Saturday round-up

Morning all, the weekend is here and we’ve got a proper football match to entertain ourselves with today.

We’ll start with confirmation of the injuries mentioned yesterday. Eboue will be out 3-4 weeks, Baptista for 4 weeks while Freddie will miss 10 days with his problem. However, one player makes a long awaited return from injury. Gael Clichy will be on the bench today after missing 45 years with a foot problem. He won’t start though and while the boss is happy to have him back he’s being cautious, saying:

I can play Gallas or Justin Hoyte at left back but it’s not their favourite job. Hoyte is better on the right and Gallas is better in the centre. Gael is a real left back. But I have to be careful with him. He will not start against Watford because he’s had three surgeries. I have to make sure he doesn’t get injured again and I have to be patient with him.

The club also revealed yesterday that Armand Traore, who looked impressive during pre-season, has signed professional terms with the club.

The other big news is that Theo Walcott is set for his first start after his two goals for England Under21s this week. I suspect he’ll play on the right hand side of midfield.

Fingers crossed there’ll be no post-internation hangover and we can get ourselves back on track. Watford shouldn’t be taken lightly though and more than a number of teams they look like they have goals in them whenever they play.

In other news Tomas Rosicky talks to the Guardian about how happy he is to have signed for Arsenal and not Chelsea and about how he plays ice hockey against Jan Koller. You can just imagine Rosicky skating through Koller’s legs before firing a 25 yard rocket it.

Reserve defender Joe O Cearuill has been called up to the Ireland Under 21 squad.

And to finish, a touching true life story that will truly melt your heart. Poor old Jonthan Barnett, who organised a clandestine meeting with Cuntski for his then Arsenal playing client, Cuntley Cunt, was fined £100,000 and banned from acting as an agent for 18 months. Note that this happened after Cole’s transfer to Chelsea went through.

Well, some of Barnett’s other clients, who include Peter Crouch, Ledley King and Kieron Dyer have had a whip around to pay the fine for him because the poor man was feeling very, very sad. What a pack of muppets. That cunt is taking a chunk of their wages anyway and they pay his fine, after he’s earned a fucking fortune from Chelsea for ‘organising’ the Cole deal. Just when you think footballers can’t get any more stupid they do something like this.

The man is a proper Svengali. And by Svengali I mean utter, utter, complete and utter cunt.

And that’s that. Come on the lads today, talk to you tomorrow.

Injury news and FIFA nominations

Injury news to start with this morning and we’re going to be without three players for varying lengths of time. Freddie Ljungberg has a calf injury while Baptista damaged his hamstring in a behind closed doors reserve game during the week. They’re both definitely out for the next two games.

Also injured is player of the month Emmanuel Eboue who’ll be missing for 3 to 4 weeks after damaging knee ligaments playing for the Ivory Coast. I’d imagine that’ll mean Justin Hoyte moving to right back as Lauren is still a long way from fitness. The boss is expecting William Gallas to be fit despite not playing for France so he’ll slot in at left back. Philippe Senderos and Gael Clichy are both making good progress from their injuries but still need a bit more conditioning before they can be considered.

Watford’s manager, Adrian Boothroyd, reckons this could be a good time for them to play Arsenal because we’ve had so many players away with their countries. Certainly it’ll be a good test of the squad to see if they can pick up the momentum they were building before the break. Will Theo be involved after his goals midweek and will Robin van Persie keep his place up front? We shall see.

Three Arsenal players have been nominated for FIFA’s World Player of the Year award. Thierry Henry, Jens Lehmann and Tomas Rosicky are all in the 30 man shortlist released yesterday. For me Henry should have won it ahead of Ronaldinho in 2004 and 2005 and maybe now he’s not at the height of his form like back then but his consistency, goalscoring and creativity has to be rewarded this time around. There’s no other outstanding candidate and if he doesn’t win this year then …erm… something really bad or something. Yeah.

West Ham manager Alan Pardew says Nigel Reo-hokey-kokey-Coker was unsettled by a deadline day bid from Arsenal.

And that’s that. Nothing else to report, the boss will do his usual Friday press conference which will mean there’s plenty to talk about tomorrow before we get proper football back again.

Hurrah!

Internationals over, let the real football begin…

Hurrah, the internationals are over and we can get back to talking about real football. Is it just me or did this international break seem extra long?

England showed a change of coach hasn’t made them any better and after a couple of good results to begin with the honeymoon is well and truly over for Midtable McLaren. Ireland were spirited last night but I suspect that was more a reaction to the intense criticism than being inspired and motivated by The Fawn.

Thierry Henry scored for France as they beat the Faroe Islands 5-0 and Robin van Persie continued his fine run of form with another goal for Holland. No doubt one of the stattos will figure out how many he’s scored but he must have 5 or 6 for the Dutch and 3 or 4 for us. I could be wrong though.

Lots of talk about Theo Walcott after his two goals on Tuesday night and while Arsenal fans will be chomping at the bit to see him get more time he’s happy to wait for his chance. He says:

When I come off the bench or when I start I always want to make an impact. I’ll play whenever, I’ve got plenty of time haven’t I? I always work hard in training and show what I can do and hopefully I’ll get my chance soon.

A refreshingly intelligent attitude. There’s no question that the manager is using him slowly, perhaps afraid of what constant playing time will do to him at such a young age. Theo also talks about how much he’s learning from Henry and van Persie in terms of finishing and I think by the end of the season he’ll be there or there abouts, pushing for a regular spot in the 16 if not the first 11 just yet.

Marseille chairman Papa Mama Boppa Loppa Barba Papa Dioup Dioup says Frank Ribery won’t leave in the January transfer window. Ok then.

And that’s about it. There’ll be a Watford preview tomorrow, fingers crossed everyone has come through the break injury free. Just a heads up for next week there’ll be a competition where you can win copies of Football Manager 2007, and a Football Manager 2007 t-shirt and a Football Manager 2007 pen.

Stay tuned. Until then.

Walcott on the double

Internationals tonight with various Arsenal players involved in various matches. Fingers crossed they all come through them unscathed although Arsene Wenger thinks internationals are like people who take your car from your garage, use it for 10 days then leave it in the middle of the country with no petrol in it. Then they expect you to be nice about it when they come back for the car when you’ve just got it fixed up again.

It’s a good analogy really but I’d compare international managers with the goo that forms in a dog’s eye overnight. All yellow and sticky and probably chewy if you ever tested that theory by eating a bit of it.

However, international football seems to suit Theo Walcott who scored two for England’s U21s last night against Germany. You can see the goals here and you have to say they are so like Thierry Henry it’s frightening but not frightening for us. For us it’s a good kind of frightening.

The boss has also been talking about his ambitions for Arsenal and it’s becoming clearer that he sees the football club as a way of dominating Europe, then he’ll probably look at Africa, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, South America then, the final ultimate battle will see him up against North America and he’ll probably do something clever like recruit Canada but keep it quiet and as the battle rages they’ll tip the balance in his favour and at last the world can live in peace and harmony.

Seriously though, he enjoys the autonomy of Arsenal and the interference from chairman and presidents who think they know better at clubs like Real Madrid is one of the reasons he turned them down.

And that’s about it. Ireland take on the Czech Republic tonight and after getting done right up the hoop by Cyprus Staunton’s position will be untenable if Rosicky and Co do what I think they’re going to do later on.

Anyway, that’s your lot, more tomorrow.