This year is make or break for Van Persie.

A good win yesterday. It was a funny game that we could have equally won 3 or 4-1 if our finsihing had been better, yet also perhaps have lost if Charlton had put away someof their chances, or been awarded a pretty stone-wall penalty.

We seem to be playing really good football again in terms of our passing and movement. Pin-ball football - or Wengerball - seemed to be happily pinging away. Indeed, some nice early passing created an opportunity for Fabregas, which he should have scored with a headed chance set up by Thierry. Instead, he skied his header from close range. It was a poor miss and you could tell he was dissapointed by the way he refused to meet Tel's eyes as he ran off.

Charlton then, against the run of play, took the lead. Hoyte, who continues to be a weak spot in the team, played Hasselbaink onside, allowing him to cross for a completely unmarked Bent. It was a really soft goal to concede and I did worry about our reaction.

Yet we've had to battle back from a goal down a few times already this season - the difference yesterday was that two of our chances actually went in.

Hleb was a constant hub of activity on the right hand side. Unfairly maligned by quite a few supporters for his reluctance to shoot, he is becoming a real creative dynamo. He holds on to the ball and more often than not makes an intelligent pass. I've said it before, but he really reminds me of Dennis sometimes - not in his scoring abilities [yet] but the way he always seems to be thinking when he's on the ball. Something always seems on the verge of happening with him, and very often does.

He was given too much time by the Charlton defence for RvP's first goal. He danced around enough to pull defenders towards him, before floating a perfect ball to RvP. Robin's finish was excellent, and at 1-1 I fancied us to win.

There are not enough superlatives in the dictionary for Robin's second. It was a stupidly good goal, the type you try when you're a kid in the playground and ends up in the road. Arsene got it right when he said it was technically perfect. A perfect goal, perhaps, already,the best of his career.

And after that we should have put the game to bed; but we fluffed our lines instead. Robin missed an easy chance for his hat-trick, while Thierry missed a fabulously easy chance when one on one with the keeper. Persistent tackling by Hleb gave Thierry the ball with only Carson to beat and, unusually for Thierry, he snatched at the opportunity.

So we then had to deal with a lot of Charlton pressure and three golden chances in particular. Jens pulled off a fantastic save low to his left to prevent an otherwise certain goal. At his present rate, he's pulling off on game-winning save a game. Then Willy hand-balled it in the box but a penalty wasn't given. I don't think he was fully fit yesterday but he's so good I want him in the team whenever possible at the moment. He's a real battler who can help us win games just by his presence. Finally Hasselbaink, who moaned all game, headed wide when he should have scored.

The headline might seem odd given his fantastic performance yesterday, but I really believe that this is the case. We've all known, since the Blackburn semi-final, that Robin is capable of scoring unbelievable goals - hence why he has a loyal fan club among many Arsenal fans. On his day he's as dangerous a striker as they come and its good to have a player in the team who's game is so focused on scoring goals. But, the worry remains that he isn't developing his wider game for us. For Holland, he gets to play on the wing, which, despite his desire for goal, he may actually prefer, and he seems to contribute more to the team. Unfortunately, I think he likes the spaces that Thierry occupies. When Robin's scoring, he's fulfilling his worth to the team and squad. Unfortunately, and unlike, say, Adebayor, or even Baptista in the flashes we've seen of him, when Robin isn't scoring, he often might as well not be on the pitch.

I think Arsene will give Robin another year to prove his worth to the squad. If he gets 15+ goals this year and isn't otherwise developing, he may get another year on top of this. But if Robin's game doesn't become more consistent or more productive in terms of his general team play, he may cash in and bank on one of Bendtner or Lupoli making it at Premiership level. Both are currently tearing up the Championship. Especially as I'm still not sure if Thierry likes playing with Robin.

Results elsewhere went for us yesterday, so, if we win our game in hand, we're only two points from the top. And our next home game is against Watford. Three good summer siginings, combined with a few youngsters and foreigners who have now adapted to the Premiership, have turned our squad into one that can genuinely compete for the title. Especially with Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool all looking fallible.

Arsene reaches his anniversary.

Sorry for the lack of recent updates. Has been a busy week and I've been incommunicado, or at least internet incommunicado, for much of it.

However, this week is Arsene's tenth anniversary and my blog really wouldn't be up to much if I failed to comment on this.

I started supporting Arsenal back in 1990 when I was just a little lad. England had just been knocked out of the world cup on penalties - a perhaps unauspicious start to my life as a supporter - and I needed a club. I saw the Cannons, Tony Adams and the rest, as they say, est histoire.

The first few years of me watching the Arse saw us play with an all English team in a semi-delapidated stadium. Still, I love Georgie G and I do disagree with the way that the club has tried to erase him from history a little bit. He won trophies, even if he did take a bung and consider Chris Kiwomya a world class player. But he left the club in a state of near meltdown. All our players seemed to be hooked on booze, drugs, gambling, women etc., and we'd been beaten in the last minute of the ECWC final by an ex-Spurs player with the most ridiculous goal of all time. That game still hurts me to this day.

And then along came Arsene. Or 'Arsene who?' as the wonderfully erudite Evening Standard put it. That would be Arsene 'I'll sign Patrick Vieira for £3.5m in one of my first deals' Wenger. I remember seeing Paddy play for the first time and it was like watching a completely new type of football. George's Arsenal had been 'boring, boring' Arsenal, '1-0 to the Arsenal'. Arsene turned our team into the most attractive - in terms of our footballing style - team in the league. I remember one season we scored in almost every game.

He's bought so many players on the cheap and turned them into world class players, there'd be too many to list. I think his net spending is something ridiculous like £45m in ten years. He modernised the club. The Emirates Stadium is his permanent legacy, a monument to his vision, yet so are the world class training facilities at London Colney. He turned the squad into a professional football team, not just a bunch of boozers who played footy on the weekends. Without Arsene, the premiership would not boast the hoardes of incredibly talented foreign players and managers, who have improved the league, and also helped cosmopolitanise [is that a word?] British culture.

But, and most importantly, he bought us success. 3 league titles and four FA cups. He produced the greatest side in the modern English game who went 49 games unbeaten. He deserved at least one of the European trophies, and had our players been able to convert penalties, or had Manny Almunia been able to defend his near post, he would have done. Now we've finally broken our hoodoo in the CL, I expect us to win it under Arsene. To see him leave the club without a CL trophy to his name would be an utter, unacceptable tragedy. I have a feeling this year, though, that we're definitiely going to exceed people's expectations.

So, I'm not sure how many other managers can boast success to a level of not just trophies, but of helping their club, and the league their club is in, postively progress forward. Anyone with any sense would recognise that, even if his an opponent, he is a truly great man. He has a job for life at Arsenal and I really hope he sees it through. It's a further measure of the man, however, that he has openly expressed his desire to go and coach kids in Africa as he still feels he needs to put something back into the game.

Merci Beaucoup Arsene, please stay until you retire.

Even at 50%, Arsenal were twice as good as Sheffield.

Not a great game yesterday it has to be said. One can't argue with the result, of course. It's great to get a home league win under our belts at the Emirates and for Thierry to get a goal. But we were far from convincing, and as late as the 65th minute, it could have plausibly been 'one of those days'.

At a base level, half our team didn't seem to click or be playing at anywhere near the top of their game. Rosicky didn't have any long range efforts, Fabregas's passes were going astray, and no-one seemed to want to give the ball to Freddie. Indeed, Freddie actually had a decent game yesterday, depsite the midfield's reluctance to try and use the right flank. He had a great header blocked with a reaction save, and even if his shooting continues to look slightly unconvincing, I thought he looked more of a threat than against Boro.

But the chief culprit of our woes was Henry. I would dismiss the charge that he was lazy yesterday, and ascribe it more to a odd form of overall malaise in his play. Neither his flicks, passes or shots seemed to be coming off, and when he had a very decent chance stopped with a fine save in the first half, it seemed to sum up his current difficulties.

It all added up to an insipid and lethargic first half. The players seemed to be running through treacle, and all our best play seemed to be coming from our back four, who were excellent all game. Although he comes in for some stick, I think Hleb is actually pretty much key to making our team click nowadays, and we missed his passing and overall ingenuity.

The second half started with a little bit more of a bang, which the crowd deserved. There was a great atmosphere in the stadium at kick off, and I was worried that our first half display might have squandered it. We continued to put on pressure, and eventually Sheffield's Championship nature shone through. Henry tried a rather speculative piece of skill, by flicking the ball over their defence - it worked, with Fab controlling and Gallas blasting home to get a deserved first goal. He was excellent yesterday, and the debate must surely now rage - should he continue at lb, with senderos or Djourou at cb, if Clichy isn't going to establish himself at lb? Or would this be a waste of one of the world's finest centre backs?

We quickly added a second from an own goal, stemming from an even more speculative cross, put in by Henry. United were coming apart at the seams, and Eboue found acres of time and space to put the ball on Tel's head for our third.

It was good to see a win, but I thought the scoreline slightly flattered us, if not United. They had no real spark, and didn't even seem capable of parking the bus. I talked to a very disgruntled United fan after the game who wanted Warnock out. One could almost feel that United didn't expect to take anything from the game. While this is a realistic attitude, it's not the right one for a team to take, who will undoubtedly find themselves in a relegation battle. I think they'll go down.

So, overall, some movement in the right direction, and a win is always a win. However, I don't think we've seen Arsenal put in a great performance at the Emirates yet.

Incredibly, building a new stadium = more debt, and Saturday preview

Our financial results are in, and, astoundingly, it seems building a fantastically expensive new stadium leaves us more in debt than before. Who'd have thought it. I for one am panicking.

Keith Edelman spelt it out in a short statement:

"It is like an individual buying a new bigger house into which you have put more equity - you will have a bigger mortgage, but overall be in a stronger financial position. The two things are completely separate and you do not say 'you have no money to spend because you have a mortgage'.

