According to Tim Hager, the agent of 19 year old Paris St. Germain defender Mamadou Sakho, Arsenal and Bayern Munich are hot on his trail.

He will be moving clubs this summer. Arsenal are interested, but the club are too cheap at the moment,” said Hager.

“Yes, I think a transfer will happen soon. He wants to play football in England and Arsenal are a good club but Manchester United is a better club.

“But the most interested club is Arsenal, they want him the most. Bayern Munich is a top European club, so I think it will be Bayern or Arsenal.

From what I’ve been reading around the internet it seems a lot of people want this guy to join Arsenal – the same people who are vehemently in opposition to us signing Thomas Vermaelen. Many claim we’ve been lacking experience (which is true) yet they want us to sign Sakho, who’s only 19 but not Thomas Vermaelen, who’s 23. Many also say Vermaelen is too short to play for Arsenal but they’re fine with us signing Sakho when Vermaelen is 6′1″ and Sakho is 6′1 1/2″. How much of a difference is half an inch? Why is it that Vermaelen would be such a bad signing for us, according to many, while Sakho would be perfect? Is it the fact that he’s Black? I think that’s exactly it. The fact that he’s Black and African descent suggests to many that he just has to be a great defender, while Vermaelen, who’s White and European, just can’t be as good. Here’s a quote from the web blog “Oh To Be A Gooner” that sums up what I’m talking about:

Now regardless of how much truth there is to those claims, Sakho is the type of player Arsene should buy. In fact, Sakho ticks all the boxes. He’s French, he’s athletic, he’s of African descent and he has an outlandish hairdo. Not to mention the fact that he’s still a teenager.

The first fact pointed to there is that he’s French…well yeah, so’s Mikael Silvestre. What’s your point?

The fact that he’s still a teenager means he doesn’t have the experience we’re looking for. We need men in the team who have big game experience. Johan Djourou is 20 years old and has played important Champions League matches for us as well as World Cup matches. Sakho doesn’t have the same experience.

If Aidan (the writer of the article) is reading this then I’d like for him to give me an explanation of how him being an African makes him such a good candidate. Seems very racist to me.

Every thing positive mentioned about Mamadou Sakho can easily be attributed to Thomas Vermaelen. I’m not saying Aidan from Oh To Be A Gooner is discrediting Vermaelen but a lot of people are and are comparing him to Mamadou Sakho, saying Sakho is better for the reasons I mentioned above. If your belief is the same that we should sign Sakho but not Vermaelen, I’d love for you to leave a comment below explaining what makes Sakho so much better than Vermaelen.

You can also come by our forums and join the discussion about both players there at www.arsenalaction.com

Bye for now.

According to The Daily Mail and FourFourTwo.com, Arsenal are one of a host of clubs keeping close tabs on SS Lazio’s 25 year old Macedonian striker Goran Pandev. Pandev has made it clear that he’s ready leave Lazio because he feels the need to test himself in another team as he’s grown too accustomed to life at Stadio Olimpico. In an interview with Sky Italia, Pandev said:

My cycle with Lazio is over. I want to find other motivations and go and play for another team. I have spoken to (club president Claudio) Lotito and I explained to him the situation.

His agent, Leonardo Corsi said Lazio have valued Pandev at around £17,000,000 but he could be had for around £13,500,000 because of a friendly relationship between Pandev and Lazio. According to Corsi:

"They retain a very good relationship and mutual respect, as has always been the case. For our part, the decision is not based on economic reasons…He wants a change and to test himself in a fresh environment after growing comfortable in his many years at this one particular club."

If this rumour (as that’s all it is at the moment – a rumour) is true then it would point to Adebayor leaving and/or possibly Robin van Persie going as well, since he hasn’t signed a new contract yet and Inter have revealed their interest in him.

I would be elated that we’re going after a player like this. He’s the type of player we’ve missed since Thierry Henry left us two years ago. He’s very quick, he’s a very good finisher and he has bags of technique.

We’ve been linked to other strikers in the last few weeks such as Edin Dzeko and Mario Gomez but I don’t think they fit the bill of the striker we need, if we’re indeed looking to buy a striker. From the many games I’ve seen of both players they’re strikers who rely on a playmaker to support them while they latch unto any balls provided by that playmaker and provide a finish. I’m not suggesting that anything’s wrong with that but what about days when Wenger insists on playing Abou Diaby and he struggles to make any impact on games whatsoever and doesn’t provide our strikers with the ball? Remember how isolated Adebayor was up top against Chelsea at Wembley a couple months ago? With a striker like Dzeko or Gomez in the squad I could see that happening again on days when our midfield has off performances. If we had Pandev, we would have a player that would link up very well with the midfield but someone that could also create his own goal if needs be.

Since Thierry Henry left us we’ve lost that type of player that can run a long distance and take on 3 or 4 defenders and beating them before finding the back of the net. We’ve also been missing a lot of highlight reel quality goals. We’ve been scoring a lot of team efforts lately and while nothing’s wrong with that, it’s become a bit boring to watch. Arsene Wenger himself said it’s necessary in football to have an entertainment factor since the fans are paying their money weekly to watch games. So with that said, we need to have a striker that will provide some entertaining goals like Henry did and not always score the typical pass, pass, pass, tap in goals that we’ve become so accustomed to now. Goran Pandev definitely fits that bill.

