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Adebayor Says We Don't Need Flamini
Helllllllooooooooooooooooo all you gooners. It's Friday, which is great news. So along the lines of great news, we have Emmanuel Adebayor, who loves bringing us, well, great news. He told The Sun that he has no plans of leaving and that he is here to win trophies.
"I've assured the gaffer Arsene Wenger I'll stay because I believe in the team and I want to assure the fans my concentration is here.
"I have no reason to leave so I'll stay to ensure that together we'll win silverware.
"Mathieu's a good player but his departure doesn't mean Arsenal is about to collapse. Our team is a deep well of talent.
"I am confident we are capable of winning titles and we will return for next season hungrier to be successful."
That's the attitude we always get from Ade and it's always great to here. Is there a happier man on the planet? I'm really not sure. This is all on the back of the reports that Barcelona will be willing to pay 23 million quid for Adebayor and that he's their number 1 target this summer. Anyways, hopefully his attitude can spread through the rest of the team and they'll all be ready to come out and win it next year.
Even Martin Jol thinks Sp*rs won't ever finish in the top four, which is absolutely correct.
There really isn't like any news at all. As I'm writing this I'm scouring the web for news at every possible location and it just isn't coming up. We may have to venture into aimless transfer speculation here in a moment. Bear with me.
Caught Offside has us linked with Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz. He's a good player but it's not happening.
Here's a fake picture of Arsene Wenger with a stripper, which is supposedly an illustration of a real picture of Arsene Wenger with a stripper. You know the news is bad when I'm posting this nonsense.
Ok, I really can't find anything else so I'm just going to ramble on for a bit about random things that come to mind. If you watch basketball, the Celtics and the Pistons are in Game 6 of their series tonight, and the Celtics can advance to the NBA Finals with a win. Go C's.
I'm in the year 2022 on my Football Manger game, which is further than I have ever gotten before starting a new one. I'm still with Arsenal after all this time. The Emirates has 80,000 seats, our transfer budget is 394 million quid, and we've won the Champions League 6 times in a row. (In fact the only two teams that have won it since 2010 are us and Liverpool. Interesting...)
And last I suppose I'll leave you with one of my favorite YouTube videos.
So thats about it. Sorry it sucked today but there's not all that much to write about. Remember to enter the Euro 2008 contest and sign up for the forums. I'll get something better tomorrow. Cheers.
Posted by ArseNole at 11:02 AM 1 comments
Labels: Adebayor, Arsenal, Jol, Santa Cruz, Wenger
Arsenal In Bid for Ramsey
Morning all. There isn't much for news today honestly so this may be a short one. If you haven't joined the Euro 2008 contest, you can do so here. Just pick the two teams to make the Finals at Euro2008 and the final score and you win.
We'll start with the England-USA friendly which if you don't live in England or the States you probably don't care about but I do and I watched it yesterday. A couple of observations from the game: Is Jermain Defoe really the best option to be leading the English strike force? There have to be better options than that. I don't know who exactly but I think maybe Young, Agbonlahor, Ashton, or maybe even Theo would be better than Defoe. The fat scouser Rooney and Gerrard were both great behind him though. As far as the USA goes they couldn't manage shite. I hate saying it because I'm no fan of Landon Donovan but we missed him yesterday. Our strikers looked lost all match and while part of that is because of good defending, some was just because it wasn't the first choice strikers. Oh and one other thing on England, why is Wes Brown playing at all? He is absolutely terrible. Hope he gets hit by a bus.
Ok enough of that, now on to Arsenal. According to reports Arsenal have put in a £5million offer to Cardiff for Aaron Ramsey. Cardiff rejected the offer because they want more money up front. Arsenal's offer was based on incentives for appearances and the like, similar to how we got Theo Walcott from Southampton. Ramsey is a good young player, and this was shown as he just got his first call up to the Wales squad for the friendlies this week. They say we'll go back with an improved offer but I'm not so sure how highly Wenger rates him. It may just be a, "Well if we can get him for this much we might as well." But I guess as always we'll have to wait and see.
Alex Mcleish of Birmingham says he hopes to keep up the relationship with Arsenal so they can keep loaning our players. I'm not sure Alex, but that relationship may have been hurt a little bit by that cunt Martin Taylor breaking our striker's leg.
Goonertalk is having a poll of sorts to see who everyone's all time best Arsenal players are and is going to put them in a book. So if you're into books and voting for things then go ahead and do that.
Alexander Hleb says that he's never said he wants to leave Arsenal. Very crafty there Alex...but we know that you told your agents to find you a way out and they have been essentially begging for it for the past month. I'm so sick of Hleb honestly, I hope he's gone sooner rather than later and I couldn't really care where he goes. Be nice if he went to play for Tottenham. Then when we kicked the shite out of him all the time he'd not think it was so bad at Arsenal.
Jose Mourinho is just about in as manager of Inter Milan, and I can't see Hleb playing for him, so I think if he's going it's going to have to be Madrid or Barcelona. Hopefully the report is true and he's agreed personal terms with Barca and all that needs to be worked out is a transfer fee. Like I said yesterday, I'd take 10 million quid for him. What would be your selling price for Hleb?
That's about all I've got today. Remember the Euro 2008 prediction contest! We had a great start to it yesterday with people getting their predictions in so let's keep it up. Remember all you have to do is pick the two teams that will be in the finals and the final score. The winner gets a free ArseNole Stein Mug. That way you can drink Newcastle Brown Ale, which along with Yuengling are my top two beers! Sign up by posting your prediction in the comments, the forums, or emailing me at ArseNole@arsenole.com.
Labels: Arsenal, contests, England, Euro 2008, Ramsey, USA
Hleb Off To Spain, Euro 2008 contest.
Morning all. Nasri has again not been confirmed today in case you were wondering, but this is most likely due to the fact that he was playing for France last night. Awful hard to be in London when you're playing for France. Try it. Arsenal News Review says he played well. Le Grove said he didn't play all that well. I didn't watch it so take your pick of the reviews of his performance if you're that into it.
Nasri's agent did however confirm that the deal will be done in the coming days and it will be to Arsenal. Read this.
Biggest news we have today is about Alexander Hleb and if it is anything it's confusing. Apparently Hleb's agent met with Txiki Begiristain (nice name), the Barcelona director, yesterday in Germany. They reportedly reached a verbal agreement on the player's terms and now an agreement must be struck with Arsenal to complete the move.
At the same time, Real Madrid have declared their interest in Hleb, with coach Bernd Schuster saying this:
"Over the past two months we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Hleb has been added. We did not know he could leave Arsenal but in recent days it has been more positive. We were surprised that he might leave there."
Remember also that Inter Milan was thought to be leading the race to sign him for ages until the Spanish gians got involved. Personally I couldn't give a shite where he goes to, I'm just ready for him to be off. This reminds me of the Jose Antonio Reyes story last year, where we didn't know where he was going to go we just knew we didn't want him back. It took weeks of him being linked with Real, Atletico, and Sevilla before the move finally went through. There are some people that may still want Hleb in the team, but I'd take 10 million quid for him right now in a heartbeat.
If you're looking for a laugh you can laugh at Mathieu Flamini, who was dropped from the France squad for Euro 2008. A lot of people probably feel sorry for him, but not me. I like ex Arsenal players this is true, but I only like ones who were great players here for years, like Pires, Henry, Vieira, etc, not money grubbers who leave after one good year. Flamini deserves all the hardship he gets in my book. If you disagree, please name your reason why.
Robin van Persie has said that Arsenal need to raise their wage limit to keep players happy and make them stay at Arsenal. Of course he wants the wage limit raised, he's a player and he wants more money. I like van Persie and all but he can talk about all this when he becomes club director, or at least stays healthy for a whole season.
As you probably all know, Cesc Fabregas' new agent is Darren Dein, David Dein's son. With Cesc getting ready to go into contract negotiations with Arsenal, the talk is that he's going to play some hardball with the club. Cesc is going to re-sign, trust me on this one. There is no need to worry that just because Dein is his agent he is going to go to Barcelona this summer. He'll probably get a deal about 100,000 quid a week. This story is meant to get all the Arsenal supporters nervous but don't worry about it.
And in other news Mad Jens made the final cut for the German squad for the Euros. Good job Jens.
That's about all I've got for the day. I'm pretty stoked for the Euro's so if you want to give me your prediction on the finals, give me the two teams that will play in the finals and the final score and I'll give the winner a free ArseNole stein mug and maybe some other stuff too. It's used to drink excesses of beer, like Yuengling. So post your prediction on the forums or the comments and I'll write em all down and the winner will get that. Or you can email your prediction to me at ArseNole[at]arsenole(dot)com. They have to be in before June 7th.
Posted by ArseNole at 11:45 AM 12 comments
Labels: Arsenal, Barcelona, Cesc, contests, Euro 2008, Flamini, Hleb, Madrid, Nasri, van Persie
Fiszman Talks Arsenal
Morning all. Today we're going to be continuing our non-Samir Nasri coverage, so let's see what other news we've got.
A lot of the post today we're going to talk about Danny Fiszman's question and answer session he had last week. Fiszman is the Arsenal director and is at the center of most of what Arsenal Football Club does.
So here are some of the questions he was asked and how he answered:
Are you pleased with the progress the team has made this season?
"Yes, I am pleased. If we look back where we were last year and what the fans would have settled for we have taken great strides. The critics wrote us off and gave us no chance of qualifying for the Champions League but the team proved itself competitive. Four points is a lot but in the context of the season we came very close and we are disappointed we didn't win it but we have made a constant improvement and that is what we seek always."
He makes a fair point here. Remember last summer we had the departure of Henry, which led everyone and their mother to predict that we wouldn't finish in the top four. Shite even Tottenham thought they would finish above us, and that never happens. The team really did do more than was expected of them. Topping the table for over half a season raised expectations to where it was such a horrible blow when we didn't win it, but would you have taken 83 points before the season started? I know I would have. I'm as disappointed as anyone that we didn't win anything, but I do think the team made a lot of progress this year.
There have been a number of matches where the team have played beautifully, is there a particular highlight for you this season?
The big highlight was beating Milan. It is one game that got our players to believe they were a team to be proud of, a team who could beat anybody and I was sure, having beaten Milan, that would see us through to beat Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool to win the Premier League. I think, very much in the way we beat Real Madrid, it reinforced the belief the youngsters had in themselves.
Again, I have to agree with him. The Milan match really looked like it could be a key turning point for the squad. Unfortunately the momentum didn't carry on from that match into the Premier League, but it still was a memorable night.
Are you confident for next season? What are your hopes?
To win four competitions, for the Ladies to win four and for the youth team to win too. We have great belief in our manager and his methods. There is great belief in the boys that we have. No doubt the manager will strengthen the team and we will improve again.
Now THAT is optimism. It's what you want to hear though from someone so heavily involved in the club. Wouldn't that be something to win four competitions in a single season? I think I would have to stop watching football after that, because it could never get any better. But really think about how close we were to winning the league, how close we were to advancing in the Champion's League, and think back to our Carling Cup run to the final the season before this past one. We've been doing well in the competitions and we're keeping that team together and adding to it. The future of the club is bright.
Does the manager have a specific budget available? Is there a set amount?
There is no set amount. But as I said we have always supported Arsène, we have never said no to him and have no intention of saying no to him.
So as it has been said, the manager does have money to spend. Remember though that Arsene is a realist. He's never going to go spend money that will put the club in financial difficulty. So just because there is no set limit doesn't mean that he's going to go out and spend Chelsea or ManUre money to keep everyone happy. It is good to know that money is available though.
Keith Edelman left the Club a few weeks ago. To clear something up, there have been suggestions his departure was linked with disagreements with the manager over players' wages, transfer budgets and the like. Was this the case?
Absolutely not. Keith was not involved with Arsène in any way. As I have said before we supported Arsène with everything he wanted. Keith Edelman was in no way involved with the discussions with Flamini or Arsène. That was Ken Friar's responsibility. So the speculation is absolutely incorrect.
