Friday 20 June 2008

I've not posted for a while, for a combination of reasons; work and exams, laziness and the lack of any news that really excited me. I got bored going over the same stories again and again.

Today, I saw something that really caught my eye though. The BBC has an article about Adebayor. It's different though; not claiming he's off to Milan or Barcelona (which he isn't), but rather about his life in Togo before he came to Europe, and the work he does there now. For me, it shows how hard he has worked to get where he is today, and I don't know why really, but it makes me even surer that he isn't about to leave the club. I thought it was a nice change to the normal bollocks-mongering you get from the papers during the summer.

Hopefully I'll be updating the blog more regularly in future, although I am about to go on holiday on Monday, so I'll get back to it when I'm back home.

Sunday 8 June 2008

Apologies...

Sorry for the lack of recent posts, it's exam time, so I have been pretty busy. I'll be finished on Friday, so I'll be posting again after that.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

Sagna signs new deal and more.

Some very good news today; the best right-back in the league, Bacary Sagna, has signed a new deal with the club. It may seem strange, given that he only joined us last summer, but, considering his performances over the season, he deserves a pay-rise, and thanks to the Webster Clause, clubs will be offering their players new deals with increasing regularity in the future.

Little else has happened today though; Tony Adams has signed a new deal to continue as the assistant manager at Portsmouth, which means he will not be joining us as a defensive coach. For me, Adams would have been a great addition to the coaching staff, and he could really have helped youngsters like Song, Nordveit, Senderos and Djourou to progress, as well as helping the organisation of the first choice back four. This does make the rumoured signing of Lilian Thuram as a player/coach seem more plausible, but we still have no evidence to suggest that this will happen.

One piece of news that I am very pleased to see is a report on how Swiss people view Philippe Senderos. Senderos is a player who attracts a huge amount of criticism whenever he makes a mistake, yet rarely gets credit for his good performances. This season he made a couple of mistakes against Liverpool and people immediately forget his excellent performances when Kolo Toure was away at the African Nations Cup. Admittedly, the Liverpool game was very important, but there is no reason to write him off yet. More experience will only see him coming closer to fulfilling the undoubted potential he has.

Ex-Gunner Freddie Ljungberg has hit out at Arsene Wenger in an interview with the Telegraph today. He complains about having to play when not fully fit and Wenger's strict attitude. This just smacks of bitterness. Freddie has to be careful, he is still held in great affection by most Arsenal fans who remember his brilliant performances before his decline, but if he comes out with more statements like this, he will only alienate himself from the fans. Not that he probably cares that much, but if I was him I'd shut up. He never recovered from his injuries, and Wenger got rid of him. Get over it.

Finally, to end on a positive note, we have a statement by Wenger. He believes that we can win everything next season, and while this might be a little ambitious, I have high hopes that, as long as a few players are brought into the squad this summer, we will end up with some silverware by the end of the season (and the League Cup doesn't count, no-one cares about it). We were so close this time around, and as long as we learn our lessons, the desire that will have given the squad should be enough to see us succeed this time around!

UPDATE: The Freddie quotes may well have been made up. I hope so, as it did seem out of character.

Tuesday 3 June 2008

I'm Back!

Hello again readers! Sorry for the long absence, I was away over the weekend and then we had a minor electricity crisis last night, but I'm back and blogging now!

I won't try and cover all the news from the weekend, just a bireif outline of what's been going on today...

The big news is that apparently, we've had a bid accepted for Cardiff's Aaron Ramsey. There's a lot of hype around the kid, who is only 17, but if you ask me, he should stay at Cardiff and play another season in the Championship. If he comes here, or goes to Man Utd, he would be a fringe player at best, and I think he would improve a lot more by playing regularly than by sitting on the bench or in the reserves. It's not like this will be his only chance; if he's half the player people make him out to be, he'll end up in the Premiership soon anyway.

Despite the appointment of Mourinho, it looks like Hleb may still be on his way to Inter. I don't know what to believe, as it seems to change between Barca, Real and Inter on a daily basis. He'll end up at one of the three I imagine, though I can see it becoming a bit like last year's Reyes saga. Let's hope not. The same article also gives information about bids for Nicklas Bendtner from two German clubs, and I must say his loyalty and attitude is very refreshing. I have high hopes for the big Dane next season.

Mad Jens has joined Stuttgart; I'm sad to see him go, but I think it's mostly nostalgia. I wish him all the best and hope the rest of the fans will too.

The Managing Director of Fulham has resigned, and, inevitably, there has been some talk about him joining our board. I know nothing at all about this man, so there's not much I cay say.

We've also been linked today with David Villa, which is not going to happen, and Andrei Arshavin, who could be interesting, but there's no evidence behind this at all. Shame, as from what I have seen he is a very good player who could fit in well here. Still, I'd be very surprised if I saw him at Arsenal at the start of the next season. I really wonder why people continue to go on about the Villa transfer after Wenger said this. It's not going to happen, we don't need any more strikers, get over it.

Finally, just for a bit of light amusement; "Spurs behind in the race to sign Robinho". No shit...