Well, if there's anything to be said about our transfer business this summer it's been efficient. Certainly when it comes to selling a player to Man City.

No sooner has their been confirmation of interest from the nouveau riche Mancarabs then the deal is practically done. So it was yesterday when Kolo Toure flew back from the Arsenal training camp, underwent a medical, signed a four year deal worth £100,000+ a week and the next moment it's all official - on both clubs websites (City this time actually waited for the deal to be done between the clubs before announcing it).

There was talk of a row over a 'severance payment' but I think that was Sky trying to add more drama to a transfer which was business-like and professional. That didn't suit them though so they make up some story about the player holding out for payment. It smacks of fiction when the deal is done so quickly after announcing it.

So, Kolo is gone and he goes with the best wishes of all Arsenal fans, I'm sure. He's been a real legend for us, the last real link to the Invincibles and he'll be missed. I don't think there's anyone connected with the club who would have a bad word to say about him. He's an all-round good guy and while I don't think we want to wish his club great success I hope he does well there and smashes Craig Bellamy's spine in training one day.

Thanks for the memories, Kolo. 322 games, 14 goals, and lot of smiles. Good luck (except when you play against us). Oh, and give Adebayor a slap for us too. Cheers.

Moving on to on-field matters there was a game last which saw us beat Hanover 96 1-0. The goal came from Cesc Fabregas, making his first appearance of pre-season, a nice through ball from Robin van Persie and Cesc went around the keeper before sliding it home.

It was certainly a more competitive game than the ones against the part-timers and what have you, but that's no bad thing. You need to step up the intensity a bit. What is interesting is the way we lined up. We started with a kind of 4-3-2-1 formation. Three central midfielders, two attackers wide and a central striker. Last night saw Bendnter and Arshavin in those wide positions with RVP up front. 

When you look at the players coming back, Vela, Walcott, Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri - there's certainly a lot of scope for those roles to be interchangeable. The latter two could even play as part of the midfield three if necessary.

What is clear though is that if the boss is thinking of adopting this for the campaign ahead we still need one more player. If you take Cesc, Denilson, Diaby, Song and Ramsey as our central midfield options and you're going to play three at any one time then we need more cover than that. Leaving aside the fact I believe we need more quality in there anyway, five midfielders for two positions is plenty, five for three is a bit short, in my opinion. Anyway, we'll get a better look at the way we're lining up during the Emirates Cup this weekend.

At the end of last night's game it seems that Emmanuel Eboue went over to the Arsenal fans, threw in his boots/shirt etc and waved goodbye. He's been linked very strongly with a move to Fiorentina and it does look as if something is happening. Now, regular readers will know I won't shed too many tears at his departure but at the same time it does leave us a bit light in the right back department. There's no obvious stand-in for Sagna if needed. Kolo's gone, Alex Song was used there once and it did not go well, Djourou is a centre-half, so if the manager sells Eboue perhaps that's an area he might need to spend some money in. 

The big gossip this morning is the return of Patrick Vieira. Apparently Ian Wright said on his radio show that he heard we were going to offer him a 'pay as you play' deal. Whether or not this is Ian Wright trying to get a bit of publicity for his show remains to be seen. On one level it makes a kind of sense. You bring in a player who is not going to get in the way, long term, of players Wenger has great faith in. It adds experience and quality to the side. 

On the other though how many times has Arsene ever gone back and signed someone he let go? Does Paddy even have the legs for the Premier League anymore? He's spent a lot of time injured in the last two years, so I have to say I'd be more than surprised if he came back. That said, if you gave me the choice between Vieira and nobody at all then I would most certainly choose Vieira.

Former great Nigel Winterburn has his say on transfers in an interesting Guardian piece. He says:

I think it is now essential that Arsène makes new signing. They need three players to bolster the squad; a centre-half, a strong central midfielder to complement Cesc Fábregas and possibly someone else up front.

While we're all hoping for one signing I think three is really expecting too much. We haven't heard from AW after last night's game and I'm assuming there'll be some pre-Emirates Cup press stuff so hopefully we'll get some more info in the next day or so.

What is interesting to note though is that very few clubs are buying players at the moment. United raked in £80m from Ronaldo, spent £20m on Valencia and that French bloke who looks like Sylvester's son plus a cheapo deal for Michael Owen and that's it. Liverpool bought a right back half funded by money they were owed by Portsmouth while Chelsea have signed Zhirkov and nobody else.

Look at who is spending money. Real Madrid, gone mad with the money. Man City, throwing cash around like they're playing football monopoly, and Barcelona have paid Inter Milan the best part of €50m + Eto'o for a striker who isn't nearly as good as the one they've let go. So there seems to be a kind of madness around the transfer market at the moment. We're not buying, that's for sure, but neither is anyone else. It's odd.

Anyway, just thought that was worth mentioning. That'll do for today. More tomorrow.

Kolo Toure arrived at Arsenal from ASEC Mimosas in 2002 for a fee of around £250,000. It looks like he's going to leave Arsenal for Manchester City for somewhere in the region of £16m.

