No Longer Arsenal

– It’s not worth revisiting the past when it comes to Emmanuel Adebayor. I was furious at the time, but the hate has now dissipated. To me, he doesn’t exist. No need to expend any sort of time or effort on the man. I do have sympathy for the traumatic events he went through at the African Cup of Nations, but that’s as far as it goes. I’d rather Arsenal fans support our team than boo this man.

– Kolo Toure said he didn’t want to name the player he had problems with while at Arsenal because he didn’t want to cause trouble. Today, he named that player, and nobody was surprised. Why he needs to go on and on about it, I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because he loved his time here and now he’s at City. Maybe it’s because he’s going to be under threat for his starting role when City buy better defenders. Maybe it’s because he’s no longer relevant in the football world. We tend to forgive Kolo, because he gave it his all while playing for Arsenal. But let’s be honest. Wenger dispatched Adebayor and Kolo and retained Gallas and Bendtner. You don’t hear current Arsenal players saying bad words about Gallas and Bendtner now, do you? Ade and Kolo were cancers, and the fact that we got 40 million pounds for them is an added bonus.

– Simply put, all the drama aside, I just want to win the match. I want Robin to score a hat trick. Our team owes us a performance. The capitulation against Wigan was pathetic. It was beyond pathetic, it was shocking. It was a result that brought Wenger’s experiment under the microscope in a big way. I’ve considered it as well, but I’m going to wait until the summer before passing judgment.

– That being said, it’s clear that if Fabianski didn’t commit another disastrous error, we would have won. Do you blame Wenger for fielding a player like him? That’s somewhat fair, but at the same time, how could Wenger have anticipated the amount of goalkeeping gaffes this year? Most will say that they could have foreseen it, but Wenger has to know that he has a big problem. With Almunia out, we can only pray that Fabianski doesn’t give away the game. Again.

– Finally, Patrick Vieira returns against to Arsenal. Paddy is one of the best midfielders of all time. He is no longer in his prime, but let’s remember how majestic he was. If that Patrick Vieira was in our side, we would have won the Premier League this year.

Something To Think About

Two stories have grabbed my attention this week. They involve issues that we’ve already discussed and that I have vowed not to revisit, but based on what I’ve read I have to make an exception. Please bear with me.

Before I continue, let’s be clear. I am not asking anybody to forgive Emmanuel Adebayor because of a few quotes attributed to him. I just want to know the impact (if any) that his comments have had on you as an Arsenal fan and more importantly, as a rational adult.

Generally speaking, in life we can be in one of three mental states – child, judge, or adult. It’s in our adult state that we find reason and make sound decisions. Obviously, our former striker was not in any state to act rationally when he raked Robin van Persie’s cheek. And he was probably just as far from rational when he sprinted to the away fans to let them have some of what Arry and a few others would argue that they deserved.

Speaking about his assault on Robin, Adebayor has been quoted as follows: ‘It’s one of the things that you can’t do in football. That’s for sure. It’s true that if someone did that to me it would annoy and hurt me. I regret it, for sure.’

Not exactly an apology but nor a denial of the fact that he focked up. I’m not sure if it’s enough. But am I the one to judge?

On his confrontational stance with Arsenal fans, he stated the following: ‘I talked with the coach and he told me I was one of Arsenal’s best-paid players, that the club was in the red, so maybe they wouldn’t be able to pay me any more – it would be better for me to go. I asked him: Is it your choice or the club’s?”

‘He answered: “It’s everybody’s choice, from the whole club”. I was pushed out.’

He continued, ‘Everybody says Adebayor went for the money. I think a lot of people are wrong because Arsenal bought me for five or six million and they sold me three-and-a-half years later for £25million. So people should know that it’s not me who wanted to leave for money, it’s Arsenal that forced me to go.’

I doubt Arsenal fans care that Adebayor has made an attempt to set the record straight about his departure from the club managed by the man he has said, ‘gave me the opportunity to be where I am today. ‘ I also doubt that they care any at all that he took offence to chants insulting his mother. Frankly, I don’t know the chant he’s referring to. Honestly, I don’t. The only Adebayor chant I know is the one sung when he was in full flow for Arsenal, scoring goals and helping the team win games – the one he once stated that he longed for, the one that he should have tried hard enough to hear from the fans in his last days at the club, whether he was ripe for selling or not. That would have been the adult thing to do.

As much as Adebayor is offended by insults hurled at his mother, he must remain professional. He must remain in his adult state. He must not judge the fans. He reacted like a child and then judged the fans.

I’ve long accepted that he is not worth the energy. He’s gone. He’s not our problem anymore but I just had to ask the questions.

