Here is a comparison of Arsenal's squad in the 2005-2006 season and the current one.

There are fewer players in defence, midfield and attack, with experience clearly lacking.

I've been thinking about the need for a defensive midfielder, but having had a look at the table, I think that it's clear that the defence is more worrying!

Injuries or suspensions to any 3 of the 6 defenders at the same time leaves only 3 recognised defenders!

This is the type of situation that could end up with Diaby or Eboue playing in central defence.

2005-2006 ATTACK Adebayor Aliadiere Bendtner Bergkamp Henry Van Persie	2008 ATTACK Adebayor Vela Bendtner Eduardo Van Persie
MIDFIELD Walcott Reyes Song Pires Owusu-Abeyie Ljungberg Larsson Hleb Gilberto Fabregas Flamini Diaby Bentley	MIDFIELD Walcott Song Fàbregas Diaby Denílson Ramsey Eboué Rosický Nasri Bischoff Wilshere
DEFENCE Campbell Clichy Cole Cygan Djourou Eboue Hoyte Lauren Senderos Toure	DEFENCE Sagna Touré Gallas Silvestre Djourou Clichy
KEEPERS Almunia Lehmann Poom	KEEPERS Almunia Fabianski Mannone

What happened!?!?!

What is an Arsenal striker? I'm not talking about a forward or an attacking player. I'm not talking about the likes of Kanu or Bergkamp who link the play.

I'm talking about the main goal getters. The ones who get the bulk of the goals and the team struggles to find a way to score when they're not in it.

Lets have a look over the last 15 or so years shall we? Starting with...

Alan smith.

Yes, Alan smith, the two time First Division top scorer who was only ever booked once in his entire career, which included moments such as getting the winning goal in the Cup Winners Cup Final against Parma and scoring against Liverpool in the famous 0-2 win at Anfield.

He was a striker suited to the kick and rush, boring, boring longball football that was the essence of the english top flight during the late 80's.

He was good in the air and good on the ground. A sort of a C.Ronaldo of his time, but with a bit less pace, not much of the attitude and absolutely none of the flair.

Alan Smith was an Arsenal striker. The fans loved him and he delivered what he was asked. His style fit the style of the team and he finished his career with the Gunners having won a Double and a European trophy.

But who could replace such a big player for Arsenal? Who could come in and to the difficult job of getting the goals and pushing the likes of Liverpool for the FIrst Division Championship? In the end Arsenal turned to a player named...

Ian Wright.

The electric pace. The sharp shooter accuracy. The goals game after game after game.

Wright pretty much wore his heart on his sleeve, and was known for even celebrating his training ground goals. Not only was he an Arsenal player, but he was one of Arsenal's biggest fans. His goal celebrations and hyperactive character won supporters over from almost the first time he stepped onto the pitch in an Arsenal shirt.

Big moments in his career include breaking the clubs goal scoring record and being part of the Double winning side of 97-98.

Then eventually, as Wright began to lose his pace and the goals started to dry up, Arsenal needed a new striker. There was almost a sense of resignation that finding someone who could fill Wrights boots could take years, such was the impact he had made on the club.

Then along came a young winger who had struggled to get off of the Juve subs bench called...

Thierry Henry.

Even though he was never officially recognised with an award, Thierry was probably the first Arsenal player to be considered the best player in the world.

A World Cup and European Championship winner. He also won the Double with Arsenal in 2002 and captained the team to the Champions League Final in 2006.

His pace, sharp finishing and link up play with Vieira and Pires helped him break Ian Wright's goal record on his way to a total of 226 goals in 369 games (including 83 assists).

But being considered one of the best players in the world means that the best clubs are always knocking on your door, and eventually, Thierry left for Barcelona with the expectation of being able to write his name down in football history along with the biggest names.

So there you have it.

This is what any new front man has to try and improve upon.

These are the kind of things that an Arsenal striker needs to have.

These are the kind of abilities and records that Arsenal fans expect, no, demand the next main striker to have and make.

Just 'working your socks off' is not good enough if you give the ball away with one out of every two passes.

Missing 'sitters' is ok, I'm sure even Pele and Maradona did that, but missing 2 or 3 easy chances in almost every game is not.