"A mortgage is something you pay off every month, X amount over a number of years then you look how much cash you have in your pocket to spend. Well, we ended the year with £36million of cash in the bank, in our pocket to spend now, so we are very cash-rich, although we have got high debts, which relate effectively to the mortgage on our stadium."

So effectively, we have a higher debt, but because we have a greater income from the stadium, and a greater amount of capital [surely?] the club will be in a healthier finanical situation, as long as revenues from the stadium remain high. Which they will as long as all us lot keep going. Regular Champions' League football is also important, but perhaps less vital than we once thought.

And, not all revenues go towards debt financing - a significant amount has been budgeted for us to sign new players, or for other cash-needy eventualities. Hence us being 'cash rich', whilst over £200m in debt. It is possible.

This was also significant - if already known by most:

"Previously we had a 14-year repayment schedule, on which the interest rate was quite high.

"Because we sold the stadium out and it was being delivered on time and on budget, we were able to go into the financial markets and get a deal which was very attractive for the club which moves the debt out to 25 years and reduces the interest rate by about 2 per cent.

"So we have lowered our debt repayments substantially every year. It is a good deal for the club and it means we have more money to invest in players and team development."

We have a longer term debt, but a more secure one at a lower rate of interest. Re-financing the debt was, to my mind, very important to our future financial security, and its a good sign that the city sees us in such a positive light. We're not the 'Bank of England club' for nothing.

I didn't see the Panorama last night, but the BBC havn't accused of anything - after the last fiasco - so I'm not too bothered. Seems old Sam Allardyce could be in hot water though. I did love one of the agent's subsequent defence, which amounted to - 'I knew it was a setup, so I lied to try and expose what was really going on'. A defence about as convincing as the legendary 'Chewbacca defence'. [google it].

This should be the last post before Saturday, and a game which will hopefully see the first win at the Emirates. Sheffield will have to 'park the bus' if they realistically want to get anything from the game, but, who knows, some post OldT hubris could affect our play. We've played SheffU a number of times in the past and prevailed over them each time - including the infamous Kanu incident - so this shouldn't be any different.

The only team news i can give so far, is that Arsene has said that Baptista is still a little unfit, and unlikely to start. I should imagine he'll get a half hour run about. The players should be fresh after nearly a full week off. I'm hoping Tel has a stormer to kick-start his season.

See you at the Emirates,

Gb.

If Jens did it, I understand.

A few stories floating around today which seem to be worth commenting on.

Firstly, Jens is facing a potential police investigation, following claims that he kicked a water bottle into the crowd at the end of the first half at Old Trafford. Now, I'm not fully defending Jens's actions, as I do think its wrong for players to take out their frustrations against crowd members. But, Arseblogger received an email which seems to put the incident in context. Apparently, the abuse Jens received from those darling Mancs ranged from calling him a Nazi - par de course for any German in the UK - to accusing him of perpetrating the holocaust and raping the victims. Charming.

If there's one thing that really annoys me about the UK, its the continuing practice of racially abusing Germans due to the events of sixty years ago. Really, get over it. Of course, we should remember the past, but it does not give us the right to act like this in the present. Its like English football fans going to the world cup and singing 'hilarious' songs about German bombers. If you say things like this to Germans you are at best a complete idiot, who brings shame on yourself and England; at worst you're a bona fide racist - the core component of being a Nazi. Moreover, I'd like to see you say it to Jens if it was just the two of you on your own.

On a lighter note, we've been linked with Welsh youngster Gareth Bale. Haven't heard much about him, except that he's knocked in a few storming free-kicks this year. Always good to have some Welsh lads about as well. He's a former room-mate of Theo.

There was a bit of a discussion on here yesterday about Thierry, and his role in the team. A good point was made that the three games Thierry has started in have been the three where the proverbial bus was parked. I would say that he's still a shoe-in to start for Saturday, and, given his performance on Sunday, Adey will surely start beside him. I think Adey and Tel is now our starting strike force, unless Adey suffers a cataclysmic loss of form, or we decide to play 451. RvP needs to start scoring some wonder goals, and also toughen up if he's going to get back in the side; especially with the Beast now breathing down his neck.

Finally, a word on the anti-Ashley chanting. Arsene has come out and said, 'arret'! Although, whether this is just because he's fundamentally opposed to it, or just because he doesn't like the pure filthiness of some of the chants, isn't clear. What I would say, is that Ash is no longer part of Arsenal. Unless you really think that it helps spur the team on by chanting about a former player, is it really worth it? We can't really claim the moral high ground if we chant obscenities about him every week. When he actually comes back in May, fair enough though.

Shades of Madrid in Manchester.

In more ways than one. As regular readers will know, I hadn't been overly optimistic about this match; yet I remember in early February feeling a touch of dread about our match in Spain, and, well, you know what happened then.

Quite simply, we played United off the park. It was a dazzling performance, all the more so for it being on the back of Liverpool Chelsea's dirty, attritional bore-fest.

4-5-1 or not 4-5-1? is that the question? With 4-5-1 Hleb, Fab, Rosicky, Gilbs, Freddie and Adey all clicked together and knew what they were doing. It was glorious, 'pinball' football, with the ball being zipped around the poor Scholes and O'Shea before they could work out what was going on.

It's really hard to fault any of the players when they play that well. Rosicky played like a more brutal Pires, combining Bobby's old elegance with a higher tackling rate, more bottle, and with a shot that's so hard he could market it to the US army. He was just about my M.O.M. due to his phenomenal work-rate. Hleb looked far more comfortable in a five man midfield as he could drift into the centre, yet also not have to worry about shooting. If you take away any expectations of Hleb regularly scoring you realise what a fantastic player he is. It was his pass that set up the penalty. He can take the ball past players through his dribbling and cut defences in two. He also tackled magnificently yesterday. If he has runners in front of him, he should push for the highest assists in the PL.

Gilberto despite, or perhaps because, of his missed penalty, did his job superbly. There were a few misplaced passes but he helped break up any linkage between United's midfield and attack, and anchored our midfield admirably. Freddie still doesn't look like scoring but he did look like a threat yesterday, and showed he still has the ability to play high quality football. Cesc also pulled out a huge performance. He, perhaps, did not reach the dizzy heights of his destruction of Juve, but he wasn't far off, and, most importantly, he pushed himself until the last moments of the game. Any player that can find the strength to win the ball, take it past two players and then set up a winning goal in the 86th minute is no featherweight.

Adebayor's performance was perhaps the most pleasing in many ways. Up until his goal he'd looked, to me, a great leader of the front line, who could hold the ball up and create space. However, with his rather tame miss when almost clean through in the second half, I wondered whether he was actually a goalscoring forward. It was great, therefore, to see him get a goal to complete the restoration of my early faith in him. I had started to waiver of late, but I'm now convinced he is a very decent player, and one who brings more to the team than RvP. If Rvp isn't scoring he doesn't really do a lot else; Adey does, and he could grow into a far mor complete player.

The only player I have any real criticism for is Eboue. His positional play at times was poor, and he has painful lapses of concentration that will cost us if not resolved. Yet he does seem to be learning, and he gets forward a lot better than Lauren. The other four in defence were awesome. Gallas looks like he's been a Gooner for years, not weeks, already. It was great to see him celebrate as he did at the end. Maybe he's beginning to realise what it's like to play for a team that actually try and play football. Djourou and Toure were superb, almost faultless, and I'm struggling to see how Phil can come back in for Djourou when he's fit again.

And Jens. He stood up, stared down Ronaldo and let him smash the ball into his face. Then he gets up and tells O'Shea not to come anywhere near him at a corner again or they'll be trouble. Then he pulls of a save from Solksjaer which equals his save - which i already consider the best I've seen - at Highbury against Madrid. Hero, legend, my favourite goalie ever...

On a more general note, several things were clear.

Firstly, we showed a tremendous team spirit which makes a mockery of Ash's book. For instance - Kolo, in the 89th/90th minute stretching out to make a tackle and pulling something in his hip. Instead of going off for treatment, and leaving us with only 10 men, he stays on and battles through. Jens and the aforementioned ball in face. Gilberto remarking how after he missed the penalty, the rest of the team rallied round him, which spurred him on.

Secondly, we can win the league. I think Chelsea are dangerously close to a Galactico state of affairs - as seen through their midfield of four central midfielders. They were average yesterday and we can beat them. The early hype surrounding United was destroyed yesterday. They couldn't live with us - indeed, I think any team that actually trys to play us [and not 'park the bus'] we can beat. Of more immediate concern - it'd be lovely for Arsenal to win next weekend, at the Emirates...

Thirdly, Henry's absence. This season, we've won four games. In each Thierry hasn't started. To me this says two possible things. Firstly, and most plausibly, he hasn't been fully fit. If not, Arsene needs to have more faith in his available players, and not exacerbate the problem by playing Tel. Secondly, the other players take more repsonsibility when he's not about; if so, they need to keep this and take it into games where he does play.

There's something almost uncomparibly sweet about beating United at Old Trafford, and I hope this victory goes some way to exorcising the ghosts of the buffet.What I do really feel, is that in the space of time between Madrid and Manchester, a new Arsenal side has been built. One that is capable of making a serious challenge for any honour in European and domestic football.

Arsenal must never sell out; United Preview.

Sorry for the site issues yesterday. 'twas not my fault - I logged on to find a blue screen and unhelpful messages from blogger, and I'm glad everything now seems resolved.

If I had been able to log on yesterday, I would have had a very clear message: Arsenal must never sell out or, to be more precise, sold out. Our club must never be whored to a random foreign investor. We have a board of directors who love and care about the club - who are, for all we are castigated for being a 'foreign club' - fans of the Arsenal, and whose attachment to the club is more than financial or capricious. Its only a rumour at the moment, but one of the major share-holders is apparently thinking of selling his shares. If he does, I would hope he sells it to the right type of investor[s].

We must never let a Glazer walk in and whore our logo around the world, while using the club as a sinking fund for his debts. We must never let an Abramovic turn our club into a yacht - a plaything that flaunts his wealth and inflates the hubristic ego of its obscenely rich owner, and that also makes a clubs successes hollow.

