Cesc Needs To Apologise..

I’m not going to comment on the game..What’s to be said? We all know what happened. I don’t wish to go over it again.

What I do want to comment on is Cesc Fabregas and his stupid handball in the penalty box that lead to VDV’s leveller..What was he thinking??

If that was Denilson or Diaby or Song, they would be getting crucified right now, am I wrong??? I honestly think that Cesc’s little show of  dipstickness was the biggest individual error by an Arsenal player for a long time.. Cesc has now overtaken the likes of Fabianski and Almunia in the Arsenal hall of fame of fuck ups…

Unbelievable..

What bothers me the most is that he has done this before. Last year against the Dippers, Cesc did the exact same thing.. We were a goal up and he blocked a free kick  with his hand in the box.. We got away with it and we won, but what made him think he could get away with it again?? Especially at a time when England’s Refs and media want Cesc booked for everything.

He gave them a penalty from nothing. He cost us our lead and gave Spurs the momentum they needed to win the match. He cost us that game and he needs to say sorry..

Cesc needs to take a long look in the mirror, get his head down and lead us to the title.

I don’t wish to see that little stunt a third time..

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Taxi for Henry!!

And Diaby, Clichy and Sagna, taxi to the airport of course to catch their early flight home from what can only be described as a total embarrassment. Not all down to the players I know, a lot has to do with the dreadful management team. To turn up at a World Cup in such disarray is dreadful, just dreadful!

As an Arsenal fan, I feel sorry for the current players who represent France and Arsenal but by the time I finish writing this post, that feeling of sorry will be gone. These players, if they remain with Arsenal for the coming season will now get a good rest and be fit hopefully for our new season, that to me is what really matters.

Henry, yes its a sad way for him to bow out of  ‘top’ international football, but I guess what goes around comes around and maybe fate took over. The French should never have qualified should they…… It’s a shame really, this for Henry should have been all glitter and glory in what is surely his final World Cup, he has given so much to club and country over the years he should be waving goodbye to international football with his head held high. Instead, he has to read about how he cheated to get France to South Africa and how he is to blame for the ay the French campaign has gone.

One of the best strikers France has ever had has been on the bench for most of the competition and will now fade away as subtly as the sun goes down at night….

He deserves a better ending….

This is the only way I will remember the great man, not as being French but as being Mr Arsenal while he was with us and we know that our club will always hold the greatest love in his heart….

Henry the winner….

Henry saying bye bye…… 😦

Moving on, with a tear in my eye, anyone who wanted Wenger to get Gourcuff to replace our current captain if he leaves needs to re-think, he has been woeful and today his sending off completed what has been a dreadful World Cup – but then, didn’t Wenger say that he won’t judge a player over four weeks? What about just over a week Arsene, you seen enough to put you off?

I’m really disappointed for the South African side, they huffed and puffed and nearly blew the French House down by the goal tally they needed to go through. At least they can hold their heads up and be proud for the way they have conducted themselves.

From one team in a shamble to another, tonight it’s do or die time for England. They may not have cheated in order to qualify but the off field antics haven’t been good either. The  only difference is, I really want England to qualify. Not because I am English, it’s because not one member of the England squad plays for Arsenal so the longer they stay in South Africa, the more the players use up their energy. Then I hope they start the new season, knackered, burned out and maybe even a little bit crocked.

So, Come on England, go woop that side you are up against this afternoon, I’ll be cheering loud and proud, or watching a
re-run of Loose Women 😉 Maybe a spot of tennis at Wimbledon would be easier on the eye……

Oh well, that’s it, short and sour today 😉

Have a good day all and lets hope the new boy gets announced today….

Almunia for England, Bobby Pires to return?

Robert Green dropped a doo-daa last night big time, anyone who thought he would be good for us must be thinking again after the England game. Flapianski and Almunia would have got a roasting from all Arsenal fans had they spilled such an easy ball. Yes I know, they both have and they did!! I can see though why Almunia thought he was good enough to represent England…..

