Well just when you thought things couldn't get much worse up pops William Gallas to open his enormous mouth and spark a raft of headlines which we really didn't need.

In an interview which appeared in the Associated Press and spread like the plague to every news service on the planet Gallas criticised his team-mates, described in-fighting in the squad, questioned (with a straight face it seems) the bravery of his colleagues and generally started the kind of shit storm we would stand back laughing hilariously at if it happened at any other club.

Maybe he was trying to motivate others but if that's what it was meant to do then it will have failed miserably. And while some of what he spoke about has some merit the more you read what he said the more it appears that his motivation was entirely personal and not for the benefit of the club.

I think the point he made about players being 'warriors' and 'brave' is a good one. However, when it comes from a man who chickened out of a challenge at Fulham and cost us the goal which lost us the match it's a bit hard to take. Still, the point itself is valid. His point about how well paid the young players are might have them resting on their laurels is a good one. I spoke about this on the blog earlier this week. That if your pay is not dependent on your performance then you'll get lazy and I think that's a real issue in the squad.

But any decent points he had to make were made useless by some of the most astonishing and unprofessional comments ever made by an Arsenal player, let alone an Arsenal captain. Let's go through some of them. Talking about an incident that happened in what appears to be the Sp*rs game this season he said:

When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player ... complaining about him ... and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us. There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.

I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking it all (the blame). It's very frustrating. I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me.

You can speculate yourself but the consensus is that he's talking about Robin van Persie. Now firstly, players argue all the time. At every level of football they do it, it's normal. But these fights are generally forgotten once the match is over and certainly weeks later it does nobody any good to bring it back up again. Whoever the player in question is they're going to be pissed off today and it's not good for the squad to have to relive old arguments.

Secondly, you have to question Gallas's motivation here. Why is he making this public? From what I can see it's not to try and heal any rift, it's so he can stop himself being blamed. And it smacks of paranoia. He's had his critics this season, I've been among them, but when you're the captain of a side, the most experienced defender and you're part of a defensive unit that is shipping goals all over the place then you have to expect some criticism. I don't think anyone blamed Gallas for anything that wasn't his fault. The goals against Fulham and Bolton in particular stand out due to the way he shirked responsibility. So he has rightly been criticised in my opinion.

Thirdly, this kind of stuff should just never have been made public. The papers, radio and TV are loving this. At a time when the club is suffering on the pitch more than it ever has under Arsene Wenger you need everyone to pull together, not for one loose cannon to start stirring things up like this. You wouldn't expect this kind of thing from an inexperienced youth player so far a 31 year old international and captain of a club like Arsenal to go public like this is just 100% wrong.

His motivation was clear to see again when he said:

I have to win something this year. I have to win something, Arsenal has to win something.

The fact that he said 'I have to win something' first tells you all you need to know about the man, I think. Then when asked if he would still be at Arsenal next season, he said:

We will have to see. We don't know what will happen between here and then.

Inspiring stuff from the club captain, don't you think? I have maintained from the start that I thought Gallas was a bad choice of captain. From the way the announcement was made (Gilberto finding out via the internet that Gallas had been picked ahead of him) the whole thing has been an unmitigated disaster, in my opinion. Yes, he did well enough up until Birmingham last season but it's easy to be the captain of a winning team, a team that's full of confidence, flying through games at home and in Europe. It's when things go wrong that you get a measure of someone's ability as captain and when things went wrong Gallas was found wanting.

The Birmingham game should have been enough to tell Arsene Wenger he was the wrong man for the job. Yes, we all get emotional but it was dereliction of duty so epic, so juvenile, that a change should have been made this summer (if not immediately). You look at the cringeworthy team-talk against Chelsea when a clearly disinterested and uncomfortable squad squirmed at his attempts to gee them up. That he didn't have the wherewithal to get Sky's TV cameras out of the way as he did it is another example of his complete lack of self-awareness.

He just isn't a captain and I suppose it's not really his fault. He's been asked to do a job that he is just not suited for. He has tried, and failed, and failed again, but he is not and never will be a captain. He doesn't have the personality for it and his botched attempts at leadership are damaging the team.

You then have to look at Arsene Wenger and his insistence in keeping Gallas as the man with the armband. He has to take his share of the blame for this situation. He has hinted at being aware of the poor performance of his captain as captain, talking about having '11 leaders on the pitch'. But then too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say. Arsene has made mistakes in the past, poor substitutions, poor transfers, but I think the Gallas captaincy has been the biggest mistake of his Arsenal career.

