This season really does seem to be developing the groundhog day effect.

Once again Arsenal are beaten by a long ball to a big striker who brushes of the defence and scores.

So there goes the best chance of actually qualifying for any European competition next season.

Unless all of the other teams in the Premiership suddenly have a rush of yellow and red cards, thus sending Arsenal into Europe via the Fair Play route.

But obviously I can't imagine that happening.

I also can't Imagine Bolton Losing on Saturday.

So Arsene is 100% right in turning all of his focus to the League.

Well done Arsene!

It was a bit of a strange night.

The fact that a team who were actually considered joint favourites with Real Madrid to win the Champions League only two seasons ago, now desperately wanted to reach the final of one the most meaningless competitions in the world spoke volumes.

All of the "big guns" were out... Some of them somewhat short of ammo these days, but they were ready to do their stuff.

Even so, it was the performance of young Gilbert that really stood out for me.

I was also really looking forward to seeing Diaby play, and what sort of effect he'd have on the team.

For the first 25-30 minutes of the game all I kept saying to myself every time he got involved with the play was:

'Vieira would've probably won that tackle...'

'Vieira would've probably made that pass...'

'Vieira would've probably flattened both of those players and then won possession...'

But then I realised that he's not Vieira, he's a only played 5 times in the French League.

Surely what the team needs right now is some proper steel!

Someone like Gravesen.

Someone who can honestly turn around to the press and say:

"I notice it on the field, there is an atmosphere around me.

My opponents throw themselves to the floor whenever I am near them and the referees pull out the cards so quickly.

It is as though they are thinking 'Here comes that killer from Real Madrid'."

Now THAT'S what I call steel!


But it doesn't look likely, so it looks like we're all in for a lot more of that Deja Vu feeling for a good while yet.

Next up, Bolton.

Arsenal faced Everton today with no left backs on the pitch

No left backs...

No midfield...

No attack...

No clue.


It was the same as every other away game in which the so-called 'plan B' has ended up showing the footballing world the true definition of a one trick pony.

Sure, any team that plays proper football against this Arsenal team will more than likely lose.

The only problem is that every manager in the Premier League seems to have figured this out.

That's why they've all been playing high pressure, hoof and head football.


Today Arsenal did pretty much nothing.

Like a snake with no head, they slithered about in the usual fashion, but there seemed no chance of a bite whatsoever.

Sometimes watching Arsenal is like watching a firing squad full of pacifists.

Nobody wants to shoot.

'No, please after you'

'No, no, you first, I insist'

By which time, the opposition have 10 men behind the ball and everybody well marked.


I can't even be bothered to talk about the desperate need for a half decent defensive midfielder over the age of 6, because I'm begining to feel like some sort of broken record.

All I can say is that Diaby had better be good, or a top half of the table finish at the end of the season is probably going to look like an over achievement.

Oh, and as if to make the season just keep getting better and better, Cesc now has to face a ban for his red card, which means that whoever "plays" upfront over the coming weeks is going to have to look from passes from a central midfield of Gilberto and Flamini

FANTASTICO!


Next up, Wigan, and then...

...Bolton

Do you ever get déjà vu?

So it looks like the big story of the day is that Arsenal have 3

Yes THREE

Injured left backs for Saturdays early afternoon trip to Everton...

Well actually, Nobody really cares about that at the moment, because Theo Walcott has just signed in a deal worth a reported £12m depending on appearances!

Described as the next Wayne Rooney, minus the temper, a few stone in weight and foul mouth, he's even been tipped (although slightly optimisticly) to make this summer's world cup squad.

Slightly more realisticly, it looks as though he'll be playing U21 international football at the age of 16, which isn't a bad sign by any means.

The new kid expressed his delight at joining Arsenal:

"I am so pleased to be joining Arsenal - a club I have admired for a long time.

Coming to Arsenal will give me the opportunity to work with world-class players every day and play football at the highest possible level."