Several Russian oligarchs have been reported as sniffing round the club. This would be calamitous: at best they would use the club as a plaything; at worst they would use it as a symbol of their supposed legitimacy, in an attempt to mask the corruption of their other deals. I don't want the business practices of Russian oligarchs associated with the club, no matter what success they could bring us.

Clubs need to stop looking at the short term and think of the long-term future of the game. Alan Pardew's attitude - anyone remember his 'there are too many foreign players' rant now? - is typical of the selective and potentially dangerous myopia engulfing the premiership. His attitude seemed to be - 'well who cares about the future, these players will help us in the short-term'. That he's turned his club into a pimp's accomplice is seemingly lost on him; as are the more general ramifications of having players who aren't really owned by the clubs they play for; or the fact that the club is dealing with a man who has operated as a front for an oligarch who's banned from doing business in certain parts of the world.

I think I speak for most Arsenal fans - or at least i would hope I do - when I say that I'd rather our club won no trophies than tainted ones. The English premiership - with a stronger FA - needs to improve the financial clarity of football, and also consider the implications of the mass selling of our clubs to foreign investors, whose goals may be dangerously far-removed from the traditions of our game and the desires of its fans.

Right, rant over.

I've become slightly more optimistic - perhaps dangerously so - about tomorrow. I feel that something has to give: although whether it be United's flying start to the season, or our league hopes, I'm still not sure.

We're in a better situation than we were last time we visitied Old Trafford due to the presence of three classy, battling players: Gallas, Rosicky, and Baptista. The Neville entity will surely not try and kick those three about like they did to poor old Jose. Indeed, what I really want to see tomorrow is some bottle and battle. A 0-0 would do me, as long as we showed that we have the guts to make a real challenge for the Title this year, and that we're not going to be easily rolled over into submission.

It should be a fascinating match and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to the 'paint-drying' competition that will be Liverpool Chelsea before it though. And I wish Sky would not so mercilessly hype everything up nowadays. It demeans us all.

Gb.

Rosicky takes a shot, but worries remain.

Firstly, regarding yesterday's headline, can I just point out that i do know that sponsor is spelt with an o not an e. My bad.

As I was at work last night, I didn't get to see the game. Despite my protests, the Man U Celtic game was put on instead. 'Twas a cracker, but meant I missed a great win for us.

Rosicky's goal was incredible, better than the one he hammered in against the US in the world cup. Only he could have scored that goal for us last night. Freddie and Bobby used to be able to knock in long-range curlers, but Pires is gone, and Freddie has lost the ability. Rvp and Fab might have the ability, but not the power, while Gilbs, Hleb, and Adey would never score from that position. Tomas looked excellent against Boro, and he seems to be making an excellent start to his Arsenal career.

From the general sounds of things, we didn't play too well, and largely relied on a RvP dive - it was a dive - to get their keeper sent off, and take an early lead. Its good to get the three points, but winning by diving is not the way i want to see our boys play. It also seems that we very much needed Tomas's goal, after a less than convincing performance. While the win should hopefully build some confidence, doubts must surely remain about Sunday.

Especially when Kolo is out - or very likely to be so. While Willy can obviously easily sidestep into cb, the prospect of Justin Hoyte facing Ronaldo is not a pleasant one. He's not looked convincing so far this year. Indeed, given Clichy's 'sicknote' tendencies, rumours are already abounding that we're looking at Woodgate - and making Gallas a permanent lb; I wouldn't be surprised if another lb is picked up in the next year, even if Traore is probably the ultimate successor to Ash.

Some good news for us is that Giggs is out of the match on Sunday, a player who's been re-invigorated so far this year. I also noted that Rooney looked completely off the pace last night. This is either a good sign, or a very, very bad sign for us. Indeed, given his past-performances against us, he's probably saving up some form of triumphal return for Sunday.

Elsewhere, The Queen will formally open the Emirates stadium sometime soon. Does this mean the league matches so far have only been 'informal' meetings? Hmm. Quite a result for the club though, and it shows our gravitas in UK sport.

Update: Kolo is fit, Henry and RvP aren't for Sunday. Eek.

Ashley Cole, Hamburg, 'new sponsers', and ANR.

I haven't deigned to comment on Ash's book over the last few days as there seems quite enough vitriol flying around the web at the moment to drown even the most happy-go-lucky of people in bile. As far as I can tell, Ash has never, ever done anything wrong. Take the supposed tapping up incident. He was just twiddling his thumbs in a hotel room when, out of nowhere, Jose turned up and they made 'chit-chat'. This 'chit-chat' was completely innocent. Apart from the minor matter of Jose telling him 1) we need a lb 2) you are the best lb in the world 3) are you happy at Arsenal? Y'know. The trivial matters in a footballer's life. Arsenal then had the disrespect to try and use this as a means of getting a points penalty inflicted on Chelsea, and 'hung him out to dry'. Poor Ashley.

When this is combined with 'its not about the money but Arsenal wouldn't give me the extra £1.3m I wanted [over 5 years]', the almost slavish devotion of Ash to the seemingly whiter-than-white Jonathon Barnett [boo!!], and the 'I'm not gay, how dare they call me gay, I'm a real man', which almost reads like the famous 'not that there's anything wrong with that' Seinfeld sketch, there is enough material in Ash's book to make it a true classic of comedic fiction.

Yet its not all bad reading. The part serialised in the Times today about the pizza-throwing culprit - apparently it was little Cesc - is actually quite touching. The moment when the pizza slid down Fergie's face and all our lot creased up, most almost have been the last hurrah of the invincibles. I feel that Ash partially left because a new type of team spirit was being built in the dressing room, which was notably different to then on he'd grown up with. Whilst his insinuations against big Phil are probably untrue, and I would hope that Rvp and Freddie do actually talk, his words do seem to hammer home that the belief and spirit of the invincibles did break down in the aftermath of the United game, and that this was far more fatal to the team's performances than any loss of footballing ability. It also seems that Ash was very much affected by Paddy's departure, with the lynchpin nature of Paddy's contribution to the team is further emphasised.

One almost feels with Ash, that there was a more interesting, and far more plausible book, within him and his ghost-writer - one that should have been written once he'd retired and had the benefit of cooling his temper somewhat. But instead, as Ash refuses to accept any blame for anything, and is also seeking to maximise profit from the publication, we've been served up a hotch-potch of fantasical stories with only the merest basis in reality. I'm sure Ash will regret the book in 10 years.

Ash's book has swamped a lot of far more interesting news that's emerged this week. Firstly Cesc is on the verge of signing an astonishing 8 year deal. As Gunnerblog has correctly pointed out, this will mean that the summer of 2013 - the year before it runs out - will now be unbearable, but I'm sure we all agree that this is fantastic news. And if he did leave we should be able to get about £500m for him, given inflation by the earlier 2010s.

For tonight's game against Hamburg, we'll be wearing a special one-off shirt with 'Dubai' on it, as Hamburg are also sponsored by Emirates. We'll also be without Thierry, which has led to a lot of speculation that Theo might start. I would hope that he or Rosicky start on the left, and that we play 4-5-1, with Baptista as a half-striker, and RvP or Adey up front. Hopefully will have overestimated our poor start to the season and we can rip them to pieces ce soir. We need a decent win before Sunday.

One interesting thing I noticed last night: Chel$ea had the second lowest Champions League attendence of all the CL games. Only 32K turned up [of a 42k capacity] for their game against Bremen - only Sporting Lisbon had less and even PSV and Olympiacos managed more. I'm not gloating, I just think the fact Chel£ struggle to sell out their matches say something fascinating about the current perception of the club.

Finally, if you're as slow on the uptake as me, you may not have realised that ANR has 'moved back to highbury', as they put it, as they're just so popular. I preferred the old site anyway.

Gb.

10% from perfection or disaster.

Its hard to stay optimistic after the start to the season we've had. 3 average teams, and 2 points is unacceptable - regardless of the new stadium. If we want to get anywhere in the league this season, we need to start improving fast.

And the most frustrating thing seems to be that we're only 10% from clicking. We're not playing awful football, and we're dominating games. But we're ponderous at the moment when we need to be decisive, whether this be making a quick break, or deciding when to shoot.

We're all used to Arsenal teams full of binding pace, with Jose, Thierry, Bobby, and Ash scampering up the wings. Now, we seem to take an age to formulate our attacks, which is allowing our opponents to get men behind the ball and stifle us. Because that's all Boro, City and Villa have done. Nicked a goal with virtually their only attack of the game and then held on to it through massed defence. And we've had no answer so far. We pass the ball when a speculative effort is needed, or we let them get back en masse before we really launch an attack.

I was surprised with the starting line-up. Rosicky, and perhaps even Walcott, should be starting in front of Ljunberg. I just don't think he has it anymore. He struggles to beat players, he didn't link up particularly well with Gallas, and he just didn't look like a goalscoring threat. He works his socks off but we need more from that position than he's giving. Rosicky caused an instant spark when he came on, with some lovely dummies, and a few attempts on goal. He needs to be starting to get used to the premiership.

RvP also dissapointed. For all his undoubted finesse, he's too leightweight, frequently being barged off the ball and looking for fouls when continuing play would have gained a greater advantage. I'd say to try Baptista in a half-striker role, because my doubts about RvP in the Premiership refuse to go away.

Especially when my worries about Adebayor are rising. I've defended him a lot on here, but yesterday he was hopeless and looked out of his depth. He needed too much time on the ball to control it, and then think about what to do with it, and he wasn't getting into the box to offer the aerial threat we needed. He causes panic in the opposing defence, but he needs to get a goal soon.

Indeed our entire aerial threat is quickly turning into a farce. We've had the best part of 50 corners in our three league games yet I don't think we've really looked like scoring from any of them.

