Fans Bischoff’d with signing.. Spurs show us the money, cheers easy… The Kids in impressive win..

Hello Gooner’s and good day to you all

It seems many a Gooner is far from impressed with the latest Le Gaffer signing. With everyone and his dog in agreement that The Arsenal need some much needed experience bought to the side to give The Kids™ some balance, Wenger’s latest signing is a bit baffling. New boy Amaury Bischoff who plied his one game trade at Werder Bremen, albeit that was a fifteen minute cameo as a substitute in 2007, has been brought in to beef up The Arsenal midfield. Not a massive surprise getting the fella really as we’ve been linked to the Portugeezer/German/Frenchman for some time during the summer. But a huge, huge, gamble on the part of Le Gaffer, that’s for sure. 

As we all know Wenger does have the knack of picking up gems but for every Patrick Vieira there’s a Igor Stepanovs lurking around. That said, I must admit the ‘unknowns’ Wenger has dug out from the coal mines and turned into diamonds far outweigh the turds he has tried to polish, if you catch my drift. I can’t say too much about this Bischoff fella as I’ve never seen him play but then again if he blinked neither has his former manager. However given the way Le Gaffer meticulously and excessively tracks a player, not only the way they play, but their lifestyles, their habits even down to how their dad’s dance, I will reserve judgment until the 21 year old pulls on his spanking brand new number 28 shirt. And I think all Gooner’s should too. OK he’s not the signing we had all hoped for but lets see how he gets on. But what I would say incase you good people out there think I’ve been on the herbs is that I hope to feck this isn’t the last signing… hoorah Tommi G is back. I would still say we need someone of experience to come in to compliment and have a balance with the kids. You do need to have the right blend of of youth and experience, remember who we tailed off last season? Well if we had the experience I believe we could of been looking at a season with some silverware and not cursing every time we took the lead in a high pressure game to lose it after about 30 seconds. So Bischoff signing in short in my opinion is OK, we’ll see how he goes. I can’t pass judgment on someone I haven’t seen play but I hope that’s not the signing Wenger thinks will help to win the Premier League and the other silverware on offer. We still need an experienced player in the mix. 

Which leads me on nicely to the fact that now David Bentley who since he decided to leave North London’s finest has endeared himself to Gooner’s by slating the club at every opportunity has gone and made a move to spurs putting him very near the top stop of dirty little toe rags charts (only C*ntley C*nt could score higher) and showing just what a little turncoat he is. However we can’t bitch about the move as 50% of the fee for the former Blackburn Rovers man’s reported £15m price tag is coming our way. Well spurs you’ve done it again. First you let us win more league titles on your own patch than you ever have (OK I know it’s two apiece but ssshhhh it helps the article) and now you’re just giving us money – so cheers easy. 

But keeping in tradition, Bentley in true Trigger from Only fools and horse and typical moronic and disillusional spurs stylee says he’s eyeing a top four finish…. Oh how we laughed. That old chestnut, spurs and a top four finish.. oh my stomach hurts I’m laughing so hard, I can’t even type…woooo OK, composure.. OK here we go… yeah so as soon as he gets to the club the spurs club doctor feed the boy mans David Beckham a cocktail of loopy juice and drugs – surely they should be reported to the F.A. for that sort of behaviour. 

Lastly on the news front, The Kids™ played a blinder against ‘Ze German mentalist’ Jens Lehmann’s VfB Stuttgart. The boys were 1-0 down but came back to win 3-1 with goals from ever improving Nicklas ‘Nicky Big Balls’ Bendtner, Carlos Vela and 16 year old Jack Wilshere. 1-nil down 3-1 up – remind you of a song anyone? Anyone? Any road up the boys looked impressive and Lehmann looked quite pissed off having to pick the ball out the net three times. But as we all Gooner’s these are pre-season games they don’t count for diddly-squat, however that said a lot can be taken from this game. I could write some more but I need to crack on. You can watch the goals on the YouTube bit below. Enjoy.

Score predictor Mini league

Allgoonerdup.com is also running a mini league for a score prediction game, again courtesy of the Premier League. There will of course be a prize for the winner. All you need to do is sign up, join the fun and follow the link below:

http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/landing.htm

And enter the code: FCCDA-XVB to join the Allgoonerdup.com mini league.

A big slap on the back goes to Mr. Top Banana for sorting the mini league out – you’re a legend! 

 

Allgoonerdup Newsletter

A new thing this season is the daily Allgoonerdup Newsletter (well or almost daily) which will be sent direct to your email, as quite a few of you Gooner’s have been calling out for it. So a bit like an Arsenal player asking for a move to Barcelona we’ve obliged. So as soon as the site is updated you will receive something in your inbox. If you want to be part of that gig – just send an email to newsletter@allgoonerdup.com and we’ll do the rest.

Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

Lastly Gooner’s we’ll be doing the annual (well annual since last year) Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League. The league this year is under the guise of the comments site, Son of Allgoonerdup So if you think you can out do Arsène Wenger or more to the point want to give it Charlie Big Potato’s over the other armchair managers out there jump on board on that and join the fun. There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary feel to it, that or a keg load of beer for the lucky punter!

Use the below link to get started

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it

Design your team

Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!

(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)

Then you are away!

The deadline is August the 16th!

 

 

See you in the comments…

Pre-season matches, saying hello to old friends, the captaincy and Wenger’s ‘odd’ comment..

Good day to you Gooner’s. 

There wasn’t a post yesterday, so apologies to all you Gooner’s who didn’t get your injection of Arsenal news, fun and frolics. Admittedly sod all happened yesterday and I was hard at it a bit like our kids who spanked that Burgerland Team FC 10-2 on Monday. I know we have to start somewhere when it comes to pre-season games. CSKA Chelsea do their grabbing all the money they can in their ‘Ching-ching’ Asia tour, the Manc’s go to the motherland and tour Africa and we get to play a bunch of McDonald’s burger flippers. It’s been said on many a Gooner site not to read too much into these games as for one it’s only the kids playing, two the result doesn’t mean diddly-squat, three it’s mainly to get match fitness and sharpness. But what cracks me up when watching the post match shenanigans is the amount of Gooner’s who phone in when picking the bones out the match and performance. For those of you lucky enough to have it Setanta have got Arsenal TV, which is getting better, slowly, but it’s getting better. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen ‘that’ Thierry Henry goal against the scum when he ran from the half way line, I love watching the goal but jeez I don’t want to watch it every five minutes, surely you must have access to other footage people! Anyway I digress, on the panel on match days you have musician and bald plated former M People man Shovel and ex Arsenal player Stuart Robson who sounds more and more like Sir Trevor Brooking every day. Occasionally Arsenal leg-end Perry Groves makes an appearance. But anyway some fans are getting a bit too critical when it’s only the kids playing, so people lighten up. 

