Wenger Goes May Mad In The Transfer Market

By Mohammed Bilal Zaidi

Ok perhaps it really isn’t that big a deal that we have been linked with a couple of players so early in the summer, but compared to our usual standards of transfer speculation in the summer term, it seems Wenger really wants to sort things out before the world cup.

Perhaps the fact that if the likes of Rosicky, Torres etc have a good world cup, there transfer value will be inflated as they always are after world cups. Ok…perhaps not for Rosicky if reports are correct that he has a buy out clause in his contract of £6.8 million, which really does seem absurd for a player of his quality. His current club Dortmund purchased him for £18million, a Bundesliga record…so why the hell would they put a clause in his contract saying he can be released for only £6.8 million?...Seems like dodgy agents to me, doing their dodgy business as they do…but in this case it really would be to our benefit. Rosicky is a fantastic player and to pick him up for this minute amount would be great business, especially if we are getting the reported £8 million for Sol Campbell…a 31 year old centre back that has just had his worst season in Arsenal colours. Saying that though…he was quite terrific in the champions league final, so if he does stay I just hope he can be his old self that has seen him be our rock for the last 3 seasons or so.

Anyway, it seems as if Rosicky will sign in the next few days, apparently he is in the process of having his medical etc and I just hope that Wenger does actually snap him up early on before interest builds up for him after the world cup…because believe me that will happen if he has a good world cup….which I expect him to do.

For those of you that might not know too much about him, he is a 25 year old Czech international that has been around on the international scene for a bit of time now. He can occupy the left side of midfield, or play in the centre or even as a supporting striker perhaps in the Bergkamp role. It is yet to be announced what position Wenger would see him play in, but the most important thing first of all would be to sign him up as quick as possible. A great signing, for a great price and a great player that doesn’t need much nurturing like Wengers other younger acquisitions. These are the sorts of signings we definitely need for the new season to compliment our already illustrious set of youthful exuberance in the likes of Fabregas, Reyes, Walcott, Van Persie, Senderos etc etc…Another couple quality signings would be nice, im sure there are enough funds to do so, but a large chunk of that £52 million of prize money and television money, will be needed to keep the financial situation at the club secure in the next season of our Emirates debut.

Next time I write I hope that we would have signed, or at least agreed for Rosicky to be here next season…It’s a lovely day in London…Time to relax and enjoy the sunshine for all 5 hours that it might last this year…The smell of the world cup is looming…cant wait….

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“Er Bobby…What’s The French For IM STAYING”

By M. B. Zaidi

Arsenal are SO CLOSE to signing the most important signing of the summer, no we aren’t signing Ronaldinho….who needs him when we are perhaps hours away from Henry signing a new four year deal to commit his future to our club! That cheered me up!

He has his own column in the sun newspaper and this is what he had to say:

Henry said: "I hope to stay as long as I can keep running. I couldn't leave the fans.
"They're like family.
"I love Barcelona, but on Wednesday Arsenal showed they had heart.
"I hope to finalise details today."

This is great news for all of us fans who now have even more hope of us bouncing back quickly after our heroic defeat on Wednesday night, as I predicted swiftly after the match, I couldn’t see him leaving after the way our boys played with all that heart. Especially to leave and go to Barcelona would have been the nail in the coffin but this is fantastic news!

Also just to add Pires has said that he has “3 offers” including Villarreal and the other assuming to be Arsenal, don’t know about the third…but he still isn’t leaving yet and is still hoping to grab a two year contract with us, I have a sneaky feeling he might want to stay now especially after hearing that his Va Va Voom buddy wants to be here until he can still run….

More news when it comes in, but I expect Henry to finalise his contract today! Who ever said footballers are money orientated…hmmm….

WE LOVE YOU HENRY….WE DO….

