A tough week, that one. I needed a proper pint this afternoon, and then enjoyed the added bonus of an eagerly anticipated Arsene press conference. I didn’t realise how much I had missed them. The press conferences, not the pints, obviously!

This was always going to be hugely interesting, entertaining even, and both Arsene and his questioners didn’t disappoint. He toys with the assembled presshounds when the mood takes him. Far too much is read into every single word as ATVo carry the event to the wider public.

“Frankly, we are not close to signing anybody yet,”

A hundred angry posters hit the keyboard. Well what did you expect him to say? Until we have actually signed somebody, or the clock strikes midnight on 31st August, there is nothing else he can say.

“At the moment we are still looking outside to strengthen the squad, if we find the right players we will do it. In what position I cannot tell you.”

The manager confirmed we are looking at other targets whilst stressing, as he has to, that he is also banking on natural progression from his development of a young side in recent seasons. He could possibly have phrased it a little better!

“We are not a team that is at the end of a cycle, we are at the start of a cycle. So our future will be decided not by who we buy or need but as well by how much we improve.”

I’m not sure everybody picked up on the words ‘as well’ in that sentence. Clearly there is an intention, no, a need,  to blend any new signings with those already in place.

Those who thirst for the spending of wads of cash are not the only ones to have concerns. I’m not sure he shot down rumours surrounding the signing of Mark Schwarzer with a degree of enthusiasm that would have suggested to me that we are in the market for someone better to guard our goal in the coming months.

The inevitable Cesc questions were dealt with as diplomatically as Le Boss could muster. Can we make it any more plain?

“We do not negotiate. If I want to buy your house and you do not want to sell, you do not negotiate with me, that is completely normal.”

The inquisitors continued inquisiting, and the blusterer continued blustering, and all in all we learned nothing we hadn’t known half an hour earlier.

Nothing happened today that will change any viewpoints. Frankly entrenched views can now only be changed by the performance of whatever team represents us over the coming months. Ever it was thus.

And So Onto The Dubaibury Cup

I wouldn’t go so far as to label the Saturday and Sunday fixtures as friendlies, or training games, but the fact that all four sides face two matches in twenty-four hours means that the infamous handbrake will most definitely be on for much of the weekend.

Arsene confirmed that Diaby, Denilson, Song, and Bendtner, along with Fabregas and van Persie, will be missing. Opportunities therefore present themselves to the likes of Frimpong and Wilshere, both of whom must be playing themselves into contention for a squad berth at the Grove as opposed to a loan spell elsewhere in the first half of the season, at least.

I’ll be watching the clash with Milan on television before heading for the Grove on Sunday. Hopefully I will have a snap or two of the Celtic contest from a new vantage point. We shall see. Even more exciting is the fact that the grandson I am working so hard to educate will also make his bow at the new home of football on the same day.

I’ll be back with my thoughts on the Milan game on Saturday evening, but Sunday promises to be a long drawn out affair. It could be Monday evening before I can share my day with you.

I hope you have a great weekend wherever you are watching the game, ‘holics. Thanks for reading.

Oh, and BtM, I hope you sorted yourself a ticket out for Saturday?

On the day Arsenal played the final game of their Austrian training camp, the most significant news was possibly breaking in the north-east of England. Sol Campbell’s potential move to Newcastle has yet to be confirmed at the time of writing, but if and when it happens Arsenal will most definitely be considered short for the coming season.

That point was hammered home when Johan Djourou failed to complete the opening half an hour of the 4-0 victory over Neusiedl. It is unquestionably premature to be pondering the prospect of opening the Premiership season with just the options of Koscielny or Nordtveit to partner Vermaelen. Both need to improve before making that step up, but they may do just that, and there is still time to add another player to the mix.

Those inclined to premature worrying will also not have been helped by the inclusion of Manuel Almunia for half a match. The suspicious might suggest that he was put in the shop window this evening, but he was never going to be afforded much of an opportunity to impress against opposition of limited ability and ambition.

