Greetings Gooners… Michael Thomas moment…Win a free tee…

I sit here now a confused, confuddled, slightly baffled, man of deep thought. Whilst I slouch here, typing away using my index and middle fingers of each hand only, I ponder away in deep tranquility – as I have all day – wondering what is currently taking place with not just mine, but our beloved club.

I’ve never been the type to jump on the “Club in Crises” bandwagon under Arsene Wenger, and I’m far from about to. How ever, I won’t deny that I’m slightly concerned with everything that has taken place so far this summer. As soon as news has filtered through about a possible signing, news has later filtered through about the possible sale of a player. With Philippe Senderos the latest to be heading out the door. I’ve surprised myself how I’ve reacted with this transfer, and to be honest, I’m still *insert appropriate word here*… Not “annoyed“, or “angry“, or “frustrated” even. “Concerned” I’ve used already, “baffled” perhaps? Hmm, something a little stronger then that… How about “disconcerted”? Or “Confounded”? “Bewildered” is a good one, as is “Perplexed”. None the less I do feel maybe a little of all these. The truth, and fact of the matter is, the standard of player we have let go this summer is as far off irreplaceable as we have replaced them. That has orchestrated my thoughts and feelings about the club right now. Let’s compare shall we, on the players we have let go, compared to the players brought in; regardless of whether they are loan deals or contracted transfers:

 

Jens Lehmann

Justin Hoyte

Philippe Senderos

Armand Traore

Gilberto

Mathieu Flamini

Alex Hleb

Have all been replaced by:

Vito Mannone

Emmanuel Eboué

Johan Djourou

Mikael Silvestre

Amaury Bischoff

Aaron Ramsey

Samir Nasri.

I understand Mannone, Eboué, and Djourou were at us already, but young Italian mob-star, Vito’s been promoted from the resi’s. Eboué, despite his central midfield cameo’s I think will feature more so as a right back, especially as Hoytey’s left. Djourou lastly, was at Birmingham for the first half of last season, and then on his first appearance for us back from his loan spell, he busted something or other against The Spuds. Looking at that, for me defensively we still need that big strong, towering lump of a lunging blocker. Who would get his right foot, left foot, forehead, or foreskin in front of the ball to stop it from going past him. 

Man Ure have Vidic, Locomotive London have John “Siht Cnut” Terry, and The Filth of Football have that foreign speaking Carragher bloke – our last of this type was Sol Campbell. God, if only his toy boy lover Quincy Owusu-Abeyie hadn’t of been sold hours before ‘that’ West Ham game at Highbury, maybe Sol would never of had that funny 45. Anyway, what’s done is done, as likewise what needs to be addressed, needs to be addressed. Senderos was seen as this Sol replacement by many within the club. After an impressive final third of the 06 season, peaking in our Paris run, Senderos was set to be big news. Handed the number 6 shirt later that summer, nicknamed “Swiss Tony”, everything was set up for him; until the shoulder injury he picked up in the World Cup that year caused him to miss the opening of the following season. Since then he’s only shown his quality in spurts, and has lacked any real consistency. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say I sincerely hope he gets his career back on track, and what better way to be given a confidence boost with Meelan wanting you? Wafa Cup football might do him good for this season anyway – slight dig.

On to our midfield. Oh, fcuk it. I really don’t have the energy or effort to explain about something every single Arsenal supporter knows already. With Gokhan Inlar signing a new deal at Udinese, it’s not just the time which is running out, but the players as well.

Match news, and it’s the second leg of the FC Twente game tonight at the Emirates, we lead 2-0 and to be honest, I can see this one being a similar score line. Our fitness level will guide us through if our football doesn’t – much like the first leg. Cesc’s fit thank god, and hopefully a run out tonight will sort him out preparing him for the Newcastle clash Saturday evening.

Come on you GOONERS!!

ScottyDavisGooner 

‘Thomas – it’s up for grabs now’ – Where was you?

As part of this season and trying to tie in with all the 20th anniversary shenanigans of that famous last minute championship win, allgoonerdup.com is doing a ‘JFK where was you moment’. But obviously the moment we’re doing is – ‘Thomas – it’s up for grabs now’ moment. Every Gooner knows where they were when that goal went in and we’re going to publish your tails. The idea is do one Gooner’s piece a day, so get amongst it and send your emails in via the contacts page and mark the subject line ‘Thomas – it’s up for grabs moment’. I’ll be doing some sort of fancy graphic and that just to give the piece some ‘air play’. But get your emails in and hopefully we’ll get the ball rolling next week with your ‘Thomas – where was you moment’.

