AFC turn on style against Saints to move third

Goals galore yesterday, this was the swashbuckling Arsenal that Arsene promised us to be patient about after our first two games of the season yielded no goals. Yesterday we came out with verve and swagger of a team who expected to win and put in the effort to ensure we won.

Some of the football at times had the fans drooling in the stands; at the centre of everything was mercurial Santi Cazorla. Everything good was flowing through his magical small feet. So comfortable on the ball, so direct and so unpredictable he is a joy to watch.

Southampton clearly were swept away in the first half and but for a fumble late in the half by Sczcesny which led to us conceding our first goal of the season there was only positives to report from our game.

I commented yesterday how Olivier Giroud could possibly break his duck for the season against the Saints and join that exclusive club with Bergkamp, Henry, Wright et al. that possibility shortened once Wenger decided to start the guy on the bench. Unfortunate in the greatest sense of the word as Kelvin Davis seemed to try his best to give us goals yesterday. Taking nothing away from our boys at least three goals could raise questions over the quality of the goalkeeping. Giroud did get on the pitch in the last 10 minutes or so however it was probably not enough time for him stamp his mark on the game and get amongst the goals. He will no doubt be up for playing against his former club on Tuesday.

Although Giroud did not start the game you cannot question Arsene’s decision making as his choice of Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gervihno were constant threats all game. Gervihno receives special praise for his contribution to the game, he is often maligned for his questionable decision making and finishing that accompanies his quality dribbling and close control. Yesterday he had one of his best games in an arsenal shirt as Wenger gave him a chance to shine in a central role. Though as is the Arsenal way the front three were inter-changing positions all game making it a nightmare to mark. Gervihno relished this opportunity and came away from the game with two goals. His contribution was such that when he was substituted his received a standing ovation from the whole stadium and the whole crowd chanted his name as he walked off. He was clearly lapping up the adoration as he took his time walking off and acknowledged the appreciation by waving back to all. Podolski played his part, he is a very direct player and loves to receive the ball, turn and run at the defence. He can definitely be an option in the central striking role and doesn’t need to be pigeon holed on the left hand side; he was rewarded for his efforts with a nicely taken free kick. It’s nice that we have so many options for free kick takers, it leaves food for thought for the goal keepers as they have to consider all options. In the past Robin Van Persie would take all free kicks and at times it would be quite predictable.

The defence was good again and were only let down by an error by the keeper. Carl Jenkinson was impressive yesterday and seems to be really growing into the right back role. The run of games is clearly doing him a world of good and his confidence on the ball and battling is evidence of this. The real test of his development will be against better quality teams but so far this season he has definitely stepped up a level compared to last.

Our keeper Sczcesny seemed a bit rusty and was clearly ruffled by his mistake which allowed Southampton to score. Maybe nerves from the mistake crept in as his kicking was really off in the second half and played the defence into trouble quite a few times. We all know he is a quality keeper and he will move on from this but with Vito Mannone doing nothing wrong in his two game cameos there may be more pressure on our Pole to keep up the standard to ward of any competition.

Overall yesterday was a fantastic performance from the whole team, an absolute treat to all the fans in the ground, we now kick off our champions league campaign this week on a high, lets keep the momentum up boys.

Enjoy your day people

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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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Sahin deal soon, Mirallas who cares, Santos in police arrest – AFC

Arsenal fans are impatiently waiting for confirmation of the deal for Nuri Sahin. The potential loan deal seems imminent however until anything is announced on the official arsenal website the speculation increases as to what could be delaying the deal. Is there an option to buy clause or isn’t there? Does Mourihno hate Arsene so much he would rather the player go anywhere else? Has Sahin been given a few days to decide where he goes? Whatever the reason we will lap up any rumours that surface and in true Chinese whisper fashion we will hear a completely skewed story from the original source.

I believe the deal will be announced before the week is done, whatever day it’s announced I do not expect the midfielder to be involved in any part of the Stoke game on Sunday. The fans though maybe need an announcement to counter the loss of Alex Song to Barcelona; we are divided in our assessment of whether the sale of the Cameroonian was a big blow or great business. I would have to sit on the fence for this one, on one hand it’s a shame to lose a player who has improved on great levels to make the defensive midfield role his own in the arsenal team, he was at a good age and he added steel to our midfield; on the other hand fans questioned his overall focus of the defensive side of his game and the fact that despite how good he was for us he isn’t irreplaceable.

