Squillaci Signs

So, the third signing of the summer comes in the form of the ex-Sevilla man - Sebastien Squillaci. A tall central defender with strength and experience in abundance.

Arsene Wenger said:

We needed a centre-back of quality and experience if possible, and at the right price – he was all of that.

He is a real defender and is good in the one against one, good in the air, and can score goals on set-pieces as well.

I believe he will be suited to the English game.

He will train with us tomorrow morning, but will not be involved on Saturday.

This is not a trademark Wenger signing if you haven't already noticed - Squillaci is 30 years old. Now you come here for my view on the latest goings on, but I have to hold my hands up here, I don't know an awful lot about the player.

I can give you cold statistics if you would appreciate them. He has been awarded 21 caps for his country while tallying 36 appearances in the Champions League. Some of his honours include Ligue 1 with Lyon on two occasions (06/07, 07/08) and the Copa del Rey with Sevilla (09/10). See, I can pull facts from Wikipedia too!

Anyway, It's made me sleep easier at night knowing that we now have cover should one the current CBs get crocked and let's face it, that is highly likely.

Squillaci will not play against Blackburn tomorrow due to a lack of match fitness, although RvP and Cesc should return to the starting 11.

You may feel you have just wasted your time reading a some-what non-informative blog post, that is because you have.

Arsene knows, right?

Have a great sleep gooners, for tomorrow we travel to Ewood park to play rugby football.

EDIT: I know this greatly detailed post armed you with everything you need to know about Squillaci - you should check out this link which will indefinitely give you more of an insight to what the man is like.

AWAY KIT: Yellow

The Arsenal website told us that the new away kit will be yellow. Well, not 100% - but last year the colour around the badge was blue, and the same shade too.

The yellow I see is not the recent away kit yellow - but the recentish yellow home kit yellow.

Gunners want Gourcuff - Maybe.

Yoann Gourcuff, a player that we have been continuously linked with over the past two seasons, has once again been summoned and is the freshest player being linked with us. Apparently we looked at him while he was at Milan - he went to Bordeaux at the end of AC Milans 08 campaign on loan, and sealed the deal at the end of 09, despite Milans best efforts to keep him at the San Siro.

Quick Facts

Yoann Miguel Gourcuff

French

23 years old

Midfielder

Bordeaux

Last Season: Played 42 - Goals 9 - Assists 10 

Is there anything in this transfer rumour? Well, someone seems to think so:

“While every effort is being made to keep Cesc at the club the boss is working towards an alternative.

“He believes Gourcuff’s finesse and grace will fit perfectly to Arsenal’s way of playing and will make it an almost seamless transition if Cesc does go.”

That is the quote of an 'Arsenal source' - and the source of this is The Sun. So then, transfer dismissed? I don't know. That quote above could well of been fabricated from what we want to hear, or it may not be a reliable source (This is the Sun, right?) , time will tell I guess.

If this was to happen, I could only see it happening if Cesc was to join up with his Catalonian roots - which is still something I wouldn't like to bet my house on, either way. It is clear to me Gourcuff is a quality player full of trickery, guile, technique and a canny amount of flair. I'll let you be the judge of that with this video, the maker of whom already thinks Gourcuff is a gunner. A little too conclusive, wouldn't you say?

O.K, that maybe a little long winded, so if you want something to tell you what this lad is all about, look to further than this short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdVzzvMEG08&feature=related (Embedding disabled) Rumour has it that Manchester Utd are also looking for him to sign on the dotted line. I think we hold the cards here. London, Chamakh, Wenger? He'd love it. Have a good 'un gooners.

I'm Sor...I'm not sorry Arsenal, Not good enough.

I'm not going to rage or get angry about how bad we were, I don't think we are worth my effort at the moment. I can say our attitude really does stink. However much I dislike Sp*rs, I will let it be known that they fully deserved to end that long run tonight and that they outplayed us. Well done, Sp*rs.

Their goalkeeper more than matched whatever we could roll into him despite Robin's best efforts. Their defence was like a brick wall around them white lines and I said numerous times through out the match "We won't score in that area of the pitch". It doesn't end there, Sp*rs' attack was not matched by great defending which at times looked like it was being performed on a school yard.

