Regular readers here will have noticed, I hope that the banner at the top of the page now features yours truly supping absolutely beautiful red wine in an empty box in an empty Arsenal stadium at the end of the Emirates Cup. I was going to choose the image of the first set of Arsenal players "embracing" the stadium, but I couldn't make it big enough to do it justice. Anyway, in the course of trying to make that work, I briefly ended up with a default banner, featuring Mr Adebayor- Bunch.Of. Arse!

In the meantime, I was joking about Nick Bendtner and his car crash yesterday afternoon, Having seen a picture of the smash, I'm less inclined to joke.

Apparently, he has only suffered cuts and bruises in a crash that took place when he swerved off the road on his way to training. I can only wonder at the speed he must have been driving at to have caused so much damage to his car, if not- somewhat fortuituously- himself. I can only wonder at a 21 year old footballer who has, in real terms, acheived very little in his career driving around in an Aston Martin. I'm not going to say the photo above is a graphic illustration of all that is wrong with the game we love, because I don't really think it is, but it does make me wonder.

So, he won't be available tonight. But the man I wanted him to replace as our line leader this season will be. Furthermore, Robin van Persie will line up against Olimpiacos with songs of praise from the manager ringing in his ears,

"We play with plenty of offensive players, so it is important you have somebody up front who can make a short control or a short pass. There is no better player than Robin at that."

"It (the Fulham goal) is a fantastic goal. The ball in was brilliant, the first touch is brilliant, and the second touch is in the back of the net. It was all perfect."

I think that Arsène, in saying "short" actually means "quick", nonetheless you know what he means because you see it demonstrated in the penalty area quite often. My frustration with Robin in the past has been because of his tendency to drop into midfield, take the ball and then take five touches to get it under control and pass it. But perhaps that's because he doesn't feel as natural making passes in midfield as he does in the penalty area.

Arsène also backed up Robin in his desire to demonstrate when he is fouled on the pitch. And I guess, when you think about it, when defenders get away with such things as shirt pulling and various methods of obstruction on a regular basis, is showing the referee there has been a foul really such a bad thing? The problem with Robin is that he can look slightly ridiculous when he does this and so the referee, whoever he is and whatever the rights and wrongs, can be inclined to look the other way.

As Eduardo will apparently return to the squad tonight, one man who will definitely not be seen tonight and for the next couple of months is the unfortunate Denilson. He will miss at least two months with a small fracture in his back. Like the Arseblogger, I remember Gilberto missing a large part of the 2004/05 season with a similar injury, so I don't expect to see the young Brazilian, well... for the rest of the season, I guess. It'll be a nice surprise if he comes back early. Unless, of course Aaron Ramsey gets a run in the team and takes his chance like a lion takes a deer.

Sorry deer lovers.

On Thursday, the man who has guided us into the Champions League in every single, full, season he's been in charge will become the longest serving manager in the history of this great football club. An unthinkable prospect when he took charge amongst a barrage of "Arsène who?" headlines, with people like my friend Harry mumbling about Frenchmen taking over the club- not that Harry was alone in that, as a certain Anthony Adams admitted in a book called Addicted. He says now, as he details his career high point being the unbeaten season, that the Arsenal board were "crazy" to take a chance on someone with "no name".

Perhaps he, like me, considers them lucky too.

Let's hope the team give this great man the great performance his acheivements merit tonight.

When I wrote The Zombie Room, at the beginning of the weekend, I had no idea that my weekend would finish with another viewing of 28 Days Later. That only happened because Jo and I were at a loss for something to watch and happened to catch the opening, stunning, shots of a deserted London on Channel 4. The opening 20 minutes are always worth watching, but we ended up hooked again. Coincidentally, as the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed, 28 Weeks Later came up in the comments section on Friday- how coincidental can it be when I was going on about zombies in the first place? Not very is the answer, I think.

Anyway, that was Sunday night. On Saturday night, of course, Arsenal travelled from north London to south west London and I travelled from south east London to north west London- with little help from South Eastern trains and the seemingly permanently crippled excuse for the weekend London Underground. Whilst Arsenal were in Fulham, I was in a pub next door to Finchley and Frognal station on the Finchley Road. Which, before I began working in Islington was a station I used to travel to all the time. Without ever visiting the pub. But Jo and I were with Luke and Pia (Luke's girlfriend) and Luke likes watching the football in that pub, so there we were.

We soon discovered, after Luke had a minor panic attack as to the open or closed down status of the pub, that although it was open, it had been done up to resemble a turkish brothel? What does a turkish brother look like? You will be disappointed to know that I have absolutely no idea. By the time TFL and South Eastern had worked their magic, we were running a bit late. So the game was already in prgress as drinks were bought and nice comfy seats in front of the tv were found. And then we settled in to watch an Arsenal masterclass.

