Deadline Day!! Bendtner,Essien gos.ECL,CapOne Cup draws – AFC

Big big day today, arsenal fans across the country (and world) expect some transfer action today. Arsene Wenger has hinted, he has teased the press that transfers will be made, he has kept his cards so close to his chest that we have no indication of who may be coming through the emirates door before the window closes. In the past few days Wenger has stated that any players coming in will be top top class players, no average players but top top class players. I hope he sticks to his word as nothing will be more frustrating than seeing us sign a couple of players who are the best players around for their age and have potential to be the best. We really need players ready to be leading lights in the first team now not youth who will jump ship as soon as they reach the required level.

All I know is I along with many other fans of all clubs will be glued to some sort of media awaiting news of players coming in whether it’s watching sky sports news, refreshing various football websites or listening to radio updates. We all get hooked in by the fever of the deadline day deals; I wonder who will be spotted in their private helicopter hovering over the football ground of the team they are going to sign for this time?

I really don’t think any genuine names have been thrown into the hat for potential arsenal signings, many have been mentioned without any solid proof to back it up. I personally have a feeling Clint Dempsey could be a potential signing, my reasoning for this is the silence, nothing has been mentioned from the American’s camp. This kind of silence could be because of the typical arsenal style of keeping everything hush-hush. Sorry guys that’s as far as my theory goes and it’s a pretty weak one. But never fear as I can guarantee you anything that does happen will be done TODAY.

With the incoming players not being so transparent we at least have some light shed on an outgoing player. It looks like Nicklas Bendtner has finally found a club that meets his 3 important criteria with news that Juventus are the most likely destination for the striker. After Dimitar Berbatov pulled a sly one on the club they turned their attentions to the big Dane to lead their line and he is known to have had a medical for the Italians and will probably have his move announced today. Good luck to him, he managed to get a move to a decent club (despite being Juventus pan B) after his agent’s phone refused to ring all summer.

Apart from the awesome excitement whipped up from today’s deadline day activity Arsenal were involved in some draws for a couple of tournament’s yesterday. In the domestic corner the draw was made for the third round of the capital one cup when we received a home tie against Coventry. A great draw and another brilliant chance for fans to obtain tickets at a discounted price to see some of the stars of the future grace the emirates pitch in first team duty. That game will happen in late September and I hope we can go on a good run in that competition with a nice balance of youth and experience.

In the slightly larger more important draw that happened yesterday the groups were decided for the champions’ league. Read into it as you may I think we received a reasonable draw considering some of the teams we possibly could have drawn. In our group we were paired with Schalke, Olympiacos and Olivier Giroud’s old club Montpellier. We will have to be on top of our game and the early season cobwebs totally blown away to ensure safe passage from the group.

There is slight relief that our group did not resemble that of Manchester City, truly a group of death. We’ve been in this competition long enough to not take any opponents lightly, no games are easy enough that we simply need to turn up. A good result in our first group game which is away to Montpellier would be a nice start.

Overnight The Mail and The Express have run with stories which link us with snapping up Chelsea’s Michael Essien on loan for the season. Now we are just being teased, I for one am not a fan of the football equivalent of ‘blue balls’. The awesomeness of such a signing would be off the scale, Essien would be the type of ready for now player that would fit the quality of player we need. How true the story is I don’t know, the logic behind Chelsea letting a player like Essien move to a rival is enough to confuse Spock. Understandably the Ghanaian hasn’t hit the heights recently of his days when Mourihno was still in charge but he would clearly be a quality addition to any team. The loan transfer of Yossi Benayoun last year was a different proposition; he clearly wasn’t part of AVB’s plans and needed Arsenal as much as Arsenal desperately needed him at this time last year. Don’t get too excited on this news yet Arsenal fans but take comfort in the fact that all will be resolved before we reach September 1^st.

Enjoy deadline day today people, it will come with many twists and turns. hopefully that hot presenter on sky sports news will work double shift today.

