Welcome to Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain!

I know when it comes down to the Man U vs Arsenal games I'll sure be rooting for Man U!

I wish he would rather signed Phil Jones, but netherless Oxlade is great signing. Comming to club at just 17 he is going to qualify as "home grown" talent in 3 years. And I have litle doubt he can become important first team player in these years. These regulations will become hugely important and Wenger is thinking about them.

Just hope he signs Mata and solid defender before window closes.

Ah that old fox Arsene.
Yeah, he said more signings will come. And it came.
But if anyone knows Before-Fidel Cuban comedian "Tres Patines", it really seemed a "trespatinada" to me. You see this guy TP is always cheating somebody and the jidge always catches him. But he actually never does anything wrong, he only says things that can be taken either way, and people choose to always believe in good old TP. (One of my favourites is when he says to a friend, this time when he owns a laundry store, when the friend asks him if he can "lower" something, and he replies "well, for you I am willing to lose half"..and he loses half of the clothes! but never lied).
AW never lied, more signings came, ...but stillo no Defence!!
Yeah, yeah, I am being cynical and bla bla bla, but I love the Arsenal!!

We submitted our Champions League playoff roster, which includes all of Cesc, Nasri, Eboue, Bendtner, and Almunia. This is just for the playoff -- if we qualify for the group stage we will submit a new roster. But it does show that we're not backing down on the Cesc/Nasri situations, at least not publicly, yet.

Also of interest is that on that roster, Gervinho was submitted as # 22 and The O-C was submitted as # 26. Wonder if those are their numbers for the season or whether those are just placeholders until all the transfers shake out and we know what numbers are available. Regardless, I find it interesting that we have some pretty good low numbers (like # 9, and # 12) which are unclaimed/unassigned.

Official site confirms that Ryo Miyaichi granted his work permit, so I'd be surprised if he didn't spend at least the first half of the season with Arsenal as a Reserves/domestic cups player, with maybe a loan spell in the spring.

He should be loaned out to a Premier league team, if a chance comes up. I think a team like Swansea would be delighted to snap him up.

Without trying to sound callous, the destructive London riots have led to the cancellation of the England-Holland friendly. So no chance of further injuries to Van Persie or Walcott. Take the (relatively very small) good with the bad, eh?

It will be interesting to follow, but it sounds like there is a real chance the weekend Premiership matches in London could be called off as well, and if it gets much worse, they may just scrap the whole weekend's slate and postpone them.

Let hope none of or Facilities don't get destroyed, like how Spurs ticker office was vandilised

Apparently Arsenal have removed all merchandise from the club shop on the Emirates grounds and moved it to safe location.

What really? They cancelled the game?

So is the Ghana v Nigeria game, cos apparently it was going to be played out in Watford. Hope the weekend games do get cancelled - we could buy some time with the transfers and whatnot.

Put me under the group that thinks its a good signing but other areas need reinforcements before signing young midfielders.  The cost of the move has me worried that it might price us out of a move for better defenders so we end up with another Silvestre or Squillaci (maybe we shouldn't sign anymore French defenders whose last name starts with S). But I will reserve judgement until the transfer window is closed.

I think Wenger's trying to build an English team, as this guy seems like a very young English replacement for Nasri. He's able to play in the CAM role, as well as on the wing apparently. Maybe Wenger's realizing that foreign players, at least the ones at Arsenal these days, don't seem to care or respect the club as much as the old guard used to. But i think guys like Thierry and Paddie and all the rest learned that from the old boys in the back and grew to love the club in the same way. Man utd has Rooney and Ferdinand and they bleed United Red, and Chelsea has their Terry (throw up) and Lampard. 

Yah, I wonder about that. Theo, Jack, Gibbs, etc. Not sure I care at all about this, sitting as I am in Canada, the land that soccer talents eschews for greener nations. 

