One more down - Kolo Toure

Kolo Toure exits Arsenal to join rivals Manchester City for a hefty sum of 14million pounds. This amount is huge considering the players age and fading talent. Toure was the last asset remaining from the Invincible team once we boasted off. Kolo Toure was an attacking midfielder when he was bought and later he was trained and nurtured into a world class centre defender.

Kolo Toure played most of his football life with Arsenal and was able to earn the goodwill of the fans. He was a fan favourite and had commanding presence in the field. We will surely miss him, but that doesn't mean we are going to fail without him. We got enough of him and its time for him to move on. The fact that he has joined our rivals in BPL is quite interesting considering that he will soon get to know that money is not everything. He will be paid more than 100,000 pounds per week and will be one of the costliest defender in that front.

Man City should be thoroughly mistaken if they think that Arsenal weakens by missing Toure. Just imagine if Keown had not gone, Tony Adams never retired and Sol Campbell stayed with Arsenal. Will we ever get a Kolo Toure? Will he be able to join Manchester City today. Never ever! So let's hope the same way this is a new begining. New stars will arise and fill the gaps in a more stylish and influential manner. Good luck Toure and happy retiring!

My verdict on Hannover game!

We started with an attacking formation and placement of players. The first goal came at 8th minute by our young captain Fabregas after a super display of dribbling and passing by Bendtner and Van Persie. Never knew this was the only goal for the day.

The game was filled with fouls and utmost use of body and power. The typical German way of playing football. This was really a tough test for the English league giants.
The player for the day would be Alex Song for his wonderful tackling, passing and vision. Song was instrumental in cutting most of the passes and his game showed a natural flow of skill. He never looked troubled in the whole match. Towards the end when Vermaelen was down, Song took up the defensive responsibilities and moved to centre back position. Eduardo was introduced during the final minutes of second half.

The German team played with more vigour after the half time and the only player who made an impact Pinto limped off the ground. Arshavin looked miserable with his passes and finishing today. Arshavin seems to be taking the pre-season matches lightly and never really saw him taking the effort and utilizing the skills he possess. Fabregas was good but was substituted by Ramsey during the second half. Ramsey also was not able to prove a point since most of the ball was between the defenses. Bendtner was good and also grabbed an yellow card during his display.

Good thing seen is the improvement in the Arsenal defense. Vermaelen and Gallas and later Djorou showed great ability to take the shots and also to defend well in air.
Eboue played the whole match and failed to make an impact with his regular runs. The young gunner goalkeeper Wojciech Szczensy was excellant once again and he had shown the world that he is far better than Lukaz Fabianski and I think Arsene should try to give this guy more chances and help him out more than Mannone/Fabianski.

We missed Rosicky, Walcott, Diaby, Senderos, Vela and Clichy on the pitch. Looking forward to see more of them in the next fixture with Athletico Madrid.

Arsenal Win 5 goals to none in Hungary

There had been good development in the Arsenal camp with Bendtner and Eduardo scoring twice and Van Persie converting another Penalty with ease.

Goal 1
Good link up play by Ramsey and Troare which led the latter to whip a cross towards near post and Bendtner rising to the occassion to finish from a good tough angle with his head.

Goal 2
Excellant vision by Bendtner which led him to pass the ball to Eduardo who was running to the box and finished with ease.

Goal 3
A freekick direct goal from Eduardo while Bendtner was fouled.

Goal 4
Bendtner finishing with ease again.

Goal 5
Van Persie converting a penalty awarded after Bendtner got fouled.

This makes it clear Mr.Bendtner was there everywhere on the offensive part of Arsenal game. He was trying hard to sway away the bad name he had earned through his awful finishing.

Season 2009-10 shows a drastic change to Arsenal team and their attitude.
Arsene Wenger started with Song, Denilson and Ramsey playing in central midfield. Not sure whether he was trying out something. Wilshere played as right side wide man. Song as usual was good with his tackles and control of the game. Ramsey was concentrating on creating chances out of no where and inventing goals. He is turning out to be another Fabregas in making as I pointed out once in this site. Wilshere was terrible with his runs and was losing the balls often. He is a good player but the right wideman was not his favourite position though. Toure and Djorou was good whereas Vermaelen and Gallas was proving to be extra ordinary. These two could make a good pair in Arsenal back four. Silvestre was played as LB and Eboue started as RB today. Eboue tried few unproductive runs and gave away the ball on few occassions and not as often as Wilshere. Wilshere had missed two chances from close range which was an aftermath of the beautiful link up play between him and Ramsey and later with Bendtner.