Now today should be a different matter as all the big guns are back in training and the game against Stuttgart should tell us more about our team. And the big question is who will partner Fabregas (should he play) in the middle of the park. The clever money is on Abou Diaby. However I watched an interview on Arsenal TV the other day with him and he was asked ‘Do you think you’re the player to play alongside Cesc in a central position?’ Diaby’s answer was interesting as he didn’t really put himself forward for the hard tackling, defensive, covering role and letting The Cesc do his thing. He said he likes to get forward and create things too and basically saying his style is just like The Cesc’s. Hmmm so, what happens now can’t have them both doing that can we? As we all know and it’s hardly a national secret our defence is a bit shoddy. We take leads and surrender them when put under pressure so the last thing we need right now is two central midfielders who like to get forward and create all the time. It could work if Diaby and The Cesc have the understanding the Spanish Wonderkid had with Flamini. But I think we’re in need of a defensive minded player, so I think we might see some mixing and matching there. My money for these pre-season games would be Alex Song but he’s buggered off to the Olympic games in Beijing so bang goes that idea. So that leaves Denilson really. Aaron Ramsey looks like he can do the lot, he can defend, create, spray balls around but he’s only 17 years old. And from there down the list  it’s only kids. So like I said that leaves Brazilian lad Denilson who the season before had a stormer but last season was blighted by injury and he didn’t really kick on. But that’s just for today’s game against Stuttgart. The bigger question is, will Wenger go and buy an experienced proven midfield grafter? I sincerely hope the answer to this question is a whole hearted resounding ‘Hell yeah’!  

What this ‘proper’ pre-season match up now against Stuttgart as I’ve mentioned we’ll see the big guns reeled out for this one including Robin van Persie, pantomime villain in the making Manu Adebayor (boo hiss), Abou Diaby, William Gallas and The Cesc. We also get the chance to goodbye again or hello which ever way you look at it to ‘Ze German mentalist’ Jens Lehmann. It will be nice to see the original nutter play against us and all be it a friendly see if he gets up to his Darth Vader death grip shenanigans. 

I was going to run a piece this week on who should be The Arsenal captain after Billy Gallas’ less than impressive go at it last season. But I think that would be redundant a bit like Joey Barton’s PR and goodwill ambassador rep. I don’t think outside of Kolo Touré and The Cesc too many fans would want anyone else to be The Arsenal captain. However after Billy Gallas admitted making some ‘mistakes‘ – well that’s a polite way of putting it,  Le Gaffer has now come and said a piece on the matter with some odd comments but it basically translates to that Billy will be keeping the gig. Le Gaffer said rather confusingly: 

“I think he has done quite well last year, for the biggest part of the season, and a lot of responsibility has been given to him when it wasn’t right.”

Excuse me? ‘Wasn’t right? Wasn’t right? Now I know some people don’t question Wenger’s judgement and would follow him blindly and do that annoying ‘Wenger Knows’ routine. Don’t get me wrong I’m not slating the manager far from it, I would be the first to say historically next to ‘Sir’ Herbert Chapman Arsene Wenger has shaped the meaning and history of Arsenal. But sometimes you have to questions some things but to say Gallas was given responsibility when it wasn’t right, WTF? My answer to that is he’s the captain. Simple as. You have to stick to your decision, you made him captain, you can’t say ‘a lot of responsibility has been given to him when it wasn’t right”. I don’t buy that at all. One thing, Gallas is captain – he HAS to take responsibility, if he can’t do the job then do the honourable thing, no not fall on your sword, swallow it (no not the sword) and say you can’t do it. And two, Gallas is the second oldest player on the pitch (only keepers  ‘Ze German mentalist’ Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia are older) and he should be showing the younger players some experience. But that’s just me, what’s your take on Wenger’s comments, it would be interesting to hear other Gooner’s thoughts on this one. 

Other than that the fantasy league looks like it will be a rip roarer this season. I have counted up but there’s a shedload of punters up for giving it some ‘Big Charlie Potatoes’ and show fellow Gooner’s how it’s done and also show Le Gaffer how to blow £100m on players. It would be interesting to see Le Gaffer’s fantasy league team with so much money to burn, although I’ve got a feeling he could still get  15 players and still have change from £95m and still finish in the top four! Join the fun and see details below on how to join.

Click the below link to get started

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it
Design your team
Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!
(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)
Then you are away!
The deadline is August the 16th!

Score predictor Mini league

Allgoonerdup.com is also running a mini league for a score prediction game, again courtesy of the Premier League. There will of course be a prize for the winner. All you need to do is sign up, join the fun and follow the link below:

http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/landing.htm

 

And enter the code: FCCDA-XVB to join the Allgoonerdup.com mini league.

A big slap on the back goes to Mr. Top Banana for sorting the mini league out – you’re a legend! 

That’s your lot today… see you in the comments

The man in the middle

Good day to you Gooners and what a glorious one it is too. Someone must of reminded England that it actually summer right now as the sun is a blazing, which is nice. 

So what do I have for you today? Well not a great deal to be honest as not a lot has happened, someone would of thought it was pre-season or something. We’re still waiting for Arsene Wenger to dust down and break out the cheque book out for someone with experience. A couple players surprisingly reckon Le Gaffer doesn’t need to splash the cash namely Czech mate Tomas Ro-sicky and Brazilian Denilson. Ro-sicky reckons our very own Abou Diaby is the man to partner The Cesc in the middle of the park and Denilson reckons he’s the man with the big cojones to do the job. Personally I believe that those two players can do the job, but not right now, but in time. 

