Daily Bits and Bobs

No Walcott deal in Jan, Wenger won't add players for fun & Not the best draw in the CL.

Posted on by rico

Morning all,

Arsene Wenger had to answer questions about Theo Walcott yet again yesterday, is he staying or is he going and the answer to the latter was:

No, that is for sure. My gut feeling is that he belongs to this club and that I hope he will sign for us. I always am convinced he will stay.

Then of course came the next question about the £100,000 he is reported to be asking for and is he worth it or will he get it:

You never fix yourself a limit on financial restrictions. At the end of the day, can you pay what the player wants? And does it fit with your wage structure?

I have always fought for the players to make money so I am happy when the players make big money. But it has to be made possible for the club to pay it.

I believe the board will follow my recommendation if it is possible. We have a wage bill that has to be respected. When we go overboard and higher than it is expected, I ask the board to do it and most of the time they follow my demands.

Since when has a manager told the board what to pay a player?

Anyway, Wenger seems confident Walcott is staying but sadly that means very little, he said Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and a few others would stay, but we all know what happened there.

Talking of the manager, his pre transfer window speech was also in full flow yesterday:

If we can add one or two exceptional players, we will do it. What we do not want to do is add players just because people put us under pressure to buy players.

That is where we have to be strong enough. If we find a player who will give us something special, we will do it, but that, in January, will not be easy.

We have money, and why should I not spend it if it is to find the right players?

There is certainly no point in adding players who are either identical to what we already have or who are no better than who we already have playing in that person’s position but, we have spaces to fill and Wenger really needs to fill them, especially if he wants us to beat Bayern Munich in the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

We last played Bayern in Europe in 2005, losing 3-2 on aggregate so we have a score to settle. The first leg at The Emirates will be played on 19th February, with the return match at Munich’s Allianz Arena on 13th March.

Don’t worry though, Pizarro is getting on a bit now……

Ray Wilkins reckons we will get knocked out, mind you, he reckons Manchester United and Celtic will knocked out too…..

What does he know eh?

That’s it for another day……..

rico

0 thoughts on “No Walcott deal in Jan, Wenger won't add players for fun & Not the best draw in the CL.”

  1. JW says:

    Good morning all,

    Quote “If we can add one or two exceptional players, we will do it. What we do not want to do is add players just because people put us under pressure to buy players” What can anybody find to argue with there?

    A perfectly sensible statement of fact by a perfectly sensible manager.

  2. Scott from Oz says:

    Evening all..
    I survived last nights Xmas cruise and todays hangover in remarkably good condition.
    On Theo….who knows??
    On new signings….who knows??
    On anything Arsenal…..who the hell knows 🙂

  3. Wavy says:

    Walcott’s gone! His footballing brain has made his decision for him. It’s a no brainier!

    There will be no transfers. In because there are no exceptional players available!

    And

    Goodbye to the CL two more games and we are gone. As is “normal”. Just check the records. Out again with 16 teams left. When last 8draw takes place Arsenal’s name will not be there!

  6. Eugene Danso says:

    Wenger would never gonna buy any player; but gonna get ban after we lost 2 Beyern. Not until the board, Gazardis, Keronke n Wenger are kicked out would Arsenal see glory.

  7. Scott from Oz says:

    Wavy, who cares….the world is ending today anyway.
    Well yours must be, judging by that positive post 🙂

  8. Bendtnersgone says:

    Morning all. Lots of reporting on Demba Ba joining in January. I don’t see it. I reckon Wenger will carry on with Theo through the middle and the Ox on the right.
    That leaves us needing a back up winger as Ramsey doesn’t do it in that position. That’s as well as another left back and midfielder.
    Can’t see any of that happening.

  10. frednerk says:

    wenger comments

    What we do know is Ba is 7.5million to buy out
    Huntelaar’s contract is up in summer

    but are they good enough for wenger.

  12. rico says:

    JW, that’s what I said in the post 😉

    But there is no point in buying just for buying’s sake, we have previously signed too many players that are no better than what already have in the squad.

    But we don’t have a DM and we seriously need a defender who can play left back ..

  13. rico says:

    90 mins to go folks, then the world is set to end….

    Thanks for all your help guys and have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you all over the last two years….

    😆

  14. frednerk says:

    What players do we need
    My opinion is for what its worth
    left back
    central midfielder over 6ft with a pair bollox
    and striker

    cherry on the top a keeper with grey hair will do.

  15. Adam says:

    As for the thing near Durham’s nose. I believe that certain creatures at the very bottom of the evolutionary scale had their brains mounted externally. They were only useful for maintaining the very basic of motor functions as that was all they needed. Durhamus Moronicus is such a creature.

  16. JW says:

    No Scott,

    The number of drooling agents, with clients to flog, crawling out of the woodwork is increasing by the minute and so called journalists are lapping up the crap.

    On that note, I’m off out for a walk along the beautiful North Norfolk coast, I shall be in The Dun Cow at Salthouse later for lunch. All are welcome.

