lukasz Podolski – Gambeano Snitch AFC

This is going to be a long summer for Arsenal fans; the names rolling off the conveyor belt of rumours are endless. To be honest with so many names linked with the Gunners you can be forgiven for believing some could be possible more than others. It’s inevitable the gunners will sign players this summer, the past two seasons spent competing with Tottenham is far from acceptable and the next campaign will require more motivation than just finishing above Spurs. To build on the past few seasons strengthening will be required; there will be no loss of a leading talisman this year so Arsene Wenger at least has a baseline to build upon.

The name of Stevan Jovetic has refused to go away all last season , the rumours grew stronger once the season ended to the point of rumours of his agent being in two places at the same time finalising deals for the forward spread through Twitter like a bush fire. The possibility of the attacker leaving his current club Fiorentina became a realistic outcome with the assertion yesterday by his club that he is free to leave at the right price. This can be deemed a good and bad thing for Arsenal as the statement from the club has made his availability public knowledge to all; if his services are seriously considered for the Emirates then negotiations need to move fast before a bidding war kicks off. Arsenal doesn’t do bidding wars and evidence of this can be looked back upon as reasons for missing out on past targets such as David Silva and Juan Mata.

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It may transpire that the Montenegrin was never a serious target, one thing Arsenal fans will need to bear in mind before firing abuse at the manager if he indeed moves on to another club. There was a lot of criticism at the Failure to sign Yann M’via last summer however the French midfielder has since proven to be quite the misfit; a bullet dodged in many fans eyes.

You would think with all the effort and pressure to finish in the top four had paid off and players would line up to experience Champions League football with the club next season however qualifiers still loom before Arsenal are definitely part of the Champions League line up. The looming Champions’ League qualifiers can possibly become a stumbling block in negotiations; it will certainly be a bargaining chip agents can use to their advantage.

Club captain Tomas Vermaelen was quick to dismiss rumours that he will be leaving the club in the summer. He explained competition is part of what happens in football and he’s ready to fight to get back into the team and return to the level that earned him the right to be selected as captain again. The partnership of Mertesacker and Koscielny kept the Belgian out of the team on merit towards the end of last season and despite the wound to his pride at being dropped whilst being captain I fully believe in his abilities and expect him to win back his respect.

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Whether he will still be captain next season I do not know, the extra burden taken away might be the best thing for him so he can fully focus on his game. That’s not to say a new defender will not join the ranks this summer, an established defender rather than potential is likely to keep all the current personnel on their toes.

Well done to Lukasz Podolski last night for scoring a goal for Germany within the first 10 seconds of the match. Will expect more of that next season for the Gunners

Enjoy your day people.

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So the draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League was made yesterday and we managed to avoid a mouth-watering clash with Barcelona instead drawing Bayern Munich. By means a tie that can be equally as hard as facing Barca, Munich are a team in top form in their domestic league, they currently lie top of the Bundesliga not to mention being the winners of their Champion’s League group.

There is an Arsenal link to Bayern as Lukasz Podolski is a former player; he will definitely have a point to prove against the German giants. His spell with Bayern didn’t quite go to plan and many questioned his credentials when playing for a big club; he then returned to previous club Cologne to rebuild his reputation. He had his 2^nd chance to prove himself at a big club when he signed for us in the summer and although on reflection he hasn’t set the world alight since at the Emirates he has been far from a flop either. He will be bang up for it and he has already given some of his thoughts on the draw.

It will be a true test to the Arsenal and we will need to pull out an almighty performance in the first leg and then finish the job at their ground. If we do manage to win the tie it will no doubt restore confidence back to the players; Bayern are last season’s finalists after all and a win may give the team the belief that they have every chance to win the competition. Football is so much about confidence and once the belief is there in the players then half the manager’s job is already done, he just needs to channel that belief and avoid it turning into arrogance because that is when teams come unstuck.

No team has a divine right to win any game; it takes hunger and wanting it more than the other team. Just turning up expecting to win doesn’t ensure anything as we learnt last week against Bradford. If Arsene helps the team keep up its momentum in the league and channels their focus; then with the home fans behind them we can take the game to Bayern at the Emirates.

There’s a lot of football to be played between now and 19^th February when the first leg is scheduled; hopefully boosted by some new signings in January we will progress to the next round.

I do wonder how the postponement of the Boxing Day game against West Ham will affect the team in the long run. The strike scheduled by the London Underground staff had left the authorities with no choice but to cancel the game on that day. On the plus side it gives the players an extra rest over the Christmas period but we will have to shoehorn the game into January which I am sure will be at an unwelcome time. Additionally West Ham are struggling with injuries and it may have been the best time to play them; I have always preferred games on the board rather than games in hand as there is no guarantee you get maximum points from those games.

I suppose with the game off it’s a great opportunity to drive down to the stadium on Boxing day and visit the Armoury store. The roads will be empty and the shop will be less crammed with no game on. I’m sure to pick up a bargain or two in the sales, Arsenal Onesie..? Maybe not.

Enjoy your day people.

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