Have Barca been feeding false quotes to the press?

I happened to come across this story on Goonertalk this afternoon. Basically Carlos Puyol has come out to deny some quotes attributed to him in the English media:

“Hi everyone, these past days a British news media outlet has published some statements supposedly mine that are totally false, I just saw them and I can guarantee that I have not said anything nor talked to anybody about this subject. Cheers.”

I just wonder how many of the quotes which have appeared in the papers over this summer have been made up? It is strange that so many players who were away on holiday happened to be providing quotes to unsettle Cesc Fabregas by talking of how keen he was to join Barca. These quotes were exactly what Barcelona Football Club wanted to see and I don't think this is just a coincidence.

It would not beggar belief if Barcelona FC had been feeding some fake quotes to the press in order to buy Cesc Fabregas on the cheap. It is either that or the club has been encouraging players to unsettle Cesc by speaking to the media. Either way it is a low place to stoop. The Spuds have been up to the same scummy tricks in their pursuit of Scott Parker, this kind of deliberate media leak in order to unsettle a player who is under contract with another club is not impressive, it's hardly surprising as Harry Redknapp has made a career of behaving like a classless chav. I would also conclude by guessing that Daniel Levy is from the same c*nt tree as Joan Laporta.

Youth bolsters squad as season nears

We are now less than two weeks from Anfield, there is merely one remaining pre-season fixture next weekend away to Legia Warsaw. There really isn't much time left for our returning World Cup players to recover their fitness, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days and who gets the nod at Anfield. Certainly we haven't had as many players involved in the World Cup as in previous years which is a help.

The Emirates Cup has provided us with some big positives as well as the odd negative. Of the young players Wilshere and Frimpong were the winners. Frimpong showed his defensive abilities and physical power, even if his distribution was a little erratic and his positioning a little faulty, these will come with time. Wilshere bustled very effectively, he was incisive in attacking areas and his overall work ethic was good, the only black mark being the complete joke of a penalty that the incompetent Marriner awarded to Celtic late on.

Generally there were very few poor performances, even if some were a little unspectacular. Walcott stood out with some good running and much more consistent final balls. Clichy and Sagna were both looking sharp. Chamakh looks an excellent addition, he has the ability to play as a lone striker and hold the ball up effecticely. Maybe I'm being harsh but Carlos Vela doesn't convince me, he also doesn't appear to have a position. Nasri has been bright and hopefully he can step up a gear this year.

Defensively there were some lapses, but one cannot start reading too much into the odd pre-season lapse. The Milan goal was the most worrying example, we tried to hold too high a line and this made it hard to attack the ball. Celtic were extremely lucky with the first deflection dropping in their lap in front the the goal, while their second was after a clear offside, the Celtic man on the right wing was miles offside and clearly interfering with play as the ball was passed inches from him. Positively Almunia had a very good game and must be ahead of Fabiasnki in the current pecking order, while Koscielny looked sharp and read the game well.

In attacking terms our squad is strong, we still have Cesc, Diaby, RVP and Bendtner to return. It will be a tricky decision as to who gets the nod in the attacking positions. Wilshere and Frimpong give us more bite in the midfield, something that has been sadly lacking in the last couple of years, I really hope Densilon doesn't get as much of a look in as he did last season. Defensively we definitely need another centre back and Arsene has acknowledged this fact. The goalkeeping spot is a slight concern, but we should not panic buy, we must only bring someone in who is better than what we already have, while Almunia is not the greatest, he is still a very decent goalkeeper.

Taking into account the hints from Arsene and the pre-season form, it is still very hard to predict who will start an Anfield. I would expect Almunia to start in goal and the back four to be Sagna, Kosceilny/Djourou, Vermaelen, Clichy. The midfield is much harder to predict. Injury will keep Song out I would imagine, while Cesc is unlikely to be fit enough. Diaby must have a good chance, Frimpong must be playing himself into contention but one would imagine that away at Anfield would be too big a game for his competitive debut? Wilshere must have a good chance. I really hope Denilson doesn't play but we all know about Arsene's bizarre belief in his 'ability'. It would be hard to leave out Nasri and Arshavin, whole Walcott and Chamakh look likely starters, while RVP may not be fit enough to start. They key for me will be getting the right defensive balance in the midfield and maybe, just maybe that could see Frimpong get the nod.

