One player set to miss the weekend’s game against Bolton is Theo Walcott who was injured in the Switzerland vs England game. At first it was feared that he may be out for a while, but it seems that it is just bruising and that he may be in contention for the end of next week, fingers crossed.

Theo’s partner in injury crime, RvP, now looks set to be out until at least mid-October. It’s frustrating for us fans to see Robin get injured so much, so it must be infuriating for the player himself. I read somewhere, possibly the ever reliable Twitter…, that RvP has only managed a maximum of fourteen consecutives games for us before breaking down with some injury or another. It’s a shame, but it is up to the club to have enough strength in depth to deal with his annual absences because it isn’t as if his injuries are a surprise, they are an inevitability. I think the next time Robin gets injured, we should just double whatever recovery time the club announce and expect that to be the earliest possible return date for him. I’d be willing to wager that we won’t see him playing this side of November.

Squillaci played the full game for our reserves this week and it is good to see him get a bit of playing time under his belt before being included in the first team’s match day squad. He played alongside Djourou in central defense and it’s good to see Djourou get some playing time and fitness too. Fingers crossed the latter won’t be struck down by the highly contagious RvP Syndrome.

Also set to begin his road to full fitness is Samir Nasri, who is set to return to training in the coming days. Good news.

Reports suggest that Mark Schwarzer will quit Fulham on a Bosman next summer. I will not be impressed if he signs for us. Regardless of whether he is free or not, he will be 38yrs old next summer and we really should have a better goalkeeping transfer option than a 38yr old that has never played at a top club.

Wellington Silva is set to join us on a permanent basis in January, when he will be 18yrs old. It’s a shame he isn’t here now as we currently need all of the forwards that we can get. Though, at 18, it will be a while before we see the best of him and it will take him time to adapt to English football. The player himself had this to say:

“The experience in London was perfect. I can now dream of playing in the Premier League and I don’t think it will be hard for me to adapt. Mr Wenger has spoken with me and has helped me with my work and training. I am really looking forward to this challenge. It’s a great opportunity for me in my career.”

That’s about all for today. At least we can now all forget the internationals and start looking forward to our game against Bolton this weekend.

There is a lull in the typhoon rain now, so I’d best be getting myself home. Take it easy.

Anyway, there isn’t a whole lot going on really. The international break is a pain in the arse and is made worse by the fact that Spain play games because, as now seems the norm, quotes emanate out of various publications and sources regarding Cesc. If the current quotes are accurate and not distorted by translation, it is clear that Cesc is still at the club because he was told that he would not be allowed to leave, not that that fact was ever in doubt.

There are two ways that you can look at that, if you take it in a negative way it means that Cesc has his heart set on playing for Barcelona and may not be able to fully focus on Arsenal, particularly as the end of the season approaches. However, looking at it in a positive way, you could also say that it is great that the club stood up to Barcelona and fought to keep a player that is key to the club and also the fact that Cesc accepted the club’s stance on the matter and didn’t try to agitate for a move should be commended.

I prefer to look at it in a positive light and I don’t think that Cesc will ever give anything less than 100% while representing our club. So, let’s just enjoy watching him play football while he is still playing for us. Of course, the newspapers are trying to spin it as he is being held against his will by Arsenal. We just have to be smart enough to see through that nonsense.

Elsewhere, John Lukic has been talking about how the club really ought to have signed a top class goalkeeper during the summer. You won’t find many that will argue with those sentiments, but there isn’t a lot we can do about it now. We should just accept that Almunia will be our no1 for the whole season. I just hope that he doesn’t get injured because I would cry if Lukarse were to play for any extended period of time.

Adebayor has shown yet again how much of a tool he is by claiming that if Man Shitty win ten games in a row people will begin to believe that they are a bigger club than Arsenal. This from the man who was trying to get out of the place just 2wks ago. Fool.

