So we move on to the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons, the second and third in our new stadium and the first without David Dein overseeing a transfer window.
2007/08 transfer window.
In:
- Lukasz Fabianski
- Eduardo
- Bacary Sagna
- Lassana Diarra (sold the following January)
- Håvard Nordtveit
Out:
- Fabrice Muamba
- Mart Poom
- Jeremie Aliadiere
- Thierry Henry
- Arturo Lupoli
- Freddie Ljunberg
- Jose Antonio Reyes
A few younger players left the club too. The most odd signing of the summer was without doubt, Lassana Diarra who joined on deadline day from Chelsea, but in January transferred to Portsmouth.
He said – “I read that the club [Arsenal] wanted to keep me. But when you want to keep someone, you do it by playing them. This hasn’t been the case.”
Arsenal’s Premier League campaign was going really well and it looked like we had a real opportunity to win the Premier League. By the end of February we were 6 points clear at the top with 12 games to go. Then we played Birmingham City at St Andrews. The game hadn’t been going long when Martin Taylor went in late on Eduardo. It was a bad one. Taylor was sent off, Eduardo’s season was over. Despite going behind, two goals from Theo Walcott gave us the lead. As the game went into stoppage time, Clichy was adjudged to have fouled Parnaby in the box. McFadden nicked his side a point from the spot. At the final whistle, Gallas through his toys out of the pram and from that moment on, our league challenge went downhill.
We ended the season in 3rd place behind Man Utd and Chelsea. We crashed out of both domestic cup competitions, which is all I say about that and Liverpool ended any hopes of a Champions League trophy after beating us 5-3 on aggregate, with a little help from the referee, at the quarter-final stage.
Arsenal as a team had played really well for much of the season but by the time the curtain fell on that 2007/08 campaign, I’m sure like every other fan, I was left with a “what should have been” feeling.
Into the 2008/09 season and the summer transfer window looked like this:
In:
- Aaron Ramsey
- Samir Nasri
- Mikael Silvestre
- Amaury Bischoff
- Andrey Arshavin – January transfer
Out:
- Gilberto Silva
- Alex Hleb
- Jens Lehmann
- Mathieu Flamini
- Justin Hoyte
Gilberto was a huge loss, Flamini and Hleb too although Ramsey and Nasri helped to soften the Hleb blow. Losing two defensive midfielders in one summer though was hard. The goalkeeper department left a lot to be desired really as neither Almunia or Fabianski were what I’d call great keepers. They both had moments of greatness but I always felt like each had a howler or two in them at some point during a game they played in. The defence in front of them wasn’t much better either, well, apart from Sagna. I don’t think identifying and signing top quality defenders was one of Arsene Wenger’s strengths. Sol Campbell aside of course.
Yet again we ended the season in Champions League spot, 4th place behind Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. The FA Cup run ended at the semi-final stage after losing 2-1 to Chelsea, the League Cup run lasted until the quarter-final when Burnley beat us 2-0 and Man Utd ended our Champions League run at the semi-final stage.
Other big moments from the season was Cesc Fabregas replacing William Gallas as captain and then soon after, suffered a ligament injury which kept him out for four months and in the January, Jack Wilshere signed his first professional contract with the club. Theo Walcott extended his stay at the club too.
The end of the season marked yet another fruitless campaign for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal FC.
Next up, 2009/10 and 2010/11.
Morning Rico, an inability to defend or to coach defensive stability, now that bears remembering. A physically weak central midfield full of tippy tappy players who never shoot. That annoys us now but back then it was mind numbing. How far we’ve come!
Gibbs White, that’s not one of those fashionable transfer rumours is it, but I’ve always thought he was very effective and loves a goal. Stays fit and will be rested and eager to prove a point after being omitted from the WC squad. Maybe better vfm than the kid from Villa?
Morning Kev, it’s quite interesting reading about our past and just how bad things were after the stadium move.
I’m trying hard not to take much notice of transfer rumours this summer because I’m 99% sure that Arsenal will be busy.
Good morning Rico, Kev.
I still believe that Wenger never “got” defending. His attitude seemed to be you score two, we’ll score three. To be perfectly honest, butand judging by some that we bought, he couldn’t recognise a good defender to save his life.
Rico, I seem to have repeated a comment, could you delete the first one please.
Morning Cicero. He was dreadful at signing defenders. If we could match his ability to sign attacking players and Arteta’s for defensive ones, we’d be great. Lol
Afternoon Cicero, yeah, Arsene signed quite a few defensive calamities didn’t he, Silvestre was really quite embarrassing, as Rico would say at the time ‘bargain basement’ but I think losing Dein brought a lot of that about because those who replaced him were clearly not up to standard because they didn’t do their jobs they just left it to Arsene.
I assumed it was just down to the stadium debt Kev.
Hi Rico and all.
It’s good to reflect and share memories.
There was so much adjustment around this period, including the introduction of a new adversery, Jose Mourinho.
I think the CL final in Paris was a watershed moment for Wenger, because he completely changed Arsenal’s tactical approach and ripped up what had brought him success.
He had conquered England, and probably wanted to conquer Europe.
Losing Vieira (2005), Bergkamp and Pires (2006), and Henry (2007), was huge, especially if you are handicapped financially, up against a free-spending Chelsea and United.
Wenger was asked at the time how the stadium move would affect Arsenal’s ability to compete and whether or not he could significantly strengthen, and he replied that Arsenal would challenge, they still had money to spend, but would have to use their resources ‘more intelligently’ than their rivals.
Sadly he often bought the wrong profile of player as well as woeful defenders and allowed the club to drift into a comfort zone where top four and CL qualification was redefined as success.
There are two things that confuse me around this period.
During Arsenal’s record-breaking defensive run to the CL final, Martin Keown was responsible for coaching the defence, yet he wasn’t retained after this.
The second is that even though we knew the club’s ability to spend was heavily impacted by the cost of the Emirates, no figures were ever released publicly, so it’s almost impossible to measure just how much less Arsenal could spend than their rivals.
The most dis-heartening result of the 2007-08 season for me personally was the 4-2 defeat at Anfield in the CL QF 2nd leg.
One should never assume Rico
Hi Dennis.
There were a few disappointing results that season. Was it Ryan Babel who hurt us against Liverpool? A player we were linked to I believe.
I think I was right to on this occasion 😝