Daily Archives: June 6, 2012

*hiccup*

How is it that you can wake up with hiccups? I thought you had to have been drinking too quickly, or something, to get a case of hiccups. It seems entirely unreasonable that you could suddenly find yourself waking up hiccuping, but that’s what’s happened to me today. Perhaps I was dreaming about drinking too much – or perhaps my body’s just objecting to getting up at this time of day and is finding passive aggressive ways of registering its displeasure. It needn’t add its contribution – I know well enough already.

A few bits and pieces to get through today, and we’ll start with the news that Mikel Arteta is to sit down with the club to discuss his contract and a pay rise this week. It was reported that when he joined the club from Everton, he took a £10k a week pay cut to make the deal happen, but now, after an impressive debut season with the club, has asked that his salary be reviewed. Personally I’d be quite happy on £60k a week, but I suppose it’s all relative; if all my peers were being paid more than me, and I’d just enjoyed the sort of season Arteta has after taking a pay cut, I’d probably be making noises about resolving that situation too. He did have a very fine season and deserves some reward for his efforts.

Ivan Gazidis has been talking to the club’s website about how we can continue to compete in a world occupied by the likes of Chelsea and Man City, and how it’s still the aim of the club to win the Premier League and Champions League:

My message to our fans is that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that Arsenal can challenge for trophies next year. That is what this summer is about and that is what we are focused on.

We have a good team, we have a good young core of players and we need everybody involved to have belief so that we can push forward into next year and make a run at the Premier League trophy and for the Champions League. We believe we can do that.

Which is all good to hear, but actions speak louder than words, and it’d be nice if he’d elaborated on what is meant by doing “everything in our power”, but you wouldn’t really expect him to. More cynical commentators than me might suggest the chief executive’s words are designed to pre-empt the questioning he’s due to receive at his meeting with the Arsenal Supporters Trust today, but whatever the reason, it’s good to hear that – again – the club is talking about learning the lessons of last summer. Of course, it’d be even better to see some evidence of that, but I don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes any more than anyone else.

He also touched upon the unity at the club during the difficult times early last season, hinting that another club might well have sacked the manager. I’ll admit there were one or two moments in August and September last year when I did start to wonder whether Arsene was still the man for the job, but then he got us to third place in the league, and while that won’t be enough for some – and should never be our target – it reminded me just how little I, and pretty much everyone else, know about managing a football club.

Interestingly, the Daily Mail seems to have more comments than the official website (although I’m afraid I haven’t had time to listen to the full interview on Arsenal.com, so maybe that’s where they’re getting it from), and reports that Gazidis also spoke about how no one’s speaking about Robin van Persie’s future:

Robin sat down with us at the end of the season and we had a good discussion. What we agreed at that meeting was that we would keep all the discussions we had over the summer to ourselves and make announcements when it is the right time.

We have to respect the fact we have agreed to keep that among ourselves. Robin is clearly focused on the Euros at the moment and we wish him well, and at the right time we will make the right announcements.

So there you go – more non-news about a story that hasn’t broken yet.

In Euro 2012 news…there’s surprisingly little about. The Dutch striker, Klaas Jan Huntelaar has said that he believes that he and Robin can play in the same team, citing Dennis Berkgamp’s assertion that great players can always play together. It seems to me that saying Dennis Bergkamp was talking about you when he was himself talking about great players seems like saying God was thinking of me when deciding the template for man – and trust me, he really, really wasn’t – but whatever. You’d expect Robin to be a shoo-in for the main striker’s position for the Dutchlings, but judging by his numbers, Huntelaar enjoyed a fine season at Shalke too, scoring a bewildering 48 goals in 48 games.

And finally for today, speaking of Dennis, rumours surfaced yesterday that Swansea wanted him to take over as their manager following the departure of Brendan Rogers to Liverpool, and he went from an outside bet at 20-1 to evens in the space of a few hours. At the risk of embarrassing myself, it appears the origin of the story was an internet forum, so it’s likely that it’s someone having a laugh and a story that’s grown legs in what’s a very quiet week.

