I have yet another family wedding this afternoon as my wife's sister gets married in our local church and we head to Bray for the reception in the hotel next door to the supporters club. I hope to be able to sneak out at some stage and see a little bit of the game against Wolves which kicks off at 5.30 and is live on ESPN. I'll be wearing my red shirt and Arsenal socks as lucky omens and I'm hoping for a performance to cheer us into yet another interlull.

With Rosicky and Nasri available again the boss has a few selection headaches before the game and I'm sure Eduardo will hope that he can start too. I expect Sagna to play at right back again as Eboue seems to have that berth for the Champions league and with Almunia, Gibbs, Gallas and The Verminator he will make up our defence. Cesc and Song will play in midfield I'm sure and I would be surprised if RVP and Arshavin don't strat up front. That leaves 2 places in the team between Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky, Eduardo, Eboue and Ramsey and good luck to the boss in keeping them all happy. To be honest I don't know who will play but I suspect that Diaby will be in the team with Nasri playing too.

As long as we approach the game the right way we will be too good for a Wolves team who their manager says wil attack us because there is no point in defending against us. He will learn that it's an even bigger mistake to attack us and I see a 4-0 win for Arsenal on the horizon with RVP, Cesc, Arshavin & a centre back scoring our goals. If we get that win we go 2nd in the table for 1 day at least and Manure will need a point at Chelsea tomorrow to overtake us and they will find that very hard to come by.

Sky have chosen to show 2 of our games live in January and the the games away to Bolton on January 17th and at home to Manure on January 31st will both be shown. It looks like the Everton game I am hoping to go to is safe to be on Saturday January 9th and we just have to wait for the tickets to become available early next month now. I uppose even if ESPN take the game it will just mean it will be a later kick off so I have to say I'm delighted with that. That's all for today as I have busy day ahead.

Here's a clip of what Arshavin can do.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Lloyd Cole which is for Mick McCarthy who is hopefully going to be heartbroken tonight.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

The hoodoo that Koeman held over us was well and truly despatched last night as we beat AZ 4-1 at The Emirates to put ourselves on the cusp of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions league. With Liege beating Olympiacos we have not quite qualified as both of those teams can still theoretically overhaul us if results go their way. However with both of them having to beat us the chances of that are minimal to say the least. The next game for us in the Champions league is at home to Liege on November 24th and if we beat them we will win the group which is supposed to make our draw in the last 16 a little easier but you never know who will be the runners up in the other groups with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan & AC Milan all possibilities. One thing is for sure though and that is that I won't get to see the game as it's on my 20th wedding anniversary and if I go out to watch the game I won't reach the 21st.

The game itself was easier than I thought it would be and despite pulling a goal back late on AZ never really gave us too much trouble. The boss played Eboue at right back again as he has in 3 of our 4 group matches now and Nasri came back into the first team after his long injury lay off. With Gibbs in for the injured Clichy as well it showed the quality that we have in reserve as Sagna, Eduardo, Ramsey & Rosicky were all on the bench and we still have a long list of players out injured. Our first goal came when Gallas got forward and layed the ball off to Cesc who came back inside and put his shot between the defender's legs and it beat the keeper at the near post as he seemed unsighted. Then just before half time Arshavin played a lovely ball to Nasri outside the box and he turned his man before advancing and finishing it off beautifully. That left Koeman's side in a lot of trouble at half time as they had to try to play.

The second half started as the first half finished with Arsenal dominating again and AZ trying to hump the ball into our box at every oppurtunity. It wasn't long before the 3rd goal came and it was Cesc who got it again as he was played in on the left by Arshavin and feigned to shoot to the far post but instead buried at the near post as the keeper went the other way. We were now cruising and my 3-0 prediction looked like it would be left far behind. The boss took Cesc and RVP off to rest them with 25 minutes left and replaced them with Ramsey and Eduardo which gave the 2 of them a longer run out than usual. Not too long afterwards we got our 4th as the ball was played to Eduardo on the half way line and he back heeled it into the path of the running Arshavin who brought it to the edge of the box and laid it off for the advancing Diaby. He took it under control and finished well with only the keeper to beat.

