Saturday round-up :: Vela off to Osasuna

Morning all, a quick Saturday round-up for you.

We’ll start with all the takeover bumpf and Arsenal, according to the Guardian, have reported that there has been no contact from Stan Kroenke or his KSE company. This comes in light of Sky Sports News reporting that a bid was ‘imminent’ and that if it was rejected we’re into the realm of hostile takeover.

Funnily enough I got an email yesterday from some Irish bloke accusing me of being a ‘coward’ and a ‘little Englander’. A coward because, get this, I don’t allow any comments on Arseblog so nobody can have their say and a little Englander because of my stance on the takeover – Dein/Kroenke situation. Now, almost since the start Arseblog has had a comments facility called ‘arses‘ which is open to anyone, no matter what their point of view. If you agree with me that’s fine, if you don’t agree that’s fine. I will never prevent you from commenting or calling me a twat or whatever. Of course, in the 5+ years of Arseblog we’ve had to get rid of a few people from the comments but not because of their views on football, simply because they were wind-up merchants, trolls or generally just cunty Sp*rs fans or something.

So, while I will continue to post what is simply my opinion on Arseblog, we can rest easy knowing that there are some right simpletons out there. Then, funnily enough, when I replied to him informing him that he was a simpleton he accused me of not engaging him in ‘intelligent debate’. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up.

So, back to the takeover thing and we don’t really have any new information to go on apart from what Sky Sports News have said – and they reported we were going to sign Rodrigo Palacio. Then comes another twist with a story saying that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is interested in the club (and funnily enough Bernie’s Ecclestone’s daughter goes out with a lad called Gavin Dein. I’m sure I know the name from somewhere). The Telegraph says that the board would prefer to sell to Ecclestone because, reading between the lines, he’s not foreign. To be honest, I’m pretty sure the board’s objection to selling is the fact that they have done so much work to bring the club to a new level and it hasn’t finished yet. Financially the club will be in good shape if the impatient can get past the promised pot of gold they think Dein and Kroenke will bring.

And as well as that, what’s to say that even if the Orangetache© group (who have been engaging their PR machine again) do take over that they’ll be any more successful at getting Arsene to spend any money? He’s got his way of doing things and there’s definitely money for him to spend now, this summer, if he wants to to, that’s regardless of any takeoever or honey-pot transfer funds. I remain firmly opposed. People say it’s inevitable and it’s true, lots of clubs are now under foreign ownership. ‘Everyone else is doing it’, you hear some fans say but since when did Arsenal and Arsenal fans want to be just like everyone else? Fuck that.

In a quick review of the other stories Liam Brady thinks the club is in good shape, saying:

The future of the club is looking very good and I wouldn’t bother about what people think in the months of June and July. No football has been played yet. It’s always best to wait and see if the first team will gain from their experiences last season and my feeling is that they will.

Eduardo talks about what he’s got to do to make it at the Gunners, AW is ready to give Theo Walcott a starring role and Robin van Persie is shaping up to be the main man up front this season.

Marca is reporting that Carlos Vela will be loaned out to Osasuna next season. I saw glimpses of him in the U20 World Cup and he looks very tasty indeed. A season of top flight football will do him the world of good as well. The deal appears to be a one year loan, with an option for a second. There is no question of him being sold though.

And that’s about it. I look forward to reading all of the no comments people leave here. I feel so lonely sometimes, so terribly, terribly lonely.

Wenger rules out another striker + Arsecast 37

A 3-0 win last night over Gcerninblicicicici with two goals from Robin van Persie and one from Theo Walcott. Not much in the way of reaction afterwards but Arsene Wenger did speak to the Arsenal TV thing saying that he was not interested in Nicolas Anelka and that he wasn’t going to bring in any more strikers. He didn’t say anything about not bringing in players in other positions though.

I guess Anelka was just a name brought up by the media and it kind of went from there. As you might imagine this story is complete and utter bollocks. It’s so shit it’s not even worth the paper it’s printed on and this version isn’t printed on any paper at all. So that makes our striking options for the season Robin van Persie, Eduardo, Adebayor, Bendtner and possibly Theo when needed. It is a bit of a risk, you have to say. Robin is a bit injury prone, Ade’s off to Africa in January, Eduardo is unproven, Bendtner even more unproven and Theo got one goal last season. Still, I suppose there’s only so many strikers you can have and I think most people would prefer to see a winger come in at this stage.

Eduardo knows he’s taking over from an Arsenal legend in Thierry Henry but he was quick to point out the differences. He said:

I’m a player who runs a lot, is disciplined and who scores. I’ve played centre-forward but now play more on the left or right. I’m a team player and will always run back to mark. I’m a player that likes to do my bit, who the coach can tell what to do, and does it with speed and strength.

Marking? Working hard? Does what the coach tells him? What madness is this?

Sky Sports reported, via the Spanish press, that we have signed Angel of Mark and Pedro Silva and will loan both of them out to Salamanca in Spain, apparently. Angel of Mary starred in the U20 World Cup and Pedro Silva is Gilberto Silva’s third cousin on his brother’s wife’s sister’s side. That or Silva is the Murphy of Brazil. Anyway, we should probably keep our powder dry until this is announced officially.