Arshavin, Van Persie and Senderos where brought out during second half. Arshavin was not getting his passes right whereas Van Persie was wasting lot of chances by selfishly taking shots without thinking to pass. We could see that last couple of matches Arsene is playing Senderos in Central Defensive Midfielder position. I would say he was getting better and had advantage over Song and Denilson due his stature. Another player to be watched and tried out in that position is Diaby. Senderos had cut in few passes and was passing the ball very well. He was not in a hurry and wasting balls. Ramsey was hardworking throughout the match. Wojciech Szczensy who is our reserve keeper came in the second half and made lot of excellant saves. This guy looks like he is better than Fabianski and will make Arsene think for some days. He deserves to be applauded for today's effort and will surely make a leap to the main team.

Fabregas, Rosicky, Walcott, Diaby, Vela and Clichy did not play today for us. Hope to see more of them in next match. FYI..Vela had a good match against USA yesterday when Mexico bet USA 5-0.

Things to watch today! - 27 July 2009

Don't miss the friendlies and the Emirates cup. It definitely tells us what our team is upto and how they are shaping up.
In today's match there are few things to watch out for.

1. Return of Eduardo

It has been sometime since we have watched the Croatia Striker Eduardo in action. Due to the departure of Adebayor whole focus is on Eduardo and team heavily relies on him. He needs to prove a point or two and hope he doesn't end up injured unlike his last comeback. Eduardo is proven striker and needs to continue his run before the unfortunate injury to keep the season hopes and also to keep his place in the team.

2. Francesc Fabregas - Rosicky

Fabregas will be playing with his favourite team mate Rosicky after 1.5yrs gap. It would be interesting to watch how these two pair up. Whether they still possess that on the field rapport that they once boasted off. Whether Cesc is able to set up those crucial long rangers for Rosicky that once he used to do. No more Adebayor for Fabregas to pass in the long balls to head into the net.

3. Arshavin - Bendtner

This is quite a remarkable duo on the pitch. It has been some time now that I am noticing a kind of understanding between these two. Bendtner had been good at reading Arshavins passes and long balls. He is doing it better than any other team mate. Hope this helps Arsenal to achieve its goals this season.

4. Robin Van Persie - Walcott

They needs to play more together to grow and build a partnership so that Arsene Wenger can utilize them in groups. Ofcourse they need to be compatible with the whole team but still needs to have chosen partners in the field to know them more.

5. Vermaelen - Toure

These two centre backs can be deadly in case Vermaelen finds his on the air touch better in coming matches. Toure is good on cutting the short passes and taking few shorts from those deadly strikers. Vermaelen is a good passer of the ball and has great left foot as seen in training.

Ok...thats it guys..Cheers Arsenal and hope for a 8-0 win.

William has something to say!

Arsenal versus SC Columbia

We had got our upcoming superstar Samir Nasri during the build up for this match. Rosicky was rested today. It was shocking start by SC Columbia by entering the scoresheet on 35th minute, while Arsenal where still creating lot of chances and wasting it as usual. The surprise goal from Columbia showed the vigour in Arsenal team, with Bendtner equalizing in 1 min. From then it was a wonderful display of speed and skill. Though we missed lot of other changes the scores had ended up in 7-1 with Van Persie scoring(2), Bendtner(2), Gallas(1) and our future starlet Ramsey(2). Ramsey had also created few chances for Bendtner to pounce on of which Bendtner made full benefits. Senderos was deployed as defensive midfielder for first time. Maybe Arsene had given up the hunt for DM. Even Senderos might be surprised. Things were getting better as match progressed with most of our main players making a mark. Rosicky, Fabregas and Eduardo was not playing the match.

Nasri Out for 3 months!

This had been a regular issue for Arsenal offlate. I believe every team gets such kind of problems. But with our Arsenal its happening every year. We have our aspiring attacking midfielder Samir Nasri injured. He had fractured his right fibula during morning training session on July 21, 2009 in Austria.

Who's next?
I hope no one gets injured. Since Rosicky is back we still have someone to replace Nasri but should not forget the fact that Rosicky is back from a long injury break and would definitely need someone to help him to take some rest...let's see what our mastercraftsman Wenger does for the team...

Arshavin Crushin Liverpool all alone!

Almunia would never forget this day!