At that stage it looked like any score might be possible but we weren't to score again and in fact AZ even managed to pull a goal back. We had a corner and when the ball dropped in the box an AZ player appeared to handle it but the referee played on and they broke quickly. Gibbs lost out on the half way line as he challenged his man and as he broke forward Ramsey couldn't tackle him without risking a red card. As he closed in on the box a far post shot seemed his best option and it seems Almunia thought so too as he got his feet wrong and was beaten at the near post without actually moving for the shot. Somehow we had managed to get caught on the break when we were 4-0 up but in the great scheme of things it didn't matter. Almunia did manage a very good save when the score was 3-0 as he reacted quickly to turn a point blank shot on to the bar and besides the goal he did have a good game.

I only managed to catch the second half live as I was playing football myself and I made my way out to the supporters club in Bray for that second half to watch it in the company of some fellow Gooners. I had my Arsenal jersey on and underneath it I had my new t-shirt that I received in the post when I got home from work yesterday. It's a Lady Arse special and she was good enough to send me a programme from the Spuds match on Saturday with it. I'll be putting a photo of me in the t-shirt in my gallery and I have to say that it was well worth the money. She has loads more designs and it's well worth checking them out. Here's what the t-shirt looks like.

After the game the boss said he was delighted with a brilliant victory and he talked up the quality of our players and our attacking options that are available. He gave a lot of praise to Arshavin and when asked about him and The Verminator he said that our policy is to develop our own players and add players of special quality and those 2 are good examples of that. Speaking after the game Cesc said that we are not definitely through yet and even if we were we would still go for a win in each of our last 2 matches. He said it's too early for trophies to be handed out no matter how well we are playing and he will feel it is something special when we win something. That's what we want to hear from our captain and star player and if he continues to play like he is at the moment and with that attitude we might just get 1 of those trophies that we crave. We have already passed the 50 goal mark for the season with only 18 games played and we have done that without ever having had all of our players available to choose from. Finally for today our ladies won 3-0 away to Sparta Prague in the first leg of their last 16 Ladies Champions league game and the return game is next Wednesday night.

Here's the highlights from last night.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from UB40. Little by little the experts are starting to think we have achance this season after they all wrote us off initially.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

We played Liverpool last night in the last 16 of the Carling Cup at The Emirates and it was a very enjoyable match to watch. The boss went with the expected team more or less with the inclusion of Eastmond the only real surprise. We played some very good football at times and the new system seemed to suit Nasri very well. He seemed to be at the heart of everything that we did throughout the game and he lasted very well considering that he had only played an hour of football before last night.

To be fair to Liverpool they played with 10 different players from their team on Sunday and we went 1 better by playing a completely different team. In the first half our 2 full backs looked a little lost at times and Gibbs in particular seemed to be caught out of position a lot but in the 2nd half they managed to up their game and Gilbert got in some very good tackles and interceptions with Gibbs also improving. Senderos had a fairly solid game with 1 or 2 lapses and to be fair to Silvestre he had a good game. Fabianski got his first game of the season and despite some good takes on some crosses he was still reluctant to come off his line too often and his kicking of back passes was not great either. In midfield I already mentioned that Nasri had a very good game in my opinion and Ramsey did quite well although he was careless in possession a few times. Eastmond played the holding role and he had a good game before coming off near the end looking absolutely knackered. Merida played well enough too although I would have liked to have seen him do a little more on the ball. He took his goal really well and he has a lot more to offer in the future I'm sure. Eduardo looked lively throughout and it would have been nice for him to mark his comeback with a goal but unfortunately he never really got any of the clearcut chances that fell to others. Bendtner had a very odd game as his passing at times was awful and he completely switched off as Liverpool equalised but he made up for it by taking his goal very well.

