The Goon Blog

One thing that really seems to rankle with other bosses is that Arsene Wenger always dodges the opportunity to have a glass of wine with the opposing manager in his office after the game. It is one of the reasons that many of the traditional English managers really don’t take to him.

Quite frankly it is pathetic, it may be classed as traditional but a quick handshake and a few words will suffice and quite frankly I can see every reason why Wenger doesn’t want to be anywhere near the fat, dribbling oik that is Fat Sam. Could you imagine the conversation? “So Arsene, how is that young boys leg that nearly got booted off earlier?” – “Not good, he will be out for a while” – “He’s not that type of player Arsene I promise you”.

I really don’t understand why some managers can’t accept the decision of fellow managers like Wenger, Ancelotti and formerly Rafa Benitez to respectfully decline the offer of a post-match drink. You get idiots like Mark Lawrenson writing that Capello is a ‘dinosaur’ – what about these English managers who can’t get over the fact that we are not in the 1950’s anymore and its not customary to share a drink with your opposite number. Its a classic case of blame the dirty Johnny Foreigner.

“British coaches see it as an unwritten rule that no matter what they pop in and see the manager after the game.
“It has never been the case with Arsene but that does not particularly worry me. What worries me is making sure that we must not let them beat us.”

We know what we will receive today. The players will be kicked, the six yard box crowded and Manuel Almunia’s toes trodden on at corners and set-pieces – it has been said that the team have been preparing for this type of event in training so will hopefully find a way of dealing with it. I just hope Almunia takes Sczezsny’s lead and smacks any player that gets in his way in the back of his head. It worked.

The game will be very tough, but its a real test of where this team currently sits. Last season there was an improved mentality in these types of games but we still dropped points – the time where that mentality was most prominent was just after Aaron Ramsey had his leg broken, a siege mentality. Those players were not going to lose that game.

A phrase is doing the rounds at the moment – in his press conference Wenger branded the Stoke and Blackburn styles of football as ‘rubgy’. What makes me laugh is that the press know just who he is talking about, they know that he is speaking the truth yet they are making a meal out of it. This same style was bemoaned just a few months back after a failed World Cup campaign but as soon as the Premier League has kicked in its back to square one.

If we manage to get the win today I will be overjoyed, it will have been a fantastic start to the season and a benchmark will have been set. If the worst happens and we do not get the three points its worth baring in mind that there are plenty worse points of the season to be dropping points. Yes, it will be concerning but its something the team have to learn to deal with if we are to win anything.

There are going to be some really tough selection decisions for the boss this afternoon, up front Chamakh, van Persie, Vela, Walcott and Arshavin are all available and in midfield he has to choose between Alex Song, Abou Diaby, Denilson, Wilshere, Fabregas and Rosicky. There are some real tough calls there and all the players have their own case to state for starting so I’m not even going to guess who will take the starting places later on.

Again, work commitments mean I will miss watching the game live but I will watch the full 90 minutes when I get the chance. My belated thoughts will be available on here soon after I get that chance to watch the game.

So at last the official site have confirmed the signing of Sebastian Squillaci – a day after Arsene Wenger confirmed the signing in his press conference yesterday.

From what I know about him he will bring a different style of defending to the center-back partnership. He seems to be an aggressive, strong and combative defender and the type we have been crying out for for a long time – what he may lack in natural athleticism he more than makes up for in strength and aggressiveness – and the ability to head the ball.

Sadly he will be missing from the squad to face Blackburn tomorrow – and he would have helped us deal with the inevitable aerial bombardment – but the beauty of our center back situation now is that there is strong competition, even Thomas Vermaelen will have to be looking over his shoulder if he suffers so much as a lapse in his form.

I’m really happy with the signings made so far this summer, yes I do think certain situations could have been handled a lot better and we could be in a better situation than we are now in terms of recruitment but something we probably all have to consider is that the club are approaching transfers in the way that they do for a reason – Squillaci was signed up pretty quickly, contrast that with the Mark Schwarzer situation and it is almost flip reversed. There will be a reason we haven’t signed him yet and I don’t think its a lack of interest or even money, Fulham want to make it as difficult as possible – partly in my opinion due to him being Mohammad Al Fayed’s favorite player – and when push comes to shove they can’t turn down 3-4 million for a player of 37 years of age.