So who will be the next Arsenal striker?

Who will be the one to eclipse what Thierry achieved and take the team forward?

Adebayor?

Certainly not from what he's shown so far.

Theo?

We won't know until he's given a run as a striker.

Carlos Vela?

My hunch is that he'll play more out wide than he does as a striker.

David Villa?

Maybe he's just too expensive.

Where do I start?

Well first of all, I've discovered that there is a media conspiracy against Arsenal.

Not only have the BBC pundits, well known for their badly disguised dislike of Arsenal (minus Mr Dixon), been writing off Arsenal all season, but they are now joined by almost the entire Rupert Murdoch media empire.

Lets get this straight

These days football is about making money.

Sky have made an absolute fortune out of football. I can't imaging that the majority of its customers subscribe so that they can watch crappy programs that they can download for free or constant re-runs of 6 month old films for weeks on end.

Sky is the USA of television and Setanta, Virgin Media and ITV are the 'axis of evil'.

You can forget about any favourable reporting of Arsenal from any Rupert Murdoch owned media source for the foreseeable future.

Why?

Because Arsenal have joined Setanta in Making Arsenal TV.

Which means that every good word about Arsenal on Sky is free advertising for a Setanta Channel. ( If you want to see this brilliant club, the best place is on Setanta, right? )

Which also helps Virgin Media

Which means that Rupert Murdoch loses money...


...I don't think he likes the idea of losing money.

Am I being Paranoid?

I don't think so. Even Cesc has come out and said that he'd noticed that the media seemed to be happy every time Arsenal lost.

You're not wrong Cesc, you're not wrong at all.

The majority of the media are now desperate for Arsenal to fail spectacularly for two reasons.

1. Because of the above mentioned move with Setanta
2. Because most, if not all of the pundits that they pay salaries to wrote Arsenal off from day 1.

At the beginning of the season, if you believed the hype, Arsenal would be struggling to get into 5th place right about now and Man Utd and Chelsea would be about 10 points ahead of 3rd and 4th placed Liverpool and Tottenham!

Most so-called Arsenal fans seem to be totally oblivious to this.

I keep seeing stupid comments and posts on blogs talking about how badly Arsenal are doing and that it's all Arsene's fault for being too stubborn to spend tens of millions of pounds on 'galactico's'.

These people have lost the plot.

Not only have they fallen for the media conspiracy, but they've forgotten exactly where the club is and where it should be.

People seem to have forgotten that it was Arsene who pushed for the Emirates move.

Without that, Arsenal would almost certainly still be at Highbury with the mid range gate receipts that it provided.

There was a reason that Arsenal struggled to pay a wage of more that £60,000 a week while others were offering £100,000, and it's largely due to the stadium.

So basically, even if Arsenal got a combined bid of £200m for the worlds best players accepted, most of them probably wouldn't join because of the wages on offer.

So you could say... No Arsene = No Emirates = No big wages = No world class signings anyway!!

So all of the people who think that Arsene doesn't know what he's doing clearly don't know what they're talking about.

These are probably the same people who said that Henry was a waste of money who couldn't finish and that we needed a proven striker like Dion Dublin.

If they want big money signings every summer, they should go and support Liverpool.

Liverpool have Torres and Mascherano (two players Arsenal 'fans' moan about missing out on), and where are they?

Battling it out for 4th place with Everton, thats where.

Where are Arsenal?

Still on the heels of Man Utd and in with a chance of being champions, that's where.

Don't believe the media conspiracy.

This time next week, Arsenal could be 3 points behind Man Utd in second place and awaiting a Champions League Semi Final against Fenerbahce.

Not bad for a team on such a 'terrible' run.

If Arsenal win the a trophy this season, it will probably be the best trophy that the club has won since 1989, because almost everyone is against the team.

Right, first off, Taylor should not get away with his horror tackle by just being handed a 3 match ban.

Arsene has spoken before about the way that teams try and shake Arsenal up possibly leading to a serious injury, and here you are.

It's not too dissimilar to what happened to Diaby a couple of seasons ago against Sunderland, and I'm sure that leg breaks like this on Arsenal players will continue to happen sooner or later if people think that the most they will get is a 3 match ban.