The second issue deals with Eduardo and that penalty vs. Celtic. The Eduardo issue showed a lot of people up for who they really are. Again, let’s be clear. I don’t like when players feign fouls to win penalties, or worse, to get an opponent sent off. I accept however that it happens and that my team may or may not be on the “right” side of the outcome. Eduardo fell over easily but the acrimony that followed went beyond anything that the “crime” (and certainly not the player) deserved.

I’ve read an interesting piece by Tony Gahan. He compares Eduardo’s situation to that of Steven Gerrard in a ‘What If’ manner that I found worth contemplating.

“World Cup Final England v (insert name of hated country here – so many to choose from). 0 – 0 in the 93rd minute and Stevie G is hacked down in the box – clear penalty and he bravely picks himself up to score from the spot. The 44 year wait is over and England are World Champions at last. But wait – some of the foreign media are claiming that Stevie dived – surely not? How could this be – the goalkeeper comes out and takes his… oh dear, no contact made at all? Stevie will be a little disappointed with that when he sees it again. Still, it’s only the (insert name of hated country here) so that’s OK – but wait here comes FIFA with a life ban for Stevie as he stumbles out of the celebratory party at 4am with JT and the boys and an instruction to replay the game later that day. We must stand up to cheats they say – of all countries surely you English understand? Without Stevie a slightly worse for wear England lose 4-0 – a victory for honesty and fair play says the world and who are we to argue? The moral high ground has just become a very lonely and dangerous place to dwell!”

I stress that I am in foreign waters here. I’ve asked questions that are probably best answered by psychologists. I’ve touched on the implications of the proverbial shoe being on the other foot. I don’t know what side of either debate you fall on but both examples put focus on how much our stance on an issue is influenced by our own stake in the matter.

Slaughter the Right People

I had no intention of bringing up Emmanuel Adebayor in any way ever again. He’s dead to me. However, when he was let off the hook based on the “extreme provocation” by the Arsenal fans, I feel a duty to defend our cluster of fans who were there that day.

I have been extremely critical of Arsenal fans in the past. I think the fact that the Emirates empties out before matches conclude is utterly disgraceful. I think their treatment of certain players goes beyond what would be construed as constructive criticism. I don’t mean just the fans who attend matches at the Emirates, I mean the armchair managers at pubs also.

But, I have nothing negative to say about our away support. They are die-hard Gooners who understand the difference between slaughtering a player and supporting a player. In fact, I’m dead certain that they are the ones who have backed Adebayor and Eboue during their low ebbs with our club.

These fans have been pointed to as the mitigating factor for the favorable decision going Manchester City’s way. There have been reports that these fans have chanted racist songs at Adebayor. Some have even suggested that they threw bananas at Adebayor, a claim also falsely channeled by El Hadji Diouf at Everton fans. I wasn’t at the ground obviously, but I’ve read that these things are simply untrue. They gave Adebayor stick, but wouldn’t you be tempted to as well if you had read all the things that Adebayor had said about our club after he left us. Now, there is no way to really condone the things that some fans did when he celebrated in front of us, but that has to be understood within the context.

You have people like Harry Redknapp saying that Adebayor was justified in giving us the stick back. He claims that if we racially abused him, Adebayor was just giving it back. A bit rich from Redknapp considering it was the Scum who originated the Elephant Chant about Adebayor. Redknapp also slates Tevez for not celebrating against West Ham claiming that Tevez has no history with West Ham so what does it matter. Well, for the record, Tevez was voted Player of the Year by the West Ham fans that year and remains a cult hero for helping stave off relegation that year. I guess that’s no history, huh Harry? You’re just bitter because your nephew gets rightly slaughtered every time they play against Chelsea.

Our fans have been targeted as some fierce provocateurs, while the West Ham and Millwall incident goes largely ignored. Our fans are hardly what you would call “hard.” And for that reason, I have to stand up and say that they’re not worthy of such criticism.

Which leads me to Sam Allardyce, the classless walrus who masquerades as a mastermind.

All sorts of people gave Arsene Wenger praise yesterday. Ranging from promising managers like Roberto Martinez and old war veterans like Neil Warnock, the endorsements came flooding in.

Cue Sam Allardyce talking about how it is some sort of an achievement considering that Wenger has stayed manager for 13 years. It was hardly a ringing endorsement, although the English media said Allardyce was praising Wenger. That was mixed with comments about how he knows how to get at our team and that mutual respect was as far as it went with our manager. Even Allardyce’s mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, now admits what a visionary our manager is. In fact, I wonder if Allardyce would even know what ProZone was without Wenger’s presence in the Premier League.

