Another Gooners Ramblings

Wenger "It will go through"

2009-02-02T18:52:00.003Z

Sky sports have just announced that they have contacted Arsene Wenger himself who stated that "They will make an announcement tonight". When asked would it be a positive announcement Wenger is reported as saying "Yes, the deall will go through". He also laughed when asked if he could explain why the deal has taken so long and said "No" he couldn't explain that yet.

Hopefully we'l get him. Its been a long frustrating transfer window and to be honest many of us would of liked to of snapped up Arshavin at the beginning of the window and then maybe got one or two more but one is better the nothing. CMON ARSENAL!!!!

Chin up

2008-12-02T23:53:00.003Z

No match report here you can get that elsewhere, no good journalistic musings either as well you can get that elsewhere as well. What i will say is i watched the whole game with no sound bar the tunes blared out by my local pub who refused to replace the various shite tune playlist with the blabberlings of Jeff Stelling, David Platt and co unless a group of 10 or so wanted to watch the game. Being down in the deepest reaches of Cornwall's underbelly i didnt expect the place to suddenly vacate of rugby obsessed country bumpkins and fill with Burnley B*st*rds and fellow Gooners and was glad of it as i dont think i would of enjoyed the roar of the crowd at turf moor come the final whistle.
Anywho-do-doodle this isnt going to be a very well written, concise or tight article 1. Because i've only just started getting back into writing about my beloved Arsenal again and 2. Because i've had a few pints and in the words of the Brent-meister General am "a LITTLE bit drunk".
I just want to say to all you goons who did or did not see the match is that our youngsters did us proud despite the result. It was men against boys out there and if a couple of our completely clear cut chances had hit the back of the net we could of had a rout on our hands. Such is football though and a lot of respect must go to a very well organised battling Burnley.
Lets not get down about this match at all, if we lose to Wigan on the weekend then by all means but not now. Up the Arsenal!

Testing. 1, 2....

2008-12-02T14:44:00.002Z

Just a post to see if the problems with the links to my site through goonernews have been fixed. I've been away for a while but hope to start posting again properly after tonights game. Up the Arsenal!

I'm back and i'm angry!

2008-11-02T02:37:00.004Z

Sorry for the lack of posting for so long not having access to the internet for such a large period of time prohibited me from the usual rants. Well anywho i'm back!!! for a post at least and most likely a poor written post to but i dont care becuase i'm anrgy.

Now i'm not going to recount the various recent slip ups our beloved team have slipped upon becuase we all know what they are becuase they're plastered all over the back of newspapers and the front of websites (football ones anyways).

We all know we have good players in our team and that we're a quality well run football club so it seems odd to many of our own and opposing fans as to why we can whine so much about ourselves. Well i'll tell you why and its a why that most will know and its that we should be better then we are. We could of been top of the pile the best team in the world if after our 49 game unbeaten run instead of going into years and years and years of transition we just kept on getting better instead. Or ok we didn't even have to get better i think we would of been happy if we'd just stayed there and thereabouts how good we were.

Wenger is stubborn we all know it and most of the time we don't have to much of a problem with it because hes a legend. Whenever we destroy a team with beautiful football we turn a blind eye to defensive frailties that disease our team and we believe that we can destroy teams week in week out with such football just like the invincibles did. But then we come crashing to the ground when we our bullied out of another game where we've either created loads of chances and missed them all or just kept the ball in our half nearly all game passing it neatly back and forth along our back line and midfield.

I don't believe we our far off from being back to an invincible level. The problem i have is that i dont think we're far off aka one or two changes of personel off whereas i think Wenger believes we're not far off aka potential potential po-dupididly-tential!

Sagna, Toure, Clichy, Van Persie, Walcott and Fabregas have all proven at one time or another that they our exceptional footballers who could be a first teamer in any team in the world. So to have an exceptional invincible like first team we have 6 players who can i believe do what is required to be in an invinvicle or thereabouts team.

GK
Sagna Toure CB Clichy

Walcott Fabregas DM LM

ST Van Persie

So lets say we have 5 holes in a 'can beat anyone' first team line up.

Now lets add Adebayor to it becuase ok hes a sulky asshole at times but he got a lot of goals last year so lets give him the leeway hes earned. Lets also add Nasri to it becuase and i know im using Wengers favourtie word he does and has shown the potential to someday be a Pires replacement and also he gives us more wdith then playing one of our many centre mids there.

GK

Sagna Toure CB Clichy

Walcott Fabregas DM Nasri

Adebayor Van Persie

So thats three holes in our (well my) 'can beat anyone' first team line up.

Now Almunia isnt a world class keeper but has proven himself to be a very good one....at times anyways so for now he isnt a main concern. Centreback and a defensive midfielder are though and very much so.

Gallas is not a leader and his antics just harm the team. His and Silvestre's experience did nothing to help us againast Spurs and he is also to similiar to Toure. Now Toure is very fast and solid in the tackle, he is Arsenal through and through and to have these two numpty centrebacks Gallas and Silvestre both of whom will and always hold our major title rivals in there hearts forever ousting true gunner Toure out of the team or thinking they can is a disgrace.
Sagna Toure and Clichy our all individually world class defenders. With Silvestre and/or Gallas in the back line with them messes the whole thing. Imagine if we had a Vidic type player in there someone who is can dominate the air for us with height and strength. A defesnsive line up of

Almunia

Sagna Toure (Vidic type CB) Clichy

Would be as strong as any defense in the league. Toure mopping up with his awesome recovery pace and tackle, Sagna and Clichy bombing down the lines and another CB dominating the air would give us more stability at the back. Whats more is our last hole in the team which would give us even more stability and attacking ability.

Fabregas is a world class playmaker. One who is being forced to perform defensive duties he should never have to worry about becuase he is partnered with the like sof Denilson who want to make there claim as the next Fabregas. Now i like Denilson but hes shouldnt be partnering Fabregas also Song has yet to prove he can do as good a job as a Vieira or a flamini in playing that DM role so Fabregas is forced to defend more.

Two players that is all, two players for two positions centreback and defensive midfield would give us a first team line up that can still play that beautiful attacking football that we always play and that the invincibles played, but would also give us that grit and resilience to cope with the rough and tough games that any team that wants to win the league has to play.

Almunia

Sagna Toure ( Aerial dominant CB) Clichy

Walcott Fabregas (Boss the midfield DM) Nasri

Adebayor Van Persie

A first eleven that could win leagues. I've ranted and raved and blabbed and warbled and i dont even want to think about starting to discuss the problems with our thin squad as whole.
If we beat Man Utd in our next league game then maybe i will of regained some of my optimism for this season title challenge but right now i think we cant and wont be able to challenge for it and the best we can hope for is a good run in the cups.

I love the Arsenal!!!!!!!!!!.........though you ain't half pissing me off recently.