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Another goalless draw,Tiote no go,Song speaks out – AFC

Second game into the season and the second goalless draw; it’s not exactly the ideal start to the season. The Robin Van Persie sized monkey on our back refuses to go away and until the goals start to roll in we will have to fend off the scathing assessments of our attacking options. I suppose it doesn’t help when Robin himself is already off the mark in his Man United career, the comparisons will be made and last seasons goals will be mentioned at every opportunity.

Arsenal in fairness have not played badly in the two games so far, Santi Cazorla has taken to the team like a duck to water, the defence has not conceded a goal and that’s without first choice Laurent Koscielny playing a game yet. Neutrals watching the game yesterday will be cursing knowing they will never be able to get that hour and a half of their lives back. It’s very rare to get an exciting 0-0 draw and yesterday’s game certainly followed type by not exactly exciting the masses. As an arsenal fan I can’t find the game boring as my focus is solely on seeing the gunners succeed, I kick every ball, head every header and the heart beats faster when we attack or defend.

I’m quite happy that we have come away from the Britannia without a defeat, the ground hasn’t been the best to us over the years and on reflection Arsenal came off the pitch disappointed not to have all three points. We were hardly tested as much as we have been in the past against Stoke, we pretty much kept their attack under control and apart from the offside goal scored by Jonathon Walters the defence stood up to the task. Getting this tie out of the way so early in the season is a good thing I feel when stoke visit emirates that will be 3 points on the board, the away tie is always the banana skin with added pressure due to the bad feeling between the clubs.

The Stoke fans were at their putrid best yesterday, mocking Wenger at every opportunity and showing even more class by booing Aaron Ramsey when he came on as substitute in the second half. Nothing from that club surprises me from the manager to the players to the fans they really are something else and sooner or later their one dimensional football will be found out, let’s hope they are propping up the table this year. I’m quite glad Shawcross has decided against playing for Wales, he still thinks he has a chance with England; he should take a ticket and wait in the queue next to Jermaine Pennant and Joey Barton. Aaron Ramsey doesn’t need the extra burden it would have brought and the right outcome has come about.

Back to the game and Arsene gave his thoughts on the performance in his post match interview, he said:

“We showed we are very strong spirit-wise and we were dominant in the challenges. We were prepared, highly-focused, defensively very strong overall. Offensively we still have some work to do because we miss a bit of accuracy in final third, in our movement and in our passing. We are used to finding each other blind in the final third and there is still something missing. But I still think we should have won the game 1-0.”

It’s a pretty fair and accurate assessment really, we are still finding our feet up front due to new personnel but I can see goals will come soon. Olivier Giroud worked hard up front and did some good things when holding up the ball and bringing others into play, Podolski was more withdrawn playing in the left attacking role, he certainly played his part supporting Gibbs in defence but also showed flashes of danger in the final third.

There was one chance in the final minutes that fell to Olivier Giroud after a quick counter attack, with the stoke defense stretched Aaron Ramsey was steaming through the middle hoping to collect a pass into the middle however the Frenchman spotted Begovic off his line and attempted a lob from about 40 yards. In fairness it was a good shot and skimmed the roof of the net, if that went in we would be talking goal of the season contender. Giroud saw how close the chance was and seemed quite impressed with his effort unfortunately the cameras panned straight to Arsene who was screaming in frustration at a wasted opportunity to square the ball for a better placed player. Poor Giroud was not even aware of the bollocking he was due in the dressing room after the game. The important thing from that chance is it showed Giroud’s confidence to even attempt and nearly execute such a chance, his performance was ok and after a week or two of fine tuning in attack and we will score for fun.

Since I last blogged we have lost out in our pursuit of Nuri Sahin, a shame maybe but after hearing the kind of money Liverpool were prepared to pay for him for one season it is clear they haven’t learned from the open chequebook wasting of money Kenny Dalgleish brought to the club. Wenger has been quite open that he still intends to add to the squad before the window closes. I feel we really need to add reinforcements to midfield with Song gone. One player not coming in to replace him is Chek Tiote after Wenger ruled out any truth to that rumour. After being asked about the player in yesterdays press conference the manager said:

“Tiote is a good player but he is not on his way to Arsenal”

A shame as he was a player that had some good battles with song in the middle of the park for the past couple seasons and has impressed for Newcastle.