But we did play some nice football yesterday, which could have resulted on a goal if we could find that final 10%. Hleb, Fabregas, and Henry linked up a few times to great effect, yet all three are just a little too far off their top level to turn good football into goals. Hleb, in particular, came in for a lot of unfair abuse yesterday, mostly stemming from a hatful of opportunities when he passed instead of shooting. He is not a goalscorer, and I'm not sure he can be turned into one, but he still forced a superb save from Schwarzer in our best chance in open play. Fans seem to be too keen to deride him when he gets caught in possession, and are quick to forget that TH squandered many of the lovely through balls Hleb played yesterday.

Indeed, the main problem for the team, it seems, is Thierry is 10% away, at least, from full fitness, and consequently he's playing awfully deep. We, at times, had no real forward line yesterday due to this. He, the lynchpin of our team, is not clicking with the rest of the players. It was important for him to get his first goal at the Emirates yesterday, and he needs to be rested if necessary to get himself back to full fitness as soon as possible.

Combined with a defence that looked shaky and uncommunicative - Eboue is painfuly unaware of wider goings on in defence sometimes, even if he's great getting forward - we have a team that aren't playing anywhere near their full potential. The new players need to integrate, and the entire team needs to get used to the Emirates pitch - with they all seem to be struggling with. They need to learn to up the speed and amount of passes necessary for clinical attacks as the pitch is bigger than at Highbury. Clichy and Rosicky need to form our left wing, with Gallas moving into the centre. Wenger needs to make substitutes earlier in the game if things aren't going well. The triple substiution should have happened at least ten minutes earlier - we might have won if this had happened. How Gilberto, Rvp, and Freddie remained on for so long is a mystery, and there was a strong case for taking off Fab and even Thierry.

But time to gel is not necessarily what we have if we want to challenge for the title, or even a top four place. While Spuds and Liverpool have started sluggishly, Chel£ea, and Man U even more so, have sprinted out the blocks. I don't think ManU have the squad or stamina to maintain their current performance levels. But they'll be red hot when we play them next Sunday, and I'm seriously worried that, without some considerable tactical adjustment, we could be looking at played 4, and 2 points. Hence, whilst we may be 10% from moulding our team into something special, the fact we haven't could lead to a disastrous week which could take us a while to get over. Especially as our next two premiership opponents at the Emirates are Sheff Utd and Watford who will undoubtedly play the 'eleven men behind the ball' game.

p.s. To the Stadium announcer at the Emirates 1) you didn't need to announce that many times about the traffic problems as 2) it negatively affected the atmosphere. and 3) the way you announced it made it sound like Arsenal were more interested in flogging us beer than our welfare.

p.p.s Why is club level always half-empty?

Roll on Saturday, and why more footballers should be like Lillian Thuram.

Lots of Arsenal players involved in last night's action. Thierry bagged a goal in a, no doubt, cathartic victory for the French over the Italians; RVP got two crackers against Al Hleb's Bielorussians; Fab set up a goal in Spain's, frankly, amazing defeat at the hands of Northern Ireland; while Jens probably had a quiet read whilst the Germans ruthlessly destroyed San Marino.

It seems that Johann Djourou has picked up an injury while playing for the Swiss, so Gallas's starting position at c-b is surely now assured for Saturday, with Hoyte probably continuing at l-b. RvP can't really be left out after his storming performance, but he could potentially lose his place to Baptista. However, I expect Baptista to start on the bench, and, if the chips are down, as we try and break our consecutive passes record, he'll come on. He certainly seems an 'impact player', who can instantly make an impression on the game due to his size. We haven't really had a sub like that for a while.

Indeed, I have to say that I'm really looking forward to the game on Saturday, and seeing Rosicky, Bappy, and Willy. If we hadn't bought anyone, and if Cash and Jose were still here, I'd be more than a little anxious, but the new signings seem to have brought a tide of optimism - despite Chel£'s efforts - to the club. We need to harness this feeling as a driving force behind our performance on the weekend.

I was forced to watch the England game at work and it was aw,aw,aw-ful. Stuart Downing is not international quality, and if it wern't for the damage done to his reputation by Sven, Theo - who scored again for the u-21s last night - would surely be pushing for at least sub appearances on the left wing. Indeed, the highlight of the match was Ashley attempting a goal-line clearance and missing the ball. hahaha.

Every time I watch England at the moment it just drives me to despair: the massive hubris and comically inflated egos that constantly surrounds the England camp is almost too painful to bear. A prime example of this is Peter Crouch. He's done well since entering the England set-up, but for all this talk of so many goals in so many games, he's only scored in two competitive matches against the footballing titans that are Trinidad and Tobago, and Macedonia. I expect him, and England to come apart at the seems again when we actually play a half-decent team, and everyone realises that England, whisper it quietly, aren't that good. England played reasonably last night- although Macedonia certainly deserved a point if they had scored - yet without any real suggestion that they have, or will, improve from the world cup. 1/4 finals exit at next Euro Championships anyone?

Finally a word in praise of Lililan Thuram, who gave away his ticket allocation - some 70 tickets - to homeless immigrangts for last nights match. This from a man who had also openly told Jean Marie La Pen, essentially, va te faire foutre. An example for other footballers to follow. Thuram pour President! Bit of a contrast to the 'wags' isn't it.

Class and respect are earned, not bought.

Chelsea have one objective alone with their statement concerning William Gallas: destabilisation. Destabilising Gallas as he tries to settle in at his new club; destabilising Arsenal fans by placing seeds of doubt in our mind regarding the type of player and man he is. Chel£ don't care one bit about giving their own fans the 'real reasons' why Gallas left. They are incidental. If Chel£ so have a watertight policy of openness concerning their club, lets get Abramovich to tell us how exactly he made his money. Or perhaps they could enlighten us on the Obi Mikel transfer. Or even divulge Abramovich's exact interests with Corinthians.

It's all a bit like a man whose lover's left him screaming she's a whore down the street while secretly sobbing to himself. Instead of confronting the reality of why Gallas wanted to leave the club, its easier to make up a string of defamatory allegations. And before anyone asks why Gallas doesnt just sue them for this: because it's not worth it. Only Ashley has the stamina to go through the enormous court process that will probably go to appeal then next appeal then infinitum. Chel£ have lawyers who could drag this out for months. It really is for the best if Gallas just laughs, and ignores it. Chel£ could have said that Gallas threatened Peter Kenyon with a sawn of shotgun, and he wouldn't receive libel damages until 2010.

It can't, realistically, be about money, because Chel£ have more than anyone put together. I don't want to overly speculate on the reasons why Gallas left Chel£, but I think a hefty part of it must come down to Mourinho's personality, and the way the club is presently being run.

My favourite bit was this:

"Chelsea has a wage structure in place that is valued not only on the contribution of the player to the manager and the team, but also on a player's respect for the club and contribution to the promotion and image of the club off the field. Every player is expected to play their part in this.

"William Gallas rarely recognised these responsibilities.

"He also failed to recognise the role Jose Mourinho and Chelsea played in helping him become a double Premiership champion for a player whose only league title prior to that had been in the French Second Division."

So he should remain at Chel£ forever, out of pure gratitude at the wonderousness of Chel£ and Mourinho? And surely the most important point: if Gallas is so awful, if he was capable and threatening to do all these things: why did Chelsea want to keep him so badly? For that is where Chel£'s logic machine stops judering to a halt and explodes. The simple truth of the matter is: they wanted to keep Gallas, he turned them down, so they now want to try and mentally destroy him.

It can all be, as it has been, easily contrasted with Arsene's reply regarding Ash's move in which he wished him well for the future and thanked him for his contribution to the team whilst at the club. Of course Arsene probably wanted to rant and rave at Ash for being an ungrateful money whore, but he didn't, because he has class. That's why Arsene is a respected manager, and why Jose still has to go on TV and berate people for not giving Chel£ any respect. It's also partly why Chel£ still have tickets for sale for their next home game in the premiership.

If you don't act respectfully and with class, you will not get these attributes attached to yourself. No matter how many times you win the league, or pathetically compare yourself to a mafioso 'family'. Success doesn't inherently earn respect, and that's what no one at Chel£ seems to have realised.

Still, you've gotta hand it to them - the statement's worked. Instead of focusing on our own mattters, we've been drawn into debating all this with them. Still, my advice to Willy: ignore it. Don't rise to it, as I have. In fact i'm so angry, I can't think of anything else to write about this afternoon. So, adieu.

Is the Baptista deal permanent?

While most news agencies seem to be claiming that the Baptista-Reyes switch is only, initially, for a season long loan, the Arsenal website and, er, wikipedia, are both claiming that the deal is a permanent one. The term 'undisclosed fee' not 'loan' are on the Arsenal website.

So is the move permanent immediately?

A triumphant end to the Transfer Window.

On somedays there is so little news that our media-hungry society is forced to create headlines to keep everyone sated. On other days there is so much news that, even if you wanted to, you would probably not be able to report everything that happened. Today is one of the latter. Indeed, if it were not for the plethora of stories and important events surrounding our club today, I would be very much still in bed nursing my hangover. I have no shoes on, but I do have them available, so I seem to have the upper hand on Arseblogger.

I stumbled in in the early hours of yesterday morning but was unable to remember how to use my computer, and sky sports seem to be intent on only discussing the cricket. But all has, albeit somewhat painfully, become clear.

Firstly, the big news. The departure of a true Arsenal legend. Pascal Cygan has joined Villareal for £2m. How our negotiators managed to keep a straight face as they concluded this deal is beyond me. I'd like to wish Pascal all the best. I think it'd be fair to say that he never really cut it in the premiership, despite the lying Opta statistics, but he almost always tried his best and that's all you can ask. Sail safe big man. You won't be forgotten.

The deal which kept most of London up all night was also concluded at 11.59 and 59 seconds. Cashley is joining the vapid, financially corrupting ranks of the King's road, while Willy Gallas has left Mourinho & Co., probably flicking him two fingers as he left. Bonjour et bienvenue Willy. A great signing, although I am slightly annoyed by only getting £5m on top of Ash. Still, we have shown Chelsea that we're no pushovers and that we got something from them they didn't want to give us.