With news of a deal for Yann Mvilla possibly being revived fans would soon get over the loss of Song. Wenger went as far to admit that he was planning to bring in a midfielder and a defender only for Everton’s new signing Kevin Mirallas a striker claimed he turned down arsenal in favour of a move to Goodison Park. Mr Wenger you crafty soul, you never show your hand, you bluff and you bluff yet we eat up your words like doggy treats. Back to Mirallas I have no idea why his revelation that he turned down arsenal is headline news? Maybe he thinks it looks better on his CV that a snub to arsenal shows what a top player he is. The fact he ended up at Everton maybe shows how much he isn’t such a top player. Rather than trying to improve himself and fight for a place in the starting line up at a top club he settles for starting week in week out at a club where his only threat is Victor Anichebe; Good luck to him and his lack of ambition.

In other news it was revealed that our very own Andre Santos has been a bit of a naughty boy and got himself in trouble with the law. It was alleged in the daily mail that Santos was clocked speeding and driving erratically on the A1 near London Colney. Santos apparently did not stop for the police and it turned into car chase. A statement from the police claimed:

“Shortly after 9.30am on Friday August 17, a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and failing to stop for police on the A1, near to Junction 22 of the M25.”

“Officers’ attention was drawn to the vehicle due to the manner of its driving.”

Not the ideal event to happen the day before our first game of the season, could that be the reason why he did not feature in the game. I suppose if he was being disciplined for the incident he wouldn’t have been on the bench or the squad at all though that would have raised speculation. It was claimed he was not breathalysed when arrested though at 9.30 on a Friday morning to have any alcohol in his system would spell curtains to his career at arsenal.

Whatever his reason failing to stop for police is a big no no, speeding alone is so common amongst footballers nowadays it doesn’t warrant reporting, a mere slap on the wrist normally covers that; failure to stop and the law enforcement get a bit more serious.

I suppose the hardest thing to get my head around is the fact that Santos is known to be driving this car:

with reports of him driving up to speeds of 130mph I struggle to see it reaching 30mph with Santos big frame driving it.

Enjoy your day people

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RVP going to Man U, Time to forget the Dutchman – AFC

So the departure of Robin van persie from the Arsenal is as good as done, the reality has kicked in and yes he will be moving clubs to another rival. Last night Arsenal gave the biggest indication yet of the impending move to Manchester United when they announced on the official website that terms had been agreed by the two clubs and the Dutchman was whizzing his way up to Manchester to put pen to paper, fluke a medical and become a Manchester united player.

The fee has been mooted around £20m-£24m for our now former captain and in the grand scheme of things me have made the most out of selling a 29 year old at the top of his game with 1 year left on his contract. Not ideal in any circumstances to be put in a position where you are forced to agree terms with a rival to sell them not only your best player but the best player in the whole league last season. The writing was on the wall ever since Robin released his ill-fated letter to the fans in July declaring he had no intention of signing a new contract. Actually the writing was on the wall when the Dutchman left for the Euros having not signed anything, many fans myself included still held onto the small hope that his mind could be changed if Arsenal showed their ambition with their transfer activity over the summer. Quality players were brought in, some questioned whether they were replacements for our then captain or a signal of intent that we were ready to challenge top place. Whichever the reasoning was it doesn’t matter, he’s gone now but Arsenal are big enough to overcome this loss. The new signings showed positive signs in the last friendly against Cologne and there’s no reason why Robin’s goals will not be replaced by the attacking options we have at our disposal.

On top of the departure there is the possibility that the money received for Van Persie will be utilized in the transfer market. Arsene has not publically stated his transfer dealings are over, many potential deals could have been on hold until the future of van persie was decided. You cannot risk replacing a player who could change their mind and stay. Arsene made no secret of the fact that he wanted van persie to stay and no doubt tried everything in his power to convince van persie he didn’t need to leave. This is probably the reason why any transfer has taken so long to come to fruition. On one hand im glad this will be resolved before the season kicks off I really didn’t fancy the situation we had last season with Nasri, he even played for us in the home defeat to Liverpool before jumping ship; on the other hand I cant help but wonder how much of a force we would have been if he stayed as part of our current squad.

I cant dwell on the regret of what could have been, what we have here is a player who really shoved two fingers up at the fans that have adored him all these years and believed in him despite the continuous injury setbacks; his way to repay them is by defecting to a direct rival. I really feel Robin has tarnished all those years he has put in at arsenal with this move. In the past season when statues have been erected of arsenal greats you would have thought robin would have looked on admirably and been inspired by what he witnessed at the returning Thierry Henry. Players like Thierry and Robert Pires moved on from the club however still maintained their legend status by respecting the club, they still talk highly of the club and they are as big an arsenal fan as you and I.

