Fabregas comeback against Korea Highlights, Velas Goal against Italy

A good outing for both Carlos Vela and Cesc Fabregas in world cup friendlies.

Mexico had a lovely game against Italy and had all guns blazing against the champions. Santos and Vela combined well for Mexico's first.

In the other match Korea started off well against Spain and had quite a few chances in either half. Spain on contrary looked rusty. Fabregas played his first match after 2 months and looked quite good. He had one missed opportunity in the first half.

I have placed highlights of both the matches.....

Spain v South Korea

Mexico vs Italy

Barcelona officially bids for Fabregas, Laurent Koscielny interested in joining Arsenal

We dreaded it for a while, now its officially confirmed. Last night Barcelona faxed an official bid for Fabregas. Though the price is still not confirmed, bid is supposed to be in the range of 30m pounds. Arsenal in response have made it clear once again that, Fabregas is not for sale. Arsenal statement added,

"To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they
will keep their word."

I don't see this being the last bid from Barcelona even though we have made it clear that player is not for sale. Their initial bid of 30m is kind of a joke. I cant imagine Fabregas leaving Arsenal for anything less than 65m pounds. I am still finding it hard to believe how did they evaluate Ibrahimovic at 66m pounds who was already 27 when he signed for the club. Fabregas on the other hand is 23 and is a popular figure in Spain. No wonder the club is having a debt of 420m pounds and still counting. Further goes to show the calibre of people running the club. Its more like a political party rather then a football club.

I am a big fan of Fabregas and the way he has conducted untill now. I hope he continues to behave professionally in case his transfer to Barcelona takes longer then expected. We all know for sure that Barcelona can fall to any level to sign a player and that could also mean asking Fabregas to openly criticize Arsene & Arsenal. If that happens it would be a sad end to his illustrious Arsenal career and something that no Arsenal fans would wish.

Theo Walcott is not picked for England's squad and that comes as a big surprise for me. Yes, Theo dint have the greatest of seasons this year due to injuries however his comeback has been good enough to earn him a place. Adam Johnson who is a regular for Man city ahead of Shawn Wright Phillips would have been my ideal pick as he his good with crosses and has good pace to go with it which is needed from a winger. I am sure this missed opportunity for Theo will pan out well for Arsenal as it would make him more hungry next season and he will come out all guns blazing for Arsenal.

If reports are to be believed, Arsenal are ready to let Francis Coquelin go to Lorient on loan in order to seal Laurent Koscielny swoop. I haven't seen much of Laurent Koscielny to comment on him however If we were to loose Gallas who looks set to join Roma, we might want to sign an experienced central defender to play along side Vermaelon. Though Vermaelon had an excellent season last year he needs someone more experienced to partner him which would in enable his further growth.

More on Fabregas transfer and other Arsenal transfer news tomorrow, untill then keep Gunning....

Fabregas Time up, Arsenal interested in Gary Cahill, Per Mertesacker

After Spanish team mates Xavi, Puyol, Pique now its time for Fabregas senior to join the band wagon. Cesc's father has now come out open and made his sons intentions clear. As per him Fabregas wants to join Barcelona at the earliest and sooner the deal is struck between the two clubs better it is for Fabregas. While speaking to a Spanish radio he was also quoted

"I don't know how this is going to pan out but I believe you have to respect the decision and the wishes of the player"

This almost confirms Fabregas intentions to join Barcelona. Previously whenever he was linked with Barcelona he was the first one to come out and openly deny the claim. This year we haven't seen that which confirms he wants to join Barcelona for sure. What now remains to be seen is when and for how much? From Arsene and Arsenals point of view even though we don't want to loose him we would not want to have a player who is not 100% committed to the club. If we were to loose him it would be better if we sell him before the world cup so that we can sign his replacement at the earliest.

Elsewhere we have been linked with Bolton's Gary Cahill however the price tag of 14m pounds is too high. He has all the physical attributes of a good central defender and I have no doubts in my mind that he will be England's no 1 in near future. I don't see a price of 14m too high for a future England star who is just 24 and has a potential resale value going forward. If we were to replace Gallas with Cahill I wont be complaining at all. I would personally prefer someone with more experience like Hangeland over Cahill but I wont mind Cahill who for me looks very solid and a player who will further grow at Arsenal if we were to sign him.