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Heartbreak, Defeat, But Still Proud To Be A Gooner

By M. B. Zaidi

To be honest I woke up this morning and really didn’t want to put on the TV, listen to the radio or come onto the internet…pretty much do nothing! YES last night was depressing for us all, defeat to Barcelona the club that wants to snatch away our most irreplaceable player and captain….1-0 for SO LONG and so close to victory against all the odds in a jam packed Stade de France. Straight after the final whistle I went to my room to go straight to bed and listen to sad slow jamz….It felt like I had just broken up with my wife! Didn’t want to do anything but fall asleep and forget everything, some may think its sad that it effected me in this way but that is the utter truth of the matter. I didn’t even stay in the room to watch the ceremony or interviews, thinking it would make things worse!

But after thinking things through, I still felt proud of our players, our manager, fellow fans….overall, still PROUD TO BE A GOONER….after all nobody could have predicted we could have made it this far in the champions league this season but it shows how unpredictable the beautiful game can be, until last night of course. Still proud of the way we fought for so long, got 1-0 up and actually made Barcelona not look too dangerous at all. Our back four were absolutely SOLID for most of the game and even their two goals couldn’t have really been stopped to be fair. In this, I mean that no individual player was really to blame as such, perhaps Lehmann might have saved those two goals but that would be unfair to say anything bad about Almunia who really made some great saves throughout the match.

After writing my preview yesterday I did absolutely nothing all day, too much excitement and too much anticipation really isn’t good for me! I wanted to stay out as long as possible so that the time that I came home would be 7.45. Not to be, came home at 6 and sat in front of the telly watching sky sports news for an hour until the program started at 7! Saw Pires was starting for Reyes and was slightly annoyed simply for the fact I thought Reyes would have been the better choice, but it ended up not meaning anything as soon as we were one man down. Pires was the sacrificed lamb in our flock once Lehmann was sent off. You had to feel gutted for Piresm possibly being his last game for the club, a sad ending to a glittering Arsenal career where he has been one of our key players for so long, still notching up ten goals this season, what a player he has been for us.

The start of the match was absolutely electrifying, Henry could have scored in the 3rd minute from close range from Eboue’s pass from the right, and the from the resulting corner he ended up taking a shot from just outside the area which again was saved well by Victor Valdes. We started off brightly and our passing was very accurate and our movement was brilliant too, so much energy oozing through the whole team up and down, I really was optimistic at this point as we started the better team. THEN comes the bucktoothed superstar’s moment where he slid through Eto who was taken out by Lehmann on the edge of the area and Giuly tapped in to score. BUT it wasn’t counted because the ref had already blown his whistle, and I really don’t know why anybody is arguing over this decision as an Arsenal supporter, Barcelona supporter or a neutral. The ref on this occasion actually just did what the letter of the law said, he already blew his whistle, it was outside the area and Lehmann was the last man so he had to be sent off. FAIR ENOUGH….no argument there, but to have ten men down for the rest of the match seemed like a daunting task, but to be 1-0 down within 20mins seemed even worse, but we will never know what would have happened so lets not talk about which scenario was better for us.

Of course we can say at least if we went 1-0 down and we had ten men we would have had a chance to actually play our game and make it a contest. But the ref was right to do what he did (which by the way was about all he did correct all night), and now to move on. Almunia came on and 4-4-1 was the formation now, leaving Henry secluded upfront with the midfield running their arse’s off for the rest of the game.

Campbell scored a great header from Henrys free-kick and I was off my seat running around the house, rolling on the floor etc etc, thinking this could really be the night…half time came and we had done ourselves justice, defending brilliantly. Campbell had his best game for a long time as I predicted, Toure was magnificent all night, Eboue defended well against both Eto and Ronaldinho and Cole was probably one of our best players in the first half along with Toure. Then came the second half, heartbreak at the death of it and a goal by Eto that was quite possibly offside. What really annoyed me was that they didn’t even show the slow motion replay to see if he was offside or not, maybe they did after the game but I wasn’t there was I….anyway, 2-1 after such a long wait of agonising pain.

