On Friday night I watched the second half of the Portugal/Spain game and we had goals, as well as big players like Ronaldo stepping up. He’s one of the most narcissistic human beings to inhabit the earth but do you know what? He does Football real good you have to say. A lot of people don’t like him but you can’t argue that he doesn’t put his money where his mouth is.

I didn’t manage to watch the France game but I’ve heard of the controversy around their penalty but it looked to me like the right decision. So ultimately in that instance you can’t have too many complaints about it. It does confuse me though because I had a little sojourn down to the pub yesterday afternoon to watch the Argentina Iceland game and see the second half. It wasn’t a great match and was the same Iceland as we saw two years ago; their robust, air deep and defend and are difficult to break down, without really offering much going forward. What I didn’t understand though is why VAR wasn’t used for one of the challenges on one of the Argentina players in the second half. Messi has already missed his penalty by then but when i saw the replay it looked like he was brought down and given the ref earlier in the France game had let a bit of time elapse before going to look at the penalty decision, he could have had another look and then pointed to the spot.

I thought that the refs get a little whisper in the ear but obviously I’m this instance he either didn’t get it or chose to ignore it. So now I’m not sure what the deal is with VAR.

In the world of Arsenal it’s all about what’s going on with Jack, who keeps putting up messages about moving on and to me it seems like he’ll be on his way, with Crystal Palace supposedly his destination. I have to say it does kind of say a lot about his form and where he is at with his career that it’s Palace after him and not one of the bigger teams, either in England or the rest of Europe.

To me that is an example of a player who has returned to fitness but if we take our obvious love for Jack and the fact he’s a proper Gooner, and look objectively about whether or not he warrants a place in the squad ahead of the likes of Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Ramsey, etc, then the answer is clearly no. It will be a sad day when his association with Arsenal ends but I think we all need to accept that it is the right thing to do for everyone at the club.

One player who won’t be heading out the door though is Granit Xhaka, who signed his new deal and is clearly part of the short and long-term future of the club. I personally think it’s a great decision by all parties because despite what some people have said about him I think he’s a class footballer. He’s not the most mobile as we all know but his form in the latter part of the season shows that he can deliver when the chips are down. He’s improved the defensive side of his game and his passing range and distribution is fantastic.

I do wonder if him signing this new deal tells us anything about Ramsey. Xhaka is clearly in the managers plans and if we’re signing Torreira then it feels like he’ll be the workman alongside Xhaka, so how does that affect Ramsey’s place in the team? Is he going to be used in a three man midfield? Is he going to play further up the pitch? Or are we about to lose him?

The noises are that a deal is about to be done. I personally think that would be great news if it happens and if it does you have to say that Arsenal are doing all the right things in terms of contracts. Getting players signed up protects their value as well as says a lot of their future. We got Chambers signed up to a longer term deal earlier this year and although he might be out the door soon, that action has ensured that his market value has been retained.

Whisper it quietly, but to me it feels like we actually know what we’re doing, and are not messing around with contracts any more. That is certainly reassuring.

And with those final thoughts I’m off to eat some food and wait for the next round of games. Laters people.

Up front, well, that’s another matter entirely, because I think we do need another player and even Arsene has admitted that. I’ve been talking about it for weeks now so I won’t go over old ground, or re-hash some thoughts i’ve already given, but with the Euro’s drawing to a close Arsene needs to find a player who is of sufficient quality to improve our attacking threat. Be that up top or out wide.

What he also has to do, is to convince Alexis that he wants to stay at the club for another few seasons. The guy is a marquee Arsenal player, was part of the ‘new world’ we all thought we were now in as Arsenal fans, and we need him. Talk of Draxler coming in and Alexis leaving just keeps us in the same position as we were at the end of the season, or worse, because the German has no Premier League experience. So We need to talk to Alexis, get him committed, do the same for Ozil, then go out and get a wide-right forward like Draxler that can provide more goals (although I know Draxler’s goalscoring last season was hardly amazing, but he’s still young and I suspect in a better team he’d get more goals).

It’s time we started to make a move peeps. The Premier League money-machine will soon be in full flow and if Pogba signs for United we can expect Juve to react quickly. We need to ‘head them off at the pass’ by getting Alexis tied down and then show that they’ll have to look elsewhere to keep their fans happy.