Holigols, Guesswork and Oasis

2008-07-12T11:02:00.003+01:00

Hello my fellow Arsenal loving friends i'm back after what must be at least a 2 week absense of posts. I'm sure you all had a plentiful amount of Arsenal substinence recieved through goonernews built on reguritated quotes from weeks, months and years gone by, well mainly the tabloid sites for that assumption really. You see i have been away on mi sunny holigols not for the whole 2 weeks of my absense though but those extra seven days of non ramblings by me was because of the sheer lack of news and the want to not join in with the repitition of posts on Nasri nearly arriving and Nasri arriving that crop up as soon as one website breaks news (every site publishing the same news surely cant be an exclusive as some sites claim their stories are, i believe its first come first exclusivity!).

Anywho as always i am rambling. So to our beloved Arsenal as we all know and have known for bloody ages is that Nasri has signed. So if hleb does or doesnt go do we need another attacking midfielder after this acquisition?

Arshavin is "desperate to join Arsenal" according to his agent but do we need another attacking midfielder who seemed to only want to join Barcelona a week or so ago? No doubt he is suberbly talented but do we want him trying to leave for Barca every summer trying to squeeze himself out of the club like hleb has been this summer? Also the price £19mil is a hefty price not only through us fans eyes but also and obviously Wengers, so would we go for it? Would another attacking mid complete our attacking options or add too much competition to our attacking options hindering the devlopemnt and playing time of upcoming stars, to pick the most anticipated example the one and only Carlos Vela.

On other potential atacking mids coming in the younger then Arshavin by 5 years and Fabregas teamate already David Silva looks set to join a team outside of Spain this summer. Most people are linking him to Liverpool but if we could get him for say around £10-15 mil mark then i think Wenger would be much more keen at nabbing him then Arshavin mainly due to his age, link with Fabregas and established ability internationally at a young age.

As i think us gooners are all wishing is that the Adebayor and Hleb situations hurry up and sort themselves out. I'd rather deals be finished soon so we can start to get a true idea of the team we're going to have next season. Also wheres the defensive strenghing all us gooners have been craving for for such a long time now. It be great to know wether Wenger was going to stick with the Toure and Gallas partnership or put Song, Sendros, Djourou or even Nordviet in the mix, or if he was going to look elsewhere such as Zapata which look liked a realistic signing a month or so ago and an exciting one at that.

In other news Canadian (i think) radio station The Edge last night played an EXCLUSIVE first play of a new Oasis track. Now there has been debate whether this version will be on the new Oasis album 'Dig out your Soul' or wether it is just a Chemical Brother remix of a more Oasis sounding versiont hat will be on the album. Anywho here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgPIc9BHBY

Defensive midfield. Promote from within or buy?

2008-06-29T10:25:00.002+01:00

I’ve broken up an article about promoting from within or buying for defensive midfield, defense and attacking mid roles into 3 smaller easier and quicker to read posts heres the DM one.

Defensive midfield. Promote from within or buy?

If we look at promoting from within we have a host of potentially Arsenal quality players. Diaby, Denilson, Song, Djourou, either one of them could step into the flamini hole and have a flamini or better season in there. But it is only a possibility none of them proven.

Diaby has performed fairly well out of position on the wing but has been known to get caught on the ball a few times and if he does do that a few times this season i dont think he has the work rate and tirelessness to race back and get the ball back like flamini would. Still hes built like Vieira and could very well have a blinding season adding some real forboding menance and build to our midfileld.

Denilson seems to be in more of the playmaker mould and could maybe find it more difficult then Diaby to pick up defense duties as well as pushing forward. He has shown some of his huge pototential in Carling cup games and maybe now is the time for him to take the step up to the first team.

Song towards the end of the season was begining to look like the quality player Wenger said he was and could be when we were all telling him how crap he was. He shone in the African Cup of Nations and could be a Toure of our midfield without us actually having to buy the Toure of midfield at Barca.

Djourou has likened himself to Maklele and claims he plays best in the DM role. He didnt set the world alight at Birmingham on loan at the begining of last season but was unlucky when he returned to the Arse to pick up an injury around the time where he could of picked up some games and proven himself due to Toure being on international duty.

The thing is anyone of these players could have a flamini or better season. None of us could of guessed flamini would play as well as he did last season so none of us can really guess how well any of these players could play this season.But is promoting from within as risky or riskier then buying a proven DM who most likely has never played a game in England?

Next up Promoting from within Attacking Mid and Centre back. Or just read the whole article here on the team here http://anothergoonersramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/cb-dm-and-am-lr-promote-from-within-or_7609.html .

No.14 Theo Walcott

2008-06-27T15:35:00.001+01:00

When i first saw the new squad numbers for next year i was disappointed to see Theo still had nombre 32. I commented on a few other blogs who had reported news that it would of been great for Theo to get Henry's old number and so a week later he has. Whether Theo actually went out of his way to request it or Wenger thought it would give some confidence and the idea of the expectation there is for him next season who knows, but the English Henry has become a tiny bit more of a reality. Roll on next season!

CB, DM and AM L/R. Promote from within or buy? (2)

2008-06-26T14:36:00.001+01:00

Morning all. Well wasnt the other day exciting. I nearly joined in with an arbitury post to add to the plentiful doses of "Nasri Signed" from just about every blog and news site out there but i thought i can add nothing new to the news so i'l leave it. It was good i did as well because its seems its not all tied up yet and has become one of the most annoying transfers in recent memory. Oh well apparently we will still be getting him, just a few bits and bobs to sort out or some such.

Anywhoodle doodle lets assume we're going to get him, just as every other gooner has been for weeks now. It means we'l have Rosicky, Walcott, Vela, Nasri and Eboue probably mixing around as our first choice wide midfielders. I dont think Wenger will become a tinker man of the wings but he will rotate a little bit due to lack of form (although he never dropped Eboue!) and the predictable injuries we'll pick up from teams built on punch-kicks instead of one- twos. As you can see iv also assumed Hleb wont be with us but even though it looks like he might still be with us come next season i'm not sure if i really want him in the team anymore. Perhaps im being slightly mean to the guy and to be honest i am becuase last season him, fabregas, flamini and sagna were our top performers maybe include adebayor on there to. But i think we all know how frustrating Hleb can be scoring wise and if it had been Hleb out for so long instead of Rosicky then maybe the goal scoring edge the Czech has would of helped us clinch the title.

So lets say Hleb out, Nasri and Ramsey in. What do we need to finish off a team which is starting to look really well balanced and will hopefully bare some trophy shaped and tasting fruit next season. Well we've lost flamini obviously but seemed to be linked to just about every well performing attacking mid in the euros instead of any of the quality defensive mids.

So is wenger looking to promote from within? And do we need another attacking mid to further add to our goals from midfield? What about Centrebacks anyone?

If we look at promoting from within we have a host of potentially Arsenal quality players. Diaby, Denilson, Song, Djourou, either one of them could step into the flamini hole and have a flamini or better season in there. But it is only a possibility none of them proven.