Alex Song has been speaking to the press over in Spain and claims that he wanted to sign a new contract to stay at Arsenal for the past year. He explained that the club kept putting off talks using the excuse that he had enough time and did not need to rush negotiations.

Song said:

“I was ready to commit my future to the club. All I wanted were talks about a new contract but each time we were due to sit down, the club postponed it. I was fobbed off. I wanted a new five-year contract at Arsenal. In the end I got one… at Barcelona”

Not the kind of thing we want to hear when we are trying to move on. It certainly turns the heat back onto Ivan Gazidis and his team as to why something like this could happen (if Song is telling the whole truth). As I’ve stated in the past the departure of Song is not a disaster and he can be replaced, the important factor is a player coming in as cover; Arteta and Diaby have been doing a good job covering but I would still prefer an experienced specialist defensive midfielder coming in. I won’t dwell too much on the contract situation with Song but it will be a problem with me if it become a regular occurrence.

Special mention to Vito Mannone who came into the side yesterday after Szczesny didn’t recover from a rib injury in time. Fans up and down the country were hardly filled with great confidence when that news broke however the Italian did all that was asked of him and came out of the game with a clean sheet. Fair play.

Enjoy your day people

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0-0 draw not disaster, Song exit confirmed – AFC

Well the new season kicked off yesterday, we welcomed Sunderland to the emirates in the baking weather as we hoped to get a good start in the post Van persie and Song era. I had my reservations before the match that it wouldn’t be a stroll in the park against Sunderland; they are no mugs and on their day can frustrate the biggest of teams. Sessegnon is always a danger and caused us problems in the games last season. I still expected a win but a hard fought win, that wasn’t the case as we were frustrated into a 0-0 draw.

With the news of Alex Song’s potential move to Barcelona coming into fruition it was no surprise to see he was not on the pitch warming up with the rest of the squad before kick off. He was probably en route to Spain at that very time and the writing was pretty much on the wall that the Arsenal midfield will never see those blond highlights ever again.

The starting line up did include 2 of the new signings in Lukasz Podolski and Santi Cazorla, Frenchman Olivier Giroud started on the bench. With injuries to Koscielny and Oxlade-Chamberlain Arsene Wenger played his strongest team possible with Per Mertesacker drafted in and Abou Diaby starting in the midfield.

Overall it was a tense game with Sunderland causing some problems with their pace early on. Thomas Vermaelen’s Arsenal took their time to find their rhythm; I guess we had new personnel that still need time to gel into the Arsenal way. Whether time for them to bed in can be afforded is another matter, given the negative press awaiting any games we don’t win the team and new players really needed to hit the ground running. We will constantly be reminded of Robin Van Persie and his goals so the sooner we can make the press see life goes on without him the better.

Podolski didn’t have a bad game however it seemed he wasn’t allowed much space by the Sunderland defence and despite the German showing his strength and close control in tight situations he was never really given any clear opportunities to gobble up. Santi Cazorla really showed how good he was in the game, he appeared to pull all the strings from midfield and showed his shooting prowess with a few chances especially one amazing dribble and shot from 25 yards that was clawed from the top corner by Mignolet. He really does look the part and is the kind of player the midfield could be built around, he has a big part to play this season and will help players like the Ox and Ramsey improve their games.

Competition for places is looking good however we need to gel quickly. Olivier Giroud when he came on in the second half to replace Podolski looked a massive imposing figure and I’m sure once he gets a run will be scoring for fun. Unfortunately the only lasting memory people will have of the striker so far is his miss late in the second half. He was slipped in by Cazorla and without realising he had time on his side he dinked the ball past the keeper and just past the post. In his defence the opportunity came to him on his weaker right foot but I’m sure the player knows deep down he should have at least hit the target. Arsene was in agreement in his press conference after the game when he said

“Giroud had a great chance on his right foot. I think he had more time than he thought and we expected him to score that one, of course.”