From Vito Mannone! Bloody hell, talk about zombies, it was as if the entire Arsenal team were members of the undead, staggering around in an impersonation of the football team they used to be. Ok, so it wasn't that bad, and I may be exaggerating in order to continue the zombie analogy, but against a seriously up for it Fulham, it is fair to say that we struggled. I don't know who Mannone made that instinctive reflex save from, but I don't believe Almunia would have had the reflexes or the agility to make it. The follow up save with his shoulder? Lucky perhaps, but then again, didn't he do well to be in a position to block in the first place? There was another fingertip save later on that was almost as good.

The quality of Mannone was capitalised on in the second half with the one true moment of quality that Arsenal produced amongst the pedestrian. Cesc Fabregas' lobbed pass, expertly controlled with one touch by RvP and then a delightful right foot (right foot!) finish beyond Schwarzer and into the corner. I took off, past the pool table I had beaten Luke on at half time, and jumped into the air in celebration. So I missed the players' celebration, but there were some good photos in the papers yesterday.

Bendtner, seemingly the only other Arsenal player to hit the target, produced a save from Schwarzer, whilst Eboue rolled a good opportunity on the counter attack wide as Fulham searched for what would have been a deserved but, in the context of the game, utterly infuriating equaliser. It never came. And so Arsenal rolled back north with three points in the bag. The kind of result that Championships are won on, I think you'll agree. Though the performance, Mannone excepted wasn't up to much, you can't have it both ways. The only thing that matters is that we took the points. Looking at the fixtures this weekend, this was not a game that anyone with Arsenal at their heart would have wanted anything other than an away win from. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool's fixtures all looked like bankers, it is a bit of a bonus that come 5pm, Chelsea just looked like wankers. And so, we edge three points closer to the top spots.

Moving ahead to tomorrow night's Champions League fixture with Olimpiacos, it appears that Nick Bendtner will be unavailable as he was involved in a car accident. Rumours that witnesses at the scene, who tried to flag down the other vehicle, reported seeing a big black man in a floppy hat at the wheel have not been substantiated. Seriously though, Bendtner is expected to be okay for the weekend, along with Theo. I don't know what the deal is with Eduardo, who didn't make the bench on Saturday, but if he is injured again, we're looking a little light up front. I'd like to think Carlos Vela would get the call if needed, yeah, I'd like to think that...

In other news, Peter Hill-Wood and Ivan Gazidis gave a full, 21 gun salute to Arsenal Holding's Financial Results for 2008/09.

Not only did matchday revenue jump £6m, to a figure of £100.1m, showing the value of a good cup run or two- Arsène, but the group were able to announce the following good news,

"• Of the 655 private apartments in the development, sales have now completed on 445 units with a cumulative sales revenue value of £172.4 million.
• The balance on the bank loan used to fund the project has been substantially reduced to £47 million and agreement has been reached to refinance the loan and extend its term to December 2010."

Hill-Wood said,

"The Group’s profits have now risen in each of the three years in which Emirates Stadium has been our home. This is excellent news although I should perhaps stress that making and reporting profits is not in itself the primary objective for the directors. First and foremost we are supporters of this great football club and, as such, our main goal will always be the achievement of success for Arsenal on the field. Hahahahahaaaa, you mugs think we want to have a successful team? No! We just want money in our pockets, lots of lovely, dirty, sexy money!"

Um, I made have made a bit of that up, I'll leave it you to work out which part whilst you read this from Ivan Gazidis,

"Clearly, the Club already has a first class stadium, an excellent world-wide reputation and outstanding core support. Football is a hugely competitive and fast moving business and we must ensure that Arsenal is not just keeping pace but setting the pace, both on and off the field. The Club is superbly positioned for the future and I am tremendously excited about the opportunities we have ahead of us.”

And not a word of that "Actually guys, we're doing just fine" message has been fictionalised.

Oh, I nearly forgot, Liverpool at home in the Carling Cup? That's pretty exciting, isn't it? I'm very much looking forward to that one, if not thousands of scousers invading the north London hostelries we like to call our own.

Tomorrow, y'all.

I thought today, you might appreciate, or not, this insight into the way my mind works. Last night I was digesting the news that James, who I was at the football with on Tuesday night, thinks he might have swine flu. You will remember me saying, I hope, that he wasn't well on Tuesday so I'm feeling a little paranoid at the minute. I was also listening to Nick Cave's B-Sides and Rareities compilation and the song Jack the Ripper, the backing vocals of which were slightly suggestive of a zombie football chant.

