As the furore grows over Englands insipid displays so far in the world cup, with rumours of dissention in the ranks, one young gooner is probably sitting at home watching, although probably he is just as disappointed as the Englands fans all over the world, but surely deep down he must be privately relieved that in the end he wasnt taken as part of this absolute shambles that has unravelled in spectactular style.

Walcott was left behind despite his early displays in the qualifiying for the world cup, due to not recovering from injury to be the same player that destroyed Croatia according to fabio.

Well in a way I could understand the reluctance to give him a starting berth, as he hadnt quite regained a modicum of form, but he had shown as an impact sub he had that extra pace to change the game, notably against Barca in the champions league.

Well the ones who went in his place, have as yet to deliver the goods, I hope they do. I honestly believe that when we were drawing against the USA, fabio turned and looked at his bench and said to himself, "bloody wish theo was here"

The pressure applied to Theo has been immense and for now it has certainly restricted his development, this same pressure is now been applied to Rooney, Fabio and the rest.

Ok, if Theo was there he maybe could have change something, but if he hadnt, he would have been under this same even more intense pressure which he could do without, big season for him coming up, make or break, been away from the england debacle as it stands is probably better for him.

My take on where the fault lies, players or fabio?, well to me it lies with both. The players let themselves, the fans and fabio down with their poor displays and lack lustre effort, but when you send on a team to play and they stuggle, it is your job to change things around.

When England appeared for the 2nd half, i couldnt believe the look on the face of Gerrard, he looked forlorn and down beat, not up for it at all. So why hadnt Fabio got them up for it?

And then when he finally made a substitution, he went like for like when replacing the inept Lennon with Wright-Phillips - I can just imagine just how many of us screamed at the TV what are doing? he needed to change dynamics of the game, but failed.

I hope he now has the courage to change the team around and shake it up and getting them firing, although I felt he got the final 23 wrong, he reduced his options, just look at how many attacking options the Germans took, flair, ability and players who can really change the game, fabio must now look at what he did take, show belief in all of them and change it around.

There are not many Arsenal transfer rumours around this morning, but the two that stand out at least focus on much-needed defensive players.

According to the Star today, Wenger’s top target is the Ajax centre-half Jan Vertonghen, who used to be Thomas Vermaelen’s partner at Ajax. The 23 year-old had a great relationship with the Verminator in Holland, and Wenger believes they can be just as successful in the Premier League. If they could stick together for many years they could become a legendary partnership….

But Wenger needs at least two, if not three, defenders this summer, with Silvestre, Gallas, Senderos, and probably Campbell all expected to be leaving the Emirates. So the papers are also extolling the virtues of buying the highly-rated Osasuna youngster Cesar Azpilicueta.

Arsenal were strongly linked with the 20 year-old last summer, and despite his age he now has two full seasons of first team experience in La Liga. He is extremely highly rated in his homeland, and was even picked as captain of the Spain U19 side before becoming a regular in the national U21 team, and only just failed to take a senior team place at this years World Cup.

Last year Arsenal were reported to have made a £2m bid for Azpilicueta, but he is likely to cost closer to £10m now.

If Wenger bought these two, plus the big Koscielny, Arsenal would not have to worry about the defence for a few more years…….

Arsène Wenger says the pressure is getting to the big teams in the World Cup, after a cagey start to the tournament.

There have been relatively few entertaining games in South Africa so far, as well as some poor results for tournament contenders Spain, England and France, and Wenger believes some teams are playing with too much caution early on.

The Frenchman believes that the big teams come into the tournament with a huge expectation on their shoulders, and simply want to avoid defeat in their first game.

He said: "The biggest teams who have the highest level of expectation cannot express that talent yet.

"One reason is caution, fear of failure, response to huge demands. These teams will just glide through though, most of them, then you will see them really play.

"The lower [ranked] teams have done quite well and one of the things at the World Cup now is that there are no real weak teams any more who get beaten 10-0."

"Basically, the big teams with high expectations play these first round games just to get through. I don't think [they play that way] consciously but more out of fear of failure."

Wenger also believes the players in the big teams will be feeling the effects of a long season of club football.

He added: "There are so many demands in the modern game, too much pressure, too many expectations and sometimes too much inhibition."

Как сообщает Daily Mail, защитник "Арсенала" Микаэль Сильвестр может покинуть клуб этим летом, перебравшись в ОАЭ, в клуб "Аль-Джазира".

По сообщениям, Микаэль Сильвестр которому сейчас 32 года, уже имеет предложение от московского "ЦСКА", но француз хочет продолжить переговоры с "Аль-Джазирой", так как надеется на зарплату в размере 4 миллионов фунтов в год.

Если сделка состоится, и Сильвестр перейдет в арабский клуб, то это будет уже второе приобретение для этой команды нынешним летом. Напомним, что 2 июня к "Аль-Джазире" официально присоединился защитник туринского "Ювентуса" Фабио Каннаваро.

Для "Арсенала" это означает, что теперь в распоряжении Арсена Венгера есть лишь два центральных защитника, так как Сол Кэмпбелл и Вильям Галлас близки к уходу из клуба.

В настоящее время "канониры" близки к подписанию Лорана Косьелни из французского "Лорьяна", также скауты клуба следят за защитником английского "Эвертона" Филом Джагелкой, сообщает издание.

Наставник "Арсенала" Арсен Венгер поделился мнением о неудачных выступлениях фаворитов мундиаля, сообщает Soccernews.ru со ссылкой на Goal.com.

"Кубок мира изменился. Теперь на турнире нет реально слабых команд, которых можно обыграть 10-0. В основном, большие команды играют групповой раунд не в полную силу, надеясь на свой класс, чтобы пройти дальше", - сказал тренер.