From the way it happened, which caused some turmoil within the squad who were expecting the well-liked and highly-professional Gilberto to be made skipper, to his continued backing of Gallas as both a player and captain when he has struggled with both roles. The captaincy has made it difficult to drop Gallas the player and it was Kolo Toure who made way despite the fact it Gallas's form was worse.

Former Gunner Perry Groves has given his reaction to the latest outburst from Gallas and says:

Gallas has been an absolute disgrace. He has brought into disrepute all the great Arsenal captains of the past.

Arsene Wenger has to take some responsibility because he is the one who made him captain. He should take the captaincy off him.

Those are some seriously strong words and I don't think I've ever heard such stinging criticism of any Arsenal player, let alone an Arsenal captain. I know people have accused me of having an anti-Gallas agenda and I will freely admit I don't like him and have never liked him. But this is my blog with my opinion and I'll always say what I think. It's not an agenda, it's just an opinion. I don't know what kind of agenda you could accuse Perry Groves of having, beyond being, like all of us, an Arsenal fan who is upset at seeing things which should be kept inside the club so clumsily aired in public.

For me this is the straw that broke the camel's back with Gallas. The manager has to take the captaincy away from him. If the consequences of that sees Gallas leave then so be it. You cannot tolerate the captain of your club behaving in this way. To try and point fingers at a teammate so less blame will be apportioned to yourself is so selfish and cowardly it's just not true. It's like telling on someone else in school so you don't get into as much trouble. That is not somebody who is thinking of what's best for the team, only what's best for himself. To reveal the in-fighting, allowing hungry journalists to get their teeth into the 'Arsenal in crisis/civil war' stories does nobody any good.

It's simply not acceptable and I don't know how Gallas expects to receive the backing of his teammates, the fans or the manager any more. No doubt we'll hear something today about 'I am fully behind Arsenal and blah blah blah' or some comment from Arsene about how 'William is a fighter' so I'm expecting my intelligence to be thoroughly insulted. All I know is that if I were the manager of the club and my captain came out with that kind of stuff I would take the armband off him the minute I removed my fucking boot from his arse.

The Gallas experiment has failed, Arsene. You thought you could make him a captain the way you made Lauren a full back or Kolo a centre-half but you couldn't. You humiliated one of our most professional and loyal players to do it. You stood by him when every bit of you must have known he was the wrong man for the job. Change it now or this team is going to continue to suffer under his rudderless attempts at on-pitch leadership.

He might be suspended for this weekend but give it to Cesc. It's time to give the young man a chance. Maybe it'll help lift him out of this funk he's in. Maybe the team will react well to having a new leader. And when January comes, Arsene, think long and hard about what's best for Arsenal Football Club, not what's best for your little experiments and projects.

More reaction from East Lower, Gunnerblog, Goodplaya and Goonerholic.

In other news this morning we've been linked with a move for Belgian midfielder Steven Defour. Kolo Toure is added to the injury list for the Man City game, he has a calf strain. We're already without Eboue, a suspended Cesc and, of course, Theo Walcott who will be missing for three months. Arsene's response was much less volatile than I had expected.

Now, time for this week's Arsecast. I'd love to tell you this will brighten up your day but given the state of the team and the Gallas stuff it's not exactly the most cheerful Arsecast of all time. I chat with the Man from East Lower about stuff and there's some other gloomy stuff in there too. I just wasn't feeling very funny this week (please insert your own joke about how I'm never funny anyway, it'll save me the time!).

You can subscribe to the Arsecast iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

And that's that. It's enough, eh?

Happy hallowe'en to you all. A day for spooky things like spirits, trolls, monsters and the thoughts of our defence trying to cope with Rory Delap's long throws.

This morning's Sun quotes an 'Arsenal source' who spoke of dressing room discontent after the game against Sp*rs the other night. Sourcey, as I call him, says:

Everyone was going crazy in the dressing room after the game. There were a lot of raised voices and fingers being pointed. Everyone was blaming each other for Spurs’ two late goals and the manager was as angry as anyone has seen him for a long time.

Hardly a surprise, is it? I'd be more worried if there weren't some raised voices after a final 4 minutes like that. They say that the crux of the argument was the lack of leadership shown by William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre. That, of course, remains speculative. I suspect the arguing was mostly about throwing away two goals against those cunts. 

