Final Chance For Youngsters To Stake Their Claim

Arsenal will wrap up their annual training camp in Austria tomorrow as the Gunners take on an Burgenland XI at the Sonnenseestadion.

The fixture will be the final chance for several of the selected young players to try and stake a place in Arsène Wenger’s first team for the coming season. Wenger admitted last week the spell in Austria was to work on fitness, and furthermore that the “serious” business will begin against VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday.

Håvard Nordtveit left the training camp for yesterday’s Reserves encounter at Crawley, but he sustained an unfortunate injury. However, the rest of the boys who initially travelled out will remain, and will have points to prove to the manager.

Henri Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte and Mark Randall have all had poor pre-season’s so far, and strong performances are needed against Burgenland if they are to show what they are all about. In contrast Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Jay Simpson have all been outstanding, and will hope to get at least 45 minutes to further add to their growing reputations.

Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey are also expected to feature, although the team is expected to boast more experience with the majority of the first team players having a weeks training under their belts.

Kick off is at 6.30pm European time, meaning 5.30pm in the UK.

Update – Coquelin Is Reported To Be Out.

Article By – J.Sanderson

75 thoughts on “Final Chance For Youngsters To Stake Their Claim

  • July 27, 2008 at 2:47 pm
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    If only it was Today!. Can’t wait

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:05 pm
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    Reckon Adebayor & Nasri would feature?

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:10 pm
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    Looking forward to this one, should be a few more goals than the other two games (Barnet and Haladas).

    Wenger said the Suttgart game is when he will play a more experienced team.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:18 pm
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    Aye im lookin forward to this, it’ll be good to see more of Wilshire in first team action, aswell as the other youngsters out there. Shame about Coquelin if its true but he’ll get his chances. Hope to see a few first team players out there (bar the ones we’ve already seen), and it’ll be interesting to see if Vela can improve on what was a quietly promising performance in the last friendly.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:24 pm
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    Does the fact that Nordveit was sent home mean that his was deemed to be unready for first team action, apart from the Carling Cup obviously. Was Wenger hoping he would show a bit more??

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:34 pm
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    I thought Simpson was out the door, but his performances could well see him in the 1st team squad this season.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:36 pm
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    simpson hasn’t really done anything.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:45 pm
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    Here J, do u know anything about this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7526018.stm

    Its a couple of days old so u might have heard about it already, i only just spotted it. Sounds interesting thou, ud think id they’re the best indian talents we might be able to pick up 1 or 2 of the older ones if they look good enough.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 3:49 pm
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    Jay Simpson will only ever be squad fodder at Arsenal IMO

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:05 pm
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    what injury did nordveit get mate and how long do they expect him to be out 4

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:21 pm
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    inside info- Arsenal are currently in talks with an “experienced” midfielder

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:23 pm
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    J, have you heard the news that is linking us wit a move for Victor Moses… Do u think it is true?

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:26 pm
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    seagy44, and what is da name of dat midfielder?.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:28 pm
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    To be honest I don’t really care if the new midfielder is very ‘experienced’ (but I would like him to be a good a age so he can play). All I want is a good player. I like Diaby and I feel we should give him a few games in DM before we buy a possible replacement. Remember the game against Bolton in the FA Cup wher he played DM, class.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:35 pm
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    Eh… cnt post for some reason, ive tried to post this three times now.

    Ok…here goes… J, have u heard about this, only just saw it on the BBC, couple of days old so u might know about it already: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7526018.stm

    Sounds interesting, im sure if a couple of them stand out we’d get first pick. Nd if its the best youngsters from teh whole country ud think atleast 1 or 2 would stand out as having great potential.

    Ok…hope this works

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:36 pm
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    eh, finally :D

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:44 pm
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    Jay they are talks for gokhan inler the swiss dm of 24yo revelation in the euro he could come for 6M EUROS!

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:45 pm
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    Arsenal not they excuse me^^

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:46 pm
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    JS did n’t Arsene in his post match I/V against the Hungarian side say that the first team regulars would be brought in for the Stuttgart game??
    I fear the previous post about Simpson is correct ie that he is squad fodder!?

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:48 pm
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    “Jay they are talks for gokhan inler the swiss dm of 24yo revelation in the euro he could come for 6M EUROS!”