Weekend fallout …Michael Thomas monent…Win a free tee…

I’m going to have to keep it short Gooner’s as I have a lot on and time is my enemy at the moment. Allgoonerdup.com’s posts might be a bit sporadic over the next week or so, so I apologies in advance to all you good people who like your daily dose of football and humour. OK so first up, we lost. Yep so we did, anyone REALLY that surprised? I think even the ardent Arsene Wenger fan (I’m on about the AKB’s) must admit we were fecking awful against Fulham and the blame has to rest at the feet of Wenger who hasn’t strengthened our midfield. OK it’s quite easy to say “I told you so” but come on even with our injuries, you can’t expect to beat a Premier League team with the likes of Eboué and Denilson in the central midfield berth. Alright I wont knock Denilson too much, the boy has got talent he just happened to have his worst game in an Arsenal shirt when he needed to step up. 

I know Emmanuel Eboué is the new ‘Pascal Cygan’ the player all fans love to hate, but admittedly he isn’t doing himself any favours. He was fecking awful against Fulham. I can’t believe we are serious title contenders with a player like Emmanuel Eboué supposedly doing the defensive midfield work. If Eboué was brought in to do a ‘Flamini’ job it desperately failed. Mathieu Flamini was all work rate, jumping into tackles with full gusto, running up and down the pitch like a maniac and just pure energy, Emmanuel Eboué on the other hand was none of those – he wasn’t even close to one of those. If we are to play like we did last season we need a Mathieu Flamini type player, simple as that. We haven’t got one of those amongst our ranks so will Le Gaffer buy one? Who knows? Wenger still reckons he’s no closer to signing anyone. Well if that’s the case this season will be a fecking long one Gooner’s and we’ll know how it feels to be a spud supporter, what with losing against teams you should be caning and generally being a laughing stock. 

I haven’t got the answers to improve us, that’s down to the manager and his cheque book and the players he’s identified. We do need to buy, our squad is paper thin. After losing the experience of Alex Hleb, Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva, Le Gaffer still hasn’t addressed getting the quality players in with the added bonus of ‘experience’, in my opinion. But we do need it and need it quick. I’m just glad we lost against a team like Fulham and it was so early in the season. At least Le Gaffer can see early doors what he needs to do and hopefully he will. Cross those fingers someone decent with experience is signed up Gooners.

St Michael Thomas t-shirt…

The winner of the St Michael Thomas t-shirt is Darren Taylor, a Gooner from Bristol. So well done Gooner – hope you enjoy your prize. The answer to the question was Michael Thomas wore the number four shirt when we beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989 to grab the title. Which is nice. 

‘Thomas – it’s up for grabs now’ – Where was you?

As part of this season and trying to tie in with all the 20th anniversary shenanigans of that famous last minute championship win, allgoonerdup.com is doing a ‘JFK ‘where was you’ moment’. But obviously the moment we’re doing is -’Thomas – it’s up for grabs now’ moment. Every Gooner knows where they were when that goal went in and we’re going to publish your emails. There will be one a day, so get amongst it and send your emails in via the contacts page and mark the subject line ‘Thomas – it’s up for grabs moment’. I’ll be doing some sort of fancy graphic and that just to give the piece some ‘air play’. But get your emails in and I’ll post where you were and that.

Girl in a shirt

Allgoonerdup is looking to give the Goonerbabe page a bit of a boost and we’re going for a ‘Girl in the Shirt’ approach. Do you have any pictures of your girl in the shirt or girls get yourself seen on the Goonerbabe wall and send in your own pictures. Lets get this party started right. Send your pictures in and tell us your name, favourite player, favourite all time player, favourite drink and if you have anything else to declare to babe@allgoonerdup.com

You’ve been Eboue’d

So all my worst fears were realised last Saturday. It was the first match of the season, and that usually means sunny pitches and a bit of a festive atmosphere with everyone happy to finally see some real football after a long break. It also means seeing the new strip, and hopefully one of two new signings in a team you honestly believe will win everything in the universe.

Why the hell then did we get Emmanuel Eboué in centre midfield? Seriously.. what is it with Arsene and this guy. But i’ve thought about this long and hard and I think I’ve figured it out. See.. it all makes sense when you think about it. See… I remember a time when us Gooners were able to laugh at those muppet’s down the road for their inability to keep players fit (see Darren Anderton). But over the past 3 or 4 seasons, we seem to have become unusually injury prone as a team. Coincidentally, Emmanuel Eboué has been with us for roughly the same amount of time. Of course in his early days he often got a start at right back, and so we didn’t get too much trouble from him, but more recently, with the fans pressuring Wenger to drop him, he has had to take matters into his own hands. Obviously if Eboué dropped out of the first team, soon enough he’d be let go. and no other manager in his right mind would pay him to play football! 

First he tampered with Freddie Ljungberg and Tomas Rosicky using an ancient surgery technique he learnt in the wilds of the Cote D’Ivoire, replacing their fit and healthy muscles with rubber bands. This obviously gave him a clear run at the right wing spot as right back was now off limits with the arrival of our golden haired wonder, Bacary Sagna. But no… that was never going to be enough. When Arsene replaced Freddie, with Theo from The Cosby Show, and Alex Hleb came in he had to rethink things. He could probably beat up Theo in the showers, he was but a kid, but the pasty Belarussian was obviously a different story. He was already pretty bendy so the rubber band trick would probably not work. So instead he befriended Hleb, telling him of how he once spent a summer in Mar Bella, and it was the best time in his life. Down there, he told Alex, they appreciate the lesser understood art of not shooting. Of course in the short term, he needed another plan to keep his place in the side. There was that cocky Dutch kid who kept putting the ball through his legs at training. So when Arsene wasn’t looking, he shoved his kneecap up his a#$@. This meant the pasty kid who couldn’t shoot would obviously now play as a second striker (???) and the right wing slot would again be his. 