The home grown turd burger

For those of you who don't understand the FA's latest and most ridiculous new rule, there is an excellent summary of the 'home grown' rule here courtesy of 7AM Kickoff. It is quite clear that this rule will do nothing to help develop English talent, it is more like a massive prolapsed haemorrhoid, it is a royal pain in the arse.

Whatever the ins and outs of it, our squad is under no pressure at all as a result of the new rule, there is plenty of space to sign several foreign players over the age of 21. I had a quick peek at Tottenham's squad and I can't see it being too much of a trouble to them, they have around twenty over 21s. Chelsea need to watch themselves, they have 18 foreign over-21s by my counting. Man City have about 25 over 21s and 16 of these are foreign, they are sailing close to the wind. Man United have 26 over 21s and 17 of these are foreign.

I could go on but the point is that despite the woeful rambling of the uneducated anti-Arsenal press, we are in a very strong position squad-wise for the new rule. That's all for now, other than have a look at these quotes from fat Sam and have a chuckle, what an immense hypocrite the fat walrus is.

A centre back please

Another interesting if not mind-blowing pre-season friendly is out of the way. Emmanuel Frimpong and JET are certainly two players who have made a big impression thus far. Not many of us would have expected them to come into contention for first team places at this stage, but Frimpong's defensive skills in midfield and JET's combination of power and skill make them both very useful squad assets. Obviously Wilshere has also shown how much he has developed over the last twelve months, but for me Wilshere has already shown he can do it in the Premiership.

The centre back area is a big problem for us at the moment. Sol Campbell has signed on for Newcastle and good luck to him. That leaves us with the proven Vermaelen, the unproven Koscielny and the injury prone Djourou. Of note Djourou suffered another niggle last night, it doesn't seem too serious but it does remind us of this tendency of his. The fact that the promising Bartley is out with a clavicle fracture also shows up the weakness in our squad quite dramatically. Arsene must know this and I will be extremely shocked if we do not sign up a proven experienced centre back before the deadline passes. We need another centre back badly.

Another day, defensive problems grumble on

There's no doubt what our biggest failing was last season, it was our defence and our ability to leak cheap sloppy goals. Reading Arseblogger this morning, he is concerned that these problems have not been adequately remedied, I am not quite as worried but I do agree that further strengthening is needed. The spot between the sticks is a problem as the boss has clearly lost faith in Almunia, Fabianski is not good enough and that leaves two youngsters, one of whom is a great prospect, but that is not enough for a title challenge. I am not convinced by the move for Schwarzer, he has experience I know, but he does look slow and cumbersome with his aged joints.

I am also not sure why Gallas seems so rated now he has gone, personally I think he has been poor for over a year, never dominant in the air or physically. If Arsene has faith in Koscielny and has paid 10mill for him then he deserves a chance before being written off as too small, after all he an inch taller than Gallas and no one ever went on about his height! If Campbell signs on then we have a reasonable complement of centre backs. For me the balance in our squad in terms of defensive midfielders is not right and has not been for a while. The only midfielders we have who can defend are Song, Diaby, Eastmond and Frimpong; two of these are unproven youngsters. Meanwhile we have a whole host of attacking players in midfield. Personally I would have replaced Denilson with a player who could defend.