Early on there were chances at both ends ad Degen missed from 10 yards out for Liverpool and Bendtner from even nearer for us after some very intricate play. Our opening goal came when Eastmond won a tackle just outside the Liverpool box and the ball ran to Merida who buried it from the angle of the box on the right side into the top corner of the net on the keeper's near post. It was a great goal and I hoped that it would spur us on to more but Liverpool came into the game a lot more after that. A high ball was played to Babel who headed it back to Insua as Bendtner daydreamed and he ran forward and buried a fine shot over Fabianski to even things up. It stayed that way until half time and as the teams came off I was looking forward to more of the same.

In the second half Arsenal continued their good attacking play along with their sometimes nervous defending and eventually we retook the lead when Bendtner took a ball off Ramsey's foot in the box and turned and fired it into the roof of the net. As the game wore on Liverpool brought on Benayoun and Aqualaini to try to salvage something and they put us under a lot of pressure. At times we tried to over complicate things in defence when we should have cleared the ball but tried to be too clever. There was a good shout for handball against Senderos late on as he blocked a shot with his hands but it did seem like ball to hand to me. We brought on Randall, Watt and Coquelin for Eastmond, Bendtner and Merida in the second half and we managed to take the ball into the  corners to run the clock out which was thouroughly professional if a little unArsenal like.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable game in which Liverpool played their part and our youngsters now face a quarter final tie against one of Chelsea, Manure, The Spuds, Aston Villa, Man City, Blackburn or Portsmouth. It's unusual to see all Premier league clubs only in the Carling Cup at this stage but it appears that the competition is being taken a little more seriously this season. I would imagine the quarter final draw will be on Saturday on Sky as usual and it means our rearranged league game against Bolton on December 2nd will have to be rearranged again.

Ahead of our Saturday lunchtime game against The Spuds Robbie Keane has been claiming that they have a better squad than us. I wondered to myself if they have any world class players in their squad and I realised that they don't but we have Cesc, Arshavin & RVP who are all far too good for them. We also have Gallas, The Verminator, Rosicky, Theo, Nasri & Eduardo who would all walk into thir team. He can talk all he wants about how good he thinks they are but our players will do the talking at 12.45 on Saturday as we put them in their place as also rans in the race for the league title and the bragging rights in North London. That's it for today.

Here's the goals from last night.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from The Smiths which is for Robbie Keane and his big mouth.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

We play Liverpool tonight at The Emirates in the last 16 of the Carling Cup  and it appears that the boss might just be taking this competition a little more seriously this year. He has already stated that Nasri and Fabianski will make their first starts of the season and he has also hinted that Eduardo and Bendtner will start too as they attempt to come back from recent injuries. It could just be that he feels all of these players need some game time but it could also be that he has decided to treat the Carling Cup with a little more respect. Personally I think that it's the former and he's taking the oppurtunity to give them some game time as he feels he needs them in the first team squad as soon as possible to put some pressure on the players who are playing at the moment and also to give him more options ahead of Saturday's crunch local derby against The Spuds.

With those 4 players in the team the rest of the team shouldn't be too hard to guess as both Traore and Wilshere are unavailable through injury. The defence should be Gibbs, Gilbert, Silvestre and Senderos with Coquelin and Ramsey in midfield with Nasri and Vela joining Eduardo and Bendtner up front. It's a fairly strong team and almost every player in our team will think he has a chance of making an impression on the manager. If we play our own game and pressurise Liverpool on the ball we will give them a lot of problems no matter what team Liverpool play. It will be interesting to see if Liverpool will play a very strong team or not. I don't think Benitez will risk Torres or Gerrard as they are both so injury prone that an injury in this game would be a disaster for their chances of making up the ground they have lost in the league. They sold Alonso in the summer and he was replaced by Aqualini who has been injured ever since but it looks like he will make his debut against us tonight. It would be good to see our players give him the run around.