And so it, bearing in mind the possibility that James could be responsible for infecting 56,000 supporters, got me wondering why nobody has ever made a film about zombie football fans. I mean the image of a horde of zombiefied football fans piling down a residential street causing carnage is, for me at least, quite a powerful image. Of course, the answer to why nobody has ever made this film is the fact that anyone taking a trip up the Tottenham High Road whenever Spurs are at home can witness this spectacle for themselves.

Naturally, a Tottenham fan reading this might also reply that anyone who wants to see football zombies could do no worse than taking a seat at the Grove most matchdays. But that particular viewpoint is not going to be represented here. Not today, anyway.

And that, ladies and gents, is how my mind works.

Moving on, Arsène reckons Sol Campbell has the strength to coach following another, well, I guess you'd call it acrimonious, departure from a football club. I'm more interested in his comments on one of the advantages of being a manager being learning about the "complexity of human beings". Especially bearing in mind his widely reported comments on his pub upbringing and the psychological insights into the minds of people he got as a result of that upbringing saying,  

"I learned about tactics and selection from the people talking about football in the pub – who plays on the left wing and who should be in the team."

Which is interesting because I think there's a growing band of Arsenal fans who feel that perhaps Arsène could do with visiting the Twelve Pins (although not drinking Magners' Pear Cider), The Gunners, or the Arsenal Tavern and talking to the fans to find out stuff like, you know, who should be in the team and who plays on the left wing. It's a forlorn hope really though, isn't it? I mean I can't see the manager hitting these places anytime soon. Can't say I blame him, he probably learnt a lot about drunk people in his younger days and who knows if the prospect of working with such reknowned boozers as the Arsenal first team squad were in 1996 wasn't what really attracted the manager way back when?

Philippe Senderos says that he wanted to stay at Arsenal, though he needs to be playing games. Which is fair enough, what else is he supposed to say? I think, of all the things we as Arsenal fans disagree on, the one thing we can all agree on is that the form of Philippe Senderos may well prove to be a crucial element in how the season pans out.

I've just seen some news on Arsenal.com that might be of interest. Reading the latest edition of the Gooner, the common consensus and one that has been continuously stated for the last 5 years is that the club is cash broke- we all know why. But the boss says that the transfer surplus from the sales of Toure and Adebayor, blanaced against the purchase of the "Verminator" is "for me". He cites his belief in his "unbelievable" squad and as a piece of psychological management- remember, he knows about these things- he's doing quite a brave thing. He knows, above anyone else, what stands to be gained this season, and what could be lost. Increasingly, fans are beginning to vote with their wallets and the perception from the outside may be that the wheels are coming off. But what do the squad make of such a statement? Does Cesc Fabregas think the only unbelievable thing about the the squad is the imbalance in it that sees an embarrasment of riches in the attacking positions and the proverbial bare cupboard in the goalkeeping and central defensive positions? Or does he see a squad equipped like never before to carry all before them this season?

Time will tell. 

Following on from the day of no lunchbreak, today I had the day of an- unbloodybelievable, I've procrastinated about writing this blog for the last 40 minutes, I sit down to write it and Jo rings me!

Anyway, as I was saying, before I was so pleasantly interrupted, I had an early start today, no lunchbreak and therefore an earlier finish. But due to the nature of the last couple of days, not to mention the fact that I don't really do early starts, my brain has turned to mush- turned to? Yes, turned to- so you'll have to bear with me a touch.

Now, Tom the cat wants my undivided attention...

It turns out though, my procrastination may not have been a bad thing, because the blog that was set to feature the news of an argument between the boss and the Bordeaux president and the wildly exciting and in no way irrelevant news that Arsène has officially opened the Highbury Square development. And very little else.

But as it is now, I can bring you team news, yes glorious team news! And this team news is oparticularly glorious, because - cd change, Catatonia's International Velvet, just because I can- Andrey Arshavin should return for the short trip to south west London and Fulham. As a double bonus, Theo Walcott (I was desperate, for some reason, to type "Thoe" there) is also available. Though he may not be risked, with a Champions League game on the horizon. On that note, just by way of an aside, the splash on Arse.com saying something like "This is what Champions League night looks like" as they try and sell £43 tickets for a game against Olimpiacos would surely be more accurate if it featured fans sitting in glum silence adjacent to banks of empty red seating as opposed to the guys featured in the photo.

I wonder if the penny is beginning to drop within the green buildings that definitely don't look like Portokabins yet?

Anyway, back to that team news for Fulham. I'm sure there will be those of you out there gutted to hear that Manuel Almunia has yet to recover from a chest infection sufficiently to keep goal, but I'm not one of them. Arsène- Jo's back now, so I may get disjointed again- said this,

"Normally Mannone [would deputise] but we are 48 hours away from the game.” about who would keep goal in the waiter's absence. Which makes me think that perhaps Chesney did enough on Tuesday to suggest he might be a better bet than the decidedly jittery looking Mannone. So that's one to keep your eyes on.