And...

"It is a strange day because I am also very sad to be moving from Southampton.

"I am leaving many friends and some great coaches who have been so important to my career so far, but I leave with many great memories from the club.

"I am now really looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and working hard as an Arsenal player."

So there you go Mr Abramovic!

Money doesn't buy you everything you want, now does it!?

And now it looks like all Arsenal fans will be buzzing in the knowledge that the deal is finally done after days of hype and speculation.

That is of course until Saturday when no one can play left back.

Then everyone can be grouchy again!

Now, it could just be that after seeing all of the money that's being splashed around at Highbury during this transfer window, Tomas Rosicky's agent just wants to remind Arsene that his client is still available, but...

According to Rosicky's agent Janos Toth, he's in talks with Arsenal as you read these very words.

"I am in touch with Arsenal officials"

He boldly declared, apparently adding nothing more.

According to the man himself, he'd rather join Arsenal than Athletico Madrid, who he has been close to signing for during the transfer window.

"If I had the possibility to choose, I would like to play for Arsenal with Thierry Henry because he is the best"

So could Rosicky be the experienced central midfielder that the team needs?

What a week!

First, Thierry says he's staying

Then Ashley Cole does the same

Then Arsenal sign a defensive midfielder

Then sign a striker who can score with his head

Then completely hammer Middlesbrough 7-0

In between all of that Arsene has been running around like the happiest man in the world because he's close to signing possibly THE next big thing in world football!

If you don't know how quick this 16 year old kid is, you can check him out here:

http://exodus.interoutemediaservices.com/?id=4e95d923-33de-4377-85dd-84f18d
fa596c&delivery=stream

Not only that, but Ashley Cole's return from injury will surely give a massive psychological boost to the rest of the squad.

Plus Man Utd and spurs were both beaten.

It's almost enough to make you forget about Tuesdays performance and Almunia's little outburst.

So Arsene has finally spent a bit of cash...

...which reminds me...

For all of the jokers who kept insisting and wailing that the only reason that no signings were coming in was because there was no money,



I TOLD YOU SO!!



The cash was always there, and still is according to Hill-Wood. The only problem now is that we'll all be left waiting for the next five years for these players to reach their peak and gel properly as a team, because Arsene still doesn't want to buy experience.

Never mind. At least for the first time in a long, long while the team looks like it can offer something to shout about.

Well it looks like the Nobo Dy transfer fell through at the last minute, so Arsene has opted to sign Auxerre's Vassiriki Diaby on a 4 year deal instead.

Auxerre vice-president Gerard Bourgoin spilt the beans when he revealed...

"The player has made the choice for Arsenal.

And Auxerre, who do not like ruining the careers of our players, have reached an agreement with the club."

Having apparently only played 3 times for Auxerre's first team so far this season he hardly seems like the kind of player who's going to walk straight into the first team and turn the season around, but hey...

If he can tackle, it's all good with me!


Meanwhile Ashley Cole has announced that he's not off to Madrid in the summer, which should help to bring a bit more psychological stability to the squad.

To be honest I reckon the latest Cole to Madrid stuff is just Martin 'anti Arsenal' Lipton and his boys making up a story about another player wanting to leave.

Why?

Because the Sun wrecked the Mirror's Henry to Barca story that they were probably planning to stretch out for as long as they could.


Anyway...

Don't feel like you have to stop at one player Arsene.

Arsene Wenger finally got his chequebook out and signed 22 year old Kazakhstani international Nobo Dy.

Defensive midfielder Dy cost an amazing £450,000 even though he has over 50 international caps to his name. Described as the new Vieira by most who have been privileged enough to see him play, his agent said

"Nobo is amazing. He's not the new Vieira, he's better than Vieira ever was. He's never lost the ball or been dispossessed in a match since he was 16."

Kazakhstani national team coach Borat Sagdiyev also shed some light on his star player who was previously unable to sign for Europe’s biggest clubs because Kazakhstani immigration officials wouldn't let him leave the country.