There has been quite a bit of a fuss made over a few words Arsene said in his press conference – news sources leading with stories about him having ended his business this transfer window – this is not the case Arsene has certainly not ruled out another arrival.

There has been speculation all summer over who will be the long-term Arsenal number one, Lucasz Fabianski has not only blown his chance, more launched it into oblivion so the only man left is the unsettled and understandably miserable looking Manuel Almunia. He has said in the press a couple of times now how the speculation has affected him, Arsene has replied with strong comments of his own – how players must learn how to deal with speculation and get on with their job.

I just don’t know how we can carry on with a goalkeeper who’s confidence has been smashed to smithereens – then again, sort the communication issue between the center backs and the goalkeeper and he could be a keeper reborn. To save on the flapping when crosses come in turn him into a stay at home goalkeeper and straight away the confidence in him may well just start returning.

From what I gather there is no deal close with Schwarzer – though once the ball starts rolling it will start traveling at quick speed almost instantly. So lets see how the situation pans out over the next three or four days.

Right now we have had a good summer and a good start to the season. One signing and a win tomorrow could turn it into a great summer, and great start to the season.

til tomorrow.

At todays press conference Arsene Wenger faced a barrage of questions over the delay in announcement over the Sebastian Squillaci deal, he confirmed that the defender has signed for us:

‘he’s a good player, at the right price and is a good signing for us.’

via MirrorFootball’s John Cross, (@johncrossmirror)

Squillaci is currently in Spain sorting out his personal situation ready to re-locate to London. He will not be available for the game against Blackburn on Saturday lunchtime.

Instead Laurent Koscienly is set to start again alongside Thomas Vermaelen as the manager confirmed that he will return to the squad for the game and “will feature”. Denilson will also return to the squad.

Arsene Wenger also confirmed that he is looking at bringing in one more player – though in-keeping with his usual style, didn’t give any specifics away.

At last we can concentrate on the weekends football without the Squillaci situation dominating the press and with the good news on the injury front with Denilson returning, the squad just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

I feel we need one more signing, and that it will happen but it wouldn’t surprise me if it went down to deadline day which is always manic. Of course, it does seem like it is going to be Mark Schwarzer that is going to be brought in. However, his comments were not the most encouraging you are ever likely to read:

“I do not rule it out, but at the moment I say I am not in a position to sign anybody. At the moment, it is all dead.”

I guess we will just have to sit tight and see what happens – one goalkeeper signing and I think we are very strong title contenders, but that has been the story of the last few seasons.

I have real faith in this team now. Lets hope we get that signing though.

Yesterday, Arsenal’s biggest shareholder – both in terms of shares and financially (and not fatness) – launched a full takeover of NFL side St Louis Rams, costing him in total a whopping £292 million just to complete the full takeover. Overall, the Rams are thought to be valued at just short of £500 million.

I think that whilst us fans see Stan Kroenke as the more friendly face of a potential takeover rather than the Uzbek metals magnate Alisher Usmanov, we still don’t really know what he is all about. Stan was present at the AGM but failed to say a word; the claim was that he couldn’t under legal grounds but a quick ‘hello’ might have helped a bit. Its a choice of the two unknowns still, and after quite a few years of takeover talk we know precious little more than we do the day Usmanov and Kroenke came on the scene.

One thing this purchase does mean for Kroenke is that we will not be seeing him invest in Arsenal any further for now – he is tantalisingly close to the share percentage that if he surpasses (29.9%), he will have to make a full takeover offer.

It is clear that whilst Kroenke loves to invest in sports he also likes to maintain a controlling stake before launching a takeover, and thus far, he is yet to sell any stake in any sports club he has owned. There was big talk earlier on this year about the possibility of him selling his stake in the Rams to finance a complete takeover of Arsenal but it seems he is happy with his lot for now.

