Don’t under-estimate Udinese, Another rubbish Barcelona bid

So our final pre-season game ended in a defeat to Benfica, where, and get this…we threw away another lead. Seriously, Arsenal lose so many leads that I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog. I haven’t seen any of the match to be honest, so I can’t go on about our performance really. But by reading other people’s posts and match reports, it sounds to me that we are still making the same school boy defensive errors. I also read that Thomas Vermaelen was out-muscled by Pablo Aimar for their equaliser. Surely not? We took the lead through Robin van Persie, before Benfica equalised, and eventually adding a second through Nolito.

The season kicks off on Saturday, and as tiresome as it is to say, we STILL haven’t brought in more signings since Gervinho and Jenkinson.

We have a busy start to the season. A difficult start too, especially being drawn against Udinese in the Champions League Qualifier. What makes it seem more difficult is that we have to play at their ground for the second leg. It seems more difficult because the squad has not been strengthened this summer, particularly in the areas where we would have wanted. Udinese may have lost key players in this transfer window (Alexis Sanchez, Gokhan Inler, Cristian Zapata), but that doesn’t mean they won’t be a dangerous opponent. They still have Antonio Di Natale, who finished last season as the top goalscorer in Serie A, and plenty of other players who could pose a threat, particularly to our vulnerable defence. They have the advantage of the second leg being at their place, so we need to make sure we put the game to be at the Emirates. If we fail to do that, we will be in for a long game in the second leg.

We play the first leg at home, before making a trip to the Stadio Fruili in the return leg. Robin van Persie will be banned for the home game because of his sending off at the Nou Camp in last year’s competition, which to me is still the most pathetic dismissal I have ever seen in a football match. Samir Nasri is also ruled out of the first leg due to him bad-mouthing the same referee who sent off RVP. Arsene Wenger also serves a one-game touchline ban. That’s not a bad thing though. It saves us having to dodge kicked water bottles throughout the match. However, despite being drawn against arguably the toughest possible opponent we could have faced, I expect us to qualify for the group stages. I’m predicting a 3-0 win in the first leg, and a 1-1 draw in the second leg.

Now this wouldn’t be an Arsenal blog without writing about the ongoing saga of Cesc to Barcelona. Arsenal reportedly rejected a third bid from Barcelona last week. According to Sky Sports News, Barcelona offered €29 million (£25.2m) plus €6m (£5.2m) in add-ons and performance-related payments, and Cesc also chipped in €3m (£2.6m). That’s nice of your club’s captain isn’t it? Understandably, Arsenal rejected the offer, who are holding out for £40million. Too right.

Can someone please explain to Barcelona what £40million means? Can someone please explain to them how to actually use the fucking currency converter on their calculators? I mean this is becoming tedious now. £40million means £40million. It does not mean hold a squad meeting before training, and see what loose change you have in your pockets. I can just see it now…

Pep: “Right guys, we all need to chip in for Cesc. I know you don’t like it. I don’t either. But Arsenal won’t budge from their asking price. Puyol, we’ll start with you. What have you got on ya?”
Puyol: “Well I have €6, three marbles, and this picture of Cesc that me and Pique got from the Arsenal Football Club.”
Pep: “Erm…ok. Xavi what about you?”
Xavi: “I have €20, and a copy of every love letter I have written to Cesc.”
Pep: “Ok. Well, put it all into this hat. I’ll send it over to Arsenal, and maybe they might just accept it.”

If the reports were true that even Cesc put in some of his own money in an attempt to push a move forward to Barcelona, then that is disgraceful. The captain of your own club, chipping in some of his own wonga for a move. Arsenal stood firm with Barcelona, rejecting their shit bids. I hope Arsenal stand firm with Cesc. Strip him off the armband, and put him in the reserves until his contract runs out. I’m sorry, but we don’t want players at this club who don’t want to play for the club anymore, especially if they are offering to put some of their own money in to push a transfer through. That is just unacceptable, especially if it’s the fucking captain of your own team.

The Champions League Qualifying deadline is at midnight tonight, and I really hope Arsenal select Cesc to make him ineligible for the competition, should Barcelona eventually sign him this summer. Although I don’t believe Arsenal will select him, the club are allowed to select one extra player one day before the first leg. If Arsenal were to put Cesc in their Champions League squad, this would seem the more likely option, as it will pressure Barcelona to actually come up with our valuation of the player.

One last thing, well done to Gael Clichy yesterday for playing a part in Manchester City’s last minute fuck up in the Community Shield. A mix up with Vincent Kompany and Gael Clichy, saw Nani take advantage and score the winner in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over their noisy neighbours. I told you Gael that you need to stop your silly cock-ups, even at Manchester City, to win things. It’s no different to any team you play for. Unlucky mate…

I’ll be back Thursday. The final pre-season post before things kick off at Newcastle on Saturday. Boom! In the mean time, feel free to check out Will’s post from yesterday right here.

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