What we have to consider if we do sign Pandev though, is the effect it will have on Jay Simpson returning to the squad. As I’ve said in a previous blog, I think Jay Simpson is a very talented young striker and it would be a shame to see him return to the club and then have to go out on loan for another season. Would signing Pandev mean Simpson still wouldn’t have a space in the team or is it that Arsene Wenger knows something we don’t? Is it that Wenger is anticipating both Adebayor and van Persie leaving, if in fact this rumour about us being interested in Goran Pandev is true? Let me know what you think in the comments section…

Or join our forums and we can have a further discussion about it at www.arsenalaction.com

Finally, here's Pandev at his very best.

Until next time.

So it’s the end of the season again and it’s possibly the most annoying time of the year for a football fan. It’s that time of the year when we have no football and majority of us are left mulling over what went wrong over the course of the past season and what should be done to correct those wrongs to prevent a déjà vu the following season. It’s very annoying because we all know we have to wait until July 1st, the earliest, to see changes being made and it’s as though time toys with us with how the days seem to drag on until that point.

Cesc Fabregas has been doing some thinking about what the Arsenal squad needs. He posits that our midfield could be strengthened with the addition of his Spanish compatriot Xabi Alonso. According to Fabregas:

We need someone in the middle to make competition and make a difference, plus give us a new dimension
“I think that is all we need. The rest is perfect.
“Xabi would be great. He’s experienced and can score goals. I’m sure the boss is aware of that fact.

Cesc obviously has a great relationship with Alonso as they play together in the Spanish team and during Cesc’s time on the sidelines with injury earlier this year (ironically because of Alonso), it was Alonso who offered him as much encouragement as he could via telephone calls. When Cesc took to the pitch in some matches to replace Iniesta in midfield he did well with Alonso and it showed as Spain had the most efficient midfield in the tournament as they went on to become European champions.

I think Alonso would make a great addition to the Arsenal squad. No doubt about it. My concern though is that it would cost too much for us to attain his services. Liverpool made it very clear last summer that they wanted Gareth Barry and in preparing to sign him they also made it clear that they were ready to show Xabi Alonso the door in order to make room for him. This year it seems they’ve been eyeing the Aston Villa skipper once more and it means that maybe Alonso will need to make plans to play his football elsewhere next season if they’re serious about getting Barry. Liverpool have financial problems and in order to afford Barry they’ll be looking to use whatever money gained from the sale of Alonso.

We all know English players don’t come cheap (for whatever reason that is) and Martin O’Neil already placed an £18M price tag on Barry last year and I can’t see any reason for him to lower it this year. If we’re going to sign Alonso he won’t come cheap. This is why I have thought out another solution to this and I’ll now explain it:

Emmanuel Adebayor has fallen from grace at the Emirates Stadium this season. The fans don’t like him and after his interview with the BBC a few weeks ago he’s made it clear he’s not too fond of the fans either. It seems that this is a bad relationship that has gone beyond repair and I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if he’s sold. Last season Adebayor could have been valued at between £25M and £30M (£1M for every goal he scored) but this season his stock has fallen somewhat and I’d say his value would realistically be somewhere between £15M and £20M. What I think we should do is contact AC Milan and offer him to them for between £8M and £13M and ask to have Mathieu Flamini in a part exchange deal.

Flamini already has Premiership experience and has already played alongside Fabregas in a team that came very close to winning the domestic title in 2008 and he knows exactly what to do to make sure Fabregas has all the freedom he needs to perform at his best. Not only does Flamini fit the bill as a proper midfield partner for Fabregas but he’s also very handy in situations where we have a shortage of defenders due to injury. We can look back to the 2005/2006 season for proof of this where he played at left back and at right back in some games during that season.

Flamini asking for a high wage wouldn’t be a problem as Adebayor would no longer be around and that £80,000 we’d normally be paying him would now go towards Flamini’s salary. You may say it’s gonna be a £20,000 pay cut from what he’s currently receiving at Milan but what about the extra funds we have prepared for signing a new player, regardless of whether Adebayor goes?

With that transfer taken care of, Arsene Wenger could focus on spending the transfer kitty he received for this summer on signing a quality center back to bolster our defence.

Our strike force may seem a bit light now that Adebayor’s gone but we’d still have Arshavin, Bendtner, Eduardo, van Persie, Vela and Walcott in attack and the space left by Adebayor could now be filled by Jay Simpson. It would mean that Simpson would make a return to our squad as our junior striker, much like Vela did last year on his return from Osasuna and the Mexican could move up the ranks in our strikers list. I for one am positive about what Jay Simpson has in store as he has more technical ability that Adebayor although Adebayor offered more aerial prowess. Many Arsenal fans have criticised Adebayor for not playing for the shirt and who could blame them after all the careless things he’s said about the club and his role at the club this season? Jay Simpson has been playing in the Arsenal youth system since age 9 and is a genuine fan of the club. With Adebayor gone we’d be losing a player that’s only committed to the almighty dollar and gaining a player who has grown up loving the club.

