Highbury House

Morning all,

First up it’s a silly story from The Sun. They suggest that Lukas Podolski could be set to leave in the summer. Juventus and Atletico Madrid are both keeping an eye on him and could make a move when the season ends. We’ll see eh!

Next up is the news that Jack Wilshere may not be travelling to Germany with the squad later today as he’s suffered an ankle injury in training. Well I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a couple more join him. Podolski already has. Rather than injury, maybe it’s an indication that getting into that 4th spot by the end of the season is far more important than trying to achieve the near on impossible tomorrow night.

Arteta thinks so:

With 10 games to go and to be 24 points behind [the leaders], it’s an impossible catch and that, for me, is unacceptable.

We can’t be in that position because we have the best basic structure I’ve ever seen at a football club. Great philosophy, good players, we’ve got financial backing to do whatever we want, unbelievable crowds for the stadium. Let’s go for it!

Staying in the Champions League is massive. If we don’t get in those spots it makes everything much more difficult. To any team with top players, you have to ask what’s going to happen. There’s only one answer: we want to improve the team.

 We want to be better and next season we want to get more points, which means we will have won more games. I think the board know that and, hopefully, this summer we’ll do something about it.

We all want that Mikel…..

Onto today’s post from George.

Worse ever players to wear the famous Shirt

While its doom and gloom at the moment at the Emirates, I often hear and read about how kak Nicklas Bendnter first touch is, how poor Ramsey is, how slow Mertesacker is, how Walcott has no footballing brain, Chamakh, Gervinho…blah blah blah….…

I could go on but let’s face it, they aren’t as bad as some of the players I have watched over the years..

Gus Caesar
Kaba Diawara
Junichi Inamoto
Andy Linighan
David Hillier
Ian Selley
Steve Morrow
Thomas Danilevicius
Igors Stepanovs
Christopher Wreh
Francis Jeffers
Richard Wright
Jimmy Carter

Then there were also the Ghost players, the ones we’d sign and never see play.

We have some today, Wellington, Joel Campbell, Ryo, Roberts and even Park etc

A few that have left without a trace like Murphy, Stokes, Agogo etc

Those yesterdays ghosts like Amaury Bischoff, Alberto Mendez, Pal Lydersen and Glenn Helder..

It’s all cycles..

The standard has improved, while a lot of fans are moaning about TV5, remember we had Stepanovs, and whilst we have junk on our books, Squillaci is not Gus Caesar.

Some Arsenal past players weren’t actually any good but will always be remembered for their contributions like Perry Groves, Martin Hayes and John Jensen. They are cult heroes. I saw Martin Hayes last week and he bought me a pint. We chatted along with the Aldershot Chairman of 1992 Frank, and had a good old laugh about when Tony Adams drove his car into someone’s garden drunk with Ray Parlour.

Not condoning drink driving but, 2 points here.

NB52, wrong headlines, Adams ? Ok different levels of player, but footballers have that extra limelight and are human too. M Hayes was 1st div high scorer once I think 1987-88.

So why we are naturally annoyed at what dross we get and the inconsistent performances, football is histories merry-go-round.

We will always a player that hasn’t lived up to his reputation, Davor Suker anyone? But we are not alone. Remember Jardel at Bolton? Taibi at United? Tramezzani at that lot down the road?

We will always have a dud.

Some will be heroes , some cult heroes, some Chamakh’s smoking shisha pipes and others will always be remembered for high-profile guff performances. If you are still wondering why Arsene signed players like Fabianski who rolled out the ball to a Porto player, remember , it’s in our history:

Pogus Cassius “Gus” Caesar (born 5 March 1966) is an English former professional footballer.

Written by George

That’s it for another day, have a good one all……

Morning Gooners,

Bit of gossip before the main post. Rumours are going around that Arsene Wenger has already, or might travel to France in order to tie up a deal for Auxerre youngster Yaya Sanogor who is out of contract at the end of the season. Liverpool are also interested in signing the player.

If this is true it could be good news, not the signing bit but, hopefully he has already flown to France and will stay they for a few days before meeting up with the squad in Germany on Wednesday. This would leave the pre Bayern training to Steve Bould and he could get stuck into the defence for a few days. That could be enough to give us a slight chance.

The Daily Star again suggest that Wenger will step up his attempts to sign Victor Wanyama this summer and Micah Richards is the latest defender linked to us. I’ve always like Richards, big strong, no nonsense defender who can play central or on the right. He’s a bit short though at 5′ 11″ and currently injured. In fact he’s often injured so as good as he is, we should steer clear.

