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 Cicero, all.
No surprise re Sake or Timber really.
New post up..
Good morning all.
Tuchel has finally let the cat out of the bag, “Saka is not fit enough to start and finish matches”.
It’s something I think we have all been aware of over the past few months as we have watched Saka struggle in games. He has an achilles injury and has been playing through pain for months.
Coincidentally, Arsenal sacked first team doctor Zafar Iqbal last Monday immediately after the Champions League defeat.
A link between the two stories? I wonder.
🤣 Kev, tongue in cheek I promise
I’m not sure that Harry Brook is ready for that job yet Cicero, I’d prefer him to focus on his batting which is a bit up and down just now, likewise Joe Root as you say.
Harry Brook is the vice captain Kev. Although he has experience of captaincy in white ball cricket he also has previous in inappropriate behaviour. Of the rest only Joe Root has the experience and stature to take on the job but his confidence is at a pretty low ebb.
That did cross my mind Cicero, but I’m not sure that I can think of any current or young all-rounder who can immediately step into his place and we can’t afford to drop Atkinson anyway…
Noooo Rico, not the same time as Love Island, OMG how do I negotiate that conundrum? 🤦♂️
I don’t think he’ll be dropped Cicero. A stern talking to and move on I reckon.
It seems that Ben Stokes may have done the England selectors a favour.
A fracas in the early hours of Monday, at a night club in Chelsea, which involved the England Captain, Gus Atkinson and a Saracens academy player resulted in an ECB minder needing stitches, could result in Stokes losing the captaincy and maybe a suspension from test cricket. The favour? Not having to drop Stokes for purely cricket reasons. Poor batting, all but ineffective bowling and fitness generally have put his position in jeopardy.
I share your hope Kev, I very much doubt I’ll watch the football. Not when Love Island is on at the same time 🤣🤣
I can’t say that I’m looking forward to this forthcoming, bloated World Cup really Rico, I’ll just be hoping that our players come through it unscathed and hopefully come home early. 🙏🏻
Agreed Limey, the signing of Stepanovs was down to Keown and co apparently because they kept cheering him even though they could see he was average. Wenger listened to them and snapped him up. Oops..
End of the month Kev. A Tennis, cricket and football feast looms.
Morning to you both.
Limey, for such an intelligent and knowledgeable football man, dear old Arsene made some quite unfathomable decisions, why on earth would he think for example that Silvestre was an asset?
Why on earth did it take him so long to sign a proper centre-half when Toure, Gallas and Silvestre were being bullied every week?
In what world did he ever see Almunia as the type of elite goalkeeper to take us into the late 2000’s?
Morning Champions, doesn’t Wimbledon start soon Rico? That’ll be a welcome distraction for some to just to have a break, even a short break, from the footie.
I’ll be following the cricket myself, if the rain lets up?
Morning everyone,
That’s good news for Arsenal about Timber,not good for him personally but hopefully he’s fit and ready for next season.
It’s less than 3 weeks since the Bournemouth- Man City game which is amazing really.
Following on from the discussion about Wenger and defenders I think he just wasn’t interested in that side of the game. His good defensive signings were few and far between. Sol Campbell has to be the best as said,I suppose Kolo Toure and Lauren weren’t bad either.
One of the worst I can think of was Igor Stepanov (I’m coming over shivery just thinking of him)
I think the fixtures are out next week!
Morning Geoff, all.
Looking forward to the end of the World Cup so our players get a rest.
Morning Rico and all, just been catching up with the comments, now looking forward to the transfer market to see who we sell and buy and what young players Arteta promotes to the senior list
Too many potentially great players were robbed by injury Dennis.
No surprise re Timber, he rushed himself back for one game.
Timber out of the world cup already . How many to follow
Yes Rico, Kolo Toure was adjudged to have brought Ryan Babel down in the area, minutes after Walcott had raced up the pitch to make it 2-2, which back then put us through on away goals.
The season started out very well and there were whispers about a genuine title challenge, but it all started to unravel after Gallas’ meltdown at St.Andrews, Birmingham (we were robbed, never a pen!), where a late penalty got them a 2-2 draw, and naturally Eduardo’s horrific injury.
After that game results didn’t go our way and we fell away, which is why the Liverpool game was particularly disappointing, because it was our last hope of a trophy.
What a player Eduardo was, great technical ability. In another universe, he and Tomas Rosicky would have been a dream for football purists.
Eduardo was levels above Adebayor, such a shame his time was cut short.
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 😝
One should never assume Rico
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.
I assumed it was just down to the stadium debt Kev.
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.
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
Rico, I seem to have repeated a comment, could you delete the first one please.
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.
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.
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?