I know Jay Simpson isn’t necessarily ready for regular first team football at Arsenal but to deal with this I say we leave our traditional 4 4 2 formation behind and adopt a 4 3 3 formation like Barcelona have used and have been successful with. It would mean we would have a regular starting line up which would look something like this:

Almunia in goal; Sagna, Toure, Gallas and Clichy as our back four with Flamini just ahead of them covering the defence; Fabregas and either Nasri or Rosicky would be on either side of Flamini and in attack we’d have either Walcott or Arshavin on the right of attack with Eduardo playing a central role and van Persie would be on the left side.

On the bench we’d have: Fabianski, Coloccini, Song, Eboue, Nasri/Rosicky, Bendtner, Vela

I know Coloccini has raised eyebrows there but he’d be my choice as the center back we should bring in. I can’t bother to go into my reason for that now but there’ll be another blog in the future explaining why I think he should be a candidate.

What do you make of this? Feel free to leave a response below as long as it’s rational and respectful. Bye for now.

Join in this debate at our forums at www.arsenalaction.com

Everyone has something to say these days about Arsenal FC and Arsene Wenger. The latest to join the debate is The Daily Express’ Mick Dennis. Dennis wrote an article today slamming Arsenal supporters who have begun to question Arsene Wenger’s role as manager of the club. The article is entitled “CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, GOONERS” and this is some of what it said:

Two seasons before Wenger arrived, Arsenal finished 12th in the Premier League.
"The following campaign, under Bruce Rioch, they clambered up to fifth, but were 19 points behind winners Manchester United.
"Wenger has delivered three titles and two Doubles.
"He built the fabulous “Invincibles” – the first team for 115 years to complete a top division season undefeated.
"And the glorious triumphs and epic near-things have all been achieved with football that lifts the soul and gladdens the heart.
"Yet, last week, as Arsenal were bettered by United, Gooners stomped out of the Emirates long before the end, pausing only to vent their purple-faced fury towards Wenger.
"Their team were losing a semi-final of the Champions League to the English, European and world champions, and yet those spoiled fans – they cannot be called supporters – considered that to be an intolerable failure."

He went on to say:

"You would think that the example of what has happened elsewhere would teach Arsenal fans to be careful what they wish for.
"Newcastle wanted Freddy Shepherd out. They got Mike Ashley. Charlton wanted Alan Curbishley out. They got two relegations."

To read his drivel in its entirety, click here. What can I say though? It was a weak weak weak article. The reason I’m even doing this blog though is because Dennis’ view is one shared by many Arsenal Arsene Wenger fans who don’t want to see him go. I intend to now address both Dennis’ and Arsene Wenger Loyalists’ views. These views are weak for two main reasons:

1. They make it seem as though we’re guaranteed to hire a crap manager if we sack Wenger. What proof do they have that we will get a worse manager? What proof do they have that we can’t bring in someone like del Bosque, Ranieri or Rijkaard? Unless they’re prophets they don’t have any. If we get a proper manager in as Wenger’s replacement wouldn’t it then follow that he’d have enough clout to bring in proper players to replace the ones that want to leave?
2. Those things Wenger achieved in the past were just that…the past. Back then English football was much different. The Premiership wasn’t what it is now. It wasn’t as competitive as it is these days. Ferguson went through the same thing and decided he needed to get his act together and change his approach to the game. Wenger on the other hand is still using his outdated ideology and feels it can be successful. Four seasons trophiless has proven that it isn’t. It’s time for a change of approach and Wenger isn’t willing to make that change. He’s refused to sign experienced players and continues to put trust in an under experienced team and trust in his outdated ideas on football management.

People need to wise up and realise that since Chelsea have stepped in with all their money, English football has changed. It’s forced teams throughout the Premiership to deepen their squads to keep pace with the rest of the league and as such there’s less of a gulf in class between teams and more foreign players are entering the Premiership. What this means is that there’s now a lot of change in the styles of play in England. Change which we have been struggling to keep up with because we’re sticking to our old outdated principles. Teams are getting better and better in the Premiership and can give us more of a run for our money these days. The tactics of old that might’ve beaten a team such as Everton 4-0 five or six years ago will not lead to the same success over them today. It’s time Wenger realises that and change with the times or call it a day!

All these people that are saying those that want Wenger out are plastic fans are being pompous and are trying to suggest they know the club more than many they choose to label as “plastic”. If they really knew Arsenal FC, they’d know that we’re a club with a reputation for success. From Sir Herbert Chapman’s team in the 1930s, to George Allison’s team in the 1930s and 1940s, to Bertie Mee’s team in the 70s, to George Graham’s team in the 1980s and early 1990s, Arsenal FC has never been a stranger to silverware.