I think we can safely say, or hopefully believe, that Arsene Wenger won’t think about making any bid for Green now, that’s if he did before!

Maybe in the next England game we’ll see Joe Hart, another favourite with many Arsenal fans.

I thought the game last night was awful, the pundits raved about how well England played, how Heskey was very strong and how Carragher’s experience can give England huge boost after he came on for the old King Crock. Capello must be wishing he took the other old boy now, Big Sol!

What rubbish, I thought Carragher could have easily been given a red card for a studs up tackle straight into the ankle of an American player…

If England think they have a chance of winning the World Cup, they’ll need to play a lot better than they did last night.

I know this is not Arsenal, but the big story in the News of the World today surrounds Nani of the Mancs. Reports are that he has failed a recent dope test which is why he was suddenly ruled out of the World Cup. Of course, the Portuguese Football Association are denying this rumour saying,

“Urine and blood samples were collected randomly. As far as we know, it all went well.”

That’s one to watch, if it transpires to hold any truth, I hope he gets the book thrown at him.

Rumours are going around that Bobby Pires is on his way back to England. No, not to us, but to our locals West Ham. I’d love it if this is true, it would be great to see him back playing in the Premier League, even if it’s not for us!
Another is that Arsenal have released William Gallas after his wage demands are too high. This one though is yet to be confirmed on afc.com.

‘Howard Webb rated better than Collina’ – No it’s not April 1st, it’s what Keith Hackett believes, he’s having a laugh surely, Collina was one of the best referees the game of football has seen, imho of course….

Thats it from me today, in fact for a week, I’m off on my holibobs tomorrow 🙂

Vela, Diaby, Gallas, Clichy and Sagna, oh, and Wenger….

 So the World Cup finally kicks off later today…

First up its South Africa v’s Mexico and we should see our own Carlos Vela during the opening game up against the hosts.Following that, France play Uruguay, so more Arsenal interest as Gallas, Sagna, Clichy and Diaby could all be involved at some stage.

Its seems Gallas is off so I’m not really interested in how he performs to be honest but the others are all 99% sure to be playing in the red and white of Arsenal next season so interest for us Gooners will be high.Vela and Diaby are the ones for me who need a great tournament. Vela has to convince Arsene Wenger that he should be playing more next season, Diaby still has a few fans to win over so he will be out to prove a point when he plays. Personally, I shan’t hold my breath on the latter, I’m one of a few who hope he plays well and adds an extra few million to his price tag. Wenger rates him highly though so he’ll be staying so good luck Diaby, go out there and convince any doubters that you defend, you can learn when to pass and that your brain and feet can work together. I think with Clichy and Sagna, you know just what you’ll get, solid defending and poor crosses 😉

One other Frenchman we will all be keeping a close eye on no doubt is Yoan Gourcuff. Many an Arsenal fan see this man as the ideal player to fill any void that could be left in our midfield should ‘you know who’ move on in his career. Now at least we can all get to see him play in a few games. I think the French are in for a tough game tonight and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Uruguay win.

Arsene Wenger is also in South Africa, no doubt commentating for a French television/radio channel and earning a few extra pennies along the way. I guess we can disregard any chance of new faces being signed whilst he is at the World Cup, he doesn’t seem the kind of man to leave this to someone else, well not since David Dein left anyway…

What I don’t get though is why has Arsene Wenger gone to the World Cup, I bet we don’t see old Red Nose there, ‘Arry or Ancelotti, or many other top managers, no, they no doubt will be either having a break from football, or sorting out their new signings before having their break.

Why isn’t Arsene Wenger doing the same for Arsenal? He said he would make our signings before the World Cup began, well forgive me, it has and we still have only signed Chamakh…..

I know there’s plenty of time after the competition ends to sign players, but we then begin pre-season training.
Shouldn’t these new players need to be involved in the training, get to know their teammates, learn the ‘Wenger Way’??

