Dos Santos in Hleb out? Do we feel lucky today?

Ok it’s now apparent that Hleb is off, Arsenal football club are about to demonstrate how they play hardball with football’s elite, much like ManU did yesterday when they reported Madrid for unsettling their player, Madrid immediately apologised and that’s the end of that story.

Anyone wants our players and it seems they can have them, we rarely complain, or when we do it’s all bark and no bite.

I read that Spurs are in for Dos Santos, why on earth would Barcelona sell him? If it’s the case then sign him before it’s too late, I know I prefer older players, but this kid is class, why would he want to go to Spurs when he could come to us.

Nasri and Ben Arfa were on display last night with Nasri looking a bit ordinary (according to some in the comments section), let’s hope that was an off day, I’ve seen him play and he looks fab, but hey, who knows who we’re after, we got linked with Santa Cruz yesterday as well, please let that be a rumour.

I also read that David Dein’s son is Cesc’s new agent, amazing that, a little bit of nepotism there or what? Is Darren really that good, would he be Cesc’s agent if his last name were Smith?

Still the Dein’s are all Arsenal fans and him being English should want to see him stay with us here in good old Blightey. I wouldn’t be too worried about him going anywhere, but with our record in getting tough on players, I wouldn’t be surprised who stayed here anymore.

There is still a big possibility that Diaby or even Djourou will fill in for Flamini and we won’t see a Gareth Barry come in, well with Sepp Blatter determined to push through this overseas player rule, Arsene really should be buying some English players, I think that overseas talent costs as much as English talent these days, but we’ll know soon enough.

Other news was Danny’s interview, which confirmed yesterdays blog and it was heartening to see that, all we need now is for the boss to go forth and multiply, over to you Arsene!

Great day again yesterday Grovers, you certainly put the com into comment, that’s for sure.

516 Responses to “Dos Santos in Hleb out? Do we feel lucky today?”

  1. abdenor Says:

    Hehe…hehe iam first :) , good post again !

  2. t-buzz Says:

    Morning y’all and cool post by the way.
    DD’s son is Cesc’s agent? Didnt see that coming….hope works well in our interest ;)

  3. abdenor Says:

    I have to dissagree with you on Dos Santos though, i have watched him numerous times on sky this season , i don’t think he’s the dog’s nuts !

  4. GunnerShabz Says:

    we have to see but wenger should use hleb as a bargaining tool with real or barca, get them to swap players.

    barca got a lot of players available and giovani dos santos, yaya toure, deco

    real have got robinho, robben, diarra, cannavaro, metzelder

  5. t-buzz Says:

    Darn it!! Abdenor beat me to it!! lol
    Didnt get to watch the France game lastnight, with all the talks about Nasri, lets hope he only did have an off day, it happens anyway.

    I’ve seen Dos santos play for Barca and he is almost as electrifying as Messi, plus he’s got plenty of time to improve too!! What a coup that would be if he ends up in an arsenal jersey! But him going to Spurds will be like TH14 transfering to Millwall wouldnt it?

  6. MM Says:

    wasn’t DD son also TH14 agent when he moved to Spain. Let’s hope that’s not going to be the next rumours. Great work guys I don’t post much but read the blogg every day.

  7. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Hey Odub - Re your earlier comment from the previous post - So, do you consider yourself an odd black person then? What’s odd about you fella, apart from supporting The Arse that is!!

  8. GunnerShabz Says:

    the thing is jaunde ramos can attract players though

  9. t-buzz Says:

    G.Shabz,good point. Deco is 30 though, cant see Monsiour Venger going for him. as per Robben, he’s almost as bad as RVP on the injury table. Robhino/diarra/Yaya/Dos Santos i wouldnt mind.

  10. Odub Says:

    DDM I meant in relation to being in Spain sometimes and feeling very uncomfortable when in certain shops and restaurants!! I aint odd mate trust me!
    Pedro, Geoff and Bud can vouch for me (I hope) having met them for a bevy b4 matches.

    They did frown at the bright orange trainers I had on though!! lol

  11. Pedro Says:

    I don’t get the old ‘Dein hates the Gooners’… he may hate the people who run it, but he will love the club.

    There is nothing wrong with an agent trying to get the best deal for his player… otherwise he wouldn’t be an agent.

    Cesc sacked his old agent for agitating a move to Madrid… I doubt Dein will make the same mistake.

    The only odd thing about Odub is his drink of choice… extra strength Guinness… did you even know they sold it? Out of a bottle!

    Cheers MM… you should post more often!

  12. James Bartram Says:

    are you suggesting we clone arsene, goeff? haha ;P

    i read that arsene is going to start a bidding war with hlab as the main proposition, so lets see what we can get for him i think. personally his recent spate of trash has tainted whatever respect he had left amongst the fans (after his ice-cream trip in milan), and we are all agreed he doesn’t produce that killer ball to RvP or ade nearly as much as he should, so i’m not too sure why we care so much…

    lets get a sizeable return on him, as well as a player who produces the goods on a far more regular basis than what we have now. there are plenty of players with excellent ball skills out there, and we’re said to be signing one of them in but a few days. sure, samir nasri is meant to fill the flamini void, and we need someone who’ll play naturally on the wing now…

    unfortunately i also read that robinho and aquilani are both planning to stay at there current clubs though, and see out there current contracts. that for me crosses off two big players, and so we need at least two more, plus a CB, and maybe a keeper too.

    i still hold hopes for kompany coming to arsenal, as to the other 2 we’ll look at getting, the only other established player that we’re looking at is ben afra, and marseille seem to be looking at him too (although they haven’t made a bid, yet), which could be a clause in us getting nasri…

    lets find these players and recruit them before someone else does arsene!

