Pre-season matches, saying hello to old friends, the captaincy and Wenger's 'odd' comment..

Good day to you Gooner's.

There wasn't a post yesterday, so apologies to all you Gooner's who didn't get your injection of Arsenal news, fun and frolics. Admittedly sod all happened yesterday and I was hard at it a bit like our kids who spanked that Burgerland Team FC 10-2 on Monday. I know we have to start somewhere when it comes to pre-season games. CSKA Chelsea do their grabbing all the money they can in their 'Ching-ching' Asia tour, the Manc's go to the motherland and tour Africa and we get to play a bunch of McDonald's burger flippers. It's been said on many a Gooner site not to read too much into these games as for one it's only the kids playing, two the result doesn't mean diddly-squat, three it's mainly to get match fitness and sharpness. But what cracks me up when watching the post match shenanigans is the amount of Gooner's who phone in when picking the bones out the match and performance. For those of you lucky enough to have it Setanta have got Arsenal TV, which is getting better, slowly, but it's getting better. I'm not sure how many times I've seen 'that' Thierry Henry goal against the scum when he ran from the half way line, I love watching the goal but jeez I don't want to watch it every five minutes, surely you must have access to other footage people! Anyway I digress, on the panel on match days you have musician and bald plated former M People man Shovel and ex Arsenal player Stuart Robson who sounds more and more like Sir Trevor Brooking every day. Occasionally Arsenal leg-end Perry Groves makes an appearance. But anyway some fans are getting a bit too critical when it's only the kids playing, so people lighten up.

Now today should be a different matter as all the big guns are back in training and the game against Stuttgart should tell us more about our team. And the big question is who will partner Fabregas (should he play) in the middle of the park. The clever money is on Abou Diaby. However I watched an interview on Arsenal TV the other day with him and he was asked 'Do you think you're the player to play alongside Cesc in a central position?' Diaby's answer was interesting as he didn't really put himself forward for the hard tackling, defensive, covering role and letting The Cesc do his thing. He said he likes to get forward and create things too and basically saying his style is just like The Cesc's. Hmmm so, what happens now can't have them both doing that can we? As we all know and it's hardly a national secret our defence is a bit shoddy. We take leads and surrender them when put under pressure so the last thing we need right now is two central midfielder's who like to get forward and create all the time. It could work if Diaby and The Cesc have the understanding the Spanish Wonderkid had with Flamini. But I think we're in need of a defensive minded player, so I think we might see some mixing and matching there. My money for these pre-season games would be Alex Song but he's buggered off to the Olympic games in Beijing so bang goes that idea. So that leaves Denilson really. Aaron Ramsey looks like he can do the lot, he can defend, create, spray balls around but he's only 17 years old. And from there down the list it's only kids. So like I said that leaves Brazilian lad Denilson who the season before had a stormer but last season was blighted by injury and he didn't really kick on. But that's just for today's game against Stuttgart. The bigger question is, will Wenger go and buy an experienced proven midfield grafter? I sincerely hope the answer to this question is a whole hearted resounding 'Hell yeah'!

What this 'proper' pre-season match up now against Stuttgart as I've mentioned we'll see the big guns reeled out for this one including Robin van Persie, pantomime villain in the making Manu Adebayor (boo hiss), Abou Diaby, William Gallas and The Cesc. We also get the chance to goodbye again or hello which ever way you look at it to 'Ze German mentalist' Jens Lehmann. It will be nice to see the original nutter play against us and all be it a friendly see if he gets up to his Darth Vader death grip shenanigans.

I was going to run a piece this week on who should be The Arsenal captain after Billy Gallas' less than impressive go at it last season. But I think that would be redundant a bit like Joey Barton's PR and goodwill ambassador rep. I don't think outside of Kolo Touré and The Cesc too many fans would want anyone else to be The Arsenal captain. However after Billy Gallas admitted making some 'mistakes' - well that's a polite way of putting it, Le Gaffer has now come and said a piece on the matter with some odd comments but it basically translates to that Billy will be keeping the gig. Le Gaffer said rather confusingly:

“I think he has done quite well last year, for the biggest part of the season, and a lot of responsibility has been given to him when it wasn’t right.”

