Ahoy, Arsemates! It's Tom, here - early for a change. I don't know what Blogger's doing this weekend. He just said the prospect of writing the blog on his phone appealed to him about as much as watching us draw nil-nil again and do fucking bugger all to improve anyone's mood about the current team.

Oh. So perhaps I'll be around for a while then. I really do get to write all the good blogs, eh?

Anyway, whatever he's doing today, I don't know whether Blogger had the misfortune of watching the game. I did, and I wish I'd not cunting well bothered. I'm writing this immediately after the match has finished, so you'll forgive me if I'm angry about what I've just seen, and I hope this isn't too much of a knee-jerk reaction. We did, after all, batter Cardiff in our last game, but with due respect to them, this is the Premiership and it should always be our top priority, no matter what our current league position.

Let's start with the positive (note the singular), shall we?

Arshavin was picked to start on the right side of midfield, with Nasri on the left. Eboue - thank Christ - left on the bench. I think we all hoped that despite clearly lacking match practice, Arshavin was going to bring some badly-lacking energy to this team. Seemed weird seeing him in the number 23 shirt. Clearly they've managed to get the whiff of cunt off it, and he's obviously not wearing BFS's actual shirt - he'd have been utterly lost in that.

For the first 15 minutes, he certainly did bring some excitement. In the fifth minute he was gifted the ball by some cunt, and he ran at the Sunderland defence and shot narrowly wide. After 15 minutes, he cut inside and hit a lovely left footed shot on goal that their cunt of a goalie pushed wide for a corner. He was part of most of the good things the team were doing. He put in a great cross for Bendtner, who's header was parried wide by the keeper. It was encouraging.

Robin also had a fantastic chance to score in the first half, having been put through, just sliding his chip over the goalie wide at the far post. Slightly glib and easy comparison, but it did remind me of the sort of goal Dennis used to score.

All that said, Sunderland were playing too. We were letting them. We were practically inviting them to come through the centre of our midfield. We do have talent at the club - no, really, we do - but the state of our central midfield is seriously fucking embarrassing at times, compounded by the fact that the one supposedly defensive midfielder we do have (I'm talking about Song, in case anyone has no idea who I mean) was going fucking walkabout all over the place. Seriously, where the fuck did he think he was supposed to be playing? He was all over the place, particularly in the second half. And - imagine - given our resources, who the manager would put in there if Song was injured? Eboue? I think we can all agree that that's something no one, ever, ever, ever wants to see (again...). Bischoff? Inspiring.

I think, after the first 35 minutes, Sunderland had taken more shots on our goal than we had on theirs, and Almunia had made more saves. Sunderland looked dangerous on the counter attack - quite like we used to of a time. We'd had most of the possession, but to be honest, they looked more effective.

It was fucking irritating, to put it mildly. I think if we'd got that early goal from the chances to Arshavin or RvP, we'd have won the game. But - and this is the fucking problem with this team, beautifully fucking pointed out to Adebayor by that bloke in Lagos airport, who has now become my new personal hero - there's just not the effort, not the commitment, not the urgency, and not the hunger. Villa lost at home in the day's early game, and looking on the bright side, at least we're a point closer to them, but this was the chance to move 3 points closer. But they just looked like they couldn't be arsed. Like they didn't understand what was riding on the result. Like they really didn't give a fuck. I'm sure playing for fourth place can't be awe inspiring, but it doesn't excuse the lack of effort. This is The Arsenal they're playing for. Our club.

I get the feeling with this team that they only start to play when they really sense blood, it's a "big" game, or when the crowd really start getting behind them, and it's just not good enough.

Far be it from me to criticise the people that are 'lucky' enough to have paid for the privilege of going to the game and watching that, but it did seem like a subdued atmosphere at the ground. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it was the utter dross served up. Perhaps someone who was actually there might like to comment.

The commentator I was listening to said that this team plays like Manchester United do. Except United only do it once they're two goals up. And he was spot on. This team just wants to pass and pass and pass and hope that something happens. And death by a thousand passes is fine - as long as it actually results in death. Arshavin provided a refreshing change, having a couple of pot shots, and to his (almost only) credit, Bendtner also had a shot saved from out side the box, but it was otherwise all thoroughly predictable. I appreciate you need patience in games like these, and I wasn't unduly concerned at half time, but as soon as Arshavin came off on the hour, you kinda felt that was it. Nil-nil it'll be. No invention.

In the second half, Sunderland were less ambitious, and played for the point. And yet still we created fuck all. Arshavin was replaced by Vela, who almost immediately had an impact, putting in a great cross from the left. But - predictably - we only had two players just arriving in the box. It was exactly where you'd expect Bendtner to be. To be fair to him I think he'd started the move so he was still a little further back, but where was anyone else? Vela also missed a couple of chances. But to rely on - rather than hope for - him to be a match winner is maybe a little much at this stage of his career.

Aside from central midfield, which was just shite, I have to say that one of the players with whom I was most disappointed was Nasri. Where was he today? It's unfair to single him out, I realise, but we needed a creative spark, and that's kinda his job.

