Nice win yesterday. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the line ups and Bob had EJ and Wolff playing up top, god we need a striker. I wish he would have started Adu anbd Altidore.

Club news, looks like Arsenal signed Samir Nasri from Marseille. Also looks like Hleb is out the door with Barca getting him for 15-20 million euros.

Cant understand why Wegner would let two of this season best players leave.. he should have broke the wage strucure they've got to keep them...

Hleb wasnt one of our best players. You ask any Gooner and they will tell you Hleb is the most frustrating player to watch. He just wont shoot. And plus, if Hleb does go, looks like Diego from Werder Bremen could be coming here. And he's younger and actually shoots.

And our wage strucure is that low, its actually just under Uniteds but ahead of 'Pool by a wide margin.

Nasri gets good reports from what i read!

Wenger knows his stuff when it comes to unearthing great young players,especially French ones!

Beckham will be England captain again tomorrow night, good for him..

Another nothing game!!

Did you see the state of the pitch?

At least the locals seemed to enjoy it!

It was a poor pitch, what do you expect in places like that, has to be the heat.

Decent game very easy in the end. Barry man of the match for me..

Barry yes definitely.

He gets better and better every time i watch him.

Put money on him leaving Villa this summer.

he probley will..

Toon about to sign some Turk called Arda Turan for £7 million apparently!

Dean Ashton also getting a lot of gossip credits!

Blib?

It would appear Blackburn are to lose Hughes as manager and get Big Sam Allardyce as a replacement......

My commiserations mate

Dean Aston is very overated if you ask me, i read hes about to sign a long tern contract worth 50k a week..

West Ham need to be careful they seem to be paying alot on average players in wages, they could end up like Leeds if there not careful..

Newcastle have been paying good money for shit for years mate

Orate Yogi mate ill be in touch soon

utb&fto

utt&ftm

New Arsenal away ki, which is fantastic btw. Also, a cool pic with some good former players.

Only about five weeks to the new season,. bring it on..

Newcastle have signed an Argentinian midfielder who puts on a Spiderman mask when he scores a goal......

Jonas Guitterez from Real Mallorca!

Call me a pessimist but i am distinctly underwhelmed

When does the Premiership start up again? I heard it's in 5 or 6 weeks? If that's true that's awesome! It's not like most sports where there is a long off-season.

The first week of games are on Aug 16th

Saturday, 16 August 2008

Arsenal v West Brom, 15:00
Aston Villa v Man City, 15:00
Bolton v Stoke, 15:00
Chelsea v Portsmouth, 15:00
Everton v Blackburn, 15:00
Hull v Fulham, 15:00
Man Utd v Newcastle, 15:00
Middlesbrough v Tottenham, 15:00
Sunderland v Liverpool, 15:00
West Ham v Wigan, 15:00

I'm looking forward to that. I don't think they are really rivals, but last year when they played things were awfully heated. They were very fun and competetive matches to watch. I even saved one of them on my DVR because it was so much fun. I might have to watch it again before the new season starts.

Easy win for Newcastle first up.....

You wish.. you never know first game..

Oh i know alright......

And i'm not over confident

Halford not a bad signing

wheres the rest of the big signings we have been hearing about

Toon about to sign Argentinian has been Pablo Aimar

Toon also after some Argentinian left back who cannot get a game for Liverpool....

Whats with all these Argies?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti claims Frank Lampard has given his "approval" to join the Italian champions if they agree a fee with Chelsea. (www.inter.it, 1535 BST)

Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul "wouldn't join Sunderland even if there was an earthquake", according to his agent. (AFP news agency, 1342 BST)

Dutch clubs Feyenoord and Heerenveen want to sign Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul. (De Telegraaf, 1230 BST)

Real Madrid are set to reject offers for Brazil star Robinho from Barcelona and Chelsea. (El Mundo Deportivo, 1210 BST)


TRANSFER RUMOURS
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced he will land Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov before the start of the season. (The Sun)

Ferguson has met United winger Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in almost two months in a bid to stop the player joining Real Madrid. (The Guardian)