  13. Odub Says:

    Loads of speculation abound this morning!! And would anyone sniff at the 15 mill being suggested for Hleb?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7422933.stm

  14. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Odub/Pedro - That’s a relief, i sit amongst some right freak’s o’ nature at the Emirates i can tell yas, most of ‘em my friends, but hey they’re the only feckers that make me look good!!

    Extra strength Guinness, sounds intruiging………

  15. Pedro Says:

    £15million sounds like a brilliant deal for a player who doesn’t score or assist!

  16. DennisDaMenace Says:

    PS. Odub - Orange trainers fella!!

  17. chris GOONA10 Says:

    Hleb should be used as bait for either Barca or Real… they have alot of unsettled players we can lure with Hlebs transfer. I think in CM we are fine, we have Gilberto, Diaby, Djourou, Denilson, Song also that can play there. So I hope Wenger trys to get a straight swop for Robinho.. maybe we have to pay a bit extra. Robben i dont like, Yaya Toure we dont really need, as he will get in the way of other players development and Gilberto would leave if he comes in i reckon.

    Whoever Wenger brings in… Nasri aside.. we are still short for cover on the wings.. at the moment we have Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Eboue!, and Hleb? lets all say that Hleb leaves and Nasri comes in and we have 5 wide players.. so i dont think we are too bad in that area but 1 more creative midfielder or wide player will give us alot of depth. I dont really want to see Diaby, Cesc being forced to play out wide again next season.

  18. Odub Says:

    DDM joke!!!! I dont own anything orange!! HONEST!!

    I did have a ”we love DB10” t shirt I used to have when he first signed!! Apart from that NO!!!

  19. DennisDaMenace Says:

    James B - Kompany looks set to stay at Hamburg. According to the guys i work with, his new coach (Martin Jol of all people) sees his an an integral part of Hamburg’s future, so he doesn’t want him to leave and the player looks set to stay after falling out with the previous manager.

  20. abdenor Says:

    If we get more for Hleb than we paid for him then we should be happy, he’s not highly regarded and won’t be #1 target for anyone despite Barca/Real’s interst.

  21. Geoff Says:

    Odub is a ringer for Kolo! Adbenor I saw Dos Santos score a hatrick in his last game and it was as cool a hatrick as I have seen.

    James one Arsene is enough for me!!!

  22. charybdis1966 Says:

    Is it this weekend when Wenger’s self imposed deadline for the 2-3 established players to arrive is ? In which case there’s only 3 days left - he’s cutting it fine, but then his deadlines are moveable - witness those he gave for the Flamini’s situation to be resolved. Or RVP’s returnf rom injury - how many times did he delay on that ?

  23. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Odub, you sure that extra strength Guiness isn’t affecting your eyesight fella??

  24. Gooner07 Says:

    If Dein had a part in selling Henry, then I suppose he did the right thing for the club. Titi was past his best, and I was glad Arsene signed a proven “finisher” like Eduardo as we really needed one to win major trophies like UCL (than waste sitters like Titi did in Paris) That said, Titi is awesome otherwise. No disrespects.

  25. Geoff Says:

    Chary what is the picture on your avatar? I think the longer he leaves it the less choice we’ll have, but he really ought to horse trade with Hleb, hold out for Robinho or push for Messi, but don’t sell him and then try and buy, we did that with Viera and it didn’t work.

  26. cb Says:

    i think if barca want him would should try and strike a deal for yaya

  27. Odub Says:

    Geoff, I’d like to think I’m better, looking apart from being folically challenged that is!!!

    I see there’s still no clue on who the EPL player AW’s getting is?!! Is sure doesnt look like it’s Dunne or Barry does it?

  28. Gooner07 Says:

    Anyone with me on playing Bendy over Ade? The boy will become a great striker, and one of the best finishers for both club and country. He’ll improve into a worldclass player next season.

  29. rico01 Says:

    Drab old day Gooners, but we our National team playing tonight, something to look forward to………. I will be in bed before kick off, so boring!!!(no offence to non english bloggers)

    Didnt watch any footie last night, but as others who did, just hope Nasti had a bad game as a one off - he is probably so excited to be joining the Mighty Arsenal that he couldnt concentrate - hope this gets confirmed today now his national game is out the way.

    So Hleby is now saying the EPL is the best - is he trying to back track, well for me his bridges have been truely burned and I just hope we can use him to gain a better player (wont be that difficult) from another club

    Interesting gossip surrounding Manure - Evra off to Inter (maybe)
    And the Winker to Madrid
    Imagine if these to bits turn out to be true, Evra is a quality RB and breaks from defence at greta speed and he would be a real loss for them, Ronnie, well I dont need to write anything - If they both go, Manure will be a weakened side regardless who they buy

    Lets hope some good news today bloggers, i feel if i have been writing that wish for the last 6 weeks………….

  30. nr790 Says:

    what game where you watching nasri was the best player on the pitch in the first half .

    some ratings on this page
    http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=713384

  31. James Bartram Says:

    damnit, forgot martin jol is at hamburg now… premier league managers are hard to deal with from everything i’ve read/seen in my time following the club seriously (only a few years, but there aren’t many trades within the EPL each year, most come from lower league clubs or outside of england).

    agreed though, 1 arsene is enough. sucks though, all my targets that i’d love to see at arsenal are pretty much exhausted, apart from david villa. dos santos would be mad though, just hooping to whoever an aethiest hopes to that spurs haven’t signed him yet, as one of your papers is reporting… =D

    still want ben afra too i realise, haha!

