Year: 2007

Lehmann Staying At Arsenal

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Lehmann says here that he will stay with the Arse after all.

In the article it mentions that he has recieved offers from other clubs but turned them down

“I want to stay with Arsenal until the end of the season… I cannot just leave like that before the season ends”

He has been moaning all season but here he seems a littke more reserved although still jibing at Almunia.

“There are situations where you find yourself behind a goalkeeper who is world-class and you have to accept that…But I am not in this situation.”

Now obviously he is angry and wants to regain his place, after being number 1 since he joined the club and raley missing a game it must be a nasty shock to find himself on the bench, but to be fair Almunia is looking solid and the team is getting results. Even if Almunia isn’t seen as the long term option Lehmann at 38 certainly isn’t either. He has played a big part in successes in recent years, it’s sad to see some of the comments he’s made this year, but at least he is a little more reasonable here. Hopefully we can offload him at the end of the season, thank him for his service and get away from his moaning..What is it about these German keepers!

A link here on Arsenal’s website about how well Vela is playing in Spain.

Justin Hoyte talks to Arsenal.com about the racist abuse he recived from fans and players playing against Serbia in the Euro U-21 Championships in Holland. This is really awful and the fact that the officials did nothing is shocking. Racsism has no place in football and it is saddening when these young players like Hoyte have to be exposed to abuse in that way. the poor guy felt very hurt. Racism shouldn’t be happening, especially not in an international competition. There is a greater problem with it in Eastern Europe than here, but wherever it happens is wrong and there’s no excuse.. There should have been some action taken by officials in the match.

Some rumours, most likely complete fabrication by the Italian press that Wenger is going to make a loan swoop for striker Adriano, with Gilberto going the other way to Inter, I don’t belive this really..

Another odd rumour about Arsene bringing a striker in, this time in the Telegraph they say that Wenger is going to try and bring Agbonlahor in from Villa in January for £15 million..This seems a very high price for a striker who isn’t world class. We shall see but I think that there is no way Arsenal would splash so much cash on such an average player. All Wenger has said is that he will be looking to strengthen the team in January, but with no relation to Agbonlahor.

Wenger has told Arsenal TV Online on Eduardo: “He is getting sharper now, and we will see the real Eduardo after January.” Interesting, I really hope Eduardo can do well for us and break the curse of the number 9!!

Finally A very happy birthday to Steve Bould, 45 today, ArsenalPies has the story here!

StumbleStumble it!

Foreigners Restricted in the Premier League? Money Motivation

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Talk from Platini here today about the amount of foreign players used for Arsenal and Man Utd:

“I am totally against this philosophy and I am a firm believer that we need to take care of the identity of the club.”

This is something we have heard from him before, I said all I had to say on this yesterday. Gerrard is also worrying about the foreigners in the Premiership and their effect on the England team’s performance. This is so uttlery stupid but as Arseblog says it will grow and worsen depending on England’s performance in Euro 2008, if they fail to qualify then there will be a storm of media articles about limiting foreign players. For Christ’s sake even Gordon Brown is having a look at it now, the stupid thing is that restrictions may go against EU law, and in any case it would lower the quality of the League and not necessarily make English players better.. They need to get a grip, a meritocracy is the way forward.

Mixed news now, Cesc saying he is not motivated by money, and doesn’t want a move away from the Gunners, see the Telegraph article here.

He says:

“Being a Gunner is very special, something I am proud of. This is a really small club on the inside, like a family, but it’s huge on the outside.”

He’s been a major factor in our great form this season, his 11 goals and passing ability are a centrepoint of the team. The Spanish press are always sprouting these stupid rumours about him and fair play to him he always shows his Arsenal colours. Incidentally suspended for the next game against Wigan.

Another central midfielder speaking about transfers is Diaby, he is thinking about a move away as soon as January if he doesn’t get games:

“I need playing time. I thought that I would continue [to play] after I scored (against Derby County) but it did not happen.”

I would be very sad to see him leave, it is a problem for Arsene that we have so many good central midfielders in the squad, a good problem, but still Diaby has shown a lot of promise. With Flamini keeping even Gilberto out of the team Diaby doesn’t have much of a chance and you can take your pick from Denilson, Diarra, and Song who also want to play there.. Diaby has played on the left for us a few times but that isn’t his natural position. I would rather lose Song and Diarra to keep Diaby, after all he knocked John Terry out..

Germany coach Joachim Lowe wants Lehmann to be playing first team football before Euro 2008, he said he is going to have a serious chat with Lehmann about the situation, although he is backing him to play in the tournament.

Also Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti has doubted whether Arsenal are good enough to win the Champions League:

“It’s necessary to know how to handle the pressure and tension in the best way. I am not sure they are trained for this.”

This is a concern, obviously with a young side we may not have the experience to hold up under pressure but this season has shown a new resilience in the squad which was missing last season. We shall have to see how we hold up come spring, I don’t want to comment this early, but I do think the squad is much matured this season and have learned from the mistakes last year.

David Beckham at Arsenal? Ade gets the 1,000th

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Transfers

ArseSpeak, my first blog launches today with this first post!

So, a quick overview of the news from the 14th of November before I go to bed..

There are reports that David Beckham may train with Arsenal for the Christmas period to keep his fitness up as the MLS season has now finished. Arsenal are one of a number of clubs rumoured to be allowing Beckham to train with them, we shall see what happens.

After Monday night’s 3-1 win at Reading we are sitting nicely at the top of the table going into the international break. I didn’t see the whole game, due to annoying problems with my computer while I was streaming it. It looked like we were playing good football, Adebayor’s disallowed goal definitely was not offside. in any case he scored our 1, 000th Premiership goal, his first for 8 games which he admits was starting to worry him. Wenger says on http://www.arsenal.com the victory showed we had the patience to keep going while Reading shut up shop. A little disappointing to concede the goal at the end but top of the league with a game in hand; I’m not complaining!

Stupid comments by Coppell about limiting foreign players playing in the Premiership. These just keep on coming.. Mourinho has also targeted Arsenal about this with some totally unfounded claims about Wenger’s transfer policy. Platini has also been sticking his nose in recently (nice to see his proposal for more cup winners in the CL getting kicked off the park by UEFA the other day). These people need to understand that limiting foreign players won’t make English players play better it will only lower the standard of the league. Wenger points out that between 1966 and 1996 there weren’t many foreigners and our national team performed worse than it has done since 1996.

On the upside Kitson speaks nicely about Arsenal, saying that we play excellent football and deserve a reward for it. Its nice to hear some praise for a team playing brilliant football instead of all the crap about foreigners.

The Ferguson abuse saga continues..Wenger has spoken out, saying that he could make some dossier on the crap that he gets at Old Trafford. Really this is one of the most stupid cases I have heard of. There is abuse at every football match directed at players/ staff, and I’m sure that Man City give just as much to Fergie and Man Yoo as he got at Arsenal.

So probably a quiet few days till Wigan at home, on the 24th. Hopefully this pesky international break won’t disrupt the side too much and I will be praying for no more injuries like Van Persie’s.

That’s all people, thanks for reading, see you tomorrow

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