Stability the key..

There is no doubt about it, and Wenger has previously said it himself , stability is the key to a successful football team. Despite the hype surrounding transfers, if you manage to go into the season with a settled lineup the odds of success are on your side. Despite United's big spending last season, only Carlos Tevez managed to truly shake up the established players. It is not much of a surprise then that they were able to win everything on offer.

Other blog's (notably gunnerblog.com) have picked up on this fact, and it is something worth repeating that selling players from your starting lineup is rarely the best approach for challenging for silverware. Last season the players we did add to the squad certainly performed well, particularly Bacary 'What's that on your head??' Sagna. However, injuries play their part in stability, and the injury prone Van Persie and Rosicky and adapting Eduardo and Bendtner certainly meant it was hard to predict who'd start on the pitch each week.

Which is why it is crucial for Arsenal to try to limit the amount of changes this season. Bringing in new players is fine so long as they're able to bide their time on the bench and be integrated slowly. Already though, our midfield is going to be vastly different to last season with Hleb likely to be and Flamini already missing.

So it is quite disconcerting to hear today that AC Milan president Adriano Galliani Sambucca has confirmed their sole transfer target for the remainder of the summer to be one Emmanuel Adebayor. Up until now there had been background murmurs regarding the usual transfer vultures Barcelona and the odd bit in the Italian press about Adebayor being a Rossonieri target. But with Villa, Eto'o'o'o'o'o, Ronaldinho, Drogba and Berbatov amongst the strikers supposedly looking for a move it seemed unlikely that Manu would be chased with any seriousness. But like a shark that has supposedly gained a taste for human flesh, it seems Milan after pulling off a coup in grabbing Flamini on a free have gotten a taste for Arsenal players much in the way Barcelona has over the years.

The numbers being thrown around are in the region of 25 million to 35 million, and although some in the press suggest we should snap their hands off to get that kind of money for a player who has only had one good season, I'd suggest the last thing we need to do after a promising development season is to do into the new campaign with much of the spine of our team replaced.

Realistically, if we were to keep hold of Adebayor, and only lose Hleb out of the remaining squad, Arsene may be about to limit his transfer business to one, possibly two signings. With Nasri all but confirmed and young Aaron Ramsey joining, Vela coming back from loan and Eduardo ahead of schedule, it may be that we really only require a hard working midfielder and possibly a reserve goalkeeper (if Vito Mannone doesn't get the nod as third choice).

Of course a lot of this depends on the thoughts of Wenger on Abou Diaby. Is he a winger? Is he a central player? And what of Gilberto Silva who, to most Gooners, looks to be slowing down to the point of standing still in the matches he featured in.

But with Cesc constantly being linked to the big Spanish sides, and Van Persie suddenly attracting the attention of Inter, it is imperative we work to keep these players locked into contracts and happy about their future if we are to maintain that crucial stability. As for Adebayor, I propose that we look to the inventiveness of the Austrians, and we lock him away in a sealed room under the Grove until August.

By Paul Wright

Other bits worth mentioning and a bit of a rant, join in.

So the news doing the rounds is above mentioned AC Milan really, really wanting the big fella Adebayor and some quarters now reckons he wants out. Coming from Channel Four But again it's that carefully worded 'reports suggest' The Togonator has 'begged' to go to AC Milan. Begged? Begged? You sure? Well not sure about you guys but I'm not going to get over excited by this, we've seen it before and I'm sure the resolve of every Gooner will be tested from now until the end of the summer. And come on boys and girls, it wouldn't exactly be the first time this has happened, messrs Vieira and Henry have given us good grounding and I was going to use the 'patience' in these circumstances. The Togonator has reiterated on a number of occasions he doesn't want to leave although he was quoted or misquoted about Barcelona being after him, I'm just waiting for his agent to stick his oar in. Either way I reckon Adebayor will be on for a pay rise after all the dust has settled to keep him happy and out of the clutches of these vultures and his agent will get his filthy lucre to boot.

Also on the subject of other teams wanting players from everybody's favourite feeder club is news that AS Roma and Juventus are after Gael Clichy. Dream on boys. Is it me or is this summer in particular, teams are being blatant about what players they want in the press? I remember it going on but f*ck me this summer the heat has really been turned up beyond anything I can remember. But I suppose previously it was just one player per summer, Vieira to Real for about ten summers straight and then the linkage of Thierry Henry to Barcelona for about eight years! The only thing I find odd and still waiting for is a big European team targeting Emmanuel Eboué, could happen. Nah I guess not, but I suppose if it did happen we know we are proper into the silly season.

Over in the bullshit corner and one which has taken longer to appear than I thought is the Obafemi Martins to Arsenal stories. F*ck me, is Martins agent a Gooner or what? It seems every other month it's not even a case of Martins wanting out of Newcastle United but The Arsenal having bids for the burly Nigerian turned down? You what? I have actually lost count how many times Martins has been linked to us. I think we should just buy him so no one can pen that story anymore, or maybe that is what his agent wants, a bit of the old Jedi Mind Trick. But I guess what with the stories appearing on TribalFootball and The Sun Online it must be true.

Also over in the bullshit corner we have talk of Samuel Eto'o being spotted in London. Jeez, it's like a pack of hungry wolves and a shark feeding frenzy such is the desperation of news out there. Next we'll read that Kaka was spotted looking at local schools in Barnet and Messi was spotted in Herts looking at property.

One thing I have learnt though, I will not ever go onto Caught offside again. They are bunch of f*ckers and just want to get hit counts and it's blatant. It's not exactly a big secret when a story goes out it will appear on all or most sites. However Caught offside use the well known tactic of '£15m player linker to Arsenal', 'Arsenal in for £18m rated midfielder,' 'Arsenal after £16m ‘new Pires’: Price is a bit steep!', 'Arsenal pair head for £43m exit: Wenger can re-invest the cash wisely' and other gems. Can you spot the common link here? Well I'm sure you have. In all those headlines the player(s) in question isn't named, which makes you want to click the link. Now I'm not a rocket scientist but the headlines entices you to click the link, it teases you, you taps into your inquisitive side and it bloody works. Not anymore though I tell you. I have had enough of their sweet, sweet come on's and temptations I will click no more. Like a rehabbed Pete Doherty I am going cold turkey and getting clean, I will no more be addicted to clicking on Caught offside. But I think there's more chance of me not clicking than jail bird Pete Doherty getting loaded on smack, that's for sure as soon as my eyes gaze other a Caught offside story on NewsNow I will just ignore that tempting headline.

On a lighter note now that Portugal have been dumped out of Euro 2008 by a Germany inspired Jens Lehmann(!) it will be nice to see another big team this time in the guise of Manchester United try and hold onto one of their prized assets as Cristiano Ronaldo will reveal just what he will do. I know it's not nice but buy f*ck me it makes a change and it's a pleasant surprise that it can happen to another big club.

On a much lighter note a genuine Arsenal leg-end and World Cup Final goal scorer Manu Petit has been voted number 22 in The Gunners Greatest Players, which is nice. The Allgoonerdup All Time Eleven will be revealed next week. You still have time to get your own opinions in so you can't bang on about Gus Caesar keeping the likes of Liam Brady or Patrick Vieira out the team. Get your vote on: alltimeeleven@allgoonerdup.com.

Apart from that next week the winner of the 'Let's talk about Cesc baby' will be named and famed on Wednesday. That's about it, apologies for the long arse post but I kind of just went off on one.

Jump on the comments section and have your shout - see you in there!
Stability the key, Togonator speaks, Martins linked again (ZZZzzzzz), Clichy wanted, don't get caught offside and All Time Eleven news.

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