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Video: Watch Chelsea’s ‘cheating’ Diego Costa elbow Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and get away with it
Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 thanks in no small part to dire refereeing that saw Diego Costa some how escape a red card.
Costa was shown a yellow by referee Mike Dean for clambering and slapping Laurent Koscielny. He then whined to Dein that Gabriel – whom he appeared to scratch – had trodden on his toe. So Gabriel was sent off.
Pathetic.
.
Posted: 19th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
VIDEO: Watch loathsome Chelsea striker Diego Costa escape a red card for scratching, pushing, slapping and elbowing Arsenal
Chelsea were on rare old form against Arsenal this afternoon, with Jose Mourinho’s side adopting spoiling tactics from the outset as they hustled their way to a 2-0 win at the Bridge.
The game was tailor-made for Diego Costa, who was in his element as he baited, goaded, dived, slapped, bitched and whined his merry way through the match – the Chelsea fans gleefully serenading his efforts as he reeled through his entire risible repertoire.
As part of the act, Costa was shown a yellow by referee Mike Dean for clambering all over Laurent Koscielny, with the loathsome striker managing to get away with a couple of half-arsed slaps into the bargain…
Arsenal centre-half Gabriel was then sent-off for allegedly “kicking out” at Costa as the pair mingled on the half-way line – the point at which referee Mike Dean got all excited and duly lost all semblance of control of the match…
The Gunners then had Santi Cazorla dismissed in the middle of the second-half, the Spanish midfielder picking up a second yellow for an over-zealous tackle on Cesc Fabregas to duly leave his side with just nine men on the pitch for the final 10 minutes.
All in all, another dismal advert for Premier League football.
Posted: 19th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Gunners seek new medical marvel
What with Arsenal’s players generally being made of warm chocolate, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that the Gunners’ poor physio hasn’t enjoyed a day of leisure in quite some time.
In fact, it’s been posited that Colin Lewin (cousin of England physio Gary) hasn’t had a single day off work in over a decade as a direct result of Arsenal’s myriad injury woes.
Despite being contractually obliged to 28 days holiday per annum, Lewin has powered through for 10 solid years – his monstrous workload caused, in varying degrees, by serial crock-odiles Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey.
According to The Sun’s Dream Team FC, for the past four years, Lewin has only been allowed to leave the Emirates on two occasions: “Christmas Day in 2013 and one afternoon last spring after he collapsed from exhaustion.”
A particularly talkative friend of Lewin supposedly revealed thus:
I haven’t seen Colin in person for years. I thought he might make my birthday early this month but he was worried Wilshere’s leg was going to fall off.
When Diaby left I thought Colin might get to see more of his friends and family. But what with Debuchy, Rosicky and Wilshere, I’m not sure when he’ll be free again, if ever.
The report goes on to suggest that Lewin only has time for “just one meal a day and sleeps only three hours a night in a dark corner of Arsenal’s medical room.”
Arsenal have also apparently been advertising for a physio’s assistant since 2007 but “as of the time of writing there have been no applicants”.
Which is likely bollocks, but mildly entertaining nonetheless.
Posted: 18th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Arteta and the case of the vanishing Chelsea blues
The Times has news on Arsenal ahead of the weekend’s match at Chelsea:
Arsenal not confident for Chelsea clash, Arteta says
Adding:
Arsenal not confident for Chelsea clash, Mikel Arteta concedes
Arsenal are fresh from defeat to Dynamo Zagreb. They take on Chelsea this Saturday. It’s pretty incredible for the Arsenal captain to do down his side’s chances, especially when they are higher than Chelsea in the Premier League table.
It is, of course, all balls. What he actually said was:
“It doesn’t help, before a big game. We haven’t managed to win three games in a row, which is very important. We had two in the pocket [after Newcastle and Stoke] and wanted a good result in Zagreb. We have to react quickly. We’re quite good at that. We’ve done it in the past. Saturday will be a very different game. It’s a big game, we have to react. We’re upset and we have to react. Sometimes when you have disappointment in the body it’s good because you find a good reaction.”