I mean, of course the guy is going to plead innocent and of course all his fellow players and manager will give him the best character reference in the world

So what else is new?


Anyway, the game showed something that need fixing, because Adebayor is still doing stupid things.

Yeah, I will admit, he has been playing about 10 times better recently. He's been scoring the goals and has actually managed to complete some decent passes and not wreck a huge amount of build up play.

But...

The way he didn't pass to Bendtner was ludicrous. Replays show him looking up as he ran towards goal, then after he missed, you can lip read him telling Bendtner "sorry, I didn't see you"

Now what's up with that!?

If Gallas wants to openly put the blame on someone, he should look at Adebayor and his selfishness that kept Birmingham in the game.

Wenger needs to get those two together and tell them to stop being such a couple of big kids.

If Cole and Sheringham can play well together without talking to each other, then so can these two. Who cares who's better between them!? They should play for the team.

Right now, I still keep remembering Thierry and how he used to get so many assists. I'm pretty certain that if he was in the same position, the ball would have been squared 10 times out of 10.

If Adebayor wants to replace Thierry, then he should try looking at his assists as well as his goals.

Bendtner is much better than Adebayor.

He's a better footballer, with a better first touch, better control, better positioning, more tactically aware and a better team player.

Adebayor has scored the goals because he's been given a good long run in the side and a chance to setlle in the team.

I say that if Bendtner had been given the same opportunity in terms of first team starts, he'd have scored more goals.

However, Adebayor would win in a fight.

He's much stronger!!

Agree?

"We beat two other English teams last time and we won’t have problems with Arsenal."

That's what he's apparently said.

I just wanted to put this here now, along with the following story from earlier in the season, so I can look back at them and laugh in a few weeks time.

_______________________________________________________________
Arsenal can't win the Champions League - Ancelotti
Last updated at 12:05pm on 14th November 2007

Carlo Ancelotti has claimed Arsenal do not have the experience needed to win this season's Champions League.

"Arsenal play well and they are getting excellent results, but the Champions League is decided in spring," Ancelotti, who led Milan to victory in the competition last season and in 2003, told the La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Carlo Ancelotti has questioned whether Arsenal can handle it when the going gets tough

"Arsenal had lots of young, enthusiastic players but experience was crucial when the competition headed into its latter stages, he added.

"It's necessary to know how to handle the pressure and tension in the best way. I don't know if they are trained for this."

Ancelotti said his team were the second strongest in the Champions League behind Barcelona.
_______________________________________________________________

Adebayor is USELESS

I know I've been gone for ages, but I just wanted to share that with you all.

He can't pass the ball properly!

Drop him Wenger. Play Bendtner.



And NO whining comments either!!!

A very good result for Arsenal in the first game of this years Champions League group stage.

The performance was reasonably good, considering the stuttering preparations the team has been able to manage since the season started.

This season is relatively new territory for me.

I don't think I can remember a season where the squad has has so little time together even though six games have been played.

Football seasons are usually like soap operas, the same thing happens every year, except with different/new characters/players.

Not this season though. The stupid fixture list, which has drawn a lot of criticism, might just have upset the usual pattern.

Saying that though, wednesday nights game was pretty much according to script.

A European side thinking that attacking Arsenal is a good Idea, and then getting completely opened up as soon as they do.

Hardly any premiership side do that any more.

Escpecially the weaker teams.

Middlesbrough got a good result at the Emirates by sticking 11 players behind the ball, so other premiership sides will more than likely use the same gameplan until Arsenal figure out a way to beat it.

Not so European sides such as Hamburg on Wednesday.

In the end a Gilberto penalty and a Rosicky screamer were enough to reward Arsenals overall dominance of the game with 3 points.

As for van Persie... It wasn't a dive as far as I'm concerned.

Nor as far as he's concerned either:

"At first it was on my mind to shoot straight away. I just had a first touch and passed the keeper.

There was a little bit of contact, but it was never my intention to dive.

I am not like that and I think it is bad for the game."

Rosicky's goal wasn't a Typical Arsenal goal by any means.

Rosicky is the antithesis of Hleb.

He shoots on sight.

Not so Hleb, who might look for a pass if he was on the six yard line with an open goal.