Sp*rs started the game like a cup-final, their crowd was like a sea of sound and support, their players we're like the last bastion of Tottenham Hotspur FC. When I watched Sp*rs, I seen a team who is wanting so much to achieve their goals of a Champions League spot. When I watched Arsenal, I seen a team who didn't seem fussed about the outcome of the game. This was also the material I was faced with at Camp Nou. Not excusable, not at all.

Tottenham closed us down in threes, Defoe was more than willing to come back into midfield when not in possession to contribute anything to the cause, Pavlyuchenko was willing to burn some energy on closing down Almunia and increasing pressure on the iffy man between the sticks. I didn't witness any of this commitment and drive from Arsenal until it was too late.

Don't get me wrong and label me anti-Arsenal because that is not the case by any means. I'm just gutted tonight and I have explained a few reasons why, which are 80% logical and 20% emotion. 

Robin Van Persie appeared and reminded us of what we have being missing, it spawns a huge what-if. But I'm tired of what-ifs. Our title hopes have took a huge blow tonight, and it's too unlikely for me to say yes too now, but what I will say is that I will follow this team until the very end regardless of the out-come and if we pull it off, it would be electric. If Tottenham now want to get the Champions League spot, they must pave the way for a possible Arsenal come back, wouldn't that be sweet?

All I know is that next season, we are for sure, in with one hell of a shout.

Till next time gooners.

[VIDEO] Guess who's back...

To mark the return of our very own Robin tomorrow, we bring you this video to show remind us of what he is capable of:

St. Totteringhams Day awaits us!

So, tomorrow we will travel to 3 Points Lane. We will win tomorrow because as we know, Sp*rs just ain't good enough, regardless of what Harry says. I'll concede that we don't have our best team available for selection, but we can still field a squad more than capable of beating this demoralised, tired and lacklustre oppononent.

Tomorrow could be a great day for us gooners. We could go second only to Chelsea in the league having played the same amount of games as all of our contending rivals, this would be making progress on our title charge as we already know we must win every single one of our remaining games, but we could now overtake Manchester United.

Not only could we go second, but we could see yet another St Totteringhams day! That's what I like to hear, our Red and White army could well do the dirty on yids meaning yet another season has gone by with false hope of bigging themselves up only to be embarrassed again. Why do you do it to yourselves? I guess we will never know.

Oh and did I mention that the flying dutchman, Robin Van Persie, will be back in the squad tomorrow? Lifes good at the moment boys, it could get so much more better tomorrow evening, and we could be on top of the world come May.

We have had those championship winning characteristics all season, we have to take this solid gold chance because I am convinced Chelsea will slip-up. It really is time for our Nasri's, Walcott's, Denilson's, Diaby's and Bendtner's to step up to the plate and become champions.

Tomorrow I'll go with 2-0 to Arsenal. Bendtner & Nasri.

Keep the faith Gooners. C'mon Arsenal.

Tonight proves little.

So here we are, the back end of the Arsenal Barcelona tie that promised to give the world of football a sporting showcase. It appeared that the football gods would do everything to build this tie up, and then kill it with a series of unfortunate events.

Anyone who thinks that Barcelona tought us a lesson should go unnoticed as their opinion is obviously originating from a narrow mind not capable of analysing key variables and points within this game of football.

Take Messi, Xavi, Keita and Marquez out of that game and you will quickly begin to see a more true representation of what would of happened if both teams had suffered injuries to key players. Tonight, we missed Van Persie, Fabregas, Song, Arshavin and Gallas. Add them to our team and I can almost assure you that we would of seen a very different game.

Andy Gray, give it a rest will you? All I heard out of that mouth of yours was "little magician" "little genius" "that little man" and any other noun he could place after "little" to boost his reputation with the Argentine. Lionel Messi is great, but his dive in the first half and his cheap quick free-kick has given him a label which I won't forget.

Where do we go now? We forget about this tie now, we rally the troops and we push for that title.

Till next time gooners...