Massive Attack

The last few days have not been a lot of fun for me; assaulted by bugs that have invaded my chest, my throat, my head, my everywhere in a massive attack on my system. Hence my continued cyberspace silence- in cyberspace nobody can hear you scream. Or sneeze. Or cough. But as the effects of the bug, or bugs, begin to leave me, I rise from my sickbed to check out t'interweb, and reading the comments section relating to my latest blog, reproduced over at Arsenal-Mania, I begin to wonder what kind of people read my blogs.

My blogs, my blog.

Not your blog  and not the Kolo Toure Appreciation Society blog.

For what it's worth, I've said it once and I'll say it again, I don't think he's the player he once was but I hope he sorts it out and ends up staying with us. I don't blame him for our travails this season, indeed he hasn't featured enough to be blamed- but even if he had, we win as a team, and so we lose as one. Figure it out lads, the guy was, up until the ACN last year the mainstay of our defence across 4 seasons, but he, of late has found himself behind Djourou, even behind Silvestre in the pecking order. Is that really the sign of a player on top of his game? No, of course it isn't. I don't think pointing that out is; a) blaming Toure or, b) not being supportive of the team as a whole. My only point, the one that you need to take away from this with you if you want to respond, is that whatever his love for the club, I think William Gallas is a better player than Kolo. And if you disagree with that, then okay let's agree to disagree. But do not give me the "You're not supporting your team" bullshit. Because that's what it is, bullshit.

Moving on, in this week in which the transfer window begins to move through the gears and Ivan Gazidis gets his CEO seat warm (and about time too!), with the print media speculating about the possibility of Theo Walcott doing a runner, despite having 18 months left on his current contract and the first team in dire need of central midfield reinforcements, Arsenal have made their first signings of the transfer window.

Jack Wilshere I should think you would have heard about already, although I haven't seen it on the website (not saying it isn't there), it's been said that this an 8 year contract. Which is quite a commitment from Arsenal and would take him up to the age of 25, I wonder how much money he's on... Somewhat less heralded, is the professional terms signing of Conor Henderson, also a 17 year old midfielder. Beyond that, I don't know much about him. That is to say nothing at all.

Elsewhere, whilst discounting Gokhan Inler as a target, the boss- very sensibly, in my view- has said that Euro ineligibility will not be a deal breaker for any potential signing. As I pointed out before, with half a league season still to play, and the possibility of playing only a further two games in Europe- and yes, just in case you're not sure, I hope there's more, not to sign somebody on the basis that they can't play against Roma would be the very summit of madness.

Emmanuel Eboue now knows he's right sided midfielder apparently. And just to show how wild the Christmas spirit can get, his woeful performances across the last year and a half have seen him receive many Christmas cards and messages of support from the fans. Wait, that's not very supportive of me, is it? Well, it's true, the fans doing this have done this because they feel for the guy who got booed all the way down the tunnel a few weeks back, but he was only booed because he was so poor, and has been so poor. In all seriousness, he is an Arsenal player, as with Kolo, so of course he should be supported, should feel supported, by everyone connected with the club.

Finally, hoping to finish on a non controversial note, el capitán has a dream. A Wembley dream. Perhaps it's more a mission, I don't know. What I do know is he hopes to be fit for any potential semi final and then for the Final, which is scheduled- remarkably lately this season- for May 30. Let's hope we're still active by then.  By the way, speaking of the FA Cup, why is it Carlos Vela still can't get a start for us? He's looked brilliant in cameos and the Carling Cup, surely he is the kind of attacking player we should be encouraging, not leaving to rot on the bench whilst Bendtner struggles?

 Happy new year Tam.

UPDATE: Zenit St Petersburg confirm Arshavin talks with Arsenal are ongoing. Excited? I am. Even if there are legitimate doubts over a 28 year old who's not hit the big time yet.  Anyone remember how old Ian Wright was when we signed him?