If Wenger doesn’t go and buy someone (which he really needs to) it would mean sitting through another ‘transitional’ period and I’m not sure many Gooner’s would want to put up with that. Diaby does have the touch of the Vieira’s about him and Denilson is a talent but those two haven’t exactly got a phobia of the treatment room have they? Next season we have to hit the ground running, we wont have time to play around with the midfield and re-jig here or there. Also my fear is if we don’t get someone with the experience The Arsenal deserve, The Cesc could well ask himself when is he going to win some silverware with this team. With Fabregas winning Euro2008 with Spain, he has got a taste for it now. Fabregas deserves a quality partner, Arsenal deserve a quality midfield and I don’t think Wenger can afford not to go and splash the cash. I know quite a few people are saying we don’t need a ‘big name’ I’d agree with that to some degree. No one knew too much about Bacari Sagna or Eduardo before they came to London’s finest and both were blinding in their debut season before injury curtailed them both. However that would be a huge gamble if Wenger doesn’t buy anyone who isn’t proven. Not a ‘big name’ but proven and proven in the Premier League. Someone who wont take time to settle in, get up to speed and that malarkey. We need someone who is ready, someone who is proven. Someone when he is named everyone is like ‘Holy shit  I fancy our chances now!’ I wont get excited if we get hold of this Amaury Bischoff fella as he’s played less games than Shaun Wright-Phillips has started for CSKA Chelsea. He might be good but frigging hell we’re crying out for someone who can take the bull by the horns and hit the ground running so that The Cesc can do what he’s best at. Obviously there’s loads of names been banded around but only a select few will give us the ‘wow’ factor, who might not be a big name but ‘proven’ and the longer it takes Wenger to identify the player and splash the cash the more Gooner’s are getting nervous.

This is going to be huge season not only The Arsenal but for Le Gaffer. Wenger hasn’t won a trophy now since we completely outplayed Manchester USA in the 0-0 F.A. Cup Final in 2005 and stole the game on penalties and another season trophyless will get a few fans twitching.

T-shirt competition

The t-shirt comp is now closed, so thank you for all your entries, the ‘I Love AFC’ proved to be very popular judging by the deluge of entries. The lucky winner will be picked out the magic hat on Friday. So if you’re not the lucky one you could still do yourself and buy it from the Allgoonerdup T-shirt shop.

That’s your lot today Gooner’s

Paul Wright’s Friday column, Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League, Good news, bad news…

The Friday column by Paul Wright

Its oh so quiet…shhhhhhhhh… 

Finally, we have some football again. Alright, it’s not really top quality football yet, but at least things are moving in the right direction. A lot of the youngsters got a run about against a few teams whose names I’m not going to attempt to type… and Theeeeoooooo got himself on the score sheet. 

So obviously very little can be learnt about the team at this stage, as these games are merely a chance to give the lads some competitive game time. With very few of the ‘first teamer’s’ available it was however a chance for a few of the reserves and younger players to impress Arsene and from the highlights I’ve seen it would appear that new signings Francis Coq-au-Vin and Aaron Ramsey probably did the most to catch Arsene’s eye, while young Jack Wilshere looked promising in patches, but still too raw and lacking in physical presence to push seriously for a spot in the first team squad just yet. 

But otherwise it is like Death Valley out there in terms of news for Arsenal fans. To give you an idea this weeks big headlines were that Kolo went off and caught Malaria. Brilliant. I don’t see the problem actually… sure he’ll be a bit lethargic at times but i’ve often thought Kolo’s big problem was he got a bit panicky when things got grippy. It’ll just take the edge off nicely. I mean, it’s not going to make a huge impact to him otherwise, he is already ridiculously quick – it’s like putting a speed limiter on a rocket. 

Meanwhile the lack of transfer news is overwhelming. We still haven’t signed a midfielder, but at least Arsene has acknowledged we need one now. That’s progress kids. I presume he’ll get straight on to Ebay and see if he can pick one up on the cheap. 

And really, that’s where all things Goonery end. Despite the two friendlies we played, this has probably been the dullest week since the season ended. We had the totally quel-frigging-surpris news that Tom Ro-Sicky’s elastic band muscles are slowly healing and he is now targeting the September for his return. However no year was mentioned on that, so you’re guess is as good as mine. Eduardo apparently had a ‘set back’ in his recovery meaning he gets to spend some more time improving his fitness on Ipanema Beach. And Emmanuel Eboué is, sadly, still a professional footballer. Why couldn’t we stick him on stilts, give him an Adebayor mask and send him off to Barcelona? 

So nothing really of merit to write about, though it was rather amusing to see Carlos Tevez dig himself a big hole by declaring Ronaldo should be able to leave Man Ure. Wonderful stuff. Why can’t we just send all these cretins off to Barcelona, get a big chain saw, cut the Camp Nou loose, and set it adrift off towards the arctic. If nothing else, I’m sure Alex Hleb would love the serenity. 

Until next week Gooner’s – I’ve been Paul Wright

Allgoonerdup Newsletter

A new thing this season is the daily Allgoonerdup Newsletter (well or almost daily) which will be sent direct to your email, as quite a few of you Gooner’s have been calling out for it. So a bit like an Arsenal player asking for a move to Barcelona we’ve obliged. So as soon as the site is updated you will receive something in your inbox. If you want to be part of that gig – just send an email to newsletter@allgoonerdup.com and we’ll do the rest.

Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

Lastly Gooner’s we’ll be doing the annual (well annual since last year) Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League. The league this year is under the guise of the comments site, Son of Allgoonerdup So if you think you can out do Arsène Wenger or more to the point want to give it Charlie Big Potato’s over the other armchair managers out there jump on board on that and join the fun. There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary feel to it, that or a keg load of beer for the lucky punter!

Click the below link to get started

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it

Design your team

Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!

(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)

Then you are away!

The deadline is August the 16th!

 

Son of Allgoonerdup comments section

As well as the main site Allgoonerdup has the comments section Son of Allgoonerdup courtesy of WordPress. The stories on the main site will appear on the comments section so you Gooner’s will have the pleasure to have some banter with one another and see just what the general shenanigans of the day is. You don’t need to sign up, there’s no long drawn out signing up process either – so jump on and have a skive when the boss isn’t looking. 

FaceBook us

Allgoonerdup has gone and got a FaceBook page, so jump on and get connected. The idea is build on the fan base and possibly meet, greet, swap match tickets and stuff with fella Gooner’s. To connect to us click the link: Allgoonerdup on FaceBook. Lovely, job done.

Good news, bad news section

Good news is that er, erm.. we’re after another player. Great! Well it is if you want yet another frigging 17 year old player. This time Arsène Wenger has got Crystal Palace man (OK, boy) Victor Moses on the shopping list. Just what we’re crying out for yet another 17 year old. Forgive me for not getting too excited but do we need another 17 year old? Jeez at this rate at least we’ll have the under 18 league wrapped up by Christmas. 

Bad news is that Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is at it again. Just when everyone thought it was safe to read the back pages of the newspaper and sports sites without the words ‘Emmanuel Adebayor’, ‘Gimme me more money’ and ‘Barcelona’ in the same sentence, well – here we go again. Guardiola now has spilt the beans and said he ‘might’ be in for the gangly beanpole Togonator™. Well do you know what? I’m so over this ‘will he, wont he?’ shenanigans I can’t be arsed to get involved. All I’m going to say on the matter is, ‘Barcelona show us the money or just fook right off’. That’s it. You’ve unsettled the player, big style and now is the time to ‘man up’ or just do one.