Diaby has performed fairly well out of position on the wing but has been known to get caught on the ball a few times and if he does do that a few times this season i dont think he has the work rate and tirelessness to race back and get the ball back like flamini would. Still hes built Like Vieira and could very well have a blinding season adding some real forboding menance and build to our midfileld.
Denilson seems to be in more of the playmaker mould and could maybe find it more difficult then Diaby to pick up defense duties as well as pushing forward. He has shown some of his huge pototential in Carling cup games and maybe now is the time for him to take the step up to the first team.
Song towards the end of the season was begining to look like the quality player Wenger said he was and could be when we were all telling him how crap he was. He shone in the African Cup of Nations and could be a Toure of our midfield without us actually having to buy the Toure of midfield at Barca.
Djourou has likened himself to Maklele and claims he plays best in the DM role. He didnt set the world alight at Birmingham on loan at the begining of last season but was unlucky when he return to the Arse to pick up an injury around the time where he could of pick up some games and proven himself due to Toure being on international duty.

The thing is anyone of these players could have a flamini or better season. None of us could of guessed flamini would play as well as he did last season so none of us can really guess how well any of these players could play this season.
But is promoting from within as risky or riskier then buying a proven DM who most likely have never played a game in England?

Whether to buy an another attacking midielder or not?

We have been linked to a host of attacking mids this silly season but Arshavin of recent has obviously become the consistent and strongest link of them all. David Silva is another that has been linked and both have shown their immense quality during the euro's. But do we need another?As stated our wings this season will most likely be occupied by two of Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue and Vela.
Now Walcott and Vela have both been touted by Wenger as future strikers one in the Henry mould the other in the Eduardo mould. Rosicky is always injured, Nasri is unproven in the prem and Eboue is crap. So adding another high quality attacking mid probably wouldnt hurt although i am looking forward to next season hugely in part due to the final highly anticipated appareance of Vela in an Arsenal shirt and more importantly on the pitch so would another attacking mid be one too many?

Arshavin is of superb quality and although hes 27 seemingly not a Wenger buy we forget that Wenger wasnt always like this and Pires was 26 for one example when he signed. Silva is 22 and was apparently being watched by Wenger along with watching Fabregas at the Spain - Italy game. Hes only 22 so definetly in the mould of a Wenger transfer of recent years but the prices being thrown around of £20mil are ridiculous but if Wenger does see a way to get him a little cheaper off cash strapped Valencia then he would be another high quality player in our ranks.

Will Wenger buy a centreback in this transfer window?

More important then an additional wide midfielder, more important then the DM role which we can more easily promote from within to fill is the much talked about centrebacks role. Wenger himself stated that the reason we conceded the most goals of the top four teams was due to our inabilily to deal with high balls and set pieces.

Now we have Gallas and Toure both proven quality Premiership centreback but most people believe they cant play together.
Senderos still make mistakes and his depression after his Liverpool mistake shows his love for Arsenal but also his over reliance on the need to feel condfident and may never be able to grow to the ability of a Tony Adams.
Djourou probaly the least likely to be promoted midfield so could potentialty become the quality centreback we need to compliment either Gallas or Toure. Hasnt yet been givin a real chance to prove himself so is an unknown commodity in our defensive ranks.
Song started to prove himself towards the end of the season that he does have the ability to play at centreback for us and if he keeps consistnelty perforiming well and improving could also fill that role.
If Wenger was to promote from the youth ranks for this role then perhaps only Reserve team captain Havard Nordtveit could have a realistic chance of taking this role. Hes tall and has said he could be the one to help Wenger out if he decides not to buy another defender. Hes only 18 but has impressed a number of people withing Wenger coaching staff already and Wenger isnt scared to take a risk of popping an unproven youngster into the first team and for them to go on to become world class but perhaps promotion for Nordtveit just yet would be a little to risky for Wenger.

So with these current options availible to him would Wenger buy someone else?

Apparently he has had bids turned down for Zapata who a lot of us gooners believe would be a great capture. But then he has also apparently said when being linked to Kompany that hes not looking for a player in that area which may be an astute Wenger smoke screen so he can sign someone else such as Zapata or maybe he really means it and is looking to his current squad rather then elsewhere.

So do we promote from within for DM and CB roles or look elsewhere? Do we need an additional attacking mid?

Oh and i havent talked about Adebabyor going becuase i dont think he will and i think needs another season to prove whether he was a one season wonder, goal scoring machine or whether he really has the quality to be our primary goal scorer.

CB, DM and AM L/R. Promote from within or buy?

2008-06-26T12:18:00.003+01:00

Morning all. Well wasnt the other day exciting. I nearly joined in with an arbitury post to add to the plentiful doses of "Nasri Signed" from just about every blog and news site out there but i thought i can add nothing new to the news so i'l leave it. It was good i did as well because its seems its not all tied up yet and has become one of the most annoying transfers in recent memory. Oh well apparently we will still be getting him, just a few bits and bobs to sort out or some such.

Anywhoodle doodle lets assume we're going to get him, just as every other gooner has been for weeks now. It means we'l have Rosicky, Walcott, Vela, Nasri and Eboue probably mixing around as our first choice wide midfielders. I dont think Wenger will become a tinker man of the wings but he will rotate a little bit due to lack of form (although he never dropped Eboue!) and the predictable injuries we'll pick up from teams built on punch-kicks instead of one- twos. As you can see iv also assumed Hleb wont be with us but even though it looks like he might still be with us come next season i'm not sure if i really want him in the team anymore. Perhaps im being slightly mean to the guy and to be honest i am becuase last season him, fabregas, flamini and sagna were our top performers maybe include adebayor on there to. But i think we all know how frustrating Hleb can be scoring wise and if it had been Hleb out for so long instead of Rosicky then maybe the goal scoring edge the Czech has would of helped us clinch the title.

So lets say Hleb out, Nasri and Ramsey in. What do we need to finish off a team which is starting to look really well balanced and will hopefully bare some trophy shaped and tasting fruit next season. Well we've lost flamini obviously but seemed to be linked to just about every well performing attacking mid in the euros instead of any of the quality defensive mids.

So is wenger looking to promote from within? And do we need another attacking mid to further add to our goals from midfield? What about Centrebacks anyone?

If we look at promoting from within we have a host of potentially Arsenal quality players. Diaby, Denilson, Song, Djourou, either one of them could step into the flamini hole and have a flamini or better season in there. But it is only a possibility none of them proven.

Diaby has performed fairly well out of position on the wing but has been known to get caught on the ball a few times and if he does do that a few times this season i dont think he has the work rate and tirelessness to race back and get the ball back like flamini would. Still hes built Like Vieira and could very well have a blinding season adding some real forboding menance and build to our midfileld.
Denilson seems to be in more of the playmaker mould and could maybe find it more difficult then Diaby to pick up defense duties as well as pushing forward. He has shown some of his huge pototential in Carling cup games and maybe now is the time for him to take the step up to the first team.
Song towards the end of the season was begining to look like the quality player Wenger said he was and could be when we were all telling him how crap he was. He shone in the African Cup of Nations and could be a Toure of our midfield without us actually having to buy the Toure of midfield at Barca.
Djourou has likened himself to Maklele and claims he plays best in the DM role. He didnt set the world alight at Birmingham on loan at the begining of last season but was unlucky when he return to the Arse to pick up an injury around the time where he could of pick up some games and proven himself due to Toure being on international duty.

