Greetings Gooners... Michael Thomas moment...Win a free tee...

I sit here now a confused, confuddled, slightly baffled, man of deep thought. Whilst I slouch here, typing away using my index and middle fingers of each hand only, I ponder away in deep tranquility - as I have all day - wondering what is currently taking place with not just mine, but our beloved club.

I’ve never been the type to jump on the “Club in Crises” bandwagon under Arsene Wenger, and I’m far from about to. How ever, I won’t deny that I’m slightly concerned with everything that has taken place so far this summer. As soon as news has filtered through about a possible signing, news has later filtered through about the possible sale of a player. With Philippe Senderos the latest to be heading out the door. I’ve surprised myself how I’ve reacted with this transfer, and to be honest, I’m still *insert appropriate word here*… Not “annoyed“, or “angry“, or “frustrated” even. “Concerned” I’ve used already, “baffled” perhaps? Hmm, something a little stronger then that… How about “disconcerted”? Or “Confounded”? “Bewildered” is a good one, as is “Perplexed”. None the less I do feel maybe a little of all these. The truth, and fact of the matter is, the standard of player we have let go this summer is as far off irreplaceable as we have replaced them. That has orchestrated my thoughts and feelings about the club right now. Let’s compare shall we, on the players we have let go, compared to the players brought in; regardless of whether they are loan deals or contracted transfers:

Jens Lehmann
Justin Hoyte
Philippe Senderos
Armand Traore
Gilberto
Mathieu Flamini
Alex Hleb

Have all been replaced by:

Vito Mannone
Emmanuel Eboué
Johan Djourou
Mikael Silvestre
Amaury Bischoff
Aaron Ramsey
Samir Nasri.

I understand Mannone, Eboué, and Djourou were at us already, but young Italian mob-star, Vito’s been promoted from the resi’s. Eboué, despite his central midfield cameo’s I think will feature more so as a right back, especially as Hoytey’s left. Djourou lastly, was at Birmingham for the first half of last season, and then on his first appearance for us back from his loan spell, he busted something or other against The Spuds. Looking at that, for me defensively we still need that big strong, towering lump of a lunging blocker. Who would get his right foot, left foot, forehead, or foreskin in front of the ball to stop it from going past him.

Man Ure have Vidic, Locomotive London have John “Siht Cnut” Terry, and The Filth of Football have that foreign speaking Carragher bloke - our last of this type was Sol Campbell. God, if only his toy boy lover Quincy Owusu-Abeyie hadn’t of been sold hours before ‘that’ West Ham game at Highbury, maybe Sol would never of had that funny 45. Anyway, what’s done is done, as likewise what needs to be addressed, needs to be addressed. Senderos was seen as this Sol replacement by many within the club. After an impressive final third of the 06 season, peaking in our Paris run, Senderos was set to be big news. Handed the number 6 shirt later that summer, nicknamed “Swiss Tony”, everything was set up for him; until the shoulder injury he picked up in the World Cup that year caused him to miss the opening of the following season. Since then he’s only shown his quality in spurts, and has lacked any real consistency. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say I sincerely hope he gets his career back on track, and what better way to be given a confidence boost with Meelan wanting you? Wafa Cup football might do him good for this season anyway – slight dig.

On to our midfield. Oh, fcuk it. I really don’t have the energy or effort to explain about something every single Arsenal supporter knows already. With Gokhan Inlar signing a new deal at Udinese, it’s not just the time which is running out, but the players as well.
Match news, and it’s the second leg of the FC Twente game tonight at the Emirates, we lead 2-0 and to be honest, I can see this one being a similar score line. Our fitness level will guide us through if our football doesn’t – much like the first leg. Cesc’s fit thank god, and hopefully a run out tonight will sort him out preparing him for the Newcastle clash Saturday evening.
Come on you GOONERS!!

ScottyDavisGooner

'Thomas - it's up for grabs now' - Where was you?

As part of this season and trying to tie in with all the 20th anniversary shenanigans of that famous last minute championship win, allgoonerdup.com is doing a 'JFK where was you moment'. But obviously the moment we're doing is - 'Thomas - it's up for grabs now' moment. Every Gooner knows where they were when that goal went in and we're going to publish your tails. The idea is do one Gooner's piece a day, so get amongst it and send your emails in via the contacts page and mark the subject line 'Thomas - it's up for grabs moment'. I'll be doing some sort of fancy graphic and that just to give the piece some 'air play'. But get your emails in and hopefully we'll get the ball rolling next week with your 'Thomas - where was you moment'.

Girl in a shirt

Allgoonerdup is looking to give the Goonerbabe page a bit of a boost and we're going for a 'Girl in the Shirt' approach. Do you have any pictures of your girl in the shirt or girls get yourself seen on the Goonerbabe wall and send in your own pictures. Lets get this party started right. Send your pictures in and tell us your name, favourite player, favourite all time player, favourite drink and if you have anything else to declare to babe@allgoonerdup.com

Win a new tee...

That's right you can be the owner of this spanking brand new bit of kit 'The Joy of Cesc' from our Online Shop.

All you need to do is tell us, what team did we get the youngster Cesc Fabregas from? Simple? Great - no get involved and tell us your answer, name, address and t-shirt size via the contact form and mark it 'T-shirt competition'. Lovely, job done.

Son of Allgoonerdup comments section

As well as the main site Allgoonerdup has the comments section Son of Allgoonerdup courtesy of WordPress. The stories on the main site will appear on the comments section so you Gooner's will have the pleasure to have some banter with one another and see just what the general shenanigans of the day is, let your fellow Gooner mates know about it too and lets share in all things Arsenal. You don't need to sign up, there's no long drawn out signing up process either - so jump on and have a skive when the boss isn't looking.