  32. t-buzz Says:

    £15M for Hleb is fine by me as long as a qualitry player is purchased or Hleb is swopped with Dos Santos/Diarra/Yaya. Not that AW keeps £10m in the bank and spends £5m on 4 16-18yr olds.

    DDM, seen Odub once, rampaging through the streets of Islington. he Does look odd, green,mean and wheres torn trousers…..just like in his avatar! ;)

    Whats DB10 upto these days, surely he’ll be great as assistant for AW should Pat Rice need to step down…

  33. Geoff Says:

    I didn’t nr, I was going by the Grovers comments in the last post, I couldn’t find anywhere to watch it, if he did play well that’s fantastic news.

  34. col Says:

    gotta say guys that ye seem to have the complete opposite opinion of most other sites. By all accounts he was the best thing on the pitch certainly in the first half.
    considering that lots of non-arsenal sport sites gave him 8+ wit 8.5 being the average rating.
    Independent reviews i feel have a touch of genuiness to them - no agenda and what not

  35. Odub Says:

    chris did post a site to watch it last night, but didnt get a chance to see it. ]

    Based on the names I see on those ratings, I get the impression this was the french reserve team?!

  36. Angry Loner Says:

    Dos Santos is up for sale coz he aint that good! At £11 million the Catalans must be pissing themselves.

    Madrid have hardly backed down over Ronaldo. They’ve got a 4 page spread in one of their mouth pieces stating how theyve done their home work on him, his personality, professionalism, evrything and how how he WILL fot in WHEN tbey sign him!

    United have only threatened them with reporting em to UEFA. That still won’t stop the cheeky sods.

  37. rico01 Says:

    Didnt see Nasri, but if he was that good, then fab, just wish the announcement would speed up and be done

  38. chris Says:

    i didnt watch it myself but read grovers reviews last night anr had some interestig point also on it,
    friendlies are so boring ireland last sat and tommorrow will be bore fests

  39. Pedro Says:

    Col… it has been amended so it is clearer!

  40. Rocky Says:

    1. Madrid far from ‘apologized’ after united’s complaints. Infact they publically came out and claimed to have done or said nothing wrong.

    2. Arsenal are not the pushovers you portray them to be. This is the same team that held on to vieira in his prime year after year despite him being the priority signing for the biggest club in the world. Same with Henry. Not to mention how we took chelsea to court for talking to one of our players, and have only recently just publically threatened to do the same to clubs in the hleb saga.

    3. Dos Santos has been a huge disappointment at barca. That is why they are looking to sell him. He’s very rarely shown that he has what it takes to challenge players like Bojan and Messi for a first team spot.

    4. Nasri came out of yesterday’s game with a lot of praise from pretty much all of the french media.

    Sorry if i’m coming across as arrogant, but there were a few invalid points in the article so just wanted to clear them up!

  41. rico01 Says:

    Sky Sport report Scum close to signeing Dos Santos… I will be gutted, he is good

  42. michelle Says:

    i have to say i disagree, nasri was not ordinary last night,he was everywhere and involved in most of france’s creative play.he was very unselfish too,as he gave anelka the assist for the goal when he could of gone for goal himself.and the boy showed he could defend!!! very impressive,as was gomis who scored a brace after coming on at half time

  43. El Tel Says:

    Goofy or Messi, Puyol fromBarca or Robinho or the Keeper from Real. Great to see the Mancscum getting wound up about losing their 1 great player. Go Real take him from the Northern fools.

  44. Geoff Says:

    Angry, the backing down quote by Real was read out last night on Sky News.

  45. charybdis1966 Says:

    I get the feeling time is running out to be the Euro’s for our signings and I’ve got a sinknkig feeling I don’t want about Premier League experience coming in. It doesn’t help that it seems Wengers spending his free time commentatiing for French Tv rather than either sealing transfer deals or having a rest and recharging himself for the coming season.

    Geof, the guy in the pic is Dirk Benedict - of (Original) Battlestar Galactica fame and the A team. BTW he wrote a good article on the difference between the original and current Battlesar : http://www.dirkbenedictcentral.com/home/articles-readarticle.php?nid=5

  46. Geoff Says:

    Thanks for the clearing up Rocky, it’s much appreciated.

  47. herdee string Says:

    Also disagree -

    Spanish translation for Dos Santos = sucks cock

    Hence with that in mind perfect for el chusma (the scum)

  48. michelle Says:

    just another point dos santos while he is good,it was said we got the better of the two young mexicans in vela.

  49. Pedro Says:

    Rocky:

    1. ‘We’re sorry that Manchester, a club with which we have excellent relations, is annoyed’. Calderon.

    2. Arsenal are pushovers… someone wants to leave, they go. We may have taken Chelsea to court, but we still lost the player.

    3.Dos Santos is only 18 and he is getting games at Barca… expectation levels are on a Messi level… anyone would flop compared to him.

    4. Nasri comments were based on our comments section, if he played well , fantastic.

  50. Angry Loner Says:

    Goeff;

    Twas i n t’gym this morning, they had that Scottish guy on SSN, he read out todays episode of the Ronnie saga! 4 page, massive spread, they are taking the right piss mate, i tells ya!

    Gots to go! Seeya

  51. Geoff Says:

    I thought it was two saints herdee.

  52. gooner 1 Says:

    i think arsene wenger should trade hleb to real madrid for player like Robinho, Wesley Sneijder, Javier Angel Balboa and Mahamadou Diarra.

  53. Geoff Says:

    Chary, some article from the cigar smoking space ace!

  54. El Tel Says:

    We don’t take shit from the other clubs,our guys were poached year after year and only that English greedy tosser fucked off. Real reckon the Winker isn’t happy with the Scum. He is so oily that he is sliding his way into a Real shirt. Maybe they can take Horse features back in return.