Henry started off so well and had a couple of one-on-one’s that on another day he might have put away and Freddie had that one left footed drive that was tipped over by Valdes. Even with ten men we still created as many clear cut opportunities as they did, Henry was right to say that Eto and Ronaldinho didn’t exactly shine, if anyone it was Larson who made the difference. We handled the other two quite well all game, Gilberto broke up play several times and Eto playing on the left in the first half really did nothing for them.

With ten men we still made it more than a contest, a tight game ruined by controversial refereeing decisions, not that im saying that is why we lost, just that the ref was quite inconsistent with his yellow cards. At least three times Oleguer broke up play with a foul on the counter attack, on the THIRD he got a yellow, that just isn’t right. That is not football and even if it does happen, it shouldn’t happen and that is where the referee didn’t have enough balls to give him a yellow the first time. If he had a yellow the first time he wouldn’t have done the other two and so on, the same goes to Puyol and Marquez who got away with murder ALL NIGHT. Henry was tackled from behind on several occasions and not even a foul was given, let alone a yellow. Henry was right to say that after the game, where he made a perfectly good challenge and got yellow carded.

Anyway, don’t get me wrong im not saying that because of the referee we lost because that would be unfair, but he definitely didn’t help our cause last night and if he did perhaps I wouldn’t be so depressed right now. Its 10am now here in London and the day seems dull and I really don’t know why. Its always cloudy so it cant be that, no my wife hasn’t left me, but I am heartbroken. A once in a lifetime game is what I called it before the match, and it’s a shame that we didn’t get to see an 11 against 11 contest because that is what we wanted to see. I cant fault the players effort or desire or commitment, Henry was even up for it for the word go, but the next point that we will come to now is whether Henry will be staying or going…

Seasons over, just a little matter of the World Cup to come now and the saga of Theirry Henry’s future. I don’t know now if he would want to play on the same team of those players that were taking him out on every opportunity, I don’t think he was even too impressed with Ronaldinho and Eto because comparatively we did well in the game too. I think last night he could have seen that, “Errr oui…ArsenAAL are really going places and ERRRR Barcelona aren’t so much better than I thought…”

Well I will write more on Henry’s future in the coming days but I think to be honest through the time I have been writing these words, this is almost a sort of therapy because I feel a bit better, a bit more relaxed that we did our best and did ourselves proud, we almost made history and still did, just not the way we wanted to….The champions league will grace the Emirates stadium next season so there is that to look forward to and the emergence of our best young players and possibly a world cup for England? So to anybody else who felt the way I did this morning, and last night, then keep all this in mind, we played the match with dignity and passion. Represented our values and tradition of fighters until the end, but on the day it just wasn’t to be…..a disappointing night but a promising tomorrow…Still proud to be a gooner…

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Magical Night in Paris Will Be One of A Kind....

By M. B. Zaidi

Good morning to you all, as today is the day we have all been waiting for. The 17th of May 2006, the champions league final that we may never ever see again in our lifetime. NOW DON’T GET ME WRONG…Im not saying we wont get into the final again, more that the Arsenal vs Barcelona match in the champions league final is something quite special. It is a reward for two teams that play attacking football and actually entertain neutral supporters. This MUST be one of the most eagerly anticipated finals for a long time…

I don’t want to bore you with a long preview ranting on about the obvious stuff like Barcelona being the favourites, our key men, their key men etc etc…Because the truth is we already know that all that stuff goes out the window in cup finals, as West Ham and Liverpool showed on the weekend, ANYTHING can happen in football and tonight wont be any different. Most finals are so hyped up and are usually a major disappointment, examples are most FA Cup finals in recent years (Yes Arsenal vs Southampton wasn’t exactly a classic!). BUT tonight is a different matter, I really do expect tonight’s game to live up to its high expectations and I really do believe we have a HUGE chance of lifting that trophy in Theirry’s home town tonight.

