Well by all accounts the AGM was a fairly uneventful affair. Arsene got a big birthday book, made a nice speech, Stan Kroenke was there and refused to talk and we got some little known facts about Gunnersaurus.

Obviously a reflection of how things are at the club at the moment. On the pitch things are looking good, off the pitch things are looking good and there's unlikely to be controversy or difficulty in those circumstances. There is more in depth stuff from the AGM on today's Arsecast.

Arsene was in bullish form about his team, acknowleged that we hadn't won a trophy in four years - "We know that!", he said - but is convinced that will change this season. He said:

I believe that this year the team will do it. When I say that, it is not to please you, it is because I am really convinced of it. This season we are ready to go for it in the Premier League, the Champions League and of course both the cups as well.

Trophies are a long way away yet but we appear to be on the right track. At this stage of last season we had already lost to Fulham and Hull, Stoke, Villa and City were about to make November miserable and the 4-4 against Sp*rs was just around the corner. All the same we've only played 8 league games so it's a bit premature to be talking silverware just yet.

The boss also spoke about the way the club is being run. Obviously we all know about our self-sustainable model, we've heard so much about it, but there's a definite sense with the appointment of Ivan Gazidis and his subsequent strengthening of the administrative staff that the club is in good shape. Wenger said:

We are in the middle today of two different ways to see the development of the game. One is people with unlimited resources who do not care about balancing the budget and one, an attempt from the European Union to regulate that, control it, and get that out of the game.

I believe that will happen and fortunately we are on line with the modern development of the European game and that is why I believe to keep a club strong is essential.

It's going to be an enormous challenge for anyone to change the way football is run, especially in regard to the ownership thing. Chelsea and Man City have taken it to a whole new level in recent years but aren't their owners just doing exactly what Jack Walker did with Blackburn back in the 90s? He bankrolled the club with his own money, made signings that broke transfer records, and brought them success and the league title.

Of course Walker was a Blackburn fan all his life and he put his own money into the club he loved. There's an obvious difference there between him and the Abramovich and Sheikh Yorbooty at Citeh but in terms of what they're doing it's exactly the same. You can be sure any attempts to make clubs live within their means will be seriously opposed because most of them don't and won't be able to. And that includes more than Chelsea and Man City. And the other danger is that if the moneybags owners are told they can only spend the income of the club, for example, it strikes me that it's just as easy for them to walk away leaving the clubs with massive debts that would, probably, end up bankrupting/destroying them completely.

Much as I dislike certain teams it can't be good for football if that is a possibility so it's an area the EU are going to have to tread carefully in. Although the firesales could be nice. We'll see what happens but at the moment Arsenal's more sensible approach leaves us in good shape.

On a football level he was asked about the crop of goalkeepers at the club and he believes they have the required quality. Of course he couldn't possibly give a different answer in such a public environment, and we know he wouldn't do that anyway. He's always fiercely protective of his players but you can't help but think the goalkeeping situation is one that will not exactly trouble him but give him pause for thought between now and January.

The Almunia situation is strange. I don't think you need to be a genius to realise there's more to his absence than a chest infection and when Fabianski returns in the very near future it will be interesting to see what kind of pecking order emerges. One thing is certain - Almunia is clearly no longer the first choice keeper, a big turn-around from the beginning of the season. And with all due respect to Don Vito, who has performed admirably, can you expect to win major trophies with a rookie keeper? I'm still to be convinced by Fabianski and in general I can't help but think this is an area in which spending some money could improve us. Whether than happens in January or the summer remains to be seen but if our ambitions for this season are to be realised then I think we need to sort this out sooner rather than later.

For whatever reason there's an absolute ton of transfer speculation about the place this morning. Firstly The Mirror links us with Belgian whizzkid Eden Hazard and also suggests we're looking at young French striker Sega Keita (I wonder do we have an eye on JVC Murphy). The Mail says we're after Spanish wonderkid Antoine Griezmann who plays for Real Sociedad while The Sun claims a £20m interest in Inter's Mario Balotelli as well as Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel. 

It's only October as well. Imagine what it's going to be like when the transfer window gets closer and then actually opens. Mayhem!

Some early team news ahead of the West Ham game on Sunday and it looks like Eduardo will return although Tomas Rosicky and Nicklas Bendtner remain 50-50. Nasri and Fabianski will most likely not be involved but the Carling Cup game against the Mugsmashers should see them work their way back to first team action. More on Sunday's game in the next couple of days.

Right then, on to this week's Arsecast. On the show I'm joined by Tim Payton from the AST to talk about the AGM while Amy Lawrence also has some AGM obervations as well as thoughts on matters football, including the goalkeeping situation. 

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (19mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Right then, that's about that. Have yourselves a good Friday, more tomorrow.

I am sleepy this morning. And possibly a bit grumpy. I share no other traits with the rest of the seven dwarves though. No, not even dopey.

Speaking of dopey how about those Birmingham fans? During the game on Saturday they sang 'There's only one Martin Taylor', to laud the man who broke Eduardo's leg. How edgy. How hilarious. Or, to put it another way, how knuckle-draggingly retarded. Arsene Wenger was not impressed at all, saying:

Frankly, that is atrocious. They will not be remembered for the quality of their taste with that kind of remark. Eduardo was here. I don’t know how he felt about the chants. I just put that in the ranks of stupidity.