  55. Fawaz Says:

    Nasri actually was France’s best player vs Ecuador and Ben Arfa not far off. Dos Santos is over rated much like spurs’ chances of breaking the top four.

  56. ethangunner Says:

    15 mil ..
    gee i should be a player valuer !
    but hey just proves the point that arsene doesn’t loose money on players ..
    ARE YOU READING THAT JOSEPH ?
    and wage structure is wage structure .. also im sure we paid more for wages 3 seasons ago with TH 14 - freddie - DB10 - Pires - sol etc…
    Im sure the wage structure is in surplus , as they said wenger - gallas - cesc are the top earners in that order !

    its funny to see a manager earn more than a top player ! whats arsenal coming too ?

    Odub black it beautiful ! its a shame im just a home boy white trash EmieM in a black world !

    :)
    but the chicks dig it here :)

  57. herdee string Says:

    Pedro - the kid Bojan is much closer to making it than Dos Santos -

    Geoff - you are quite correct - I consider myself reprimanded. I’ll have giovanni come over now to teach me a lesson…

  58. chris Says:

    charybdis,
    he has some points but i am glad i gave it a shot as i am enjoying it, half way thru season 2

  59. Gooner07 Says:

    It’s a dull day at Le Grove. I blame the thugs in Arsenal.com

    Give us some news to cheer!

  60. ethangunner Says:

    rico

    geoff confirmed what i thought of nasri
    Nasri and Ben Arfa were on display last night with Nasri looking a bit ordinary (according to some in the comments section), let’s hope that was an off day

    ORDINARY ..
    theres some skills there but its a scary trend we are taking when it comes to signings .
    by the time he becomes zidane JR , he will be off !?

  61. El Tel Says:

    Real appologise to the scummers then say the player isn’t happy. We kept 3 world class superstars happy for years and let them go when they were done. That idiot Cashley was probably let go too because AW saw how good Clichy was to be.

  62. t-buzz Says:

    Some interesting news guys, not to do with transfers though….but still

    http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9067&Itemid=43

  63. Ken Says:

    Morning/evening fellas,

    http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/05/28/Prem-Grimandi-on-PSG/

    I know it’s crappy setanta but I hope it’s right, I’d rather the Grimster stayed with us.

  64. Pedro Says:

    Hey people, just a quick point on Nasri.

    I know he has been getting rave reviews… but did he just play well against Brazil or Ecuador?

    Ranked 55th in the world… behind Wales, Iran and Moldova.

    Let’s put things into perspective here…

  65. Gooner07 Says:

    As long as we don’t win back-to-back UCL trophies, we’ll always be treated inferior in Europe.

  66. ethangunner Says:

    its never dull gooner7
    geoff or pedro will let an AKB on and we can throw him into the coliseum and feed him too us lions :)

  67. chris Says:

    Hey Ken!

    i see he is not moving was mentioned on a few sites, i for one am glad

  68. Geoff Says:

    herdee Bojan is a super prospect but not for sale, Dos Santos apparently is, that’s why I’m talking about him.

  69. dtx Says:

    i really have a good feeling that the arsenal era has finally come. Call me an optimist, but with the likes of an even better cesc and theo combined with the introduction of speed, flare and vision of Vela, Barazite, Nasri….we can destroy premier league teams.

  70. Geoff Says:

    Ethan, I promise you the first one!

  71. herdee string Says:

    Great point Pedro - that cocksmoker Myles Palmer is waxing lyrical about him. Dumb cretin - I’m sure that’s the first time he ever saw him and like you say - Ecuador are shite.

  72. Bradley Says:

    Hleb to Sporting for Veloso

    you know it makes sense!

  73. Odub Says:

    If I remember rightly Bojan and Dos Santos broke thru at BArca at the same time, and Bojan is rated higher. Barca are trying to off load DS because he has a stinky attitude off pitch, and all he’s done is score a hat trick in a nothing game at the end of last season!

    Pedro!!! Perspective!!! Perspective!!! We’re Arsenal fans! What do we know about perspective!! We’re signing the next Zidane!

  74. ethangunner Says:

    yes bojan and pato !

    buy them both arsene , sell ade - plus a bit of cash .. job done we can stop talking about strikers then !

  75. El Tel Says:

    Hleb tells the world he thinks the Prem is hardest and best in the world, is that why he wants to go to Italy, so he can have it easy. Lets take Goofy in P/X for him.

  76. gooner 1 Says:

    does any1 know who arsene wenger will be gettin next bcoz he said he wwill make is first signin within 2-3 weeks but he not even close to one yet and he also said he will sign a central defender.

    can any one tell me what goin on please

  77. Geoff Says:

    Here you go Ethan

    yo
    yo@mail.gr | 85.73.176.162

    diaby and djourou are not defender MC…assholes we need a DMC wake up

    and a world class keeper

  78. DennisDaMenace Says:

    t-buzz, you paint a scary picture of th Odubster…………

  79. charybdis1966 Says:

    I saw the SSN report about the 4 page interview (in a spanish sports rag) with Real’s manager where he says how well the greasy winker WILL (not would) fit in the Galactico’s squad.

    Even if it doesn’t happen the thought of ole 65% proof nose blowing a gasket at is priceless - you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at Fergie.

    Chris/Geoff - the main point I agree with is the feminisaton of the world - e.g. why change Starbuck to a woman and fundamentally change the dynamic of the (original) 3 main male leads; but as I sit here in an office with 80% women I agree it’s a woman’s world now. Equality means women copying mens bad habits.

  80. chris Says:

    DDM, steve said before that odub is a body builder type, i have stopped slagging him since then!