See you in the comments section…..

Oh yes, Allgoonerdup is back, what’s new, bringing you up to speed, Hleb, Adebayor and Fantasy League Football

Welcome back Gooners, it’s great to be back and apologies for the extended off air shenanigans. 

Well as you can see a few cosmetic changes have been carried out on the site to give it an all new look and hopefully the updated version will make it easier to find your way around the site as this is much more than a one page blog, it’s an Arsenal dedicated website. As well as the cosmetic changes to the site the Player Profiles, The 100 Club, Arsenal Kits, The Hall of Fame, The Hall of Shame have been updated. So if there’s some glaring mistakes on there then you know the story, get in touch and tell me I’ve gone and fudge it up via the contact page. Also The Tattoo (Ray) Parlour and GoonerBabe sections have been given a new look as well, the idea is get those sections filled with more pictures of you Gooner’s, so don’t be shy and send your pictures into Allgoonerdup by using the email link. info@allgoonerdup.com – it would be great hearing from you. Remember this site is for all you Arsenal fans out there, so be a part of it. 

Also a new thing this season is that there will be a daily Allgoonerdup Newsletter (well or almost daily) which will be sent direct to your email, so you get the stories as soon as the site is updated. If you want to be part of that gig – just send an email to newsletter@allgoonerdup.com and we’ll do the rest.

Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

Lastly Gooner’s we’ll be doing the annual (well annual since last year) Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League. The league this year is under the guise of the comments site, Son of Allgoonerdup So if you think you can out do Arsène Wenger or more to the point want to give it Charlie Big Potato’s over the other armchair managers out there jump on board on that and join the fun. There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary feel to it, that or a keg load of beer for the lucky punter!

 

Click the below link to get started

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it

Design your team

Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!

(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)

Then you are away!

The deadline is August the 16th!

 

Son of Allgoonerdup comments section (that’s this bit!)

As well as the main site Allgoonerdup has the comments section Son of Allgoonerdup courtesy of WordPress. The stories on the main site will appear on the comments section as well so you Gooner’s will have the pleasure to have some banter with one another and see just what the general shenanigans of the day is. You don’t need to sign up, there’s no long drawn out signing up process either – so jump on and have a skive when the boss isn’t looking. 

FaceBook us

Allgoonerdup has gone and got a FaceBook page, so jump on and get connected. The idea is build on the fan base and possibly meet, greet, swap match tickets and stuff with fella Gooner’s. To connect to us click the link: Allgoonerdup on FaceBook. Lovely, job done.

So now then until the news making the headlines

Well since we’ve been off air, Hleb has kissed his Barca badge, Gilberto has nipped off for a three year kebab eat-a-thon in Greece, Kolo Touré has gone and got himself some malaria, The Arsenal have played a couple of friendlies and now due to the players we’ve shipped out the average age of The Arsenal is 19 years old! The oldest player at the club amazingly is Manuel Almunia who’s only 31! Does Wenger know he has an ‘old man’ at the club? Someone best not tell him or Almunia will be kicked out quicker than Wayne Rooney in a Slimmer of the Year contest, that or he’ll have to ask Emmanuel Adebayor which company has the best retirement policy plans. 

I shall touch on a couple of things since we’ve been off air. Firstly, Hleb. Well he might as well kiss the badge now because he wont get much chance to kiss the Barcelona badge when he’s sat on the bench. Also with that the amount of times he actually scores, the three times Hleb kissed the badge during his unveiling will be about two years worth of goals I reckon. 

Secondly, I just would like to wish Gilberto Silva the best of luck at bubble and squeak side Panathinaikos. Now here’s a guy who gave The Gunners his all. When he wasn’t in the team last season he didn’t moan, he got his head down, trained well and persisted, he didn’t throw his toys out the pram like some players. He just said he wasn’t happy but will try and get back in the team. You have to love his approach. All that after not getting the nod of captain which most Gooner’s expected. In my opinion Gilberto got treated quite shabbily by Wenger there. Anyway I don’t think there is anything that’s been said in the last few days about Gilberto that I could add weight to. Even the Arsenal Official site gives the Brazilian ‘Invisible Wall’ props. So Gilberto Silva I salute you, good luck and best wishes.

Bringing you up to speed

The latest stories doing the rounds is that Arsenal leg-end Dennis Bergkamp who’s back as a first team coach for the original inventors of Totaalvoetbal (that’s Total Football in English money) Ajax wants to raid the new boys of Totaalvoetbal (that would be us fella’s). The Daily Mail puts a report out, however there isn’t any quotes from DB10 or any players named. Nada, nathan, diddly-squat, nothing. So since being off air the media hasn’t changed much, spouting crap  without any foundation for these ‘exclusives’? Anyway if it was to come off I for one wouldn’t mind Dennis raiding The Arsenal to get players on loan for a season. Could you imaging being a youth team player and Dennis wanted you? You would think your luck was well in, a bit like Wayne Rooney on ‘Grab a granny night’. Well we’ll see soon enough what happens there. Anyone out there have any names that they would think would benefit from DB10′s tutelage? And you can’t say ‘everyone’.

Adebayor in ‘I’m staying shout’

Well here’s a big surprise, Manu Adebayor has apparently told a team mate that he’s staying at The Arsenal. Not sure about you, but the way and speed that Adebayor speaks in his broken Frenglish he could of easily been ordering a bag of fish and chips. however, obviously the media being the media don’t name the source and are probably hedging their bets that The Togonator wont be going anywhere. The story was reported in The Sun, so it must be true. Any road up, what with AC Milan pulling out of any deal and Barcelona laughing their arse’s off at Adebayor’s £120K A WEEK wage demands, it seems the big fella is going to have to stay and endure the wrath of the Gooner faithful after shitting on his breakfast. It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of reception (i.e. abuse) the money grabbing unloyal ingrate will get. He might be better off going to Barcelona or Milan for a long holiday as he has pissed off many a Gooner with his shenanigans. And to think Gooner’s opinion on him were divided, I don’t fancy being him. However the only way back for him is to score a truckload of goals to keep or get the fans back on side. Although if he does that I’m sure he’ll say he’s worth £120K a week and we’ll go through the whole process again.