That’s about that for today. Hopefully you will begin to see the blog appearing in the NewsNow feed from this week onwards as things seems to have been sorted on that front, fingers crossed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

The club announced their 25-man squad for the season, but like many other clubs it doesn’t actually contain the full quota of 25 players. Instead, the club announced a 20-man Premier League squad. Make of that what you will, but looking on the bright side it means that there is still room in the squad for a few more experienced players, preferably in January rather than next summer.

The full squad is as follows:

It’s interesting to see Armand Traore included in our list of selected u21 players given that he has joined Juventus on a season-long loan, likewise for Nacer Barazite who joined Vitesse Arnhem on loan. One can only assume that there is a recall clause included as part of those deals should our customary injury crisis strike.

Looking at the attackers listed in the first 25, it is a bit depressing to see that we are already down to just having Chamakh fully fit. Fingers crossed that he stays in one piece until we can get both Van Persie and Bendtner back to full fitness. It’s also interesting to see Mannone picked ahead of Szczesny. Granted, both are relatively inexperienced but I would have thought that the latter’s spell out on loan last season would have helped him edge ahead of Mannone for the third choice keeper birth. Though I suppose it doesn’t really matter all that much as he can be selected as an u21 anyway.

Apart from the announcement of the official squad for the season, there isn’t a lot going on. For those interested, Cesc is now on Twitter and you can follow him at @cesc4official

That’s about that. News is painfully slow in international weeks, particularly when the transfer window is also closed. Still, at least there is no more speculation on who we won’t sign.

Take it easy.

On the first team front, to some extent, we dodged a bullet by missing out on the signing of Mark Schwarzer. Fair enough, he may have improved us, marginally, but at 37yrs old he wasn’t really the type of player that a club of our stature should be trying to sign, never mind the fact that we were left hanging until almost 6pm on deadline day to see would we sign him. It was Fulham themselves that put the kybosh on that move a little earlier in the afternoon when they said that he was going nowhere. When I heard that statement, I must admit to feeling both relieved that we wouldn’t be signing that particular player but also annoyed that we had allowed the situation to drift on all summer long and yet on deadline day our ONLY potential option was Mark bloody Schwarzer. I mean, for fuck sake.

For the position not to have been sorted before the season started was bad enough, but for it not to be addressed AT ALL by the close of the transfer window is infuriating. Fabianski has showed again and again the he is nowhere near the level required to be in the Arsenal squad of 25 for the coming season. He wouldn’t even get into the Blackpool squad and they didn’t even have the full quota of 25 when the season kicked-off. Madness. Just pray that Almunia doesn’t pick up any kind of injury between now and January. Cross everything you can, because if he does and Fabianski goes in goal, we are absolutely buggered.

Anyway, no point in lamenting over it anymore. It’s time to suck it up and get behind our team. It is clear that Almunia will be the first choice for the forthcoming season and we must get behind him and the team. There is no point in talking about potential transfer targets until just before the next window opens, though don’t expect any signings in the goalkeeping department then either.

It’s hard not to be downbeat on a day like today, a feeling which is compounded by the international break and a lack of any Arsenal action.

It doesn’t rain but it pours and the reports that Nicklas Bendtner looks set to be out until November means that we are already a bit short up front. Let’s hope that this international break is kinder to us than international breaks usually are. Still, at least we can look forward to potentially seeing an appearance for Squillaci on September 11th at home to Bolton.

Our young keeper James Shea got a chance to train with England yesterday after a goalkeeping injury crisis forced Capello to seek help. Is it just me, or does Colney seem to be a haven of misfortune and injury? Anyway, hopefully the lad did well and it will be a good chance for him to get some good experience.

There is no further news on the Jack Wilshere ‘fracas’ incident, so I don’t feel it appropriate to comment on it.

That’s about that for today. There won’t be a post tomorrow, so I will be back again on Friday or Saturday.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Today’s transfer deadline looks set to pass us by quietly if rumours regarding Given deciding to stay at Man Shitty for the season are to be believed. If he doesn’t move to Fulham, then you would have to assume that Schwarzer won’t be moving to us. Still, you just never know because Wenger does like to wait until the last possible moment to make his move in order to get the best price possible. Sometimes this policy works, sometimes it doesn’t. If no keeper is signed today, we will just have to suck it up and back the keepers that we have. It wouldn’t be at all constructive to to go overboard in our criticism of the club as to do so would undoubtedly damage the already brittle confidence of both our no1 and no2 keepers.