And that’s your lot. More meetings today, and code that won’t write itself, so I shall see you again tomorrow. Have yourselves a good Wednesday.

Hello, and happy last day of the working week. Today finds me in fettle less than fine, but that’s a story for another day, or better yet, never. Let’s just say it was late when I got to bed last night, and I could do with more sleep. Yes, that’s it. Sleep is what I need most. And possibly a drip. Anyway, I hope you’re feeling better than I am.

Today is the first day of the European Championships, and there’s a few bits and pieces from Arsenal players and staff talking about their aspirations for the tournament, but that’s really all that’s in the news today.

We’ll start with Arsene Wenger who, in his role as pundit for the tournament, has suggested that the loser of the France-England game on Monday – assuming it’s not a draw and there is a loser – will struggle to get out of the group:

That is a game you cannot afford to lose. Why? Not because you cannot catch up but the pressure inside the country becomes tremendous.

That game could dictate the whole group. If it’s 0-0, the group is open but if someone loses they have a very good chance of going out because Ukraine will beat one of the two, you would say, and Sweden are a hard team to beat.

I agree with the sentiment – that it’ll be hard for the loser to recover – but not because of pressure. I just think it’s a tough group. Ukraine are co-hosts which will give them a boost, Sweden are a difficult team to beat, and have a very dangerous player in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and while this France team aren’t the same as a few years ago, they have some really great players. As I said the other day, I think England, particularly without Wayne Rooney, will struggle. But it’s tournament football, so who knows, and it’s not like their results have been awful recently.

Wojciech Szczesny (which I almost spelt right first time!) has said he feels at home in Poland, which is quite the coincidence, given the tournament is being co-hosted in the country he’s from:

We’ve had some good results recently and we’re in good form. The spirit in the team is great and we can’t wait to get started.

I want to go all the way. I’m only in it to win it. I don’t plan to lose any games, so therefore I want to win the championship. Why not?

Admirable stuff from the young Pole. While in reality winning the tournament is probably a little ambitious for the lowest ranked team in the competition, it’s good to hear him speaking that way, and hopefully he’ll have a good tournament and get some good experience.

Speaking about an interesting early game in the tournament, Tomas Rosicky has said that the feels Russia will provide a tough test for the Czechs in this evening’s game:

Russia have got dangerous midfielders and forwards. For tonight, we are very well prepared and we are looking forward to the game.

We are expecting a really tough match. Russia are very experienced but we believe in our strengths and feel we will be successful.

Fairly uncontroversial and generic comments, but there you go. While it seems dangerous to tempt fate, Tomas has also said he wants to play in the next European Championships in 2016:

Times certainly flies, but I’m not that old.

I think I’ll be able to make the next [European] Championship too.

He’ll be 35 by then, but maybe now he’s finally shaken off the injuries that for a long time seemed set to wreck his career, there is a chance he could play that long (what was I just saying about tempting fate? I just don’t listen, do I?).

Talking to the official club website, Laurent Koscielny has said how bad he feels for Bacary Sagna, who will miss the tournament after breaking his leg in our last home game of the season against those yellow bastards from Suffolk (yes, yes, I know, but it annoys them):

Bac is a very nice guy off the pitch and he has been very professional because it is the second time he has been injured like this. I think it is really hard for him because he trained hard to come back and help the team.

So for him not to be in the French squad is disappointing. But I know Bac, he will come back stronger and next season he will be very important for us.

You know what? I love that he’s talking about next season. For me, Koscielny has been one of our best signings in recent years. A bit of a rocky start, but now completely dependable and first pick centre back for me. Were it not for Robin van Persie having the sort of season that people make up songs about, Koscielny would’ve been my player of the season.

Finally for today, the new home kit is now available. Why is it that they can’t just do a red and white shirt? What the fuck are those things on the sleeves all about? I mean, I know why – sales – but really, come on. Blue is the colour of cunts.

And that’s your lot. I’m sorry I can’t offer you any tantalising transfer tittle tattle, but there simply isn’t any – or isn’t any I’m in any mood to rehash, revisit, or regurgitate. I wish you a good Friday, and hope you enjoy the games tonight.