As much as anything else that's frustrating with this team, it's the tempo and pace at which they play the game that's most annoying. Particularly today. All of Arsene Wenger's teams have played with huge amounts of pace and movement, and there's just none of that in this team. Nasri isn't a seriously quick player, Arshavin isn't fit. Robin isn't that sort of player and neither is Bendtner. We still seem to be expecting to play at Thierry Henry pace, without the lightening quick pace. We've still got Walcott to come back, but to expect him to save the day (assuming the manager puts him in the team) is unrealistic.

Of course we have a lot of players out. Walcott, Rosicky (heh; he must've spent more time at the club injured than fit by now), Cesc, Eduardo, and Adebayor are all players you'd probably call first choice, but what's the point in them coming back into the side when the rest of it plays with the sort of attitude and tempo it did today? Perhaps they will make all the difference. Fingers crossed...

The only players to come out of today's game with any credit - or at least no discredit - were Alumunia and Sagna (who's covering tackle might well have stopped Jones scoring), and the rest of the back four (and Arshavin). It's just not good enough and the manager has to sort it out; they look like they're playing training games at times. These games matter to the supporters, and it matters to the club financially as much as anything. I'm quite sure the manager's well aware of all that - whatever he might say in public, I'm sure he's as frustrated as anyone - but it's time to do something about it because displays like this one just aren't good enough.

Playing for fourth place might not be much motivation for the players - which might well be one cause for this sort of display - but it doesn't make it excusable, and it needs to be put right. No doubt another reason for the problems is the lack of leadership in the team itself, and the changes in captain we've had this season can't have helped that, but it's still not acceptable.

Roma in the Champions' League next. At least the tempo of that game might be more suited to this lot's lazy attitude. Though I'm sure Roma will hardly be quaking in their boots after this result.

Normal service (at least from Arseblog), will be resumed tomorrow. Nice talking to you. Sorry it was that pile of shite I had to write about and not the win we all hoped for, and I'm sorry there weren't more positives. At least we didn't lose...

Until next time, Arsechums.

It's a busy morning so let's get straight into it.

Arsenal appointed a new CEO yesterday. Ivan Gazidis will take up his new role in January after spending 14 years with the MLS. I'm not sure too many of us know a great deal about him. Chairman PHW gave the standard welcome while Gazidis himself said:

I relish the prospect of working with the key stakeholders to further propel the Club forward. It is nearly 16 years since I left the UK but I’m very much looking forward to returning in January.

I like that. 'Propel' is a good word. We could use some propulsion at the moment, no doubt about it, and it's about time we filled this role at the club. On tomorrow's Arsecast I'll be speaking to somebody who knows a bit more about Gazidis so tune in for that one.

Cesc Fabregas has been talking about his new role at the club and he'll be checking with Arsenal captains of the past to help him do the job as well as he can. He says:

I still speak on the phone to Thierry and I will ask him about it. I’d love to talk with Patrick about the job as well because he has so much experience.

He also talks about being inspired by Tony Adams, which is no bad thing when it comes to captaining a football team. On a more general level though he has set out the objectives for the season, saying:

I want to lift a trophy. It’s true that we are 10 points behind, so our immediate target is to win at Chelsea. Sunday is a good opportunity to get some points back and a couple of weeks after we have Liverpool at home. It is not over yet and it is up to us to finish where we will finish. We will see, at the moment nothing is done and we will fight until the end.

And that's the kind of spirit you want from your captain, that's exactly the attitude we need. Sunday is huge, no question, but there's plenty of time to talk about that. In the meantime something Cesc is going to have to deal with as captain is William Gallas and the continued fallout from his rant last week. The usually mild mannered Gael Clichy has accused the former captain of 'shattering' morale within the team. Gael says:

It has shattered something within the squad. It is something that should have remained between him and the boss even though there may be some truth in what William said. It is now down to the players and staff to glue the fragments back together and move on.

What William said was difficult, not only because he was the captain but because he is an experienced player.

It really is hard to see how Gallas has a long term future at the club, to be honest. At the moment the manager is being very pragmatic. He needs Gallas as a player because of injuries but if someone like Gael Clichy, who is usually a very positive person, has that to say about him then you can't help thinking there are others in the squad for whom the resentment burns much brighter. Whatever way you look at it that's not good and it's a problem you have to solve as a manager.

Maybe it's something that will repair itself with time but I suspect we'll move him on in January if we can identify a decent replacement. There's talk of Milan being interested, talk which Milan deny, but we know Italian clubs can tell a lie out of both sides of their mouth at the same time, especially when it comes to transfers. We'll see what happens though.

Nicklas Bendtner, who rather tongue in cheek (I hope) claimed to have always dreamt of wearing pink boots, is being linked with a £5m move to Spartak Moscow. There's a Danish connection there with Michael Laudrup the Spartak boss, but I'd be very surprised if it happened. Unless, of course, they give him that pair of diamond encrusted boots he so desires. Maybe we should get him a pair of ruby slippers and call him Dorothy.

Chairman PHW has given his backing to Arsene Wenger but this is not the usual dreaded 'vote of confidence'. He says:

Of course he has my backing. What he has done for the club over the last 12 years has been fantastic. You do not lose faith in a man like him after three or four bad results. It is a ridiculous suggestion really.

