Author: jamesgillesp

PHW prefers Kroenke as Arsenal push for stability

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Stan Kroenke is likely to be invited to join the Arsenal Board.

The American investor has a 12% share in Arsenal. It seems that the Board have realised if we don’t get him on our side then we will have to face Usmanov, who owns 25% and is pushing to get a blocking stake in the club.

Hill-Wood had this to say:

“Contrary to what I said before, I now believe he may have a vital contribution to make to the future of this football club. I am not denying I said what I said, but I made those observations before meeting Stan. I have now got to know him and I have changed my opinions.

“When I hadn’t met him, yes, I didn’t think he was the right person to take control of Arsenal Football Club. Now I know him as a man who is very much steeped in sport. He is a sports man. He already has a link through our broadband rights and there is every reason to expect that we shall discuss further how his involvement can be extended,”

I think this is definitely a tactical move on Hill-Wood’s part. We would all rather have no interest from these people, but if you have to choose one, choose the one who looks less threatening.

With Kroenke on their side the Board may be able to more effectively fend off Usmanov, whilst keeping control over Kroenke.

This issue is a thorny one, we have seen the problems with foreign ownership at Man City this season, with Eriksson on his way out after the club’s best season in years. The Board will have to be very careful in how they handle this, because it could end badly.

Arsenal to sign winger?

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal12 Comments

Wenger may be about to sign the top rated left winger Ben Arfa.

Transfer rumours have been circulating about the possibility of Ben Arfa joining Arsenal, and the 21 year old is a perfect fit for the left wing in my opinion.

He can play upfront and he is the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season.

He had this to say in L’Equipe:

“It is true that we have spoken about Arsenal, but we will see how it is going to happen,”

Interesting stuff, just what we need on the wing I think, although it might dent Vela’s hopes, we need a player with a little more experience, Ben Arfa has played for Lyon at the top level and has a lot of talent!

Arsenal Transfer News Latest

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Transfers57 Comments

Read our latest posts here

Adebayor says he will be at Arsenal next season after reports in Spanish newspapers aboput interest from Barcelona.

Many teams have been linked with him, and he has done well this season, proving his scoring potential is almost on a par with Henry!

He said that he will be staying though!

“I don’t know why people want to put words in my mouth. As I said on Friday, I love Arsenal and I will be here next season.”I am off to Togo tomorrow but will return to Arsenal for pre-season training in July.”

We have been strongly linked with Yaya Toure, to come and replace Flamini, he had this to say:

“I can’t say anything for the moment, but it’s true that it would be great to play for a big club with my brother.

Well that is very promising, it looks quite possible that he may come over. The only thing which makes this one a doubt is that he hasn’t been at Barca very long. You never know though!

I’m a little more sceptical of this one. Apparently Wenger is interested in Mauro Zarate, who was on loan at Birmingham from Al Saad Sports Club of Qatar. He looked fast, but not really an Arsenal style player. I don’t think he’s good enough for the Arse to be honest.

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Wenger’s key issues this summer. Transfer targets

On By jamesgillespIn Transfers6 Comments

Arsene Wenger has some key issues this summer, which need to be fixed before we can be successful. These are a few I came up with, add more in the comments if you know more things which need doing!

1. Holding on to our current players.

A key issue, we need to make sure the squad is happy and settled before the new season starts. Flamini’s depature has caused some concern, so we need to get everyone together and a have a common deisre and vision. If Hleb wants to go, then let him. Just make sure we replace and don’t lose more important players.

2. Replacing

This has come up as an issue after we have seen Flamini leave, and now Hleb under intense speculation.

We need to replace Flamini, of course Gilberto can fill that role, as he does wnant to stay on at Arsenal, but he is not a long term option. What do you think?

3. Finding in a winger who can score goals.

At the moment we have Rosicky, Van Persie, Eduardo, Walcott, Eboue and Hleb (he’s off) who play reasonably reguarly on the wings. Three are strikers; RVP, Eduardo and Walcott. One is most definitely a defensive player; Eboue, and two are midfielders. This means that we have very few players who can specialise in playing on the wings, as we used to with Ljungberg and Pires.