Of course even Eboué had to get injured. And while he was out, young Theo went and dazzled everyone against Liverpool. So Eboué had to temporarily give up his designs on right wing and looked instead to right back again. That Sagna certainly was a hard b*stard.. with those golden serpents he had coming out of his head. But when he wasn’t looking he tied his golden braids to the back of Gael Clichy’s boots. Gael set off in a sprint doing about Mach 2 as he always does, ripping Sagna’s head clean off, putting him out of contention for the remainder of the season. But of course, that stupid Swiss bloke who looks like Frankenstein’s monster dobbed him in to Le Gaffer, and thus the second best player in the Ivory Coast, according to Emmanuel, was shoved out at right back instead and Eboué was again on the bench. 

There wasn’t much hope for Eboué by this stage. He had lost right back and right wing. He had to think outside the box. And then it all just fell into place. He hid Mathieu Flamini’s favourite Parker Pen, leaving him unable to sign the new deal Arsenal were offering and eventually upset, he moved to Milan. There was that strangely shaped French kid with the attitude problem who didn’t even stay long enough to be plotted against. The other lads said his boots were too big… no wonder he ran so strangely. And the old Brazilian geezer was already set on spending his retirement eating gyros and olives and bunked off to Greece. And then all that was left was that Spanish golden child and the lanky french bloke with one foot on backwards………. 

And of course that is just a theory, but I think you all know it makes sense. With Cesc returning, and Denilson playing a good game, expect Samir Nasri to now fall foul of a mysterious muscle injury any minute now. 

Oh.

Technical difficulties…Last day to win a free St Michael Thomas t-shirt..

Firstly Gooner’s a big welcome back, as you may have noticed there’s been no new post since last week Thursday this is all due to ‘techincal difficulties’. Anyhow we seem to be up and running now a bit like our young ‘uns. Paul Wright our roving reporter’s column was due to be posted on Friday prior to our opening win of the season against northern monkeys West Brom of the Albion where Samir Nasri scored a debutant goal. Just think another ten goals from the youngster and we WILL all be thinking Alex Who? Any road up take your mind back pre-weekend and read the post below and enjoy it Gooner’s, some of the content has been changed slightly just to confuse you into thinking you’ve just stepped out of a time machine. Please – read on.

Lightweights to win the league… 

Looking at the Arsenal squad for the match played last week against FC Twente was a strange thing. Here we were playing a game, which along with the return leg back at The Grove, was worth 20 Million Euros for the winner, and we were going into it with a 17yr old debutante at the heart of our team, hoping to be dragged through by the relative experience of a 19yr old with just 23 appearances for the club. I know it’s Olympic season, and the gymnasts and divers all seem to be getting younger, but this was getting ridiculous. We had 16 year old Jack Wilshere on the bench just in case one of the ‘older’ pro’s got injured. It’s just mental. 

But we got through the away game, and I guess it’s all experience for our kids. And we beat Steve McClaren.. and that makes me very happy indeed. They now have to come back to our place by which time we should have Cesc and Nasri back, Touré should be fit, and fingers crossed for no injuries we should spank them good and proper. Still no signings though, and with a lot of our reputed targets going and cup toeing themselves it’s starting to get a bit worrying. But I’m sure Le Gaffer has a plan to bring in a 4 yr old goalkeeper from Finland and will convert him into a rugged hard tackling midfielder in the Vieira mould. 

Still, the strange thing is, despite all this youth and me panicking, we’re not actually doing to bad so far. We hardly struggled in pre-season and a lot of our fringe players look like they could step up, Bendtner in particular looked very impressive. And if this slightly lightweight squad can win things and force our inexperienced players to quickly gain experience, then when the likes of Rosicky and Eduardo get back, things might not look nearly so bad. 

In other news our old friend Jose Moaninho has been spouting off a lot recently about us. I couldn’t be bothered to read any of it to be honest – can’t someone run him over repeatedly with a bus? With spikes on the tyres. Then parade his pulped head around the ground at the first game of the season. That would really make me feel a lot better about football in Europe. I’m sure the ‘mind games’ will begin with Sir Manure shortly too. A week before the season he always seems to decide to take a swipe at whoever is threatening him that particular week. Trouble is, until they get a translator in, nobody can understand a word he says. And while we are busily worrying about our lads, United have no Ronaldo and Rooney is off round the back of the training sheds having five quick cigarettes, and Liverpool are doing their usual trick of forgetting to score goals. We know Sp*rs will implode and Chelski.. well who knows about them. They could just as soon appoint Vladimir Putin as their new manager should ‘Big Phil’ not win 9 – 0 in his opening fixture. So all in all i’m quite hopeful for this season, despite the slight concerns about our squad depth. 