As far as I'm concerned, Hleb has become the most error prone mamber of the team since Reyes has left, so until he starts shooting, I'd be happy to see Baptista keep him out of the side.

Anyway, just as I'm about to post this, I see that Arsenal have released a statement denying having any talks about a possible take over.

Which doen't suprise me one bit.


Arsenal Holdings plc has noted the speculation in the media that it has received an approach or has been in talks which may lead to an offer for the Company.

The Board of Directors confirms that it is not and has not been in any such talks and has not received any such approach.


Thats the end of that story then....

...yeah right.

I'm almost lost for words at exactly how childish Ashley Cole really is.

His feeble excuses for wanting to leave the club such as...

"The club made Thierry feel wanted and special, wooing him... ...But me? I didn't have one dinner, one meeting or one phone call from anyone."

...and...

"Thierry and I sat in the centre circle after the final whistle, his name was sung from the rooftops while my contribution was recognised by a deafening silence."

...are so far past pathetic, that they border on ludicrous.

Why would anyone waste their breath singing his name??

What did he do for the club in the whole season that was so special??

Did he score loads of goals??

No... but Thierry did.

Did he make loads of assists??

No... but Thierry did.

Did he play in almost every game, even when he wasn't fit??

No... but Thierry did.

I suppose this is what happens when a person joins a football club from the age of 9.

Living in a fantasy world a lot of people only ever dream of, some of them clearly don't seem to see the need to actually grow up.

Honestly! It's like a younger sibling wanting to run away from home because his big brother got more jelly and ice cream for pudding!

oooooohhh.... they don't love me like they should..... 'whimper', 'whimper'...

What!? Even after you went off and met Mourinho, then faked injury for the rest of the season??

Ah... the faked injury...

Yes, Ashley has something to say about that too (showing what a 'tough guy' he is in the process, oh yes! ) after being asked if he really was injured:

"'That was it. I blew my lid. `What!' I shouted, barely able to keep a lid on it,[oh Ashley, you're so hard!] `I need to play for Arsenal to go to the World Cup, so why would I hold back? The more I hold back, the less chance I've got of going to Germany! And you are insulting me'.'"

Prat.

Yes Ashley, why on earth would anyone doubt your commitment to the club? It's not like you went off trying to get a contract with another... Oh, wait a minute!

Anyway, it's a known fact that Eriksson had 'un-droppables', of which you were one. As long as you were fit, you were in the England squad. That was obvious.


Anyway enough about the invisible man.

So it's another 2 points dropped after totally dominating the game.

Not too much to worry about so far, though IMO.

As Thierry said, it's not like the team played badly or didn't look like winning.

Gallas played very well, and Rosicky provided the shock of the match by shooting from outside the box.

I wasn't even expecting such a dominant performance after an international break to be honest, so it does look like there's plenty to be positive about right now.

However, it would be nice to have an answer to teams who play with 11 men behind the ball.

Anyway I'm way too bored of talking about plan b's, so I'll leave it at that.

Next up, Hamburg SV.

How pathetic can you get??

It seems that Mourinho and his fake mafia "family" are desperate to show to the world just how childish they can REALLY get.

Quite how they continue to defend their actions and present a laughable image of good character is way beyond me.

One of the most staggering things about the comedy statement, which calls Gallas some sort of twisted money hungry Chelsea hater, (even though he was consistently one of their best players for 5 years) is that they seem to be under the impression that people would sympathise with them and their claims.

But they're the ones who've just bought a player who turned his back on his boyhood club over £5000 a week.

Have they not done enough??

Have they not been criticised from all quarters enough? Fined enough? Officially warned by the FA enough? Officially warned by UEFA enough?

They lie, force referees into retirement, openly tap up players, break the rules, ruin young players' careers, spoil the game with ridiculous wages and transfer fees for squad players, then even after all of that, they want to convince everyone that they have a good image.

Gallas isn't the only one who wanted to leave Chelsea in the summer.

Their problem is that if they let all of their unhappy players leave, they'd probably have to buy a new team every season.

Come on Chelsea, show some class.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Aston Villa
_________________________



Not a great result, but not necessarily a bad one

I wasn't sure what to expect from this game.