Good news, bad news section

Good news is that Kolo Touré ‘only’ has a mild strain on malaria. However the big fella will miss the start of the season. Now I don’t think I need to tell you this but that will leave us proper short at the back as Alex Song is off to The Beijing Olympics, leaving Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou to come in. Now, not tempting fate but if one of those two were to take a knock in the pre-season friendlies we’ll be up shit creek without a paddle. As great a manager as Wenger is, I reckon he can be too stubborn, we’re crying out for a quality, commanding, all conquering centre back and Le Gaffer wont go and buy one. I just hope that doesn’t come and bite us on the arse. 

Bad news is that Alex Hleb fresh from kissing his Barca badge is giving any journo’s willing to listen and who’ve stopped long enough his take on The Arsenal’s future. What is quite ironic is that Hleb is worried about The Arsenal’s future and talks about players leaving. Well it doesn’t help as you’re one of the players who wanted to leave you mug. Anyway not wanting to get too involved in the way the Bell-End-Russian was quoted, as you know these media types they will try to twist and turn a story to meet their own ends. But cut a long story short the Bell-End-Russian says we’ll be fooked once Wenger leaves, he would like to see retirement planning Manu Adebayor and WonderBoy™ TheCesc at Barcelona. I can’t get too angry at Hleb wanting Fabregas at to join Barcelona, what team wouldn’t want the future Arsenal captain? But for God’s sake Alex, you’ve left now so piss off and concentrate on your ‘dream club’.

That’s your lot today Gooner’s. Get out there and enjoy the weather as there wont be any signings today. Monsieur Wenger has said he wants to sign a midfield player, however I won’t get too excited about the prospect of signing ‘another’ 18 year kid who’s currently playing in the French fourth division.

Jump on board the comments section.. see you in there.

More questions than answers and other bits…

With the season only a month away, and our first pre-season game against Barnet this weekend, there are still a lot of questions that need answering. I of course, don’t have any of these answers, but boy I have the full panini sticker album of questions. So.. because I know your all so keen to finish this article and read something interesting, here they are: 

Is Abou Diaby going to be our new starting centre midfielder? Having been deployed primarily on the left wing since his serious ankle injury against Sunderland, are 4 weeks of pre-season enough for him to claim this role for the opening day fixture at West Brom? Certainly depth looks to be a problem at centre midfield now Gilberto has packed his bags for Greece, with only Denilson and Song looking the obvious choice for cover should Diaby be unavailable – however both have only limited first team experience. Nasri or Rosicky would be the likely cover for Fabregas should he be unavailable but that would similarly strain our coverage for the wings and probably be too much for Rosicky’s fragile frame anyhow. 

Will Rosicky and Eduardo be fit for the start of the season? If Rosicky fails to be ready for the first game of the new season it would likely mean a debut at left midfield for either Samir Nasri or Aaron Ramsey. Typically Wenger has tended to avoid throwing new signings straight in from the start, particularly as he feels players need time to adapt to the Premier League (learning how to not get your ankle broken for example). Though Eduardo has obviously come along way in his recovery from his serious leg injury, he is unlikely to be available to start against West Brom. This would mean Emmanuel ‘Retirement Package’ Adebayor having to start up front despite question marks over his commitment to the club and the reception he will get from the fans is likely to be less than friendly. Is his head in the right place? Well, yes, it is still sitting underneath that extremely disappointing haircut, but whether he is completely behind the new campaign is questionable. The other options would be to throw Theo up front alongside balsa wood Van Persie, or starting with Bendtner, who had a strong first season off the bench. However if Adebayor is not able to start then there seems little point keeping last seasons top scorer on the bench where his value is only going to depreciate. 

On the right wing, I’m particularly keen to know who Wenger’s preferred option is. Does Hleb’s departure mean Theo going to be a regular starter, or will Nasri slot in on the right (assuming Rosicky is fit for the left)… and what does this mean for Emmanuel Eboué? Hopefully an extended spell as a bus driver.

Turning to our defence, despite Wenger claiming at the end of the season that he was interested in bring in a new defender who was strong in the air, the distractions of Flamini, Hleb and Adebayor means that has well and truly been shelved for now. So are we to assume Philippe Senderos has been rehabilitated or is he still a nutter? And what of Djourou? He looked average on loan to Birmingham and Wenger seems to no longer rate him. So does this mean Alex Song is our 4th choice Centre Back, as well as possibly being backup for the holding midfield role? The young lad surprised a lot of gooners and did reasonably well at the tail end of the season, and of course he has the hair style that I always consider a mark of potential (see the Valderama Theory) but any extended spell where Song could end up partnering Senderos in our back line scares the Danny Shittu’s out of me.

Of course the most positive news of the off season was Gael Clichy signing a new deal, and with Sagna also tied to a long term contract, we arguably have the two best fullbacks in the league at the moment. The depth at these positions is far more questionable. Gallas is certainly able to cover Clichy’s left back slot if needed, whilst Armand Traore looks far better on the wing than at left back at the moment. I doubt many Gooners would want to see him get any extended run in the league there if Clichy were to be unavailable. 

Right back certainly became a problem position for us once Sagna got injured. Despite his problems, Eboué remains a reasonable option as cover for right back, far more so than Justin Hoyte, who despite his wonderful loyalty to the club, doesn’t look to have the quality nor the potential needed to play for a title challenging side. Touré can also provide cover though he looked lost at times slung out wide right. 

On to the goalkeepers, with Mad Jens gone, will things be a little too comfortable for Manuel Almunia now? Fabianski and Mannone are by no means Premier League quality yet, let alone players you’d feel comfortable throwing into the mix in the Champions League should Almunia be injured. I would hope Wenger is looking seriously at the availability of top quality goalkeepers at the moment because we look extremely vulnerable in this position. If Almunia were to blind himself peroxiding his hair, and we had to face Chelski, United or someone like Barcelona in the Champions League, I’m not sure our defence would feel particularly confident with such an inexperienced goalkeeper in Fabianski behind them, despite his obvious potential. And of course Mannone is a completely unknown quantity playing at the top level. 

That all said, a look at our current squad size indicates that unless some players are loaned our or sold, very little is likely to change between now and the start of the season. I had a look back at our squads since 1999, and it seems Wenger favour’s a first team squad of 25 players – in fact in each season since 1999 his first team squad has been 25 (this doesn’t include the occasional run in a dead tie at the end of the season, or League Cup game). With Flamini, Gilberto, Hleb and Lehmann all gone, but Mannone, Vela, Nasri and Ramsey coming in, we are currently sitting at 25 players. But we surely need a centre midfielder, and the link this week to Garry Barry of Villa has certainly taken a lot of Gooners interest. He ticks all the boxes – has loads of Premier League experience meaning Wenger could throw him in to the starting XI for the West Brom game and know he’d be able to do a job, is versatile as he can cover left back and left midfield if needed, takes a good penalty and is a natural leader. We know Villa have an interest in Justin Hoyte, who, if the Eboué experiment is ended, would be surplus to requirements as a reserve right back. We also know Wenger has long been an admirer of Barry going back several years. The real question is whether or not the funds are there for a player who is up for sale for 18 million. So was the money spent on Nasri and Ramsey knowing we have to recoup it by selling Hleb and Gilberto (which totals around 17 – 19 million depending on who you believe) or is it now available to Wenger for further replacements? 