    Well if thats true it’d be a good move in my opinion. I was extremely impressed with him over the Euro tournament, he was the Swiss stand out performer if u ask me. However isnt he quite an attacking player? Im not sure that really what we need, if we really do need anything its a replacement for Flamini and Gilberto. Either some1 talented but relativley unknown that wont mind playin second fiddle to who ever takes over from Flamini or some1 of real stand out ability to fill Flamini’s slot.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:52 pm
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    jack wilshere for captain!!!

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:52 pm
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    diaby vice captain !!!!

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  • July 27, 2008 at 4:53 pm
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    stewart housten back as manager!!!

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:14 pm
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    I agree with Maverik, he goes way to foward for a DM. He’s an Advanced Denilson is some ways. Doesn’t sound to bad…

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:26 pm
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    I want to see simpson with cesc on the pitch simpsons super runs and cescs super vision wow

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:41 pm
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    seaggy44, has this experienced midfielder got a name by anychanse?

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:45 pm
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    Regarding jack wilshere i thought he was a CM in the youth team games he use to play in the CM with Lansbury playin on the right is that true

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:55 pm
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    Having Simpson in the squad is no bad thing, shit we need squad players. Calling him fodder is disrespectful.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 5:57 pm
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    exatcly earn some respect for a young lad

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  • July 27, 2008 at 6:11 pm
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    does anyone actually think bendtner will ever make it as main striker at arsenal personally i think all he has going for him is his size and he can head. His movement is terrible off the ball. His workrate is shocking and his ball control is often like a clowns i’d much rather fonte get some games to impress in carling cup his work rate is superb his movement is good and his control is class he just needs to strengthen up but is technicaly very good

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  • July 27, 2008 at 6:34 pm
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    haha Fonte or Bendtner are you kidding me? Bendtner is an International and is the main man of his National team and has 4 goals in his last 6 international games and Fonte as far as i no isnt even a Under 21 player for Portugal. Didnt you see Bendtners assist to Walcotts goal in the last pre-season game? Bendtner made that goal by turning a crap pass into a good 1 with brilliant control and a great pass.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 6:59 pm
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    I think Bendtner has to improve certain parts of his game. His movement of the ball and workrate are abit lacking but his control and passing are good. Fonte looks decent but he’s far off the first team at the moment. Simpson & Barazite could challenge Bendtner though.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:02 pm
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    Bendtner is a quality player, who like all good prospects has areas he needs to work on, he aint reached his peak by a long way.

    Fonte on the other hand? Erm, not for me.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:07 pm
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    no i didn’t see that assist from last weeks game but i did go to the barnet game and bendtner looked awful against league 2 defenders. Also fonte is bout 3 years younger and is from a far more talented nation which is prob why he doesn’t play for the u21’s or full team where as bendtner does. This is just my opinion though and i just wanted to find out other peoples views

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:14 pm
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    I wouldnt judge Bendtner on his 1st pre-season game. He needsmore time to get into the groove! He was pretty useless last pre-season too.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:14 pm
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    Plus, I would say Barazite and Simpson have a better chance of featuring than Rui Fonte, IMO.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:30 pm
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    J….a little off topic but I read today that Cesc has essentially said he’ll be off to madrid if we go another season without any silverware. Although the report was from marca, the madrid propaganda paper, it still scares me. any thoughts?

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:38 pm
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    i am judging my thoughts on last season not just 45 mins v barnet and i do agree simpson and barazite do prob have a better chance but i’d still personally like for fonte to be given a chance too. And yeah cesc comments if true don’t look great for us do they

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  • July 27, 2008 at 7:53 pm
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    I dont like reading judgements on players based on pre-season games, especially early pre-season. the players have been running a lot every day – in no way are they preparing for a match. they start the games physically drained. the idea is to take the players to the limits. thats how they get fit after a summer off. Only from the Suttgart game onwards will I begin to judge players.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 8:00 pm
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    OMG….as soon as u read headlines with Cesc and Madrid thats BS, why are u bothering to be scared!!!

    I think as Arsenal fans whenever we see these stupid space-filling columns we shud just write two letters…’BS’ and leave the article (like on the Sun’s website). Don’t wirte anything more or anything less. If all us Aresenal fans just ignored it then they will just keep on dreaming about Ronaldo.

    And btw, do u trust Cesc????

