Enough is Enough: The UK Government has duty to stop any more dodgy takeovers of English clubs.

It's been a pretty sickening week for English football.

Geordies out on the streets complaining about a chairman who hires and sacks a local hero with impunity, after admitting he failed to do proper due diligence on the books of Newcastle before buying the club.

Abu Dhabi deciding, so it would seem, that Man City is nothing more to them than a vehicle through which they can publicise their Emirate. This is an place with an extremely questionable human rights record, which have already led some to ask for the FA to actually bother trying out the 'fit and proper' test on them. Today, news has emerged that Abu Dhabi now want to buy a smaller stake of the club, after finding out about the debts that the lovely Mr Sinawatra ran up before them. Man City have only paid a fraction of the fees that they owe for the big money transfers of players like Jo and Robinho, so if these guys were to pull out, the future would appear to be bleak for the club.

This is on top of unpopular takeovers at other English clubs. Indeed it would seem protests occurred at the Liverpool game this weekend, but these have been overshadowed by the result.

In the Man United case, a profitable club was taken over by Americans with no knowledge or care for the game other than the money it could produce, who subsequently saddled the club with the debt they'd used to buy it. This is standard, well at least before the credit crunch, form for Mergers and Acquisition; but it seems wrong to make fans pay for a takeover they didn't want and to make previously unknown owners even richer. Ticket prices at United have gone up, players are bought with even more debt, and United's total debt now stands at around £750 million, with interest payments alone of around £80 million last year. United will never go bust, but how, may one ask, have United fans benefitted from this takeover? (ignoring their, ultimately transient, successes last year.)

As the Liverpool fan in the linked piece suggests, Gillett and Hicks have been even more duplicitous in their takeover. They promised no debt from the takeover would be put on the club, that plans for a new stadium would procede forthwith, and that boardroom politics wouldn't affect the club. None of these things have happened. No new stadium seems on the horizon for Pool, and, again, the only ones to have considerably benefitted from the takeover are the owners, notwithstanding the abuse they rightfully get when they actually bother to turn up to a game.

A thesis could be written on the Chelsea takeover, but the main points are clear. A Russian with an extremely dodgy past comes out of nowhere, starts shelling out huge wads of cash, and brings the club success. Why? Partly as he wanted a new plaything, perhaps, but the political ramifications of the Chelsea takeover are becoming more and more apparent. Who'd heard of Abramovich before he bought Chelsea? Before then, he was a Russian oligarch probably sweating at Putin's relatively sudden turn against this hyper-rich segment of Russian society. What to do? Buy a football club, move to England, and make yourself untouchable. An English football club has become the get-out-of-jail-free card for this oligarch. Moreover, all the money Abramovich has poured into the club is in the form of loans, and Chelsea have total debts of £730 million, even if these admittedly interest-free.

At Arsenal, the situation is better. We are about to announce record profits for this year, with a turnover/wage ratio of less than 50%. We are a club, at the moment, run in just about the right way. Our ticket prices are still obscenely high (these have to come down, once the stadium debt is paid off), and boardroom politics have affected the club since the loathsome Uzbeki gangster turned up (thanks David Dein). But who knows what the future holds for the club. As Peter Hill-Wood himself said, if the club get a decent offer, the board has a duty to recommend it to share-holders. I genuinely worry for the future of our proud, historic club, if it falls into the hands of the vultures currently circling the premier league.

Of all the foreign takeovers, perhaps only that at Villa has been done properly. No huge debts, an owner who actually, despite not having strong historical ties to the club, seems to care about its welfare, and one who recognises the wider positive things a football club can achieve - as evidenced by making Acorns (a charity) their sponsor. Randy Lerner is an example that takeovers can be done in a 'right' way.

The money that has gone into football since the creation of the Premiership has not, of course, had a completely negative impact. The standard of football we see in the league is unrecognisably higher to that in the early 90s. The best athletes and players in the world populate our teams, and create great entertainment. It's also a lot safer to attend a football match, even if a lot of the atmosphere has been lost in the process.

Yet, there is now a fairly entrenched monopoly over whom wins the major honours in England. Even as a supporter of a team that, arguably,benefits from this monopoly, I would like to see a more competitve league.

I would like to see clubs owned by their fans, as frequently occurs in La Liga and the Bundesliga. This article shows how this ownership structure is both possible and beneficial. The German FA has set laws that ensure that even private limited companies are 51% owned by member associations. These clubs are thus run, or at least overseen, by those with its best interests at heart: the fans.

There is some hope. Andy Burnham, the new Culture secretary, favours the fan ownership system, and is, as David Conn puts it, 'an opponent of a clinically commercial view of football'. Burnham cites the American NFL as an example of a league where:

'which has equal sharing, and in which owners cannot simply pour money in from outside to buy all the best players. In the US, the most free-market country in the world, they understand that equal distribution of money creates genuine competition, which is good for the league. The danger in England is that individual clubs rush for the money today, without considering the long-term future, and so diminish the game.'

There are three main issues to consider, I feel, in sum:

* Clubs being bought by businessmen who merely want to make as much money as possible, thus making the cost of going to football more, and even prohibitively, expensive for the average football fan, alienating them from teams that are a major part of their lives.

* As a corollary to clubs being used as purely profit-making machines, for both players and owners, little concern is given to the grass-roots difference they can make to local communities. Robinho's salary for one week - £160k, reportedly - could fund a project such as kickz for four years, which is helping to transform the lives of youths in some of the UKs most difficult areas.

* Clubs being used for political ends by, let's be frank, crooks. Buying a football club can, potentially, buy dodgy men around the world political immunity or publicity. It is wrong they are being used in this way.

Football clubs were set up, a long time ago, to be community institutions, not global business brands. Somewhere, probably in the midst of the finanical immorality that has gripped the world since the Reaganite/Thatcherite deregulation boom of the 1980s, British football has lost its way. Sure, its great to watch, but at what cost has the present Premier League come?

The only ones that can do anything about this is the British Government. It's time to end a British society in which anything is for sale to anyone. The FA, clearly, will not stand in the way of these takeovers, and has lost so much power since the formation of the Premier League as to become an irrelevance.

Even if the present takeovers can't be reversed, future ones can be prevented, and an overall climate can be produced in English football conducive to fan, or at least responsible, ownership of these clubs, the jewels of English sport and society.

Because if nothing is done, English football is already dead.

Lovely wins at Blackburn and Zagreb cap a great week for Arsenal and England.

Being in the North-West, where as Match of the Day so often points out 'we struggle' (really, we didn't last season?), we delivered an absolute tonking to Blackburn, and a humbling lesson to new Prem manager Paul Ince.

Theo, after his and England's incredible performance in Zagreb, was bursting with confidence. Some of his passing was absolutely sensational; he ran with his head up past players who simply didn't know what to do with him. His assist for Robin's first goal was a thing of beauty.

After years of criticism about Arsenal's lack of contribution to the England team, will the press be willing to eat a bit of humble pie, now Arsne's tutelage has got Theo firing on all cylinders, and after Jack Wilshere, at only 16 years old and a total product of the Arsenal youth system, made his premiership debut? I doubt it.

Elsewhere, Ade has clearly re-joined the party after a couple of games without a goal. His first was clearly the best, when he beat Robinson at his near bost from a excellent cross from Denilson.

Eboue played well, even if he did manage to injure himself diving to win a penalty for our third goal. It was also good to see Aaron Ramsey get his premiership debut, and to get an assist with a defence splitting ball late on.

Overall then, job done. After our stutter at Fulham we've looked excellent ever since, scoring eleven goals with no reply in our last three games. You can talk about the quality of the opposition, but you can only beat what's put in front of you, and we did just that. Nice.

So one tough away match down, two to go. Kiev, will be a hard trip, and I think a point would be a decent way to open our CL campaign, especially as Clichy, Nasri and Eboue are all doubts for the game, which could see Silvestre make his, ahem, 'long-awaited' debut.

A lovely win to cap a lovely week, which saw one of the best England performances I've seen since the 1990 world cup. England actually passed the ball. Our pass completion rate was something like 86%. And the team had balance. An attacking central midfielder, next to a defensive one; a big, imposing centre-forward next to a crafty, 'in-the-hole' striker. Wingers which actually had pace, after years of seeing Beckham act as a glorified 'special-teams' player, as the Americans might say.

Well done Capello. Let's hope he doesn't lose his nerve and put Owen back in the side, or try and play Lampard and Gerrard together again.

Also, John Terry got sent off yesterday, and, as things stand, the Spuds lie bottom of the table. Bliss. Let's enjoy it.

No signings means its doom vs. hope.

Well, it was quite a deadline day, wasn't it?

I think the activities that went on regarding other clubs - United's shameful flouting of almost all transfer rules and conventions to steal Berbatov, Abu Dhabi suddenly owning Citeh, and turning them into a major player in one fowl swoop - need to be discussed elsewhere, and in depth.

For now, let's concentrate on our own dealings or, more pertinently, the lack of them.

It's worrying. You'd have to be an optimist of the highest order to think our squad didn't need any additions, or that we didn't attempt to sign anyone last week.

It was rumoured that we put a last minute bid in for Alonso, but Liverpool were always holding all the cards in that deal, and probably asked for a fee nearer £18m, which would have been far too much.

Other than that, it was deathly quiet. Maybe a few of our targets will be more readily available in January, but who knows.

As it is, we have no adequate partner for Cesc. Diaby is perma-injured and unproven, Denilson looks OK without ever really impressing, and Eboue and Song have a hell of a lot to prove if they're going to convince Arsenal fans that they're good enought to take on the holding role full-time.

