Morning, a quick Saturday round-up for you.
Speaking to the official website Arsene Wenger revealed the news we’ve all been waiting for:
We will sign a player soon
Which is a bit like saying it’ll be Sunday soon or the new season begins shortly. Of course we’ll sign a new player soon. Otherwise we’re mental. And for all our faults I don’t think we’re completely mental. Not yet anyway. He went on:
We do not want to come out with names before we announce it. Keep faith in what has always worked well for us and that is to keep it secret as much as we can.
Secret, like Chamakh. Good thinking. I mean, we can say as little as we want about Koscielny but when his agent is saying it’s more or less done only for Arsene’s forgetfulness when it comes to his gadgets, pretty much everyone at Lorient talking about it and the player himself saying ‘I want to go to Arsenal’ it’s not as if anyone’s going to be completely shocked.
Unless, of course, we sign somebody entirely different at which point I will doff my cap to the manager and say ‘Well played, sir’.
There’s no question our defence needs a good sorting out, like a teenager who has been given a serious talking to on a number of occasions with little effect, it now needs a good boot up the hole and clip round the ear. Koscielny could very well be a good player, I haven’t seen him play at all, but I do wonder if he’s immediate first XI material.
There are those who will say ‘Look at Vermaelen, he came in and did the job straight away’, which is very true but let’s not forget that Vermaelen came in and did the job alongside a vastly experienced player like Gallas. For all his faults and dodgy mohicans he was a player who had been there, done that, worn the t-shirt, sat on the pitch crying like spa and everything else. Koscielny is just one year out of Ligue 2 and may well turn out to be a top defender, I just think that to provide him, and us, with the best chance of success we need to be looking at someone with more experience also.
And speaking of experience the boss says there’s no news of Sol Campbell’s future which leads me to believe something. Quite what that something is I can’t say. Either it means we’re looking for someone else and will revert to Sol if we can’t find them, or Arsene doesn’t want to upset him before his wedding. You have to think that if he was really part of the plans we’d have sorted something out with him before now. Maybe we’re saving the offer as a surprise for his wedding. Like when they read out the telegrams:
To Sol and Mrs Sol, all the best, wishing you a happy life together, love Arsene. PS – pre-season training started three weeks ago you lazy cunt.
We shall see. At the World Cup Spain are through but I’m finding it very difficult to enjoy them. Torres’ dive last night and the ref’s decision to send off the Chilean were both disgraceful and I look around their team and see all these players who are only at the World Cup so they can convince Cesc to sign for Barcelona. These Catalans don’t care if Spain win or not. I can see through their scheming ways. Cesc got a half an hour or so last night, del Bosque still, for some reason, preferring the awful Busquets in midfield, and Spain won 2-1. Chile also go through as Switzerland couldn’t get the goal against Honduras that would have taken them through.
It’s probably for the best, Chile have been entertaining and they have a fantastic madman as coach, the Swiss are fairly dour. Earlier in the day Eboueland beat Roneryopia 3-0 but still go out of the tournament, while Brazil v Portugal was 90+ minutes of my life I will never get back. It was to football what Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car is to music – so dull and tedious it makes you want to self-harm.
The only good bit was when Felipe Melo, an Arsenal target dontcha know, took revenge on Portugal’s Pepe after a nasty challege. He waited and then creamed him out of it with a shoulder. I know we should all be admiring the beautiful game but a bit of good old fashioned revenge is nice to see too. Pepe’s stamp on Melo’s ankle was red card worthy and if the ref lets you down sometimes you have to go a bit Charles Bronson.
The knockout stages start today. There’s no specific Arsenal interest in either game but Uruguay v South Korea and USA v Ghana could be fun to watch. Let’s hope the knockout rounds increase in quality from some of the crap the group stages has dished up.
Right, I have to go kill a spastic bluebottle that has been buzzing around my office and can’t find the door or the window. Have a good Saturday.
