Someone told me a good one today. “How do you know it’s spring?” he asked, smirking like a moron, “because Arsenal’s season is over”. I could have protested that the league was still mathematically possible. I could have pointed out that Arsenal have only been around since 1886, whereas mankind has acknowledged the passing of the seasons with great success at least since the birth of agriculture, around the time of the emergence of homo erectus. I could have punched him in the face (forget homo erectus, neaderthals understand only one thing). But despite the fact that that joke wouldn’t even have got a decent chuckle out of Teddy Sheringham, the point of telling it is simply to compete; reason being that the bloke telling it is a Sunderland fan. It’s not like he’s going to get that many opportunities to rub anything much in my face for the rest of his life.

I know it hurts the players to lose. After all they sweated for it. But they also have plenty of ways to get a sense of perspective about it. Firstly they usually know, and often socialise with, members of the opposition team. I don’t. As soon as football conversation breaks out I get so partisan I’m impossible company. I’ve seen them shaking hands and catching up in the tunnel beforehand. I have to say it’s a nice aspect of the game, that sportsmanship and camaraderie. Shame that special bond they share across the divide might just as well be an athletic girl called Tina who does a peculiar trick with a brandy glass.

Second, in their mind it’s often just a bad day at work. For me it’s a bad day out - one which I had really been looking forward to and which cost me half a weeks salary all in. Or it’s a bad time down the pub - one which I had really been looking forward to and can cost a fair bit as well. Or, worst of all, it’s a bad day at home, which no one in my family looks forward to. Our new cat has learned to climb out the window when Sky Sports theme tune comes on.

Thirdly, can I just jump ship and be on someone elses side, like they can? If I was lucky enough to suddenly improve beyond my wildest imagination and get picked for Manchester City’s first team (yeah I know, but Ronaldinho though? It might as well be me) and we were drawn against Arsenal; I’d score in my own teams goal…repeatedly, and deliberately, as often as it was possible, until Richard Dunne chinned me. It’s not just Man City. That goes for any team that picks me. I’m a bloody liability if we come up against The Gunners.”Better off leaving me on the bench for this one, Gaffer”. I must admit at this point that I did go with some local lads to support Peterborough United in a crucial away tie at Milton Keynes Dons and was heard to sing some songs using more than one form of personal pronoun. But it doesn’t count because the Posh IS my local team and I DO want to see them go up (despite their coach being the allegedly wifebeating son of Beelzebub) and also because Milton Keynes is a made up town with a borrowed football team, and also because the coach down there was laid on free; kind of an obligation to bellow “Shoot the Cambridge Scum” out of the bus window…be rude not to.

And one thing I don’t get at work, if I fail, is such a huge fucking paycheque that I can outright buy a brand new Merc for cash at the end of my first week. It’s a truism but its true - supporters must be short changed if footballers are to be lavishly compensated. If someone offered me £100,000 a week for the next 10 years of my life to be their slave I would probably lap it up. That Demi Moore would be out on her backside and I’d be hoovering Robert Redford’s shagpile wearing nothing but a smile quicker than you can spell Woody Harrelson.

But suffer we must. The league actually is still a mathematical possibility as I write, but it’s daft to imagine the possibility. We failed to beat either Manure or Chelski and we’re behind them in the league. I absolutely detest Old Trafford by the way. It rains. It’s full of some of the worst people from Manchester and some of the worst people from Guildford. You’ll never get a fair referee, their fouls cost you double in injuries, yours cost you double in cards. The pitch is miles away. The acoustics are crap. That mancunian accent like they swallowed a wah peddle. Have I mentioned how much it rains? It really does. The Devils’ Urinal it is. Winning there was like needing the bull to give you an out when your opponent has three darts and just one double to aim at — it really wasn't on.