In other words: Arenal confident ahead of Chelsea match, says Arteta.
And he has more to say:
“First we have to recover the best we can and start to prepare for the game because we only have 48 hours. It is a new day, a time to be positive and take good things into the next game because we can beat Chelsea.”
So when did Arteta concede anything?
Posted: 17th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Things: Cech beats Ospina, ‘omnishambles’ Gibbs is England’s saviour, Walcott can score
Arsenal lose 2-1 in Croatia to Dinamo Zagreb, causing the journalisomobile to crank up it’s “Things We Learnt‘ SEO-driven device.
The Sun has ‘Five Things We Learned’ from Arsenal’s defeat.
Olivier Giroud should be sorry for getting a red card; Petr Cech is better than David Ospina- who knew?; and the pick of the bunch:
Kieran Gibbs began like he had something to prove. But did he do enough to dislodge Nacho Monreal for good?
Dunno. Did he? So much for leaning things.
The Daily Telegraph also learned five things. Alistair Tweedale has them in detail:
Olivier Giroud is not scoring as many as Theo Walcott; Arsene Wenger “needs to get his teamtalks right”; and “Gibbs is capable of winning his spot back at club level” –
Gibbs gives timely reminder of England depth – 24 hours after Luke Shaw suffered a double fracture of his right leg while on Champions League duty, Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs was given what is now a rare start on this European night, and he gave Roy Hodgson a much-needed reminder as to the extent of his options in that position.
Gibbs boasts an impressive reading of the game and in making four tackles and four interceptions in just 65 minutes he not only did much defensive work but also sparked Arsenal moves forward, too…Gibbs is capable of winning his spot back at club level and could ease Hodgson’s concerns ahead of Euro 2016 –
But the pick is:
England should be worried about their Uefa ranking
Tweedale reasons that if English clubs don’t beat foreign clubs in ranking European competitions the Premier League will be seen as not being as good as foreign leagues. The good thing about this item is that the Telegraph can repeat it whenever a Premier League team loses.
The Mirror also has learned five things:
Alex Richards has them.
He learns that “Really good teams… get ahead, hold on, maybe pinch a late second/third goal and waltz into the night with three points… Arsenal are NOT one of those sides.”
Which is why they lost 2-1 in a match in which they never held the lead.
After learning that Arenal did not score first – Zagreb did through an own goal – Richards also looks at Gibbs.
Out of position often, weak in the challenge, lacking urgency going forwards or back and pathetic… It was an omnishambles of a performance from a 25-year-old (26 in 10 days), who is seemingly no further along in his development than when making his Premier League bow seven years ago.
All facts. All things we learned.
Arsenal balls: who is the ‘star’ player happy to leave Chelsea and join the Gunners?
In “Arsenal star: Leaving Chelsea to join Gunners was ‘happiest day of my life‘”, Daily Express readers meet,well, who? Who is the Arsenal “star” who left Chelsea?
A look through the current Arsenal first team squad reveals that a single one of them has ever played for Chelsea. That’s Petr Cech. Was it the happiest day of the Chelsea great’s life when he left the Blues to join Arsenal?
No.
The “star” is Edward Nketiah? And this words were not told to the Express, but to Arsenal.com – which the paper does not cite as its source.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 15th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: the Metro says Paris is in Spain and Cavani is all set to join Arsenal
The Metro cannot let it go. In a sport of Transfer Balls, the paper says:
Report: Superstar will do everything possible to seal January Arsenal transfer
Who is this superstar?
Cavani is apparently unhappy in Spain and wants to move on.
That would be Edison Cavani, who plays for Paris St Germain – in France?
And that is the same Metro which reported in August 2015:
Edinson Cavani to fly to London to have medical and seal transfer from Paris St Germain in coming days
Which he didn’t – perhaps he followed the Metro tour bus and went to London in Italy by mistake?