There were a lot of unknowns.

How would Arsenal play on the bigger pitch? How would Villa react to the new stadium? Would the Villa players give 110% to try and stay in O'neil's team if he brings in new players? Is the Cole/Reyes nonsense affecting the spirit? Would the international games take their toll on the players? Would Arsene tell the players to take it easy because of the mid-week game? etc, etc, etc...

So in the end, I wasn't too disappointed with the result

Aston Villa came to defend, and not get battered, and they only just managed to do that.

There are a lot of players out, and there is a long way to go, so for me, the picture is more or less a positive one.

Another obvious positive was Walcott's performance.

He set up the goal and looked dangerous on the ball.

He's much better than Reyes already!

FACT: Reyes continuously gets disposessed and gives the ball away in attacking situations

FACT: Walcott apparently didn't lose the ball once on saturday

FACT: Reyes is desperate to go to Spain

FACT: Walcott is desperate to play with his hero Thierry Henry

If Walcott gets 15-20 games this season, I'm sure he'll end up with better stats than Reyes would get, even if he was to play every game in the whole season.

If you think I'm wrong, check the OPTA stats at the end of the season and prove it.


Anyway, the sooner the Cole deal gets sorted out, the quicker the squad can be finalised, and the players can focus properly.

There is just a slight feeling that the season hasn't really started yet, and until the transfer window closes I'm sure it'll stay that way.


Next up, Dinamo Zagreb

ASHLEY COLE has said some really stupid stuff in the past, but declaring that he IS available for selection and also that he hAs some sort of special relationship with Arsenal fans is TOTALly over the top.

Incase you didn't know Mr Cole, here's an explanation of what you did.

You Betrayed All Those That You Befriended Whilst Only Young!!!

Betrayal I say!!

And now you pretend that there's no problem, and it's all no big deal??

When will you get the message??

Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 3 Arsenal
________________________


Two goals from Cesc either side of one from van Persie looks like being enough to put Arsenal through to the next round even before the 2nd leg in two weeks.

Zagreb seemed very decent, and always looked capable of scoring up until Cesc's first.

They played almost as if they believed that the tie was all but done and dusted towards the final stages of the game, so will probably look at the 2nd leg in two weeks time as a nice day out before they go into the UEFA cup.

It was quite a strong performance considering the stage of pre-season that the team is at. I must admit that I was expecting the passing to be way off, and the players to tire early in the second half, but that didn't happen.

Rosicky started on the left, taking Reyes' place and did very well on his debut. His link up play with the rest of the team was good and he looks like he won't take long to settle.

Fabregas, the new number 4, just seems to keep getting better and better almost every time I see him play.

Both of his goals were well taken and his performance tonight clearly showed that even at the age of 19, he's already become one of the most important players in the side.

Actually, all of the players who pulled on the shirt and played deserve a mention, not just Rosicky and Cesc.

All those who didn't want to, don't deserve anything at all.

In fact, now that I think about it, there are some players on SEVENTY THOUSAND POUNDS A WEEK, who openly profess to not even care about the club.

But we won't mention them.

Because the road to the Final in Athens starts here.

Right!

I'm just about getting fed up of this!

Jose Now says He Doesn't want to go anywhere, and denies all knowledge of the quotes about wanting to join Real that are attributed to him.

He says:


“I did not say these words, I’ll tell you once again, I am happy at Arsenal and I am looking forward to the coming campaign. We have a new stadium this season and we are pushing for honours in all competitions. I do not want to leave Arsenal."


So there you have it.

Another denial, surely soon to be followed by another plea to leave.

Well at least this is all slightly more interesting than waiting to hear when Cole is finally going to go.

So which is it?

Does Jose really want to stay? Is he just a victim of press lies?

Or is he just taking everyone for a ride?

Maybe he actually is responsible for both sets of contradictory quotes, and his plan is to engineer a move without actually appearing to have done so.

Well as far as I'm concerned, he's an Arsenal player until he goes and I don't trust a word he says any more.

He played well in tonights friendly, which Arsenal won relatively comfortably with goals from Gilberto, Adebayor and a Van Persie penalty.

What a strange silly season this is turning out to be!