On the subject of a takeover there were some interesting stats not so long ago suggesting that the majority of fans were against a takeover and were happy with things are now (will look for the stats and update). It surprised me to be honest, there are forever people, sometimes rightly, shouting from the rooftops about Arsenal not spending enough money on players or reinforcing the squad to make it stronger to challenge on four fronts every season – and a takeover would give the club the resources to finance that, and buy pretty much any player in world football if they offered enough money and were an attractive enough proposition. It doesn’t appear as if, when push comes to shove, Arsenal fans want to part with the last bit of tradition in their ownership.

Sadly though at some point there will be an issue where there will be a large chunk of Arsenal up in the air – Danny Fiszman’s chunk. He is gravely ill, and if the worst were to happen to him very few people, if any, know what is going to happen to the 16.1% he owns. Now, I sincerely hope that Danny keeps on fighting his illness and life is of course much more of an issue than a football club, but this does add a degree of uncertainty to the current regime even if you do not consider a takeover into the equation.

Personally, I do not welcome a takeover – the main reason being that I think the sacrifices the club have had to make in the last ten years to secure the move to a new stadium, one of the world’s very best, will be undermined. We have gone without players, have had to sell players and try to stay in the top four on a shoestring budget all with the aim of securing the financial future of the club and enabling it to compete with the biggest clubs in the world financially (before Citeh came on the scene). I’d hate for us not to be able to see what all the sacrifices were for and for some billionaire (or someone claiming to be one) to arrive on the scene, use his American Express card to purchase the club and pile all that debt back onto the club which has fought tooth and nail to secure its financial future by perfectly managing debt to become an organic club. A club which can be self-sustaining and a big financial power at the same time.

Time won’t stand still and things won’t stay as they are now – but lets hope that whatever happens the last 8-10 years have not been in vain.

Up the Arsenal.

Will it happen on Monday?

Ok, it will definitely happen on Tuesday…

Right, its Wednesday – it must happen today!

oh…

The club are under no pressure to officially announce the transfer of Sebastian Squillaci, he is not scheduled to carry out any interviews like Marouane Chamakh was; Arsenal didn’t want to announce his arrival on a Friday but were pushed into a corner.

I’m sure everything is fine, there was no issue with the medical and all the registration and paperwork will just have added more time onto the announcement. Add to that the pictures, video interviews and the like and its never going to be announced quickly.

The club are renowned for making their announcements when it suits them, remember the delay in the announcement of Adebayor’s departure? We didn’t see a word about it on the official site for two of three days.

If Arsenal want publicity around the deal then today was not the day to announce it, Spurs play in the Champions League tonight and if they go through they would dominate the back pages.

Then again, if we all wish hard enough it may just be a double unveiling alongside a brand spanking new goalkeeper..

Don’t worry folks, everything is fine. Squillaci is ours.

Last night there was a lot of reminiscing going over on Twitter and it brought back a few memories of my own.

Now being slightly younger than a fair few of those people who I was chatting to my memories are obviously pretty limited – but there was one memory that came quickly flooding back, the first time I ever got to see Tony Adams play.

It came as a surprise, I was just getting on with my usual Monday night routine and my Dad came to pick me up.

“Where we going Dad?”

“Going to watch Arsenal son.”

“But its a Monday night?”

“You just wait and see”

Off we went to Sixfields stadium in Northampton to watch Arsenal reserves v Northampton Town – as far as my memory can serve me it was a cold night and there was hardly anyone there. Tony Adams was just coming back from injury (presumably that back injury he had?), and was in the starting line-up.

So there we were, my Dad, an old friend of mine and a much, much, younger me. We sat in the Dave Bowen stand, the one closest to the big hill where, if you are sneaky enough, you can watch a game of football without having to pay for a ticket. Great business sense that.

I think Arsenal reserves lost 2-0 last night, but that didn’t really matter to me. It was the first time I got to see a player who’s name I had only read (or tried to) in the official Arsenal magazine. There were no Arsenal games on TV, and it was long before you could find a cheeky stream on the internet.

There isn’t much I actually remember of the game, no passages of play, nothing. That is how young I was. It doesn’t help I have a bad memory at the best of times but I do wish some more of the night would be recollected. Sadly not.