So my suggestion is to make your summer plans now. I have an allotment and that is a constant whirl of planning, digging, cursing and digging. Really I don’t have time to think. I also haven’t been fishing for a few years now, so that’s another one you could consider - although the reason I jacked it in is that too much time to contemplate your life near deep water is slightly tempting fate if you happen to go after a particularly painful defeat, so maybe not. The Mrs or Mr and and Masters and Misses in your life will be very grateful if you could turn your attention to booking a holiday, perhaps. My suggestion as a destination would be America. The dollars worth a pittance right now and there is guaranteed to be no proper football being played anywhere that you might accidentally wander in to and even if you did, no one will be talking about it.

If you really have to have a dose of sport up your schnoo, there are other sports you know. Not proper ones, but some of them help pass the time. For my part I was particularly cheered by the smack of willow on leather lederhosen that signaled the opening of the Formula One season. There motor racing is a loss leading sideshow to the main event — intrigue, perversion and greed that makes the Colby’s look like the Flumps. The sound of leather on polycarbonate encrusted stump camera will alert you to the fact that New Zealand are in town. The great thing about England v The Silver Ferns is watching two teams competitively outunderperform each other (there’s a word for Ian Dowie to conjure with). Keystone Cops Part Deux is brought to you in association with that luminous bat handle tape specially designed so that Chris Martin knows which end to grab. The county cricket season should be good too. Unlike in the football, the denizens of the more genteel side of Old Trafford are taken right to the wire and then ritually eviscerated every year by anyone who wants it. In the last couple of years it’s been Sussex who had not won anything at all before that, not even an egg cup, for well over 100 years and still managed to pip them. Martin Johnson is in charge of Englands Rugby Union team. There’s plenty of talent there but leadership is needed and Johnson could lead a bull elephant up a ladder (and if not, he could probably push it up). I won’t mention rugby league, since it is a northern pastime and therefore not a proper sport (and neither is sheep worrying or ladies tandem gruntfuttock, in case you ask, even if you play Keighley Rules). Forget Wimbledon. Footballers are selfish and egotistical enough without watching Andy Murray try to sulk the moon into orbit around his own head. And no one should have to listen to Cliff Richard whilst trapped on a cramped bench in the rain by a detachment of Royal Naval Reserves; that is a special punishment we ought to save for Roman Abramovich once someone finds out what he really did to get all that lolly.

The important things is not to dwell on Arsenal whilst they’re on a break. They won’t be thinking about you at all.

I don’t imagine that we’ll be buying any dream players, despite this season proving to most of us that a squad with two internationals in every position and a perversely risk free and conservative playing style is the sine qua non of Premiership and European success. This season really did Arsenal and us fans a big favour you see. My 10 reasons why this season was actually a success:

1. Adebayor came of age. Without Henry to hide behind he had just one season to go it alone front up or we’d have to rethink. He got it straightaway and is an absolute terror. Brilliant.
2. We had an easy fixture list at the start and a tough run in. We forgot that rather quickly in the excitement. A bit of realism is good for us. It is a long season.
3. Therefore perhaps we’ll get a deeper pool of talent to wallow in? I am fed up of looking at the benches of other no-mark teams in the Prem and seeing players who would so look the part in red and white. Big Club = Big Squad. That’s the maths. Maybe Mr Wenger has now to admit that paying £22m for a player of the class of Fernando Torres is NOT too much money and will take the plunge if someone that good and that young is in range next time. You have our money, use it with our blessing, Sir!
4. Flamini. We must sign him up for a new deal. The man sweats blood for us, runs like a Duracell bunny, never backs out of a challenge, and his the beating heart of Arsenal right now.
5. And Theo. What can I say? The brightest star on the darkest night for Arsenal for many a year. A star of hope. I’d follow it.
6. RVP and Rosie can’t ever have a year as bad for injuries as this one just gone. They’ve both got years ahead of them to make up for it. I reckon they will.
7. Being written off again. I love that teams just don’t see us coming. I can’t believe memories are that short, but they are. Class IS permanent, people.
8. Our Home record. An unbeaten league season at home is still a target. Should shut a few people up if we do it, and will lodge in the mind of next season’s visitors to the Grove quite nicely.
9. The crop of youngsters coming through the reserves. Apparently the coaching staff are in raptures and we’ve have never had it so good. Bring ‘em on. They should now know, after the last few years, that there is no need to flounce off if you don’t get first team football straight away. Arsenal are patient — we can take a few years without a trophy whilst you perfect you art. And if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. Look at Cesc
10. Last and best…Fabregas. The complete midfielder? I believe so. I think Gallas was just wearing the armband in for him this year. He should be seriously considered for the captaincy and I’d ask for that more than for all the other things I want us to take out of the season put together. Cec can lead us to glory; I’m convinced of it.

