How I hate the papers but how do we avoid them?
Quotes from Wenger, Robin van Persie to name just two have again fed the red tops a story to sensationalise. Comments made by Fergie certainly don’t help our cause do they?
The Sun report that Robin has said this:
Every team is buying quality players so, hopefully, we will do the same. You need investment to keep up. Manchester City are buying loads of good players, Liverpool are doing it now, Manchester United have been doing it for years.Of course you speak with the manager, the board and they give you a steer of where the club’s going.
On Cesc Fabregas:
He see’s things quicker than others. He’d be a miss for any team.
Where is the club going, that’s the question we all want answered?
The Daily Express has quotes from both Wenger and Fergie regarding Nasri:
We can say ‘no’ to any club coming in with a big offer, If Fabregas and Nasri leave, you cannot pretend you are a big club. Nasri stays.
I don’t think Nasri is coming to United. That’s all I can tell you. I think he has agreed to stay at Arsenal as well. It’s a possibility.
Eurosport have another bit to add to the interview – when asked about Nasri staying:
He is the manager, If he stands by that decision, it is a brave one. I don’t know if the (Arsenal) directors will enjoy that one, but it is possible.
Maybe he will have to stay. But I don’t think he is coming to United. I think that he has agreed to go somewhere else.
So we can pretty much rule out him going to the red side of Manchester can’t we, whether he ends up on the blue side before the season ends, remains to be seen…..
Talking about Wenger, the same paper reports a result of a survey held amongst the Arsenal Fans.
The results revealed that faith in our current manager is on the decline – A total of 69 per cent of supporters surveyed believe Wenger’s football philosophy takes too much precedence over winning trophies, compared to 53 per cent last year.
And 42 per cent of voters agreed the Arsenal board should reconsider their confidence in Wenger if his team do not win a trophy this season, with 40 per cent disagreeing and 18 per cent unsure.
I didn’t take part in this survey, nor did thousands of other Arsenal fans no doubt but would the end result be much different if we had?
So after a day of day of being slighty happier after the signing of Gervinho, it’s back down to earth today!!
But, if you want something to make you laugh, read this in The Daily Mirror – Honest Arsene??
That’s it for today……..
it makes no difference. There aim is personal profit, which they are entitled to. This is why sports clubs should not be privately owned
Winning with expensive players is secondary to buying cheap, selling high and profiting
Why don’t people realize this?
Morning all
Hi alan, i think many already realise that our current board appear to be intersted in their own pockets rather than buying a winning team….
I hate the smug grin of Fergies face when he says about the afc directors not enjoying losing money on nasri – yes he is right but….
Wenger should know the name of the game is winning not endless passing or overplay quoted by a certain Dutch manager.If Wenger wants pretty soccer at the expense of winning,let him go Monaco or some remote island.
I can’t wait to hear how Nasri and Fabregas we be like ‘new signings’. Its also concerning that the defensive side of our team has not yet been strengthened, in fact, Iosing Clichy and replacing with Gibbs is yet another massive risk!
I am getting fed up with the press hatred for us and everyone sniffing around like vultures. Time for the Arsenal PR department to kick in….
hi kings, we do tend to over do the passing game, it’s all become a tad predicable in the tactics department
Hi Will, they won’t, it’s Wenger and RvP interviews that have given them their headlines…
No chance Will.
Morning Lee..
Anyone know if the Asia games are on television?
Hi scully – you old cynic, can’t believe you think that wenger would say that 😉
AW has hinted that TV could play LB…. Gibbs is definately a risk, his fitness is not reliable
Bold choice by Wenger on Nasri.
I hear his logic: he’s saying that the topic clubs are coming in for Nasri despite being able to choose from the whole world. So what he’s saying is: there are no players as goods as Nasri for him to choose from (or the clubs aren’t letting them go).
In essence he’s saying: I can’t get someone as good as Nasri, so I might as well keep him.
He’ll probably lose him, but if we do go on and win something, it might get the “new Zidane” to sign a contract, since he claims he’s only interested in winning stuff and not chasing money. If we win something then he should stay, by his own logic.
I would really like Wenger to come out and say “I am not going to answer any of your questions because you make them up later anyway” and then walk out.
http://le-grove.co.uk/2011/07/12/ast-meeting-breakdown-keeping-nasri-for-a-26-increase-in-season-ticket-price/
A very good article.
Yeah Will, take the red nose stance!
Will, what’s interesting about that LG article is Pedro coming out and admitting basically that he was wrong to say Arsenal have piles of cash lying around for us to sign players.
We should do Lee. The press make up what Wenger says anyway.
You could be right Savage, I just wish we knew the truth on the financial side.
Let’s make something clear about Wenger and Nasri:
Wenger is saying that he wants to spend 20 million of his transfer budget on keeping Nasri for another year.
What he’s saying is: the market doesn’t have anybody as good as him available, so it’s a good investment.
This point raises an interesting position – because lots of Gooners are saying don’t worry about the finances, just go and blow some cash. He’s now going to do that, so anybody who comes back and says it’s not wise to blow cash is going to be shown up. If the people who accuse him for not spending cash now criticise him for spending it, they’re proving that they’re two-faced.
Interesting point there Savage but i think we could get a better player for less than what Citeh would pay for him and it’s the other side of what players will think if he just walks out for free…
Will, did you read The Daily Mirror i/v? We all know the club wouldn’t pay the fines that Fergie gets, and wenger likes playing games with the reporters i am sure….
Wenger probably thinks that Nasri is going to be one of the top players in the world.
Who do you think will be as good as Nasri, for 20m and available?
Mind games by Ferguson already???
Read between the lines.
The fact is, Ferguson sees Arsenal as a threat, despite what we may or may not think…
The time to worry is when he doesn’t comment about Arsenal anymore!
Young would have been my choice Savage….
Rico, the “reporter” just kept asking the same questions.
Morning kev
I miss the spats on the pitch too between the two sides, a bit of good old fashioned dirty stuff 😉
And a bit of pizza for afters 🙂
Morning Rico. Very good post btw…
I’m beginning to feel more confident about seeing both Cesc and Nasri in our starting XI next month…
Pizza, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Zapata joining Villarreal from Udinese….
You know, if i understood the gist of what Pedro was saying on LG.
If AFC pay Nasri what he wants, then it eats up most of our transfer budget… or am i wrong?
Viva Zapata!
Morning Lee, you feeling positive today :)..?
Young?
I think Young is 75% the player that Nasri will be. France are a stronger team than England and Nasri is probably the main player for the next 5-7 years. Young is a borderline first team player for England.
It’s possible that Wenger identified Mata as a replacement and he heard what we heard: Valencia are refusing to sell.
The other candidates like Sanchez, Neymar, etc either aren’t available or they’re going into the 30/40/50+ million category.
Of course, Wenger’s 20m gamble on Nasri could result in him signing for us, which would be a winning scenario for the club for sure.
That’s how I read it kev….
The problem we have is, Chelsea and Man City have pushed transfer fees artificially high.
Rico, it’s a risky strategy which could blow up in Wenger’s face in 12 months time.
Not sure how i feel about it.
Flamini Mk II could be staring us in the face?
Hi Will… Not only transfer fees but wages as well…
Yep Young, I would much rather have an Englisman who is a Gooner in his heart playing for us than Nasri – any day of the week…
Wait until this time next season, then we’ll look back on who had a better season, Young at Manure or Nasri with us….
I don’t mean in the in the way of trophies either…..
And if i’m honest, i don’t give a toot about the french national team 😉
This is true Kev and something HAS to be done when you have clubs able to make triple your money offers to players with other clubs when they are losing £100M a summer.
Like for like, we don’t need to ‘replace’ Nasri….. imho
kev, that what i fear, another Flamini who will dump on wenger from a great height next summer – i agree with what WATH said yesterday, tell nasri, sign buy july 31st or be sold to the highest bidder…..
With Nasri you have to assume the club have already looked at the worst case scenario and accepted the potential loss of 20m.
If we were to sign Nasri’s direct replacement for 30m (an equivalent player), that’s a 10m difference, plus the bedding-in time. So a 10m loss, plus loss of gelling.
On his current wage, the club will already save several millions (about 3m per year?), so you can deduct that off the 20m too.
Wenger basically has to ask himself, what’s the best possible player pool I can have to win the league THIS YEAR, and Nasri would be one of those names, which is why every single one of our top 4 rivals are going for him.
Morning folks
Q. Why are we all such miserable bastards?
With all due deference to Nick Hornby… 😉
AK, if Wenger sells Nasri… we’re a small club.
If Wenger keeps Nasri… he’s a fool. You pays yer money you takes yer choice.
Wenger is anything but a fool, and we are anything but a small club.
If he’s keeping Nasri, it is for a reason.
Does anyone honestly believe that the man HH once branded Scrooge (much to my chagrin) is about to cost the club 25 million, just because there’s nothing else on the market???
Wake up and smell the coffee!
Ferguson is pissed, because he stamped his foot and screamed, and screamed, and screamed… and didn’t get his own way. So he comes out with a snide comment about Wenger being brave, and everyone picks up on it and starts to panic…
Face it Fergie… you lost and Wenger won… live with it.
The rest of you, have some faith in Scrooge; if nothing else in this ludicrous transfer window.
Young, in the peak period of his career, was clearly the inspiration behind Villa’s excellent season. Oh wait…
Nasri is about to go into his best years.
My personal opinion is that if we have a French manager, we should be using that influence to sign the best French players, like Benitez did getting Torres and Reina in. We should be targeting Nasri, Benzema, Sakho, etc. We’ve done it in the past with Henry, Vieira, Petit, Pires, Sagna, Gallas, with good results generally.
But we shouldn’t be ‘accepting’ losing 20million, we should have sorted this all out long before now…..
Morning Mike..
