http://arsenal-mania.com/feeds The Arsenal Website For Arsenal Fans 2011-09-04T14:46:01Z http://arsenal-mania.com http://static.arsenal-mania.com/favicon.ico text/html 2011-08-15T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110413/Agent-Provocateur.html And so it ends. Our worst fears come true and this morning we've all been treated to the sight of Cesc Fabregas kissing the badge. The Barcelona badge. Regular readers will know that I thought Cesc was a gonner last summer- his body language appeared to indicate that his heart was no longer in it. Last summer though, he was persuaded by his manager to give it one last go. Or, if you prefer, told that he had a rather lucrative contract to honour. I think it's fair to say that, like Thierry Henry before him, the one last push didn't quite work out for him. Or us. And so there is a inevitability to his departure. text/html 2011-08-10T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110403/Life-in-the-fast-lane.html I thought it was a mixed, and interesting, reaction to my blog yesterday. Most of you seemed quite happy with the signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but- understandably perhaps- there were some dissenting voices over the prospect of Samir Nasri being replaced by a teenager who has yet to set foot in the Premier League. Not to mention the still unsecured defensive reinforcements. text/html 2011-08-09T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110402/Welcome-to-the-club-Alex.html On a rather crazy day in London, Arsenal completed their third signing of the summer. We welcome the latest production from the Southampton conveyor belt, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to the club. Well, some of us do anyway. For others, the protracted signing of another teenager is not exactly a reason to be breaking out the Dom Perignon. I would be lying if I said I knew enough about the 17 year old to express an educated view on what he will bring to the Arsenal first team. But I do know this; with all the crap that has been flying around our football club this summer, there is no way we would be spending £12m up front on a teenager if there weren't more additions in the pipeline. text/html 2011-08-02T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110396/Deja-vu-all-over-again.html On Sunday afternoon, Thierry Henry returned to north London for the first time since the last time he was here. The legend was, understandably, greeted with a good deal more affection than that afforded our players at the end of a 1-1 draw with New York Red Bulls. A result that, horror of horrors, handed the Americans a trophy. Our trophy. Is there no land these pesky Americans will not conquer? text/html 2011-07-31T17:00:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110394/Emirates-Cup-Day-1-Henry-not-home-Gervinho-is.html Let's get it out of the way immediately, then. Obviously, the non appearance of Thierry Henry during the opening match of this year's Emirates Cup was a bit of a disappointment yesterday afternoon. However, flowing alcohol and an absolutely beautiful day in north London more than made up for it. Gervinho's impressive first 45 minutes at his new home helped somewhat too. text/html 2011-07-29T16:45:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110393/Departures-and-arrivals-Henry-comes-home.html I've been away for a few days. Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I spent my birthday in Amsterdam; I had a great time, thanks for asking. Not that I'm here to dwell on that- already done it elsewhere. I did think that, with the Emirates Cup now upon us, we might have added more than just Gervinho to the first team squad by now. It is, however, no surprise that Cesc is still an Arsenal player as Barcelona don't appear any closer to realising that they won't get our captain until they offer us a price befitting his stature in the world game. Peter Hill-Wood has said that Arsenal are "now close" to ending negotiations with the Spanish club. text/html 2011-07-22T17:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110389/Denilson-departs-and-Xavi-loses-his-head.html When I last spoke to you here, in writing my tribute to Patrick Vieira, one of the comments on the blog was that I should stop living in the past. As if there is so much going on in Arsenal land at the moment that I was neglecting some major news in favour of reflecting on the career of an Arsenal legend. I suppose there's something to say in the fact that I'd rather talk about someone who last kicked a ball for us six years ago than reflect on our current crop of players. But then, as I hope you know, the situation would be a little bit different if we weren't going through one of the most tedious pre seasons in living memory. And, by Arsenal's standards, that's some going. text/html 2011-07-15T15:00:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110381/Le-grande-saucisse-signs-off.html I'm not going to comment, today, on what is or isn't going on a couple of miles up the road at Highbury House. I'm not even going to comment on what went on a couple of days ago in Kuala Lumpur as Arsenal beat a Malaysia 4-0. Frankly, any