What do I know, eh!! Maybe the deals are all done and dusted, he just want to keep us all in suspense!! If he is, it sure is working!

That’s it, not much gossip around to spread around, so just enjoy the opening ceremony and football later and lets hope for a great tournament.

Good luck to which ever country you are cheering on….  For me, despite flying the flag of St George at home, I can’t wait to see the Dutch!!

I’m going for a Uruguay and Mexico win

Cesc Buying Out His Contract And Will The Real Number 10 Please Stand Up.

With the ‘Cesc to Barca’ story dragging out and becoming as boring and ridiculous as the ‘who killed Archie’ storyline in Eastenders, rumours have now circulated that Cesc may seek to buy out his contract in order to make his dream move. Apparently Cesc has become stressed by the lack of progression. Naughty Sir Wenger won’t let his hottest property join those darling angels from Barca, for nothing more than a packet of peanuts and a curly wurly and is looking to do a ‘Hleb’ or a ‘Webster’ if we want to use the correct terminology.

This would mean Cesc coughing up roughly in the region of £30 mil, which coincidently is the same as what the Stains value him at. In theory, Barca give Cesc the £30 mil, he in turn gives it to us and everyone’s a winner. In practice this is bullshit.

For a few reasons..

Firstly, I don’t think Cesc would do that to us, nor to Wenger. He may have Barca DNA but he’s not brought up that way, he was brought up the Arsenal way. The classy way. His recent comments suggest this;

“I will say only one thing – I have got massive respect for Arsene Wenger, Arsenal football club and the Arsenal fans. Even in my own house I have not felt as loved as I have at Arsenal. I had a long conversation with Arsene and it was the greatest [longest] conversation I have had with anyone in my life. I respect him, so, so much and I don’t want to say anything more. Wenger said to leave it in his hands and he will deal with whatever happens in the future. It is now all about Arsenal – it is not in my hands. Now I just wait: it is up to Arsenal. Right now all I am thinking about is the World Cup: everything else is the future and I am not going to say anything else.”

Which is basically translated into; I love Barca and I would love to join them, but Arsenal hold all the cards and I will do as I’m told as I have love for them also..

Secondly and more importantly (as loyalty is rarely seen in football to make the first point concrete) Article 17 of FIFA’s Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players is entitled “Consequences of Terminating a Contract Without Just Cause”, and is the fifth article of Chapter IV, “Maintenance of Contractual Stability between Professionals and Clubs”. It outlines the provisions which apply if a contract is terminated without just cause, and the requirement for the party in breach to pay compensation. Specifically, it states that any player who signed a contract before the age of 28 can buy himself out of the contract three years after the deal was signed. If he is 28 or older the time limit is shortened to two years.

Cesc signed an eight year deal in 2006, keeping him with us until 2014, which technically means he falls under the Hleb Webster Clause. Or so we thought, until a club atatement blew Barca out of the water with this classy statement.

“Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly-valued member of the team and part of our future plans. We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment. However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain. To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”

 
Which is basically translated into; I don’t care if Cesc has the Barca badge tattooed on is arse, he’s an Arsenal player and £30 mil wouldn’t buy his right leg so get f*cked..

The key part of that statement for me is the fact it specifically said Cesc was contracted until 2015..Cesc signed an extension to his contract last summer which means he’s only one year into his current deal, not the four years everyone seems to think that puts him in the Hleb Webster category..

Wenger gets a lot of flack sometimes for giving his young players new deals every 18-24 months, we all want to know why we are giving players new deals when they are only two minutes into a 100 year contract but by doing this Sir Wenger is stopping them from getting past year three and getting picked off by the vultures for a bag of peanuts and a curly wurly.

Cesc isn’t going anyhere..Not for £30mil anyway!! We still hold all the cards, morally and legally..