Nevertheless, Emmanuel Adebayor spoke to Arsenal TV and confirmed tempers were raised. He said:

It's better to wait. There would be a lot of words that we don't have to use and we aren't supposed to use to each other. Then we will get together and tell the truth. The nerves will calm down and everyone will have to accept their critics.

I wonder what words they're not supposed to use to each other. If I was Arsenal manager I would ban entirely use of the word 'ramekin'. It's a silly word despite the object itself being particularly handy. Still, there's obviously a bit of pointing and blaming and stuff going on within the squad and maybe that's not a bad thing. Maybe it takes the criticism of your peers for you to do something about your attitude or performance. Then again, maybe there are those that don't give a shit what anyone thinks of their performances.

The Sun goes on to say that Gallas's hamstring injury is 'convenient' for Arsene Wenger. If we take it at face value the injury provides the manager with the chance to bring back Kolo Toure in defence alongside Sylvester without having to drop the club captain. The other implication is that this isn't really an injury at all and Gallas is being dropped.

The Mirror reports that Gallas has ruled himself out of the game after harsh words with the manager. Surely that can't be true. Ok, given the fact it's Gallas it wouldn't surprise me. He's obviously an emotional person, we've seen it before, but for the captain of the club to declare himself 'injured' because he was criticised by the manager? Madness. If it is true then serious questions have to be asked about his position as captain. More serious questions than the ones that exist at the moment, I mean. And I'm being tremendously diplomatic there. I haven't suggested that he should be fired out of a cannon into the sun, or anything.

The article goes to say that Gallas, Sylvester and Adebayor were the main targets of the manager's ire with all three set to be 'dropped' for tomorrow. We might then see a central defensive partnership of Kolo + Djourou and, perhaps, Bendtner in up front alongside van Persie. Diaby and Alex Song might also come in to add some strength as we face a Stoke side that is physically quite big and strong. 

So, it's going to be interesting to hear what Arsene has to say today in his press conference. Of course he won't mention any fights or anything like that. As always he will publicly defend his players but obviously there's been quite a bit of fall-out since Wednesday night. Perhaps the team selections over the coming weeks will give us more of an idea how it all went. 

Right, on to this week's Arsecast and joining me for a blogchat about Sp*rs and stuff is GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog. Sylvester celebrate his first Arsenal goal, Amaury Bischoff PI is there, the Man in the Bar responds to a recent cover version of his cover version of Barry Manilow's Mandy, and the usual waffle, guff and flapdoodle.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

Ok, have fun. More tomorrow. 

So all the talk this morning is about Capi Golightly having a crafty blem coming out of a nightclub the other night.

Arsene Wenger is less than impressed, saying:

I don't like that. I will check that with him. He has a responsibility as captain of Arsenal Football Club. That cannot be accepted. It is a public job with a public responsibility and therefore it is exactly the same for everybody.

I would disagree with the statement in that it's not the same for everybody. It's different for the captain simply because he's the captain. He is the one who is supposed to lead and set the example. Now, I know some people will say 'Tony Adams, alcoholic, crashed his car, went to jail', and they'd be right. He certainly did crash his car and go to jail.

However, I'd qualify that by saying that Adams was perhaps a victim of the era in which he played and captained the side. There was a drinking culture throughout English football at that time and he fell foul of that. Also, he absolutely never, ever let us down on the pitch. He was a real captain, someone who would give 100% every single time, every single game. Nobody's saying he was perfect or that he performed at a high level each week but he always gave you everything during a game.

I'm not sure that even the most staunch Gallas supporters could say that of the Frenchman. He hardly got caught up in the smoking culture, did he? The Tuesday Night Benson & Hedges club. With the Irish lads smoking twenty Major. The article about this on Arsenal.com makes pains to point out that the cigarette was unlit. Well there's only one reason you have an unlit cigarette in your mouth and that's to light it. Of course smoking isn't great for players and in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal.

However, it becomes just another black mark against a man who has really failed to live up to the standards of an Arsenal captain on the pitch. You also wonder are the performances Gallas himself described as 'tired' down to the fact he's chuffing the smokes and finds himself wheezy and breathless at corners?! The manager goes on to say:

He wants to do well, he wants his team to win and he has made a mistake - who didn't? Even great captains, we all make mistakes.

Even great captains can make mistakes so it should be no surprise that crap ones like Gallas make them too. I don't know really how the manager can continue to back him as captain. If a news story emerged tomorrow which showed Darth Gallas going around with a stormtrooper laser gun wiping out baby Jedis in their cots he'd probably back him then too.