So that whole rumor about Edelman not allowing Arsene to spend money is apparently bollocks. He wasn't fired for not giving Arsene money, he wasn't fired for not re-signing Flamini, they just decided to go in another direction.
You can read the rest of the article here but I think those are most of the main points.
So now on to some quick other news, Wrighty7 thinks Barcelona signing Keita could lead to Yaya Toure heading to Arsenal. You already know I love Yaya and would definitely want him at the club. We'll see what happens.
Johann Djourou says he could fill the gap left by Matt Flamini. I think it's a possibility too. He says he plays at his best in the holding role and that even Arsene Wenger tells him that too. I'd like to see him get a try there at least in the pre-season or something and see how it goes. Good luck to Johann.
Well that's all I've got today. Hopefully it didn't bore the shite out of you. Comments, forums, all that good stuff. Cheers.
Labels: Arsenal, Arsene, Djourou, Fiszman, Toure, Transfers, Wenger
Nasri Confirmed, Hleb is a Cunt
Ok I have not been into following the Nasri story every single waking second like many sites seem to be but I have been keeping everyone someone updated so now I can officially confirm that Samir Nasri will sign for Arsenal in the coming week, most likely on Tuesday. Monday is a bank holiday in the UK and so it may happen then but most likely not.
Even Arsene Wenger said the signing was highly likely, and said it would happen before the Euros start on June 7th.
So that is one signing we have down, and he could definitely be classified as our "creative player" signing that Wenger said would happen this summer. However, we don't know if he is a replacement for Hleb, who appears to be on the way out, or if this is another player and Arsene will sign another to replace Hleb. Arsene has said on countless occasions that he does not plan on having Hleb leave because he has not received any transfer bids for him, and from what I hear that is still the case. As it has been said on the forums, I think Wenger's first choice for the creative player was Niko Kranjcar, but it looks like he is set to stay at Portsmouth, which probably led to Wenger going for Nasri, his second choice. I think there is still a possibility, but not a probability, that Wenger will look for another player to replace Hleb. If Hleb does go it will not be without receiving a transfer fee, and I think another signing would depend on how much we received for Hleb. If we make up a good bit of the 11.2 million pounds we paid for him, I think another signing could be likely. If it is less than that I would expect Wenger to keep his faith in Walcott and, sadly, Eboue.
On to Hleb, I have to say that he is a complete and utter cunt. He is leaving strictly for money, not because he can't settle in London. Madrid, Barcelona, and Milan are not small quiet towns. He is 27 and wants to get a huge payday before he is past his prime. Granted, his prime has not seen all that much production out of him. We have all talked about his lack of goals, but we have only even talked about him being quality for just this past season. Before that all we talked about was how he gave the ball away too much. If you don't believe me then read my season review from last summer, which was my very first post on this website. I said he was a waste of money then because he never shot and gave the ball away too much. So should we really be upset about him leaving? Hell no. We should be happy someone is willing to take him off our hands, give us money for him and then waste their own money paying him wages. I can't be the least bit upset if he leaves.
So that's my rant on Hleb and good riddance to him.
Now on to what I think Arsenal will do next. I think after Nasri defender is the next target. My personal feeling is that it will be Kompany or Albiol, but I could be completely wrong and it could be someone we have never heard of. Whenever a team finds out Arsenal is interested in one of their players, the price for that player skyrockets and usually causes us to have to go in a different direction, and this could turn out to be the case here. Kompany at least I've heard is valued at 15 million, which a shiteload for a defender, I don't care who it is.
But I've done enough rambling so now I'll try to go over a little bit of news. Oh wait, there isn't any bloody news because every single site spends hours nutting over the Nasri story.
For all the idiots saying that Wenger should be sacked and that Arsenal should let Usmanov take over so we can spend billions of dollars you should read this article and realize just how stupid you are. I'm being kind of harsh today aren't I?
The Man from East Lower agrees with me that Diaby could develop into the new Vieira, or something like a replacement for Flamini at least, in the new season.
And that's really all there is for today. I'm so over the Nasri stories, so unless there is a picture of him holding an Arsenal shirt tomorrow then there will be no mention of him in my post. If you really need to hear about how Nasri likes his croissants baked or something then you can read about it on 823,508 other sites. I know it seems like I'm in a pissy mood this morning but really I just am sick of every news story being about him. So yeah, more to come tomorrow, hopefully there will be news about something else. Until then, join the forums, talk on em, leave a comment, or do something useful other than waiting for Nasri to sign. Cheers.
Posted by ArseNole at 12:02 PM 1 comments
Labels: Albiol, Arsenal, Hleb, Kompany, Kranjcar, Nasri
Nasri, Robinho, Meteor in Moscow
Good morning all. Incredibly, I am still sick, which makes it like five days straight now. I've also been working massive hours at the ACC baseball tournament so sorry for not posting the past two days. Today there isn't any massive news that I can find so I'm just going to go through even more transfer news/rumors/rubbish, etc.
We'll start off with a post from Online Gooner that caught my fancy. He talks about how nobody was calling for the signing of Samir Nasri before the transfer rumors started and now everyone is talking about him like he's the best thing since sliced bread. Nobody really knows what he will be able to do in the Premiership. He's only twenty, he plays in the French League and it's expected that he'll switch positions to winger once he gets to Arsenal. Does that sound like he'll make an immediate impact? He makes a valid point about the Bergkamp and Campbell signings too. They were big names when we signed them and we knew they could come in right away and play and look how they turned out. Wonderfully, if you didn't actually know how they turned out. If Nasri is the "established player" that Wenger said he was going to bring in, then maybe he really is losing it. We've signed big players under Wenger before, and we need to hope we do again. (PS: I'm not asking for Villa, Robinho, and Kaka, just a player that we KNOW can play at this level already.)
Robinho's agent was in London this week, which of course led to rumors of him heading to Arsenal, Chelsea, or Sp*rs. Not sure what to think of this one. I like Robinho as a player, I really do. I'm just not sure if he'd be the right fit for what we're doing at Arsenal. If somebody who watches the Spanish league could give some insight on what they think in the comments or something that would be great.
Several sources have reported that Arsenal have signed 17 year old Francis Coquelin. He is from Laval, a small Ligue 2 French club. He spent 7 days on trial with the club last month but it was cut short due to injury. He is a defensive midfielder and is definitely one to watch for the future. Young Guns wrote a good article on his reasons for signing with Arsenal over competition from Lyon and Nantes.
Arsene Wenger spoke about Lasagna Diarra, saying that he panicked and couldn't handle not being first choice in midfield. It's pretty funny reading, as apparently Diarra refused all loan moves and said he could handle not being first choice before complaining about exactly that for half of a season before pissing off to Pompey. Whiny little cunt.
Thierry Henry says he may quit International Football after the Euro's, which would be a shame because I love watching him in the French team. He'll be 31 in August so 2010 would be a long way away so he said he'll wait and see after the coming tournament what he wants to do. He also used his old fashioned line he used at Arsenal for all that time, "I have a contract at Barcelona, therefore I am a Barcelona player for now." At least he didn't only do that at Arsenal.
And last but not least I suppose I should comment on that cuntfest Wednesday night in Moscow. I'll admit I was working for the most part of it, and I only got to see extra time and the shootout. I hear it was a pretty good match, but I can't agree. Anytime you have that many people who's heads you want to bash in on one pitch it can't be that good of a match. I, like many, was hoping for a meteor or tornado or something to hit the stadium but it just didn't happen, which was highly disappointing. The shootout made me laugh though, as Ronaldo missed his penalty and Terry missed his penalty. That was the best part for me. I didn't watch the celebrations, I couldn't. On the bright side, Chelsea losing means we can still be the first London team to win the Champion's League. On the downside, ManUre won the double. I hope they all are hit by buses.
Remember to join the forums so we can get something going on there, or leave your input in the comments, or whatever else suits your fancy. Cheers!
Oh and try out this Brazilian nickname converter I just discovered. My name translated to "Sayreca Pau." Interesting...
Posted by ArseNole at 9:51 AM 8 comments
Labels: Arsenal, Coquelin, Diarra, Henry, Nasri, Robinho
Is Kolo Mad at Gallas?
Morning all. Still sick so not doing so hot. Not much in the news today but we'll get through most of it.
We'll start off with a story involving Kolo Toure. The Sun (yes I realize it's the Sun) reports that Kolo is fed up because he thinks Arsene Wenger is giving preferential treatment to William Gallas. This could very well be true and I have often thought of this myself. Let's look at the details. Gallas comes in well after Toure, yet is handed the Captain's armband. Gallas makes much more than any player on the team currently. Gallas has been able to continue at center back for the whole season even while Kolo has been forced to play at right back for the last month of the season. Kolo has been here for some six years, and I might be a little upset about all the treatment Gallas has gotten too. I for one was all for Kolo getting the captaincy last year if Gilberto didn't, but for some strange reason it went to Gallas. Kolo doesn't ever say much so nobody really knew if it bothered him or not but this story could show that he isn't all that happy with the way things are going.
We know Arsene is going to bring in another central defender. What I personally hope is that it's someone who is brought in to partner Toure and not to partner Gallas. Toure loves this club and has proven his value for years now, and shouldn't just be thrown to the curb. If Gallas is removed from the captaincy, I think he'll get all pissy and want to leave anyway so we could sell him if we have to. I just don't want to see Kolo replaced by an older and not any better William Gallas.
As I reported two days ago, all the signs are looking like Arsenal will sign Samir Nasri very soon. I'm putting together this link list of all the articles linking us so if you want to check them out you can, or you can just take heart that I told you about it two days ago.
Fans FC
Arsenal Analysis
Football Corner
And there are a bunch more as well but I don't have time to list them all. It does look like he's coming though so that'll be the first big signing in a while. He's not a natural wide player though so who knows if Wenger will bring in another winger or not.
In other transfer news we've been linked with Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon. He's a 21 year old defender who we've been linked with before. He's valued at 24 million pounds though, which Arsene would never pay especially as that would be almost all of our transfer funds for the summer. I've seen the guy play a couple times in the Champion's League and that's about it, so if you know more about him feel free to share.
And yet again we've been linked with Sebastian Frey of Fiorentina. He's a goalkeeper that we are linked with about every six months but we never seem to really go after. I don't expect us to sign him but maybe this year will be the one.
That's really all I feel well enough to write at the moment so sorry it's so short and crap but when I'm better I'll get something good up. Cheers.
Labels: Arsenal, Frey, Gallas, Nasri, Toure, Veloso
Arsenal To Sign Nasri
Ok so it's a very very late post today, and it's not going to be a long one because I am sick at the moment and I'm also tired after work. I was going to wait until tomorrow for this but it appears our first signing of the summer is going to be Samir Nasri. Quotes from the Marseille playmaker seem to point to a move to Arsenal in the next week.
"I've maybe played my last game at Stade Velodrome," said Nasri. "In any case I wanted to finish well."
Several sources are reporting that the fee is going to be 13.5 million pounds and that it should be completed within the next ten days. It looks like Alexander Hleb may be moving to Barcelona and Nasri is seen as his replacement.
This article contains a quote from his agent confirming that there have been approaches for Nasri.
In other news, Roman Domanech has again proved how much of a cunt he is by leaving out Gael Clichy AND Bakary Sagna from the Euro 2008 squad. They both were in the team of the season and yet can't make it into the French squad at all. Absolute bollocks.
Also, Justin Hoyte has been linked with a 4.5 million pound move to Aston Villa. I like Hoyte more than I like Eboue, but I think Wenger likes Eboue more and he isn't really listening to me, so I'm guessing he'll probably be off. At least it'll bring us some money. I'd be sorry to see Hoyte go though.
That's about all I have time for right now because I've got to lay down. More tomorrow if I get a chance but cross your fingers on the Nasri thing. Cheers.
Posted by ArseNole at 6:48 PM 6 comments
Labels: Arsenal, Clichy, France, Hleb, Hoyte, Nasri, Sagna
Cesc to Get New Deal, Kolo Toure Review
Morning all. Sorry I didn't get anything up yesterday but there was just about nothing for news and I just really wasn't up for it. My Under 7's finished our season today with a 5-1 win so that was good news, but the bad news is that now with no Arsenal and no team to coach football is officially over for a couple of months. But enough about that, we'll get on with the Arsenal.
