remember when we signed Carini in goal for Juventus, played him in a friendly and then there were complications and he went home from Arsene’s training camp in Austria?

Anyway, I think there will be something today, then we could even hear about the possible Sahin transfer as well which would cap off what is essentially a fine summer of transfer dealings by the club for which Wenger, Gazidis and Dick Law should be rightly praised. All Le Boss would have to do now is choose his best team and see if he can’t turn these nearly boys of a squad into genuine title contenders. And I think we just might be you know.

One final thought that I might come back to after RvP leaves the club: when he made his announcement a couple of weeks back, he stated that Arsene and Ivan had not discussed money at all during their meeting before the Euros. Was that because all parties already knew how much would be on offer from City/United/Juventus? So the club couldn’t match it anyway? It seems even Juve are giving up at the moment and turning their attentions to Suarez at Liverpool. Could put the player on somewhat uneven ground when it comes to his final destination given Mancini’s comments yesterday as well. Food for thought.

Until tomorrow.

A good run out but still defensive worries

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Happy Monday y’all,

Ha a weekend off blogging so lots to go through on a Monday morn – and only a little bit of it is Olympic related. Unless of course between now when I write this blog and my intended finish stop of Waterloo there is a massive delay from the games. In that case, I’ll be bemoaning all things Olympicified. Just trying to manage your expectations here.

Anyway, yesterday saw the last of the Asian tour friendlies against a team which sounded more like an Ideal Home exhibition gadget, than a professional football team. Kitchee FC (I had to type that three times on my predictive text before the iPhone accepted it!) were a small Hong Kong based team who normally play in front of crowds of no more than 3,500 people – which would be a sell out crowd if they were playing on their normal home turf and not the Hong Kong national stadium. I don’t know if they are already part way through their season or not but they were quite impressive for a relatively unknown team (in western eyes, anyway) and posed a few threats throughout the match. There’s no point in going through a blow-by-blow account of the game as I’m sure there are many more eloquent bloggers and journalists out there that could do a better job than I so I’ll just stick to my own opinions of what I learnt yesterday whilst sitting in bed watching.

Gervhino and Eisfeld had the most memorable of performances overall. The Ivorian was in imperious form and the directness in the final third wreaked havoc in the Kitchee penalty area. He danced around defenders too afraid to bring him down and was the catalyst for the second Arsenal goal that led the game to finishing at 2-2 where the German Thomas Eisfeld slotted home from six yards. Although only on for around 25 minutes, he looked assured, composed and certainly ready for a run in the team this season. As I would imagine a few of the players will be that played yesterday. Afobe and Aneke didn’t have the greatest of games, with the former missing a great chance off the post when faced with only the keeper to beat, then missing a great header from six yards. However he is only young and the real positive was getting himself into those positions.

There was also the odd bit of rustiness shown from a few of the first team squad players like Coquelin, Walcott and the Ox. Again, probably more down to a bit of pre-season cobwebs needing to be swept away more than anything else. All three above mentioned players still showed glimpses of the players we saw last season, so let’s hope that the next two weeks are well spent with more conditioning, before a final friendly of the season against FC Koln.

The only real downside to the overall performance was some of the defending. At times we were woefully exposed against what is hardly a Man City or Utd quality opponent. Carved open on multiple occasions, particularly on Andre Santos’ side, Stevie Bould has a bit of work to do before the start of this season. But I guess it would be better to get these errors out of the system now rather than from August 18 onwards. Although you can never tell if we’ll ever et rid of the defensive bowlers with this Arsenal team.

Elsewhere on the other side of the planet, Aaron Ramsey represented the main Arsenal interest in the Olympics, representing Team GB against the UAE. I have to say the UAE side impressed me. They were quite composed on the ball and although scored against the run of play they looked like an ok outfit. Ramsey himself had a good game, getting involved in a lot of the build up and putting together some good attacking runs in the final third. I really hope this tournament is useful for him in regaining some of his confidence. He looked so shorn of it towards the end of last season that I began to wonder if he might fade away as a first team regular to occasional squad man and then into obscurity. However all credit must go to him; he’s not hiding, he’s working hard and hopefully the competitive nature of these Olympics gives him a head start on his pre-season ready to fight for a slot against Sunderland in a few weeks.

I guess I could say some more things about RvP and Cazorla, but quite frankly I can’t be arsed: until either sign or don’t sign (definitively) there is nothing more I can say that hasn’t already been said.

Until tomorrow.

Flexing the team (not Diaby’s legs) and Thomas gives a captains welcome

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Morning. Happy Friday to you and all that you know (and like). Today is a game day for Arsenal and I hope we see a good footballing display against the oil barrens and their footballing mercenaries. Let’s hope that we don’t get an intense, tackles flying everywhere, encounter – we have enough players injured leading up to the start of the season, so a few more is not really what I’d like to see.