I’m sure he will be fine but the sooner he gets his first goal the better. In the grand scheme of things a 0-0 draw isn’t a disaster, it would have been nice to start with a win but given all the negative press over the past week with the loss of players it was sure to be playing on the teams mind. We will get past this after all we have become experts in rebuilding after the loss of stars.

A quick word on Alex Song, it was made official yesterday that terms have been agreed between Arsenal and Barcelona. The player leaves us and although I initially didn’t want him to leave I wish him well at his new club. He will find it tough to break into the team there and personally I can see his time at the club following a similar path to that of Alexander Hleb. As big as a player Song became in the Arsenal team he was not quite the complete player, he did master a niche for himself playing around much more talented attacking players. Some of those attacking talents he played with clearly rubbed off on him as exhibited by his number of assists last season.

Arsenal fans have a reputation for being a bit impatient whenever a flowing move breaks down due to a stray pass; song was no stranger to the odd stray pass. The Barcelona fans expectation of perfection trumps the arsenal fans ten fold so Song will have to step up his game to another level to make his move a success. I could be wrong and he could carve out a successful spell at the club however if Barcelona are asking him to just act as a shield to the defence then they may need to have a word. Unlike Van Persie moving to a rival I don’t begrudge Song the opportunity to become a Barcelona player. It is a great honor to represent such a big club and the chance to play alongside superstars like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta amongst others would be a hard choice for any player to turn down. Song has moved abroad which I have no problem with, I actually think he is a replaceable player and so do not find his departure as hard hitting of that say Van Persie or Fabregas before him. I will miss his presence due to the amount of time he has been part of the club but his departure is an easier one to recover from with the right signings.

Enjoy your day people

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Olympics done, Song staying, Ryo loan, Bendtner talks – AFC

Oh man, it’s finally over. The Olympics have come, blown us away and now trickled away into history and taken a firm place in our memories. I have to admit in tandem with Euro 2012 the Olympics perfectly filled the inter-lull usually felt in close season. Shamefully the London games filled up so much of my time I never managed to release any posts during the two weeks. A mixture of watching the games and being glued to the computer trying to buy damn tickets to the event meant my attention to the Arsenal took 2^nd place. This must be the first time ever in my life I’ve put Arsenal second best but to be fair it all starts for Arsenal on the 18^th when Sunderland come to town. I’m fully focused and promise no more distractions.

Now where do I start on the Arsenal news, Robin Van Persie still hasn’t left though after his reception at the Cologne game that potential move could move a little faster now. Personally I wouldn’t boo Van Persie but that’s me, you can’t expect every Arsenal fan to agree with you. I still think there’s a small possibility that he could change his mind and sign a new contract and with that in mind the fans could have maybe greeted Van Persie’s introduction to the game with silence rather than boos. That could be the straw that breaks the camels back though on the counter argument he has publically stated he will not sign a new contract. Lack of commitment to any club would be met with disdain and our ‘current’ captain will need to work hard to win back the respect from the Arsenal faithful IF he decides to stay. We’ve seen it work with Wayne Rooney at Man Utd and so it is proved possible for a player to change their mind. I am in the camp where if he refuses to sign a new contract and would rather go on a free next season then we should sell him now. If he signs a new contract then all is forgotten and we move on.

One thing that has quelled most of the fans fears over Van Persie is the positive performances from the new boys against Cologne. Podolski bagged two goals showing a taster of what we are in store for this season and Olivier Giroud looked very dangerous and was always in the mix for the majority of the time he was on the pitch. He didn’t score as he seemed to have a personal battle going on with the Cologne keeper, he was always on the end of chances, he showed an aerial threat and there’s no doubt the goals will come for the Frenchman.

Apart from the forwards new boy Santi Cazorla looked very tasty in midfield and I have to admit the squad is looking good right now. Playing Cologne is a much different proposition from premiership football but there were still signs of the connection; a telepathy between the established and new players that will undoubtedly reap benefits once the season gets going. Jack Wilshere is still the man and hopefully he will overcome the injuries and resume his excellent career but Wenger did a great thing here signing Cazorla. We couldn’t afford to wait for Wilshere and heap great pressure on him to hit the ground running. Cazorla has instantly taken the burden off and now Jack can concentrate on getting fit whilst Santi can come in and fill the void left by the loss of Jack and Cesc.

