So it's Celtic, it could have been better and it could have been worse. Under Mowbray you can guarantee that Celtic will play football the right way and that will be to our liking. Undoubtedly the away game on the 18th of August will be the tougher of the two fixtures, especially given as it comes just three days after our away game at Goodison Park. On the rare occassions that I have watched Celtic McGeady always strikes me as a bit of a threat with his jinking trickery. On an unrelated issue I thought this little piece on our slight lack of recent commercial success relative to other big clubs is well worth reading, hopefully Ivan Gazidis can address some of these issues.
The sounds emerging from the Emirates seem to hint that Arsene may leave things late before making any definitive moves in the transfer market. He is looking to bring in one or two more players, while if big Phil leaves for Everton that he will look to replace him on top of that. Rumours around Hangeland are gathering pace, it seems to me that if we move for him then he will come. I am not convinced he offers us anything more than big Phil is capable of, but I shall have an open mind if things happen.
Bordeaux are clearly a bunch of greedy pro-manu tossers, old Laurent Blanc must still be bitter at being skinned so frequently by Arsenal players when he came over to England for the final installments of his pension. They are trying to squeeze as much money out of us for Chamakh as they can get, however they would do well to realise that we will not be bullied, the player has one year left on his current deal and he has also made repeated sounds that he wants out. Damien Comolli has spoken, so once again no one has listened to this insignificant and rather annoying little man.
Harvard Nordtveit has joined the Bundesliga side FC Nurnberg for a year, this will be a great opportunity for the young lad to show if he has what it takes by proving himself in a very decent division. Meanwhile I am slightly surprised that Fran Merida appears to be joining Spanish second division side Levante on loan, he showed some great promise in recent friendlies and I thought he may have been better off staying here and fighting for a game, either that or maybe going on loan somewhere in England to adjust to the more physical football on offer here. Maybe I'm wrong but to me it does appear that Arsene has his favourites and that some guys never seem to get a chance no matter how well they do when given a chance to shine.
6 comments:
Given what Athletico are doing to Liverpool in their pre-season friendly I'm very glad we avoided them. Celtic will be a good side to play - tough game but should be good to watch and it's near enough to home.
Also disappointed that Merida is not staying or at least going to somewhere more useful - surely Fulham or Birmingham would've been interested and a better option for him?
I think Hangeland will sign if Senderos leaves. I like him - he's better than Big Phil from what I've seen. He is good in the air, passes well and is the main reason why Fulham were one of the hardest teams to score against last season.
I would alos like P4 and Kalou, although not overly fussed by the latter.
Completely agree with your last point. Some players have never gotten a fair crack. This is understandable when it's plain to see from Carling Cup, loan spells and reserve matches that they are not good enough. But we have had a few that looked like they might develop into a star for us, yet were never given the same chances that less talented players have been given at our club.
Two current players that I am perplexed about in this regard are Jay Simpson and Nacer Barazite. Simpson in particular, looks like just the type of forward we need. Direct and gets into good positions. Barazite may not offer anything different than what we already have in abundance but he does look skillful.
Which is why I was baffled by their exclusion from Austria and the Emirates Cup. I mean Sanchez Watt and Fran Merida played in the Emirates Cup ahead of Simpson and Barazite! I'm not knocking Watt or Merida. But I do not think Watt is better than Simpson nor Merida better than Barazite. And all have loads of potential. But Simpson and Barazite are closer to the finished article and, I thought, were higher in the pecking order.
If we buy Chamahk and sell Simpson, I will be disgusted. Talk about bringing in players that "kill" our youth...
Barazite is interesting.
He shows some amazing talent at times but doesn't seem to deliver it consistently enough.
He had some good games on load at derby but had quite a few average ones too. I don't think he did enough whilst on loan there to push for a first team spot with us.
Simpson did reasonably at WBA, a few goals and some glimpses of his talent, but again maybe it wasn't quite enough.
Again though it does seem a tad harsh on Simpson that he hasn't been included more in pre season.
Muamba never seemed to get a crack, as one example.
While people like Silvestre get repeated chances to play like donkeys, there are many like him, for example Malz or Garde.
http://crabfootball.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/nicolas-anelkas-autobiography-shocks-the-literary-world/
this raised quite a chortle I'm me. Lets re-sign Le Grabd Saucisson just for laughs.
My spelling is wosre than the mongs who seemed to invade the interweb after an Arsenal defeat. Sincerest apologies.
This is a great sports blog that you have here. I have a sports blog myself and I would like to exchange links with you. You can do this by either contacting me through email or by simply leaving a comment on my site. It's a win-win for both of us. Let me know if this is possible. Jason
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