Sniff.

Anyway, I’m sure you can find a nice match review somewhere else, since I’d just be plagiarizing off of them anyway until I see the game myself, which may not be for a bit because I have to watch Project Runway tonight. In brief: Arsenal went 1 down after the half, thanks to Yıldıray Baştürk, but then Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner, and youngster Jack Wilshire- quickly becoming the star of pre-season- all scored for a final score of 1-3. Samir Nasri also made his first appearance, William Gallas was still captain, and Gaël Clichy was awesome. They wore the new away shirt, which I’m considering getting with Clichy 22 on the back.

Again, you can’t take too much from pre-season games, but Stuttgart are a much harder proposition than the Burgenland XI. And up against stronger, international-quality opposition, the young stars still put goals in. While it’s still early, it seems that Vela is the real deal, this could possibly be Bendtner’s year, and in Wilshire we might have what Arsenal fans have been claiming will be coming from the Academy- English talent that can play the Arsenal way. (But let’s not overhype the boy- he’s not even 17.)

Here’s some highlights- including a bit of Jens getting spooked by some pyrotechnics. I <3 you, Jens, good luck back home.

But Jens isn’t the only ex-Arsenal I’m thinking about today. Former Arsenal trainee David Bentley made his move to rivals Spurs today, which normally wouldn’t get a mention here, except that we’ll apparently be getting quite a windfall from it. The Sun should be taken with a grain of salt as always, but apparently, when we let him go to Blackburn in the first place, Arsene insisted on a huge sell-on clause- shrewdly noting that any English player who can kick a ball to his teammate will sell for massive amounts of money. The Sun is reporting that we’re getting £7 million for him, which is probably on the high end, but still. I’m going to say something I got used to saying over at the Hertha blog- thanks for the random money, Spurs!

It isn’t all exes. As rumored, we’ve signed midfielder Amaury Bischoff. He’s twenty-one years old, born in France but has decided to play for Portugal, and was most recently with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. I follow the Bundesliga and like Bremen, but I have no idea who he is or what he’s like. But I trust Wenger- he’s the one with scouts, not me.

The Austrian training camp is an Arsenal tradition. Unlike every other big club in Europe, Arsenal doesn’t go off to big-money glamor friendlies on other continents. They rarely go anywhere, really. When they first announced a partnership with the Colorado Rapids, based in my former residence (and current parental residence) of Denver-ish, I was selfishly hoping for a Denver-based American pre-season tour, but that’s unlikely to happen while Arsene is still in charge. He wants pre-season to be about training for the season, not making lots of money, and you can’t help but respect that. So instead of Chegdu Blades or Colorado Rapids on multiple continents, we’ve got Szombathelyi Haladas and a Burgenland XI, all within close range of our normal training grounds. Even the one glamor friendly we do have lined up before the Emirates Cup, against VfB Stuttgart and our old friend Jens Lehmann, isn’t all that far away.

Anyway, Burgenland. Just as a 1-1 draw shouldn’t make us despondent, a 2-10 win shouldn’t let us get carried away. They can only show you so much. What we did see: Nicklas Bedtner, Carlos Vela, Theo, and bright English talent (you read correctly) Jack Wilshire all know where the goal is. Nicklas showed off a little more of his outstanding control of high balls. And the team turns off a bit after scoring ten goals. What else can be said?

It’s nice watching, anyway.

In other news, quotes came out about Cesc going to Real Madrid in the future, and the blogs hadn’t even finished discussing them before Cesc came out and said they were total crap. Cesc does this right- he’s a savvy sort. As if we couldn’t love him any more.

We may be interested in Udinese’s Gokhan Inler. Or not. I would not be surprised to see us signing a new midfielder. Will it be Inler? Who knows? Not me, certainly.

We’re up against Stuttgart tomorrow, and Jens Lehmann is hoping to debut for his new club. They’ve just come through their Intertoto Cup tie against FC Saturn Ramenskoe of Moscow- barely, after losing the first leg 1-0 and needing extra time to eventually go through with a 3-0 win. However, against Arsenal they’re likely to have all their German internationals back from their longer break, which possibly means that we’ll be seeing Mario Gomez (who is staying at Stuttgart, which is probably the best for him, although I’d love to see him at Arsenal next season) and new captain Thomas Hitzlsperger.

However, you don’t have to get your Stuttgart information from me- the Offside has their very own VfB Stuttgart blogger, the lovely Anna. Head over there to learn all you need to know about Arsenal’s next opponents.

With these very early Arsenal friendlies, too, it’s a weird collection of players- youth-teamers about to make the step up to the Carling Cup squad, new players who’ve never worked with the rest of the team before, old players still out of sorts from summer vacation. It was that sort of team that took the field against Szombathelyi Haladas (according to the Arsenal website, the champions of the Hungarian second division), and the result was a 1-1 draw.

I was at work, so unfortunately, I was unable to watch and see what actually took place. According to trusted sources, new signing Francis Coquelin, who came in in the second half, impressed (did you know we signed someone named Frances Coquelin? Well, we did), as did the combination of Nicklas Bedtner and Theo Walcott. That was also the combination that led to the goal- check out Bentdner’s fantastic control:

Having not seen the game (hopefully, I will, in the name of blogging and such), I can’t really say much more about it.

In among all the transfer rumors of the day came a worrying report from the Sun. I’ve yet to see it confirmed anywhere else, and we all know how reliable the Sun is, but they’re saying that Kolo Toure has contracted malaria on a trip home. It’s worrying, as malaria is often fatal, but it can be treated and Kolo is, I’m sure, getting excellent medical care. If this is true, get well soon and well.

Speaking of get well soon, when I got home today Fox Soccer Channel was showing a re-run of the Everton game from December- aka the game that, thanks to Eduardo, we won 4-1 despite not particularly deserving to win at all. It reminded me of how much I miss the forward. According to recent reports, there’s been a bit of a setback in his recovery, meaning that he’ll be back in September. Frankly, considering I didn’t think I’d be seeing him again until the new year, if ever, September seems remarkable. I hope he’s not rushing himself back too soon, but that he’s pushing so hard after such a serious injury shows a lot of spirit.

Oh, and PSG, in their quest to sign every aging French player in Europe (they’ve already got Giuly, Makelele, and perhaps Thuram if health issues permit (although as a big fan of Thuram, I hope that he makes the right decision if they don’t)), are apparently interested in William Gallas. But when even Sky Sports thinks it’s unlikely, it’s really a bit unlikely, isn’t it?