Whilst it could have been construed as some form of sick joke, the fact that Eboue and Denilson's smiling mugs appeared on Arsenal.com they day after the deadline shut probably indicates how important they're going to be to the team this season, or, at least, til January.

I think, therefore, that Arsene has left us short, a situation that may have been exacerbated by the lack of a CFO and CEO at the club, still. Arsene is doing too much, and needs help with transfers - if just to kick him out of the comfort zone. That much, I think, is clear.

Anyway, we shouldn't slip too far into doom-mode. We have a team full of potential, and, let's not forget, none of us would have predicted Flamini becoming the player he became last year, so maybe someone inside the squad will step-up.

We have 3 tricky away matches coming up after what will be an interminably long international break, so let's wait for them before we jump to too many conclusions about the squad.

It's deadline day, an enjoyable performance, and Barton the thug.

Morning, or should I say afternoon, fellow gooners.

Apologies for no blog over the weekend. I was in the process of moving house, something i will have to do again by the end of the month. What joy.

As such, I only caught the second half of the Newcastle performance, but what I did see was rather lovely. Yes, we probably should have won 4/5-0, but, still, sometimes we should just sit down and appreciate the lovely football we can play, and realise that winning by the hugest margin possible isn't always necessary.

I was particularly impressed with Adebayor's performance, despite some appalling finishing, and that of RvP and Cesc.

Despite his goals, it is still a worry that Robin struggled to complete 90 minutes in what was essentially a pretty relaxed match. I think he has the ability to be a great player, but I'm not sure if his body can hack it.

So, no real complaints about our performance. The only thing which left a bad taste in the mouth was the appearance of Joey Barton at the end of the match. Now, and in a rare moment of actual insight, Mark Lawrenson summed Barton up: everyone (almost) deserves a second chance when they make mistakes in life. But his imprisonment was merely the latest in a string of violent incidents he's been involved in during his career. Newcastle should be ashamed he's their player, especially given how Barton decided to involve himself in the match.

In response to, justified, booing, Barton lunged in with a two-footed swipe at Samir Nasri. There's a line between acceptable and non-acceptable physicality in a football match and he crossed it with that appalling lunge.

So I was heartened to see Samir not take it lying down. His cheeky trip was rather lovely compared to Barton's thuggish assault. It also showed that Samir isn't a player to be easily cowed, which is also heartening.

Finally, it's deadline day today, but I have not, really, seen us linked with anyone, apart from the customary links to Alonso, and a rather odd rumour involving us taking Metzelder on loan from Real Madrid for a year.

I'm confident we will sign at least one player today; we certainly need to, and given Arsene's past record, we shouldn't be worried, necessarily, by the lack of public rumours Don't let us down Arsene.

Kiev we're a coming, and £30 million to spend.

Well, the above picture is the first thing that comes up in a google image search for Kiev. That's the Pechersk monastery, apparently. How nice.

In terms of football, the draw was, on balance, kind to us. Not as kind as it perhaps could have been, but kind nonetheless. We should to be able to beat Porto, Fenerbache, and Kiev at home, and pick up at least a couple of points, if not more, from our away trips. Mercifully, we're visiting Kiev first, in September, rather than facing a trip there in December. This means it will actually be possible to play football against them, rather than the 'who can avoid breaking their all their bones on the frozen pitch' game, which is much less fun.

A trip to Istanbul probably won't be too much fun either - Chel$ea tripped up their last season, before beating Fener in the home leg, and I think we'd do well to get a draw out there.

Porto, in some ways, should be the easiest of the three. We beat them at home 2 years ago, and drew with them in Portugal, so I think we can do the same again.

In short, if we can't get out of this group we really don't deserve to win the competition.

In other news, there remains only 3 days to the end of the transfer window, and Arsene remains in a state of near xen-like calm. Danny Fiszman came out yesterday and said Arsene could buy whoever he wanted, if he wanted to, even a £30 million striker.

This has been interpreted as meaning we have £30 million to spend, which is not actually what Danny said at all. We could have even more; the point Danny was trying to make was that the club is generating plenty of money, and that Arsene is given free reign to decide whether or not to spend it. If he wanted to sign a big-money player he could.

This was to counter suggestions being planted in the media - I'm looking at you Daily Mail -by Fat & Orange's PR that Arsenal won't be able to compete without a takeover as we have no money at present.

We have money; have a look at the bloody Annual Report, it's all there. We have cash reserves on top of the loan repayments we're making. Arsene is trying to implement a policy of buying younger, hungrier players (ok, apart from Silvestre), rather than trying to compete for the huge, and usually overpriced, stars.

This policy has brought us agonisingly close to the CL, league, and Carling Cup in recent years, so let's not write it off too quickly. And anyway, there are still three more days for us to make one final move in the transfer window, so no panicking yet.

Crisis? What Crisis? Confidence restored against Twente.

Well, that was nice. 4-0 in the tie, 6-0 on aggregate, and hopefully our season has finally begun after 4 games.

After dominating the opening exchanges of the game, Theo bombed down the wing, sent a dangerous but rather aimless cross across the box, which RvP intercepted, and laid off to Samir. The actions that followed were completely unexpected for those who've been watching Hleb over the last few seasons. He ran forward, beat three players, shot, and scored. If this had been Hleb he would have looked for the pass - you know this is true. Moreover - he's a player who's getting the crucial first goal in our matches, unlike Rosicky, who seems incapable of scoring before we've knocked in 2-3 already.

So that's 2 goals in 3 games for Samir, a lovely little start to his Arsenal career. He looks a tidy, dangerous player, and if he can score over 10 goals in his first season I think he could become quite a player for us. Let's hope he went off at half-time for a rest, rather than for any injury related reasons, because I'm looking forward to seeing him and Cesc link up in the coming games.

We perhaps should have scored a few more before half-time, and a glaring example of our profligacy was RvP. Let's hope he's just having a slow start to the season, because missing the target when you have half the goal to aim at is worrying. He really hasn't got going this season, and, despite his tackle to set up Samir, you have to ask what he offers when he's not scoring.

The second half was, hopefully not for the last time this season, a goal-fest. Bendtner showed a lovely touch to take the ball past the defender, and perhaps should have scored, but Gallas was on hand to knock it in.

Bendtner showed the best and worst parts of his game last night - wastefulness on the ball, and looking, generally, a bit hopeless, mixed with moments where he showed a better touch and overall game than Ade. He's still very young and, despite the fact half the team still seems to hate him, he's clearly a huge prospect.

Both he and Theo deserved their goals if for no other reason for persistence and not hiding. I though Theo had a good game overall. He certainly looks dangerous going forward, but he needs to do this in the premiership, and not just against pretty average European teams.

Bendtner's goal was almost farcically over-complex, but it was nice to see us fighting til the end for the result. Whether we'll be able to walk the ball into the net against better teams is open to debate, but him and Theo needed their goals to get their confidence up.

So, in all, you can't really argue with 6 goals over two legs. That we looked so much better than in our last three games was largely due to Cesc, and it is worrying, in a way, that we are so reliant upon him. At the back, I was also impressed by the performance of Johan Djourou. I'd like to see him keep his place for the game against Newcastle, but Wenger will inevitably drop him for Kolo, which I think is both wrong and a shame.

So, the season finally begins. Let's hope we can do the same on Saturday.

Cesc is back, Wenger's cautious comments, and empty seats.

The second leg of our CL qualifier is tonight, and I think we've done enough in the tie to see ourselves through. I can't really see Twente scoring twice or more at the Grove, but then I don't want to tempt fate too much, given the perilous state of our defence in recent games.

If I was Arsene I'd be tempted to throw caution to the wind and let the youngsters have a run about. Even if they don't start, I'd like to See the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela, Song, Djourou, and maybe even Fabianski involved tonight. It's the closest to a safe, but meaningful game they're going to get at this stage of the season, and, in all honesty, most of them could hardly do worse than members of the first XI did at Fulham.

Cesc is back and I'll imagine he'll play, if not for the entire 90 minutes.

I'd like to think that he's being eased back into the team, but given our dearth of options in centre-mid, we need him to start playing now, and he'll definitely play against Newcastle on the Weekend.

Arsene was a bit cheeky yesterday in his press conference yesterday when he said:

If I can find one more player before the transfer deadline, I will take him. But one more player will not make that much difference. If we don’t get him, we’re still strong enough to deal with all the competitions.

Before we all start slitting our wrists, we need to realise that Arsene is just covering his back.

I've no doubt he's out looking for a central midfielder, and perhaps even in the process of wrapping up a deal, but there's always a fair chance that deals don't come off. He needs to keep confidence in the squad high, and say things that won't immediately come back to haunt him. If he had said - 'we're really short in centre-mid at the moment, my god we're gonna win nothing this year if i don't manage to get some new players' (or something more verbose to this effect) and then, for whatever reason, didn't manage to pull off any new signings...well, hopefully you can see my point.

Or maybe he really does think the squad is strong enough. In which case, it's going to be a long season.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a sell-out tonight, so a) get behind the team if you're going and b) ignore all the ARSENAL IN CRISIS ONLY 50,000 ATTEND headlines tomorrow. I can't attend but otherwise I would certainly have gone. In situations such as these, it might be an idea for the club to offer reduced tickets? Just a thought.

A nice big win would be nice tonight, but so would a signing. Let's hope both happen.

Senderos's departure is no big loss, but we may have let him down.

I've put a photo up of Phil in the 04/05 kit because I feel that was his best time at the club.

