Arsene Promises the Silver...But Can He Deliver?

The Professor assures all Gooners that, after two years in the trophy desert, the wait for silverware will end over next season. Hooray! Wait. He said that without promising any major new signings. In fact, he assures us that this young squad we had this season will deliver the goods.

Ok. Color me skeptical now. I love the potential on this squad...but I don't believe a season's seasoning is all they needed to pull level with Chelsea and Manchester U.

I'd put the spine of our midfield up against anyone, but the wings hold major questions. Rosicky and Hleb showed promise, but too many times the promises were more like IOUs. Did either of these boys make you forget CRon at any time last year? 9 goals between them in all competitions. Hardly will they exorcise the fond memories of Robert Pires with offensive stats like that.

And the defense, while featuring strong players like William Gallas, Kolo Toure (one of the best when he has his heart in the game), and Emmanuel Eboue, was altogether too soft (now, there's a familiar refrain). They leaked nearly a goal a game. And the goals they allowed were, on the whole, disastrous ones - like the equalizer against Chelsea.

While the goal difference was strongly positive at 28, there's a reason the top 3 allowed 28 goals and less over the course of the EPL season.

I'm sorry, boss. I believe in your genius. I love the football your Arsenal team plays. But without some significant investment in players I do not believe you have the right to claim that the team will bring home some shiny objects next season. And, please, Michael Owen?

Champions League Final Today!
Should be a great match between Liverpool and AC Milan. I'm pulling for the Reds, but I suspect this could be Milan's night. If they do win, consider it a trophy with an asterisk. Remember, with the match-fixing scandal in Italy, these blokes shouldn't have even been allowed into the competition.
Oh, well. Let's hope for some great football, regardless the outcome.

Ever Feel Irrelevant Boys?
It turns out that some vertebrates can reproduce without male involvement.

Henry Rumours Growing Darker
This one actually makes me a bit nervous - the linkage to Wenger's future makes it all the more plausible.

Daughter of the year, bank robbery division. Heather Johnston of Atlanta, GA.

She also talked about the stylish sunglasses she and Ashley Miller wore during the heist, which was meant to look like a robbery.

"We had got them a couple weeks before this even came up. Like, we called them our stunner shades," she said.

Johnston laughed about what she and Miller did after the robbery: "Go straight to the mall." The first thing they did was visit an upscale hair salon to get highlights in their hair.

"Some of the stuff we did was pretty ignorant," she said.

Hear. Hear. But, after taking care of some basic needs, the pair turned altruistic.

Authorities say the two also went shopping, ate a meal and gave money to the homeless afterward.

Well, add this to the list of injuries I hope to never suffer from. I didn't even know that was possible.

News from England is that The Professor is keen to sell Freddie Ljungberg, Jeremie Aliadiere & Phillipe Senderos to clear the decks for new blood. Hate to see Ljungberg go. When he is healthy, he brings unbridled kinetic energy to the offense.

Aliadiere and Senderos...well, I wish them luck, but Arsenal is not the home for those boys. When given the chance, Aliadiere rarely created any goal threats. Senderos, a sweeper, created way too many. Drogba will be sad to see the Swiss defender go, I am sure.
Also on the blocks, still on-loan male model and sometimes football player JAR, Matthieu Flamini, and Alex Song. I agree with the boss. There's deadwood to be pruned.

Ever the politician, perhaps, Alexander Hleb, decides its an opportune time to liken his boss to God, saying the gaffer has "divine powers" to identify talent.

While it doesn't take divine powers to identify the talent of Emanuel Eboue, Arsene Wenger signed the Ivorian to a new long-term contract.

Great UEFA Cup final last night between Espanyol and Sevilla. I watched a bit of the OT and the PKs on replay and will have to watch the whole game later this week. Great goalkeeping by the Sevilla keeper during the PKs.

Former England Striker Andy Brooking says that not only has mega-signing Michael Ballack not lived up to promise for Chelsea, he has degraded Frank Lampard's performance as well.

Agreed. I think Ballack has been awful for Chelsea this year. I'd go so far as to say that the signings of Ballack and  Andriy Shevchenko were what lost the EPL championship. If it weren't for Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, Chelsea would have fallen out of the top four.   On Shevchenko, Brookings says:

"A lot of overseas players find the pace of the game tough in England, even with all the skills they have.

"Shevchenko doesn't quite seem to have that yard of pace to get away from opposition defenders," he said.