So really this has been a pretty good season. In fact it is comletely fair to say that we plus maybe Cristiano Ronaldo, but mainly we, made this Premiership season one of the best in years. Without us it would be a mundane, conservative, staid, and pedestrian battle of the wallets. They shouldn’t make jokes. They should thank us.

P.S. If this article looks familiar, that's because you paid £2 for a Highbury High. Well done you.

Arsenal News Review is a popular site amongst Arsenal fans. Myles Palmer writes the bulk of the stuff and his ...erm... idiosyncratic style is like car crash reportage. You don't want to look but sometimes you just can't help yourself.

However, he's gone way overboard in his criticism of Emmanuel Adebayor in the last couple of days. In this article he refers to him as a 'clown' and here he slags him off for needing more chances than most to score a goal.

Marc Overmars did not need eight chances to score a goal. Nicholas Anelka did not need eight chances to score a goal. Dennis Bergkamp did not need eight chances to score a goal. Jurgen Klinsmann did not need eight chances to score a goal. Fernando Torres does not need eight chances.

True, perhaps, but let's look at the facts for a second and stop dealing in myths.

Marc Overmars - season best goal total - 16 (97-98 and 99-00)

Nicolas Anelka - season best goal total (England only) - 19 (98-99, Arsenal)

Dennis Bergkamp - season best goal total - 22 (97-98)

Admittedly Torres has 28 or 29 this season but go find me a Liverpool fan, any Liverpool fan, and they'll tell you he was profligate earlier in the season. Klinsmann had a 29 goal season for Sp*rs back in 1995.

So we can see that Adebayor's 26 goals this season beat Bergkamp's best ever season, Overmars' best ever season by 10 and Nicolas Anelka's best ever season, the man who has had more money spent on him in transfer fees than any other player. Maybe they didn't need as many chances but they never scored more goals.

Palmer then goes on to suggest we buy a Senegalese striker called Mamadou Niang who plays for Marseille, seemingly on the back of a YouTube video. He cites 15 goals in 21 starts. Does nobody remember Sylvain Wiltord scoring nearly 40 goals one season in France. He hardly set the world on fire at Arsenal despite doing a decent enough job.

Anyway, the main point is Adebayor. Arsenal have played three big games in the last 10 days, Adebayor has scored in each of them. Nobody is suggesting he's the world's greatest player but he deserves far better than to be dismissed as a 'clown', especially when the alternatives suggested are some bloke nobody has ever heard of or Nicklas Bendtner who looks decent as a substitute but appears to believe his own hype rather too much.

The big man's goals won us game this season, he's not perfect, but he has improved and the slagging he gets is out of order, in my opinion.

If this article proves anything it's that the clown writes for Arsenal News Review.

Update: Michael from the Gooner Forum provides the following info:

Stats as of March 29th
Adebayor 23 goals in 106 shots (57 SOG) - 1 goal/4.6 shots
Ronaldo 34 goals in 216 shots  (109 SOG)  - 1 goal/6.4 shots

The fact is that Adebayor puts a higher percentage of his shots on goal than Ronaldo and also scores more goals per attempts than Ronaldo.  Ronaldo had only 9 more goals but TWICE AS MANY shots as Adebayor.  He's not nearly as wasteful as Ronaldo.   He also puts a higher percentage of his shots on goal.