You know, since he is now an Arsenal player its probably ill-advised to refer to him as a pissing pot. We can call him The Ox. Also, the fans who seem intend on spilling Wengerblood are apparently more pissed (according to Mirror, which we can indeed refer to as a piss pot) since this signing is seemingly useless for our upcoming season. Great signing regardless... this kid look good.

We've had a vote, and in a Saddamesque result 100% of Arsenal Offside correspondents we canvassed agreed to refer to him as Oxtail. 

Yeah, John Cross wrote that article, and I'm not usually a media-basher (especially him, who does a very good job of following Arsenal), but I was really disappointed in that article.

There was definitely some grumbling that we hadn't signed a more established player, especially a defender, but by and large, I think the reaction amongst Arsenal fans was "Hey, this kid seems good, and we finally spent some money, this is a good thing." In support of the article he interviewed one of the guys from Le Grove as if their views were representative of all Arsenal fans, which they are certainly not.

And Bendtner has apparently told Danish media that he has agreed to terms with a couple teams but that Arsenal won't let him go.

I'm looking for the Danish stories now.

EDIT: Here is the Bendtner quote, for what it's worth:

"I have agreed with several clubs, but from there to a switch, there is still a long way. I can not do more, now it's up to Arsenal. It is in their hands, and I hope for a settlement soon."

Apparently he was asked if Stoke was one of the teams and he just laughed. I'm going to miss him.

That's amazing.  I haven't forgiven Bendtner for that whiff against Barca, but his off the field actions are lulz worthy.

yeah, me neither, I have this mark on my mind, I really hoped he scored that one...it was going to be a turning point for all parties involved, helas it wasnt meant to be

I think he would probably excel at Stoke. Villa, Liverpool, etc. Most clubs, actually. 

Apparently (fingers crossed and grain of salt taken) we're very close to Cahill. Both teams want to get business done by weekend. Please. Please. 

I just read that Real Madrid signed a 7 year old prospect from Argentina.  How did they beat Wenger to that one?

hahahaha, good one!
I think RM are folowing the Barza steps and hope to get the next Messi. I read he is from Argentina as well.

"8 year-olds, dude." - Walter Sobchak (from the Big Lebowski)

And he's called Leo.
Real Madrid are a bunch of posers.

Oxlade-Chamberlain exclusive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Is that all you can do fred? post videos? tsk tsk tsk......

yea check out my site, comment, rate and subscribe

 and you call yourself a fan? inviting us readers on the arsenal offside to your site. i'm not into that fred

 i'm not a big fan of your site, i see you've been publicizing yourself. not all that....

 hmmmm

 i'm sure you're one of the persons that wants to keep wenger. and let me guess, u want them sell arshavin dont u!!! you have a site? omg how cool :S

Verma's injury blessing in disguise.... Cahill is coming! Cahill is coming!!
The guy who won the highest number of aerial duels in the Premier league last year.

Meanwhile, Ed at Liverpool Offside is tweeting that Cahill is likely going to Liverpool. Hmmm.  

Don't mind Homey. He will be unhappy regardless of what happens.

Ironically, I'm a very happy person.  I don't let soccer drag me down in real life.  But when I blog about things during the transfer window, it comes out that way.  I'm just trying to be objective, as I see it. 

Admit it Homey. No matter what happens you are gonna be in the 'Fire Wenger' camp. It affects your view, as does a person who views Wenger as incapable of mistakes.
AOC is a solid player to have by all accounts. Sure we need players elsewhere, but buying this kid doesn't mean something else won't happen.
This is exactly why I am holding my opinion untill the trasnfer window closes.

Why do we need a guy to get injured to show us that injuries can and will happen, and that we need another defender or two?  Has history not spoken loudly enough already?

No it hasn't. Remember. We're talking about Wenger here.

I just left my heart in Chicago via Lolla, Illy. Another year of Lolla, and another year of many fond memories of the city.

Disqus doesn't let me like a post twice, sadly.

You could have just liked my comment instead of trying to like Illinois' comment twice. 

Illinois' is more verbose, eloquent and quaint. I'm sorry.