 

That seems very reasonable when it's put like that but there are still questions for the manager to answer. They may not be coming from board room level but the fans are asking them. I know there's an increasing amount of frustration with some fans about the way things are going but I can only speak for myself when I say I'd love nothing more than to see AW turn it around and start winning trophies again for Arsenal.

Right, that's about that. We should get some early team news today ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday so more on that tomorrow and in the Arsecast. In the meantime, have a good day.

Coming out of the ground on Saturday I heard one disgruntled Arsenal fan behind me say "You know, if it were up to me I'd drop the whole fucking lot of them and play the kids on Tuesday".

Knee-jerk reactions to defeats like Saturday's are normal but it was easy to see where he was coming from. By all accounts the Carling Cup team played with energy, enthusiasm and commitment, three things sadly lacking from the 'first' team's performance against Hull. Worryingly it's the second time that's happened this season and just as we thought the lessons of the Fulham game had been learned too.

I think Tom's blog yesterday summed it up perfectly so I don't want to go over old ground too much but it was painful viewing at times. The manager's post game interview with the BBC makes for interesting viewing, mostly because it's clear Arsene is quite bewildered. I don't think I've ever seen him look quite so down in the dumps after a defeat, and I include losses in finals and really important games in that (not that the Hull game wasn't important, but you know what I mean).

If we thought the performance of the kids would keep the more senior players on their toes we were wrong. Adebayor and van Persie responded to the threat of Bendtner and Vela by looking as if they couldn't really be bothered at times. It strikes me there's a bit of complacency among some of the players who feel their places in the team are assured no matter what. I think that's perfectly illustrated by William Gallas whose form this season has been very poor and whose leadership skills are non-existent. Yes, it was a great header by Cousin but Gallas was at fault against Fulham too and against Bolton.

When your team needs leadership and authority he goes missing and while I appreciate the fact he has a knack of getting late goals to salvage something from games I'd rather he was better at doing his job at the other end. It's time for the manager to make a point to some of the senior players, to show them that they're not undroppable. Gallas should be dropped. Get Djourou in to provide to height and physical presence to the back four. Adebayor and van Persie can count themselves lucky if they start against Porto. The manager is promising changes, you wonder how much of that is his 'knee-jerk' reaction to what happened against Hull.

There's a great quote from John Toshack from when he was manager of Real Madrid. After a defeat he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'On Monday you're going to drop all 11, then by Thursday it's 5 or 6, then on Saturday you play the same 11 cunts as last week'. I can understand the manager's desire to drop players but realistically he can't do too much. The game on Saturday was crying out for a midfielder to come on and change the game but we didn't have that player on the bench. Alex Song is not going to come on and do that job and the closest we have is 16 year old Jack Wilshere.

Had we the depth you'd be asking serious questions about Toure too who I believe struggles alongside Gallas yet thrives when playing with a more traditional stopper, someone like Sol Campbell or even Philippe Senderos. Cesc has not got going yet this season either, he looks leggy and not up to speed yet. Of course his pre-season was disrupted by Spain's Euro success and we have to keep playing him. We just don't have anyone else and hopefully with more games under his belt he can recapture some form.

I suppose the most worrying thing though was the way the team on Saturday was outfought by Hull. I know they're new to the league and full of vim and vigour but it was apparent in the first half we needed to step it up. That we didn't, or couldn't, in the second is concerning. Without wishing to harp on about it too much the team lacks leadership. During games like this you look to your captain for inspiration, you look to your 'star' players for a spark but nothing happened. In isolation you can write it off as a bad day but twice in the first six games of the season is not isolated.

Gallas says it's hard to accept losing to Hull and has warned against being complacent. I think Tom's suggestion of Clichy punching him in the snout was most sound indeed and I think the wake-up call he needs is to warm the bench for a few games. I truly, truly, truly, really and utterly think the manager needs to the rethink the captaincy too. It might be a hard thing to do but the longer it goes unaddressed then the more we're going to suffer for it. Three times this season the captain has either not tried or not tried hard enough and three times we've conceded.

I'm not saying all our defensive woes are down to him either but when it looks like the captain of your team can't be arsed then it must have an effect on the rest of the players, no matter how professional they are. When that same player is then lecturing you before a game it must be maddening. Perhaps individually Kolo and Gallas are the two best central-defenders at the club (and that's very debatable) but how much more time will Arsene give the partnership when it clearly does not work?

I suppose the main issue is one we've all spoken about at length over the last couple of seasons and that's consistency. We're capable of incredible performances and good results, but equally capable of serving up phlegm covered gruel like on Saturday. There was an air of expectation before the Hull game, fans were buzzing after the midweek 6-0 and the good response since the Fulham defeat, and some of the reaction since has been somewhat over the top. There's a tendency to get carried away when we win and when we lose.

You get scolded for not being positive enough when we win but I think defeats like Saturday's show that there are still some issues in the team. Yes, we should be positive when we win but the danger of getting too carried away is that when things go wrong then it becomes all too painful. The manager said that the test now is to see how we respond. We seemed to have learned from the Fulham game but the same kind of attitude against Hull cost us. How many times do we need to touch the electrified food before we stop going back for a nibble?