To suggest, like many do, that it’s Arsene Wenger who raised the profile of the club for it to be known as one of Europe’s elites is to show how miopic Wenger Loyalists are. Yes Wenger did put us back on the map, but we weren’t ever strangers to the notion of being one of Europe’s elite before him. What he did was take us back to our glory days and now he’s been struggling to keep up with the changing game around him and we need a new manager in to raise us back to our former glory, like he did when Graham left and Bruce Rioch mucked up.

Why’s it so wrong to want to see your team do well? We’re saying we want Wenger out because we want to see the club back to its successful state, not struggling to challenge for 4th and make it to the Semi Finals of the Champions League and get eliminated and consider that a good season. That’s not good enough for a club as illustrious as Arsenal. To suggest that we’re demanding too much of the club to win silverware and now is to suggest that all those other seasons that we did we were just punching above our weight and don’t have the ability to do it. Think about it this way. If you have a child and he’s been consistently getting As and Bs on his report card then suddenly he starts getting Cs and Ds of course you’re gonna be concerned, unless you don’t want what’s best for him at all. You know he has the potential to do better than Cs and Ds but he’s not so it makes you angry and you want a change to bring back the former successes he had academically. It’s exactly the same with Arsenal.

I hope you readers will have taken the time to read this blog thoroughly, think about what I’ve said here and reply in a sane and rational manner. I welcome your comments but only comments. Disrespectful flaming will not be addressed or added to the comments list.

Until next time!

Join our forums at www.arsenalaction.com

Greetings and salutations.

Arsene Wenger, in his press conference, ahead of tomorrow's crucial Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium was asked if he thinks he'll stay on at the club in the future and about our future successes and this was what he had to say:

I believe Arsenal is my club because it is my club, it is the only club.
"I believe in the potential of this club and want to give this club the opportunity to win the Champions League. That is why I work so hard."

Now I'm not looking to misquote Wenger here, as we all know that by "my club" he means it's the club he loves. Doesn't take a scientist to figure that out. At the same time, however, the statement is a bit ambiguous as while he means it's the club he loves, his actions over the past season suggests that he thinks it's actually his club and his club only. Yeah it's his club, but it's also Peter Hill-Wood's club. It's his finances at stake if we have an unsuccessful season. It's the the fans' club as they spend their hard earned money to show up at matches and give their support and show appreciation to the players week after week [even though Wenger believes the fans don't give enough support]. It's also the same club I've supported for 10 seasons. The club that made me risk suspension from high school for breaking into the vice principal's office and stealing a pass from his desk, photocopying it with a fake name on it so I could get home early to watch us draw 2-2 with Manchester United and throw the title away in 2003. It's my club too.

What Wenger needs to realise is that losses in big games like this affect more than just him and his players. What about the fans? What about the emotional anguish many will go through if we throw it all away tonight after years of being so close but so far away? It seems it's becoming the story of our lives as Arsenal fans now. "We gave it a good go this year and just narrowly missed out. Next year will be different, I can feel it." Well enough of that.

It's because Wenger feels it's his club why he's so careless with his squad selection and tactics. It's why we've been enduring this youth development system for 4 years even though we've yet to see real success from it by means of silverware. It's because of Wenger's view why he thinks he can do whatever he wants with the team selection, even in big games. For example, why he chose to leave Song and Arshavin out of the FA Cup Semi Final a few weeks ago as he thought the FA Cup wasn't important enough for us to win so it was quite appropriate to do a squad rotation in it. Another example is how he chose to play Samir Nasri (our closest option to a natural left winger) in defensive midfield and put Abou Diaby (bears no resemblance to a winger) on the left wing.

Well Arsene Wenger, enough of the tinkering on nights when it matters most. Pick your best squad tonight. Play the 4 4 2 formation. It's all or nothing now. You've forced us into a situation where we need to attack for 90 minutes and get 2 goals against a backline with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in it. We need to pick the strongest squad available to us and put our starting eleven in their best positions.

Tonight we need to get all the critics off our backs, we need to prove all the doubters wrong. Not to put pressure on the manager or the players but our reputation is at stake tonight. We need to show that we're not perennial chokers and underachievers. This needs to be the year we break out trophy drought. Another year of an empty cabinet simply isn't good enough and should we lose tonight then it's time for those in power at the club to cast serious doubts over Arsene Wenger's future at the club.

It's put up or shut up time, Arsene. Don't let us down. A win tonight is absolutely vital!

Be sure to check out our forums at www.arsenalaction.com

Arsenal will be at home at the Emirates Stadium tonight in a crucial 2nd leg Champions League Semi Final match against Manchester United. The Gunners trail 1-0 on aggregate and therefore need to win by at least two goals to go through. A 1-0 win would take the tie to extra time though.

Arsenal will welcome the return of top scorer Robin van Persie after a groin injury but Mikael Silvestre is still missing at the back, from a groin injury as well. Silvestre's presence won't be too missed by Arsenal fans though, I'm sure.

Manchester United will have Rio Ferdinand available after a rib injury in the first leg last week which reportedly made him cough up blood after the game.

Arsene Wenger didn't practice penalties in training, for what seems to be superstitious reasons.