Stan Kroenke wants to complete a £600m takeover of Arsenal so he can bring back David Dein and stop Arsene Wenger quitting. So says the Mirror. Very noble of him, isn’t it? It’s a good job it hasn’t occurred to Arsene not to quit anyway. The Orange/Moustache PR machine has been cranking up in recent days. They can still both go and fuck themselves, as far as I’m concerned.

Arsenal still haven’t responded to Real Madrid’s offer for José Antonio Reyes. Treating it with the silence it deserves, I suppose.

Keeper Vito Mannone is off to Gretna, it seems. The best of luck to him up there. Stay off the moors.

In this week’s Arsecast, brought to you as always by OleOle.com, there’s really not much happening. The Man in the Bar is back with another player history, there’s some poetry and some other waffle too.

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And there you go. I’m off out into the rain. Stupid rain. Have a good one. More tomorrow.

Don't make Cesc captain!

So yesterday Cesc spoke about things at the club and was, in general, very positive about many things. He thinks the future is bright, that Arsenal can challenge for the league and he talked about how we’ll cope with the loss of Thierry Henry. He also said that one day he’d like to be Arsenal captain.

Now, as much as I respect the little Catalan, we have to do everything in our power to stop this happening. Not that we’re trying to deprive Cesc of a great honour but look at the last two captains. Patrick Vieira, made captain when Tony Adams retired, did all his ‘presenting’ to Real Madrid and then got flogged to Juventus. Thierry Henry, made captain when Vieira was sold, spent the first year flirting with Barcelona then left the next. I’m not the only one who sees a pattern here, am I? If we make Cesc captain we might as well put a ‘for sale’ sign on him. I say make Gallas captain at once. We could be shot of him by the end of the week if things go well.

Honestly, you have to wonder did Tony put a curse on the armband before he left:

Oh, captain’s armband
I curse thee like a sailor curses giant squid
whomever shall wear it
shall become a mental flid

In an effort to make things clear about his transfer business Arsene spoke about the signings on Eduardo and Sagna. Unfortunately things are now as clear as mud. He needed a player who could play left back because two right sided defenders are off the ACN? Odd. I do get the feeling that the shopping is not over but that we’re trying to offload Reyes and Freddie before making any moves. Or, trying to offload Freddie and Reyes, without a huge amount of success at the moment. Perhaps the reason he’s waiting is that he’s not going to buy someone unless he can sell first so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Aston Villa are after Justin Hoyte according to an in-depth article in today’s Mirror. They’re willing to pay somewhere in the region of £2.5m, apparently.

And that’s it. It’s all bit dull at the moment.

There’s a match in Austria tonight so hopefully we’ll get to see the new boys, a bit more news, and possibly some juicy quotes.

Arsene talks but the squad is still a bit thin

Morning all and sundry, especially sundry. There doesn’t appear to be much news coming from the training camp as the lads prepare for their game against Phlegmgigli tomorrow. We did get some stories from Arsene on the official site.

In one he explains why he’s delayed the appointment of a new football director and will continue to work with Ken Friar at the moment. You can be sure that if the Grimster is being prepared for the role he’ll be watching and learning from Friar who is an experienced and shrewd negoitiator. Then perhaps he’ll take over when the summer rush, so to speak, is over.

In another he tells fans not to compare Eduardo to Thierry Henry, which is fair enough. I don’t think anyone was doing that anyway.

And in the last story he talks about the first year at the new stadium and provides all kinds of facts and figures which are, in some way, quite promising. He’s right when he talks about the team having mental strength and pointing to the number of times we came from behind to win/salvage a game. He’s right when he says we’re determined and don’t give up, using the 21 goals we scored in the last 15 minutes of game to prove that point. However, as mentally as we’re strong we have a mental weakness too. Conceding too many goals first, struggling against so-called ‘lesser’ teams when we can go toe to toe with the best ones and not making the most of our chances.

It sounds stupid to say it’s good that he’s aware of these problems because if we can see them then of course Arsene can see them. Personally I still think we need at least one more signing and it’s the wide areas that concern me. If we lose Freddie, as seems likely, and we lose Reyes (who is still wanted by Madrid but who want to fuck us around with the transfer fee. I mean, €24m for Robben and they’re trying to keep us under €10m. Fuck off) then we need at least one player to come in and replace them in the squad and, even better, as a first team player. Could Sagna be an option for the right hand side of midfield?

Either way I think the squad is a little too thin at the moment but there’s still time to put that right. It is interesting the way he keeps talking about the team and the responsibilities being shared around now that Thierry is gone.

Kolo Toure expects the boss to stay and he’s confident about the season ahead, saying:

We have all progressed mentally. We know what was wrong last season and have worked on it. We are focused and we know we can do something. We’ve played together for a long time. Each player has a big role and we’re confident. We have all progressed together and we know we’re going to make it.

Good stuff from him and that is the kind of attitude we need. That and a player called Robocop who can, quite literally, blast his way through defences when we concede the first goal of each game at home expect much closer to the 1st minute when we’ll have even more time to try and break down the 11 man defence.

The Mirror says both Carlos Vela and Fran Merida could go on loan to newly promoted Almeria in Spain next season.

Not much else to tell you so I think I’ll have some breakfast. Crunchy nut cornflakes this morning.