Apparently Arsene has also hinted at a possible 4-4-2 in his discussions with the media. I don’t have a specific link, but if it’s something he’s tinkering with then I’m sure many of you, like me are pleased with this. We’ve kept with this 4-3-3 for a few years now and, whilst I’m sure we’re not about to see a fundamental shift in the way Arsenal play, it would be good to know that the team can flex the formation to suit a style of play or opposition. Giving us more options and bringing in players that can adapt would be a big plus for us in our quest for trophies. And we have the players that can play up top as well – Podolski, Giroud, Walcott all spring to mind, but I’m sure Chamberlain could probably play there too, and if Cazorla were to sign he could play just off a main striker in a 4-4-1-1 style formation.

Abou Diaby has been talking to some of the assorted media and has declared his thanks to Arsene for showing faith in him as a player. Let’s hope that faith can be directly injected into his ankle and knee ligaments and used to strengthen them this season. A real asset when fit, Diaby could have an important role in the squad this season if we want to push ourselves closer to the summit of the league this year, but for a player who has had more injuries than Steve Claridge had clubs, it is difficult to expect too much from the leggy Frenchman.

Elsewhere, the Cazorla rumours rumble on and on, with some reporting the deal is on, some say it’s off, others think it is neither, then more declare its both. Manuel Pelligrini sounds like the captain of a sinking ship that, if it’s going down, it’s going with him at the helm and fighting – despite the fact the admiral of the ship (Qatari owner) is sitting below deck having a bath and thinking all is fine. Pelligrini is quoted in the press as saying that €20million for Cazorla would be ‘giving him away’ whilst Malaga confirm that no actual bid has taken place. I am starting to wonder if the owners of Malaga are just waiting until Monday to turn up at the doors of the companies and institutions they owe money to and then they will pay up, meaning they don’t have to accept the money that Arsenal offer. I think Arsenal probably think that too, hence why they are holding off their first bid. I’d expect it to come in from Arsenal early next week – perhaps before the deadline – and then they can swoop with an offer that might not be €20million, but even if it is more, we might only see them inject an extra couple of million into the deal.

Thomas Vermaelen thinks Podolski is great. Even though he hasn’t trained with him or probably even met him yet. That’s nice Tommy, welcome him like the new great captain we all know you are, and will be. Plus, you’ve just signed a new deal so it will be nice to have a captain that doesn’t want to walk out on the club. I like Vermaelen as a captain and I just hope he gets the job full time whilst RvP is still at the club. A public statement to the Dutchman that he is just one of many former players and Arsenal survives and thrives without him.

That’ll do for today folks, that’ll do.

Arsenal Boo’s and Woo Hoo’s

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In my short time on this here earth, i’ve come to realise that life as an Arsenal fan is a series of ‘Boo’s and ‘Woo Hoo’s.

Boo: Robin van Persie wants to leave.
Woo Hoo: Laurent Koscienly signs a new contract.
Boo: Transfer rumour, Twitter tittle tattle.
Woo Hoo: Pre season friendlies.
Boo: Robin still wants to leave.
Woo Hoo: We won and collected a trophy and saw some good young performances from some of the up and coming players.
Boo: Theo’s contract issues still rumble on.
Woo Hoo: sounds like Cazorla deal is edging along nicely.

Yes, it’s been done to death but there is still no further news on RvP. Moving on faster than you can say ‘woosh’.

Some great ‘Woo Hoo’ news that came out yesterday was that Laurent Koscienly has signed a new deal at the club. I don’t have to tell you how important this is. For one thing it means that we have at least one more player that we have a minimum of three years without them threatening to leave by running down their contract. But mainly it’s that we have secured the signature of one of last seasons top performers and ensured that he can continue to improve at The Arsenal. He’s a classic example of media idiocy. He had a mixed bag of a first season, was labelled a Wenger flop, then last season was also called poor by some sections of the media (yes, I’ve seen it) because he was in the team for the 4-3 and 8-2 defeats in Lancashire at the beginning of the year. Lazy journos who don’t do their homework or watch enough of certain players are a particular bug bear of mine. I’m not always 100% right on this blog, but I don’t do it for a living. And if I did I’d make damn sure I formed a decent view on players based on actually watching them rather than Sunday Supplement.

Still no new news on what the situation is with M’Villa. I know Arsene ruled that out in his press conference, but part of me was hoping we’d see a little more coming out following his decision to pour cold water on the rumour. Boo.