    …..cos if u do, then he shud never need to come out and continuously reaffirm his commitment to the cause.

    these stories are like those imaginary beasts….the more u think about them, the more they exist

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  • July 27, 2008 at 8:08 pm
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    If only the British media would protect our league

    ….ie. destabilise Liga players. with headlines like…

    ‘Ramos to complete £25m boyhood dream move to Hull’

    ‘Schuster and Snjieder in big bust-up’

    ‘Calderon and call girls deny german themed orgy’
    (my fav headline….but doubt NOTW will run wih it…lol)

    Reply
  • July 27, 2008 at 8:17 pm
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    i agree wiv randall86 bout bendtner he is a donkey cant do anything without messing up he is just a hinderance. Cant believe he still makes the team at times for a back up i guess it ok. but adebayor van persie and eduardo defo the best ones to choose from

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  • July 27, 2008 at 8:17 pm
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    Randall i do agree with u that Bendtner was poor in the barnet game but in the 2nd pre season game he was the best player in the first half after a few early miss controls he lookd the most likely to score or create something.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 9:12 pm
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    i didn’t get to see any of the second game but fair play to him if he was that good. And obviously it would be great for arsenal if he does make it as a top striker but i really can’t see him making it at arsenal unless he makes big improvements

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  • July 27, 2008 at 9:23 pm
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    All u Bendtner knockers out there….when Flamini first signed for us and appeared in an Arsenal shirt, he would just run around like a headless chicken, no technical ability, no vision/creativity, no positional sense and just didnt look like he would EVER make it here. It wasn’t until a couple of years later when he deputised for Cashley in our run all the way to the CL final that i first thought to myslef that we have a decent player there actually (not great, but decent still). When AW started playing him with Cesc last season i hated the idea at first. Even 4-5 games in i thought this guy’s consistency will drop off but (as we all know) it didnt and overall, he had the best season of his career. He is now recognised as one of the best defensive midfielders out there (shame he aint here still). AW said this a while ago now but people seem to take it for granted…”We don’t buy superstars, we MAKE them”. Bendtner has the potential to become one of the best strikers in Europe (Yeah, he can be THAT good). That’s why i was secretly hoping we would sell Ade and just promote Nikki B to be the main striker this year (doesnt lool like it now, a shame) whilst using the Ade cash to bring in a top class CM to partner Cesc. Bendtner would probably have an uninspiring first 4-5 games but after that’s out the way he will slowly begin to become a hero to us all and u lot that knock him will be thinking “what were we thinking”. I aint having a go at you lot but i’m simply saying…broaden your mindsets and stop expecting every young gun we have to be looking like potential world beaters at that age. If he was 24-25 and was still playing the same way then i will be 100% behind you. Different individuals peak/blossom at different ages. Some peak too soon, others later.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 9:25 pm
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    ITS PRE SEASON FOR GODS SAKES, ppl on here sound like spurs fans-lol always moaning. But the time to judge is next sunday when we play juventus in the emirates cup. Anyone got any tickets to sell. I am looking for two tickets willing to pay 70-90 quid

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  • July 27, 2008 at 9:56 pm
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    Bendtner has all the potential to make it at Arsenal. It is up to him whether he wants to work hard enough to get there in the first place. He is a technically gifted footballer and holds up the play well, but he needs to work on his positional play in my opinion. I can understand how guys like Randall86 find him frustrating to watch because he is sometimes unable to even trap the ball, but luckily he’s only 20 and has time on his side. Plus he seemed like a cool person in his interview with Arsenal TV :)

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  • July 27, 2008 at 9:59 pm
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    tj i see your point but one of my main problems with bendtner is his workrate top strikers like adebayor henry tevez rooney johnson drogba torres and even keane will run miles closing defenders and running for loose balls where as with bendtner you are lucky if he flicks out a half hearted loose leg.

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  • July 27, 2008 at 11:09 pm
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    Didn’t Flamini get forward like this Inler guy does. In the majority of our games we dominate teams so we don’t need a player who stays back all the time, we need a very mobile dm.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:14 am
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    Bendtner has BAGS of potential. Good physique, perfect height, (not clumsy Crouch height), good head-tech(:P), good touch and technique, passing, vision and all that. And a good finisher. And pretty decent pace too.

    He needs to improve certain areas, as mentioned, his off the ball movement which seems to lack a little bit, and stability.

    But no question he has potential. Fits more to Arsenals playing style than Adebayor imo.

    Imagine him and Van Persie in a few years, would make a techincal, and strong partnership.

    Adebayor is great, but imo he doesn’t seem so sharp in the right moments, misses many great chances, he often stands in offside, and I think he lacks that passing ability and vision to fit perfect for Arsenal.