To all this, I’ll just point out the following:

– Allardyce seems to think that his teams can get results against our team. Well, look deeper and apart from a couple of draws and a defeat, it’s largely untrue. Largely helped by a gifted player in Nicolas Anelka, he’s just taking the piss if he thinks he knows how to stop our team from scoring.

– Since he left for Newcastle, his reputation has largely diminished. He’s a failure, plain and simple. There are those that suggest he should have garnered the England job over Steve McClaren. He failed too, but look what he’s doing now opposed to what Allardyce is trying to replicate at Blackburn.

– This Blackburn team is far different from his earlier Bolton sides. He lacks the ideal target man for his primitive offensive schemes, and he lacks the hard men in midfield to keep things tidy. He thinks he’s unearthed the next Patrick Vieira in N’Zonzi, but to that, most would ask, “WHO?”

I hate Sam Allardyce. He’s a petty, worthless man who has brought nothing to the English game.

On Arsene’s 13th anniversary, I would love to see Allardyce reduced to a footnote in Wenger’s illustrious history with our beloved Arsenal.

Full Circle: Eboue and Wigan

It was against Wigan that “The Better” Emmanuel Eboue suffered his worst moment as a professional football player. A player who wants to be loved by the fans more than any other, he delivered a humiliating performance that culminated with him being booed off the pitch. At the time, I reckoned that his Arsenal career was over. I was wrong, and I’m so happy that I was.

Sure, there are people who still rip him. There are also moments when you get frustrated with his play and his occasional forays into simulation. But here is a man who won his way back into our team the proper way.

Instead of sulking and delivering lackluster efforts, he’s worked hard and proven to be a real asset to the team. At the moment, he can function as a utility man. He can play as a right back, right winger, or a central midfield player. The fact that he doesn’t necessarily excel at any of those positions is of no real importance. He is not a first choice player, but he’s a player we definitely need in our side.

You see, I have a real soft spot for Emmanuel Eboue. He is clearly loved within the Arsenal locker room, and I truly believe that he doesn’t possess a malicious bone in his body. That doesn’t mean he can’t be ruthless, as he so aptly demonstrated in his condemnation of Adebayor’s actions. It just means that I feel his presence brings a positive spirit to the squad.

In fact, if you consider the fact that Eboue was subject to some actual horrific treatment by our fans, you could comprehend it if he came out and acted moody and continued to play like he didn’t give a damn. It happened with one Emmanuel (although his treatment was NEVER as poor as the media would have you believe), but it didn’t happen with this one.

It is no surprise to me that Eboue is still an Arsenal player. He genuinely cares about our fans, our team, and our manager.

As for Wigan, they come into this fixture as a completely different side to the one we played against. At that time, Steve Bruce was virtually lollygagging his way into the Sunderland job. He showed little passion, and the match was a rather forgettable 1-0 affair that we just about squeaked out at the Emirates.

Now they have Roberto Martinez, a figure who is a beloved figure himself at Wigan. He was one of the first foreign players to ever play for Wigan, and when Steve Bruce deserted them, there was only one possible man for the job.

He likes to play football. They’re a much more formidable side than West Brom though, as they possess the players needed to clog up the midfield in Hendry Thomas and Diame. But if they play open, it’ll be slightly easier to carve them open as opposed to when we last played them.

If we see a dominating display tomorrow, we’ll know our team is back on track. We’re beginning a stretch of games where we need to start stamping our dominance all over the pitch.

Arsenal Round Up

At last some good news today. Eduardo has won his appeal and can play on Wednesday against Standard Liege. His two match ban has been lifted. The other good news is that Phil Neville could be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and the reserves beat Stoke City (aka Lump-It City) 1-0. That’s three wins out of three.

I hate Stoke and Tony Pulis. They are the new Wimbledon of the Premiership. Thug football.

The Adebayor/Manchester City Aftermath

Ian Wright says that Arsenal fans can dish it out but can’t take it back. He’s referring to the songs that Arsenal fans sang about Adebayor’s mum being a whore.

When you have 4,000 Gooners belting it out around you, it’s hard to stop yourself from joining in. It’s that powerful. I remember when George Graham returned to Highbury as the Tottenham boss in a match that Arsenal dominated but could only draw 0-0. They sang the same song. The bloke sitting next to me shook his head in disgust as the Clock End sang about Graham’s mum being a whore. But by the end of the game as Spurs played anti-football to claim a point they didn’t deserve, the same bloke was joining in full throttle.

So Ian Wright should refrain from making any comments. After all, during his playing days he was full of controversy much like Adebayor is today. But what really gets me about Ian Wright is that his fake son Shaun Phillips (no need to add the Wright to his name now is there Ian, after all he’s another man’s ejaculation not yours) was also playing for Man City on Saturday.

