Why is it that almost every morning I wake up and see articles online that say shit like that?  Its always about how we're losing all our players, we'll drop out of the top 4, we need shit tons of money so that we can spend it all and then get in shit tons of debt, or other absolutely senseless crap.  And this happens every summer.  Everyone makes it seem like Arsenal is going to get relegated the year after they finished 3rd in the league and were leading it for like 5 months. 

Liverpool were no where near challenging any trophy but no one is saying all hell is going to break loose over there.  They'll always be in the top 4, even though they were how many points behind us? It's all about how they are going to grow because Torres will be in his second season blah blah blah.  Well guess what, he scored 30 goals for them and they still finished 4th. 

I guess its just that newspapers need one of the 'big 4' to have stories on and they already know what the other 3 are going to do.  ManU is going to buy ready made players and spend a lot of money on them.  Chelsea is going to do the same thing or apparently sign the majority of the Portuguese national team now that Scolari is their gaffer. And Liverpool's owners have kissed and made up so there's no news there.

That leaves us.  One of the biggest clubs in the world, but somehow no one thinks we are.  We were part of G14, we've made it into the Champions League who knows how many times in a row and usually make it to the knock out stages, but we're still not one of the biggest clubs?  bull shit.  I guess the board and Arsene make it easy for newspapers because we do everything the right way, you know, quietly.  We don't spread rumors about players we want so they get a huge ego and then ask for a transfer request so they can be bought cheaper.  

So I say this:  If Ade and Hleb want to leave let them leave and have the door hit you on your ass on your way out.  Hleb has the ball skills but rarely does he produce anything, and we might already have a replacement for him(Walcott or Nasri if he signs). If Eduardo is back healthy next year and plays like he did before he got hurt we've already got a replacement for Ade.  And even if he isn't 100% by the start of the season we'll at least have RVP for a month or so before his first injury.  

So thats it, sell Ade and Hleb, make some money off it, and possibly sell Bendtner while we're at it.  He doesn't fit into our style, he needs the ball in the air and doesn't have the pace to play the Arsenal way.  Buy some more youngsters and let them turn into superstars.  While trophies are nice, they aren't everything.  I enjoy watching attractive football more than I do winning trophies (ala the anti-Chelsea way).

oh and one last thing STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ARSENAL DEIN!! We don't need you our your boss' money.

OK, so Blatter still wants the "6+5" rule and is calling the EPL too dominant since its had 3 teams in the CL semifinals each of the past two years. I won't touch the 39th international round proposed because everyone has blasted that to pieces.

Now the majority of this has become press fodder because of England failing to qualify for Euro 2008. Not the first time they've failed to qualify for a tournament. How about not qualifying for the World Cup in '94, when there were few non-English players in the Premier League. And why this has become a bigger deal to FIFA than the FA I have no idea. Blatter calling it a tragedy that they didn't make it. They lost out to Croatia and Russia, two very good sides. Its not like they lost to Andorra. Besides, now we don't have to listen to them complaining when they don't make it past the group or first knock-out stages.

Now the "6+5"rule. It makes sense, but not for implementation in every league in the world. I see it as the way to have certain national leagues and therefore national teams to dominate every cup. The other thing is that a lot of players don't make it to the national team until they are playing in a different league. Look at a lot of the French squad. A lot of them don't play in France. Now if the majority of them went back to play in France I could see some Ligue 1 sides being very good, while the majority would still suck because they can't afford the star French players. Therefore the league keeps with Lyon, and OM on or near the top, while I could see the national team start to go downhill because its players aren't going against the best talent on a weekly basis.

The only team I don't see this affecting in the EPL is Aston Villa. But every other team would have to bring up some of their reserves to fill the quota. How would that improve anyone? Lets have two teams with reserve caliber players and a few stars play against each other. Guess what happens, the stars dominate and the reserves don't really get better until years later. But long before that you'd have clubs dissolve because they couldn't afford to pay English players. I'm sorry there is NO WAY a team should pay 15 million pounds for a player like Crouch.

And so now the EPL is too dominant? I didn't hear this until after Chelsea and ManU where in the final. So does that mean that if Barca had beaten ManU it wouldn't be an issue? Yet Blatter said nothing when 3 Italian or 3 Spanish teams were in the semis, let alone when the two teams from the same league faced off in the final. The CL is about showcasing the best teams in the Europe. If three of those teams are from the same league then so be it. You can't argue with the fact that all four English teams made it out of the group stages and then knocked out the other top competitors, AC Milan and Barca to name a few.

Now to end the rant: Let the FA deal with English issues!

Keep your boots close and laced,

Dan