That's Why He Calls Himself The Special One
Who else, but Chelsea's master of the whinebite (that's a soundbite of a longer whine during an interview) could get arrested for his dog possibly not having all its shots? Ah, Jose, please don't leave Chelsea. What would the EPL do without you...I suppose hire a league clown might be a start.

The New York Times Travel Section has a piece about an American and his son traveling to London to see Arsenal play. Unfortunately, they picked the West Ham home defeat. The Writer, Henry Fountain, describes Arsenal perfectly:

We had our sights set on our favorite team, Arsenal, a Premier League
squad with entertaining young players, including Emmanuel Adebayor, a
striker from Togo, and the Catalan midfielder Cesc Fàbregas. The team
has a style that can be intoxicating (the players often make beautiful
passes) and infuriating (they often make one pass too many).

True dat, Henry. True dat. Perhaps, Arsene will have the boys work some shooting drills in July.

EPL Wrap-Up

Bobby McMahon over at FSC wraps up the EPL season. I remember saying at the beginning of the year that Manchester United would struggle scoring without Ruud Van Nistelroy:

United scored more goals (83) than any other team in the Premiership.
This was United's highest tally since 2002, when they scored 87 goals. T

I guess Bobby won't be worrying about me taking over his chair soon with my incisive football analysis.

...and the season is over!

Another one for the books. Arsenal ends with a bloodless draw at Pompey. Liverpool just gets the 2-2 draw, leaving the Gunners 4th, surely a disappointing season, as you factor in the lack of silverware. Just saying, well, we're in the Champions League does not cut it for a team accustomed to excellence.

Now, it's on to the season of transfer rumours and wild speculation...

With the end nigh, Arsene Wenger is calling this season his worst as Arsenal Manager and looking forward to the transfer market, though

The Arsenal manager, however, insists he does 'not need to add quantity' and
will 'only add super quality, if I find it'.

And Celtic great Neil Lennon is set to shed the hoops jersey for the last time.

Rumour Season Has Begun?

NOt that it really ever stops but as the end of the major soccer league seasons approaches, what had been only a tickle in the throat has erupted into a full-fledged hacking and coughing fit of  rumours as to who is going where. First off, FC Barcelona finally getting the Thierry Henry they've admired for so long. And of course, they need him because SAF wants speed on his front line and the Cameroon lion Eto'o fits the bill.
Will Henry go? This one seems dubious, as he has repeatedly expressed his commitment to the club and to coach Arsene Wenger. The speculation centers on the recent departure of David Dein and that seems like a strange reason to go back on his earlier commitments. Now, if Wenger left, I believe Henry is gone. For now, he stays (I hope!).
Man U gets Eto'o, though. The Cameroonian striker has been unsettled at the club this past season and he seems ripe for a swoop from the biggest club in the world. Good on them. The addition of Eto'o to the EPL will make for a more exciting brand of football all around, and also pressure Chelsea immensely.
The big problem for the EPL, as always, is that the top 4 continue to get stronger and the remaining 16...well, muddle. Look at the points spread between the top 2, the top 4 and then everyone else. That's not competitive, folks.

Checking In On Sunday's Game

Arsenal V. Chelsea. Turned out to be an anti-climatic way to give Manchester United the title. The game started out promising, with Arsenal building their offense and appearing to gain more and more control. The break came as Julio Baptista outmuscled Khalid Bhoularouz for a ball in the area, and the Chelsea defender swept his feet out from under him. Whistle. Penalty. Red card. Shot from the dot. Gilberto put the Gunners ahead.

Then, the Arsenal 11 took pity on undermanned Chelsea and began playing as if they had the man disadvantage, allowing the Blues back into the game. To be fair, Chelsea showed renewed vigor, particularly with Michael Essien in the 2nd half. Of course, this resulted in Essien scoring the equalizer.

From there, the Blues piled the pressure on the Gunners, and created way more shots on frame than a 10-man side should get. Arsenal should've done better, but in the end, all they could really do was hold on to a tie and pull themselves level with Liverpool for third. It was hard to get excited about this.

Wonders of the Internet
To really understand the power of the Internet, look no further than cheddarvision.tv. The website features a 24/7 webcam documenting the molding of a block of cheddar cheese in England. The cheese has more MySpace friends than I do.

"The fact is that most people think of cheese as being a little bit of yellow square in plastic wrap," [Cheese purveyor Patricia Michelson] said.

"Actually seeing the real thing in its glory, from start to finish. Watching it, live, in real time, growing and growing its molds and getting darker and literally, slowly aging is a phenomenon," she added.