That's about as much as I'm going to say. I like Gunnerblog's take on it too.

Ahead of tomorrow's game against West Ham there's a small chance that Bacary Sagna will be fit. I suspect he'll probably keep him on the bench though with the Sp*rs game coming up on Wednesday.

The boss says he'd love to have kept Matthew Upson and says that telling young players they'd be better off elsewhere is the toughest part of management.

Robert Pires says Emmanuel Adebayor is 'literally' in love with Arsenal. For some reason that just generated an image of a giant Adebayor trying to penetrate the Grove. Bleurgh.

Denilson talks about the team and taking his chance after most of our midfielders left in the summer. He does it in more depth in The Sun with some stuff about his background and childhood.

REDaction want you to make some noise.

And that's really about it. Have a good Saturday. It's a bank holiday weekend here so that just means one extra hangover. Joy!

Till tomorrow.

Morning all, it's Friday. Hurrah for Fridays.

After yesterday's troubles you thought things couldn't get any worse for William Gallas, well, you were wrong. He's pulled out of the French squad with a thigh injury and apparently this has added to Arsene Wenger's woes.

It strikes me it might be quite convenient for the manager. He can change things around in his defence without having to drop his captain, which is always a difficult thing to do. That's providing the injury keeps him out of our games and not just the French ones, of course. If that is the case it'll be interesting to see who comes in. Will he bring in Djourou who will add height and pace to the centre of the defence or will he play it safe and bring in Sylvester to add some funk?

I know who I'd play and it wouldn't be the fishfaced disco queen but we all know how conservative Arsene at times. Nevertheless, it's an indication of how poor Gallas has been that nobody is bemoaning the injury in the same way we would if it were an important player like Cesc, for example.

Meanwhile Robert Pires has urged the French Football Federation to bring in Arsene Wenger to replace Raymond Domenech. There's no love lost between the two, Pires was not selected by Domenech because he was the wrong star sign (no, really) and, of course, Domenech is a poxy cunt who should be sodomised by an angry bear every day of his life. It's a good bit of a rant by Le Bob but I don't see Wenger in international management just yet.

You know the Interlull is well and truly upon us when you see stories like 'YouTube star linked with Gunners'. Of course my first thought was that we were going to sign the Chocolate Rain kid to add some depth to the midfield but apparently it's just some cunt who scored a good goal. The story was nearly interesting for a few seconds when I read the name of the team he scored against as Titburger but on second reading it wasn't.

If we could sign any YouTube star who would it be? If it were up to me I'd sign the motorbike that blew up Anthea Turner. That's the kind of attitude we're missing at the moment. We need to be more explodey, there's no doubt about it.

Lukasz Fabianski says he's happy enough on the Arsenal bench at the moment but insists he's learning and getting better all the time. He also talks about Tomas Rosicky (as Poland play the Czechs on Saturday), saying:

I hoped we would meet each other at international level this weekend, but that is not going to happen. I am very sorry for him. He loves football and Arsenal have missed him.

Poor old Tomas. But good old Lukasz. Well, good young Lukasz. And his bowler haircut.

Right, enough of the nothing and on to the something that is the Arsecast. On this week's show Amy Lawrence talks sense around my preposterous waffle, the Man in the Bar is there and there's talk of Bourbon creams. Don't ask me.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

Finally for today, and as I completely forgot to put it in the Arsecast coz I am Johnny Forgetful at the moment - congratulations to David "Cassmahass" Casson, occasional arsebloggerer and friend of Boghog (which is not unlike friend of Dorothy I'm told), on his nuptials which take place today. Wishing you many hours of happiness.

Ok then Arsebandits, have yourselves a good Friday and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Morning all.  

Times are not good for William Gallas. By his own admission his recent form has been poor and I don't think there's an Arsenal fan in the world who would disagree with him. He says:

I would close my eyes if I would say I am strong. That would mean I don't recognise I did have a few bad performances - as recently with my club against Hull City. Maybe I feel a little tired.

Do I experience the most difficult period since I joined Arsenal? We could say yes. Above all I miss consistency. One match is good, the other one is not so good. However, I am doing everything to get to my best again.

To be honest, and being as fair as I can as I'm not much of a Gallas fan (I know, this is a shock to many of you), I don't think he's ever shown the kind of form people expected from him. Despite some important goals the defensive side of his game has been pretty underwhelming since he joined from Chelsea.

