The start of the new season at Arsenal has been given an enormous boost as all 23 players in the world cup squad of France have been suspended.

It might only be for one game, but ensuring that at least three of our top players are not selected for France in the forthcoming round of Car Thief Friendlies (named after Wenger’s description of international managers as a bunch of car thieves) is great news.

Thus it is that when France play Norway in Oslo on Wednesday, 11 August, Diaby, Sagna and Clichy will not be there and so will not be injured.

Of course there is a danger that the French Football Federation and their head of Car Theft might choose someone else from Arsenal to play for them, but if so we should do our level best to persuade whoever is selected, not to go.  (They could of course turn to Vieira, but that’s not a matter for us).

Nicolas Anelka, who was sent home for insulting the coach Raymond Domenech was immediately awarded the Untold Services To Humanity and Sanity Medal by this site.  Nikky baby, we salute you.

So who is now in danger of injury during a mindless game of nonsense?

Traore, Nasri and Walcott are all possibles.

Traore has played for France under 19, under 18, under 17.

Nasri was excluded from the French squad in South Africa, which didn’t help the French much, but undoubtedly saved him.

Walcott’s inclusion in the list may surprise you, but his mother once went on a cross channel shopping expedition for Calais while she was pregnant with Theo, and thus he qualifies under the Landri- Boulanger-Legrand Interpretation of the Fifa rules on nationality.

Traore, Nasri, Walcott – we urged you – do not be tempted.  Do not go.

Blanc, the new car thief, will announce his squad for the Norway game on Thursday, 5 August.

Meanwhile there are clear indications from Arsenal in Foreign Parts that Jay Emmanuel “The Tree” Thomas and Emmanuel “Untold hasn’t thought of a stupid nickname yet” Frimpong are both fully fledged members of the first team squad for the season ahead.

Great News.

Fortunately neither have ever been to France.  The Tree is totally English, and so won’t be called up, since England doesn’t use Arsenal players, but Frimpong is Ghanaian so will sadly be lost to the African Cup of Nations.  But he could choose to play for England, and so would not play.  (Hey – don’t tell him about not playing – just let him choose).

Last, thanks to everyone who trotted over to my history site, “Woolwich Arsenal” to read up on the ideas about a monument to Herbert Chapman at the stadium.  The idea is expanding and there will be more about this on that site shortly.

Jack Wilshere looks set to stay at Arsenal next season, despite Bolton's interest in a second loan move for the youngster.

The 18-year-old gained valuable experience on loan at the Reebok last season, and is eager to play more regular first-team football this season, but he would prefer it to be at Arsenal.

The midfielder says he has come back to the Emirates hungry to achieve things with the club.

He said: "I just want to play. I haven't spoken to the boss yet, so I'll speak to him and see what happens.

"My loan spell was good overall. I got some games under my belt and that was the main objective of it, to come back with some more experience. I think when you play you are used to it and it makes you want more, so you come back even more hungry."

It seems his manager is also keen for him to stay at Arsenal, with Arsène Wenger saying it would be 'ideal' for him to gain experience in the way Arsenal play.

The boss said: "At the moment I want Jack to gain experience, if possible at Arsenal. So I give him a chance now to play so that he can integrate into the first team.

"But of course we will make that decision later. Ideally it is better that he gains experience with us.

"I am a bit keen not to create too much hype around the young English players. They need to work hard and we have outstanding English talent."

1. From ghbdfkjd
Can you imagine now I’m an Arsenal fan! Do you know why?))... I play football myself and I love beautiful football! I have no doubt that you will do everything right "there ". Vsevolozhsk is with you!
Arshavin: Why do you support Arsenal? I think I can guess




2. From dmi3y
I saw your pictures taken during training on the Arsenal web-site, and I figured that you are a very cheerful man, just like me ... So my question is: what does space smell like? And another one (only I want you to answer “yes , you’ll marry, you will have a family, kids, lots of happiness , and you'll love each other for the rest of your lives " so that I could show her your reply and say" Look, honey, Andrey knows, he doesn’t lie” . So the question is: Will I marry my Milana?
Arshavin: Space smells of eternity. Will you have a wedding? I do not know, I'm not a fortune-teller

3. From BaLLer
Hello Andrey! Do you think Arsenal will be able to compete for the title this season with such rivals as Manchester, Liverpool and Chelsea?
Arshavin: In football as well as in real life one should play and fight till the end.

4. From nogomyachist
Tell me please what your motto is when you’re down or when you are going through a rough patch?
Arshavin: Perseverance wins.

5. From 5068
How much does a ball with your autograph cost?
Arshavin: It is priceless It will cost as much as any other ball in the store unless, for example, it’s a charity auction.

6. From Lerusya
What was the biggest disappointment in your life?
Arshavin: As regards to football I got upset when I wasn’t summoned to the national team.