Fran Merida, another Barcelona prodigy has now joined Atletico Madrid on a free transfer. Its really pity that his Arsenal career never took off. He looked good in whatever limited opportunities he got. His goal against Liverpool springs to my mind almost instantly. I wish him all the luck and hope he gets more opportunities at AM.

Arsenal has also been linked with Werder Bremens defender Per Mertesacker. Mertesacker is another player who is quite solid at the back and has a nack of scoring important goals. Only problem which I see with him is, he is quite prone to injuries and has already missed quite a few matches this season. If by any means Germany reaches the knock out stages in this years world cup, his price could shoot up anywhere between 15 to 25m pounds which would then make it impossible for us to sign him.

Meanwhile England have started on a winning note by beating Mexico 3-1. Arsenals, Carlos Vela had 2 good opportunities to score for Mexico however his lack of match practice did his undoing on both the occasions. I am sure a more confident and fit Vela would have scored on both the occasions. Theo Walcott also had an impressive match for England and would be great to see him start for England in all the matches at the world cup.

That's all for today, have fun until next time.....

Marouane Chamakh completes move to Arsenal, Fabregas still an Arsenal Player

With Fabregas transfer news all around the web, most of us forgot about Chamakh.
Yes Chamakh was a done deal but in modern day football its never a done deal unless
players and team officially confirms the same. Finally Arsenal have confirmed that
Marouane Chamakh has signed for Arsenal.

Time and again I have mentioned that he is a great addition to this Arsenal squad and if
he can find his bearings right he can be lethal weapon in English league. One of the most important attributes which he posses is he is a team player, he can link up play from mid-field, can play as a lone striker away from home, is solid in air and is quick and tricky in the box.
For me he is a complete package. One thing where he can and needs to improve on is his fitness.
Not that he needs to build brawny muscles but I personally believe that in premier league more that anywhere else it can be quite physical at times and unless you are up for it, oppositions will
make sure they play hard and make you submissive.

Coming back to Fabregas news, its disappointing how Spanish media and clubs goes about
their transfers business. I was surprised by the fact that Arsenal did speak to them couple
of months back and seeked assurance from them that they wont bid for Fabregas this summer.
Now why would a club who already has a 5 year contract with a player worry about Barcelona
bidding for its player. It just shows how submissive we are in terms of keeping our big players
away from the grasp of big clubs. Why would a club not draw a hard line and ensure that contracts are not just piece of papers which players sign one day based on their convenience. For me its sign of a weak club who cant keep its players even though they are under contracts. No matter what a player wants, you better respect the contract that you have signed unless club feels its a right time for you to leave.

Whats even more funny is a price tag of 30m pounds. Barcelona/Real Madrid over the years have done this to players whom they want to sign. First they will meet the players and ask them to publicly mention about their interest in joining the club and subsequently when a player does that, they will try to sign him for a lesser transfer fee as compared to the market. No way Arsenal can be bullied and held for a ransom for the players they want to sell. If Arsene decides to sell Fabregas which I doubt, no way I can see him go for less than 50m pounds.

For me, if we can cash in on a player who eventually wants to leave us, we should do it rather then force him to stay and be a liability. We have learnt from the past how Henry and Vieira were not their greatest in their last year at the club when we forced them to stay. That also meant we got a lesser transfer fee when they actually moved. I would have preferred selling Henry for 40m pounds rather then 16m pounds which we eventually got for him.

One way or the other, I am sure we will have more interesting transfer news going forward and I wont be surprised if Barcelona eventaully does bid for Fabregas.

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0 1989 : Best Day of my Life

Past few days many people have asked me about possible players that Arsenal would be signing this summer. We all know how stealthily Arsene/Arsenal go about signing new players so it wont be a huge suprise to me if we sign players about whom we havent heard at all. Nonetheless I will keep you posted as and when we have some exciting stuff happening in the transfer market.

In the meantime lets relive one of the most important matches in Arsenal's footballing history. 26th May 1989, last match of the season 98-99 which we played against Liverpool at Anfield. Not to mention Liverpool were the firm favorites playing at home and having a cushion of 2 goals. Arsenal on the other side had there work cut out. We had to win against Liverpool at Anfield with a margin of 2+ goals.
Despite being labelled underdogs, Arsenal won 2–0, with a last-minute goal scored by
Michael Thomas – the final goal, in the final minute, of the final game of the league season.

Leaving you guys with extended highlights of this match. Hope you enjoy it.....