Some good news on the Alex Song front as the Cameroon man insisted he is happy at Arsenal. He revealed there is truth to the rumours that Barcelona came a knocking but assured fans that he has no reason to move from a happy place but also revealed his pride at being linked with the club. Song was quoted saying yesterday:

“I am not going to lie if I said there is no interest but I am at Arsenal and I am happy at Arsenal.”

Any player would be proud to be linked with that club; with my rose-tinted glasses off Barcelona are a class team and the envy of all… even lucky Chelski. But now that the man has spoken please can you go away Barcelona.

It’s funny how much you appreciate a player when there’s a chance he can go. We have all grown to appreciate the man over the years; he initially divided fans views on him but has blossomed under Wenger to a valuable first team player. We know his focus could me more tuned to the defensive side of his game rather than his through balls but one thing we can’t deny is since his rise to prominence in midfield we have shaken off the tag of having a soft centre. For a few seasons we were classed as being all tippy tappy with no steel to stand up to the men; now I have seen Alex Song really show his strength in the middle of the park and lead by example. He is not the finished article by any means, plenty still to work on but at 24 now he really has come on leaps and bounds and there’s nothing stopping him from continuing the development. I’m glad he’s staying and im sure he won’t regret his commitment.

Young Ryo Miyaichi has gone to Wigan on a season long loan, this is a great move for the youngster, he gets another opportunity to shine in the premiership and Wigan provides the platform. Wigan surprised a lot of people with their football in the final part of the season; they pulled off some massive wins against big clubs including our joke result at the Emirates. Victor Moses could be on his way and that will only open the door for Ryo to fill the main man role at the club. It’s a good fit for him and I’m sure he won’t let the Latics or Wenger down.

Niklas Bendtner has sort of broken his silence to reiterate he has no intention of staying at arsenal and expects to leave before the transfer window closes. The striker revealed to Danish press:

“Arsenal is not an option and that is something both the club and I agree on”

To be honest I don’t really care what he does. He doesn’t want to play for us, he had the potential to be a true arsenal star but his ego often got the better of him. He wants to leave so he is already in the past. He’s not worth any more wasted words I just hope his advisors will be honest with him and tell him Barcelona and Real Madrid are not knocking on the door.

Enjoy your day people

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Van Persie mess, Denilson back on loan, why? Nigeria tour postponed – AFC

Well the past 48 hours have been a bit of a PR disaster for Arsenal football club haven’t they? The biggest hammer blow being the Robin Van Persie revelation that he has made the decision that he will not extend his current contract and therefore signalled the end of his Arsenal career. This news was excellently summarised by my partner in crime Cdrive77’s blog post yesterday.

Arsenal fans are used to losing their top player (and captain) year on year, when will this trend stop? For all the talk of self sustainability that gets spewed out to the arsenal fans time and time again when will this policy transpire into a top team unrivalled by all? We the arsenal fans have had the patience, stuck by the team and manager as we await the new dawn of Arsenal reaping the benefits from the being ahead of the rest when the Financial Fair Play rules kick in.

I admit the financing from a sugar daddy rich owner doesn’t sit well with me, a team should build their own success and buying titles is a major cop-out. I would not like Arsenal to win things that way and besides it’s a bit too late in the day as the F.F.P rules are just around the corner.

What the other big clubs seem to be doing now is building their teams with a strong core that when such rules come into play it will take minor acquisitions to add to the core to continue and grow. This is the part where Arsenal needs to catch up with the rest, if the overall plan is for the future when exactly does the team itself come into the reckoning?

