Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

That's the spirit!

Bendtner has scored 45 goals in 79 starts for the club

whaaaaaaaaaaat?

Meanwhile Liverpool turn down £8m plus Yossi, which is good news except that he's clearly going to go for a slightly improved bid. On the upside, it confirms that Chris has got some kind of insider contact worth listening to.

including youth competitions, reserve games and school fetes. xp

79 starts plus about 80 sub appearances, but still who'd've thought it?

Known for his extreme self-confidence, Bendtner once received a confidence rating that exceeded the scale in a test carried by an Arsenal psychologist

As an Arsenal aficionado I don't care enough to not have massive lulz about it. But it's a toss up between kinda sad mostly lol/kinda lol mostly sad tbh

I wonder if that's like when Chelsea announced Frank Lampard was the most intelligent person in the world since records began or some shit

I enjoy how AVB responds to any remark he mildly disagrees with by contorting his lips into a gigantic pink crescent

December
Nicklas made just one start in December but did get on the scoresheet in the 2-2 draw with Wigan. The Dane went through an exciting time with his partner expecting a child and, despite his immediate concerns on spending time with his family, he set his sights on fighting for his place after Christmas and in the New Year.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_7138338,00.html

Sky Sports seem... to not know the difference between Italian football teams?

was just remembering Colin Murray's strange comment

'tonight Arsenal fans' phones are all down the toilet, they're all off, they're hidden ...
the amount of stick they're going to be taking for the next 3 days'

and thinking what a strange world he lives in.

was going to elaborate why but maybe not necessary.

I love the "and Cesc has won two trophies with Barca already!" nonsense, as if it means anything. I mean sure he's going to win titles with Barca, but maybe wait until they win the league etc etc

Yeah it's not like they include the Emirates Cup from his Arsenal days

It's stoooopid. Did anybody do the 'Mascherano has won xxx amount of trophies since he left Liverpool' thing?

No but Masch didn't have 'trophies' as his #1 priority so much as 'flee a sinking ship'

Exciting news that QPR have signed the left-back who walked off laughing after playing in an 8-2 defeat on Sunday. I look forward to seeing Barton and Warnock committing GBH on him if he does that at Loftus Road.

yeah well that's why arsenal need barton and warnock

I presume Traore was laughing cos he already knew he was trading up

walked off laughing after playing in an 8-2 defeat on Sunday.

http://footballdirecta.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/wenger-interview-wigan.jpg?w=497&h=278
That is a sign of mental toughness

I enjoyed him kicking Almunia in the face:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_03/Traore_468x454.jpg

xpost
kind of mean that actually, better than
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/gallas%20cry.jpg

Pinefox - please do elaborate why

Wenger's job safe, say Arsenal amid health fears

more classy journalism from the Guardian. "surely he must be under stress right now..."=HEALTH FEARS. some seriously unscrupulous pricks editing that football page.

That is pretty fucking scandalous considering that nowhere in the article does it even allude to any 'health concerns'.

oh i missed the bit about "people at the club". I take it back, a well sourced article.

yeah i mean...for something like that i'd want a line from a person, even someone anonymous, specifically saying there are actual medical concerns over his health. it's totally from the same hymn sheet as the completely awful hargreaves "anxiety attack" story from last year, which they seem to have changed since it was published.

Wenger has offered £22m to Rennes for the France holding midfielder Yann M'Vila but the French club have told him he must pay £30m, which looks to have scuppered any deal.

this sounds quite inflated indeed. i don't know rennes transfer history that well but have they ever sold any players for this much? is m'vila even that good?

i'd guess they are holding out for £25m or something, just skimming a lil extra from a desparate customer

probably yeah but still a lot of money for a club that sold briand, gourcuff and källström (lol i know) for about €15m combined.

poulsen has signed for a discarded evian bottle

fair price

shit i misspelt desperate

i blame the mainstreamer

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/reds-agree-poulsen-transfer

is mertesacker any cop?

I agree with the condemnation of speculation over AW's health fears.

If he does indeed have such problems, then this would be a good time for people to stand back and get some perspective rather than add to the pressure which could (if the story has any basis) have serious or fatal consequences.

I don't like the hyena-pack treatment of Wenger.

why I think Murray bizarre:

- I don't like his idea that we are all constantly mediated through our 'phones' anyway (also hate it when footballers talk that way)

- it is bizarre to think that if you support a team, your life is full of abuse from others mocking you whenever that team loses. Piece of evidence for my claim: look at ILX itself - a very 'robust' environment, but not full of 'giving people stick' in that sense.

