and so the fun begins

transfer season is upon us and things are starting to heat up. for arsenal fans it all begins with the end of edu's gunner career and the dropping of five reservists.

here are the five who are leaving and a little bit about them.

Olafur-Ingi Skulason
Skulason joined Arsenal in the summer of 2001 and leaves Highbury as a full Iceland international. The versatile midfielder made his debut against Mexico and won his second cap in a friendly against Italy four weeks ago. The 22-year-old featured in Arsenal's run to the Semi-Finals of the Carling Cup during the 2003/04 campaign but injury restricted his appearances last season.

Danny Karbassiyoon
Karbassiyoon arrived at Highbury as a striker but was soon plying his trade on the left flank and is now making steady progress as a full-back. He made his mark in the Carling Cup last season, coming on as a substitute to score in a 2-1 win against Manchester City and making further appearances against Everton and Manchester United. He then enjoyed a productive loan spell at Ipswich.

Adam Birchell
Birchall joined Arsenal four years ago and caught the eye with his bustling style of play and eye for goal. He started last season on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, scoring five goals in 15 appearances for the League Two side. Birchall has also thrived on the international stage, scoring a goal on his debut for Wales Under-21s during his time at Highbury.

Frankie Simek
Simek is another young defender who has featured in the Carling Cup for Arsenal. He played a full 90 minutes in the 5-1 win over Wolves during the 2003/04 campaign. Simek went out on loan twice last season. He played five games for Queen's Park Rangers and then spent the final weeks of the season at Bournemouth.

Jordan Fowler
Fowler has been a regular for Arsenal Reserves in recent seasons and he also spent time away from Highbury last term. The combative midfielder played six games in League Two for Chesterfield.

i'm really only surprised by skulason. i wonder who we're making room for. (thanks to arsenal.com for the info)

never

never again will i see a game quite like that. i was fairly indifferent to liverpool before today. i liked rafa benitez, xabi alonso, sami hyppia and luis garcia, but now i love damn near the whole team -- even stevie g (who will be staying put in liverpool now, i've no doubt).

liverpool were done at the end of 45 minutes. you don't give up three goals to milan and come back. milan just closes up shop and that's that.


celebrate good times 

well, when captain courageous is on the field things can change rather quickly. stevie g takes a cracking cross from riise and BAM! it's 3-1. at least liverpool had a goal, they weren't shut out so they could go home with heads held high.

but then old vlad smicer hits a nice little shot into the bottom of the net, just beating dida, one minute later and the game is 3-2. holy shit...they could tie this thing.

and then stevie g breaks through, gets tripped up (or did he?) by gattuso, one of the few ac boys i like, and we suddenly have a penalty kick. xabi steps up, and you could tell he was nervous, even though he was trying to conceal it. he fires the ball at the net, dida saves, but xabi isn't finished. other players will take the kick and become paralyzed by the save. not alonso. he followed the ball in, took the rebound and made the game 3-3.

extra time...and jerzy dudek starts his shutting up of shop. sheva heads a fireball into the ground: dudek saves: sheva gets the rebound on his boot and laser beams it into the net but...NO!: dudek hits the thing up and out and there's no joy in milan tonight.

cause then it is on to penalty kicks where dudek takes a page from old spaghetti legs and drives the shooters to distraction. serghino skies it over the net. dudek stops a weak shot by rui costa. thomasson scores. kaka scores. a couple had to score. and then comes shevchenko. he won't miss. he can't miss. the penalty kick score is 3-2 for liverpool; sheva must score to keep it alive. he steps up, and the usually unflappable sheva looks flapped.

and dudek does it again.

game over...liverpool are the uefa champions for 2005. fucking sweet!

go liverpool

it's not that i'm an actual fan of liverpool, even though the first game i ever saw in my life was in the basement of my best friend pete roe, and it was liverpool v. arsenal, but i am less a fan of ac milan.

i love inter, not as much as i love arsenal, but i love them, and i'd sure hate to see the ac fuckers win the champions league after not even having to play inter because shevchenko got away with a headbutt and some righteous fans through flares on the field, then ac goes on to squeek out a bullshit victory against psv. but i digress...

go liverpool, beat those fascistic fuckers from milan...


istanbul 

...and i will smile deep in my heart. besides, it'll be great for english football.