Walcott on his dreams

Vermaelen after his first match

Ade Adieu

Its time to say goodbye to Emmanuel Adebayor the Togolese striker. He had joined our club 3yrs back from Monaco for mere 3million pounds and had been sold off proudly for a massive 25million pounds. Once again Arsene Wenger proved what a master craftsman he is in minting money. Not so famous average headed Ade went on to become seasons top scorer a couple of seasons back. He had been associated with a move away from Emirates Stadium from last season. Ever since his lack of dedication and motivation was visible. Arsenal had got what they needed from the Togo frontman and happily sold him off to Manchester City who is known for making business with greedy players around the world.

Though Adebayor claims that he was not greedy and he left Arsenal hoping to win trophies and help Man City to break into the top four in EPL. Any given day Arsenal fans would have welcomed his decision to depart. Hope the hopes of Ade to help Man City becomes a reality. Adebayor could be a big success in Man City in case he plays along with Tevez and Robinho. The reason is he will get more chances since the other guys will be obviously marked by good defenders leaving Adebayor free. This was one reason he was able to score lot of goals two seasons back. You can definitely feel the influence of Eduardo in that. Last season since Eduardo was not there and when given huge responsibilities we saw how Ade fumbles. He is a proven striker and great against mediocre oppositions. But in big matches under pressure he was not the best choice.

Adebayor's departure will give Arsenal more money to spent in the next transfer window in case they feel there is a gap in striking department which currently they feel is negligible by the return of Eduardo and arrival of Arshavin. Arsenal will also be able to give more oppourtunity to its youngsters Vela and Bendtner too.

Wish you good luck Ade and forget the dream of winning trophies and entering top 4. If it was that easy any team can do by allowing itself to be bought by some millionaire. It takes time and brain to do that. So I believe your new manager has enough brains for sure. But please don't think it is immediate as you said in that interview. Why not this year?

Thanks to Arsene Wenger for helping Arsenal free up so much money and trying to gel together.

Arsenal Versus Barnet

Yet another pre-season friendly start. The stars of the day were Barazite, Wilshere and Sanchez. The goalscorers for Arsenal were Arshavin and Barazite.
Wilshere had few runs as normal and expected from him. He was instrumental in setting up few passes which was not able to find the back of the net. Rosicky was the captain for the day and was impressive to start with. His final touches still needs to be improved to get it where it was few years back. In the second half, except Vermaelen all other players were substituted. Vermaelen was not too impressive as expected. Once again Arsenal failed to clear an incoming curving ball from a free kick which was headed well be Barnet kid for a goal. The header was executed by the player between Gallas and Vermaelen which makes it clear that the aerial threat is still there. This is something that Arsenal needs to put in some effort at training. Randall was showing promise in making of another Scholes for England with his mistimed tackles.

Let's see what's in store for next match.

Preparation for friendly against Barnet

Maybe for most of the Arsenalites this match won't be that interesting. The Barnet Club has the smallest groud which could accomodate harly 6000 people. This means most of our viewers will be out there before the TV set or online. Last time we played Barnet was in 2004, where Barnet got chance to surprise us with first goal. Later we went on to win 10-1. With both Reyes(now with Athletico Madrid) and Jeffers(Don't know where) scoring hatricks. We have never played Barnet in any competitive matches.

Arsenal Squad announced for the Barnet Friendly:
Manuel Almunia
Vito Mannone
William Gallas
Johan Djourou
Mikael Silvestre
Thomas Vermaelen
Tomas Rosicky
Andrey Arshavin
Jack Wilshere
Thomas Cruise
Craig Eastmond
Luke Ayling
Conor Henderson
Francis Coquelin
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
Mark Randall
Emmanuel Frimpong
Gilles Sunu
Sanchez Watt
Jay Simpson
Nacer Barazite

Players we will be eagerly waiting to watch in this match will be Rosicky, Vermaelen and Wilshere. The reason to watch out for these players are quite obvious. Rosicky coming back after 1 and a half years time which is pretty long for any footballer. Verma playing his first fixture in Arsenal colors. Don't forget Verma was Ajax captain when we snatched him to Emirates Stadium. Wilshere oozing with promise as per Wenger. Let's see how he performs in this fixture. I would guess that Arshavin will be leading the side today for the friendly in the absence of Cesc.

We have Almunia, Gallas and Arshavin who had already proved their skills in last season and expected to be in good touch. Silvestre with lot of experience with him. And Djourou with some tactics learned in last season. You can find lot of great young talents in that above list. Most of them performing well in Under 18 sqaud and few had played in Arsenal Reserves team too. Arsene Wenger is trying to get the young talent tested before he lay out plans for them. This blend of experience and youth in the squad for a friendly would do good to the team. I believe by the 3rd friendly this pre-season Arsene would definitely get his full squad ready.