He's cost us goals and points this season and as captain he has to take responsibility for that. On the plus side it's good that he's aware of his lack of form and isn't trying to brush it under the carpet but as I've mentioned before I think there's an element of complacency in his game. He knows he's going to play every week no matter how badly he plays the week before.

However, you could also say that we're not set up to get the best out of Gallas, or Toure for that matter. Both of them prefer to play alongside a more traditional, physical centre-half and I don't think it's any coincidence that Gallas's best form at the club coincided with a run in the team beside Philippe Senderos. We've seen Kolo thrive beside both Senderos and Sol Campbell and Gallas at Chelsea was better at centre half because he had Terry as his partner.

To me that's the fundamental issue and until we do something about it we're always going to be vulnerable at the back.

To compound his woes this week PSG midfielder Jerome Rothen has written a book in which Gallas is called 'Mr Bean', accused of stealing from a teammate and being somewhat slow academically. Here's a sample:

At school he was a right wally – he would sit at the back of the class as far away from the blackboard as possible. One day the maths teacher gave us a test – she knew that William understood nothing about maths, so she allowed him to use the textbook. But even with the book under his nose he still only got four out of 20!

Rothen refers to Gallas a 'lovely guy' but as you might expect the Arsenal captain isn't too pleased about it and wants to go on TV to explain. It does seem a bit spiteful. I mean, he's hardly the first footballer to struggle academically and I think everyone of us would have stories we don't want aired in public about our school days. Like the bloke in my French class who begged to be allowed go to the doctor but the teacher wouldn't let him and when he stopped whimpering and passed out and was taken to hospital it was discovered he'd twisted his testicles and needed 26 stitches in his ballbag.

Anyway, there's an old French saying which seems to fit Gallas's situation. I just don't know what that saying is in French. In English we say C'est la vie.

Robin van Persie is out of the Dutch squad with a hamstring injury. Splendid, it was in this very international break last year that van Persie picked up an injury that would keep him out for most of the season. At least that happened in a game. This time it was in training. There's no news of how long he'll be out for but a hammy is usually 2-3 weeks for a regular strain. Of course Robin has probably Rosickyed his and will be out until infinity. 

Rio Ferdinand says Manuel Almunia shouldn't be picked for England. This is weird. That's twice inside 24 hours I've found myself agreeing with Ferdinand (first here) and it's making me feel all funny. Bleurgh. He should make like David Byrne and stop making sense. 

Right, not much else happening so I'll leave it there. More with an Arsecast, of sorts, tomorrow.

Till then.

All still very dull and non-arsey.

Theo Walcott apparently played quite well for England against Andorra the other night, which is good for the young man. Good for us too if it boosts his confidence and he says he's coming to terms more with playing on the wing. Capello, like Arsene Wenger, is still urging patience due to his relative youth and inexperience but it should be interesting to see how he fares against Croatia, if he keeps his place that is.

Chairman PHW has been talking about the possibility of somebody making a bid for the club. In the light of the Manchester City purchase he says:

If somebody came and made a really huge bid then you cannot recommend shareholders turn it down because we don't like it. We want the club to stay in its current ownership and, of course, you have some concern that someone will try to buy the club.

The directors don't want to sell but we are a public company. It depends on the price.

And that's just the reality of the situation. With Dein having been shafted by Usmanov you do wonder if there's something about to happen there. And if a multi-squillionaire sheikh decided he wanted a new plaything and was prepared to spend a tiny fraction of his fortune there's really not much anyone can do about it. Naturally it would be great if the current owners could keep on keeping on (minus the fat, disgusting, Man United supporting Uzbeki oligarch cunt, of course) but football is going through some mighty changes right now.

William Gallas spoke about Joey Barton and Samir Nasri, saying:

The moment Barton came on to the pitch he made a bad challenge on Samir Nasri. Samir responded with an act that maybe wasn't especially nice. But bearing in mind the player he did it to, then fair enough.

heh, I think that's the first time Gallas has ever said something funny in his time at Arsenal. You just know that Barton will be stewing over being made look a chump by Nasri and by the time we play against him again he'll be out for revenge. If he comes onto the pitch with a lit cigar we'll know the way he's going to play it.

Not much else to tell you about though really. Arsene Wenger is having training sessions with just Almunia and Denilson. Apparently they're just playing three and in all day long before going off on their BMXs to play Commodore 64. Good old days.

Perhaps some football tonight can take our minds off all the stuff like ...erm... football. Er... it's the return leg against Shteve McClaren'sh FC Twente and the good news is that Cesc Fabregas is fit.