It's another incredible piece of transfer business from Arsene Wenger who has made this kind of deal his speciality. I don't think there's another manager in the world who has generated such profits when selling players. So from a business point of view it's a very good move for Arsenal.

Of course as fans we're not really that interested in the business side of things, more the football, but it's difficult to separate the two. Back in January when rumours of City's interest first became known I said that an offer of £12m would be far too good to turn down, here were in July and another £4m on top of that makes it even better.

So while I don't believe there's any real debate about how good a piece of business it is there's certainly going to be a lot of chat about whether it's good for us from a football point of view. Let's try and examine that.

We know for a fact that Kolo handed in a transfer request in January. At that time he cited the breakdown of his relationship with William Gallas as the reason but the more info we got the more it looked like his head had been turned by the financial consideration on offer from City. And with Jonathan Barnett as his agent we have a man with some amount of previous in that regard. He was present with the husband of the X-Factor judge from Girls Aloud in meetings with Mourinho and Chelsea when the money on offer turned the head of a player who had been at the club since he was nine years of age.

Kolo's request may also have been based on the fact he had lost his place as a first choice and in that regard I had some sympathy for him. I thought Gallas' form was poorer as the defence struggled up until Christmas, but eventually the request was withdrawn (a move which angered City if you believe the rumours - they thought the deal was practically done), he declared his love for the club and said he was staying. He played regularly until the end of the season.

There are those who will question why we're letting an experienced campaigner like Kolo Toure and go to a club which the manager has identified as a threat to our position in the top four. It's a legitimate concern, no doubt about it. What I would say is that since his return from the ACN a little under 18 months ago Kolo has not been the same player.

He had a bout of malaria which certainly affected him, he didn't seem as fit, he looked heavier, and the blinding recovery pace on which his defensive game was based seemed to have deserted him. Arsene Wenger is a statistician. He'll have looked at Kolo's physical performances over the last 18 months both on the pitch and in training and if he thinks the chances of Kolo finding his old form and physical shape again are unlikely then this will have played a large part in his decision to sell.

I'm not doubting the money on offer has been a factor too but whatever you might think Wenger is not stupid. He's not going to sell City a player capable of the great things we used to see from Kolo Toure, nor is he going to deprive his own team of that talent and experience if he thinks he's still capable of it. If he believes Kolo's decline is permanent then that will have made his mind up, also taking into account he'd have been away for 6-8 weeks in the winter at the ACN again.

And when it comes to selling players heading towards 30 I think we have to trust Wenger's judgement. He rarely makes a mistake in that regard.

Now, do I expect the manager to replace him with someone like Hangeland? No, I don't. Yesterday he spoke about how having seven centre-halves at the club played a part in allowing Kolo to leave. You don't use that as a reason and then go out and buy another one. He's bought Vermaelen to be first choice, there's no doubt about that in my mind, leaving Gallas and Djourou to scrap to be his partner. He seems to like Alex Song at the back, although I'm not convinced, Philippe Senderos is back at the club and I wouldn't be at all sorry to see him stay, and then there's Sylvester. Ok, the less said about that the better.

You may argue all you want about the qualities of these players but based on the way I think the manager looks at them I don't think he's going to buy another centre-half. I think rumours about Hangeland are just that, it's an easy name for journalists to bandy about and make copy. I sincerely doubt we have any interest in him at all.

So now people will talk about Wenger having a £40m cash mountain to spend which I'm not sure is entirely accurate. Taking into account we've spent £25m since January on Arshavin and Vermaelen the Adebayor deal has balanced the books (we might assume that these purchases were made on the basis that the club was budgeting for the sale of Adebayor this summer), the Toure money would put us in profit. So I while I'm sure he has money to spend he certainly doesn't have £40m. He hasn't ruled out bringing in new players, telling Arsenal TV online yesterday:

Well at the moment I'm more focussed to get everybody fit for the start of the season. We are looking at opportunities as well but there are still some pre-season games to see what we really need and when the time has come we will do something.

Which is all a bit confusing. Surely he doesn't need pre-season to tell him what he needs? Last season would have done that more than adequately I'm sure. So while he's not ruling anything out it doesn't seem as if there's any deal close to being done, which I know won't please many.

I think even with the Kolo departure we only really need one signing. We need to add some Arshavin-esque quality to the centre of our midfield. With that purchase I believe we can really challenge on all fronts but I can't help feeling, and this feeling might be coming from the pit of my stomach, that he's looking at Denilson, Song, Diaby and Ramsey, considering the football they played last year and banking on them being a year older, more experienced and better.

I think it's a big risk to take if that's the way he is thinking. We saw the impact signing Arshavin made on the team, that kind of signing in central midfield would certainly reassure fans and signal the club's intent to challenge for trophies and not scrap for fourth once again. It's clear he identified the centre of defence as an area that needed strengthening and he went out and did it almost straight away. If he believed the centre of midfield needed the same kind of investment wouldn't he have done it by now? I know there were rumours about Melo but isn't it just as plausible that Fiorentina fabricated some interest to push through a better deal with Juventus?

It's certainly not impossible that these players can improve, they are all young and the manager has great faith in them, my worry is that if he chooses to go down that road and things go wrong then he's on a hiding to nothing. People will point to the money raised by the sales of Adebayor and Toure and castigate him for not spending and for relying on players who did not produce last season. He is making a rod for his own back, so he's got a big decision to make in that regard.