The deal concludes one of the most sordid affairs in modern football. I wasn't one of those chanting abuse at Ash at the Villa game, but he has done himself no favours in this business. He may wake up in ten years and realise that, even if he does have medals from Chelsea, that sometimes morality and respect are more important than success and money. I don't actually believe that everyone has a price, but Ash seems to show that a lot do. Getting Gallas is a great boon for us, increasing the experience of our defence. It also leaves Chelsea with only 3 recognised centre-halves. Things could get interesting. I think they should have picked up a makeshift back-up for Wayne Bridge and kept Gallas, so I'm willing to ignore all the lazy journalism that will contend that they've done better out of this deal than us.

'The beast' is our other major signing of the day, albeit only on loan. Little Jose has fled back to Spain, no doubt in terror at the forthcoming English winter. I think he actually did well for us in the time he was here. In some ways he was a victim of his success - even though he actually did ok, he showed glimpses of a truly prodigious talent that he was never consistently able to maintain. All the best Jose, but you need to grow up a little and start being a man. As for Julio - harrah I say. He had a very poor season at Real last year, but this was largely due to Real playing him on the left wing as far as I can remember. A big, bruising midfielder and a goalscorer all in one. Just the player we needed? Do we have any wingers left?

It's unclear whether Ito has joined - please post if you know - while a Brazillian startlet named Denilson has joined. He could be promising? Qui sait.

The West Ham deals are even murkier than on first glance. They have 'bought' the players but not really as they probably haven't paid anything for them, with MSI then recouping their massive future fees. It's all very unseemly and I thought a club like West Ham would know better. Spuds have bought the massively overrated Chimbonda for about twice his worth, even if picking up Malbranque for only £2m is a good little move.

So,in my view, we've massively strengthened on the last day of the window. Baptista + Gallas are better for the squad than Jose and Ash. Cygan is no longer an option, and a few promising youngsters on top. And Rosicky, lest we forget. If nothin else we've got rid of players with a hugely negative connotations, and brought in some fresh blood which should invigorate everyone.

Lastly, I'd like to echo Vital Arsenal by wishing Sir Bobby Robson a speedy recovery. A real legend, and a completely genuine guy who embodies almost everything I love about football. If it wasn't for him and the England 1990 team I may never have started watching football, so thanks Bobby.

til later. Onwards and upwards!

Does anyone know what's going on! Deadline day madness

So, a complete frenzy of speculation has erupted on deadline day. Unfortunately none of it seems clear - especially as ANR is receiving so many hits that their server has actually taken them offline.
No deals seem to have been confirmed, but here are the ones that I've heard of, and my score (out of 10) for likelihood of actually occuring.

Ito - 9. Who?
Baptista/Reyes 7. So, losing a winger for a central midfielder? Baptista does fit the Wenger requirements of a misfit at a big club who Wenger will save, leading to improved player holding us to ransom when other clubs become interested in him again. I think we do need to get shot of Reyes though.
Gallas/Cole. 5. I think it now seems more likely we'll both keep our players, or, if players do move, only Cashley will. And on a playing level, if we were to lose Ash and not get Gallas, the club's squad will have been weakened, not matter how much of a disruptive influence Ash could potentially be.
Reo-Coker - 4. Wenger's probably interested, but he'll be priced out due to the Fact R-C is English.

By far the most sensational move of the day is that of Mascherano and Tevez going to West Ham. This is very, very fishy. At best it would seem that MSI - the shadowy company who own the players, rather than Corinthians, their actual club - want to put these two in the EPL for a season to increase their value before flogging them to a bigger club next summer. At worst, MSI could be using these guys as pawns to improve West Ham before their take-over of the club.

Only 6 hours to go. I'm going out tonight and when I come back we better have some new players.

No width, no penetration, much frustration.

I was tempted to write some form of stream of consciousness rant after watching yesterday's game, but on reflection we weren't as awful as I intially felt.

For a start, we dominated the game. We had almost all the possession and the football we played was of a very high standard, showing a confidence to knock the ball about and be patient in the build up. We did carve out opportunities, and, on another day, one of our chances would have gone in and we'd have won the match.

But it all smacks of last season a little. It was highly reminscient of the Middlesborough game in August [or was it september?] last year, when we dominated the game, and boro scored with their only two chances. One feels we still don't have a plan b - even with Adebayor now in tow - that we can really revert to when our preferred method of playing has not yielded fruit.

What seemed to be less comporable to last year, was the lack of width in the side. We seem to be trying to funnel everything down the centre. This was perhaps borne from the fact that our two wide players - Rosicky and Hleb- prefer to play down the centre, while our l-b, Hoyte, seemed unable or unwilling to go down the flank, preferring to cut inside whenever possible. I hope my concerns about Rosicky don't come to pass, but I think he'll be wasted if we keep him on the left hand side. He needs to be in a half-striker role, playing ahead of Fabregas.

Eboue seemed to have trouble getting forward as well, and it all culminated in us repeatedly trying to thread the ball through the City defence, who did enough to keep us out. Indeed, it was not until the introduction of Walcott that a player came on who really seemed to offer us a more direct form of play. He was far more willing to try and take players on and take shots from distance. While I don't think that a lack of shooting is the root of our problems, it certainly hasn't helped matters. I have to say, in fact, that Walcott has been an absolute joy to watch so far this season. The rest of the team seem somewhat weighed down at times, almost laboured in their attempts to pass through opposing defences. Walcott looks like he's just got off the school-yard, and this is by no means a bad thing. He also doesn't seem to be in the thrall of Henry as much as some of the other players, which has meant he's been more willing to try out things on his own. More of the same Theo.

What is clear to me, is that we haven't replaced the goals that Pires, Freddie, and Dennis brought to the team. Only Henry and RvP look remotely like scoring at the moment, and if this isn't resolved we'll be in trouble again this season. I'm really beginning to think that we should flog Jose to whoever comes up with a reasonable bid, and make a last ditch attempt at getting someone like Ribery in - an attacking winger who can score goals. I worry that Jose hasn't got the goals in him and his increasingly vocal wishes to leave the club are becoming an embarrasment.

On balance therfore, yesterday's game could mean either two things. One that the team is not ready for the season yet, and with a couple more games things will begin to click. Or that we're going to struggle again in the league. I still think - especially given that Thierry is clearly not match fit - we will have a better season than last year, but only if our midfield starts scoring, and not just trying to produce goals. What can't be said about yesterday's performance, as was usually the case last season, is that we were 'muscled' out of the game. We dealt with the physicality of the game well, and this, at least, is surely a plus point.

What we also need, despite the moral whitewash that will be necessary for it to occur, is for Ashley Cole to get back in the side. We need a player on the left hand side with not just his defensive skills but his pace and ability to get forward. Unless Chelsea are willing to give us £23m+, or £10m+ and Gallas, we should keep Ashley and get him back in the team. I thought the defence continued to look disjointed yesterday, and some experience, if nothing else, would not go amiss.

We've also started to be linked with some players who interest me very much. Either Re0-Coker or Mascherano would do very nicely. If only for the injection of new blood and,hopefully, enthuasiasm it would give us, we need some new faces in before the 31st. However, I don't think any will arrive.

So, some gloom, but perhaps not all doom.

Champions' League Draw, and last week of Transfer window preview.

Firstly, a quick congratulations to one of my heroes, Mr Jens Lehmann, who rightly scooped Uefa's goalkeeper of the year award yesterday. We wouldn't have had much of a season without him last season, and I hope he can keep up his high standards for one more year; the prospect of Manny 'safe hands' Almunia coming back is a worrying one.

Jens received his award at the Champions' League draw, where we were matched up with Porto, Cska Moscow and Hamburg. Most people seem to have been rather complacent about this, but, as usual, I'm slightly worried. We should win the group, but its a considerably harder proposition than last year's - even if it couldn't really have been that easy again. I would say we have to take maximum points at home, and only bank on draws away from home. Going to Moscow is always a bleak prospect, and Hamburg and Porto will also be tough to beat at home. Quiet optimism is my view on things therefore.

Hilariously, Chelsea were drawn with Barca again. Maybe they should just have pistols at dawn between Rijkaard and Mourinho. Although, if they did, Mourinho would probably turn round early, shoot Rijkaard in the back, and then claim it was his unique intuition as the 'special one' which allowed him to do it. Or something like that.

Less than a week of the transfer window remains - thank god - so the endless stream of rubbish will soon be at an end. Until January at least. It appears that we're offering Chels a deal that would see them give us £10m and Gallas for Cole - a deal which is more than fair. Indeed, if they did reject this deal, then they have no intention of treating this deal with any respect for us at all. If they refuse to sell us Gallas at a reasonable price, why should we sell them Cole? If both clubs accepted that they had to give an unhappy player to a rival club, and Chels also gave up on their frankly antagonistic approach of merely offering us Gallas for Cole, this situation could be sorted posthaste. Either way, I expect Cole and Gallas to swap clubs, or for no deal to have transpired, by the close of the window.

I could comment on the Reyes situation, but frankly I can't be bothered. Never, ever going to be sold to Atletico for the £8m or whatever they offered, and unless any club comes in and offers somewhere near £15m+ he'll still be an Arsenal player next week. If he sulks all season, and plays rubbish, he could be flogged on the cheap next summer - and we could get Ribery to boot - but nowt will transpire regarding him for the time being. Whoops, that was a comment on the Reyes situation. It seems I can be bothered.

Aside from these deals, nothing else has really appeared on the rada, even if Arsene is supposedly operating 'under it'. I'm not setting my hopes too high that we'll have any new players by next week, and if we do I think it may be Gallas or nothing. And, for me, Gallas and Rosicky, with Diaby and Lauren coming back soon and being the proverbial 'almost a new player', isn't too bad a summer. I think Bendtner will definitely be pushing for the first XI when he returns in January as well. No Gallas, and we may be looking a little thin.

Tata. Gb.

An unconvincing performance sees us through

I thought we looked worryingly poor last night. Again, the lack of a common wavelength in the team was, at times, palpable, and against better opposition this would have been costly.