No.I don’t believe [in it]. We practise penalties in training, but never the day before the game.
“If you practise penalties the day before the game, always one or two will miss. And then they will go into the game with that pressure.
"We practise penalties usually in training for fun but I’m not a big fan of it the day before the game.”

Many have been saying recently that Emmanuel Adebayor has been complacent and lazy in our attack but Arsene Wenger will be looking to start him again tonight. A decision I'm in disagreement with. I think Carlos Vela should be played tonight as he has a lot of pace and technical ability and looks a much hungrier player. Says Wenger:

""He works hard in training. He’s focused and he wants to do well. I believe they [the fans] question his commitment since the summer because he was injured and hadn’t score as many goals. But look at his recent efficiency in the Champions League and it’s impressive – six goals in eight games or something like that."

Anyway, this is the squad I'm expecting us to put out tonight but with Arsene Wenger being so unpredictible your guess is as good as mine.

Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Eboue
Walcott Song Fabregas Nasri
Adebayor Van Persie

Prediction: 1-0 to the Arsenal to take it to penalties. United to advance to the finals on penalties.

I know you might be thinking I'm not very optimistic but this is just how I see it. I'm not gonna be biased. Feel free to leave comments whether in agreement or disagreement if you wish.

Well that's it for today. Until next time, Come on Arsenal!!! We're long overdue some success and you can move one step closer to bringing us some tonight!!!

Be sure to check out our forums at www.arsenalaction.com

Hi everyone. I know the title of this blog isn't that appealing but really, can you blame me today? We travel to Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth in what is really a game of nothingness. If we win today we'll have wrapped up 4th place. Pompey are mathematically in the relegation dog fight in 14th place but as it stands the teams below them are playing much worse than they are and it would take a mass improvement from all of them in order for Portsmouth to go down and I just can't see it happening.

Arsene Wenger says he plans to do a bit of rotating today:

"I will build a strong team at Portsmouth. I will try to accommodate both. I will try to give the players who need a breather, a rest but also put out a strong team. “Sometimes it’s good to play players, sometimes it’s good to rest players but we will have a strong team and we want to win the game."

I have to say I'm surprised he didn't show any disappointment in his comments about the lack of playing time he received. Credit to him for that.

So I think if we're to go by what Monsieur Wenger has to say then it's more of the same that we saw against Boro last Sunday. We'll see a strong start to the match then after scoring the necessary goals we'll just shut off and have a barbecue on the pitch, especially since everyone will have the return leg in the Champions League Semi Final against Manchester United at the back of their minds. It doesn't please me though. It's caused Adebayor's lazy half assed attitude to creep back into his game and we saw how useless it made him at Old Trafford last Wednesday.

Arsenal have more injuries to deal with as Robin van Persie, Eduardo and Mikael Silvestre will all miss the game with groin injuries. Gael Clichy, William Gallas and Tomas Rosicky are all still injured, as I'm sure you know, so no need to go over their unavailability for today's game.

Portsmouth on the other hand will be without Niko Kranjcar, who has an ankle injury and [Arsenal owned] Armand Traore as well. Traore misses this game as he is ineligible to play due to the terms of his loan contract. Jermaine Pennant and Younes Kaboul are set to return to the Portsmouth line up.

Expected Line Up:

Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Gibbs
Eboue Denilson Song Arshavin
Diaby
Bendtner

Prediction: Portsmouth 0-1 Arsenal. Drab performance as Arsenal will be too focused on Manchester United in the Champions League. They'll do just enough for an early goal then shut up shop.

That's all for now. Take care and enjoy the game. Come on Arsenal, lets secure European football today!!!

Oh! For all you science fiction aficionados out there, you might want to have a look at the blog below this and leave your thoughts on it as well. It makes for a very interesting read.

Remember to join our forums at www.arsenalaction.com. Cya!

Alright so this is gonna be my 2nd ever non Arsenal blog. Very unusual for me to do a blog here but whatever. Arsenal are playing Pompey today but I couldn't really give a rat's ass either way so I'll blog about more interesting matters on my mind.

So I've been listening to Amplifier's (If you haven't heard me mention this band before then you can check them out here) song UFOs (it's the song embedded below) and for the longest while I've always thought the lyrics said "Don't you know that our machines think" but moments ago I was looking at the lyrics on a site and I realised that it's really "Don't you know that all machines think. Then I realised this song was even more relevant to thoughts I've been having all this past week. Just what are these thoughts you're asking?

Well I recently got sent a link by someone on MSN showing me some pictures of space and it opened of a big can of worms in my mind. The pictures that grabbed me most were these two about an area of space focused on by the Hubble Telescope over a 6 month period or something and it was constantly zooming in on the seemingly vast nothingness in that spot but after a while it was evident that in that seemingly little spec of space (pardon the pun) that there were thousands of different galaxies and in these galaxies were millions of planets, some possibly being able to support life. So I've been thinking: If the universe is constantly expanding couldn't it mean that new galaxies are continually being created, which means new planets are being created? If this is the case what does that mean for planets that can support life, and probably do?! If, hypothetically speaking, new existence is being created all over the universe then what's the purpose of a god? Couldn't it also mean the Milky Way had just popped up out of nowhere like another of those galaxies, even millions of years after life already existed elsewhere? Lets stick a pin here for a bit...

