The transfer rumour mill is in full swing as we delve ever forward into January 2009.  Christmas is a distant dream; the next Bank holiday is seemingly lodged irrevocably in the unreachable future; and temperatures continue to plummet at a pace akin to the demise of the economy. Manchester City appear to be buying everybody, or at least trying to, however, so far there transfer policy hasn’t borne fruit on the pitch. Whether that is to do with Mark Hughes being crap remains to be seen. West Ham appear to be selling everybody, although whether this will prevent their collapse is unknown. The Arsenal are being linked with increasing numbers of players but nothing has yet happened beyond the excellent news that Jack Wilshire has signed his first professional contract with the club. One hopes that this piece of critical housekeeping is followed up with new contracts being offered to Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott.

There is increasing speculation that Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin will be moving to the Emirates. They say that there is no smoke without fire, although in this case one would think that the smoke and the fire are firmly in control of Arshavin’s agent. Can anyone really see Mr Wenger spending 20 million on a player?! Still, the Mirror yesterday reported that le Boss has green lighted the deal and circumstantial evidence in the form of Wenger’s statement regarding Champions League-tied players suggest something may be in the air. One cannot deny that purchasing Arshavin is an exciting prospect, however, I have been an Arsenal fan too long to get carried away by things like this. In fact, the last time that we were linked to an established top level player and we actually bought him was Dennis Bergkamp. Another player that we have been strongly linked to in the last couple of days is Matthew Upson, who, predictably West Ham have stated will not be sold. The latest rumour is that we propose a swop deal with Bendtner plus cash for Upson. This is so speculative that one wonders if there is even a mote of truth in the story. For a start, I think Wenger doesn’t believe in going back. Secondly, Upson has a terrible injury record. Thirdly, Bendy would almost certainly refuse to go there. There is also increasing chatter regarding a potential move by Toure to Manchester City. I really hope that this doesn’t happen. Toure is one of the old guard and somebody that I really hope can work back to the once high level of form he displayed. His malaria seems to have drained him of much of his energy levels in games but these illnesses take time to recover from and I am convinced that if he stays he can once again attain his old self. There has been surprisingly little news about Gallas in the last few days. He was the one player everybody expected to see out the door asap. One would think that Wenger is keen to tie up a replacement before considering letting Gallas (or Toure) go. He would very much want to avoid the situation that occurred in the summer where he let Gilberto and Flamini go without being able to sign a defensive midfield replacement. In fact, that also occurred when he sold Vieira. I remember opening the papers each day expecting to see we had signed somebody, but to no avail. I recall even Jose Mourinho saying he thought Wenger must have a replacement in mind. That turned out to be the last time that we won anything. Hmmm.

What would be nice is that if indeed we are to sign anybody we do it as quickly in order that the team can be settled and the new playing staff integrated as soon as possible. We very much want to avoid the situation in the summer where everybody was rushing about like blue-arsed flies in the closing moments of the transfer window, only to be predictably disappointed in the hunt for bargains. The fallacy that one can pick up a player cheap at the last minute has well and truly come back to bite the Arsenal on the backside as now the exchange rate is such that £1 and 1 Euro are of the same value so that the cost of players now as compared to the beginning of last summers transfer window is much higher. Also, the spectre of the Webster Ruling looms darkly on the horizon. A contract will soon be virtually worthless. I wonder who the Arsenal players are hoping the le Boss will buy. We know that Fabregas wanted Wenger to bring in Alonso in the summer, but do you think that the players look at the newspapers and see stories about Arshavin being linked and think to themselves…Hello, that would be good?!

Le Boss has admitted that the William Gallas affair was the toughest moment of his managerial career to date, considering the numerous ups and downs of over 20 years in management that is quite a statement. There are numerous stories circulating today regarding the former captain’s future at the club with many touting him to leave in January. While I wouldn’t be too upset to see the back of him it would represent one more experienced player leaving so maybe we should hang on to him until the summer. Some unconfirmed chatter on the internet suggests that Gallas hasn’t been behaving himself with regards to Pat Rice’s pre-match training at Boro. If any of this is true then we should move Gallas on in January - with a confidence as fragile as ours we need to weed out any malign influences in the squad and move forward.