Posted: 12th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Arsenal do their bit for the refugees with Save The Children donation
Arsenal football club are doing their bit to ease the refugee crisis. The Gunners will donate £1 for every ticket sold during their Premier League match with Stoke City this weekend to the Save The Children charity.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explains:
“For the game against Stoke, for every ticket sold, £1 will be donated to victims of the Syrian crisis. It’s an exceptional circumstance and I’m very happy that our club contributes to help refugees to settle in countries where they come without anything.
“We’ll give £1 for every ticket sold [against Stoke] and if everyone can contribute like we do then I think we can give very, very strong help.”
The Stoke City match is a category B fixture:
So much for the Arsenal. What about the Save the Children charity?
The charity is well run. Although it has attracted criticism. In 2013, Save the Children was caught in the media’s crosshairs. The Indy featured allegations the charity had spiked stories about fuel poverty to woo EDF and British Gas sponsorship. The charity denied any wrongdoing.
Also in 2013, the Mail looked at the boss’s pay:
It was revealed earlier this week that Mr [Jon] Forsyth earned a salary of £163,000, which is now known to include £22,560 in performance-related pay…
Three staff at Save the Children earn more than £140,000. The highest is chief operating officer Annabel Hoult who earned £168,653 last year.
The Mail omitted to say what they should be earning. Less? More?
In 2015 the Times reported more on the business of giving:
Save the Children spent a third of its advertising budget with an agency run by its chief executive’s brother, The Sun reported today. The children’s charity employed the Adam and Eve agency, whose founding partner is Jon Forsyth, brother of Justin Forsyth, who has led Save the Children since 2010.
Last year’s £729,343 spend – one third of the charity’s £2 million budget for advertising and creative projects – was approaching double the £443,693 the charity spent with Adam and Eve in 2013…
“Save the Children’s working relationship with Adam and Eve predates Justin Forsyth working at the charity and was started after a thorough competitive tender process overseen by an external third party,” said a spokesman for the charity.
“Mr Forsyth has no input in awarding any contracts to Adam and Eve, and the relationship has been consistently openly declared in Save’s annual report.”
Save the Children says that £308 million of its £348 million outgoings was spent on charitable work last year. Of the remaining £40 million, £20.3 million went on fundraising.
Every little helps.
You can donate direct to the charity here.
Posted: 11th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Spurs balls: Rodney Marsh on Harry Kane and forgetting Benzema to Arsenal
In the Daily Express, a “Man City legend urges Harry Kane to leave ‘mediocre Spurs’ for Man Utd”?
Who is this quotable legend? It’s Rodney Marsh, who tells talkSport:
“He needs to go on and become the player he can be. He isn’t going to become that at Spurs because Spurs have now become that mediocre, second-tier team in the Premier League.”
There goes Rodney, making a comment to get himself on the news cycle. And it worked. Just as it worked when he opined:
“I had a phone call from a mate of mine, and he’s been right on many things, and he said that he believes Real Madrid have accepted a bid somewhere in the region of £48million for Benzema from Arsenal. In the past this guy has always been right, he’s never been wrong yet…”
Unlike Marsh…
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: Arsenal eye Zaza, Manchester City chase Isco, Manchester United are insane
Manchester City are in the market for… No, not a local youth who will rise through the ranks and bind the fans to their club. No. City wants another foreign-born midfielder they can spend squillions of pounds on. And that man is Isco.
Right now the 23-year-old plays for Real Madrid. But Spanish newspapers say Isco is tempting City and Arsenal. The Gunners have oodles of cash but won’t match any weekly wage packet City can offer.
A little oddly, Paris St-Germain defender Thiago Silva, 30, says the amount Manchester City and Man United spent on players this summer is “the edge of madness”. He fails to explain to the London Evening Standard if either Manchester club is in the same mental health clinic as PSG, which spent £50m on David Luiz.
Spain’s Fichajes website says the Gunners will also bid for Juventus striker Simone Zaza go in January. The 24-year-old striker is surplus to requirements in Turin.