Match Highlights

Fabregas Talks Barcelona, Gallas set to leave Arsenal

Well not a great day if you are an Arsenal fan. For the first time, I have heard Captain Fab
giving mixed comments about his stay at Emirates. He was quoted

"I want to make a decision about my future before the start of the World Cup.
It's impossible to perform at a tournament like the World Cup if you're not fully focused
on the sporting aspects of the game. I don't want to be distracted by transfer talk"

We all know that its going to be a matter of time before Fabregas joins his dream club where he played as a youngster. Time and again he has made it clear once he leaves Arsenal its going to be for Barcelona. Its all up to Arsene Wenger on how he spends and makes his intentions clear to fans and players about our title credentials going forward. Lets face it, no player at his peak would want to stay with a below par club who has not won anything for last 5 years. Coming back to Fabregas, I don't think Arsene would let him go this year. Definitely not until we find a suitable replacement within the team. Way Arsene operates is quite clear over the years. He will only sell a player if he thinks he has a suitable replacement. Vieira was sold as we had Fabregas. Henry was sold as we had Adebayor. He dint want Hleb to leave as we dint have his replacement however he went ahead and bought Russian play maker Arshavin to replace Hleb. Cashley Cole left as we had Clichy waiting in the wings. For me Fabregas wont leave until we have Nasri/Ramsey completely ready to take his role.

Elsewhere Gallas is all set to leave after refusing a 2 year contract with a pay cut. He wants
to have £80k-a-week which he gets currently. For me its just a matter of time before we see him leave the club. It would be a sad ending to his Arsenal career. He was good in patches for Arsenal. For me he was never the same player that he was at Chelsea. Just when he started having good partnership with Vermaelen he got injured. It would be a blessing in disguise if we were to loose him this season and get a new experienced defender instead. There is no way I can see him play whole season without getting injured. Just imagine him staying at Arsenal and getting injured over the world cup. Our season would be over before we start it.


Nasri has seeked clarification over his exclusion from France world cup team. For me its a real shocker not because he is an Arsenal player who dint get selected but for the fact that France would need someone pulling strings for them in the midfield. How often have we seen him do that for Arsenal in the absence of Fabregas. For me he is way above his fellow team mate Diaby who got selected instead. Even Benzema has been left out of the France team just because he hasn't played enough games for Real madrid. On those grounds even Henry hasn't played enough for Barcelona this season.

Arsenal Blog Arsenal 4 Fulham 0 Too Late too little

It was so important for players to end the season on a high note after a miserable month which forced us out of Champions league and Premier League. Prior to the match Arsene had asked all his players to put in extra effort for the last match of the season as fans deserved that from players.

Fulham having one eye on European finals had no option but to start with second string team which made things even more easier for us. Under fire, "Crapianski" again started for Arsenal and almost made a mock of himself when he failed to collect a deep ball into the penalty area. Time and again he has been a weak link in this Arsenal team and no way I can see his Arsenal career any further. Barring few Carling cup matches, I cant remember a single match where Fabianski has had a solid game. Our first goal was a result of a mistake from Schwarzer and Arshavin was quick to latch on to that. My initial reaction was he should have passed it to Persie who was unmarked in front of the goal however alls well thats end well. It was good to see Russian back to his goal scoring ways as for once he would have himself forgotten about it.

Our second came immediately when Walcott raced clear on the right and passed it to Persie whose initial shot was blocked by Svhwarzer and goal post however he scored with a rebound. We sealed the match after 37 mins when Walcott cross was nicely flicked by Eboue towards Persie and under pressure Biard scored an own goal. Soon Walcott had an opportunity to make it 4-0 when Eboue cleverly back-heeled a pass to him however Walcott dragged his shot wide.

Okaka was looking lively for Fulham and had couple of decent chances however failed to convert any of those. Arsenal made it 4-0 with 6 minutes left when Vela beautifully chipped in a through ball from Nasri. This was his first goal of the season and I am sure it would do a world of good for the youngster. I personally hope that Arsene would continue with him next season as this lad has lot of potential however has just looked out of sorts with whatever limited opportunities he has got this season.

After the match, players did a lap of appreciation for the fans. A season which promised so much from Arsenal again ended without a silverware. Deep inside we all know that this side has the nucleus of a good team however just needs some solid players who can bring in quality experience to the team which can help us leap the final hurdle which so often has resulted in our downfall.

For those who missed the match, here are all the goals.....