Wenger is Ebenezer and always will be imho 😉
Young is in the peak of his career, just what we need… 🙂
Still, he’s at the Mancs now, so not much point in me hoping anymore….
And for the record, this maliciousness about French-Africans was started by Myles Palmer and it’s a pile of tripe. The reason Myles started it was because he hated Henry.
French-Africans are among the best footballers in the world, and the more we can get the stronger we’ll be. They’re athletic, have great balance and are generally bigger than others.
And look… we’ve just bought another one 🙂
Rough luck on Essien though.
You are right Savage, Wenger should be using his French Connection to get the next crop of best players.
We should looking for a few more top british players before buying more overseas who then leave us when they just start to come good…
What do you call the ‘next crop’ in terms of age Will??
Didn’t you agree that youth is killing youth??
Call me Mr Positivity, AK! 😉
Which British player would have served us better than Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp?
Foreigners can give you every bit as much loyalty as locals. Ultimately top players want to win stuff, and you can fully understand Nasri’s position. There really is nothing wrong with his stance, honestly. The real question is whether he believes Wenger can take us back to winning ways, and that’s where the crux of the issue is.
Morning Rico,
there you go… question answered…
Or do we all perhaps believe he was just visited by the Ghost of Christmas past and the Ghost of Christmas Future.. all rolled into one spoilt little Scotsman with a bad attitude and a big red nose? 😆
Fair points Mike, and to be honest, i don’t know the answer…
But in 12 months time, if AW hasn’t been able to convince Nasri to sign a new deal, he could walk… And he could walk into the arms of Ferguson or Mancini or CFC… That’s what i dread…
How Wenger deals with it, i really don’t know mate.?
All i’m saying is that he’s taking a huge risk if he lets Nasri run down his contract…
Morning Ak,
there’s another window between now and then, and anyway… we don’t know what they’ve agreed.
For that matter, neither does Old Red Nose 😆
Lee… 😆 😆
Got to keep the faith mate. Just light up.. 😉
I’ll drink to that Mike… rioja??? 😉
Ha ha Mike,
but i am one of many who have suggested Wenger sell Nasri before letting him go for free and long before Old Red Nose comments….
The small club comment was made by AW himself on afc.com… i just hope he is not keeping Nasri just to prove a point, to show he has the power as this time next year it will bite him and all of us on our backsides…..
ak, definitely a huge risk. I think it’s a risk either way – if Wenger genuinely believes Nasri is going to be a massive player, then imagine playing against him in the same league for the next 5 years?
Rico, between 22 and 24.
Come the next window, Nasri is free to talk to who he likes and secure his future, no transfer fee = more wages for the player…
if he doesn’t sign this summer, i am sure he won’t sign in the future either, well not for us….
Nothing rasict or nothing,But Arsenal do need english heart’s in the side and real people who dont just look at Arsenal as a stepping stone club.
Nasri can go do one,I will never sing that guy’s name again….How can we afford to throw 20 million down the drain when we never sign the players we need.
I’m now convinced that we will never win another league championship with wenger in charge.
I love the guy i really do,But he’s time is up for me and also does our board really have the ambition of a top club.
Mark my words we wont sign the players we all know we need,Just watch us work with all the same old players that let us down time and time again.
Squillaci will play a massive part this season,Just watch.
If we are gonna lose him next summer Sav, then i suppose it would be less painfull if he goes abroad.
If he stays and helps us win something before leaving, then that lessens the blow… But it’s a s**t sandwich anyway you look at it…
That’s a ready made player in wenger years Will…
During the season we all cried out for mature players, leaders, winners with experience….
22-24 year olds would cost an awful lot of money, by that age it will be pretty clear if they are going to be good or not…
Do we want players of that age at the expense of experience?
Rico,
Actually the Ghost of Christmas Past is really Flamini, all covered in dust and cobwebs and dried pasta, from sitting so long on the bench at Milan 😆
I truly believe that Wenger is so much brighter than that.
What get’s me aswell about Wenger,is how he mock’s us saying that they are trying day and night to sign players and then he talks to john cross and says he wish’s the transfer window was over already????
Wtf,does that sound like a man who has been working day and night to sign players???
I think we need to face facts, IF Nasri wants out for money reasons there is proabably only one or two clubs that he will go to, and if he goes there for free, he will get an even bigger wage.
If we sell him now to the highest bidder, that is likely to be to one of the same two clubs…
Either way, IF he wants to go, he will end up there, the difference is only whether we get a good price for him now, or nothing next summer….
However, he may just sign a new contract in the next few days…
I do too Mike but did he learn from those who walked for free before Flamini?
Ok, Edu also didn’t go on to great things but he was a wonderful player who left us for nothing…..
Rico,
that’s another good point… very very few, who ever left us, went on to better things.
And Edu deserved our respect, and our blessing… Nasri hasn’t earned that … Yet.
I’ve just realised another thing after reading Wenger’s quotes again…
He’s saying that the Nasri situation is important for another reason – it’s a marker, a precedent. If you start selling your top players: 1) other clubs are going to start poaching more often, 2) you can’t convince other top players to come.
We moan about Barca re Cesc, but if we start selling now, then this behaviour will increase in the future, not decrease.
So Wenger is playing a cash risk game to reduce this problem in the future.
Welcome Mr Islington – sorry for the delay in letting you on….
islington – i was pretty bemused about his comment on the transfer window, jeez, it’s only just open – the cynic in me would take that as him not being involved in it for the rest of the summer, however, i strongly suspect it’s more to do with the Barca pursuit of Cesc….
No problem at rico.
Mike
I cannot think of anyone off the top of my head, maybe Anelka? i loved Edu and agree re the respect bit… I think his knee ligaments went or similar didn’t it and he never recovered properly…
Re Nasri, sadly i think there are fans who won’t forgive him for what is going on right now….
Another transfer window is gonna go and there is going to be a lot of sad gooner’s,Wenger and the club are very good at spin and theres going to be lot’s of it.
I’m starting to feel that way too – maybe we’ll see one defender come in, but i reckon that will be our lot….
If you were a top player,would you really want to join Arsenal right now,we are a mess and it look’s like it’s only going to get worse.
I have never been so down about the Arsenal in all my life,We have players who dont want to be at the club and average players on very high wages,which we cant sell…That’s why we dont have the wages to sign top players and we just want to throw away 20 million on some jumped up player who has half a good season and then wants to f*** us off.
If were not going to buy then,
Id rather we sold him and give some of our youngsters a chance,Players who want to play for us.
Yh another french unknown in division 2. 🙂
Rico,
re Edu… agree; he always showed such joy when he played, and that was infectious.
As for Nasri and the fans… tis the nature of fanatics that they ahve impressionable values and brittle opinions.
Just wait until he sticks two in at Old Trafford; just to show Fergie what he missed… all previous sins will be forgiven and they’ll love him all over again. 😉
As a fan i would have to say but if i was a player without any feeling for the club my answer would be no – others around us are showing ambition in the market, bulding a strong side where as we appear to be clinging on to a couple of players who the eyes of the world think are our top players…
However, I don’t consider Nasri to be one of our top players, i would be a lot more upset if it was Sagna, TV, RvP, Theo, jack or Ramsey who wanted to leave.
And yes, i would rather see bartley, lansbury, Frimpong etc than some of our over paid, over hyped players who just play when they feel like it…..
Mikeb the thing is all he will do is play well for a bit and get other clubs watching him and then lose him for free.
He will end up at utd next season.
Snieder to ManUre, a great signing for them if it comes off.
If he plays well Mike and knocks in two goals against old red nose, red nose will be laughing all the way to the bank, especially if he gets him next summer 😉
Kev – wish he was coming our way and linking up with RvP, then just ship out Denislon and Diaby……
hi all, are we happy to see Gervinho in Arsenal shirt?
Do us Arsenal fans really believe that utd and chelski fear us???
The thing is aswell,By the sounds of rvp,
Do you think the players feel that they can win trophies…I get the feeling they are like the fans and know it will end up the same old story.
Gervinho is a good player and im happy we got him.
But what about our defence??
we bought a kid defender.
Wenger is accused of being frugal with his spending but when it comes to selling I believe that when he sees players as having outstayed their usefulness, because he gets too close to them he allows them to go cheaply so that he doesn’t hold up their careers.It is now possible that the new regime may find this untenable and begin to play hard ball with him and make him re – evaluate.
hi osi, i’m the same, good to see him signed but we need more, a quality defender would be a good start….
this is a tough one with nas. part of me applauds arsenes (public) stance on this, of drawing a line in the sand and saying we are not selling. another part of me feels that we may be cutting our nose off in spite of our face by doing so…
i don’t think we should sell him to any of the three clubs that finished above us, unless they offer ridiculous money. and i don’t consider 20-25 million ridiculous money, even if he does have only a year left on his contract. that would represent roughly 5-9 million profit on him – is it really that much? is that really worth potentially strengthening one of the teams we are chasing?
even if we do sell him, who is confident that the proceeds would be re-invested in the squad? would anyone consider it such good business if the fee disappeared into the club’s coffers? or went towards improving the contracts of some fringe players? would that be worth it?
like everything with afc, there is no cut-and-dried, black-or-white, obvious answer. nas has apparently chosen not to extend his contract – which is completely his right – and painted us into a corner. whatever happens, i don’t think we should just jump at the highest bid – if it is from one of the three clubs above us – and look at this only in terms of turning a profit on a player. there are risks with any course of action: be it sell to city/united/chelsea, or keep and potentially allow him to walk for nothing.
my personal take on this is we should be very careful about even considering selling him to one of the three aforementioned teams. if necessary, we should try and re-kindle interest from an italian/spanish/german team, and consider taking less than from another english side, so as not to strengthen one of the teams ahead of us…
if the proceeds of the sale are not used to strengthen (not necessarily reinvest, which can be done without strengthening) the first team, then i see us as ending up with little out of this.
islington, if we get a two defenders, a DM and a goal scorer, we could win trophies, in fact even without a DM i think we could win something….