  81. rico01 Says:

    EthanG - I didnt see the game, my comments were also based on bloggers comments. To hear he played well is great news, and Ben Arfa if he is destined for the Emirates

    Re Arsene commentating on French Radio/TV - i guess that means he is actually in France, hopefully using his spare time to secure a few signings. Either that, or they are all but tided up and the odd bits and bobs need sorting which agents and Danny boy will do.

    All in all, and bearing in mind the time scale, Arsene himself set for the signing to be done/announced - by the end of this week we will all be happy!!!!!!!

  82. El Tel Says:

    Geoff we do need a world class keeper mate and its a fact Diaby and Djorou are not DM’s

    Ethan mate you dislike Ade as much as I dislike Almunia

  83. Odub Says:

    I dont know where you lot get this perception of me from!! I’m a happy go lucky misunderstood kinda guy..like shaft!! Can you dig it! lol

    Nice touch Geoff, posting the cnut’s comment, email address and IP address!!!

  84. Ken Says:

    Hi Chris..

    Sorry if it was mentioned in an earlier post but I see that Merida scored twice for Spain’s U19 side. I haven’t seen much of him at all, anybody know if he really is a prospect or if it’s just more wishfull thinking?

  85. El Tel Says:

    Rico

    As much as we yearn for a signing to cheer us up the reason we are impatient is because AW has lied to us before. As soon as he does a deal that isn’t a 5 year old prospect from Botswana the happier we will all be. Are there people not entirely happy about Nasri as I get the feeling he is getting knocked already.

  86. t-buzz Says:

    Alas DDM, I kid you not! Beware the beast that prowls the streets of London in his shorts. :) And I dont mean Baptista(remember him? face like thunder, feet like a chicken’s)!!

    BTW, Ronaldo must be 10 times better than Hleb….for them to be offering £150m( accrding to the papers). ;)

  87. Gooner07 Says:

    Geoff,

    The bloke’s ip says it’s from GREECE.

  88. Geoff Says:

    I don’t believe that, that’s a quarter of Real’s worth, would he improve them that much?

  89. Geoff Says:

    Gooner07 that would make sense! that would explain why he doesn’t!

  90. Gooner07 Says:

    Real wouldn’t offer more than 50m. Which in itself is a clearly overpriced figure.

  91. Pedro Says:

    Still hung up over our treatment of Tavlaridis…

  92. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Chris - I always thought that odub was a top bloke, and wonderful human being……..!!

  93. rico01 Says:

    El Tel,

    I know what AW has done before, honest. But i kinda get the feeling this transfer season is a ‘do or die’ situation, which he realises deep down
    This is the reason for Danny F coming out about our financial situation. He is aying we have money and will support AW in his transfers - That takes the onus away from the board.

    AW MUST by now realise if he gets it wrong the summer, he may have to think about his position at the club, no i am NOT calling for his head. Should he not make the signings this club NEEDS (not ness who we all want) then there will be a strong chance of Cesc and others leaving.
    AW, our club and us fans can NOT go another season without winning the EPL, CL or both.

    I just have a gut feeling we will not be dissapointed at the end of this transfer window….

  94. ethangunner Says:

    geoff

    i sort of agree with 1/2 of it
    :)

    i know you didnt say that diaby or johan will play s DMC !
    you just are reporting news !

    so AssHole YO
    get your facts straight ! our author isnt saying thats his choice
    is diaby or johan for DMF, he is only relaying the news which if you were up to date with,you would have already known that its just the latest tabloid BS !

    It is probably from arsene , in all honesty ..
    he stated he wasnt replacing flamini weeks ago , its just a re-vomited bit of tabloid bollocks rejiggered to look like news !
    But i do agree .. we should be replacing flamini , not letting someone from the stiffs replace him ! no one it that position other than maybe denilson is remotely good enough to stand in for him , berts legs are gone ! wiltshire maybe .. but what statement would that make ?
    if arsene is trying to fill the team with experience this season.

    as for his email yo @ gmail .com it was worse than mine before i got my wordpress account

    as for a goalie , we have more pressing business at hand ..
    alumina didnt do a woeful job and kept pretty well for most of the season and fabinski needs a run also ..
    im not too hard pressed about a replacement ..
    it would be nice .. but luxury and AFC dont go together currently .

  95. charybdis1966 Says:

    Somone’s mentioned it earlier bu tthere is a lack of info about renewing red membership.

    I was under the impression you could renew after the end of May - but if you log in now, as a red member, it shows “No memberships available for renewal”- typical, the only info, availabe is a bulletin saying details will be announced on how to renew in early may.

    Symptomatic of the shambles that is Arsenal.com and the contempt they have for the fans.

  96. Geoff Says:

    A mate of mine had the same problem yesterday, as you say, typical.

  97. DennisDaMenace Says:

    t-buzz, maybe we could persuade Arsene to sign Odub as our scary CB then??

  98. chris Says:

    DDM or get EL Tel to give him a job as security at the games?

  99. abdenor Says:

    Is Van der vaart Chelsea bound?…. if not then we should go for him as he’s a proven match winner!

    link

  100. abdenor Says:

    http://www.footballpools.com/pundits-corner/2008/05/28/rafael-van-der-vaart-the-dutch-master-arsenal-chelsea-liverpool-manchester-united-tottenham-man-city-west-ham-aston-villa-newcastle-take-note/

  101. El Tel Says:

    Ethan

    I know Geoff never said Diaby or Djoroue are not CM’s but the guy Yo was making a point. I think a keeper is vitally important as we have good cover in all positions but we don’t have a good enough keeper. Strikers apart this is a very important position.