Whether it is or not, I think almost everyone would agree that right now, and despite what we all thought prior to the end of the season, some money needs to be spent to bring in someone to bolster our defensive midfield position. What amount of money is available will probably determine the quality, but I cannot imagine that we can go into the new season without strengthening this area. Some may be prepared to give Diaby time to prove himself, and Denilson time to mature, and point to Flamini’s sudden emergence last season before discounting them. However Flamini excelled at a time when there was strong competition for the job. Diarra was still on the books and Gilberto had come off his most successful season with us plus of course Diaby and Denilson in the mix as well. Flamini proved himself to Wenger, who equally knew he could fall back on two other strong players if needed. If both Diaby and Denilson fail to raise their game, there is currently no other option available to Wenger other than moving another player out of position (such as pushing Touré forward) and would be a huge gamble once the transfer window slams shut. 

One this is for sure though, there isn’t currently room or money available for an Arshavin this summer.

By Paul Wright

 

Other stuff

I’m in the process of nicking up the site and doing stuff ‘in the background’ a bit like the way I hope Wenger is doing transfers – without anyone knowing. There will be slight changes, cosmetic ones, you know that sort of malarkey. So apologies for the lack of activity yesterday Gooners, but don’t fret, the ‘newish’ look will be up either tomorrow or more than likely – on Monday. 

I would like to add some bits about the Hleb transfer. Well thank f*ck for that – he’s gone, It’s over. We don’t need to hear from that bleating twat about ‘noisy’ London life and such. One thing that did get me was when he got to Barcelona was that the Bell-End-Russian said it was ‘a dream’ – don’t get me wrong I’m sure it’s a dream to go to Barca, I’m not that short sighted but when Hleb said:

“I love this team”

That kind of stuck in my throat. There was no thank you to Arsène Wenger, his former team mates or even the fans who put up with him playing shit for three years and when he did finally come good (well goodish if you actually check Hleb’s stats) he can’t get away quick enough to live his tranquil life. Well all I can say is Hleb I hope you you love the bench as much as you love the team. Sour grapes? You betcha! 

Also on the subject of a Barcelona love-in, Zenit St. Petersburg’s play maker Andrei Arshavin is getting increasingly desperate especially after his agent basically did a ‘please, please, please come and get me’ plea for his client towards The Arsenal. Well it turns out Arshavin’s love for The Arsenal is so great he wants Barcelona to sign him. You can guess the next installment on this if The Arsenal don’t make a move for him and Barca don’t come a knocking Arshavin will no doubt say how much he loves spurs! 

Lastly, the video below was sent in to me by a reader. you may of seen it on another Arsenal website but in case you haven’t, have a butchers, it’s well worth your pocket money. So big up to Chris Jake’s to sending this to us. Good work Gooner.

That’s about my lot today, have yourself a great day Gooners – see you in the comments

No Hleb or Adebayaawn news? Barry in shock move? Fares please and other shenanigans…

Good day to you Gooners out there, I hope you’re having a pleasant one.

So news of the day is that there is no news on on want away Alex Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor? You what? Yup, that’s right there’s absolutely no new pieces on them. From yesterdays, and the day before that and pretty much the day before that Barcelona were claiming ‘Hleb to be signed today’ – well we’re still waiting for it to happen. I would of thought we would of heard something from Hleb’s or at least The Togonator’s agent by now, how comes those big mouthed fools aren’t speaking shit? Hmm must be time for pre-season training methinks. Could you imagine if those two don’t get moves away and have to turn up at London Colney? Oh that’s going to be a lovely sight isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong I fully expect Hleb to go, but it’s taken a while isn’t it. Actually I’m going to leave that story there and I promise I shall only mention Hleb again once he has signed up for which ever team wants to get hold of a play making midfielder who doesn’t like to shoot let alone score and who actually does flatter to deceive as he only has about five assists a season. Slight dig there but who cares? Are we Gooners going to be ‘that’ upset when he finally does take that walk? 

The big big story of the day is that we’ve had a chat with mentalist Irish manager Martin O’Neill regarding the services of Gareth Barry. Apparently Arsenal F. A. Cup winning captain leg-end and Arsène Wenger’s right hand man Pat Rice phoned the Villa up which O’Neill revealed:

“He phoned Steve (Walford, Villa assistant) to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said they might show an interest.”

So we ‘might’ show an interest. Well he might of given his mate a call and spoke about other stuff and the Barry thing ‘might’ of been a bit of small talk, who knows? One thing is for sure if The Arsenal were to get hold of Barry who does look certain to leave I would for one be very confident ahead of next season. Barry is a winner, knows the Premier League and isn’t injury prone either – well there you go, you know now he wont be coming. 

‘If’ Wenger was to go for Barry who’s rated at £18m he could throw in Justin Hoyte who O’Neill is a known admirer to ease the deal to a more palatable £12-14m. We’ll see, at the moment you could chuck in any figure or player(s) that you want and get some sort of conclusion. One thing is for sure Aston Villa are holding out for £18m and that’s not up for negotiation. What cracks me up about this is how the hubcap nicking, shell suit wearing, giro getting Liverpool Scallies USA’s manager Rafael Benitez is going about this. He first of all taps up Barry through the media, gets told by the club that Barry will cost £18m and then says he’ll pay £12m no more. You what? No mate you can’t dictate the price. You’re the buying club, not the selling one. One thing is for sure Benitez has pissed off O’Neill big style in the manner he has gone for Barry and I have a feeling if Villa can do a deal with The Arsenal for the right price, the Villa board would prefer to do business with us rather than Liverpool. We’ll see soon enough. But at £18m that’s a very spicy meatball but it would be £18m well spent in my opinion as Barry is sold, knows the Premier League and wouldn’t need bedding in. In fact I would go as far to say he could be potential captain material. I’m not saying he should be made captain should we get him but just saying he is highly rated and has that drive and winning mentality that is needed. However it’s all ifs and buts at the moment isn’t it?