Hi Osi…
Kristoffer Olssen………def
Leander Siemann…….def
Serge Gnarby………….mid
Hector Bellerin………..mid/f
Jon Toral Harper……..mid
they’re all around 16, Osi….
Only seen glimpses of Gervinho on You-Tube, but he looks a good ‘un Osi….
Hi oliver
it is a tough one but surely a club run as tightly as ours is in the finance department, letting him walk for free is not an option, regardless of who he goes to IF he doesn’t sign a new contract.
If he is sold this summer i think the money will be re-invested in the defence and whatever we get for Nik and Almunia will pay for a striker….
Kev, who are they please 😉 😉
now we have battered Nasri, what about Fabregas?? 😉
AK, did we buy all these? signing kids is not bad at all as we need to update our academy, but right now we need a little bit more ambitions in signing more mature, experienced and very good players.
I like Gervinho and he’s definitely has both the talent and work ethics to succeed in the Premiership.
Just read the Daily Mail interview yet again…
I conclude Wenger is not really bringing anyone in, except maybe a defender. He was asked: will you bring in big names to please Nasri and Cesc, and he said he can’t do it because of the uncertainty about Nasri or Cesc, basically as a replacement for them.
In my mind, if he was going to bring in some big names, it would be regardless of those two. So if they stay, it won’t happen.
So it’s Hamburger who want Nikki B, they have confired their interest…..
I only get my info from Jamie Sanderson’s and Jorge Berg’s blogs Rico…. wish i had inside info… 🙂
What do ya wanna Know?
Just kidding ya kev, they are our new signings to convince us all that we will win the league 😉
In 2016 😆
Osi, i believe Arsenal paid some kind of compo for these kids.
Olssen is Swedish
Gnarby & Siemann are German
Bellerin & Toral are the kids we snatch away from Barca 😆
Rico…. 😆
rico, what makes you so sure the money will be re-invested? at most clubs it would be, but have we not seen during the past few years that player sales do not translate into first term-ready player purchases?
if he is not going to commit, the prudent thing is to sell him. however, i don’t think we should sell him to united/city/chelsea. regardless of how some may feel about him, he would certainly immediately strengthen any of those three sides while correspondingly weakening ours. if we have to sell, we should – as much as possible – avoid selling him to one of the three clubs above us.
btw, i think we already got a striker – gervinho. you and i see him as a winger, but i’ll bet arsene sees him as an interchangeable piece to put up front.
at the moment, i think our most urgent need is quality competition for song. i also think we need something different at cb, and yes, a clinical striker. however, i am skeptical that any of those needs will be addressed by purchasing any first-team ready players. i expect that arsene will – again – look internally for most of his solutions.
How much for Old Nik then Rico..?
AK Humberg of Germany are the only club interested in him so you can guess the money,,,, around tenner.
I just don’t buy thsi Manure thing with Nasri.
Old Red Nose and Wenger just played a game of brinkmanship… Old Red Nose blinked first and went for Sneijder… Game to Wenger.
Old Red Nose got the funds freed up this window becaus his teams heartbeat either got too old or too embarrassed to play. He needed fresh blood and so he got the eighty million from Ronaldo finally freed.
Do you believe that if he buys Sneijder now he’ll have space or funds for Nasri in 12 months? I don’t see it.
And servicing the debt on that 800 million is gonna take one hell of a chunk from the annual budget, particularly with ffp around the corner.
Islington… Do you honestly believe that anyone who can pay Nasri’s wage demands doesn’t already know all about him?
Too much doom and gloom folks. Hold the line, and wait and see come Newcastle.
Osi, agree, they are all well and good but we need experience now…..
Savage – don’t trust anything The Daily Mail write…
Oliver – I just have a hunch that he will, no evidence, just purely my own thought… To be honest, i couldn’t care less who we sell him too and like i said earlier, my own view is he will follow the money which means citeh or the chavs – that being the case, he’ll be there either this summer and we get 20+ million or he ends up there next summer and we get nothing…
IF he wants out, sell to offers the most….
Osi/Rico, according to quotes from Hamburg’s Frank Arnesen, they cannot afford Nik [nor can Dortmund], but Arnesen did say that Nik was considering offers from 2 other clubs…
So i suppose at least 2 clubs have come to an agreement with AFC over Niks valuation?
I think it’s around £10 million kev, not sure how many pennies we’ll get for Almunia…
Islington,
sorry but I’ve been out and missed some of the comments…apologies.
Do I think Manure and Chelski fear us???
You bet your ass I do, or do last season’s results at the Emirates get conveniently forgotten in all this hysteria?
Two more signings and we’ll do them home and away. 😉
How will ManC be kept up and running in the long run? What the doing; the amount of money they throwing away is unbelievable and it’s not sustainable. One can hope to weather the storm of rival crazy spending in the short run, and then start a new storm in few years time when ManC and Chelsea would have collapsed. So maybe then we can see the justification for the kids collection.
I didn’t realise that kev, i did see there were two intersted in him which did shock me 😉 and just thought one was Hamburger…
Maybe its another PL side, i wish Bolton wanted him…. mmmeee
Mike, i’ve been here and i missed that one 🙁
Deep down i think they do a bit, but, Manure have bought good players, and no doubt the Chavs and Citeh will too so we best make sure we keep up…
Three more for me Mike 😉
I, personally, would allow Al to go for free. It would be ok if we get something around 2 to 3 m for Deni, 10 for Bendtner, although i rate him and price him higher.
Sry Rico,
Yeah… I’d like to see three… One wide left, one down the middle and a lanky and solid CB a la Samba/Mertesacker; I honestly do think that even with a swap deal 17 million is too much for Cahill.
Re Nik B… Heard that it’s Fulham. See my post yesterday… you get all the news here first 😆
we’ll have to disagree rico. if the highest bidder is one of city/united/chelsea, i absolutely don’t think we should sell him to them. if he won’t commit and we need to move him off the books, fair enough. but i would much rather the club took less and avoided doing business with one of the three clubs above us, than strengthening one of these clubs over what is likely to be a matter of no more than 10 million pounds.
i would probably look at it differently if i were confident that sale proceeds would be used to fund the purchase of a first team-ready, experienced, quality player – but i am not confident of that at all. if we sell nas, i expect that we will find his replacement is already at the club…
Bendtner should offloaded to whomever ready to buy him even to ManU and Co. I don’t think he can improve ManU nor Chelsea. He’s a good sub but not a great striker that scares opposition, he may develop into one with more games, appropriate coaching and playing with a team that utlises his style of playing, but at the moment his not a great threat. .
osi, i suspect Al will go for free, just a case of wants him…
Did i miss another one there Mike, Fulham?? Maybe we should do a deal for Hangeland then?? Arry is after Samba, I hope we get in there first, CL footie will be the key hopefully if we go head to head for him..
no worries oliver, i respect and understand where you are coming from … my view is only becuase i think we would re-invest…
Rico,
I wouldn’t be too upset with Hangeland alongside Samba… as for Arry? I just get the feeling he’s taken his eye off the ball, and with Modric having a tantrum, and Uefa Cup beckoning’ could be just the time to show the upstarts who really rules the roost in North London 😆
That’s it for me Folks; got to do some work sometime… enjoyed the banter as always.
Have a good one
with TV at LB, all would not be so bad eh 😉
Catch you soon mike, have a good one…
The highlight of the session saw wingers Theo Walcott and Ryo Miyaichi race each other, with both finishing almost identically. Ryo, who boasts impressive sprint times, also featured on the left wing of a practice game, with Samir Nasri in the centre. A possible indication of how the team will lineup tomorrow.
from young guns…
What time will Arsenal be playing tomorrow?
13.45 uk time
rico, if i were confident we would invest potential nas sale proceeds in an experienced, quality, first team-ready replacement, then i would certainly look at this situation differently – although i would still have reservations about selling nas to any of the three teams that finished above us….
on that note, how would you view selling nas to the highest bidder, if you thought the proceeds would disappear into the clubs coffers, never to be seen again? or if they were used to fund new, improved deals for certain fringe players who have not given us much?
Lee, that’s quite interesting, do YG’s give any indication over Ryo’s visa?
That’s a good question oliver – i think i’d still say sell, i’d rather the club got the money at the end of the day than to see him walk free…
Mate your kidding yourselfs if you think they fear us,They think we are weak mate.
What convinces you will we do them over next season??.
We beat a chelski team that was going through a rot and beat a man u side that took us lightly because they thought that we would just roll over and let them tickle our belly.
There’s no doom and gloom about it,this is the real issues about Arsenal and they still are not being sorted.
Mate i was like you all the positives and wouldnt have a bad word said about arsene or Arsenal,but ive lost the faith,i will not be blinded by what wenger does or say’s anymore!
All i want is a club that fights for it’s honour and fights fire with fire,were like a little stepping stone for these prima donners to go find,a so called bigger club with bigger wages.
Ive always loved the way club runs things,but there comes a time when theres a need to make a improvement,and go against the grain for a change, and send a big signal to the rest that we are the Arsenal and we want to fight to be the best.
Well said Mr Islington…….!
Afternoon WATH..
If wenger buys the right players they will fear us, but that is a big if…..
Also has any one heard that samba’s going to the s*** hole??
Aftanoon Rico, hope ur good….
Think wengers missing the point as well with his spin on a big club not selling its big stars…! The thing with a big club is if you sell a big star or two then a big club makes sure they are replaced…! Didn’t bother the mancs to much selling ronaldo did it…….
As RVP says buying proper players sends out a statement…! it’s what i been saying about intent for weeks n weeks, yrs now…! Still he procrastinates with the defence.