The boss says he doesn't know if he's going to play him from the start or not but I think he will. I mean, what alternative does he have? We really don't have any central midfielders and if Cesc is fit then giving him as much time as possible to build up his sharpness and match fitness is vital. The manager knows a big peformance is vital after the Fulham debacle, saying:

I know my squad is good, my team is good, our spirit is good. We are intelligent enough to know we did not play well, but we know as well we have the needed quality to respond. We were not good last Saturday and lost. It’s as simple as that. We completely understand the criticism. It hurts terribly to lose like we did.

There's no question there's enough quality in the squad to get a good result and a pull out a decent performance tonight but it doesn't alter the fact there's a lack of midfield quality in the squad. The manager won't be panicked into buying though, saying.

I hate the idea that, whenever we have a bad game, the solution is to go out and buy. People still speak of the Invincibles but don’t forget that last year we lost only three games. We still have those players, so why should we not be capable of repeating that?

Here's the thing though. We don't have those players. We don't have Gilberto, Hleb, Flamini, Senderos or Hoyte, who all played their part during last season. And if you lose three quality central midfield players over a period of 6 months then replacing them, or even one of them, is not panic buying. It's common fucking sense.

It just seems that the more people suggest to Arsene that we need signings the more reluctant he is to do it. To be fair to him he hasn't given up on the idea and says:

If I can find one more player before the transfer deadline, I will take him. But one more player will not make that much difference. If we don’t get him, we’re still strong enough to deal with all the competitions.

To be honest I'm amazed at that statement, I really am. Another injury to Cesc and our midfield is essentially decimated. To say we're strong enough without a signing to cope with the league and the Champions League is just wrong, in my opinion. We weren't strong enough to cope with Fulham. How are we possibly strong enough to cope with Europe's elite? And here's the thing. Nobody has ever said they want Wenger to go out and spend £20m or £30m on any player. We saw last season that you can bring in quality like Sagna and Eduardo at good prices, and those are the kind of signings people would have been more than happy with.

To me the most disheartening thing is that I really, honestly felt we were just a couple of players away from seriously improving the squad. Last year we were so good for so long and I thought a couple of canny additions to the squad would make all the difference. They'd give us that bit of depth and experience we missed at vital times last season and help us win trophies. But we've let so many players go and not replaced them that it seems like there's more work than ever to do. One step forward, three steps back. It's sad.

The midfield has absolutely no depth whatsoever. Go beyond Fabregas and it lacks depth and quality. It's incredibly frustrating that the manager seems unwilling to acknowledge this. Now, perhaps he's just trying to talk up the players he's got available to him now. They probably do need a confidence boost after the Fulham result so that's the little ray of hope I'm clinging to but let's not forget the manager said something would 'certainly' be done in terms of a signing before this game. Now we don't necessarily need one.

Anyway, I'm reminded of a broken record and I'm sorry for going on about it but every day there's something new and every day I find myself increasingly frustrated and anxious about the season ahead. I don't want to criticise but ultimately the blog is about my opinion and at the moment I'm really worried about this team. Still, let's try and focus on the game tonight. A good result and a good performance would definitely lift the clouds a little bit - a new player or two would bring the sun out though.

The manager also explained the decision to let Philippe Senderos go to AC Milan. He says he hasn't decided whether or not it will be permanent or not but I don't think we'll see him in an Arsenal shirt again, which does make me a bit sad.

He's also defended William Gallas saying we win as a team and lose as a team. Which is exactly what he said after Senderos made those errors against Liverpool last season. I sincerely hope he gave Gallas a proper chewing out for his crap defending against Fulham but you can't help feel some players are given more leeway than others. Meanwhile Lee Dixon, a man who knows a thing or two about it, has bemoaned the captain's lack of leadership. I do like Dixon as a pundit, he's not the usual bland, halfwit 'He's hit it and it's gone in' ex-footballer. When he talks about things like this, and it's not the first time he's had his say about Gallas, I think it's worth listening to.

Right, that's really about enough. I'm honestly hoping we can get things back on track tonight because whatever criticisms we have at the moment the 11 players who go out in our shirt tonight deserve our support. Yes, even him :big fuck off smiley:

More tomorrow.

The fallout from the Fulham game has not been pretty. Condemnation of the performance and the wafer thin squad has been widespread, and rightly so.