Nevertheless, he has said we're 'looking at opportunities' so I'm hoping my gut feeling on this is wrong. I suspect he's waiting, looking to see who might be available, and if the right player comes along we might buy. We've got just over a month until the transfer window closes. I suspect we're going to hear a a few vague stories about how we'll bring in the right player if they can add something 'special' to the squad, but at the moment, and this is just my own feeling on this, I'm not expecting anyone else to come in.

No doubt that's going to prompt some amount of discussion so I might just stick my flak jacket on and have another cup of coffee.

Going back to Kolo briefly, it'll be sad to see him go. He's given a lot to this club, his enthusiasm and hard work endeared to him to the fans. I think it was very early in the life of Arseblog that he was tried at centre-half in pre-season (against Rangers if I recall correctly) and he was fantastic. If you look at the players he was coming in to take over from (Keown and Adams) it shows what a performer he was. He scored us some goals, some vital ones too, and he's really the last full link to the invincibles side. 

But that's football, players move on all the time, in a way it's a shame he's going to that bunch of lottery winning knackers but c'est la vie. Thanks, Kolo.

There's a game tonight, of course, we play Hanover 96 in the final game of our Austrian pre-season 'tour'. No doubt we'll get some more from the manager on the Kolo deal, and it'll give us another chance to try and guess how we're going to play next season. Although I think it'll be the weekend and the Emirates Cup before we really get an idea of that.

Right then, have at it. More tomorrow.

Pre-season continued last night with a 5-0 stroll over Slobadomayz Hashpipes. In the evening gloom Arsenal's new away kit proved difficult to see, what with it being the exact same colour as shadows, but that didn't stop Nicklas Bendtner continuing his goal crazy pre-season ways with two goals.

Even better were two goals for Eduardo who got a good hour under his belt. He looked fit and sharp and it's great to see. The other goal came from a Robin van Persie penalty. The opposition might have scored a penalty of their own only for the bloke taking it to cock it up so badly he's going to end up on countless YouTube compilation reels.

It's nice that we're scoring goals, I have to say, even if there's not too much to be read into these pre-season games, but perhaps we're beginning to see the way the team might line up this season. At times it looked as if we were playing with three central midfielders with two wide forwards playing behind a main striker. Interesting. We'll get a better idea when we can actually see the games in decent resolution without having to sit 6 inches away from a computer monitor.

Arsenalist has the goals and an interview with Eduardo.

The appearances of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue in the first half might be a small clue as to their futures. I thought that if any possible moves were forthcoming they'd be protected from injury but maybe that doesn't apply to friendly games like these. Whatever the truth from the Arsenal camp the papers are full of stories again this morning: keywords = Kolo Toure, Manchester City and £15m. There are reports of personal terms being agreed and talks being at an 'advanced' stage so there definitely seems to be something going on.

A Cultured Left Foot makes an interesting point in that no denial of these rumours has been forthcoming. In a summer when we've heard from almost all the players linked with moves away, even Nicklas Bendtner yesterday denied any possible move to AC Milan, Kolo and the club have been very quiet about this one. That might just be because there's nothing doing, that this is all nothing but rumour, but it would make you wonder. 

These stories haven't really gone away since January when Kolo handed in a transfer request, then decided at the last minute to stay at Arsenal. Perhaps he didn't want to be the first high profile player to go there. Would the arrivals of Tevez, Barry and Adebayor make it easier for him? We'll see. The Mirror speculates that if we do sell him the money will go almost straight away on Fulham's Brede Hangeland who is becoming the Obafemi Martins of defenders. Whenever we're linked with any kind of defender, it's him.

One thing is for sure though, that if we sell Kolo Toure to Manchester City that money must be invested back into the team. The same if Eboue leaves for Italy. Arsene generally knows the right time to sell a player, I don't think there are too many Arsenal fans who would dispute that, where he's fallen down in recent times is by not replacing them.

The obvious example here is Gilberto. Allowed to leave last summer I'm very much of the opinion that he'd still have brought more to the team than Denilson or Song or Diaby last term. Anyway, with the Adebayor money already in the coffers, adding another £20m or so by selling the two Ivorians would surely have to bring about some transfer action.

Meanwhile new boy Thomas Vermaelen says his lack of height is not a big problem because he can read the game well and he's got a good jump. Oh dear, one thing everybody knows is that white men can't jump.

Time to hear from some legends now. Firstly Thierry Henry has reacted to Twitchy Redknapp's claims that he advised Patrick Vieira to sign for Sp*rs, saying:

I am Arsenal through and through. I’d never advise anyone to sign for Tottenham. I can’t have Arsenal fans thinking I am helping Tottenham in any way.

And that is why Thierry Henry is an Arsenal great. Well, that and all those goals he scored for us. I seem to remember a few of those down the years, but he doesn't slag off the club, the fans, the manager, or anyone else, which is why he'll be remembered with fondness and some players will be subjected to verbal custard pies whenever they return.

