Psychology can be a very peculiar science. Last week I wrote about my increasing impression that Arsenal were crawling over the finishing line in the manner of a man searching limply for water in the desert. The game at Stoke did little to stymie that suspicion. Then the boss admitted, rather candidly, that we were almost totally relying on van Persie to nudge us over the line (Because he clearly hasn’t contributed enough already this season).

Nobody with a set of functioning eyes [insert generic Premiership referee gag] would deny that this is very much the case. But it still seemed like an uncharacteristic admission for the manager to make. When we so desperately need others to step up to the plate and accept some of the goalscoring burden, here Arsene was publicly pleading for his talisman to be a one man show just until the final curtain. “Why not openly encourage the supporting vast to get all vaudevillian on us too?!” I thought to myself with furrowed brow.

Then less than 24 hours after that news item appears as the banner headline on Arsenal.com, the signing of Lukas Podolski is announced. Maybe I’m overanalysing, but I can’t ignore the chronology. Now Arsene’s plea looks slightly different. It’s a tacit admission that our other forwards aren’t being as assertive as they could be, followed up immediately by tangible action. Now it reads almost like a warning. Robin’s support cast are now fully aware that the new boy is waiting in the wings and that the manager is not satisfied with their work. Two important games now become a mini audition of sorts.

As for Podolski himself, it looks like a very positive signing. Though many will try, nobody can judge how good a signing is until he has represented the club a fair number of times. There are so many factors that govern whether a signing is any good that are not realised immediately. Sometimes good players still turn out to be bad signings because of circumstances unallied to their quality. I remember when Liverpool signed Fernando Morientes. It looked like an outstanding signing on paper. But for whatever reason, it didn’t really work out. There are countless other examples.

As with any other decisions taken by the club, with transfer dealings it’s important that supporters at least appreciate the thought process behind it and why decisions are taken at the time they are. Hindsight can cast us all into the role of the know it all at times. For instance, certain contract decisions – both player and commercial – taken by the club in the recent past can look ridiculous in hindsight. But the levels of complaint at the time those calls are made are usually notably lower in both volume and ferocity.

All that accepted, the signing of Podolski looks to be a positive one. It’s an assertive attempt to correct a big deficiency in our squad. He’s a player at a good age with excellent credentials. He has the capability to fit into our system, either as a wide striker or as a centre forward, having played both roles before. He can both back up and partner the overburdened van Persie. He only need put the cones out at training to be an upgrade on Chamakh and Park.

Speaking of which, it looks increasingly likely Pat Rice’s retirement will be confirmed before the end of the season. That means Arsene will have an appointment to make and an important one too. I’ve speculated on possible successors elsewhere, but for the time being I hope that Pat’s legacy is treated with the respect it deserves. The “cones on the training ground” crack above accepted, I think it’s unfortunate that Rice has been portrayed as a “yes man” over the last few years. I think it was a germ of a theory raised on an internet message board that somehow went viral and passed into received wisdom.

Firstly, since training sessions at London Colney are guarded more closely than the crown jewels I’m not sure how people would have the first idea as to how challenging Rice is to Arsene. My guess is that Pat became a kind of innocent bystander –an unwitting voodoo doll if you will – for people that had a gripe with Wenger but felt too scared to implicate him directly. Secondly, it’s quite a disrespectful target given the man’s 42 years of service to the football club. My hope is that that is held in the reverence it deserves when he hangs up his shorts.

On a decidedly sourer note, membership renewals for red and silver members have been released and I think the club have some explaining to do. For the privilege of merely holding a silver membership, the club are now charging £55. That represents a 73% increase in total in two years. We already know, though there has been little fanfare about it, that Club Level prices rose a further 2% this season. I’m sure the club’s justification for Club Level prices is that, when the asking price is so large, a little increase every year is preferable to a massive hike once every four seasons.