Speaking of Highbury Square, which I mentioned seemingly a lifetime ago, I've just seen a report on it on the BBC. Apparently the worst case scenarios is that the board will only break even at the conclusion of the project, Ivan Gazidis has commented that the project is on a "sound financial footing". It may well be, but what about the football club, Ivan?

There's stuff on the official site about it, but to be honest, I'm not sure any of it is of that much interest- we all know how special Highbury is after all.

I also mentioned a contretemps between Mr Wenger and the Bordeaux president, Jean-Louis Triaud. Incidentally, if he's the same guy that sold us "So Vain" Wiltord for thirteen million quid, I would like to shake his hand on a job well done. Or do I mean wring his neck? Anyway, he is upset because he thinks the boss  declared an interest in Marouan Chamakh before contacting his club- as if a football manager would do such a thing. The boss says there is no issue and that he would be happy to have a press conference with the president and explain what happened.

And then he added, "The boy is fantastic". Which would have been hilarious had he done so with a wink as he finished speaking. Unfortunately it seems that it was in response to a question about whether the Bordeaux stance had altered his view on Chamakh. So, he may yet become an Arsenal player. Bordeaux may not want him to join us, but in just over 3 months, it won't be their decision.

That's all folks, hopefully I'll be back at my usual time tomorrow afternoon.

I know y'all must have seen this image before, but I think we can all agree that a stunning image it is and one to never get tired of. I particularly like the effect, which I presume you don't get during the day, of the light shining out of Thierry's backside.

See? You don't get observations like that elsewhere, do you?

I feel I must apologise for the lateness of this blog, but something came up at work this week, which led to working through lunch and leaving early. I could have done with having a "proper" lunchbreak to be honest, my stomach has been doing flip flops since round about 7.30 yesterday evening, but perhaps now is not the time to get into that. And anyway, I'm never one to turn down an early finish.

So last night, I met up with a whole heap of regulars from the Arsenal-Mania forum. And we had a cracking time in the Twelve Pins, before heading down the road to the "Goonerdome", ©Gabs the Part Time Gooner. Substitute "a whole heap" with James and Jonathan Chong, the "Architect" of Arsenal-Mania and that's the sum of the great Mania Meet Up. We did have a cracking time, well, I know I did anyway. Until the Pear Magners started ripping through my guts. I don't think it's my drink, I have to say. But never mind about that for now.

James and I knew already that we were in the same block, it transpired that we were in the same row. But it wasn't until we took our seats just before kick off- with me wishing I'd taken the opportunity to visit the loo beforehand- that we realised I was the otherside of the gangway from him. And surrounded by kids that made this observer feel old. Very old indeed. And that wasn't taking into account the players on the pitch, the majority of whom were't even born as I raced around the living room celebrating the Michael Thomas moment in 1989.

One of the truly amazing things about the Carling Cup teams we put out is the seemingly endless generations we can put out who will turn up and make a team of experienced pros look like right chumps. That wasn't the case last night, but then this is essentially a new side being given their head. Of the 11 that took the pitch, only Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere and Coquelin featured in the Carling Cup last year. Senderos and Silvestre were given some game time and much as I want to see Kyle Bartley given his head, I think the manager had to play the two at the back that he did.

And Senderos did alright, you know. He might have opened the scoring with two near identical headers. At least they looked identical from my position in Block 5. Sanchez Watt, making his first "senior" start, hit a post and Jack Wilshere went closeish. But to pretend the kids had it all their own way, would be very one eyed and West Brom were looking pretty comfortable, forcing Chesney (that is how you spell it, isn't it?) into action on more than one occasion.

In fact I don't think it would be unfair to suggest that it was the sending off of former Arsenal trainee, Jerome Thomas that tipped the game decisively. Now I had the fortune to be not too far from the incident, but anyone who has played football withe me will tell you I'm a bit of a ball watcher, so I was following the ball as the crowd around me erupted with Master Jack on the turf. Not wanting to be left out, I leapt up and shouted my displeasure. As Thomas was duly dispatched in one of the rare decisions that net with universal approval, I turned to the woman behind me- we'd bonded over the shared irritation of having to get up everytime someone started a "Stand up if you hate Tottenham" chant, or more accurately, remaining seated (I was pretty much incapicitated and irritated throughout the first half) and putting up with not being to see anything about from what the youth of north London are wearing around their arses these days- and asked her what happened. Apparently, Mr Thomas had pushed the excellent Wilshere in the face and Wilshere was, was... well, I don't know what he was doing actually, I'd say he was making the most of it really, but we all know that "honest' English  players don't do that kind of thing, don't we?