Thanks, Michael.

In his Belfast Telegraph column the Liverpool loving BBC commentator whinges about Arsene Wenger's alleged whinging. The fat man says:

I, too, thought that Dirk Kuyt fouled Aleksandr Hleb in the first leg and that it should have been a penalty but to imply, as the Arsenal manager seemed to, that it wasn't given because the referee was Dutch - like Kuyt - was feeble.

However, let us look back and find out exactly what Arsene said about the suggestion that the ref favoured Kuyt because he was Dutch. Here it is from Arsenal.com:

"There is no credence in [the reports],” said the Frenchman. “A referee is like a manager - you want a clear game and to do your job well. I have no suspicion at all. You have to accept he made the wrong decision but he is honest.

Hardly an implication of any kind there. In fact, he has quite clearly said any such suggestion is wrong. But don't let that stop you, Alan Green, you useless, non-fact checking, cake eating, bloat hound.

Cheers to vivb for the spot.

No doubt many of you will have heard about Liam Brady's argument with Eamonn Dunphy on RTE television last night.

To see what made Chippy so irate you can view via the RTE website by clicking here - then choosing the clip second from bottom 'The studio panel continue to debate tonight's game at Anfield'.

You need Real Player and you need to forward to about 6'30 in to get the beginning of it.

Reports earlier in the week suggested Cesc Fabregas had broken off from his long-time agent Joseba Diaz. Some people speculated that this was because Diaz was angling to get him to move to Real Madrid or Barcleona all the time.

Now it has emerged that Darren Dein is Cesc's new agent (Spanish link). The same Darren Dein that rang up Barcelona last summer and said 'Do you still want Thierry Henry?'.

Given the links between Dein and Henry, and Henry being at Barcelona, it would hardly be a surprise if there was an increase in the amount of speculation regarding Cesc's future this summer. It's tiresome enough anyway, it's bound to get worse.

It may be that Dein, as part of the SEM group, can open up new doors in terms of commercial deals and sponsorships for Cesc, but the article also says he'll be handling all his contract negotiations as well.

John Harris has the enviable position of being a music writer for the Manchester Guardian. Writing in the G2 supplement on Tuesday he took exception to the Conservative party - in particular David Cameron personally - co-opting music that he considered to be left wing. The catalyst for this was a photo op that Tory Boy asked for outside Salford Boys Club. The local Labour party picketed this event in the usual Student Union way and Cameron had to go in the back entrance (one pun in ten that made it). Lovely Hazel, MP for Salford, was triumphant that she could have her own pic taken in from of the building unmolested. Bully for her. What animated Harris was the idea that Cameron can like The Smiths, The Jam and The Clash and even has a particular fondness for Kirsty Macolls version of Billy Braggs, “A New England”. That’s just wrong, says Harris.

What? They’re all great, you twat. What right thinking person couldn’t pick any of those out of a line-up and say to a chum “here have a listen to this, classic!”. I got quite animated about this article because it brings to mind directly the kind of mindlessly loyal tribalism that has been the bane of anyone trying to think for themselves, unshackled, in the United Yeah Right Kingdom since the year puff. What really captures the attention of the media, more than anything else, is conflict: Afghanistan, Iraq, Heather Mills. And in any conflict it is important to know which - or whose - side you are on. [As an aside, no one is on the side of Heather Mills. As you were]. Tribalism is a part of being British. English, I mean. Yeah, you fuck off as well. And I quite like some aspects of it. That I can tell you to fuck off for instance and probably buy you a pint and forget about the whole thing later. “I might break your leg, but I’ll visit you in hospital”. That kind of thing. But a tribal stance in no way stands up to intellectual examination. It falls over because it is one-eyed and doesn’t have a leg to stand on (that’s not knocking Heather, you understand, she has a leg. It’s now worth £8m). In almost all conflicts both the most naïve and the most partisan feed the cannons. The cynics are at the back directing operations. And the critics are even further back telling us all just where we've gone wrong. A recent study of criticism indicated that the majority of people focus on negatives. I think this is because to accentuate the one positive, say, in response to a diatribe from an ardent critic about one's general shoddiness, might add to the mind of that critic the impression that not only were you shoddy, but you were also an over-optimistic simpleton with a distressing lack of self-awareness to boot.