I don't like to watch Sky Sports News any more but I found myself watching a piece on it last night where they were reporting that Stan Kroneke had bought 10 more shares in Arsenal as he moves nearer to the magical 29.9% mark he needs to make a formal bid for all the other shares. If they are to report every 10 shares he buys they will need almost 70 more reports before he gets to that figure and it just proved to me that they try to sensationalise the smallest of events.

I'll be playing football myself from 7 until 8 tonight and then it's a quick shower and out to the supporters club in The Strand in Bray to watch the second half. If we win it means our rearranged league match with Bolton on December 2nd will be called off until some time in the new year as that will be the week for our Carling Cup quarter final. Our fixture list is becoming very congested but that's the price to pay for being a successful team and it would be worse if we never had a midweek game in Europe or a domestic Cup. I'm predicting a 3-2 win for Arsenal tonight and if Eduardo does indeed play I can see him getting at least 1 of those goals. That's the lot for today.

Here's a look at what we did to Liverpool the last time we played in this competition.

LINK

And to finish here's today's title track from The Specials and let's hope it's the advice the manager gives the players as they take to the pitch tonight.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

Despite never being really too troubled for almost the entire match last night we managed to throw away a 1-0 lead in the last minute and snatch a draw from the arms of victory. In the long run it shouldn't make a difference to our qualification from the group with 2 home games coming next and Olympiacos as our only real challengers for top spot in the group. They managed a late winner last night to keep their 100% home record in the group and luckily for us we shouldn't need anything from our trip to Greece in December. You could always argue that we should have had a penalty only a few minutes before AZ scored as Vela was clearly taken down in the box but the referee chose not to give it despite being perfectly placed to see it.

Last night's game was never really a classic encounter but we were in control for almost the entire night and AZ showed very little for a home side in the Champions League. Our lead came when Arshavin pressurised a defender into a mistake and Arshavin then played the ball to RVP as he ran into a goal scoring position but he unselfishly squared it to Cesc to roll into an open goal. We had chances before and after that despite never really clicking on the night but we paid the price for not taking them at the death. AZ managed to get up a head of steam of sorts and when our centre forward, Arshavin, was caught offside they pumped a long ball into the box. It was headed back across goal by a player who should have been challenged by Diaby but wasn't and as our players had all switched off their player finished very well on the volley to send their fans into ecstacy. They had a couple of chances before that and I did get the feeling that their goal was coming as the clock ticked on, particularly when Vela didn't get his obvious penalty.

It means our 7 game winning streak has come to an end but at least it wasn't ended by a defeat and it's a perfectly acceptable result in the great scheme of things despite feeling like a defeat at first due to the time of the goal. Things could be a lot worse and we just have to look at Liverpool to see how bad they could be. After their home defeat to Lyon last night they need to get a result in the away game to them in 2 weeks or they or as good as out of the Champions league. Their fans are fed up with the manager's style of football and they only tolerated it when it was bringing success but after their worst run of defeats in something like 22 years the natives are getting restless. With Manure as their next league match on Sunday things could possibly get even worse althoough if Liverpool do get a result it opens the door for us a little more so it's a win/win situation for Arsenal.

Both Nasri and Fabianski made their long awaited returns from injury last night in a 2-2 draw for the reserves against Wolves away from home. Nasri got almost a 60 minute run out with Fabianski obviously playing the whole game. The goals were scored by Sunu & Watt with Nasri managing the assist on the first goal for Sunu. Jay Simpson scored for QPR yet again last night as they continued their march up the Championship table and he seems to be on a good run at the moment which won't do his price any harm if and when we decide to sell him. We are linked with a couple of players in the papers today but as it's October and the window doesn't open until January it's all mere speculation at best. The players mentioned are Cana of Sunderland(if we wanted him we would have signed him in the summer) and Ajax full back Gregory Van der Wiel. Stan Kroneke is rumoured to be about to purchase even more shares in the club as he gets even closer to the magic 29.9% mark he needs to make a bid for all shares. That's it for today. Sorry for the late post but it was unavoidable.