Ooh, one bit of lovely news, which is that Petr Cech will retire from the Czech national team. From an Arsenal perspective that’s great news. It means he’ll get rest time in between the international breaks, he’ll be less susceptible to injury and he’ll be hopefully in better form for us than he would having had to travel all over the world to play for the Czech Republic. Gooners everywhere can rejoice at that news.

And that’s pretty much it from me today. I’ve got some chores to do before my little bro comes over later this evening with his family, and we shut ourselves away in the spare room to play FIFA all night, like when we were 15 and 11 respectively. Good times.

Laters peeps.

So as I turn down my sarcasm filter, I think it’s important to see just how awful England were as a result of seeing how France so comfortably dispatched the Icelandic’s yesterday evening. A 5-2 score line too, don’t you know? Everyone loves a 5-2.

I didn’t watch the whole of the game, just after the hour mark, so I missed the goals in real time. But I’ve seen them on replay and I must say both Giroud goals were well taken and without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, I did have a feeling that he’d get some joy yesterday, which is exactly what happened with his two goals. Ironically though, in my blog yesterday I did say I didn’t see him latching on to balls over the top, so I clearly got that prediction wrong at least. 

Giroud is an incredibly streaky striker though, isn’t he? I mean, that’s what frustrates us with him, ultimately. I don’t know that many Arsenal fans I speak to have suggested they want him out of the club, we’ve just always wanted there to be other options, for just the kind of situations we found ourselves in last season when Giroud was going through a barren run of scoreless games. But when he’s in the kind of form he’s in right now, he’s a fantastic option to have in your team.

The first goal was really well taken. A flicked ball over the top of the defender, a touch to put the ball in a decent enough position, then a finish through the ‘keepers legs. I do love those finishes. They’re the ultimate “two fingers” to a goalie, even if they have the greatest risk attached to them, that the ‘keeper might save it. But good on Ollie for bagging his second goal of the tournament, then good on him for notching his third with a very Giroud-type goal. That floated ball in, the glance goals are as he beats everyone else in the air, I think it was the Everton game where he scored a similar goal, but we’ve seen him score variations on that many times before, so it had a lovely familiarity of Arsenal about it. Which is probably why it pleased me so much.

France march on to the semis and Iceland’s dream is over, but the mouthwatering prospect of the France vs Germany semi final makes it all worthwhile in the end, which I think is being played on Thursday. I’ve already shown my hand when it comes to allegiances and I’ll be firmly in Germany’s corner, but I’m pleased for Lolo and Ollie, that they get another chance to show the world what they can do.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal world we announced the signing of Takuma Asano and in what felt like a clear indication to the supporters that this isn’t the Welbeck replacement, Arsène was quoted as telling us all he’s one for the future, so that will stop some of the teeth gnashing at least. Well, it will for those that don’t really have an anti-Arsène agenda, because for those people there is nothing that can be done that isn’t wrong until Arsène does leave the club. It’s sad, but for some people their own beliefs in a footballing sense, far outweigh any beliefs/hopes that Arsenal can be successful this season. Me personally, I would love the manager to do the right deals, win us the league and make us all happy again. I’m not sure he’ll get those players in to do that, but I’m not going to throw a hissy-fit because he’s having another punt on a young player. He tends to do this all the time. Sometimes it works out (That Dutch Bloke) and sometimes it doesn’t (Sanogo). If it’s a numbers game unearthing the next Henry, then we should at least be playing the game, shouldn’t we? 

Anyway, it looks like the market is starting to shift in to gear as players return from international duty, so if we’re still in this position in three weeks time, maybe we can start to sweat a bit on the squads capabilities. But for now I think we’re probably all just better off having a bit of a chill. 

Right, I’m done for today, because I have work to do and also there’s not really a lot else I feel like talking about. You lovely people have a grand day.

The game itself wasn’t exactly a classic, was it? I mean, at least it had goals, but there have been better games in this competition. Not a lot of better games mind, and the general lack of desire by so many teams to actually try and win football matches has been sad, which was also reflected in the way the game set up yesterday. Italy knew they weren’t better than the Germans. They knew they would need to try to grind this out and perhaps either sneak a goal or do it on penalties. They also had this weird hoodoo over the Germans, with der Mannschaft having never actually beaten Italy in tournament football before, which I find staggering, given the pedigree of the Germans in tournament football. 

