Arsene talks the talk, Jay walks the walk, Almunia finished?

I’m going to start at the end and share what Arsene Wenger said after the game when questioned about Fabregas.

There was a lot of unneeded talk, It is not pleasant to read this every day. Now, the story has to stop.

Cesc is our captain, he is so important to us and we want to keep him, that is why we were not listening to any offers.

It was not a problem of money, just the desire to keep him at the club.

We can only influence our own behaviour, and I believe things have now gone straight again with Sandro Rosell. We always had a consistent attitude and were always reluctant to talk about Cesc’s departure.

It is very important we give the impression that because somebody wants a player from us, we don’t just give in on.

We have shown our love and care for Cesc since the start. I believe Cesc loves the club, has shown his attachment to the club many times and I am very confident the story will end there. We want Cesc to be part of our club next year, and that is it.

What we want is to build a team for the future, to develop our team and are not in any talks for next year or the year after – we want our players to be focused on the targets we have at the Club.

So it seems Cesc is here to stay, well, for another season anyway, but be prepared to go through all this again each transfer window until Barca finally get their man! That is of course, unless Wenger sorts this current squad out and turns it into a winning side! Do that and the player may just want to stay on, especially if Jose turns the screw on Pep this season.

Was it just my stream or everyone’s who signed up for the £3 deal with afc.com?? There I was, 2.55pm having bought some fancy lead so I could watch the match from my laptop on the television but after ten minutes I thought I was going to have a seizure, no offence intended… Shocking coverage, just shocking!!

Yesterday’s game really was a ‘game of two halves’ – the second half saw a whole new eleven turn out.

Arsenal starting XI: Fabianski, Nordtveit, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Traore, Frimpong, Rosicky, Wilshere, Arshavin, Simpson, Emmanuel-Thomas..

First half I thought, Simpson, Frimpong and Wilshire shone from the ‘non regulars’ Arshavin and Tomas looked cool calm and fresh, ready for a season of hard work ahead..

 Simpson (2) and Arshavin (1) were the goal scorers.

If it were up to me, Jay Simpson would stay, yes it was Barnet, yes it was a friendly BUT the biggest yes is, Yes, he scores and he seems to know where the goal is…

Why oh why has this lad been told to find another club? He loves Arsenal, I think many fans already love him too, he really could be ‘the next Ian Wright’!

Not suggesting for one minute he’d be the first striker on the team sheet, but he has power pace and an eye for goal, is that not the qualities of a decent striker, a player who could come off the bench and gets us a goal??

Arsenal’s second-half XI: Mannone, Eastmond, Djourou, Miquel, Gibbs, Lansbury, Henderson, Nasri, Barazite, Walcott, Chamakh

Second half was dull, Walcott did ok, Chamakh didn’t have a fantastic half, but who cares, first game in an Arsenal shirt, I’m sure as the games get going and become more serious, so will he. Same for Djourou, finally got to see him back and without a bandage heavily strapped around his knee, he looked fit and comfortable on the ball, seems promising…

Nasri finished off after a hand out from the Barnet defence, 4-0 to us.

83 mins on the clock and the fans sing… Arsene Arsene give us a wave, me, I’d be asking him to give us more than a wave, a player or two would be better greeted than a bloomin wave… 😉

Difficult game for all three goal keepers, they had very little to do, in fact I’m not sure Chesney even touched the ball? Or did I just blink and miss it?

Talking of keepers, what about Almunia then, having been named in the 22 man squad for the Barnet game, he’s suddenly missing – my thought is he’s off and he knows it – instead of being at Barnet, he’s sorting out his future and that future is no longer with us… Why would Chesney be wearing the number 1 shirt otherwise, or is that me just hoping 🙂

But for Almunia I think its over, nice chap but average keeper, all the best Big Al….

On to rumours, Everton have turned down a £14M offer from us for Phil Jagielka but it’s suspected that Wenger will up his offer this coming week. Good!! Also, if we want the kid from Ipswich it will cost us £10M, surely that £10M would be better spent elsewhere?

Have a good day all, not long to wait for the next game 🙂