What is a surprise is that not only were they were able to stop drooling down their fronts long enough to sing that, it shows a measure of co-ordination and communication you don't generally find with single cell organisms. Some call David Attenborough. I know football fans, Arsenal fans included, sing and chant things that aren't really that funny or, indeed, push the boundaries of good taste, but Eduardo is hardly the kind of villain who merits that level of opprobrium.

He had his leg bollixed up in bits by a crude challenge which nearly cost him his career. He has never really criticised Taylor, he's certainly never criticised Birmingham City, yet these chimps sings songs about him like that? 

There are many words to describe people like that but, perhaps, the Birmingham fans (I call them 'Mingers' for short), would enjoy the fact that shortly after that fateful game at St Andrew's we played Aston Villa. Aston Villa fans sang hilarious songs about Eduardo's injury including 'One Martin Taylor', and 18 months later the Mingers follow suit.

So nicely done, Mingers, you are Villa fans. Not to mention half-witted, slack-jawed, eat every meal from the local chipper megacretins. You can hold hands with Phil Brown on the way back to the Championship.

Theo Walcott will have a scan today on his knee. I'm told he spent yesterday limping about the place so there's definitely something up but hopefully it's nothing too serious. On the tackle that caused the injury Arsene said:

I don't want to go too overboard because one of the beauties of the English game is total commitment. We have to cut out what is really dangerous but we have to keep the basics, the commitment that makes the league more attractive than any other league.

As I said yesterday I thought the challenge was hard but fair and typical of the English game. Theo didn't see it coming so had no chance to try and 'ride' it but how many times have we seen Arsenal players down the years make challenges like that? It was Keown tackle, a Steve Bould tackle, a Tony Adams tackle, and while it's unfortunate Theo is injured it would be wrong to try and cut that out of the game. It's a contact sport which has had many of the physical aspects watered down or removed altogether in recent years. It would be a shame if we lost more of that side of things. Anyway, fingers crossed for Theo, no doubt we'll get news sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere Arsene did a big interview with L'Equipe, bits of and pieces of which are emerging in English now. I've read this Sky Sports version and the translation seems a bit weird to me. Sort of like the person translating it wasn't quite fluent in French and sat there with a dictionary for some bits. That might be just me though. Arsene talks about Real Madrid's interest in the summer but said his commitment to Arsenal and his players meant he couldn't leave. He also spoke about how he felt a duty to leave a legacy, saying:

It would be unforgivable to have had the privilege of longevity and leaving no trace after me. But that means a win in the Champions League, because great wins reinforce certainties and give rightfulness to a culture.

There's the usual stuff there about killing Song and Denilson with signings (zzzz), the finances at other clubs and the 'doping' at City and Real Madrid, nothing terribly new really, but Arsene's legacy, more trophies or not, will be the way we play football and the expectation that whoever takes over maintains that.

Beyond that not much happening. There's Champions League action tomorrow so there's likely a press conference today, so hopefully we'll get news on Theo then and we can look ahead to the AZ Alcazar game tomorrow.

Till then.

As we don't play until tomorrow it means there's no point previewing the game today. Because the game is tomorrow. And if I preview it today it means tomorrow's blog is going to be rather brief. I may have to get creative and just post a drawing I did or something. And as my scanner is bollixed it'd have to be a drawing I did with the mouse which will make that drawing look like it was done by Dribbly O'Toole, the club-footed window licker with the strength of ten men and a series of unfortunate moles all over his face. 

Nobody needs that. Apart from Dribbly's mum but she's so lost in a haze of daytime TV and cheap Shiraz she'll never even notice.

Anyway, Arsene Wenger met the media yesterday, as is the norm, and they asked him questions and he answered those questions and from those answers come 'articles' which contain the words of the answers to the questions he was asked.

Obviously there was a bit of chat about him seeing as he's now Arsenal's longest serving manager. And despite the fact a man of his experience and undoubted wealth could go out to his local laurel emporium and buy a shit load of laurels to rest on he's not going to do that. He says:

I question myself every day. I question myself every time and ask how I can be better, how can I improve and how can I get this team to achieve what I believe is in them.

It's common amongst great people to do that. I question myself every single day. It's true.

"Where the fuck are my keys?", "What did you do that for?", "Why don't you sort your life out?" and "Would you please shut the fuck up? I'm trying to find my keys" amongst the most common.

Of course Arsene can't go on forever and he's hinted that Thierry Henry might be the right man to take the Arsenal hot-seat at some point in the future. He said:

Being a manager is a sacrifice for the rest of your life, not everybody is ready for that. It's nothing to do with intelligence or capabilities. But certainly Thierry is obsessed with football, yes. He even watched our Reserve team on television last year.

Pffff, I watched the reserves last week and Henry is busy playing for some bunch of Spanish mumphounds and going around with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer having cosy 'Let's shave each other' parties for Gillette. Note the subtle product placement there? Apparently it's the best a man can get. I don't shave very often though. It's annoying. What was my point? See, there I go questioning myself again.

The boss spoke about Andrei Arshavin in glowing terms. More glowing than the Russian's cheeks after five minutes of a game. He said:

I believe he has a big challenge in front of him because he made his team in Russia, St Petersburg win, and if he manages to make Arsenal win he will become an all-time great.I just love Arshavin as a footballer because he has things that are just down to him.