After a rather unimpressive opening couple of games, Phil came in against Bayern Munich at Highbury and was absolutely superb. He was so good after this that he kept Sol Campbell out of the team for the remainder of the season, even keeping his place for the 2005 FA Cup final (some of you may remember this as the last time we won a trophy).

Phil repeated the trick in the 05/06 season. He initially looked horribly exposed against the likes of Drogba in the Prem, but in the Champions League he was part of a five man defence that set a Champions League record for the length of time without conceding a goal. One can only speculate what might have happened if he hadn't have picked up an injury weeks before the final that saw him ruled out.

At the beginning of the 06/07 season, there was a real buzz about Phil. He looked good in the world cup before picking up a nasty shoulder injury, and was handed the no.6 shirt in pre-season.

But then Gallas arrived. And with Gallas's arrival, Phil's Arsenal career stuttered and never really recovered.

Phil is clearly a confidence player. He needs a run of games in which he can build up his belief in his abilities, and acclimatise to the speed of the Premier League (something I don't believe he ever truly mastered). Throwing him in every now and again doesn't work for Phil, and at this level Wenger has to bear some of the responsibility for Phil's demise at the club.

Gallas's arrival turned him and Kolo into our first choice CBs. Consequently Phil never got a run of games after this, instead being intermittently thrown into the team with varying results.

This season he looked like he had begun to re-gain his form. With Kolo at the African Cup of Nations, Phil came into the team, got a run of games, and started imposing himself again.

But, as soon as Kolo comes back, Phil was dropped for the AC Milan first leg tie. An absolutely appalling decision by Wenger. If a player is playing well, play him; what message does it send out if some players are automatic selections? Anyway, Kolo picked up an injury early in the game, Phil came in, and his last decent moments in an Arsenal shirt occurred over the two legs with the rossoneri.

But then, the nadir. Phil's Arsenal career died in the Anfield cauldron, when he lost both Hypia and Torres before their respective goals. After the game, Phil burst into tears in the dressing room, and was given, essentially, compassionate leave by Wenger til the end of the season.

That was the final straw for Arsene - a combination of poor defending and mental weakness that he felt he could no longer continue to tolerate.

Yet one wonders if Arsene didn't help contribute to this situation in the first place. The state of defensive coaching under Arsene has always been under question. He inherited the back-five, bought one of the finest defenders (in Sol) after this, but when it comes to some of his own defensive creations, they've been decidedly hit and miss. Take Kolo Toure: a rock when with Sol, he's been curiously exposed since his departure.

And, perhaps more pertinenly, despite Arsene's protestations of not wanting to 'kill youngsters' by not buying too many older players, did he not do exactly this by buying Gallas?

As it is, Silvestre in for Senderos doesn't weaken the squad, whilst Djourou and Song both now look better long-term prospects than Phil. So, whilst, physically, we've lost a body in the squad, it's one I feel we can afford to leave given the decline in his form in recent seasons.

Phil will be a success at Milan. The slower Italian league will suit his style of play, and he'll receive incredible advice from the likes of Paolo Maldini. But, and remember this, even if he does well in Italy, this is the right decision for Phil and the club at this time.

Til later.

Robin van Persie has a lot to prove this year, and he hasn't got off to a good start.

The reaction to the defeat on Saturday has been, undoubtedly, overblown. But due to the stratification of the Premier League into the Champions League teams, the UEFA Cup sides, and, well, the rest, defeats can no longer be treated in the 'c'est la vie' fashion they once were. People talk about the Premier League like it's a marathon and, in many ways, it is. But nowadays it's more like a marathon in which you have to sprint from start to finish. In the mid/late 90s you could easily afford to lose around 5 games and still probably win the league quite comfortably. Today, 2-3 defeats, at most, can cost a team its title challenge; that's why the reaction has been so strong. We've already reduced our breathing space and the season has barely begun.

And so it's important that a team sprints out the blocks if it wants to win the league. We did that last year, before we finally ran out of steam, but the start to this season has been pretty ugly. Two scrappy wins against Twente and West Brom, followed by a strange match against Fulham, one in which we dominated possession, yet could not find a rhythm to our passing, or conjure up more than a couple shots on target.

It's easy, as Little Dutch on Vital Football has pointed out in an excellent article today, to blame the usual suspects for the defeat. Eboue, despite being our best midfielder on Saturday, has been hammered, while other websites seem to blame William Gallas for the totality of our defensive failings, regardless of Almunia's inability to boss his area, or Clichy's rather lazy reaction to the shot as it went in.

Indeed, certain players seem beyond the pale when it comes to criticism.

Kolo Toure has not had a decent match for Arsenal for months. Yet, as soon as he's fit, he goes straight back into the team for Djourou. What message does that send to the young lad?

Theo seems to have lost all confidence in his ability, making stuttering runs against defenders that we know he can skin. He needs to man up, quickly, if he's going to make it.

But, for me, the arch-culprit of Arsenal's superficial early-season performances has been a player who I feel flatters to deceive all-too-often.

Robin van Persie.

Robin scores incredible goals. He has one of the most powerful shots i've seen an Arsenal player possess. He can bang free-kicks in from almost anywhere within 30 yards or so of goal.

But, to paraphrase Janet Jackson, what has he done for us lately? Against Fulham he was abject, sauntering round the pitch in a laissez-faire haze of indifference. 3 or 4 poor free-kicks were the sum of his performance.

If you're going to play badly, at least put some effort in. Denilson, despite only completing around 2 of his passes in the game, clearly broke his back trying to get things going for the side, and never hid from the ball. Robin was the polar opposite, skulking around the box, and missing the target with perhaps our best chance of the game.

My fear with Robin is that he's like some form of shadowy chancer. He turns up, scores a dazzling goal every 3 or 4 games, does very little else, then gets injured. There's not enough graft to his game at the moment, none of the energy that Dennis always brought to the table.

Maybe I'm being over-the-top in my criticism. But I feel that if he doesn't up his scoring rate, or improve his work-rate, or actually stay fit for more than half a season, his place in the first XI, if not the squad, should be questioned, especially when we have Eduardo's imminent return, and a young Carlos Vela who's impressed during pre-season.

One thing's for certain - if we don't start scoring soon it's going to be a long season.

A terrible performance, but not an unexpected one. Arsene has a week left to fix it.

This result could be seen coming from May this year, if not January.

Sell Diarra, don't give Flamini what he wants, let Gilberto go, throw in a rare injury to Cesc and a completely predictable one to Diaby and you have, da da dah! NO CENTRAL MIDFIELD!

Anyone who saw how we laboured last week with Eboue and Denilson as the CM partnership could tell they were only millimetres from disaster in that game.

And so the chickens came home to roost at the Cottage.

Denilson was epically bad, giving away the ball an astounding number of times. Eboue, in fairness, showed some attacking verve in the final parts of the game, and also stood up for himself when he was hacked down by certain Fulham players. It was good to see, and maybe there's hope for the guy yet.

Yet the Fulham combination of Bullard and Murphy had our midfield in their pockets for the majority of the game. It was embarrassing, but that's what happens when you don't replace players: you get found out.

A poor central midfield rips the heart out of the team. The defence falters because it has no engine room to pass to; the attack doesn't receive consistent supply; the wingers are left to pick at scraps. Nasir and Walcott could hardly get into the game yesterday as our midfield was so entirely over-run. Watching Nasri was particularly frustrating, because you could tell he could do so much more with decent players around him.

The horror-show continued at the back. Of our back five, only Clichy and Sagna deserve their places at the moment.

Almunia did nothing explicitly wrong, but, yet again, failed to come and claim a high ball into the area which could have prevented the goal. He allowed himself to get boxed in by Fulham players in a way that top keepers simply wouldn't countenance (it made me miss Jens, I must say). He doesn't boss his defence (Gallas wouldn't listen anyway, I suppose) and doesn't organise. He's an average player, and just because he's not doing something obviously wrong, doesn't make his place in the team acceptable.

As for our centre backs? Neither warrant a place in the side at the moment. Kolo looks like he's in a perpetual panic, and only his recovery pace prevents him from giving away more goals. The contrast with, dare I say it, Alex Song was remarkable. Alex appears to have grown into quite a player. He looks assured on the ball, and wonderfully calm under pressure. Give him a go I say.

Gallas was, again, found out, letting the Fulham player walk past him to score. Slopppy, arrogant defending. I've defended Gallas and his captaincy a lot on this blog in the past, but he's a poor leader, and, at present, a poor defender. Djourou played better than him last week, yet now I hear he's off to Rennes.

I will say simply: if Arsene sells Djourou, buys Silvestre, and keeps Senderos, he knows nothing about central defending, or has lost the plot when it comes to judging what makes a good centre-back.

On form, at the moment, since about February last year, our best two centre-backs have been Song and Djourou. Go figure.

Up front, RvP reminded me of all the negativity I felt towards him before his injuries in the 05/06 season. He seems to coast through games, occasionally smashing the ball miles wide, and displaying a crap attitude. Just because he scores flashy goals doesn't mean he's worth a place in the team. The expression, 'flatters to deceive' often comes to mind when I think of him.

As for Ade, someone needs to tell him he's not Henry. Instead of cute flicks and tricks when the ball is played to him, just be direct. What's he doing out on the wing crossing the ball into the area? He's the one who should be in the box heading it in!

Not strengthening the squad sufficiently, letting players go, and a couple of injuries have created this entirely predictable situation. We were awful yesterday, truly awful, and didn't deserve anything from the game. Our first shot on target was in the 84th minute. That says it all.

Arsene has a week to pull his finger out and sort this mess that he's created. It's not hard to fix; it merely requires the ability, and perhaps humility, to accept that some of his projects aren't good enough, and that he needs to spend cash now. Let's hope he does it. Or fourth place, at best, beckons.