I've already said plenty about what we need to do about it so it is somewhat depressing to hear the manager say we're not close to signing anyone. It could be that the manager is playing his cards close to his chest, it could also be that we're just not close to signing anyone. A lot has been said about Xabi Alonso and while I would certainly love to have him I was chatting to the Mugsmasher about him last night and he doesn't think he's what we need.

Now, let me clarify that. He would most certainly improve our midfield, no question, but if we're looking for someone to do what Flamini did last season then he's not the guy. Alonso + one more would be ideal, where that one more is a Flamini style grafter. Who that might be is anybody's guess but it's one for the manager to sort out. The transfer window closes in 6 days time, there's a lot of work to do between now and then if we want to win things this season.

In my opinion he has to look at what's best for the team, not what's best for the players, if you get what I mean. Bringing in two new players in midfield would make life tough for Denilson but so what? It would mean Diaby has to stay fit and take his chances when he gets them. Competition is good and healthy, lack of it brings about results and performances like Fulham. But while it might be negative for some it would mean that players like Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilsgere learn their trade from established, experienced players instead of guys who are barely out of kindergarten in footballing terms. You have to find the right balance between youth and experience and the experience side of things is all wrong right now.

Arsene Wenger spoke about the defending which lead to the goal against Fulham and said:

I feel the kind of mistake we made on the corner is not excusable. You can be beaten to the ball in the air by somebody who jumps higher than you, but you cannot concede a goal in the middle of the goal, on the six-yard line. That’s where I feel we were guilty.

He's right and he needs to look no further than his excuse for a captain to see who's to blame there. I've said all I need to say about Gallas. Rubbish captain and the manager needs to make the change now, if not sooner. Give it to Cesc, let's realise that Gallas was a badly failed experiment and move on.

Emmanuel Adebayor says Arsenal were given a warning by the Fulham result. He says:

We can't think we are untouchable. We saw that as soon as we don't play together, as soon as we don't put our spirit together, we can lose. If we want to challenge [for the Premier League], we cannot lose again. We have to put more heart in, keep focused and play our football.

I can't argue with those sentiments at all but it's amazing that after just two games of the domestic season we're having to rally the troops and call for more spirit. It's something that appeared to be lacking against Fulham and to my mind we don't have the players to address it. Last season we had Flamini constantly talking, encouraging, geeing up his mates, Cesc lead by example, Gallas was trying to prove he had what it takes, Adebayor stood up and scored goals when they were needed.

Now Cesc is injured, Flamini is gone, Gallas has proved more than once he couldn't lead a team of schoolboys and Adebayor is the guy who spent all summer trying to leave the club, despite what the manager says. It's little wonder we lack direction and played so spinelessly.

Still, there's time to put it right. Perhaps the defeat can consolidate the squad, new signings can bolster the midfield and boost confidence, a change of captain might provide more impetus and loyalty from the players who would prefer to play 'for' Cesc than Gallas, and a win against Twente would be the first step in the right direction.

I'm trying very hard not to be overly negative about us at the moment but it's not easy. There are obviously big issues that have to be sorted out. It's time for Arsene to be ruthless. We've seen him do it before but this time he may just have to swallow a little pride to make things right again. Get the seasoning and the ketchup out, boss, it'll make that pride go down easier than Paris Hilton under a nightvision camera.

One of the things that got overlooked in the wake of the Fulham game was the tackle by John Pantsil on Emmanuel Eboue. It really was terrible, over the ball and extremely dangerous. I hope the FA take a good look at it and take a good look at the referee who managed to give a free kick against Eboue for a tackle which might have broken his leg. There have been a couple of bad tackles like that already this season (Deco on Diarra in Chelsea's game against Portsmouth last week) yet on neither occasion has the perpetrator been punished. After what happened to Eduardo perhaps we're a bit more conscious of it but if someone ends up with a bad injury because refs haven't clamped down on these kind of challenges then I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Right, that's about it. More on the Twente game to come during the week.  

Morning.

A 3-2 win over Ajax last night. That's good, eh? Oh wait. It's not good. Or something. I must confess I've only seen highlights but from what I've read it seems Adebayor missed 76 chances in the first half, we still can't defend, our midfield is light and we're all going to die. Distressing times.

The goals (from 101 Great Goals) are interesting viewing on their own. The first Ajax goal was an incredible strike but you could ask why William Gallas didn't close him down with any kind of urgency. The second was also a fine hit but you could ask where the hell William Gallas was.

Our first came from a fine cross by Eboue (who has, with that one cross, now cemented his position as first choice right midfielder until 2013) and a very good header by Adebayor. The second from Bendtner came after good work from Adebayor to incercept a back pass and just about keep it in play then Denilson laid one on a plate for Adebayor to win the game.