Anyway… see y’all on the other side kids… lets get some of those Chinese synchronised divers in – they seem to know how to win stuff and if nothing else would probably win a shed load of free kicks!

Wenger needs help… Michael Thomas tee-shirt up for grabs now…Kings dies

Hello Gooners, hope you enjoyed the weekend and the latest bit of silverware to The Arsenal collection in the shape of The Amsterdam Tournament Cup. Well this is going to be a quick write up but I hope to do a more measured one this week, regarding Arsene Wenger. I will tell you this much Gooners there’s a lot of concern on other Arsenal sites out there regarding our current situation of lack of quality, experienced, injury free midfielder’s and severe lack of addressing that matter. Mr Arseblog who is not being his usual funny self has done a real good piece on this and such is the lack of humour in the write up that I had to second guess if someone else wrote the piece or if he like me is very, very concerned with our team at the moment. I’m trying not to be too negative with our team especially before the season has even started. 

However even before a ball has been kicked in anger we find ourselves with Cesc Fabregas’ midfield partner elect Abou Diaby injured. Quel Surprise! Only last week Le Gaffer said that Abou Diaby was his first pick last season to replace Gilberto Da Silva when he was given extended leave after lifting the Copa America with Brazil. Anyway we all know the story, Mathieu Flamini not only stepped in but stepped up and the rest is history. So this season with Abou Diaby getting the nod, he goes and gets injured again. Can we really rely on this guy? He’s as injury prone as Robin van Persie and that takes some doing as RvP has bought the copyright. 

So that leaves Denilson to step in. I’m sure Denilson can do a job, I’m not knocking him but he’s too similar to The Cesc for my liking. Denilson is in no way shape or form a defensive midfielder who will sit back and break up attacks, he is no Gilberto or Flamini, unfortunately. Now we have a game against FC Twente in the third round qualifiers in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday which I think many a Gooner is taking for granted. There’s no way on earth we can fail in that game, that would be unthinkable. However The Cesc will go into the game playing only one pre-season game. Now heaven forbid if Fabregas got injured we’d be absolutely fecked. Big style. And on the back of this we’ve got Arsene Wenger saying he hasn’t got time to sign anyone. WTF! 

Wenger has said previously that he gets up to 220 CV’s from players every week. And we all know when Wenger looks at players it’s very methodical and in-depth, even to the point the brand of toothpaste they use comes into play. So, you’re telling me out of all the players we’ve been linked with Wenger isn’t ‘close’ to signing anyone? I really don’t want to believe that I don’t want to get all bent out of shape thinking about it either as there’s still time to get someone. But I am concerned Gooners’ big time. Getting an experienced player to help the younger’s come through and I’m including Denilson and Diaby in that equation and not to hinder them that is what is needed is my opinion. Robin van Persie even echoed that thought when after the game against Ajax in The Amsterdam Tournament he said we needed an experienced midfield player.

However this piece is longer than I wanted it to be today as I said it was only a quickie, in the headline I said Wenger needs help. And Wenger needs it big time. He is only one man and can’t do everything himself. Old fake tan and orange impersonator David Dein and ‘was he pushed or did he jump’ ex Managing Director Keith Edelman have never been properly replaced. Edelman is another kettle of fish as that’s an ‘upstairs’ problem. However old Mr. Orange has never been replaced and what with all that wheeling and dealing, Le Gaffer can’t be expected to cover all bases. He’s going to spread himself too thinly. So Wenger needs help even he doesn’t want to accept it, he needs another ‘David Dein’ to do the deals so he can concentrate on what he’s good at. Wenger needs to delegate as he’s gambling with the clubs future success. Wenger should have a right-hand man he gives a scrap of paper to or have a list on his brand spanking Apple MacBook Pro and say ‘get me this player’. And he needs such a man now, because Wenger can’t and shouldn’t be expected to do everything himself. It will be detrimental to the club.

 

Girl in a shirt

Allgoonerdup is looking to give the Goonerbabe page a bit of a boost and we’re going for a ‘Girl in the Shirt’ approach. Do you have any pictures of your girl in the shirt or girls get yourself seen on the Goonerbabe wall and send in your own pictures. Lets get this party started right. Send your pictures in and tell us your name, favourite player, favourite all time player, favourite drink and if you have anything else to declare to babe@allgoonerdup.com

Kings dies…

Not Arsenal news Gooner’s and fear of sounding all ‘Myles Palmer’ but I need to give props to two greats who passed away this weekend . You may or may not of known about these two guys but American King of Comedy Bernie Mac and King of Cool music legend Isaac Hayes both took that long walk into the light this weekend. 