Big games need big players, and the players don’t get much bigger than this, the unquestionably two best footballers on the planet playing in the same match in the champions league final…throw in a Deco and Eto, a little bit of Fabregas, Reyes and Hleb….then you can already see this is a game of top quality players and hopefully top quality football. Bergkamp has travelled already and if there is any occasion that deserves some Bergkamp magic, it is this…but he wont start and I don’t expect him to come on unless we are either winning by a huge margin, or we are in desperate need of some creativity and losing hope…A few weeks ago apparently Wenger said that Walcott would be named on the bench, that was of course before his call up to the England squad for the World cup, so he isn’t in the squad for tonight’s game because he is in a training camp with the England squad who have there first training session together.

I got an email asking me what we should expect for tonight’s game and to overview our route to Paris, and even though I don’t want to go too much into it, here are my final thoughts on our biggest game EVER…and the competition as a whole before I have to go and actually do some work!.....

This season had been a disappointing one to say the least if we hadn’t made it this far in the champions league, an unnecessary “transitional” season that wasn’t needed and could have been avoided.

From the beginning of the season NOBODY could have predicted this would be the year we got to the final, with the squad we had, with the resources we had, the injuries that hit our team in key areas. The defence was completely ripped apart by injuries to our first team and the number of players that stood up to be counted in those desperate times shows the amazing contributions that our whole squad made to getting us this far. Youngsters that most supporters wouldn’t have heard of unless they played championship manager were doing the business for us even in a few games. Kerrea Gilbert was a young right back who kept the momentum going for us when we had Toure, Eboue and Lauren out, he then got an injury but he still made a contribution, even if it wasn’t in the champions league.

We passed our preliminary group stages with flying colours without conceding hardly any goals at all, and since then haven’t looked back while keeping solid against some of the biggest players in world football. Real Madrid and Juventus were two games that in terms of “big name players”, outshone us by far, with the exception of Henry of course…However, our back five consisting of Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos and Flamini, didn’t concede even one goal against the likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham, Robinho, Ibrahimovich, Trezeguet, Nedved etc etc. That is quite amazing in itself and shows the potential of our players for the future, but more importantly shows us that we have the stable foundation needed for any building that makes up a football team. The five in midfield in both of the first legs against Juve and Real, were outstanding and showed us exactly how the 4-5-1 formation can work effectively.

My personal opinion is that even though the back five did a fantastic job of not conceding all this time, it is as important to point out that a lot of the work was done by those five in midfield that didn’t even allow the other team to get to our defence by breaking it up in midfield and retaining possession. Gilberto had the best game I have seen him play against Villarreal where he overshadowed his South American “friend”, Juan Roman Riquelme. Cesc, Hleb, Freddie, Reyes and Pires were the other players that have played in the midfield, and even thought all of them are actually more attacking players than defensive, they still managed to keep their discipline when defending. On so many occasions I saw Hleb winning the ball and intercepting it was quite amazing to see and even more so the phenomenal tackle that Pires made on Viera to start of the move where Fabregas scored.

Liverpool and Porto are the other two teams that were not exactly favourites to win the champions league in recent years but did, however there victories were far less convicing than ours. Against Juve and Real in the first legs, we outplayed them and should have scored more in both games. Fabregas was fantastic in both, but really stood up against Juve in the first leg where he completely ran midfield with his incisive passing and movement, then grabbing a goal and setting up another. Cant even play for Barcelona B? HA….HA…..stupid Catalans!

Villarreal to be honest wasn’t as much of a walkover as some expected, they were a much tougher team to play than Juve and Real, and it was only because of Jens that we made it through to the final in the last minute of the worst game I have ever seen as an Arsenal supporter, ok perhaps not the worst, but we weren’t in the game at all and it was a completely one sided match, in a match that we were all so hyped up about, anyway though Jens saved the penalty WOO HOO….lets move on to the final!....