Welcome back Eduardo!! Good to see the smiley little fella again. He played 45 minutes and had a little bit of a hamstring twinge, but that sort of thing is only to be expected after such a long time out of the action. I can’t wait until he is back in first team contention. He was starting to look excellent before his sickening injury and his clinical finishing will hopefully improve our possession to goals ratio.

Lots of people have been coming out in the press and saying the title is beyond us. Redknapp, Rio Ferdinand and so on. Even though we all know that the title is now a dream for us it still pisses me right off that we have to listen to these a-holes harping on about our chances. Rio is still smarting from the fact that we kicked his candy ass and Redknapp, well, Redknapp can go f*ck himself.

Patrick Vieira. The great man says we lack experience, that the talent is there but the crucial factors to make us winners are missing. He's right of course, and he he also one of the very few ex-players whose comments I am happy to listen to. He questions those who question le Boss, and while I question those whose views about Wenger are extreme (e.g. the lets sack him brigade) I do think fans should be able to criticise when things have gone wrong which could have been avoided.

Vieira is still marshalling the Inter Milan team. You wonder why we sold him. It was bullshit that he and Fabregas couldn't play together. Imagine how awesome our midfield would be if it comprised Vieira and Fabregas. Fabregas and the other young players could have learned so much from the great man and how he would have provided the steely edge we so desperately lack. Oh well, the past is the past, but that was a bad decision and really the beginning of the end of the last great Arsenal era.

Tonight Eduardo makes his reserve comeback bringing him a step closer to fist team action and bringing us a step closer to having a clinical striker again. His determination and attitude during his rehabilition have been inspirational and one hopes that his presence on the pitch is similarly motivating. He was looking shit hot before that numbnuts smashed his ankle and I hope that he can come back mentally as well as he has physically. The Croatians will be happy as well, their international side have looked a shadow of themselves since the poor little sod was knackered.

A lot of players, current and ex, seem to be talking about how divided our squad is. Yesterday Adebayor mentioned it, Vieiraalso highlighted in in his interview. How was the squad allowed to become so fractured, why didn't Wenger sort it out? I know that is part of the Captains role and Gallas was more Bligh that Nelson but even so, Wenger has eyes and knows that harmony is a necessity if a challenge for honours is to be made. He should have stopped the rot before it became debilitating.

Anyway, i'm tired now, time to go.

The gauge of a football teams progress in a season is measured, at its most basic level, in the number of defeats. X number of defeats is too many to win the league and so forth. This is usually measured in the league only. But the league often hides the true scale of a problem. For example, this season Arsenal have lost 7 times, although thankfully not 7 times in the league. Even the Invincibles lost matches in the FA Cup, Champions League and League Cup. I have digressed slightly here. My point is that we have lost 7 games this season and it is only the 12^th December. Remember also that we last won the Premiership in 2004 and the FA Cup in 2005. Despite this Arsene has stated that he thinks the team will end their trophyless run this year. Hmmm. More Wengerian rhetoric. The burgervan knows that Arsene must try to reinforce the players confidence, that he cannot go on record and say he doesn’t think that we will win anything this year. But, the burgervan also knows that that is precisely what Arsene really thinks. It would be better for everyone if instead of saying we can win this and that and everything he just avoided such blatantly ridiculous prophesising altogether. It is vaguely embarrassing and has an air of desperation about it that I don’t like reading about.