  18. Joywedsjeff says:

    Typical wenger… Lets wait and see. Stopila sunzu or mr stop as he is fondly called for his hard tackling abililties yesterday won the best african based player award at the Caf award nite. Forget mvilla or wanyama. I ve seen this guy play plenty times and he will fit in arsenal’s midfield perfectly. The only downside is that his hard tackling nature while suited to the african game will definitely get him initial red cards in the bpl…. Other than that i say get him in wenger.

  21. rico says:

    You are on form this morning Adam.

    JW – have a good day….

    Jeff, seems Reading are after Mr Stop too and have already made an offer for him, according to the newspapers of course….

    Scott, was it a good bash?

  23. frednerk says:

    Rico see we agree
    sticks out don’t it
    wonder why he won’t go the extra yard
    he seems scared to sign a player..but you would have thought by now he would know the gamble is at the cheap end of the market. He has to splash the cash.

  24. Scott from Oz says:

    It was a great night thanks Rico….the most beautiful harbour in the world is always a joy to cruise.
    Speaking of bash…..we shold not bash our heads in over who Wenger might or might not bring in.
    It will happen if and when it happens.

  28. tsGH says:

    Morning all..

    ‘Durhamus Moronicus is such a creature.’ Now that is a classic. lol

    Oh so the world ends in less than 90 minutes and I have not even started to prepare my fave dish to enjoy before it goes pop.

    I have my doomsday prep notes or photocopied so if any one needs one just drop me an email after the EMF and solar flares toasts all the computers in the world… 😀

    As if the world is not bad enough we now have the ‘Daily Arsenal’ in print. God save us the Arsenal fans.

  29. Charlie George aka AK says:

    Exceptional players, hmmm.

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

    Maybe at one time Gervinho, Chamakh, Squillacci, Santos etc etc , we’re viewed as ‘exceptional’….

    A questionable term indeed…

    Morning Gooners.
    Moaning Lee.
    Nice post Rico.

  31. Scott from Oz says:

    How is work Kev?
    I am pleased to say another work years has passed, tough the phne seems to kepp ringing…pesky customers….still, christmas presents and a new car to pay for, so i had best be nice 🙂

  32. tsGH says:

    Oh i forgot Rico good post again.

    BUT as we are saying our farewells before getting initiated to the higher level as with ‘the ginger man now airbrushed a blond’, I must as well tell HH worshippers that Rico and Theo have a history… 😉
    This news is ‘above classified’ according to the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) so keep it on the down low… 😀

  33. Charlie George aka AK says:

    Hi Scott, the Sales kicked-off in Oxford & Regent Streets last night, so today will be busy.
    But overal it’s been quieter in town Digger…
    On-line shopping is having an effect of course.
    Also the cost of going out for a beer…
    Still at least it’s not raining today.
    Cold but sunny.

  34. Mathew Shaibu says:

    if arsenal ready come out with sometin dis season they should better enter market and buy player bcause we need player such as deffencive mildfilder all dis goal when we dey concied is bcause of deffencieve mildfild esspacially when arsenal dey lead first half second half our opponent will come back and equalise d goal and dat is not good also we need quality stricker bcause our forward is not good enough and if walco is going they should bring some body dat will replace him

  35. frednerk says:

    Maybe at one time Gervinho, Chamakh, Squillacci, Santos etc etc , we’re viewed as ‘exceptional’

    I think charlie he was hinting at that the other day when he signed the young brits.
    It must be amazing to come to london and then have 50,000 sticking out you pocket every week

  36. Charlie George aka AK says:

    According to Jehovah’s Witnesses the World should have ended some 20 odd years ago.
    And those people know what they’re talking about, I can tell ya…
    They call themselves ‘The Truth’…
    Yeah, Rock On…

  38. Scott from Oz says:

    Ginge,Theo is Rico and Arsenes love child 🙂
    Kev, everything is bloody expensive lol.
    We only bought the car now because we saved around 10 grand……the car dealers here are giving them away atm,plus i get a decent tax rebate of 4-5 grand.
    Too god a deal to knock back.
    The missus is a champion…..she finished Xmas present shopping months back.
    If it was left up to me, i wouldn’t have started yet!!

  39. Charlie George aka AK says:

    Scott I have a very good friend, who goes to car auctions and picks up some absolute bargains.
    I always get my motors from him. He’s never let me down.
    A top mechanic as well….

  40. tsGH says:

    Hey kev just don’t come knocking on my door telling me you are Charles Taze Russell re-incarnated. You have eatten too many kebabs for me to believe that. lol.

    On a serious note, Kev do you know if Jessops have good boxing day sales on cameras?

    Scott how are you going to eat your christmas dinner hanging upside down in Oz? 😀

  42. Scott from Oz says:

    Ginge, i will manage mate.
    Food is ok…..beer is a bugger though!!
    Kev,i have a mate who is sales manager for a big Holden Dealer and play cricket with a guy who is sale manager at Ford,and a part owner of the greyhounds is a used car salesman…….best of both worlds.

  43. Charlie George aka AK says:

    Hi Ginge, not sure about Jessops tbh.