I don’t begrudge Thierry for wanting to win things on the greatest stage at a time when his was in the tail end of his career, he could have joined a premiership rival, he would never be short of takers but his love for the club was so that he moved abroad to seek his goals. Why couldn’t robin do that? Ok maybe Barcelona and Real Madrid weren’t in the market for a striker of his talents but there were still many big clubs around Europe who could help him fulfil his silverware dreams. It will really pain me to see robin line up against the arsenal one day; this is not how it’s meant to pan out. He really has moved alongside Nasri into the territory of public enemy; all good will is wiped and I certainly won’t have any sympathy if those injuries come back more frequently.

The feeling at the moment is more of disappointment at robin making this career choice rather than despair at the loss to the team. I feel the team will prosper this season; last season it seemed we were so reliant on the Dutchman that any injury would signal meltdown. I see the goals being spread more through the team this time so I do not worry about the goals we have lost through robins departure but I do not relish the added tension to the games against united much like the ones we experienced against Manchester city because of the Nasri factor. We seem to be having more and more fiery games against teams without hating the teams but the individuals on the teams. Adebayor started that trend, Nasri kept it going and now Robin though to be fair United are the enemy regardless of Van Persie.

Good luck Robin, break a leg…

Enjoy your day people

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Van Persie and AFC talks to resume this week now holiday is over – AFC

Dear all apologies for lack of recent posts, being on holiday means putting feet up and enjoying sun takes preference. To be honest it sure beats being back home in London with the bad weather and bad feeling over Robin Van Persie and his recent publicized decisions.

Now our former captain should be returning from his holidays this week and talks are expected to be resumed between Wenger, Gazidis and his agent. There’s nothing for Arsenal fans to hope for in terms of whether he can be talked into changing his mind or not; he made it pretty clear he will not be signing a new contract with the club. For him to make a sudden turnaround will not please all, despite us initially not wanting our former captain to leave the statement he made pretty much closed the door on any goodwill and respect in his relationship with the fans.

The club have experienced this before and it didn’t work out with positive results as Emmanuel Adebayor was pimping himself out to any big club that looked his direction. He started likening clubs that showed interest in him to Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Lady Sovereign or whoever was hot to him at the time as he was ill-advised by his agent that concrete interest was on the table. This showed great disrespect to the arsenal faithful after we took him to our hearts following a fantastic season just completed at the emirates.

Wenger and his people called him in for talks, he realised he had a good thing and signed an extension and declared he was staying at the club, the problem was the damage was already done. Arsenal fans were divided on whether he deserved our forgiveness and support; in the end he played out the following season to lukewarm reception, sometimes booed and eventually shipped out as the connection with the club was severed.

He left for Man City with a few parting shots at the club and fans and ironically enough he had a much publicized spat with former captain Robin Van Persie when the clubs met. RVP clearly wasn’t happy with the mercenary ways of the Togo forward and it was clear to see on the pitch by the clashes between the two and THAT reaction to the goal scored.

Now from my perspective I accept if he wants to go, we will move on as the club will last longer than his career. That is unless of course there is a Glasgow Rangers style collapse of the club, never gonna happen. One thing we can guarantee is good balancing of the books.

Moving forward is Van Persie’s decision on which club he prefers to go to. This is where I draw a line, he attempted to be fair and upfront to the fans with his statement and didn’t fall short in expressing his love for the club. Now if he really does love the club then his decision on his next club should not involve another premiership rival. There is no bigger kick in the teeth than to line up against the club you supposedly love in the same domestic league when you are at the top of your game. Coming to the end of your playing career, no longer getting into the first XI then fans can understand an idolised player moving to another domestic rival for a final long-term contract and the chance to play more regularly in their twilight years. When you are at the top still then its disrespectful to move to a rival, if its trophies and honours a player craves then they can cherry pick that from a number of teams abroad.

What will Robin Van Persie choose? It has been mooted for a long time now that Man City is interested in signing him. Fans can’t be angry at the club for wanting to sign him, they have the money to buy who they want, he was the premiership’s outstanding player last season and would always court interest from the top teams.

Would Arsenal fans accept a move there? highly unlikely. That would in effect turn RVP into public enemy number one ahead of Samir Nasri. Robin has been at the club long enough to understand what would and would not be accepted by the fans, he has seen over the years the returning legends such as Wrighty, Adams, Pires and Bergkamp; the reception they received because they showed true respect to the club and receive it back any time they return to the club. That will not happen if Robin moves across the UK, is he willing to throw away 8 years of connection and history for maybe a bit part of a money machine with not exactly guaranteed silverware. Man City was effectively 2 minutes away from a trophy-less season.

The talks this week will not really mean much in terms of Arsenal’s future as he is 99% gone but it will be important in terms of his future connection with the club. The ball is in his court, seeing out his contract or moving across the EPL is not an option…

Enjoy your day people

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