He is intelligent and he looks like he is a shrewd street-player because he creates something always in unexpected situations. He has a low centre of gravity, great pace and tricky dribble. He uses all that he has in the locker in an intelligent way and don't forget he is a winner as well.

Some players are blessed with that low centre of gravity, mostly because they're closer to the ground than others. Did Kanu have a high centre of gravity? If you cut a length of Peter Crouch's legs off and stitched him back together would he have a low centre of gravity or would he just be a crippled, disgustingly scarred freak? It's an experiment worth considering either way.

But Arshavin. There's lots to love about him. He's brought an Owlishness to our team which we've never had before. I often thought Francis Jeffers looked a bit like a Double-crested Cormorant but the Russian can do things with a ball that Jeffers could only dream about doing as he lay on the physio's couch. We should probably have had him put down, you know. It would have been best for all. I'm straying off point again, aren't I? 

I do agree with Arsene though. This is a big season for Andrei, he's one of the most experienced players in the team, possibly the best player in the team, and he's simply got to win us a trophy single-handedly or we'll have him Jeffersed. In the face. 

AW was also bigging up Big Dane Nicklas Bendnter. Now that he's like that bloke from that film about that plane that crashed and he was the only survivor and he went a bit mental with that one who speaks with that really awful voice, you have to hope it will liberate him a bit. A bit of 'devil may care' in his performances which should bring about more goals. The manager certainly has a lot of confidence in him, let's hope he repays that. With goals. And possibly a rocket of a shot which smashes David Dunn's stupid big head in tomorrow.

I hate his stupid big head. It's like an inflated cartoon head. Stick a couple of handles on the top of it and you could use it as a space hopper. 

Right, that will have to do. I've got cold pizza and Playstation ahead of me this morning. And no, you can't come over. 

I'm too grumpy for vistors.

Today Arsene Wenger becomes Arsenal's longest serving manager ever. 13+ years in the job he has gone past George Allison who is, I suppose, his Cliff Bastin to Wenger's Thierry Henry (I'm not forgetting Ian Wright, btw!).

He joined an Arsenal team which had been somewhat in the doldrums, although improving under Bruce Rioch, and essentially revolutionised the place. New training ideas which prolonged the careers of great players, a new style of play, top players, we all know what he's done, what he's won and what he's brought to Arsenal Football Club.

We're in a new stadium because of him, we've consistently competed in the Champions League because of him, we've attracted great players because of him, and while this is certainly his most important season yet, his contribution to the club has been immense. Any 13 year relationship has its ups and downs but in this modern era it's becoming more and more rare that any football fan will know how that feels, especially in the top flight. Look at Chelsea's 5 managers in the last couple of years, even success is not enough to guarantee your job these days.

It helps though. Arsene is under pressure like never before to deliver this season. He's put his faith in a group of young players and they're keen to repay that. Gael Clichy says:

In football you always want to be the best and win trophies. So when you don't have the results everyone wants, people start to talk. In the last few years we haven't won anything so people talk badly about him.

But I believe we have to think about what he has done for the club. I really hope this year will be a good one for him and the fans.

Captain Cesc Fabregas says:

He has been the most important influence in my short career. He took me here, made me train with the first-team when I was 16 years old - I was training alongside Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira so I was lucky to learn from the big players.

For me it was a very big step forward. The manager took the risk to put me in the team. I have to thank him for that and now I have to pay him back for what he has done for me.

I'm sure the same sentiments are true for many of the current crop of Arsenal players. I don't think any manager has ever put such an amount of faith in a group of players, unwilling to spend money so as not to hinder their development, clearly his plan is to create a team that grows up together and can mature and win trophies. It's a long term plan in a world in which you are judged on the very short term. One weekend you're title contenders, the next you're useless.

There was a telling quote last season when Arsene said something along the lines of:

I've never worked so hard and been criticised so much.

Yet his belief in what he's doing appears unshakeable. He is convinced he can win things with this group of players. He's done it with more experienced squads. Where we have Diaby, he had Vieira. Where he has Denilson he had Gilberto or Petit or Edu. Where we have Almunia, he had Seaman. Where there is now Bendtner, there was Bergkamp. He's not blind to the differences, he can't be, but as much as ever I'm sure he wants to win things with Arsenal and now it's down the to players. He's given some of them the chance of a footballing lifetime, they need to deliver. 

I know some of those comparisons are unfair but I don't mean it to highlight the weaknesses of the current squad, more to remind ourselves of how incredible that Invincibles squad was. We had some of the best players in the world at the very peak of their careers. Henry, Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires - right up there with some of the best players of all time, playing at Arsenal in the same team. It's almost impossible to replicate something like that without spending Real Madrid style money and Arsene knows that. Everyone knows that, in fairness. He's gone down a different route (and how interesting is it to compare the continued failure of that squad in the Champions League with the relative success the newer squad has had in the same competition?).

Whatever frustrations and reservations any of us might have about the boss though I have to say I still love the man. He provides an intelligence, wit and morality in the game that is rare. Sure, he doesn't see the odd incident but he speaks with such erudition about our club, about the game of football, that it is always a pleasure to listen to him (except when he talks about money!).