Here's the highlights from last night.

LINK 

And to finish today's title track from UB4O. The current events at Liverpool are food for thought for all of us as things seem to go from bad to worse for them and their season is in danger of imploding.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

I will start today with a mention for my local Arsenal supporters club as we had our AGM last night and everything went very well. Our finances are in good shape and things are looking good for the upcoming season. We have plans for a trip to Gibneys in Malahide after last season's trip went very well. If things go to plan we will also have a trip for as many as possible of us to The Emirates and we can get tickets to virtually any home game that Arsenal play. I must say that I'm looking forward to Saturday afternoons/evenings/Sunday afternoons/Monday nights/Tuesday nights/Wednesday nights at the club watching Arsenal for the next 9 months with the hope of some silverware at the end of it all. Luckily I play football on Fridays and that only leaves Thursdays to worry about.

The boss spoke yesterday about potential signings in the current transfer window. He said we might bring in one defensive player and one offensive player but that most of the business is done between August 26th and August 31st. He said we might bring in a player if Senderos goes to Everton but he said at the same time that we still have 5 centre backs(including Song). Is a replacement for Senderos to be included in those 2 potential signings or not? I'm a little confused at the moment by our boss as he seems to be constantly contradicting himself. At the end of last season he told us that he would complete all transfers before we returned to pre season training as he wanted any new players to blend in with the squad. Then he said a couple of weeks ago that he will sign any players before the season starts and now we are being told that most deals happen at the end of the window. Can we take from that statement that he expects to pick up another Silvestre style "bargain" at the last minute as clubs look to make something happen. I sincerely hope not but seeming as he doesn't appear to have any definite targets I can only assume we will take whoever is available at the last minute. I cannot imagine that the world class players we need will be available as last minute bargains.

Another thing I have found a little odd is hearing Roy Hodgson saying that we have not made a bid for Hangeland every week. Is he trying to drum up some interest in his player to get some money for a player who hasn't/won't sign a new contract. The boss was asked about Hangeland yesterday and he did say that we had looked at him but we had not made an approach for him as of yet. If Senderos decides to stay it is only to secure a free transfer next summer as he knows he is at the back of the queue when it comes to first team chances. In my opinion that means he's not part of the manager's plans so we should sign Hangeland anyway.

The boss has more or less ruled out signing Vieira again and Inter confirmed that we have not made any enquiries for him. Another player we are being linked with is Zezinho of Juventude who is a young Brazilian we have appearently had a bid turned down for in the past but we might be prepared to raise that bid to get him. We are also rumoured to be upping our bid for Chamakh but I have said before that I don't think he's the player we need. The boss also compared Jack Wilshere to a young Rooney and he thinks he has to learn to play with the rest of the team a bit more at the moment. He also confirmed that yesterday's rumour about Rosicky was right and he will be out for up to 6 weeks with a hamstring problem. We all know how long his last 6 week injury took to heal so I won't be holding my breath on this one. Cesc had hoped our injury jinx was over but it's 2 down already before the season starts. That's not good.

Later today we will know our fate in the Champions league qualifiers and as I said yesterday the options are Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Celtic, Anderlecht & Tiramasou(as Lady Arse put it). Bring them on and let the football begin.

Finally for today here's all the Fantasy Football info yet again. There's only 8 days to go to the start of the season so this weekend is a great time to sign up. These are the codes you will need for my leagues.

Oleole League code  4383-1847

Oleole Arsenal league code  4383-1835

Oleole head to head league code  4383-1828

I know The Score predictions link and code  FC85F-XSC

Here's the goal our scouts saw Zezinho score with his chocolate leg as RVP would say.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Gregory Isaacs. The boss looks like he will wait until midnight on August 31st to sign new players and taht's too late in my opinion.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

Arsenal news is very thin on the ground yet again today but at least our captain is back in training and he has a new haircut to go with it. It looks like he considered joining the military during his few weeks off and he's still trying to grow his hair back. There are plenty of pictures on the club site and they're on my profile page too if you want to see them.