Dynamo's goal was a painful comedy of errors from our point of view. Eboue was exposed twice after Hleb had lost the ball in an attempt at a mazy run. Almunia's attemtped save was pathetic, and the three goal lead began to look less than impregnable. Credit can be given to the boys, though, for not panicking. I think the fact that Dynamo were barely a premiership quality side helped matters, as we subdued them for most of the first half. The only real bright spot in our performance was RvP. He certainly has some blinding tricks in his bag, but I continue to worry if he has that extra 10% that can make him into a consistently great player. I think his team-play has improved though.

I wrote after the first leg that the team sometimes looks better when Henry doesn't play, as it can bring out the best in some players, forcing them to up their game and take more responsibility for winning the game. This wasn't the case yesterday. No-one really wanted to take responsibility, it seemed, and again a lack of attempts on goal seemed to be a problem. We also missed the calming influence and experience of Gilberto; Flamini is not good enough to take his place, and I'm beginning to seriously doubt whether he has enough in him to play for us in midfield. Similar questions could be asked about Justin Hoyte - although it might be worth actually giving him a game at his favoured r-b position before we all write him off. Fabregas and Hleb both looked off the pace, Adebayor had one of his 'barn door' moments [which we can only hope will become fewer and fewer], and it was largely left to Freddie to push us towards getting something from the game. Hopefully Freddie's goal is a sign he knows where the goal is this season, but I'm not too sure.

It took Thierry, Gilbs and Theo to really liven things up and make it look like we could actually win the game. Theo has now played 27 minutes of football for Arsenal and got two assists. Not bad - maybe he should send the video to Steven Gerrard. We needed the combination of experience and excitement that these three players brought to see us through the last twenty minutes or so, and to lift our game to the point where we actually snatched a winner in the last minute.

The question will inevitably be asked as to whether Theo deserves more pitch time. At the moment it's hard to say no, but I really think that these substitute cameos are his best form of development for now. Please don't rush or over-hype him. I should imagine he'll have to wait for the Carling cup before he gets a start, but that might be enough for this season. Having said that, we may need him to push for a place in the top four, given the medicore performances we've put in thusfar.

Elsewhere in the Premiership... ManU looked utterly dominant against Charlton. I know the season is only two years old, but they're playing flying attacking football. Instead of replacing Van Nistelrooy I think Fergie is trying to get his wingers to get more goals, and hope Saha can fulfill his undoubted promise - a ploy which seems to be paying dividends. If they can keep those performances up, I think not only will Fergie's sale of RVN be justified, but ManU could definitely push for the title.

Especially if Mourinho continues to pick bizzare formations, with midfields consisting of makelele, Lampard and Essien, who, I imagine, were meant to stand on eachothers heads and play on top of each other. Coupled with an attacking threesome of Sheva, Drogba, and Kalou, there was no width to the side. Cudicini was also terrible in goals. One can only hope that the pressure of having a squad with so many top names may lead to more bizzare formations and poor performances like yesterday.

A day of firsts at the Emirates, but old problems remain.

Sorry for the lack of posts since last Wednesday, but it's been a bit of a tough old week in Goonerboy-ville.

The highlight of my week was, undoubtedly, the first day at the Emirates. After queueing for some 25minutes to get served in The Bailey on Holloway road - who seemed to have totally underestimated the increased match day traffic they'd be getting - I finally got served, and after a few drinks, headed down the road to the UFO that is the Emirates.

It looked - to be frank - magnificent. It brought home to me, and probably many others, that while we all loved Highbury, it was a bit of a ramshackle old place by the end. The increased space outside the stadium, and in the gantries inside was wonderful, as were the notably larger seats and spaces between the rows. While the cost of all this space was, unfortunately, the feeling that you were slightly further from the action than before, I personally felt the atmosphere inside was wonderful. The filled in corners and the extra 22000 people really made a difference to the volume levels, although it wasn't until the second half that everyone really found their voices.

As for the game itself...first night nerves aplenty. Some players looked tired - a ridiculous state of affairs that whoever organised the ridiculous friendlies on Wednesday [UEFA/FIFA?] have to take the blame for.

Villa stuck to a sensible game plan, given the clear gulf in class between the two sides. O'Neill - a manager I really admire - had clearly used his brief time in charge to marshall the resources he had as effectively as possible. This consisted of defending and restricting space in the final third. Villa seemed happy enough for us to knock the ball around ad infinitum around the edge of the area, and we lacked a cutting edge - and a willingness to shoot - that was necessary for a goal. Unsurprisingly, or surprisingly given our lack of headed goals, it took a set-piece to break the deadlock, with Kolo heading home. Unfortunately he was off-side.

The second half saw two things I had feared. Firstly, Villa scoring with almost their only attack of the game. Jens was at fault for not claiming the ball, but there was a worrying lack of cohesiveness in the defence as a whole. Djourou has the makings of a class act, but him Toure, Eboue and Hoyte did not look to be on the same wave-length at crucial moments of the game. Hoyte, in fact, looked terrified. There was a moment when Thierry wanted to take a short corner, and Hoyte, not seeing him, trudged back, head-down, to the centre-circle. The vultures around his arsenal career could almost be heard circling as Flamini came on to replace him.

At a playing level, we need Cole or Clichy back. At a morale/reputation/morality level, the re-introduction of Cole into the team could damage us. The crowd were notably divided on the issue. There was a few shall we say 'derogatory' chants against him, but also some mutterings in his favour. I noticed on Sky afterwards there was almost a punch up between two Arsenal fans over whether we should let him back or not. If he comes back and plays well, all could still be forgiven. We desperately miss his pace and ability to overlap on the left. And football fans can be fickle in these situations.

The other thing I was worried about occurred when Eboue went down 'injured' and play continued. A storm brewed up, placated only by Villa's ineptness in front of goal. Yet they were playing to the letter of the new law. It will take a while to get used to, but I'm in favour of the new ruling. I think players do take advantage of the 'gentlemen's agreement' and it was becoming a problem, especially when they actually very rarely need the treatment. Expect a few problems and controversies before it settles in to common practice though.

The real star of the day was Theo - indeed I had noticed on the tube on the way up, that Walcott32 and Fabregas4 seem to be the favoured shirt numbers on the new home kit. Quite simply, he changed the game. We would have lost without his introduction. The contrast between the aging war-horse that is Freddie and Theo that was marked. Freddie gave it his all, tackled away, but never looked like scoring, or even really troubling their r-b. Theo immediately caused panic, running at their defence, crossing into dangerous areas and causing problems. Hleb - and indeed most of the team - was invigorated from his so-so performance with Theo's presence. They connected on the left hand side, Theo put in a beauty of a cross, RvP flicked on and Gilberto struck the ball into the top hand corner at a speed of around 432Mph.

A few brief flurries followed but it was all huff and puff. As I stood to clap the team off, I noticed a divide in the crowd between those who did and didn't think the team was worthy of applause. While Arsenal didn't play brilliantly, there was no lack of effort. It just looked like we were out of practice, and hadn't found a cohesive rhythm to their attacks. Henry looked disjointed and peripheral, Hleb found it difficult to connect his passes, Adebayor couldn't find Henry, and RvP really didn't seem to find his groove.

Things will improve, but not immediately. We need, as Arsene said, about ten games before the team - and us -feel like the Emirates is our home. I think we can still realistically challenge for second or third, but Chel£ea still look too good. People have read far too much into Manu's demolition of Fulham yesterday - a team who will be in a relegation struggle this year, and who we put 8 goals past last season. Liverpool also look permeable. We need to find out feet, and also, still, not put too much pressure on youngsters such as Theo who will still need some time to settle in. Not that anyone will now hype him into the next Henry already. Oh no.

It was quite an interesting weekend in the premiership. I'll be intrigued to see how Reading get on, as they seem to still almost be identical to the side they were promoted with. My predictions for relegation are Watford, Wigan, and Charlton/Fulham thusfar. I think Reading and Sheff Utd might just have what it takes to hold on, while Wigan seem to have ripped out the heart of the team that did so well last year.

Til later, Gb.

Adey's words of wisdom.

I'm not always sure why players speak about other players to the press, unless they're going to praise them. Criticising your fellow team-mates in public seems a risky thing to do with, as Roy Keane infamously showed, rather large consequences often following.

But when they come from the mouth of, already, one of my favourite players - Manu Adebayor - I suppose it's ok, especially when he seemed to be talking sense about the Jose Reyes situation:

"The most important thing in life is family, I understand that," said Adebayor to The Sun.

"But he is an Arsenal player and should not be talking about other teams.

"Maybe he should just go so we can all move on.

"Jose looks happy in training, he laughs and jokes and gets on well with the other players.

"But I think his family don't like England and that's why he wants to leave.

"Maybe his family have put pressure on him but in that case he should go because we don't need unhappy players bringing down our spirit."

Exactly. If he's unhappy, he should leave. But he doesn't always look unhappy. Indeed, at many points last year he looked fine on the pitch. So what's the real cause of his desire to leave? I think the whole situation of Jose living in a 'new Spain' that he's built for him and his family in North London has undoubtedly hindered the process of acclimatisation to English life. It also means that he has to think of far more than himself when he makes decisions about his playing career - not just the wife and kids [if he had any] but the whole extended family. That's a lot of weight on his little shoulders. I still want him to stay, but Adey's right: if he wants to leave he should do - and he certainly shouldn't be talking about Madrid in the way he does.

Whether he actually leaves remains to be seen, but, like Ashley Cole, if they dont end up going because we don't get a bid that is considered acceptable, they both need to grow up, swallow their pride, and play for the team. It's no good whining about it if these moves don't come off. Not that it seems that Cole will get a chance to whine, as his 'auto'-biography [footballers don't actually write their autobiographies] looks like its going to be shelved if he does stay with us. Oh well, I suppose the search for a new Tolstoy will just have to continue.

A move that does seem on the cards is Arturo Lupoli's loan to Derby. Where this leaves us in terms of strikers I'm unsure. With no Bendtner until Christmas, surely that would leave us with Rvp Adey and Thierry, with Reyes if he stays. Perhaps best to keep Arturo and give him a chance? I think he's worth a shot.

