The Rebuilding Begins

15 years into the job, Arsene Wenger would have thought he would have dominated Europe at least once and being English champions a few more times than he currently has. But things has not turned out the way he wanted and he probably faces his toughest time since his arrival. This season, he does not have the experienced leaders to carry the team forward and he just lost few of his biggest players in the team.He suffered the heaviest defeat in his entire reign and the club's worst start in almost 60 years is not a statistic he would like to be associated with.

Majority of us gooners would call this transfer window a disaster, we've lost our best players and the players we brought in is far from the quality of players we sold. The scouts, CEO and negotiators have to take most of the blame because we had the entire summer to work with and most of the work was done not more than 3 days from the transfer deadline. The early signs are already bad, our performances has been far from convincing and the team's confidence is lacking. The finances of the club has been the biggest story this summer, our club is operating under a tight budget meaning we cap salaries and we don't spend much on transfers. We've made lots of money over the last few seasons with the sale of several players and yet this continues this season. It's by far our biggest selling of players in a season and we can no longer deny being a 'selling club'. It's not a pretty sight for Arsenal fans having to go back to the starting line over and over again. At the end of the day, the stadium is pretty much the biggest item in our financials but without building the stadium, the club cannot compete in the long term. This is not a short term sacrifice for 5 years or even 10, it might take 20! Can we really carry on like this, selling players season after season and having negative spending ....AND 'trying' to competing for honours. It's ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

To the positives, there's still quality in the team without Cesc and Nasri. Gervinho, Arteta and Frimpong have already shown they can galvanize this team.Gervinho looks a threat every time he goes forward, he can provide and as well take a goal himself. Arteta is the most important signing, he becomes the playmaker in the team. He has the experience in the league and I believe will play a big part in the season. Frimpong looks like the midfield hard man we've been looking for in a long time, he might not have the height of Vieira, but he surely has the muscle and aggression.Rosicky has put in some decent performances and could bizarrely have one of his best seasons, fingers crossed. Ramsey will have his biggest season yet and Wilshere's absence will only mean more games and experience. We might not have a clear leader on the field but the experience of Van Persie, Arshavin and Benayoun will bring some much needed strength during tough games. We've got options in attack as well, Chamakh and Walcott could very well deliver 20-25 goals between them. More good news? We've got our new signings in Ju Yong and Alex Chamberlain who could also contribute to the score sheet throughout the season. Ju Yong has the experience and has already scored a few for his national team.  Meanwhile Alex scored a scorcher in the Carling Cup and has impressed for the England Under-21s. Plus, if Arsene gets it right, we got Ryo Miyaichi to deliver us some surprises. If the offensive players get it right, it might be a better season than most people think.

In the defence department, I am less optimistic. We effectively only signed Mertesacker. Jenkinson came in for Eboue and Santos came in for Traore.Koscielny, Djourou and Squillaci remains the biggest liabilities in my view. Koscielny hasn't made the grade I feel when it comes to defending against better teams. Djourou has not improved much and his concentration and alertness has been questioned on many occasions. Squillaci just isn't a good defender at all, nothing else to say. The defence needed a lot of strengthening this summer but there's isn't enough improvement overall. Sagna, Vermaelan, Mertesacker and Gibbs being the back four is probably still acceptable, but it is the understudies who are just not good enough when required. This is Arsene's single biggest error of the transfer window, if we had signed even one more centre back it would have made the difference.

Title aspirations

I have always been optimistic with this team I have supported more than half of my life, but this is the very first time I am less optimistic about competing for the league. The reality is we are rebuilding time after time when a big players leave and I'm not sure when it will end. The squad we had last season were maybe 2 players away from being really excellent. But things happen in life, one cup final lost, injuries and lost of morale caught up on the team.It's going to be even more difficult this season so the minimum would be again be a top four finish.

Roundup and Predictions
I've never got this right ever because I don't like Man Utd winning the title and I think Arsenal are better than they are.Lol. Anyway, here's an overview of the title contenders.

Man Utd
They are by far the favourites this season despite them losing a few players to retirement. They've done very well in the transfer market and their start to the season has been breathtaking. Their new players are blending in very well and they have some exciting players coming back from a loan spell like Cleverly and Welbeck. I believe they are biggest favourites again and it is their title to lose.
Best position: 1st
Worst position: 2nd

Chelsea
It's hasn't been a very high profile transfer window but Chelsea has splashed almost 60mil pounds on  Mata,Lukaku and Meireles. It's a significant year for the blues in addition to the signings on David Luiz and Fernando Torres in January which totaled 70mil pounds. They have also got Sturridge back who did really well on loan last season. They have the most experienced squad in the league but with a higher than average squad age. A new manager too who could well make things more exciting. Chelsea is definitely right up for it this season.
Best position: 1st
Worst position: 3rd

Man City
Money does make things happen and they certainly make title contenders. Man City will probably make their biggest ever push for the title as long as I can remember. They have got one of the most powerful squads in Europe comprising of the best talents in the world today. They have the players to make it happen and it is up to them to mix and match a winning team every game. However, their lack of experience playing with each other would be the only negative. It's a very impressive line up, Aguero, Nasri, Dzeko, Tevez, Silva, Milner, Yaya Toure, Balotelli and many others. This team will be contending for the title this season.
Best position: 2nd
Worst position: 4th

Liverpool
Liverpool are back in business all because of one man, Kenny Dalglish. Since his return to the club, their fortunes have changed dramatically. Despite the sale of Torres, 'King Kenny' has transformed the club capable of challenging for trophies again. The arrival of Suarez and Carroll has been a breath of fresh air for The Reds. Summer also saw the arrival of Downing, Adam, Henderson, Bellamy and Jose Enrique. This has strengthened the team tremendously and this is also due to the support of their new owners. It's definitely a stronger Liverpool side this season but I feel it's one season too early for them.
Best position: 3rd
Worst position: 6th

Arsenal
I've never lost hope on this team but realistically I have yet to be convinced the team can do it.
Best position: 2nd
Worst position : 5th

If the math is done by averaging the best and worst, my prediction will look like this.
1) Man Utd
2) Chelsea
3) Man City
4) Arsenal
5) Liverpool

The top four is exactly how it finished last season. It's a big season ahead and we'll see how it goes.