Onto the next topic

I never understood why when Gallas signed he was given the number 10 shirt. It frustrates the hell out me when i see players like Gallas wearing 10 and Diaby wearing 2.. Whats all that about?? I always had the theory that Wenger didn’t want to put any pressure on any of his strikers by giving them the IceMans old number, so he gave it to a defender. Call me old fashioned if you like, but its like a pet hate that defenders wear attackers jerseys and attackers wear defenders.

With Gallas technically not with the club anymore I wondered who will get the oh so sacred Number 10. Will Wenger promote from within and maybe Arshavin gets it? Or will we see a nice new quality player like a Gourcuff, a Van Der Vaart or even a Joe Cole donning the famous number??

Whatever happens no team is complete or looks right without a Number 10, so I hope Wenger doesnt retire it.

Will Gallas walk the same walk as Flamini??

We all want Gallas to stay dont we?

Gallas had been having a bit of a tough time in defence, the Brum affair whilst wearing the captain’s armband followed by an outburst to the media, saw the armband removed. I thought he was heading for the exit door. Instead though, he found himself partnered in the Arsenal defence with a chap called Thomas Vermaelen.

Smack bang wallop, Gallas turned back time, rolled up his sleeves and got back to doing what he knows best. That is trusting the player alongside him and getting on with defending.

What a difference, we all saw a strong defender, a player who looked happy, a player that was back to his best…
I worry a bit though, Gallas is out of contract in the summer, Roma and PSG both want him and we are still to reach an agreement to get him to stay.

Come the summer, if he leaves, we will have Vermaelen and Djourou!! Big Sol and tweetie pie will have gone.
We need the Gallas deal sorted out, and quickly imho!

Wenger is confident Gallas will extend his stay at Emirates Stadium.

This is what he had to say,

“I am not concerned. He is under contract until the 30th of June. We have not found an agreement yet. I meet his agents again next Thursday and we will try to find a solution,” said the Arsenal manager.
“I would like to keep all that secret. I feel I have to respect both parties and not to come out about the details of negotiations.”
Wenger added on Roma’s interest: “I do not know if he has spoken to Roma, but he is out of contract and can talk to whom he wants.
“William is speaking to us and our desire is to keep him here.
“I think he wants to stay here.”

Sadly, those words don’t fill me with confidence.

Arsene Wenger said almost identical during the spring a couple of years ago about Flamini, in fact right up to the point before Sky Sports showed us all a picture of the money grabbing git in Milan having signed for AC…

Learn from that Arsene, if you want to keep William Gallas, don’t cut corners, don’t offer him less; just do whatever it takes to keep him, within reason of course 😉

Don’t let another great player walk away from our club – we need him!

One man who is not off to Roma is Eboue – both he and his agent have said he is happy at Arsenal and any rumours about his exit are poppy cock! See, thats the way to sort silly rumours out! I have to admit, I’m quite glad about that, Eboue has really started to grow on me. Just keep the diving for the RADA Emmanuel!!

Another who has also confirmed he is not departing, well not to Real Madrid this summer is Arsene Wenger, he has told the clubs official site that he has no intention of going to Spain, or anywhere as he has a contract with us until 2011!

Couple of tit bits, old Shagger Seamen got another quickie yesterday; this one though was in the divorce courts. Third time lucky David, when will he learn?

Sadly the ladies lost the first leg of their Champions League tie 2-1 against Duisburg, the second leg is on Sunday; let’s hope that they to get a 5-0 home win, just like the boys… I reckon they will!

Tomorrow is footie day again and we are off to Hull…… Bring em on I say

Dogged, Determined and three points, just what the doctor ordered….

What a day yesterday was, still full of doom and gloom from Sunday, not feeling very confident about facing the dippers – but something inside niggled away, just something gave me hope that we would win.

My day didn’t start too well because the car wouldn’t start and I had to go out, but after a few phone calls and a set of jumps leads from a fellow Gooner, I was helped on my way. New battery in place, a few pounds parted with and off back home I went.

No matter what the distraction, the old grey matter kept thinking about the game against Liverpool.