The team I expect to play will probably be this (NOT who I think SHOULD play):

Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Hleb, Cescy, Gilberto, Ljungberg, Reyes, Henry.

That is who I think will get it, but I have a sneaky feeling Senderos MIGHT get the nod even though reports are that Campbell will start. Definitely think Cole will start because even though Flamini does deserve it, its just that Cole has played a few games and Flamini has been away with an injury, so Cole has the momentum of the few games under his belt. The same goes to Campbell, even though I think Senderos would be the better choice because he organises the defence so well and has been a rock in our lead up to this game. HOWEVER, on his day, Campbell can shut out most attackers but he hasn’t been up to that standard for a bit of time, BUT I think that if he does start he will do a solid job, he seems like he has learned from his mistakes and now that he has had a few games he should be getting up there with the fitness. Either way I just hope they do the business for us!

In the mirror, it says Pires will play for Reyes, I hope that isn’t the case because Reyes really has caused some problems in most of the champions league games with his close control and mazy runs forward. I think that he can really cause some damage along with Cole on the left if Belletti, the attacking full back is playing at right back. The same goes for Eboue and Hleb, Van Bronkhurst an Arsenal reject who cant shut up about Henry going to Barcelona, really needs to get rammed over by Hleb and Eboue tonight to just shut him up! The wings will be key for us in attacking them without a doubt. The forward runs of our full backs will create two on one situations, where other defenders will be drawn toward them on the wings, where it will open up spaces for the likes of Ljunberg and Cescy to get in those holes. More so Ljungberg, with Cescy playing a slightly deeper role moving forward to pick out those passes.

Paris is a perfect setting to hopefully what will be a magical night for us all, a masterclass in terms of the players involved, the sort of entertaining attacking football that is played by both teams and the atmosphere will be electric. If your at the match, watching it at home or going to your local to enjoy it with the others, enjoy it because it may well be the only game we get to enjoy this much in a bit of time. Yes we have a great young team, but how many times can you expect a growing up team to get to the champions league final? Im sure the likes of Fabregas, Reyes, Hleb, Eboue, Walcott, Senderos etc will grace the final again one day, but we have never had a better opportunity to bring home this trophy that we all so desperately want and need. Theirry wont have this as his ONLY factor in choosing to stay or go, but I think it wont do any harm for our chances of him staying if we win it! Tonight could well be the night we find out if he is staying….I don’t think im going to be doing anything else all day apart from craving for the game to start because it is truly a proud moment in our history, our tradition and I for one am already proud of what the players and manager have achieved, BUT LETS BRING IT HOME LADS!!

COME ON YOU GOOONERS!!!!!!

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Video of Theo Walcott in Action, His Career Highlights so Far

Theo Walcott video of some of his best bits of his career so far for those of you who havent seen him yet properly. Check the video at this site, and ponder on whether Sven made the right choice or not:

Click here for the video

Great....Till tomorrow!....

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Can We Compete With Chelsea WIth The Help of the Emirates Stadium?

On Arsenal Wtf, the writer says about not being able to compete with Chelsea, and about questions what the Emirates stadium is exactly for? My reply to this is below:

Dont think the Emirates stadium is about competing with Chelsea at all, nobody can compete with Chelsea in terms of the transfer mark on solely a numerical value. If we are talking about competing for the title, clearly from this seasons performance we can see we aren’t up to scratch in terms of consistency, but the performances where we have been good have been better than anybody in the league. If we are in the Champions League final with a group of players like this, of course we can be challenging soon enough. However I will be the first to say that it wont be so instant over one season, but then again who knows what these group of superstar youngsters can do? If we learn anything from this season, keep Henry and bring in a couple more, we are more than equipped with this side to become a formidable force in the Premiership once again. Yes Chelsea have been fantastic in terms of consistency this season and nobody has come close to them, but I believe WE ARE THE ONLY TEAM THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO get close to them…if we can maintain how we played in those big Champions League games and reach those sorts of levels next year, with a more experienced young side, that hopefully will be the European Champions, then yes we can compete with them even with Ballack and Shevchenko.