The stikers can score a lot of goals, but we need players who can come in and score from midfield. Rosicky is regularly injured, and hasn’t been a prolific goal scorer. Hleb is off to Milan, because he wants somewhere more peaceful than London, and he doesn’t score anyway!

When we have won titles in the past we have depended on goals from midfield to support the stikers. An extreme example is C.Ronaldo , who has basically pulled Man Utd to the title with his goals, as their strikers haven’t scored any.

We may not need to buy anyone for this, players like C.Vela may be pointed to but I think a signing may be preferable for Wenger.

Any suggestions?

4. Reconstructing the defence.

This is a sticky issue. We have seen a catalogue of weak defensive errors this season, which let us down, especially in long ball situations. Gallas and Toure have looked awkward playing together this season, neither really attacks the ball, and this has been a problem.

On the flanks we have Sagna and Clichy who are the best in the division and cover. What we need is for Wenger to have a think about how to restructure our defence into a good unit.

We have a great defence when going forward. When actually defending they do struggle in the centre especially. Wenger says he wants to buy a defensive player so we may see some changes.

If Wenger can do these things we will definitely be a stronger side next season.

Walcott is the future

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal5 Comments

Arsenal have had a tumultuos season so far. The race for trophies had its twists and turns, and left us dumped on our arses after months of hard work. We have been unlucky to lose out.

The team has been amazing, and the way we play is of course fantastic.

What we see is a future with great players, such as Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas. If you look at the squad they are very young, and bursting with talent.

Despite what you might think if you read the backpages, Arsenal are not doomed.

Theo showed with his goal on Sunday that there is so much more to come from him. He is a very young, pacy striker who can play on the wing.

Players like him are our future. He has come on this season, scoring more and more often, and getting more and more starts in the team.

Our squad needs strengthening, but I think with the right additions, Gooners should be very excited about next season!

Five Of The Best 2007/2008

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Five of our best players this season. Love them or hate them I think most people would agree!

1. Fabregas

The centre of our team, we rely on his creativity and passing, he is arguably our biggest player.

2. Flamini

He has left Arsenal for a fat contract at the San Siro. He was most improved player in the squad.

He is like a crazy dog who doesnt stop running! He covers a huge amount of ground every match. Constantly winning the ball for us in midfield and redistributing. He is also an excellent passer of the ball, although his technical abilities are overshadowed by Cesc.

At the beginning of the season was a squad player, he became an integral part of the squad. We will have to replace him now!

3. Clichy

Amazing in defence and attack. His runs and crosses provide a huge source of attacking creativity. Tireless, pacy and always back to cover the defence.

4. Sagna

Our other full back, newly signed this season, fitted in seamlessly and made right-back his own.

He adds attacking pace down the right, and can cross well. He is like Clicky in that he is very good defensively, but fast and attack-minded.

5. Adebayor

A striker who sometimes comes under criticism. He is our top goalscorer, leads the line, holds the ball and can head the ball or shoot, he has allowed us to diversify our game and has flourished since Henry left. You can argue with a 30 goal season!

I could mention almost any of our players, with a few exceptions, but these are the pick of the bunch for me!

End of season. Highlights: Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1. Walcott!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

So a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light saw us hit 83 points, after a 24th minute goal from Theo, from great pass by Gilberto! Randall came on at the end as did Traore and they did well.

Highlights here.

We had a pretty young team out, and we should see more of these guys next season:

Fabianski

Song Senderos Djourou Clichy

Eboue (Randall 81) Denilson Silva Walcott

Adebayor Bendtner (Traore 81)

Wenger said:

“My message to Alex Ferguson is just congratulations for the achievement and get ready for the fight next year,”

“When I look back on the season I feel disappointment but to earn 83 points with such a young side gives you a lot of hope and that’s a respectable total because I’ve won titles with less. They made a big improvement when you consider last season when we earned 68 points.”

