Our newest Gunner

Welcome to the world, baby boy.

Tired of saying it

...so here's some other people who are saying it, a lot more eloquently than I.

Arseblog
Arsenal4Life
Goodplaya

Looks like we've kissed Alonso goodbye. The worst part of this -- well, maybe the worst -- is that we're going to lose Cesc.

I hope Liverpool lose today so they're out of money and need to sell even more. 25 minutes gone on both games, no score yet.

Sigh.

Wenger - Please Buy Buy Buy

Arsene Wenger says he fails the to see the correlation of spending money on big named players and winning trophies. HELLO! Big named players are what have been helping teams win the CL & EPL over the past couple of seasons.

Sure it's the team, but with a couple of big players your team is that much more confident and better on the pitch.

Please fork out the dough and buy a strong midfielder with experience who can come in and make an impact right away.

Cesc is fit, but will probably not suit up for the match today and it sounds like he might hold out Adebayor as well. You have a 2 goal lead but the extra revenue brought in from the 3 home and 3 away matches in the next round always helps with the finances, let's be certain not to blow it tonight.

Rafa will use the money if Liverpool get into the next of the CL tonight to buy a new player, so it might be more of a stretch for us to get Alonso, but I think we should try.

Philippe Senderos on Loan to AC Milan - Inler Out

So when Arsene said he will sign one more player, he failed to mention that he was going to let 2 more go. Now Justin Hoyte I can understand, but Senderos is a tough one to take. I understand the guy needs some top team experience, but with the way we are playing why not give it to him here? Gallas isn’t the future of the club, he’s here for a couple seasons tops. Senderos will have at least 6-8 more years of play and he’s going to be good.

I’m guessing that he asked to be sold as he wants to get top level time and this is Wenger’s way of holding him out for another year or maybe he’s letting him go. Senderos has been inconsistent in his play, but has been a big help to us in covering the back. I see that he has potential, but it might not be with us as many other players have found. So I do wish Senderos well at AC Milan as I don’t see him coming back.

Other news has showed that Gokhan Inler has signed a contract extension and will stay at Udinese until 2013, so one more down and 2 potential people left hanging.

Will it be Barry or Alonso or neither? Time will tell as we have 5 days to decide and get things worked out. Actually as we have been without players for well over a month in many cases, we really should have been buying a long time ago.

With a loss in the EPL to a sub-par team, we will have a long road ahead of us to recover if we don’t pick someone up this week. I would say that if we wait until mid-season you will see most of the rest of the players asking to leave the club as well.

Cesc Wants Alonso Too! So Get Him!

Arsene Wenger said today that he is no closer to signing anyone before the deadline.

But Cesc Fabregas feels adding Xabi would be a great thing:

"He is my friend and apart from that he is a great passer of the ball, he works hard defensively, he's experienced and he is only 26", the Spaniard said.

"For me he would be perfect. I'd love it."

So Wenger should listen to Cesc and get Alonso.

Please Buy Someone Now! Fulham 1-0 Arsenal!

Arsenal couldn't move the ball through the midfield at all today. This gave us no good chances up front. Ade says it all in the picture. It was a bad day for the Arse.

Denilson and Walcot showed nothing today.

Please Arsene buy one or two midfielders and let's get the team back on track. I don't think we have looked good yet and it's because we can't connect between the front and the back.

Hope we win on Wednesday.

Other scores:

Blackburn 1-1 Hull
Liverpool 2-1 M'Boro
Newcastle 1-0 Bolton
Stoke 3-2 Aston Villa
Spurs 1-2 Sunderland
West Brom 1-2 Everton

Tomorrow we have:
Man City v West Ham
Wigan v Chelsea

Monday:
Portsmouth v Man United

I might cry

Arsenal boss Wenger eyeing Villa's Barry after collapse of £10m swoop for Liverpool's Alonso. I hope this isn't true. I don't know how reliable the Daily Mail is, and plus it posted at 10:45 PM London time, which seems wierd. Maybe Arsene is just playing games.

Sigh.

Sigh.

Silvestre, more Alonso wishes and a little something from RVP

So, unlike most fans I have no strong opinion on Silvestre as a player, but I'm inclined to agree with Gunnerblog's analysis: no one likes getting ManUtd castoffs, but at the end of the day, it does make our team stronger. So let's see.