The other two, well wouldn’t they be typical Arsene Wenger signings?

Onto today’s post which is something a little different….

How many of you played or are still playing football?

How many of you remember your first ball, your first team, your first goal or even your first manager?

Is that testing the brain cells?

Many of you will remember when and why you chose your first football club to support. I say your first, as many of my mates changed whenever another team were winning things. They could be so fickle.

How many of you paid subs to play, washed your own kit or all the kit?

Back in my day we even had to put dubbin on the ball, did you?

Many of you younger fans/players will no doubt have been driven to your fixtures, yet I had to walk. Oh, and walk home after the game!

Rain or shine we turned up, many of you, like me, would have helped to put the nets up. We had to pay the refs, pay for the pitch, pay to be in the league and of course, pay for the kit we wore. Boots in those days were a step up on what I started with. Ankle high with wooden studs which were nailed on and I felt the nails as soon as I put the boots on but that didn’t stop me, it didn’t stop us.

Once the boots were on you were a footballer.

I write this dribble just to remind you of the hard times some of us had.

To be able play a sport which would stay with us for all these years is an honour and although I am too old to play today, I still watch the game and still feel that I am kicking/heading every ball.

We played for love, in ice wind, snow or rain.

In the early days my clothes were left on the touch lines, washing facilities were non-existent and if you got hurt you had to get on with and even find your own way home home. I remember twisting an ankle and cadged a lift on my mates bike. Push bike that was  and I even got to see a player having to be carried home after breaking his leg. Tough eh?

Just as Arsenal improved their facilities over the years, I too witnessed changes. Ok, nothing would have ever matched what out team gets pampered with but things were better, just.

Both teams had to share one sink and every other week we would have our pockets picked while we were on the field! In the end, whatever possessions we had, we have to leave with the manager, otherwise we would have left the ground broke…

Once I was invited to play against a team at Tooting Broadway at a BBC connected complex. It was a friendly  fixture and I was told a coach would be there for our side. I soon agreed to play and went by public transport which seemed first class back then.

We played on a muddy pitch during a rainstorm and we were all filthy and soaked through when the final whistle blew.

As I went back into the changing rooms, a door opened and there was a swimming pool………

That was my  first taste of how the other half lived, we had a meal and then back home.

Sadly I was never good enough to play to a high standard, so after 30 years of -playing local football and with bones/joints which were  letting me down, I had to admit defeat and quit.

Many of you may of had the same kind of experiences you know what i am talking about. Many of you that still play or you follow your children probably still pay, but I am sure the amenities are so much better.

Why do I bring this to your attention?

Those of us that never made it to the big time had to look after ourselves, we had to pay to play you might say.

Players today who show sign of talent are snapped up very early, they get looked after well and at many clubs, earn more that they could dream of at such a young age.

Many of these youngsters never have to think about what it could be like to pop down the jobcentre to seek employment. They progress through the ranks until one day, they break into the first team, they have no idea just how many supporters who watch them envy them to a certain degree. How some of their antics can infuriate them.

We watch these fortunate players who drive flash cars and live in big houses at so young an age and at times I wonder if they realise how lucky they are, not to have had it tough…

Good luck to them I say but don’t expect them to understand just how passionate we are about the game of football.

Written by Steve Palmer.

Morning all,

Tongue in cheek of course, who really listens to what he spouts any more?

In any case when he does speak, the opposite so often happens, certainly when it comes to saying we won’t be selling …. (insert who you like here from Nasri, Cesc, RvP and any others you are still seething about)

So when he say’s:

I have heard nothing and I don’t think anybody knows anything about it at the club.

It all seems a bit of a waste of time. If there is this consortium, they can’t make any progress unless they attempt to get in touch.

So I can’t say if there is anything to it or not.

But even if they did make an approach, my understanding is our two major shareholders do not want to sell.

Maybe what he’s really saying is, ‘come on, make an offer, Kroenke is ready to talk’

One can only hope.

There is little news around today, Benik Afobe has torn his anterior cruciate ligament whilst on loan with Milwall which will have course ended his season. Some believe that this latest setback could cost him his Arsenal career which would be a great shame.

Just a couple of years ago, Afobe, Frimpong and Henderson all looked destined for a long and successful career with us, but now it seems that any football career they have, will be at a different club.

One who the newspapers think might be in line for a career with us is Auxerre striker Yaya Sanogo.