Congratualtions to Theo after scoring last night for the Under-21s. Only a true idiot would consider that he has been 'demoted' in that he's in the u21 and not full England squad. Like I keep saying, don't believe all the rubbish that will stream out of the press when Arsene only plays him intermittently - and that's at best - this season. I know Fab came through at a similar age, but I think Theo needs more nurturing. I'm confident he has the ability to be a top player for us and England, but the Sun et al shouldn't pressure him into being overused when he's still so fragile.

Finally, why are friendly International matches being played this week? It beggars belief. There's already been one serious, and completely pointless, injury sustained in the England camp with Dean Ashton's broken ankle yesterday. I know it's not just an FA decision to have these friendlies, but surely they can see now is not a great time for pointless matches. Many players are probably still tired from the world cup. And it won't be until Euro 2008 that we find out anything, really, about Steve McClaren's England. Expect him to drop Lampard sooner rather than later though, in another 'I'm not Sven, honest' decision.

Gb.

Jens is here for one/two more years, Jose/Ashley/rumours and Graham Poll.

Jens has announced that he'll be hanging up his hallowed gloves in two years time. Sad news, and raises the question, will he be with us for both of those years? Given Arsene's reluctance to shop around for top-level goalkeepers, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to hold on to Jens until the last possible moment. I hope he does stay with us for two years, but only if he's shows he can still cut it this year - which i fully expect him to do. He’s also been shooting his mouth off about Chel£ea, stating they’re not a ‘big club’. Oh Jens. What will we do when you’re gone.

Regarding both the Ashley and Jose sagas, they both seem to be continuing with almost ruthless interminability. It now appears that Chel£ea aren't going to stump up the necessary cash to prise Ash from us. In a way, I'd quite like it if he stayed, if only that it showed that we refuse to be bullied. £20m+ is a huge amount of money, but perhaps by showing Chelsea that they can't have their own way - well at least not for another two years - we may have earned something more. Or something like that. Either way, if not injured, I don't see why Ash shouldn't play for us on Saturday. A good performance could push his valuation up.

Jose is now saying how his 'dream' is on the verge of realisation. Pass me the sick bucket. He could at least show some class. I tried to maintain my scepticism in all of this, and give him the benefit of the doubt, but it does now fully appear that he's been engineering, and wanting, thsi move for quite a while. If he goes and no one comes in, despair. Despair.

Some news has appeared on incoming targets. Illiasu's name continues to be bandied about, with several clubs apparently willing to pick him up if we don't. I still think this is a deal that could happen. We've also been linked with Owen Hargreaves again - yes please [I know this is a volte-face] - although only in the most tenuous manner. A Nigerian forward from Lyn Oslo - nicknamed Edu apparently - is being watched by us, according to yesterday's Times, although I hadn't heard of him. Yaya Toure has joined Monaco, and Buffon has said that he was very tempted to join us, but didn't.

Finally, we've been given the delightful task of welcoming Mr. Graham Poll back to the Premiership on Saturday. If anyone has a job-lot of yellow cards, let me know. I've been thinking that it might be a tougher game than I thought on saturday, with villa, if only psychologically, a club undergoing a real renaissance at the moment. Nice to see no-one has accused them of 'not being an English club' even though they've just sold themselves to an American. hmm.

Jens for 2 more years, Ashley/Jose, and Graham Poll on Saturday.

Jens has announced that he'll be hanging up his hallowed gloves in two years time. Sad news, and raises the question, will he be with us for both of those years? Given Arsene's reluctance to shop around for top-level goalkeepers, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to hold on to Jens until the last possible moment. I hope he does stay with us for two years, but only if he's shows he can still cut it this year - which i fully expect him to do. He's also been saying how Chel£ea aren't a big club, and how we have unfinished business in Europe. Ah Jens, what shall we do when you're gone...

Regarding both the Ashley and Jose sagas, they both seem to be continuing with almost ruthless interminability. It now appears that Chel£ea aren't going to stump up the necessary cash to prise Ash from us. In a way, I'd quite like it if he stayed, if only that it showed that we refuse to be bullied. £20m+ is a huge amount of money, but perhaps by showing Chelsea that they can't have their own way - well at least not for another two years - we may have earned something more. Or something like that. Either way, if not injured, I don't see why Ash shouldn't play for us on Saturday. A good performance could push his valuation up.

Jose is now saying how his 'dream' is on the verge of realisation. Pass me the sick bucket. He could at least show some class. I tried to maintain my scepticism in all of this, and give him the benefit of the doubt, but it does now fully appear that he's been engineering, and wanting, this move for quite a while. If he goes and no one comes in, despair. Despair.

Some news has appeared on incoming targets. Illiasu's name continues to be bandied about, with several clubs apparently willing to pick him up if we don't. I still think this is a deal that could happen. We've also been linked with Owen Hargreaves again - yes please [I know this is a volte-face] - although only in the most tenuous manner. A Nigerian forward from Lyn Oslo - nicknamed Edu apparently - is being watched by us, according to yesterday's Times, although I hadn't heard of him. Yaya Toure has joined Monaco.

Finally, we've been given the delightful task of welcoming Mr. Graham Poll back to the Premiership on Saturday. If anyone has a job-lot of yellow cards, let me know. I've been thinking that it might be a tougher game than I thought on saturday, with villa, if only psychologically, a club undergoing a real renaissance at the moment. Nice to see no-one has accused them of 'not being an English club' even though they've just sold themselves to an American. hmm.

Cole edges slowly towards the door...

It seems that Chelsea have realised that they can't allow themselves to be held to ransom over players such as SWP, Essien, Drogba etc. and then say they'll refuse to pay up for a player of Ash's calibre. Whether it's all stemming from an article on a Chelsea vital site, The Telegraph have reported that Chelsea are now willing to pay £23m for Ash, which I say is a price we should accept. £30m was always a bit of an outlandish figure, and its only just shy of the £25m we were holding out for, so I say forget the extra £2m, because we need this despicable affair to end ASAP.

Jose Antonio also seems to be genuinely hankering for a move. I'm still not sure this will happen though. It'll be a complicated deal - as we will have to pay Sevilla a % of the fee we receive - and I think, on balance, Arsene would still rather like Jose to stay. If he does go we'll certainly want to recoup the bulk of the £18odd million we shelled out for him, and the highest offer I've heard thusfar is £12m. It might be for the best if Jose does go back to La liga if he is terminally unhappy with merry old England, but it'd leave us in the lurch a little - we'd certainly have to get someone to replace him in the 2 odd weeks before the deadline. Baptista is apparently being offered as part of the deal, but i think this paper talk, and I'm not sure Arsene would still want him to come over.

The 'sniper' [Arsene's words, not mine] that is Arturo Lupoli could be on his way to West Brom on loan. This might open the door to negotiations regarding Curtis Davies. It might be a shame if Arturo leaves now, however, as he may be running out of chances to convert his reserve team goals into first team goals.

Tel has revealed that Gilbs will be vice-capitano. I think Kolo would have been a better choice, but you certainly can't argue with Gilberto's experience.

And that seems about all. Still no news about incoming targets, save an immense amount of speculation regarding Monsieur Ribery, who seems to have said he will leave Marseille, then that he'd stay, then that he'd leave etc. Arsene's comments were interesting, as he stated he hadn't bid for Franck, but that he may do in the future. Losing Reyes and gaining Ribery would be a decent swap in my eyes. I think, if nothing else, Thierry has a better relationship with Ribery, and that he also seems like a player who'll get a few more goals than Jose.

I, for one, am looking forward to the real start of the season next saturday. I think, despite the slight exodus this summer, the squad we have is - especially mentally - in a far better state than it was this time last year. Hopefully we can let the football do the talking, and end all this horrible speculation. I still don't think that many of us have realised what a shock it's going to be when Ash lines up in a blue shirt next season though.

Gb.

Youngsters superb in Zagreb, but Cole and Reyes continue to cast a shadow.

A performance that was little short of superb last night. I had some doubts about how a team shorn of Henry, Lehmann, Cole, Pires, et al might cope in the electric Croatian atmosphere, but the boys put in a performance they can be really proud of, and which should see us through to the next round and the massive financial boost it'll bring us.

The majority of our players last night were 25 or under, yet they coped with the situation remarkably well. I was pleased to see, and with the performances of, Hoyte at left-back and Djourou at centre-back especially. Hoyte played reasonably well - with some room for improvement - yet it was nice to see Arsene give him a chance, instead of just resorting to a makeshift lb. Djourou was excellent, and at one point sprinted back to make a great saving tackle. There's no reason - other than fatigue - why he shouldn't be starting before Cygan. I also think that Kolo should definitely be upgraded to captain in the absence of Henry. While Gilberto has more experience, I think Kolo has more presence, and is a better leader. Eboue played well, if he was caught in possession a few times.

Our midfield and attack was a bag of energy, not only keeping and dominating possession, but using it to good effect. Adebayor continues to lead the line superbly, and gives us a physical presence and channel up front from which we really benefit from. Van Persie is clearly pushing himself - which is great to see - to drive his game to the next level. He took his goal well yesterday, and I'm glad to see he's improving his support play. The other two stars of the show, for me, were Al Hleb and, of course Cesc. Alex still gets caught in possession a little too much, but he also continues to play wonderful, penetrating passes that lead to goals - such as Van Persie's second - or placing himself in intelligent positions to link up the play - in both Cesc's goals. If he could chip in with a goal every now and again he'll be one of the best midfielders in the premiership. As for Cesc - words nearly fail. It was great to see him take shots on goal - which he doesn't always do - because he can score goals. He was a joy last night, and has become the central lynchpin of our team.

Rosicky did well, but, naturally, was still finding his feet a bit. I think this process may take some time so we shouldn't get on his back. Gilberto did his usual invisible wall routine reasonably enough, but I was slightly disconcerted at some of his distribution.

Overall a fantastic performance, full of energy and belief. It was a a young team that represented us last night but they played greatl football, and refused to be muscled about which was great to see.