This bring us to my favorite topic of the past two weeks. Apparently Wenger went to Switerland to watch the Switzerland friendly yesterday, which suggests that our guy is indeed Gökhan Inler, but here's something to give me/us hope. I hate the suspense. This is like waiting for a boy to call, but it's worse, because it has implications for all season, not just the weekend. (This is why my mom says I have my priorities all wrong.)

On another note, here's a nice one from my second-favorite-but-not-by-much, RVP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU41HnyXM2U. Let's hope Arsenal gets some of those this year.

Okay, back to work.

Arsenal Signs Silvestre - Please Sign Someone Else Soon!

Arsenal have signed Mikael Silvestre from Manchester United. The 31 year old defender will be hanging out in the back with is other old french buddy William Gallas.

Hopefully Arsenal didn't spend a lot on him, especially since he missed most of last season. The last thing we want is another player that ends up injured all season.

The good thing is that we need a back up defender in case we have injury in the back and it happens a lot. As I posted earlier to wonder where Pascal Cygan is, we now have our backup Bald Frenchman who can cover when we have injuries.

Silvestre signed a two year deal with Arsenal after spending the past 10 years with Man United playing in 249 matches.

So the good thing is we are adding some experience to the team, but I would prefer to have another experienced midfielder signed by the end of the week.

Ade Signs A New Deal With Arsenal

Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor signed a new contract with Arsenal and should be with the club until 2012. It's reported to be worth something like £80,000 a week. MAN - that is more money than I make in a year. How can I get a job like that? Guess I wasn't born with the jeans - oh - I mean Genes.

Ade scored 30 goals in 48 matches for Arsenal last year and was healthy for the bigger part of the year, which is something I can't say for most of the rest of the team.

AWESOME!

Nice win, still worried, get Alonso

I love that I can blog from my BB. Very new-global-economy of me.

Anyway, I just got TiVo, and after 1.5 days can't remember how or why I lived without it. One thing I did was record the Real Madrid Emirates Cup game. I was pretty impressed by Jack Wilshire, I have to say. Intrepid player. Nasri is also quite good, isn't he? Lovely goal this weekend. I actually think we come out ahead with him there (vs. Hleb). That said - there is no f'ing way we can stand up to Chelsea and even ManUtd this year with what we got. Why did we only score one goal against W Brom, for god's sake. Even with half our team missing we should have done 3-0ish. Come on.

I know I keep saying this, but let's just pay whatever the hell L'pool want and get Alonso. Gareth Barry is nowhere as good, so who cares if they use our money to buy him. I just don't see us being any kind of contender for anything without him or someone like him. Did you see him in the Liverpool-Sunderland game? Plus he wants to leave! I'm dying to hear who's coming on, and I just don't see any reason we can't splash it out for Xabi. I'm not saying anything every other Arsenal blog/fan isn't saying, but come on Arsene. ALONSO.

Oh please please please

...let this be true: Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has today revealed that elegant midfielder Xabi Alonso was close to being sold to Premier League rivals Arsenal.

I just really like him, always have, and I think he would be a great complement for Cesc. Even if he is cup-tied. So maybe we'll get him AND that Inler guy.

Holding my breath for West Brom.

Arsenal & Me (or, please god let us sign someone good)

Let me tell you a little bit about my relationship with Arsenal. When I moved to New York, I didn't know anyone, hated my job and was broke. And then I knew more people, really hated my job and was really broke. And now, well, I'm not broke. But no matter how tough times were, no matter how much I hated life, or New York, or my job, I had one constant in my life, and that was Arenal. They made everything else, all the shit, more bearable. I remember when I was in Abu Dhabi, in absolute fucking hell, sitting in my hotel room at 2 AM, thinking - Arsenal are top of the league, at least I have that. I owe Cesc, Robin and all the rest a lot - a LOT. So when I say I am worried about this season, you know why.

I guess I just don't understand why we can't spend some money - we aren't a poor club, and we certainly made an awful lot of money over the summer. I'm all for developing players, but sometimes you need an anchor - or two. We have Cesc, and I couldn't love him more than I do, but by my reckoning we need at least two signings: a defensive midfielder and a center back. And we need them to be proven, and GOOD. Let's get Xabi, cup-tied or no. Or even Gareth Barry, for god's sake. It kills me - KILLS ME - that ManUtd are getting Berbatov when the last thing they need is a striker. We need a deeper bench, or we're going to keep slipping - and we'll lose the talent we do have.

I'm happy to be proven wrong - maybe Nasri will be the next Ronaldo, who knows - but I'm worried and stressed, and I'm not the only one. So come on, Arsene. We are, all of us, counting on you.

