bolton 0-0 arsenal by Futbol2101

What does it take for any other player other than RVP to score goals? It is now official, he's not pretending any more - Theo Walcott has a mind made of mush in front of goal. Always. Aaron Ramsey is another. The Ox too for all his brightness was presented with a clear chance.

David Hytner's article hints at Ivan Gazidis's plans to sell the Arsenal brand:

" Gazidis has identified a huge discrepancy between the worldwide reach of the Arsenal brand and the revenue that it generates. He believes that bringing the latter up to speed - the club have sophisticated strategies in place to do so - is the surest way forward.

szólj hozzá: Arsenal v Man United 1:2 MOTD

It was the 74th minute when Arsene Wenger went from mere arrogance to sheer incompetence. Replacing Alex Oxlade Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin. The Ox had been Arsenal's best player on the pitch providing the side with desperately needed speed, ambition, and some quality skills.

Arsene Wenger in his press conference asked about his somnolent transfer activity in the January window:

" You cannot buy a player every time you have an injury: where do you finish? England is bankrupt, the whole of Europe is bankrupt and everyone continues to spend like nothing happened.

szólj hozzá: Swansea City 3-2 Arsenal

Arsenal's bright start through who else but Robin Van Persie was dashed within minutes as Aaron Ramsey brought down Nathan Dyer, an absolute pest to the Gunners, and Scott Sinclair converted the penalty. The foul looked pretty soft. Andrey Arshavin who had threaded the pass through for RVP's goal was guilty of less precision in the second half as Ramsey could not latch onto his errant service gifting the ball to Joe Allen.

Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton: The NFL's young brigade are animating the sport

Watching the San Francisco 49ers and New Orlean Saints putting together one of the NFL's classics last night, one was struck by the relative youth of the two opposing head coaches, patrolling the sidelines as an armada of assistant coaches and players milled around behind them.

szólj hozzá: Fulham vs Arsenal 2:1 MOTD

Depressing. Very depressing. As bright and incandescent as Arsenal were the first half, the second half was an absolute blight. The Gunners looked drained, bereft of ideas, and they let Fulham walk all over them. It was an reversion to many a game last season where Arsenal showed distinctly no ambition other than to run out 90 minutes.

The Arsenal legend, the top scorer in club history gets teary eyed at the unveiling of his statue, part of the club's 125th anniversary. Arsene Wenger looks on like a strict father expecting his favorite child to say the right thing.

Andrey Arshavin found himself to be the centre of attention in Arsenal's Carling Cup win over Bolton scoring the equalizer and then setting up Park Chu-Young's first goal since his move from Monaco in the summer. Some nice finishing there. Fabrice Muamba, an Arsenal academy product opened Bolton's account after Emmanuel Frimpong coughed up the ball.

Paging Carl Jung: Arsene Wenger would like to see you

Arsene Wenger says what we suspected a long time ago. He's still looking for a good shrink who will put closure to the Birmingham loss in the Carling Cup finals. We all are. Till then we are just persona.

In reading Ivan Gazidis's recent statements after appearing on a panel at the Leaders in Football conference, one left with the distinct impression that the perpetuation of Arsenal's self sustaining model was of primary concern, not its football. That and the idealization of the financial fair play rules as some sort of magic bullet.

The eyebrow that sees an Arsenal future?

Carlo Ancelotti has been taking time off from the sport. But he makes no bones about a return to coaching in England, now his preferred destination. Arsenal is amongst the clubs he has set his sights on. The other two are Liverpool and Spurs.

The bad news just keeps piling up. Bacary Sagna who had to be stretchered off after his ankle crumpled following a collision with Benoit Assou-Ekotto has been ruled out for three months with a broken fibula of the right leg. This injury further decimates the already decimated back line.

19 year old Carl Jenkinson will see lots of playing time.

Head up the Arse-nal

Arsenal were ascendant for about 15 minutes following Alexander Song's brilliant foray down the left flank and equally scintillating cross which led to the Aaron Ramsey equalizer. A commanding midfield performance recycled the attack and the Spurs citadel looked shaky.