In terms of what it means to be able to compete with them in transfers and drawing in players for large transfer fees and lucrative contracts, then of course we cant compete with them on just a money basis. If we offer £50mil for the worst player in the world, Chelsea will still be able to offer £55mil, because they DONT HAVE A BUDGET on most things, however our club is run a lot better and we obviously arent just stupid Russian Billionaires that create the largest financial loss in profit in the premierships history, like Chelsea have done for the last two seasons. IT is about getting our financial situation on a higher stage than it was before, we can still be a better team by better management and by keeping the players that are at the club already.

In the long run, the financial implications of having the Emirates stadium outweight the 5 or 10 years, if that, Roman Abramavich is at Chelsea for. He is just a billionaire having a bit of fun, nobody in the business of football can compete with that, but we can lure players that arent interested solely in money. Our manager, the state of the art stadium, good atmosphere in a club that has a great future can lure some players that are interested in more than money. Could be that with Henry, he obviously isnt JUST CONCERENED with money, if he was he would be off to Chelsea, because they can pay him more than anybody else.

Im not denying that most footballers dont think like that, most DO care about money, but perhaps Wenger and Arsenal dont need players driven by just money, players like Walcott could have gone to Chelsea aswel, but he chose our team? Something to be proud of, and we can see from his attitude that he is the sort of player that we need in terms of attitude towards becoming a better player. Wright Phillips went for the money option, didnt play for half the year, and now isnt goin to the World Cup...

HARD DONE BY if you ask me, but oh well, our man is going and I can only say that sometimes these things happen and work out for the better of the team. Nobody in the world really knows about Walcott, not even Sven, so he will be a new ingrediant to a team that is still strong in terms of its first team line up. Just the concern up front is the main issue, I wouldve chucked Defoe, Bent or Johnson in there really, probably Defoe...

But lets see how it goes....Will write what I think on the England squad shortly, still having another hectic week but finding time to write this! Hope you appreciate it! Lol only joking….till next time……

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Highbury Fairwell and Emirates Superstar Youthful Team

By M. B. Zaidi

We are just about half an hour away from the start of the last fixure of the premiership season, the last ever game at highbury and we need to gain points on Sp*rs for us to qualify for the champions league next season. We face Wigan at home where the Highbury countdown clock will finally reach zero, the end of Bergkamp and the end of an era….

BUT a start of a bright new era full of glistening youngsters that will light up the Emirates. The likes of Fabregas, Reyes, Eboue, Senderos, Van Persie, Hleb, Flamini….SONG….Ok only joking about Song, but still the rest of them….have all shown this season that they have what it takes to become the superstars of the premier league for years to come. Alongside them hopefully soon will be the likes of Walcott, Bendtner and Lupoli who have all shown promise but haven’t had a real good chance of getting first team appearances. The future is bright…the end of the horizon is coming for this era of legends that have graced the pitch of Highbury but the future is something we can certainly look more than just forward to, in 10 days time this youthful team will be 90 minutes away from becoming the champions of Europe, and if not then still the runners up in Europes top competition at their tender age, it is something that will help them grow into superstar record breakers in the near future at the Emirates.

IT will be the last game for Bergkamp at Arsenal (we think) but definitely the last at Highbury….where he has stamped his legend on the Highbury turf. Many magical moments for myself growing up with Bergkamp playing some of the best football you will ever see and leaving those memories in the minds and hearts of the Highbury faithful. Everyone has their own favourite but I wont go into mine, it spoils the “specialness” of my own personal favourite by exposing my inner most private feelings of the clubs history.