But hey, some football is back! Woo Hoo! I won’t go into a detailed match analysis on the game, mainly because a) I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, b) it’s a pre season friendly and so players will be rusty, c) the whole squad wasn’t there and so it’s difficult to judge how we’re shaping up, and d) the opposition weren’t exactly the best in the world. Nevertheless, it sounds like by all accounts we had some good performances. Goals from Eisfeld and Aneke are certainly welcome and it’s good to see that the desire to keep pushing until the final whistle and come up with last-gasp goals is being bread through the youth and reserves as well. Certainly liking the feedback on Eisfeld. Let’s hope another Arsene gem has been unearthed. New captain Thomas Vermaelen also got to lift a trophy, so let’s hope he gets that winning feeling more often this season when the real competitions kick in.

Theo’s contract is still rumbling on: Boo. There isn’t really any more to say on this except he’s made positive noises about signing a new one. But of course so did Flamini, and we all know where that got us. So if it’s not really anything new, why am I including it in today’s blog? Symmetry. Gotta have a ‘Boo’ after a ‘Woo Hoo’. But I think I’ll finish on a ‘Woo Hoo’.

Sounds to me like we’re close on a Cazorla deal. Arsene was asked about it after the game yesterday and, whilst some people reported the ‘not close’ part of the conversation, it was the wider context that should really be looked at. Arsene said that we were not close, but when asked specifically about Cazorla he said that we are still working on that. Now to me, if we’re even at the stage where Arsene is effectively admitting an interest, it shows we’re pretty far down the line. Let’s hope it’s done soon but I suspect Arsenal are waiting to find out if Malaga pay their debts by the 31st July deadline. If they do, we may just miss out if the club want to hold Cazorla to his contract. Remember, he signed a deal last year and so Malaga could force him to stay if they cough up the Euros for their debts.

Anyway, one way or another we should know by next Tuesday, which is good to hear, let’s just hope it’s not another Mata situation.

Drawing ‘saga’ straws and Chamakh’s last stand

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Hello, fancy seeing you here?

I try to blog every day about Arsenal and that means I need new content every day, lest I fall into the trap of sounding like some forgetful old maid that tells you the same story very time you meet her. You know, the story about her nephew Jimmy and the car/job/wife/pet he has. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about…

So when Arsenal decide that once again for what feels like the seventeenth summer running, we have yet another transfer saga that stretches out like an Arizona desert, it becomes quite a challenge to form new opinions that don’t sound like I’m creating the world’s most drawn out blog. Maybe that’s what I should have done:

Robin van Persie is leaving the club….

still leaving….

still leaving…

yet more of the leaving

Leav…..

We all know what’s happening – we’ve become accustomed to it so much that half of the Arsenal fanbase probably believes that the players draw lots at the end of each season to see who will get all of the attention this summer. Last night we were treated to yet more rumour and conjection as it emerged that Juve had once again decided to come to the table with an upped offer. Music to the ears of every Arsenal fan. If we can get shot of him so we only have to see him in the Champions League then I’m A-OK with that. Let him have his reported £190k per week and play in front of half empty stadium. Can he do it on a warm and balmy Tuesday night at Lecce? I hope he will.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal world, Chamakh has had his say on proving to the boss that he can recapture the form that saw him look such a useful addition when he arrived. He will most certainly start in today’s game against a Malaysia XI (real football!!! I know!!!) and so with Giroud and Podolski still in the UK, it’s his time to shine. I think Chamakh is a classic example of a player that needs plenty of games to prove he can be useful. The problem is that we don’t want first team regulars that we can describe as ‘useful’. We want players who are world class and, unfortunately for the Moroccan, he has never really fit that description. An impact sub/squad player that needs five games to get his stride is as useful as right handed tin opener to a south paw. It would be great to see him prove his worth and show more fight than he did last year, but I wonder if that ship has sailed to be honest.

Santi Cazorla news is still knocking around, with the Spaniard telling Arsenal he is willing to join them, which is great news if a deal can be done. The Arsenal hotline, for any of you that wish to do the same, is 0800 800 800. Simply ask for Arsene and leave a message after the beep. He’ll be calling me any day now…

Seriously though, I hope this happens, but I suspect a lot will depend on the crazy Qatari businessman that currently owns Malaga. They have to pay their dues (tax, wages owed, transfer fees, etc) by Tuesday 31st next week and when you read a bit more into the workings at the club you wonder whether Malaga will just wait until 30th July before bundling a bunch of Euros into a black plastic bag and shoving it through the letterbox of the Spanish football federation with a note saying “can you pay all the businesses and people we owe please”. If they do something crazy like that, it means that they can play hardball over Cazorla and his €45million buy out clause, but if they don’t then it might be an easier conversation that Arsenal can have. I hope Arsenal act fast and get the guy in soon – we don’t want another Juan Mata situation.

Anyway, that’s enough of my gabbing, I’m off to enjoy the sunshine. Oh, no, wait a second, I’m not, I’ve got to spend a day in an office. Joy.