However, the game seems to have been overshadowed by specualtion surrounding Jose and Ash. It was a surprise to see Jose dropped in favour of Rosicky, but I'm not sure whether we should read into it too much. It may well have been a tactical decision, or an attempt to shield Reyes from the speculation. Quite frankly, until I see Reyes go, I'm treating the speculation in the Spanish and English media as unfounded, despite what his agent, who seems to be the main person trying to engineer the move, says.

It also seems that, unwisely, Thierry has had a little bit of a rant this morning, stating that we shouldn't be selling Ashley to our nearest rivals, who we're already trying to catch, and that we need to bring new players in. Thierry might be right that we seem to be making our job of catching Chelsea even harder, and that we do probably need one or two new boys, but he shouldn't really be making these comments in public. It undermines Arsene. I agree with TH that it'll be a blow - in terms of the ability in our squad - when Ash leaves, but surely TH can recognise the necessity of the sale, given the nearly irrevocably damaged relations between the club and player. I also disagree with his comparison with the Vieira sale: Vieira was a player who was far harder to replace, yet Ash has several players [Clichy, Hoyte, Flamini] who can step into left-back and do a decent enough job.

A thought that did stike me last night: does anyone else feel that sometimes, without Henry, some of the players look a little liberated? Thierry is such a colossal talent that I sometimes think the other players rely on him a little too much. Without him, the team almost becomes a little more democratic. Just a thought. Either way, it was good to see that the youngsters, if need be, can carve out a solid result away from home without our big players. I hope this continues throughout the season, and that when our bigger guns come back the team can play even better.

Gb.

The season starts today, and transfer speculation

Yes, it's only 8 August and already our boys are strapping on their boots, putting on the red and white, and getting ready to start the new season.

It seems a little ridiculous to me that we're barely into August and the season is beginning, but I suppose that's modern football. I would say that the football season shouldn't start until September - would we prefer quantity or quality in football? I know what the advertisers and television companies want so here we are. If we have another successful Cl run - here's hoping - we could end up playing 60+ matches this year. Seems a little ridiculous.

Arsene's named his 18 man squad and there aren't too many surprises. Thierry was never going to play, Jens can't, and Ashley, perhaps, won't. I still think we'll have a reasonably strong team out. Something like: Almunia, Eboue, Djourou [please not Cygan], Toure, Flamini, Hleb, Fab, Gilbs, Reyes, Adebayor, Van Persie. Thats a side capable of getting at least a draw which is all we need from the first leg. My main concerns our that our midfield will be as lightweight as ever - I'm hoping Adebayor may offset this somewhat, that we don't really have much quality to come off the bench, and that Zagreb our certainly no pushover. Could be a long 90 minutes. The game should be on ITV 1, but if anyone knows any different do say in the comments.

In transfer related news..

Gallas's 'move' to us has been exposed as a non-starter, with his prodigal son-esque return to the Chelsea training ground yesterday. Personally I think it was all talk by his agent to try and put Gallas in a more favourable situation, and we were the unwitting pawns.

That Gallas was given the number 3 shirt leaves Ashley in an odd situation. Maybe Chelsea are trying to play hardball - making him realise his move isn't a certainty in order that he'll put pressure on us to let him go. Arsene seems to be accepting that this situation needs to be resolved so I'm hoping now that - and I'm setting a new deadline here - he's either gone or on his knees begging for the fans forgiveness by 19 August when we kick off against Villa. Any apology now would appear hollow - but maybe if he was sufficiently humilated he might learn something and we could all come out of this stronger. Or not. Expect Chelsea to bid around £20-1m for him and us to give up and flog him in the next week or so.

The big incoming news is that Arsene is definitely getting one, and possibly two, in by the deadline, although names aren't forthcoming. The only names he is mentioning are those that he's not interested in. Namely Msr Ribery. The Guardian has linked us with him for £13.5m, and the People had us in for him at around £16-7m on Sunday. Way too much either way. If we could get him for around £10m I think it'd be a good deal. Anymore and its a little too much of an unnecessary risk.

The Ghanian triallist has ostensibly dropped off the radar, but I think that's a deal which will happen. Apart from that I haven't really seen any names mentioned.

Finally, here's Jose in a Real shirt, taken before our game in February. The questions are many. Why? Why are they surfacing only now? Does Jose have moments when his brain completely shuts down? Does this mean anything? Qui sait. Either way, Real players continue to show their lack of class.

Right, I'm hoping my redcurrant shirt will fit me for a while longer, and also hoping that England can win the test match.

Abientot.

Alkmaar review, Ribery, Ferguson, and Mourinho.

Caught snippits of the game last night, but i find friendlies too tedious to watch most of the time.

Most of the boys looked in decent form, and I was impressed with the energy and liveliness of the game. I think we started last season on a downer due to Paddy's departure, and som eall round uncertainty in the team. Having blooded a lot of the youngsters, the whole team looked more confident. Well, almost the whole team. I can't remember how everyone plays, but here are some things that struck me about individual players performances.
Almunia: looked bloody awful. Flapped for everything, and the prospect of him tending the sticks in Zagreb is a concern.
The defence: generally looked ok. Flamini was in the number 3 shirt - ominously - and struggled slightly to get back into the left-back groove. Djourou acquitted himself reasonably enough, if looking a little too casual at times. Toure put in a typically solid performance, while Eboue looked more comfortable going forward than staying back. I thought Hoyte did ok too. I suppose a big plus was that Cygan was nowhere to be seen.
Midfield: Reyes looked lively, and not like someone hankering for a move. Great freekick to set up Gilbs, but I wish he'd stop falling over so easily. Alex Hleb continues his growth into one of my favourite players. I think, like Bergkamp, there always seems to be thought behind what he does. The main reason he loses the ball is when he over-thinks and gets caught in possession. If he could score a few more he could be the person who steps into a Bergkamp-esque role. Gilberto looked tidy and picked up a decent goal; Fabregas was his usually lively self.
I think I was most impressed with Adebayor and Van Persie. Van Persie seemed energised, and determined to make his mark - yet also played some nice support play. Adebayor scored a scrappy goal which only he would get. He looked powerful and capable of linking the play well. We shouldn't get on his back if he doesn't get too many goals - as I think he does things for the team that no-one else does.

People I haven't mentioned I didn't really see.

An Arsenal XI also played last night. Merida apparently scored a wonder goal on this sort-of debut, while Lupoli was also a bag of energy, grabbing two goals. I have high hopes for Lupoli, so I hope he gets a chance at some point in the first team this season.

Does anyone know where the Ghanian triallist was?

In other news, Franck Ribery has now said that he wants to leave OM. I still think he'd be a decent buy, but I have a feeling that Arsene has almost settled his squad for the coming year.

Also Alex Ferguson has not only said that Highbury was 'out-dated' and that the small pitch helped us get more success than we deserved, but that we won't regularly fill the Emirates. This from a man who thinks Michael Carrick is worth £18m.

Oh, and apparently Mourinho has decided that he's going to try and stay within the law when he nabs Cashley off us. How decent of him.

Adios.

Cole/Reyes/Illiasu/Merida/Abidal et al.

Back from being away and, predictably, a rather large amount of news has accumulated.

The Ashley Cole situation drags interminably on. First of all he walks out of training due to either being ill or having a row with David Dein or both. Whatever the cause, it led to a notable loss of temper from Arsene when Journos questioned him on Ashs future. The situation is clearly causing a rather substantial amount of stress to all at the club. Including us. Ash has said he's willing to play against Zagreb next week, but will Arsene play him? Also, is there any realistic hope of us getting Gallas or is this merely lazy journalisitic 2+2=5 deductions? I would say a swap deal is unlikely - which will hopefully make it happen. Either way, I'd be surprised if Ashley was here in September, but he may stay until the end of August so we can push the price up. It's really quite an intolerable situation all round.

More news from Spain has emerged in which Jose has, reportedly, again said he wants to leave for Madrid. As I said in my last post, I feel we should keep Jose for at least one more, if not two, seasons to see if he can gain some consistency, because he has so much potential. Perhaps if Thierry went a whole year without scowling at him, Jose's form would improve. He tried not to do it last season, but a few did still slip out. As for the Jose's alleged comments, I'd be inclined to say it's journo speak, but that also if a substantial bid does come in, Arsene will definitely have a think about it.

Seb Larrson and also, surprisingly, Nick Bendtner are going to hitch their way to Brummie-ville for the season. I'm surprised Arsene's let Bendtner out, after both of them talked as if they felt they had a definite role in each others plans for the forthcoming season. It doesn't bode particularly well for his future Arsenal career.

Thankfully, some credible incoming news has also emerged. Firstly, it would appear that Fran Merida is now an Arsenal player. I think it'll be a while before the level of his actual ability emerges, but I'm sure we'll all jump the gun and call him the new Fabregas in the mean time.

Secondly, Ghanian international Illiasu Shilla is on trial at the club, and could be on the way for as little as £500K. For someone with world cup experience, this seems a decent deal. As far as I can recall, the Ghanian defence looked ok in the world cup, and was the victim of some rather unfortunate decisions against Italy and Brazil. And for £500k he seems worth a punt - 20x less than Curtis Davies if nothing else. Indeed, if anyone wished to question why Arsene rarely buys English, just look at the transfer of Carrick. The most expensive water carrier in history, with United - if they pay the full £18m - paying around 2-3x his worth, merely because he's English, and his media renown causes the inflation of real value.

Thirdly, Eric Abidal has been linked with us, a player, who I didn't think was particularly impressive for France. In fact I thought he was possibly their weakest starting player in the WC. I suppose he could play better for us though.

In other news, our new stadium has already added sufficient gravitas to the club to see Argentina and Brazil decide to play a friendly there [there are some rumours of a potential England game being lined up]; our friendly against Alkamaar is on Eurosport at 6pm BST today - Theo may feature if hes recovered from flu; and Owen Hargreaves has reiterated his desire to one day play in the premiership. I'd prefer him to Gilberto.

tata.