So Porto should be interesting on Tuesday. Not just because it's a European night and they're always good but to see how the manager reacts to what he saw on Saturday and how the players react to the way they played. Apparently Arsene kept them in the dressing room for an hour afterwards and I have no doubt some harsh words were spoken. Let's see what happens on Tuesday but let's remember that Tuesday will only be one small step, there's the whole rest of the season to get on with too.

Leaving football aside for a moment the rest of the weekend in London was great fun though. Thanks to Tom for keeping the blogging going and it was, as always, a pleasure to meet up with so many of you. I never fail to be touched by the generosity and decency of Arsebloggers and even though what happened for the 90 minutes was about as much fun as a swimming pool party with Michael Barrymore the rest of the weekend was brilliant, thank you all for that. My liver does not thank you but my liver can go kiss my hairy Mick arse.

Right, there was plenty to say yesterday. No doubt today will be the same. More tomorrow.

Well, that was a bit fucking shit, wasn't it? Not exactly the 83 nil we were hoping for, and perhaps it's reward for exactly that kind of attitude. Not that I'm saying it's my fault. Oh no, we all know who's fault it is.

First things first, all credit to Hull. They did completely the opposite of what many teams do when they play us at home; instead of smothering the midfield and putting 10 men behind the ball, they came to play football, and that they certainly did.

We huffed and puffed, and had a lot of possession (as did Hull; one of the stats during the first half gave them 85% possession in five minutes), but we couldn't break them down. The most frustrating aspect of it wasn't the same old story that we just couldn't unpick their defence. It was that we didn't look like we really cared about unpicking their defence. Like we couldn't really be arsed.

Arsene Wenger said it was a shocking result and he was disappointed by the commitment shown by the team. So was I. It was fucking shit. The whole attitude was shit. Having seen the Carling Cup performance in midweek, I think most people would've thought that we'd get all 3 points against a newly promoted team. It seemed that mentality leaked through to the players who seemed to think all they had to do was turn up.

Eventually we did take the lead through a scruffy goal - which was good, because if you can get scruffy goals when you're playing shit, it's good - that was either put in by Fabregas, or was an own goal by some ginger cunt. We had been turning the screw and on the balance of play up until that point, it was probably what we deserved. Just.

Then Hull scored their first, a wonderful 30 yarder that Almunia could do nothing about. Fair dues, it was a great goal and one worthy of winning any game. Instead of react by going and piling on the pressure though, we conceeded yet another goal from a set piece.

Hull got a corner, and our captain, our leader, our supposedly best central defender, watched Daniel Cousins as he jumped for the corner and headed it across goal where Fabregas' jump at the post couldn't stop it going in. 2-1 to Hull and we looked shell shocked.

A word here for Gallas. That word is cunt. I know he hit the bar late on (which might've salvaged a draw - woohoo), but his defending for their second was criminal. He just watched and made no attempt to attack the ball early. Remember his tantrum at Birmingham last season when Clichy gave away a penalty (which wasn't actually a penalty as it turned out)? When he sat on the ground having a tantrum? After seeing his defending for that goal, I think Clichy should've gone up and punched him, square in the snout.

It was fucking appalling - and not the first time this season. I think that's the third or fourth game now where he's just been a spectator at a set piece. It's not good enough for a central defender, never mind a central defender who came from Chelsea because he thought central defence was his best position and is the captain of the club. The attitude of the other players on the pitch can only be influenced by his, and when they see him not really bothering "because it's only Hull", that attitude infects the other players.

It's not acceptable for him (or any of the other players) to only turn up in "big games". All the games for Arsenal are important and someone needs to teach him that. Teach him it with a hammer. To the temples. Teach him well.

I don't think any of the players came out with much credit yesterday, perhaps Clichy, Sagna and Almunia apart. Theo showed just how quick he is again, and he looks so much better a player than he did, but his decision making still needs a bit to do. Kolo was okay - let down big time by Gallas. Gallas was a cunt. Midfield wasn't awful either. Cesc is still finding form, and Denilson has been worse than he was yesterday. Up front we just didn't look like finding a way through. Neither Robin or Adebayor looked particularly dangerous. But it was the collective attitude that was most disappointing.

So, we drop to fourth in the league, and it's hardly ideal preparation for Porto in the Champions' League. I'm sorry Arseblogger's first game of the season wasn't exactly ideal, but at least he did get to see a great goal. Unfortunately it was scored by some cunt from another team.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, when I'm sure Arseblogger will have his own opinion on Gallas.

Until next time. 

First of all, I must apologise to the Ole Ole Auditor, who text messaged me last night to ask if I was all set to write the blog today. My initial reply was "who the fuck is this?" since my phone didn't recognise the number. I knew it wasn't Arseblogger, since I know his number. So said text messager replied to me and said he was the Ole Ole Auditor, and I decided that was licence to send back a rather rude message. I may even have mentioned his mum (I'm not sure. I've deleted all the text messages since; I find myself increasingly doing that of an evening). Anyway, he phoned me, I hadn't a fucking clue who it was cos I was so blind drunk, and I had to text Arseblogger to find out. Anyway, long and boring story short, I now know who it was, and I apologise. That's what happens when you talk to a drunk cunt.

