Asian tour promo bloopers Arsenal have attempted to drum-up interest in their forthcoming tour of Asia by recording some messages in the languages of the places they will be visiting. A nice idea in theory, but trickier to execute given the lack of Chinese and Malaysian speakers in the Gunners' first-team squad.

This is going to be a pretty short one, but I'll plan to get a longer blog up sometime tomorrow for us to chew on. Brenton is currently on vacation, and JG is currently packing for a three week trip to Peru. I hear it's nice this time of year. Anyway, I think JG will have something up around Thursday, after he arrives there.

Ryo Miyaichi the Japanese wunderkid embarks on the South East Asia tour

After weeks of the never ending tragicomedy spectacle of the media getting pretzel shaped over Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, Arsene Wenger finally broke radio silence vowing to fight as hard as possible to keep both players at the club.

Liverpool 4: Poulsen 19′, N'Gog 22′, Coady 72′, Carroll 85′
Guangdong 3: Steer 46′, Lin 90′, Hongbo 92′

And so a new season begins. Or at least the road to it does. Certainly without the extended break forced by the European Championships and World Cup in recent years it doesn't feel like as much of a wait as in the past, when half the players would have just now been starting into their short summer breaks following international commitments.

Becks flex: David Beckham and the Galaxy held a soccer clinic for kids in Indonesia today. Beckham is expected to choose between staying in MLS or joining a French club at the tour's conclusion. (Getty Images Photo).

Fewer than 48 hours after goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was named to the Galaxy Asian tour roster he was traded to the expansion Montreal Impact Monday for allocation money and obviously is not now with the club on its first stop in Indonesia.

(The content of this entry is based on the transcript of the media release issued by SPRG-Singapore, one of the coordinating agencies of this event)
In a media release issued by the PR agencies coordinating their visit to Singapore, it's confirmed the New York Cosmos contingent that includes footballing legends Pelé and Eric Cantona will be in Singapore as part of their Asian tour that includes a stopover in Hong Kong.

During the league season, Liverpool's senior squad members traipsing off to their respective national sides is just a notch below a Joe Cole wind sprint on things I enjoy watching. There's the worry about injury, the predictably suffocating nationalism from Martin Samuel, and, more than anything, a few weeks without football for Liverpool.

So, we heard from Arsene for the first time this summer and it has set some cats amongst some pigeons.

Speaking to Arsenal Player ahead of the Asian tour, it all started quite well. He spoke about how he would fight to keep Nasri and Cesc, which is good. Obviously we know the subtle differences between the two situations and I saw a report yesterday saying we're now offering Nasri £110,000 per week.

Written by dandan

I did a run round of the blogs on Friday and was dismayed to see the amount of poison being directed at Samir Nasri.

Now I have no brief for Nasri in particular, other than he can play a bit and is still an Arsenal player. To read the blogs you would think he was public enemy number one.

Live blog: New boy cool in China

Liverpool FC players, management staff, community staff and the media team are heading to China today for the first leg of our Asian tour and you can follow all the news as it happens in our exclusive live blog.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-07-11 09:33:34 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Kenny Dalglish flew back to Merseyside on Thursday night to seal the deal for Stewart Downing that will see Liverpool's spending reach £100m in the seven months since his emotional return to Anfield.
The Liverpool manager had anyway been expected to come back early from the club's Asian tour to fulfil a long-standing engagement, so the opportunity to meet the player who could provide the width that was badly lacking under Rafael Benítez and Roy Hodgson was one Dalglish was not going to pass up.

Kickoff from Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur 5:45PM Local/10:45AM GMT/5:45AM EST

Ways to Watch:

Live on ESPNUK in England and FSC in America, as well as on LFCtv live and online for those with a season pass.

MyP2P
ATDHE
FromSport

Liverpool:

Liverpool are getting set for their second preseason friendly of the Asian tour, and it's being widely reported that Kenny Dalglish has flown back to Liverpool to complete the signing of Stewart Downing.