Only that dodgy arry is throwing in Keane and Bassong to try and land Samba but only paper crap Mr Is…!
Yep Mr Islington, i read that Harry wanted him, has the deal been done now then 🙁 🙁
some spud in the office is giving it large about how they have got him,Not heard anything myself??.
Do we want a Chelsea/Man City run club or one like ours?
I think we need to group as Gooners and lobby Fifa and Uefa to change the rules and not just have guidelines.
Good thanks, you??
That’s because Fergie doesn’t penny pinch, he knew he’d get the Ronaldo money and he spent it – and he’s still spending now…
So many times I just wish we had a manager who would just spend the money and make us right….
If we sold Nasri and Fabregas we’d have 60-70 million to spend, thats Samba, Cahill, Fellani and a striker….
Simples…..
Will, me personally, a bit of the Chelsea/City would do me just fine….
Will,
we dont want to be run like them,but we want who club that prides itself with fighting to be the best.
And by fighting with clubs who are artificially run will do what to our club?
sorry about the above,
We don’t want to be run like them,but we want a club that prides itself in fighting to be the best. 🙂
Mate we have weakness in our side and we ain’t doing nothing to change that.
We are not asking for 50 million pound signing’s.
Utd chelski and city are getting stronger by adding players that they need.Why we just sit there and talk about another year and how much stronger we will be.
Sorry but i just don’t buy it.
How can you really tell me that you are happy with our team right now??
The team has been crying out for a backbone for ages….
We don’t have to be run like Citeh or the chavs to compete Will that isn’t a valid argument every time someone says we need to buy. It’s obvious we need to buy and again we dont need 50million pound players to compete…! IF wenger didnt reward failure and pay average players stupid wages half would of been sold off by now and we’d have even more money to spend…! Another one of his mistakes that gets swept under the carpet.
Backbone Lee, spot on mate and thats all down to attitude and committment as much as us having a weak spine the last few yrs…!
W.A.T.H i agree with every part of your post,Top notch mate.
So how do you see Ramsey progressing?
If Fab and Nasri stay, what will our midfield look like?
When I say a bit of Citeh and Chavs, I mean spending a bit of money and building a proper side, not just fill it with a few misfits like Squilli, Denilson and co…..
But, they are owned by foreign peopl, are we any different really, just that own owner isn’t mega rich and what he does have he won’t spend….
Ramsey will be used more next season i believe.
Ramsey is a massive part of our future and i think he will play a big big part next season regardless of what happens with fabs and nasri.
Ramsey is the reason I am not overly fussed if Fabregas goes…..
In all honesty I can see Fab and or Nas actually getting in Aarons way….! Aaron is gonna need games and he won’t get so many with them 2 around…! he has all the attributes to be as good as them for sure but saying that he’s gonna need games to progress…!
Mr Islington, I think you are letting the press drive your anger.
Mate im not into the media bull,ive been around too long to know what they are like.
Im being driven by what i see happening at our club,
I’m a p’d off season ticket holder,who just does not see us making any moves.
Do you really think Arsene will buy the players we need.
Sounds like you all believe that Ramsey is genuine world class then? I.e. Future top 10 midfielders in the world?
So because you don’t see them, they are not happening?
Mate we have had the spin,season after season.
Im going to buy top top class players said Arsene.
Did it happen ummmm NO???
So what makes you think that’s going to change??
Re : Ramsey……. Yep for me top top notch and an engine to drive a team on…! he def has it in him…!
Ramsey has the talent to become world class,
I really think ramsey will be the real deal.
I think he will be world class in time Savage, he seems over the meantal side of his leg break, he certainly has the ability, he and jack together made the manc midfield look silly last season at the emirates…
Answer me a question. What would you guys of said if Man Utd or Chelsea bought the Brazilian captain Denilson and Wenger had come out and said, we looked at him when he was younger but went for the short term option?
Mr Is, he and Gazidis also said they would be doing business very early in the window and that it would be a very busy window for arsenal…
did they and has it been, no…..
Will your clutching at straws mate.
Rico very true,i was gonna say that. 🙂
Where’s Charles WATH? Down the mel and kim again? 🙂
Hoorah i’d say, he is rubbish….
I kind of think that is a strange question though Will, when to the chavs or manure go for a short term option??
No, I am asking a fair question.
Well, let’s be frank about what the team needs:
Keeper: fine, perhaps an experienced backup, but Vito and Fab not too bad for backups
RB: Sagna is top notich, with Jenk and Eboue backup
CB: TV is top, no2 could use Samba/Cahill, Koz/Djourou are a very good 3rd and 4th choice option, and Squich is fine as 5th
LB: Gibbs is a question mark – he has potential, Traore is a question mark
DM: Song is solid but not Makelele, backup of Frimpong is a question mark
CM: Fab/JW/Ramsey, excellent, Nasri there as well, Diaby a good 5th choice
LM: Walcott is looking better and better imo, Gerv as backup
RM: Nasri is top notch, Arsh is a superb sub
FC: RVP is world class, Cham is decent but not mindblowing
So the options:
– If you don’t believe that Djourou or Koz will become amazing, then a 2nd CB is an option, and we know that Arsenal have been chasing
– DM can be improved, Song will do, but Frimpong is a risk
– LB depends on Gibbs injuries
– FC depends on RVP injuries and the ability of Chamakh to step up his game
Everywhere else is fine. Honestly the team does not need to be cleaned out, but there are certainly areas that are debatable.
Rico, how much are either of those teams in debt?
If I were Wenger I imagine it would be pretty easy to convince the board to hold off selling Nasri until the winter transfer window. They get the benefit of Nasri early in the season, and they can maximize the transfer fee by selling in the winter when it’s more likely a desperate club will be willing to pay up.
Wenger might even use thi is to motivate Nasri to play his best in the first half of the season.
Of course they are taking the risk on injury, whereby most clubs would just wait things out till the end of the year and grab him for free. Anyway, a year is a long time. Wenger may convince Nasri to stay by then.
How can it be a fair question??
They didn’t sign denilson and when we did he was the under 17 captain, unproved at any proper level – wenger took a punt at another young one who in this case he got badly wrong….
compare that to the chav and mancs midfielders??
Back to that again, i don’t give a hoot how much debt they are in Will, you asked a question about denilson…..
If you choose to believe all the words and promises that Gazidis and Wenger gives us, good on you Will – I don’t as its all be said before by the club and never have the promises been fulfilled…
Rico, you are bettter than this. We can’t pay the money they do as they can live in debt and get away with it, we live in their debt, we support Barnet as that will be the only North London team left.
Gets me?
Will answer this,are you happy with the team we have or are you just using them sides to deflect the truth that is happening at Arsenal??
Hi Doc, by the winter he is free to talk to clubs and we’d prob struggle to get 10million for him, they would all do what we did with chamakh, wait four months and get him for free….
He must be Lee, he vanished rather suddenly with no explanation…! If he nods off at half 8 2nite we know where he’s been 🙂
‘Better than this’ – wow Will, what do you mean by that??
I don’t trust Wenger and I dont trust Gazidis to make the kind of signings they promised, that is my opinion and my view – you don’t have to share it….
I’m not asking for big buck players to be bought and you know that too well, 17 million on Cahill, 10 million on Samba – is that too much for a club like ours???
Then, when Nik, Denilson, Diaby and Almunia are sold (they should be ) use that money on buying a striker…
Also will,who on here mention signing players that would make the club go to the mire.
Stop being silly now.
A goal keeper wouldn’t go a miss either, or am i being greedy…..
I would buy a short term keeper also,wouldnt be gutted if our young pole started in goal thou.
Those areas you mention Sav are the problem areas, I would say we def need a centre half and another defensive midfielder, Song is ok but ok really isnt good enough against the best teams. Those two alone would drastically improve the spine of the team and would hopefully raise the average height from 4ft 2″ to at leaft 5ft..!
Hadly bank breaking is it…? As for Gibbs yes a big doubt, I like him big time as I said yesterday morning but he’s still a risk and the only viable option would maybe putting T at left back which then again makes us weak at centre half if Gibbs is a season long doubt or if he’s rubbish…!
Love the banter but im off for the day.
Tomorrow rico.
Goodbye people, enjoy hating the club you say you love.
Given, Cahill/Samba and Mata….Walcott up front!!
I’m with Will, I’m happy with nearly all of the team right now. I believe the tactics are wrong, not so much the players.
Savage, re your earlier, i don’t think we can afford to rely on RvP for a season and Chamakh is still up for judgement – we sure need a goal scorer for when RvP is not playing…
Unless of course Wenger is finally going to play central with Gervinho on the wing….
Bit strong Will…
Will, you gotta understand we don’t all agree – hopefully you’ll see that and come back…
See you Mr Is, hope to see you back…
Lee, i think so too – we all love our club but we see things differently sometimes…
Agreed on RVP rico. Personally I think Chamakh is a good option for us, but he’s there to finish crosses rather than passes. He’s a plan B player. Let’s face it, he does everything right except shoot – on the other fronts no one can complain – he heads, he passes, he scraps, he traps well, he dribbles well and he’s tall. But he needs to shoot more.
I do think that one of Gerv and TW can play as a striker in a 442, and both of them will give us some pace that RVP can’t. And if they do go forward, our backup options are good enough now that Gerv is here.
Good evening.
I suspect Wenger is a good spin-doctor and is not telling the whole truth.
If he can’t convinced Nasri to sign a new contract, he will reluctantly like Reyes, allowed Nasri to leave for CITEH for 23-mil.
What he is saying in public is just a negotiating ploy to squeeze to up their bid to 25-mil.
The best compromise is still the “Cashley Cole” deal if Nasri has an iota of loyalty to Wenger. That is, Nasri will sign a one-year extension with his salary doubles to 140,000pw. In return, Wenger will allow him to leave to any club of his choice next summer 2012 with a “get-out” clause of 20-mil.