The positives to come out of the match mainly surrounded Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere. They played the first-half as an attacking pairing in central midfield ahead of Emmanuel Frimpong and both showed some excellent touches and no sign of just coasting through the contest. That was welcome given any doubts surrounding the late-starting Cesc.

Wilshere’s clever dummy allowed Theo Walcott to open the scoring just two minutes before the latest of many combinations between Andrey Arshavin and Kieran Gibbs paved the way for Jay Emmanuel Thomas to double the tourists advantage.

There was a more solid look to the Arsenal line-up in the second-half and a brief flirtation with two defensive central midfielders, Frimpong and Nordtveit, behind Nasri. Two more goals followed under this format. Marouane Chamakh grabbed his first Arsenal goal from the penalty spot and Carlos Vela produced a trademark chip after being set free by Nasri.

A Vito Mannone penalty save denied the hosts a consolation, and interestingly there were not even cameo appearances from the bench for Diaby or Song as the match petered out. So has the Austrian sojourn told us anything significant?

Well, Frimpong may just consider he has a chance to push his claims to be Song’s understudy if he gets another ninety minutes in the sterner challenges that await this weekend. Nasri’s form suggests we can wait until Cesc is fully prepared to get his season underway. Gibbs seems to be ready to offer Clichy a real challenge for the left-back spot, and that competition can only be good for them both.

I know there are still obvious weaknesses, and it would be foolhardy to argue otherwise, but others bleat on about those day in and day out, and we have time to address them. I don’t think we are more than three, maybe four players away from having a squad to challenge, and one or two could just get another chance or two to prove us half wrong before the window closes.

‘He ain’t got a passport and his name is Edu’

After hitting the publish button on the report I ambled over to Arseblog, and as Snail has mentioned in the drinks the big fella has a great interview between Edu and representatives of Arsenal Brasil. Get over there and take a look. Grab a tissue for the end of it too. I had forgotten his last game at Highbury.

A flurry of invites have kept me away from the keyboard. In all honesty I am only now starting to recover from a very boozy golf day on Friday and a quite magnificent dinner out last night. I’m not sure four different fish on a plate isn’t being a tad greedy, but that sort of diet never did whales much harm, did it?

As my eyes have started to focus today I noticed it is goalkeeping Sunday, if you are following all of the tedious Arsenal speculation. At the same time I have to expect that it will continue until we find a home for Manuel and resolve the issue of his successor.

To be fair I have been drawn into reading the articles that have linked us to Maarten Stekelenburg and Igor Akinfeev, simply because they represent much more sensible targets than others that have been suggested. With all due respects to Mark Schwarzer I doubt there is any intention on our part to accept Fulham’s invitation to bid silly money on someone who may just be on the wrong side of the hill.

The other ‘flavour of the month’, Hugo Lloris, does not inspire me with confidence when I have seen him, and it would take a king’s ransom to prize him away from Lyon. Popular opinion today would suggest that the Russian and Dutchman will end up at Manchester United and Arsenal, but that is based on the flimsiest of evidence, sadly. Well, none at all actually, other than the fact that both clubs are looking to recruit a quality custodian, allegedly! You get my point, I’m sure.

As someone who spent his formative years watching the likes of Ian McKechnie, Jack McClelland, and Jim Furnell struggle to fill the void created by the injury to Jack Kelsey I can only confirm we have never won anything without a top class player between the sticks. It is a position that needs strengthening, and fast.

Bob Wilson, Pat Jennings, John Lukic, David Seaman, Jens Lehmann. These were all first-class stoppers who filled those in front of them with confidence at their peak, and who cajoled performances from those around them. They were as important in our triumphs of the last forty years as the George’s, Brady’s, Smith’s, Bergkamp’s and Henry’s.

I’m encouraged that we are appearing to be actively doing something about the current situation. Fabianski, or Mannone, or Szczesny, may be the future, but they are not the now.