Let's face it, the world of football and football management is chock-a-block with spivs, chancers, spoofers, blackguards, muppets, barely formed single cell organisms, Sam Allardyce and far worse. I'm proud that we have Arsene Wenger representing Arsenal Football Club. I can't say 'Here's to another 13 years', because that's far too long in football, but I can say 'Thanks, Arsene, and here's to more trophies'. 

Because despite worries there's nothing I'd like more than for Arsene to lead this team to the title again or to the Champions League for the first time. Or both. That might be greedy though. 

Anyway, cheers Arsene. I'll happily raise a glass to you.

In other news Stan Kroenke has increased his Arsenal shareholding by 80 shares bringing his overall stake to 28.7%. This has prompted many a story regarding an imminent takeover, but with the Uzbeki Jabba still holding tight to his chunk of the club I don't think it's going to be that simple.

And that's about that. More, and an Arsecast, tomorrow.

Right then, we'll start first with team news ahead of tonight's clash with Olympiacos. There's no Theo Walcott who still hasn't recovered enough from his back problem to make the squad although the manager did hint he may be involved on Sunday while Young Guns reports he's due to play in a behind closed doors friendly against Olympiacos reserves tonight.

There's no Nicklas Bendtner either who was involved in a car crash on Sunday. Nothing serious thankfully, and nothing alcohol related, but bumps and bruises mean he sits this one out. The Sun has pics of the aftermath, he is a lucky boy. However, Eduardo returns to the squad after missing out against Fulham for some reason or another while there was bad news for Denilson after he was diagnosed with a fracture in his back and will miss at least two months.

You might remember Gilberto had the same kind of injury a few years back and it proved quite serious, certainly more than a two month absence, and once again it's another player with a fairly long-term injury at the club. Can't we give them milk instead of Fat Tony's malk?

Tonight's team prediction: Mannone - Sagna - Gallas - Vermaelen - Clichy - Song - Diaby - Cesc - Arshavin - RVP - Rosicky

After the early lapses in concentration against Standard Liege we'll be hoping for a better start tonight. Again the result is most important thing but it would be nice to see us click as a team, something we really haven't done since the two early games against Everton and Portsmouth. I know we stuck four past Wigan but that performance was not anywhere near as accomplished as the ones mentioned.

There was much to be gained from the wins against Liege and Fulham based on how we got those points but it'd be nice to see a bit of a pick up in terms of how we play. We don't seem to be creating a great many chances and our ball retention has been poor by our usually high standards so an improvement in those areas would be welcome. And as well as he played against Fulham I'd prefer to see Don Vito have a much quieter time against the Greeks.

The other main news is the release of Arsenal's financial results with record profits being announced. On the one hand it's great news that the club is being run so well and that we are making money at a time when other clubs are solely reliant on rich sugar-daddies to keep their heads above water, on the other it will simply add to the frustrations some fans feel about the squad and the manager's reluctance to spend. 

What is made clear is that the decision not to spend money is entirely the manager's, so even if a truckload of cash landed on his doorstep tomorrow chances are he'd do exactly what he's doing now. We don't need an oligarch, that's for sure, and when the manager is unwilling to spend the money he makes, and he takes pride in making, then there's no chance of him spending the kind of money that is created from oil wells and gas fields in eastern Europe.

Speaking about his squad, he says:

There is money to spend but at the moment I am very happy with the squad I have. It's not because I'm against spending money; I have nothing against spending money. It is not a personal thing, it is just that I have a squad that is strong enough to compete.

And if that's what he believes then what can you do? As I said at the start of the season whether he's right or wrong will be proven by May 2010. There are those who have doubts, who feel that the addition of one or two more players would make this squad properly competitive, but time will tell. The manager could be absolutely correct about this group of players but if another season passes by without a trophy, or at least a real and sustained title challenge, then people will, quite rightly, point to the money we had to add players and say he got it wrong.

He goes on to say:

I do not spend money because out of tomorrow's squad is [Samir] Nasri, [Theo] Walcott, [Nicklas] Bendtner. And people want me to buy strikers, but where do I put them? I don't know. I have to then lose players who, for me, are world class.

Now here I think Arsene is being a bit disingenuous. I don't know too many fans who want us to buy a striker but I know plenty who think the midfield could do with the same addition of quality that Vermaelen brought to the defence and Arshavin to the attack. 

And world class players win you trophies. We have some very good players, no doubt about it, but until they turn this much-lauded potential into success then I don't think we can call them world class. Not yet. It's up to them to prove that they're world class, Arsene just saying doesn't make it so.

Sometimes I get the feeling we talk too much about the money we make. If Arsenal made a profit of 1p and won a trophy I'd be far happier than millions in profit and an empty cabinet. The frustrations of fans that we didn't add to the midfield this season are only exacerbated when we hear one of the players is going to be out for 2 months and you can't stick £37m, or whatever it is, in a red shirt and on the pitch.

As I said it's great that the club is well run, it's great that we don't have to resort to a rights issue from a shareholder none of us want anywhere near the club, it's great that the property side of things has had a boost, but making money should not be the manager's raison d'etre, winning championships should be and fully using the resources available to him is a part of that.

As I said, time will tell if he's right or wrong, and if this squad comes through this season with silverware then I'll be the first to hold my hands up and say 'Fair play'. If not though, this money, how often we talk about it and the manager's reluctance to spend it will be a millstone around his neck.