Secondly, being madder at work than a badger on LSD that's just been taken to the circus and pumped full of mescaline, I haven't had time to frequent the forums recently, and I had no idea that Arseblogger was going to London today (until earlier in the week when he asked me to write the blog - right enough, with the benefit of hindsight that should've been a clue). So when he texted me last night to say it was only his fucking birthday today, I felt like a right cunt. Even more so. So I'm sure you'll join me in wishing Arseblogger many happy returns on his 43rd birthday. There's no doubting, he looks good for his age. I'm glad he's chosen one of the game of the season nail-biters for his trip. Fingers crossed for an 83-0

So, enough of the frivolity. What's happening in the world of Arsenal today?

Firstly the bad news. Tomas Rosicky has no fixed date of return, leaving the manager speechless. I'm not sure that's too much of a problem, frankly, since barely anyone can know who he is anyway. I don't know what we do about him. Not a lot, I suppose - it's not like we can sell him, and having signed a contract, (quite rightly) he's going to carry on trying to get fit. He doesn't strike me as the sort that would drag an injury out because he's a lazy cunt that just wants to sit and earn his tens of thousands of pounds a week for doing fuck all (unlike, say, me, perhaps), and he's a talented player. It's very frustrating.

Worryingly, Samir Nasri also remains sidelined by a knee injury, and joins Rosicky, Diaby, and Eduardo as the only other injured members of the squad. Nasri, as you know, picked up his knee injury on international duty. I fucking hate international duty. I hate it more than I hate being poked in the eye with a fucking hot poker. And I fucking hate that.

In better news (sort of), Silvester is fit and ready for his first game of the season. When Gallas joined us, he'd been agitating for a move, and I think it's fairly common knowledge that we'd been after him for a while. But Silvester is a cunt. A proper cunt. A right cunt. He played for *those* cunts right at the time when we were having our most intense rivalries with them, and he was a fairly significant part of their team (who are cunts). I think to get himself out of My Book of Cunts (of which I have two - he's in the bad one), he's going to have to do something very special. Like kill Gary Neville.

What else is going on? Gael Clichy feared the worst when that fat Bolton cunt tried to break his leg (I don't know why the Chester Chronicle gets the credit for those quotes; it just seemed one of the more obscure reports on News Now!). Some people, including Craig Burley, commenting on Setanta, thought that challenge was fair "because he got the ball". I didn't. I think that "if you take the man after the ball that's just the game" is a big load of old hairy bollocks. That way do very, very serious injuries lie, as we're all too familiar with, and I don't blame the team one little bit for the way they reacted on the pitch. They've seen it happen - horrifically - to one of their mates and unsurprisingly, they're not keen to see it happen again. People can bitch about Cesc waving imaginary yellow cards all they like, and I don't like to see that either, but the fact is that Clichy could've been seriously injured, because of some fat no mark Bolton cunt being "committed". Fuck off. I really do fucking hate Bolton (not as much as I used to, mind). And yes, I'm probably overprotective and hypocritical. So?

Top man Cesc Fabregas has been talking about how he'll never leave Arsenal. He seems to qualify the statement slightly by saying that he will only stay as long we keep playing our football, but it's so refreshing to hear a footballer who isn't *just* interested in the money (and regardless, I'm sure he's very well paid indeed). Also, I've no doubt The Sun has spun those "quotes".

So, Hull today at home. It's on TV at half five on Setanta 1 (so no doubt we'll have to put up with that cunt Burley again). George Boateng has been talking up Hull's chances, and there's no doubt that they've made a great start to their season. Let's hope we can bring them crashing back down to earth today and take the three points.

Once again, many happy returns to Arseblogger, and I'll see you all tomorrow for post match ramblings and other nonsense.

Come on The Arsenal!!

Well, first of all, you may have noticed that I can no longer post as Tom, so I came up with this very witty moniker, but I can assure you that it is actually me (which may or may not be a good thing).

Secondly, due to a communications/brain fault on my part, and a memory like a sieve, I'm afraid I completely forgot that I had to write today's blog, despite it SAYING ON YESTERDAY'S PAGE THAT I HAD TO WRITE IT. So sorry about that.

Plus I'm monumentally hungover, so, well, you know what it's like. *boilk* Ssssh. Stop shouting.

So, anyhoo. As Blogger mentioned yesterday, today I shall be updating you on who we haven't signed, who we aren't close to signing, and who else has left and whether the lights are still on. Well, I think I'll leave the list of people we haven't signed because that list is quite large.

I'm afraid the second list (who we're close to signing) is pretty short too. In that it's none. As far as I know, the lights are still on, and no one else has left, unless they snuck out as Gunnersauras (please, Eboue, find that a funny idea).

My take on the whole transfer saga is that we will get someone, probably on the last day. We all know Arsene, like the rest of us, believes transfer fees are absurd, wages are absurd, and that the club must live within its budget. I don't speak on behalf of the manager, obviously, and I expect as an economist, he would probably say that supply and demand dictates that transfer fees and wages are what they are because they are. And while both fees and wages are absurd relatively speaking, it's hard to argue with that.

Anyway, I think even Arsene, wearing one of those little sleep masks you get on a long flight, in a dark room, on another continent, with earplugs in, could see that we desperately need at least one central midfielder. I think what's happening - and I have no basis for saying so other than pure speculation - is that we have made enquiries for one or two players, maybe more, but that to drive down their transfer fee, we're waiting until the last minute to make an offer.