Good luck Arsenal. Will be there to watch you in person today.

Arsenal Kit Release - Video

Van Persie's Perfect Footballer!

Emirates Cup!

What is Emirates Cup?

Emirates Cup is an Annual two day cup held at Emirates, Arsenal. Arsenal has agreed to host this tournament for 3years.

History of Emirates Cup.

There is nothing much to add as history. This was only started on 2007. First tournament was won by Arsenal. In 2007, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Valencia and Paris St.Germains had played for the cup. In 2008, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Juventus and Hamburg. Hamburg had won the competition without much competition.

Emirates Cup - 2009.

This year again the participants has changed. We can find Arsenal competing with Athletico Madrid, Rangers and Paris St.Germain. We will be preparing for this with full vigour. This is something that can boost up our confidence before the start of the season. If you observe, you could find the difference between how we played 2007-08 season after winning Emirates Cup and how in 2008-09. So I believe this is something to be taken seriously and played to win and win in STYLE!

Fixtures before the league starts!

18 Jul Pre-season Friendly Away Barnet
21 Jul Pre-season Friendly Away SC Columbia
27 Jul Pre-season Friendly Away Szombathelyi H.
29 Jul Pre-season Friendly Away Hannover 96
01 Aug Emirates Cup Home Athletico Madrid
02 Aug Emirates Cup Home Rangers
08 Aug Pre-season Friendly Away Valencia

Arsenal Pre-Season Training Camp!

Arsenal Kits Released! - Season 2009/10

Red and White - Home Kit
Navy Blue with light blue stripes - Away Kit
White with greyish stripes - Third Kit
Yellow - Goalkeeper Kit

Aaron Ramsey - made of Cesc Fabregas mould!

Fact File:
Born : 26 December 1990
Country : Wales
Number : 16
Nick Name: Rambo
Prv Club : Cardiff City
Transfer : £4.98 Million

Being an Arsenalite is not an easy task. How many of you know what Aaron Ramsey is made of? Don't tell me blood and muscles. Aaron is someone who can fill in the gap that Francesc Fabregas could be making after few years. Why should Fabregas make a gap? As you might be aware there are lot of speculation about our Cesc. People keeps linking him to Barca. Just imagine putting yourself in Cesc shoes..not your nose ofcourse :-)....he came from Barca...a spaniard...always respect and loves Spanish football...what should be holding him getting back there? Nothing! Infact nothing...its just something inevitable...Even Arsenal won't rethink while selling him after few years. Any club would like to get the peak of the player and then sell him off so that he can settle down somewhere before he retires.

Think of the likes of Henry, Viera and lot of others. They have all peaked in our club. We took benefit and later let them live their dreams. Guys they are professionals and will have their own dreams. Let them live it! why you guys keep changing your job? Same reason this is also life! But for us more than tracking what our player will be doing next is to build a squad. I do respect the fact that players needs to grow to build better squads. But knowing Arsene we all know he lays plans quite ahead of what we could imagine. Aaron Ramsey is someone who is of same mould as Fabregas. I see another Fabregas in making. Aaron is not tall too. In next couple of years you would know what I meant.

You must be amazed to know that Aaron was a rugby player before turning to football and few Rugby league sides have tried signing him back in Wales. Isn't it something interesting. This guy is capable of playing as Central Midfielder, Winger and Full Back. That should be more appealing for we Arsenalites. Arsene Wenger had his own tough time getting this youngsters signature last summer. Cardiff City was approached by Manchester United and Everton other than Arsenal. Its funny to see that Arsene Wenger flew Ramsey and his family to Switzerland to discuss the plans for him in Arsenal. This lad was a die-hard Manchester United fan and how can he turn his back on them when approached? That shows his professionalism. He means business and he is here to prove.

Why should Arsenal care so much for just another teenager? That makes you believe he is not just another 18yr old there. His first season is quite notable. Ramsey made 45 appearances and assisted in 4 goals. Aaron entered the score sheet only once with a long ranger in Champions League and now you know what a champion this lad is. Aaron also got his berth in Wales National team already. He was the second youngest player to score in Champions league. Not sure of the first one though.

Next season we can expect more exposure for this lad and in coming years another central midfielder who could snatch victories from anywhere. Guys do remember what you read today when you see this lad play for Arsenal in couple of years.