It has emerged that Nasri's injury may not be as bad as was feared at first and he might be back in 6 weeks but I'll believe that when I see him back. He will have missed the majority of pre season training so it will take him up to 4 weeks to get his fitness levels up to the same level as the rest of the squad. That would make the best case scenario a 10 week absence from now which will be up to the end of September. The club's doctors always seem very optimistic when they give their prognosis on timescales for injured players to return so I won't hold my breath. It has also emerged that his injury was caused by Diaby but it's not clear exactly how.

A lot has been written by Arsenal fans(me included) about our need to sign some more players and the need to do it soon. Some fans are going as far as to say that they hope we finish outside the top 4 to prove the boss wrong and make him abandon his project youth. I could never wish failure on Arsenal no matter what and I still think we have a chance in the league if we can keep all our players fit. That's a very big if as was proved by Nasri's injury and the lack of Eduardo from either match so far. As last season though I think our best chance will come in the FA Cup and I just hope the boss doesn't sacrifice it again like he did last season. When you look at our squad in the cold light of day it is stronger than it was at this time last season. Adebayor is gone but we have Vermaelen in and we will hopefully have Rosicky & Eduardo raring to go. Also we have seen the emergence of Gibbs and Traore & Senderos are back from their season long loans. Ramsey & Wilshere look more likely to step up too and Emmanuel-Thomas & Lansbury aren't too far off either. The most important addition to our squad though is Arshavin who can play in almost any attacking position and is a truly world class player. He will have had a full pre season with his new team mates and I expect an awful lot from him. He was the second player I bought for my Fantasy Football team. Speaking of which here is the link to join up. You will also need the codes to join the leagues I have set up.

Oleole league  4383-1847

Oleole Arsenal league  4383-1835

 Oleole Head To Head league  4383-1828

I know the score league(score prediction competition)  FC85F-XSC

There is usually a link on Fantasy Premier league to this competition but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Meanwhile here is the link on it's own.

That's it for today.

Here's a bit of Diaby when he isn't breaking someones leg.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from Eminem as our captain is back in training.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

The only place to start today is with the very unfortunate injury which Samir Nasri sustained in training yesterday. Exactly how he managed to fracture his fibula I don't know but it means that we will be without him for 3 months or so. Has our injury jinx from last season carried over into this season? I sincerely hope not. What it does mean is that we are already one player down before a ball has been kicked in anger.

If Rosicky can manage to get himself in from the start that will cancel out Nasri's absence and if Eduardo can do the same that will cover for Adebayor. That's a couple of very big ifs and they're only to keep us on an even keel before the season even starts. There are a couple of younger players to move up too and we have Traore & Senderos back in the fold but already the squad is beginning to look a little light on top quality players. Our only signing to date is Vermaelen and the boss doesn't seem to be overly interested in signing anyone else. With £25 million in his back pocket from the sale of Adebayor it is essential that we sign a defensive midfielder immediatly and maybe a striker too.

We had a friendly against SC Columbia yesterday evening who are in the Austrian 4th division. After falling behind in the 35th minute due to a silly error by Almunia we then upped the pace a little and scored 3 goals before half time and another 4 in the second half. The goals came from Bendtner(2), Ramsey(2), RVP(2)(I pen) & Gallas and if we took our chances it could have been more. A few more players made their first appearence in addition to the ones that played against Barnet at the weekend and the manager again played an almost completely different team in the second half. Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Ramsey, Bendtner, Toure, Sagna, RVP, Song, Traore & Senderos all appeared for the first time and we still have to see Clichy, Eduardo, Cesc, Theo, Gibbs & Vela for the first time. It all sounds impressive but with Rosicky being rested it shows how delicate things can be. With the Champions league qualifying round and all the other cup games we will probably play somewhere between 55 and 60 games again with any luck and we will need every last one of them(except Silvestre) to stay as fit as possible.