This nasty, stupid and vindictive piece of journalism from Leo Spall in the Mail attracted a hell of a lot of criticism and quite rightly so. Pete Gill has completely dismantled it very eloquently at F365. Not only is Spall's useless writing foolish but it is in such appallingly bad taste on this occassion, he really should be ashamed of producing such offensive dross. Eduardo should be remembered with respect. Elsewhere a valid perspective on how the deliberate fouling of certain sides never gets punished ands how this can have a massive impact on games, something I'm never shy to point out. The Online Gooner points out just how stupid the new 'home grown' quotas are, they will not help matters at all. If the FA wanted a better England side then they would do well to create a footballing environment in which the clogging sides would struggle as violence was not rewarded, they seem to avoid this though for some reason.

ps I have now lost count of the number of Barca players that have openly tried to unsettled Cesc by talking of his desire to leave Arsenal in the media, David 'rat goatee and diving master' Villa is the latest in this long line of scum. If Cesc really wanted to leave he would make this known himself and he would hand in a transfer request, he has not, so all these little c*nts should keep their whoring mouths shut, something they find extremely difficult by the sound of things.

A personal farewell

"Before I start a new chapter in my career with Shakhtar Donetsk, I just wanted to send a message to all my friends at Arsenal.

"The past few days have been very emotional for me. Although I am excited about the challenge ahead with my new club Shakhtar Donetsk, I am so sad to be leaving my home for the past three years - Arsenal Football Club.

"Arsenal is a very special football club and I will miss so many people - my team mates, all the staff and of course, the wonderful Arsenal supporters.

"I would just like to thank everyone for your support during my time at Arsenal. When I first came to England, I could not speak the language and knew nobody, but as soon as I arrived I was made to feel at home and part of this big family. Also, I want to say thank you to the Arsenal supporters - you have been fantastic to me and always sung my name and I will never forget this.

"I had some very difficult times with my injury, but Arsenal was always there for me - the medical staff, the management, the players and the supporters. Thank you everybody.

"Although I have now left the Club, Arsenal will always be in my heart. I will always look for the Arsenal results and of course, I wish Arsène Wenger and the great players at the Club well for next season and the future."

Many thanks Dudu, you were a dedicated and loyal servant to the club. We wish you all the best with your fresh start. There will always be that feeling of what might have been and that is what gives so many of us such great sadness in seeing you depart.

Farewell Dudu and onwards

Firstly to Eduardo who has left the club for a fee of around six million pounds, I wish him the best of luck for the future and am truly sad to see such a talented player leave. In truth he never recovered from that Martin Taylor leg breaker, I am sure part of it was mental but a significant part of it was physical as a result of the long term damage to his ankle. He has been but a shadow of his former self in recent months and hopefully he can build some confidence at his new home. If he hadn't been injured that day we may well have seen a very different story unfold, Arsenal could well have been league champions and Eduardo may well have been one of our key players in the last few years. We were robbed of a great player by that tackle and I am sure a lot of us will never forgive the media for their pathetic role in it all. Farewell Dudu.

Onto the footballing action and Sturm Graz were fairly convincingly beaten 3-0 tonight. I caught most of the game and was fairly impressed with what I saw. The stand out figures included Samir Nasri with a lovely free kick for his second goal and JET who had a very good second half with some decent dribbling. Overall thought it was just about the fitness, the sharp passing was there and no one let the side down, you really can't read too much into these games. Certainly some of the youngsters like Nordtveit, Gibbs, Frimpong, Wilshere, JET and Lansbury have matured nicely over the last year and are valuable members of the squad.

Finally a word for the mighty Barcelona, that football club that appears to have no morals and absolutely no shame at all. Amazingly Xavi's recent comments have surpassed earlier efforts from almost the entire Barca squad, incidentally have a look at this dive from Iniesta in the world cup final, without doubt one of the worst bits of cheating in the whole tournament. The 'Holic covered the way in which FIFA reported this on their website, what a bunch of corrupt cretins this governing body is, they really should be doing something about the systematic tapping up of players by clubs like Barca. Some people seem to think Barcelona have done nothing wrong, these people are morons, the systematic abuse of the rules and the rank lack of respect that they have shown to Arsenal Football Club puts them beneath contempt in so many ways. Shame on you Barcelona, no amount of success on the pitch can make up for the morally bankrupt way in which your shabby club behaves off it.