And more Arsenal news in the shape of PSG’s Ezequiel Lavezzi, 30, who says new teammate Angel Di Maria is terrific and this will be final year in Paris, telling Telefoot “I’m very happy for new signing Di María, it’s always good to play with your friends. He is a great player, I hope he adapts quickly. I think it’s my last year in Paris. But I’m OK and I want to finish it the best way possible. You never know what can happen. Today I want to stay, tomorrow we’ll see.”
You can’t out a price on that kind of commitment?
Posted: 9th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
SEO Football – Arsenal: Henry’s strikers, Benzema and the three-year deal
SEO Football: a look at mainstream media football news stories written for robots.
Exclusive: Arsenal’s Benzema move, Chelsea’s Stones failure, De Gea’s Man Utd return
So says the Daily Express in a story that is not “exclusive” because it’s about the chatter on Alan Brazil’s talkSport podcast, which anyone can listen to anywhere.
In other Daily Express SEO Football balls:
Arsenal fans erupt on Twitter as club agree a three-year deal and Benzema anger boils over
A three-year deal for who?
A three-year deal with a lottery partner in China. And get a load of that “eruption”.
Next SEO Football headline:
Thierry Henry set for shock Arsenal return amid serious striker shortage
Thierry Henry is coaching the Under 18s (which he has been doing all season) – and that includes coaching their strikers!
Such are the facts in the SEO-led Daily Express.
Transfer Balls: Arsenal set to beat Spurs to Breel Embolo
Arsenal wants to sign FC Basel’s Breel Embolo, says the Daily Express. The Cameroon-born 18-year-old has scored 11 goals in 36 appearances for the Swiss outfit.
The paper says Wenger will bid £10million for the Swiss international in January.
It was only in July Steve Bates told his Sunday People readers that Embolo was headed to either West Ham or Tottenham. He didn’t.
The Times’s Gary Jacob says Basel want £20m for the player. Wenger will have to dig deeper.
Is Embolo any good? This report suggests he is:
Debuting in the 2013/14 Europa League against FC Salzburg aged 17, Embolo also made his league debut three days later, scoring his first professional goal only four minutes after coming off the bench.
Best not show that goal to desperate Manchester United. If they see it young Breel will be worth £30m plus…
Posted: 8th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment
SEO Football: Liverpool ‘move’ Clyne in robot news masterclass, Daily Telegraph link Arsenal to Cavani
SEO Football: a look at mainstream media football news stories written for robots.
The Daily Express.
Scoop 1:
Liverpool star Nathaniel Clyne set for shock move
WHAT? He only joined in the summer!
The England international has been eyeing up the £600,000 house next to Rodgers’ Merseyside base…
Ah. He’s moving house.
Scoop 2:
Chelsea ace Terry in Arsenal transfer admission
John Terry is joining the Gunners? It’s an “admission“, after all.
JONN TERRY has revealed he would never leave Chelsea
John Terry not leaving Chelsea. Or to put it another way: “Terry in Manchester United transfer admission.”
Scoop 3:
Paul Pogba: Why I turned down £69m move to Chelsea
Pogba says he had no desire to leave Juventus. Mentions of Chelsea: nil.
The Express makes two headline out nothing by headlining another story:
Pogba’s Chelsea vow
Daily Telegraph:
Scoop 1:
Man Utd news: David de Gea could play against Liverpool
Or to put it another way: “David De Gea might not play against Liverpool.”
Scoop 2:
Gunners to bid for Edinson Cavani in January
That’s according to The Star via The Express, via some vague reports in Spain… According to said Spanish reports, PSG are willing to sell the striker if they receive a bid of around £45m.
Arsenal will offer £45m for a sub-Giroud finisher in January?
Such are the facts.
Posted: 8th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
The next Thierry Henry is playing For Manchester United, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Chelsea And Schalke
Anthony Martial
The Daily Mail hails Anthony Martial as “the next Thierry Henry“.