Ever since the new stadium was built the one area that suffered was the playing team, I believe the general plan at the time was minor additions to a highly successful core. What wasn’t in the plan was for the team to disband as rapidly as they did. Many of the players from the invincible’s era were happy winning things, we put the money in for the right players and reaped the benefits. This stopped and so then did the commitment of the players who got us to that standing. They were used to being the best and then suddenly changed to carrying the team as lesser players came in. The emphasis was heavily leaned on the youth and many young players needed nurturing; the bigger players did not favour rubbing shoulders with and carrying the young. The opportunity to rub shoulders with the best as they were used to was more tempting. Once we peaked and conquered the premiership back in 2004 the next step would be to attack Europe and bring in the champions league trophy instead we reached a plateau and concurrent regression.

It is from this stage where a team which should have been growing has weakened with each year, the bigger marquee players have moved on year after year and the team itself has suffered as we have had to rebuild to fill voids of those who have left. The key eye for spotting talent from Arsene Wenger has ensured that with every gem that has moved on another gem surfaces and becomes invaluable.

The problem I have is that such a policy cannot last forever; the signs were there last season as we were so close to finishing the season outside the top four for the first time in Arsene’s era. This is the wakeup call the club needed, the scare that would open the eyes of the money men at arsenal that the team needs to be the focus and has to grow. If we lose a massive cog from the team we end up going back to the drawing board. I’m not advocating purchasing players we could not afford in the long run but im happy in the knowledge that everything was done in our power to keep a player. And if those players do not want to be a part of the team then we move on, we don’t honour their wishes and send them on their way with a handshake and a smile. Our focus should be on Arsenal and Arsenal alone. The timing of Robin’s announcement was all wrong and in a way didn’t show respect to the same men who honoured Van Persie’s silence. They protect him while he pissed over them without a second thought; and this is what irritates me as it makes the club look like chumps. We are Arsenal football club and we should call the shots, if a player wants out then we play hardball. Too many players have left over the past few years wrapped in cotton wool only for the club to reveal the bad points of the players long after they are gone. Why tell us at the last AST meeting that Fabregas refused to play for us last season as he wanted to play for Barcelona only? what benefit is there in telling us this last month and not at the time? They might as well have taken that story with them to the grave.

The Arsenal hierarchy need to start doing things differently to avoid turning us into a laughing stock. The team needs to be the focus from now on, do everything in their power to keep the players we build the team around and keep the core together. Let the Robin Van Persie saga be the last year this happens. Self sustainability may be the way forward but without a team you risk falling out of the top four places and that’s where the money stops and trouble starts. We are no longer guaranteed top four and our new acquisitions already have the burden of needing to hit the ground running to ensure we stay there.

In other news that further dents the fans relationship with the club is the news that Denilson has signed another season long loan with Sao Paulo. It is well known Denilson had no intention of returning to Arsenal. The club have put the player up for sale however it is alleged no offers have come in for the player. We were in negotiations with Sao Paulo to turn his loan last season into a permanent deal. We were adamant on a price but the Brazilian club wouldn’t budge and in the end we succumbed and granted the player another season long loan. This is the kind of thing that infuriates fans, myself included. Why is the player calling the shots? If Sao Paulo didn’t want the player they wouldn’t be negotiating with us. If there is no budge then the player returns and rots in the reserves until his people can organize a transfer to someone willing to pay for him. I would not be surprised if we are footing the majority of the players wages, it is claimed Arsenal have a clause to cancel the loan if an agreement for his sale can be arranged with another club. We all know that isn’t going to happen so we end up with the Brazilian who doesn’t want to play for us still on our books picking his big wages. Why are we so soft when it comes to transfer negotiations?

In more embarrassing news on the Arsenal front it was announced last night on the official site that the tour of Nigeria is now postponed till possibly next summer. In the announcement the club stated:

“We could not get comfortable on everything needed to satisfy our requirements, so we have reluctantly taken the decision to postpone the team’s visit”

To be blunt these kind of things should be looked into long before announcing any possible tour and game. This is a major own goal by the club and again sends the PR team into the spotlight. I only hope not too many fans have made arrangements and booked flights for the sole purpose of this tour. If so should the club make an effort to reimburse those who possibly could lose money if they attempt to cancel their bookings?

Enjoy your day people

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