One player who may leave us today is Armand Traore, who looks set to have a spell with Juventus or Birmingham, depending on which reports you choose to believe. One can only assume that these clubs feel that they need a knuckle duster toting, left-sided player. You can’t blame the player for wanting a move as his chances will be very limited with us this season, considering that Gibbs will be our 2nd choice left-back for the season. You get the feeling that a permanent move would be the best thing for all parties at this stage as it is clear that he will never be a first choice left-back at Arsenal.

Elsewhere, Van Persie’s small injury has resulted in him being ruled out for ‘at least a few weeks.’ Yet another reminder that there is no such thing as a small injury when it involves Robin. Frustrating, but at least it coincides with the international break so may not impact on us as much as it otherwise would have.

Anyway, that’s about that for today. Fingers crossed something will happen on the transfer front in terms of a player coming in today, but I won’t be getting my hopes up. Thank Jaysus I won’t have to suffer through Sky Sports News running endless rumours throughout the day.

Take it easy.

Anyway, yesterday’s game saw us get a nice little bit of revenge over that cunt-monger, Allardyce, and showed that despite letting Blackburn come back to 1-1, we were able to get the second goal and it is nice to be able to win by a one goal margin. However, it is now two goals conceded in our opening three games, so I think there is still some work to be done on the defensive side of things.

Victory came courtesy of goals from Walcott and Arshavin, the former actually breaking the net with his shot. Blackburn’s goal came from M. Diouf, the slightly less cuntish one. Theo made some good runs and he played very well overall. Take that Hansen, you fool. On Walcott’s performance, Wenger had this to say:

“Theo saw more of the ball last week but today he was still dangerous and sharp. It looks like he’s more confident and his experience is beginning to count.”

Robin Van Persie went off yesterday with a twisted ankle and we can only hope that it is a small injury, but not the type of ‘small, small’ injury which results in our players missing a-month-to-six-weeks of the season. Though his missing of the international games is no bad thing at all.

After the game, the manager said:

“We had a good start but in my opinion we were too nervous dealing with the game of Blackburn. Who would not be unsettled by the kind of game Blackburn gave us today?

Last year we had bad memories here and because we knew they would play the kind of game we don’t like we had not enough confidence to deal with that. In the second half I felt we were calmer. We put the ball well on the ground and controlled it better and it was just a question of time. We had the right resilience and commitment.

If you have ambition in this league you have got to win at Blackburn. If you fail to win at Blackburn – if you go to clubs like that and you don’t win – your ambition will not be respected by the other teams so it was an important test for us. The players are committed and we had that little bit more experience today, even if on just one or two occasions we were a bit lucky.”

The importance of yesterday’s result shouldn’t be underestimated. Had we lost yesterday, or had we been held to a draw after being twice ahead, it would have affected the confidence of the team and would have given the media, and fools like Allardyce and Pulis ammo to say rubbish like ‘Arsenal don’t like it up them’ and all of the other rubbish that we have to read every year from that type of idiot manager, which in turn gets endlessly repeated in the tabloids and Sky Sports News, which in turn is believed by the masses. No team ‘likes it up them,’ unless it is some kind of shirt-lifter team. Every team hates it, it’s just that some are better at dealing with it than others.

For a more comprehensive report on the game, check out Arseblog, Gunnerblog or Goonerholic, whose links can be found in the top right corner of this page.

Speaking about the transfer market, the manager said:

“[It has been incredibly difficult, I must say. It’s the first year I’ve felt like this. The clubs who had players didn’t want to sell and therefore there was no movement. I don’t know if it’s the 25-player squad rule, is it the money situations? But there is just no movement. It’s dead.”