The thing is anyone of these players could have a flamini or better season. None of us could of guessed flamini would play as well as he did last season so none of us can really guess how well any of these players could play this season. But is promoting from within as risky or riskier then buying a proven DM who most likely have never played a game in England?

Whether to buy an another attacking midielder or not?

We have been linked to a host of attacking mids this silly season but Arshavin of recent has obviously become the consistent and strongest link of them all. David Silva is another that has been linked and both have shown their immense quality during the euro's. But do we need another?As stated our wings this season will most likely be occupied by two of Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue and Vela.
Now Walcott and Vela have both been touted by Wenger as future strikers one in the Henry mould the other in the Eduardo mould. Rosicky is always injured, Nasri is unproven in the prem and Eboue is crap. So adding another high quality attacking mid probably wouldnt hurt although i am looking forward to next season hugely in part due to the final highly anticipated appareance of Vela in an Arsenal shirt and more importantly on the pitch so would another attacking mid be one too many?

Arshavin is of superb quality and although hes 27 seemingly not a Wenger buy we forget that Wenger wasnt always like this and Pires was 26 for one example when he signed. Silva is 22 and was apparently being watched by Wenger along with watching Fabregas at the Spain - Italy game. Hes only 22 so definetly in the mould of a Wenger transfer of recent years but the prices being thrown around of £20mil are ridiculous but if Wenger does see a way to get him a little cheaper off cash strapped Valencia then he would be another high quality player in our ranks.

Will Wenger buy a centreback in this transfer window?

More important then an additional wide midfielder, more important then the DM role which we can more easily promote from within to fill is the much talked about centrebacks role. Wenger himself stated that the reason we conceded the most goals of the top four teams was due to our inabilily to deal with high balls and set pieces.
Now we have Gallas and Toure both proven quality Premiership centreback but most people believe they cant play together.
Senderos still make mistakes and his depression after his Liverpool mistake shows his love for Arsenal but also his over reliance on the need to feel condfident and may never be able to grow to the ability of a Tony Adams.
Djourou probaly the least likely to be promoted midfield so could potentialty become the quality centreback we need to compliment either Gallas or Toure. Hasnt yet been givin a real chance to prove himself so is an unknown commodity in our defensive ranks.
Song started to prove himself towards the end of the season that he does have the ability to play at centreback for us and if he keeps consistnelty perforiming well and improving could also fill that role.
If Wenger was to promote from the youth ranks for this role then perhaps only Reserve team captain Havard Nordtveit could have a realistic chance of taking this role. Hes tall and has said he could be the one to help Wenger out if he decides not to buy another defender. Hes only 18 but has impressed a number of people withing Wenger coaching staff already and Wenger isnt scared to take a risk of popping an unproven youngster into the first team and for them to go on to become world class but perhaps promotion for Nordtveit just yet would be a little to risky for Wenger.
So with these current options availible to him would Wenger buy someone else?

Apparently he has had bids turned down for Zapata who a lot of us gooners believe would be a great capture. But then he has also apparently said when being linked to Kompany that hes not looking for a player in that area which may be an astute Wenger smoke screen so he can sign someone else such as Zapata or maybe he really means it and is looking to his current squad rather then elsewhere.

So do we promote from within for DM and CB roles or look elsewhere? Do we need an additional attacking mid?

Oh and i havent talked about Adebabyor going becuase i dont think he will and i think needs another season to prove whether he was a one season wonder, goal scoring machine or whether he really has the quality to be our primary goal scorer.

Old Musings not Old News

2008-06-21T15:32:00.003+01:00

A round up of old articles for gooners to read on a veeery slow newsday. No old news though just old general Arsenal musings by me. Hopefully will provide some of you with some Arsenal susistinence to tide you over until the official announcement of Nasri's overdue arrival or some other breaking news.

A Toast to the club and the chairman.
http://anothergoonersramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/toast-to-club-and-chairman-here-here.html

What do we want? What do we need?

http://anothergoonersramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-do-we-want-what-do-we-need.html

Can Carlos Vela be as as good as on Football Manager?!

http://anothergoonersramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/can-carlos-vela-be-as-good-as-on.html

The Prospect of Hleb.

http://anothergoonersramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/prospect-of-hleb.html

Sorry for no new article today. I'll post a fresh and fragrant one soon probably the beginning of next week we'll see. Have a good weekend gooners.

Our 1st and 2nd teams. How strong do we look?

2008-06-20T06:28:00.003+01:00

Our Potential 1st and 2nd team players for every position. Including Nasri and not including the potential Hleb departure and a number of quality youngsters such as Ramsey, Nordtveit, Lansbury, Merida, Randall, Barazite etc who all could potentially see a lot of football if circumstances lead to a hole in the team which they could fill. Theres also Hoyte and Gilberto which have been left out becuase of possible departures and lack of confidence in there first team abilitys. On that note i should have left Eboue out aswell but I cant see Wenger getting rid of him.

Almunia
Fabianski

Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Eboue Djourou Senderos Traore

Walcott Diaby Fabregas Rosicky
Nasri Song Denilson Vela

Van Persie Adebayor
Eduardo Bendtner

How strong do we look?
Well to me we look strong enough for a massive trophy challenge this season but then we gooners know that on our day and without any injuries we can thump any team in the world. I don’t believe Adebayor is going to leave and the new reports of Clichy going our making this one of the silliest silly seasons for years. A tall strong centre back (maybe Nordtveit could take the big step up to the role) and the possible signing of Arshavin would all add to our chances of trophy success. As long as Diaby, Song, Denilson or even Ramsey can have a Flamini season or better alongside Fabregas then i thinks it going to be a great season.

How strong do we look?

Andrei Arshavin Arsenal

2008-06-19T10:29:00.003+01:00

Andrei Arshavin had a cracking game for Russia last night as a lot of you will have seen. He is described by Hiddink as the cleverest player hes ever managed, which is quite an accolade coming from Hiddink. It seems that hes very good player but good enough for Arsenal?
Well the reports which i think have only really popped up today after his performance last night are that Wenger will offer £10million.
Now admittedly I didnt know much about this guy until recently so assumed he was a young player, predicting an age of around 21 just the kind of Wenger buy. Shocked i was when researching him and finding out he was 27. I immediatly thought that the stories of us trying to sign him were even more spurious then i did at first glance at them.
But then i considered his potential trasnfer a little more. What with the hleb leaving and Nasri signing reports coming thick and fast again i thought that maybe we really would try and get him. I mean Wenger has been obsessed with buying so much youth of recent years that we forget he bought such amazing attacking midielders in the past such as Pires who was 26 at the time not exactly a teenager. Also the guy has been described as having the skill and touch of the ledgendary Iceman himself Dennis Bergkamp and with Rosicky not knowing when hes coming back to help out out with some goals from midfield then Arshavin, Nasri and Walcott taking turns on the wings could be a great asset to our trophy hunt.
If we did sign Arshavin along with Nasri and with Hleb going then i think attacking wise we would be all set to go for a season i cant wait to begin. Thats aslong as we dont lose any other players mind which i dont think we will in spite of the ridiculous reports from the press of a mass player exodus; havent they learnt from last years pre-season that they cant predict shit about Arsenals future.