Wenger is a big tease but a new signing is on its way.

I can almost imagine Arsene being asked out by his wife for dinner:

Arsene's wife: Arsene, do you want to go for dinner tonight?

Arsene: There is interest, always, in dinner.

Wife: So where do you want to go?

Arsene: You know the place I want to go, but I cannot tell you much more than that.

Arsene's wife: So we're going to the Savoy?

Arsene: maybe.

Half an hour later Arsene returns with two big mac meals.

Wife: what's this!

Arsene: sometimes I surprise you.

The point of this attempt at comedy, is that whilst I think we will be getting a player in, it won't necessarily be one we've heard of before, or one we're expecting.

But the fact Arsene seems to realise we still need another body is promising in itself. The talk of Gareth Barry coming in seems too obvious to me, although given his appearance in the Uefa cup, his price will have come down, making a deal possible. He would also be available in the second half of the Champions League, and the squad should be strong enough to get through the group stages without him.

On the other hand, this talk of snapping up Barry could be an attempt to force Liverpool into action, allowing us to make a bid for Alonso. Personally, I think Alonso is too similar to Cesc for that partnership to work. Barry, on the other hand, could prove a natural defensive foil to Cesc, if he continues his form of the last few seaons; and that's a big if.

Or, this could just be a case of Arsene toying with English journalists before he buys someone we've never heard of, or barely heard of, before. Gokhan Inler might be at the top of this list.

In any case, I don't think the cheque book is closed just yet. And the addition of a decent central midfielder to the squad could turn a rather average transfer window into a very successful one.

Questions and answers about the Silvestre signing.

As usual with Arsene's signings, the arrival of Mikael Silvestre has brought more questions than answers.

Am I happy about the signing? Hmm. Ask me on Septemeber 2.

Will Silvestre be part of our first XI? No, I don't think so. Unless Kolo is put in midfield, and he starts at CB next to Gallas, I think Silvestre will be our first choice back-up to the defence. If he wasn't getting a starting berth at United, I don't see why he should get one here.

Have we been mugged? No, I don't think so either. The reaction from the United fan-base does show signs of amusement, but there is also a notable element which feels that, at the least, they shouldn't be selling players who can strengthen their rivals. In fact, amusingly, some feel that their defensive cover is now a little thin and too reliant on youth. heh! For £750k, I think we can afford the risk.

Is Silvestre the replacement for Hoyte? This is what my colleague at Gunnerblog is theorising, and it's not an entirely implausible idea. Eboue is adequate (eurgh, need to wash my mouth out) cover at RB, and Silvestere can baulk up not only the LB position, but also CB. In this set of affairs, we've improved our defence and made money, not a bad state of affairs.

Will Traore and Djourou be going out on loan? I can definitely envisage Traore going out now, but I think it would be a shame if Djourou followed him. I'm not sure how much his loan spell at Birmingham really helped him, and I think if he was sent out then it might be a sign that he doesn't have much of a future at the club. That would be a shame as he's probably the best centre back prospect we have, in my opininon.

Will we be buying a new midfielder? I hope so. If Arsene is going to go on some form of madcap plan to convert Kolo or someone else into a CM then we've taken the cheapskate option again. We need to go out and buy a player who knows how to play the role now not later. Apparently Arsene watched Switzerland play some team last night so Inler may still be the player who comes in. Frankly, if we don't buy a new midfielder, then I don't think the squad is strong enough to compete for the Champions League or Premiership.

When can I put on my tinfoil hat and start shouting WENGER OUT? Not for a while yet. This may well prove to be a masterly piece of business - a cheap, experienced defender who can instantly slot-in when needed. On the other hand, it could be the nadir of Arsene's policy to do everything on the cheap, and we've actually weakened the squad by being forced to rely on an injury prone, and frankly rubbish defender.

In short, everything will become clear; but not for a while yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this isn't the end of our transfer dealings.

Signing Silvestre is either an act of genius or madness.

Late last night, just before bed, the Daily Mail website was reporting that Silvestre was on the verge of a move to Arsenal.

Heh, I thought. They really must be desperate for news today.

But waking this morning and seeing the news carried by all major carriers, and ANR, in the last few minutes, even going as far to say that he's signing right now in Highbury House (make of that what you will) this deal, which has come out of nowhere, now looks incredibly likely.

Now, signing Silvestre is fine in many ways. He's an experienced centre-back, who can cover at left-back, who's won just about everything you can do in the modern game. He's tall; well, taller than the rest of the defence, which again is saying much. He could well be the centre-back Arsene promised way back at the beginning of the summer.

But where the hell is he going to play? Surely he's not happy just to be squad-fodder. Daniel Taylor in the Guardian reports that Silvestre will start, if he signs, at CB alongside Gallas. What this means for Kolo, Djourou (who I rate highly) and Senderos (who I don't) is anyone's guess. There is the perennial talk of transforming Kolo into a defensive central midfielder, but I'm not sure if I see that happening. Kolo doesn't have a midfielder's brain or ability.

Moreover, Silvestre hasn't exactly set the world alight at OT in recent years. The fact Fergie is willing to let him go on a free transfer speaks volumes, frankly.

If we're merely picking up Silvestre as a cheap squad-strengthener alongside the defensive midfielder Arsene's been promising, I'm fine with this deal, and I'd say it was actually a very clever move by the boss.

But, if we're signing Silvestre to save money, and re-jig the squad so we 'don't need' to sign a central midfielder, then this signing is madness, utter Arsene disappearing up his own arse madness.

Anyway, let's wait and see how this all unfolds before too much mud or praise is thrown.

What does Adebayor's new contract really mean?

Well, on one level, it at least gives us a chance to look at this rather nauseating picture again.

Mmm. Badge.

I suppose it also signifies that Arsene, and the Arsenal hierarchy, are serious about wanting to keep him at the club, and that they're willing to improve his wages to achieve this. Whether he fully deserves this increase is now moot: he's achieved it. But questions still could be asked about whether he really does merit Henry level wages after some of the finishing and decision-making he showed on Saturday's game.

But to Adebayor himself, what does it really mean? The consolidation of a love affair with Arsenal that will last til his retirement? No, of course not. It means a bigger wage cheque and, hopefully, thoughts of other clubs being put out of his mind.

But for how long?

Henry signed a 'long-term deal' then left the next season. So did Cashley. So did Vieira.

Contracts in modern football guarantee, at a minimum, one, or, if there is good-will, maybe two
more years at their present club. After two years on any modern contract, things often get a little dicey. In Adebayor's case, I think the deal will pin him down til the end of this season, and perhaps the next one as well.

But if he has another good season this year, which, through a combination of his finishing ability and the plethora of chances we create for him in every game, I think he will, I don't think it'll stop him from leaving next summer if another top club come in with a firm bid and big wages.

Modern football is dominated by greed. Brian Glanville calls the Premier League the 'greed is good league' and players like Ade sum it up. The argument that they're just trying to earn as much as possible in a short career simply doesn't carry weight. The average salary in the UK, an affluent country, is about £23,000 a year. Now, Ade will be on, I reckon, about £70-80k a week after this bump. That's easily 3 times the average salary in the Uk, per week.

In one year as a Premiership footballer you will earn more money than an average UK resident earns in their lifetime. In 4-5 years, you will easily have more money than you need, if you decide not to squander it on birds, booze and bling.

That is the bottom line for me. Football has always had its superstars, but the Premier Leage has helped to create almost untouchable figures, players divorced from the fans who pay their wgaes and support the team.

Almost all the money that has been funelled into the new Premier League over the years has gone into player and corporate pockets. That's what contracts like Ade's mean. Not improving the general state of the English game, through improving local facilities or youth development plans, but into the pockets of a few hundred men. Remember that next time you see a dilapidated local pitch in your community that's part of an FA league. Contracts like Ade's, or Ronaldo's, show fans are just wallets to too many people involved in English football nowadays.

The contract ultimately means that fans will have to pay ever more money to support our team. Our new stadium produces record levels of revenue, yet instead of tickets being subsidised - as happens in the Bundesliga, for instance - fans pay more. Fans pay more to mean the club makes more to allow players like Ade to earn more. Something is wrong in all this.

Finally, it means the league become ever more uncompetitive. Only a handful of clubs can pay the wages necessary for stars, so don't be surprised when the same four teams finish in the top four. Isn't the Premier League wonderful.

So, for me, Ade is just another greedy footballer; and we're the chumps that pay him. But you can't blame him: he's just a product of his time.

Anyway, ranting aside, it means we have Ade, a decent goalscorer - given enough chances - for one more year. Here's hoping he earns the money as best he can by actually delivering us some trophies. and continues to act contrite.

Til later.

Empty seats, Gallas's rant, Ade's boos and goodbye to a true Gooner.

A few topics.

Firstly, the empty seats at the Grove. It's a mockery that the club continue to claim that these matches are 'sell-outs' when any idiot can look up and see that shedloads of the seats in the stadium remain empty. The problem is, as many have already stated, that these seats are sold seats that haven't been occupied. The majority are season ticket holders who, for one reason or another, haven't turned up. Given that we're still in August and a lot of people are still on their hols, fair enough. But as a plea to the future: if you're a season ticket holder and you can't attend a game find someone to take your ticket. If you have no friends, there is a ticket exchange on the Arsenal website where you can even sell your seat if you can't attend.

There are a lot of Arsenal fans for whom attending only one game a season is a big deal; don't take your seat for granted. Lord knows we could do a few more fans who actually seem excited to be there.

