The Mirror have decided to link us with Russian star Andrei Arshavin. No substance whatsoever but according to them he is an Arsenal target. I have heard of this rumour a few months ago and I didn’t know anything about him

Morning guys and gyals,

I have come back this morning after being beaten to a pulp by you guys in the comments yesterday. My ‘France remind me of Arsenal’ headline was misunderstood by most of you. I kinda felt like the boy who was given detention because of standing in the same group as the boy who threw stones. What?? I don’t know, it sounded good in my head anyway.

I didn’t for one moment imply that France play Arsenal football or are even had the same quality as the boys in red and white I was merely talking about the isolated back four and being open to counter attacks when they had possession. That’s all.. jeez!

The one team that does remind me of us is shall I do this again?? Spain. They play with two attack minded full backs and pass the ball quickly to feet.

It would be interesting to see how this Arsenal team would do at International level. I suppose it would have to be against a side that does not contain any Arsenal players. England? Now that would be fun.

Anywhoo.. It looks as if the Nasri deal is getting closer now as BBC ‘Understands’ that Nasri has agreed a contract with us. I do not know if a medical has taken place yet, I had the impression that it was already done and all was left was agreeing a contract. I guess it should happen in the next few days.

The Mirror have decided to link us with Russian star Andrei Arshavin. No substance whatsoever but according to them he is an Arsenal target. I have heard of this rumour a few months ago and I didn’t know anything about him. He looked a good player yesterday against Sweden and I watched highlights of him tearing Rangers to shreds in the UEFA cup final.

The story has been taken up by several other papers such as The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.

I cannot see why Wenger would buy him though, because he is the same type as Rosicky, Nasri and Cesc.

The same way the Nasri deal has dragged on, the same can be said for the Hleb to Inter, Bayern, Real and Barcelona. It appears that he is in talks with Barca about a deal but they have warned that they could look elsewhere should they not agree on something.

Barca vice-president Marc Ingla revealed:

“The negotiation with Hleb is still in progress.

“But despite him being a player with special qualities, if his club are not ready to sell him, we have other options in mind.”

I assume that Arsenal have told Hleb that he cannot go anywhere until the Nasri deal is completed. I just want both deals to be over with now, so we can move on and forget about this as it is very very boring.

Robin Van Persie is doing his best to jinx the Dutch.

“If you can wrap up Romania with your ‘reserves’ that says a lot,” said Van Persie, who played in a creative midfield role. “With this squad I really have the feeling that we are unbeatable, though we have to take it step by step.”

“That is why I just want to be part of the team as it feels like something beautiful is going to happen.”

I remember the ‘football from another planet’ speech he gave us during last season until he got injured and then our luck ran out. If it happens to Holland then I suggest someone gag Van Persie during next season.

Robin also made some interesting comments about his position that made me think.

He said:

“I focus on three positions – right wing, striker or the ’10’ (position]

“If he (Van Basten) believes that I can be valuable for the team in another position than the number 10 (behind the striker role] where I have played for four years at my club, Arsenal, I will play there.”

It made me think of the European system that Arsene plays, especially against the bigger and better clubs. I totally understand the need to revert to a five in midfield and make the side more compact and fluid but what I hate to see is Van Persie or Eduardo for that matter out on the left wing. We lose half the quality of Van Persie on the left. It is like playing Bergkamp on the right, you wouldn’t get to see what he does best. On the left Van Persie cannot swivel and hit powerful shots at goal, he cannot cut inside and link up with the other players.

Whenever I have seen him on the left he gets the ball and either plays it simple or whips in crosses to nobody in the box. I can count on one hand the amount of times Van Persie has featured on the right for Arsenal where he would be a lot more effective.

Now that Hleb is expected to leave, it will be interesting who plays behind Adebayor in those matches. Rosicky? Nasri? Van Persie?

At a time where players are demanding big money and want to seek pastures new (I hate that saying) It is so nice to hear a player declaring his love for the club. Kolo Toure has spoken about his happiness at the club.

“When I put the shirt on it means a lot of things for me. I will be so glad to finish my career here.

“At the moment everything is going well. We had a great season and played some fantastic games. But we went away without any trophies – and that’s a big, big thing for us.

“The team are still really strong, the club are still really strong and the manager is doing a great job.”

I tell you what, I am weally weally pleased to hear that. I heard from the grapevine that Wenger is use Toure as a holding midfielder in place of Flamini next season with either Song or a new center half replacing him at the back.

Some might argue that Toure is not good enough technically to play in that role but I would disagree. He could be our version of Essien. He would give us that drive that we miss and his longer range passing could be used more than it is. We would miss his raw pace at the back though. Although Gallas isn’t slow, he isn’t anywhere near as fast as Toure.

What do you think? ‘What about Nasri?’ I hear you say in your head, well he won’t feature from the start until he is adjusted to the English game. He will just have to wait until Rosicky gets injured again which won’t be long I guess.

I still pray every night for Tomas to stay fit for 90% of the season. But having said that, I do the same for winning the lottery.

Right, must dash, have a good day. leave your views in the comments.

Until tomorrow.

Your Vision

Don’t forget that you can submit your own articles on the YourVision section and receive feedback from fellow Gooners. Latest article YourVision – Arsenal – What now?… (By: Kripakar M. Marur)

UPDATE: According to Setanta, Nasri is jetting on a jet I guess to North London to complete a medical and then put the ol pen to paper.