There is one major talking point from the North London derby today.  But before I get to it, let me post some of my pregame thoughts from the WSD boards.

I expect goals.  The NL Derby is rarely a quiet affair (a far cry from the Liverpool derby) and it'd be a surprise if this thing ended up 0-0.

Oops on my part.  If nothing else, I have proven once again that I am an idiot.  

Now let's get to Eboue.

Look, for the first 20 minutes or so, I thought he had a solid time out there.  The goal he scored should not have been disallowed by Mike Dean.  That was a good goal and I wonder how things might have gone if it had been allowed to stand.

But whenever you talk Eboue, you have to take the good with the bad.   Let me paraphrase myself one more time:

He has no mental strength. He is petulant...

After much deliberation, consternation, anger and veiled shots, Arsenal finally landed their man.  Andrei Arshavin -- he of the great UEFA Cup and Euro 08 runs -- is now a Gunner.  It only took 32 days and more words written about it than the Bible to see it done. 

I had guessed at the start of the window that we would be targetting a central midfielder (to replace Cesc), a central defender (because Kolo and Gallas didn't seem to be working together) and a winger (to provide a more attacking wide option).  Of course, I was wide off the mark.  

So let's just put that down to me being a complete idiot.  

Arshavin should provide immediate assistance on the attacking third and in helping to break down the 10-man wall defenses that have risen up around the Premier League.  You gotta expect that, at first, he'll slide into the right side of the pitch and keep...

Sooooo....the transfer window has closed and the Andrei Arshavin transfer saga has ended in....

...we don't know.

In fact, trust nothing you hear until there's an official announcement.  

Why?  Because in the last few hours, the deal was off for certain and on for certain.  Arshavin was in London.  No, wait, he's in Paris....or maybe back in St. Petersburg.  The sticking point was the transfer fee -- or the bonus Zenit want back or Arshavin's wage demands.  

In other words, everyone is trying to figure out what's really what and between Arshavin's agent running to everyone with a microphone, Arsenal's traditionally quiet mouth and Zenit trying to avoid the stink of being labelled the next Lyon (i.e. the club that holds transfer deals out for ransom), this is all getting very confusing.

And the snowstorm that blanketed...

So, I got up early this morning, ready to watch Arsenal take on West Ham when lo and behold, I find that the damn p2p streams across several sites for Premier League matches have been taken down.  Thanks to Scudamore and the PL's push a game that I can't pay to watch (as my cable subscriber doesn't give me even the chance to buy Setanta at its exorbitant rate) the only other alternatives were removed.

Now, I have nothing against the Premier League making money.  And if I could, I'd buy Setanta for my cable package.  Unfortunately, I can't.  So my choice is either go without or try and find a pub or bar that does have Setanta and is open at Saturday, 9 AM.  

Those are not real options.

So instead, I ended up racing across the Interwebs, desperately looking for a place that did stream the game.  Meanwhile kickoff had started and I was missing the Arsenal...

So, after 24 hours of hearing that the deal for Arshavin was finally done, guess what?  It's not.

Instead we're being told that the deal is still tangled because Arshavin and Arsenal have yet to agree on personal terms.  I wrote yesterday that it seemed odd that this would be the case since everyone was reporting that Arshavin and the Gunners had already reached a basic deal and all they were waiting on was Zenit's approval.

So what's the hold up?   Uh...I don't know, but here are some of the reported issues:

1. Who pays the fees of Arshavin's agent?  We're talking about a fee along the lines of 2 to 3.5 million pounds.   Zenit want that fee to be paid by Arsenal.  Arsenal have never paid an agent's fees and that's unlikely to change now.  They feel that's something the player should pay.  And Arshavin's agent only cares that he gets his fee paid. ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article5594933.ece

From all indications it appears so.  The long-protracted transfer saga of one Andrei Arshavin appears to have finally come to a conclusion as Arsenal appear to have landed their man.  

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24969029-2883,00.html

This article says the amount is AU$35 million (or approximately17 million pounds)...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arsenal-at-last-close-in-on-record-deal-for-arshavin-1516908.html

So while we wait on news from the Arshavin front (latest rumors: he's going on strike at Zenit and won't report for their winter training trip to the United Arab Emirates while at the same time his agent says something could happen by next week),  the big news out there in this quiet transfer window is the massive offer Manchester City have reportedly made to AC Milan.  100 million pounds for one Ricardo Kaka'. 

Read that again.  100 million pounds.  Nearly 150 million dollars.  For one player.

That's more than double what Real Madrid paid for Zidane (the current European transfer record).  That's more than triple what City paid for Robinho (the current English transfer record). 

The first thought that rang in my head is: "Wow, how could Milan turn that down?"  But they went and did anyway.  The second thought was: "How...

-- Written at minute 83:45 on the thread dedicated to the game between the Gunners and the Wanderers over at the World Soccer Daily message boards.

Yeah, you can say I kinda lost it.  

It was the vintage Fat Sam tactics we were accustomed to seeing but now being used by Gary Megson.  You can say it was everything that Arsenal has hated to face in recent years all found in one game -- well, except for the bad refereeing decisions and Ferguson mind-games garbage.

Outside of a second-half start push, Bolton's entire plan was to put 10 men behind the ball, hoof the sucker down and pray for a counter-attacking chance.  As I said, vintage Bolton.  Give so much possession, so many chances and so much of the pitch to use while ensuring that it all results in nothing and pray you can steal a win or at least get a draw. 

Of course, it's not as if we...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/01/07/arsenal-on-verge-of-10million-andrei-arshavin-signing-exclusive-115875-21021457/

Just a slight post today, to bring this up.

Yeah, it seems we are dealing with Zenit St Petersburg over Andrei Arshavin.  The price?  10 million quid.

....Really?

After spending the summer valuating him anywhere between 20 and 27 million pounds, Zenit's asking price has fallen like a lead balloon.  But by half?

This may be influenced by a number of factors: Arshavin's well-known desire for a move somewhere (Anywhere at this point) away from the vodka and stunning blondes of St Pete.  And the current financial climate means that 25 Million quid fees are likely to...