What? It's something to cling to!

Take the reported interest in Gareth Barry, for example. If Liverpool were quoted £18m, baulked (rightly, in my opinion), and we offered £15-16m on the last day, Villa would be much more inclined to sell. All just my opinion, of course. Alonso too. I'd be absolutely delighted if we signed Alonso. I know some Arsenal fans are less than impressed with that idea, but I think he'd fit well, and frankly, to have him and Cesc in there, for Arsenal and for Spain - that could help us keeping Cesc for a long time, something I think every Arsenal fan wants. 

Of course, this waiting until the last minute works both ways - you might have to pay over the odds, or not get anyone at all. Which doesn't bear thinking about. 

Anyway, enough of that. I prefer to think that we'll get someone.

Arsene hints at late transfers. Alonso - please. Apparently the boss has also been sticking up for Adebayor. I don't know if these are repeats of comments he's already made, or new ones, but like everyone else, I'm pretty disgusted with Adebayor's behaviour over the summer. I don't think we should be booing him, but then I don't think kissing the badge was entirely tasteful either.

On to today's game against the Barcodes. Apparently Gallas and Fabregas will stay in the team having recovered from knocks midweek, but Fishface is still out injured (unless that bloke wins the Champions' League for us, against Man Utd, with a 35 yard screamer, I'm always going to hate him - sorry). Samir Nasri has got over a virus so he'll stay in the team, along with Theo (who I thought did absolutely brilliantly the other night; he looked composed, his pace is frightening, and most of all, I think he's growing up, knocking defenders off the ball).

The Barcodes, on the other hand, are without Martins, Duff, and that Fat Australian Cunt. They do have Michael Owen though, the wee fuckbag, so whoever we play alongside Gallas at the back will need to put in a few ligament tearing tackles on him. God I hate him.

So that's your lot. Apologies again for the late blog. Maybe you see you tomorrow if Blogger's move hasn't finished.

Come on you reeeeeeeds!

So here it is. At least. The new season. Are you excited? Chomping at the bit? Psyched? Pumped?

Yeah, all of those things. As usual on the eve of a big game we hear a lot from Arsene Wenger at his pre-match press conference. Sometimes on a Saturday morning I look at the glut of stories and it's amost intimidating thinking about how to sort them and present them.

I suppose the main thing is the team news and we have Kolo Toure and Samir Nasri back compared to the squad that faced Schteve McClaren'sh Eff-shee Twente, but the boss admits Kolo is still a little bit short of fitness. He says he doesn't have any choice but to rush him back because of injuries. I wonder will he start though? Djourou was good the other night so he may stick with the Swiss and Gallas and have Kolo there just in case. If he starts Kolo it's because of concerns over Gallas and that he might be better with Kolo alongside him, we'll see.

I think Nasri will start on the left and I just have a feeling that because of the inexperience of Ramsey and Denilson that Walcott will make way for Eboue on the right hand side. The boss will call it 'balance', or something.  

He also spoke about having money to spend, saying he could splash out £30m on a player if he wanted to. When asked why he didn't, he said:

For £30million you speak about a striker. I have Van Persie, Adebayor, I have Bendtner who I was patiently building up to be at the level I want him to be. So why should I buy? Now I have Carlos Vela, Eduardo Da Silva. We have the quality. That’s why.

Which is fair enough. What is interesting though is that it's yet more confirmation that the money is there. There has been a consistent message from the club and from the manager that funds are there, despite what some scaremongerers would have you believe, yet the manager chooses to spend more frugally than some people would like. 

He talks about balancing the books (obviously important) and developing talent (citing Adebayor for whom we paid £4m) and those are fine things. However, when there's a big need for a player in a very important part of the squad then there are times when you have to spend big and I think that's what he's going to have to do to get the midfielder we need.

Interesting Rafa Benitez, in his pre-match press conference, let slip that he had no part in the talks 'about Alonso and Arsenal', referring to his board. So obviously there was more to that story than we actually thought. With Alonso now cup-tied for this season's Champions League it may do one of two things. Firstly we may go back and make a lower offer for the player because it does affect his value. Secondly it may end whatever interest we have and make us look elsewhere. I'm somewhat comforted by the fact we were looking at a player of his quality instead of some unheard of Algerian wonderkid. The Guardian reports that Alonso has asked to leave so who knows?

When it comes to signings though he's still playing his cards close to his chest, saying we're not close to signing anyone but that he's relaxed because there are 16 days left to do it. On the other hand though you hear him talk about how the physical demands on Ramsey and Denilson are high after the Twente game and you wonder why he doesn't hurry it up a bit. Signings will come though, I'm sure of that. 

In terms of the season ahead though the boss believes we can win the title and is aware that silverware, which has eluded us in recent years (albeit by the skin of its teeth a couple of times), is necessary. He says:

Every season is a season when you have to win something. For me the two massive trophies are the Premier League and the Champions League. We were close in both competitions [last season]. So let's go and try again. We want to win things.