Anyone that thought we were now going to be in for a cake walk was disappointed and as injury time began, my only thought was that an Arsenal goal was not worth the humiliation of staining my new 501s. And not very likely either. So I buggered off.

James and I met for a quick half time debrief and hot drinks- yes, hot drinks that's how rough we were both feeling and then it was back for the second half. And though there was some good football beginning to come out, we still didn't look like scoring anytime soon and my mind began to drift toward the possibility of extra time that I'd normally lap up, but last night it loomed like John Carpenter's Fog over my consciousness. No, not a good thing. As if Arsène didn't particularly fancy the idea either, Carlos Vela replaced Gilles Sunu, with Mark Randall taking over from Francis Coquelin.

The Mexican Superstar immediately made a difference with his ability to take players on and his willingness to shoot. It was his willingness to shoot that broke the deadlock, as he wriggled some space in the penalty area and got a shot in, which Dean Kiely parried. Unfortunately for Kiely, his parry went to Sanchez Watt who slid home his first goal for the club. And the mood changed.  I was too distracted by my troublesome stomach to take much note of what happened afterwards, though I know we looked much more dangerous than we had. Vela got the goal his cameo deserved when Mark Randall's golf shot of a chip beat the keeper but cannoned off the bar. The west Brom defender under it had what can only be termed as a brain freeze and Vela was able to pause on the goal line, before smashing home the final goal of the evening.

We could have scored more, we didn't. West Brom put together a lovely move which should have ended with a goal, but ended with the ball flying away into the Yellow quad. My evening ended with an emergency return to the Twelve Pins and it wasn't beer- or cider for that matter- on the agenda... 

Do you  have any idea how difficult it is to write this Arsenal blog when your manager is on the phone moaning on about how crap Tottenham are- yes Randall, we all know how crap Tottenham are...?

He's stopped now, so I can continue. The Carling Cup begins tonight and for me, it's the first visit to the "Arsenalised" stadium, so that adds to the excitement I'd normally be feeling this afternoon. I wonder how Philippe Senderos feels right now, how he'll be feeling at 7.40 tonight. His Arsenal career was all but over and now he has a real chance to establish himself as the first choice back up to Gallas and Vermaelen. Having been evidently happy to let Senderos go in the summer, the manager says that the future is front of the young Swiss. It's not a bad way to resume your Arsenal career really, is it? A low pressure game in front of a big, supportive crowd. Of course, it's never been the low pressure games that have caused a problem. I'll be keen to see whether Senderos has learnt anything from his time in Italy.

He will be joined, at the back, by Mikael Silvestre- nooooo! And Keiran Gibbs- yayyyyy! Whilst Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey will form part of the midfield and Carlos Vela may make his first start of the season. You will know by now of the high hopes I have for Carlos, lauded by the manager as one of the most natural finishers at the club. Of course, last season's Carling Cup provided such evidence that we don't neccessarily have to take the boss' word for it. It'll be good to see him back.

Aaron Ramsey, for his part is- as you would- looking to use this competition as a springboard into the first team. He talks here of the  improvements he's made in touch and awareness and the feeling now, that he is "one of the lads". The progress he has made physically will have helped him too. A visibly stronger proposition than he was this time last year, the boss makes an example of him to show the process Jack Wilshere must go through before he is deemed ready for regular first team action.

The contrast between the two lads further marked by the targets in mind for both players. Where Aaron is looking for twenty games in the first team this season, the manager thinks that Jack's "objective" target is simply to improve. And improve in everything. So it seems that Gooners keen to see Wilshere as part of the matchday "14" on a regular basis will have to wait a little while longer. In fact, if you want to see Wilshere in action at all, you'll have to get yourself to nights like tonight, won't you? Or Underhill, of course. 

An Arsenal blog in sixteen minutes, then.

Recovery from our recent league travails began on Saturday afternoon. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Thomas Vermaelen was at the heart of it. His thumping header from RvP's corner putting us in front, before an absolutely beautiful curler, the kind Dennis Bergkamp would have been proud of, gave us a security net. Do players come from Ajax with that kind of finish as standard?

Emmanuel Eboue, who has transformed somewhat since the dark days last season, touched in Eduardo's drive after the Crozillian had hit the post and Cesc Fabregas knocked in a precise Bendtner cross to complete the scoring. Is it a coincidence that we managed to keep a clean sheet in the absence of the Spanish waiter? I think it's fair to say it probably is, but nonetheless it has to be appreciated, even if we were met by opposition apparently as limp as a month old lettuce in Wigan.

It's been a strange start to the season, probably the equivalent of a level ten hill run on a treadmill. On one hand, we've had the gentle home games against the likes of Wigan and Portsmouth and then the savagely demanding double trip to Manchester. And yes, I know it was United getting the famous "we play till United score" time yesterday afternoon. But if you asked 100 people whether United deserved to win, 99 would say yes and... you know the rest. City got exactly what they deserved yesterday, I just wish United would gift us the kind of opportunities they did City yesterday. But as we know, derby days are strange days indeed.