Carlos Vela will be on his way to Arsenal for the start of next season, and Arsene Wenger says that they have applied for his work permit. Carlos has played at Osasuna all season, and he has played fairly well on the left wing, but Arsene says he will be used as a striker at Arsenal, and compared him to Eduardo. I wouldn't be surprised however, if Rosicky isn't healthy, to see Carlos get some games on the left wing.
Cesc Fabregas is set to sign a new deal, just 2 years after signing his 8 year contract. We don't want to take any chances after what happened with Flamini and what could happen with Hleb, and nobody deserves a new deal more than Cesc. He's going to be making the most money on the team, which he should, and it just shows that Arsene didn't think Flamini was so irreplaceable because he'll break the wage structure for Cesc just like he did with Thierry.
Arsene Wenger has tipped Alexander Song as the next great Arsenal centre-back. He did well in the last few games of the season but I hardly think he's at the level where we'd put him in against Man United or Chelsea and feel comfortable. Imagine Drogba versus Song...
There isn't that much else for news so we'll just get on with the transfer news/rumors.
Several sources are reporting that Diego would be the preferred target if Hleb were to leave this summer. He's a 23 year old attacking midfielder playing for Werder Bremen. He really is a quality player. However, he is not the answer to Hleb leaving. He is a central midfielder that plays behind the strikers, not a right winger. He is a great player but we want an out and out winger, not another player who is going to come inside and take away all of our width. If he is used the right way, I'm all for bringing Diego in, but if not then let's not bother.
Samir Nasri has also been linked with us as our "creative player" that Arsene said he wants to bring in this summer. He's a good player as well by what I have seen but since I do not watch the French league I only get to see highlights, which is what everyone is going by when they say he's amazing.
We've also been linked with Aaron Ramsey of Cardiff, who is playing today in the FA Cup Final. He's a young winger who people think very highly of. He's valued at 5 million pounds and supposedly Arsenal and Manchester United are both after him. Update: Portsmouth have just won the FA cup with former Gunner Kanu scoring the winner.
So now for our player review on Kolo Toure.
In the Past: Kolo is currently Arsenal's longest serving player, having joined the club in 2002 for only 150,000 pounds. What a buy that turned out to be. He started his career as an attacking midfielder but Arsene moved him to center back to partner Sol Campbell at the start of the 2004/2004 season. It turned out to be a great partnership because we ended up going unbeaten that season and won the league. Since Sol left our center back combinations have been missing the strength and height that Sol brought combined with the speed and agility Kolo has. The two were great together and Kolo became an essential part of the squad. He has started at center back ever since.
This Season: Toure has been partnering for a good part of the year with William Gallas. While they can both be considered elite defenders, they have not formed a good partnership in central defense. Most people think it is because the players are too similar as neither is especially good at marking the taller, stronger forwards in the league. Kolo has scored some goals this year, most notably against Middlesbrough to equalize late in the game and also on a free-kick against Bolton. He's had to play at right back for the last month of the season due to the injury to Bakary Sagna. He suffered an injury at the African Cup of Nations in January and seemed to be slow to find his feet upon his return, so Philippe Senderos took his place during that time.
Next Season: Kolo Toure to me should be the next Captain of Arsenal. I personally think he is a better option in the middle than Gallas is and with a taller, stronger back next to him I think we would be able to return to the defensive strength we had when he partnered Sol Campbell. Toure is one of most experienced players, and is a world class defender. I expect him to have a great season next year, and hopefully he is not removed from the starting eleven when a new center back is brought in.
That's about all I've got today. Remember to email or leave a comment if you have any ideas for the podcast, and I'll try to get something together tomorrow. Cheers.
Labels: Arsenal, Diego, Fabregas, Nasri, Park, Song, Toure, Vela
Wenger Loves Eboue, Fabregas Review
Morning all. I'm right tired this morning honestly so this one may not be as long as usual. It sucks not having any matches to look forward to. Can you believe it thought this blog is almost one year old now. Next month will be one whole year. Ridiculous.
Arsene Wenger enlightened all of us who were baffled as to how he could keep playing Eboue on the wing. He said that you cannot only go by assists and goals but by how the team plays and how many team goals and chances there are. He said Eboue brings defensive balance to an offensive side, but I'd say he's lost his mind. He compared Eboue to Ray Parlour saying that Parlour didn't score many goals on the right side either. First of all, Parlour scored more than Eboue does for sure, plus he was just a better f'ing player Arsene! Also, Parlour was a central midfielder so I don't know what on Earth Wenger is talking about. Moral of the story is that now we know why Wenger plays Eboue, because he thinks that he's the new Ray Parlour. You're an idiot Arsene (in this case).
For those of you interested in what happened during the recording of The Cesc Fabregas Show, there is a good report on it here. Basically he won new kits for the enitre audience, answered questions, talked about his past, said the goal against AC Milan was his most important goal, and said he would like David Villa at Arsenal. Yes, he really said that. He was asked if he could bring back one player with him from the Euro's who would it be, and he said David Villa. Would be nice Cesc.
Gael Clichy is reportedly very close to signing a new 4 year extension on his contract, which is great news. Sagna and Clichy have both been reported to be getting new contracts and as we have seen with Hleb and Flamini, it's really important for us to tie down our best players for as long as possible.
"We're at the end of our discussions," Clichy told www.francefootball.fr. "Everything's going well because my intention is clear: I want to stay at Arsenal."
Now that attitude is just what we want to hear! Just one more reason of many to love Clichy. He continued to say that he'd love to stay at Arsenal for a long time and leave a mark on the club like Vieira and Henry.
There have been reports of Emmanuel Adebayor wanting to go to Milan and Madrid, and recently they have been Barcelona. Ade again shot those down with a response on Arsenal.com.
I don't know why people want to put words in my mouth. As I said on Friday, I love Arsenal and I will be here next season. I am off to Togo tomorrow but will return to Arsenal for pre-season training in July.
I feel for the guy. I wish the Spanish press wasn't as bad every transfer season. We lose one star striker to Barcelona and the very next summer they're after another striker of ours. Ade wants to stay thought so we won't have any Henry-like departures for Barca this year.
Mad Jens is in the news again, and he's talking about Manuel Almunia yet again. This time it's actually nice though, telling him not to take anything personally and that the competition in the past year will help Manuel to improve. He said if he sees him in the summer or anytime after he can shake his hand and there will be no problem between them. That's good to hear because I was sure Jens wanted to murder Almunia last year.
Ok so now time for round three of player reviews, starring Cesc Fabregas.
In the Past: Fabregas came to Arsenal in 2003 after starting as a youth at Barcelona. Wenger snapped him up when he was sixteen and put him in the Youth Academy. He was something of a prodigy though and made his first appearance on October 23rd, 2003 in the League Cup versus Rotherham United. This made him Arsenal's youngest ever player at sixteen years, 177 days. He became the youngest goalscorer not long after in a win against Wolves that same season. Once Patrick Vieira left, Fabregas really got to shine in the first team, with the climax of the transition coming in the Champion's League when we were drawn against Juventus and Cesc completely out shined the former Gunners captain. In 2006/2007 he made 13 assists in the league which was good enough for second in that category. He was also named Arsenal's Player of the Season that year and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year.
This Season: This season Fabregas had, by most people's opinions, his best season as a footballer. He won the O2 Player of the Month award for the first three months of the season while chalking up many goals for a player that hadn't scored many for us in the past. He made 45 total appearances, scoring 13 goals and making 24 assists, 19 of those coming in the league, which is tops. He was at his best earlier in the season, when he was putting in goals almost every match. He stepped up in big moments as well, scoring the decisive goal in the San Siro to beat AC Milan in the Champion's League, the only English team to ever win against them there.
Next Season: Fabregas is the essential part of our team that we can't play without right now. If you watch matches where he isn't playing the movement seems to be off as well as the pace of the attacks. He dictates almost the entire game for Arsenal and his passing skill allows us to play our high pace, passing style. The day we lost Cesc Fabregas is a sad, sad day indeed. For now though, he is still only 21 years old and (scarily for other teams) he will keep on improving. I expect him yet again to be our best player in the coming season and to be the key in our drive for trophies. Keep it up Lord Fabregas.
One last note, I'm still looking for contributers for the upcoming ArseNole podcast. If you would like to co-host with me I am looking for one and if anyone can think of anything funny or interesting to put on there that would be great. Just add it on the comments, forums, or email me, ArseNole@arsenole.com
Labels: Adebayor, Arsenal, Clichy, Eboue, Fabregas, Lehmann
Kroenke To Join Arsenal Board
Morning. Let's get right down to it. The Independent says Arsenal are going to offer Stan Kroenke a place on the board. This is a far contrast from the way they feel about Usmanov, and indeed felt about Kroenke some time ago. When Stan from the States first bought into the club everyone thought that he was part of a takeover plan which never came about. He simply bought 12 percent of the club and has worked well with the board ever since, even signing the lock down agreement to not sell his shares before 2012. The moral of the story is the whole team of Arsenal board members and shareholders are doing their part to keep that fat oaf Usmanov out of the club and it appears to be working.
Good news on the injury front sees Tomas Rosicky had a successful surgery on his knee. The surgery was yesterday and was supposed to be an exploratory procedure to try to find out the problem but they discovered and then reportedly fixed it by attaching the tendon with two titanium anchors, which should keep it in place. The doctor that performed the operation said that after his rehabilitation he should have no problems and get back to having full functionality in the knee. Great news and I can't wait to see Tomas back next season.
We've been warned off Obafemi Martins by Kevin Keegan, which is fine because we don't want that cunt anyway. It does say we haven't approached him thank God because we really don't need Martins and if we paid 15 million for him I'd shoot myself.
It looks like we're going to be loaning out some potential first team players next season, as Armand Traore may be going to Portsmouth with Alex Song going to West Brom. I have no problem with Song going to West Brom because I think he will get games there and get to have good experience in a team that will almost certainly head right back down to the Championship. The only problem I have is with Traore going to Pompey, where I wonder if he will get games on the wing. Don't they have better options for the wings, including one we're trying to buy? Either way, let's hope they both get good experience if they do get loaned out and they'll be better off for it.
The Times reports that Yaya Toure would be interested in a move to Arsenal if there was a bid for him. He had this to say today:
"I am conscious of interest from certain Premier League clubs. I can't say anything for the moment, but it's true that it would be great to play for a big club with my brother. That would be fantastic, but you never know."
I love Yaya as a player. I thought he was immense against Man United in the first leg at the Nou Camp. He's a ready made Flamini replacement and he would never want to leave Arsenal. It'd be a brilliant signing in my eyes, and I just have a hunch that it may happen.
There is a poll on Sky Sports for the goal of the season. Adebayor's goal versus Sp*rs is in the lead so let's keep it that way.
So now it's time for player review number two, about our favorite number 3, Bakary Sagna!
In the Past: As Sagna just joined Arsenal last summer we don't have much of a past on him besides that he played for Auxerre before coming to Arsenal and nobody at all had heard of him when we signed him. He made 87 appearances for Auxerre in Ligue 1 and 17 appearances in the UEFA Cup and was part of the team that won the French Cup in 2005, and he was also named in the French team of the season that year. He moved to Arsenal for 6 million pounds.
This Season: Sagna pulled off something that doesn't happen very often when foreign players move to England, he hit the ground running. Wenger said when he came in that he didn't expect Sagna to play right away and that he had intended to give him half a season to adjust before throwing him into the league games, but his performances in the pre-season gave him the starting right back slot and he fit right into the English game. Many people a season ago thought Emmanuel Eboue was one of the best if not the best right back in the Premiership, and it shows how well Sagna has played that he has fully replaced him and made that spot his own, forcing Eboue to the wing. He scored his first goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge off a beautiful header from a corner kick. He got injured later in the match which turned out to be what ended his season unfortunately. He was rewarded for his performances by being named in the 2007/2008 Premier League Team of the Year. He notched a total of 5 assists and 1 goal in the league this year, which is quite an impressive tally coming from right back. In defense, he only received three yellow cards all season, received 40 fouls while only giving up 12, and won 39 tackles while only losing 17. He is also a candidate for the Arsenal Player of the Season award.