He also believes the trophy drought could come to an end this season, saying:

I know how those supporters feel. Like them, I am Arsenal through and through and we all suffer when the team doesn't win anything. All I can say to them right now is to have faith in Arsene and know that the first trophy in five years will be more enjoyable than ever.

Then Dennis Bergkamp has been talking about Andrei Arshavin. He reckons the Russian's a good 'un, saying:

Arshavin has every chance of becoming a favourite of the London fans. Arsenal found the kind of player they have been lacking. I hope Andrey will not rest on his laurels and will to continue to work to a higher level. Then he will become part of Arsenal's history.

And there's another man who knows a thing or two about becoming part of Arsenal's history. Arshavin doesn't strike me as the rest on his laurels type anyway but that kind of backing from someone as important to Arsenal fans as Dennis must be nice to get.

Robin van Persie reckons we're in good shape in the striking department but he wouldn't be unhappy to see a new signing come in as it would strengthen the squad. Good attitude.

And beyond that there's not much to tell you. The lads will continue training ahead of the final game of the Austrian tour tomorrow evening. It would be nice to see us line up in red shirts though. The more I see that away kit the less I like it. And that's saying something.

Till tomorrow.

Morning, today's post is brought to you with a hint of a *boilk* but not much more than that really. Although I can taste chips. Not so good.

Anyway, Sunday is a day of rumour and scuttlebutt in the papers so let's get on with that. The Times is reporting, in a very casual manner I have to say, that Kolo Toure has agreed personal terms with Manchester City.

To me this appears to be a couple of steps ahead of where it should be. Generally personal terms are agreed after the clubs agree a fee. The Times says £15m is what he 'should' be sold for but makes no claim of contact between the two clubs. So how are personal terms being agreed? Then you remember that Kolo's agent is one Jonathan Barnett, grubby pal of the swervy husband of the X-Factor judge from Girls Aloud and it makes some kind of sense.

£15m for Kolo? It'd be something you'd have to consider, for sure. However, the only way you could accept it is by spending some of that money on another centre-half, because if Kolo leaves and Senderos leaves, as seems likely, we're only a couple of injuries away from Sylvester and Song at the back and that, my friends, is making me taste chips again.

The other thing you have to consider is that it would make City better at the back and while I think getting rid of Adebayor has not affected us adversely, selling Kolo to them would probably be unwise.

Steve Stammers reports in the Mirror that Eduardo's return to training is making Arsene think twice about buying a replacement for Adebayor but the News of the World says we're planning a £7m swoop for Solomon Kalou. AW did confirm last season that we'd tried to sign him last summer so that's probably where this story is coming from but I have to say the thought of Kalou in an Arsenal shirt isn't exactly filling me with glee.

His name makes me think of Salamander Glue and if anyone can think of a good use for salamander glue besides sticking a whole load of salamanders to someone's car then I'd like to hear it. I bet it has nothing to do with being any good at football though.

And if you thought Salamander Glue was the most off the wall transfer rumour of the day, think again. How about Lee Cattermole? £10m says VitalWigan. I watched him a bit in that U21 tournament and he does like a tackle but he's hardly the experienced quality player we're all looking for. Anyway, I would suggest this is about as likely as me laying a golden egg. 

Srallex Ferguson has been having a bit of a pop at Man City in the papers today, and who can blame him? While calling them 'small time' and 'people who enjoy being raped by monsters' (I think, I haven't read it all), he confirms that Emmanuel Adebayor's people desperately tried to engineer a move to United or Chelsea rather than go to the City of People Who Enjoy Being Raped By Monsters Stadium.

I saw Adebayor on Sky Sports News last night talking about the upcoming season at his new club and all I could think of was 'You prick'. Not terribly clever or anything but after that many beers I'm not in charge of my own head.

Rumours in Italy say that AC Milan want Nicklas Bendtner. Can't see it. Especially after Berlusconi gets on the phone to Peter Hill-Wood.

PHW: "Hello?"

SB: "What are you wearing you sexy little minx? I would make love to you all night long. Bring some friends. We can have an orgy".

PHW: "I beg your pardon?"

SB: "Ooops, so sorry. Wrong phone. Althoooooouuuugh ...."

PHW: *click*

The News of the World and the Mirror also tell you what you already know about young Brazilian Wellington so there's no need for me to link to the stories. 

And that ladies and gentlemen is about that. Have yourselves a jolly Sunday. More tomorrow.

Hello and welcome to another week of summer which means that the new season is slightly less far away than it was last week.

All the talk this morning is about Thomas Vermaelen. Again. Supposedly a fee has been agreed between the two clubs and now we wait all the other stuff that goes with it. It can take time though. Remember last summer we had agreed everything with Marseille for Samir Nasri but it took an age to complete for various reasons.

People might talk about him only being 5'11 but I'm not sure it really makes that much difference. A good defender is a good defender, no matter what height he is. For example, Christopher Samba is 6'5, that doesn't mean you'd want him at Arsenal. And people don't realise that Alex Song is only 5'4 without his hair. Now, I'm not saying Vermaelen is a good defender, I don't really think I've seen him play (as I was watching a different Euro 2008 from some of the experts), but you can't write him off just because he's a bit shorter than you might like.