Barcelona are poised to make a £24m bid for Berbatov after missing out on Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea have rejected Barcelona's offer of a swap deal involving Samuel Eto'o and Blues forward Didier Drogba. (The Sun)

Liverpool will sell Andrei Voronin to a German club for around £3m to help finance the signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. (Daily Mirror)

Reading striker Dave Kitson is set to complete a £5m move to Stoke. (The Sun, Daily Mirror)

England goalkeeper Scott Carson will join West Brom from Liverpool after rejecting a move to Stoke. (Daily Mirror, Daily Star)

Sunderland are closing in on the signing of Croatia striker Mladen Petric from Borussia Dortmund for around £5m. (The Sun)

Wigan plan to make Everton an improved offer for Andrew Johnson after having a £9m bid for the England striker rejected. (The Guardian)

Niko Kranjar will stay at Portsmouth after snubbing a £12m move to Monaco. (The Sun)

Pompey rejected Monaco's offer for the Croatia midfielder. (The Independent)

Portsmouth defender Noe Pamarot has snubbed a move to Hull City. (Daily Mail)

Slavia Prague defender Marek Suchy says he is interested in a move to Ibrox. (The Sun)

Auxerre defender Gabriel Tamas says he expects to join Celtic by the end of the week. (Daily Mail)

606: DEBATE
Who would you like your club to sign this summer?
Newcastle and Everton are locked in a £4m tug of war for Tottenham's Pascal Chimbonda. (The Sun)

Newcastle are looking at other targets after losing out to Benfica in the race to sign Argentine midfielder Pablo Aimar from Real Zaragoza. (The Independent)

Blackburn boss Paul Ince hopes to pull off the £3.5m signing of Chilean midfielder Carlos Villanueva from Audax Italiano. (Daily Mirror)

Russian star Andrei Arshavin is worried his dream move to Barcelona from Zenit St Petersburg is on the brink of collapse. (The Sun)

Frank Lampard has told Inter Milan he will look elsewhere if his move to the Italian club from Chelsea is not completed soon. (Daily Mirror)

Leeds are set to sign Wolves' Jay Bothroyd in a £300,000 deal. (Daily Star)

Sheffield Wednesday have rejected a £1.75m bid from Wolves for defender Mark Beevers. (Daily Star)

Newcastle have had a £2m bid for England left-back Stephen Warnock rejected by Blackburn. (Daily Mirror)

Plymouth are keen to sign Crystal Palace striker Shefki Kuqi. (Daily Star)

Rangers boss Walter Smith will offer Daniel Cousin to Cardiff in exchange for the Bluebirds' Dutch defender Glenn Loovens. (Daily Record)

Ipswich want to sign former Manchester United wide man Quinton Fortune. (Daily Express)

Claude Makelele will be the first big-name player to leave Chelsea under new boss Phil Scolari. (The Sun)

Sebastian Larsson will demand showdown talks with Birmingham City chairman David Gold to engineer a move away from St Andrews. (The Sun)



Back to top

OTHER GOSSIP
Goalkeeper Robert Green has revealed he feels "completely under-valued" at West Ham and is now considering his future at the club. (The Sun, Daily Mail)

Sunderland manager Roy Keane has told chairman Niall Quinn he wants money to spend on top players. (Daily Mirror)

Owen Hargreaves' long-term fitness is worrying Manchester United after the England midfielder pulled out of a pre-season trip to South Africa with a knee problem. (Various)

Kyle Lafferty and Steven Smith have been added to Rangers manager Walter Smith's growing injury list ahead of the Champions League qualifiers. (Daily Express)


Back to top

AND FINALLY
Cristiano Ronaldo hobbled into a nightclub on crutches and partied with stars including Paris Hilton. (The Sun, Daily Mirror)

West Ham stars are fuming at their tour from hell after a travel firm went bust. The Hammers squad are being flown economy class to their pre-season matches in Canada in two separate planes after being led to believe they were flying business class. (The Sun)

BREAKING GOSSIP
Real Madrid will continue their efforts to unsettle Ronaldo in a bid to prise him away from Manchester United amid claims that the transfer has entered its "final stages" and could be completed in August. (Spanish newspaper Marca, 1454 BST).