Roll on Nasri finally signing, a tall strong centre back coming in and next season, Up the Arsenal!

Oh off topic but yesterday I was going through the usual Arsenal sites looking for the usual news and musings from fellow gooners and came across one of my own articles on Arsenal Vision (Article - The Prospect of Hleb). Now Arsenal Vision are a great site with good articles a lot written by readers who can send their own in to be put up and thats exactly why mine was up there, which i was quite pleased to see especially as i had submitted it so long ago i thought they had rejected it. It was weird because annoyed by that assumed rejection i thought fine il start my own Arsenal Blog and post it on there instead and thats exactly how this whole little website came about. Sigh what a boring tale anyways yeh transfer rumours blah blah etc. Though it is lucky for you readers that there submission process is a so slow ey, or else you wounldnt get to read all my fresh and fragrant waffling every day or two on here ey!.. No?.. FINE!..

Nasri Signed Official well Official-ish

2008-06-18T20:36:00.003+01:00

The BBC has apparently confirmed that Nasri has agreed a contract with Arsenal. Whether or not they are just regurgitating old news or trying to be the first ones to announce the expected I dont know. Still for a second i thought the long awaited refreshing of goonernews for that official Nasri signed post was over. Until its on Arsenal's website however then we wont be happy but still i thought this is the closest to the official announcement of his signing so far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/7462281.stm

Also i was wondering if anyone has any links to Arsenal players myspace pages becuase i saw cesc and hoytes 'official' pages earlier and they were definetly a more worthwhile Arsenal themed waste of time then reading some of the ridiculous transfer rumours we gooners our bombarded by.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel.

2008-06-17T11:32:00.002+01:00

Seems like the Arsenal news has really dried up, this emphasized by the reguritation of the Kompany rejection by Wenger and the amount of people going crazy over the supposed quote by le boss that he wont be adding to his defense this summer. I cant be bothered to do any speculation for now and as i feel a lot of you are in the same siuation I'm in i thought i'd just do a little post suggesting somethings to entertain you while you sit waiting for goonernews to refresh.

http://www.tvnet.lv/images/games/files/212.swf - Addictive, difficult time consuming footy game.

Adam Buxton as the brilliant character Ken Korda. (Over 8 min)

If no time for Buckles then a funny short clip by the brilliant Richard Ayoade and Armando Iannuicci wont cure your footy appetite but will time consume nonethless.

Other then that if you got freetime on this merry tuesday then of course pro evo, and footy manager or maybe even playing the real sport itself may suffice your football cravings until the euro games later tonight. I dont think i've wanted the new season to start again so bad maybe its becuase my longing for trophies has been left longing for a long three years... this is the season tho ey! Arsenal till i die!

What do we want? What do we need?

2008-06-16T06:45:00.000+01:00

Lately i get caught in such different states of mind about us. I watch videos on youtube of our young technically gifted squad doing the amazing on the pitch and think how great our youth policy is. We get to see these young lads come through the ranks and out play arrogant so called experienced players all over the pitch and its a joy to behold. But then i think of us just missing out on trophies and if that will continue to happen, will we continue to lack in key areas most notably the constantly coined 'lack of experience' weakness we have. What do we want? To continue picking up young players polishing them into playing the beautiful Arsenal football but also to be continuelly told we need experience when our young stars slip up or do we want to just go and buy that experience, fill the gaps in the squad with established stars?

What do we want? What do we need? When i saw the Cold War Champs league final this year it hurt so much not seeing the Arsenal there and at moments i thought i'd love us to go buy big name players and to have a backbone of Englishman in the team. But then i think how i hate the debt ridden antics of these arrogant clubs im watching and how i would go mad with worry about how my club is run and also sold to anyone who says they can provide big transfer bucks. I also then think about the lack of technical ability and class these English players have, how they think there world class but clearly lack so much to be anywhere near the tag of football elite.

When i get all these mixed feelings together i can sort of create a clear picture of what i personally want for my Arsenal. As previously stated i am proud of our english ownership and the way the club is run. We arnt in debt like our American and Russian enemies, we have a mortage on an amazing profit making stadium to pay, nothing wrong or dangerous with having a mortage such as ours. Also our players, i dont think we need established stars pouring in, we dont need Villa (unless Adebayor goes), we dont need to spend ridiculous amounts of money, we have the talent in our ranks. Nonetheless, I do think we need a couple of signings, just to keep our players on their toes, to add a freshness to our squad, to stop our young bucks stagnating as players, getting used to just missing out and being content with it, to inject some more ambition into our squad.

From the looks of things so far this summer from various realistic transfer reports it looks like this is what we probably our doing. We've got Ramsey, we'l probably get Nasri and after that i think that bringing in a strong centre back is all we need to bring success this season.

Roll on next season i just want to get on with not missing out (again).

What do you want? What do you think we need?

Repost of bad link. Squad Breakdown as it stands now and Song, Traore loans.

2008-06-13T02:35:00.001+01:00

Looks like West Brom manager Tony Mowbray has got a keen eye on taking some loans from us. Now if he wanted to loan Lansbury, Nordtveit or any of our really young top propsects then by all means, the more the merrier can take those guys on loan becuase i would love to see them get some first team football.
But he wants Traore and Song though... so no i would not like to see them loaned. Many people have eyed Song as a replacement for Flamini and a backup for Gallas and Toure and Traore is our first choice back up for Clichy and has talked about filling in on the left wing for us and with his crossing ability he could provide some great chances for Adebayor and Bendtner to latch on to.If we loan them out with a recall clause in then i would be less against the idea but still with us losing the title just because of a lack of depth then its self defeating loaning quality players out just to help another team try and stay up.In other news Arsene Wenger has 'apparently' been quoted as saying he is not looking for a centre back when asked about Arsenal being linked to Kompany. Now i dont believe he is not looking for a centre back as he has previously said that our weakest area is dealing with high balls over the top of our defence so hopefully this quote is just to mislead the press so he can get on with getting a strong tall centre back Zapata or Richards would be lovely thanks.

Lets take a look at the team we has as it is right now.
Players in Brackets show alternate position of a player.
Question marks show players who potentially wont be here at the start of next season.