“Win-win” as we got Nasri for one more season with WIlshere and Ramsey getting one more year of experience and Gervinho slowly grooves into the team.
Nasri?
I suspect he is a greedy git and his head had been turned by that 185,000pw offer from CITEH. Most likely, Stan will order Gazidis to striek a deal with CITEH for 23 to 25-mil next week.
Fabregas?
I doubt Wenger will sell him if Barca does not match that 40-mil minimum sum. We are in a strong position and Fabregas will play his best for Arsenal else he will risk losing his place in Spain Euro2012 squad. An off-form and disinterested Fabregas playing at Emirates will effectively destroyed his internaitonal career for Euro2012.
Then, we can have this 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 attacking team:
………………………………..Fabianski
…..Sagna……………………Djourou……………….Vermaelen
……………………..Song……………………Wilshere
….Walcott………………….Fabregas………………Rosicky or diaby
……………………Van Persie……………Gervinho or Arshavin
Of course, Wenger may be secretly negotiating to buy one or two 6′ 5″ CB, a DCM and a winger…..
You can never predict Wenger what he is going to do during transfer window…either he buys ZILCH or a whole slew of expereinced players, spending like a drunken sailor..lol
Lee – i’d go with that few – we’d be world beaters….
Cheers Mr Is, been fun…!
Lol you really are a comedian sometimes will…. yet again you disagree with someone cos they dont agree with your blinkered views and then storm off with an insult….! very childish really when you can’t differ on something without reverting to insinuations when you know nothing about people on here…….
It’s not just about the team though Savage, it’s about what the fans get told time and time again – if the board and wenger have no plans to buy players or just one maybe two – don’t tell us they will be really busy and very active – all it does it get our hopes up and then it all turns out to be a big fib….
Not gonna break the bank either….
I like the look of Chamakh Savage, he started really well but all a bit too much too soon for him……
Spot on Lee
and I wish Will could see that is all we are saying, there are really good players out there who are available – we know we have areas of weakness and those players would put that right…
Still need to sort the spine its where we fall down time and time again what ever formation or team we play its where we still weak..!
True rico, if they’re not going to change the team much, then Wenger should at least say that he believes the tactics were wrong and that he’s going to overhaul them this season.
Either way they must make it clear that they will address the fact we weren’t good enough. If being busy on the market was the solution, then fine, but they must do it.
Honestly, if Wenger comes out and says that he’s figured out a new grand plan that will fix our tactics using the current squad plus one or two maybe, I would be interested to hear it.
Well WATH, if this is our Spine..
…………………………..Fabianski
…………Sagna………..Djourou…………Vermaelen
………………….Song………………Wilshere
……………………………Ramsey
…………………………..Van Persie
In the absence of Cesc and Nasri, these 8 no. players are our SPine which Wenger will rebuild the 2011/12 Arsenal team.
Csec is actually the FULCRUM of our team and no wonder Wenegr will never sell him this season or even the next season.
I do not consider the following players as part of our “Spine”:
– Nasri – disloyalty
– Arshavin – inconsistent and suffering homesickness?
– Walcott – inconsistent and perhaps need to rotate as central striker.
Lee has sorted the spine WATH 🙂
Hi Merlin – i hope you views on AW are right and he is spinning a yarn but sadly he has previous for not fullfilling his promises – january was one of many occassions…..
good post…
cesc and nasri gone could be disaster at the moment…
to have a good spine there is always the need of experience…we are lacking that….but who knows when we hit rock bottom there is always one way up……
Got to pop off for an hour, back shortly….
Good day everyone. Rico how can ah-sen (as pronounced by IG) claim to realise that there is a problem with our defense, say they will buy early, say they will get a player with premier league experience and to date has not even strengthen in that department. That is just sheer madness!
Coadsi, it does raise a question: how much of the rumour has related to genuine enquiries?
We’ve heard a lot about Samba, Cahill, Sakho, Jag, Varane, OxCham, Benzema, Mata, Alvarez, etc – now how much has been made up by the press?
If it’s mostly real, then clearly Wenger and the team have been doing a lot of hard work like they said they would, but either they’ve been under-bidding, or the clubs are just playing hardball.
Merlin, I don’t think Djourou is good enough yet, I’d rather Cahill or similar as in someone who isn’t gonna get pushed around and who dominates a forward not the other way round, also as said earlier Song is ok but we need very good not ok, I’ve always liked Fellaini but M’Vila or Sissoko from France are big hard and can also play…! thats the kind of strong tall physical spine I think we need.
Certainly some of the rumours have been true – we were definitely in for Gerv very early, Jenk was signed early, we worked for a long time on the Alvarez deal.
On the other fronts, the clubs are saying they had no offers, but Lille said they had no offers too, which obviously was a misrepresentation.
W.A.T.H says:
July 12, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Cheers Mr Is, been fun…!
Lol you really are a comedian sometimes will…. yet again you disagree with someone cos they dont agree with your blinkered views and then storm off with an insult….! very childish really when you can’t differ on something without reverting to insinuations when you know nothing about people on here…….
And you know nothing about me son.
Afternoon folks,
Just been reading through and I can’t understand the concerted attack on Will.
All the guy said was that he doesn’t see how so much negativity is compatible with loving the club, and he’s subjected to unpardonable insults.
WATH, in the space of five lines you called him a comedian, blinkered, insulting, childish, and ignorant….. what does that make you?
You did the same to me some weeks ago and I stopped posting for a while as a result… it’s counter-productive.
And I’m with Will… I entirely disagree with people who are so negative it comes across as dislike of Arsenal.
Let’s try and accomodate all points of view, without resulting to this school-yard bully style ganging up.
Rico,
Yes Wenger said that he would buy early, but when he didn’t he also said that the market wasn’t moving and he would wait until it did. And lest we forget, it’s not closed yet.
Lighten-up people… we all want the same thing, at the end of the transfer window, and I hope we all love the same club.
Wenger tuned us from a mid sized club where expectations were low to the one we have now and he is being attacked for not running the club into the ground.
He is the best manager in modern day football. Why? BEcause he doesn’t need to lose £50M to £100M a season to challenge.
Also, how quickly it is forgot that we were right up there until the last but I guess the fact we are going against unlimited transfer funds and checkbook mangers doesn’t matter and the guy is simply past it and should be discarded.
WATH,
guess what… I entirely agree with you on Djourou. I see him as back-up at best, and yes I do think we need serious re-inforcement in that area… just think Cahill is too expensive for the skill-set he brings.
Savage if you need someone you NEED them, we do and everyone and their dog knows it so the poker face thing makes no sense when it comes to cahill or samba. my guess he will say we have TV5 back now which we did not have last season so he will not see the need to buy. its the same old story existing players becomes new signing. the problem is ah-sen forgets that his players are injury prone so in a short space of time he will be making excuses. Mikeb its not a matter of us hating the club, its quite the opposite we love the club. its how it is being run thats what we hate. I dont buy the well run club arguement when there is a lot of room for improvement, like spending what we do have for starters. and as for the window not closed yet………been there done that he will sell fab at the end of the window and then say we did not get the chance to replace him
So, we blam £17M on Cahill and he can’t fit into our style of play and turns out to be a long ball merchant. Then what?
Coadsi,
I didn’t say it was, about you hating the club, and I don’t believe it is, but my point is for blogs like this to encourage all points of view.. not simply those you happen to agree with.
As for the ‘been there, done that, got the T-shirt’. No you haven’t.
We haven’t been in this financial position for a good while, not since the stadium move.
Let’s at least give Wenger a chance to get to the end of the window before screaming about incompetence or pig-headedness.
I am sorry for my anger guys but when I started on here, it was a fairly upbeat, balanced site and it was a joy to come on here but slowly it has evolved into an angry, downbeat anti-Wenger site like those we used to talk about and thank heaven that we were not.
Sorry Folks,
Off again… til tomorrow.
Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone 😆
Sorry Mike but if someone wants to call people Arsenal haters when he knows nothing about them thats the ultimate insult, a few days ago he told people that didnt agree with his views to go support someone else……. inexcusable what ever your views or opinions…! I ain’t your son will, if you wanna moan about people all the time who disagree with you then why even blog..?
You were being pedantic the other week Mike and also along the lines of if i disagreed with you then I was wrong. I may of read you wrong with your comments but thats how it came across
Counter productive is one thing letting people insult others without any response means they think they can say what they want and thats out of order simple as that. As for a concerned attack on will i believe that was Rico, Mr Is and will having a debate until will threw his toys and told everyone we hate our club.
As for Cahill Mike, totally agree, def overpriced at 17mil and he doesnt bring much skill but we both know we dont need his skill we need his bite and passion and committment and hope it wears off on a few others..?!?!?
You do hate the club wath. It is very, VERY plain.
Hate Wenger
Hate the Board
Hate Gazidis
Hate Stan
Hate not winning
Hate not spending
Sound like you?
Do I really Will…….? lol i’ll treat you comment with the contempt it deserves otherwise you’ll have another hissy fit…!
Will it is comments like that I disagree with. I cannot recall style of play ever been a trophy or guaranteed one so for me its not important. Cahill is a defender and if he defends well and help us to win a trophy that’s what he would be remembered for not his style.
Having all the style in the world and no trophy to show no player in the world wants that. No player would mind if it was the other way around. Ah-sen and the board cannot have it both ways. They cant say please the fans or no what is needed but then don’t fix what they consider the problem
Again will everyone you mention (manager, board, etc) are just employed to the club and prolly don’t have to fork out a cent to the club, they just take take take and when they are gone we the supporters will still be around, the ones that spend spend spend.
Now I agree that we can disagree and be civil about it, hope that I just did……..
Mikeb you are off so I will respond to you another time.
I wonder how much your wife henpecks you Wath that you have to come onto an internet site and self impose yourself as its bouncer.