Malaysia All-Stars XI 3-6 Liverpool

Malaysia All-Stars XI 3-6 Liverpool After flying home to secure the signing of Stewart Downing, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish will have seen something to impress, and plenty more to be puzzled by as he watched the second game of his side's Asian tour on television.

Liverpool 6: Adam 27′, Ngog 68′ 69′, Maxi 76′ 90′, Kuyt 94′
Malaysia XI 3: Rahim 40′, Mohd Sali 79′ 80′

Charlie Adam gets his first goal in Liverpool shirt, David Ngog and Maxi get two a piece, and Liverpool wrap up their Asian tour with a victory in front of 80,000 fans at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lampur.

Kenny Dalglish wants Liverpool to go back to their roots.
Dalglish, who watched his young charges take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds last night, was speaking after announcing a link- up with the Seagulls and St Joseph's Boys.
The Reds manager is a close friend of Bray boss Pat Devlin and they had a similar arrangement when he was at Newcastle United.

And so Arsenal's pre-season continues tomorrow with with a pre-season match-up with FC Cologne (or Koln for the German speaking fans). Arsenal have been training in Germany and this game will single the end to "phase one' of their pre-season training.

Now the reason why Arsenal are playing a friendly versus Cologne is not evident as we have had virtually no dealing with the club in the past.

The KING signed on my notepad!!
It's not wonder that wherever he been to, he will always bring joy to everyone he meet and yours truly is one of them.
Never in my wildest dream that I thought I could meet the man who is regarded by the world as the best footballer seen on the earth.

English Premier League giants Chelsea FC confirmed they will send the full squad to Thailand for a friendly match against Thai Premier League All Stars team on July 24.

The Coke Super Cup match will be played at Rajamangala National Stadium.

Apart from the Bangkok stop, the Blues will also visit Malaysia and Hong Kong as part of their Asian tour in the summer.

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that the first-team squad will be playing a pre-season friendly in Malaysia this summer.
Arsène Wenger's side take on a Malaysia XI at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, July 13, kick off 8.45pm local time. This game will be the first leg of Arsenal's Asian Tour.

Liverpool have announced that captain Steven Gerrard will miss the club's preseason Asian tour to continue his recovery from groin surgery.

"After sitting down and talking with the medical experts and technical staff, it's been decided that the best course of action is for me to continue my rehabilitation program at Melwood,"

The England international has not played since March 6 and manager Kenny Dalglish's priority is to have Gerrard fit for the start of the Premier League season.

A quick Sunday round-up for you.

The squad for the Asian Tour was announced yesterday and there were no real surprises. Cesc was absent, as expected, Eboue, Diaby and Fabianski didn't travel because of injury concerns, while only the omissions of Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia raised eyebrows.

Liverpool fly off on their Standard Chartered sponsored pre-season tour today with Managing Director Ian Ayre hoping the Reds leave a lifetime of memories for their fanatical Asian fans to savour.
The Reds' squad departs Liverpool John Lennon airport this afternoon for a thirteen hour flight to Guangzhou ahead of the first leg of their Asian tour.

Liverpool fly off on their Standard Chartered sponsored pre-season tour today with Managing Director Ian Ayre hoping the Reds leave a lifetime of memories for their fanatical Asian fans to savour.
The Reds' squad departs Liverpool John Lennon airport this afternoon for a thirteen hour flight to Guangzhou ahead of the first leg of their Asian tour.

Now is effectively make or break for Arsene Wenger, there is simply no getting around this fact. As things stand we have a squad that is simply not capable of challenging for the title, and he has to change this around before August.Looking through the squad for the Asian tour shows this fact. There is no doubt we have a great first eleven and a hell of a lot of talented kids providing some

Live blog: China here we come

Liverpool FC players, management staff, community staff and the media team are heading to China today for the first leg of our Asian tour and you can follow all the news as it happens in our exclusive live blog.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-07-10 13:08:08 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Sir Alex says Samir Nasri is not joining Man Utd thus confirming Wenger's commitment not to sell to a rival. However, there is an increasing likelihood that the Arsenal manager might be willing to see Nasri's contract expire next year and risk losing him for free.