GK
Almunia
Fabianski

Defender
Left
Clichy
Traore

Right
Sagna
Eboue
Hoyte

Centre
Gallas
Toure
Senderos
Djourou
(Song)

Midfield
Left
Rosicky
Hleb?
Vela

Right
Walcott
(Eboue)

Centre
Fabregas
Diaby
Denilson
Song
Gilberto?
(Djourou)

Forwards
Van Persie
Adebayor
Bendtner
Eduardo
(Walcott)
(Vela)

Apologies if iv missed any players out. Looking at this squad we look pretty strong. Wide midfield areas look a little weak and i dont think using central players like Diaby really works. Also if Nasri comes in we're still probably losing Hleb so the numbers are the same on the wing. Van persie and Eduardo can admitedly play out on the left though and i think Ramsey can as well. If Djourou can come good this year we might not need another centre back coming in but thats a big risk to take. Looking at the squad as a whole a centre back and a winger are the most important. I know a lot of fans would love to see Villa come in but i would definetly prefer Silva because we got to many strikers and too little wingers.

Let me know what you think and also if anyone has seen much of Ramsey play i would love to hear a little more about him.

Squad Breakdown as it stands now and Song, Traore loans.

2008-06-13T00:11:00.000+01:00

Looks like West Brom manager Tony Mowbray has got a keen eye on taking some loans from us. Now if he wanted to loan Lansbury, Nordtveit or any of our really young top propsects then by all means, the more the merrier can take those guys on loan becuase i would love to see them get some first team football.

But he wants Traore and Song though... so no i would not like to see them loaned. Many people have eyed Song as a replacement for Flamini and a backup for Gallas and Toure and Traore is our first choice back up for Clichy and has talked about filling in on the left wing for us and with his crossing ability he could provide some great chances for Adebayor and Bendtner to latch on to.If we loan them out with a recall clause in then i would be less against the idea but still with us losing the title just because of a lack of depth then its self defeating loaning quality players out just to help another team try and stay up.

In other news Arsene Wenger has 'apparently' been quoted as saying he is not looking for a centre back when asked about Arsenal being linked to Kompany. Now i dont believe he is not looking for a centre back as he has previously said that our weakest area is dealing with high balls over the top of our defence so hopefully this quote is just to mislead the press so he can get on with getting a strong tall centre back Zapata or Richards would be lovely thanks.

Lets take a look at the team we has as it is right now.
Players in Brackets show alternate position of a player.
Question marks show players who potentially wont be here at the start of next season.

GK
Almunia
Fabianski

Defender
Left
Clichy
Traore

Right
Sagna
Eboue
Hoyte

Centre
Gallas
Toure
Senderos
Djourou
(Song)

Midfield
Left
Rosicky
Hleb?
Vela

Right
Walcott
(Eboue)

Centre
Fabregas
Diaby
Denilson
Song
Gilberto?
(Djourou)

Forwards
Van Persie
Adebayor
Bendtner
Eduardo
(Walcott)
(Vela)

Apologies if iv missed any players out. Looking at this squad we look pretty strong. Wide midfield areas look a little weak and i dont think using central players like Diaby really works. Also if Nasri comes in we're still probably losing Hleb so the numbers are the same on the wing. Van persie and Eduardo can admitedly play out on the left though and i think Ramsey can as well. If Djourou can come good this year we might not need another centre back coming in but thats a big risk to take. Looking at the squad as a whole a centre back and a winger are the most important. I know a lot of fans would love to see Villa come in but i would definetly prefer Silva because we got to many strikers and too little wingers.

Let me know what you think and also if anyone has seen much of Ramsey play i would love to hear a little more about him.

Ramsey to Arsenal

2008-06-10T08:57:00.002+01:00

Just a short one today. The Mirror, Sky Sports and most importantly Cardiff City's official website have all stated that Wonderkid Aaron Ramsey wants to join Arsenal this summer. I think this is great news and i'm trying to not get to carried away with it until hes stood next to Arsene holding an Arsenal shirt. Check out Cardiff's website http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~1325841,00.html and let us know what you think of the lad.

Can Carlos Vela be as good as on Football Manager?

2008-06-09T17:20:00.005+01:00

Hello hello as promised I ended up talking about the fictional footballing world becuase of the general lack of interesting Arsenal news. Playing Football Manager as no doubt a lot of you probably have you get to see young players turn into truely world class players sometimes and our man Carlos Vela is one of them. It certainly wets your appetites when your drawn into the game and vela is scoring 40 goals a season but when you are snapped back into reality you realise that this is just fictional and Football Manager can be a way off Mystic Meg predictor of the future such as the ability Champ Manager 01/02's (made by creators of Football Manager) gave Cherno Samba<- check out his real life facts. So can Vela live up the general hype about him? and could he even live up to crazy idiotic hype i feel for him from playing computer games!!

Well a lot of you will know about the lad buts let recap some basic info on him. he was called up the Mexican under 17 squad and becaming the top scorer of the fifa U-17 world championship. Apparently he attarcted a lot of attention understandably from footballs big clubs but its wa sof course Arsenal who snapped up his signature for £2.5 million. He's been loaned to 3 sepereate clubs since then Celta Vigo, Salamanca and Osasuana making 65 appearances and scoring 5 goals.
Now that record doesnt not sound to top notch for a player seen by Wenger as an Eduardo type and we all know how clinical and clean Edurado is in front goal. Vela has been played predominanlty on the left wing whilst on loan and i expect Wenger to do the same with him depesite his quote about him being a more central striker. Vela wil most likely feature like boy wonder Walcott but on the left instead and i think will with time make a similiar impact.
Can he be as good as Vela on Football Manager who becomes one of the greatest players in the history of world football!!!...maybe hes a good player just look as this video of him playing on the left wing againast Madrid he runs Ramos ragged throughout the match and even though you can clearly see his lack of experience with his play you can also see hes a feisty player who will be a welcome addition to our squad.
Aaron Ramsey becomes crap on Football Manager though so if he goes to United then hopefully that will be the case, if we get him mind then Football Manager knows shit and he'l become the best player in the world under Wenger.

In other news Song has signed a new deal with West Brom looking to get him on loan. A lot of people seem to think that Wenger is guna groom into the flamini role but if hes loaned out then Wenger must have in mind the idea of one of the D's Diaby, Denilson or Djourou slotting in there instead.
Good God we need some better news then this! couldnt there be a story about Wenger wearing a fake beard and appearing at national squads training grounds..with pics of course.
Whilst looking for a quote to back up the notion i had that Wenger did once wear a fake beard to scout on Reyes a while back i found this statement "Wenger is understood to have first tried to lure the 23-year-old to North London last summer but Hleb instead decided to remain at Stuttgart and signed a new deal until 2008". If thats true then it kind of proves that maybe Hleb did doubt he could live in the big bustling city of London and wanted to stay in a more quiter environment so maybe he really will go even after this quiet period of no quotes and statements from his agent.

Sigh, anyone else watching France Romania game right now. I'm actually guna agree with Alan Hanson...Boring! I bet if Clichy was in the game he would be lighting the game up im glad hes guna get a summer of rest and come bk great for next season but i feel so sorry for the lad whos world class and can kick two shits out of Abidal.