Onto things which are proper Arsenal now. The Greatest Gunners competition on the Arsenal site is getting to the business end now with Ian Wright Wright Wright in at number four. So congrats to him on that. A think a few Gooners have mixed feelings with Wrighty nowadays as he does say some bollocks but I think he does deserve to on the top end of the list. So there’s only three spots to go and with Tony Adams, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp still to be named on the list it’s going to be interesting who gets named Top Gun. My money is on Henry but we’ll soon find out.

The last bit of news is that The Arsenal season ticket prices have gone up. But considering it’s the first time in four years you can’t really moan. However what with the lowest priced Arsenal season ticket being the most expensive in the Premier League we can moan I reckon, Especially if the board keep banging on about wage structure and not having ‘big’ money to buy players. So where’s the money going? Oh that’s right, the stadium, that old chestnut. Anyway Gooners I think ‘ve given you enough to chew on, jump onboard the comments and have your say. Also don’t forget to sign up to Allgoonerdup on FaceBook if you haven’t done so already, so we can get interactive – it would be rude not to. 

That’s about my lot today, have yourself a great day Gooners and jump on the comments…

Hleb going, going, he aint gone yet…Adebayaawn and Carlos Vela news

Morning Gooners and what a pleasant one it is too, the sun is shining, there’s blue skies – it’s just lovely. Well it would be on the football front too if there was any new stories to go for, however I wont lull you into a false sense of security, there isn’t any new stories. I’m afraid we’re still dealing with the tired old rumours. First up, Alex Hleb. Apparently again Barcelona reckon a deal is ‘nearly’ done. I’m not sure about you guys but I’m so over this, Hleb just go already. I wish the Bell-End-Russian would just fook right off. At least that way we can move on a write about something different instead of this tedious nonsense. 

Next Emmanuel Adebayor. Apparently Barcelona (again) have offered Samuel Eto’o plus a bag of cash believed to be in the region of £15m for The Togonator. And? Well considering Arsène Wenger has said the big fella isn’t for sale it will be interesting to see if he will take the money and run. Like the Hleb story I’m through with this transfer rumour, And just to make the tedium of it all be rammed down your throat there’s mix messages coming from AC Milan. The vice-supremo and mini me looking bald plated Adriano Galliani says The Arsenal want too much filthy lucre for Adebayor. Whilst ‘agent’, not Adebayor’s agent, but an agent representing none other than himself and AC Milan Vincenzo Morabito says The Arsenal have slashed Adebayor’s transfer fee, yeah right. What does he think this is? The mid season DFS sales? So no new news on those stories Gooners. 

However we might have players who want out of The Arsenal but there are one or two who want to join us as well. See it’s not all doom and gloom. Zenit St. Petersburg play maker Andrei Arshavin is hankering for a move to The Grove. It seems his agent has priced him out of a move to Barcelona who apparently was the only club the Russian wanted to play for. But seeing that the Catalan club prefer to tap up Arsenal players and laughed at the price tag Arshavin is looking at other suitors, Namely Arsenal. I wouldn’t mind this player putting on the Arsenal shirt however if The Arsenal don’t make a move for him (if the money isn’t right) be sure to see the next instalment where Arshavin so desperate to get out of Russia says how much he admires spurs and thinks they’re a big club! 

Mexican wonder kid Carlos Vela doesn’t seem the shy type, which is nice, has come out and said he wants to be a warrior for The Arsenal. We’ll have some of that. What with Vela, Samir Nasri and new number 14 Theo Walcott on the wings for The Arsenal next season I reckon we’ll be quiet deadly and scare the bejesus out of defenders, see Gooners not all doom and gloom. And these players want to play for The Arsenal!

Arsenal in signing shocker, Life In The Slow Lane, Gallas to remain captain?

The Arsenal have wrapped up a signing so unexpected that it has taken everyone by surprise that sites are falling over themselves trying to get the story, oh hang on no their not, it’s only that Nasri fella. So we’re finally signed Olympic Marseille starlet Samir Nasri! Well thank f*ck for that, that’s all I can say. The transfer of Nasri is on record as being one of the most protracted transfers in history that officials are having a word with The Guinness Book of Records to see where it stands amongst other drawn out transfers. Any road up, like the Canadian Mounties we got our man, finally, lets hope it was worth the wait. 

The 20 year old has said of the joining London’s finest:

“I’m very happy to become an Arsenal player, it means such a lot to me. This is a very important step in my life as a football player because Arsenal is a massive club. I really hope everything will go well for me here. I will do my best for Arsenal and its fans and I am honoured to be part of such a great football club.”

Love that, he is honoured, let’s hope he keeps that outlook and doesn’t get money hungry or think London is too noisy to stick around and make a success of himself and the club. The Arsenal official website has much more on the transfer, so have a butchers there, where you can see Nasri in his new Arsenal garms, his fact file and such trinkets. As widely expected Samir Nasri takes hold of the famous number eight shirt, which was most recently worn by Freddie Ljungberg and before him goal king Ian Wright Wright Wright, so good they named him thrice.

So we’ve wrapped another signing, which is nice. However what with wily coach Arsène Wenger claiming he was going to make two or three ‘class’ signings, we’re in need of more reinforcements as Mathieu Flamoney has already gone and what with the Samir Nasri signing that paves the way for Bell-end-Russian Alex Hleb to do one to… well where ever, somewhere quiet no doubt. Somewhere on a farm or near a lake, somewhere nice and tranquil. He’ll go we know that much, as much as Hleb is a very skillful and technically gifted player he wont be missed if Nasri can get more than seven assists and score more than five goals a season. So Samir Nasri I wish you well on your Arsenal journey, Good luck.

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Life In The Slow Lane

By Paul Wright 

 

Well, things are really happening in this off season. We’ve got Samir Nasri signed.. erm…well.. not quite.. but…hang on a minute we’ve finally bagged our man… Hleb’s issues have all been sorted… oh.. wait.. no.. I suppose not. Well whatever happens at least we’ve got super striker Manu Adebayor pledging his loyalty to the… what? Really? Oh… never mind then.

And it’s not just us. The whole of world football seems to be shut down. It’s like it’s the off-season or something. Gary Barry seems to have been moving to ScousePool USA since 1982, whilst the Ronaldo saga is moving about as fast as Stephen Hawking in a race up the stairs of the Empire State Building.

But i’m sure in this there must be something to comment on. We’ve got Cesc dedicating his win to Arsenal. That’s nice. And Welsh Wonder Kid Aaron Ramsey is talking up pushing for a first team place. Good. Excellent.