It appears that Fabianski has an ankle injury and will be out for another couple of weeks and Senderos still has to decide on his future. There is also a story which I have not seen confirmed yet about Eduardo being out for another 2 months with his injury. Another story to appear is the possibility of Roman Pavyluchenko joining us from The Spuds for £6 million but I severely doubt that we will sign him.

Don't forget to sign up for the Fantasy football as well at the link below.

LINK

Oleole league code  4383-1847

Arsenal league code  4383-1835

Head to head league code  4383-1828

Here's the highlights from last night

LINK  

And to finish today's title track from The Clash as we are hit by our injury jinx yet again.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

The season review continues today after a rather hectic weekend for me and it's on to the next set of Arsenal players for me. First of all I think I should mention the fact that the boss said that Man City could be a real threat to the top 4 next if the transfer window goes well for them. He also mentioned that Villa, Everton and The Spuds could be a threat too and I would think that Everton would be the biggest threat of all. If City are to threaten the big 4 we need to make sure that we are chasing for the title and not just making up the numbers again. We are percieved as the most vulnerable of the big 4 and you can be sure Chelsea and Manure will strengthen again. I don't know if Liverpool's financial position will allow them to strengthen but the way they finished the season they should challenge again. It is imperative that we challenge for the league next season as the fans are growing impatient and will demand that challenge.

On to the season review and the only defender that I haven't given my opinion on is Silvestre. To be honest there isn't much I can say about him that hasn't been said already but personally I think it was a mistake to loan Senderos to Milan and bring him in instead. He performed well on 1 or 2 occasions and even scored the odd goal but our defence was at it's most vulnerable when he was in the team. We went through our best run when he was injured and if I never see him in an Arsenal shirt again it will be too soon.

On a more positive note was the performance at times of our only real signing last summer Nasri. His best moment of the season was the brace he scored at home against Manure and his performances at The Emirates always seemed a little better than away from home. For some bizzare reason the manager decided to play him as a central midfielder at the end of the season and while that might work against the weaker teams it won't work at the highest level. I suppose he is suffering a little from the fact that we have so many players who can play in his favoured position just off a lone striker and he was used in a wide position more often than anywhere else last season. If we get the new central midfielder that I believe we need and we have all our other midfielders available I think his chances might be limited just a little next season.

I suppose the player who improved the most over the course of the season was Song and I was one of his harshest critics in the early part of the season when we were struggling and he was too. As the season progressed he grew into his defensive midfield role and some people even think he was our player of the season. He got a run out at centre back at the end of the season but to be honest I would prefer to see him in midfield and protecting the defence so long as we can sign someone else to play at centre back. If we do sign the central midfielder that we need also it may limit Song's chances next season but I don't see the problem in having a strong squad with a lot of competition.

Next up we have Denilson and if the statistics are to be believed he was one of the top midfielders in the league last season. I don't think those statistics tell the whole story as I just can't see an Arsenal side with him in it on a permanent basis being good enough to win the league. For me he makes too many careless passes and doesn't offer us enough as an attacking threat. His defensive abilities also leave a lot to be desired. We can afford to keep him as a reserve and play him occasionally but again I don't think his game is good enough against the top teams.

One player who can be very frustrating is Diaby as he can be exceptionally good in one game and downright awful in the next game. He has been very injury prone since his very bad leg break at Sunderland a few years ago. I can't remember a time where he has been available for more than 5 games in a row and when he does play I'm never too sure what position he should be in. Appearently the player himself would prefer to play just off the striker as would Nasri, Arshavin RVP and probably Theo too. His similarity to Vieira in stature has led to a lot of comparisons but they are different types of players altogether. Diaby has an incredibly annoying habit of what has been described as twirling on the ball and he gets caught in possession far too often. In the FA Cup semi final he was found out by Chelsea and they knew that if they challenged him 2 players at a time he would turn away from the first player and into the second one and thereby lose the ball. He is one of the players I find myself shouting at most often on the TV as he never seems to release the ball on time. Again if he is to stay I can see him being a bit part player next season.