When I first thought the lyrics in UFOs said "Don't you know that our machines think", I was thinking maybe it was pointing towards the scientific and technological advancements of (our) humanity. I now realise what a self centered and narcissistic thought that was but I'll get to that in a bit.

Okay so back to the previous thought... when you relate "Don't you know that all machines sink?" in with what I was thinking about, this is what comes up. I know this is going to sound very out there and I might just sound like a lunatic now but what if it's possible that we were created without a god and it's possible that there was another existence before us, what if there was also another existence on Earth before us? What if there was an interplanetary union between us and other civilisations on other planets? What if it's just that there was a break down in the union and they punished us with a holocaust? What if that's the real reason behind the ice age? Why is it that our civilisation seems to have started in the stone age? What if it wasn't really a meteor that killed the dinosaurs and started the ice age? Also what if certain artifacts archeologists have dug up, for example in Egypt, are actually artifacts left behind from this? What if whatever's being guarded at Area 51 actually does exist and it's a piece of evidence pointing back to a previous union with life elsewhere? Let me leave this and get to my other thought as I've realised I'm beginning to ramble here.

Okay next thought, what if in fact there was a holocaust on our planet that wiped out life and we started all over. What if it's a situation like in John Wyndham's The Chrysalids where our current civilisation got dumped here in a time when Earth was seen as The Fringes by life elsehwere? I mean, what if it was the members of societies on other planets that got put here because they were either contributing negatively to those societies or even not contributing at all. Could the fact that it's scientifically proven that humans only use 10% of the brain at a time have anything to do with this? What if we're looked down on because we're viewed as the "retards" of the universe? Wouldn't that just make us a self centered bunch of people with our heads too far up our asses because we think we're so advanced, sophisticated and civilised when we really aren't? All this talk about cloning, curbing global warming, coming up with alternative energy, cloning, nuclear weaponry, etc, would just be self indulgent as it's probably already existent in other places in the universe.

What if UFO sightings are true? What if it's just that there are beings out there in other galaxies that are so smart they've developed the energy and machinery powerful enough to allow them to travel from galaxy to galaxy in a short space of time. What if they're just here observing us? How stupid does it make us look if its possible that there are living things out there that could do this while we've been struggling for decades to even travel to Mars and see if there's life there. Do you think some people claim to have UFO sightings but we can't prove it because they, the UFOs, choose not to interact with us because they think we're just too stupid for them to waste their time on?

That leads me to my next point. What if what I just said above really means that maybe they see us as an experiment. What if it's like when you give a monkey a round hole and a square peg, to see what he does with it? What if that's what our existence is to them? Just an experiment to see how well we develop - if we develop at all. Or, what if it's their way of forcing us to be more civilised and developed? On the other hand, what if we're just here for their entertainment? What if this is true and we could possibly develop to such a state that they decide to start interacting with us once more? But then again, if we can't use more than 10% of our brain power at a time, is there really a point to it?

Imagine if there really are superior beings to us out there, think of what their society might be like. What if utopia could actually exist in another world where beings are so sophisticated they could learn to solve disputes without going to war. A world where there's no deity and no one is being coerced into worshipping a deity by another. Do you think all this is possible?

What I've really been trying to say is what if we're not as advanced and sophisticated as we'd like to think we are? What if there's others out there that put us to shame in ways we couldn't even begin to comprehend? Doesn't it make you feel that as a civilisation it's possible that we've had our heads up our asses and for far too long?

Please feel free to leave a comment. Cheers.

How do, just a quick blog today.

Arsene Wenger in a recent interview has shared his thoughts on why Arsenal will not end up as Premiership champions this season:

"I expected to be first. If you look at our last 18 games, we are not far [away from there]. And if you look at our last six games, we are first.

"I believe that we had a bad start and something was not right on the psychological side of the team. We lost a little confidence at the start of the season. And if we had beaten Hull at home we would have been top of the League. Maybe we were a bit too complacent. But we learnt because we are a young side and since then we have been remarkably consistent.

"Before the season I knew there would be a hangover from the disappointment of last campaign. We did fight very hard but I believe as well that we had to rebuild the midfield.

"It was not only those psychological reasons. We had to find a balance again because we lost Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini. We lost three or four midfielders, we did not have Arshavin yet and we did not expect not to have Rosicky."

Okay Arsene, fair enough. One thing though, please tell me why whenever we win important games you're the first to say how mature this team is and how great their character is, yet whenever we lose to teams we shouldn't have, such as Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Man City and Aston Villa you contradict yourself by saying the team lacks maturity? What we lacked at the beginning of this season was a proper leader. At the start of the season Gallas was the captain and he was more focused on himself than on the team. As such he wasn't focused on the goings on on the pitch such as when we conceded the goal to Fulham. It happened because he never committed himself to the marking his man on the corner kick and didn't put up a challenging header and Almunia was beaten. It was Gallas' self centered ranting that caused him to lose focus on what matters most - his performance and team results. It's this that led to a poor start to the season and to our not gaining enough momentum early to push for the title. Contradicting yourself much?

