I hope you enjoyed the inaugural version of a Gooner’s Perspective. There’ll be more posts like this in the course of the season so brace yourselves for that.
I don’t think we’ll drink palm wine in the mornings again though. Bobby took us off guard with that stunt but it was worth it in the end. C’mon, who can say no to a few doses of alcohol when friends are gathered?
There has been no form of football since the European Championships and lovers of the beautiful can’t wait to see some preseason action.
Hopefully, the Gunners won’t play a team like Szombatheyi Haladas and run out as 11-0 winners with Nicklas Bendtner scoring four goals.
With activities on the pitch on an all-time low, activities off it are dominating the back pages. Transfer rumors and contract talks have been the order of the day.
Fiorentina has slammed a €30m price tag on their starlet, Stevan Jovetic, that has been on Arsenal’s radar. The proper way would have been to give Arsenal the middle finger as well as telling them to sod off, because there’s no way in Hell Arsene Wenger would cough out €30m for Jovetic.
That lad is an exciting prospect that would offer a lot to Arsenal’s attack but we’ll see how things pan out in the coming weeks. Fiorentina has also denied making any bid for the out-of-favor Marouane Chamakh and we are back to square one yet again.
Chamakh was utter shite last season and he couldn’t offer Arsenal much in attack. Van Persie’s return to full fitness played a role in Chamakh’s dip in form but he wasn’t even impressive when he got his chances.
To add to the sad news, Bastia has pulled the plug on signing Sebastien Squillaci. The newly-promoted Ligue 1 outfit stated that the Squidward’s wages played a role in making the deal fall through.
Arsenal is a club that complains about a heavy wage bill yet fat contracts are handed to “deadwood” players that are content with places on the bench.
Speaking of deadwood, Johan Djourou has played down exit talks stating that he had a “bad spell” but he’s not going anywhere.
It’s really puzzling to know that Djourou was Arsenal’s best defender by a far mile in the 2010/111 season but he failed to build on that last season. People can say that he was played out of position last season…so did Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny and Francis Coquelin.
Even in his favored center back position, he was bereft in confidence and the “C” in clumsy. His red card against Fulham and the penalty foul he committed in San Siro made him to get into the bad books of many Gooners last season.
However, he’s not a bad option for a fourth choice defender. I’m pretty sure that he’ll get a few games in the Cup competitions this season and I hope that he’ll grab the bull by its horns and balls like Wojciech Szczesny.
Besides, we know Arsenal’s mysterious injury issues can offer Djourou a chance to stake his claim as well.
Sticking with more tidbits, Galatasaray has also played down the speculation linking them to Andrey Arshavin. The Russian was shambolic last season but he got a new lease of life when he was loaned back to Zenit.
Arshavin had a stormer in the European Championships but his nation was knocked out courtesy of the unfair head-to-head rule. Russia vs. Germany would surely have been a better spectacle than the Greece vs. Germany game I witnessed.
Many Gooners want Arshavin to be shown the exit door, but I won’t mind if he stays because he’s undoubtedly a quality player that can offer a thing or two to the team.
I’m not ignorant about his lethargy and lack of desire on the pitch but I’ll like to see Arshavin get a run-out in the hole behind the striker next season. That has always been his favored position and he clearly struggled from the left flank last season.
It’s high time to write a thing or two about Mr. Ambition, Robin van Persie.
There was some side talk of Manchester City offering Edin Dzeko and some quid for his services but Olivier Giroud seems to be in the Dzeko mold; tall, strong, good in the air and a lethal finishing ability
After causing an Arab Spring-esque uprising on the Arsenal world with his statements last week, it seems as if Robin van Persie has taken a dramatic u-turn in the wake of the reaction from the Arsenal faithful
Sources suggest the situation could yet be resolved with echoes of Wayne Rooney’s transfer request that preceded his signing of a bumper deal with Manchester United in 2010.
Van Persie has already stated he loves Arsenal and that he will have further talks with Ivan Gazidis when the club’s chief executive returns from holiday.
I certainly have a hunch that van Persie reversed his decision when he did his homework and found out that his potential suitors may not need his services afterall.
PSG has dismissed interest in him while Juventus insulted the club with that paltry £8m bid. Looking at the personnel on ground, Barcelona and Man City don’t necessarily need to add him in their ranks.
Arsenal fans have already been resigned to losing the captain and it will take some stuffing for van Persie to win back the hearts he has shattered into pieces.
If he can replicate his goal scoring form this season as well as to be a mentor for Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, I don’t think we’ll complain that much.
He said that he wanted to bring the club back to its glory days, I guess that he has to prove it.
Finally, there’s a bit of info on Jack Wilshere and it has nothing to do with his fitness issues.
Wilshere has received a warning from Uefa disciplinary chiefs after comments he made on Twitter suggesting he had bet on an Arsenal teammate to score last season.
Apparently, UEFA’s regulations forbid players from gambling on football matches in which their teams are involved and the England midfielder has now received an official warning.
However, Wilshere insisted that he didn’t bet on the game, and he was just fooling around. We’ve learned from the Euros that you can’t just “fool around” with UEFA. Nicklas Bendtner was slammed with a €100,000 fine for “fooling around” with his undies.
That’s today’s bit folks.
Please, don’t fool around today. 😀
Sayonara