I think i'l leave it as that for now i apologise for the lack of interesting stuff. Check out my last post for Roberto baggios Magical Kicks free kicks game its' great do whilst waiting for goonernews to refresh with something interesting or for something exciting to happen in the france romania game and no i aint advertising it. i'd like to thank people who have been leaving comments on posts, voting on the right and just generally checking out my blog. As always i'l try and post a new fresh and fragrant and damn sight more interesting post today or tomorow. Let me know what you guys are thinking of the euro's so far and what players you want to see at the Arsenal.
Stay Safe Gooners!

Oh and if that Vid of Vela is too long to sit through which it is, check out this short but sweet vid i found of Vela skinning Ramos with a lovely trick.

hmmm...stufff to do, stuff to talk about

2008-06-09T04:12:00.004+01:00

In the words of Ricky Gervais "hmmm...stufff to do, stuff to talk about". I could talk about the euro but quite frankly my dear watson i dont want to. From the couple of games iv seen the atmosphere of the whole sharade just isnt what a European championships atmosphere should be. Perhaps its the England omission i dont know but so far its seem pretty boring. Still i think it'l get better and plus its nice having a little bit of football subsistence over the long transfer summer. I just wished Wenger had signed a couple of players to give me some incentive to watch any matches they might be in and get a sneak preview of the kind of player that would hopefully be lighting up the emirates next year like when wenger bort rosicky during the world cup.

Theres no shortage of current Arsenals players at the tournament though to keep an eye out for though and i think now that Fabregas has been given the number 10 shirt at Spain indicating a hopefully consistent first team place it'l be nice to see how the playmaker runs the brimming pot of talent which is the Spanish national side. Whilst hes there perhaps he could persuade Valencia midfielder David Silva to join us as he would be a welcome addition to our midfield and with the Nasri deal plodding along at such a rate and Valencia stating that Villa and Silva are up for grabs then he could be a real possibility and a quality at that.

Anyways its early and that has probably hindered my lack of stuff to write about as much as the general lack of Arsenal news there is. One more thing though the Aaron Ramsey situation. I know United are by far favourites to land his signature and i fully expect him to sign for them but i think if we did get him would be great. To be honest I havent seen to much of him play but from what i've read up about him he does seem a real talent and would fit in really well with our young creative midfield players. Plus the bonus of getting a player that United publicly really really want would be a wonderful feeling.
Though if we did get him the football forums everywhere would fill with United fans saying hes crap and that they didnt want him anyways which would add i'd guess in the region of 30% more guff resembling football talk to the internet, this blog makes up roughly 0.00001% of that which is morally within acceptable levels.

I'll post another fresh and fragrant post later today or tomorrow. Subject will probably be 'will Vela turn out as amazing as he does on Football Manager!' unless something actually happens and thats omething doesnt include anything about Adebayor confirming hes staying with Arsenal. Its all very nice and all but hasnt he done it about 15 times this summer already, we Gooners took it in, understood it and respected him for it the first time cant the papers do the same.

http://www.tvnet.lv/resources/games/game.php?id=1991945 - Roberto Baggio's Magical Kicks Game - Thought i'd post an old favourite, addictive and ridiculously hard free kick game to give you something to do whilst waiting for goonernews, newsnow and arsenalnews to refresh with some more tantalizing titbits of transfer rumours.

£6million for Sidwell

2008-06-07T17:23:00.003+01:00

Evening all. Looks like Eastlands new boy Hughes is ignoring Ronaldinho for a bit to focus on a more homegrown talent. Now I believe Hughes can do a solid job at City. He did very well at Blackburn even if he did annoy Fabregas and co doing it. After a dire 0-0 draw in the Fa cup fifth round Hughes said afterward on Fab "He asked me if I had played for Barcelona and when I said yes, he shook his head as if in disbelief. Then he said, 'Well, that wasn't Barcelona football".
All in all quite a good jokey slur from the lad. You can tell from the setup he had been thinking about it for a little bit. Perhaps he had though of it before the game and played for a draw just to say it...who knows!
Anyways back to the matter and headline at hand. It seems Steve Sidwell a product of our academy who did very well at Reading and then got enticed by the Chelsea money pot to move on a free and did pretty bog standard there has been linked to both Man City and Aston Villa. To be honest i dont know why players such as Sidwell would even think about going Chelsea when A: They reck the career of similiar ability players such as Shawn Wright-Philips who would of been amazing had we not beed outbid for him and B: Chelsea have the likes of Essien, Lampard etc. It must of been very wishful or greedy thinking from the lad to make that move especially since Reading had been so good to him and him to them come the transfer.
Anywho Sidwell is a solid player and you can definetly see him more suited at a club like Villa or City but £6million pounds! How can Chelsea make £6million profit on a player they got on a free and hardly played, if hes 6million squid then my dream of Micah Richards coming in and being the rock of our defense until the end of his trophy laden Arsenal career is completely squashed.

In other Arsenal news there is the general torrid transfer talk with the smallest trinkets of quotes used to back up us being linked to to about 14 new first teams worth of players. Oh and the european championships start today. So will this stop that annoying BBC euro advert playing where locals blab on about players with technical ability aka non-english players and that kid says he thinks torres is a laster...is he now, great stuff, pat pat!

Here my realistic wantings (<-good english!) this summer:

Nasri In and Hleb out.

Zapata

Maybe Yaya Toure though Denilson, Diaby and Djourou could quite believeably have a better, improved season then even Flamini just had.

With Vela back and the impact hopefully he will make given some time i think we're in for a great season. what do you guys think? who are your wantings? realistic and not so?

The Prospect of Hleb (2)

2008-06-07T08:55:00.001+01:00

Mornings gooners thought i'd repost an old entry now that i'm on goonernews to get it a little more of a read and perhaps some discussion. I'l post a fresh and fragrant new post today or tomorrow. Cheers for those of you who have checked out my new rookie blog and thanks must go to the various other Arsenal blogs who have given me much advice and support on this new venture and people say media is a competitive dog eat dog world ey!

The Prospect of Hlebby boy.

Alexander Hleb a key player this season who undeniably has put in some truly wonderful performances. Come the end of another trophyless season and various quotes that Hleb wants to leave Arsenal because he doesn’t like living in a big city lead to him being linked to various clubs around Europe themselves situated in big cities. Brilliant! One of our best performers is off in one of the most hypocritical moves in football history.I like many of you almost immediately thought fine he doesn’t want to stay, he can go, he can dribble with the best of them but couldn’t score in a brothel. Lets get a decent price and get us someone else.And so with many of us resigned to him leaving we begin to lap up the hundreds of stories of the ben arfa’s and nasri’s to be signed soon as we imagine someone finally filling the scoring midfield holes left by bobby and freddy. Staring blankly at goonernews constantly hitting refresh waiting for an actual confirmation of someone signed but just seeing gossip.
Nasri 99%?
Nasri not quite done yet?
Nasri ever guna happen?
Someone to fill the flamini void plus cash to spend on our new GOALSCORING midfielder (Nasri????!!) thanks Barca it’s a deal!…or is it.
What if hleb really is going nowhere? What if nasri aint a done deal cos hleb aint a done deal to anywhere else?Hleb more recently has been quoted as saying all this talk is nonsense.
"I have also read [that I have said I want to leave], but I do not know who has written it. That is nonsense."I have also read that I wanted to move because Arsenal would win nothing, this too is nonsense."But I would really not like to comment on the issue really because there is nothing more to say, because the club means so much to me."I have learned so much from Arsene Wenger. This man has always supported me and given me the chance to come to Arsenal. I would therefore never say anything negative about Arsenal.
So maybe he has just been keeping quiet, refusing to have to tell everyone he loves the club and will never leave anytime soon all time ala Adebayor. A stupid decision yes but hey if you were a footballer wouldn’t you sometimes think ‘oh just let them say I’m going here there and everywhere I aint got time to keep reaffirming my loyalty’ or is the hlebster just keeping quiet waiting for that special non big city club? He also said ‘If I'll go, then only in a different league, in any case, in England, there is only Arsenal for me."Could he be on his way to a quiet local village teams first eleven until he is driven out of town by the villagers gone mad by his possession skills which have resulted in four seasons of 0-0 draws for the village side.