Why is it you still cannot have the maturity (which you vehemently and repeatedly claim our young squad has) to raise your hand and accept blame where needed? Why is it that you have said it's because we lost Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini why we started the season so poorly, yet you conveniently ignore the fact that it's your responsibility to maintain and improve the depth of the squad but you chose not to sign a replacement for Flamini?

Middlesbrough preview tomorrow. Take care.

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By Rachid Parchment

Where do I even begin? What a match! What a performance from Arshavin! While watching this match I was talking with a Scouser friend of mine via MSN and I was reminded of that fact that last January when we were looking to sign Arshavin he told me that he thought he'd never cut it in England and that he's overrated as he only burst unto the scene at age 27 and it just means he's not good enough. That guy has a colic right now from eating so much humble pie!

There's just so much to say about this match so here I go:

When we got started we were put under pressure very early on as Torres wanted to get unto the scoresheet as early as possible. He was being kept at bay very well by Kolo Toure though and also by a number of good saves from Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. All that pressure seemed to come to naught as in the 36th minute a good link up play between Nasri and Fabregas saw the Spaniard beat the offside trap to pass the ball back across the box to the waiting Arshavin who hit a one timer which went into the net after ricocheting off the crossbar. Arsenal held their lead going into the half time break.

While there were goals galore in the 2nd half the defending left a lot to be desired. In the 49th minute a poor clearance from Bacary Sagna made it's way to Dirk Kuyt on the left hand side of the Arsenal defence and his cross found the head of Fernando Torres who was poorly marked by Sagna. Torres' header beat Fabianski to give the Scousers their first equaliser.

They would take the lead just 7 minutes later when a lazy backpass from Silvestre was poorly cleared out by Fabianski and was collected by Kuyt after Gibbs received it and tried to clear it further upfield. Gibbs was then caught out by Kuyt who whipped in a cross to the backpost which found Yossi Benayoun. Sagna went in with a high challenge to clear the ball and only got Benayoun's head instead. The Israeli however met the ball with his head and Fabianski cleared the ball but he did so from behind the goal line and referee Howard Webb ruled it a goal.

The next goal to follow was in the 67th minute and it was quite a memorable finish. Jamie Carragher passed to Alvaro Arbeloa but his hesitation to collect the ball saw Andrey Arshavin easily dispossess him and fired a scorcher from about 20 yards out which gave Pepe Reina no chance to save it as it bobbed and weaved around him and into the far corner of the net. The score now 2-2 and Arshavin on a hat trick.

It took him only 3 minutes to complete his hat trick as in the 70th minute Samir Nasri had a good build up with Arshavin and after passing off to the Russian, the French man went down the left side to receive a return pass from Arshavin. He played a cross into the box and Fabio Aurelio's poor clearance went right into the path of Arshavin who tucked it right under Reina to bag a hat trick and ensure that he'd be taking home the match ball.

The lead lasted only 2 minutes though. In the 72nd minute Alberto Riera crossed into the box for Torres who received the ball with his back to goal. Torres was allowed by Silvestre, who hardly put in a tackle out of sheer laziness, to turn and fire past Fabianski into the far corner and take the score to 3-3. When you look at the replay perhaps you could say Fabianski could have done better, but definitely Silvestre is to take a lot of blame for that, but I'll get back to him later.

In the 89th minute a Cesspool corner kick was cleared out of the Arsenal area and found Theo Walcott who made a quick dart up the pitch reminiscent of the one he made at the same venue last season in the Champions League quarter finals to set up Emmanuel Adebayor for his goal. He saw Arshavin going up the middle of the park unchallenged and slipped a great pass through to him. It was now Pepe Reina standing in the way of Arshavin collecting his 4th goal of the night but the Spanish goal keeper could only stand as helpless as a deer in headlights as Arshavin had no trouble putting the ball beyond him and into the net to give Arsenal a 4-3 lead with just a minute to go before stoppage time.

You would've thought we'd go on to win the game but for a moment of sheer annoyance in stoppage time. In the 92nd minute the ball was played across the box and flicked goalward by Javier Mascherano from down the left hand side of the Arsenal defence. It came to Ryan Babel who got a touch but couldn't get it unto goal and then it bobbled back to Yossi Benayoun who fired through a crowded box into the net beyond Lukasz Fabianski who didn't seem to know too much about it. And so it ended, 4-4 at full time.

To see all the goals (and to polish up on your German) click here.

At the end the same guy I was talking to on MSN had the nerve to say to me that we should be ashamed that we took only 4 shots on goal and had 4 goals. While that was true that we had only 4 shots on target (8 shots in total) what does it say for his defence then if they made no saves all night? Doesn't it mean their defence is complete and utter crap? This especially after conceding 4 goals in their previous match, which was exactly 7 days before. That meaning they had more time to rest and prepare for this match while we played on the Wednesday, Saturday and yesterday. This is one of the reasons I can't stand that club....their fans. They truly are disgusting and I'm happy Arshavin put such a dent in their title bid last night. Them and their fat cunt of a manager are utterly disgusting.