Tony Freaking Cascarino. TC. It’s been a little while since I have felt the need to attack this Times Columnist. I like the Times, it is a great paper with a great tradition but I am still flabbergasted that they employ Tony Cascarino to write for their otherwise superb Sports Section. I read his column and it is as though I have been transported to the pub on matchday and I am unluckily seated next to the guy who feels compelled to impart his vapid insights to me for the full 90 minutes. Cascarino is such an uninteresting read. He never provides the insight that one would hope that an ex-professional might impart to the man in the street. And he is so repetitive. How many times is he going to say that we need leaders, that we need to ‘get back to basics’, that we take too many passes in front of goal, that we cant defend set pieces blah blah blah. Surely if one is privileged enough to write a newspaper column for a national institution like The Times then one has the duty to at least write something different each time? It his latest regurgitation, TC has really had a go at the Arsenal team that lost to Porto in the week. But honestly, what’s the point? It was virtually a reserve side. One can’t take that performance and apply it to the rest of the squad, it isn’t true and it isn’t fair. The Arsenal have just defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and we are getting a bit of momentum in the league. If anything we are coming out of the dip we have been in and are addressing the problems that he has once again mentioned. In short, TC needs to think, I realise that this is difficult for him, his tic tac of a brain isn’t very capable, but please, this is The Times, not Leyton Orient programme notes.

The papers seem to be united in the opinion that the January transfer window will see the departure of Gallas and Bendtner. Gallas is strongly mooted to move to AC Milan or Juventus, with Juve believed to be in pole position for the troublemakers signature. Bendtner has less glamorous options but ultimately I wouldn’t be upset if he went. He had a great chance to prove himself this season but has shown that he is not good enough. Plus he has an ego problem that I’m sure has led to divisions in the squad. Add to that his propensity for lurid footwear and you have all the ingredients for his sale. If we could get between £8-10 million for the pair of them that would provide a nice wedge of cash for Wenger to spend on somebody without a bad attitude.

Fabregas has once again reiterated that he wants to stay at the Arsenal, at least until the end of his contract in 2014, but that one day he will return to Spain. I suspect that it will be well before 2014 if we don’t start looking like we are going to win something.

The Times says Fabregas, Clichy and RVP will shake off injuries and be back in the squad for the games against Middlesbrough at the weekend. We also welcome back Adebayor after his rest, and I hope that he will follow up his winner against Wigan with a couple more against Boro, a team we haven’t beaten at the Riverside for ages. Sagna and Toure are also in doubt and Nasri is definitely out alongside long-term absentees Walcott, Rosicky and Eduardo (who makes his reserve comeback in 4 days).

Football is back after a seemingly endless three days since our oiks got knocked out of the Carling Cup. Wigan visit the Emirates today probably wishing that they could have played us two weeks ago. A win today is all I care about. I don't care how we do it, how slick our passing is or how many opportunities we have. All I want is that we have scored more than them at the final whistle and if we can keep a clean sheet i'll have that too. We must build on the Chelsea result and that's the bottom line.

A few people at my work have been saying this week that the Arsenal are due to give somebody a thrashing. It's true that we haven't handed out a stout humiliation to a side in the Premiership for a while, but I don't think that the team are there yet. Like I said before, a win today is all that matters. It's weird isnt it how you change your expectations. Once, not too long ago, I would have gone into this match with an expectation of at least a 3 goal victory, now I would be content with a hard fought 1-0.

Gallas is out today so we will either see the much awaited return of Kolo or Silvestre filling in for Gallas. Eduardo is almost ready but not quite. He is in full training but just needs matches to quote le Boss. It will be great to have him back in contention. I am still unconvinced by Adebayor and Bendtner is sadly not up to the job so I would ultimately like to see our front line composed of RVP and Eduardo.

For some reason we have seen the ''almost signed Ronaldo stories doing the rounds again over the last two days. I wish that Arsene wouldn't comment on these stories. If we had signed him, he would have been amazing for us, but we would have faced the same close season wantaway bullshit that United have suffered with as Madrid come knocking. The only difference being that I don't think that we would have been able to hold on to him like United did. Despite being total buttmunches, United handled the Ronaldo situation excellently over the summer. Sadly their tapping up of Berbatov wasn't quite so well handled was it? At least that f*cked Tottenham in the @ss though so I won't complain too much.