For all we know Wenger is planning on doing a Petit with him and converting him to a central midfielder. 

Setanta Sports quotes Vermaelen this morning, saying:

Moving to Arsenal is the right path for me. It is a great sporting challenge and I will also be financially better off. I think everything is going to be okay.

There's some of the fire to go with all the smoke at last and I'm happy for him that he's going to be financially better off. Recession? What recession? I suppose now we just wait for this to be announced on the official site some time in late August.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail suggests that Vermaelen's arrival could see Kolo Toure upping sticks for the Burj Al Manchester. He was linked heavily with Citeh in January, going so far as to hand in a transfer request, but reaffirmed his commitment to Arsenal (coinciding with his return to the team, funnily enough). The Mail says a swap deal involving Kolo and Micah Richards might be the cheese. Interesting. Very similar players, in my opinion, but obviously Richards has youth on his side.

I know this is also all speculation but I do wonder about Kolo's future at the club. He's had a fairly poor run of form and I suppose the manager has to decide if this is just a lull in his career or if he feels that Kolo has peaked and will struggle to find the form which made him such a favourite. Arsene has spoken about the 'threat' of City but I think, realistically, the threat City pose to other clubs is not so much next season but this summer as they try and lure players with big salaries/signing-on fees.

They can offer players massive wages that in more difficult economic times other clubs won't be able to match. And while you might question the ambition of some players who choose to go there you have to accept that for some players the height of their ambition is to earn as much money as possible. But nobody we sign would be interested in that kind of thing ...*cough*...

Not much else happening really but if you're missing football then here's a chance to go see the London Masters 5-a-side tournament. Arsenal are in there with Sp*rs, Chelsea, West Ham, Fulham and QPR and all this week I've got tickets to give away. 

I have five pairs of tickets and to win all you have to do is answer the following question:

Ray Parlour's nickname was a) The Ginger Avenger b) The Romford Pele or c) Johnny Fire-extinguisher.

Answers to londonmasters@arseblog.com and the winners will be announced on Friday. The Arsenal team on the day will include Ray, as well as Nigel Winterburn, Stefan Schwarz, Paul Merson, Michael Thomas and more. Should be fun.

Right so, have yourselves a good Monday, more tomorrow.

Plenty to get through this morning so let's get busy.

Football and players first and Kolo Toure has been explaining why he considered his Arsenal future this season. He said:

I have been here a long time, and when I saw some players leaving the Club last year that was difficult for me. Then when we didn’t start the season well I was scared.

Scared?! Kolo? Really? He goes on to say:

When you love somebody it's important that they love you back.

Not if you're a rich Arab prince and you bought your extremely hot wife from a modelling agency, then you don't care if she loves you back because you own her. However, that example might be a bit extreme.

The fact is that Kolo's form suffered and he was dropped from the team. I suspect he considered it a bit unfair because while the defence wasn't playing well as a unit it was William Gallas who was guilty of all the individual errors that were costing us goals yet it was Kolo who was dropped.

The much talked about breakdown in the relationship between Kolo and Gallas was true and that was reason Kolo cited when he handed in a transfer request. The fact that Manchester City wanted to sign him and offer him monstrous wages was probably another factor but when push came to shove Kolo decided he didn't want to be the concubine of an Arab prince and stayed at Arsenal (I'm told City were absolutely furious at his volte-face).

Personally I think Kolo has struggled for form because players go through dips in their career and, like Gallas, he has always played better with a big stopper beside him. We've spoken time and time again about how they were too similar to play together, it was something the manager even admitted this season. To be fair they did show signs of improvement after Gallas had the weight of the captaincy taken off him but you could ask a clone of Bobby Moore, Tony Adams and Franco Baresi to play well alongside Sylvester and he'd struggle.

Anyway, Kolo loves us, he's always going to be an Arsenal man, he says, let's just hope he can find his old self between now and the start of next season.

Cesc, meanwhile, has spoken about the club's failure to win anything, saying:

We haven’t been in any Finals and perhaps that’s because of something. We’ve gone 21 games without losing in the league, so we know we are good, but when we’ve played in the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup and Champions League we haven’t been at the level everyone expected us to reach.

Maybe that means something, and sometimes you need to be honest with yourself – our opponents were stronger than us in both of those ties and you just have to go from there, try to see where you made mistakes and try to put them right.

It means you're good, but not quite good enough. He goes on to thank the fans for their continued support throughout the disappointing times. Something Robin van Persie also touched on in an interview yesterday, although neither of them can have failed to notice the empty seats as many fans have voted with their feet in recent games.

Robin himself is looking for some continuity in the squad for next season, saying:

If we lose three or four every year it is hard to get the spirit in. Hopefully we can stay here and have a real go at it. If we can produce games like we did this year there is room for improvement – if you look at our midfield it is between 20 and 22.

He's right, but you can lose three or four every year if those three or four are replaced properly and not simply by promoting fringe players to the first team. I watched his interview with Arsenal TV online yesterday and was struck by how downbeat he was. As I mentioned earlier he talked about feeling for the fans but there was a sense of frustration about him, as if he knew this team wasn't quite there in terms of winning trophies.