It could be Henrys last game in the premiership, I just hope it isn’t like the rest of you but if it is, we should still be grateful for the masterclass he has provided us with for the past 7 years or so he has been here. A magical player, who always gives hope to our team when we look in the most dire of situations. One moment of brilliance has been his most amazing contributions, because it isn’t exactly “one moment of brilliance” because he’s had so many “one” moments! A massive player in this clubs history already, and a legend of this generation and one of the all time greats without a shadow of a doubt. It is only once players finish their career that people rave on about them being one of the “all time greats” normally, but Henry like Zidane, he has already left his mark on the footballing world.

It is fast approaching and is sure to be emotional for everybody involved and the fans. The manager who is the only man that could have lead the way for this club to really step up this footballing hierarchy, to transform this medium sized club into now a big player in the world of football clubs. The state of the art Emirates stadium isn’t just a fantastic acquisition in terms of ticket sales revenue, it is a milestone, a pillar in the making of this club, a mark on the world to say “WE ARE THE ONLY CLUB WHO COULD HAVE PULLED THIS OFF WITHOUT HARDLY ANY PROBLEMS”….It is taking us up to another level that we have never reached before. Be PROUD to be a gooner, and be proud that it is the last day of the Highbury legacy….and look forward to a new beginning where the football world is at OUR feet. Romans millions and billions cant compare to a club that has unity and spirit matched by no other, a club that is the best run club in the world, with board members that match the ambition of the manager and players. Thierry cant you see? There is nothing like home, and this is your new home, you live happily in Hampstead with your wife and you are settled down, the fans love you and you are the king of the team. Nothing can beat the feeling of Arsenal…and with or without him, this club WILL BE a massive club that play fantastic football and l just cant wait to be a part of it.

It is a special day, enjoy it with your loved ones and look forward to a good tomorrow, even if we finish 5th, it COULD work in our favour so that we know the final against Barcelona is even more important. Our players stand up to big occasions and Henry will be fired up to finish the season with a BANG….what ever happens it is in our fate and I am a great believer in fate…enjoy your day and try not to cry…smile for the memories and the future that is in the horizon….COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

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The Devils Poisen In Spurs Last Supper

By M. B. Zaidi

Tottenham players have food poisoning to make up for their cheated 1-1 draw with us, what goes around comes around and hopefully they get what they deserve. I think the Spurs players were sipping on the devils juice before the game and last night, because 7 of them have food poisoning today! YES, SEVEN! We need them to draw or lose to West Ham and we need all three points in our last ever game at Highbury.

An emotional day and a special one at that, just like you I cant wait and YES I am backing us to win our game at home. Got a sneaky feeling Spurs will drop points to a West Ham team that have a cup final coming up soon, but the 7 spurs players not playing could be a HUGE difference in our fortunes for the fourth spot.

Half an hour to go, COME ON YOU REDS!

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Hectic Week But Same Old Story/Flamini or Cole for Barcelona dream final?

First of all sorry for the lack of articles published in the last week or so! Have had a hectic week, hardly getting any sleep with various things so I haven’t had much time to get anything up, so sorry for those who emailed asking for updates!

Anyway, since the last post a lot has happened. We DREW with Spurs which means that they are now almost inevatilbly going to grap fourth place as they won 1-0 luckily against Bolton, lead by possibly the next England manager? Will comment on the England manager situation a bit later….

THEN….perhaps the most disappointing 89mins against Villarreal was SWIFTLY turned into a whirlpool of excitement when mad Jens made that crucial penalty save against the most talked about player of the leg, Riquelme. I JUST KNEW HE WAS GONNA SAVE IT!!...he hasn’t had that many clean sheets in the champions league and the best season he has had at Arsenal for nothing….a truly amazing keeper this season, behind a very inexperienced back four. FANTASTIC SAVE and brilliant to see it all happen because the diving Marie was looking for that penalty all night!