I see Keano has left Sunderland. That surprised me. I didn't think that he was a quitter. Ince is touted to follow soon, and anyone who saw his tv rant yesterday would have to say that he doesnt really look like he can handle the pressure. Was he crying in that interview by the way? It looked like it to me. Pussy. You'd never catch Arsene crying like a little bitch.

Transfer speculation is hotting up with the latest names linked to the Arsenal being Silvain Distin from Portsmouth, Brede Hangeland from Fulham and Felipe Melo of Fiorentina. These rumours are almost certainly complete tosh although we have been linked to Distin a few times. Arsene has come out and said that he wants Gallas to stay at the club. This could be the truth or it could be a ruse to ensure that potential buyers don't undervalue him. Either way, let's keep hold of him until the end of the season, we don't have enough players as it is. Plus he has been pretty good in the last two games he has played.

Anyway. today it's Wigan and I feel a win coming and i'm sure that El Capitan wants to keep up his 100% record.

Burgervan Prediction: Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan

Flash of Arsenal!!

There is a bit more to talk about today than yesterday. Perhaps, with all the recent talk of crisis and so forth, we have all become used to there being a page dedicated to the Arsenal in every national newspaper every single day. Perhaps no news is, as the cliché says, good news.

William Gallas is out of Saturday’s game against Wigan at the Emirates due to a calf injury. This will see the restoration of Kolo Toure into the starting line-up and I for one hope that he grabs the opportunity with both hands. He will probably be alongside Silvestre, but I would like to see Toure and Djourou in combination to see how that works. However, I suppose that there is no denying Silvestre’s experience, even if his career has been blighted by his extended tenure at Old Trafford. I realise that many fans haven’t warmed to Silvestre and I can understand why, however, you only have to see the unbridled joy on his face when he celebrates a goal to see that he is now an Arsenal player. All I am saying is give Silvestre a chance.

Fabregas has denied rumours that he is heading for AC Milan, who by the way, can go f*ck themselves. He caveated his denial with the somewhat flattering (to Milan) statement that were he ever to play in Italy then Milan would be his destination. At least he is modest eh! I suspect the Flamini had a lot to do with this story, trying to get his mate over to Italy to play with him. I have always considered Flamini to be grossly overrated – he was a mediocre version of players we have had previously (Petit, Vieira, Parlour, Gilberto, Edu, Grimandi) , but there is no denying his sale has left us short in terms of tenacity in the midfield. Going back to Fabregas, I would like to say that his statement will put an end to the constant speculation surrounding him, but it won’t of course and as I have said before that is Arsenal’s fault. Show any sign of weakness in the transfer market and the wolves move in for the kill. Unfortunately the wolves have been having a feast on our production line. When I talk about wolves by the way I mean the canine pack hunters not Wolverhampton Wanderers. It saddens me that we have become a feeder club for Barcelona; Real Madrid and AC Milan. At least we don’t sell players to our Premiership rivals (like Tottenham do). I hope that we start winning some trophies soon or Theo’s magpie gene might be activated by the prospect of shiny trophies at Man Utd, Chelsea, or his boyhood club Liverpool.

Congratulations to the young lads for a terrific cup run. Were it not for the rub of the green and Burnley’s goalkeeper playing out of his skin the Arsenal brats would have progressed to the semi’s. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be this time around. The players acquitted themselves excellently and Wenger should be applauded for using the competition in the way that he does. Although only a handful of these players will make it into first team contention many of the others will go on to decent careers at other clubs and bring in some nice little transfer fees. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we saw some of this Carling Cup team loaned out in the January transfer window.

RVP has come out an stated that he doesn’t think that William Gallas was talking about him in his recent book launch blurb. The finger of blame has somehow now fallen on Eboue, although I don’t know where that little titbit has come from. Probably some over-eager journalist invented it. It doesn’t matter one iota whether Gallas was talking about RVP, Eboue or King Tut, the fact is that the whole episode should be consigned to the past. Look to the future!