We’ve been here before.
The National (AE): “Wenger’s search for next Thierry Henry is over” (it’s Marouane Chamakh)
The Bleacher Report (2011): “10 Players Who Can Be the Next Thierry Henry”
Names included: Joel Campbell.
The Guardian (2012): “Theo Walcott could be the next Thierry Henry, says Arsène Wenger”
Goal.com (2013): “Remy: I want to be the next Thierry Henry”
The Metro (2014): “Arsenal news: Danny Welbeck is the new Thierry Henry”
Daily Mail (2014): “Wenger closing in on £30m Draxler, the new Thierry Henry”
More to follow.
Posted: 8th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
England balls: Arsenal striker out for six months as Hodgson considers options
The Sun says England manager Roy Hodgson has issued a “warning” to injured strikers Danny Wellbeck and Daniel Sturridge.
HODGSON has warned Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge that time is running out.
Arsenal’s Welbeck is injured; Liverpool’s Sturridge is returning from a long injury-enforced layoff. Was Hodgson so crass as to “warn” the players of anything? Wouldn’t he better served encouraging them?
Hodgson says Welbeck will not return to action for another six months, as opposed to Arsenal’s view that it will be a three-month absence.
What Hodgson also said was:
“I can only hope that Danny recovers a bit quicker and then hits the ground running as soon as he does return. Daniel Sturridge is a bit the same. It’s a year since he played for me. The two of them are always in my thoughts because I think they are very good players and they did extremely well for the national team when I was coaching.”
Not a warning of any sort, then.
In the Indy, the talk is of “a Plan B for if they are without Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck”. Says Hodgson:
“I’ve got to make certain that there are a few Vardys and Kanes and Walcotts and that because we can’t keep going around talking about the ones who aren’t there.”
Adding:
“We’ve got to be quite sanguine about it and we mustn’t start thinking ‘When this one comes back, we’ll be better still.’ We can’t do that. We’ve got to make sure we’re good with the ones who are playing.”
Hodgson makes entirely sensible comment. Read all about it.
Posted: 7th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Football: at home with an Arsenal star in 1973
On August 4 1973, Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson showed Shoot! readers around his Hertfordshire home.
Spotter Flashbak
Arsenal: striker out until Christmas
Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has had knee surgery. He won’t play again until Christmas, says the BBC.
The Gunners are the only club from the top five European leagues not to sign an outfield player during the summer. Rumours were that they would buy a striker on deadline day – as they had bought Welbeck from Manchester United a year ago. They didn’t.
And just two days after the transfer window shut, Arsenal admit they are a striker down.
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust are unhappy:
“No-one wants Arsenal to buy players just for the sake of it, but we do want to see the money being invested to make the club stronger.”
Arsenal issue a statement:
Danny Welbeck has undergone surgery on his left knee after being unable to sufficiently step up his rehabilitation work. The striker has been working throughout the summer to recover from the injury sustained at the end of April.
Surgery in April would have been a better idea, no?
It had been hoped he would avoid surgery but after increasing his training workload, the injury to his cartilage did not respond as well as hoped and the decision was taken last week for him to undergo surgery by a leading specialist in the field. Danny is now expected to be out for a period of months and everyone at Arsenal wishes him well.
Miserable news and vague.
Arsenal: every year they leave you wanting more.
Arsenal: fans demanding more spending are all wrong
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) have demanded that an inquiry be launched into the club’s transfer strategy after seeing the summer transfer window come and go with just a single Petr Cech to show for it.
It’s not hard to sympathise, is it? After all, the £10million signing of a new, world class goalkeeper just isn’t enough for a club of Arsenal’s grandeur.
Anyway, the AST have released a statement in which they voice their discontent with Arsene Wenger’s frugal ‘cost benefit analysis’ approach after watching their side end the transfer window as the only club in the top five European leagues to not sign a single outfield player.