Clichy came on for our militant versatile Flamini as he got a slight injury in the opening minutes. Clichy hasn’t played as long as Ashley Cole, and all of a sudden from having NO LEFT BACK when Ashley and Gael got injured, we now have a Flamini who has come against the likes of Beckham, Cameronesi etc…Gael Clichy who looked one of our best players on the day in a poor team performance, and Ashley Cole…arguably the best left back in the world when fully fit….THREE left backs might be fully fit for the Barcelona showdown in Le Paris…

If I was Wenger…no WAY IN HELL would I pick anybody else over Flamini for that final if he is fit. Im not saying Ashley Cole isn’t a better player, even Clichy perhaps might be a better left back, but why would Wenger drop his braveheart French…son-like…player who has done so well all through the competition. He has exceeded all expectations and DESERVES it over anything else to be playing in that final, and I hope that he does play and performs like he has done since he has come into that position….Now don’t get me wrong, im a HUGE fan of Ashley Cole, but e isn’t exactly the most deserved player right now, after his stupid antics with Chelsea and apparent irresponsible comments about wanting to leave, he has now come out and said “he will be staying and I don’t know why anyone thinks he will leave!”…

Well he only went and met Chelsea “people” in a secret hotel meeting which was illegal, but then made stupid comments about the whole situation, blaming the senior people at Arsenal for treating him badly….WELL…now that’s all over…I prefer to just hope that he is over that, and everyone at Arsenal Football Club can move on and be happy and forget that whole stupidity. I hope Ashley has a brilliant world cup, like the European cup when he was arguably Englands best player at the competition along with Sol Campbell. Him staying can only be good for Arsenal, the club he has supported his whole life and the club that has brought him up to this stage in his career…with the manager who put trust in him to get rid of Silvinho when Ashley Cole had only had one proper season that he had made a mark on the team with….to give him the confidence to say: “there you are Ashley, your young, English, brought up through the ranks, here is your left back spot in the team of French superstars, prove me right that I was right to get rid of Silvinho, the Brazilian full back who had never disappointed me…”

Silvinho is at Barcelona, just like Gio Van Bronkhurst, and both had played at left back for Arsenal before. But nobody can say Ashley Cole hasn’t stood up in these years he has been given the left back position, hasn’t been key in our success and hasn’t now become one of the best, if not THE BEST, left full back on the planet. I hope the overlapping runs and energetic bursts he has made in our triumphant seasons will be there in the Emirates stadium come the beginning of next season and beyond…Good luck to you Ashley…your one of our only English players and I…as an Arsenal supporter…forgive you for your stupidity and wish you the best of luck for the future, stay at Arsenal…play in the Emirates and stay here until your 39 years old….be an Arsenal legend and this whole season would be forgot.

WELL…today we have bottom placed Sunderland and I swear to GOD if we don’t get three points…I may be forced to stick a needle in my eye…they have the record lowest points EVER to be relegated, and are from a premiership team, more of a premier-shit team. The only player they have that might one day be able to continue to play in the top league, is Justin Hoyte who is an Arsenal lad, who is from my area and went to my younger brothers school! So good luck to you aswel! Another young English full back with great potential, but perhaps not an Arsenal future? Lets wait and see for young Justin…Eboue’s uprising couldn’t have done much for Hoytes future at Arsenal, and the return of Lauren for next season as well as Kerrea Gilbert who was impressive in the games he played before injury is also a player in front of Hoyte, not to mention Djourou who seems to be able to play at right back as well as centre back.

Anyway its Monday afternoon and I have a lot of work to do, but enjoy the afternoon and watch the game…would’ve been a perfect game to have young Theo Walcott get a run out and bang in a few goals against the weakest team in premiership history. Will publish my article on the England manager situation very soon, but who do you think is the favourite for the job? Looks like Big Phil isn’t in it no more, instead maybe Big Sam? Or Mclaren…Curbishley who has said this will be his last Charlton season could also be in the running? I know his son aswel, would tell you what he said, but I might get sued! Anyways…let me know what you think….have a good day!

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