Even an afternoon trip to the dentist was grim, he is a Chelsea fan and I dreaded the salt being rubbed into the deep wound I still suffered. I needn’t have worried though really, his son is a Gooner, and all he said was, we need a striker– not really something I didn’t know, all of us know that don’t we?

We talked about ‘that goal’ that you know who scored for Citeh, and he commented on how we needed a player like him – that was based on how he is playing now, not how he played for us during his final season.

So, onto the match – I felt sick with nerves – we needed to win…….

On top of the desperate need of the three points, I couldn’t even begin to think about the stick I would get from my nephew and brother in law if we lost – they are ‘Big Dipper’ fans ( I must take them to the next Fare that comes into town)….. 😉

Thankfully, that is now something I don’t have to think about, they do, but not me – when is the last time we did the double over the Dippers? Right now I don’t really care..

On a night when Chelsea lost to Everton and Manchester United drew with Aston Villa, maybe Arsene Wenger is right to still have belief. We have all agreed that the run in favours us and that points could be dropped by those around us – well tonight has proved that.

Tonight has also proved that there is a long way to go yet before any fat lady starts to sing.

I am not going to rate the players because I can’t – I just watched the game rather than study player by player, but the one thing I do think about is how many times I sat and thought something along the lines of ‘ Can’t believe you did that’ ; I don’t recall many…

Rosicky’s heavy touch when I was sure he was going to put us 1-0 up, but passed it to Reina

Nik’s blast over the net

Eboue’s – I have been shot – get me out of here…

And finally, Walcott’s – I am going to run down time by the corner flag; oops I have passed it back to Reina moment…

Maybe you can add to those mad moments, and please do – just remember that I am getting on a bit and the memory is not so good 😉

Knob of the Night

Howard Webb –

Having seen Nik get booked when a penalty should have been given, Gerrard took a dive and got nothing for troubles – this man is not worthy to wear a referees shirt! Can you believe that he is the best this country has and he is off to the World Cup in South Africa? Lets hope he takes more cards with him than Graham Poll did, he may need them 😉

Please note – I am exorcising the right to remain silent over the Cesc handball in the last ten seconds of the match 😉

The player who stood out for me was Diaby. He has been on the end of a barrage of abuse by many, many fans and I am one of them but tonight I thought he showed a different side to his game, he attacked, tracked back, tackled and he scored our winner.

Diaby is my Man of the Match… very closely followed by Gallas…

Cesc – well, he seems cheesed off, not with us, but with all the paps hounding him about Barcelona, I just wish they would leave him alone. If he goes, it will be because of them, there is no let up for the lad, every day of every week the same old Barcelona stuff comes out… It must be hard.

Clichy, Almunia, Eboue – All played the best I have seen them in a long while (apart from the Eboue silly moment)

TV, Gallas, Song – Solid, just solid – that last ditch tackle from Gallas was worth a new two year contract on its own – hope you saw it Ivan..

Nik, well, a way to go yet, but it’s good to see the big fella back, and tonight I thought he did ok – at least he ran his heart out and did some defending …. Mind you, it was him that lost possession, so, so he should I say… 😉

Rosicky (on for Nasri) – Having watched him totally muck up a golden opportunity I was gutted, but the cross he provided for
Diaby was sublime, it had pace and precision and Diaby didn’t waste his chance…

Huggy Huggy Huggy – Oi Oi Oi – That’s what I was singing, I didn’t give a toot about the neighbours 😛

Then the nerves struck and I spent the rest of the game ducking a diving behind the laptop screen, volume muted, just staring at the face of my better half. The face I knew would give away anything that happened…

Thankfully it didn’t give away anything, neither did we – well done Arsenal, maybe you are right back on track, and our dream could still be, very much alive….

What I will say, last night’s result has helped me to get over the game against the chavs, big time ……

Bring on Porto….. Oh, and did I mention that Tottingham lost to Wolves….