So with very little to review, I guess it is my duty to work on some mindless speculation… starting with the rumour that Arsene is after the Spanish midfielder Ruben De La Red. I think this sounds brilliant. For one, he sounds like a pirate, and Ruben the Red seems like a wonderfully appropriate name for an Arsenal player. And there simply aren’t enough famous Ruben’s these days. 

The still wonderfully named Arshavin is also still in the mix. I’m personally not sure if he is a one hit wonder or a properly good player… but with so many players apparently outward bound I suppose it would be nice to have a player who will really get the fans talking coming into the side….

… besides.. if it gives me a chance to work gags about his name into my column every week then i’m all for it.

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Other bits

Other news doing the rounds is that Columbian hitman Falcao says he’s excited by the thought of The Arsenal being interested in him. Well if Adebayaaawn is to go, you can take your pick of players The Arsenal will be lining up including the likes Roque Santa Cruz, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Benzema, Podolski, David Silva, Samuel Eto’o – continue to fade… Like I said yesterday Wenger is being too quiet in my opinion, which I hope is a good thing as I hope he is pulling the strings in the background, we’ll see. 

Next week I’m going to tackle the question of who should be The Arsenal captain and see what you Gooners are thinking. I was reading my Arsenal membership magazine this morning and there’s a big piece about Cap’n Billy Gallas called ‘My changing room’ where he gives his opinion on the players. It doesn’t say anything you wouldn’t think of already, with loads of cut and past phrases such as ‘good professional’, ‘good guy’, ‘I respect him’ and such gems nothing like ‘I think he’s a big headed twat’, ‘I have no friends here’, ‘He is greedy’ and such. However it just made me think, if the official magazine is giving Gallas so much air time, what’s the chances of him getting the captaincy taken away? It would lead to much more than that as well. Gallas is the second oldest player at The Arsenal now, with Gilberto Silva being the oldest. However with many people believing he should be stripped off the captaincy, it would have to go to a younger player as I don’t believe Wenger would make Gilberto captain (he might be off before the season starts as well if many reports are to be believed), so would Gallas stick around and take orders from a younger player with less experience? Well who knows? But that’s going to be one issue I shall be tackling next week to keep us all us thinking and letting our frontal lobes ticking over as we get bored senseless with the Adebayaaawn / Hleb shenanigans. 

Let me know your thoughts Gooners, see you in the comments section..

Arsenal target South American striker, Gilberto to leave? Is Sepp Blatter for Real? And all this time Wenger remains silent..

Apparently the story doing the rounds is that The Arsenal are targeting striker South American striker Falcao. Now this player shouldn’t be confused with the Brazilian World Cup winner and afro sporting midfield king pin Falcao who must be the best part of 50 odd but seeing as the media are keen to see The Arsenal implode, it might be worth a punt to get him on board. I bet he can still kick it though. Anyhow I digress, the Falcao The Gunners are apparently are after is none other than Columbian hitman (easy, I’m on about hitman in the football sense, not the militia sense) Falcao, yup, never heard of him either. The striker plies his trade for Argentinean side RIver Plate and has cracked 38 goal in 58 games, this transfer rumour could be true or it could be a bag of shit. The only thing I know is that every one is jumping on this story. I think at the moment the media might as well be pulling names out of a hat and saying The Arsenal are after that player, bit like shooting fish in a barrel, could be true, might not. The one thing we all know in this is that the rumours wont be confirmed or denied, so we just have to put up with them.

However the price quoted by River Plate for the player is £12m. Now I’m no Premier League manager, but I have watched South American football and a lot of the leagues are based on individual skill and obviously loads of South American’s make it in European leagues, namely Spanish La Liga or the Italian Serie A. However this player is only 22 and has never played in Europe so it’s a huge risk, for that money why not stomp up some more filthy lucre and snap up someone like David Villa? Anyway we’ll soon see if this is a goer, time will tell.

Gilberto to leave? Septic Bladder and Wenger stays quiet..

Brazilian play maker and ex Arsenal vice captain Gilberto is apparently going to be sold to bubble and squeak team Panathinaikos. His advisors have flown to Athens to broker a deal for the Invisible Wall and are looking at getting £2m out out of the Greek team. This story first broke on TribalFootball and The Sun Online – must be true then Gooners. Given that our midfield will be completely different next season what with the departures (and arrivals, well once they arrive) I find it difficult to believe that Arsène Wenger would let Gilberto leave as he is a strong believer of continuity and consistency in the team. So what to you Gooners think? Do you think Gilberto who is the ‘daddy’ of the team in terms of age and experience will leave?

Not Arsenal related news but I had to have a quick spout off about this. Unscrupulous, corrupt, back handers taking FIFA boss Septic Bladder has put his size tens into his gob again. The FIFA boss has publicly stated that Manchester USA winger and lady boy impersonator Cristiano Ronaldo should be allowed to leave the northern monkeys. For one, Blatter shouldn’t get involved in matters between clubs especially when the Manc’s have said River Dance isn’t for sale. On top of that, the way Real Madrid have conducted the manner of going after Cristiano Ronaldo should be punished not condoned. It shows you what side of the fence Blatter is on in my opinion. Anyhow the quote which sticks in my throat about Blatter is:

“I think in football there’s too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere.”

Now Blatter should pick his words very carefully. Slavery? Slavery? How can you compare slavery to a player earning £120K a week? Last time I looked in the history books no slave got £120K a week. They maybe got 120 lashings, a crack on the skull, treated like shit and were denied their freedom amongst other heinous crimes against their liberty. How does this man stay in power? Just what is his purpose? Is he on Real Madrid’s books? He has never stepped in and taken them to task when they openly tap up players. Instead he says players should be allowed to go there, WTF? Now don’t get me wrong I’m not a Manchester United sympathiser, far from it, but it Septic Blatter can get involved in this, who’s to say he wont get involved or try and get involved in other transfer tug of wars? OK rant over.

Lastly, the only thing I want to say is that we’ve heard from Alex Hleb wanting to leave, the AC Milan vice-supremo Adriano Galliani saying The Arsenal are willing to sell Emmanuel Adebayor (damn, nearly got away with this post being Ade/Hleb free) however in all this Arsène Wenger has remained as quiet as a spurs fan at full time against The Arsenal. Has the wily coach got a trick up his sleeve? Let’s hope whilst everyone is spouting off and getting bent out of shape and shouting the odds the shrewd one is conducting his business all quiet like and then POW surprises us with a signing or two and I don’t mean the Samir Nasri one which seems to be always go through ‘tomorrow’. 

Jump on the comments section and have your shout Gooners – see you in there!