I have finished my A levels! School's out forever (at least until I go to Lincoln to do Journalism in September, but that will be VERY different to school) and I have a LOT of free time, so you can expect several posts a week from now on. Let's get right into discussing England and an exciting transfer window at Arsenal!





Captain Kane to lead the Three Lions to victory:





"AND IT'S KANE!" Usually, hearing this ruins my day, but for the next month (providing England reach the final, which we OBVIOUSLY will) it will make me jump for joy. The S**** striker was our hero on Monday night vs Tunisia. Stood in my local pub, I was frustrated and worried, until the 1st minute of additional time. Up lept Harry Maguire from a corner, heading the ball to Kane, who nodded in at the back post to send tremors across England. The boys had done it. They confirmed what we'd all been dreaming of- FOOTBALL'S COMING HOME...





Don't get used to me cheering you on... it's only for a month





Of course I'm being sarcastic, but what a win! The 2-1 result is the first opening World Cup match victory for England since 2006, under Sven Goran Eriksson. Personally, I've been pleasantly surprised with the way our current manager, Gareth Southgate, has handled the job so far. He's clearly very passionate and wants to do England proud, and the squad seems happy together and hungry to prove their doubters wrong. When they face Panama tomorrow at 1pm, I have no doubt they will win- it's just a question of by how many goals. I might sound cocky, but that result on Monday has really fired me up, and I expect England will progress to the knockouts. I still think we'll end up finishing 2nd in Group G, level on points with Belgium (their goal difference will be superior however).





Belgium have now thrashed both Panama and Tunisia, after their

5-2 win earlier





I'll be watching Mexico very closely, as their victory against Germany could mean they top Group F and play the runner up of Group E (likely to be Switzerland) in the Round of 16. Should England finish 2nd this could give us a real chance of reaching the Semi-Finals. As I stated previously, I think England could beat any of the teams in Group H. And as for Mexico, sure they can beat a lackluster Germany, but can they consistently perform against dominant opposition? Watch this space...





Dawn of a new era at Arsenal sees exciting approach to transfers:





Arsene Wenger has left Arsenal and has taken his tedious transfer policy with him. I'm forever thankful for the wonderful footballing philosophies and playing style he brought to the club, but boy was the summer painful. We were forever being linked with what seemed like every footballer on the planet and never signing who we desperately needed. Take Summer 2016- when I started this blog- we didn't sign a quality centre back to fill in for the injured Gabriel and holidaying Koscielny so we were forced to start the season with Rob Holding and Calum Chambers against Liverpool, a baptism of fire for young Rob, who had just arrived from Bolton. We were thrashed 4-3 and a late comeback was quashed by Klopp's Scousers.





Poor Rob, he wasn't expecting his debut to go like it did





However, under Unai Emery, this unorganised approach is non-existent. With the help of Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi, he is addressing our weak areas with signings that make the most of the puny reported £50 million budget granted by Kroenke. Important players are being assured of the key role they will play in the "rebuild" Unai will control over the next few years, with the young and talented Ainsley Maitland-Niles signing a new contract, and his fellow midfielders Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny also pledging themselves to the future of the club. He has brought in experience with the signing of Stephan Lichtsteiner and the soon to be announced signing of Sokratis Papastathopoulos (would you believe me if I told you I didn't even have to look up how to spell that?!) I think Sokratis is a good signing at centre back, with Mertesacker retiring and Koscielny injured until Christmas, and Lichtsteiner will clearly be a second team player, providing support and competition for Bellerin whilst also improving him with over a decade worth of knowledge at full back.





Arsenal have announced the signing of a new goalkeeper (thank goodness) as well. Bernd Leno joins from Bayer Leverkusen, and looks like a quality man to have between the sticks if he can regain his form from 2016. I think the 26 year old will gradually replace Cech over the course of the next season, as whilst in my opinion it should be instant, we did just give Petr the number 1 shirt, so it's unlikely we'll drop him from the first team straight away.









The Gunners also seem to be very close to the signing of the Uruguayan 22 year old defensive midfielder, Lucas Torreira. He plays for Sampdoria and was joint fifth for the most interceptions in the Serie A last season. His passing and tackling are also superb, said to be like Santi Cazorla as a DM. For around £30 million it looks like he could be the "marquee signing" of the window and personally I think it's money well spent. Our summer has been very promising so far and I think the addition of another centre back (we are reportedly in talks with Soyuncu) and a quality winger (potentially the Portugese free agent Gelson Martins) would classify the summer as successful. We could stand a real chance at getting back into the Champions League where we belong.





We'll meet again...





Goodbye Jack and Santi. It really hurts to see you leave, because you both have been so loyal and have pushed through bad injuries to play for the club. You both created such amazing memories for me growing up. Jack- when you tore Barca apart, when you exemplified beautiful Wengerball for *that* goal vs Norwich and when you smashed it top bins against West Brom. Santi- that free kick was deluxe and it begun a comeback which gave me my first memory of Arsenal silverware. You'll both always have a place at Arsenal and I wish you all the best for the future.





Tears in my eyes