I drive a Vauxhall Zafira. It lugs seven people (or five plus luggage) economically enough. The new one is over priced, but the old one is good value. I have an 03 plate that cost me shy of ten grand at six months old and has (apart from a spectacular exhaust explosion on the M25) given sterling service. But when you assess the worth of something it must be as the sum of its parts. I hate the stupidly low first gear that makes every Zafira driver leaving a T junction look like he’s auditioning as a Top Gear presenter. I hate the ridiculously thick corner pillars that can block a whole car from your vision at a roundabout. And I hate the frankly laughable design of the rear wheel holder that allows some scally with strong fingers just to lift it straight from the underside of the rear and flog it down the market, perhaps whilst you are still driving it.

Is unquestioning loyalty very helpful to me when I decide to buy a new car? I would say not. In fact I would go so far as to say that anyone who is brand loyal, in modern times, is a fucking ignoramus. As an illustration take the story of three generations of distribution managers at the opening of a new multi million pound cannery line. Whilst marvelling at the increased efficiency of the machinery they discuss scheduling and the incumbent manager bemoans the fact that all long distance work takes place on a Friday. It’s so hard to get drivers willing to encroach on their weekend with a long tiring run. His predecessor from the sixties adds to the weight of the complaint by pointing out how bad it was in those days when haulage was a good deal more onerous an occupation than it is now. His pre-war predecessor then indicates that their travils were a mere bagatelle compared to his time; when drivers used to rest their horses at the weekend and do deliveries locally mid-week, in order to keep their Drays fresh for the Friday run, and by so doing keep the shops well stocked for the Saturday rush. Does a little light go off in your head hearing this story? I hope so. “Because we’ve always done it that way” is a shit reason for almost everything it has ever explained. The sad fact is that many of the people who always do it that way like to always do it that way. But too much missionary and someday someone runs off into the jungle.

Why is David Cameron allowed to like the Smiths (the lead singer of whom famously said what he would really, really like was for the handbag swinging prime minister of the day to be dispatched in the way revolutionary France reserved for the worst criminals, and the aristocracy)? Because eclecticism is something to be cherished, I feel. I would go so far as to say that I distrust the opinions - on any kind of art - of any person who fails to have broad, varied, inconsistent, contrary and quixotic tastes. Those who espouse commitment to a cause, or a tribe, or a viewpoint often use it as a filter through which they sieve the worlds offerings. And then they sup the consommé which that produces, whilst happily dumping the chunky, dirty, vital, ill-fitting lumps that get left behind into the bin.

Music is not all about anarchy, sticking it to the man, style, attitude or belonging. Before all that it’s a noise that you like having in your ear. There is a visceral quality to the best music. I don’t mean the connotation whereby one is eviscerated by music (although a download single by Celldweller that my 10 year old son suggested I listen to recently made me think twice about that). I mean when you feel it strongly in your mind and your body and your soul (and not because you are standing too near the speakers at British Sea Power either). I stopped liking music because someone I admired liked it when I was 14. I stopped liking music because it espoused a certain idealised lifestyle when I was 19. I am enormously nostalgic for music that I never understood the first time round. Example: I like Ian Dury and the Blockheads all the more because, like a blockhead, I never noticed he was disabled at the time. I get it now. But I liked it…then.