Nasri is presently in Malaysia as part of Arsenal's Asian tour which can be taken as a strong indicator of his continued career at the club.

Live blog: Aqua's a good lad

Liverpool FC players, management, community staff and the media team are in China for the first leg of our Asian tour and you can follow all the news as it happens in our live blog.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-07-12 13:42:46 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

The second day of the Asian Tour started with a morning training session. At least that is what the session is supposed to be called. However, the time was between 10:30am to 11:30am. That is poor planning on the part of the team/organizers. That is normally the time of the hour where the heat is at it's peak in Kuala Lumpur.

Liverpool's Conor Coady excels in China in absence of Steven Gerrard

• Liverpool youngster stars in win over Guangdong Sunray Cave • Steven Gerrard remains focus of locals' adulation on tour His face was everywhere. Dominating the billboards, his photograph handed out like a religious artefact at the gates of the Tianhe Stadium, his name on approximately half the Liverpool shirts on the backs of Guangzhou's young middle class.

The Asian tour saw Arsene Wenger upbraid Man City for their obvious ploy to circumvent financial fair play rules by signing an inflated £400m sponsorship deal part of which changes Eastlands to Etihad Stadium.

City can now put this amount in the revenue column and claim they are living within their means.

Kenny Dalglish flies back to seal Stewart Downing's Liverpool transfer

Deal will bring Anfield's summer spending on British midfielders to £43m as manager looks to improve service for Andy Carroll Kenny Dalglish flew back to Merseyside on Thursday night to seal the deal for Stewart Downing that will see Liverpool's spending reach £100m in the seven months since his emotional return to Anfield.

Defensive issues have been blamed by many as one of the key factors that let down Arsenal's trophy challenge last season, but the Gunners' boss, Arsene Wenger, has a rather different opinion on that matter.

Speaking to the press during the London club's Asian tour, Wenger believed that in terms of individual quality, his defensive players are very capable especially if defending from open play.

Malaysia All-Star XI 3-6 Liverpool | Friendly match report

Malaysia All-Star XI 3-6 Liverpool After flying home to secure the signing of Stewart Downing , the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, will have seen something to impress, and plenty more to be puzzled by as he watched the second game of his side's Asian tour on television.

So another week begins and the players have returned from the Asian Tour. Time to catch up with friends, family, and in Jack Wilshere's case, something called Gossip Girl. I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to watch that. Unless it's girls gossiping about the ways in which they would flay John Terry before rolling him in salt.

Wenger has been The Angry One

The professor is adopting a less academic tone with his confrontational remarks while on the Asian tour. He railed against Xavi for being disrespectful, went after City for its controversial Etihad naming rights sponsorship, and now, turned his wrath on Roberto Mancini for being out of order for pursing Samir Nasri.

There is little doubt that this has been a summer of frustration for many Arsenal fans. We've sat idly by and watched rivals spend big money on world class quality players like Stewart Downing and Ashley Young and that bloke from Blackburn.

All we had to content ourselves with was that young lad from Charlton.

Liverpool Football Club (FC) has launched a new social media campaign on Weibo, coinciding with its Asian tour, which started on 13 July in Guangdong

Despite a disappointing draw on the first day of the season, Liverpool Football Club embarks upon a new Premier League campaign, revitalized both on and off the pitch. With the Hicks-Gillette era now firmly in the past, new owners, Fenway Sports Group appear to have dramatically altered the club's fortunes.

This week maybe World Cup Qualifier week but for the good people of Bangladesh there is a chance to see Lionel Messi and his Bangladesh team strut their stuff in a friendly against Nigeria in the capital city, Dhaka.
The Argentine side will fly into Dhaka on the national airline, Bangladesh Biman, which will be an eye opener in itself.

So here we are, nearly halfway through the 2011-12 season. Arsenal have play 17 league matches with Wolves coming up next on Tuesday. It was originally scheduled for Monday on Boxing Day, but due to the London Tub Strike, it has been rescheduled. The halfway mark of the season has QPR coming to the Emirates and but this time we hope to have completed the mid-season review.