Milan have issued a statement declaring that "Kaka is absolutely not for sale" amid reports he is set to join Chelsea for around £80m. (AC Milan official website, 1416 BST)

Pascal Chimbonda has been in Sunderland for talks with manager Roy Keane and has admitted he would be interested in moving to the Stadium of Light from Tottenham. (Press Association, 1226 BST)

Inter Milan will make a move for Liverpool's Xabi Alonso if they fail in their bid to prise Frank Lampard away from Chelsea. (Channel 4 Football Italia, 1103 BST)


TRANSFER RUMOURS
Chelsea are set to sign AC Milan's world player-of-the- year Kaka for a world-record fee of €100m (£79.2m). (The Guardian)

New Chelsea midfielder Deco has pleaded with Frank Lampard to stay at the club to help them win the Champions League. (Various)

606: DEBATE
Who do you want your club to sign this summer?
But Lampard appears to be on his way to Inter Milan after the Italian side revealed they have agreed terms with the England midfielder. (Various)

Didier Drogba also appears to be on his way out of Stamford Bridge after Barcelona made an enquiry for the striker. (Daily Star)

Sunderland have had a £23m bid for Younes Kaboul, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque and Teemu Tainio accepted by Tottenham. (Various)

However, the deal could be jeopardised after Kaboul's agent said his client would not join Sunderland "even if there was an earthquake". (Various)

Chimbonda also looks set to snub the Black Cats in favour of a move to either Newcastle or Everton. (Daily Mail)

Gareth Barry has reaffirmed his desire to quit Aston Villa and join Liverpool. (Daily Mirror)

Aston Villa expect to sign Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel next week as Rovers boss Paul Ince faces a tough task keeping hold of his players. (The Sun)

Middlesbrough have received a bid from Wigan for midfielder Lee Cattermole. (The Guardian)

The Latics are also close to completing the signing of Egyptian striker Amr Zaki on a one-year loan deal after he passed a medical. (Various)

West Ham are closing in on the signing of Switzerland right-back Valon Behrami for £5m from Lazio. (The Independent)

Premier League new boys Hull have tabled a bid for Wigan striker Marlon King. (The Sun)

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has admitted he needs to sell players in order to buy new ones. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea and Manchester United have renewed their interest in Falkirk midfielder Scott Arfield. (Daily Record)

Auxerre defender Gabriel Tamas has rejected Celtic's £14,000 per week salary offer as more talks are expected over the weekend. (The Sun)

Celtic target Vitorino Antunes has opted to move to Lecce from Roma on loan. (Daily Express)

Veteran Celtic defender Steven Pressley has joined Doncaster on trial. (Daily Express)

Celtic have taken 17-year-old Lecce goalkeeper Daniele Giordano on trial. (Daily Express)

Kaiserslautern are poised to make a big-money offer for Inverness striker Marius Niculae. (Various)

Motherwell will step up their bid for Celtic defender John Kennedy on loan after losing Brian McLean to long-term injury. (The Sun)

But Motherwell face competition from Norwich City for John Kennedy's services.

QPR manager Iain Dowie is expected to complete the signing of Ben Watson from Crystal Palace for £1.75m. (Daily Mirror)

Sheffield United have accepted a £2m bid from Derby for striker Rob Hulse. (The Sun)

Andy Dorman's agent says clubs from England and Scotland are interested in the St Mirren midfielder. (The Herald)


Back to top

OTHER GOSSIP
Arsene Wenger has blamed Arsenal's lack of silverware last season on pure bad luck. (The Sun)

The Arsenal manager has also said that he will not "kill" the club's young players by bringing big names to the club. (Various)

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright will face disillusioned shareholders after they called an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the club's future. (Daily Express)

Rangers manager Walter Smith says he cannot afford to pay the wages required to sign top players this summer. (Various)


AND FINALLY
A Sven-Goran Eriksson impersonator, Derek Williams, fooled the coach of Mexican club Pumas by pretending to be the Swede, who is now charge of the Mexican national team. (Daily Telegraph)

Toon thrash Hartlepool 4-1 in pre season game

Duff scores hat trick