Obviously there are things for the manager to work on. If we can see the flaws then so can he. The defensive errors are worrying though, especially coming from the player many fans consider to be our best central defender. Afterwards the manager said:

In the whole game we were always dangerous going forward, but they took advantage of two lapses of concentration and scored two fantastic goals. Some players are still a bit short physically, but I am not really concerned. We were much better defensively in the second half.

We're not always going to score 3 goals when we concede 2 though. That was the Ardiles philosophy when he was manager of that lot down the road. Still, it's pre-season and this is time to make those mistakes and ensure they don't happen again. At the end of the day we won the game.

Tonight's game against Sevilla is likely to feature a much changed side. I'd play Kolo again, get some playing time under his belt before next week's game against Twente. Anyway, that kicks off around 5pm I think.

Some transfer news yesterday with the agent of Udinese's Swiss international Gokhan Inler admitting he'd been in talks with Arsenal. He said:

It is true that I met with Arsene Wenger. There were very positive talks.

No question we need a midfielder. If this is the signing then fine. But let's do it and not procrastinate too much. The boss can lament the absence of Diaby all he wants but the fact is Diaby is a player who is rarely fit for long enough. We keep hearing about how he was all set to be given his chance alongside Cesc in last year's Emirates Cup but injury cost him that chance. This pre-season would have been the perfect opportunity to stake his claim, injured again. We can't count on him and once you lose him you've got Denilson (who is a Cesc, not a Flamini) and then you're into the kids like Ramsey or Wilshere (with Song bizarrely being considered a central defender).

We have to make a signing in the centre. No team can afford to lose 3 players with the quality of Gilberto, Flamini and Diarra and not replace them. Arsene's job is not to provide a platform for Diaby to thrive, it's Diaby's job to thrive when given the chance to do so. Something he has pretty much failed to do. Get someone in. It's critical now. 

It looks like we're about to sell another player. This time Justin Hoyte to Middlesboro for £3.5m. I think at 24 years of age Hoyte really has to make a decision about his career. I think this is probably a good move for him, he'll play more regularly and as much as it'll hurt him to leave (he really is a proper Gooner) it's probably the best thing for his career. 

Right, that's about it. Have a good Saturday. Raining here again. Boooo. 

Good morning and good Friday to you all.

We're in Amsterdam tonight and tomorrow for the Amsterdam Tournament which sees us take in games against Ajax and Sevilla. Two good tests by any standards.

Arsene Wenger has called it 'ideal preparation' and it's a good chance to give some players a run out, in particular Cesc who's like to play his first game since returning to training last week. The boss also claims he'd have liked to play Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan but frankly I couldn't give a shit if I never saw that arrogant, overweening cuntblister ever again.

He's give his backing to William Gallas as skipper saying he feels some of the other candidates are too young, but more importantly spoke about the team learning the lessons of last season. He says:

We have kept the basis of the team and the frustration we got from not winning it in the end will come out for the good. We have the strength and resolve to do it. We need first to get in that position and if we do that again, I believe we will show the needed resilience.

It's hard to argue with the fact we were only just short last season but in truth the title challenge was over after that run of draws. As I said yesterday if we can learn the lessons of last season then fantastic - the difficulty is that the squad isn't quite as good as last season, particularly in central midfield. Ironic when you think back to the end of last August and the abundance of talent we had in there. I still think we need that one signing to make ourselves real contenders for silverware this season - especially given the fact Diaby is injured again leaving us with only Cesc and Denilson as realistic contenders for central midfield.

Theo Walcott talks about how he asked for number 8 this season but discovered it was going to Nasri, so he took 14 instead. Sometimes football is just too exciting for words.

Not much else happening really. So we'll get on with the Arsecast. On this week's show I'm joined by the fine chappy from A Cultured Left Foot and we talk pre-season, Amsterdam, Jack Wilshere and more. As well as that the Man in the Bar has a player history, there's a tale of the unexpected, Adebayor and more.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Reminding you as well about the Arseblog mini-league in OleOle's fantasy football game. Simply select your English Premier League team then join the mini-league named 'arseblogprem' and the password is simply arseblog.

The overall prizes include Champions League final tickets and hotels and PS3s and FIFA games and all manner of stuff and there'll be an Arseblog only prize or two as well. More details on fantasy football here.

Right so, have a good day. More tomorrow.