I mentioned Eboue above, and it struck me as I watched the MotD footage of his walk of shame from last season that the last player to console him was Adebayor. How times have changed, Eboue went off to an apparently deserved ovation yesterday, despite his bizarre handball that earnt a yellow card, and Adebayor is now public enemy number one. The ridiculousness of his behaviour magnified by the fact that City clearly missed him yesterday afternoon. And that's without factoring in a withering blast from his hero, Thierry Henry. And there's the rub, isn't it? Ade can pose like he's Thierry Henry, but he will never have the class of the Frenchman.

And speaking of Frenchmen, Myles Palmer reckons a deal was all but done to bring Patrick Vieira back to Arsenal- with the small matter of Internazionale not receiving payment in time. A situation to be remedied in January. Apparently.

It wasn't my intention not to blog yesterday. But a small series of events conspired against me. Arriving at football on Thursday night, I discovered that a meet up I was having with Steve the QPR season ticket holder, his daughter Kiara, my sister Helen and my mum was not taking place at Steve's, it was taking place at mum's. This is significant only because it is easier for me to get home from Steve's than it is mum's. So I decided to stay the night at mum's, but she doesn't have internet access. And as my younger sister Helen was came back with me before we went to see the new Massive Attack show last night, there was no opportunity to blog. Which was a shame, looking at the back pages of the tabloids in Tesco's. 

Incidentally, it's ironic that I was talking about the first birthday of this blog earlier in the week, a blog that began life as I took a week off work with a badly sprained ankle and what do you know, I woke up yesterday morning barely able to walk, because my ankle has swollen up again. For no apparent reason. I can take solace in the fact that I had a blinder on Thursday, setting up one goal, as well as numerous other chances before blasting in my first goal for months, but it wasn't ideal preparation for a gig. Good thing Massive Attack is generally "music for the head". If I can indulge myself a little bit longer, they were supported (and joined) by the excellent Martina Topley Bird- who reclaimed, as part of her support act, the song Black Steel, previously recorded with Tricky. She performed it with a human beatboxer providing the, um, beats, and a guitarist. A truly memorable moment, and much as I love Tricky, that song doesn't belong to him anymore.

Anyway, football, football. I mentioned the back pages of the tabloids yesterday and I did look at the back of The Sun to see a headline featuring Adebayor and the words "Why I did it". Well, I'm sure you can guess that I didn't feel the need to dwell on that one. We all know why he did what he did. Yes, it's because he's a big lanky basterd (sorry JC). On the other hand, we had Cesc Fabregas in the Mirror fearing the big lanky basterd had broken his leg with that ridiculous tackle. As the young Spaniard observed, all he had ever done was try to create goals for Ade, so quite what he did to deserve such a tackle, God only knows. There's no gratitude in football anymore.

It's interesting though, isn't it? Whatever Ade did in 2008, it seemed he was never going to win over those who preferred the more elegant football of Robin van Persie, the victim of that stamp last weekend- though Robin may have asked for it with that tackle. And in that infamous Football Focus interview, of course, Adebayor bemoaned the fact that Cesc had been flirting with Barcelona without being subjected to the ire of the crowd. Clearly Alex Ferguson is not the only person in Manchester trying to knock people off their "perch" and Mr Adebayor has some jealousy issues he may need help with. The fool. When you have Emmanuel Eboue bemoaning your on field behaviour, maybe it's clear you've gone too far.

Anyway, Dara O Briain has a nice take on it all, as we try and move on.

And speaking of Emmanuel Eboue, of course he was subjected to a barrage of abuse in the Arsenal Wigan fixture last season. A barrage, I have to say, the like of which was ten times worse than anything Adebayor ever got, as the bleak midwinter tensions reached boiling point- boiling point in midwinter? You know what I mean. Anyway, Arsène reckons Eboue has learnt from the experience and changed accordingly. Um, I don't know about that. He certainly has improved his effort and attitude, which is good, but he is still prone to the odd theatric, as we all saw at Old Trafford. And I still don't think he's quite up to it and I wonder, at the age of 26, if he's ever going to be up to it. But the manager likes him and that's the important thing.

Robin van Persie returns to the squad today, but that's it on the return front. Calamity Manuel is back in training, but not ready to play, so Don Vito continues and it seems Andrey Arshavin will be ready for next week's match. One confirmed starter in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night is Philippe Senderos and I guess, with no game time so far this season, he will be partnered by Mikael Silvestre. So that should be fun. I'm quite keen to see what happens with Senderos this season, thought to be gone forever just over six weeks ago, Johan Djourou's potentially season ending injury has opened a window to Senderos he would never have thought possible. I'm rooting for him on Tuesday night because we all know that Silvestre at the back for any length of time is going to be a disaster, so Senderos needs to get going again.

