Transfer rumours and yesterday in the World Cup

We continue to be linked to a number of players - however, I'm slightly dubious as to whether any of them will arrive.

A persistent link that's re-surfaced is Trabelsi of Ajax and Tunisia arriving. He's a r-b who, I admit, I didn't particularly notice during the world cup. Apparently his agent is claiming we've already offered him a deal, but then agents are agents so this might not mean anything. However, given that Lauren is out for at least the first month of the new season, it might be worth getting in an experienced r-b, given that Eboue and Gilbert are clearly not the finished article. The fact that Trabelsi is out of contract and hence available on a Bosman could seal the deal.

A rumour that seems to have blown up in the last day, is that of Buffon coming to us. Whilst I would dearly love to see him at the club, it seems unlikely. I think the rumour may have a lot to do with agents soudning out interest for Juve players just in case harsh penalties are imposed on the club in the match-fixing affair. The price tag - £19m - and wages would probably put us off. After my disparaging remarks about his performance against England, Isaksson - the Swedish keeper - was excellent against Germany, and may still prove to be the real long term successor to dear Jens.

Talking of Jens, Oliver Kahn continues to show that there is actually an 'I' in team. If I was Klinsmann I'd be temtped to kick him out the squad, regardless of his skills. All he's contributing to the German effort at the moment is negativety. He sits and sulks on the bench, only caring about himself, not the team. Superstar egos, eh?

Two rather similar players to be mentioned with regard to us have been Steven Appiah and, for the ten millionth time, Yaya Toure. I have to say I have been impressed with Appiah, if a little concerned with his selfishness. Toure has looked the better player, but you have to wonder whether this transfer will actually ever come off. Both would add a welcome bit of bite to our midfield.

Saviola now also appears to be slipping from our grasp. He's looked excellent for Argentina - not just in his ability to score goals, but also his general team work and passing. He appears to favour staying in La Liga, apparently, so a move may now be out the question.

I'm sure there are more rumours - I reported the Klose deal on Saturday, and nothing more seems to have come of it - but there's only so much speculation one can handle before breakfast. The only thing I'm concerned about is United getting both Torres and Carrick, which seems a real possibility. Seeing Torres up in the North would be heartbreaking, yet would Arsene would be reticent to match United's alleged £20m bid. I'd be willing to use Reyes as a makeweight if it would seal the deal for us at a reasonable price.

For those of you who haven't seen it, i.e. probably none, here's some pictures of the new kit. Very nice if you ask me, and, nearly identical to the one leaked over the internet quite a while back. It seems to be, essentially, the same design as the Brazil kit, but with our colours. I'm not sure about the 'collar', if it can be called that, but apart from that i like it. It is nice to have the old red and white back. The main 'controversy' seems to be over the gold stripes. I think they're ok, but the kit would look perhaps look a bit better without them. Either way, the shirt's a vast improvement on the awful kit we had before the red-current came out.

World Cup

I really don't want to go into the insane amount of depth I usually do for the England match again. Suffice to say, boring, but actually rather effective. I have to admit that I was on the verge of falling asleep when Becks whipped in his superb free-kick, making my celebrations somewhat muted. [The early afternoon drinking always aids lethargy]. I rescind my criticisms of Hargreaves, who gave England far more options on the right than the rather one dimensional Carragher. Whether Hargreaves has the defensive abilities to stand up to a player of Ronaldo's quality in the next game remains to be seen [although Ronaldo's injury will hopefully not have cleared up].

Rooney was excellent up front, running himself into the ground. The fundamental problem of the system was the lack of options for Rooney when he won the ball. He still needs an out and out striker to forward the ball to. Especially now Lampard is barely capable of hitting a barn door. The system meant we dominated the game, but were nearly toothless. Gerrard, Lamps, and Joe Cole need to get their shooting boots on -again - to help us through.

However, despite its dullness, I was actually quite happy with England. We actually, for the first time in the tournament, played some rather nice passing football - no doubt partly forced on the team by the lack of the walking skyscraper up front. Carrick was excellent, and drove almost all of England's best moves. His passing is superb and he was instrumental in making us play atcual, not long-ball, football.

Are England going down the Arsenal in the Champions' league root? Playing an formation not tried until very recently, which results in fewer goals, but greater solidity and possession? I know England have clearly been one of the most boring teams in the tournament, but Sven may have finally struck tactical gold when it matters most. I never thought I'd say that.

In the other game of the day, Portugal played Holland in what can only be described as a war. A new World Cup record was set with 16 yellow cards and 4 red. Whilst this may seem like a huge amount, it has to be said that the ref was justified in around 2/3rds - 3/4s of the cards. Deco's second yellow - and Van Bronckhorst's - were harsh, but then Figo basically got away with a head-butt. Portugal will be without Costinha and Deco for the 1/4 final, and Ronaldo [injury] and Figo [possible extension of suspension, although if he was booked I'm not sure if this is possible] potentially missing. Having feared the worst for England in the 1/4s, I'm now quite confident we can beat Portugal. I still think it will be an appallingly boring game to watch though.

In between the fighting there was some football. Holland dominated the game, but Van Basten inexplicably stuck with Kuyt up front for the whole match. While our Robin looked excellent -albeit in a much wider role than he plays for us - Kuyt looked like he could have been there all night and not scored. Why Van Nistelrooy didn't come on was a mystery.

Til later Arsefans, make sure, if you can, to watch the Italy-Ozzies match. It'll be a bloodbath, but, no doubt, morbidly exciting.

Gb.