The 20-year-old French youth international has scored seven goals in one week last month, four against Laval and a hat-trick against Tours.

He has represented his country at under-16, under-17, and under-19 level. Sanogo formerly served as captain of the under-17 team. He plays as a striker and possesses a very tall and lanky frame, despite being only 19 years of age. Sanogo is known for his technical ability and goal-scoring with France’s youth international teams having scored a team-high 18 goals in 18 games with the under-16 team during the 2008–09 season.

Oh, and he’s out of contract in the summer and we all know Wenger likes a freebie, especially if he’s French!

But that’s just something made up no doubt. We need a striker, Wenger is French and known for grabbing players for free so 2+2 makes a good story.

They’ll be many many more, there so often is……

Just like the one about the return of Alex Song. Not a chance….

That’s it for today, Have a good one.

Snow is back tomorrow!!

Morning all,

Poor old Carl Jenkinson, Gooner from head to toe and all things in between is pretty naffed off after the weekend:

I’m distraught, to be honest. I know this match’s importance.

In history, we’ve always tended to come out on top but it wasn’t our day. We beat them at home and they beat us at their place. But it’s really disappointing that we haven’t at least picked up a point.

On our day we can beat anyone. I genuinely believe that. When we play to our potential, teams can’t come near us, but we need to do that consistently. If we do that we will be fine, but we just can’t find the consistency at the moment.

We played well against Tottenham in patches but then we’ll have 10 minutes where we’ll drift out of the game a little bit.

There are 10 games left and there are plenty of points to play for. I think in a couple of days’ time, we’ll get our head around this and realise that we’ve bridged a gap like that before and can do it again. Everyone is disappointed we lost.

We will be positive and we will come back from this.

We’ve  just got to work our socks off because we need to be in that top four at the bare minimum.

I’m not going to make this into yet another post about ‘getting into the top four’ is all Kroenke and Wenger care about. We all have our views and to be fair they are pretty much the same. Top four really is a trophy!! (NOT)

This is more about Carl Jenkinson, who in my view was one of a few players on Sunday who really wanted to win. I don’t think he put a foot wrong did he? His crossing was the best on display, but sadly and as usual, there was seldom a player in the area to attack any of them.

As much as some believe he’s not yet first team material, I strenuously disagree. Ok, he’s not as experienced or ‘game wise’ as Sagna, but what players like him will do is go that extra yard, push that little bit harder and no doubt, he would actually put his body in front of a ball that looked destined for goal.

I doubt very much we’ll ever see him turn his back on a free kick. Unlike some over the years and still today…

We had a few more like him on display last night as the Next Gen series.

Yo Nico……

Nicholas “Nico” Harry Yennaris was one. The goal scorer, from 20 yards no less, was enough to see his side knock out current holders Inter Milan. CSKA Moscow await them in the next round in the last eight.

For many a season we have heard about young English players on the cusp of a break through into the first team but other than Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, there’s been no-one really.

We’ve seen moments from Frimpong, Gnabry, Eisfeld and Aneke but reality is, we need all of them to make that step up, we need them to supplement the first team squad next season. They can cover the players we need to clear out and there are many.

Tomas Rosicky

Abou Diaby

Andrey Arshavin

Nicklas Bendtner

Denilson

Craig Eastmond

Fabianski

Vito Mannone

Andre Santos

Johan Djourou

That’s just me naming those I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure there are quite a few others who are out on loan who need to be off loaded.

They will never get a chance, so why keep them dangling.

Anyway, well done to the Next Gen, they worked hard on a dreadful pitch and got great rewards…

Good luck for the next round I say…..

That’s it for another day, have a good one.

Morning all,

Never thought I’d be saying this but that person talking sense is Ian Wright and he’s right:

He is known as Silent Stan, but it’s time Stan Kroenke started speaking.

How much do we all want that eh. Let him speak, tell us what his plans are, what he wants for our club and then let’s really judge him.

Most importantly, tell us if he’s thinking of selling up?? Is he thinking about getting us back to winning trophies? Possibly not, none of his other clubs do do they?

The next couple of months are going to be grim for us Gooners, our next fixture is out and Germany, and I strongly suspect that will end up being another exit from yet another cup. That’s how it is, that’s how it has been for many a season now.

February and March really are our doom and gloom months aren’t they.