Yes codsi and he larrups the ball up front and none of our players can fight for it and want it on the deck so the ball comes back, but as long as he can defend hey?
Here, what’s going on..? I turn my back for 5 mins to go to Sainsburys and there’s a rumpus on here….
Come on gooners…..chill-out ffs
I’m right under the thumb will it’s amazing what I get away with on here…!
Sorry, but II am a comedian and childish and ignorant so just playing to my crowd.
Sorry Wath if I have hope and realise that win or lose, I will be Arsenal and that doesn’t depend on winning at all costs. Guess that makes me less of a Gooner.
Come on lads, call a truce, lets just cool it ,eh?
Where’s Lee, we all a drag on one of his spliffs.. 🙂
What is going on?? Will and WATH, again? 😯
Play nice, gents. Come on. 😉
We all NEED a drag..
Quick agag, bring a bit of a calming womans influence…
Any shopping today/
I realised something, it is just football and so what if we are not top foor a while, will it really affect your life? My dad was the biggest Gooner on the planet, he died, Arsenal are still here. Did they affect his life? No. Did them losing really do anything? No, upset him for an hour but then real life takes over.
So what if we don’t spend like Chelsea, if we don’t win the league this year, will anything bad happen to you because of it? I suspect no is there answer there as well.
enjoy the football
Enjoy the buzz and the banter
Even enjoy the losing, it is what makes the game. If we won everything all the time, it would be amazingly boring.
like i said Will as long as they can defend and help us win trophies i am all for it. it makes no sense you use a larrup example as i could easily counter with him passing it, instead of booting it and the pass gets intercepted or back heeling it (after all style is important right) to an opposing player and they score.
again i say as long as they can defend well, which the manager confirms we need one with prem experience, then we shud just buy him end off.
hope you get my point
afternoon guys.chill out ffs!…
I get your point but surely that is a square peg in round hole situation? It is better we take our time and get the right defender as we can not blam £17M on a player in hope.
My internet connection’s gone all slooooow.
AK! 🙂 Unfortunately, none. I’m on currently on ‘save’ mode. Sounds like you had a spree though. 😉
Will, we do enjoy our football. As frustrated as we are with the comings and goings (and nothings) at our club, we persist with it, because there really is no other club worth supporting is there? 🙂
Will if you do not mind
Do you think we need a defender?
If yes which defender do you suggest we buy?
you keep saying we cannot blam (your words)17mil on a player when we actually have done worse in my opinion. we have blamed it on poor players (other expression came to mind but i would not want to offend), blammed it on exisitng player contracts etc over and over. so the blam mentally is one that we have been emplyoing for a while now.
Again you missed my point so i try and explain again. instead of using cahill pick any defender that you think would be idea, not a risk. if you think we have a problem in that area spend the money and fix (please i dont need the throw money at the problem to fix it lecture) the problem thats all i am saying. it makes no sense identifying the problem and dont try sorting out the needs of the team before the wants.
agag, and thats why its so painful for us supporters.
Oi you lot and you know who you are, can i not go out for five minutes without you squablling !!!
From now on it stops, if you want to agrue then let me know and you can have eachother others email address and take it off of Highbury House….
Choice is yours, others whoever carries this on can go in the sin bin to cool off!!
We all love AFC, that is why we get so wound up but lets start showing a bit of respect to eachother…..
Sorry,
Good evening fine folk…..
I know Coadsi. Ours is the hope that our defense is sorted out this summer. It would be a vindication of Project Youth and trying to do things right, if we win something.
Boo, rico!!! How are ya? Men can’t be left to their own devices, we always knew that. Lol.
hi rico, hi agag…is it safe to come back on yet?
oliver! How are you? Coast is clear I think; drinks from grains (for WATH) and with grains (for Will) have been served. 😉
Boo to you too agag, men eh 😉 But not all 🙂
Hi oliver, as long as you have your hard hat on 😉
Emotions are running high because we all care…..
Agag…..boys will be boys… 😉
In case anyone is interested, a guy on YG said a link for tomorrows game is :
http://myp2p.eu/index.php?part=sports
Don’t know if it’ll work, but i’ll be giving it a try…
Thanks for the link kev, i’ll be giving it a try too ….
Nasri cost us about 12 mill his wages on 90 thou a week for 3years is 14 mill and he hasnt been on that wage all of the time so say he earned 12mill so he stands us in about 24 mill, sell him for 25 mill earn 1 mill profit, play Gervinho in his position who cost us 11mill and total cost 10mill and this time next year we still have Geronimo as rico says simples
hi agag/hi rico…alright, thanx.
another example of how polarized opinion has become regarding our club…not only our club, but the manager himself…
i fall somewhere in between…yes, i support the manager and players, and yes, i think mistakes have been made and we can do some things better.
Hi Steve, you saying I am simple 😉
Not at all rico, were simples if we keep him.
Where’s Lee, i need a drag…. :P:
Dynamic for three months, does’nt float my boat, i want a whole season.
Hi AK, you need JJ he likes lycra
It would be interesting to watch if at one point in preseason we’d play a forward line of Gerv/Ryo/Theo…there is nothing better to watch than a speedster running at fullthrottle let alone 3 with cesc supplying the ammo.
I know really Steve 😉
i have to agree with you on Nasri, I also think about when we really needed him to step up, where was he??
50 days to go before the Window closes….
A lot can happen in 50 days….
Sure am looking forward to tomorrows game.
Imagine Ryo & Theo bombing down the wings…. sweet!
kev, so do i and i a non one 😉
oliver,your Clichy write up was really good. And not just cos I like Clichy. 😀 We can definitely do some things better. Can’t wait for our third buy.
rico, you’re very lucky then. 😉 AK, a man who can be left to his own devices = El Chupacabra, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster– there are said to be sightings, but they have not been proven to exist. Lol. 😀
Hi, Steve. 🙂
Stevo 😆
I got a wardrobe full of it… Want to borrow a piece/ 🙂
But, i also understand olivers viewpoint about selling a player like him to one of the sides who finished above us – it’s a tough one….
Agag, we just never grow up. But we’re fun to be around, er, sometimes.. 😉
AK, RizLee is worried about you, we have a theory abt your vanishing act this afternoon…….. puff cake for me plz can’t do that smoking thing……… Yuk………!
A man left to his own devices is like giving AGAG a credit card and droppin her off at the Mall……!
Gotta say i think Oliver has a valid point, i’d be gutted if Nasri walked next summer for freemans, into the arms of Mancini, Ferguson or the bloke at CFC.
Maybe Aw is trying to work the oracle while Nasri is away from europe, to try and get him to sign.
There’s still time to sell him, but the priority, if he won’t sign, is to sell him abroad…
Somthing tight AK specially around the middle.
Hi Agag, always nice to hear from you whats the time there.
Wath, you old troublemaker 😉 yeah i saw those comments, and my ears were burning in Sainsburys… Gym tomorrow, er, you wanna come?????
Steve, it’s in the post 😉
thanks agag…that was a treatise of sorts on a player who i felt always tried his best for the club, even if the results were not always there. i think he will do very well at city, where – unless mancini has a sudden and dramatic change in philosophy – they will almost certainly have a superior defensive emphasis and structure than we do here at arsenal. i expect he will be mostly left to defend and leave the bulk of the attacking to others.
Not so much of the old AK 😛
I have a hmmmmm bad back can’t do that gym thing mate, you’ll have to go alone mate sorry 2 let u down…. U’ll manage Mr Atlas 😉
AK, fair enough. 😉 Another lycra man. 😯 Finally, JJ has some company!
Steve, I just finished working on something. 2:39 am. 😉
Hahaha. WATH, exactly. On a Midnight Madness Sale. 😀 Mind your liver and blood pressure, GG man. 😛
Chuffed for Jay Bothroyd, he’s signed for QPR so he’s in the PL at last…..
Nowt wrong with my liver AGAG and what blood pressure I don’t have any……. 😉
oliver, I hope Clichy does well there. But I want him to revert to his walkabout self when playing against us. Surely, he can manage that. 😀
ak, that is one reason this is so difficult a problem for us. sell now to the highest bidder, take the most money, even if it means city/chelsea/united? possibly the only sides currently interested…or roll the dice, keep him here for the final year of his deal and hope that he does not join one of them for free? either course of action is a double-edged sword.
i wonder if the club – as a possible compromise – would consider offering him a deal with higher wages over a shorter term? would he and his advisers consider that? his resale value would be less, but taking arsene’s comments in kl yesterday at face value, it doesn’t sound as those resale value is paramount consideration at this moment…signing him to a medium term contract with improved compensation gives the club an opportunity to win and perhaps work on tying him down to a longer deal over the next couple of years. it gives him the opportunity to get a raise for a few years and then potentially put us through this once again in a couple years time.
if no movement is made between now and late august, i will very interested to see if arsene names him in the cl qualifying ties. i say that under the premise that his playing in the qualifiers will cup-tie him for the competition proper – but i cannot say for certain if that would be the case…
assuming he does not move and playing him in the qualifiers will cup tie him, if he is named to that squad, it will almost certainly rule out a move between august and june…
agag, i think he will play well for them. hopefully not against us, but i think that squad is on the up…
good for bothroyd…so they are finally letting colin sign some players for their first season back in the prem, then?
Oliver, if and when Snieder joins the Mancs, we might find an interested party in Inter Milan?
Wenger risks being ridiculed if he keeps Nasri and he walks out to one of those clubs you mention.
Depite what Wenger alludes to, i think his future needs dealing with before Sept 1st..
Clichy had darn well better play poorly against us. 🙂
I am off; good night, kids. 🙂 Behave! Don’t give rico a headache. 😀
I applaud Wenger’s stance.its a £20mil gamble which is outrageous but its about time we showed who is boss.if we let nasri go to city it will send out the wrong message that other clubs can just poach our players and we’ll cave in to their offers.
