One of our former favourites Mikel Silvestre looks set to join Werder Bremen after being released at the end of his contract. I think people mistook the groans and abuse for criticism at the Emirates when they were really endearing chants

BREAKING NEWS:

News just reaching us at Arsenal Vision HQ; Sebastien Squillaci has been kidnapped by the Arsenal medical team, apparently the Sevilla defender has managed to send a message out via pigeon found perched on the barred window ledge in the Arsenal basement gym where the defender is being kept.

Squillaci thought he was joining Arsenal instead he is part of an evil and elaborate plan to send Gooners into meltdown.

It seems to be doing the trick as I have read many hysterical Gooners pulling their hair out because the deal is yet to be announced on Arsenal.com.

I think Gooners should all take a deep breath and calm down. We have agreed a fee with his club and he was penciled in to play for Sevilla in their last game, so we know that fitness shouldn’t be a problem. We do not know everything that is going on behind the scenes. There is plenty of paper work, documents etc involved and these things can sometimes take time. The Nasri deal springs to mind.

Apparently he will be taking the famous number 18 shirt once worn by former Arsenal greats such as Pascal Cygan, Mikel Silvestre and Gilles Grimandi so he will have to prove that he can step into the number and make sure it is not a huge weight on his shoulders. Jokes aside, our central defensive options look to have improved from last season without actually having seen anything of Squillaci.

Sol Campbell was a very good defender who was jam packed with experience but when the games came thick and fast, Wenger couldn’t play him continuously when the injuries arose and that sort of defeats the purpose of having a squad player to step in. Many have suggested that Squillaci will come straight into the team to partner Tommy V and if that is the case then he will have to be a very very good player because I have been most impressed with the look of Koscielny who I assume has more to give as it is still early days for him.

One of our former favourites Mikel Silvestre looks set to join Werder Bremen after being released at the end of his contract. I think people mistook the groans and abuse for criticism at the Emirates when they were really endearing chants.

So that will be that, our former defenders will have all found themselves a new home while we settle in our new defenders into our fine club.

I have a very good feeling about this season, it is very early days and not very much can be taken from the emphatic thumping of Blackpool but I just sense a focus about this team. Saturdays game against Blackburn will be a test to see if the team have grown up. The experiences of last seasons penalty box bullying will hopefully put the team in good stead. Hopefully Manuel is being put through similar challenges during training until Saturday lunchtime.

The likes of Chamakh, Vermaelen, Diaby, Song, Koscielny and co will be very important when defending set pieces but hopefully it will not matter what they do because we would have scored three from our slick attacking football before they get their first set piece. I think they should worry more about Theo, Arshavin, Rosicky etc than our team worrying about Chris Samba.

Much is being made of Jack Wilshere dropping down to the under 21s but I think it most certainly is a good move. Capello’s last England squad was clearly a squad to take a look at certain youngsters alongside some of the experienced players, it was not a squad that he was going to select from now on. Especially with two random goalkeepers who have barely had any experience. The pressure of thrusting Wilshere into the England senior team for a long period of time at this stage of his career would have been far too high. He is only 18 and has started two games for Arsenal in the Premier League, that is not enough to establish himself into the England squad. He will get to that stage in the future, it is pretty much almost guaranteed if he continues to progress the right way, he is an immensely talented kid but that is all he is at this time, a talented kid.

Theo Walcott and perhaps Kieran Gibbs are further down the road, they have had the experience at the top level. You can see with Theo Walcott that playing games and growing up is paying off. That actually makes me feel even better about Theo, I almost forgot about his 45 minutes for England where he was the best player on the pitch. Lets hope he can shove the Blackburn left back’s comments down his throat.

In June 2009, Martin Olsson said:

He is extremely fast but not as good as everyone says, ‘It’s the players around him that feed him and make him good, so if we can shut them down, I think we can prevent him from getting those passes.

‘Against Finland, he had almost no chances and wasn’t that much of a factor. There’s no Adebayor who can help him. The other players are young too and they also make mistakes.’

Why would you need to say something like that about an opponent? Even if you think that why blab about it to the media? Strange. I think Arsene should print that out and stick it above ‘Walcott 14’ in the dressing room. Nothing more to say, apart from whispering ‘get him’ as Walcott walks out of the dressing room, past the manager.

And with that, I shall bid you farewell.

Back tomorrow.

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