Arsene Wenger has said that Johan Djourou still has a future
at Arsenal despite the fact that the centre-half wanted to leave the club in the
summer transfer window.
Djourou made just 14 first-team appearances for the Gunners last season and hasn't featured at
all in the club's 2012/13 campaign.
Looking back at the start of the season (I know it has only just begun and we haven't played
that many games but allow me to indulge in it) and especially after the departure of Alex Song, at
that time I really thought that Francis Coquelin would be a confirmed starter. It's no rocket
science that he is one who could play in a similar role to the one vacated by Song.
One round of international completed and we're safe. Safe in the sense that there are no reports
of any of our players look to have suffered any injuries. In fact, it was a successful night of
football for some of our players. Getting on the scoresheet and so on.
Ducky's Note: After we featured Joe Allen in our first Liverpool
post in almost as much time as it took Torres to score for Chelsea, we seem to have opened
the floodgates, at least by this site's Liverpool-post-frequency standards. So next up we have
Arunkumar Sekhar, picking through Liverpool's transfer dealings with a numerical
obsession nearing John Nash's.
Hey guys. Us here at The Arsenal Offside have done a bit of a prediction for the season ahead.
It was going to go up last week before the season actually started, but sadly I got distracted and
wrote about some guy who decided to do what some little boy told him to and moved to Manchester
United. What gives?
With Robin van Persie's transfer finally completed, we finally see this long drawn out butÂ
unusually calm transfer saga draw to a close. And not surprisingly, lots of United fans are
excited at the prospect of van Persie signing with us, as they rightfully should be. Any time a
player who has scored 30 league goals in a season is about to sign with your club, delight and joy
are the emotions that one should be feeling.
RVP Booing: by SV Yesterday Arsenal gave an absolute twatting to what was, in fairness, a decidedly
average Cologne side. Our skipper – and he is still our skipper – got about twenty minutes of
game time. He got, in fact, just enough game time to leave his situation in a state of complete
ambiguity.
When your stream is lagging behind your commentary, Arabic commentators are an immeasurable
help. In normal circumstances, voice modulation and discernible enthusiasm can ruin an impending
goal for you; but these brethren from the Middle East keep up such an impossibly high and jovial
tempo throughout the game that it basically gives off the image of Arsenal punting it into the net
every second.
With plenty of new additions at Chelsea and not forgetting Yossi Benayoun returning to the fold
from his loan at Arsenal, there is plenty of players fighting for the midfield places at Chelsea
this season and one name has popped up a few times this summer being linked with a move and that is
Raul Meireles.
Much has been spoken and written about Liverpool's wafer thin striker line up for the current
season. Luis Suarez has been particularly wasteful in front of the goal and Fabio Borini hasn't
shown any resourcefulness either. To add to their compounding woes, their pony-tailed striker Andy
Carroll has moved to West Ham on loan (with Big Sam at the helm, it's a match made in heaven).
Kevin Nolan gave the Hammer's the best possible start scoring after just a minute before Winston
Reid and Matt Taylor added two more goals before half-time to end any hopes of a Fulham comeback.
Andy Carroll made an impressive debut at Upton Park before an injured hamstring ended his game time
midway through the second-half.
Recalled Australia defender Matthew Spiranovic could have joined Brad Jones at Liverpool this
season - but instead landed regular first-team football in the Middle East. The 24-year-old
centre-back, who signed for Qatari Stars League outfit Al Arabi on a lucrative two-year deal in
July, received an approach from new Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers the same month, after the Northern
Irishman had earlier tried to sign him for his former club Swansea City.
Yesterday it was announced by Wigan that they have accepted Chelsea's FIFTH offer of around £9m
for Victor Moses and the player is now free to discuss personal terms and speak with us.
I will be honest, for me the jury is out with Moses. It's obvious he has talent, has age on his
side and has come on leaps and bounds by playing regular first team football at Wigan.
Maybe Turbo and Ozone can help us... Due to being in Portland for the weekend,
this will be a combined game review, such as it was, and game preview. Though there really isn't
anything to review, due tot he nature of the game and the fact that I was seeing it in person from
a lousy seat there isn't much to talk about.
Ah, the Clash Back to the main point of this blog. Things don't get easier for the
Rapids as their at the Supporters Shield leading Earthquakes tomorrow night. Not an easy place to
turn things around. Game time tomorrow is 8:30pm on Altitude, so go out and enjoy the bike race in
Golden, Boulder, or areas in-between, get a good dinner, and settle down for some soccer.