There were quotes going around yesterday with Wenger saying he didn't believe the squad needed a lot of investment. They came from L'Equipe apparently but I think these are the same quotes that came from his post-match press conference after the Chelsea game. Obviously in the wake of another trophyless season and two crushing defeats there's been a lot of ... erm ... discussion, we might say.

There are those who think the manager has taken the club as far as he can, that a change is needed. I don't go along with that but I strongly believe Arsene needs to look at the balance of his squad, as I've been saying for a couple of seasons now the balance is wrong. Too much youth, not enough experience.

What worries me slightly is the idea that he's thinking 'Ok, we learned harsh lessons last season when we should have won the league but fell apart. This season we learned lessons, responded well, got to two semi-finals, and next year these players are going to be more experienced. That will bridge the gap'. In a way I can understand it but not every player will improve, some have gone backwards this season, and choosing to rely on them next time around would be dangerous and foolhardy, in my opinion.

In the Guardian blogs Amy Lawrence writes:

So, after Arsenal were stripped of their dignity at home twice in a week at the hands of Manchester United and Chelsea, the hype-merchants propose that Wenger must go. There is no need to be quite so kneejerk. But Wenger must change.

And with that I cannot argue one jot.

Seen the new away kit? It's a bit poxy, isn't it? And by a bit it's like a smallpox victim who has rubbed themselves off a chickenpox sufferer who has then smeared the oozing pus of a stenchpox casualty all over their sore encrusted body.

Now, from one horrible thing to another and Alisher Usmanov continues his 'charm' offensive by offering to pay off a chunk of the club's debt to free up transfer funds for the manager. A spokesperson for Fat and Orange said:

The debt at the club appears to be an impediment to that and we are ready to help address that if the board asks. Raising ticket prices is not the answer.

It's a fairly transparent attempt to curry favour with fans, sort of like the rise of extremist politicians in times of financial despair. Offer money, check. Make reference to ticket prices, check (ignoring the fact the club announced a freeze on ticket prices back in February). It's funny how people are more inclined to ignore Usmanov's background just because things aren't going so well on the pitch.

I'm as desperate for a trophy as any Arsenal fan, I dearly want to see us win something, but the fact that Usmanov owns 25% of our club still does not sit right with me. I mean, look at him chatting away to his buddy here (birds of a feather) - and who amongst us hasn't taken the higher ground when it comes to the way Chelsea have won things?

The desire to win silverware should not come at the expense of doing things the right way and anyone who has followed the Usmanov saga will know that this is a man of dubious character who I believe should be rejected by every right thinking Arsenal fan.

Let's be clear, Usmanov will not be doing this out of 'love' for Arsenal - he's a Man United fan after all - you don't simply gift somebody tens of millions of pounds without wanting something in return. There is no such thing as a free lunch, especially when it comes to oligarchs. But this is quite clever from Fat & Orange, they know the club will reject any such offer.

I'm no expert but I'm sure such a thing is a legal minefield anyway, and Arsenal will continue with its sensible, self-sustaining business model. It then means they can say 'Oh, well we offered money, we're the good guys' if things don't go well on the field. It's troublemaking disguised as help, really.

What does seem obvious is that the chances of F&O and the current board working together in any kind of harmony are slim, and with the former having made some fresh share purchases yesterday the battle-lines are being drawn.

Right then, that's pretty long so I'll leave it there for today. More tomorrow.

It's funny how quickly things can change in football.

Less than two months ago Kolo Toure handed in a transfer request to Arsene Wenger, citing the complete breakdown in his relationship with William Gallas as the reason behind his desire to leave. While it's clear there was an issue between the two men it probably had more to do with Man City's desperate desire for a centre-half.

They made it very clear how much they wanted Toure, how much they'd pay him, and with Kolo struggling for form, in his flowers with Gallas and witnessing the emergence of Johan Djourou he asked to leave the club.

Now, with the transfer window closed and his place in the team more assured than it was he's happy to stay and he appears to have mended fences with Gallas. He says:

Me and William know each other really, really well and we are definitely quite happy to play together. I don’t want to talk about my transfer request. That is over now. I’m just delighted to be at the club because I love Arsenal. They are the club of my heart.

And things change not only with players but with fans too. Since his return from the ACN in early 2008 Kolo has struggled for form and fitness and I think if there had been an assurance that money raised from his sale would go towards buying a top class replacement then I think many fans would have accepted his transfer. I don't say they'd have been happy to see him go but I suspect they'd have thought £12m, or thereabouts, would have represented good business.

And here we are, less than eight weeks later, he's back in the team, playing better, part of a defence which is producing clean sheets in a way it hasn't all season and captaining the side in Cesc's absence. It still looks like the blistering recovery pace he used so brilliantly is gone, at times he looked like he was running with lead boots during the Sunderland game, but I'm happy to see him make things better and his form improve.

And I think it illustrates that things change quickly not only for players but for fans too. With the demand for information and news and discussion perhaps we get a bit too short-sighted when it comes to players and their performances.