Half time at White Hart and its a familiar breakdown in defense that gives Spurs the one goal lead.

Emmanuel Adebayor floats the ball into the box. Per Mertesacker gets fronted easily by Rafael Van Der Vaart and Bakary Sagna fails to track back leaving the Dutchman free to control with a hint of a hand before he chests the ball down and finish past Szcezsny.

RVP plans his Emirates getaway if Arsenal scrape along

" I still have almost two years left, so for the moment that's fine. I'm happy with my contract. I can't look into the future. I can't see us talking now because we are so busy. "

What exactly in these words sets off the exit alarm?

Jack Wilshere's ankle fracture is nowhere close to healing after months of wearing a CAM boot. Now, he will undergo ankle surgery this Monday which will put him out of commission for another 2-3 months.

The present squad have now lost almost 5 years in playing time devoted to recuperation from ankle injuries with RVP and Thomas Vermaelen accounting for two years of that time.

If Owen Coyle is God, what does that make Wenger?

Through Arsenal's worst start since 1953, it has become de rigueur for opposing managers to heap Arsene Wenger with a constant stream of encomiums.

"For me, Arsene Wenger has been fantastic for the football club. When they were in a bit of trouble, he guided them through it.

Arsenal will go poof if Wenger were to leave

Guess who said this in 2009?

"It is not often that a boy of five or six is always living with adults in a little village. I learned about tactics and selection from the people talking about football in the pub - who plays on the left wing and who should be in the team.

Finally, the Arsenal board responds. And in a positive way. This should be a huge shot in the arm for Arsene Wenger. However, there are some words that Ivan Gazidis uses that seem such obvious deflections of the blame game.

" It's nonsense based on the need to always create a mini-crisis .

A bit of this will not hurt Arsenal

Five matches into the season and a perfect record. An outpouring of 21 goals with just four conceded. And the latest, a win over arch rivals Chelsea by a 3-1 margin. Utd are already separating themselves by their intimidating performances.

His side's effervescent start is still not enough to make Sir Alex happy.

Sudoku: A cheap way to help improve Arsenal's lack of concentration

That is the adage. On the ropes, manager a drink short of delirium tremens, disgruntled fans baying for the management's blood. No matter. Mother Nature has the cure. Play Arsenal and everything will be right as rain.

Park Chu Young is still awaiting his visa

In his first ever press conference after transfer deadline day, Arsene Wenger disputed the perception the 8-2 thrashing at the hands of Man Utd triggered the desperate last minute signing spree.

Instead the process was more deliberative in the like for like calibration for departing players.

Emmanuel Frimpong who has emerged as a very reliable deputy to Alexander Song in anchoring the midfield is seriously contemplating switching national allegiance to Ghana. The Arsenal midfielder has long flirted with the idea but it appears he's come to a decision after meeting with Ghanaian FA officials earlier this week.

A few things have shaken out this summer. The inability of Arsenal to hold onto their marquee players who overtly cite the lack of titles as their reason for moving on while also negotiating better personal terms with their new owners seems to be the new reality. Arsenal's restrictive wage structure in this free market economy is seen as a liability as they bleed players to clubs who pony up without ceilings.

Peter Hill-Wood: Another prick on the wall

The saddest part of Arsenal's annihilation at Old Trafford is not the scoreline which is in itself a reflection of a heartless and cruel policy of turning to ingenues to save the club's season. That it was done by a Utd side that had its share of injuries and untested talent filling in huge shoes left by Paul Scholes, Edwin Van Der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, and Rio Ferdinand inflicted the deepest cut and left Wenger's bragging rights of turning to youth for provenance in tatters.

Eden's balls might prove a hazard to other clubs

Arsene Wenger is making his much awaited push for getting quality into the Emirates by offering £22m for highly rated holding midfielder Yann M'Vila. Rennes had rejected his initial bid of £15m.

Can't see how they can reject an offer that increases the initial amount by almost 50%.