The statement reads:
Arsenal are in a very strong financial position thanks and it is of course disappointing that the transfer window has closed with just the signing of Petr Cech.
Arsenal have built a strong squad and just one or two more good additions would have strengthened the chances of winning a first title in 11 years. No one wants Arsenal to buy players just for the sake of it, but we do want to see the money being invested to make the club stronger.
This isn’t an issue that affects just one transfer window and seems to indicate a wider structural issue. In recent years Arsenal have overhauled both their Academy and their medical set-up.
We urge the board to now open a full review into its arrangements for scouting and purchasing players. A review of this type is a good governance practice and can only help Arsenal to become a stronger club. The AST will be raising this with the Arsenal board.
Now that the window is closed the squad is as it is. Arsenal have a strong squad that has recently won silverware and we urge all fans to get behind the team over the rest of the season.
Of course, how they plan to launch an inquiry into “Wenger couldn’t find a player he fancied at a price he was willing to pay” is anybody’s guess.
The fervour for new faces was further stoked in July by Arsenal director Lord Harris kindly telling all and sundry that the club were sitting on £200million in disposable funds and that they were now in a position to “buy any player in the world” – well, apart from the “half a dozen who are un-buyable” that is.
But in cold, hard reality, the Karim Benzema link was a fabrication of the press and was never actually on the cards for a second, whereas PSG reportedly wanted £50-odd million for a 28-year-old, off-the-boil Edinson Cavani.
That’s zilch value for money in anyone’s book, let alone Wenger’s.
Anyway, we find it incredibly hard to empathise when the dreadfully depleted team you’re having to watch scrape by every week already contains the likes of Cech, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla et al.
Come back to us when Brighton “striker” Chris O’Grady (three goals in the last 14 months) is your only deadline day signing of note.
Spoiled buggers and self-entitled nonsense. Football’s full of it these days.
Transfer Balls: Arsenal defy Metro newshound Kike Marin and refuse to buy Martinez, Lewandowki, Aubameyang and Cavani
In the world of TransferBalls, the Metro – now feeder paper to the dire Daily Telegraph – is like that Lotto machine, tossing up all manner balls and spitting out hope with only a one in a billion chance of hitting a winner.
Today the paper links Arsenal to PSG’s Edison Cavani. The headline is all”
Top journalist says Arsenal hope to completing transfer of megastar before deadline
Who? And Who?
The star is, as we’ve noted, Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani. the top journo is… Kike Marin. He’s a Spanish journalist, who has the inside track on a South American footballer playing in France linked to an English club. Journalist in all three of those nations must look to Kike with envy.
This is what he tweeted about Cavani:
‘Wenger tried to sign Cavani the last summer. Perhaps he can sign him now? Hopefully!!’
Perhaps. Hopefully. And to the Metro that is news.
In earlier Metro news:
Jackson never came. Arsenal never bid for him.
Lewandowski never came. Arsenal never bid for him,
Aubameyman has never attracted a bid from Arsenal.
In fairness, Kike Marin just says what he thinks and what he knows. The Metro then turns it into fact.
Posted: 1st, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Arsenal ‘buy’ Cavani on super agent’s secret twitter account
Transfer Balls: According to the Metro, Paris St Germain have accepted Arsenal’s £45m for Edinson Cavani.
George Bellshaw declares:
Paris St Germain have accepted a £45million transfer offer from Arsenal for Edinson Cavani…
The Uruguayan now becomes Arsenal’s most expensive player. But hold on. After three declarations that the deal has been done the Metro notes:
The Parisian giants have accepted a £43m bid up front with £2m in add-ons, according to the Daily Star.
Over there Leeroy Jenkins confirms the news:
Reading on, Leeroy shares his source:
And according to Twitter account GestiFuteFifa... Wenger has flown out to Paris to finalise a deal for the Uruguayan striker.
That account grabbed two photos from someone’s else’s account and told its twitter followers:
And more:
Who is this source who claims to be based at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London, and represent agent Jorge Mendes’s Gestifute? On that company’s website, we learn:
We represent several of the world’s top coaches and footballers, providing them with a meticulous, thorough and professional service.
