Kit leak: I’m feeling ripped off | Dirty Jack W | Some transfer thoughts

Quick post today because I absolutely hammered your reading eyes with 1800 words yesterday!

So, the main news yesterday was two-fold. Firstly, Chelsea beat Manchester City. David Luiz put on a masterful performance and showed Arsene Wenger the way in the, ‘this is what spending money gets you’ stakes. A clean sheet from Chelsea and a goal from a player who looks like a bit of a unit at the back and a threat going forward. Was his availability a mystery to all in world football? No… We’d spoken about him on here before. Was his price prohibitively out of our range? Nope, we had £40million available. Was there any desire to buy him?

No… as always.

The other news was that Liverpool beat Sunderland 2-0. Liverpool are starting to look like a threat again and Kenny Dalglish, against the odds has started to restore a bit of confidence to their shaky squad. My old boss who is a Liverpool season ticket holder said that Kenny Dalglish would show the players what it meant to play for Liverpool. Well, he’s certainly done that and the signing of Luis Suarez appears to be a masterstroke. I had my doubts, being good in Holland means nothing generally. The main ingredient he has over the likes of Alves, Kezman and other top scoring Eredivisie flops is that nasty streak. He has that same spark Robin and Bergkamp have/had…

Again though, if there’s a chance of picking up a player on a free after 18months… we’ll take that option everyday of the week. Chamakh is a good back up striker, but for me, he’s far too similar to Nik B. You can’t have a 1st team striker and two 3rd choice strikers.

When the summer comes, we need to make moves for a top striker to compete with Robin. He needs to be fit, creative and hugely aggressive. I’m gonna put it out there… we need a player like Adebayor… you know, the player who was fighting for recognition and a contract. Not fat on praise Ade…

We need a top notch back up defender. Ideally, I’d love someone like Gary Cahill. He’s English, he’s good on the floor, good in the air and hungry to prove he can make it at the highest level. He’s a great option because he’ll cherish being at a club as big as Arsenal and it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever harbour ambitions to play for Milan or Madrid!

Also, if I was allowed to complete my fantasy summer, I’m going for a hard tackling, dynamic, pacey central midfielder. We need someone with experience of winning, around 26 years of age and a leader. Sorry to say it people, but I’m struggling to see past Bastian Schweinsteiger. We heard that we were interested in him last summer and we made a tentative enquiry, so we know the coach rates him. A year on after signing a new deal, Bayern have had a shocking year by their standards, the coach is leaving at the end of the year and we know they’re very interested in a Bendtner. The classy German won’t have too many chances to move, he’s already admitted he like Arsenal… could there be an opportunity to sign him if we raise £30million through sales and offer the greatest player since Pele in exchange?

Who knows… what I am convinced of is that the feeling of the fans won’t have gone unnoticed by the board members at Arsenal. I’d imagine anyone reconsidering renewing a box will be asking Arsenal what their plans are with players in the summer… there’s nothing harder than filling a fifteen seater box, believe me, Geoff had problems during the good times, people baulk even at a free ticket. Corporate buyers won’t want to lay out money for wasted seats… hopefully they’ll communicate their concerns to Arsenal.

Hopefully Gazidis and Tom Fox will have a quiet word with Wenger about his squad plans this year…

In other news…

The Olympics haven’t contacted us about PR for their football, obviously a London based football blog wouldn’t have thousands of people interested in information about tickets to the biggest show of 2012, so I thought I’d take some initiative and tell you about the opportunities as my brother left a letter addressed to him lying around the house!

The application for tickets to the football has already started and runs until the 26th April. Prices start at £20 a go up to £50. Kids under 16 get a pay your age tickets, so if they’re 8, they pay £8!  I think that sounds like a bargain and I think if you live near the venues in Manchester, Newcastle, Coventry, London, Cardiff or Glasgow… you should support it and take your kids if you haven’t. Find the tickets here…

Jack Wilshere escaped punishment after attempting to spit at a cabbie wearing a Spurs hat. Now, whilst I understand the urge, we’re supposed to be civilised and actions like spitting really are deplorable even from a player I love as much as Jack. Be careful son, you don’t want to get a reputation like Andy Carroll or Diouf.

Anyone hoping Jens could save our season had their hopes dashed yesterday.Wenger had this to say of mad Jens…

‘He looks like a guy who’s not been involved for a long time but has kept his body fit. He has the basic physical fitness but he lacks a little bit of decision-making and practice in goal’

Ha, ha he just described Almunia didn’t he!

Interesting to hear Bob Wilson being so vocal about Arsenal being a nearly team? I thought anyone who questioned Wenger was a traitorous swine? Maybe Arsenal have told him they’re dropping his Charity…?

Cesc and Theo should be back after the international break and hopefully,Alex song will return to the fold. Blackburn should be a walkover, mind you, I thought that about West Brom! Anyway, International week… about as welcome as a cup of warm goats milk after a 5k run. News stories are going to be at a premium… anything content ideas for the week, please let me know in the comments!

Finally, I’ll end on a wallet busting note… but it looks like our new strip has been leaked. They’ve gone to town on the design and basically changed nothing. I’m hoping if they’re replicating the blue lightning strip for the away kit, they’ll add some hooped socks for the home shirt. If they don’t, I’d really feel a bit miffed if I was a parent looking down the barrel of another £60 replica shirt…

The joys of being an Arsenal fan eh?

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Filed under: New Review Tagged: Adebayor, Arsenal, Cahill, cesc, Chelsea, Dalglish, Football, Liverpool, New kit, Schweinsteiger, Theo