If anything I am more used to commiseration, people saying 'ah well, better luck next week / you had a few players out' etc.

- If people's famous phones are that important to their interaction with the rest of the world, wouldn't they prioritize that need for general social interaction over the minor irritation of text messages (?) from people mocking their team?

(it has just occurred to me that Murray may actually have meant people ringing others up to mock them? even more bizarre)

- if CM is saying that people abuse others through eg email or social networking sites, then wouldn't they be equally exposed to this when using computers, at work and at home? in which case why not say: 'Arsenal fans aren't turning their computers on'

- even if CM's premises have any value, the whole thing shows a massive lack of perspective. All kinds of really important information might come to you at any time; some people might want to turn their phones off cos they fear news of a bereavement, or need to turn them on cos they have a relative in Tripoli. People ribbing you about a soccer match is just not that important.

But I come back to the fact that I don't know anyone that does do that.

I watched my team lose 1-5 on TV on Sunday - it was dire, one of the worst results I've ever seen. But no one has written to me or called me to mock me about it - if they did I would think this was bizarre and crass behaviour. And I know that though in footy terms it's bad, in other terms it's not the most important thing in a world where all kinds of bad and sad things are happening to us all.

If United lose badly I typically get at least four or five people texting / phoning to mock me, usually starting before the match has even finished.

knobless obligay imo

i liked pf's analysis of cm's routine, but i do think it was a fair enough throwaway hyperbole of most football fans' experience. You'll get a text or two, it won't make you throw your phone away, it's mutually-accepted boorishness that is fairly common i'd have thought

Have an ongoing joke with a friend 'x is a hard ground to go to and come away with 3 points' whenever one of the teams drops points. Obv funnier when it's a crappy ground/team.

it's harder to make a pun with 5-1. whereas 8-2 puns just come in hives

(e.g. 8-2 say i told you so)

Tottenham looking to sell Crouch, Palacios, Hutton today

policy seems to be to recoup costs and cut wages

good policy, but not sure it's a good deadline-day strategy for improved results.

also odd as Hutton had good spell last season, and Palacios surely could come good again, seemed a good player

don't mind losing Crouch as never wanted him in the first place

why does no one ever come in for Pavluychenko? and if they did, would he be sold?

if Crouch goes, our strikers will be: Adebayor, Defoe, Pav ...

that's it?

vdv i suppose, coulibaly in a pinch.

Pav is significantly better than crouch but i think we accepted a 14m bid for him from anzhi makhakla this summer without personal terms being agreed.

I almost agree on palacios, i think a lot of our problems last year were down to redknapp not dropping tired/off-form players and i'd rather wilson coming in than many of the players we'll be left with. That said, his loss of form was startlingly prolonged.

I think Harry had a row with Hutton after he got sent off last year and hasn't played him since.

I'd expect Spurs to sign at least one striker.

tbh, i don't care why harry's getting rid of hutton. Ideally it's because he's recognised his complete lack of ability at this level, but just as long as he's off the team i'm happy

who is this Coulibaly?

I suppose we do have HARRY KANE.

VdV is talented but I don't trust him. He's not fit enough to stay the course, and when he's taken off he storms away - and after a couple of months he runs out of fuel and form anyway. It's no good.

our squad looks weaker than a year ago. but I still have some time for Parker and it seems he will arrive.

i'm beginning to worry about vdv along those lines myself, i had last year down as rustiness but he's already looked out of shape this year.

Coulibaly was the star of the u-17 world cup! Exciting times.

Coulibaly's an enormously talented Ivorian but he's sixteen years old and about five-foot-seven. Might be a bit much to expect him to step right in to the team.

We don't need Hutton, if we want an attacking fullback who's a possibly bit dodgy in defence we have Walker, if we want someone more solid then Corluka is still the man. If we have a couple of injuries and we're desperate we can play Kaboul there.

I like Palacios but I can see why we're selling him - he's one of our few for-sale players that someone actually wants and is willing to pay for. Reckon he'd find opportunities limited with Parker and Sandro around as well.

So, football fans, who's up for an entire day's worth of refreshing BBC Sport to be informed of one Reading transfer and then a flurry of activity with five minutes to go?

In the modern era, I'm not sure we need four out-and-out strikers (presuming we sell Crouch). I'd rather have a player who can play either at CF or out wide in a 4-3-3 - none of our wide players nor our strikers can do that. Someone like Bellamy wouldn't be a disaster in that sense, assuming he hasn't lost his edge and doesn't attack anyone with a golf club.