Not always, but sometimes. A few good performances and he's the second coming of Pires/Bergkamp/Henry/Vieira. Some poor ones and the guy has been filled full of the juice of Gus Caesar and needs to brought to the knacker's yard. That's not to say players are beyond criticism - because that's foolish. But there's a huge amount of discussion going on every single day and never before have players been so scrutinised. That brings about a certain vehemence to people's opinions.

But maybe we need to step back sometimes and not be so quick to write players off. Those that have consistently underperformed or who illustrate week in, week out that they don't have what it takes - they're a different story. But someone like Kolo Toure who has been a great servant to Arsenal, a player who has always given 100%, perhaps deserves a little more understanding. Players go through periods where they struggle with form, most of the time good ones come out of it again, and hopefully that's what we're seeing with Kolo. 

A player currently not currying too much favour with fans is Nicklas Bendtner. The Dane was guilty of a poor miss in the second half and a horrible touch in the first saw what should have been a decent chance escape him. Yet it was his pass to Robin van Persie that saw us win the penalty and Bendtner is happy with that, saying:

I would have liked to score myself but it wasn't to be. The most important thing is that we won. I'm happy to have contributed to the winning the penalty. As long as I know I gave my contribution I can leave here with my head held high.

He's got eight goals so far this season which isn't a bad return considering his place in the squad. However, with the amount of games he's started it wouldn't be unfair to expect a few more. On the other hand he's just 21 years old, established as an international, and perhaps not quite ready to be a starter. I think he's probably better as an impact sub and spending as much time out wide as he's been asked to do robs him, and us, of his presence in the penalty area where he's probably most effective.

He's certainly the most dangerous player we have in the air but he's got to work on his first touch. His control is truly awful at times and that simply has to get better if he's going to get improve as a player. Perhaps in a couple of months, after a run where he's got a few important goals, opinions on him might change as well. That, of course, is all down to him though. 

Gunnerblog points out a sly foul by Francesco Totti on Denilson in the game on Tuesday night. What's most telling is the ITV commentator saying "[Denilson] hurt himself in tackling Totti".

Hurt himself? Pathetic really. You can be quite sure if that had been a foul on Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney they'd have spotted the way Totti raised his boot and quite deliberately kicked backwards like some kind of demented Italian pony. That the ref was only a couple of yards away and did nothing is nearly worse. Nearly, because as we all know nothing is worse than ITV's football coverage. 

The Telegraph reports on concerns that the property market slump is affecting our finances. Obviously the Highbury Square development looked like a much better prospect 12-18 months ago but with the half-yearly financial report due out today we should get a better idea of what's going on. 

Beyond that not much going on. We can start previewing the Fulham game tomorrow and there will, of course, be an Arsecast.

Till then. 

Morning all,

hopefully with an important game against Porto tomorrow we can get back to something approaching normality after the last couple of days. What's done is done, what's said is said, and at this point I don't think there's anything fresh to bring to the table.

Emmanuel Adebayor, apart from saying he feels sorry for his beleaguered teammate, says Arsenal have to concentrate on results, not on style. He says:

We have to fight as a team and that is how we are going to try to achieve something this season. We just have to control ourselves, not to worry about whether we play with elegance or not. We have to forget about how we are going to dribble, how many passes we are going to make - the most important thing is to get the ball in the back of the net and that is it.

He was referring to the league and the eight point gap and even Arsene Wenger has admitted it's a miracle that we're still in the title race, saying:

We have had some indifferent games but the thing that has saved us is that we have beaten our main rivals. That has prevented some damage. We are still in there - we play Liverpool at home soon which is a chance as well. We know we can't lose any of the games against the big teams now.

And it is almost miraculous. After losing 5 games so far in the league we should be miles off the pace but the good results against Chelsea and United, along with the points the other big teams have dropped means we're still more or less in there. A win against Liverpool would close that gap to just five points and as we all know five points is no gap at all. When you consider we lost just three games during the whole of last season it tells you a lot about how odd this campaign is.

Robin van Persie has been speaking about taking chances with his right foot. He's hugely left footed and often slows things down trying to get the ball onto his good side. But he scored against Chelsea with his right, or as he rather bizarrely calls it, his 'chocolate leg'. He says:

Positive thinking is the key for me – when I have a chance I think positively. I think this is a good chance with my right foot – I can score this one. And I think you will miss many more chances with your chocolate leg if you think negatively, thinking that it’s not your strong foot.

Chocolate leg? You might snicker but the wispas around the training ground say that Robin's wrong foot is becoming a real star, bar the odd air shot. Fingers crossed it can improve, as it is somewhat flakey, and that he can score moro goals and continue that football from another galaxy.  

So while Robin is getting better it gets worse and worse for Tomas Rosicky. Initially he was due to be back in September, then October, then Christmas and yesterday we got the news that it'll March 'at the earliest' before we see him.

In one way it's hard not to feel sorry for him. He's a good player, a likable character and someone who always gives you 100% on the pitch. On the other hand he's being handsomely paid for being out with a hamstring injury for what will be well over a year. It's hard to see how he's ever going to get back to the top level because we could just as easily get to March and see another article saying how 'next season' is a more realistic goal for his return.