Next Season: I think you have to say that going forward we should count on Sagna to be one our most reliable and best players. His impressive first season gave evidence of what he can do for the team and I think he will be able to build on that due to the great attitude you see from him. He is a very humble guy and a hard worker who seems to genuinely love playing. What we don't want to see is injury problems of course. We have to hope the injury he suffered near the end of the season this year won't come back and cause him problems because that will effect his consistency in his performances. He certainly has the right back spot locked up though, which may end up forcing Justin Hoyte out of the club because it doesn't appear he will be getting very many games. If Sagna can keep up the level of performances he's had this season, or even raise the bar a little more, it will make that right side of defense one that no striker or winger wants to come up against. And yes I am a fan of his hair.
Labels: Arsenal, Kroenke, Rosicky, Sagna
Hleb Won't Do a Webster
Morning All. So I've decided to do something that I don't think any other sites really do at the end of the season, and that is to go through the whole squad and review each player, giving stats and thoughts on this year plus what to expect next year from them. I've decided to just go in order of squad number so since Jens has left us we'll start with Vasiriki Abou Diaby. You can read my report on him later on in this post.
The big news that has been reported today is that Alexander Hleb won't be doing a Webster move and buying out his contract to move to Inter Milan. His agent was quoted as saying:
"Hleb has been playing in London for three years now and isn't sure whether in the future he can show the level of talent that he is showing currently. I can only confirm that some of the world's biggest clubs are interested in him.
"In any case I can say simply that Alexander will not buy out the remaining part of his five-year contract for a fixed sum of his sale. Hleb is a gentleman and will not stoop to that level. Everything will be done properly.
"I am sure that the situation surrounding this issue will finally be resolved in the next 10 days."
So it's good news there, that means Hleb is either staying or we'll at least get a transfer fee for him. If Hleb would have done that we would have hated him on Cashley Cole levels, because buying out your contract to leave with two years left on it as absolutely shite. I mentioned earlier that I didn't care if Hleb stayed or went, and I still don't, I just think it's a lot nicer that if he did leave we'd get some money for him.
And In other good news, Gael Clichy looks set to exted his stay at Arsenal as it has been revealed that he has just started talks about a new contract. This is great news because Clichy is one of our best young players. He played in every single Premiership match this season and did an outstanding job throughout the year. I hope he signs a lifetime contract but that's wishful thinking.
So now what everyone enjoys, transfer news and rumors!
First off, we've been linked with Crystal Palace wonderkid John Bostock. His contract recently expired and he has been stalling on signing a new one so he can leave for minimal compensation. All the big clubs and Sp*rs (because they are not a big club) are after him and they are reporting that Arsene could make a late move to try to bring him in.
David Villa has yet again been linked with us, this time by Setanta Sports. We know he likes the way Arsenal play, and we know Valencia are shite and he's looking to move, but for some reason I still don't see it. Let's just hope to God he doesn't end up at Liverpool with Torres or we'll be chasing 4th place.
Vincent Kompany has also been linked with us and was asked about a potential move. He gave the usual "I'm not saying anything" approach to the question but it seems that has only increased the speculation around him. He's a good player but can he stay healthy is the question. Also, 15 million seems a steep price for him.
So now on to our first player review, Abou Diaby.
In the past: Diaby came to us in January of 2006 from Auxerre for 2 million pounds. He was touted as "the next Vieira." We saw moments of what he could do, as he could certainly make a tackle and he also scored against Aston Villa. His season was ended by Dan Smith of Sunderland though on a tackle which broke his ankle and he missed the next 8 months. Since then he's had a lot of injuries that have hindered his playing time and not allowed him to really get in a groove.
This Season: This year Diaby made fifteen appearances for the club, scoring one goal and making one assist. He has played mostly on the wing, which is not his natural position, because of Tomas Rosicky's injury troubles. He had a brilliant goal against Derby from 25 yards out after beating three defenders, but unfortunately that was the only time he scored all year. I know he is not a natural winger but he should be providing more goals or more assists from out there. It doesn't seem like he has as many crunching tackles as he did when he first arrived either. It may be because of the tackle that broke his ankle and it's made him nervous about it or something or it could be because he's out on the wing but you'd like to see that come back into his game.
Looking Ahead: Diaby is now 22 years old. He hasn't been able to fulfill the label of new Vieira at this point. He is still young but he needs to be played and molded into the player we want him to be. We can't expect him to grow into the holding midfielder role by playing on the wing. Will Diaby be the guy Wenger tries to put into Flamini's place? It could very well be. We know he can tackle and he can shoot long range, what we need to see is more dribbling ability from him and better decision making. He is somewhat versatile and he is a decent, but not great, backup on the wing. The question is, if Arsene doesn't move him back to the center than does Diaby contribute enough to the team to be kept around? Wenger acknowledged that Diaby is a central midfielder, so you'd think he'll get more games there next year, but if we bring someone else in I wouldn't be surprised if Diaby is gone this year or next.
So that's all I've got for you today, that was a really long post I feel like so hopefully you made it through it all. Let me know what you think. Cheers
Labels: Arsenal, Bostock, Diaby, Hleb
Walcott Picked For England
'Eyyyyyyyyyyyy. That's my greeting today in true Fonz style. Anyways, got some news and lots and lots of rumors to go through today so let's get right to it. We'll start with the Sunderland match yesterday, the last of the season, which we won 1-0 through a goal from Theo Walcott. It was a beautiful through ball from Gilberto that Walcott ran on to and finished easily.
Mark Randall also had a goal but it was ruled out for offside. While it was by no means our best performance, it was good to finish the season with three straight wins especially while sitting some top players out. The pass from Gilberto really was wonderful and I have to tell you I hope he stays for next season. He's still got something to give even at this age and he does have experience and leadership that you need in a club. He spoke to Arsenal TV yesterday, saying his future will be sorted out soon. Let's cross our fingers and hope he stays.
Theo Walcott has been putting in some great performances since he has gotten into the starting lineup and has been rewarded by being called up to Fabio Capello's England squad to face the United States. Arsene Wenger even revealed that he thinks Walcott can be a regular starter for Arsenal. I think he could be just what England needs, some pace and freshness and I hope they keep selecting him as well as Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Lennon, etc if they want England to improve their teams instead of having the last few years of mediocrity. Hopefully Theo gets a run out in the match but obviously I'll be hoping for a US win.
Robin van Persie says Arsenal will be back to getting silverware soon. He goes on to say that it will create a lasting memory in people's minds if we win trophies with the style of football we play. If van Persie could stay healthy next season it would definitely be a big boost for us as we have missed him for large portions of the last two seasons now. It's a shame he has to go play the Euro's this summer because I would much prefer him getting some rest. Let's just hope he can work out a better fitness plan and stay in the squad next year.
Tomas Rosicky has said that he is going through "the worst time of his career." No, it's not another player wanting out of Arsenal, he's speaking about his injury. He has an operation tomorrow to try to see what is wrong with his hamstring and there is no timetable for his return at this point. The ligament has apparently separated from the bone and it's going to take a minimum of two months to recover from it but it could be more depending on what they have to do to repair it. You have to feel bad for the guy. He's had injury troubles since he got to Arsenal and if he could just put together a whole season of play I think he definitely has the quality to help us out. Get well soon Tomas.
And now time for all the transfer rumors:
Lyon's Hatem Ben Arfa has said that he has spoken "about" Arsenal. He did not say he spoke to Arsenal, just about them. It was reported by many sites that we had signed Ben Arfa already but the deal is not done and it appears no contact specifically with Ben Arfa has been made by Arsenal.
The new name today (there is a new one every day) is Mario Gomez of Stuttgart. Some in the media are now linking us with him because someone updated his Wikipedia page saying that he was moving to Arsenal for 20 million Euros. This has since been removed from his page and I find this story to be just a rumor. I don't see Wenger buying a striker as he said he wanted a defender and a creative player (midfielder by my estimation) and I don't think he would spend that kind of money on him either.
Sky Sports has linked us with Jean II Makoun of Cameroon. Sorry I would have put his club team but it rhymed so that was too tempting. He plays for Lille and is a defensive midfielder that looks very good in my opinion. Can anyone tell me what his middle name is? Is it the number two or something? Ridiculous. Apparently Tottenham are also interested so they'll probably pay him 20 million just to go there or something. The article also says we could bid for Sevilla's Seydou Keita.
I need your help! I've been trying to think of what to do for the end of the season and I have thought up a few ideas. Please let me know which one(s) sound good and I'll do it.
1. Player reviews - I thought it might be good to do a review of each player, one per day complete with stats and analysis going into the new season. I'd do pros and cons for each player, etc.
2. A Season review - Just a one time season review where I wrap everything up in one post, quick player grades, etc.
3. Transfer news/rumors - This one is pretty obvious
Just let me know what you want to read and I'll do it. I want input to make this as good as it can possibly be! Also, if you read the site often, think about registering for the forums by clicking the link in the top right of the page. It'd be nice to get a community going on there that can talk Arsenal 24/7 between posts.
And that's about all I've got today, I'm sure it'll be another day packed full of a bunch of nonsense and rumors tomorrow so you have that to look forward to. Cheers.
Labels: Arsenal, Ben Arfa, Gilberto, Gomez, Makoun, van Persie, Walcott
Have Arsenal Signed Ben Arfa?
Morning all. Quick update right now because I've got to go coach my team this morning but there may be big news. Several sources have claimed that we have made a deal with Lyon for Hatem Ben Arfa. Ok, the sources are Tribal Football and The Sun, which aren't the most credible, but Goodplaya seems to think it may be true. The fee is supposedly 16 million pounds, which is a lot but maybe it would show that Wenger is ready to spend some money this transfer season. None of the major and actually credible newspapers have reported this yet and neither has Arsenal.com but be on the lookout because it could happen today. I'll get back to you with a full story after my game.
Update: This deal is not done. Young Guns has told us that he has not been signed and probably will not be signed due to Wenger's poor relationship with Lyon. More to come later.
Labels: Arsenal, Ben Arfa, Transfers
Hleb is Leaving, Let Him Go
Morning all. The main news this morning is that Alex Hleb will not be back at Arsenal next season, and while it's not 100% that Inter Milan is the club he'll be joining, it's about 99.130958203598% that he will. Hleb's agent, Nikolai Shpilevski (sounds like a shady character), had this to say today.
"Alex is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life.
"He is leaving even though Arsenal want to offer him a new long-term contract.
"Only time will tell if it is the right decision but there's no way back now. Everything will be settled in the next two weeks."
He sounds so proud of it doesn't he? So it's certainly looking like he's definitely going to be gone, and to be honest I'm not all that bothered about it. With Flamini I'll admit I was constantly checking headlines to see if he had signed a new deal with us or someone else, but with Hleb it doesn't feel like much of a loss. He's probably had his best season for us this season and still only got three goals. Freddie and Pires used to be able to score in the double digits from the same spot. Hleb was never a natural winger, so even when he got the ball out wide his game wasn't about crosses and making runs, it was just cutting inside and generally losing the ball or passing it to the other team.
So how is he making the move? Well he could be doing a Webster, buying out the last two years of his contract in order to allow him to move for free. This would pretty much piss Arsene off so much that he would report Inter for tapping Hleb up and probably never do business with them again. Or maybe, just maybe, Inter will give us a fee for him. This is highly unlikely as Wenger has said he wouldn't be letting Hleb leave so it's pretty clear that he wouldn't have accepted a bid just a few days later. So Hleb is gone, probably for free, and we'll probably become a better team without him.