Where in the World is Pascal Cygan

"He's Bald, He's Shit, He plays when no ones Fit, Pascal Cygan!"

Don't ask me why but with Senderos and Toure out I wonder where our savior Pascal Cygan has gone. He may have been a shit player, but when it came down to it, he was a big part of what helped us get through the 2005/2006 season and actually others before. He was a great utility player that always came up with key saves on the Defense when needed. Cygan played in 98 matches for Arsenal including 20 Champions Leage matches and score 3 goals.

Currently Pascal is playing in the Spanish League with former teammate Super Bob Pires at Villareal. They paid Arsenal £2 million for him. He has signed a new deal and is continuing on with the team.

Oh how I miss the great bald one.

Preview: FC Twente v Arsenal Champions League Qualifier

Arsenal will be bringing a young team to the match today. The team will be without Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Abou Diaby, Thomas Rosicky, Philippe Senderos, Eduardo & Samri Nasri. So basically we are missing a good chunk of potential starters, but for the most part we still have some strong players coming along.

Aaron Ramsey will be making his Arsenal debut today and we will see if he was worth getting from Cardiff. Carlos Vela will be on the roster as well, not sure if he's playing, but it will be good experience for him.

We will still have Clichy, Gallas & Eboue in our back and RvP and Adebayor up front, so the big part we are missing is our complete midfield. So that does really concern me. I guess Theo Walcott and Djourou will have to hold our mid and keep the movement.

I think we are taking this game lightly and even though there will be a second leg at home, this will still be a tough match even if the team we are playing isn't that strong. I wouldn't take anything lightly in the CL. So maybe Wenger is banking on the home leg of the match. I would be happy to come out with a 1 goal lead today and if we blow them away great. I just don't want to see a draw or loss because we took it too lightly.

COME ON ARSENAL!

Power, Lies & Corruption in Man City

Thaskin Shinawatra, the owner of Man City may be subjected to the fit and proper person test by the league. Thaskin is facing charges of corruption in Thailand and has an arrest warrant issues since he didn't show up for his court date in Bangkok. So my question is why did they let him buy the club in the first place?

The league has the ability to do an assessment to ensure that the owners of the teams act in a "fit and proper" manner. This means that is they are convicted of a crime in a competent court, they can be deemed not to pass the test.

So far they have not had an owner who has fit this profile, but with a billionaire mobster running Chelsea and now a corrupt politician running Man City, we may actually see some of this. I think Roman will get away with any wrong doings, by just paying everyone off, but Thaskin is about to be in big trouble.

He recently fled to the UK from China and now will probably be extradited back to Thailand to face charges.

My thought is that the league really needs to dig into the past of the people looking to buy teams. Make sure they are the right people to be owners of teams.

If convicted this could really hurt Man City financially and might cause them to have to sell off players and struggle to survive. We will see.

Gary Neville

Courtesy: Walt Disney's Cinderella. It looks just like him.

Boring Boring Boring

In what turned out to be a relatively boring match to watch, Manchester United beat Portsmouth on Penalty Kicks to win the Community Shield match.

Back at Wembley, The Community Shields match kicks off the EPL and is usually played between the FA Cup winner and the EPL winner. If it's the same team then it's the winner against the EPL runner up.

This match didn't show much in terms of anything. No goals, few saves and for the most part kind of boring.

Arsenal south did play with Sol Campbell and Lauren on the field and Tony Adams sitting next to old Harry on the bench. Still with all their purchases this summer and last year, they don't show much improvement.

ManU was missing Ronaldo and Rooney and it made a difference. They were average at best on the offensive side. Their defense was good, but still don't know if they can pull off something big again this year.

Portsmouth blew it by missing 3 penalties while ManU stuck them in the net. Not that it meant anything, but ManU walks away with the at least one piece of silverware for the season.

Less than a week and we are ready to rock! I'm excited.

Only A Week Away

The Community Shield match is today and ManU will be playing Portsmouth in what will be the least watch, most boring Community Shields in years. P'mouth has picked up some players, but probably will be a mid level team like they have been all these years.

So what will we see this coming season in the EPL? My guess is a lot of the same that we have seen in the past few years. The typical will stay up top and the rest is the rest. Will anyone make a big change this year to position - maybe Bolton or Fulham will be relagated - but on top - I see it being the same.