It would be great to see him back and this team could really use his talent and experience right now but it seems more and more unlikely as time passes. It's a real shame. 

Tomorrow is Porto, obviously, and an important game in terms of who tops the group. There'll be a fuller preview on tomorrow's game but the Hulk is still smarting from the pasting they got at the Grove and wants to make sure Porto finish top. The pressure is off but it would be nice to finish top. It doesn't guarantee an easier game, in the 2006 season we finished top of our group and got Real Madrid in the first knock-out round, while finishing in second place last season saw us draw AC Milan. With many of the groups still to be decided it's hard to say if we'd be better on top or not, although for confidence it would be good to win the group.

There's been no team news yet. You have to imagine we'll be without Nasri after the injury he picked up against Wigan and after that there's only really Gallas who might come back into the squad. Kolo Toure has been talking up his partnership with the former captain and to me it seems as if he's trying too hard to make it sound like it works. It quite clearly doesn't, the two players are not compatible and Djourou's presence in the team, and the way he plays, make that quite obvious. 

I suspect there's now a fight on between Gallas and Toure to be the one to partner the Swiss and it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top. Funny how quickly things change in football, eh?

Right, beyond that not much else to tell you. More on the Porto game tomorrow. Till then. 

Good Saturday to you all.

There's a certain amount of *boilk* this morning but nothing too terrible. Certainly nothing sausages, bacon, white pudding, fried eggs, toast, orange juice and about 1800mg of Ibuprofen won't fix.

Not a huge amount going on in the word of Arsenal. There's some stuff on the official site about Bendtner, Clichy, Senderos and Sagna so go there and knock yourself out.

Manuel Almunia compares Aaron Ramsey to Cesc but says he still has lots to learn from Cesc and Diaby (probably how to never play more than 5 consecutive games lest you get too tired and ouchy). I am looking forward to seeing this lad play though.

According to The Sun Kolo Toure has made an 'amazing' recovery from malaria. Unconfirmed sources tell me he was on a life-support machine just a few hours ago and they were agonising over pulling the plug. Then, amazingly, he leapt up, gave Arsene Wenger a big hug, went for a 10 mile run, built a house, dug a trench and sang songs about his pet piglet until people were wishing he was back on life-support. Now he's so well recovered he can suck the malaria out of other people's bodies from 6 feet away.

And that's really about all there is to tell you. So I'll shut up now and go make the breakfast.

Till tomorrow.

Pre-season continued last night with a 1-1 draw against Hungarian side Szdyrgcbcbrtrvl Dlllbfyrtf with Theo Walcott scoring the Arsenal goal (goal and highlights via Arsenalist).

There really isn't any point in analysing these games too seriously. They're about getting some match fitness into the players, at this stage performances don't really matter too much. I didn't see any of it myself but we had Carlos Vela make his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt and new signing Francis Cocklesandmussels apparently did quite well.

There now comes a period when the players are going to be put through their paces and a lot of fitness work will take place in the build up to the next game against Cheeseburgerland next Monday. Pat Rice explains the idea behind the Austrian training camp and you can see some pictures here.

Afterwards Arsene Wenger spoke about our midfield, saying:

We need one more body in there. If we find a reasonable target we will get him. There is no special name.

This is after saying new boy Aaron Ramsey faces a lot of competition to earn a place in the first XI so it'll be interesting to see who he brings in. Everyone knows the names that have been bandied around for the last couple of weeks, it'd typical of Arsene to sign someone nobody expects. A bit like the Eduardo signing last summer - and speaking of the Crozilian he's due back in 'three to four' weeks according to the boss. Whether that's just to training or if it means he's back and pushing for a place in the team remains to be seen.

There was some bad news from the training camp as well as Kolo Toure reportedly has malaria. He's in good spirits, apparently, but it can be a debilitating illness. However, I'm not sure it's thrown our pre-season into 'crisis' as some reports suggest.

Thierry Henry spoke yesterday about Arsenal. Interviewed during Barcelona's tour of Scotland he was asked about Adebayor and again you'd be wise to ignore the reports saying 'Henry opens the door for Adebayor at Barcelona'. He was very obviously non-committal when asked a leading question by a journalist. He merely said it's natural that when you have a good season big clubs look at you. He knows fine well that the journos were looking for something a bit juicy so they could run the 'Come join me at Barcelona' headlines. I mean, he even had some nice things to say about Alex Hleb, that's how media savvy he is.

Beyond that he had some very nice thing to say about Arsenal and he believes we can win something in the season ahead. I hope he's right. BBC video link here.

Samir Nasri is excited about joining Arsenal and says that Arsene Wenger's presence at the club was a major draw for him. He says:

He represents stability and continuity. We understand we can work on the long term with him. I think he’s been at Arsenal for 13 years. It means the world! I have joined an immense club where there’s everything to achieve great things. I’m delighted to be part of this new adventure.

He may have his maths wrong regarding the boss but it's good to know that former players, even ones who left under a cloud like Dolphin-headed cunt, have positive things to say about the club. We should get our first look at Nasri during next week's friendlies.

So there you go. To those websites complaining about a 1-1 pre-season draw, grow the fuck up you sad cunts.

Till tomorrow.