Samir, your manager needs you. Do the right thing.

Roberto Mancini has threatened to pull the plug on the Samir Nasri transfer deal because Arsene Wenger could cup tie the French midfielder if he is featured in the Udinese second leg playoffs.

Wenger has made clear he expects Nasri to be ready to play which if it should happen will render him ineligible to play for City in the CL should the transfer go through.

Rennes midfielder Yann M'Vila has been linked with Arsenal

Arsene Wenger might finally bring in a late cavalry charge to add quality to the midfield.

Yann M'Vila the highly rated holding midfielder from Rennes is a £15million target, although there are reports of Rennes denying any such link.

Emmanuel Frimpong is a unit: Now he needs a bit more control

It's hard to believe we're just three matches old and already Arsenal wears the scars of a full season. The weak of heart need not apply because we really do not how this will all end. A spectacular supernova implosion or a gradual decline into a red dwarf?

The horror will be if Juan Mata scores the winning goal against Arsenal. At £23.6m, he's not that expensive. Chelsea acted decisively after Andre Villas- Boas was left unimpressed by their lack of cutting edge in the midfield in the Stoke opener.

He was keen on coming to the Emirates but Arsenal failed to make a bid in July.

Samir Nasri finds a clever way to hide from Arsenal fans

Here is news that is further distraction to Arsene Wenger and effectively puts the lid on any more transfers into the club.

Samir Nasri might not an Arsenal player come Monday but there are reports suggesting he will be included in the squad to play Liverpool tomorrow.

The Arsenal midfield gets busy without Fabregas

Juan Mata is now a Chelsea target. Jadson disappeared down a black hole. Eden Hazard is the choice of the chattering class but there is no traction in the circles who make these things happen. Meanwhile, Nasri is on the cusp of leaving for City which further weakens the midfield.

Arsene Wenger is having none of it.

"We focus on the players we have and we believe we have enough strength. I saw all the games over the weekend and I don't see why we should be suddenly afraid of anybody in England."

Alright then. This is all deja vu time. Wenger puts up another one of his bombastic statements (choose your pick: Quadruple, Super Additions, Abou Diaby is the next Patrick Vieira) and then on the day of the match prowls on the sidelines looking sick as a dog as things don't go Arsenal's way.

The Daily Mail reports that Shakhtar Donetsk have confirmed Arsenal's interest in Jadson and have left his future in his hands.

Mircea Lucescu, head coach of the Ukrainian champions:

" I can confirm Jadson is wanted by Arsenal,' said Lucescu. 'Now it all depends on him.

A year late but tomorrow will see Fabregas don a FCB jersey

Cesc Fabregas is to land today evening in Barcelona and he's expected to undergo a medical examination before the club formalizes the deal tomorrow. He might be unveiled as early as Wednesday at Camp Nou for the second leg of the hugely anticipated Super Cup between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

I for one welcome the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. Full disclosure, Fabregas is my favourite player at Arsenal and wear his no 4 jersey proudly to all the matches. You will find fewer fans more bereft when he leaves. And yet, there is a sense of overwhelming relief when he finally signs on the dotted line which brings this whole exhausting and none too edifying saga to closure.

" I am positive because we have good quality and a style of play that is known by the players. So we want to add not quality but super quality."

So said Arsene Wenger in his press conference amongst many other things including the fact that Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri did not make the flight to Benfica for Arsenal's final pre-season match.

Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund began their title defense in impressive fashion with a 3-1 win over Hamburg. Kevin Grosskreutz with a brace and Mario Gotze scored for the champions with Robert Tesche pulling off a late consolation goal for Hamburg.

Dortmund showed some very clever interlinking play to score their goals.

Let me go, I beg of you!

It appears Barca are inching their way to an agreement with Arsenal for Cesc Fabregas and are ready to meet their €40m demand. A large difference of €6m separate the clubs but Barca's solution is a combination of down payments and deferments. They are proposing a €34m up front and €6m to follow later in tranches.