Whilst I’m on a roll here, I also object most heartily to the crap way that RE is taught (if at all) in schools. Belonging to a religion is no box ticking exercise any more than supporting a football team or choosing a political party (at least not for the real believers). Whether you put religious studies in either the box marked "bonkers outmoded ideas" or the one marked "important tools for to get to know your local community by understanding their weird ways", both do a massive disservice to a central part of the human experience - namely what people think and believe and what they think about what they believe, and what people learned by thinking about what they believe now, and since people first started to think. Imagine doing a law degree and spending three years on court procedure and no time at all on the fundamental philosophy of law. Imagine being ignorant, at the end of your LLB, of the basic tenets of why people need governance, why the executive, legislature and judiciary are separate, and why it’s wrong to stab someone hard in the eye with a pen. But that is how it is with the teaching of the major religions though. The last century’s worth of really quite mediocre thought in the humanist tradition apparently overrules centuries of hard yakka at the coalface of metaphysics, social and moral philosophy and semantics by people quite prepared to suffer all kinds of hardship and indignity in search of the truth (albeit their truth). The best educated of us (by that I mean privately educated at personal expense, the ungrateful little twots that they are) learn the classics. Who for a minute thinks the benefit of this is in the allegorical nature of myth? No, those people really believed that shit. And it had meaning, and relevance and power and the western world was shaped by them and the generations after them who believed all kinds of other different shit. Teach kids that some people set great store in the importance of the right way to wash out the inside of your nose before prayer and you polarise them into two camps: one saying “nutters”, and the other saying “yeah my dad’s one of those nutters”. Teach people about why hygiene became a central aspect of liturgical practice in many of the worlds major religions and you might actually learn something. A digression, yes, but it has been getting on my tits for a while.

Anyone still reading is probably a veteran rambler on the gorse furnished bridleway that is my very occasional Arseblog column. I mean, of course, to put all of this in the context of the “club that can do no wrong.” My loyalty to Arsenal (and this has been remarked upon questoningly more than once and so is worth restating) is utter. I am generally not taken seriously by some of the Arsenal hardcore because I do not know, like it were my own life, enough about the inner workings of the club and the machinations of its various actors. I am always looking on the bright side of reversal in our rather substantial fortunes (see I did it again) as well. And that is plastic like polyethyelene. You might first consider, perhaps, that the levity with which this “person” approaches the business of Arsenal’s fortunes in the league suggests a certain laxity in other areas where one would demand probity of a correspondent. What, you therefore may be curious enough to be lead to ask, are his views on promiscuous bottom sex with the wild ponies of the New Forest? (I can assure you that I have the upmost respect for the preservation of their virginity, vis-a-vis surprise coition instigated by any other non-equine species including mankind, and most specifically including my own self).

I have of late (and I know exactly from where) been disposed towards melancholy. After our exploits at the San Siro, the return to the drab premiership of witless draws (which are reminiscent, in their abject futility, of the quest of the moth to navigate its way to the embrace of a well fit lady moth by means of a 60W bulb) has got me really fucking down. I even had a type of flu (Thai flu, I’m told by the barrack room doctor; lot of it about) that I think can only have got me because I weakened my own immune system with a tendancy to fatalism and weeping. End-of-season exasperation is, of course, the sign that ones disposition towards Arsenal is in rude health. But I have actually lost faith. I think we may not win anything this year. I have now said it (and those of you who have met me know that I am someone who gets his round in, tells it like it is, and couldn’t pick a winner if Curlin was entered in a Donkey Derby and the jockey was my brother-in-law). So despair not, it is not a preditction of any worth. I just wanted to share it with you. Feels good to say it out loud. But I am English, so this was an aberation. I will now bottle it up tight.

The point I think I am trying to make (I hope there is one) is that those of us who chose to support Arsenal by saying, for instance, that we could do a darn sight better if we “dropped Hleb”, “put Senderos up top”, “sack the lot of them and buy big in the next transfer window” etc., are completely entitled to that view. They are no less of an Arsenal fan for saying so (whatever you think of their ideas). I love Arsenal because of the broad college of our support. There is no Arsenal equivalent of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” that you can play that will make everyone together forget that they are not a persecuted epileptic boy in a cardigan from a grimy industrial shithole with no prospects, but actually seated in the head office of a thriving multimillion dollar franchise (and actually from Surrey as well). We don’t need it.