Ian Wright is going from a legend to a cunt.

On Saturday, I listened to the BBC 606 phone-in. One City fan thought that Adebeyor’s antics were the funniest thing he had ever seen in football. Another one called Arsenal, City’s feeder club. On Talksport today, City fans claimed that van Persie’s tackle on Adebayor deserved a red card and was the reason behind his stamp on the Dutchman. Another one claimed that when van Persie scored, he celebrated in front of the City fans shouting swear words in the process. The City fan said it was no different to Adebayor’s celebration. Another City called in to claim that some Arsenal fans threw bananas at Adebayor. An outrageous lie.

Spurs fans claim that Arsenal fans got what they deserved after Thierry Henry ran the full length of the pitch to slide on his knees and celebrate in front of the Spurs fans at Highbury. Remember, Henry had just scored a wonder goal. A goal that won’t be repeated in my lifetime. He collected the ball from the halfway line and went past three Spurs players before scoring to make it 1-0 to Arsenal in game that finished 3-0. There are differences between Henry’s celebration and Adebayor’s:

Henry never played for Spurs.
He didn’t have his arms outstretched unlike Adebayor.
His head was bowed.

Henry is not a cunt.

Below is my list of cunts:

The Neville brothers;
Ian Wright;
Alex Ferguson;
Teddy Sheringham
Stan Collymore;
Ryan Giggs;
John Terry;
Frank Lampard;
Rio Ferdinand;
Tim Cahill;
Martin O’Neill;
Tony Pulis;
Phil Brown;
El Hadji Diouf;
Sam Allardyce;
Ashley Cole;
Alan Shearer;
David Beckham;
Alan Pardew;
Ryan Babel;
David Bentley;
Martin Taylor;
Mark Hughes;
Alex McLeish.

Post Match View – Manchester City

1995 – Nayim Mohammed lobs David Seaman from the half-way line in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final to spark an orgy of taunts by Scum aimed at our fans.

1995 – A shamed George Graham leaves Arsenal after admitting he accepted £425,000 from John Jensen’s agent Rune Hauge.

1998 – The once beloved Arsenal legend George Graham signs as Spurs manager.

1999 – Patrick Vieira loses the ball in the FA Cup Semi Final to start what became a famous run, goal, and celebration by hairy Arsenal hating Ryan Giggs.

2001 – Chants of “One six to The Arsenal” ring loudly as ecstatic United fans celebrate an emphatic victory over us in a league match at Old Trafford.

2008 – Spurs destroy Arsenal 5 – 1 in a League Cup Semi Final.

The items above are a few moments in recent memory that I consider humiliating and fodder for the Arsenal hater.

Emannuel Adebayor was once just a thin kid with vast potential. At Arsenal, to be absolutely clear, Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry provided Adebayor with the type of nurturing that helped him exploit some of that potential. In other words, Arsene, Thierry, and Arsenal Football Club have played a significant role in making Emannuel Adebayor the player he is today.

With his disgusting displays yesterday, in one match he has thrown away anything positive that he’s ever achieved at Arsenal.

I’ve gone on record to defend our former striker. I’ve felt that the way Arsenal fans made it clear that they hated him last season was somewhat over the top. I’ve felt that accusations of being a money grabber were irrelevant because everybody wants to earn more money for what they do. Why should he be any different? I’ve felt that because the man comes from an under-developed, poor country with minimal opportunities that he was entitled to do what is best for himself financially. If that meant leaving for Milan or wherever, fine.

Romanticism is dead. Players tend to put self interests ahead of loyalty.

I raise my hand for misjudging the man’s character. I can’t say anything to defend what he did yesterday. I would remind Adebayor that he’s left Arsenal for a “better” situation than where he’d been. Why not just move on and leave the negativity behind you? I expected him to be a professional and go about his business sans retribution for fans or teammates.

If he scored a hat trick against us, whatever! That’s football.

My colleague pointed out yesterday that Nicolas Anelka has never celebrated a goal against Arsenal in the manner Adebayor has. Someone else pointed out to me that Adebayor has suddenly learned the offside rule. I don’t remember him being caught once yesterday. Most importantly, the work rate through which he made his profile in his best days at Arsenal seemed to be back where it was yesterday. The man was not putting forth his best effort last season.

I defended him when people called him lazy.
I disagreed when people said we should sell him.
I disregarded his vast potential to be classless.
I was bitterly disappointed yesterday when he behaved like the person he’d been accused of being and worse.