Good night agag. We promise to be good boys ok 🙂
ak, i think the best case scenario would be if we could sell him abroad. imo, it would be worth our time to sound om out about selling him back there. his roots are there, that is his club, they will play in the cl this upcoming season and he would return a better player then when he left. we would likely receive far less in transfer fee than if we sold him to city/chelsea/united, but i think that would be more than offset by the fact that we would not strengthen a direct rival…
whether he would want to return there at this moment in time is debatable, but i think it is at least worth considering. we would put this tedious saga to bed, save what we would be paying on his wages, and set about properly preparing for the upcoming season.
arsene would, of course, have to explain why we sold him when he was so emphatic we wouldn’t yesterday. i am sure he can manage that. if nothing else, tell it like it is. not ideal, but an eighty-percent solution…
AK I hope we get nasri to sign as £20mil is too big a gamble but id hate to see us sell nasri to a PL club.i really do hope nasri doesn’t screw us since he has become a fan favourite and is one with a few players the adoring fans have a song for.
Hi Kt,
Nighty Night agag…. sleep well….
k, i also applaud arsene’s stance – with reservations. i think he it is good he is drawing a line in the sand on this, but he needs to be careful at the same time, as it can easily blow up on us…
i think this scenario has already progressed too far for us to get an ideal resolution, but there is no reason the club cannot still get a good solution – such as signing nas up on a shorter deal, or moving him out of the premiership, albeit for a minimal profit. either scenario is, in my opinion, far better than selling him to one of the three teams above us for what is not likely to be that much of a profit over what we originally paid, or letting him run down his contract and walk away from us after this season.
L’OM is an option Oliver, but as you said, i doubt that he’d want to return to France at this stage of his career.
Italy and Spain would seem the best options to me…
I know it would never happen, but i’d swap him for Ozil or use him in part-exchange for Benzema…
Kt, i know exaclly where your coming from, but if i’m correct, i think he left L’OM under a bit of a cloud, and the Marseilles fans love their players. I doubt if he’d give the fans a second thought if he jumped ship.
I worry that Wenger isn’t hard-nosed enough with these guys…
Anelka, Wiltord, Flamini, all his countrymen, just walked away…
probably not, but again, i see it as worth the effort to at least inquire of real madrid are interested. if not, fair enough…but if they are, then we are no longer looking a market restricted to only the three teams above us.
all things equal, i would like to keep him onboard, if both sides could come to an agreement. he literally dropped off a cliff in the second half of last season – i have to admit that concerns me – but he is not the only one who effectively disappeared. chamakh, even song to an extent. that suggests – to me – that there was a collective problem with the squad, not simply a case of nas deciding to phone it in…
however, if he really does not want to be here – which i see as different from his wanting to be here on his (possibly financial or positional) terms – then it is best to move on…best for everyone all around.
I’m heading off for the day folks, catch up tomorrow….
Enjoy the rest of your day, night, evening, morning – depending where you are 😉
Nighty all…..
The likes of Hleb set a dangerous precedent that has now become the norm and it seems Arsene has got fed up with it.am glad he is drawing the line in the sand as we have started being viewed as a feeder club.its about time we got tough with the players.
Good night Rico…. OK boys lets have another row, she’s gone 😉
Nasri can say all he wants but we all know that its all about the £€$¥.
Oliver, it’s a no win situation mate… Either way AW is gonna get criticised.
I’m fairly confident it’s a financial matter though…
Nite Rico sleepy tite……………..
k, again i also like arsene taking a strong, unequivocal stance. but he still needs to play his cards right in order to prevent this blowing up in our faces. to me, the worst solution is either selling nas to one of the top three for a nominal profit, or sitting helplessly by while he winds his contract down and walks into his choice of those three teams.
we’re all on the outside looking in with this, so all we can do is watch how things unfold and trust that both parties can work things out to a mutually agreeable resolution…
KT, it wasn’t an issue when AFC were winning things mate…
It’s all connected. Even though i think in Nasri’s case that it’s financial, how can Wenger tempt him to stay when we’ve not won a trophy for 6 years?
Gents I hear what your saying but the fundamental problem is Nasri himself in that we can’t make him sign for anyone he doesnt want to, if he choses not to sign a new contract he can join a “foe” in 12 months if we try to flog him to a team we’re happy with he just refuses and sees out his contract, if thats the choice whether it’s “foe” or not we surely have to take as much as we can off said “foe” and sell to the highest bidder.
i would not be so quick to label this situation as solely about the dosh…i am sure that is a factor in nas’s considerations, but i do not see him having concerns about things such as club direction, squad quality and tactics, etc as so outside the realms of possibility…if he has doubts that we can be successful – even with him playing his best and giving it all – in the next several years (i.e. the duration of a potential new contract), then why shouldn’t he have reservations? i certainly would – and i would certainly consider options very carefully.
as supporters, we have an emotional bond. for nas – all our players – it is a business, their livelihood. inevitably, his perspective is going to be somewhat different from ours…
at end the of the day, however, none of us can accurately say what his motivations truly are. unless, of course, one of us is actually nas himself.
KT, u seen the 12mil + Bendtner for Subotic story….? Am sure that’ll make you laugh…! where do these ppl come up with this crap…?
Nasri has no right to speak out about our trophy drought AK.the only players that have earned the right to question our drought in my eyes are sagna and cesc.the rest have all contributed with their inconsistencies and lengthy injury spells.how dare nasri hold us to ransom after only consistently performing in 3 months of the 3 years he has been here?its players like him that are the main culprits of bottling.remember the away game at Bolton when nasri had the chance to win us the game but missed and we ended up conceding late?its such small instances that have been occuring in the past 6 years to condemn us to our trophyless fate.
Spot on KT.
wath, we lock ourselves into that situation by placing an emphasis on a potential transfer fee. if he decides to dictate where we sell him, i remind him that, just as he is looking out for his interests, the club has interests as well that it needs to protect. and those interests do not constitute selling him to a team we are trying to overtake. not only would i be willing to forego any transfer fee here and now, i would also emphasize to him that the club of his dreams (say man united in this case) has an immediate, pressing need, and if we don’t sell to them now, they are likely to fill that need elsewhere and will therefore be more likely to be less interested in him in 12 months time. or interested only at a cut price, as they will have filled the urgent, priority need already.
the club can also take the step of keeping him in the reserves, if it so desires. the important thing is to show him that while there are risks for us, there are also risks for him…
either way you look at it, we are likely to lose on some point…my preference at this moment would be to play hard-ball (assuming that nas refuses to negotiate and demands to be sold to a specific club). even if he leaves for nothing and walks across and joins same club, i would still prefer that to our rolling over and selling him to one of these three clubs – directly strengthening them, fueling the “feeder club” derision, and making it harder for us to catch these clubs. this is a situation where i think there are other things that are far more important to the club than getting a transfer fee for nas – a fee which, seeing he is in the last year of his contract, is not likely to be that much over what we originally paid.
my hope is that if he is dead set against extending his contract, he at least understands the club’s position and will not try and force a sale to one of our rivals…
WATH i honestly don’t know where they get that crap.its like the nasri to city story for £22.2 mil.where did the £.2mil come from?
Wath, Hamburg’s sporting director Frank Arnesen has said his club, nor Dortmund, can afford Nik. He added that two clubs have made him an offer. Therefore we can assume that two clubs have matched Arsenal’s valuation…
Valid thoughts Oliver and agree with you on prob most the only thing that I come back to is i’d rather take money from one of my rivals that at least helps me replace the player we’ve just lost, that brings us back to the point you made earlier that if we got 22mil/25mil as long as wenger spends on a very good replacement i’d not be too fussed BUT would he…? 2nd part of the problem but loosing what we paid and his wages to let him walk for zero is not a great option for me.
k, i said nothing about nas publicly speaking about our “trophy drought”. i personally think that he has every right to consider where the club is headed and if we are really set up to be successful over the next few years. nobody said anything about publicly questioning our trophy drought. i am talking about he and his advisers privately considering whether or not arsenal fc is the best place to achieve his financial and professional goals.
wath, you just mentioned the second half of the equation. assume we sell nas to man united for 25 million. now what? if the money is stashed away in our coffers or used for new deals on some of the fringe squad players, would it have been worth strengthening united for the sake of a transfer fee?
KT the .2mil is the cut the reporter is getting from Nasri’s agent for letting the story out lol……….
Shows again the ridiculous salaries our fringe players earn when decent clubs in Germany can’t afford him…!
100% agree with you Oliver, if we don’t spend that on another player or players to be brough in then i would rather he rotted in the reserves BUT do you not think the AFC public would have a fit if we sold him and didnt buy someone…? pressure on aw to buy would be so much greater if we chose to cash in…?
sorry about the last k, it seems you were replying ak, not me…
We should investigate what Guardiola did to messi to make him fit.under Rijkaard messi had a diaby-esque injury record but under Guardiola he rarely gets injured.right now messi has played a remarkable 65 games and counting due to the Copa America which is a record for games played by a single player over a single season.its even more remarkable when you consider messi has produced the goods in almost all of the games he has played in.
wath, remember when we sold adebayor? many thought we were going to be light up forward? as i remember, arsene intimated he already had the solution (vela) in the squad…
there is your answer…if arsene does not want to buy, he won’t buy. i think we all know that by now, just as we all know the court of public opinion won’t influence him in the least.
Public opinion or from that within the team Oliver and thats even more worrying that he won’t even listen to those around him…!
