A whole bunch of stuff on a day when there really isn't that much stuff

Mornin' Mornin',

There isn't a whole lot going on with us at the minute, us as in Arsenal, although not a whole lot going on with me and the brother either. In fact, I haven't heard from him in a week and he hasn't written a post in a couple. I think he's probably off in Santa Barbera boozing and womanizing, as you should when you're that age. Hopefully he's alive and will contribute soon.

Anyway, I was looking back at a couple of past blogs and saw that I've made a couple of mistakes. Mistakes in opinion and mistakes in fact, there are tons of writing errors but I won't be addressing those. I had said that Eboue and I are the same age and that I feel that I've matured a great deal this past year and am maturing even now as I type. I had written that this is a sign that Eboue may do the same and will be more of a disciplined footballer this season. Turns out that Eboue is over 2 years older than me at 26 and is well over due. This could mean that he isn't going to mature at all, that he's missed his window, but it could also mean that he'll make up for lost time and start acting like a 26 year old professional, (think Xabi Alonso last year or Kolo Toure a couple of years ago).

Moving on, I also got our proposed formation wrong when I did the Liverpool analysis and head to head battle. I didn't pay too much attention to the fact that we had played a 4 3 3 in a couple of friendlies at the time, now it seems obvious that we'll likely be playing the 4 3 3 most of this coming season. I also didn't take into account squad depth and how that'll make a huge difference. I will discuss squad depth in a coming blog, but I do feel that ours probably pips theirs. In the attacking department it's no question. In the area that we're the lightest (central midfield) they do have a good depth of players, with their acquisition of Acquilani, who I don't rate as highly as most, (he's certainly not the answer to the void left by Alonso), Mascherano, that Brazilian troll Lucas, old Arsenal target Plessi (I think he was anyway) who I watched play against Oslo yesterday looks a good prospect (like a slightly better Alex Song) and of course Gerrard can always drop back and play his natural role.

OK, that's done and dusted, and in totally unrelated news, in fact it's not related to English football at all, and I guess it's not really news either, I read an article about Sebastian Deisler, the former Bayern Munich man who retired at 27 because of the depression that the pressures of the modern game gave him. I admit to having suffered a bit of depression here and there myself, quite heavily at times. I had a difficult time turning it around but with perseverance and a life that is ultimately too good to be depressed about, I overcame. I still get it here and there, as I'm sure a lot of us do, and I tell you what, the one all curing thing that would help me to never be depressed again would be the offer of a professional contract and a call up to play for England, so I'm a little perplexed at how football caused the guy to get so down as to retire and to be honest after reading some quotes by Deisler, I'd like to go to Germany and kick him. He said something like, (not direct quote) "I looked outside my house in Berlin where I had a Mercedes in the drive way and thought to myself, 'Is this it? Is this what it's all about'." Go fuck yourself.

Alright, that's off my chest and now to stuff a little more Arsenal. Atletico Madrid say that Eboue is their "dream signing" and that they'll be making efforts to take him to Madrid. We turned down a wealthy Fiorentina side and are likely to do the same to a skint Atletico. Speaking of Atletico, what's the big deal about Sergio Aguerro? I've watched him half a dozen times and he's never done anything.

Rosicky is said to be out for 6 weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered in training. I'm not sure that it's true (remember the confusion over Eduardo) and I'm not all that surprised. If it is true it sucks for all parties involved, Arsenal, Tomas, Czech Republic and the fans, but it's not the end of the world. It'll mean his recovery will be a month behind and we'll see him in action more towards the middle of the season. Nasri will be back around the same time and will probably be playing regularly before Rosicky and will help supplement that area. And there's always Fran Merida and our 97,000 forwards. And if it's not true, harra!, the status is quo.

Speaking of forwards there is more news about Chamack and that we've apparently upped our bid to 7.5m. I can't imagine l'Boss paying more than that if this offer gets turned down. Zidane said that we had made a 17m pound bid for Huntelaar before he went to AC Milan for 22m. If this is true it means that we're definitely in the market for a forward and will likely sign one before the season starts. With no new news on Kalou our striker is likely to be Chamack. The chairman has a bit to say about this revealing that Wenger has money to spend on one or two players, so long as it's not ridiculous. I'm not sure how to scope that, is ridiculous 14m for Xabi Alonso, or is it 30m for De Rossi. (The De Rossi speculation is just that and I don't like him anyway, I'm just saying.) Judging by our reported bid for Huntelaar, (if Zidane really did say that and if we really did make that bid), I suppose the scope is broader and it may mean that Wenger is finally willing to spend a bit extra in the market.