Going back to the list at the top of the page, the last point was an embarrassment for everyone associated with our club. We lost to Scum in humiliating fashion but the real sad part of that match was not the score. It was an on-pitch attack Adebayor made against his teammate. There was the sign that the head butting, face stamping, crowd provoking, classless, ingrate had vast potential to be on a par with the likes of Sheringham, Giggs, and latterly, Stan Collymore as Arsenal enemies.

Adebayor has elevated himself to the top of the enemy list in amazing fashion.

The deliberate accident that could have injured Cesc was bad enough but I had no idea it was an indication of things to come. I had no idea that Adebayor had that much hatred for his ex-teammates. I had no clue that he could show so little respect for Arsene Wenger. The stamp on Robin’s face speaks for itself. Replays show clear intent. It was an unforgiveble, cowardice act. The Hussein Bolt-like sprint to the away supporters’ end iced it for me.

He ran past our bench. He ran past Arsene to essentially stick two fingers up in the face of everyone associated with Arsenal Football Club. That is an act that must be addressed.

Adebayor has stated that he plays to make his country and his people proud. I can’t fathom how yesterday has done that in any way. After spitting in Neil Ruddock’s face – an act for which he was rightfully punished – Patrick Vieira said how embarrassed he was to have let himself, his family, his people, and the club down in such a way. I doubt a similar expression of contrition will be forthcoming from the new cunt on the block.

As a club, we want our players to take the high road, not to act in any manner that defames the club. I promote that idea 100% but I want to state here that there are special circumstances that require special responses. Yesterday’s brutal, evil intentioned display by Adebayor is one. Part of me wants nothing to do with retaliation but another part of me screams for nothing short of sorting out the guy for blatantly showing what little regard he has for our club and all we’ve done for him.

Yes, the FA must revisit and address the actions of Emannuel Adebayor with severity but a part of me wants him sorted by the players. It would be a serious departure from normal protocol. I understand that. My call for a response from our players is rooted in the rampant disrespect for our club and now attacks on our players. It must be stopped. Adebayor must certainly feel that no one at Arsenal would ask him questions if he felt like breaking Cesc’s ankle or permanently disfiguring Robin.

Circa 2003, the Premier League made a special effort to dull our teeth. Referees treated Arsenal players harshly for fouls that were not called previously. We’ve become a far less agressive group knowing that when we commit fouls, we’ll receive the full extent of punishment that perhaps other clubs would not. Adebayor’s assault on our players must be addressed regardless of how refs treat us. We must draw a line.

Two weeks ago, a damn fourth official attempted to humiliate Arsene. Two seasons ago, Eduardo’s career was nearly ended with a brutal tackle by a man who was then made to look like a victim himself by the English media. We can list incident after incident that clearly express (for me anyway) hatred and anti-Arsenal sentiments. Adebayor must be sorted. We cannot be a bunch of softies there to be abused with no form of retaliation.

The ingrate ran past the man who made him what he is today to incite fans that once sang his name in praise. He ran past the man who made him what he is today to incite fans that helped pay his high wages. He ran past the man who made him what he is today to incite fans that pay their way to be entertained with good football not thuggery. When true professionals are criticized it should not be taken so personally that they remonstrate with fans. When true professionals are feeling pressure, they don’t try to injure their opponent. Retaliation is not the best approach, I know that. I stress however that we must draw a line.

Arsenal Football Club should not be anyone’s doormat.

As for the game itself, I cannot get too down by the result because I know that we are better than what we’ve shown. There were many “turning points”. The Gallas missed header early in the first half was the biggest one for me. Clattenberg was more proof of the ineptitude amongst English referees – he missed Adebayor’s stamp on Robin (was the cleat mark and blood on Robin’s face not enough?) and then he and the linesman failed to spot a clear City hand ball. But we have to deal with bad refs and any other obstacle we face. We haven’t done that well enough.

I’ve been frustrated by Almunia and Clichy before. I am careful not to be too critical of them especially given yesterday’s circumstances. The fact remains however that Almunia could have done better on the Micah Richards header and two of City’s four goals came from Clichy either losing the ball or being out of position.

Midweek Champions League football can’t get here fast enough.

Fuck You Adebayor

Pictures say everything, don’t they? Look at how disgusted Kolo Toure looks.

Some readers of this blog may not know that three different people write for this site. I write on Tuesday night and Friday nights, another person writes on Monday night and Thursday nights, and another writes on Wednesday nights and Sundays. That accounts for the different writing styles and approaches.

I am normally mild mannered and as objective as I can be, but today rubbed me in the complete wrong way.

I formally make an apology to all our readers for my completely baseless defenses of Adebayor in the past year. Never before have I been more wrong about a player.

