injuries, comings and goings and Thierry Henry

Well that’s start this in reverse order, goal king and Arsenal leg-end Thierry Henry has once again opened up that can of ‘I love Arsenal, my heart belongs to Arsenal’ malarkey. I’m not knocking the big man, I actually feel a bit sorry for him, He gave up the love and affection of fans who held him up as an idol and traded it in for well a bunch of fans who don’t know what the fuss is about. Granted his manager at Barcelona, Frank Rijkaard, doesn’t play Henry in the role he made his name and made him one of the most feared strikers in the world. But it’s not the first time a coach has consistently played a player out of position and leaving the fans wondering what the hell are they doing, (yup if you read into this I am talking Manu Eboué). Any road up back to Henry who has been speaking up The Arsenal, which coincides with his new DVD (hmm am I being cynical?) Thierry Henry - Legend. the big fella says that “‘There’s only one team in England for me. Everybody knows the love and affection I have for Arsenal. I was so into it, I became a fan.” He goes onto say he does not regret his decision to leave and join up with Barcelona and other bits of tat, but you can read the interview here: Henry - I am a Gooner.

So everybody is leaving a great club this summer with the likely candidates heading for the exit door depending on what site/paper you subscribe to being Philippe Senderos, Mathieu Flamini, Alex Hleb and Gilberto. The Gilberto and Flamini situation needs to watched very closely as both (’allegedly’) Juventus and AC Milan are after both players. How strange would that be? Both players vying for the number one defensive midfield spot at the same team. You couldn’t write that could you? Apparently Juventus have been pegged back in the race for Flamini by AC Milan who have according to some reports taken the pole position to sign the contract rebel. We’ll see what happens there. But also AC Milan are after Brazilian Gilberto as well although AS Roma are reportedly sniffing around. My gut instinct is that Gilberto will go in the summer, which weakens the experience in our young squad and I also believe Flamini will go to pastures new, have to re-establish himself in a new team but I’m sure counting all that filthy lucre will keep him busy. Once again only time will tell and we have now got six days to find out what happens next. It’s like watching a film plot unfold all this will he wont he shenanigans. I’ll be glad when it’s over, one way or another. 

The comings again dependant on what paper/site you subscribe to are that Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar is headed our way and that is coming from Kranjcar’s Croatian coach Slaven Bilic. Would love to have Kranjcar on board as he has got Premier League experience and knows where the goal is which can’t be said of late of our current midfield crop. Also the perennial stories of Newcastle player Charles N’zogbia coming our way are rearing their heads again. Really not sure where that story started but its one that crops up more times than Henry to Barcelona stories, oh that’s already happened - see what I mean, bloody groundhog day all over again. 

And now onto injuries. It seems Abou Diaby thought he was missing out on something as there’s now more players in the Arsenal treatment room than scouser’s down the job centre. What is it with out players? I think we have had more injuries than our fair share of injuries this season but even with only three games to go there’s no let up. Gary Lewin must be the most overworked person at The Grove.