Arsenal are still looking for that midfield player and have about 3 weeks to get someone out there. Preseason was good for the most part. They were able to see who stepped up and who needs to go.

Here's my guess as to how the league will finish this year. Check back in 9 months and we will see if I'm even close. Now keep in mind that I have not paid much attention to who has all been traded, but I don't think that people like Man City are going to help themselves much picking up just one solid player when you had a crap team to start.

Villa keeps adding and could potentially be a contender for a UEFA Cup spot, but I don't see them making it to the top four. Newcastle is shit and always will be. If they did get their shit together, they could be a top 5 team with the talent they have. Spurs suck no matter who they buy.

So let's all get up early next weekend and watch some footy. Except Arsenal are on Setanta and I don't get it this year - so it's ATVO for the audio or maybe Sirius Radio if they play it.

So I'm predicting the 3 that come up will be the 3 that go dowm. I just don't think they have the funds to buy who they need to make their way past the bottom and hold a place in the EPL.

Prediction for 2008/2009:

1 Arsenal
2 Chelsea
3 Man Utd
4 Liverpool
5 Aston Villa
6 Newcastle
7 Portsmouth
8 West Ham
9 Man City
10 Everton
11 Blackburn
12 Tottenham
13 Sunderland
14 Wigan
15 Middlesbrough
16 Fulham
17 Bolton
18 West Brom
19 Hull
20 Stoke

I bet this is our guy

Bunch of blogs are reporting that Arsene has been talking to Gokhan Inler, a Swiss central midfielder, currently at Udinese. It would be a typical Arsenal signing, right -- some guy you've never heard of for not that much money. Going price is apparently £5 million, which also sounds about right. AGH. We have the money, why can't we for once go out and get someone that's proven? I want Alonso!

I am very worried about the upcoming season, and that's assuming Rosicky's hamstrings make it all the way through. Not good.

UPDATE: I'm now reading that he is actually very good and was a standout Swiss player at the Euros - even that he was the best player on the team. Okay then. That's something.

Messi in a Messy Situation

Lionel Messi has been ordered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to return to Barcelona and will not be allowed to play for Agentina in the Olympics. There are also two Werder Bremen players, Diego and Rafinha who will not be able to play for Brazil and must return to their club.

So this brings up the whole issue over who has rights in these matters. From this ruling is sure sounds like your true employer, your club does as they are the one paying you and it is in their interest to keep you from getting hurt while competing in these "Non-International" events. I would have to say that I agree that with all the money they spend to get players like Messi, they should have the right to refuse.

Now if Messi really wants to play and it's been a dream of his, the only option he would have is ask to be sold before the transfer window closes and negotiate a deal with your new team to play. If he can't do that then he's shit out of luck and will just have to suck it up and deal with it.
The forever existing debate of Club vs Country is back once more and in this case, Club wins. There are several other players that are being blocked from play including Kaka from AC Milan and Robinho from Real Madrid. Real claims that Robinho has a groin injury and should be release. There are also rumors that he may be in the middle of a trade with Chelsea and that's the real drive bhind this. So we will see.

Could formal Arsenal star end up playing in the MLS? Freddie Ljungberg was just released from West Ham. The 31 year old former Arsenal player is considering retiring or maybe coming to either the US or Asia to finish off his career. I think it would be great to see him over in the MLS. Even though Freddie has been injury prone for the past 4 years, he might actually have a could of good years left in his play and could do well in the US.

Come on Freddie - KC Wizards or LA Galaxy, either one works for me.

Could Manchester City be on the market? Former Prime Mister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra may be forced to sell the club as he is under corruption allegations back home. Although he claims that he will not sell the club, he could be forced to if he runs out of money. He has over £1 Billion frozen at the moment and this could cause issues with investing in the club. We will see where this one goes.

In the other Football - American Football nes, looks like Brett Favre is leaving Green Bay and heading to Tampa Bay. At least that is the latest info coming out of the NFL right now. Favre came back to Green Bay to compete for a starting spot on the Packers, but that all changed. The Packers have made some un true allegations of Farve and have really hurt the relationship thay once had. So Farve says there's no chance of him sticking around. I wish him luck where ever he ends up and hope that he gets himseld a Superbowl Championship.

Sign Xabi!

No time for blogging with this new pitch I have, but I do have time to say this -- Arsene, get us Alonso! He and Cesc are already used to playing together, and look, they even get along. Tired of waiting to see who it will be...and I would rather have Xabi than Gareth Barry.