You represent them by tweeting speculation?
Mendes is not what you call humble. You can read the story of his life in Jorge Mendes, Special Agent.
This is Mendes (second from the right) holding a small trophy he won for being a good agent:
And he communicates transfer rumours via twitter. Well, so says say the Star and the Metro.
Such are the facts.
Transfer Balls summer 2015: Arsenal bought Vidal, Benzema, Aurie and Schneiderlin
Transfer Balls: a look at the player Arsenal FC bought over the summer trasfer window (and where they really ended up):
Arsenal Buy Arturo Vidal
June 28th 2015, Chile midfielder Vidal joins the Gunners, reports the trusty Daily Telegraph.
July 28: Vidal signs for Bayern Munich.
Arsenal Sign Serge Aurie
The Daily Express says so.
Fact: Aurie joins PSG.
Arsenal Buy Karim Benzema
ITV has the scoop on August 3.
On Augut 7, the Daily Telegraph said the deal was done. Benzema was on his way.
On August 17, the Daily Star said Benzema to Arsenal had not been agreed but it would be a done deal very soon.
On August 19, it was done.
On Augsut 23, the deal was done…again. The Metro said Benzema would be presented to Arsenal fans.
Fact: Benzema stayed at Real Madrid, referring to the media who said he was moving as “clowns”.
Morgan Schneiderlin
The Western Morning News had the facts. The Southampton player was a Gunner.
Morgan Schneiderlin joined Manchester United. Arsenal never bid for him.
Edinson Cavani
On August 23, the Star said Cavani was flying to London for his Arsenal medical.
He’s not arrived yet.
Posted: 31st, August 2015 | In: Arsenal, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: ‘respectful’ Man United fan Gary Neville calls Wenger ‘arrogant, naive and insane’
Can Arsenal compete with the very best? In the Times, Gunners manager Arsène Wenger says that Uefa’s decision to relax its Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules means Arsenal cannot compete with the super-rich.
He says:
“What’s happened is the clubs threatened to go to civil court. That brought a lot of insecurity in the decision-making of Uefa, so they started to soften the rules a little bit… We continue to run our business with the resources we create, but they can put a hundred or two hundred on top.”
Chelsea, City and Manchester United, Arsenal’s closest rivals, have each spent in excess of £45 million during the summer. City and Chelsea have no need to balance the books. Arsenal have spent £10m.
Over to Gary Neville, who uses his Daily Telegraph column to attack Arsenal – earlier in the week he branded Wenger “arrogant“. From a TV studio in west London and his home office Neville is jostling for exposure with Premier League managers.
If this is my Alan Hansen moment (“you can’t win anything with kids”) then nobody will be more pleased than me. I would be delighted to see Arsenal disprove my criticisms of their playing style by winning the Premier League.
So says Manchester United fan Gary Neville. Do we believe that no-one will be more pleased than him to see Arsenal win the league? That question to you, Thierry Henry?
The Arsene Wenger teams of the last 10 years meanwhile have lacked the dominant personalities, strength and purpose of his earlier creations. You see the importance of these qualities at points in the season when you’re not playing well and need to win by a set-piece; the winter months when the Champions League bites and you find yourself with two or three injuries.
We cannot be blind to the hard facts of football over 30 or 40 years. Pure football has never prevailed, though I would be delighted to see it happen for Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez, Giroud and Coquelin, who together can summon a great deal of technical ability but not much pace, power, height or strength. Giroud cannot challenge the space behind defenders. Coquelin is the only one amongst those who has any true defensive intelligence.
And then Neville, having made salient points (albeit ones made before), gets personal:
The definition of insanity, they say, is making the same mistake over and over again. My point was that the one black mark over Arsene Wenger is the change in the profile of players he has signed. I used the phrase “arrogant or naïve” – and the headlines that followed were all about arrogance. I was in no way trying to be disrespectful. It was more a statement of fact.