Bernie Mac some of you will know in the ‘Oceans’ film, 11, 12 and 13 but he was much bigger than that and if you like your comedy edgy and in your face than you would certainly know of Bernie Mac. He was a guy who would scare you into laughing. Have a pop onto YouTube and see what you’re going to miss. 

Also one of my musical hero’s Isaac Hayes passed away and he’s probably known by the younger bunch of Gooner’s out there for his role of ‘Chef’ in South Park, which he had the song “Chocolate Salty Balls”. The more musically tuned people will know him for his jazzy funky hits including the theme from 1970′s film Shaft, Hot Buttered Soul and Black Moses. 

So a big up and props to those two guys who like The Arsenal give me endless moments of pleasure. 

Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes – RIP

LAST WEEK TO JOIN: Score predictor Mini league – join up!

There’s still time to join the Allgoonerdup.com score prediction game mini league. There will of course be a prize for the winner. To join the fun just follow the link below:

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

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

The deadline is August the 16th!

 

LAST WEEK TO JOIN:: Join the Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

You’ve got just over a week to join the fun. Over 80 Gooners so far have got their game on and have joined the Allgoonerdup Fantasy league.

There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary Championship winning 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!

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

My take on Hleb’s comments, Rambo wants First Blood, Arsenal miss out on defender..

Good day to you all Gooners on this bright, well sort of bright then rain then a bit of brightness again, then more rain. Anyway moving on – a bit like a certain Bell-end-Russian we all know, boom boom, the talk of the day is on Hleb. who else? I know something was up when I got a text of brother Brian this morning at 6.45. Basically it read something along the lines of “Have you read The Mirror today, all I can say is Hleb, Orange and all agents are c*nts.” Good morning to you too! First things first though Gooners I NEVER read The Mirror, might as well subscribe to The Daily Sport for all the ‘news’ in that paper. So I jumped on the net to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Admittedly I try not to go over the top on some stories and you’ve guessed it I’m not getting to worked up and going to be getting ulcers from this one. I will have a word with my bruv as well to chill him out. The reason I’m so laid back with the Hleb stories is that most newspaper sites have nicked the same word and said Hleb ‘Blasts’ The Arsenal boss and Cesc Fabregas. But here’s his statement:

“My view of football and Wenger’s didn’t coincide at all. I raised the subject of leaving with Wenger twice before the end of the season. It’s not easy for me to leave and I think he was upset about it. But you should ask him. It may turn out that he’s happy about it.”

Now where the f*ck is there a ‘blast’? Sorry I can’t even see it and I’m sure the Prozac and Xanax pills I scored the other day isn’t affecting my brain. Can any of you Gooners see a ‘blast’ if you do please tell me. I read Arseblogger’s post this morning and he is coming from the same school of thought. Basically there’s fook all news doing the rounds so the papers/sites are just shit stirring and getting all Gooners bent out of shape. Why? Because they can. However I am taking a stand and following my own path and wont be lead by them fooks. So Hleb wants to leave the manager doesn’t want him to, hardly a ‘blast’ is it people, more of a difference of opinion, but that doesn’t sound sexy at all does it? Newspapers wont shift large units and sites wont get loads of hit counts if it simply reports: ‘Hleb wants out, Wenger wants him to stay’. Far from sexy really isn’t? About as sexy as Vanessa Feltz covered in baby oil wearing nothing but a Ann Summers baby doll outfit and a feather boa. Yikes! Anyway I think you good people get the picture, although you might need therapy to shift the image of Feltz out your mind. 

The other part of Hleb’s statement where he apparently ‘blasts’ The Cesc™ by saying:

“When we get scoring opportunities, Fabregas is much more selfish than me. Given a chance to shoot, he always goes for it – unlike me”.

OK anyone spot a ‘blast’? Hands up anyone? Anyone? Any Gooners out there who have watched Hleb play ever say ‘Hleb shouldn’t shoot as much as he does. Every time he is in front of goal with a clear scoring opportunity he always opts for the shot, he never passes, he’s a right greedy little bastard’. Anyone? OK I will give a tenner to any Gooner who has ever said that. Yup, just what I thought. In fact it’s a wonder Hleb he managed to keep hold of his wife because any time he’s near the box he never shoots. One thing is for sure he’ll never have kids we know that much. 

So, so much for Hleb ‘blasting’ all things Arsenal. But with now new signings imminent and his protracted   move away, the start of the football season some way away, be prepared for more of these sensationalist stories. Your best bet from going mental? Just take them with a pinch of salt, or better still read between the lines. Actually read the quotes, not the headline, which is created to get you in a ‘mood’ to get really emotional and bent out of shape. Judging by some blog’s out there the papers/sites seem to be winning the battle.

Rambo wants First Blood..

Love that title? Yeah I thought it was quite good too, damn I’m on fire today. Any road up young Welshman and Arsenal leg-end in the making simply for turning Manchester USA to join us Aaron ‘Rambo’ Ramsey says he is gearing up to get a spot in the first Premier League game of the season in the three pointer against West Brom Albion. The 17 year old is quoted as saying:

“I will try my best to get in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season against West Brom. I am joining one of the biggest clubs in the world, one which always gives young players an opportunity at the highest level. I am going to work my hardest to be part of future successes there”.