Anyway, unto more thoughts about the game...

Silvestre was one of our poorer performers last night. He is (on paper) the most experienced player available for Arsenal at the moment. You would've expected him to show more protection for his less experienced teammates in the Arsenal defence but his performances lately have been lazy and complacent. He has shown that he's definitely not good enough for this club and hopefully one of the newly promoted teams to the Premiership will come to us for him in the summer.

While I defended Fabianski for coming off his line in an attempt to stop the second goal in last Saturday's FA Cup Semi Final [exasperated sigh] with Chelsea I have to say his goalkeeping was a bit poor last night. He seemed to come off his line a bit too much for my liking. I remember once in the first half Cesspool had a corner and I noticed he was standing on or at least very close to the edge of the 6 yard box at the moment the corner was being taken. I don't know why he's so afraid of the goal line though. Maybe that evil monkey from Family Guy was standing there point at him or something...I really don't know. The fact that Kieran Gibbs had to make his third goal line clearance from his fourth game is testament to the fact that Fabianski has positioning issues and doesn't command his area properly. I'm releaved to know that Almunia will be back this Saturday against Middlesbrough. That's not to say I think Fabianski is rubbish but I think he has proven he can be a liability to us at this crucial stage of the season and I'd rather him get his experience from less meaningful games such as the Carling Cup and Fa Cup games next season. I've said a lot this season that Almunia hasn't done a lot wrong for us and is proving himself to be a good goalkeeper and I find it funny that a lot of the people that have criticised him are now anxiously awaiting his return to the first team. It's like they say: "You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry".

I have to wonder though if Fabianski is suffering from confidence issues. I remember when he just signed for us and at various points throughout last season and even earlier this season as well he said he wants to show that he's willing to put up a fight for the #1 kit. Do you think it's possible that he's trying too hard to impress Wenger and the fans and it's leading him to make errors?It would probably explain why he comes off his line so much, even for balls he doesn't need to attempt to play.

Cesc concerns me too. I've noticed since his return it seems as though he's a bit confused about whether he should be playing an attacking role or a deeper defensive role. It seems Wenger's confused as well. Cesc's performances haven't been the same as of late and he seems to go in and out of games a bit. I'm a big fan of his and I hope he can rediscover the form that helped him to earn the captain's armband last November. Players usually go through slumps at various periods of their careers though and the better ones usually bounce back with ease. Fabregas is no doubt a quality player and I know he'll be back to his best. I just hope it's sooner rather than later as we still have Champions League aspirations and Cesc at his best is certainly a player who can drive this Arsenal team towards the Champions League title.

You have to feel for Arshavin though. It's just a shame that he gives us such a performance and 4 goals and we still didn't win. It's all because of careless defending. We were as loose at the back last night as an old porn star. I hope with Almunia coming back into the squad for the next match it will change the shape of our performances and we won't concede as many stupid goals as we have lately. Before the injury crisis we faced this month we only conceded 8 goals this year. That was on average 2 goals a month. That was a pretty good defensive statistic and with us now into the most crucial part of the season we need all hands on deck and more focus from our defenders. We simply cannot afford to let in another four goals, especially in the manner which we did last night.

Time for the player ratings:

Fabianski - 4 Had some good saves in the first half but irritating to see him coming off his line so much when many times it was better for him to stay there.

Sagna - 5 Unusually poor showing from him but it was due to him lacking match fitness.

Toure - 6 Good first half. Not good enough in the second.

Silvestre - 4 Should be taken out back. Absolutely rubbish. Makes me anxious for Djourou to return.

Gibbs - 7 Got caught out on a couple occasions but overall had a good game. Great clearance off the line from a corner too.

Song - 7 Made some good tackles, especially in the first half. Should be pleased with his performance last night.

Denilson - 5 Must be a magician because he keeps disappearing from games and did just the same last night.

Fabregas - 6 Could have contributed a little more. Worked well with Nasri to create Arshavin's first goal.

Nasri - 8 Much better player on the right hand side than the left. Very active and provided great passes until he was subbed.

Arshavin - 1,000,000 (MoM) What can I say?! Nothing short of extraordinary and Wenger must feel like a right muppet for not giving him more playing time against Chelsea.

Bendtner - 6 Never made an impact on the game.

Walcott - 8 Did well when brought on. Great run and assist to provide Arshavin with his 4th goal. Needed more support in the box to meet his crosses though.

Diaby - 5 Absolutely rubbish. Came on and added nothing positive to the game. Created a controversial moment which saw the Scousers appealing for a hand ball and could've costed us the game.

And there you have it. Hope it wasn't too long a read. I'll be back tomorrow with a preview ahead of the match against Cesspool. Oh! Thanks to Tommy B for the help with the html coding. Until Tomorrow!

And that'll do it for today. Come join our forums at www.arsenalaction.com. Ciao!