Secondly: Gallas. Or, more specifically, his rants. Yesterday, after Djourou cleared the ball off the line a spat broke out between him and Gallas which was only ended through the intervention of teammates. Clearly, Gallas doesn't like being shouted at; yet, surely, the captain should be a stabilising influence within the team. They should only be a hot-head when it comes to the other side. What makes Gallas a good captain - his passion, pride and desire - also seem to still make him a bit of a loose cannon. He has a lot to prove as captain this year, as he himself admitted in his programme notes yesterday.

Thirdly, Ade: to boo or not to boo. Not to boo, is quite clearly the answer. Ade's actions over the summer are clearly reprehensible, and, in many respects, a sad indictment of the lack of loyalty in modern football. But let's not get carried away. He's an Arsenal player; and what he did is hardly in the league of, say, Cashley. You don't boo Arsenal players in my book. Shout a bit of abuse if you want, but don't let it lead to concerted booing. It's horrible.

Finally, goodbye to Justin Hoyte. He never quite made the standard for us, and a move to Boro will mean he should be able to hold down a first team spot. But JH was a true gooner, the only player for a long time who grew up as an Arsenal fan and made it into the team. He always gave his best to the club, and never thought about anything but giving his all to a cause he genuinely cared about.

In an age where players only seem to care about the bottom line and their latest contract renewal, Justin was a breath of fresh air. I wish him all the best at Boro, and I think he will prove to be a fine player oop north.

til later.

Arsenal labour to the win, but win nonetheless.

Ah, football. So nice to have you back. Having not been able to see the entirety of the Twente match - not a bad thing from the sound of it - this was my season opener.

And didn't it open in a lovely fashion? Nice work by Clichy led to a precise pass by Denilson and a smooth finish from Nasri.

It was about a good a debut as you'll see from young Samir. He held the ball up well, made a number of penetrating passes, was strong when pushed about by the oppositon, and made his finish look easier than it was. Moreover, lord be praised, he actually showed a proclivity to take shots on goal. How much you can tell about anyone from one game is debatable, but he looked tidy, elegant, strong and dangerous. He looks more of a threat than Hleb, already. But then I suppose that isn't saying much. A bit of pace is perhaps his only notable failing.

The rest of the team, after Sammy's goal, took the usual Arsenal option - endless passing, squandered opportunity, and a domination of the game which always looked like it might be threatened by a breakaway Brummie goal.

So, in the end, we were hanging on; something which was faintly ridiculous given our overall superiority.

Yet, overall, I was impressed by the team today.

Eboue was, and I say this with a considerable degree of trepidation, good in central midfield. He can pass the ball sideways and backwards, so taking away the attacking responsibilities he usually has allowed to concentrate on some neat link work. His shooting was utterly abysmal though, so let's hope Arsene doesn't continue the experiment too much longer.

Denilson was neat and tidy, and possibly has a bit more too him than I thought. Djourou was good in the middle, and still looks like he has more potential than Senderos. The whole back four did ok, but still gifted the Brummies a few too many opportunities.

The two low-lights for me were Theo and Ade. Theo looked low on confidence and ideas. He didn't even seem to be relying on his usual pace to get by defenders and contributed very little to the team and result.

Ade also showed the worst aspects of his performance: poor finishing, an awful first touch, and poor decision-making. Still, the boos I did hear in the stadium were out of order, and I certainly won't stoop to that level.

The fans too: if you can't find someone to take your season ticket, use the ticket exchange. And why were people leaving early at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon? A poor level of support, I must say.

So, it's good to start the season with a win and a clean-sheet. But whether we can kick on from this remains to be seen.

Attack is not always the best form of defence.

It was an interesting game yesterday, one that perhaps summed up everything that's good and bad about this current Arsenal line-up.

The good? Well, even Eboue showed that he does have some worth, when he whipped in a very decent cross that was headed home by Greedy. Bendtner and Greedy then actually linked up to see nicky cooly stroke home, before Greedy knocked in the winner. He does take his chances, eventually.

Yet, not withstanding the positive points we should take from such a remarkable comeback, always having to score an extra goal or two due to our defensive frailties is not a wise way to go.

And defensive frailties we have, in abundance.

The essential problem is size and organisation. Individually our back four are all very good players. Indeed, I would even suggest that we still have the best set of full-backs in the Prem with Clichy and Sagna.

It's the centre-backs and goalkeeper that are the problem: none have the aerial dominance necessary to clear certain forms of attack, and it seems to be chaos every time a ball is whipped into the box.

And if I were to play against Arsenal at the moment, I would merely throw lots of long and high-balls into the area. Our opponents score a lot of goals because we cannot clear these balls adequately. The first Ajax goal yesterday, for instance, was a great strike, but one that came from a long-ball into the box which Kolo unconvincingly cleared, while Gallas looked on rather aimlessly.

Gallas and Kolo are not a good partnership, and never have been. They both play the role of the smaller, more nimble centre-back who relies on pace to clear our lines. They need a tall, aerially dominant player next to them.

This weakness is compounded by Almunia. He's a pretty decent shop-stopper, but instils no confidence in me, or our defence, when high balls are played into the area. Indecision creates more indecision and goal-scoring opportunities for the opposition.

Now, what makes this all the more galling is that Arsene openly recognised the fact we needed a new CB at the end of last season. Yet nothing has happened. The two big lads we have who Arsene is probably relying on are Senderos and Djourou, neither of whom has consistently performed to a level which suggests they'll be the type of player we need.

Further up the pitch, we still need a defensive holding midfielder, although, if reports are to be believed, Arsene is close to doing something about this in the form of Swiss international Gokhan Inler.

My overall point is this: going into a season with the attitude that 'it doesn't matter how many goals you score, we'll score more', as Arsene practically said in his press conference yesterday, is extremely dangerous. Always having to score an extra couple of goals per game will eventually take its toll.

Poor defending cost us the title last year, and it will cost us again this year, at this rate. Please Arsene, sort it out.

Wilshere the talk of the tournament, but goals still seem to be a problem.

All in all, Arsenal outperformed both Juventus and Madrid in our two Emirates Cup matches. The difference in each game was merely a goal: Juve got a dodgy one in the first, and we got a pretty soft penalty in the second.

We played with pace and fluency, but still looked a little lost when we get to the box. At least twice in the game today, someone should have just flown in and smashed a shot on goal. As it was, we over elaborated and lost possession. You can't score if you don't shoot, I still don't think this message is fully being hammered home.

However, maybe it's just preseason rustiness at this point. Certainly we didn't seem afraid to shoot earlier in the week against Stuttgart, with Vela, Bendtner and Walcott all looking especially dangerous.

Today, Ade looked the most likely of our players to score in open play, narrowly rolling the ball past the post after a wonderful bit of skill took him past several Real players. His celebration on scoring the penalty - kissing the badge - was every bit as galling as his statement earlier in the week that he had never asked or thought about moving from Arsenal.

It insults the intelligence of most Arsenal fans for him to say that but, as things stand, we won't find a replacement for him easily, and he does still seem to be our most potent threat up-front. It may have to be a case of forgiven, but not forgotten.

But the talk of the tournament, if not the entire pre-season thusfar, has been young Jack Wilshere. Just 16, he's done enough in the last few games to bring himself into contention for the coming season. Indeed, it was telling today that those players we thought were going to be the next stars to come out of the academy - Randall, Lansbury, Bazarite, even Gibbs - were left on the bench, if they even made it there.

Wilshere simply looks a cut above the other youth prospects I've seen. He has no fear when given the ball, and actively puts himself into positions to get it. He has a strength that belies his shorter stature, and also the requisite technical ability and all-round skill to fit into a Wenger team. Most importantly, for me, is he looks like a player who can make things happen. He must be one of the first names on the Carling Cup squad list already, and I would not at all be surprised to see him involved in the first team, if only as sub this season.

Elsewhere, Diaby seems to flit between looking impressive and a liability and Denilson still seems a bit unsure of his role in midfield. It isn't beyond the realms of possiblity that Diaby starts the first game of the season next to Cesc in centre-mid, but I still think an experienced defensive midfielder is a necessary signing.

Oh, and a new goalkeeper.

However, the team really doesn't look too bad at the moment. One more decent signing and maybe we will surprise one or two people this year. Also, I have to say, the new home kit looks alright in the flesh, and the new away kit is excellent. I may have to buy two shirts in one year for the first time for a long time.

Next up is Amsterdam, and hopefully a few more clues to how the coming season might unfold.

The squad starts to take shape, but is still too shallow.

A long time since my last post, and not much has actually occurred.

Let's summarise events:

* Adebayor hasn't moved anywhere, despite skulking round the Nou Camp/ San Siro for the last month wearing a 'please, please, please buy me, i'm easy' shirt on. He definitely wants to leave, let's get that clear. Obviously he's correct that we should be paying him the same salary Henry was on when he left the club; he's clearly achieved as much as Thierry in his career at Arsenal so far...

* Alex Hleb has similarly not moved anywhere, but will surely be tucking his Bielorussian tail between his legs and scampering off to Barca in the next week, if reports in Spain are to be believed. Do I believe them? I'm not sure, but i think we'll at least recoup what we paid for him three years ago at some point during this summer.

* Gilbero will leave the club soon, moving to either Athens or Toffee land, depending on who you believe. Time for him to leave, I think, but is losing Flamini, Gilberto and Diarra in one season a bit too much? Do we have any defensive midfield players left in the squad? The thought of Diaby or Denilson being upgraded to the first XI would be a gamble, as would throwing in Ramsey from the off.

* Samir Nasri has, in the shock of the summer, arrived from Marseille. I have to say I'm actually quite excited about seeing him in action.