The final 2 players for today are Eduardo & Rosicky. Rosicky missed the whole season injured and Eduardo played very few games after coming back from his horriffic injury. As it stands the official line from the club is that both players will join up with the squad for pre season training and I really hope that is the case. There are doubts about the long term future of both players though and I hope they can get themselves back to full finess after a year and half out of the team. In the few games Eduardo played he managed to score a quite fantastic goal in the FA Cup against Burnley which should be a contender for our goal of the season. Rosicky is a genuine top class player and eduardo has the potential to be the same and to have them both available for next season would be fantastic but I won't hold my breath.

That's the lot for today. My review of the players is almost over and where I will go from there for the rest of the season I'm not too sure but I'll find something to write about.

Here's a clip of Eduardo's fantastic goal against Burnley.

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And to finish here's today's title track from Radiohead which describes how I am witout football.

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See You Tomorrow

Today's blog is part two of my season review and today is all about the good things from the season just passed. I will be reviewing the parts of the season that brought me "Happiness" after yesterday's blog full of my disappointments from 2008/09.

To start with I will recall my favourite moment of the season which was the night at Anfield when Arshavin announced his arrival in English football with a bang by scoring all four of our goals in our 4-4 draw. To be honest the way we defended that night we could have been well beaten but we ended up conceding a last minute equaliser and we scored from every effort we had on target in the match(besides the 2 offside goals thar were not offside). It was a roller coaster ride from start to finish as we scored first and then came from behind to lead late on only to end up drawing. It came only 3 days after the severe disappointment of the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea and our attacking play was a joy to watch. It left me feeling that next season holds a lot of hope for us with Arshavin & Cesc in the same team together.

The next big moment for me was our 2-1 home win against Manure when Nasri scored both goals. I was away with friends in Ennis for the weekend and lost a vote by 6 votes to 2 as to what we should do that morning. My wife and I wanted to watch the match but everyone else(including the Manure fan) wanted to visit the cliffs of Moher. After getting soaked to the skin in torrential rain we retreated to a pub and caught the second half of the game. I got pleasently pissed on my winnings from my Manure supporting friend and Arsenal got the result I hoped would kick start the rest of their season. That wasn't to be but it was still a great victory which we thoroughly deserved.

I suppose the next big highlight for me was the 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge at the end of November when we came back from 1-0 down to gain an excellent victory with 2 goals from RVP. I managed to make it to the pub for the second half of that match and things didn't look too good at that stage as we were behind and on a terrible run in the league. After beating Manure on November 8th we then lost at home to Villa and away to Man City and it didn't look too good when we fell behind. To be fair the team responded really well to get the victory and we then went 21 league matches unbeaten after that.

There were other highs too including the purchase of Arshavin in January, our victory on penalties in Rome(after playing poorly) and the performances of the youngsters in the Carling Cup. The doubles won by the youth team and the ladies team were excellent as well and the emergence of Gibbs & Song towards the end of the season was a bonus too. On a personal level I made my first trip to The Emirates and thoroughly enjoyed the experience even though we struggled to beat Wigan 1-0 on the day. I also joined the newly formed Wicklow branch of the Arsenal supporters club and I had some very enjoyable days and nights in The Strand in Bray watching our beloved Gunners.

Before I finish I should mention that there are rumours that we have signed  Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax who is a 5' 11" centre back who can also play at left back. Appearently he is very good in the air but personally I want a player with that quality who is 6 inches taller. As I write this there is no official confirmation or denial of the rumour so I suppose we will have to wait and see. If somebody could please tell me for sure that the transfer window is open I would appreciate it as I am still not sure if it opened on June 1st or if we have to wait until July 1st. That's the lot for today and in the next installment I'll deal with the players and their progress or lack of it last season.

Here's a clip of Nasri's 2nd goal against Manure.

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And to finish today's title track from Black Uhuru.

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See You Tomorrow.