Real Madrid have yet again managed to successfully unsettle an Arsenal player.

Reyes openly admits that he's been unsettled by all of the stupid talk that's been coming out of Madrid recently.


"I miss Spain and I have a unique opportunity to return with what Real are offering. Everyone has to understand I can't let this chance slip away. Real Madrid are unique.

I don't know what is happening but I am a little unsettled by all the rumours."


So after all of the hard work and effort by Arsene and many others at Arsenal, all it took was a few Marca and As 'journalists' to completely ruin it all.

It's obvious from the reaction to the first fake story that most Arsenal fans don't mind if he goes or stays.

He's still only a young boy, and living in England makes him (and therefore probably his immediate family) unhappy, so it's better that he goes in my opinion.

The only obvious problem is a replacement.

Arsene doesn't like spending.

I don't think he'd spend big money even if he had it.

In fact, I think if he had £40m to spend he'd rather buy 40 young players for £1m each, than two £20m players.

He may well have £40m to spend if Cole and Reyes are both sold.

But how will he spend it?

Your guess is as good as mine...

Jose Antonio Reyes has quickly moved to completely deny wanting to leave Arsenal for the crumbling shambles that is Real Madrid.

Jose clarifies:

"I don't know where these words have come from.

But what I would like to say is that I am very happy at Arsenal. At the moment we are all training hard in preparation for the new season and I am excited about not only playing at Emirates Stadium but also helping Arsenal to challenge for honours."

So that's that then.

It seems as though there are certain parts of the press who are either intent on causing disruption at Arsenal, or on finally seeing an Arsenal player go to Real Madrid.

You decide.

Reyes has decided that he just can't put up with life in England anymore, and appears to be demanding a move to Real Madrid.

He's apparently said, amongst other things:

"I have always said that I want to return to Spain."

"I've nothing against Arsenal, but they know I have never adapted to life in England. Neither the climate nor the language has come easy."

"If Real Madrid want me then that is marvellous."

Well... that was certainly out of the blue.

The obvious suggestion is that Baptista would be part of any deal, but first of all he wants to stay in Spain, and secondly, I hope he doesn't because I don't think he's good enough for Arsenal or even the Premiership for that matter.

With Barca seemingly still keen to sell Saviola off and Arsenal's earlier reported interest, it doesn't look like there would be much difficulty in sorting out a deal at the kind of price that Arsene likes to shop at for a player of Saviola's abilities.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Reyes' desperate plea to leave. He's never been one of my favourite players since THAT phone hoax, and even though he's always appeard to put the effort in, he's never really justified his price since he's been here.

The way see it, he's a player with potential rather than an established one, so as far as I'm concerned his football won't be missed much, if at all.

Why try and keep him against his will anyway? If England really does make him so unhappy, how is he ever going to develop properly both on and off the pitch?

Cesc's agent has confirmed what almost everyone with a brain knew anyway, and that is:

"Cesc is staying at Arsenal, they wouldn't sell him for a hundred million euros, it's not a blow for Cesc, nor for his family, nor for me; quite the opposite, it's a source of pride.

We are very thankful to Arsenal who are part of Cesc's life, just like Barcelona.

We are not the kind of player or agent who would try to force their exit from a club.

We would never try to stab in the back a club (Arsenal) who have done so much for Cesc."

DID YOU HEAR THAT MADRID!?

DID YOU HEAR THAT MARCA!?


Not that this will make any difference though...

They'll just be back next year after Capello walks out for the second time and they need to cheer the fans up.

In fact, the more summers that pass and they don't manage to land one of Arsenal's best players, the more desperate they will probably become to do it!


Anyway, it also appears (as I suspected) that Arsene isn't interested in Ribery at all, after his agent seemed to be indicating that he's going nowhere this year.

He's a good player, but I don't think that he'd add enough to the side for Arsene to consider paying the double figures of millions that he will doubtless cost after his world cup displays.

Plus, I also think that there's a 1 in, 1 out policy at the moment, so with Aliadiare coming back from loan, expect a defender and that's yer lot!


You heard it here first!

YES!

I'm back again.

Had a bit of a mid-20s crisis, but I'm back!

Loads to write, loads to catch up on, loads to moan about...

