I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone that sent me their birthday wishes yesterday. I had more Twitter mentions than the amount of times Arsenal fans have been taunted with the cliché of going trophy-less and more Facebook wall posts than the amount of times those in Barcelona has uttered the word ‘Fabregas’. The contacts on my BlackBerry Messenger also showed me their love in their own special way.
The media Vultures set up a romance date between Arsenal and LOSC Lille Metropoles duo, Gervais Yao Kouassi and the BioHazard of Eden but with Hazard’s age and talent, it was obvious that he was going to command a mammoth fee so AW set his sights on the Ivorian that has the nick of a Brazilian. The Vultures reported days later that Arsenal has made a £15m bid for the winger which was followed with news that the bloke was on his way to Arsenal. The newest update involving the bloke shows that the Arab Money boys of Man City have come into the picture to give the chap an offer that he might not be able to refuse in order to thwart him from joining Arsenal. We all know what Money City is all about but it seems as if both sides might not get him because I learnt today that he might not be interested in a move to England yet.
The media Vultures sure have a way of spicing things up. Today, they’ll report that Mr. A loves Arsenal and wants to play for his managerial idol, AW but tomorrow they’ll report that Mr. A says that he likes Arsenal but he wants to ply his trade in Man City due to reasons best known to the aliens that are about to attack Planet Earth but they are scared because Chuck Norris is still alive. I’ll keep you posted with news involving Gervinho as the days go by. Even if defensive signings are supposed to be our priority this summer, signing Gervinho will add steel to our attack. The bloke is very skillful with good technique on the ball. He’s also a fast player that has a flamboyant style of play. We should also remember that Gervinho is a versatile player that can on the left wing, right wing and the centre forward position so I’ll be happy if he decides to sign for Arsenal. There’s also a large contingent of Frenchies in the squad so he’ll have no problem settling in.
Sagna's possible rival as Arsenal's cutest player
Moving over to player departures, I’ll start with the World’s best Rangy Dane Nicklas Bendtner. The bloke has told the entire cosmos that he wants to leave Arsenal and his fagent has said that his son can command a fee of £10m. The latest club that has been linked with Bendtner is Turkey’s Besiktas. If he feels that a move to Turkey will be a step in the right direction, that’s his problem. We know that Ricardo Quaresma is the star player there so Bendtner can feel free to strut his stuff in Turkey provided that they make a bid that will be satisfactory to Arsenal. Nasri is another player that has been on the spotlight in recent times and it seems as if his flirtation with Man Utd has worked because there are emerging tales that our rivals want to make a £10m bid for the maestro. AW said a few days back that he won’t sell Nasri to ManUre United so I don’t see that move being a possibility.
We know that he has a year left with the club and can decide if he wants to stay with us for years to come or search for green pastures elsewhere so the ball is in Nasri’s court because the contract offer is already on the table waiting for him. Should he decide to leave the club, he should always remember that Arsenal was the club that made him who he is today so it will be preferable for both parties if he goes to a club far away. Arsenal and Man Utd are not like AC Milan or Inter Milan where you change interchange players as if you’re draft picking them like the NBA. Since I’ve been an Arsenal fan, I’ve never seen the club sell a player to Man Utd. The only player Man Utd gave Arsenal was an old hag that had a reputation that talked for him due to the amount of trophies he had won for France and United. Silvestre made me change my definition of the word experienced in football because his performances in his 2-year stint with the club were like that of a toddler.
The last player that’s linked with a move away from Arsenal is Gael Clichy. The Frenchman has been synonymous with Arsenal since his £250,000 move from AS Cannes in 2004. He started his career under the shadows of Cashley Cuntly Cole then got his lucky break when Arsenal sold the cuntbag to Chelsea. Clichy was ever-present in the 2007/08 season playing all 38 league matches and was awarded a place in the 2008 PFA Team of the Year with his performances in the left back position. Sagna won the award for the right back while Fabregas had a place in the midfield. Emmanuel GreedyBayor was the joint best striker with the red hot Liverpool striker that’s getting the blues at Chelsea, Fernando Torres.