7. From lenor2802
Andrey, I am your big fan and I want to tell you that you're a brilliant footballer. I do art and music. And I wonder what players think about art and what styles, genres they prefer ... Thanks in advance. Elena.
Arshavin : Different people have different tastes. Therefore, each person chooses for himself what he likes be he a medical worker or a steelworker

8. From Russian ... English ... French ... ??? What tongue do you like?? Thank you! Good luck in football and in your personal life!
Arshavin: Beef tongue

9. From Tanich
What was the hardest thing in your life?
Arshavin: To overcome the loss of my father.

10. From lubitelnica
Do you think blondes can watch football or it’s not worth it? I’m a blonde, but I love football, that’s why I'm asking. My friend and I even wrote a book about football. And where can one get the chants "especially for blondes"?
Arshavin: Football is universal. It can be played by thick and thin, tall and small, fast and slow. It can also be watched by stupid and smart, blondes and non blondes

If anyone still had any idea on what Fifa stands for and on how Fifa is looking at it’s job to see if all the clubs do the things according the rules we know now.

Yesterday on Fifa.com this article appeared and I will copy it like it was written.


Xavi confident over Fabregas

(PA) Wednesday 21 July 2010

Barcelona midfielder Xavi believes Arsenal are merely “delaying the inevitable” by preventing Cesc Fabregas from joining the Spanish champions.

Fabregas was the subject of a reported £30m approach by the Catalan club prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ but the Gunners are reluctant to part with their prize asset, who has five years left on his current contract.

Arsenal appeared to gain the upper hand in the protracted saga when Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola conceded on Monday that the north London club would have the final say on the 23-year-old’s future. But Xavi, a member of Spain’s victorious FIFA World Cup squad alongside Fabregas, is confident a deal will be reached to take the former Barcelona trainee back to the Nou Camp – be it this summer or next.

“We know where Cesc wants to be this coming season, but perhaps there is not enough time for Barcelona and Arsenal to agree a deal,” Xavi told the Daily Express. “Arsenal need to understand they are only delaying the inevitable.

“If we don’t manage to get his signature this season then Arsenal only really have him on loan for a year – because there is nothing they can do to stop him joining next summer.

“I haven’t given up on him joining us this season but, if he doesn’t, it won’t be more than a year before he is back home. His people will have a whole season to sort out the deal between the two clubs and it will happen at the very latest next summer.”

Xavi claims Fabregas told his international team-mates he was keen on joining Barcelona while on FIFA World Cup duty. “We were all with him for five weeks in South Africa and we know he wants to be at Barcelona, he made it very clear,” Xavi added.

“But he will under no circumstances do anything that will upset the Arsenal fans. And that’s probably why we are going to have to wait for him for another year.”

This article came on their news site. Now we call all argue a bit on the notion what “news” is but this had nothing to do with news. News would be : “Eduardo signs a deal with Shakhtar Donetsk”. This is news.

The fact that a Barceloanus player tells that they want Cesc to come over to Barcelona is not news. It is tapping up a player. And we all know that Fifa have made rules against tapping up players. But does Fifa act? No they throw extra fuel in the fire. They publish articles in which they give credit to Barceloanus players to help the tapping up of Cesc. And believe me this is not the first article on Fifa.com about the tapping up of Cesc. There still are articles on the site with Rossel talking about Cesc coming to them.

Fifa is by publishing articles like this helping Barceloanus in making a gap between Cesc and the Arsenal fans. I have warned for it before : Cesc will not leave for money but if he feels that the fans don’t like him anymore at Arsenal he really will want to go to Barcloanus. So Fifa is an accomplice in helping Barcelona to get Cesc out of the Emirates.

Fifa who should be telling Barceloanus : Now wait a minute you. Arsenal have turned down your offer. Cesc has still 5 years on his contract. Arsenal have made it public that Cesc will not leave and that they will not sell. They have made a public statement on this on their website and told this to the whole world (including Fifa). So Barceloanus you must tell your players, your board and all who are member of your club that they should stop speaking about Cesc coming to Barcelona this season or next season. As far as my calculations are right 5 years from now means that next summer he still will have 4 years left on his contract and I don’t know if Fifa thinks otherwise but this still is very much under contract in the part of the world I live in.

So for those who still believed in Fifa as a trustful and honourable organization, you can think otherwise. They will do nothing to help Arsenal but are very willing to spread more rumours about Cesc going to Barcelona and to divide the Arsenal fans on this.

But thanks to the reaction of some Arsenal fans and a very strong article on Goonerholic (credit for this to them) all of a sudden the article was taken of the Fifa website. Thanks to someone attentive I  have the article copied to my computer before this happened. Just the fact that Fifa removed the article from their website confirmed that they are doing wrong in this. And who knows maybe they start thinking a bit about this and who knows maybe they will act and talk to Barceloanus about this. I still doubt they will do this as they usually are an organisation that knows no shame.

But for me they have lost the last bit of respect that I had for them. I think they are a despicable organisation. The only way they can gain back some credibility is by an open apology to Arsenal and their fans for them not action according to their own rules. An open apology for not warning Barceloanus to stop tapping up Cesc. An apology to all football fans over the world for not applying their own rules and punish Barceloanus.