So, that's three in for the summer - Ramsey, Nasri and Vela - and one, officially, out - Flamini, with Hleb and Gilberto almost certain to leave, and Adebayor still 50/50.

Hleb and Adebayor's potential transfers leave a sour taste in the mouth, especially as money has been the overriding motivation in both players pursuit of a transfer.

Hleb, well, maybe 10 goals in three years tells us it's time to cash in. Nasri's record isn't that much better at the moment, but he's young, and he doesn't have the almost pathological fear of shooting that Hleb is seemingly afflicted by.

Adebayor - sod him. One good season and suddenly half the Arenal fan-base is terrified that we'll lose him. Well, he went missing for seven games last year at a crucial stage in the campaign. 6 of his much lauded 30 goals last year were against Derby. And the amount of chances created for him was almost obscene; he won't get 4-5 chances before scoring in Spain. He's a good player, and has the opportunity to kick on and become an even better one at Arsenal if he'd had some discipline this summer. But, his head has been turned by the first talk of money and I wouldn't be surprised if he was, justifiably, booed in the opening game of next season. He needs to leave, or win the fan base over all over again.

If he does leave, we will sign a replacement. And we still have Bendtner, who is a class player, if a bit of an arrogant sod. Ken Aguero's name was mentioned in a paper yesterday, who would be a fantastic signing, but I can't see it happening.

What worries me most about the exits is that they create players that need replacing, on top of those that we needed already this summer. We needed a new centre-back, but this plan has been scrapped, and Senderos will surely be given yet another chance next year. We also need an experienced, defensive midfield player, but I'm not sure whether that will occur. Veloso's name has been bandied around a bit, but who knows if he can hack the premiership.

Our squad was overly thin last season and it eventually cost us the title. We need more players in the squad than we had last year. If players like RvP and Rosicky suffer another injury-strewn season - remove and replace. Simple.

There's only a month before the start of the season, but an additional 2 weeks after that til the end of the transfer window. This has been a particularly painful one so far, but there is still ample time for additions yet. Let's hope they happen.

I'm not a betting man; but if I was...

I would definitely put a bit of money on Turkey. Just like Greece four years ago, they keep on pulling off the improbable results. They've only been ahead for two and a half minutes in the entire tournament, quite a feat if you think about it, yet have reached the semis, albeit one against the machine that is Germany. If only the English team had half their bottle, we might actually be in the tournament. Croatia badly, badly missed Eduardo up-front, with the hapless Olic missing a hatful of chances. And without wishing to engage in too much schaudenfreid, lets hope Modric's penalty was a sign of things to come...

Anyway, aside from that, another quiet week, all in all. I say quiet because when you filter out the crap, nothing really has happened until this afternoon when Gael Clichy signed a new deal. Truly excellent news, and while Gael had the odd slip-up last year - the Birmingham nightmare springs to mind - he's just about as good a left back as you'll find in the world at the moment. He certainly seems to be on an upward curve when compared to old Cashley.

Other non-news-news from this week:

The Samir Nasri transfer may have happened. I know this because several blogs have repored that: he boarded a plane to London/the Marseille chairman said so/the BBC said they 'understood' it had happened/ some guy my mate knows apparently saw Nasri in a McDonalds on the Hollloway Road wearing a 'I love Arsenal' over-sized cap. Until it's on arsenal.com, he hasn't signed, but even I am now hopeful that this saga may finally end next week. You just know he's going to be rubbish after all this.

Elsewhere, Barcelona have offered us a mighty pot of gold for Adebayor, apparently, and as Adebayor hasn't had 'I LOVE ARSENAL' tattooed to his forehead he may be on the move. Who knows/cares at this rate. If we're being offered anything over £20m for him, I say take it: he's had one good season in the Prem, and he's no where near as irreplaceable as people think, even if I would prefer him to stay.

Hleb is still here, despite trying to get his agent to flog him to half of Europe. Who knows, he might still be here next week, still telling us how much he hates busy old Lahndun.

No other real transfer news to report, so we'll probably announce the signing of someone next week, knowing us. If you've heard a rumour let me know so I can sell it to a tabloid.

One final thing. If you're tired of the plethora of non-stories at the moment, go to www.rockynewsnow.info. It's a site which takes NewsNow and filters out the rubbish. A very good idea, and Mean Lean over at Arsenal Vision takes the credit (I think). Check it out, and hopefully GoonerBoy is actually on there...

Til later.

We don't need David Villa, but is there anyone else we should pick up at the Euros?

David Villa has been one of the best strikers in Europe during the last few seasons, and after Valencia's disastrous season in La Liga he is very much on the market. In the shop-window or not, his performances so far at the Euros have caught the attention of a fair few prospective buyers.

Crucially, he seems to quite like us. I can't be bothered to look up the article, but he stated a few months ago how much he likes our style of play - as about 40,000 other players have stated recently - and that he would certainly not be opposed to plying his trade at the Emirates. Cesc also came out recently to say how much he'd like Villa to sign for us.

But do we really need him? On the one hand, it'd be foolish to say we don't need a player who's a proven goalscorer at every level - domestic, CL, international - and who is approaching the peak years of his career. I don't doubt that, if we did sign him, he'd probably knock in about 20 goals in his first season. Moreover, if we don't sign him, there's a strong chance he'll be playing for either Chel£ea or Liverpool next season. A partnership of Torres and Villa at Liverpool would be rather terrifying, while the Chavs seem certain to lose one, if not both, of Drogba and Shevchenko this summer. A partnership of Anelka and Villa could be equally formidable.

But watching Villa's goals so far this summer, something struck me.

We already have a player like him: Eduardo.

Whilst there are the worrying doubts about whether Dudu can ever return to the level of performance he began to hint at in the months before his terrible injury, Villa's goals, and finishing prowess, reminded me of Dudu's prowess in front of goal. While one could argue that Villa has a more complete overall game, I'm not sure that justifies splashing out £25m+ on him, especially if van 'balsawood legs' Persie can stay fit for more than 5 minutes next season.

The money would be better invested elsewhere, and a few players have caught my eye.

*van der Vaart. A superb midfield player, who perhaps plays a little too centrally to justify our purchase, but could be a great replacement for Hleb and the perma-injured Rosicky if we could successfully deploy him on the flanks. He has a great range of passing, always looks comfortable on the ball, and I bet we could pick him up on the cheap from Hamburg.

* Boruc. Ok, so Faianski might become as good as him in a few years, but Boruc looks the natural successor to Jens, both in terms of temperament and ability. Talking to someone who is a goalkeeper, we agreed that Almunia makes quite a few unnoticed errors during games - such as his inability to be decisive or dominate his area when high-balls are whipped in. This is opposed to Jens, who is a far more solid overall keeper, but who has made more noticeable errors recently due to age creeping on him.

* Toulalon. Impressed me during the friendly with England, and one of the few French players not to come out of the tournament looking completely inept. Worth a punt, and would seem a ready made replacement for Flamini.

* Podolski. Having a rotten time of it at Bayern, and might be available at a cut-price fee. Whether we could adapt him into a left-winger, as Wenger would inevitably try to do, would be interesting, but he certainly seems to know where the net is.

Any other suggestions? I would say Sneijder but he would easily cost around £30m by the time this tournament is over. That van Persie looked quite good as well, wonder who he plays for...

Ramsey signs; Nasri possibly signs; Lewin goes; Horrible kits released.

Yes, I'm back, after a prolonged absence. It's at times like these I doff my cap to Arseblogger for keeping up the blogging in the face of the putrid non-news that has been steadily emanating from the media outlets since the end of the season. I could not bring myself to write until, well, something happened.

If we were to believe all the crap coming out of the blogosphere this week - which is now where national newspaper journalists pick up around 90% of their information - Adebayor would have signed for AC Milan for £32 million, yes £32 million, Hleb would have gone to Barca in a part-exchange for Yaya Toure, and we would have also picked up Roque Santa Cruz with the spare change from the Hleb and Ade deals.

Hmm I say. Hmm.

If Ade really is demanding a £100k per week contract, then adios. But until anything is proved I think we should really regard the Milan story as a little silly. Hleb, on the other hand, is clearly becoming desperate for the final big money move of his career, but, problematically, scoring 11 goals in 3 seasons as an attacking midfielder has meant he doesn't have a line round the block to sign him up. After all the rubbish he's come out with recently, if he does stay he should be on the bench for the beginning of next season due to his lack of respect for the club. I backed Alex for a long time but he's been a coward on and off the pitch since at least January. As for Santa Cruz? Very good player, but has a bad injury record, and let's not forget that Benny McCarthy scored 29 goals for Blackburn the season before Cruz arrived.

Right, spleen vented.

In actual news, we announced our first signing of the season today. 17 year old Aaron Ramsey has jetted in from, er, Cardiff. I wonder if the Daily mail will hammer us for signing another non-English player?

Aaron is quite a versatile player, and local Welsh journalists have likened him to Bryan Robson: a kind of all-action, ball-winning and passing midfielder. He can play anywhere across the midfield, and also in defence (he was being played at right-back at times for Cardiff last year), but his preferred position is centre-mid. Back up for cesc or his new partner? Who knows. One thing's for certain: he can't be worse than Eboue, and at £5m he could well be a bargain.

Samir Nasri should also be joining, and according to the Young Guns blog has signed a pre-contract. Can someone tell me what a pre-contract is? Surely if you have enough time to sign a pre-contract, you can sign a contract? Why must things be so complicated. Samir looks a talent, and is probably earmarked as the replacement for Hleb, if Alex does skedaddle. There is talk of Athletico Madrid trying to hijack the deal - possibly as revenge for us nicking Rosicky off them at the eleventh hour a few seasons ago. Again, the jury will be out on him until he arrives, but he's done well enough to get into Raymond 'crazy' Domenech's French squad so he must have something to him.