The question now is, how do we replace him? Wenger made it clear he was only prepared to lose Flamini this offseason, and now he has lost Hleb as well. That means he could be prepared to bring someone in to replace him. God help us if he decides to start Eboue out there every week because I think someone would be forced to run him over or something just to prevent it. I don't think the boss thinks Theo is ready for the full season playing every match, but I certainly think he's ready to start most of them. The problem there is I think Wenger sees Theo more as a striker than a winger. Who do you think can come in and play right winger?
More transfer rubbish before the season is even over as The Mail has said that Adebayor is demanding 80,000 pounds a week and he'll leave if he doesn't get it. Adebayor immeadiately came out and said that was complete rubbish and the Mail can shove their bollocks up their arses.
"I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish."
"I love the club and the fans."
"We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit.
"We have had a good season, but next year we want to go one better by winning a trophy."
And that's why I love this man. He isn't worried about getting a pay raise, he's worried about getting the team ready for next year and going out and getting a trophy. You Adebayor haters can piss off honestly because Ade is one of the most committed and best players we have right now. You all loved Flamini so much but hated Ade...well who's turned out better for Arsenal now? Sorry that was a bit of a mini-rant but I still hear people all the time who talk about how shite he is. Nicklas Bendtner's father also says his son will not be going anywhere either.
Looking ahead to the Sunderland match this weekend it's going to be an even younger squad than we have had for the last two. Fabianski, Denilson, and Bendtner look set to continue with starting spots and Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs could also be involved. Gibbs looks an especially promising player that can play on the left wing so I'd like to see him start on the left with Theo on the right hopefully. It looked like Jay Simpson might also get a chance in the first team, but Young Guns now says that he'll have to look for a new club.
Vital Arsenal makes his case for not bringing back Gilberto Silva. I'd personally like to see him back though.
That's about all I've got for you today so have a good one and I'll get something together at some point tomorrow. Cheers!
Labels: Adebayor, Arsene, Gibbs, Hleb, Inter, Randall
Arsenal to Sign a Powerful Defender
Well thank Christ for that. Arsene Wenger had a question and answer session with the shareholders today and said he's looking to add two players, a creative player and a powerful defender. He said our defensive problems were not from set pieces or from open play but only from long balls through the middle, which Gallas and Toure seem not to be able to deal with. I personally disagree with him as I've seen more than a few goals come from open play that were very, very shoddy defending against. And as for set pieces just think of the Derby match as an example. That was absolutely terrible defending off of that free kick, and it was Derby!
So the defenders we have been linked with are the usual suspects, Raul Albiol of Valencia (who are shit this year, check the Spanish table) and Micah Richards of Manchester City. I've always been a fan of Richards and I think his play belies his young age. Unfortunately he is English which means his price will be 5 million more than it should be. Albiol is another good player but he'd also probably be at least 10 million pounds and I really don't think Wenger is going to pay that much for one defender. I guess it comes down to how much his "creative playmaker" ends up costing so we'll be able to see how much he has left. You can see pictures of Wenger meeting with the shareholders here.
I've heard from several sources that David Villa is close to signing for Real Madrid. I never had all that much hope of him being brought into Arsenal but it was worth dreaming about. Wenger hasn't mentioned signing a striker though anyway so I guess he feels that Adebayor, Bendtner, hopefully a fully recovered Eduardo and Rvp and Theo can do it.
Yet again Real Madrid is trying to tap up Cesc Fabregas, with Ramon Calderon, the club's president, actually telling Cesc to just request a transfer from Arsenal so he could join the Spanish twats. However, Cesc has again put these rumors to rest and said he is happy at Arsenal.
"I am young and happy at Arsenal. I regard them as one of the biggest clubs and (Arsene) Wenger is like a father to me on the pitch."
It's getting really annoying with this whole situation because this is the third straight summer that they have tried to take Cesc from us by tapping him up essentially and nothing is ever done about it because they do it through the newspapers and Spanish media will print anything just to blow bubbles up Madrid and Barca's arses. It seems that Cesc's future is very much tied to Arsene Wenger though, and if he were ever to leave Cesc would surely leave Arsenal as well.
Petr Cech lets us know how much of a cunt he is by saying that nobody will remember that we played good football ten years from now.
Freddie Ljungberg has been asked by West Ham to tear up his contract after only one year there. He makes 75,000 quid a week which is a ridiculous salary for a player well past his prime. It's sad to see him going through all the injuries and stuff though so I wish him the best. If I was him I'd take the 3 million and go play in Spain or Italy. That'd be a new place for him to try out his skills and he could still make good money. Plus those leagues generally aren't as physical. But good luck Freddie.
So that's about it today. Tomorrow we may start looking forward to the Sunderland match at the weekend or we may have our Youth Squad and Reserve overview from YoungGuns ready. We shall see. Cheers all! And last Arsenal.com is having a countdown of the 50 greatest Arsenal players of all time. You can click here to vote.
Labels: Albiol, Arsenal, Cech, Ljungberg, Richards, Villa, Wenger
Wenger Reacts to Flamini Departure
Hello everyone. I think I need a new pillow because mine seems to give me a headache every day. Anyways, on to Arsenal.
We'll start today with Arsene Wenger reacting to Mathieu Flamini opting to leave Arsenal and sign for AC Milan. In his comments there was a lot of talk of being close to the title and player's not having the fight to come back and give it a go next year, which is what a real "winner" would do. While Flamini was certainly allowed legally to leave, you would like to see more loyalty to the club, especially since we aren't exactly Birmingham or Sunderland that never win anything.
"I must say I am disappointed that he did that but legally he can do it.
"We were close this year but we did not win and what I expect from my team is for them to say 'let's come back next year and win'.
"If our players are not capable of doing that and just want to walk out for bigger contracts, for me that would be the biggest disappointment."
You have to agree with him there. If every player left after their contract ended then no team would ever be able to build a squad and we would all have to turn into Chelsea and buy all the superstars in the world just so that we had a good chance to win for one or two years. I am holding a grudge against Flamini for this. Don't hold our beloved Arsenal under the water and try to make us give you more money. Either say you're leaving or say you're staying but don't toy with the club like that.
In other non-loyal-to-Arsenal news, it's Alexander Hleb back again and it's looking likely that he's going to sign with Inter Milan after the match vs Sunderland this weekend. The Guardian reports that Inter are prepared to pay him much more than the 50,000 quid per week he gets at Arsenal and The Times says that Alex has already confided in some of his team mates that he is leaving. Don't you wish they had just smashed his face in when he told them that? I don't care if Hleb leaves. He just doesn't do it for me. Let's let him leave and get his salary off our hands and just put Theo out on the wing every game. At least he can score goals.
Emmanuel Adebayor is keeping his head up after the disappointing end to the season, and at least he isn't talking about leaving for anywhere.
"I have scored 30 goals this season - but also missed a lot so that tells me I can score more. I realise now what I can do, so let's just keep doing it."
And in regards to his future he had more positive words:
"I am at the right team at the right moment playing some good football and scoring goals so of course I am happy," he declared.
"The most important thing is playing for the fans, and having the opportunity to play with so many great players at the club.
"As a footballer you want to make history and leave your name at a club.
"I hope I can do that at this club because I love the club."
If you read this site you know I love Adebayor even while everyone else who is an Arsenal "fan" seems to hate him. This is further proof of why he is a player to love and not to hate. He knows what he needs to work on, admits it, and is going to try to improve on it for next season. And, unlike Hleb and Flamini, he loves Arsenal and wants to make history here. Keep it up Ade and you'll have your name in the history books one day!
Jens Lehmann had some very nice things to say about the squad, which is in sharp contrast to his bashing of Almunia all season. He says the squad has more talent than at any other club and while there will be some changes in the summer he thinks the team will develop further and be ready for the challenges ahead. It's nice to hear from Jens and it really is making me miss him already. Good luck at the Euro's Mad Jens.
And last but not least we'll have some transfer rumors of course, and this time we've been linked with Inter Milan's Maxwell. Maxwell's agent has been quote as saying that Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Valencia have all enquired about his availability. No idea if that's true as it could just be an agent trying to stir up interest in his client. Never trust those agents the sneaky bastards.
And that's all I've got for you today. Off to work now so have a good one. Also, I finally got a subscription to Arsenal TV Online yesterday so if anyone wants any old highlights or anything feel free to email me and I can find a way to send them to you. ArseNole[at]arsenole.com
Labels: Adebayor, Flamini, Hleb, Inter, Lehmann, Milan, Wenger
Flamini and Jens are Gone
And that's how it is in football. Players can depart at any moment, no matter how long they've been there. Flamini and Jens are two completely different stories at Arsenal.
Jens was the mad keeper who got us to the Champions League Final in 2006 with his penalty save against Villareal and kept us unbeaten through 49 straight games. While he got a little bit (quite a lot bit actually) angry this year when he was dropped from the first team, we cannot forget all the things he has accomplished while he was here. He was on the decline of his career and it has gotten to the point where he wasn't our best goalkeeper. I will miss Jens though and all he has done for Arsenal over his time here and I wish him all the best.
Flamini, on the other hand, didn't really accomplish anything of note at Arsenal. He was shite for three years, got to be a quality player in our system this year, and then pissed off to Milan for more money. His career at Arsenal was just starting to look up this year and he could have tied down a partnership with Cesc for years to come but greed overcame him and he decided he'd rather go to Milan. Now he has to be replaced, which probably won't be quite as difficult as people seem to think, and I'm not even going to wish him luck at Milan. Why would I? As I said he's done nothing of note here and then once we make him into the player that he is now he leaves. Plus I hate those Italian bastards.
I really don't have time to write much else today because I've got work in an hour. I'll get something up again tomorrow but for now let's just think about the good times with Jens and Flamini. Oh I remember that 90th minute penalty...Riquelme vs Lehmann...I was honestly worried about it even though I knew Jens could save some spot kicks. He saved it though, and then acted like it was no bid deal. Typical Jens, mental, but we love him. Have a good day all.
Labels: Arsenal, Flamini, Lehmann, Milan, Transfers
Arsenal-Everton Preview
I'm posting a quick preview now so it'll be up before the match because I know I won't have time to in the morning. Manchester United won today against West Ham so we can't win the Premiership any more. I was holding out hope that the Hammers would pull off a miracle but even Nani being sent off couldn't stop United. So that means this match against Everton is going to be all fun and no pressure. It'd be better if it was a no pressure game because we had the title wrapped up but we'll have to live with this this year.
Injury news ahead of the game sees Robin van Persie being sat out as a "precaution." Robin went off after the first half against Derby and let's hope it really is just a precaution and not something that turns out to be a lot worse. Sagna, Rosicky, and Eduardo will also miss the game due to injury as usual. I miss seeing Bakary out there. He's just so solid. Alexander Hleb will continue his suspension and will also miss the game. Mathieu Flamini could return after recovering from his ankle injury so that will be interesting. It could very well be his last home game in the red and white so if he does get to play we should probably let him know that he served us well this year but he is also a money grubbing cunt if he really goes to Milan and plays in the UEFA cup next year.
I think a lot of the younger players and fringe players will probably get another chance this time, maybe even more so than against Derby because this game really does mean nothing. We could get second if Chelsea slip up though. So I'll go out on a limb to pick the lineup.
Fabianski
Hoyte-Song-Gallas-Clichy
Walcott-Flamini-Denilson-Traore
Bendtner-Adebayor
I thought Fabianski was ok but not great against Derby and he looked a little timid at times, but it was his first start in the Premiership so he'll improve every time he gets a game. I hope Hoyte gets to play because I'd like to see him one more time at least this season and I'd also really like to see what Traore can do on the wing because by all reports he has played there well recently. Bendtner is going to get another run out after playing well against Derby and I'm hoping Adebayor will be out there too because it'd be nice for him to catch Ronaldo in the top scorer category.
Match Prediction: Four of our last five games against Everton have been 1-0 or 1-1 so I'm going for a 1-0 home win with Adebayor on the score sheet.