Red members are also now being charged £33 to hold membership. Considering it wasn’t long ago that being a silver or red member was free of charge, this is a quite astronomical rise and I’m not sure I’ve seen any justification for it. I understood the club’s stance of introducing the fee for being a member on the basis that it discouraged people from simply holding anaemic memberships that they rarely used. But a 73% rise in two years requires explanation.

If I were being cynical, I’d suggest the club looked at the furore created by raising season ticket prices last summer and plumped for a different strategy. They kept the headline cost of season tickets down, but hit other forms of membership with stealth charges that evade the same levels of scrutiny. I’m sure as fans we’d be receptive and open minded to any reasoning the club offered as to why the prices had to go up. But in lieu of an explanation, it’s difficult to arrive at an alternative conclusion.

Finally, I wanted to address some of the mini furore from the Stoke game. The booing of Ramsey was, of course, totally illogical (and they accuse Arsene of being a bit precious!) But it was nothing to get too bent out of shape about. The fact that it attracted a small amount of attention almost certainly confirms that Stoke fans will do it again because it got to some people. That was its sole intention really.

Incidentally, I thought Arsene – far from being angry or raging as the media depicted him – was very level headed and brilliantly dismissive in his post match comments. Particularly the “they have a relationship with me, but I don’t have one with them” riposte when quizzed on the very simple amusement derived by the Stoke fans at his expense.

Tony Pulis did not hear the booing of Ramsey, but was “more concerned” by the booing of Shawcross by those of us in the away end. Of course he was. Because he is a cunt. We all knew that. That’s why my man @superswe decided to wear the charming cap you can see above en route to Staffordshire. I also saw Lineker’s aping of Wenger’s exasperated pose on Match of the Day. It was cringe worthy, but again, nothing to be overly annoyed about.

That’s what the BBC are. They’re like the weedy kid that helps the bullies taunt one of his nerdy brethren in a desperate attempt to curry favour. It’s clear to me that few other managers in this country would be the target of such mockery. However, letters of complaint and demands for apology simply serve to fuel the fire. It’s total playground politics. Demonstrating large levels of annoyance simply ensures you’ll be a target again. So, you know, fuck ‘em. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

So, last night’s results will certainly focus the minds ahead of Saturday’s game against Norwich.

Bolton’s game in hand down the bottom left them on the wrong end of a 4-1 pasting by Sp*rs while Newcastle pretty much ended Chelsea’s hopes of a top 4 finish with a 2-0 win and a couple of fantastic goals by Pappis Cissé. The second, in particular, was an astonishing finish (if a touch on the hit and hope side – not that you can argue with the result of it) and his success is a great example of why January deals don’t always mean you’re scrubbing around for unwanteds.

Anyway, it leaves the league table looking like this:

It really couldn’t be much tighter and leaves us with little or no margin for error. But then we knew that already and while it would have been nice if last night’s results had done us a favour, we can’t expect others to our work for us. It also means that the only way Chelsea can get into the Champions League next season is by winning the tournament.

I don’t think it’ll increase their focus in any way, if you’re in the final of the Champions League you’ll be 100% trying to win it simply because it’s the Champions League final, but there’s no safety net for them and it might give them that extra 1-2%. If that happens … excuse me, just going to be sick into my mouth a little bit here … then whoever finishes fourth will not play Champions League football next season.

Watching that final is going to be difficult enough without knowing our hopes for top table European football rest on the outcome. However, the good thing is that it’s in our hands, and it’s something we have control over. When it comes right down to it, you have to say that if we can’t beat Norwich and West Brom in these final two games, then we don’t really deserve it – especially when you take into accounts defeats this season to low-mid tables teams QPR, Wigan, Blackburn, Swansea, Fulham and perennial strugglers Sp*rs.