  102. chris Says:

    Hleb
    Reports in the Spanish press claim that Arsenal’s wantaway midfielder Alexander Hleb has agreed a move to Barcelona.

    The Belarus international discussed personal terms with the Catalan outfit and reached an agreement with the Blaugranas, according to El Mundo.

    Hleb, a key player for The Gunners in the last three seasons, revealed via his agent at the end of the season his intention to move on from London.

    Barca’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain made the trip to Kaiserslautern on Tuesday, where Belarus played a friendly with Germany, and discussed a move with the winger and his agent.

    The Camp Nou outfit’s directors will now contact Arsenal and negotiate a transfer fee for the technically gifted player.

    The Gunners have anticipated his departure by offering Marseille star Samir Nasri a contract, and Wenger declared on Tuesday night on Tf1 that he is ‘optimistic’ over his chances of signing the playmaker.

    Inter were the first ones to be linked with Hleb, and the suggested future arrival of Jose Mourinho at the club could kick off their summer investments.

  103. DennisDaMenace Says:

    charybdis1966 - I got a season ticket renewal email from AFC to renew online thru Arsenal.com, but i also got “no membership available for renewal” when i tried to access my details! Fucking woeful, just another sympton of our club probably doing everything on the cheap by employing the cheapeast bunch of numpties around to run the website………

  104. chris Says:

    DDM dont you do the IT consultancy for arsenal.com?

  105. ethangunner Says:

    el tel i agree
    but i think fabinski looked pretty good , especially that save he made in the 1st 30 seconds of the final game of the season .. id like him to step up in all honesty ..

    he is a young player who i do rate really ..
    id like to see him come of age then that goalie spot is taken care of for years to come ..
    sorry alumina you have to play 2nd fiddle again ..

  106. El Tel Says:

    Chris I will swap Odub my p/t job there for his seat any day mate. Then I could meet up with all my Gooner mates before the game instead of listening to the clubs do’s and dont’s hours before kick off and getting angry at their latest club (made up as they go along) regs

  107. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Chris - If that’s fucking true, then haven’t Barcelona (yet again) broken FIFA rules by not contacting Arsenal first to ask for permission to talk to the player????

  108. El Tel Says:

    Totally agree Ethan but having Fab 2 in goal isn’t AWs idea and isn’t that like starting with a novice in goal and waiting for him to learn his trade probably at our expense mate.

  109. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Oi piss off Chris that was fecking hurtful fella, i might have to go in search of a cheeky cold one to ease my hurt after such a slanderous statement!!

  110. charybdis1966 Says:

    DDM - I’ve worked out how to get renewed - you have to add someone elses numbers first (in my case my boys junior gunners memberships) then your own red membership renewal magically appears. It’s obviously poor presentation on the websites part (did it really win an award?) as it misleads you into thinking you’ve “expired”. It’s annoying and - as I’ve said - bl**dy typical.

    Also bl**dy typical is the price rise - a 10% inflation busting hike.

  111. GMR Says:

    Pedro, I don’t fully agree with you regarding the Brazil/Ecuador comment.

    Its easy for great players to perform against the likes of Brazil because they feel they are better than you, they go out to play football to win. Ecuador know they aren’t as good & so their plan is to battle, surely if Nasri is going to sign thats the sort of games we want to see him perform in, especially as the premier league is made up of about 17 teams that do nothing but battle??

    I watched about 70 minutes of the game & he was class. He didn’t give the ball away, he was always looking to pass, he was happy to track back & put in an excellent tackle when Evra had gone walk about in the second half. He doesn’t just flop to the floor & despite not being the biggest he won a majority of battles against bigger men. If he can perform like that on a weekly basis he’d be a world class signing!!

  112. abdenor Says:

    No one respects the rules these days ( Arsenal included) !

  113. ethangunner Says:

    DDM

    odub is far too good looking to be scary !
    if he is a more charismatic version of kolo , who will he scare ?
    if you want scary .. you need to put eboue in CD !

  114. DennisDaMenace Says:

    egunner - are you insane man, there’s scary and then there’s heart attack territory!!

  115. chris Says:

    no matter what view you take, uncompetitive matches at the end of a season only offer a tentative view of potential, a full opinion cant be made from it, we can say x was better than z on the night however but still no real basis for opinion

  116. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Seriously though, can you really take Nasri at face value from one game, surely the only judge of a player’s ability is during the course of sustained matches, hopefully a full competetive season.

  117. chris Says:

    And El Mundo Deportivio claims Adebayor is keen on a move, which would cost Barcelon around £23million.

    Should Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger be unwilling to sell though, Barcelona would turn their attention to Berbatov.

  118. abdenor Says:

    Chris, that sounds like music to Ethan’s ears.

  119. Geoff Says:

    I bet that makes Berbatov feel good eh? second behind Ade.

  120. Pedro Says:

    GMR… I disagree… he is playing for his place in the full squad!

    I have no doubt he is class, I just think people are getting a little over excited… Remember Baptista?

  121. chris Says:

    i know abdenor, he is going to wax lyrical now for the day on this even though he promised he wouldnt anymore!

  122. ethangunner Says:

    GMR
    he lost the ball 2 times that i counted !

    heres an except from young guns web site

    France looked to pass and probe their South American opponents in the early stages, Nasri had now cropped up on the left and played a superb 1-2 with Abidal, before slipping on the wet turf and losing possession. Samir was involved yet again just a minute later, as he rose to flick the ball over to Ben Arfa, however it was again snuffed out.

    Nasri was now playing more centrally, but drifted out to the right to collected Sagnol’s pass. He then tricked his way towards the left back, who stood his ground and won the ball. Nasri did not give up and fought to win back possession before seeing his sliced cross cleared. Following a bright spell for Ecuador, France hit back as Anelka rolled out to the right before spotting Samir’s intelligent run through the middle. Only the poor service stopped him from latching on to the ball and shooting.