So that's one/two signings, and Carlos Vela, who will also be arriving in the summer. Three midfield players with a combined age of 55.

I still think we need an experienced central-midfield ball-winner - possibly in the Yaya mould, although Toulalon has looked good for France as well. On top of that I would also say that buying a centre-back who's taller than 6' might also be an idea, especially if there are questions about Senderos's and Gallas's mental strength after last season. I like the look of Mertesacker - 6'6" German CB - who also says he likes the way we play.

Gary Lewin has left after decades of great service, and we should all thank him for what he's given to the club over the years. This season alone, he may well have saved Eduardo's career with his quick thinking. It will a difficult position to fill, but Colin Lewin, Gary's cousin who is already on the club's staff, is mooted to be his replacement.

Finally, the new kits are out. Both are awful. The away shirt - a horrible, garish 'tribute' to the 1989 Anfield victory shirt - looks like a training top. The home shirt looks like it got mixed up with Charlton's home kit. After the great home shirt we've had for the last two seasons, I suppose it was too much to hope that we'd have a nice shirt again.

So, to end the post, a short message to Nike:

RED SHIRT.
WHITE SLEEVES.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD YOU MORONS?
STOP MESSING WITH OUR KITS.

Til Later.

Flamini sums up much of what is wrong with modern football.

Well, there you have it. Have a look above and you will see an Arsenal player posing in another team's shirt before he has left the club, and, whatever he's done this year, this in itself should cause your respect in Matthieu to drop. Its a very disrespectful thing to do, and it says a lot about Matthieu's character.

This is a player who, in 2004, betrayed his home town club who had helped turn him into a professional footballer. After verbally agreeing to a long-term contract with Marseille, he signed for us instead, causing Marseille's manager to call the act a 'beautiful treason'.

After signing for us, Flam looked distinctly average in his first season, and only began to look anywhere near good enough when forced to fill in at full back during the second half of the 2005/6 season. Whilst he was part of a record breaking champions League defence, he was also part of an extremely creaky team that scraped to fourth place in the league.

In 2006/7, he refused to play at full-back, and told Wenger he would only play in centre-mid. Not only was this, again, disrespectful to Arsene, he was, fundamentally absolutely rubbish in midfield. If you don't believe me, thanks to Steve Bruce, it's become quite clear that we offered Flamini to Birmingham last summer and they weren't interested. Not believing Matthieu had a future at the club, Arsene signed Lassanna Diarra from Chavski at the end of August as Gilberto's long-term replacement.

Yet, amazingly, Matthieu suddenly emerged as one of the best central midfielders in the Prem, if not Europe, in the first few months of the last season, to the extent Diarra and Gilberto were both kept out of the team. At the same time, Arsene now offered him a new contract at a, not unreasonable, rate of £55k a week.

Just as at Marseille, we've seen articles published on the official website all season in which Matthieu has constantly claimed 'I want to stay', 'I hope I stay' etc. In the mean time, Diarra got bored waiting and, in an extraordinary move, was sold after only 4 months at the club - more on this, an incredible mistake, in the forthcoming season review.

Yet as the months ticked away, it became more and more clear that Matthieu would not stay. What was he waiting for? A pen to sign the deal with? The terms of the contract offered did not significantly change, so it was calculated procrastination on Matthieu's part, using the club as a shop window to further the interests of his own career, before whoring himself out to the highest bidder at the end of the season. He was well within his rights to do this, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, regardless of his performances this year.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that Matthieu has had a fantastic season, and was also great in the 2006 CL run. But in 4 years at the club, he's won one trophy, the 2005 FA Cup, and he was hardly integral to that success.

To me, Matthieu represents a lot of what has gone wrong in modern football, a symbol of player power spiralling out of control. He screwed over his home-town club to get himself a better contract with us, and, after promises, promises, promises, he's left us high and dry to earn another pay day in Milan. Matthieu, at the very least, is a mercenary who clearly cares far, far more about the money the club's pay him far more than the club itself. Whilst we can't expect players to care about the club as much as we do, some degree of gratitude and loyalty is painfully lacking here; a disconcerting emotional detachment between player and club and, ultimately, fan.

Matthieu was being offered £55k a week in the contract we offered him, and, undoubtedly, a hefty signing-on bonus on top of that. Footballers' wages have spiralled so far out of control that it's easy to forget that, with a wage at this level, Matthieu would have earned more in one year than the majority of the UK population will earn in their entire lifetime. Again, Matthieu isn't responsible for this situation, but, yet again, it's an example of how the influx of money into English football since the creation of the Premier League has been consistently and sickeningly misused. Players quibble over earning an extra £5 or 10,000 a week, whilst ticket prices continually increase and the FA argue over whether to bother building an academy which could actually produce a half decent national team.

So, in short, thanks for a few memories Matthieu, which are actually less than you might think, and ultimately, good riddance. You've used our club as a shop window for your own personal ambitions and ultimately I can't accept that. Maybe if you had been more honest with the club from an earlier date I would have had more sympathy for you. But, ultimately, you appear as a mediocre player who's just come good, who has then tried to squeeze as much money as possible out of the club's that have helped turn you into the player you are.

Never has football been a greedier game than it is at present. There is more money in the game than ever, yet instead of club's helping the local community, or coming up with reasonably priced ticket packages, we hear about playing games abroad and players being paid ever higher fortunes. There is a danger of clubs and players forgetting the fans who are the ultimate foundation for them both. Thus, whilst ticket prices will undoubtedly increase this year, at least it won't be because we were held to ransom by a mercenary, and for that I'm thankful.

Hleb and Flamini will both leave, wrecking Arsenal's summer transfer plans.

Both Alex Hleb and Matthieu Flamini are as good as gone. Hleb will definitely not play for the club again; Flamini may, but if his deal is not signed by next Wednesday, then why would Arsene pick him for the final two games of the season?

Flamini is set to join AC Milan, according to these reports emanating from Italy. Maybe I'm giving too much credence to the Italian media, but it would seem unlikely that these ideas are being plucked from thin air. Flamini has procrastinated all season, in a rather unseemly way, over signing his deal, and it would seem odd that at the eleventh hour that he'd turn round and sign the contract. He blew off his hometown club (Marseille) to join us, so I doubt he has any deeper loyalty to us.

It's hard to judge what type of loss Flamini is: he's been a revelation this season, but, to be frank, a bit rubbish before then. Nevertheless, our midfield was reliant this seaon on a player we won't have next year, and, on top of this, we've lost another player that we bought to take over from Gilberto - Diarra. I'll write more on the Diarra fiasco come the end of the season, but, for now, it is obvious that this was a massive mistake by Arsene and the club.

Hleb, will also go to Milan, according to Myles over on ANR, but to Inter, not AC. I very much doubt this deal has actually occurred, but given Arsene's rather panicky statements about Hleb on arsenal.com recently, the silence emanating from Alex himself, and the new FIFA rules which allow Hleb to buy himself out if his contract, I'd say a transfer out of the club is imminent. Who knows; maybe in Serie A he may score more than his colossal 4 goals this season, 2 of which came in August.

I've defended Hleb since he arrived at the club, but maybe it is best he moves on. At the very least he needs competition for his position, and perhaps a lecture from Arsene about how attacking midfielders are meant to score, not just create, goals. Even so, I would keep him as a squad player, instead of losing more experience from the squad.

Overall, while both players have done well for us this season, especially Flamini, neither are irreplaceable. However, if both were to leave, we would need to sign 2 replacements, plus the 2-3 players we actually need to push us on to trophies next year. We have Vela coming back, but would he really be a replacement for Hleb, or yet another player who needs 6mths-year to settle in? Gareth Barry has been mooted as a replacement for Flamini but he's a) 27 b) will cost a fortune as he's English and c) probably not quick enough to play for us. Krankjaer is a player who is far more interesting, but, again, I don't fancy our chances in brokering a deal that Arsene see's as good enough value.

In short, what I fear is a semi-meltdown in the club this summer. Our squad was too thin last summer to challenge for trophies, and if two key players both leave, who Arsene clearly wishes to keep, it means we not only have to add, we need to replace. And, I fear, only replacement, if that, will occur. If this is the case, no trophies will be forthcoming next year. We have the quality, but not quantity in the squad at the moment, and two major departures would make reconciling this situation even harder.

Moreover, the team Arsene has been 'building' will lose two of its vital foundations. That's the problem with building something; if you don't do it quickly enough, it can fall apart. Let's hope this isn't the case, but I'm worried.

Arsenal lack either maturity or bottle, as the season comes to an end.

So that's that. It's been a painful, drawn out end to the season, one that's seen us first draw, and then lose our way out of contention. When the rot started is unclear, but 2 wins since the home victory against Blackburn on 11 February tells its own story. That game was followed by the 4-0 drubbing at Old Trafford, and then by the nightmare which was the 2-2 draw at Birmingham. Whether we ever recovered from those games is questionable.

Anyway, the season review is something I'll write when we've played Sunderland; when things have formally drawn to a close. Yet, the game yesterday was, again, a microcosm of our season: we played some great football, dominated the game, took the lead, were unable to hold it, and fell to soft goals.

Because we were by no means outplayed by United yesterday. In the first half we repeatedly cut open their defence, and only lacklustre finishing by Adebayor stood between us and a first half lead.