2b honest, if we sold Nas a like for like replacement wouldnt bother me i’d be far happier with a ball winner in midfield to replace Song and have Song as back up especially when we loosing him for 6 weeks in jan/feb as well.
if nothing else, arsene won’t be dictated to – he has shown this time and time again. personally, i think that will lead to his eventual downfall…
in the here and now, however, if he decides purchasing a replacement for nas (under the premise the latter is sold) is unnecessary, then he won’t do it. we’ve been with arsene too long not to understand that…
later wath…time to fight the metro dc traffic…
Now i know that i stand to be criticised here, but if Nasri left, would it weaken us as much as most of us think???
If there is one area where i think Arsenal are strong, it has to be attacking-midfield…
Unfortunately your right re wenger Oliver….! if mr stubborn gets a bee in his bonnet thats it…!
Thats just it gents.Arsene is very unlikely to spend the nasri transfer money as he’ll argue that it will be difficult to find a replacement as he’ll question our ambition if we agreed to sell one of our players to our direct rivals.a new signing will also have missed preseason and it will make settling in difficult.Arsene will rather give AA his first 11 spot back while hoping Ryo gets a work permit to serve as the internal replacement for nasri.
Cheers Oliver take it easy………. Hmmm sort of with you on that one AK…! As i just said i’d be happier if we replaced him with a physically intimidating ball winner for central midfield…!
Piers Morgan tweeted that he has heard that Aw has won the battle to keep both cesc and nasri.i’d advise you to take that with a pinch of salt…
To question our ambition KT would be in NOT replacing one of our so called better players….? the argument about being a big club that he’s been on about for me misses the point, a big club may lose a big player but they replace him with another big player….! inaction shows small club mentality and gives off totally the wrong impression, sell Nasri buy Mata…? what would that show ppl… sell Nas buy Hazard or M’Vila or Subotic that kind of player would make a statement…! loosing Nasri would almost be forgotten !!
Gotze in my opinion is the closest thing to nasri in terms of playing style.
You on Twitter KT..?
Wath am just stating Arsene’s point of view according to his latest i/v but i agree with your post.
I quite like Gotze KT but we have enough of those attacking midfield kind of players, buy what we lacking and thats physically intimidating players that can also play a bit and will get stuck in…!
KT am with you mate am saying for wenger to question the ambition is all a bit arse about face…. A big club replaces a big player a small club doesnt its not about loosing a player its all about who he’s replaced with. Thats how I look at it, if we lost him and bought noone I’d be gutted…!
Wath, would it suprise you if Wenger doesn’t sign another player this summer, if Cesc stays and Nasri signs, because it wouldn’t suprise me!
nope AK.am not a fan of it but thats what i’ve heard he tweeted.
i’ll direct that question at you as well KT???
AK, nope wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest mate……! I hope as hell we’re both wrong but not at all would it surprise me…!
KT, Morgan always tells the truth lol……… just like he did abt our fans in Copenhagen !! horrible man…!
WATH it seems to me Arsene is evaluating Frimpong and Gibbs during preseason to determine if he’ll buy in those positions.if frimpong impresses i believe he and diaby will share the workload during the ACN.
Kt, i believe that Frimpong has decided to represent Ghana.
Hope i’m wrong and that he’s changed his mind. But if not, then we could lose him to the ACN…
KT……. your swearing at me now lol 😀 Diaby……..
you reckon he might be fit by Jan….? 😉 AK think your right Frim has chosen to play for Ghana…!
Yeah Wath, i’m fairly sure that what i read on Jeorge Bergs AFC Yth.
Nigeria are sniffing around Aneke, Boateng is another…
He is unlikely to get a call up at this point wath/AK.Ghana has an amazing talent pool of midfielders,they don’t even miss essien.i know wath likes Anthony Annan…
Morocco are sniffing around Bihmoutine, Albania are after Bunjaku, Congo were after Afobe, but England have got him fortunately.
Hope so Kt, but how stupid are England, to let him slip through their fingers. It’s not as if we’re blessed with that many def/mids of his quality.
It may not matter now, but if he has a good season with AFC, all those tossers will be wringing their hands and wondering how it happened.
If he gets a few good games under his belt for us though KT Ghana may call him into the squad though which would still mean we’d lose his so thats a bitch…… Ur reading to many youth blogs AK lol………..
AK, We’ll prob get the blame from the FA…………
Anyway, i’ve got my tickets line-up for
Stevenage vs Arsenal XI on July 23rd.
Wath 😛 love the youngsters, i can enjoy an AFC game with no pressure..
AK, make ya right there mate, used to love watching the stiffs and the youth at Highbury, now the odd youth cup game at the bowl although the youth cup game at the lane the other yr was fun…! 3-1 as well always nice to beat them in anything…!
Yeah, bet that was excellent Wath…
I really miss the Stiffs & Youth games. Saw so many ‘stars in the making’ that way.
They’re not even playing all the reserve games at Barnet this season.
After the first 5 home games, they’re gonna switch to London Colney…great eh?
Just another exercise in making it harder for the kids and locals to see their team…! loosing a lot of connection to the fans big time its a problem as it comes across as they really don’t care
They’ll have to care eventually.
You only have to see how few kids you see at The Grove on match days. The fear is they’ll find something else to do.
If Ryo is really as quick as theo then he must be superfast.considering he runs with the ball glued to his feet we may have a gem on our hands.
I mean, why can’t those 5 reserve games be played at The Grove instead of Barnet… Or at least a couple of them…
Short-sightedness.
When you see how many turn up given the chance to the youth cup games it shows the local fan base thats just getting priced out, suppose its not just local fan base either thats priced out its a lot of the fan base…! If the money is coming in from somewhere do you actually think they will care..?
Seems Ryo is pretty nippy by the stories KT, you say Gervinho is quick as well…..! we’ve so been missing a bit of speed……
KT, Theo has been clocked at 10.30 for 100mtrs.
Ryo did 10.84 at his school just before he came over to europe. What’s the betting that he’s even quicker now?
That’s right Wath. The fan base is there, but Wenger gets a hard-on over his bloody pitch, so it’s underused as is the stadium…
Think of all the business Wath, that the Armoury and the other place would do? Parents taking their kids, buying shirts, books all sorts of stuff.
What do they sell at Barnet???
Trust me wath.i’ve watched Gerv since 2008.he is pretty damn quick and very direct.
Thats good to hear KT, quick and direct will do me mate, Yep lost revenue stream there AK, even if they did one game a month at the bowl it would hardly make a difference to the pitch would it and yet again gives the kids a chance to get in for a few quid and for Dad’s to take all the kids cos it won’t cost a fortune…!
WATH I must say one of the reasons we all loved the invincibles is the raw pace our attackers had.there is nothing i enjoy more than seeing theo at full throttle latching onto a through ball from cesc.in the wolves game the 2nd goal whereby cesc released theo with a 1st time pass was absolutely beautiful!thats what Arsenal should be all about.
He’s only gonna get stronger and quicker AK, two players that are that quick doing 100mtrs in less than 10.5 would be wicked if only Theo could dribble 😀
Agree KT, pace scares the shit out of defenders for sure and if they know players can dribble at pace and do them inside or out its pure panic stations, it’s what we’ve lacked for a while now…!
Gervinho doesn’t come short for the ball.he makes those off the ball runs that theo/ljunberg makes/made into space.i bet cesc will enjoy playing with him if he stays.
Wath/KT, last season was awfull on that score, our build-up was so slow when Theo wasn’t on the pitch.
No wonder teams could park the bus.
KT was it you, that said you can see RVP dropping deep aka Bergkamp?
Maybe Gervinho will end up playing thru the middle, a la Henry?
you cant dribble through a parked bus or pass the ball through the eye of a needle, width beats the parked bus get in behind the fullbacks…..! We need temas to be scared of us again cos at the moment they not and they still know/think we can be bullied as well, pace will get back the fear factor a lot but we still need to address the other problem and sharpish…!
Madrid play alot like the invincibles.in the league alone they scored 24 counter attacking goals compared to our 3,mancs had 5 while barca had 8.i absolutely love watching a team that plays with pace and the attackers have the intelligence to execute a tactical dribble to open up space for others not running into blind alleys.i hope Arsene brings that back to our play as it was champagne stuff on a weekly basis.
Those Madrid stats KT, are they something to do with Mourinho?
Were Porto & CFC similar in that respect when he was in charge at those clubs?
Yeah, i know what you mean about width Wath, but i wonder if we’ll carry more of a threat now when defending corners & free-kicks?
Er, that’s assuming our dopey defenders do their job!
I agree WATH.width is how barca beats the parked bus.dani alves owns the right flank for them and has very dangerous deliveries from there.you have to mark him and as a result the bus is stretched allowing villa/pedro to make diagonal runs into the stretched bus.am secretely hoping that is why Arsene let go of clichy to make our left flank dangerous again especially against parked buses.the cole/bobby/henry triumvate on the left flank scared the shit out of every defence to an extent they wouldn’t dare attack us.i want that back.
I believe thats where he’ll end up AK as he matures.
Thing is fella’s we can attack all we want its knowing a free kick or a corner getting lobbed into our box also causes chaos….! Thats what we need to resolve and fix…!
Right I’m off, you two take it easy n chat 2moro…!
Good night Wath, try and behave now 😉
Yeah, gotta say KT, that’s been my feelings on him since we wetre linked to him.
Most of the goals i saw him score on You-Tube had that Henryesque look about them.
Wenger already has plenty of players who can fill the wide bearths, so i reckon that after an initial period of adjustment, that he’ll get a run thru the middle.
KT, before i turn it in, what’s your thought’s on the Mertesaker rumours that have resurfaced???
Mertsacker is very slow AK and the only reason why we’re linked with him is his height.its a definite NO for me.
If you get the chance, read this;
The Screwed Transfer Market.
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/
OK KT, i’m gonna wrap up now, see ya tomorrow mate.
Night wath/AK.Nice debating with you.
Morning all…
Dawson is thinking about leaving Spurs, anyone interested 😉 😉
New Post up…..
No thank you.
Morning.