There is no doubting the fact that the transfer market has been very quiet and perhaps a way of making it a bit livelier would be to limit the transfer window to be open only for the month of July. This would also have the added benefit of all teams being finalised before the start of the Premier League season. In a World Cup or European Championships season, the window could be open from mid-July until mid-August. I’ve never been a big fan of the transfer window remaining open after the league season has commenced.

Elsewhere, Tony Pulis is annoyed over recent comments Wenger made about Stoke and, in particular, their missing link between man and ape, Ryan Shawcross. One can only assume that Pulis is going to rock up to the Emirates naked to deliver his letter and will try to fire a head-butt in the process. Sod off, you fool. The real question should be, what the hell were you doing naked in our away dressing room and trying to head-butt one of your own players, whilst naked? Answer that before you start talking about esteem, respect etc.

Finally, yesterday’s Carling Cup draw gave us a tasty away trip to Sh*te Hart Lane. It’s a big game and will be a chance for some of our younger players to get experience playing in a hostile environment.

That’s about that for today. I’m off to eat some food and to lie on my sofa for a while. Take it easy.

We play the first game at home on September 15th to Braga and then travel to Sunderland the following weekend. Game two is away to Partizan on September 28th and is followed by a trip to Chelsea. Game three sees us take on Shakhtar at home on October 19th with a trip to Man Shitty that weekend. Game four is away to Shakhtar on November 3rd and is followed by a trip to Villa. Game five on November 23rd is away to Braga and is followed by a home game against Newcastle. The sixth, and final, group game is home to Partizan on December 12th and is followed by an away trip to ManUre.

So, as you can see, we have some really difficult games immediately after some long away trips in Europe and it is sure to test our squad to its limits. On paper, we should be able to top the group, but when you consider the games we have in the league after each tie, we are sure to rest some players for some of these games therefore making the topping of the group a little less straight forward than originally anticipated.

Game one, we are at home and then travel to Sunderland, not too bad. Game two away to Partizan and then back for a game at Stamford Bridge isn’t ideal, but at least it is closer than Shakhtar and also Chelsea are just across London. Game three is home to Shakhtar and away to Man Shitty that weekend. Game four we are away to Shakhtar and then away to Villa, so you can see a bit of rotation for one of those games, if not both. Game five sees us travel to Braga and then home to Newcastle that weekend, again there will probably be some rotation for both of those games, especially when you consider that games four and five bookend the month of November, a month that traditionally marks the low point of our season in terms of both injuries and results. Finally game six, in December, is home to Partizan and followed by an away trip to ManUre. For the final game, we would be hoping to have already qualified and therefore be able to rest some of our key players ahead to the trip to Old Trafford.

Yesterday also saw the manager’s weekly press conference take place, a day earlier than usual, no doubt due to the fact that the Blackburn game is a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday. I am still waiting for it to appear on ATVO, but it seems that the manager was a bit vague with regard to the signing of any more players. He neither said we definitely would or definitely wouldn’t, he just said that, at the moment, there is nothing going on.

“We are where we are – we have four great keepers and it is important we give confidence to them for the next game. 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.”

Read into that what you will. John Cross, who attended the press conference, will be appearing on today’s Arsecast, so maybe he will be able to shed some light on what the manager said ahead of the video being posted on ATVO.

The press conference did finally result in the official announcement of the signing of Sebastien Squillaci and hopefully he will add some quality and experience to our back line. The manager had the following to say about the player and transfer:

“We needed a centre-back of quality and experience and at the right price – he was all of that. He is a real defender and is good in the one against one, good in the air, and can score goals on set-pieces as well. I believe he will be suited to the English game. He will train with us on Friday morning but will not be involved on Saturday. I made a bid on the day Sevilla played in the Champions League, so he did not play as he was waiting for the transfer.”

Team news ahead of tomorrow is that only Bendtner, Ramsey and Nasri remain unavailable. Denilson has returned to the squad following his injury. I think it’s safe to assume that Almunia will continue in goal.

That’s about that for today. The boss has less than a week to get the finger out and sign a new keeper and, at this stage, I’d settle for Schwarzer ahead of signing nobody, though he would be far from my first choice. I’m still hoping that we sign Given before the transfer window closes. Who knows, maybe Warren Barton was right… The links to Pepe Reina seem to have gone quietly away just as quietly as they arrived.