Excuse me? 'Wasn't right? Wasn't right? Now I know some people don't question Wenger's judgment and would follow him blindly and do that annoying 'Wenger Knows' routine. Don't get me wrong I'm not slating the manager far from it, I would be the first to say historically next to 'Sir' Herbert Chapman Arsene Wenger has shaped the meaning and history of Arsenal. But sometimes you have to questions some things but to say Gallas was given responsibility when it wasn't right, WTF? My answer to that is he's the captain. Simple as. You have to stick to your decision, you made him captain, you can't say 'a lot of responsibility has been given to him when it wasn’t right". I don't buy that at all. One thing, Gallas is captain - he HAS to take responsibility, if he can't do the job then do the honourable thing, no not fall on your sword, swallow it (no not the sword) and say you can't do it. And two, Gallas is the second oldest player on the pitch (only keepers 'Ze German mentalist' Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia are older) and he should be showing the younger players some experience. But that's just me, what's your take on Wenger's comments, it would be interesting to hear other Gooner's thoughts on this one.

Other than that the fantasy league looks like it will be a rip roarer this season. I have counted up but there's a shedload of punters up for giving it some 'Big Charlie Potatoes' and show fellow Gooner's how it's done and also show Le Gaffer how to blow £100m on players. It would be interesting to see Le Gaffer's fantasy league team with so much money to burn, although I've got a feeling he could still get 15 players and still have change from £95m and still finish in the top four! Join the fun and see details below on how to join.

Score predictor Mini league

Allgoonerdup.com is also running a mini league for a score prediction game, again courtesy of the Premier League. There will of course be a prize for the winner. All you need to do is sign up, join the fun and follow the link below:
http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/landing.htm

And enter the code: FCCDA-XVB to join the Allgoonerdup.com mini league.

A big slap on the back goes to Mr. Top Banana for sorting the mini league out - you're a legend!

That's your lot today... see you in the comments

Allgoonerdup Newsletter

A new thing this season is the daily Allgoonerdup Newsletter (well or almost daily) which will be sent direct to your email, as quite a few of you Gooner's have been calling out for it. So a bit like an Arsenal player asking for a move to Barcelona we've obliged. So as soon as the site is updated you will receive something in your inbox. If you want to be part of that gig - just send an email to newsletter@allgoonerdup.com and we'll do the rest.

Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League

Lastly Gooner's we'll be doing the annual (well annual since last year) Allgoonerdup Fantasy Premier League. The league this year is under the guise of the comments site, Son of Allgoonerdup So if you think you can out do Arsene Wenger or more to the point want to give it Charlie Big Potato's over the other armchair managers out there jump on board on that and join the fun. There will be prize for the winner and it will have a 20th anniversary feel to it, that or a keg load of beer for the lucky punter!

Click the below link to get started

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Sign up to it
Design your team
Join the league by entering this pin into the ‘Join league bit’ (League Pin 73628-19858)!
(The league is called sonofallgooneredup)
Then you are away!
The deadline is August the 16th!

Son of Allgoonerdup comments section

As well as the main site Allgoonerdup has the comments section Son of Allgoonerdup courtesy of WordPress. The stories on the main site will appear on the comments section so you Gooner's will have the pleasure to have some banter with one another and see just what the general shenanigans of the day is. You don't need to sign up, there's no long drawn out signing up process either - so jump on and have a skive when the boss isn't looking.

FaceBook us

Allgoonerdup has gone and got a FaceBook page, so jump on and get connected. The idea is build on the fan base and possibly meet, greet, swap match tickets and stuff with fella Gooner's. To connect to us click the link: Allgoonerdup on FaceBook. Lovely, job done.

T-shirt competition
The t-shirt comp is now closed, so thank you for all your entries, the 'I Love AFC' proved to be very popular judging by the deluge of entries. The lucky winner will be picked out the magic hat on Friday. So if you're not the lucky one you could still do yourself and buy it from the Allgoonerdup T-shirt shop.

That's your lot today Gooner's - apologies but there's no 'Good news, bad news' section today as I'm proper hectic.

Jump on the comments section and have your shout:
Share your views on the days topics. If you have an opinion, then jump on the comments section and have your shout, let your fellow Gooners mates know about it too and lets share in all things Arsenal - it's all new, so enjoy. Click the link below to jump on.

Pre-season matches, saying hello to old friends, the captaincy and Wenger's 'odd' comment..