New White Kit - Diaby 2

Eduardo 9?

Van Persie 11?

Rosicky 7?

For a split second even Ljungberg 8.

But in the end I went for Diaby 2. He may not play as often as Cesc, Van Persie or Toure this season but I feel he is essential for our drive to win the league this season. His power in midfield and his surprising ability on the ball and in getting forward mark Diaby as a goliath for the future and essential midfield powerhouse for today.

Right. So there I am in line to have names on backs (and numbers on shorts) and a ticker comes across Sky Sports News quoting AP that Manchester United have signed Carlos Tevez. Seeing this there was an audible groan in the Amoury. Tevez is a fantastic signing for United. Even if they send Louis Saha on his way to West Ham in exchange, Tevez addition is a major statement of intent for United. More so than the depth and youth additions of Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves (in spite of their collective cost). In SPITE of myself, I was thinking of how well Rooney and Tevez could link together. But quickly I moved on and Diaby 2 was firmly sealed into my new away kit.

Walking around the Amoury was interesting this morning. There are statements posted from Thierry Henry thanking the fans for their support and such. Funnier still is the sale area which almost exclusively featured all manner of Henry hats, shirts, buttons and books. I noticed also that the "Way Out" in Arsenal Station had been returned to the panoramic photo (above) throughout the store but with Henry miraculously erased. Clearly with our support of course.

I noticed also that we still sell Dennis Bergkamp action figures. These were NOT on sale. Interesting.

On the way to the ground The Guardian informed me that the club are very confident of Arsene Wenger resigning for another 3-4 years. That's good if perhaps complacent. I would like to see Wenger sign his contract before this calendar year in over to allieviate the nagging concerns of supporters. I feel the players must present Wenger with fulfilment of their full potential as payback for his enduring trust. This is essential for Arsene Wenger to feel confident about realising his dreams with Arsenal Football Club. Abou Diaby can be a big part of those dreams.

United are BACK!

Alex Ferguson is in full valedictory form. He's praising Wenger's sale of Cole, yappin' about Arsenal being in transition, talking up his old guard of Ole Gunnar, Neville, Scholes and Giggs, and waxing lyrical about the best ever start his side have made. Delicous pap. And the press have eaten it up. Manchester United are BACK! And better still, Alex Ferguson is absolutely believeing his own press.

Conversely, Arsenal are apparently in dire straits, tactically naive and of course too young to win at this level.

We have absolutely no chance. There is no Van Persie and no Henry... as well as no Vieira, Bergkamp, Reyes, Cole, Campbell, Senderos, Clichy, Lauren... etc etc.

I can recall this variety of press a few months ago as Arsenal ventured into the Bernabeu for the first time. Mates of mine predicted a 3-0 or 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the "biggest club in world". Madrid's form at the time was imperious and they would surely brush aside such a young side that had stuggled so much away from Highbury last season. Madrid were bang in form and would have too much going forward for an Arsenal defence which featured a player most unhappy to line-up out of position at leftback.

At the time Arsene Wenger was curiously confident and calm about the match. He grinned while he told a suspicious press that he believed his side had the strength of character to win the match.

Arsene Wenger was grinning again yesterday.

Eoin Heffernan

Having Ole Gunnar back ..."is like a new signing"

After a couple of years lost in the wilderness of injury, 33 year old (!!!!) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has returned to the Manchester United first team. Gleeful at a popular old hand returning to action, Slur Alex has rather hilariously claimed that (having) "Ole back in action is like a new signing."

Delicious.

So no replacing Long Face and his 25 goals a season, then. I'm sure the United supporters are absolutely delighted about that. We're getting Torres... we're getting Riquelme... we're getting Vieira... we're getting Raul...

Translation... Michael Carrick. Oh the laughter that (for one brief moment) united both the Spurs and Gooner parts of North London over this transfer.

As the cost cutting continues at Old Trafford with the ashes of whole teams of youth players spread across the UK and beyond, United have seriously trimmed their wage bill in the recent 8 months in Keane, Ruud, Howard, Fortune and many many many others leaving the club for pastures elsewhere. As enjoyable as this is for Gooners to discuss ad nauseum, I would rather use their situation as a comparison for dicsussing our own.

Arsenal very clearly do not need to manipulate their supporters' hopes for the club with outrageously exaggerated transfer prices (Fergie DID NOT pay 18.6m for Michael Carrick but it suits both Spurs and United to claim that he did) and the ...like a new signing tripe. With our new stadium and the exploits in the CL last season as well as Wenger's canny dealings in the transfer market over the past 5 or 6 seasons, Arsenal have a very significant transfer budget sitting there... gathering cobwebs...waiting to be used.

While its not fair to claim that Arsenal have made simply one signing this summer as Wenger has brought in Merida, Song and Van Den Berg as well as Rosicky. It is fair to say that the club has added only one player to the immediate first team while losing Campbell, Cole, Bergkamp, Pires and possibly Reyes.

Like most Gooners, I've become very confident in the robustness of the Arsenal youth system to replace members of the first team to the extent that most of us will not be too disappointed to start the season with Clichy, Garry, Traore and Flamini at a pinch at left back.

But a mate of mine said something interesting that made me re-think the current situation Arsenal finds itself in. He noted the statement that selling Cole and Reyes makes about Arsenal Football Club. Given that he's a supporter of United, he knows much about what sales say about clubs... particulary when what is sold IS the club (as well as countless amounts of players). But this business of statement did linger with me particularly as Thierry Henry has alluded to this very issue when talking about Ashley Cole leaving Arsenal.

Given that we are surely chasing Chelsea this year for the league, Henry reckons that selling Ashley Cole to the Blues does seem counter productive to the process.... certainly from a team confidence point of view. This is why I think Wenger should make a statement and bring in a couple of established players before the transfer window closes. But it must be the right statement. We cannot fill imagined gaps in the side with players who will merely jump the queue ahead of the likes of Djourou, Clichy and Van Persie. But there are gaps to fill, particularly if Reyes does move to Madrid.

I would like to see Baptista arrive as part of any Reyes transfer. A powerful forward cum defensive midfielder is truly what the doctor ordered for Arsenal, particularly as Diaby is out until Christmas with injury and Gilberto is nearing the age where Wenger gets edgy about his players. I would truly enjoy going to Bolton or Everton with Baptista displaying more strength, power and class than the opposition. I think Walcott will be playing wing anyway for the Arsenal so we dont necessarily require a like for like replacement for Reyes.

I'd also like to see another defender enter the ranks. Gallas would be an interesting addition... certainly in terms of making a statement. Or Christian Chivu who seems on his way out of Rome. But more practically Arsenal need an injection of English into the side and I would prefer that Micah Richards arrives as an understudy to Toure, Senderos and yes Djourou. Or Curtis Davies. Young proven defenders with most of their careers ahead of them and tremendous upside to their talents.

Richards in particular has immense promise and at 18 has much time to learn the Arsenal style of play... particularly working with Kolo every day.

And I also think its important that Arsenal have at least a few English players in the squad with genuine passion for the sorts of February matches down the Riverside that Jose Antonio Reyes could never quite shine in.

Given that Arsene Wenger himself has noted the importance of buying a defender who can play both centrally and at leftback, lets all hope that someone arrives to fulfil that role rather than Wenger lowering himself to Fergie's level and talking up Pascal Cygan's return from injury as.... like a new signing.

EH