game where Tomas Rosicky is able to get himself on the scoresheet should not be deemed competitive. So, I'm resolutely going to ignore the annual Carlos Vela chip, the bizarre Denilson on as sub and off again 20 minutes later and the apparently promising first sightings of Ryo Miyaichi and Carl Jenkinson in the red and white. text/html 2011-07-11T15:00:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110374/Gervinho-signing-heralds-mostly-good-news.html Eleven days into July, Arsenal are in Kuala Lumpur for a pre season tour and Mr Wenger has been facing up to the media. In doing so, he has revealed that all those Gooners- of whom there are many- baying for a new signing can relax a little bit. Yes, Arsene has taken a break from signing pre-teens and toddlers, hacking phones for News International and added a real life, proper, footballer to our ranks. The, slightly, protracted signing of Gervinho is done. I'm a bit concerned by the fact that Gervinho's real name is Gervais, as every time I hear it I keep thinking of Ricky Gervais. I guess it explains the Brazilian-ing up of his name though (yes, I just made a word up there). It also leaves open the tantalising prospect of being able to scream "Go on Rickaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" at him (yes, just like Bianca off Eastenders) as he tears Patrice Evra a new one. text/html 2011-06-29T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110365/Arsenals-poster-boys.html I have been fairly sanguine about Arsenal and their transfer activity this summer. I think it's fair to say that, I'm sure those of you who follow me on Twitter would agree. This is, mostly, because I think it's very naive to believe if the manager and CEO of our football club, or Stan's football club if you prefer, openly admitting that things need to change that they are then going to sit on their hands whilst the North London enormodome sinks into it's foundations. text/html 2011-06-28T14:15:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110363/New-life.html So, I went to Newmarket for a friend's wedding at the weekend. I say friend as if this particular "friend" is no more than a close drinking buddy. However, this particular friend, amongst all the surrogate brothers I have collected over the years, well, having spent most of my primary school- and then much of my secondary school- years within the four walls of his family's house in Isleworth he feels more brotherly to me than most. So, Chris "Flapper" Harrington, Arsenal fan and newly married man, I salute you from the bottom of my heart and wish you all the best in your new life with Rachael. text/html 2011-06-17T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110352/201112-fixtures-revealed.html It's Friday afternoon and the Premier League fixtures for the 2011/12 season have been released. With their release, us Gooners get an immediate reminder of the beginning of the end of our season last time out, whilst the players suffer some major blowback having somehow contrived to finish fourth in a two horse race. text/html 2011-06-15T14:15:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110345/Cesc-refuses-to-dance-for-Barcelona.html We start this afternoon, with a commendable show of maturity from our captain in the Spanish capital. Speaking at a promotional event for some perfume (why, Cesc, why?), with the Spanish press apparently desperate for Cesc to publicly state what everyone is taking for a fact (I include myself in "everyone", by the way), Cesc said instead: text/html 2011-06-06T15:00:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110318/Grabbing-Hands.html And so it begins... Samir Nasri has considerably upped the ante in his contract negotiations with Arsenal by responding to Patrice Evra's entreaties with what could be said to be a thinly veiled "come and get me". My hope is very much that this is just a ploy to get Arsenal to take his contract demands seriously. Hear me out... I don't particularly like the way Nasri has gone about his business this summer, well, in fact the thought of him even bringing Manchester United into what should be a conversation between him and Arsenal makes me want to scream. The fact remains, though, that increasing his wages is likely to work out cheaper than signing, and paying, a replacement. text/html 2011-05-31T14:30:00Z http://arsenal-mania.com Paul Williams http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3110302/Reasons-to-be-Cheerful.html The football season concluded on Saturday evening with Barcelona winning back the Champions League title briefly taken away from them by Internazionale last season. In the process, they managed- by all accounts- to make the champions of England look rather pedestrian. They have also won their third Champions League trophy in five years. Which is some acheivement- some acheivement by some team. As we look back and survey the wreckage that our own season eventually became, perhaps it is in that thrilling night- February 16th- the night where we took on the best club side in the world and beat them, that we might turn for comfort. We weren't, really, that far away from knocking them out.