Anyway, let's hope these players are as good as Arsene thinks they are, starting tonight.

Till tomorrow.

What a strange dream I had last night. I was in New York with my best friend Cesc Fabregas and we were trying to find some late night speakeasy because I had forgotten to go to the shops to get beer but then there was some kind of attack which involved WWII planes and we had to go on this giant slide which went from the top of the Rockerfeller building to some underground shelter and there was nothing to do there except play Mouse Trap.

There was loads of other stuff too but I can't remember it. I did get the sense that Cesc wasn't that impressed with me. Firstly because I forgot to get the beer but he had some kind of aversion to travelling on the slide thing. Maybe it was a build up of static electricity that made his hair go funny. I dunno.

Anyway, enough dreamy stuff and on with the football stuff. There's not a whole lot happening yet this Thursday. All the pre-Fulham stuff has yet to emerge so we'll have team news and all that jazz tomorrow. In the meantime Arsene Wenger is worried about the new rules concerning 'home grown' players and the proposed under 18 transfer ban. He reckons that's going to make life more difficult for English clubs. He says:

If you cannot add any players under 18, and you have the home-grown rule, and on top of that English clubs are limited to bringing in young players who live less than 90 minutes from the training ground, how can we produce home-grown players?

You can produce them, it's just that you're at a huge disadvantage to every other league in Europe. The 90 minute rule is one that really needs to be looked at. Or modified. Make it 90 minutes in a Lear jet. Frankly the idea that Arsenal can bring in players from Scotland or Ireland or any country in the EU, but can't scout and bring in a young player from a part of England that's too far away is just ludicrous. Wenger continues:

We cannot take a player from Asia, North or South America or Africa. What can we do? We can only pray that somebody next to London Colney is as gifted as Maradona and says, 'Please can I play for you'.

Haha, don't we already have Jack Wilshere? He's right though. Work permit rules mean English clubs have a much smaller pool of players to choose from than those across Europe. The best young South American talents end up in Spain or Italy because there's no issue with allowing them to work.

The 90 minute thing is something for the FA to sort out and you just have to hope that the U18 transfer ban is another reactionary but ill-thought idea by those in FIFA or UEFA or whichever bunch of tarts is proposing it. Sure, a few dodgy deals have been done but surely the best thing is to ensure that these deals are done properly, within well set out guidelines, rather than banning them altogether? And Black Forest dwelling muppets like Karl Heinz Rummenigge need a good slap in the mouth for their hyperbolic claims of 'child trafficking'.

Bordeaux chief Jean-Louis-Tamanoir-Cheminée-Gobelet-Triaud has, apparently, 'slammed' Arsene Wenger over his approach for Marouane Chamakh. He says:

I slam Mr Wenger. Oh yes. Zut Alors and such.

Chairman doesn't like bid for his player that has so far refused to sign a new deal and can leave on a free in the summer shocker!

Sanchez Watt reveals the advice Thierry Henry gave him when he was a youngster at the club and it's good to see there's still a culture of the more experienced players helping out the kids. Watt says he's been given advice by Arshavin and van Persie on positioning and timing and by Adebayor on how to steal 24 pairs of boots without anyone seeing.

And that'll be that for today. Tomorrow, as usual, there's an Arsecast with a look ahead to the weekend's action.

For now though, as it's the 250th birthday of Arthur Guinness, Ireland's oldest and most excellent man, I'll nip off for a breakfast pint.

To Kanu!

Funnily enough I was dreaming this morning that I was away on holidays and Tom was supposed to be writing the blog. It was one of those very real dreams so that even when I got up to go to the bathroom I lay back down thinking 'I wonder what Tom is going write about'.

Sadly, I am not on holidays, nor do I have the pleasure of reading what Tom wrote whenever he got around to actually writing it.

We have an interesting week ahead. A Carling Cup game against West Brom tomorrow night will provide an opportunity for the likes of Senderos, Wilshere, Ramsey and others to get some playing time. There'll be more team news and a preview on tomorrow's blog.

In the meantime Robin van Persie has been singing the praises of Thomas Vermaelen. They had a little spat during the Amsterdam Tournament a couple of summers back (it was this which brought him to the manager's attention apparently) but all is rosy in the garden now. Robin says:

Now I'm happy he is on my side. In training everyone mixes up so I play against him. He is tough and it's good because I am training against proper defenders.

And of his goals, he said:

The first one showed he is very, very strong from corners and free-kicks and that is very important for us. Even if we play badly we can always score from set-pieces.

I would have been proud of his second goal.

The set-piece thing is by far the most important to me. At times we struggle to break teams down, to have that added threat is a real bonus.

The manager has been talking about teams who foul a lot. It was clear against Wigan that part of their game plan was to disrupt the flow of our football. A succession of fairly innocuous fouls prevented us really getting into our rhythm and Arsene Wenger said:

It’s a general thing. It’s the little fouls in the middle of the park. It breaks up the game from when you are attacking three against three, four against four and then you get a free kick and it’s ten against ten again.

All the work you have done is nothing. You start from scratch again. They have broken up the play. I think I will try to talk to the FA about it. It’s the same for Manchester United, Liverpool and for everybody.