Great to hear stuff like that. I very much doubt that he’ll figure in the first team for a while in the league games, but you can’t question his talent. It will be interesting to see how he does in the pre-season games to see if he can really stake a claim on a midfield berth. 

transfer news…

Other news doing the rounds is that we missed out on Clément Chantôme a 20 year old defender who has decided to sign an extension with Paris Saint-Germain. Can’t say I’m too arsed about missing out on him, he’s hardly the experience player we need to scare the bejesus out of opposition strikers.

Apparently Andrei Arshavin’s price tag is £24m, his club Zenit St Petersburg say he wont leave for a penny less… so see ya then mate, The Arsenal wont move for him unless someone goes for around the same price, can anyone see that happening?

Jump on board Gooners and join the comments!

 

 

Allgoonerdup goes FaceBook

 

It had to happen, Allgoonerdup has gone and got itself on FaceBook. So get yourself on there and link us up, tell you mates, your family, whoever, join the fun and socialise on the worlds number one social network. OK I’m not getting paid to say any of that but you know the coo. 

 

 

To link us up just go to: http://www.facebook.com and in the search area type in either: 

Tommi Gooner or Allgoonerdup and you’ll get to the right spot. The idea is get a load of Gooners on there and share in everything…. well Arsenal.

Has Adebayor lost the plot?

If everyone thought Jens Lehmann had the copyright on being the number one mentalist at The Arsenal then they (me included) didn’t look far enough as it seems Emmanuel Adebayor wants that crown. What is going on with The Togonator? The big fella has truly gone and lost his freaking mind. I’m sure I don’t need to catalogue the events as I’m sure ever Gooner is familiar with Adebayor’s ‘no I’m staying’, ‘Actually might go’ and the killer line ‘I need to think about my retirement’. WTF? Adebayor is 24 FFS! Thinking about his retirement, you sure? Now with Adebayor you can’t even give him the benefit of the doubt and say it’s his agent making all the noises and trying to engineer his client (and himself) a pay rise, as it’s Adebayor doing all the talking. Now who know’s who Adebayor has been speaking to regarding his ‘situation’. If it’s his agent(s) then they are just pandering to Manu’s ego. Don’t get me wrong but mate, you’re a good player but you’ve had one good season but there’s no way in hell you are worth the alleged £120K a week you were ‘demanding’. 

Adebayor’s latest sound bite and quite mind expanding quote is: 

“I have to prepare for my retirement as a player, too. Even if you’re not scoring fine goals and you have money, you can enjoy a happy retirement. The time for preparing for that moment is now.”

Mate you’re 24 and you’re on about £30K a week, on that you could retire and live like a god after five years, FFS! I have lost complete faith in Adebayor if he can really change his mind like the wind every two minutes. I know he is young, but so are Gael Clichy and Cesc Fabregas who told European giants Juventus, AS Roma, Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively to ‘do one, I am staying with The Arsenal’, so why is it so difficult for Adebayor? He already said in another interview that he wouldn’t be motivated by money as he doesn’t have that mentality having grown up in Togo, although to be fair Adebayor probably switched on that statement in the very next interview he gave. 

The bottom line for me is that Emmanuel Adebayor is under contract, (what’s one of them then?) and he only signed a new improved contract last summer, therefore mate show some loyalty and sit down and shut up. Adebayor seems to think because he has had one good season he should be paid the same sort of sky high wages Thierry Henry was on in his final season at The Arsenal. What someone hasn’t told Adebayor is that Thierry Henry scored goals by the bucketload season after season for about 8 seasons straight. And when he did have a good season he didn’t go to the coach’s office with his cap in his hand saying “This and and that team are after me, so pay me what I want or I am off”. 

Who the hell does Adebayor think he is? Like I said before someone has been chatting nonsense in the big fella’s ear, lets hope Arsène Wenger gets to speak to the fast talking Togonator real quick and chat sense to him. If anyone can make a player see some kind of sense or sense of ones self then my money would be on Wenger, who Adebayor has called a father figure before. This one could run and run, however Wenger needs to grow some balls and just tell the big fella “You are under contract, you have had one good season, you are under contract, you had a pay hike last season, you are under contract, you are going nowhere my boy!” Or something along those lines. 

However if AC Milan or Barcelona are willing to stump up £32m for Adebayor should we take the money and run? Is Adebayor really worth £32m? 

Surprise headline corner

Oh yes, here we go again the transfer link that wont go away. What with Emmanuel ‘I am thinking about my retirement’ Adebayor looking… well to retire, we can exclusively reveal Obafemi Martins is being lined up as his replacement. Now, I didn’t see that story coming, did you? 

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven will be revealed next week due to an influx of late line ups which effected the final vote. So hang to your hats and tune in for the big one. Thanks to everyone who have entered a team. 