Liverpool has come up with a £5m bid for Gael Clichy and that move has stirred up some controversy with the fans. As an Arsenal fan, I wouldn’t want to see the club’s provisional rivals enriched with our own players because we hardly take theirs. Clichy has definitely lost the form of the yesteryears but Gibbs isn’t any better. New boy Jenkinson is also adept in the left back position but this is 2011 not 2020. There are not many left backs in the business that possess the entire attributes of Gael Clichy so selling such a player won’t be in the club’s best interest. For starters, Clichy is one of the fastest fullbacks in football. Only Yuri Zhirkov, Patrick “Tuck-In” Evra, Fabio, Jeremie Mathieu and Marcelo can match him for pace. He also has an amazing work rate and a never-say-die attitude. He’s also good with the ball on his feet and he knows how to read the game with good anticipation skills but he has two major problems as a player; his positioning is quite poor and it can be exploited at times. When we played Barcelona at the Emirates, that diving nitwit Dani Alves was more or less a right winger. Clichy’s second and most frustrating flaw is that he has a Self Destruct chip that was planted in his brain by the villain in Gerard Butler’s Gamer. Anytime this chip malfunctions Clichy becomes a catastrophe on the pitch; he showed the trait this concluded season when we played Shakhtar in the Donbas Arena and when we played Blackpool in Bloomfield Road.
I really hope that AW will do enough to persuade him to stay because I’m a fan of the Frenchman. He’s a player that I would’ve wasted no time following if he was on Twitter. Omar Almasri wrote a post about 10 possible replacements for the full back. It’s worth a read.
Robin van Persie was a sensation this concluded season with his influx of goals in the second half of the campaign but he recently said a few words that might not go down well with some factions of the Arsenal faithful.
“Every year it always goes wrong in an identical way and that is frustrating. When you look at results in the last years, then Arsenal shouldn’t be talking about winning the league because too many times things have gone wrong. Sometimes you have to eat the truth and be realistic”
“Even now, it’s still unbelievable we didn’t win the Carling Cup as that was the breakthrough moment, showing everyone we could win a cup and create a belief within the team. When I talk about that it still hurts. It was so stupid and I ask myself ‘how did that come about?”
We all know that reality bites and the truth is bitter but it’s not always good washing your dirty undies in public. In the Arsenal camp it has been all about frustration, despair, stalling contracts and player departures imminent but rVp fails to realize that his teammates are the ones to blame for the club’s present predicament. He can vividly remember that he was the one that scored Arsenal’s goal in the 98th minute against Liverpool before Farmer Eboue decided to be stupid. Whether Lucas dived like Alves or not, Eboue was to blame for that foul because he exerted some pressure the Brazilian. Sagna would have taken a wiser approach in such a situation. Wenger doesn’t need his players to be saying how they should have won the quad but they went trophy-less. He needs his men to stand together and fight for that trophy that their play truly deserves. There’s no active club football for 3 months so the players should rally around and search for ways they can make their game better.
They need to learn how to defend corner kicks; even 11 Samba’s aren’t enough if the zonal and man marking is poor. They also need to learn how to shoot from outside the box when the chips are down, Arsenal always strives to score the perfect goal but it won’t fetch you 6 points after you’ve won the game; it will give you only 3. If Bolton was leading Arsenal by a lone goal at the Reebok in September and the players exchanged 23 passes before Vela scored, the game would have ended as a 1-1 draw.
In other news, Nigeria’s hero and Arsenal great Nwankwo Kanu played his testimonial match today in the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos. This was in the wake of the news that he was going to bid his farewell to football after giving the sport 19 good years of his life. He has a career that most footballers will envy. He played in an Ajax side that had legends like Edwin van der Save, Edgar Davids, His Royal Intelligence Dennis Bergkamp amongst others that won the Champions League in 1995. He also played in an Arsenal side that had kings like Thierry Henry and Monsieur Vieira. He won a shitload of trophies throughout his career ranging from league titles and FA Cups to Champions League titles and Olympic Gold medals.
The testimonial match tagged “Kanu and friends vs Super Eagles All-Stars” showcased Nigerian footballing legends like Peter Rufai, The Bull Amokachi and the player that was so good he was named twice Jay Jay Okocha. The game also featured African legends like Samuel Osei Kuffour and Africa’s best striker Samuel Eto’o Fils. Kanu also invited his friends that had Portsmouth ties with such as Sulley Ali Muntari and Herman Hreidarsson. The mayor of Lagos State Dr. Babatunde Raji Fashola also had a piece of the action.
The game ended with 3 goals to 1 with the African legend Kanu scoring the opening goal of the match. Zaragoza’s Ikechukwu Uche scored a screamer while Emmanuel Greedybayor had a collector’s item.
That’s all for today but I’ll advice you to check out this season review by Goonerforlife52. The blog’s title is really catchy “Goonerforlife’s Ramblings”.
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Sayonara