Overmars 11

I have so many memories of our club, from having a crystal clear recollection of Marc Overmars and Nicholas Anelka scoring in the 98 FA Cup Final, the pictures of the parade and open top bus after. Hell, I can even remember a commentator saying “Arsenal haven’t just won the double, they have won the double double”. You may also see the “the cream of the crop” quote in the top graphic. That was also a line from a commentator during the game. I had the TV coverage on tape, it was watched over and over and over again.

I only had one Arsenal shirt at that time, it was the 1996 away kit, I eventually had “Overmars” printed on the back and wore it everywhere.

From that there is the memory of nearly managing to seriously injure myself before the FA Cup Final in 2002, I fell of a table in the garden and straight onto a wooden garden cane. It went in just behind my ear and in all seriousness could have got very messy. Still watched the game though.

Have you got any memories similar to mine? I’ve got so many more than the ones I have written here but I’d be here all day trying to write them down.

Til tomorrow

When we signed Andrey Arshavin one of the first things that had Arsenal fans in stitches was his high pitched voice and feeble grasp of the language, then came the comments about women drivers being given separate roads to drive on. The fans loved his bluntness, the fact it wasn’t an error in translation, he said it meaning what he had said. No excuses or apologies.

‘I would never give driving lessons to women. We need to build new roads for them. Why? Because you never know what to expect from a woman on the road. If you see a car behaving weirdly, swerving and doing strange things, before you see the driver you know it is a woman. It is always a woman.’

His bluntness has brought those moments, and caused the opposite too. On a few occasions he has got on fans nerves with his negativity about our transfer policy, lack of recruits and his views on us not winning anything were pretty strong too. We didn’t hear anything along the lines of ‘I believe Arsenal can win the title’ alongside those blunt and honest comments about women, or the tax laws in this country.

That is why now his latest comments have delighted me, it is clear that he has faith in this team and particularly as Cesc is staying; maybe now we will see a bit more effort from him at times, and to be fair against Blackpool he did cover a lot of ground. The fact he looks knackered after his first sprint is a sight we have all come accustomed to, as have we the strolling 5′7 mercurial star, ambling along as if he has not got a care in the world. He said:

“I think all the young players have become, not old, but they have experience now, Arsene works with them for a long time and that’s why he knows them better and he knows what to expect during the season from the players.

“It gives me belief that we can get something this year.”

You know when he says that he is not just paying lip service, towing the party line like so many players around these days. This guy is old school, and that is why Arsenal fans love him.

But with that love there is so much frustration, its almost like he just can’t be bothered sometimes, not in a disrespectful way like Adebayor, its just as if he knows he can do one magical thing a game so he doesn’t bust a gut for 89 minutes and 55 seconds because he doesn’t have to. Its a privileged position he is in, his talent is sublime, he is one of the most talented players on the planet, but he could be so much better!

We are going to need him on the top of his game this season, hes a match-winner, a player with experience of winning a European competition and the Russian Premier League, and in a squad where trophies have only been won by a few, that is vital. He is one of the senior players and when given the responsibility I think he thrives. The game away at Portsmouth sticks in my head, the way he communicated more with the other players when he was the captain – he oozed maturity and calmness, the performance matched.

And those signings he has called for in the past? Well it looks like we are going to get them this summer. Sebastian Squillaci is set to be unveiled as an Arsenal player today after completing a medical, just. It is said that a groin issue very nearly got in the way of him passing the medical but it has gone through without a hitch I’m told.

There are only seven days of the transfer window remaining thankfully and those seven days look like they may well start to get manic. It seems the market at the moment is just waiting for the one move to start the cascading of dominoes, nearly every single transfer this summer is linked with another, the money that is in short supply with some clubs is another reason why the domino effect is so eminent this summer.

Lets sit back and watch it though eh? At least you don’t have to put up with Sky Sports News coverage if you operate with Freeview, that has been taken away and is now not a free-to-air channel thanks to Rupert Murdoch and his team of brainiacs. Depending on the situation I might run updates on here, I’ll keep you informed of any plans.

Anyway, let the madness commence….