It's surprising that some Arsenal fans are touting that should Hleb go. I really don't understand how we turn on our players when we hear that they wish to leave. It's high time we stop this rot. Hleb has been one of our best players for the last 2 seasons without a doubt. AW recognises this, which is why I think he'll do everything to keep this player. I don't believe that cos Arsenal are set to sign Nasri is an indicator that Hleb is set to leave, but you never know in football. Having both players would only strengthen the squad cos Hleb and several players were overplayed this season.

Flamini wasn't that great; yes, he hit a purple patch, but I doubt he'll have the same impact at AC Milan. I'm sure AW has options to exercise in this department without breaking the bank. He promised that 2 weeks ago and I'm confident he'll deliver.

By Arsenal fan, Gunner 4 Life

It has really been amazing to watch this young Arsenal team play such wonderful football with so much ease, skill and technique.

Each and every player whether a defender, midfielder or attacker possesses an astonishing amount of talent that allows him to be almost equally proficient in various positions and areas on the football pitch.

It is reminiscent of the "total football" (or Totaalvoetbal in Dutch) that Ajax introduced with great effect to the world in the early 1970's.

Although its foundations were laid much earlier at Ajax by Jack Reynolds it was his disciple Rinus Michels during his tenure at Ajax that really perfected it.

Ajax won the equivalent of the Champions League (then named the European
Cup) in three successive seasons, 1971, 1972 and 1973.

The Dutch national team under his tutelage reached the Final of the 1974 World Cup beating Argentina,Brazil and East Germany on the way. They lost the final narrowly to West Germany 2-1.

Total Football is a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another and in this way the structure of the team is kept intact.

In this fluid system no position is fixed and at the extreme any player can be an attacker, a midfielder or even a defender.

And judging by Arsenal's performances so far in the Premiership Arsene Wenger seems to be a modern day Rinus Michels.

He has resurrected ....


By our friend at Arsenal Analysis

Everybody, including Wenger, is comparing Fabregas with Scholes.

"The frame, intelligence in the game, passing ability and knowing when to go into the box.
He is only 20 and people forget that." Said Wenger in his Portsmouth post match conference.

They are indeed similar players. They both play in central midfield and they are both playmakers of their respective sides.
Excellent football players.

But Fabregas is a better footballer for Arsenal than Scholes is for Manchester United.
A very bold statement you might say especially coming from a very biased Arsenal supporter.

Well, is it however?

Because they occupy the most influential parts of the pitch, midfielders are more likely to influence the outcome of a match than other positions, especially if they have vision for a good pass or ability to score.

It is generally accepted that outstanding midfielders need to posses a number of attributes on top of fitness: technique and ball skills, tackling, retaining possession and distribution, shooting and scoring as well.

We have managed, with great difficulty, to find statistical data for each player's performance on most of the above attributes.
They are presented in the table at the end of this article.

Now on which of those do you think Scholes is better than Fabregas?

Technique and ball skills

I would place Fabregas above Scholes in this area. Scholes is more of an energetic type of player who possesses average technique and ball skills. And by average I don't mean that he is not good at it. He is average and Fabregas is above average.

Scholes does tend to release the ball much earlier than....


Read more at our friend at Arsenal Analysis

By The Coach and 1970's Gooner

Why is it that England has not excelled in the international arena since the 1966 World Cup which was held on home soil?

After this famous victory, the fortunes of England have followed mostly a downward direction.

For the next forty years the maximum the national team has achieved is to reach the semi finals of a major competition only three times:

the 1968 European Nations Cup (as it was called then), the World Cup in 1990 and six years after that, in 1996, in the European Championships, which were held in England.

Since then and in between the England national team has failed to progress beyond the quarter finals of any international tournament.

Why is this so?

The simple answer is of course that there have not been enough world class football players in England.

In our opinion the reason for this lies on the emphasis placed.......

Read the rest at our friend Arsenal Analysis

Arsenal have signed Lassana Diarra from Chelsea, some papers say £5m others £2m. Diarra 22, was in the final year of his contract.

He was brought in from French club Le Havre in
2005 as a natural replacement for Makelele.

But Chelsea still have Makelele on their books having agreed a one year extension to his contract.

They also have Michael Essien, Steve Sidwell and John Obi Mikel so obviously Diarra did not see himself ahead of them in the pecking order.

He was disappointed at the lack of first team action last season having only started seven games and making three substitute appearances.

Obviously he saw the writing on the wall and figured out that the prospects of seeing any action this season were almost non existent.

But what is baffling is why he would want to come to Arsenal and even more surprising why Wenger would.......

read the rest at our friend Arsenal Analysis