It is a shame that we are out of the Carling Cup. I hope that the squad don’t let it knock their confidence. They need to focus on the task at hand – Wigan at home on Saturday. We are approaching what we laughably call full-strength now in our first team. With the exception of poor old Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott most of our players are back or nearly back. I am even expecting to see Eduardo again soon. Theo, presumably suffering the same problem that he had before but in a different shoulder should be tougher on his return, knowing that both of his shoulders are now strengthened. Rosicky, well, who knows what the hell is going on with him. He always comes across as a good guy in his interviews and it is a real shame what has happened to him. What has actually happened to him anyway? His comebacks are delayed time after time, does anybody actually know what is wrong with him? I hope that he can be more like Overmars, e.g. come back after a long and serious injury to play the best football of his life; rather than like Owen, who has been a shadow of his former self since his knee exploded.

Yaya Toure has come out and said that he spoke to Arsene over the summer (although he didn’t say what they talked about – the weather? How Kolo never does the washing up? Who knows). Yaya also said that he was happy at the Nou Camp, but, if Arsene goes for him, I’m sure that he’d join the Arsenal. Is he the answer to our problems in the centre of midfield? I don’t know, I have only seen him play a handful of times. He is obviously a class act and he is better than our current options in the middle of the park. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. I think he should join us just so he can see the look of joy on his mum’s face when she realised that the Toures have been reunited. Incidentally, how many other Toures are their lurking about? Would it be possible to have a team entirely composed of Toures? That would be amazing. Sadly my dream of a team split 50-50 into Toures and Hoytes is now never going to happen. That was a big disappointment.

That’s what it’s all about. The stuttering ember of hope has been reignited and is now glowing merrily like Rudolph’s red nose as we enter the first day of Advent. What a bizarre season this is turning out to be. The highs of the European campaign and deserved victories against Manchester United and Chelsea versus the lows of Fulham, Stoke City, Man City and Villa. Who knows what will happen next. Arsene Wenger believes that it is a learning process - that the team are beginning to understand that the same high level of commitment is required in every game. I recall him saying something similar after the Man United result, but the team sunk to new lows in the wake of that game. Now maybe it will be different, so we hope. Never has the well worn tenet – ‘to take it one game at a time’ been so true. On Saturday we face Wigan at the Emirates. If we approach the game with the same awesome determination that we saw against Chelsea then poor Wigan won’t stand a chance.

So, to last nights game. Firstly, let’s get the boasting out of the way. A third correct burgervan score prediction of the season. Ok, I admit it, the majority of predictions have been well wrong (the estimate of a 4-0 victory over Villa was particularly bad) but it is nice to get it right for such a big game. The Arsenal were magnificent at Stamford Bridge. The whole team played well and worked their arses off for each other. Defensively we were like a different team, with Gallas loving the high pressure atmosphere and clearly thriving without the weight of the captaincy on his shoulders. Djourou, despite the unfortunate own goal, was a tower of strength beside him, and Clichy and Sagna, both great players, were spot on. Ok, the midfield perhaps came second in the battle in the centre of the pitch, but even so, the team was much more tenacious than in recent games with players like Nasri sacrificing much of his attacking verve to ensure that the team was solid defensively. Almunia really didn’t have very much to do, which was a surprise because after the Arsenal’s second goal Chelsea didn’t offer anything. It seems that this new Chelsea side are easier to break than Mourinho’s team, which was like playing against a brick wall both mentally and physically.

