Arsenal news (Lehmann, Fabregas, Gilberto, Diaby)

God

Super Moderator

Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann says that he is in no rush to sign on the dotted line with the contact offer from Arsenal.

The German international has received at least two other offers from German clubs.

The Gunners have only offered Lehmann a one year extension, when he wanted two, and that is what the other clubs have offered.

Lehmann said: "I am in a situation at the moment where I have to make a decision at some point, but there is no fixed date for that to be made.

"Every week a new club is linked with me, while everybody knows I am also happy at Arsenal.

"I'd rather not talk about it all."

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Francesc Fabregas has revealed that the team are still confident of finishing the season on a good note, but are also thinking of "what might have been".

The Spanish midfielder says that the players all feel that something is missing from the group.

Fabregas said: "It is strange, not the atmosphere at the training ground - but inside yourself.

"Everyone feels there is something missing.

"When you are out of three cups and you just have the league to fight for, but you are so far behind the leaders, you think it is not the best of seasons.

"When there is still two months to go sometimes you can feel like the season is finished, but it is not.

"We have several games to go and if we win most of them we could finish second. In football you never know."

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Gilberto Silva has called on his team mates to focus on the immediate task of fighting for the team, instead of moaning about lost causes.

The Brazilian midfielder has been asked to slot into central defence, which is not his natural position but "the Invisible Wall" is more than happy to step up and do as the manager asks.

Gilberto said: "It's been hard to adjust because it's been a long time since I played there.

"I'm happy to play in midfield rather than in defence but I spoke to Arsène and when he needs me, I'm glad to help.

"The situation we are in at the moment, everybody in the squad needs to co-operate with the manager. Kolo Touré played at right back against Everton, for instance.

"At this time we must stick together, especially after the hard weeks we have had. The last few days for us have been hard and painful."

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William Gallas has hailed his Arsenal team-mate Abou Diaby ahead of the latter's inclusion in the latest France squad.

Diaby has impressed for the Gunners since returning from a horrific injury just ten weeks ago, and Gallas insists the young midfielder deserves his place in the France national team.

"For me I was a little bit surprised," said Gallas. "But at the same time he is a great player. He showed that at Everton.

"To return [from injury] shows he is really strong in his mind. Now he wants to just play, play, play, play, play. I am happy to play with someone like this. He really is a strong man."

The experienced defender did however have words of warning for his young team-mate, saying he can expect a quicker game at international level that he might find difficult to adjust to.

"When you go with the national team the rhythm is quicker," he said. "I told him in the first half [at Everton] he needs to play faster.

"But he certainly has the quality to play [for France] but now he has to work more. He is still young and what I really like about him is that when you talk to him he listens to you."


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Lehmann: He knew the situation before he joined. Players over 30 only get offered one year contracts, even if you were Dennis Bergkamp. I just wish he would let us know if he was going so we could start looking for a replacement *coughGivencough*.

Fabregas: I havent worked it out but are we out of the title race mathematically? If not im a little surprised Cesc didnt say we could still win it such is his confidance.

Gilberto: He will be very hard to replace when he leaves in a few years time (He wants to finish his carrer in Brazil). At the moment he is the only regular midfield player we have who can play defence if needed. Flamini can but he's not regular. He might get a game every few games but i dont count him as essential. Deffinatily keep him tho.

Diaby: Along with Denilson he has been the surprise of the season for us. I was expecting him to take at least three years before showing any improvement but here we are ten weeks after returning from injury and he gets called into the France squad.
If this is what Gallas is like on the training pitch or in matches then im glad to have him. He helps out the younger players and gives them tips during play. Id bet Chelsea are missing him.

Jay M. Punkster

Indy Moderator

hes not going to get Given ahghhhhhhhhhhh

God

Super Moderator

I didnt say he was, thats just who i want lol.
The players being rumoured that i know anything about are:
Carson, Boruc, Pele, Foster and Given.
Carson is a Liverpool player so they wont sell him to us. Same deal with Foster excapt he's man utd so even more unlikely.
I havent seen Pele play enough to make a judgement on weather or not he's Arsenal quality.
Boruc, ive never rated and quite frankly in my opinion is a bad keeper who has the occasional good showing.
Given is a proven top quality keeper. Newcastle would sell if the price was right. And their is no serious rivaliry between us. Given has been there for near ten years and is no closer to winning anything than he was when he joined. Unless he wants his trophy case to never be built he has to move on because he wont win anything at Newcastle and he wont win anything in international either as we arent nearly good enough to win the world cup or the european championships.

Jay M. Punkster

Indy Moderator

liverpool dont want carson , i bet if arsenal are to signa kepper it will eb him .

God

Super Moderator

Even if thats true (which i doubt as he is better than what they have atm) why would they sell to a tital rival?

K Jay

What's positive about no silver-wear? Same old Arsenal, no balls for the hard game and always complaining about the game they lost?

I had a sig, once.

Jay M. Punkster

Indy Moderator

i have to agree , how can arsenal be happy bout this , it was okay last season because the were in the final of the champions league , and the said last season it was a transition period but there using the same escuses , my god , next season needs to eb big , even Gallas is complaing ,

God

Super Moderator

What positives? Diaby and Denilson for a start.

Injuries are why we arent challangeing for the title. Here's a fact that you might not believe but is true. Arsenal have not been able to play a full strenght team of Lehmann, Clichy, Gallas, Toure, Eboue, Rosicky, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Van Persie & Henry even once this season. Gallas, Van Persie and Henry suffered long term injuries. Rosicky season has been stop-start. Clichy, Eboue, Ljungberg, Diaby and Hleb had injuries. Toure, Eboue and Adebayour were suspended for four games each. Walcott has been playing injured. Traroe played injured. Exclude Newcastle and noone else has had as many injuries. Wenger usually keeps a fairly similar line up from game to game, he hasent been able to do that this season. And we are still third in the leauge, an improvement from last season.

Jay M. Punkster

Indy Moderator

arsenal had a full team besdies diaby against aston villa the first game at the hoem and the draw with them , arsenal should have won that match , other matches like shefiled utd , and teams liek that even a weakend arsenal team should have beaten them

Crockerinho

Other teams have injury problems, deal with it