Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » What we have learned so far, and why it is vital not to have a sense of humour
By Tony Attwood
So with two weeks to go, what do we know? As usual I have no idea, but here’s some of my own thoughts from the last couple of days…
1: We have bought a centre forward and a central defender and both look fairly nifty.
2: Arshavin is playing like he plays football for fun, which is a joy to watch.
3: We have the equivalent of two new midfield signings in Wilshere and Frimpong. According to the BBC the manager is telling Mr Cappuccino to make sure Frimpong plays for England, and announcing that Wilshere is ready for the England squad.
4: Almunia looked more than promising in the Celtic game
5: Wenger is looking to buy at least one more central defender
6: Djourou is back on track.
7: Nasri is, at 22 (I think) an astonishing player, a player who everyone ought to be raving over. There are moments, when he is playing in the centre of the attacking midfield, that I start to wonder who this Cesc chap is and why we need him. (Of course those around me then hit me on the head for a bit, and I remember, but just watch Nasri and what he is doing this season….)
8: JET is going to be the great player that we all expected, but maybe it is one more year before he takes entire teams apart again.
9: Sunu is stunningly amazing, and when Coquelin returns next year he should be more than a useful addition to the squad.
10: Vela might finally have arrived, and Lambert might actually be rehabilitated after his seeming fall from grace. Simpson, I fear, will find he is not in the 25.
As for the rest of the world with bits more Arsenal in-between
11: Barca have the ability to mount the biggest disinformation service the world has ever seen. Knowing they were in debt and unable to pay wages, they created the Cesc story to hide behind, and with the connivance of the world’s media, it succeeded. There are actually people out in the great wide open who believe that there has been a transfer issue going on.
12: Man IOU now has no season ticket waiting list – and indeed anyone who wants to can walk in and buy a season ticket now. Just like Arsenal at the start of the Graham era.
13: Liverpool are seemingly going to be sold to the Chinese who are going to pay off the banks. Quite what they want with the club is anyone’s guess. The last club to be bought by the Chinese was Birmingham City, although Notts County were probably owned by the Chinese for half an hour last season.
14: Some clubs (and the media, and lots of fans too) don’t quite understand the 25 rule.
15: UEFA was serious about the financial doping regulations, and clubs are starting to look at them with concern. Portsmouth were kicked out of the Europa Cup and RCD Mallorca have been thrown out too, both under the current financial regulations. Both were rather miffed.
16: Arry is moaning about fixtures, internationals, and anything else you can think of. (Actually that is hardly news).
17. Putting humour in blogs is problematic. Even when the story is about Arsenal’s match being called off because of vampires rising from an Austrian lake, or a complete interview with Cesc which ends with a statement about the journalistic basis of the story, sometimes the writing is not seen as humour. Unless… could it be that the people who write in taking such nonsense seriously are contributing to the humour? Maybe its me who doesn’t have a sense of humour any more.
18: The prediction by the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal sites that the season ticket waiting list at Arsenal has vanished, 80% of last season’s holders having given up their tickets and the club having hard times, is possibly wrong – judging by the way we sold out for a couple of friendlies at the weekend.
19: It’s a bloody good job we never signed Frank Ribery
20: The football team who invented the concept of Franchised Football was in fact Tottenham Hotspur. Actually that’s a new story, but it will appear on the Woolwich Arsenal site in a day or so. Meanwhile, if you like history, there is a developing story of why Tottenham have got so worked up about Arsenal over the years on the same site.
Any more?