Dortmund away, a video and some disguting (Arsenal-related) news.

Arsene Wenger just checking his hairline

Match Preview

Wenger’s pre-match interview | Wenger’s pre-match presser

Righto then, first things first and I’ve done a preview. Not a normal one, but a video one! Amazing isn’t it. I though it would be easy for everyone if they didn’t have to read it and it would be quicker. The bad news is that it’s 15 minutes long. A shame because I spoke quite fast. Still, you can listen to it and read the rest of this I suppose.

As I said in my preview, it would be a surprise if Gervinho didn’t play, given the fact that he’s relatively fit and his pace should help unlock their mean defence. Something that I keep forgetting, Arsene Wenger will serve a two-match (I think) touchline ban in UEFA matches. He doesn’t seem that disheartened, but he’s still a bit surprised about why he’s actually serving it.

Per Mertesacker reckons it’s vital that we get off to a good start. It’s fair to say that he knows better than most what it takes to win at Dortmund. Arsene Wenger has been speaking about signing Per Mertesacker and why he broke away from his usual technical type of defender.

Usually, I look at the quality of the player and not at his size,” he said. “Because we play a more technical game, I choose smaller players.

“But he is a calming presence, he has over 70 caps with Germany so he has experience and people forget he is only 26 years old.

“He must get used to the pace of the game. It is an issue because he was surprised by that but overall he has qualities we need in our team.

“He reads well the game, has good communication with the other players and he knows how important it is to communicate. That will play a big part in our season.”

For line-ups and other preview-esque stuff, be sure to watch the preview at the top! Those stats about Dortmund were from Arsenal Report’s twitter page by the way.

News

Arsene Wenger reckons that European football will face a financial crisis in the coming months. At first I thought this was just scare-mongering, but looking at some of the numbers (tweets at around 12:30) that have been floating around, things are starting to get worrying, even for clubs that are debt-laden. We can be relatively secure in the fact that we are well-run financially for the most part.

The AST had a meeting with Ivan Gazidis yesterday evening. I wasn’t too happy. There were some interesting things. The brick naming lark at Armoury Square raised £2m, which is nice. I was disappointed to hear that we only get £15m from our sponsorship deals, while the market rate would be £50m. Having said that, we always knew that the Emirates deal would hurt when it reached the end, what I was a bit disappointed with is the fact that ‘Silent Stan’ promised to look at buying us out of the Emirates deal. Haven’t heard a word. Disappointed.

That’s not what worried me though. I heard that the club are struggling to convince major shareholders that the Arsenal Fanshare is an idea worth keeping. I was disgusted to hear this for more than one reason. Arsenal is a club where the fans have always had a say. It’s a classy club, not a Chavski or a United, but one where we know that the people in charge listen to and look after the fans. That hasn’t happened recently. I remember one of the Kroenke quotes that got my attention when he ‘came to power’ was that he likes the idea of the Fanshare. Seriously, I would be really, really disappointed if Fanshare just stopped like that.

Right, sorry for going all Le Grove-ish for a second, I’m back. Good news now, Henri Lansbury has signed a contract extension. Good times. I’m not so sure that his contract was going to run out this summer, but it’s good none the less. If he comes good then we have a good player on our hands. If he doesn’t then we can sell him on for a higher price. Also, Oxo cube has been talking about his rise from Southampton youngster to Arsenal… youngster. It’s a video as well.

Righto, that’s it for today then. Let me know how you think we’ll get on today. Be sure to leave feedback about the video as well! Don’t forget our facebook page and my twitter profile! Righto then, that’s all tweeps. Let’s hope for three points tonight!

Victoria Concordia Crescit – Victory Comes Through Harmony