Arsenalist

Having been trophy-less for the past four seasons it is becoming difficult to measure the success of the current team. Obviously they were a long way off the Premier League title this season but having reached the semi finals of the Champions League and FA Cup they were marginally close to shaking off their trophy-less tag.

Every football fan would love to see their team better the season they had before and gradually improve as a squad. Having finished 18 points adrift of leaders Manchester united, Arsenal have left a lot of room for improvement and every fan would love to see this gap bridged. But for the Arsenal faithful, it isn’t just the gap they want bridged
- they would love to see Arsene Wenger win another Premiership crown to add to the three he has already won.

Can you see Arsenal overturning an 18 point gap on the season previous? I find it hard to believe Arsenal will be able to outsmart Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool next season. To overturn such a significant gap in one season would be extraordinary and I’ll be measuring next season’s success on how competitive they are amongst
the top four.

Having been mildly successful in the FA Cup and Champions League this season, reaching the semis in both, they were close to having a successful season. However, the ‘Premier League never lies’ so they say, and over the course of the season the table always reflect what position the club is in. With their defensive frailties throughout the
season it’s fair to say fourth was a realistic outcome on the season as a whole.

Arsene has strengthened the defence with the signing of Thomas Vermaelen and if reports across various newspapers are to be believed he is in the hunt for a holding midfielder also. If they manage to keep hold of their core squad as well (which is looking likely as the summer progresses) the first team squad should be stronger than this time last year.

With two key areas hopefully being strengthened this summer, what are your expectations for next season and what would you regard as a successful season?

By Jamie Wright

It seems as though Kaka’s world record transfer of £56 million has been blown out of the water within a week as Cristiano Ronaldo looks
set to sign for Real Madrid for a staggering £80 million. The Manchester United winger has hinted over the past two years that it has been his boyhood dream to play for ‘Los Blancos’ in La Liga and it looks like this may now become true.

The presidential election recently at Real Madrid saw Florentino Perez re-instated and brought with him their infamous ‘Los Galacticos’ tagline once again. He is going all out to sign the world’s best players and is supposedly courting big targets such as David Villa, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano to add to the £136 million he has already spent on Kaka and Ronaldo.

So the question is, will Ronaldo’s transfer to Real Madrid have a positive or negative affect on Arsenal and Manchester United’s other competitors?

There is no doubt that Ronaldo developed under Sir Alex Ferguson’s into one of, if not, the best player in the world. However, his personality has been under massive scrutiny throughout his career and it came to light towards the end of the current campaign.

Many Manchester United fans were becoming sick of his attitude towards his team-mates and believed that he was only playing for himself. His whole body language, continued petulance and childish demeanour throughout the season became a hindrance and not a positive on the
title winners.

Personally, I am slightly concerned with this sale. Cristiano Ronaldo was becoming hard for Ferguson to man manage and is probably the main
reason he is leaving for Madrid. The Manchester United boss now has £80 million to add to his transfer kitty and this may be a concern to
Arsenal and all the other Premier League clubs.
Alex Ferguson may be laughing all the way to the bank after benefiting from 6 years service from Ronaldo yet making a £68 million profit.
Targets such as Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema, Sergio Aguero, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Antonio Valencia are names being rallied around and with a massive £80 million to play with I won’t be surprised to see a few of these names added in the coming weeks.

However there is no doubting Ronaldo’s quality, so what effect do you think this will have on the Premiership Title race next season? Can
Arsenal attract the same players that Manchester United can? Will Arsene Wenger’s inferior budget mean that the gap widens over the
summer?

Let me know your thoughts.

Liverpool FA Cup - 3-1

With the dust settling on a slightly disappointing season for the Gunners, I’m taking a moment to look at the areas that need strengthening for the start of next season. After all, Arsenal’s weaknesses have been the main discussion amongst Arsenal fans of late.

Finishing 18 points off leaders Manchester United in the Premier League is a very large gap and issues will need to be addressed in the summer to prevent this happening again.

Injuries did play a key part in their failure to land a trophy. Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo suffered major setbacks this season. Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Adebayor also missed crucial periods of the season.

However, one would hope with injuries always inevitable in such a fast paced and gruelling league, the squad would be able to deal with such
setbacks. Arsenal’s squad was stretched to the limits though and at times, the lack of experience in reserve was a majorly negative factor.

Personally, I believe their main weakness was the midfield. Arsene Wenger even admitted the loss of Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb disrupted the midfield, and they found it hard all season to find the correct balance.

Denilson and Alexander Song played massive parts this season, but neither of them are quite playing at their full potential. This is an area Wenger may look to strengthen, with Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon a potential target.

Arsenal’s defence has been questioned this season for lacking a leader similar to that of Tony Adams or Martin Keown. William Gallas was stripped of his captaincy during the season and Kolo Toure doesn’t strike anyone as a natural leader.

Brede Hangeland has had an inspirational season at Fulham, assisting in their Europa League qualification. He might well be the missing link in the Arsenal centre half position.

As for the forward line, the rumour mill has been turning for a few weeks now, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie’s future up in the air. Adebayor has stated this week he intends to stay at Arsenal but with interest from Chelsea and AC Milan, a bid from either club may be too hard to refuse.

Robin van Persie is also stalling over a contract offer from the club. However I can’t see the Dutch international going anywhere. He still has a lot to achieve at the Emirates.

If Adebayor were to leave though then he would need to be replaced and either one of Edin Dzeko or Klaas Jan Huntelaar could fill the void. I
suppose we will have to wait and see.

Taking everything into account, this is the team I am hopeful Arsenal will be fielding first game of the season.

GK: Almunia
SW: Hangeland
CB: Toure, Gallas
WB: Sagna, Clichy
CM: Nasri/Veloso, Fabregas
AM: Arshavin
ST: Adebayor/Dzeko, van Persie

What are your thoughts on this? As always, let me know!

No point putting up the highlights today but here’s a great example of how a dive can change the entire complexion of a game and yet nobody will talk about it post-game. This happened against Man Utd when Ronaldo did the same and now Drogba - who is a master at it - acts his way into a free-kick in a good position.

Will Sky Sports talk about the dive post-game? I highly doubt it.

You can also download this cuntiness.

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This is an absolutely crazy story.

Says a lot about the passionate nature of Arsenal fans everywhere. Obviously this man took it one level too far. RIP.

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Back from Jamaica. Click sponsor to keep site going.

MOTD Highlights:

Vela fouled but no penalty given: Watch :: Download

Bendtner heads in an Arshavin cross (wish we had AA for Champions League) Download

Foul on Arshavin + Bendtner Penalty: Download

Vela scores to make it 3-0: Download

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Enjoy the goals. Great game by Arshavin but what can I say, our backup defenders are not very good. Even Sagna was poor after the layoff and Silvestre was pure unadulterated shit. The injury situation is freaky and I hope we get Almunia back for the Champions League clash against Man Utd. I think we busted Liverpool’s chances for the title so that’s something to feel good about, they needed this game way more than us. Scoring four goals in Anfield is no joke. Just a quick site note, I’ll be in Jamaica next week and won’t be able to cover the Middlesbrough game on Sunday and the first leg of the Man Utd tie. Sorry. Do click sponsor.

Wenger Interview :: Benitez Interview :: Match Report

MOTD Highlights (but in a different language):

Arshavin 1-0: (Download)

Torres 1-1 (Download):

Some cunt 2-1 Download:

Arshavin 2-2 (Download):

Arshavin 3-2 (Download):

Torres 3-3 (Download):

Arshavin 4-3 (Download):

A great cunt 4-4 (Download):

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