This is the only way Fifa can have some credibility in the future for me. But I won’t be holding my breath to see those apologies appear on the Fifa.com website. And if they do, I will love to acknowledge this on this website. But I don’t think you have to stay up to wait for this to happen.

I could hardly believe the news I heard today. They said you were leaving and that you were going away. So I had to go to Arsenal.com and there it was red on white: Eduardo joins Shakhtar Donetsk.

Well to be honest I could believe it. And most of all I could understand it.

I remember when TH14 left us and Arsène Wenger pulled you out of the hat. Eduarwho was the reaction of many supporters and I admit that this included me. I had hardly heard of him before he joined us. But who am I to know all the players in Europe or in the world? Arsenal does know them because of their world wide scouting system and they had found you and brought you in.

At first it was difficult. To come from the Croatian league to the EPL is a very big step and it takes time to adapt. And it took you some time to adapt. But what was clear was that you were a player who had a good scoring record but also a player who could link up with the other players. A player who had an eye for the teammate. And one of the things you had was that awareness that you cannot learn: being on the right spot at the right time. This is something that you have or you don’t have, and Eduardo had it.

Wenger gave you the time to learn the EPL and he even played you in the Carling cup where you scored some great goals in that 2-3 victory against Blackburn on that cold evening. And from then on it got better and better. Goals against City, the goals against Burnley in the FA cup.

I remember a match commentator shortly after that saying after you finally had missed a chance: ‘So Eduardo can miss a chance’. This summed you up in January. You had made the transition from the Croatian League to the EPL and people recognized why Wenger had bought you. It looked like a fairy tale coming real.

Most of the real Arsenal supporters remember that fatal day in February in Birmingham. I still remember it and I think I will never forget it. It was one of the last games I did not see live of The Arsenal.  I remember waiting for one of my sons to have finished his match as a ref to drive him home. And I knew that another son was sitting at home to see the game. And mostly he sends me the half time score or the final score when the game is over.

But he didn’t send me any messages. I felt something was wrong. Had they lost? In a way they hadn’t lost but in the same time they had lost it all.  When I came home my son was speechless. When I asked him have they lost? He couldn’t answer me but to show me the pictures he had ready on the website with the terrible and horrific injury that happened to Eduardo.

I’m a grown up men, standing in the middle of my life, and I think I can say that I am rather down to earth and not that easy shaken up by something. But those pictures did hurt me as deep as can be. Not only because I have had a similar accident on a football field, but most of all because it happened to him. Eduardo, that quiet player always with a friendly smile on his face. Those eyes who always looked friendly at the world. Not him.

But it did happen to him. And I must admit that from the first moment I thought this would be the end for him. It was for me some 30 years ago and I realized the hard way he would go through in the next months. I also knew that getting physical ready was in fact the easy part. But the mental side of the injury would be the hardest hurdle to come by.

But he showed remarkable character by coming back. I was in the Emirates when he came to the field at the Emirates cup and I admit that it brought tears in my eyes to see him there. And I must admit that I was very emotional when he came back on the pitch for the very first time after his injury. And I can admit that when he scored his first goal after his comeback that I again had tears in my eyes again. I think I never celebrated a goal so intensely. I was so happy for him and I wanted him to get back to his very best form. And for a moment I thought he would come good completely when he scored that amazing volley against Burnley. This was the Eduardo we knew from before the incident.

But what I feared somewhere down deep inside did happen. At first I saw it in glimpses. You sometimes could see a slight moment of hesitation in his play. And I noticed it more and more. It is something that happened to me when I started playing again some 25 years after I had stopped after my broken leg. I could see his brains looking for safety. I could see him hesitate and take the safe road. And it became more visible even for the people who never went through such an injury.

He still had that notion of where to be when the cross came in but when the ball felt to his feet you could see him freeze. When he tried to shoot on goal and a tackle came in he lifted his standing leg to be sure that the tackle wouldn’t hit him while standing firm in the ground. But by doing this he unbalanced himself and his shots flew not in goal and were not hard enough.

Again I could have cried for this as I knew it would spell the end for Eduardo not only as an Arsenal player but also maybe as a football player in general. So Shakhtar Donetsk is giving Eduardo a new chance. I really hope for him that by going away from some of those criminals that play in the EPL he can find back the peace in his mind. I hope he can ban the fear from his head and stay firm on his feet when shooting at goal. I really hope that we can see his big smile back on his face when he plays there and scores the goals he wanted to give us.

I think no one at Arsenal or with the fans will blame him for trying his luck in another league. I think most of us find it sad that it had to end this way. We find it sad that the fans cannot wave him goodbye in the way like he deserved a proper goodbye. So we can only feel happy for him and hope that he finds a new footballing life in his new club and wish him well. And we can, once again, feel very sad and angry for that *********, ************ b*****d whose name I don’t want to mention anymore, who destroyed a very promising career before it really had started.

Eduardo, from the bottom of my heart I can only say to  you in English, Portuguese your mother language and in Croatian, the language of your new adapted country  :

Thanks, Goodbye and Good luck

Obrigado, Adeus e boa sorte

Hvala, Zbogom i sretno