It seems like forever since we had our first choice strike partnership playing together. Adebayor and RVP work well together and I hope that they can both stay free of injuries because there is no doubt that we really need them. I wonder if our recent form would have been different had RVP not been sent off and subsequently banned for that silly foul. Everyone has a player that they like to see score more than any other. For me, in days gone by that was Dennis Bergkamp and before that I used to like to see Merson score. Nowadays I like to see RVP score and he certainly did that yesterday. His first goal was excellent and his second reminded me a little of Dennis Bergkamp’s first competitive goal for us against Southampton.  Yes, his first goal was offside, no, I don’t care. The number of decisions we have had against us this year more than balances out this piece of good fortune. Scolari really needs to shut the hell up. The fact is that Chelsea were fortunate to go ahead through an own goal and offered up very little in terms of goal scoring opportunities. Ergo, he can’t really complain can he? There was almost half an hour after RVP’s second goal, in which Chelsea did nada.  

What was great to see was the sheer joy on the players faces when we equalised and then scored the second goal. It has been a while since I have seen such an ecstatic mobbing of a goal scorer and it showed how much this meant to everybody. Likewise at the end of the game, the celebrations were truly heartfelt - Gallas for example had to be taken off the pitch by a couple of stewards! Ahh good times.

So now we are 7 points off the top spot with all the teams above us having played once game less than us. It is frustrating seeing us beat the top sides and lose to the lesser teams. It makes you think what if?! The title is still out of reach but as the manager said in his post match interview, it isn’t as out of reach as it would have been had we lost. Can we drag ourselves back in contention? Let’s just take it one game at a time and see. We have been so inconsistent in recent games that I don’t think any of us would be in the least bit surprised if we slipped up again in our next away match against lower opposition. But, if they can take this experience, and the experience against Kyiv in midweek and just try to accrue points, we can at least try to ensure Champions League qualification and perhaps undo some of the damage we have done to our self-esteem. If we can somehow draw a line under our crapness then who knows. Maybe we can even try to finish higher than fourth. ONE GAME AT A TIME!

Arsenal have finally appointed a new chief executive officer in the form of Ivan Gazidis, a 44 year old South African born Oxford Graduate who has spent the last 14 years in the United States working as the deputy commissioner for Major League Soccer (MLS).  Gazidis will start in his new role in January where he is expected to take on many of the roles formerly carried out by David Dein. Burgervan welcomes him to the Arsenal and wishes him the best of luck.

The new Exec got off on the right foot by praising the business model he will be inheriting at the Arsenal and immediately endeared himself to fans by taking a sideswipe at Chelsea by saying “the great thing about Arsenal is that it has been run to sustain itself. It is not dependent on an outside investor to pump money in year after year”.

Gazidis met Arsene Wenger at Colney 10 days ago following the defeat by Aston Villa and it appears that Arsene has given his seal of approval. The new exec is a qualified solicitor and amateur player and in that respect probably shared much in common with le Boss, who himself has business qualifications and didn’t amount to much more than an amateur player himself.

The Arsenal should be praised for the way that they recruited for this position. As there was seemingly no panic and consequently no rushed appointment the chances are that they have found somebody that can do a great job. One hopes that Gazidis won’t be a Wenger yes-man, but we will have to wait and see on that score. One thing is for certain and that is that Wenger can now stop working on the duties he inherited when Dein left and concentrate on the football again. We need his abilities now more than ever.

As the January transfer window looms so our players are being linked with moves away from the club. This is inevitable and we have seen a dramatic increase in this unwanted phenomenon over the last three years. This is largely because our actions and rhetoric have identified us as a selling club. That’s a sad fact isn’t it?! Obviously Gallas has been linked with a move – Paris St Germain and more recently Milan are apparently in the frame, although his agent has been quick to dampen rumours and reiterate Gallas’s commitment to the club. If we do sell William Gallas it won’t be until the summer. Kinnear has also been talking about taking Denilson, Djourou and Song on loan at Newcastle. Ha! I don’t think so Joe, haven’t you noticed we don’t have any players as it is, we aren’t likely to lend you any!

On the subject of Gallas, Wenger has defended him in his role as a part time pundit for Canal+ in France. Wenger says that Gallas was the subject of a witch-hunt after his error at Birmingham last season and that consequently he had no chance to succeed as captain. Apparently Wenger thinks that Gallas will now thrive that the pressure is off him, which surely infers that he thinks Gallas wasn’t able to cope with the pressure in the first place. Wenger also defended Gallas’s recent press blunders by saying that his comments were not malicious. Nobody ever thought that they were malicious Arsene, we all just thought that they were damned idiotic, and not befitting an Arsenal player, let alone an Arsenal captain.