  123. ethangunner Says:

    any one who didnt see the game the young guns author gives a better than fair account of him , in DETAIL !

    http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/samir-nasri-scouting-report-france-2-0-ecuador/

    he has skills i cannot deny !
    but is he as good as hleb ? time will tell ..

  124. El Tel Says:

    If Barca want Hleb and Ade we must take Goofy on and let Bends take his chance. Imagine free kicks around the Oppo box with Goofy and RVP looking at shooting. Fucking awesome.

  125. Eamon Says:

    Yeah, God bless the Deins, thank you David for selling your shares to an oligarch, thank you so much.

    Blatter can decide what he likes to, but he won’t be able to change European law. So this can be filed for now.

  126. t-buzz Says:

    Odub as CB? Hmmmmm….. ;)
    Ethangnner, Eboue in CD grinning is enough to scare the ball away so them two with their superhuman abilitites will work excellent.Cant comment on their passing though…lol

    The BBC have asked , “Who will You Be Supproting during Euro2008″?
    Since england will be in disneyland while its on, I’ll probably be rooting for Cesc and Spain.Probably…..

  127. ethangunner Says:

    DDM

    hey eboue is the ugliest player AFC has ever graced !
    i still have nightmares about that photo that pedro had in the widget section when he was le chump

    i sometimes wake up in a cold sweat with that image burned into my mind !!!

    now thats fucking scary !

    :)

    PS : that wasnt racist ! he just is butt ugly !!!

  128. Geoff Says:

    Goofy for Hleb, El Tel, why not? it’s so time Arsenal started doing shit like that, we are becoming the whipping boys of Europe, stand up to the bullies, give ‘em some back.

  129. ethangunner Says:

    can you imagine if barca got ade ..

    do they know he only wears his scoring goggles in the 6 yard box ?
    does their midfield realize he doesnt create ANY goals ?
    they have to spoon feed him ?

    i cant imagine ade scoring 5 a season at barca ..
    every player is too greedy to make ade there main focus
    like our lads did last season !!!

  130. GMR Says:

    I didn’t see him give the ball away, but then fair enough I had a lousy link & it did pause from time to time. From what I saw he was class though.

    I don’t think anyone’s going over the top with him, he has won young player of the year in France & even this season has battled on with an illness, coming back to form at the end of the season & now really getting into his stride. He knocked Ribery out the Marseille team last season & everyone says how great he is.

    The Baptista stuff was OTT but was really based on his goalscoring feats for two seasons at Sevilla. None of the hype surrounding Nasri is based on goalscoring, its all around his overall play. There was several others playing for their place last night but didn’t get rated the best player.

    As I said, IF he can perform like that every week he’d be a world class signing, I’m not suggesting he will play like that or that he’ll even be a success.

  131. DC Says:

    If Hleb goes… We must get YaYa Toure in return + dinero’s.. Arsenal need to start showing that we are a big club and not Barcelona’s feeder club!!

  132. DennisDaMenace Says:

    egunner - lol mate!! However, now surely on a scale of 1-10 you must remember Johnny Hartson, now if ever there was an uglier cunt playing for The Arse i’ve yet to see him better Johnny boy!!

    Oh and hey, no worries there mate, ugly is ugly whether you be green, red, black, white. However, maybe we should have a scale of ugliness, a sort of Richter Scale of ugliness, but instead of a numeric value we could have a descriptive value?

    How about Ugly, Fucking Ugly, Butt Ugly, Pig Ugly and Shit Ugly……..

  133. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Guy, how about Mancini from Roma for Hleb??

  134. Geoff Says:

    I think Nasri will be a great player when he’s playing with great players.

    Hleb can fuck off, he had one good season for us but was hardly a goal scoring machine and nor was Flamini.

  135. DC Says:

    Nasri is gonna be great I tell ya!! Bring him on… Does anyone remember reading an Article by Mr Wenger a few years back where he stated that he turned down the chance to buy Zidane for 2M when he was at Bordeaux because he was too expensive!! Arsene doesn’t always know; but, doesn’t want to make the same mistake again..

  136. charybdis1966 Says:

    Ugly AFC players ? You forget the behemoth that was Kewon.

    Ugly non AFC players would have to include Beardsley - yeucchh.

  137. Odub Says:

    I hate poxy work related meetings, they detract from the more important things in life… like posting on Le Grove!!

    What have I missed?!

  138. Bob Says:

    Darren Dein representing Cesc is a disaster. The reason Cesc changed agents was he was so angry at the way he had been stitched up by the former agent and the Club on an 8 year deal at relatively low wages by football standards. He would earn less over the 8 years than Henry was earning in 2 years at Barca, than Flamini was earning in 3 at Inter etc. I think this could be the precursor to the worst possible outcome of this “change in agents”.

    Dein might support Arsenal but it was his ability to screw the massive deal for Henry that bust apart the Dein/board relationship in the first place

  139. DennisDaMenace Says:

    charybdis1966, yes but would you scale either of them as just plain Ugly, Fucking Ugly, Plug Ugly, Butt Ugly or Shit Ugly?? This is the key question my fellow Grovers!!

  140. Geoff Says:

    They’ve been bigging you up Odub, even I’m scared now!

  141. choy Says:

    arsene turned down zidane!!!

    now that is news!!

  142. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Odub is an Orange-clad God!!

  143. charybdis1966 Says:

    DDM : I would say Hartson, the ginger minger, would be a “plug ugly” and Keown a “Butt ugly”.

