Archive for June, 2009
June 8th, 2009
Arsenal appear to be on the verge of signing Belgian centre-back Thomas Vermaelen, for a free that will certainly be the highest we’ve ever paid for a defender.
Speaking to the Belgian press, the player’s agent [Soren Lerby] revaled that whilst our first offer was rejected, our second ought to pave the way for the Ajax captain to move to London.
The player himself has since spoken out about a move, and left no room for uncertainty about his motivations:
â€In the coming days there will be more talks. Moving to Arsenal is the right path for me. It is a great sporting challenge and I will also be financially better off. I think everything is going to be okay.â€
I suppose the positive way to look at that would be to call it ‘refreshing honesty’.
Not everyone is convinced he’s the answer to our defensive woes, but I think I’m in the majority when I say that I’m not really best-placed to judge, having barely seen him play. What I would say is that his height (only 5’10”) oughtn’t be an impediment if he is capable of attacking the ball with gusto. Abou Diaby and Johan Djourou are both giants, but both struggle in the air.
Perhaps I’ll have to re-evaluate my assessment of Sport.co.uk’s reliability. More on this as and when it arrives.
June 7th, 2009
After getting very excited about watching one of our players actually play football yesterday, I was understandably disappointed to see Theo Walcott withdrawn after just forty-five minutes of England’s clash with the Kazakhs. Walcott was poor, but no poorer than anyone else in an insipid first-half performance by England. Whether or not he’ll keep this place in the side that faces Andorra remains to be seen.
Aaron Ramsey fared much better, lasting the ninety minutes and impressing as a young Wales team triumphed over Azerbaijan.
Nicklas Bendtner’s Denmark and Robin van Persie’s Holland also picked up good wins in the battle for qualification, but there weren’t any particularly newsworthy contributions from either individual.
One man it was a surprise to see playing was Emmanuel Adebayor, who started Togo’s 3-0 defeat to Gabon. Considering that on the final day of the season Adebayor was limping around as if heavily injured, it’s quite the recovery and does bring into question once more just how ‘injured’ he ever was.
Reports in Belgium suggest Arsenal and Ajax have come to an £11.4m agreement over the transfer of Thomas Vermaelen. Whilst I’d be delighted to see us spending relatively big money on a centre-back, it’s fairly likely that these stories in Belgium have been sparked by the stories in the British press, which in turn were sparked by a questionable report on an internet site that as yet lacks credibility. It’s hard to know where the cycle of bollocks ends, frankly.
Have a good Sunday.
June 6th, 2009
To followers of English football, who’ve just seen Gareth Barry reject the overtures of Liverpool to plump instead for the riches of Man City, these quotes from reported target Edin Dzeko are very refreshing:
“It is not realistic for Dzeko who is a leading player in Germany and due to perform in the Champions League to opt for an average club like Manchester City. Arsenal is the other case. We will discuss their offer seriously.”
What’s not clear from that is whether the offer is real or purely hypothetical. Certainly the only way a striker could arrive is if at least one departs.
Theo Walcott has confessed he grew a moustache and a designer beard because he was sick of Arsenal players calling him “Sweet Little Boy”:
“They used to call me Sweet Little Boy. That’s why I grew the beard and ‘tache. They can’t use that any more.”
It’s a fool-proof strategy, as this picture of an adult demonstrates:
Theo will be in action for England this afternoon – you know it’s bad when you’re so starved of football that you’re actively looking forward to Internationals.
Till tomorrow.
June 5th, 2009
Nothing we’ve heard on the transfer front this Summer can really qualify as news, principally because it has all arrived enshrouded with the distinct aroma of falsehood. Still, that hasn’t stopped the flies of the press buzzing around it like the proverbial harvesters of excretal waste, publishing stories with less credibility than this current incarnation of the Labour Government (The HIGNFY audition continues apace…).
The latest story (though it lacks the creativity to justify that name) suggests that we are locked in a £12m tug-of-war with Man City over Edin Dzeko, whose goals last season helped fire Wolfsburg to the top of the Bundesliga.
From the glimpses I’ve seen, Dzeko is a big, powerful player who would make a decent Premiership Number 9 – in truth, I believe he’ll end up a little further down the table. Perhaps City, Spurs, or somewhere like that.
The timing of this story is unfortunate for The Mail, as it comes just hours after Emmanuel Adebayor’s agent suggested that there was little serious interest in the striker’s services. On top of that, Nicklas Bendtner seeems to be sufficiently ammending his PR skills to start endearing him to the fans. I would be very surprised if signing a striker is remotely near the top of Arsene’s wish-list.
Cristian Zapata, Udinese’s towering defender, would make much more sense. Zapata claims Arsenal have joined a host of top European clubs in enquiring about his availability, whilst Ajax skipper Vermaelen (still yet to sign) had no comment on our reported interest when asked yesterday.
Arsenal.com have published some very interesting statistical analysis of our players during the league campaign. Arseblog has picked out some relevant bits here, so I thought I’d add these into the mix:
- Mikael Silvestre won 100% of his tackles. Across 14 games. Mental.
- Johan Djourou’s pass completion from the back is markedly better than any of his rivals
- There is no stat for “headers won”. Telling.
- Alex Song’s tackles won % and passes completed % are both higher than those of Denilson, Diaby – and even Cesc Fabregas
- Theo Walcott’s twenty-two appearances yielded just two goals and two assists
- Of our strikers, Adebayor has the highest shots on target % and the fewest minutes per goal
I think that as much as anything those figures show that football cannot be judged in terms of statistics. Interesting stuff though.
June 4th, 2009
Gunnerblog can this morning exclusively reveal that Thomas Vermaelen is not on the verge of joining Arsenal for £10m.
Sources close to credibility understand that all parties have spent recent days contemplating the ins, outs, and shake-it-all-abouts of the deal, and have now arrived at a point of mutual understanding whereby all is understood. Mutually.
Edging towards seriousness, I won’t be linking to any stories designed to generate just that sort of attention. And seeing as the countdown to full-blown silly season is about to come to its clownish close, I’d urge other Arsenal blogs to try and be a bit discerning, before the football blogosphere is (even more) awash with nonsense.
I should point out that I fully expect to topple from my distressingly high horse the minute the news dries up.
In other news, Emmanuel Eboue is unclear about where his future lies:
“My future at Arsenal is not clear yet, I did not play a lot in the season and the World Cup is coming.
There are many clubs interested in me, so let’s wait. Before the season’s start I will make a decision.”
Leaving aside the fact that he appeared in forty-four games last season (the same number as Manuel Almunia and Samir Nasri and more than many other far superior players), it’s a remarkable claim from Eboue. It’s a bit like Gordon Brown declaring his indecision about whether or not to remain as Prime Minister after the next general election.
Yes, that’s right. I am now using this blog to audition for Have I Got News For You.
Expecting a call from the BBC any minute now…
Next Posts
Previous Posts