As for Chelsea this weekend, Fabregas says if we win we are back in the title hunt. That’s a bit aspirational really, but not losing would be a bloody good boost for the squad. Sagna, Adebayor and Nasri are all 50-50 for that game. I hope that they all make it back, I really do.

A win. We didn’t play particularly well, we didn’t play particularly badly but we won. We ground out a result despite injuries, lack of confidence and lack of form. We kept a very welcome clean sheet. The players worked for each other, some of them didn’t play well but that doesn’t matter. Ultimately, it was of vital importance that we stopped leaking goals, stopped losing and had some good news for a change.

The media dwells on our lingering problems this morning. Of course this result doesn’t solve all of our issues or paper over the cracks but it is a step in the right direction. A new captain, a clean sheet, a win, and a steely determination to get a result are all indicators that the feeble submissions we have witnessed of late may be consigned to the past. As I have said before, it wasn’t the losing that bothered me so much in recent weeks, it was the pathetic manner of those defeats. Anyway that is in the past.

Also in the past, albeit the recent past, is the William Gallas affair. Gallas played last night, largely due to a lack of any options, but he got his head down, shut up and worked hard for the team. The crowd were kind to him also, which was a surprise. I have changed my opinion on the way Gallas should be handled. In the spirit of moving on and looking to the future I have resolved to forgive Gallas for his idiocy. If he can stay with the team, work hard, not give any more interviews and not be a disruptive force in the dressing room then I will back him. The players have come out to support him, although notably RVP and Samir Nasri have been quiet. The manager has given him another chance, so I guess so should we. Make no mistake though, William Gallas is on parole. One more f*ck up and he should be shown the door as quickly as possible.

El Capitán had a great first game in the hotseat, not only was he all over the pitch and involved in everything, his quick thinking at the DROP BALL set up a great pass for confidence shorn Bendtner, who finished superbly. That moment threw me back to the glory days when Henry and Pires used to contrive similar rule bending opportunities at free kicks. It’s nice to have a player capable of thinking differently. I couldn’t care less about those people that claim bad sportsmanship, we needed to win that game. Anyway Aliiev was guilty of hideous gamesmanship with his rolling about as if struck by lightning quickly followed by sprinting antics. I was glad he got sent off, not only is he a cheat but he also got caught. I could probably just about stand a diver, but not a diver without the sense to do it properly.

El Capitán has said that he is keen to talk to Vieira and Henry to get advice on his new role. Vieira can certainly give him some pointers, he was a miraculous captain for us. It’s been said before, many times, by me and others, but why on God’s Green Earth did we ever sell Vieira? If we hadn’t, he’d still be captain and we’d have probably won the league a couple more times in the last few years. Sorry about that, I must remember that now we are looking forward, not dwelling on the past and what might have been. So what if we sold the world’s best midfielder, the world’s best winger and the world’s best striker in the space of two years and didn’t replace them. That isn’t important anymore. The future! Look to the future!

Going back to the Champions League, despite our problems this season we have qualified top of a difficult Champions League group. That is an achievement for any team, let alone a team comprising children and ‘utility players’ such as ours. The players and the manager can take great credit for this achievement. Last night it was great to see Vela start, I enjoy watching him play, he is good on the ball, runs at the defence fearlessly and always has a shot on goal. In a season or so he could be flippin’ excellent for us. Likewise Ramsey looks like a player of 23 rather than 17 or 18 or whatever he is. I know that they were there because of injuries etc, but even so, they acquitted themselves admirably. As did record breaker Wilshire and Johann Djourou. Most of these players are only ready for substitute roles at most, but it is good to have these players coming through, even if it doesn’t help us that much which our pressing problems.