Hurrah. I want to win things too. I mean I want Arsenal to win things. Although I wouldn't mind winning something, like the Euromillions jackpot but I'll get back on track now. We have a reasonable start to the season, the fixtures could certainly have been more tricky, so it's a good chance for us to get off to a good start. We saw what happened a couple of seasons ago when we started poorly and were basically out of contention by the end of September. Although I do remember United losing a couple of games early on last season and look where they ended up, the cunts.

Anyway, I'm sure the players have at the moment are focussed, ready for what lies ahead and hungry for success and trophies. Today's game against West Brom should be interesting. Very much a footballing side (something Arsene Wenger will appreciate) in the Championship last season there's the suggestion that they may modify their style for the Premier League and be more direct and physical as they battle for survival. We'll see today. It'll be a tough test for the lads, promoted teams always have this great vim going into new seasons and to play their first game against one of the top teams will ensure they're going to give us a good scrap today.

Fingers crossed we can get off the start we all want. I'm feeling those little butterflies already. God, I missed those butterflies. Football is back. I love football. I love Arsenal.

Come ooooooooooooooon. 

Morning all, it's a beautiful sunny day in Dublin and it is the final day of the 07-08 Premier League season. Despite everything it really does seem to have flown by, eh?

With the summer months usually full of speculation and fans desperate for news on signings - actually, the months of June, July and August are usually the busiest on Arseblog due to the amount people looking for that exclusive on who we might bring in - the manager has spelt out, somewhat, his plans for bringing new players to the club. He says:

I know what I want and I am very confident. I hope to turn that around in the next two or three weeks. They (fans) should be re-assured by what they see.

He's not usually so up front when it comes to this kind of stuff so you have to imagine a certain amount of contact with clubs for players has been made. At this point the names of Ben Affleck and Niko Kranjcar are the ones most widely touted but it wouldn't be unlike the boss to bring in somebody completely different.

The Sunday Mirror links us with Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez (£10m), Valencia's centre-half Raul Albiol (£7m) and Cardiff kid Aaron Ramsey, while The People links us with Atletico Madrid's 18 year old midfielder Ignacio Camacho and a move for Yaya Toure from Barcelona. Silly season has well and truly begun.

Today's opposing manager, Roy Keane, admires Arsene's touch in the transfer market talking about how good he is at moving on players as well as bringing them in at the right price. He must look at the £2m he spent on Anthony Stokes and think 'You canny Wenger'.

Arsene is also going to rethink his policy of loaning out young players, especially if they don't play. Kieran Gibbs, a boy who may well be involved today, went on loan to Norwich this season but hardly played. Mark Randall suffered the same kind of fate at Burnley. While I can see where the boss is coming from you have wonder is the reason they didn't play because they're not good enough or because they're not quite grown up enough for the rough and tumble of the Championship.

Mathieu Flamini says he wanted to re-sign for Arsenal last July and that the pain of the title loss was a factor in his decision to move. I'm quite sure the millions of euros from AC Milan are helping to ease that pain somewhat but I'm not quite sure I buy the part about him wanting to sign last July - especially as he knew a good season could see his value increase a lot. Anyway, it's water under the bridge at this stage.

And that's about it. Let's hope we can sign off the season with a good win today. Didn't we have a final day at Sunderland some years back? I think Freddie Ljungberg got a hat-trick. The same again today would be nice. Without the Freddie hat-trick of course.

Finally, don't forget that from tomorrow Arseblog's URL will be changing. You can still go to 'arseblog.com' but you should update your bookmarks to 'arseblog.oleole.com', the link won't be live until tomorrow though.

Until then, have a good Sunday.

Ouch, I really shouldn't be up this early but thanks to Mrs Blogs and the Blogette tormenting me this morning here I am. Everything I do I do for these lovely ladies and this is how they treat me. I shall have my revenge, oh yes.

We'll start this morning with some quite unsubstantiated rumour - that we've apparently signed Hatem Ben Affleck for £16m. I can't find anything in the paper this morning, only vague rumours on other blogs. This could be because I'm not looking hard enough or that I'm so hungover I'm actually blind but whatever. We'll wait and see what happens but I was told last night by a very trustworthy source.

Emmanuel Adebayor rubbished claims that he wanted to leave the club yesterday. He said:

I rubbish claims that I want to leave the club. Those reports are rubbish and whoever made them up is completely rubbish and fat and orange. And rubbish.

Can't say fairer than that, can you? The manager says there have been no new developments regarding Alexander Hleb but Hleb strikes me as the kind of bloke who wouldn't say anything to the boss himself. He'll wait until he's been given his holidays then he'll get his agent to inform the club he's leaving, the spineless cunt. So you can see where Arsene is coming from but I'd still put all the money I had on Hleb leaving this summer. Even if it meant my family went hungry. Actually, after this morning, especially if it meant my family went hungry.

Meanwhile the boss says he's not willing to let anyone else go and there are 220 players who want to join us. Did he count them all? That's pretty fucking impressive. Here's an idea - get rid of some of the shite like Hleb and Eboue and the chances are that of those 220 there must at least be a couple who aren't as bad. Buy them. Hurrah, everyone's happy. Quite why he wants to keep Hleb, a player who obviously wants to leave, is a mystery to me. We got shot of Diarra because he was about as committed to Arsenal as Gazza is to not being a fucking lush, the mad cunt. And I don't want to hear any moaning about calling Gazza mad and respecting his 'mental illness'. I don't give a fuck. If he wanted me to respect his mental illness he shouldn't have scored that goal in the 91 semi-final, should he? Cunt.