No doubt that’s something the manager will be drilling into the players on the training ground this week. While we know well there’s a financial contingency for not playing Champions League football next season, I doubt there’s much in the way of a back-up plan from a footballing point of view. With key players’ futures still up in the air, and the need to strengthen the squad ahead of next season, it doesn’t really bear thinking about. Still, we’ve rarely, if ever, done things the easy way so let’s hope that the breathing we can feel on our necks serves only to make us put in one final sprint to the finish line.

In other news, Lukas Podolski told a press conference yesterday that Arsenal was ‘the right move’ for him at this point in his career. He has yet to travel to London, or indeed speak to Arsene Wenger face to face (they’ve been in telephone contact), which is unusual, but he says he thought long and hard about what he’d do at this point in his career:

I’ve long thought about how we go from here and the question was only a top club like Arsenal. I’m ready to take this step and I am convinced that it is the right thing. I’ll find my place at Arsenal.

And for those who suggested an unsuccessful move to Bayern meant he wouldn’t make it at a bigger club than Cologne, he said:

In Munich, I maybe was a tad too young. Now, I’m more experienced and have become even better and I’m confident about this move and certain that I will make it there.

You can read a full transcript of the relevant parts of the press conference here. It’s interesting to hear that he spoke to Mertesacker but it seemed as if he were trying to play that down. I have no doubt the BFG filled gave him the low-down on life in England and what he could expect at Arsenal. Signing for a club without seeing the training ground, the facilities etc is a bit odd, but if you have an international colleague telling you everything is top class and as good as it gets then I imagine it makes the decision a little easier.

And he’ll add to the growing German contingent at the club, a nation sadly overlooked since Moritz Volz left (is he still doing his brilliant website?). Update: Oh yeah, and some fella called Jens. Anyway, Mertesacker and youngster Thomas Eisfeld mean that there’ll be familar faces/voices for the new arrival and while professional footballers need to adapt and get on with things, it doesn’t hurt to have that around.

There’s some guff from Theo Walcott on the official site about not being one-dimensional, which is fine, but I can live with one-dimensional if that one dimension is outstanding. And when Theo’s in the right dimension there are no complaints, but when he slips off into another dimension, it’s one where he’s got a club-foot and blinkers on and he thinks dribbling out for a throw gets us bonus points.

What’s more interesting is the stuff from the BBC’s David Ornstein who took to Twitter yesterday to reveal that there are no talks planned with Theo before the European Championships despite the fact that he’s in the very same contract situation as Robin van Persie. Whether this lack of urgency means both parties are happy enough and convinced a deal can be done afterwards, or if it suggests something else, I have no idea.

He is, by all accounts, happy at Arsenal, but at the same time his ‘people’ withdrew from preliminary talks with the club when things weren’t looking so good, saying they’d wait until summer to sort it out. A clear sign that they wanted to see where Arsenal finished before committing to any new deal. On the one hand that seems fair enough, on the other perhaps Theo needs to find more than ‘consistency in patches’ before playing hardball. Anyway, we’ll see how it all pans out.

And that, my good old friends, is that. Back tomorrow with an Arsecast. Till then.

It is remarkably quiet considering we’re heading into the final two games of this league season. Maybe it’s not that remarkable though, maybe there’s just a sense that this campaign is one most people would pretty much like to see the back of … once we secure third place.

We’ll watch tonight’s games with some interest. Chelsea, who pounded QPR at the weekend, host Newcastle who were pounded by Wigan, while Sp*rs travel to Bolton. I guess the good thing is that all teams involved have something to play for. Bolton are fighting to avoid the drop and will be looking to take advantage of a Sp*rs side who now know they’re stuck with Harry Redknapp, while a tasty, ultra-violent draw at Stamford Bridge would suit us fine.

Of course whatever happens tonight our future is very much in our own hands. It’s as simple as it gets – win the last two games and third place is ours. It would be nice to have that task made easier by favourable results tonight but the reality is that it’s down to us and how we perform against Norwich and West Brom.