Now for some other news. With all the talk of losing Hleb and Flamini and not having the money we thought we had and all the other stories we get every year about how bad off Arsenal is, a good story has come along. Bakary Sagna is set to be rewarded with a new contract. This is great news for us because he is the best right back in the Premiership and he is only going to get better as he plays more and more for us. Nobody deserves a new deal as much as he does.
In the search for a new managing director, The Times reports that Arsenal are willing to pay big bucks to find and hire someone who is "right for the job." They say that Arsenal are prepared to offer more than David Gill of Man U and Peter Kenyon of Chelsea make. It could help us keep some of these players that seem to always want to leave if we got a new person in that could negotiate contracts better. This could be a big deal for the club so I'll be keeping you updated on the situation.
And the last thing for today is just something to think about. Gennaro Gattuso wants to play in England, and we are about to lose our holding midfielder to AC Milan, where Gattuso currently plays...catching my drift? If Milan sign Flamini I think we could get Gattuso for an affordable price. He is thirty years old but he is one of the best holding midfielders in the world and could easily replace Flamini in my opinion. He isn't the long term answer but maybe he could hold that position for two or three years while we groom someone to take over long term. What do you all think?
Here's to three points against Everton. Cheers all.
Labels: Arsenal, Emirates, Everton, Premiership
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Magitech Chronicles takes place in a far future, as evidenced to numerous allusions to "ancient Terra". In this universe, gods have once existed, until a war among them left most of them dead, and the reminder is in hiding. They left behind magic. There are eight types of magic, and one may acquire one of the types by visiting the dead body of a god, called a catalyst. The more catalysts a person visits, the more magic types they can absorb, or strengthen if visiting catalysts of the same type. Usually, these catalysts are guarded by all kinds of hostile creatures, so visiting them is perilous, and only very few acquire enough magic of sufficient strength to become powerful mages.
The story begins when the main protagonist (Aran) finds himself, with complete amnesia, on route to a particularly dangerous catalyst, placed on a planet that once used to be a god's head. He survives all the challenges and acquires the required magic, only to be quickly coopted into the army of the Confederacy, when the ship he was on gets captured. Through several adventures and coincidences, he regains freedom and some of his memories back, and forms a military unit that would help the Confederacy fight off an army of space dragons, called the Krox. His little unit consists of his commanding officer, Voria, and a handful of soldiers. As the books progress, the little crew keeps growing more powerful, with Voria becoming a goddess, and the rest acquiring more magic. The enemies don't slack off, though, and match our heroes in personal growth. The fifth book culminates in two recently arisen gods duking it out over a planet.
I purposely left out most of the story; the reader would have to fill in the gaps himself. The main storyline is remarkably short and straight-forward anyway; most of the fun lies in the side branches and personal adventures of the characters as they are trying to acquire more magic or better equipment. What I found of greater interest, though, was the worldbuilding.
The books take place in a part of the universe they call The Sector. This sector is never defined, but it appears to encompass multiple galaxies. Apart from the Krox, draconic creatures much older than people, there are several distinct humanoid races. The Shayans, of whom Voria is a member, bear a striking resemblance to Elves in fantasy literature. They worship a tree goddess, are beautiful and arrogant. These are no Tolkienesque elves, though; they remind me more of the elves from the Shannara series by Terry Brooks: they don't shy away from action and can be brutally efficient when they aren't too self-absorbed. Their distant cousins are the Drifters, who strike me as romanticized Irish travelers – big into beer and magical brews, with strong Irish accent, dirt poor and semi-nomadic. The mutual relationship between them and the Shayans creates some interesting dynamics in the earlier books. The Shayans formed the Commonwealth with Ternus. Where Shayans are magic-oriented, Ternus is grounded in technology. They are largely ineffective in the fight against the Krox, but they serve as cannon fodder until the Shayans are in a position to strike back.
The history and mythology of the books are also very well developed. The author waits with the description of the magic system for a few books, and lets the readers figure most of the magic out on their own. The same is true with the gods, their relationships, and ultimately their deaths. According to the author's notes, he is in the process of developing a tabletop roleplaying game, and for that he'd need a very detailed background. He's not shy about presenting all this background in the books, but in an unobtrusive manner, keeping exposition to manageable levels.
The last thing about the content of the books I'd like to mention is the technology. People are flying spaceships that are powered by magic, and so are most of the weapons. Over time, the ships and weapons may acquire sentience and personality. The system is very well described. Unfortunately, this description only covers the superficial aspects of technology: what the user interface does. We don't know how it works. For example, interstellar travel takes place in a magical version of the hyperspace, but the reader has no information on how fast a ship can travel there, whether any destination is reachable at any time, or whether there are any constraints other than massive monsters that only very rarely (and conveniently) pop up. To me, this presented a challenge, as I was unable to follow the concurrent timelines of the protagonists when they split.
Still, the books are a great fun to read. The prose is without any linguistic gimmicks and flowing very well, and the various adventures are compelling. Battle sequences are detailed and very exciting. The entire setting sounds plausible, and the story is seamlessly integrated into this fictional world. I also really appreciated that the books don't end on major cliffhangers. There are still unanswered questions, but nobody should feel forced to pick up the next book; all story arcs are contained within single volumes.
Despite all my praise, however, I do have a few gripes. First of all, the character development and character dynamics don't work for me. Everyone is strictly one-dimensional, with almost no development. The only significant changes that happen are in the amount of magical power they absorb. So, Aran is the same natural born battle leader in the first and the last book, only now he can not only feed magic into his sword, but can also turn insubstantial and perform other advanced tricks. The author tried more complex characters twice. Voria is the military leader, and she is at once a strict officer, a maverick and a self-conscious academy dropout. This doesn't work well, and I felt she was muddled and bland, lacking any reason why she should be respected by others. The other attempt at character development was Nara. She starts the books as evil, a slaver who captured and mind-wiped Aran. Upon her own forced amnesia she turns highly capable, but also strictly benevolent. Once she starts getting her memories back, Aran is afraid she'd turn evil again, but there's no hint of an inner conflict as she remains good throughout the books.
My second problem was that I could not decide whether this was a fantasy adventure or a military fiction. The setting, the war and the battles all hinted at the latter. However, our merry band of protagonists lack any semblance of internal discipline (another or Voria's weak points. If anything, they resemble the token fantasy band, with a variety of races, classes and skills. Personally, I'd prefer a much stricter military setting, akin to Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series.
Finally, I felt that there were far too many convenient coincidences and omissions. The magic system, worldbuilding and mythology are very tight in this series, compared to other fantasy works. As a result, the jumps in the story or sudden, unexplained changes in direction are very jarring. Voria has the tendency to always show up at the very last moment and save the day (something other characters actually touch on). However, other protagonists all seem to be always in the right place at a right time, sometimes having traveled half across the fictional universe, only to arrive within minutes or hours of the event that requires their presence. With the poorly defined travel system, this feels haphazard and self-serving at the same time. I understand that being at the right place at the right time is a staple of fantasy literature. However, most epic fantasy books are very careful in documenting the characters' timetables, and perhaps throwing in severe time constraints the protagonists must overcome in order to reach their destination in time. Nothing of that sort can be found here.
The issues I've had with the books are based purely on my personal preference. Objectively speaking, Magitech Chronicles has been a lot of fun so far. It mixes adventure, space fantasy and humor better than many other works I've read. The books are more consistent in their mythology and internal logic than such well-known space fantasy works as Star Wars. I also appreciated the lack of outside agenda or political allusions that plague other series with similar writing style, such as John Scalzi's work. I highly recommend this series to anyone who's looking for simple fun.
Addendum: Thus ends my review. The following are just a few thoughts I've had when I was listening to the series. I've been an avid consumer of fantasy, and since Magitech Chronicles crosses over to that genre, I often compared the work to other titles, mainly in the literary and computer gaming area.
The races are developed in a very ingenious way. They are easily recognizable by fantasy fans, but still buck the standard and overplayed fantasy races. The Shayans and the Drifters are not the standard fantasy elves, aloof and isolationist. They are far more ready for action, and their differences and interplay strongly reminded me of the High and Wood elves in the PC game Daggerfall. Where High elves are tall, beautiful and arrogant, Wood elves are small, nimble and mischievous, all the while the High elves look down at their closely related cousins.
The Krox are the most prominent non-humanoid race. They look more demonic and grow up to become dragons. Over the course of the books I felt an incredibly strong resemblance to the Kreegans in the Might and Magic PC game series. The Kreegans are spacefaring demonic beings, often supported by dragons, who invade planets and convert them to their own. They have limited offensive magic and can use weapons. Usually, a planet infested by Kreegans has to be destroyed, in order to stop their spread. My feeling that the Krox and Kreegans were the same was so strong that I mentally placed the Magitech universe inside the Might and Magic universe.
In case you were missing another common fantasy race, the dwarves, they are here, but a little better hidden. The Inurans are humans, for all sense and purposes. However, they focus exclusively on building stuff and selling it. This makes them a combination of dwarves and gnomes. With one rare exception, they don't engage in combat, which places them more towards the gnome side.
Apart from the races, I also found a remarkable coincidence. The first book was published two days before the first book of another military sci-fi series, Expeditionary Force. Both series feature an omnipotent, wise-cracking and borderline insane artificial intelligence: a magic staff in Magitech Chronicles and a quantum computer in Expeditionary Force. The similarities between these two objects are truly striking and had there been a significant time gap between the publication of the two titles, I would have accused one of the authors of copying the concept. There is also one important difference, though: Expeditionary Force is much grittier and darker, and set in a much closer, more familiar future. The quantum computer in these books is such a jarring addition, so completely unbalancing the entire mood of the story, that I had to stop reading after the first book. The staff in Magitech Chronicles is much better integrated into its more otherworldly environment, and while I didn't like it as a character, I was able to live with it.
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Photographer of the Week #218: Res
Res (b. 1985 in Paterson, NJ) is an artist and curator currently living and working in Stockholm, Sweden.
The selection we've chosen is from their latest series, A Still Life, currently on view online in 'The World Within' — a two person show with Bryson Rand at Zeit Contemporary Art through December 30th.
"This series" Res states "began in earnest when I relocated to Sweden just as COVID quarantine began earlier this year. The mix of isolation and anxiety took hold pretty early on and I turned to making these still lifes as a way to both connect with and work through some of those emotions as well as ground myself more in the space I was in. In the absence of community and regular connection, I started looking for connection and recognition in these objects, creating intimacy in the process of making the images."
Res's work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe including at Invisible-Exports, New York; BRIC, Brooklyn; Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles; and Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco.
In 2017 Res was a winner of the Baxter Street Camera Club of New York Annual Juried Competition, a recipient of the FLAGS (Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies) Award from Yale University and shortlisted for the Lucie Foundation Scholarship. In 2018 their book, Towers of Thanks, was a finalist for The Lucie Photo Book Prize.
Res received their BA in Sociology and Studio Art from Smith College in 2008 and their MFA in Photography from the Yale School of Art in 2017.
Artwork courtesy of the artist and Zeit Contemporary Art, New York.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Canada–Chile relations are the diplomatic relations between Canada and Chile. Both nations are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Cairns Group, Organization of American States and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