“There was a conjunction of bad luck and it was the first time this young team had to deal with big pressure so a combination of the two cost us the title,”

“Quality-wise we have been remarkable all season but we lost a 100 metres by a fraction of a second. We were on the same line but someone pushed their chest out in front of ours just at the end but that doesn’t mean we didn’t make a great 100 metres.”

We have made a huge improvement this year and I am sure we will be challenging for the title next season.

I couldn’t watch the game, I saw Wigan – Man Utd, which was boring as hell, and Man Utd ended up lifting the title, after they won 2-0 and Chelsea drew 1-1 with Bolton.

I think we deserved to win the title this year, but if not us then Man U deserve to win it more than Chelsea. But really I hate them both.

Some crazy results yesterday, Middlesbrough 8-1 Man City! Reading and Birmingham both scored 4 goals in their games, but still went down after Fulham won 1-0 at Portsmouth.

Anyway, another Premiership season comes to a close, and we have a big summer coming up. If Wenger gets the right people in and youngsters like Theo Walcott come through and play to their full potential then next season will be fantastic.

If players leave and we don’t replace then we will be in trouble.

Anyway, thanks Arsenal for a great season, we have little to show for it, but we all can remember. It has to be one of the closest seasons in the history of the Premier League, and it was pretty exciting.

Wenger close to new signing

On By jamesgillespIn Transfers11 Comments

Wenger says he knows who he wants in the transfer market this summer and he is hopeful of signing them up.

“I know what I want and I am very confident.

“It would be better to buy someone who has played in England because they are less risky, but it costs more money if they are from The Premier League,”

“Maybe I will try to do both.”

Exciting stuff for Gooners seeing as we normally get to hear little about transfers, except endless crap rumours and players leaving!

Barry and Kranjcar are two creative players who currently play in the Premierhship, but maybe Wenger is looking for ‘that’ experienced defender from a Premiership club, and a creative player from elsewhere. We have the money, so go for it!

If Hleb goes expect some major restrengthening this summer. We are in for the title race next year, and Wenger will want to improve so we can win something!

Arsenal Vs. Sunderland – Youngsters to be included in team?

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Arsenal face Sunderland today at 3pm British Summer Time. We have already finished in 3rd place, this match is being played for pride. If we win today we will finish on 83 points equalling our 2004-05 total according to BBC Sport. That will be the highest in the last three seasons, an improvement I think.

It looks like some young players are set to push into the squad for the game, this is an excellent opportunity for them to show what they can do. Wenger said:

“There are lot of English talents in the squad overall. We have Gibbs, Randall, the younger Hoyte, Jack Wilshere and Henri Lansbury, who might be included in the group next year.

“There is a core coming up but I cannot tell you now if all of them make it at Arsenal. But they’ll make it to be in the squad.”

Gibbs and Randall have been included in the squad for today’s game, and I hope they play. I have seen Randall play before and his talent is an exciting prospect.

Alan Green shows gives even more examples of why he is a twat here. It’s not really worth linking to, but I will, just to show you the sort of idiots the BBC employ. Just total rumour mongering about players like Gallas and Fabregas. Bollocks really.

Here’s to a win today!

Arsenal transfer speculation as Hleb’s agent talks

On By jamesgillespIn Transfers3 Comments

Yesterday morning we were greeted with these words from Alex Hleb’s agent:

“Alexander is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life””He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions. Only time will tell if leaving is the right decision, but there’s no way back now. Everything will be cleared up in the next two weeks.”

As we all wondered whether he would do a Webster, Arsene has hit back:

“It is not as simple as it looks, this Webster clause, you can’t just come in next day and buy out, there is no rule that says that.

“You should not forget what clubs can do, you have to first go to a Fifa tribunal and if you don’t agree with Fifa, you have to go to Acas. It takes a lot of months.

“You can be banned for the whole period if it’s not done in a proper way.”

He also said here:

“I believe 98 per cent of this squad will be here next season. And the two per cent have already gone.”

Well, Wenger has to be optimistic, it must have been a big blow to lose Flamini, but I am sure that we will find players to fill the gap, he’s after a midfielder and a defender, I’m not sure who, but people writing us off will only make us stronger to be honest with you.

These people will see what happens next season, and so will we!