~deyao~

She's electric, she's the current running through my veins

Just when I thought the my days of blogging about any of the Next Top Model series was over, I am excited to be writing it about it again. When I looked back at my posts on ANTM and BNTM, I didn't think I could ever reproduce any of those things again. Maybe it's because my interest had changed or I have evolved from it. Every post I have ever done came from a sudden inspiration I got from somewhere and often it is a spur of the moment. To make sure I carried it with me, I wrote it on this blog. To write about the same thing I wrote about 2 years ago would be really different. I went back and saw my Next Top Model posts I wrote previously and I was surprised how I wrote them because I wouldn't write them that way if I did it today. My last post about BNTM was more than two years ago.

After a tremendous Britain's Next Top Model Cycle 6 (2010), it has brought me inspiration to write about it again. America's Next Top Model is also hitting new highs in recent times but it lacked that catalyst to get me on the keyboard to write about it. BNTM 6 was just fabulous to watch, full of excitement, humour and surprises.

Just a recap, I started off with Cycle 3 where the stunning Lauren Mccavoy deservingly took honours. Cycle 4 saw Alex coming on top and Cycle 5 saw a determined Mecia edging out Sophie. Cycle 5 started off a bit dull and boring, but things picked up eventually and I really liked it in the end. The quarreling and bitching did put me off a bit during the course but as things got more serious, the quality improved and it was really entertaining. Cycle 5 also was the last for head judge Lisa Snowdon and Huggy Ragnarsson. Milliner Louis Mariette was new to the panel but he wasn't the ideal judge for me. A tribute to the judges for a fantastic show. Overall, it was well worth watching.

Now to the new BNTM 6, reformed and elevated. New judges, new theme and new auditions. From the left: Grace Woodward, Julien MacDonald, Elle Macpherson and Charley Speed. A brief intro, Grace is a fashion stylist and creative director to many huge fashion magazines. She seemed really straight and mean at the start but she became likable. Julien is a top British designer who has worked at the best fashion houses and biggest models in the business. He is not afraid to give you his opinion. 'The Body' Elle Macpherson is one of the world's most famous supermodels ranking on the same level as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington. All I can say she represents the best of the fashion industry. And lastly, Charley is a male model who has worked with the top fashion brands in the world and started at the age of 17. No photographers on the panel this time around. There is a surprise international destination (revealed below). The episode where it was revealed took me on a ride and it was just exhilarating. I was absolutely caught out just when I thought I've seen it all.

Now, straight to business, my favourite contestant Charlotte Holmes. I did have a previous favourite named Charlotte as well, but I like the current one more. I was hoping she would finally overcome the challenge of "the pretty girl can't win"(She has entered a few beauty pageants). She did extremely well right till the end and having her on the show was probably the highlight of the series. Her gorgeous face, bubbly personality, constant smile and determination was to die for. I forgot to mention she's so hilarious and I don't know what it is about her, but I just laughed every time she reacted to something. All I can I say I was thoroughly impressed. She proved so many people wrong by having so many good photos, winning challenges and booked job after job. Elle's reaction to her leaving tells the story how highly she rated her. Elle said:

'I realised afterwards that it was because a lot of comments made about Charlotte -  too commercial, too smiley, not fashion enough, too curvy - were the types of comments I heard early on in my career.When she didn’t make it through to the final three, it felt like a part of me was rejected.'

Her versatility proved a challenge to high fashion but I don't think she could have done more in her part. She might not make it to high fashion in the future but there's so much she could still do.  It's not often you get such a 'cool' contestant on a show like her. She was up for it the entire time and personality did bring her very far. She's probably one of my all time favourite contestants.  Charlotte does some modelling nowadays and also works as a tv presenter. She is so talented and I can't wait for career to blossom, really happy for her. Here some of her shots from the series.

Photo of the week. Shot in Alicante, Spain. Top draw. Reminds me of Adriana Lima.

Revlon photoshoot.

In the Norwegian glacier . Negative 4 degrees with a dress made of bottles.

Shoot in Bukit Cahaya, Malaysia! Nice shape, one of her best shoots.

Charlotte: Bring on the rugby boys!

Shot on the roofs of one of the buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

What a journey for Charlotte on BNTM. She didn't need to win the competition to make it big in the future, she just has it in her. And her progress since the competition has showed that. I'll end it here with some of her pictures I found and some of the other contestants from the Cycle 6. Cycle 7 has already started, who knows, I'll be back with more.

 

                         

                        

Other contestants

Joy

Malaysia shoot.

Toughest conditions ever.

Beauty shoot

Tiffany

One of her strongest.

She manages to make the axe look heavy.

If her hair stayed this way, things would be so different.

 Alisha

Her softness finally showed.

 For a finish. Here's an interview of Charlotte with Superstar Magazine with photos from it. Now you can see why she's so funny.


             

Charlotte will be hosting BNTM Live which is coming soon. Can't wait to see it.

The title is part of Example - Won't Go Quietly which was played on the show and I thought it was a perfect description of Charlotte . I guess my inspiration of this post is quite obvious.

 Back with Next Top Model
~deyao~