Talking of doom and gloom, looks like it’s going to be that for Emmanuel Frimpong. His days at Arsenal seem to be well and truly over. Many a report suggests that he’s been told he is no longer in our clubs future plans. I’m not sure whether that’s a footballing decision or a Twitter decision, but either way, Frimpong has done nothing to help his own future with us with his off-field antics.

His current manager, Martin Jol wants to sign him up for Fulham.

Some good news is the return of Kieran Gibbs, he’s back  in full training. I doubt he’ll dislodge Monreal at left back for the league fixtures but at least when we head to Germany next week, we will feel a lot better knowing that Vermaelen will not be required to play out of position. ( Mind you he does that often enough when playing central)

The Daily Mail report that Gazidis and Kroenke have an agreement in place which, should the American sell his shares, Gazidis will receive a pay-off of £5 million.

I’ll have some of that Stan!!

Funny one that, why does ‘he who never sells’ need to be assuring Gazidis that his future would be financially secure?

I always believe in never say never and there’s always a first time.

You never know, we might actually go and win in Germany and be the last Premier League club standing in the Champions League.

That’s it for another day, has Fergie come out of the dressing room yet?

I am stunned by the bad press Arsene Wenger attracts, it is beyond what is acceptable and borders on bullying. Arsene has the grace to attend every press conference and answer questions that at times are damn rude and disrespectful. If Alex Ferguson received a fraction of this treatment, there would be no journalists at his press conferences as they would all have been banned.

As an Arsenal fan born in the sixties, I have seen a considerable amount of football and appreciate what Arsene Wenger has done for this club. I have never seen a football manage so castigated in the press like Wenger over such a long period of time. Whether it is because he is French or because he took on the English kick and rush community, I don’t know but something is behind it.

I have just made a complaint to the PPC on the ‘Exclusive’ report by Phil Thomas of the Sun, concerning a two-year extension to Arsene’s contract. This story was made up, Wenger quite rightly lost his temper when the press asked him about this during yesterday’s press conference prior to the Bayern Munich game.

Not one mention anywhere about Arsene’s gesture on Saturday to David Oates widow.

(David Oates was BBC matchday reporter who died aged just 50 two weeks ago).

Can you imagine how much pressure he was under straight after the game but he rushed to give a hand written note of condolence to Charlotte Oates and offered to support any charity of her choice.

The BBC commentator on 5 Live was gushing with praise for what he claimed was an amazing gesture from Wenger, who had heard she was in the ground and made arrangements before his press conference. This shows the class of Arsene Wenger. The fact that the media have not reported it, speaks volumes. Had that been Harry Redknapp or Alex Ferguson, it would have been all over the media.

It is bad enough that we are subjected to the ‘Daily Arsenal’ on Talksport and the gullible Arsenal fans that seem to believe everything they see and hear.

The abuse aimed at Arsenal and in particular Arsene Wenger, is not based on fact, it is based on ignorance. The eight years without a trophy mantra is getting tiresome. There is never the mention of the fact that during that period we built the Emirates AND redeveloped Highbury.

At the same time, Roman Abramovich started flashing his cash and replaced us as the Megabrand Utds closest rival. With Man City’s Arab owners also thrown into the mix, quite why we were expected to compete is anyone guess. The media seem unable to understand the disadvantage we were at or that the continual qualification for the Champions league was a massive over achievement.

Arsene Wengers achievements should be celebrated. Instead he has become a figure of fun, ridiculed by the media at every opportunity.

I find this totally unacceptable but with Lilly liveried glory hunting Arsenal fans queuing up to help the press, it is getting worse.

Somebody has to make a stand or I feel Arsene will just walk away and I for one would not blame him. Unless we form a collective and start questioning the press and putting out positive support for Wenger it will only get worse.

I apologise if this has turned into a semi rant but I am currently seething at the treatment Arsene Wenger is receiving in the press. The fact that Phil Thomas, a journalist for The Sun newspaper has written and had printed an exclusive story consisting of a lie about Mr. Wenger speaks volumes but should not be tolerated.

Instead fans believed the story and took to the phone-in shows.

Ignorance is bliss.

Written by a man called Kevin…….

I’d normally do a pre-match post but so much has gone on, so much is going on, it’s hard to write about tonight’s match.

But clearly Arsene Wenger was angry yesterday in his pre-match talk to the press and maybe he had every right.

I hope that every player in our squad was watching their manager yesterday and I hope they feel a huge pang of guilt for contributing to what he had to endure and they go out there tonight and do themselves, the fans, the club and of course their manager proud….

Even if it’s just to give Wenger a breather from those gits in the press……