Enjoy your Friday and take it easy.

The signing, or proposed signing, of Squillaci is still ongoing and things have gone a bit quiet on that front, it must be said. But, there is no point in stressing over it. If it happens, it happens.

Today sees the Champions League group stage draw taking place and all we can do is hope that the Gods of football draws smile upon us and don’t give us a trek to deepest Russia in late November. I’ll be crossing my fingers that that particular treat is saved for Spuds.

In other news, the club’s biggest shareholder, Kroenke Tonk Stan, has completed his 100% purchased of the St. Louis Rams. This now gives him a team in all of the major sports franchises in the U.S. However, following the takeover, control of two of those franchises will pass to his son, these being NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

It’s hard to know what to make of this move, in terms of what it means to Arsenal and the power structure within the club. The one sure thing is that it continues the trend of Kroenke Tonk Stan having never sold a share in a team that he has invested in. It’s clear that he is a sports man and it is also clear that he will do things in his own way and to his own schedule.

In unrelated news, I see that Messi has asked Liverpool to act humanely with regard to the transfer of Mascherano, which leads me to believe that they have been squirting shampoo into his eyes and testing other assorted cosmetics on him. Though they could just be making him watch videos of their league campaign from last season… He is the type of player that we need to be trying to sign and doing so would allow Song to slot into central defence when needed.

I see that some people are calling for the club to sign Steven Taylor and to be honest I would not be impressed if he was the central defender that we signed before the closing of the window. I have always disliked him immensely and I would prefer if we didn’t sign a player know for his theatrical overacting. Though, being English, I am sure he would get an easy ride in the press for that. But, I will be praying that he never wears an Arsenal shirt. I’m not saying that he is a bad player, I’m just saying that I don’t like him.

The manager’s weekly press conference will be taking place a little later today and I am looking forward to what news he has with regard to transfers and team news ahead of the trip to Blackburn this Saturday.

Okay, it’s just going to be a short one today. Given the break since my last posting, it’s going to take a while before I regain my blogging fitness. Take it easy.

Elsewhere, Joe Cole proved Ancelotti right (in that it was predominantly a financially motivated move) when he signed for Liverpool in a £90,000/4yr deal. Now, of course he will play much more football at Liverpool than he would have at Arsenal but, that is assuming he actually stays fit. His fitness record over the last few years isn’t great and it will be interesting to see whether or not his body can stand up to regular games. Anyway I, like most Arsenal fans, am not particularly bothered that he didn’t sign for us. Word is we offered him £80,000 per week over 2years. At least the fact that we didn’t sign Cole will mean that there is a greater chance for Wilshere to show us what he can do and stake a claim for a regular role coming off the bench in the league and starting some games in the domestic cups.

Guardiola spoke a little about Cesc in his press conference yesterday but there isn’t anything new in what he said. However, you just know that Barcelona will not give up until they get their man, be it this summer or one or two summers down the line.

It seems that Eduardo has moved a step closer to leaving the club with reports coming out yesterday that he had passed his medical and looks set to sign for Shakhtar Donetsk, for a fee in the region of €7.5m, sometime today. It will be sad to see him go, particularly since his Arsenal career was destroyed by that Taylor tackle as he was beginning to find his feet at the club and show what he was capable of. Let’s just hope that the same fate does not befall Aaron Ramsey.

Szczesny has spoken about how he wants to prove to Wenger that he is capable of challenging for the no1 spot. While I really hope that he develops into our future no1, I think that it is a bit early for him to become our first choice keeper. He needs to get some more experience under his belt before that can happen. Though, there are exceptions such as Casillas at Real, but he is very much the exception to the rule.

The club should have already arrived in Austria by the time you read this but as of yet I haven’t received any confirmation of those that travelled and those that didn’t. Perhaps the club are trying to keep the names close to their chest so we don’t discover that Almunia hasn’t travelled because he is negotiating a move away? Well, we can but hope, eh? The names of the travelling party should be made public fairly soon.