But as a starter I was just thinking about the latest rumours, and it got me thinking about formations and tactics etc.

I came up with this as possibly the best formation:



Or at least what I think Arsene will go for as his best formation.

So where does Saviola fit in?

Where will this leave Adebayor?

Was he just a waste of £8m??

Maybe it's all just agent speak.

And here's a great BIG kick in the teeth for all the Arsenal haters out there...


Thierry Henry says he will sign his contract offer today if he can, and that there's no way he could leave the Arsenal fans, who he sees as being just like family.

"I hope to stay as long as I can keep running. I couldn't leave the fans. They're like family,"

"I love Barcelona, but on Wednesday Arsenal showed they had heart. I hope to finalise details today."

This news will obviously infuriate the all the clowns who were so desperate for Thierry to leave, but I have to say, it's not really a surprise to me.

Why would the best player in the world leave the best club in the world?

FIFA President Sepp Blatter agrees with Arsene, Thierry, Pele, Kevin The Grouch and even referee Hauge himself that the game was made more difficult for Arsenal due to bad refereeing decisions.

Arsenal started the game brilliantly and even with 10 men were only 15 minutes from a tremendous victory.

Blatter, head of footballs governing body said about referee Hauge:

"What he did wrong in my opinion is that when such an action [occurs], not only in front of the goal mouth, but everywhere, he should play the advantage."

"Finish the action and then he can come back and whistle"

"He was too fast to blow the whistle."

"At such a level, we expect in FIFA and in the World Cup that such a situation does not occur"

But of course, not being a bunch of completely sad and pathetic sore losers, Arsenal will not write to UEFA demanding that the game be replayed.

It took the so-called best team in the world an offside 'goal' to break Arsenal down, and now it's clear to anyone with a brain that the referee just wasn't good enough to keep the game balanced on the night.

So it looks like even though Arsenal were prevented from winning the game, they won the admiration of true football fans the world over.

Something that most other clubs look like they will never be able to do.

I have to say, there's no reason to be disappionted in losing tonight.

Even with only 10 men, Arsenal led and pressured Barcelona all the way up until there were only 15 minutes left.

I know there will be some fans blaming Jens for getting sent off, but they need to remember just how big a penalty save he made against Villareal, and that he didn't concede a single Champions League goal all season.

I'm sure that he had the same intention tonight, and was only doing whatever he thought was necessary to keep a clean sheet.

I don't blame him anyway.

I don't blame any of the players... I think they all gave their best.

They gave their best against a Barcelona side that most people expected to wipe the floor with them.

This Barcelona side was supposed to step on the pitch, wait around for 90 minutes and the lift the trophy, but they were 15 minutes away from losing.

15 minutes away from deservedly losing to a team that was giving their best, while being down to 10 men.

Arsenal showed tonight that they ARE a big club.

A big club with big players who deserve to be playing at this level.

Barcelona are supposed to be a "MASSIVE" club, but they needed to dig extra deep to get the win.

Juve were supposed to be a big club, and Real are supposed to be the biggest, but in the end it was only when Arsenal were down to 10 men that they were beaten.

The team did so well just to get this far, and in the end they managed to get just 15 minutes away from becoming European Champions.

In a way, I'm reminded of the 'Owen' FA Cup Final.

Just a few minutes away from winning.

It was the first FA Cup in Cardiff, and he popped up to win it for Liverpool in injury time.

I certainly didn't imagine at the time that Arsenal would be back in Cardiff again to win the trophy in 3 out of the next four seasons.

It would be nice to do the same thing with the Champions League.

Anyway...

Next up, the World Cup.

Where do I start!?

What a day yesterday turned out to be!

Early morning - There's coverage almost everywhere about this being the last game at Highbury. It almost seems like FA Cup Final day.

Early afternoon - The anticipation builds. It seems like it's going to be the most exciting day of the season, but Spurs look like they're in the best position to finish 4th.

About 1.00pm - Spurs announce that 10 players came down with food poisoning the night before and want to re-arrange their game with West Ham!!

About 2.00pm - Spurs' request turned down. The game goes ahead.


Talk about a rollercoaster ride!

Arsenal go ahead...West Ham score...Wigan equalise...Spurs equalise...Wigan go 2-1 up...Arsenal equalise...Half time.