    Of course, else than that he’s immense. Fast, powerful, tall, a great finisher at times. But it becomes a little predictable where he will finish at times imo. Needs to sharpen up his finishing a bit.

    But this is a youth blog, we’re not suppose to talk about Adebayor here, even though I only used him to compare him to another under 21-player.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:16 am
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    And to all you who writes long comments (which are great to read!), please make paragraphs. It’s exhausting to read a tall wall of words. :)

    And Jay, once again, a GREAT blog, I just this site. Lots of bright minds, and good opinions in the commentary field too.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:17 am
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    I just love this site* :P

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  • July 28, 2008 at 4:46 am
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    haha awesome reply siz c. you’re right…i should be more trusting of cesc and his character

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  • July 28, 2008 at 9:32 am
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    READ THIS!!!

    Why did cesc need to say that for. the hype surrounding players departing from arsenal finially calmed down a little bit then he has to go on and day that. not pleased i must say.

    i expect him to leave arsenal in the future but not next season. com on cesc u got plenty of time to be going to madrid. they see him as the replacement for guti but guti has atleast 3 more seasons in him.

    i was reading rosicky sayin he has faith in arsene and does not expect him to to buy any more major signings. and he also said hes expecting big things from diaby has he seems him as the ideal man to partner cesc.

    do you think arsenal will be stronger with cesc and diaby in midfeld???

    it looks good, but i juss cant imagine diaby gettin stuck in and concentrating on his definsive duties also

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  • July 28, 2008 at 10:00 am
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    When Wenger said after the barnet match that one or two young players from that game were very close to break into the first team, which players do you think he was talking about?
    Could it be Nordveit and Simpson?

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  • July 28, 2008 at 10:04 am
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    Bendtner is still a youngster and as a big one is still getting used to his grown up frame. That’s why he looks lazy and slow at times. That will change.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 11:07 am
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    PeteE – Haha…ill try to remember that from now on mate

    Randall – I agree mate, he can be frustrating at times but AW is a master at developing these younsters…..he slowly implements (or at least pushes them in the right direction) certain aspects of a player’s game (where they are lacking) to make them as complete as they can possibly be.

    For example, when Bendtner starts performing at a higher level (improving the better aspects of his game) that’s when AW will turn to him and tell him he needs to give more to the team in terms of work-rate and better off-the-ball movement (thus, improving his weak points, hence, making him a more complete footballer).

    Yo PeteE – I remembered mate – LOL.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 11:13 am
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    Too bad Le Coq was injured, I hope he won’t be an injury prone player cause if I have it right he also got injured on his thigh when he was for trial. Let’s hope it’s pre caution and not a recurring problem for him. I would have loved to see him again. Now Denilson has to shine in this match, first of all to convince the Manager and than ofcourse the fans who give him a hard time already :D

    Where can I watch this match besides Arsenal TV?!!

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:36 pm
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    so Nordtveit got sent home! Was he even there in the first place? If so how come he didnt play against Haladas?

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:39 pm
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    I have to say that i dont think randell will ever make it in our first team,he is a lad ive seen play on many occasions for the reserves and also a couple of friendlies for the first team and he just hasnt got it.He reminds me of david bentley when he was at our place only not half as good.Simpson lacks the skill and touch of some of the other players but has a strong physique and is pacey and direct,at 17 years old i think he might develope into a usefull old fashioned centre forward.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:42 pm
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    Anyone have an idea of what the team would be for the game tonight?

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:51 pm
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    “Fabregas didnt even have an interview with those twats at Marca, the whole thing about him leaving if we don’t get trophies is bullshit.”
    joshwaaa – this was obvious my friend why would he come out and say such a thing he is an arsenal legend in the making and an idol for thousends we all love him he wouldn’t say such a thing to upset people. hes got a good head on his shoulders and is taking this football club places.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:52 pm
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    btw i believe this could be johan djourous season to break through into the defence with kolo and could be the BIG defender we’ve been looking for.

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  • July 28, 2008 at 12:58 pm
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    Anyone have an idea who the players might be?
    Nordveit, Simpson? Maybe Barazite? or even Randall?

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  • July 28, 2008 at 3:35 pm
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    Any idea’s on the squad ?

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  • July 28, 2008 at 4:29 pm
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    seedorf you legend!!!!!!!!!!

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  • July 29, 2008 at 1:58 pm
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    Gunnerbelieve – You say Simpson is 17 that just has to be wrong.

    I don’t believe it gunner.

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