Right, lunch at my aunt's beckons. Enjoy the game if you're going. If you're not and don't have access to DodgySat, internet streams and suchlike, you'll be like me and waiting for our three minutes of fame this evening. Three minutes that will hopefully have seen us close the gap on the top four, all playing each other tomorrow.

Come on you reds!

Well, it was kind of daft to invoke the memory of a night 16 years ago, wasn't it? In fact if the opening of last night's performance in Belgium brought to mind anything European, it brought to mind the second leg of the Champions League semi final last season.

The opening five minutes was a catastrophic continuation of the capitulation in Manchester at the weekend and before Vito Mannone had touched the ball in open play, he had already picked the ball out of the net twice. Not that he was to blame on either occasion.

Mistake: Gael Clichy not stopping the first cross.

Mistake: Alex Song needlessly, probably nervously, cutting out aforementioned cross resulting in a corner.

Mistake: Eduardo's ridiculous backheel as we looked to break from the corner which resulted in the ball being lashed home before we'd had a chance to get a foot on the ball.

Mistake: Eboue dawdling on the ball, allowing himself to be mugged.

Mistake: Gallas somewhat clumsy challenge resulting in the penalty being, in my opinion, harshly awarded.

2-0 down and a first half spent ridiculously pedestrian and out of sorts as we tried to shake the cobwebs from twenty minutes of football that had seen five goals conceded (including the Citeh game).

It may be that the formation change has benefitted us midfield, but I'm now beginning to wonder if this is to the detriment of those up front- I shared (shoot me now) Jamie Redknapp's frustration at seeing Eduardo deployed wide and losing the ball everytime it came to him, he is a box player. Remember the Law of Ingber:

"If you give him the ball outside the box, he'll probably lose it, inside the box, it's a goal."

I despaired at the abject performances of the full backs- maybe they have not been helped by the disappearance of flank men in front of them, but Emmanuel Eboue didn't have a good night. And if I was Keiran Gibbs watching Gael Clichy at the moment, I would be wondering why I'm not in the team instead of the Frenchman.

What was interesting though, was that after the whirlwind start Liege enjoyed, rather than go for the kill, they put a rookie, whose confidence was visibly shaken, in the Arsenal goal under no pressure at all. I don't remember him making a save in the match. So they sat back. And though Arsenal were dreadfully poor, passes continually missing their targets throughout the first half, eventually a goal was created so out of keeping with what had gone before, Liege must have been shocked. Especially as it arrived right on half time.

Abou Diaby, who it is fair to say did not have a good night, wriggled himself some room in beautiful fashion, surged forward and played Bendtner in down the right, his shot on the run was low, hard and true. It flew through the keeper's legs and just inside the far post. A lifeline.

If we thought that we might enjoy some cruise control from there on in though, we were wrong. Alex Song hit perhaps the poorest pass of all as the second half kicked off to let Liege in again. This time, the danger was averted. And then Arsenal began to take control, playing almost exclusively in their opponents half. Rosicky was almost alone in having a good night and a beautifully weighted through ball from him way well have resulted in a Bendtner equaliser, but for a brilliant covering tackle as Bendtner moved to finish.

Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass.

Gradually, it got quite depressing, and boring, I texted Rachid my opinion as Aaron Ramsey replaced the no doubt knackered Rosicky. Ramsey made an immediate positive impact by, horror of horrors, daring to shoot from outside the box. The strike was low, on target, but unfortunately, not powerful enough to really trouble the keeper. Rachid rang me to explain he'd given up watching and was now reduced to the radio as his missus was watching some swine flu programme. No sooner had we said bye then Arsenal had equalised. And it was the man returning to his homeland who got the goal.

No, it wasn't offside, as replays proved, but yes it was handball by Alex Song that facilitated the goal. But you what? We've had so much go against us of late, I feel we were due a bit of luck. We capitalised on it to the full as Sagna replaced Eboue, Vermaelen nearly doubled his tally with a volleyed backheel and the keeper denied Eduardo's right foot from close range. He could do nothing, however, from a Fabregas corner about Eduardo's knee and just three minutes after we were staring down the barrel at 1-2, it was now 3-2 as Liege wilted.

Wilshere replaced Eduardo as the clock ran down and only a heavy pass from Aaron Ramsey denied Nick Bendtner the chance to double his tally for the night. There were no real scares at our end though and, eventually, Arsène Wenger could afford to reflect on a rescue mission well staged.