Second Half...Thierry scores...West Ham get a penalty...Sheringham passes it to the keeper...Freddie comes on...Freddie is fouled...Wigan down to 10 men as Thierry slots home the penalty for his hat-trick...West Ham score...Wigan are finished...Spurs are GUTTED!!...Arsenal are 4th...Now for Pairs...


Usually, finishing 4th wouldn't seem like such a big thing to shout about, but because it means booting Spurs into 5th, after they were ready to start moaning about deserving to be in the Champions League even if Arsenal win it, makes the difference.


I've been really, really busy lately, which is why I didn't write about the Sunderland/Man City games.

Two very good wins and I didn't write about them.

One of the reasons was that all 3 games including this one almost seemed like one single long game.

Anything less than 9 points, and it looked like goodbye to 4th, so writing about them before they were all finished felt as if I was writing about a game after only 60 minutes had been played.


So now there's one more game to go before the World Cup.

Barca are favourites, but so were Madrid...

So were Juve...

So were Spurs...


Next up, Barcalona.

Arsenal are in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League Final!!

Even after dominating the game and coming close on a number of occasions. Villareal just couldn't score.

The referee, apparently sympathising with their inability to hit the back of the net, awarded them one of the softest penalties in the entire history of football.

There were just a few minutes to go.

Arsenal were on the back foot.

Surely a goal now would send the game into extra time and cause the young players' heads to drop.

Who should step up but Riquelme. The new Zidane. The "best player in the world".

The seconds ticked.

The cameras flashed.

Replays repeated on screens all over the world.

The ball lay prone on the spot, almost as if it desperately needed to get its 'fix' of contact with the sweet yellow goal net.

'Hit me Juan! Hit me into the net!!'

The whole crowd except one small red/redcurrant and white corner positioned themselves to roar into celebration.

Elbows in, fists clenched.

Riquelme eyeballed Lehmann.

Lehmann puffed up his chest and spread out his arms like a giant German dragon unfolding its wings.

Waiting...


The ref blew

Step... step... THUMP!

Riquelme hit the ball to Lehmann's left.

DU BIST MEIN!!

Lehmann saved!

The ball pounded into the ground. Almost frustrated that it was so, so close to touching the soft yellow net.

Arsenal scrambled for the ball.

Riquelme didn't move. He seemed momentarily lost in a silent world of his own. Staring at the ground in despondency.

Lehmann!! Lehmann!! Lehmann!!

After the match Forlan described Riquelme's mood:

"He is obviously very gutted."



Some people will probably go on about how Arsenal played badly.

A more accurate description would probably be that they played like a team that had played 3 very hard games in 6 days.

Hleb looked too tired to run for almost the whole game.

Tired legs gave away possession again and again and again.

But when the full time whistle came, the defence still hadn't conceded and Arsenal were now in the final.

The UEFA Champions League Final.


Next up, Sunderland.

Forget about the game.

It wasn't much of a game anyway.

A few sentences should sum it up.

Team line ups... Arsenal pic 'n' mix squad rotation side Vs Spurs strongest side.

Spurs play well, Arsenal play like a side waiting for Tuesday.

Thierry, Eboue and Cesc come on.

Gilberto and Eboue colide.

Spurs try to take the unfair advantage.

Keane scores.

Arsene fumes.

Thierry equalises.

Davids walks.

Ref blows.

The end.


All of a sudden, the media's anti Arsenal brigade have an excuse to spout their usual gibberish.

'Ooohh... Look at Wenger, he's so angry... He should apologise for his unjustified behaviour... It's not in the rules... blah, blah, blah...'

I'd like to see their response if this happened in the World Cup.

England V's Argentina.

Veron plays on and passes to Riquelme, who sets up Crespo for a goal as Neville Lies on the pitch after colliding with Gerrard.

'Oh, those South Americans!... They don't know anything about fair play!... They're always rolling around on the floor, diving... Why should we expect them to understand the fair play we practice in this country!?...'


Anyway, the way things stand, winning the Champions League has become even more important, so the best way to shut the anti Arsenal brigade up again is to win on Tuesday.

Next up, Villareal.