"Nobo can pass better than Zidane and works harder than any player we've ever seen. Sometimes we are scared to let him train with the rest of the squad because he's so committed."

Nicknamed 'The unstoppable raging bull', 6ft 5" Dy is surely the perfect signing for Arsene.

He cost less than half a million and is regarded as the best player to have ever played in central midfield.

Surely Dy will now fight with Alex Song for the chance to push Flamini for his place in a 5-man midfield that has been improving week after week.

Dy's signing will come as good news to gooners everywhere, but for a while it looked like the signing was not going to happen.

An Arsenal source revealed:

"Arsene was close to waiting a couple of seasons to sign Dy because he was happy with the progress of Alex [Song] and really didn't see a need, but in the end the price seemed like the kind of deal he's been waiting for."

Welcome to Arsenal Nobo Dy!

Last nights game was a bit iffy...

If Senderos played against Drogba like he played against Jason Roberts, he'd deserve to be picked ahead of Sol every day of the week.

If Mathieu Flamini could tackle, pass and shoot as well as he runs, he'd be twice as good as Steven Gerrard.

If Reyes had the ability to have an average game, he'd be world class. The only problem is, when he's good he's really good. When he's bad, he's embarrassing.

If Cesc had the kind of players around him that Lampard has, people would say 'Zinedine who?'

If Arsene is serious about not needing a new central midfielder, he's going completely mental. As I watched the game, I attempted to analyse exactly why things weren't working.

There's something wrong in the middle of the pitch I said to myself, but what exactly are they doing wrong? I thought...

Then Fabregas came on and made Ljungberg, Gilberto, Hleb, Flamini, Reyes and Quincy look like a bunch of fools.

Why is that Arsenal's best midfielder by about 100 country miles is an 18 year old who's never even won one single senior international cap??

This team needs a player that will either replace Gilberto, or at least compete with him for his place.

Flamini might be good enough in 2007, but right now there's so much he needs to learn.

Gilbert put in a brilliant defensive performance.

Obviously, the whole team was awful going forward for most of the match, but this kid actually knows how to defend.

Probably better than Lauren can anyway.

Then he had to go off injured and Wigan scored from the kind of cross he'd had covered all night.

Overall it was an awful attacking display and a good defensive display, especially from Cygan, who's been statistically the best left back in the Premiership all month. (FACT, just ask OPTA! )

I honestly think that this cup is the best chance of silverware this season, so Thierry for the second leg wouldn't be bad.

Next up, Middlesbrough

Right

Where do I start...

First of all, Thierry says he loves the club and the fans and wants to stay to help the team become the best in the world.

“The truth is I love this club and I have made up my mind to stay.

I can say to all my fans and the people who care about me, I want to lead the team out in the new stadium. I’ll talk to Arsene Wenger, to David Dein and the board and talk of the future.

My mind is to stay and we have to sort this out.”

Well done Thierry. Strange as it sounds, these statements are probably the high-point of the whole season as far as Arsenal are concerned.

Even so, when pushed on whether he would be rewarding Thierry's loyalty with the signings that he (and every other Arsenal player member of staff and fan) has been calling out for since Pat left, Arsene insisted:

"The ball is in our court. But we will invest in the areas where we feel that we need someone.
It's a question of trust to the club, the staff and towards the ambition of the club. We want to be the best club in the world.

I'm confident we can do that, but as a manager you don't always have to look outside the club but to take the maximum out of what you already have. I feel we have great players here if we manage to develop them well.

It's always reassuring for big players to have other big players around them. But every big player did not have a big name before he was a big player.

Many of the players here have made the biggest part of their name here. That's always been our target."

Or in other words... 'No, I still refuse to believe that there is a need to buy any more players'

Meanwhile...