Jens goes nuts

Mentalist keeper Jens Lehmann kept up his grumpy old man persona (what else) as he blames Germany’s loss in the final of Euro 2008 against Cesc Fabregas’ Spain on the referee. Not content with the fact that ‘Ze Germans’ were a bit crap, the afro sporting mentalist has had to have a dig at the ref partly to disguise the fact that ‘ze Germans’ were… really crap. Admittedly Jens was one of Germany’s better players on the night, so unlucky Jens but good to see you wont go away quietly, you David Hasselhoff looking, gangly, nut job. 

Silly season part 52

Oh and just to show you that we are well into silly season, try this one for size, apparently now CSKA Chelsea are chasing Emmanuel Adebayor. Well that would definitely be a club who could sort out some proper wages for Adebayor’s retirement fund!

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

 

 

 

Eurotrash / The joy of Cesc / Win a ‘I Love AFC’ t-shirt

Arshavin… what a great name. And not a bad player either. As many have pointed out, he seems like Hleb with a purpose. Still, I’m going to go against the grain a bit here and say I’d rather not have him. Don’t get me wrong, the lad looks great, and it would certainly p*ss Barcelona and Chelski off, but do we really need to drop another 10 – 15 million euros on a ‘creative attacker’ no matter how good he might be. Because I don’t really see Arshavin as a great tackler and that is the sort of player we’re desperately needing right now. With RvP suddenly playing again…. and Rosicky hopefully coming back as the Bionic Czech to add to the creativeness of Cesc (who outshone Arshavin comprehensively) and Samir ‘the new Glenn Helder’ Nasri it’s not like we’re desperately short of creative attackers. I know there were times last season where it looked like we lacked goals from various positions, but lets be realistic here, goal scoring is not currently a huge problem for us. 

And while we’re talking strikers, I can’t really not talk about the Adebayor situation. I should know better than to be trawling the web for news, but nothing bothers me more than seeing stories of us being linked with yet another striker with the claim that they are seen as Wenger’s choice of replacement for Adebayor. Benzema, Villa, Crouch, Santa Cruz. None of these players have outrageous haircuts and speak at a hundred miles an our like Ade, and why do I want to know about replacing a player we haven’t sold? It is clear to me that there is a lot of engineering going on behind the scenes from the horrible slimy agents of the supposed European footballing giants but so far I haven’t heard anything from Adebayor. The thing that I don’t understand, is why the British newspapers bother printing this stuff anyway? Surely it is in the interests of their own long term futures to have an interesting league full of the best players to write up stories about. If they encourage more speculation about the best players leaving (see also Cristiano Ronaldo/Real Madrid) then they’ll eventually be left trying to sell papers filled with stories about a second rate league. I’d like to see, just for once, the English papers trying to unsettle Barcelona and Real Madrid players. 

Meanwhile Eurovision2008 continued this week with Jens Lehmann getting a little bit too hyped up for his own good. Apparently he was prepared to die to make the final. Which, if that were to happen, would surely leave Joachim Low down a goalkeeper for the final. Certainly death in the semi would make it hard for the late Jens to go up and collect his medal should they go all the way and win the thing. While he was amped up, he also had a bit of a pop at Wenger (though when you read the actual quotes from Jens’ it doesn’t seem any worse than anything else he has said) that he was proving him wrong for letting him go now he had made a major final. What else can I say but I think i’m gonna miss Jens. That mad b*stard certainly keeps it entertaining. 

 

And what of Cesc’s performance last night? After all the hype around Arshavin and Ronaldo, the player coming into form and looking to be the difference in this tournament is none other than our own Spanish wonderkid. He completely overshadowed his opposite number in the Russian ranks in the game and based on the inflation rate on players values who perform well in this tournament, what price now for Cesc? Boy.. I can’t wait to see him threading those eye of the needle passes through to Crouchy next season.

The joy of Cesc

If anyone watched the Spanish demolish the Russian’s at Euro 2008 you would of seen The Cesc™ come off the bench (again) and play a blinder. Normally we’d be sweating as the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona would be hovering around like vultures when a player stands out on the radar like that. But unlike want away players such as Hleb and Adebayor (although we don’t honestly know what’s going on for sure as it’s just paper/site talk of rumours and unfounded stories) , I am not worried about other teams (i.e. Real and Barca) saying they want to sign Fabregas. At least Fabregas has come out and said he’s staying so that’s a start. Also add to that The Cesc™ gave Barcelona officials a bitch slap and a lesson in how to conduct yourself in the proper manner when he said:

“Barca should show us some respect.

“In recent weeks it has come out that Barca are in for at least seven Arsenal players and there’s no need for that.

“These things cause doubts in players’ minds and unsettle us. We do things differently, in secret. If the player wants to go, he’ll go anyway.”