After the signing of Lukas Podolski there was much mutteration and scuttlebutt floating about the Twitter box yesterday with all kinds of whispers about Jan Vertonghen and Yann M’Vila. As you might expect, much of it – if not all – is absolute bollocks. Perhaps we are after Vertonghen but I very much doubt that a signing is close. And you hardly need to Johnny Indaknow to suggest we have an interest in M’Vila. Pretty much every French football related journalist has reported that over the last few months.

I guess people are just hopeful that the Podolski signing is a sign(ing) of things to come. We can be very cautiously optimistic that it suggests a change in our modus operandi but hardly convinced just yet. Look at what Arsene said after Stoke when asked if Chamakh was going to be let leave at the end of the season:

At the end of the season I think you will have big surprises because there will not be a lot of movement in football.

I think he’s referring to football in general, rather than us, but it does have an impact. Depending on who you talk to, Arsenal fans list of players they’d like to leave this summer is either long or pretty damn long indeed. You can look at the squad and see ways in which players who don’t contribute ought to be sold and replacements, who can offer more, could be brought in.

Yet we go back to the old point that it’s not like getting a new car, you can’t just trade one in for scrap and get a new one. We have to find other teams to buy these players and while complaints about our wage structure do have some merit, this is not the only reason it’s difficult to move players on. The reality of football today is that the finances of many clubs are in the shitter. As clubs like Chelsea, PSG, Man City, Malaga and others who have sugar-daddy owners continue to inflate transfer fees and salary expectations, the more conservative others become.

That doesn’t alter what we need to do, of course, but it does make it more challenging. And perhaps we’ve erred in offering long-term deals on healthy contracts to players who didn’t quite merit them, yet not so long ago we were losing players on free transfers and that was as much a cause for complaint. Maybe we went too far the other way but let’s not ignore the fact that when Edu and Flamini ran down their deals there was as much gnashing of teeth about that as there is about those on inflated salaries that make them unattractive other teams.

What we have to do, I suspect, is count on the fact that for the most part footballers want to play football as much as they want to earn a lot of money. The Winston Bogardes of this world are few and far between and if we can clear the way for players going out – by lowering our expected transfer fees and allowing the purchasing club to bump a signing on fee, for example – then it should be possible to do the business we need to do.

But we shouldn’t be under any illusions that it’s a complicated process, both buying and selling, and that if and when we bring more players in it’s got to be tallied with players going out due to the restrictive 25 man squad rules.

Anyway, in order to keep a relatively clear head about things, remember that most Twitter rumours aren’t worth the virtual toilet paper they’re spouted on, and that finishing third has to be the focus for now, not the summer madness which this, of all summers, is going to be pretty intense, I reckon.

In other news, well, there is none, apart from the fact that Ryo Miyaichi looks set for Japan’s Olympic football team. The Japanese FA have sent documents to Arsenal asking for him to be released this summer and unlike the Wilshere situation, I don’t think it’d be a bad thing at all for him to be involved. It may not be a ‘big’ tournament, or a tournament many people care one jot about, but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad experience for a footballer still as raw as Ryo (a sentence I’m glad I’m writing and not trying to say out loud).

And that’s about that, finally for today, a shameless, towards the end of season plug for So Paddy Got Up. You can read reviews and reaction here, and purchase it here. While if you’re a digital reader you can get it from Kindle, iTunes and Kobo. There are also copies behind the bar at The Tollington so if you’re heading into the final home game of the season you can pick one up there. I might see you there for a pint too.

Ok, that’s yer lot, till tomorrow.

Yesterday Arsene Wenger made it quite clear we were a team that was far too reliant on the goals of Robin van Persie.

Yesterday Arsene Wenger said there was nothing we could do about it until the end of the season and he urged the captain to drag us over the line into third place.

Yesterday, he did something about it, for next season at least, by finalising the signing of Lukas Podolski from Cologne. Like most every other signing it comes with what should be a well-used acronym OALTCFAUF (On A Long Term Contract For An Undisclosed Fee) with the manager obviously pleased at his work:

We are delighted to secure the deal for Lukas and see him as an important part of our future. He is a top-class player, a very good finisher and a proven performer at club and international level. He is a very strong player and will provide us with good attacking options.