If it's the same for everybody then we may just have to live with it. I can see where he's coming from. The football purist in all of us wants to see flowing moves and all the rest but stopping the other team from playing is part of the game. If you're playing a so-called lesser team you're going to have to accept that they'll probably be more physical, that they'll try and stop your more skillful players with little fouls which break up play.

I think it's just a fact of life. The only way you can stop it is to dish out more yellow cards and as it is I think players get booked too easily. On the flip-side I've thought for a little while now that we haven't had the kind of player who will commit that kind of foul to help us out when needed. If there's a break on sometimes you want to see your central defender or deep lying midfielder take the man out on the halfway line. That is a good yellow card, if it's given. Song does it, Flamini used to do it, but in the current squad we don't have enough players who will make that kind of foul - and sometimes fouling is as much a part of the game as anything else. 

If a foul on the halfway line prevents a three on two break then isn't that just good play from a defensive point of view? Frustrating for the attacking team, of course, we've been in that situation plenty of times. We just shouldn't be afraid to do the same.

The boss on Tomas Rosicky:

I am very positive. Touch wood his problem is sorted. He had not played a game for 18 months. Now he has played with the Czech Republic and us. I did not leave him out today because I was cautious. He was ready to play and for me he looks completely over his injury.

Touch wood. Light a candle. Lucky rabbit's foot. Charmed pygmy pelt. Blessed monkey scrotum. All the things we use for good fortune. I really hope he is over his problems and the manager hasn't just jinxed the ever-loving shit out of him.

With the Carling Cup on the agenda it seems Blackpool are going to ask for permission to marry play Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. His loan there has already been extended so it'll be interesting to see the outcome of that. I suspect we'll refuse, hoping to use him in later rounds if we get through.

Not much else happening from an Arsenal point of view. What about that Manchester derby though? While I would have much preferred a draw how hilarious was it to see Mary Hughes so grumpy at the injury time winner? All those times he played there benefitting from the referee's dodgy watches and he never had a complaint to make. Now, when the boot is on the other foot and the other foot is a great big cloppity foot like Christy Brown, he's annoyed by it. 

Most amusing. Then Craig Bellamy, the Gladstone Small of football, whacks a fan who came on the pitch. More FA madness. What's going to happen next? What was that film with the American football thing and maybe Al Pacino was in it and one of the players is running down the pitch and he takes out a gun and shoots the opponents out of the way to score a touchdown? That's where we're heading with Man City. I'm glad we're not playing them again until April.

Right so. Best leave it there. More tomorrow.

Good morning,

another day another Arsenal match. Tonight we kick off our Champions League campaign with a trip to Belgium to play Standard Liege. Last time we played these chaps was in November 93 on the way to Paris 94 in the Cup Winner's Cup and we spanked them 7-0 (including this goal by Eddie McGoldrick).

The team news is that Manuel Almunia (virus), Robin van Persie (knee) and Denilson (dyptheria maximus) do not make the trip. Neither has Theo Walcott returned in time to take part. The full squad is here. Almunia's absence means young Italian, Vito Mannone, will do nets and the manager says:

It is a big challenge for the young boy to come into a Champions League game with such big pressure, but I am confident in him.

There are those who might suggest that Almunia's virus is a "virus" and that he's been dropped after his poor start to the season but no matter how out of form he's been I can't see the manager making a change like this unless it was absolutely necessary. If Fabianski were fit, maybe, but he's not going to drop his first choice keeper for a rookie like the Italian. Mannone has only played one senior game for the club, against Stoke at the end of last season. I watched him pre-season in the Emirates Cup and I found him a bit scary, to be honest. Fingers crossed he can do the business tonight.

With Robin van Persie missing you have to think Nicklas Bendtner will be given a run in the central striking position with Eduardo one side of him and any one of Eboue, Diaby or even Jack Wilshere the other. I suspect the manager will go with the former. Youngster Sanchez Watt, possibly the best name of any Arsenal player since Lancelot McGillicuddy got a late cameo in the 1923 season, is on the bench and it's a measure of his progress that he's in the squad.

At the back I just about think the same back four will start although I wouldn't be that shocked if Kieran Gibbs got a game at left back. That said I think he'd have been more likely to start if Almunia had been playing and I'm not sure I see the manager adding 40% inexperience to our defence. Gibbs and Mannone starting leaves us too raw.

I can't say I know a great deal about Liege. On Twitter yesterday folks were reminding me how the Mugsmashers struggled against them last season but I don't really recall. We could certainly do with a good performance and a good win tonight though. Not just to get ourselves back on track but add that bit of away from home belief. The two trips to Manchester might have been a bit demoralising and to go away in Europe and win help put things back on track. 

We're certainly not going there with our strongest squad so it'd be a good confidence boost to get the three points tonight.

Now, at his press conference yesterday Arsene Wenger was, of course, asked about the whole Emmanuel Adebayor thing. I know I said this would be an Adebayor free zone but the manager came out with a couple of absolute classics yesterday. When asked about the challege itself, he said:

Adebayor's challenge on Van Persie looks very bad. You ask 100 people, 99 will say it's very bad and the 100th will be Mark Hughes.

Heh and heh again. I know managers defend their players but Hughes has made a real chump of himself over this one, in my opinion. Then Arsene was asked about Robin van Persie's statement in which he was hugely critical of his former teammate. He said:

If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn't say, 'thank you very much' and turn the other cheek. Only Jesus Christ did that.