Everything we’ve heard has now basically been confirmed as true. I’m even willing to believe that Sun article about Adebayor getting into a row with an Arsenal fan at the airport is now true.

My colleague will write more about him later today, but I just had to vent a few thoughts.

This is not even about Manchester City, who deserved their result yesterday. It is not about anybody associated with Adebayor either. It is solely about one person. And to that person, I have this message.

Fuck You Adebayor.

Fuck you for disrespecting Arsene Wenger, the man who saved you from obscurity while you were warming the pine at Monaco, the man you raced past while stroking your own ego.

Fuck you for starting a near riot, especially after the senseless violence that occurred in the West Ham v. Millwall fixture recently.

Fuck you for proving the minor dissenters right that you were a greedy, ego-driven lout who quit on us last year, something so demonstrably obvious by the effort you’re putting into City’s first four games this season.

Fuck you for stomping on our players and generally hacking away at all of our players today. How much hatred you must possess for our team that you can so brutally stick your foot in to players who were considered your “brothers” not so long ago. I hope the combined events earn you a five match ban.

Fuck you for tainting my memories of anything Arsenal related that you were involved in during the past four years. That includes glorious victories against the Scum, wonderful Champions League moments, dances with Thierry Henry (who is so much better than you in all aspects that it’s not even funny), and other events.

Fuck you from the bottom of my heart, you cunt. You’re worse than Ashley Cole. And those were words that I never thought I would type.

A Tale of Two Players

Normally, I do not feel much ill will towards departed players. The exceptions are the players who choose to talk negatively about our club excessively. In my mind, the only player who has left a sour taste in my mouth is Ashley Cole. I don’t need to go into why that is, it’s plainly obvious to any Arsenal fan.

With Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, I feel no ill will.

Sure, Adebayor has made some comments about our fan base. Some of his points are valid, but what he fails to see is that he played a role in his own demise. If he had never flirted so openly with AC Milan, he would still be an Arsenal player today. That flirtation led to a very noticeable lack of effort in a few matches last year. I am in no position to make a declarative statement about the affair, but methinks that the rumblings were very real and that we were close to selling him last summer. Such a scenario can often cause a player’s form to drop.

That being said, even last season, he delivered a few moments that were unforgettable, forever etched into Arsenal history. His Villarreal goal remains a stunning piece of skill that virtually led us to the Champions League semi-finals. His efforts against Manchester United in the semis go largely derided, but I find those claims to be largely baseless. It is not necessarily the apparent work rate that is important as opposed to the intelligent work rate. Yes, he did not run around like a chicken with its head cut off, but he didn’t simply give up on the pitch as some would imply.

In the end, we got 25 million pounds for a striker who no longer felt that he was a part of the Arsenal community. Make no mistake about it, he was sold by Wenger. The fact that the deal extended a few days longer is strictly down to the fact that Adebayor was going from a world class club to a world class wannabe. Adebayor may continue to talk about our fan base, but as long as he doesn’t slander our actual club, I’m okay with it. I will remember his goals and his fun celebrations.

Perhaps Kolo Toure needed a new challenge. His transfer request may have indicated that. The money offered by Manchester City is another possible answer. When I typed the name Kolo Toure, it felt foreign to me, as though I had never seen that particular combination of letters before. It has only been a few weeks since his departure, and in a way, I’ve gotten over it. That is not to underestimate my love for this man. I owned a Kolo Toure shirt, and if he was made captain, I would have praised the choice. But now, he is the captain of Manchester City.

When Kolo contracted malaria in Africa, he came back a different player. Lacking a quarter step and appearing overweight, he was becoming an older version of Mathieu Flamini, effort disguising a slight lack of quality. It is what it is, and again it was a decision by Wenger to sell him on.

Was the sales of Adebayor and Toure an attempt to dissolve an unruly clique in the locker room? Maybe. Was it to prevent a disruption during the African Cup of Nations? Perhaps.

All we know is that, today, they look like this:

And when they take the pitch against us this Saturday as Manchester City players, I will give both of them a round of applause before the game. After the kickoff, they will revert back to what they are, Manchester City players. I will not boo either of them, unless they put in a reckless challenge on one of our players.

Understandably, Manchester City fans have taken to both Adebayor and Toure. They love Adebayor’s work rate and goals (he’s scored in every match). They love Toure’s aggression, intelligence, and never say die attitude. The truth is, they’re experiencing world class players who have given it their all for the first time in quite a while; Robinho takes games off from time to time, and Ireland is just short of world class at the moment (although he’s quite a good player). That feeling is exhilarating. And amongst the two, they should look forward to Adebayor. Everybody knows that Toure’s career is on the wane, but Adebayor’s star may rise and rise. With the contract he so desires, he is set up to go far. And what a surprise, his work rate is back to old levels, although that is due less to footballing reasons as much as it is for image reasons.