How do us gooners feel about Hleb actually staying now we’ve all fantasized about the replacements and the football we would/could play without him?I personally believe that it would be better if Hleb left as although maybe it has just been the tabloids stirring things up it does feel as if things arn’t quite right and the idea of having a replacement who can bag us some goals really would be a great great thing.But still we might have to begin to face the prospect that he might still be with us next season which a couple of months ago would of sounded great but now I think would feel a little disappointing.

Not as disappointing as the almost certain prospect of Eboue fumbling around on the wing again mind.

A toast to the club and the chairman. Here here!

2008-06-06T17:52:00.000+01:00

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has made up with Kroenke apparently and has been saying that now he would like investment from the American. He told the Daily Star "I think he would be a good addition. He seems to have been very sensible. "I think he would be quite happy to buy more shares but I think he has absolutely no intention of buying the whole thing."
Now Kroeneke seems an alright guy to be honest hes not in the mold of the Glazers or even worse David Deins best chum Usmanov. But unlike a fair few other Arsenal fans who seem to be delighted by this news because they want us to become crazy money spending heartless teams such as United and Chelsea i'm not that keen on it at all.
The only good thing out of Hill-Wood's quotes i can take is that he thinks Kroenke "has absolutly no intention of buying the whole thing". Im proud of Arsenal and i'm proud of the board. We have become a finacially stable club who could never do a Leeds. We're an English owned club a dyeing thing in the top flight of English football and watching cold war champs league final and title run ins fills me with heartache becuase Arsenal weren't init and also anger because these two teams may have a couple more technically crap English players in their side but why they our continued to be viewed as more English then the only English owned and run team which highlights the anti-Arsenal stance the media has.
If one of kroenke or usmanov was going to buy the whole club then i would go for the obviously sport loving American but still i would be disappointed as some of the heart in the club will be lost. People critisize Hill-Wood saying hes outdated with the way hes goes about things with his "things we're different back in my day" view of things. But a lot of what he says is right take this quote on agents and wages:
"Nowadays, a lot of people sign four-year contracts and you heave a sigh of relief. Six months later they come marching in saying they want double the wages.
"The only answer is to tell them they are on that contract and that's it. Unless you do that, the game will become chaotic and descend into anarchy.
"I think there are very few people who have really got the tradition of the club at heart. You can name them on one hand. Actually I can't name them on one hand and that's a great pity."
Who can argue with that hes spot on and highlights a love for a club only a chairman who has aged with the club could have. Man United and Chelsea's massive debt could get called in at anytime which leave them in a whole heap of trouble. Our debts becuase of the stadiaum our just like a mortage on a house and without spending tons and getting ourselves in an unstable downright dangerous finacial situation we have still been able to keep pace with biggest boys in world football and with a bit more luck this season we could of been celebrating and English team winning the league and champs league though the media wouldn;t of seen it quite like that.

In another news I saw the Spain national squad being greeted by traditional Austrian dancers on sky sports news drunkenly late last night and Fabregas and Puyol we're having a bit too much of a nice joke and chit chat for my liking tut tut. Aslong as the joke was about how Puyol is leaving Barca in a swap deal for Eboue and was actually going to happen then i'm not laughing boys.

The prospect of Hleb.

2008-06-04T02:52:00.000+01:00

Alexander Hleb a key player this season who undeniably has put in some truly wonderful performances. Come the end of another trophyless season and various quotes that Hleb wants to leave Arsenal because he doesn’t like living in a big city lead to him being linked to various clubs around Europe themselves situated in big cities. Brilliant! One of our best performers is off in one of the most hypocritical moves in football history.
I like many of you almost immediately thought fine he doesn’t want to stay, he can go, he can dribble with the best of them but couldn’t score in a brothel. Lets get a decent price and get us someone else.
And so with many of us resigned to him leaving we begin to lap up the hundreds of stories of the ben arfa’s and nasri’s to be signed soon as we imagine someone finally filling the scoring midfield holes left by bobby and freddy. Staring blankly at goonernews constantly hitting refresh waiting for an actual confirmation of someone signed but just seeing gossip.
Nasri 99%?
Nasri not quite done yet?
Nasri ever guna happen?
Someone to fill the flamini void plus cash to spend on our new GOALSCORING midfielder (Nasri????!!) thanks Barca it’s a deal!…or is it.
What if hleb really is going nowhere? What if nasri aint a done deal cos hleb aint a done deal to anywhere else?
Hleb more recently has been quoted as saying all this talk is nonsense.
"I have also read [that I have said I want to leave], but I do not know who has written it. That is nonsense.
"I have also read that I wanted to move because Arsenal would win nothing, this too is nonsense.
"But I would really not like to comment on the issue really because there is nothing more to say, because the club means so much to me.
"I have learned so much from Arsene Wenger. This man has always supported me and given me the chance to come to Arsenal. I would therefore never say anything negative about Arsenal.
So maybe he has just been keeping quiet, refusing to have to tell everyone he loves the club and will never leave anytime soon all time ala Adebayor. A stupid decision yes but hey if you were a footballer wouldn’t you sometimes think ‘oh just let them say I’m going here there and everywhere I aint got time to keep reaffirming my loyalty’ or is the hlebster just keeping quiet waiting for that special non big city club? He also said ‘If I'll go, then only in a different league, in any case, in England, there is only Arsenal for me."
Could he be on his way to a quiet local village teams first eleven until he is driven out of town by the villagers gone mad by his possession skills which have resulted in four seasons of 0-0 draws for the village side.
How do us gooners feel about Hleb actually staying now we’ve all fantasized about the replacements and the football we would/could play without him?
I personally believe that it would be better if Hleb left as although maybe it has just been the tabloids stirring things up it does feel as if things arn’t quite right and the idea of having a replacement who can bag us some goals really would be a great great thing.
But still we might have to begin to face the prospect that he might still be with us next season which a couple of months ago would of sounded great but now I think would feel a little disappointing.

Not as disappointing as the almost certain prospect of Eboue fumbling around on the wing again mind.