Brilliant. I love Arsene when he's like that. He went on to talk about how he was 'surprised and shocked' by Adebayor's behaviour and how he deserved to be charged for his actions. Again it's strong stuff, normally Arsene is quite the diplomat and I suspect he feels a bit pissed upon by a guy who would be still kicking his heels in Ligue 1 if it weren't for him. He treats players well, like adults, and it must hurt when you come across such an ungrateful, thankless turd like Adebayor. 

As we know Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct, which will be a 3 match ban if found guilty, and improper conduct which could see anything between 1 and 3 games added to that. No less than he deserves in my opinion. Final word on this today goes to Goodplaya who has a nice perspective on it.

Anyway, enough of him. And more of ... well ... there's not a great deal more of anything. Except for me to publicly declare war on Atletico Madrid who cost me the best part of €1000 last night by not beating Apoel Nicosia. I had successfully predicted the other 7 scores in last night's Champions League games, including Juventus drawing with Bordeaux, and then these lazy-arsed mañana bastards can't be bothered scoring even one goal. Gah.

Still, our Winter Astro season kicked off last night and we won 2-1 against a team of much younger, fitter and faster lads. We used our experience, and massive bulk, to kick off our season with a win. Hurrah! It's all downhill from here.

My money tonight is on Eduardo bagging at least one in an Arsenal win. Safe and enjoyable trip to all those travelling. 

Come on you reds!

Till tomorrow.

In an ideal world we'd be putting Saturday's defeat behind us and saying no more about it. That, however, is impossible given the furore caused by Emmanuel Adebayor.

It's likely he's going to be hit with FA charges for the celebration and the stamp on Robin van Persie. Regarding the celebration there are those who say Arsenal fans shouldn't have reacted like that and perhaps that's true to an extent. There's an accusation that football fans are very quick to dish out banter but when they get a bit back they get a bit precious, and that's also true at times.

But there's a responsibility on players to rise above it. I've read about the 'abuse' handed out to Adebayor, he's used it as an excuse himself, but eye-witness reports from the game itself don't tally with what he says and what's being said in the press. And I've heard him get worse stick when he was an Arsenal player and he didn't react like that. He wanted to wind-up Arsenal fans, it worked, but the onus is on him to be the professional. He is the one paid huge amounts of money and that there was bitterness from Arsenal fans is because they were the ones whose season tickets etc were paying him to amble about last season. 

Kolo Toure came over and dragged him away. There's a picture of both Kolo and Craig Bellamy holding their hands up to apologise. Craig Bellamy. This is a man who hit one of his own teammates about the legs with a golf club and he's more professional than Adebayor. The Greater Manchester police are less than impressed which is bound to have a bearing on the outcome on the FA investigation.

Mark Hughes, Man City manager, knows Adebayor is in the wrong but has done little but make excuses for him. While I don't expect any manager to castigate his player in public you have to laugh when he says:

He needs to be cut a little bit of slack given what he has gone through in the last 18 months

What has he gone through? Serious illness? Unemployment? A traumatic accident? A death in his family? No. He created a sticky situation for himself at work, where he was paid £80,000 a week, and then made that situation worse when it would have been easy to make it better. Then he got a different job which pays him £140,000 a week. A WEEK. What he's gone through? Give me a break and spend a few days in the real world. There are people who go through worse every single day of their lives and nobody should have any sympathy for Adebayor about what happened to him at Arsenal. It was his fault and his fault alone.

The van Persie stamp should see him banned for 3 games automatically. If the ref had seen it - and maybe he should have got laser eye surgery instead of hair implants - it would have been a red card. Adebayor claims he tried to speak to van Persie afterwards but naturally the Dutchman was having none of it. I would have liked to see more of our players follow that example than spend time hugging him afterwards but that's very much a side issue.

Any kind of violent play should be punished as severely as possible and that goes for Arsenal players who set out to deliberately injure an opponent too. What will gall City fans when they get over their crowing and stop and think about it is the fact that Adebayor went out on Saturday with nothing more than his own agenda in mind. He wanted revenge. Quite what for I don't know. As Arsene Wenger said:

At Arsenal we tried to treat him well. He came from Metz where he did not play and now he is the player he is. I do not feel we treated him badly.

And he's right. He had an issue with the fans and the fans had an issue with him but what did Cesc Fabregas ever do but create goals for him? So why the vicious stamp on his ankle? I never heard Robin van Persie say a bad word about him so why rake his studs down his face? The fact is that Adebayor was not a Man City player on Saturday, he was an Adebayor player. He'll now miss at least 3 games (maybe more if he gets banned for the celebration), including the Manchester derby this weekend, and it's the first little hint City fans have that the most important thing to Adebayor is Adebayor, not his club.

It was self-indulgent, unprofessional and when you read him saying that he has no idea why he should be banned for anything then, if you're a City fan, you've got to be a bit worried. That lack of insight applies to his performances on the pitch and his behaviour off it too. He could not understand why Arsenal fans reacted to his antics last summer because he lives in a cosseted bubble where he gets to do what he wants without worrying about the consequences. Now, perhaps, he'll get a taste of reality.