Wenger says it's fishing time for the agents - those scummy bottom feeders will be trying to make as much money as possible between now and August 31st. These people are parasites, they suckle their living from others, their first objective is to make money for themselves, then comes any interest they might have in the player's career. They lie, cheat and steal from clubs and their clients, they really are the most despicable bunch of cunts in the world. If you read tomorrow that Josef Fritzl was a football agent you'd say 'Oh, now it all makes sense'. Cunts.

Jermaine Jenas says Sp*rs will be bigger and better than Arsenal next season. Frankly, why anyone pays the slightest bit of attention to anyone whose name rhymes with penis - and this is an important consideration when evaluating statements of bravado - (John Smith says 'Sp*rs will be bigger than Arsenal!' and I say 'Hmmm, perhaps the man has a point' but Derek Menis says 'Sp*rs will be bigger than Arsenal!' and I say 'Be off with you, scoundrel, your name rhymes with my cock!') - is quite beyond me. And talk about the boy who cried wolf. We hear this every year from Sp*rs and they still end up being the same shit-eating cunts they were the previous season. Cunts.

Tomas Rosicky will miss Euro2008. In fact, I have exclusive news. Tomas Rosicky has been ruled out of life until 2019.

I need a fucking breakfast roll and some coffee and the only thing I have is the coffee. I would trade you all the coffee I had for a breakfast roll now. I may have to go to Tesco. I can't drive though because I'm still about 92 over the limit. Walking is for cunts. Jesus, this is one shit morning.

More tomorrow.

Well, Arsene Wenger said he wanted to keep Alexander Hleb. He was quite emphatic about it. Sadly for the manager the player wants out. Last night quotes emerged from his agent which left little doubt as to his future. Nikolai Shpilevski said:

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.

Oh well, I can't say I'm really that bothered, to be honest but it's a shoddy way for Hleb to treat the manager who showed more faith in him than others might have done. It is the moral equivalent of 11 goals in 3 seasons from an attacker. How the deal goes down is going to be interesting though. It's fairly obvious that Inter are the club on his radar, we know from what Arsene said that the ice-cream was more than an ice-cream and frankly any player who goes to meet another club the night before such a huge game is a bit of a cunt when you think about it.

Will he do a Webster? Will Inter try and maintain some kind of cordial relationship with Arsenal and offer a fee? That remains to be seen. What is in little doubt is that he's on his way and for all his skill and ability on the ball we're not losing a great deal of end product. Hleb always seemed to be the square peg trying to fit into the round hole - not a winger, he preferred to play behind the striker but wasn't even close to being good enough to fulfill the 'number 10' role. He can twinkle his toes out the door and go and fuck himself. I know we don't really need to be losing players this summer but next please. He is very replaceable, in my opinion.

Another agent apparently stirring up trouble is Emmanuel Adebayor's. The Mail has a story which claims Adebayor is demanding £80,000 a week to stay at Arsenal but that Arsenal can't afford to pay that kind of money. Now, I can't imagine Adebayor making those kinds of demands. I just don't see it. And let's remember the Mail is the paper that ran the story about Gallas having no mates at Arsenal, spinning a story about international colleagues to make it look like he was dumping on the club. But the biggest clue that this story is a load of shit comes when you read this line:

All that could be solved if the club were to accept the help of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, but chairman Peter Hill-Wood and director Danny Fiszman say no.

You don't have to be any kind of genius at all to work out that the story has been planted by Fat & Orange. This has the dirty, spray-on tan fingerprints of Dein all over it. I mean seriously, if you're going to try and undermine the club in the press at least distance yourself from it slightly so it's not so blindingly fucking obvious that's what you're doing. Fucking pathetic, I have to say, and I hope everyone else can see this blatant piece of scaremongering shite for what it is - half-arsed, subpar PR for F&O, the fat and orange cunts.

The Daily Express reports that Birmingham's Karen Brady was interviewed by Arsenal last month and thought she had done well enough to get the job as Managing Director, a job which wasn't available last month. Hmmm. Anyway, her arrest in relation to a corruption in football investigation has apparently scuppered her chances of the job and we'll be looking elsewhere.

Some early team news ahead of Sunday's vital...*cough*...game against Sunderland reveals that some kids are going to get a chance. Kieran Gibbs and Mark Randall are likely to be involved in the squad and with injuries the way they are one of them may even start. More thorough team news from the boss and his press conference today. It's going to be an interesting one with the Hleb story and I'm very curious to see his reaction to this Adebayor thing.

Right, Arsecast.

In this week's OleOle sponsored Arsecast I chat with Goodplaya about Keith Edelman, Flamini, Eboue and more. There's a player history, Eboue, some more on the OleOle deal and some other bits and pieces.

To subscribe to the arsecast in iTunes - click here . To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3 ). You can find the arsecast archives here . And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right, have a good Friday. More on the fallout of all this on tomorrow's blog.