There is no need for anyone to feel left out when supporting Arsenal. If players are good enough, regardless of their various nationalities, that is a matter of pride for me. That is a meritocracy I can get behind. The “more Arsenal than thou” cadre can kiss the rest of our arses when we win the league because playing in front of all 5,000 (an estimate, but not an unfair one I don’t think) of them on their own just don’t pay the bills.

You can like Arsenal and like jazz. You can like Arsenal and love cross-stitch. You can love Arsenal and choose not to love New Forest ponies so much, when they finally let you out. The important thing is not your blind loyalty. The important thing is that those 11 players lucky enough to wear your hearts on their sleeves know that you really think they can do it (whatever your anxious demons tell you). Please don’t bother going if you don’t plan to let the Arsenal players know you love them, no matter what.

Okay the important thing IS blind loyalty, of course, regardless of how we appear to be fucking it up recently. But blind loyalty in a worthy cause. We have a league to win.

So say your piece. Goodness knows it’s better out than in. And let your fellow gooner say his piece to. He’s wrong (as you and I know), but let’s not judge his loyalty on that. Lets judge it solely on the only criteria one must take to be decisive in this matter: how much noise you make when the match is on.

P.S. Tony Blair likes Oasis (which Harris failed to mention). Nuff said!

Eduardo has just given his first interview to Croatian TV since his horrific injury. Arseblog forumer Kesky has provided the bullet points:

• He'll be going to Brazil soon, probably this week, and he'll begin his rehabilitation there.


• News of The World interview was made up. He never spoke to them.


• He feels fine, and hasn't watched the pictures or the video of the injury. He is very calm, and thinks his family suffered more than he did, and that he spent the last few days reassuring his wife and kid that everything will be okay, and that they need not worry.


• Before the interview, the reporter had to agree not to ask anything about Martin Taylor. The only thing Dudu said was that Taylor did not visit him in the hospital to offer an apology, like some papers reported (note - this is what the TV anchor said despite Eduardo's wishes that no questions about Taylor be asked).


• It's too early to say when will he be back, and whether he'll be better or worse than he was before. There is a long way to go, and he stressed that it will be important to be mentally prepared to get back in to the game, and not just physically.


• Eduardo thanked all of the Croatian and Arsenal fans for the support they have given him, and reiterated how important it was for him. He also thanked his teammates, and all the people at Arsenal.

Cheers to Kesky and good luck to Eduardo.

Update: Here's a transcript of the interview:

Q: First, tell us how you feel right now, eleven, twelve days after the injury?

A: Well, it is much easier now, at this moment. I feel much better, in my head, now it's time to forget what happened. I will spend the near future without football, but I will have more time for my family.

Q: Could you please describe what happened? The tackle?

A: In that moment, lying on the floor, I looked at my leg, couldn't believe what I was seeing, and turned my head the other way. I felt nervous, very scared, and spent all the way to the hospital in great pain.

Q: We have heard that the Arsenal medical staff, and especially the physio Gary Lewin reacted greatly, and that Gilberto also helped a lot.

A: Yeah, they immobilized my foot, and Gilberto came over to translalte and tell me what to do. I could barely understand even him, my head was everywhere, I was barely holding on. I think it all went the way it should have, now.

Q: The pain? Was it unbearable?

A: I can't really tell. Sure, the pain was huge, but it's the panic, fear, and nervousness that I felt the most. I can't really recall the pain itself.

Q: Some players have said that you were just too quick, and that you moved the ball too fast for the other player to catch it?

A: I touched the ball away, but didn't have the time to move my foot away, and his studs were already there. I definitely didn't expect what happened to actually happen that way. Everybody says it looked really ugly, and they tell me not to watch it — so I don't watch it. I wish I had my leg in the air, and not planted on the ground. It would have been a foul, but not an injury.

