Cocky, arrogant, smarmy, Barcelona bred, cheating, diving, crying, eyebrow plucking, annoying little rats.

I really don’t like the Spanish national team, the fact a lot of the squad is made up of Barcelona players doesn’t help but the sheer arrogance of that lot defies belief. They play alright football – not the same as us and not as good as us, but its effective on a massive scale on the international scene most of the time.

David Villa has the type of face you would love to punch, (which is ironic given that he should have been sent off for slapping a Honduras player like a little girl), Fernando Torres has the kind of cry-baby winging expression 99% of the time that makes me want to turn away before I explode with rage. Add to that how he got a Chile player sent off by deciding to take a swan dive  after getting his foot tickled by a Chile defender who was oblivious to his presence anyway and I just can’t help but really not like the guy.



Eduardo did a similar thing, it was condemned but the witch hunt that followed it was a complete disgrace. I doubt Torres will face the same kind of crucifixion.

Then there’s Pique, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol – all Barcelona sewer rats. ‘Més que un club’ most certainly – but in a bad way. They are all guilty of breaching FIFA regulation, along with their club. They are a party to tapping up our best player and captain on countless occasions over the past five years.

"Арсенал" собирается начать переговоры с "Хайдуком" из Сплита по поводу приобретения 15-летнего Ивана Джони, согласно отцу игрока. Вилсон Джони говорит, что член тренерского штаба "канониров" Боро Приморач следит за футболистом и объявил о конкретном интересе в подписании капитана сборной Хорватии U-17.

Вилсон, тренер и скаут "Хайдука", оставил право переговоров двум клубам, но предпочёл бы, чтобы его сын остался в Хорватии. Возможности игры в первой команде уже были обещаны, если Иван продолжит своё бурное развитие.

"Я был очень удивлён, когда тренер национальной команды Хорватии Иван Гудель сказал мне, что Боро Приморач зовёт его поговорить о моём сыне, и что "Арсенал" хочет начать переговоры с "Хайдуком" касательно подписания Ивана. Конечно, нам очень льстит интерес со стороны такого большого клуба, но мы бы хотели, чтобы он остался здесь в Хайдуке и сделал себе имя".

"Если "Хайдук" будет заинтересован в продаже Ивана в "Арсенал", то мы обдумаем это", - сказал отец футболиста.

Джони - реактивный нападающий, который может сыграть как центрального форварда, так и в более креативной роли "треквартисты". Может быть, он и не является самым высоким (175 см), но Ивана отмечают за его сильную игру на "втором этаже". Согласно прессе, "Арсенал" намерен предложить игроку трёхлетний контракт в юношеской команде с возможностью продажи футболиста в "Хайдук" после истечения соглашения.

Хорватский футбол совершенно точно на подъёме, так как целая коллекция талантливых молодых игроков совершают переходы, особенно упорно это делают "Интер" и "Динамо" из Загреба, так что цены на хорватских футболистов в Европе с каждым днём стремительно повышаются.

If you were asked who the top ten world class players were in the premiership I’m sure your list would include Rooney, Torres, Cesc, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka, Van Persie to name a few – no spuds of course – yet all these players have failed to live up to their expectations in South Africa this summer.

Season on season they light up the premiership for their clubs and yet none of them, so far, have been able to grab a game by the scruff of its neck and make things happen. Mind you, our Cesc did put though some lovely balls to David Villa last night who strangely didn’t say thankyou for a single one.

The theories for this lack of sparkle are many – playing at altitude, training at altitude and the Jubilana ball are all being given as reasons why the tournament isn’t seeing the best of our stars in addition to the fact that ours is the biggest league and we play more games than anyone else. But maybe when compared to the South Americans the Premiership isn’t as good as we think it is.  I thought England did OK against Slovenia – they couldn’t have played any worse than against Algeria – but I find watching Argentina and Uruguay far more inviting.

How many of the Premierships world class players would get into a Fantasy Argentina Side for example?

Why didn’t Drogba or Anelka do for their countries what they do for Chelsea week in week out?

As an England supporter I want Rooney to do really well (cough, splutter) but as an Arsenal supporter I want Cesc to weave his magic for Spain and Robin to bury a few in the top left-hand corner for Holland to delight the millions that will be watching world-wide. Although its a double-edged sword having Cesc do well as obviously his talents are not really appreciated by Spain.

I want the players that we watch week in week out to be a credit to themselves and to the Premiership that is lauded as the strongest league in the world – its not happening so far. Is that because they’re really not that good by comparison?

The Dail Mail today reports that Arsenal will complete the signing of Mark Schwarzer next week after they will sign England goalkeeper David James on a free as a replacement:

Fulham will press ahead with the free transfer signing of England goalkeeper David James – their £3.5million sale of Mark Schwarzer to Arsenal should be completed next week.

Quote:

It really does appear this will be wrapped up by next week as The Daily Mail is not the first newspaper to cover this story. Arsenal second signing of the summer is on the way and stay tuned here at ArsenalTransfers to find out when it’s official. However does this spell the end for Manuel Almunia?