Per Mertesacker has personally revealed he wants to play in england. Arsenal get ON THAT.

Over Cahill? I would take either, but Cahill is good to go in Premier League and is excellent in the air and the tackle and apparently quite fast. 

Bring them both and cut Squillaci loose!

Fully agree, especially now that Per Mer's stock has dropped significantly. For 7-8 mill he could be had!

My predictions from June 30 are still looking good.  I called the Oxtail signing back then.  Also said that both Nasri and Cesc would stay.  That's looking tenuous at best, but at least I'm not wrong just yet.

Why do you insist on "Oxtail"?  Is it supposed to be clever?  It's nt even an abbreviation or shortening--is Oxlade that difficult?  Just my opinion, but I find it a bit silly.  "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers" Hebrews 13:2

No need to blow your own trumpet...

I see that JG used my dessert comparison without giving me credit for it.  Hmmpph.  ;-\  Just kidding, JG.  You're still da man.

If he was going to credit me, he should at least have used my "Oxtail for dessert?" bit. That was gold. Gold, I tells ya. 

So gold, I can't post for fear that this post will be hijacked by pirates.

You can't buy that kind of gold. 

This is a good sign that Arsene is doing what is said.  Expect further signing(s) to come =)

I will henceforth stop complaining and reserve my judgement, not till the end of the transfer window, but till after we throw away 4 potential trophies in a fortnight. Until then, I'm going to be a mere observant.. I think the Professor might just have a trick up his sleeve. So yes, Homey, I am officially putting on hold your offer for a ticket on your train.

Well, here's the trouble with the timing of my blog, which I address in the first paragraph or two: Let's say I wait until the end of the window.  By that time, we'll have already played several huge matches.  If we start out well, of course it would look silly if I wrote a blog arguing for Wenger's head.  If we start poorly, then it will look like I'm just reacting to the last two weeks. 
Instead, I'm reacting to what I've seen for years.  And I want it out there before the start of the season, so I'm on record with it either way.  My mind was clinched on this after our collapse at the end of last season.  Some people are more patient on it, which is fine.  But I'm going to argue my points this week anyway.  It's just that it's such a giant blog, it's taking me a while to write it (and research it too).

You've got a point there. But if there's anything a trophy drought like this has thought me, is hope. And losing. And a lot of swear words. But mainly hope. You've got a point and I'll probably be agreeing with everything you're writing on the uber-blog. Suddenly, though, I'm filled with a weird sense of hope that something awesome is going to happen with the team this year. Well, I can at least hope, can't I?

Think he's going to be a good one. I doubt he'll much of an impact this season, will probably mainly be a Reserves/domestic cup player (may even head out on loan for the spring), but 10 goals, 9 assists, and making the team of the year at any professional level is very impressive as a 17 year-old.

People are going to complain. Then again, at this point, people would complain about Wenger announcing that he had discovered cold fusion, a cure for cancer, and solved the conflict in the Middle East if it didn't also mean he was spending 20 million on a defender. And I understand that people want a more established player. But looked at in isolation, I don't understand how anyone isn't excited about this -- this is an excellent young player, one of the brightest young players in England, who really, really wants to play for Arsenal, and we beat Liverpool and Manchester United to get his signature.

His YouTube highlights are worth a watch. I say that knowing full well that if I played a full season, you could cherry-pick 3 minutes worth of highlights, lay some shitty techno music on top of it, and people might think I was a half-decent player. But he really does seem to have an aggressiveness that we could use -- he seems to love running at the goal and at players with the ball, and a couple of those long loft/chip goals from the flank are pretty outstanding. Seems to be a lot more than a bundle of speed, has some skill and flair on the ball as well.

I run a side-business that specializes in putting together those Youtube videos for punters like you. Just say the word and I'll get started. You like Lisa Stansfield, right? 

let the prof do his business  ans we judge  him after the carling cup

i though we needed defenders more then wingers

I think many of us think that. However, pretty hard to see the downside in this pick-up.