Having said that, some superb saves by Jens Lehmann kept us in the match. Yet again, with almost no warning Jens has come back and pulled out a great performance in a massive match. Almunia has played well this year, but he has no authority in the box, and he doesn't consistently make the game-winning saves that Jens does. This may have been the his last game for the club, but I really think we could do better than promoting Almunia to the number 1 position.

Another player who performed well was Alex Song. The lad has come in for a lot of stick in his brief time at the club, but, a few slip ups aside, he look fairly assured on the ball and in the tackle which is saying a lot given this is his first league start this year(?). He certainly did better than Senderos on Tuesday.

As for the rest of the team:

Eboue showed, yet again, that not only is he not good enough to play for Arsenal, he's also a complete twat. Case in point: out team has the ball, break over the half-way line, Eboue goes down injured. Instead of continuing our attack we have to knock the ball out for Eboue's injury, which is, of course, non-existent. United then pull the Chavski trick of kicking the ball out at our corner flag to restart play. Not only, therefore, is he rubbish when he gets the ball, he endangers our goal-line when he doesn't have it. Sell. Now.

Hleb played well, but we had to play RvP out on the left-wing to accommodate him as a support-striker. If Hleb wants to play in the hole, his goalscoring record needs to improve; either he grows some balls and takes a few more shots, or we put him on the wing or on the bench.

RvP: completely wasted on the left; like he always is when he plays there.

Cesc was knackered, Gilberto put in a half-decent performance, Clichy was marvellous apart from his crossing, Gallas cost us the lead with a stupid hand-ball, and Kolo looks in decline. Bendtner and Theo both deserve more minutes on the pitch.

In all, the team either lacks maturity or bottle. To take the lead against the other top three teams in three separate games, and end up losing all three games hopefully only points to a lack of maturity in seeing these situations out. But Alex Hleb is 27; Gallas is 31; Kolo is 27; Gilberto is 31. Are these players really going to get more mature?

Perhaps the answer is a mixture of both. Players like Ade, Clichy, Fab are not mature enough, yet; others in the team are maybe just not tough enough.

We had the league in our hands this season but blew it. We're not a million miles away from success, but I can't see us winning trophies without a thicker squad, and one which does not rely on the likes of injury-prone Rosicky and RvP, or idiots like Eboue.

I wrote at the beginning of last season - not this one - that the team was 90% complete. We still seem to be at this state of affairs. United beat us professionally: by taking their chances, ones that we largely presented to them through an idiotic handball and a needless challenge on the edge of the area. Moreover, they were able to bring on the likes of Anderson and Tevez when the clock began to run down. United have efficiently rotated their squad this season; we haven't. Ours is on its last legs; theirs will push on to win the league, and perhaps the CL as well.

The remaining 10% we need may come from within the team, but I'm pretty sure it needs an injection of new blood to push us across the final ten yards. I'm hoping we'll see this situation remedied this summer. Whatever happens, let's not turn on Arsene; he deserves better than that. The media will certainly be out for his blood soon, and let's not buy into the rubbish that'll be in most papers over the summer.

So, four games left, and some players will hopefully use them to prove their worth, or otherwise.

In any case, the 2008/9 season starts today.

Theo overshadowed on a sickening night of despair.

What a night. One of the great nights of Champions League football; and yet again we're on the losing side during it.

In many ways the tie was the tale of two penalty decisions. Ours refused; theirs given. Whilst I don't want to add to the barrage of clichés about the Kop's supposed mystique - Clive Tyldsley practically had sex with it on ITV last night, it was sickening - their wails may have added to the reason the referee was so quick to award what was an extremely flimsy penalty. After doing exactly bugger all for the rest of the game, it was only fitting that Gerrard should whack it home. He's wasn't playing for England after all, so he could actually score last night.

And so, yet again, we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. And what a victory it would have been. If any piece of play I've seen this season has warranted a win it was Theo's run. To skip past four defenders, run the length of the pitch, and calmly stroke it back to Ade for a tap-in announces your ability in a big way. Yet for the second time this season, Theo will be overshadowed by a poor referee and sloppy defending.

What this boy has to do to get a start is beyond me. Eboue actually had one of his better games last night, but still, when in two positions where he could have created a goalscoring opportunity, he could not cross the ball. I'll say it again: o assists, 1 goal this season. What is his function in the team? Comedy relief for the opposition. Leave, now. Theo has assists in Milan and Anfield and should start the remainder of games for the season. If he doesn't, what does it say about Arsene's belief in his abilities? That he's only good to run at tired legs? Eboue is a disgrace to the team, in terms of his ability and his attitude; Theo, even when not playing well, is almost the exact opposite. Learn your lesson Arsene.

Last night was a microcosm of almost our entire season. We passed the ball round beautifully, and destroyed Liverpool in the opening 20-30 minutes, yet only came away with one goal. Then Flamini went off injured and the inadequacies of our squad came into focus. Gilberto is now like a demi-Flamini; he performs the same function with about half the speed, stamina and effectiveness. After that Liverpool were able to dominate the centre of the park.

Again, we conceded with essentially a team's first attempt on goal. Senderos, who was dismal last night after a series of decent performances, completely lost Hypia, yes Hypia, who then headed over Cesc's head, and who might have done better if he had stayed on the post. Our defence is the worst in top four, and it consistently shows. For all our attacking ability, we're having to score more goals than we need due to a poorly organised defence.

Two players were then critical for Liverpool, Babel and Torres, who could very easily be playing for Arsenal were we willing to spend to accumulate. Again, we were undone by a team with a stronger squad than us, albeit only marginally.

Finally, key decisions went against us, because we had not converted our early dominance into anything tangible.

So, in short Anfield was our season: good start, insufficient squad, poor defending, bad luck/decisions, possession with no end product, and, ultimately, heartbreak. To go from the joy I felt after Ade scored to, almost instantly, the penalty was too much. Much too much.

A win on Sunday could offer some hope for the season, but we have a knackered squad with dangerously low morale. I'd like to think we can pick ourselves up for the last 5 games of the season, but last night may have been the final straw for some of our over-played youngsters this year. I hope I'm proved wrong, but the season defining week has not gone too well thus far.

A season defining week approaches; will April be the cruellest month?

No blog for a while, and I apologise, but the rigours of having to give in essays totaling 16,000 by words next Friday have sidelined me somewhat...as has my decision to travel down to watch the boys play tomorrow. Hmm. May have misjudged the timing on this one.

It's been quite a week. Oop north (where it's grim) our bottle suddenly appeared in the middle of monsoon season, and the god's finally smiled on us when Cesc's corner flag effort was diverted in after bouncing off about 90 players.

Fast forward to Wednesday and we were robbed. I would say robbed by scousers, but that would be a) too easy and b) not entirely true, as we were actually duped by those apparently fun-loving hippies, the Dutch. Apparently, Kuyt and the ref are actually married or something, and there is was a four hundred year old grand conspiracy to deny us a penalty that was hatched at some point during the Dutch Revolt. Possibly; I'm sceptical. What can I say, I've got a university education.

Anyway, we should not just have won on Wednesday, we should have destroyed Liverpool, put the tie beyond them. To have 61% of the possession and come away with a draw is rather galling; but it's hardly a new state of affairs. Yes, we should have had a penalty, but maybe if Hleb had slightly more inclination to shoot - say 1 rather than 0% - the situation may never have had arose. And the Bentnder miss? Actually unbelievable. If you made a film called 'Nicklas Bendtner's and the great blunder', you'd be laughed out the cinema for the preposterousness of the script.

So, we enter a season defining week. It's come a bit later this year than last, when we lost a cup final and crashed out of two cups in the space of almost a week. Even if we blow it this time, at least we've made til almost mid-April. But then T.S. Eliot famously said that 'April is the cruelest month'. He also said that the world would end 'with a whimper' not with 'a bang', so maybe he was generally depressed. In any case, let's hope if he is right about April it relates to a different team than us.

If we beat Liverpool twice, and then United at OT, both trophies will again be within are grasp. It's a big ask but not impossible.

But improbable? Maybe. Any team that has the likes of Diaby and Eboue playing on the wing needs to have a look at the squad, or, more accurately, the rationale behind creating a paper-thin unit.

Our first XI, when not knackered, are as good as any team in Europe. But they are knackered. Clichy, who usually runs about like a maniac, was distinctly seen sauntering around by the end of the Liverpool game. He needs a week off from not just the physical but mental pressure of it all. Others need a breather: Cesc should not being playing every week at his age, even if he thinks he can. Ade needs both a little bit more competition from his place (which admittedly Eduardo was meant to partially provide) an able man to come in and knock one in for him whilst he has his feet up.

United can bring on Tevez, Hargreaves, Nani; Chelsea have Anelka, Belleti, Mikel waiting in the wings. They can mix up their squads when the finish line is in sight.

Because the season is a marathon. It doesn't matter if you play the best football in the world; you have to do it over 50-60 games a season.

Some of our players have injury problems which mean they should not be considered first XI players. If Mssrs Rosicky and RvP cannot play more than a third/half the games in a season, then its' time for a rethink, no matter what their ability.

And if Eboue is really the best option we have on the right wing, then we are really losing it. He has one assist, and 0 goals for the season. And he is a winger, an attacking midfield player. He dives, feigns injuries, acts like an idiot and there isn't even any end product after all of that. Leave. now.

So, these three games will tell us whether not only whether we can win anything this season, but more generally whether the squad as it currently stands is good enough to win anything in the future. We have the players; I just worry we don't have enough of them.

I hope I'm wrong; it would be a dream to win at both Anfield and OT in the same week. Let's hope it's more than just a dream, eh?