An abduction of grandiose proportions and will the real safe hands please stand up

So, I've been waiting all week to blog that Squillaci has joined and maybe give an idea into where I think he will fit in...but it appears that the guy's been abducted by aliens or something...there's probably a reasonable explanation...but where's the fun in that?

This goalkeeper shenanigans keeps rolling on. I really wish we had a few behind closed doors friendlies and we could give both Flappianski and The Spanish Waiter a few games and see how they fare. At the moment it appears we are no closer to agreeing a transfer for anyone.

Not that I have any inside information....just another bloghound.

Congratulations to me, I correctly predicted that we'd annihalate (shock horror lol) blackpool and I'm pleased to say it was a good performance all round. Song didn't look like a centre-back, so I'm rather disappointed Djourou didn't get a look in...I wonder if he was fit? But the Verminator and co looked the part and weren't really troubled despite Blackpool's efforts. All in all a good win. Bring on Big Fat Sam and his team of clodhoppers, we'll take you on and beat you up.

Its easy to dismiss the victory against Blackpool as an easy win and believe me it was but we made it easier by Theo and Tomas....Tomas was awesome on saturday, as he has been all pre-season. He was at the heart of everything we did. Along with Arshavin. Yes he can look lazy but his creativity is what we bought him for, not his work-rate.

Arshavin is what Myles Palmer would call a "Bang, Bang" player, he's all about any one given moment, he can see that pass and make it happen, that little darting run that opens up a defence. Genius is rarely measured in work-rate. He is a player that can play at the very top, but he's not a Flamini with the stamina of a cart-horse. Ronaldinho doesn't have a great work-rate, nor does Kaka, but they are special at what they do, individual even.

In summary, I think Arshavin attracts a lot of criticism, but judge him not, he's admitted he's not on top form and I've always believed his analysis, he's an honest player who calls it straight when looking at his and Arsenal's performances. I expect a lot from him, so sometimes I am disappointed, but he rarely delivers the mediocre.

Til the weekend guys, I'll knock up a preview of the Blackburn game with a formation and player review.

WG

High Availability & Beer - Part 2 of the Half Yarder and free beer saga

High Availability is akin to prostituting yourself on a second by second basis. Its the easiest way to think about it. With this though in mind, High Availability is a term generally reserved in my circles for an application or service that can be (at any moment in time) switched to another resource without interruption (or very brief interruption) to the users.

In terms of this particular night, High Availability for me was them plying me with free beer and food so that I didn't get distracted and wander off. The clever swines.

However, much of this was finished well before the game started and I settled down into my seat for the start of the game. It was a cold night, so I drank a coffee to take the nip off...wrapped my Arsenal scarf round my face, pulled down my wooly hat and settled in to start singing and enjoying myself, blocking out the suave, yet entirely vacant corporate sales guys.

Onto the match, Arsenal dominated. Absolutely dominated. We were all over them like a moss and we had to score, just had to...I think the pressure was getting to the boys, we were creating chance after chance after chance and it didn't go in. Rosicky missed an open goal from 4 yards. Henry and Robin were trying everything to make the win happen it just wouldn't come.

How frustrating, classic Arsenal possession and no end product, a marker for the frustration of that season. How little I knew it then.

It continued to be an absolute pressure cooker of a game and we should have won by a mile. This was largely the conversation as we all made our way to the Gunners and then to the Tube and back home to Broadstairs.

Full match report can be read here from the lovely guys at Arsenal.com

Til next time

WG