A forward that is actually at the club is saying that he'd love to see Patrick Vieira back. RVP talked in a press conference during a charity event at a childrens' hospital about what a good captain and leader Vieira was and how he helped Robin during the one year they played together. It seems that more and more people are getting behind the signing of Vieira and I'm sorry to say that I'm not one of them. I loved Vieira, he was remarkable, perhaps the best in the world at his position in his day, he's a legend and I think we should leave it at that. We should let him keep his legacy, which I'd say is worth more to him and Arsenal than any more time he can spend in our shirt. I doubt he has the legs left anyway, playing an average of something close to 20 games a season for Inter the past three years won't have helped him. Mourinho said that no contact has been made and so I don't think it'll be happening anyway. Besides, I still want Sissoko.

Lastly and leastly, the draw for the Champions' League qualifier is tomorrow. We'll be playing one of 5 teams: Atletico Madrid, Celtic, Anderlecht, Fiorentina or FC Timisoara. I'd say we're easily the best team in the group and will be the most feared, but I'd still prefer to avoid Madrid and Fiorentina. Celtic shouldn't be a difficult prospect as any team managed by Tony Mobray is fucked all over, Anderlecht I think are easily beatable but as you may have guessed, everyone's preferred opponent is of course Timisoara, who haven't won a European game since 1990.

Hasta Manana,

Highbury86


PS. Wasn't it sad and a bit funny at the same time to see Kolo Toure jump up and down with flailing arms in frustration at Rangers' winning goal in Man City's friendly yesterday.

Transfer stuff

Halloo halloo,

Another day in the neighborhood as we offload another center back and look set to sign our 50th forward. It's very Wenger to do something like this after he's spoken about our depth up front. Senderos has all but signed for Everton and we look in for Kalou and out on the Chamack deal. We've offered 6m for each player apparently, definitely for Chamack, Kalou might just be rumors. Bordeaux value Chamack at 18m euros, which is outrageous for a player who scores a goal for every 4 games and can go on a Bosman in a years time. Wenger won't budge on his 6m offer and it seems we're out of the chase. Wenger is quoted as saying:

"My offer seems fair to me, taking the market into account. Chamakh would be good, but there are other options should we wish to pursue them."

He also said:

"In five months, if he doesn't prolong his contract, Chamakh will be free to talk to any club and Bordeaux won't get anything.

"In the current context, to me, it is over. Let's say that at the moment it is terminated."

Bordeaux chairman Jean Louis Triaud said of the matter:

"I will admit that the fee I quoted is excessive, but Arsenal's offer is still a long way short.”

It seems like Bordeaux are playing games that Wenger isn’t interested in and it’s all a bit unfortunate for Chamack who is very upset by the whole thing. I won’t quote him because we have enough quotes but he’s saying he won’t sign a new contract for Bordeaux, that if he looses out on a move to Arsenal then Bordeaux will loose out when he leaves for free next summer.

Our other option in that position is Kalou, who I do admit to liking. Arseblog seems to have no time for him making a stupid list of terrible things he would do to Kalou, which I suppose is all well and good but I don’t see how he would be bad for the team, only that it would stifle Wilshere’s immediate progress with the first team and probably Vela’s too.

Kalou can play all across the front three and can finish well. He’s pretty good in the air and he’s not a small boy so he’d add some physicality, which would be nice, although we need it in midfield more than anywhere else.

Chelsea say we’re 2m short of their asking price but it’s said that Wenger is willing to meet that. Now, like I said, I do like Kalou and I think he’d be more than useful, but at what cost? Wilshere will likely fade out of the first team frame, as he did last season, although he’ll get more games I’m sure. Vela will be one more down the pecking order and will seem all the more surplus as we have so many skillful little left footers. And we won’t have another center mid or center back.

Letting Senderos go not only leaves us with bulbus head fish face as our fourth choice, I know I’ve spoken of his value and wanting him to stay, but that wasn’t taking into account that Toure and Senderos would be leaving. I like Silvestre because he can teach all the younglings a thing or two about a run in and all that, but I never wanted him to play regularly. Senderos’ move will also allow Everton to move Jolean Lescott on to Man City, making another rival stronger. I suppose Wenger would take the stance that we have no time to worry about what other clubs are doing, only what we’re up to, and I suppose that’s fair, it’s just that fuck, I like Senderos and I quite like Lescott and would really hate to see them both move.

With no other moves in looking likely it seems that the only other signing we may make this summer is Soloman Kalou. I haven’t heard much more about Matuidi or whatever his name is and so I doubt that’ll be happening.

In other news 4thegame.com is linking AC Milan with a 35m Euro move for Fabregas, which apparently Wenger has agreed to by promising them Cesc as Andrea Pirlo looks to move to Chelsea. Fuck Off, like Wenger would ever do such a thing.

Not much else, I know I promised another rival analysis but I’ll have to postpone it until tomorrow.

Highbury86