Anyway, I think we've spent enough time on him. When the verdict comes it'll be mentioned here. Then until April 24th, when he returns to the Grove for the first time, this shall remain an Adebayor-free zone*

There's not a whole lot else going on this morning, it has to be said. Eduardo's appeal against his 2 match ban takes place today in Switzerland so we'll find out if he's available for Wednesday's trip to Belgium.

What's not in doubt though is that we need to put Saturday behind us, regroup and start winning football matches. The start to the season calmed a lot of nerves, the last two results have re-opened old wounds, so to speak. Now comes a real test of the manager's belief in these players. We've got a great chance to create some momentum, both in Europe and domestically, but thoughts on that, team selections, injuries and everything else can wait until tomorrow.

Till then.

* unless he does something especially cunty in which case all bets are off

Morning, it's a busy one so let's crack right into it.

Arsene's pre-match press conference took place yesterday instead of the Friday before a game but as usual he had plenty to say. Starting with injuries ahead of the weekend's game he said Andrei Arshavin would miss at least 3 games due to a recurrence of his groin injury. He said:

We are upset because he should not have played. He was not in a condition where he could afford to play 90 minutes. We took him off against Manchester United because he was injured already at half-time. He will be out for Saturday, Wednesday and certainly next Saturday.

A lot of headlines suggest Wenger was upset with Guus Hiddink but Hiddink made it clear that the decision whether or not to play was up to Arshavin himself. If your best player tells you he's fit then as a manager you're not going to leave him out, are you? So I suspect the boss is unhappy more with Arshavin than the Russian management. I could be wrong though. And if he was that injured why didn't we just withdraw him from the squad, or are you not allowed do that anymore?

Whatever about the Liege and Wigan games but he's going to be missed badly against City tomorrow and his absence is frustrating, to say the least. As of this moment we don't have any further injury worries but the press conference took place before many of them had returned so there's the possibility of further frustration today. Hopefully not though. More on the City game tomorrow.

He spoke about Eduardo and all the fuss surrounding him. Rightly enough he said he's been through worse in his career. When you come back from the kind of injury he has a few braying morons isn't going to affect you. He did say though:

The worst is that now he is not given penalties when they are penalties. That is much worse. The one last night against England was a penalty.

That's just something he'll have to live with, us too, I suppose, but with Wenger banging the drum of fairness and having everyone treated the same I think things will return to normal soon enough. He also put it to the media again to look at their part in it, saying:

Being a hero or a cheat depends very much on what side of the camp you are on. England are in the World Cup and if Rooney does that in the last minute of the game and England win the World Cup, do you really think Rooney will be slaughtered the next day?

And that about sums it up really. I hope we can move past all this now. I'm as bored of diving and the associated furore as I would be reading a Dan Brown book while listening to Tracy Chapman's Fast Car over and over and over again (this is because scientists have proved this is the most boring song of all time).

He then spoke passionately about transfers involving young players in the light of the Chelsea transfer ban. It's clear this is a subject close to his heart and it's well worth watching the press conference for this if you have the Arsenal TV online stuff. His main concern is that it prevents the best young players from progressing. He says:

If you have a child who is a good musician, what is your first reflex? It is to put the child into a good music school, not in an average one. So why should that not happen in football?

And it's very difficult to argue against that. Particularly as the whole thing is natural. A kid starts at one club, moves on to a better one, to a better one again and so on. That happens at every level. The issue of compensation is what needs to be looked at, not draconian measures like preventing players from moving to further their careers. But then this is FIFA we're looking at, lobbied by know-nothing morons who have accused Arsenal of 'child trafficking' in the past. Nothing would surprise me but in this case everything Wenger says is absolutely right.

Right, that's about that in terms of news. There'll be a more detailed look at the Man City game tomorrow. Now it's time to go book crazy and get on with the Arsecast. All week you've had the chance to win a copy of the new republished 'Forward, Arsenal', which details the early history of the club. The question had to do with the author, Bernard Joy, and which club he was with when he represented England as an amateur. 

The answer was c) Casuals. There were loads of entries but with 6 copies to give away your chances of the RNG (Random Number Generator) pulling you off out were good. So it's congratulations this morning to Ollie Angot, Rodrigo Feijó, Peter Spencer, Robert Allen, Suzanne Noble and David McNamara. Well done to you, I'll be in touch for address details and so on. In the meantime my thanks to the publishers of Forward, Arsenal, GCR Books, for their generosity and the book, which I highly recommend, can be purchased through their website.

Ok, on to today's Arsecast and there's a bookish flavour to this one as well. Joining me on the show is Alex Fynn, co-author of Arsènal: The making of a modern superclub (out now in paperback with four new chapters). We chat about Arsene Wenger, his transfer business this summer and his overall policy, as well as things at boardroom level including Ivan Gazidis, what's going to happen to Lady Nina's shares and former director David Dein.

Not only that though, Alex and co-author Kevin Witcher of the Gooner, have been kind enough to give me three copies to give away in the Arsecast itself. And not only that, those three copies are signed by Arsene Wenger himself, so they're real collectors items. For details on how to enter the competition simply listen to the Arsecast and remember, if you'd like to buy the book, you can use this link and the code 'rocky' at check-out will get you £1 off the cover price.

As well as all that on the show there's some poetry and a rather desperate Sylvester looking to make his first appearance of the season. On the pitch, I mean.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

So, there's plenty to be going on with. Till tomorrow, Arsechums.