We're not going to be able to do this kind of thing every time though. You look at the partnership Gallas and Vermaelen have formed and it looks good. But we've still conceded a goal in every game we've played. Okay two of those were last minute consolations, but since Denilson departed the pitch in Manchester on Saturday, we've conceded five goals. If Cesc is the one being given licence to play by the two minders in midfield, then they've got to sharpen up and take some responsibility. I've no doubt about Alex Song's recognition of his duties. But what of Diaby? And how long do we put up with 89 minutes of mediocrity, illuminated by one moment of genius, before Aaron Ramsey is given his head. It was great to Wilshere on the pitch at the end there, and he looked lively, but for now it seems he is destined to come behind not just Eduardo, Bendtner, RvP, Walcott and Rosicky but Eboue too- where's the logic in that?

It transpires that perhaps the media, and myself, jumped the gun on the chants directed at Emmanuel Adebayor. As this letter to the Online Gooner makes clear. This account has been corroborated by people I know on the Arsenal-Mania forum, so it appears we are not quite the bad apples we are made out to be.

I noticed that Gareth Southgate had something to say about it too. What Southgate fails to recognise is that not only did Adebayor greet his pay rise last summer with an alarming decline in effort, he also criticised Arsenal fans everywhere on the eve of the game- as the letter linked to points out, we don't have the benefit of going on Football Focus to explain our ire. Some of us have blogs and some of us do it at matches- to quote Pulp Fiction's Vincent Vega, Adebayor might not have expected the reaction he got, but "he had to expect a reaction".

Before we move on from this sorry little affair, Adebayor has till 6pm this evening to lodge his appeal, I'm sure you've read the quotes from Arsène Wenger, but they bear repetition here. If nothing else they show the events of the last three weeks have not dulled his sense of humour;

"Adebayor's challenge on Van Persie looks very bad. You ask 100 people, 99 will say it's very bad and the 100th will be Mark Hughes… If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn't say, 'thank you very much' and turn the other cheek. Only Jesus Christ did that."

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at "Sparky" Marky's defence of his player- after all we've had 13 years of "I did not see it", but also the way Mark Hughes played the game, well he was somewhat aggressive, wasn't he? though, in fairness, I don't ever remember him stamping on an opponent's head. Good of Arsène to point out that RvP is most certainly not the big JC as well. I quoted Vince Vega above and perhaps he'd be disappointed by Robin and Arsenal's refusal to accept that once a man apologises, "he is immediately forgiven all wrongdoing" but I think in this instance, where Adebayor displayed "such animosity" towards his former club, the Arsenal response is entirely justified.

We've got a game tonight, haven't we? I nearly forgot. Yes, el vía a Madrid  begins, for us anyway, tonight. The last time we played Standard Liege, we absolutely spannered them 7-0, having beaten them 3-0 in the first leg of a Cup Winners Cup tie. The season we won our last European trophy, in fact. The season was 1993/94. That night we were without Ian Wright, I think he was rested to protect him from suspension (that worked out really well) and the rest of the team stood up and put in the kind of performance thought, at the time, to be beyond them. Tonight, we are without Robin van Persie, Denilson and Manuel Almunia. But I think we've got enough at the club to overcome these absences without too many surprises, though Alex Song isn't taking anything for granted. Though I wonder, has he forgotten what football club he plays for? I mean what's this,

"We have to make sure we go on an unbeaten run like 12 games."?

This is Arsenal, Alex. Home of the 49ers. Twelve games is not an unbeaten run, that's barely a jog to us. I'm being a bit silly here, I know. But given that we managed 21 unbeaten last season, I think we can afford to aim a little higher.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Bendtner and Eduardo up top tonight, so it'll probably be Diaby and Eboue flanking the striker and I'm also looking forward to seeing a goalkeeper that might actually, you know, um, save a shot or two. From what I saw of Don Vito Mannone in the Emirates Cup, he also looks likely to drop a few too. He does not, I have to say, inspire confidence, but then neither does the señor with the silly hair. So, that's probably about equal then. Denilson's injury probably means Diaby dropping into midfield, unless the boss does plan to use him as part of the attacking trident, in which case Aaron Ramsey will surely get the call up.

The return to Belgium for Thomas Vermaelen has le boss eulogising over his new signing once again. What does he like about him?

"He is a competitor; he is a fighter"

"I liked his intelligence when he played against us. The reading of his game and the quality. I like as well to have a right-footed and a left-footed player at the back, because it's natural and it's good for passing out of the back like we want to play. So that is something interesting, and the fact that he's a resilient guy."

"For me he has everything I like in football; he doesn’t talk but is committed on the pitch. There is not big publicity when you buy the player, but he surprises people by the quality of his performances; that's what you like."

Surely just a simple "everything" would have done, Arsène?

Enjoy the game, wherever you're watching it.

Come on you reds!