You got to love this guy! So at least one thing Gooners we know one player who will come back from Euro 2008 with his reputation gone through the roof and his price tag hitting the ‘God-daamn’ price range wont have his head turned to join the likes of Barcelona or Real. Although I’m sure the Spanish papers such as El Pais, El Marca and El Mundo Deportivo will be reporting such fantasy stories as Real or Barcelona to offer (insert ludicrous figure) plus (add a number of players) to tempt Wenger to sell Fabregas, or hell they will probably say a deal has been done already or in the process a bit like the Hleb debacle. Any road up Wenger seriously needs to add quality to the squad and keep WonderBoy™ TheCesc happy because admittedly with Cesc on this sort of form we need to be challenging and winning titles because if we don’t I don’t think we’ll be able to keep hold of him. But for know lets rejoice in having arguably the best young midfielder in the world, I’m sure Messi would argue that fact by f*ck it.

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven will be revealed next week due to an influx of late line ups which effected the final vote. So hang to your hats and tune in for the big one. Thanks to everyone who have entered a team. 

Your numbers up, Nasri (Zzzz), and new t-shirt comp..

Many of you would of seen them by now as the new Arsenal squad numbers were announced yesterday but there were no real big surprises. The number 14 jersey is still in semi-retirement and in my opinion will be kept that way for a while yet, a bit like the number six jersey which was only snagged two seasons ago by Phillippe ‘Swiss Tony’ Senderos. The big give away is the number one, 21 and 24 jersey’s – which now belong to Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski and Soprano’s sounding Vito Mannone respectively . It’s clear Arsène Wenger has chosen his keepers for next season so why oh why sites/papers are linking us to The Toon’s Shay Given and (given half the chance) Fiorentina’s Sébastien Frey is beyond me. Wenger has said for ages that he ‘trusts’ his keepers and by dishing out those new squad numbers it makes it blatantly obvious that a new keeper is not ont on the cards. But don’t think that will stop sites/papers reporting on possible keeper targets. I know these stories have to start from somewhere but where on earth did anyone get he idea that we are after Shay Given, must be the same ‘source’ who keep linking us to Obafemi Martins.

New signing and Manchester USA turning down Aaron ‘Rambo’ Ramsey grabs the newly vacated number 16 shirt which of course Mathieu Flamini gave up to play Uefa Cup football with AC Milan and Mexican star Carlos Vela gets the number 12 shirt. Surprisingly The WonderBoy™ Theo Walcott keeps the number 32 shirt, odd one that, I thought he would be given a ‘proper’ number, number 14 anyone? I suppose it’s just a matter of time before the number 13 shirt is on offer again should Alex Hleb do one? But who know’s? And for some reason someone sees fit for Emmanuel Eboué to keep the coveted number 27 shirt! Does anyone think Eboué will be the player next season to blow all his critics away? A bit like Alex Song or have a remarkable turn around season much like Flamini? Or is that just wishful thinking? Yeah, perhaps too much wishful thinking there. 

Obviously the numbers situation will change, there’s probably going to be some more coming in as well as a couple going out. And once all the dust has settled everyone can go out and buy the new Arsenal home kit which was designed by some lazy fashionista in celebration of Middlesbrough   old kit. Once I get a bit of time I shall be updating the players profiles so all the new numbers will be there as well, which is nice. 

So onto Samir Nasri who still hasn’t signed yet, not sure what the problem is there but obviously something is holding it up. Plenty of sites, including Nasri’s own one ‘confirmed’ he had completed the signing, only for his site to remove the comments later, oh the drama. Like I’ve said before, only when The Arsenal official site announce a signing do you know it’s complete. Admittedly the site isn’t the fastest to announce it but you can rest assured that when it does at least it’s correct. You can read on this or that web site that a ‘source has confirmed’ or ‘my mates brothers uncle’s sister’s boyfriend works in reception and saw so and so being shown around’ – all a lot bollocks. So I know it sounds boring but until it appears on the official site then start believing. Although I must admit it can be a bit boring just waiting. 

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven

The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven will be revealed on Friday. So you still have time to get your own All Time Elevens in so you can’t bang on about Gus Caesar keeping the likes of Liam Brady or Patrick Vieira out the team. Get your vote on: alltimeeleven@allgoonerdup.com.

And the winner is..

The winner of the Cesc Fabregas inspired ‘Let’s talk about Cesc Baby’ t-shirt is Darren Brent (hopefully no relation to David) who resides in Surrey. Once again we got a shedload of answers and correct ones at that saying The Cesc’s made his debut for The Arsenal aged 16 years old, so well done Darren and thank you all for all your entries. 

New Competition

Your competition this time should you choose to take it is to win a ‘I Love AFC’ inspired by the Milton Glaser ‘I Love NY’ slogan.

To win this t-shirt all you have to do is answer this question: What year was Arsenal football club formed?Yes it’s really that simple!

Send your answers, name and postal address plus your choice of t-shirt, colour and size to

iwannafreebie@allgoonerdup.com

Competition closes Friday 25 July

Good luck Gooners.

We are Arsenal. 

See you in the comments good people…