They were once our brothers, now they’re just strangers. Football can be like that. Just don’t be surprised if they say that Arsenal was the club of their hearts when they retire. Arsenal is like that.

Say What?

As we get closer to our first official match, many people have been expressing themselves. There is no shortage of quotes at the moment – a few of which have caught my attention.

“But unfortunately I cannot tell you that we are close to signing anyone at the moment.” AW

This could also mean that something is happening, but he can’t reveal it. That would be bad business practice and very un-Wenger like. Luis Fabiano anyone?

“I’m hearing Vieira, pay-as-you-play, back at Arsenal,” [Ian] Wright exclaimed on his Talksport show. “That’s what I’m hearing, and that’s what I’m hoping.”

I loved the man as a player but as a “journalist” I have as much respect for Ian Wright as I do for the fans who shout instructions to players on big screens at pubs. Generally, these are people whose analysis is fuelled by liquor and anger. Come to think of it, sometimes I wonder what fuels Ian Wright’s analysis?

If Patrick does make a return to Arsenal, I will have no problem with it. If for no other reason, it kills any hope that Harry Redknapp has of signing our legendary former captain.

“Arsène Wenger, along with the board, had weighed up the potential downside to selling Touré, along with Emmanuel Adebayor, to the club who have designs on Arsenal’s place in next season’s top four.” Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent The Times Online

I’ve read this notion that Arsenal are the vulnerable ones among the “Big Four” many times. It’s largely based on spending power (or the assumed lack thereof) but also on the fact that there are plenty of people out there who want to see Arsenal fail. Don’t be surprised if an unexpected club fall out of the “Big Four” before we do.

“The question is how much longer Arsenal can keep doing this, how much longer they can remain truly competitive while selling established players every summer…the past 18 months have seen them lose Lassana Diarra at 22, Mathieu Flamini at 24, Alexander Hleb at 27 and now Touré and Adebayor at 28 and 25 respectively, while the word on the Spanish football grapevine is that Fàbregas, the club’s captain at the tender age of 22, will rejoin Barcelona next summer. Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent The Times Online

o Lassana Diarra lacked the heart to fight for his pace at Arsenal. He has hardly been an “established” player at any point thus far. Maybe he’ll become one at Madrid but I haven’t seen that man establish anything but a path of moves from one club to another.

o Mathieu Flamini wanted to be in Italy, which means he didn’t want to play for us. A year later, we can question the move based on how infrequently he has started matches for Milan. And again, where’s the “established” player. He was probably more “established” at Marseille before having one good season at Arsenal.

o Alex Hleb has been quoted that he now regrets his move to Spain. He could end up back at Stuttgart. Make your bed, sleep in it…Established???

o As for the “Spanish football grapevine,” even the best grapes can produce vin aigre. Let’s get through this upcoming season before speculating on what Boy Wonder will do next summer.

Let’s be clear; we’ve sold two players and netted well over £30mil. Will we miss them? I want to believe that we won’t miss Adebayor’s goals but that remains to be seen. I am convinced that even if moving to City could rejuvenate Kolo, he hasn’t played well for Arsenal for three seasons. At times, he’s been awful.

We could do with that tall, cunt of a CB who’ll take no prisoners but again, we’ll see what happens. The manager has stated that if there is a need to supplement the squad with further additions, he will do so as long as the right players (as always) are available – it’s almost cliché now. Don’t forget though that we reached the last four in Europe last season and were forced to play that tie with a subpar defence. Adebayor’s goal vs Villarreal was tremendous in that effort but this time around, the addition of a fully fit Andrey Arshaviin will make us a problem for any side.

Let’s not forget that we’ve also got rid of two players who spend a good portion of the winter away on national duty for the ACN (African Nations of Nations) every other January – and a further two weeks recovering. If rumours of selling Eboue (a good utility player, IMO) are true, then we’d have just Alex Song left as an African international. That’s less to worry about squad depth-wise. Things are not as bad as some have tried to convince you my friends.

The best part of the recent transfer activity however is that there couldn’t be a worse nightmare for those who want to see us fail than Arsene Wenger with two fists full of money.

I trust Arsene. Quote me on that.

Kolo Habib Touré

A great man asked me yesterday whether or not I believed any of the reports linking Kolo to Manchester City. Based on the papers that were reporting it, I was fairly certain that there was some legitimacy to the reports.

The advent of NewsNow has produced a massive amount of resources available for Arsenal stories. Most of them re-hash the same stories, and there are numerous silly blogs on it. I read roughly half of the stories on there, and I’ll even read the same story on different news sources. My roommate follows Wigan, and their NewsNow page updates maybe four times a day, as opposed to the constant stream of Arsenal information.

Generally speaking, the Independent, the Guardian, and the Times are fairly reliable. They won’t publish complete rubbish. That being said, more and more, I read stories in the Guardian that attribute their source to shit papers like The Sun and The Daily Mirror. Let’s just attribute that to the downward spiral that sports journalism in England has become. When I read literally all of the papers reporting the potential transfer of Kolo to City, I knew it was going to happen.

Of course, being the Arsenal junkie that I am, I do read publications like The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail, and others. Most of the time, when they’re talking about a player linked to us (a player that could logically fit), I’m convinced they’re usually fabricated 85% of the time. However, when one of these publications posts a story so outlandish that they almost have to be true, it’s of interest. That has happened three times in the past twelve months.

The first case is the reported transfer of Mikael Silvestre. This link came completely out of the blue, and I hated Silvestre with a passion cause he’s associated with Manchester United. I remember my roommate saying, “that’s almost so ridiculous that it’s probably real.” He was right.

The second case was the story of Emmanuel Adebayor getting ripped by an Arsenal fan at an airport. I immediately dismissed this as being completely fabricated. I remember talking about it at the pub and when somebody suggested that it was obviously fabricated, I thought to myself, of course it is, but why would they make up a story like that? Usually, when papers make up stories, it’s usually about transfer gossip. When they report on personal lives of footballers, it’s always usually a drunken affair or things of that nature. There are lots of stupid things that footballers do. I don’t think these should be reported, but it’s the world we live in. I’m not saying this event actually occurred, but I’ll say that I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually did happen. I’m also not writing this to rip Adebayor. I liked him as an Arsenal player, and I hold no grudges.

The last case is the transfer request put in by Kolo. It was reported that Kolo put in a transfer request because he was upset with his playing time and because he hated William Gallas. I, of course, rejected this immediately. Kolo is a player who bleeds Arsenal, and has never shown anything other than 100% effort on the pitch. Then, Wenger came out and said that players do not need to get along in order to play with each other. That was followed by Kolo saying that he did put in a request, but he’s fully committed to the club. This rubbed me the wrong way. It gave me the impression that Kolo was a quitter. Where was the fight in him that made him an Arsenal legend in the first place? He wanted to leave because he didn’t get along with Gallas? That’s juvenile, and what’s more, the animosity towards Gallas increased due to it.

The truth is, Kolo has not been the same player since he contracted malaria while playing for the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations. At that point, we were still top of the league and flying high. When he returned, he was asked to fill in at right back due to the ankle injury that Sagna suffered. If you look back at the crucial stretch of games, you’ll see that most of the goals were created or conceded through that right hand side of defense. Now, Kolo was playing out of position somewhat, so we can’t completely pin that on him.

Last year, more of the same from Kolo. An inconsistent reading of the game, in which he was frequently bailed out by his athleticism and all out hustle. The problem is, he’s no longer as fast as he once was. He now looks like a mountain as opposed to a tank.

As it remains, he is not an automatic choice in the first team XI. And the truth is, I’m more than happy for Kolo that he’ll be able to reap so much financial reward from City’s moneybags. If he can make 120,000 pounds a week, start for Manchester City, and we’re willing to sell him, everybody benefits.

Now, I’m reading some criticism of Wenger from certain Arsenal boards. They claim that we’ve just made City stronger and that we’ll finish fifth. That kind of talk is both silly and counterproductive. What we know is this, Manchester City has equipped us with the funds to acquire the players that Wenger wants. Now that the heavyweight transfers are out of the way, Wenger has time to do what he does best. I’m sure he has targets, and I’m sure players will come in. If not, that means we are in some financial trouble, but I trust Arsene to get it done.

A final word on Kolo Touré. The man is an Arsenal legend. Losing him is a bittersweet proposition. But, I have experienced the departures of Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, and others. The only man who stayed until the end in recent times was Dennis Bergkamp. All of these names mentioned are proper legends. I salute Kolo for his service to our beloved club, and the world will know that his best years were with us. I wish him a happy life, but I hope van Persie and Arshavin clown him on the pitch when we play City twice this year.

PS A few days ago, I wrote that you should only trust what proper legends say. Yesterday, Thierry had to say this:

“I am Arsenal through and through. I’d never advise anyone to sign for Tottenham. I can’t have Arsenal fans thinking I am helping Tottenham in any way.”

I love Thierry.