The Tapping-Up Petition

I promised a ‘holic reader I would update you on his petition to have Barca reported for tapping up over the summer. Snir has now got over 1250 signatories (and rising) from all corners of the globe, as well as over 600 people on Facebook who ‘like this’.

Not bad for four days work that.

You would imagine that those who missed out on the disastrous French world cup campaign would have been somewhat grateful. I have to say Samir Nasri still looked more than a little angry about that this evening, and Arsenal may reap the rewards as a result.

As a pre-season warm-up fixture unfolded gently it was Nasri who raised the tempo, and produced two simply wonderful finishes to give the visiting Gunners a comfortable half-time advantage in Graz. Handshakes replaced smiles as he ‘celebrated’. This is a player with something to prove, which should be great for us when the serious stuff gets underway.

Also doing himself no harm was young Havard Nordtveit. I made the point elsewhere that I cannot see him dislodging Sagna or Eboue for the right-back berth this season, but in the absence of both of them he has impressed enough to earn himself an outing in his preferred central role next week, in my opinion.

The central defensive roles remain a concern, but too much can be made of July rustiness. As Thomas Vermaelen proved last season the important thing is to get up to speed in August. Let us hope that at least one of his colleagues does just that.

The third player to hog the attention was a half-time substitute. Jay Emmanuel Thomas alternated the central and right-sided attacking roles with Theo Walcott and the nineteen year-old gave an eye-catching account of himself. Jay’s problem is nailing down one role in which he can establish himself, but runs the risk of being a utility player who can plug the gaps when needed. Praise though is due for his performance tonight. That can only give him confidence for the weeks ahead.

Before moving on I should mention the scorer of the third goal. Henri Lansbury has grown physically since moving on loan to Watford last term. He produced a class finish to seal this fixture, and is another who must be wondering if the new season will see him get his chance at the Grove. He seems to have overtaken Barazite in the pecking order, but will that be enough?

All things considered I would imagine that the staff will be well pleased with the start to this trip.

Cheers Dudu, And Good Luck

I don’t think I have seen anybody with a bad word for Eduardo today. Down the years I have seen a number of players move on because physically top-flight football was beyond them, but few who were put in that position by a fellow professional.

Like just about every other Arsenal supporter who has commented on the various websites today I just want to thank him for the wonderful memories he left behind of a clinical finisher at his peak, and wish him every success with Shakhtar Donetsk (unless they are playing us in the Champions League, of course).

Hopefully with regular football, and away from the ‘get in their faces’ mentality of some in this country, he can regain the form that earned him our appreciation. I certainly hope so.

Apologies…

…if anybody was offended by the terminology used on this morning’s piece about FIFA’s appalling website content. I may have phrased it differently had I been up for a few hours and had time for a little reflection.

However, when I awoke early and the first article on the news aggregators was one from the governing body of world football carrying the latest blatant and orchestrated daily tapping-up of our captain by the skint and morally corrupt Catalans, I can assure you that the last thing that crossed my mind in the few minutes I had was reasoned terminology.

Since the world and his dog knows these insufferable cules don’t have the sort of money needed to buy a world cup winner, with his best years ahead of him and a five year contract with a financially stable club to boot, why don’t they accept the inevitable with whatever grace they can find in the particularly murky gutter in which they currently reside?

I’m absolutely speechless, I really am. FIFA are now carrying blatant tapping up for Barca. Must be official policy now.

This shower of shit is a toothless laughing stock.

Lunchtime Update

Thank you all for your responses, and I’m glad to acknowledge that FIFA have taken down the offending article it published this morning. You don’t have to scroll back far through their news archive though to find earlier examples of them assisting Barca’s relentless media pursuit of a player who they have been told is not for sale.

See here for the next one you would come to.

Is it really the job of of the supposed policeman of world football to promote the worst excesses of those at Barca?