But they did it, and by George wasn’t I happy about it, claiming my German heritage and fist-pumping first as Özil scored, but then as every German penalty went in. The Germans deserved that. They were the better team. They were the ones who were intent on trying to win the game and not just contain. They should have won it in extra time thanks to our man Özil with a fine finish. But instead Jerome Boateng had his brain-fart moment and decided that his hands needed to be as high as possible when the ball struck his arm in the box. That was the lifeline the Italians had dreamed about. I’m just thankful it didn’t end up costing Mesut et al.

So they march on and surely they march into an encounter with the French, who provided they don’t go all wobbly like England did against the Icelandics, will beat their opponents tonight. If expect Giroud and Koscielny both to play and I don’t know why, but I reckon Olivier has a goal in him tonight. He will be given service and up against the deep-lying Icelandic defence, he won’t be tasked with getting in behind their back four, so it’s the type of game that should suit his style of football. If he doesn’t score, I fancy him to be involve if France do get goals, through knock downs, etc.

So let’s see how this evening goes and let’s see if the French can overcome the plucky Icelanders. Get your facts book out, because the commentary will be laced with information elaborating on the size of Iceland’s population.

On the Arsenal front there isn’t really anything else. It seems lots of activity is starting to stir and Mourinho is beginning to do what he does best, which is to spunk absolutely tonnes of somebody else’s money. I just hope Arsenal begin to make some moves, because as soon as the tournament is over there’ll be meltdown if it looks like we’re not making moves to improve the squad. Come on Arsène, pull something special out of the bag.

Right, that’s me done for the day, so I’ll be orf. I’ve got a christening to go to. Adios amigos!

England managed to bag themselves what appears to be a plum draw against the frozen food supermarkets and, whilst I understand the whooping and hollering at the fact that we’re up against an unfancied side, Woy Hodgson’s words keep ringing in my ears.

You know the ones. Where he said that the knockout stages of the competition would mean teams are forced to come out and play us. Sorry Woy, but if you think that Lars Lagerback’s men are doing anything else other than playing for penalties, hoping for free kicks/corners like every team have played for against England in this competition, then you’re in for a shock my friend.

I suspect England will once again be left ruing the lack of craft in midfield in the form of a decent playmaker. As I said yesterday about Özil for Germany, England don’t have that, they don’t have a kingmaker and I think that will cost them.

The side of the draw England are on also means that any short-term joy over a decent draw, quickly melts away when you see that England will probably have to overcome France, then one of Germany/Spain/Italy before they reach the final. The other side of the draw is certainly the more favourable, so had England picked up an extra win instead of a draw, they’d probably fancy their chances of going deep in to the competition. But Ho-hum, such is life, and anyway nobody was expecting anything to be simple with England, were they?

Elsewhere, Zlatan retires from international football, having literally done nothing for Sweden in three matches. Long may that form continue under Jose’s evil reign at United. 

Also, a quick word for the Irish, who’s colour and general craziness remains in the competition, which I couldn’t be happier about, because they’re a great bunch of people. It’s probably fair to say having a rotated Italian team who probably couldn’t be arsed helped them out a bit, but who cares? Their fans deserve another day in France to enjoy and who knows, maybe they can find themselves a little luck and set up a potential clash with England. That’d be a spicy and entertaining affair, wouldn’t it?

Look at me, all this international talk and not a mention of The Arsenal, how outrageous. But I guess that’s what happens when there’s the square root of bugger all going on. Things might start to pick up after the weekend though, as players return home having been knocked out of the competition, which means agents will be able to get their grubby mits on players and start offering them around globally to the highest bidder. That’s all stuff we can look forward to…

Shall I do a See prediction for the final? Ok then, as you asked so nicely, or what I’m assuming you’ve asked so nicely as you can’t actually tell me until after I’ve written this. Anyway, I reckon we’re going to see a Croatia/Germany final. Germany have the best team on our side of the draw and had Belgium not performed so poorly against Italy, I’d have opted for them given their firepower, but I just think they look a little fragile. Croatia have been impressive and I think they’ll overcome Portugal, then possibly Poland, to set up a semi with the Belgians. Just my hunch.

Anyway, off to work again for me, which is hardly ideal. I’d love to ‘opt out’ if I’m honest, but nobody would pay me well enough to watch TV and write one blog a day about my football-related nonsense, so I guess I’ll be back tomorrow coming atcha from a rammed Metropolitan Line heading towards London.

Laters potaters.