Maybe some roasted goat at the tailgate? The Under-A-Chivas are in town tomorrow
coming off a beat down at the hands of the LA Galaxy. The Rapids really need to pick up home points
to have any playoff chance at all, so this is almost a must-win game. Game time tomorrow is 7pm, so
the tailgate starts at 5.
Yep, still using this pic :D The Rapids are in Dallas tomorrow, aka DSG Park South
(at least in the playoffs). Two teams that have fallen greatly since they met almost two years ago
in Toronto for MLS Cup. Dallas is in worse shape than we are though, needing a miracle to even
sniff the playoffs while if the Rapids can get hot over the next 5 games, 4 of which are against
teams out of the playoffs, they can be back in the picture.
Andrew Jackson and Company take on the British 200 years ago this year the War of
1812 started. On Christmas Eve 1814 the Treaty of Ghent, ending hostilities, was signed. Due to the
slow pace of communication in the 1800's New Orleans didn't find out about the treaty until after
the Americans defended the city from the British on January 8th, 1815.
Virginia Opens Road Schedule Friday at Texas Cavaliers and Longhorns play on first day of
Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 7 Virginia women's soccer team makes its first road trip of the
season this weekend as it heads to Austin, Texas, for the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational.
Cavaliers Continue Homestand Wednesday Against Liberty Virginia looks for second straight
win over in-state competition
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 8 Virginia women's soccer team continues its season-opening
four-game homestand Wednesday as it hosts Liberty. Game time at Klöckner Stadium is set for 7 p.
Women's Soccer Drops Preseason Opener at Notre Dame 2-0 Cavaliers host Georgetown in
preseason finale on Sunday
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Virginia women's soccer team opened its 2012 schedule with a 2-0
exhibition loss on a rainy, windy Friday afternoon at the Notre Dame Practice Field.
According to reports in Italy, the Reds are in talks with Italian giants AC Milan over a
possible loan deal for striker Andy Carroll.
Reports say the two clubs are discussing an initial loan deal with the option to make the move
permanent for €13.5 million at the end of the season, the figure seems to be ridiculously
low.
Liverpool have again been heavily linked with Chelsea's young striker, Daniel Sturridge.His asking
price is now thought to be £25 million which is out of Brendan Rodger's price-range. However, the
new Liverpool Manager is hoping to off-load Charlie Adam, Jay Spearing and Stuart Downing to raise
funds to buy the striker from Chelsea.
Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam is being linked with a shock switch across town to Merseyside
rivals Everton.
According to the Mirror, Adam could be sold for as little as £5 million, as Liverpool plan to
bring in Real Madrid star Nuri Sahin on an initial season long loan.
Adam, who announced himself in the Premier League two years ago with Blackpool, has reportedly been
informed by new Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers that he is not a guaranteed started and that
increased competition in the squad may see his game time severely restricted.
The Lions opened at UMSL on Friday afternoon and built upon the foundation laid in last year's
late season run to the MIAA Championship, earning a tie at under difficult conditions. Playing on a
rain-soaked pitch, in a game halted at one point due to tornado warnings, the team earned a point
on the road against a GLVC Tourney qualifier.
Utd got their points campaign off-and-stumbling at Home against Fulham yesterday afternoon.
While the three points were taken, there were two very different aspects to the victory which,
while boasting an array of attacking talent, also featured a defence as nervous as a man who's just
given the extremely valuable family teaset to Rob Green.
It's game time again, and this time the New England Revolution have traveled to Ohio to take on
the Columbus Crew. A win here would snap a seven game winless run and a four-match losing streak,
but history is not on the side of the Revs; since 1996, New England's away record against the Crew
is any abysmal 6-15-6.
Week three already. Or week two for any club that feels unconstrained by the league starting when
booking their jollydays.
The marketing geniuses whose brains power the Hampden floodlights will be congratulating themselves
for starting the SPL season a fortnight before the English could be bothered kicking off.
Game time is 1:45 pm, the game is being broadcast live on NBC Sports. And yes, Ladue graduate
Becky Sauerbrunn (2nd from left) is excited as are her teammates.
Yes, we are excited to be in the Olympic semi-finals... twitter.com/beckysauerbrun...
- Becky Sauerbrunn (@beckysauerbrunn) August 5, 2012
The semifinal between France and Japan is at 11:00 am on NBC Sports.