Right, that’s about that for today as I have to get the finger out and begin packing for my 5wk working trip to Korea. I will try to keep making posts here, certainly every Sunday, and I hope to make two or three posts during the week, too. But, I don’t think at this point that I will have time to make daily posts while in Korea. I will be there from July 21st until August 23rd, when I will return to Japan. Take it easy and keep the faith.

Our two new boys got some playing time under their belts and from first impressions it is clear that Koscielny was right when he said, upon signing, that he needed to build up his strength and power. He is a bit gangly looking and will need to build up his muscles if he is to be an effective centre-half in the premier league. That said, he is still very young for a centre half and has time on his side. Also, it was just the first game of pre-season, with new teammates, so it is much too early to make any kind of prediction on how he will fare over the course of the season.

Chamakh got a 2nd half run-out and by the looks of the way he plays, he could pick up a few yellows over the course of the season and may not be as prolific as we might hope. But, as long as he helps to create goals, as well as score some, then he will be a good addition to the squad.

I though Jay Emmanuel-Thomas had a good game and I was surprised at how big he looked. Though, maybe the midgets around him just made him look bigger than he actually is. I thought Traore was a bit suspect and I am glad that he will just be our third choice left back next season. Frimpong also impressed.

In his post match interview, Arsene confirmed that six of the eight players yet to return from their post-World Cup holiday will return on Monday, in time to join the team for the pre-season training in Austria. In a roundabout way he also referred to Koscielny not doing so well with aerial challenges early on but slowly adjusting and becoming a bit more competitive in them. It will take time for him to get used to the English game and bulk up, that’s for sure. He also commented on the fact that Chamakh is good at linking play and involving the players around him, which should suit our attacking midfielders and style of play. I wonder if it means he will spend more time outside the box than in it. Let’s hope that he can get the balance of linking play and finishing a move off right over the season.

Although Wenger said all the right things in terms of Cesc staying at the club and any idea of such a move being over, looking at the video it wasn’t the most convincing of statements. However, I may be reading too much into that, but it’s just the impression that I got from watching it. However, in an interview which appears in today’s Guardian, the boss is much more emphatic about the situation:

“There was a lot of unneeded talk. It is not pleasant to read that 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 just because somebody wants a player from us, we do not just give in.

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.”

The first sentence in the second paragraph of the above quote is very telling as to the club’s views of Laporta and his regime and is about as close as Wenger will ever come to calling Laporta a c*nt in public. Great stuff. It also has the added effect of forcing Rossell to act appropriately and respectfully if he wants to differentiate his regime from Laporta’s in order to seal a deal for Fabregas at some point in the future. The attachment that the boss feels for Cesc is also evident by his talking about the ‘love and care’ that the club has for, and has shown towards, our Catalan captain. It was also good to see that Wenger wants to show that Arsenal are a big club that can resist the overtures from one of the world’s so-called big two. We need to show the world that just because a club wants to buy one of our players, it does not mean that they will be able to prize one of our prize assets away from us.

It was interesting to see the link to Schwarzer being played down, with the excessive fee being asked as the main stumbling block to any such deal going through. That, for me, is good news as any fee in the region of, or above 3m is just way too much money for a 37yr old. I could only justify an outlay of that magnitude if it also included his signing on fee and salary for the duration of the contract. There is also a rumour that Wenger told a fan that he hasn’t decided on his no1 for the coming season. Does this mean that a search for a keeper is still underway? The grapevine indicates that it is, judging from word I received during the week.

There are reports that we have had a 14m bid for Jagielka rejected. That’s a lot of money to bid for a player that recently had a serious knee injury. The boss was also very quiet on any alleged deal for Joe Cole.

Talking about Gallas and Silvestre, the club expect them to sign with another club while Campbell is currently in footballing limbo. While none of the three have been definitively ruled out, one suspects that out of the three the only one that has a chance of being here when the Premier League kicks off in mid-August is Campbell.

Right, that’s enough for today. 1,000+ words is more than enough for anyone to digest on a Sunday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.