Gallass Retains The Captaincy

Wenger has retained defender WIlliam Gallass as captain for the upcoming season. I thought Gallass did a good job as captain in the first half of the season, but after the Birmingham debacle, he seemed to fall apart...much like the team. Give him another season to prove himself and if he fails, off goes the armband.

"You know I learnt a lot (last season)," Gallas told Arsenal TV. "You

want to be the best captain and give good advice to your players, but

sometimes you can make mistakes as well.

"This season I know what I'm going to do and I know I am ready to change my way of speaking to the players."

Adebayor To Remain A Gunner

Emanuel Adebayor and Gunners' boss Arsene Wenger say speculation about the lanky, Togolese striker leaving were just hot air. Ade says he is and will remain a Gunner.

This is great news, providing certainty up front. Ade has just been getting better and I think 2008-2009 will be another top season for him. Now, if we can just get a stud central defender...though I think that is not on the Professor's list.

Arsenal Sign Another Youngster

The Professor has signed a midfielder, but not the big name we're expecting; a kid I've never heard of before.

Arsenal have signed Portugal Under-21 midfielder Amaury Bischoff from Werder Bremen for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old made just one appearance for the Budesliga side Bremen

last season and he can play in the centre or right of midfield.

Ok. I agree we need someone to plug Flamini's role (I'm not sold that Diaby is the answer, yet), but the biggest wish on my list is a big, strong central defender. Toure and Gallas are great defenders, but they're not the answer in the middle. Take one of them and pair with a dominant, physical player. Our biggest weakness last year was the center of the defense and Arsene hasn't done anything to address that.

Hleb is Going, Going, Gone

Crazy-legs is on his way out the door. This has been coming for awhile, but I'm beginning to grow nervous about the midfield. Two of the starters are gone, with Flamini already shifting out. The center has softened with his departure. And Hleb often played a roving, linking role with Adebayor (who, also, may be gone in the NDF). Arsene, what are your plans, sir?

Puppy Uppers & Doggy Downers

Gone are the days when an old pet was a pet to be put down. Now, not only can we (and do we!) lavish expensive medical care on our pets, we can also buy them the best pharmacologicals that money can buy - and they're chewable, too!

clipped from www.nytimes.com The practice of prescribing medications designed for humans to animals has grown substantially over the past decade and a half, and pharmaceutical companies have recently begun experimenting with a more direct strategy: marketing behavior-modification and “lifestyle” drugs specifically for pets. America’s animals, it seems, have very American health problems. More than 20 percent of our dogs are overweight; Pfizer’s Slentrol was approved by the F.D.A. last year as the country’s first canine anti-obesity medication. Dogs live 13 years on average, considerably longer than they did in the past; Pfizer’s Anipryl treats cognitive dysfunction so that absent-minded pets can remember the location of the supper bowl or doggy door. For lonely dogs with separation anxiety, Eli Lilly brought to market its own drug Reconcile last year. The only difference between it and Prozac is that Reconcile is chewable and tastes like beef.

Super-Spain Wins European Championship

What a tournament Euro 2008 has been! And an exciting, if not out and out beautiful, final game. In the end, a lone Fernando Torres goal was the difference maker, but Spain were the true class of the tournament and deserved to hoist the trophy. Germany, towards the end of the game, looked tired and out of ideas. Turkey outclassed them in every way but goals in their semi-final game, so it would've been hard to see Germany as the cup holder.

I'm going to rest my soccer eyes for a couple of days after all the Euro games. I've got six weeks of youth soccer coming up and then the EPL openers. I can't wait.

Euros

I've finally had a chance to catch up with some European Cup soccer, with some quarters action, taped and delay-viewed. After the Netherlands looked so vital and dangerous in the first 2 games of the group stage, Russia demolishes them in convincing fashion. Did Spain really beat this team 4-1?

Germany looks powerful and monstrous in the first 25 minutes, then rests on its laurels for a nervy 30-40 minutes, until re-asserting itself. Portugal's defense couldn't keep a clean sheet in the MSL, it appears. And CRon, for as wonderful a talent as he is, looks like Portugal's only real player. And even he isn't that dangerous against the Joymans. Good to see Der Lemon playing well for the Big G Machine.