History
In 1818, Chile declared its independence from Spain and their independence was recognized in 1844. In 1892, Chile opened a consulate in the Canadian city of Vancouver due to the presence of Chilean sailors in the city. Chile would continue to open consulates in other Canadian cities such as in Quebec City (1885), Brantford (1907) and in Montreal (1923). At the time, Canada did not have a diplomatic presence in Chile as it was still part of the British Empire and all of its international affairs were conducted via London. Canada assumed full control of it diplomatic relations after the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.

During World War II, Canada began to establish diplomatic relations with Latin American nations. In 1941, a Canadian commercial mission headed to Chile and signed a commercial treaty. Chile, a member of the ABC countries (which also included Argentina and Brazil) was seen as an important member nation within the region and Canada established diplomatic relations with Chile in 1941. In July 1942, Chile opened a diplomatic legation office in Ottawa. That same year, Canada also opened a legation office in Santiago. In June 1944, both nations upgraded their legation offices to embassies, respectively.

On 11 September 1973, democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende was removed from power in a coup d'état by General Augusto Pinochet. Soon after the coup, several Chilean nationals fled to the Canadian embassy in Santiago for asylum. Canadian first secretary Marc Dolgin and David Adam allowed entry to the Chilean asylees and housed them at the embassy and at the Canadian ambassador's residence (at the time, the ambassador was in Argentina). Some 16 people were admitted to the embassy. After a month of hosting the Chileans, Canada (and the Chilean government) allowed for all 16 people to be sent to Canada for resettlement. From 1973 to 1990, Canada would receive approximately 7,000 Chilean nationals as refugees.