Q: The pictures have been printed in most newspapers around the world. Have you seen any of them?

A: No, I haven't really. I've seen one picture of me lying on the ground, but all you could see is my back, and my head turned the other way. Generally, I don't really watch football as much as i should. I just watch Arsenal games.

Q: Have you read what Kaka said? He asked for more protection from the referees, and claimed that the top players are constantly handled with dangerous tackles.

A: Yes, I heard that, and I think he's absolutely right. If that tackle happened to somebody else, I'd still feel very sorry for the player. We'll see what will happen in the future.

Q: Do you think that football has become such a rough sport, and how much responsibility lies with the managers, and club officials, who stress the importance of winning?

A: Well, everybody wants to win, that's normal, and things like this happen.

Q: What are you plans now? Rehabilitation? How long will you be wearing the plaster cast?

A: Four weeks, probably. The club will organize something concerning my physical rehabilitation, and it should all start in about month and ten days. I'll start the rehabilitation process in Brazil, with the doctor who worked wit Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,, and Roberto Carlos.

Q: I see you're in a rather good mood.

A: well, yes. I've been spending a lot of time with my family and friends, and that has helped me a lot. Things like this happen, this time it happened to me. I have to move on.

Q: The NoTW interview with you? Is it real?

A: I guarantee you that it's completely made up. This here is my first interview after the injury. I asked them to clarify that it was not an interview with me, and they did, so it's okay now.

Q: Here, in Croatia, your injury was the most important news. Have you been harassed by the media while you were in the hospital?

A: Well, it was difficult sometimes, because i needed peace and quiet most of all. I understand them, but it was difficult for me, because something bad had happened. You have to understand me, as well.

Q: What's the prognosis?

A: It depends. Could be six, months, could be nine, could be a whole year. There is a long way to go, and it will be important to be mentally prepared to get back in to the game, and not just physically.

Alex McLeish - "Martin is not a dirty player"

Bill Clinton - "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Great lies of our time.

Get well soon, Eduardo..

Big props again to TorontoGooner for the video skills.

Ok, by now you all know what the Arsenal Opus is and unless you've been living under a rock you'll have noticed that O2 have been running a competition which Arseblog has been proudly supporting.

The first part of the competition saw people submit their favourite Arsenal photos to the competition website and each week two winners were chosen. Those winners got themselves two tickets for an Arsenal home game as well as entry into the next part of the competition.

Then Arsene Wenger whittled down the 22 finalists to 11, a team of Arsenal photos if you will, and those 11 will go through to the next phase. This is where you come in. The ultimate winner will be the one who receives the most public votes - so it's now down to you to choose and vote for your favourite picture from the 11 chosen by Le Boss.

The winning shot will be published in the winner’s very own Arsenal Opus, signed by Arsène Wenger and presented at the home game on 15 March 2008.

As well as that every single person who votes will be entered into a draw to win a copy of the Arsenal Opus for themselves. Plus there are other great prizes like match tickets and merchandise so, get your finger out and get voting.

To vote simply visit the Blue Room website and the photo that gets the most votes wins a copy of the incredible Arsenal Opus.

About the Arsenal Opus

The best and biggest book about Arsenal ever made

The history of Arsenal FC has never been told in such depth, with so many exclusive interviews or with such stunning imagery.

Arsenal Opus is the story of Arsenal Football Club, focusing on the Highbury years from 1913 to 2006 and the move to Emirates Stadium. Herbert Chapman's team won a hat-trick of championship titles in the 1930s, part of a glorious period which set the benchmark for such great managers as Tom Whittaker, Bertie Mee, George Graham and, most spectacularly of all, Arsène Wenger.

• Over 2000 spectacular images, half of which have never been published before


• Each page measures half a metre square in size


• Weighs over 35 kilograms


• 850 pages


• Every edition personally signed by Arsène Wenger himself