Not trying to be disrespectful – but succeeding, nonetheless.
If you refuse to change your ways – and those ways don’t take you to the top – naivety certainly comes into play.
Arrogant. Insane, Naive. The headlines write themselves.
Transfer News: Everton fans drive John Stones out, Chelsea want Linpeng, Arsenal meet Higuain asking price
It was obvious, really. The way to keep John Stones from leaving Everton is for the club’s fans to make him “flee” his Widnes home and hide out in a hotel. Well, so says the Sun– and who in Liverpool can doubt the veracity of that paper’s reporting on the Merseyside teams?
No news on how fans of Wolfsburg have taken the news that Kevin de Bruyne will head to Manchester City for a weekly retainer of £200,000, says the Telegraph , or £300,000 a week if you believe the Daily Mirror.
Liverpool’s Serbian winger Lazar Markovic, 21, a £20m signing from Benfica just last summer, has left Anfield to join Fenerbahce on a season-long loan in the tax-free Turkish leagues, says the Daily Mail.
Another on his way to Turkey – maybe – is Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder John Mikel Obi, 28. Besiktas are keen on the uninspiring midfielder, says the Daily Mirror.
The Guardian says Norwich have offered £1.5m for Stoke City’s never-say-die Jonathan Walters. Stoke says that offer is laughably low.
The Times relays news from Chinese media that Chelsea are after Zhang Linpeng, who plays for (it says here) Guangzhou Evergrande.
Also in the Times news that West Ham United still want Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor. The 31-year-old former Arsenal and Manchester City striker turned down the chance to reunite with Tim Sherwood at Aston Villa because he wanted to stay in London. Adebayor is in the last year is a contract worth £100,000-a-week. West Ham think he’s worth it.
According to the Daily Express, Arsenal will offer £59m for Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain. The Italian will reject that vast sum and only sell in January for reasons that are as clear as mud.
Posted: 28th, August 2015 | In: Arsenal, Manchester City, Spurs | Comment
Arsenal Transfer Balls: Cavani a ‘cert’, Benzema dead and alive, Wenger’s deadline day dash
Arsenal are chasing Paris St Germain striker Edinson Cavani, says the Metro. The Uruguayan is “Arsenal’s number one transfer target”. This is because the move for Karim Benzema is “dead“.
We know this because Tim Vickery told Talksport that it’s “believed“ that Arsenal are interested in the player:
‘The angle the Uruguayan press are going with is that now with Benzema now not going to happen, Arsenal have set their sights on Cavani.”
So trusted is Vickery that the Daily Star hears his paper review and thunders:
“Arsenal are 100% chasing Manchester United target Edinson Cavani”
The Independent says no less a man that Arsene Wenger has “fuelled” the Cavani rumours”:
“I am always confident that a last-minute situation or solution is available, because the transfer market is especially moving in the last four or five days,” said Wenger.
“But at the moment I cannot promise you that. We work very hard, you know I have a team around me who work day and night to find good solutions but at the moment we are not close to signing anyone.”
Mention of Cavani: nil.
Amid so much guesswork and having stated that Benzema is winning a race with Simon Cowell’s forehead to see which can move the least, the Metro then says:
“Arsenal have held talks with Karim Benzema’s agent over a move to the club… Arsenal [are] still seemingly hopeful of signing the striker before the window shuts on Tuesday.”
Such are the facts.
Transfer Balls: Arsenal defy the Daily Star and refuse to unveil Benzema before Liverpool match
Did you see Arsenal unveil their new striker Karim Benzema before last night’s Liverpool match? Or were you reading the Daily Star when it happened, your eyes searching the pages for more scoops?
For those of you who missed the great unveiling, here’s Karim:
Meanwhile…over at the Daily Star’s Big Top, Jack Wilson is tripping over his size 34s…
Posted: 25th, August 2015 | In: Arsenal, Reviews, Sports | Comment