In 2016, both nations celebrated 75 years of diplomatic relations. Air Canada operates direct flights between Toronto and Santiago.

In June 2022, Chilean President Gabriel Boric paid a visit to Canada and met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in what was described by CTV News as a wide-ranging bilateral meeting.

High-level visits

Prime Ministerial visits from Canada to Chile

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (1998)
Prime Minister Paul Martin (2004)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2012)

Presidential visits from Chile to Canada
President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1997)
President Michelle Bachelet (2008)
President Sebastián Piñera (2013)
President Gabriel Boric (2022)

Trade
In 1996, Canada and Chile signed a free trade agreement. In 2017, trade between Canada and Chile totaled $2.9 billion Canadian dollars. Canada's exports to Chile include: machinery, chemicals, cereals fats and oils, and mineral products. Chile's exports to Canada include: copper, precious stones and metals (mostly gold and silver), fruits, fish and seafood (salmon), and beverages (wine). In 2015, Canada had $15 billion worth of investments in Chile and is the third largest investor in Chile after the United States and Spain. Canadian multinational companies such as Barrick Gold and Scotiabank invest in Chile. Chilean wines can be found throughout Canada.

Resident diplomatic missions
Canada has an embassy in Santiago.
Chile has an embassy in Ottawa and consulates-general in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

See also
Chilean Canadians
Canada–Chile Free Trade Agreement

References

Chile
Canada

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia