Category Archives: Arsenal

Quiet day expected in the transfer window

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It was supposed to be a quiet weekend without top flight football. And then the Mason Greenwood news broke.

The pictures and voice note are disgusting. But now a legal process is underway so my advice to everyone is keep your views private and let that process happen.

That is not me defending what happened or trying to brush the incident under the carpet. It is my with my legal background advising everyone to keep their counsel.

In actual football news, Newcastle confirmed the signing of Bruno Guimarães on Sunday.

He released his own minute long video, which was very strange.

One third of the video was dedicated to The Arsenal.

My theory is the first part of the video was because he expected (or hoped) to join Arsenal. When that deal did not materialise, his PR team kept that “slide” in an attempt to roll Arsenal.

If worked to an extent, but mainly consisted of Arsenal fans laughing at Guimarães and Newcastle.

The situation reminds me of Aston Villa in the summer.

Having signed “Arsenal’s best keeper”, Villa then “beat” us to Emi Buendia and were about to sign Emile Smith Rowe.

Villa fans used this, and their owners net worth, to try and paint a picture that they were a force to be reckoned with. That they were a better option for players than Arsenal and would be challenging for Europe this season.

The reality was Villa’s transfer window was funded by selling their best player and they currently site 11th.

Newcastle fans believe that signing Guimarães ahead of Arsenal is an indication that they are now a top Premier League club. They are 18th in the league.

Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United all need reinforcements in midfield. All turned down the chance to sign Guimarães.

The Brazilian has been on Arsenal’s radar for a few years – prior to him joining Lyon. If Edu wanted him, he would be an Arsenal player.

There is a reason why at 24-years-old he has just 3 caps in the worst Brazil team I have ever seen.

Tim Vickery – whose job is to actually watch South American football – describes Guimarães as a sideways passer who crumbles under pressure.

He seems to have become a favourite of the Twitter scouts after being fantastic on Football Manager a few years ago. I would rather listen to Vickery.

When you consider Newcastle’s other signings have been Chris Wood, Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn (pending), I do not really understand their excitement this transfer window.

Had Mike Ashley signed those 3 players they would be crying into their Brown Ale.

Clearly Guimarães is using Newcastle as a stepping stone. Probably hoping that a good 18 months might see an Arsenal or Manchester United. Time will tell.

It is transfer deadline day and I would still be very surprised if Arsenal sign anyone.

The Alexander Isak talk seems to be based on misinformation. The number plate doing the rounds was apparently owned by a luxury hire company; with pictures dating back to 2018.

Why this car was pictured in and around the Emirates Stadium is anyone’s guess. There is also no proof that the pictures floating about were from this weekend.

Chances are Isak was just in London along with Adnan Januzaj whilst La Liga was on a break.

Ultimately, like we saw with Calum Chambers departure, no one on Twitter knows what is going on.

Let’s sit back and see what happens today….

Keenos

Wilshere’s Return – 4 Arsenal Legends Who Returned To North London

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Jack wilshere is continuing his rehabilitation with the Arsenal first team squad out in Dubai.

As is normal when non-contracted players join the first team for training, Wilshere has been given the latest gear with a number on it. 12 was available so he got given that.

As expected, this created a lot of excitement amongst Arsenal fans who saw this as a sign that he was going to come back.

He is unlikely to sign a 6 month deal with Arsenal. But if he does he will not be the only former star that joined us for to regain fitness and ended with a second spell at the club.

Sol Campbell

Sol Campbell began training with the Arsenal side in mid-October 2009 in a bid to maintain his fitness ahead of the January transfer window. On 15 January, he re-signed with the club.

Nine days later he made his second debut in an FA Cup defeat to Stoke City. On 18 February, he scored his first goal in his second stint at the club with a headed goal against Porto in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16.

Sol Campbell close to Arsenal return after playing for reserves | Arsenal | The Guardian

Due to injuries to Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas towards the end of the season, he found himself starting frequently for Arsenal.

In July 2010, Campbell joined Newcastle United on a one-year contract.

His second stint at the club saw him play 14 games, scoring 1 goal.

Jens Lehmann

In March 2011, rumours began circulating that Jens Lehmann might come out of retirement due to an injury crisis at the club leaving us with only one fit senior keeper, Manuel Almunia.

At the time, Lehmann was also scheduled to spend six weeks working on his coaching badges at his old club.

With Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone all out injured, 17 March 2011 Lehmann signed for Arsenal on a rolling contract until the end of the season and was named on the substitutes bench 2 days later.

On 10 April 2011, Lehmann started for the first team in an away game against Blackpool. He was forced to start the game when Almunia was injured in the warm up.

Jens Lehmann at Arsenal to Paul Scholes at Man United: Five football stars who came out of retirement | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard

Winning 3–1, it was his 200th appearance for Arsenal.

At 41 years and 150 days, Lehmann became the oldest player to play for Arsenal in the Premier League but not the oldest to play for the team.

His contract with Arsenal expired at the end of the season, and then he decided to retire once again.

The Blackpool appearance was his only game during the spell.

Thierry Henry

After training with Arsenal during the MLS off-season, Henry re-signed for the club on a two-month loan deal on 6 January 2012. This was to provide cover for Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh, who were unavailable due to their participation in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Henry was given the number 12 shirt– his old Arsenal number 14 being worn by Theo Walcott.

To one of the loudest Emirates roars, Henry made his second Arsenal debut as a substitute against Leeds United in the FA Cup third round and scored the only goal.

1 year on - Henry vs Leeds

In his last league game on loan, he scored the winning goal in stoppage time in a 2–1 win against Sunderland.

He would return to New York Red Bulls for a further 3 seasons before retiring.

Two goals in his seven appearances would extend his club record to 228 goals.

Mathieu Flamini

Flamini began training with Arsenal midway in early August 2013, with the reason to “solely maintain fitness” with a view to signing for a club in England.

Immediately it sparked media attention with claims rising that he would soon sign for Arsenal. But this was denied by many at the club.

Flamini, however, did indeed sign for Arsenal on 29 August 2013 and became Arsenal’s second acquisition of the summer, after Yaya Sanogo.

He made his returning debut on 1 September at Emirates Stadium against Tottenham Hotspur, coming on for Jack Wilshere and helping the team secure a 1–0 win. His performances after signing were lauded by both critics and fans alike, and had featured in all of Arsenal’s Premier League, Football League Cup and European games since, with many seeing his signing, and his combative style of play, as one of the key reasons for Arsenal’s excellent early season form.

He scored his first goal in his second spell at Arsenal on 30 November, the second in a 0–3 away win at Cardiff City. He has also scored in a crucial 1–1 draw against Manchester City and helped the club finish top 4.

Flamini’s second spell at the club would see him stay for 3 years and win 2 FA Cups.

Arsenal star eyes THIRD FA Cup triumph at expense of Aston Villa | Football | Sport | Express.co.uk

He is perhaps best remembered for what happened in 2015.

On 23 September 2015, Flamini earned his first start of the 2015–16 season in the Football League Cup third round tie against Tottenham Hotspur. He scored both of Arsenal’s goals with a Man of the Match performance.

Flamini would join Palace for a season before finishing his career in Spain.

He played 93 games, scoring 5 goals, in that second spell for Arsenal.

Keenos

Revisionism of Adebayor’s exit is a lazy attempt to subtly label Arsenal fans as racist

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Morning all.

We enter the “winter break” and no football until the 10th of February. what a waste of tiem.

Most clubs have flown out to do some warm weather training and will have at least one friendly game. Arsenal are in Dubai and will face Reading – minus Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang.

The Auba saga took another twist this week as Emmanuel Adebayor had his say.

Now normally I would have no interest in what someone like Adebayor says. He spends a lot of time talking about Arsenal; a club he openly hates. But this time was different.

Journalists have gone out of their way to link Adebayor’s exit to Auba’s current situation at Arsenal.

It is simply a lazy attempt to subtly paint Arsenal fans as racists where African players are not accepted. This could not be further from the truth.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1487383791773573120

Adebayor’s exit from Arsenal seems to have been re-written by non-Arsenal fans who were still at school when he left for Manchester City in 2009.

He left for one reason and one reason only. Money. Arsenal fans recognised the greed and let him know.

Players leaving for money happens almost all the time, and every player is usually abused on their return to the club. To try and paint the abuse from Arsenal fans as rasicsm is laughable.

Robin van Persie got it much worse when he joined Manchester United. As did Ashley Cole.

The racist aspect seemts to come from a song about Adebayor’s family. Was it distasteful? Yes. But no more distatesful than fans singing about Posh and Becks.

It was originally a Tottenham song. Sung loudly at White Hart Lane. It seems to only become racist in the eyes on the media when Arsenal began singing it.

It is like those songs Manchester United and Spurs sung about Arsene Wenger. The press turned a blind eye to them.

If the song was not deemed racist when sung by Spurs fans; why was it racist when sung by Arsenal?

Now lets look at Adebayor’s behaviour facing Arsenal for Manchester City.

He kicked van Persie in the face – an incident the referee missed but he was given a 3 game ban for.

Adebayor than ran the full length of the pitch to the Arsenal supporters and celebrating his goal in front of them. Bottles and plastic chairs were thrown at him.

He goaded the crowd. The crowd responded. Then he tried to paint himself as a victim.

Later in the game he also stamped on Cesc Fabregas – once more missed by the referee.

Throughout the game he was trying to wind up Arsenal fans and take out his anger on former team mates. Yet he blames everyone but himself.

After his big money move to Man City ended in failure – he started just 27 Premier League games – he joined Tottenham.

In 2012, Adebayor scored an early goal for Tottenham in a North London derby to put them 1–0 up. Seven minutes he was sent off for a crude challenge on Santi Cazorla.

For whatever reason, Adebayor had built up a hatred of Arsenal. Maybe it was hateed of himself. That he had left a good thing to chase the money at Man City; and his career then flopped going from Tottenham to Crystal Palace, İstanbul Başakşehir, Kayserispor and Olimpia.

No. I have no idea who they are either.

When he first left Arsenal, there was the usual “he has gone for the money” abuse from Arsenal fans. But it was his behaviour for Manchester City and Tottenham that fueled the hatred in the relationship.

If Adebayor wants to blame anyone for the way Arsenal fans treated him, he should blame himself. And he knows this which is why he keeps talkign about us.

For him to speak out about the treatment of Auba is laughable. The situations are completely different.

One player left for money and then attempted to wind up Arsenal fans at every opportunity. The other clearly has no interest in playing football anymore and has had disciplinary problems at every club he has played for.

The fact journalists are twisting this to paint Arsenal as some sort of race filled club is horrendous.

Anyone that has followed Arsenal for more than 5 minutes will know our history of combating racism in the 70s and 80s and acceptance of black players whilst other clubs didn’t.

Maybe those journalists trying to say Arsenal is not a good place for an African player to join should speak to Kanu, Lauren or Patrick Vieira. I am sure they would give a very different narrative to Adebayor.

Emmanuel Adebayor is filled with hatred. He is clearly filled with self-loathing and should not be given air time.

Adebayor lit a fire, then cried the house burned down.

Keenos