  144. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Anyhoo, does anyone have an opinion on Mancini the Roma player?

  145. ethangunner Says:

    ben arfa looked the bollocks ! GMR !

  146. DennisDaMenace Says:

    I distinctly remember GG trying to buy Zidane from Bordeux before he joined Juventus.

  147. Geoff Says:

    I remember Georgie boy tried to buy Zidane and Liserazou (I know I spelt that wrong) I think they both played for Bordeaux at the time and they declined.

  148. chris Says:

    Luke Chadwick

    end of story

  149. abdenor Says:

    Mancini doesn’t score enough goals wich is what we’re missing.

  150. Odub Says:

    Eh folks can I just make one thing clear….

    Geoff - Mega scary!! Hence the bear avatar
    Pedro - Wears scary shoes and also gloves so he doesnt leave finger prints!
    And finally….
    Bud - Equally as scary! 6ft 4ish with crazy eyes, and dodgy sorts come over to pay homage when he’s on Blackstock road!!

    So it’s safe to say I’m the least of your problems!!

    And the butt fucking ugly player award goes to
    Gianfranco Zola….nuff said!

  151. Geoff Says:

    Fuck me you have to be quick on this site!

  152. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Hey, talking of ugly mutha funglers, now i know he wasn’t playing staff, but surely an honourable mention must go to Stuart ‘I bob for apples in a deep fat fryer’ Houston!!

  153. ethangunner Says:

    it was a good game for arsene to tune into ..
    whats the bet MR BEAN was sitting in front of his black and white tv set watching that game !

  154. DC Says:

    Oh and the award for ugliest couple has to be….. Shrek and his Argentinian counterpart at UTD!!

  155. charybdis1966 Says:

    Chris, good cal - I had a nagging feeling at the back of my mind there was a glaring omission from the parade of horror.

    L Chadwick = Shit ugly.

    End of.

  156. ethangunner Says:

    i can imagine arsene sitting in a cardboard box naked holding the Ariel in one hand ..

    hmmm actually no i cant ..
    but you get the idea ( bean fans !)

  157. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Is Mancini more of a winger though, if so what’s his assist rate??

  158. chris Says:

    hey chray sweared thats a first!

  159. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Does anyone think that Luke Chadwick is Stuart Houston’s long lost love child?

  160. charybdis1966 Says:

    Sorry, I should have said “S*** ugly” !

  161. choy Says:

    shrek and donkey…

  162. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Chris, Shit is a ntural bodily function, not a naughty expletive………..i’ll get my coat!

  163. Odub Says:

    lol!! Ethan that’s a mental pic I didnt need mate!

  164. abdenor Says:

    Talking of ugly fucks, anyone remembers Fabian Cabalero !

  165. ethangunner Says:

    i think we can give trophies to our players for that sort of thing ..
    considering they didnt win any silverware this year we should give them E- trophies

    UGLIEST - eboue
    FUNNIEST RUN - RVP ( mr humpries - are you being served !)
    BACK TO BACK FUCK UP AWARD - jens
    BEST ACTOR - Eboue
    MOST EMOTIONAL - Gallas
    MOST VIOLENT - ade - Headbutt your own team why dont you ..
    BEST HAIRCUT - Mr Bean opps i mean arsene !
    MOST UNDER PLAYED LEGEND - THEO !! THEO THEO !!!!

    just to name a few !

  166. chris Says:

    http://soccerlens.com/top-20-ugliest-footballers/5343/

  167. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Cabalero, fuck me, now that brings back a few painful memories, and there was a man tapped by the ugly stick a few times………..

  168. ethangunner Says:

    oh please bring back the football
    im going stir crazy !

  169. Odub Says:

    abdenor I do indeed!! Only ever remember him playing one game V preston in the FA Cup! He knocked someone sparko in that game and got away with it!! lol

  170. chris Says:

    funniest run!
    classic stuff ethan

  171. choy Says:

    you guys need to check this out!!!

    http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/wpg2?g2_page=3

  172. Gunner4life&beyond Says:

    I watched the match and Nasri looks good to me, didn’t exactly shine or sparkle, and his first half was better, but he put in a good amount of effort and we saw his combative quality too. He done what Ronaldo does and drifted through midfield, I don’t think it’s a problem, if Rosicky is in the team too, he can switch flanks too, to compensate. He can pass, cross and shoot so if he comes, I think he’ll do well.

    Santa Cruz is very good, but I don’t want to lose a striker so I hope it’s not true.

    Dein was apparently Henry’s agent at the end, and fucked us over with a ridiculously massive deal for Henry, saw how well that ended.

    English talent is more expensive, so obvious. 5-10 million for a non premier league winger? Darren Bent, Wright-Phillips, could go on and on really. So many over-inflated prices for English players. The most overly expensive foreign players seem to be the south american stars/wonder kids, like Robinho, Dos Santos, Aguero, Tevez, Mascherano et al.

  173. tuke Says:

    Narsi was GOOD yesterday, I saw the game, and he is class. Very intelligent, suberb technique, not like Hleb though, more like Tomas. Ben Arfa on the other hand was super-ordinary, good we aren´t after him. And about Dos Santos, no no no.. He is not that good and his confidence was gone last season, the boy rarely even tried to go past defenders etc. But hopefully we get someone in exchange for Hleb + Nasri. Yaya if he goes to Barca? De la Red if Madrid?

  174. DennisDaMenace Says:

    Funniest run, hilarious………i’m freeeeeeeee!!

    Talking of funniets runs, anyone remember Glenn Helder’s ability to run so fast as to leave the ball behind………

  175. chris Says:

    funny stuff choy

  176. Pedro Says:

    Ethan… Hilarious!