Robert Pires, clearly overjoyed that best mate Thierry doesn't appear to be leaving him as the only remaining 'musketeer' in the summer, managed to get a brace against Cardiff City in yesterdays 3rd round FA cup match.

The final score of 2-1 wasn't a fabulous result by any means, but having just watched the Mancs draw against Burton Albion (one of the best games I've seen for years), it's clearly more than good enough.

I'm not sure if the route to the Arsenal Cup... err I mean FA Cup final will be as easy as previous seasons though, what with the squad being so thin.


Also, apparently some football agent has been claiming that Arsenal and Chelsea are about to throw money all over the place in a battle for his clients signature...

Do you ever get deja vu?

I must admit

For as long as I can remember I've only ever been convinced that Arsenal were going to lose on two occasions.

One was a Champions League match against an Italian team.

I can't remember which team, but what I do remember is that Arsenal had just lost the previous match quite convincingly and I was sure that it was going to happen again.

The other time was yesterday.

I have never been as sure that Arsenal would lose as I was yesterday.

On both occasions I was proved wrong, however, as the lads managed to put in decent performances.

Yesterday was a decent performance.

The problem is that it's just not the amazing performance we've come to expect over the best part of the last decade.

How could it be when some of the best players have left and not been replaced?

Until midway through last season, we all expected amazing, and hoped for perfect.

Now we expect decent and hope for anything even slightly better than decent.

Even Arsene has admitted that this side just isn't good enough. Even he obviously expects much less than before.

So does Thierry, who tries to explain that this is the reason he refuses to even think about a contract:

"At the beginning of the season I said that I felt it would be a difficult one. My only interest was concentrating on the season and now you know why. I am still in the same position and there is too much going on to think about myself."

Well Thierry, now that the world and his wife can see that Arsenal's season is well and truly over, you might as well sign eh?

As for the actual match, it can be summed up in 3 sentences.

Arsenal edged the first half. United edged the second half. Neither team played like they really cared.

I wonder if the team can manage to finish the season within 30 points of Chelsea.

Without any new signings I seriously doubt it.

Next up, Cardiff.

It’s World Cup Year again!

Sven seems almost completely unaware that he's setting himself up for a big fall.

All of this talk he's been coming out with about having the worlds best team and believing that they can win the world cup only serves to make the average fan begin to think that if England fail to make it to the final it will be a bad result.

Which is a bit similar to the way things are going at Highbury at the moment.

Arsene refuses to admit that the team needs new players time and time again.

Singing the praises of kids when they have one good game out of their last 5.

Perhaps if he were to admit the reality of the situation, even to himself, then fans expecting Champions League football next season won't be so disappointed come the second week in May.

Even though, before these winter fixtures (and 4 defeats in a row) having 7 points from the first 3 games would probably have looked like a good set of results.

It doesn't quite feel that way now it's here.

In any other season, an away draw during the peak of the winter fixtures would seem like a good result.

No goals conceded, no defeat.

"Good result that, an away draw..." we'd all say.

But when an away draw puts you 22 points behind the team at the top of the table instead of 20 it becomes difficult to see it as such a positive.

So Aston Villa, the team Arsenal destroyed 1 - 3 in the same fixture last season were able to completely outplay an Arsenal side that some people suggest is getting better game after game.

Which is completely untrue.

Villa deserved to win this game, and you'll really begin to understand that point when you consider certain events from the game.

Such as Milan Baros, hardly the most physical of strikers, giving Campbell a torrid time and even managing to simultaneously shove him off the ball like he was some young kid and win a throw in on one occasion.

Such as restricting Arsenal to no shots on target for the whole of the first half, then totally dominating the second half.

Meanwhile, Thierry moaned, shrugged and sulked as the team looked for leadership.

I'd like to know just exactly what evidence there is to suggest that things are going to get any better.

Just what evidence is there to suggest that Arsenal will be playing Champions League football next season, because I'm struggling to find any.

Next up, Man Utd.

Oh joy...