We are happy to have made this signing early

While the player, still focused on his efforts with his German side this season, said:

I’m so happy to be joining Arsenal Football Club and to play in the Premier League. Arsenal is one of the top clubs in Europe with a huge history. There are many top quality players at Arsenal and the style of football which the team plays is fantastic.

I’m proud to become an Arsenal player and am looking forward to playing my first match at Emirates Stadium and doing my best for all the Arsenal fans.

Which is exactly what you’d expect any new player to say but it’s always nice to hear. So what have we got? I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert of all a sudden, if you want insight into his character and career then this piece by Raphael Honigstein is a good start, but clearly we’ve bought a name and a player most people will be well aware of.

95 caps and 43 goals for Germany means he’s not somebody who has flown under the radar, he’s well known, hugely experienced, can obviously score goals and at 26 is pretty much the ‘right’ age to make a move like this. A move earlier in his career to Bayern Munich didn’t work out but he wouldn’t be alone in not succeeding at a club to which he made a high profile move.

In fact, two of our very best players ever came to us off the back of disastrous times elsewhere. Bergkamp’s time at Inter was fraught for many reasons, while Thierry Henry was deployed as a wing-back at Juventus before joining us and becoming our record goalscorer. Now, I’m not saying he’s going to match their feats, just saying that one failed transfer move doesn’t mean he’s unable to play out of his comfort zone, as some suggest.

As for what he brings to the team, pace, power, strength and a left foot that packs a real punch. If I were Gervinho this morning I would be watching on in relative horror because he’ll probably play on the left hand side of the attacking trio, providing us with somebody who can go outside rather than a right footed player who nearly always cuts back inside. I’m not Gervinho though so having an extra/better option there is good.

But he’s also capable of playing the central striking role, providing the manager with a chance to rest Robin if need be. And here’s the fear part – people will think that Podolski is a replacement for van Persie but I’m 100% sure he’s not been bought as that, even if it might – and let’s be realistic – turn out that way. Ideally he’s here to augment the Dutchman and the bottom line for me is that he’s a better option than Chamakh, a better option than Park, and a better option than Gervinho. In which case he makes us better as a team.

We needed to improve our striking options and we’ve done that. He’ll have the BFG to help him settle in and while his arrival will likely be delayed due to the Euros, we’ve pretty much broken the Arsenal mould by making the signing as early as this. I can’t really remember us doing such a high profile piece of transfer business before the end of the season before, and if that signals a change in the way we operate then it can only be a good thing.

The club have acted decisively after last summer’s madness and it makes a pleasant change. The proof of the pudding, however, will be how the rest of the business we need to do is carried out. With a number of the players we’re linked strongly with at the European Championships – and national sides most likely preventing their players from engaging in negotiations/transfer business during that time – getting as much done before they go to Poland/Ukraine will be important. That goes for our renewals too.

Making one timely signing while we dilly-dally over the rest would be a poor return to old form, and we’ve also got to take into account that we’re going to need to sell some players before we can bring in new ones. So let’s hope that Dick Law and Ivan haven’t booked a camping trip in June.

Overall, this is good news in my book. Everyone loves a new player, it energises the fans and the team, and hopefully we’ll see Podolski’s peak over the next few seasons. Welcome to The Arsenal, Lukas.

As you’d expect this has pretty much dominated the news this morning so there’s not a great deal else going on. If you missed it yesterday though, Arseblog has now launched in Chinese, so both the daily blog and Arseblog News will be available in Chinese, hopefully finding and converting new Gooners across the globe. Fingers crossed anyway.

Right, that’s yer lot, it’s another miserable day here in Dublin, the first of May and it’s teeming down. Welcome to summer.

More tomorrow.