    You after a telephoto lens then??? 😀

    Try Tottenham Court Rd for camera’s…

    Gone now

  48. Lee says:

    We desperately need an out and out goal scorer and a diaby replacement as a bare minimum if AW want’s his 4th spot trophy…… sad isn’t it?

  52. Scott from Oz says:

    Well,it seems we will finish above Spuds again.
    We all know the world will truly end when that mob beat us in the league!?

  57. Adam says:

    The only things to survive the Mayan holocaust will be cockroaches and Durhamus Moronicus. These creatures will procreate and a new species will be born. Give it a few million years and the inhabitants of our planet will have exo-skeletons and red hair. It will be a sickening sight for sure.

  59. rico says:

    Agree re the goal scorer and midfielder Lee, and a defender, especially if JD is off to Italy and Santos off to Turkey….

    Unless of course, Meade is deemed good enough to cover for Gibbs until the summer?

  74. DutchGooner10 says:

    The Mayans were known to be a few days off. Those open-heart plumbers didn’t exactly wear atomic clocks on their wrists, you know. Download Bear Grylls episodes while the internet still has a pulse. I race you to the first camel carcass.

  75. Will XL says:

    united is signing Lewandowski. holy crap. had anyone elsr heard that he has agreed on terms for a summer move?

  77. tsGH says:

    I think you are being optimistic there on manure re.Lewandowski . BVB are no arsenal even though they have their own financial issues…

    One of the most reliable papers in Germany are not reporting that apart from ‘So schön feiert der BVB das Super-Jahr’

    I think manure have bigger problems than we have with Rednose rumoured to be odds on to retire next summer. Additionally, Scholes, Rio, Giggs and possibly Vidic are retiring.

    I would be more worried with TV4 joining his best friend in manchester next summer with Polly working in Salfords (BBC)..

  79. tsGH says:

    And Lewandowski is not really pulling trees compared to Stefan Kiesling and Alexander Meier this season . At the moment if I was a coach I will be going for Keisling instead. A modern day Rudi Voller but without the spitting and diving persona if you like 🙂

  80. tsGH says:

    liverpool could do better with Sami Hyypia in charge. he has taken his unfancied club to 2nd in the Bundesliga…

    Saying that with Liverpool struggling with the Welsh Latino in charge we can possibly qualify for CL and AW can claim to have won the 3rd most important trophy available…

  81. DutchGooner10 says:

    Adam

    My fellow country man, Andy vd Meyde, was a doomsday-preppy long before it became fashionable. I just follow leaders.

    Football: Goodison Ark; EXCLUSIVE EVERTON STAR ANDY’S ANIMAL CRACKERS He’s got 7 horses, 9 dogs, 3 geese, 3 goats, 3 cats, 2 ferrets, 2 turtles, 2 deer, 2 rabbits, 2 zebra, a parrot, a camel.. and his wife wants a koala!

    Van der Meyde, 27, bursts into laughter as he recalls: “Yes, the camel. I forgot all about the fact that she had bought that thing when I went back to Italy before Christmas. She had mentioned something to me that one day she wanted a camel.

    “But when I arrived late at night and opened the garage door I nearly died on the spot. In the dark was this massive camel, staring at me from about half a yard away!

  82. tsGH says:

    TS doing their best to top their anti-AW reputation by saying AW is wrong to say TW deserves to pay arsenal back (after all the years the so called expects claimed Theo would be world class if he played for Aston Villa instead of us). Idiots!

  83. DutchGooner10 says:

    AW’s latest comments are the most transparent to date.

    The club don’t want Theo leaving the honeycomb as a freebie. After the ink dries they probably don’t care flogging him if the price is right.

  84. stevepalmer1 says:

    Afternoon all,
    Aparently the world has not come to an end, so that means we have to persevere with the team we have. Mind you i couldn’t work out that if that had been believed why would we sit on all the money we have as we wouldn’t have been able to use it. I can only assume that we was only waiting to see if we had to spend or not, so i now expect a big spend up in January. Looks like the end of the world won’t save Wenger he will now have to work his socks off to get us out of the shite.

  87. tsGH says:

    Ha ha ha… DG10.

    Is it not a long way to fly on your citation x aircraft to Guatemala to usher in the new beginning?

  89. JW says:

    That was super walk, cold and windy five miles, followed by bangers (snags, to you Scott) and mash washed down with a pint of Adnam’s. Time for a nap now! back later.

  91. DutchGooner10 says:

    Kev for you….

    ‘It’s Derek!’ Kat’s mystery lover unmasked in explosive EastEnders episode but will brother Max REALLY kill him on Christmas Day?

    Viewers were glued to their screens as overweight gangster Derek Branning was unmasked as Kat Moon’s secret lover in an explosive EastEnders episode on Thursday.

    Long-suffering husband Alfie Moon finally discovers who his wife Kat is having an affair with, a mystery that has been baffling and frustrating viewers since summer.

    Soon after Thursday’s episode was aired ‘Derek’ was trending on Twitter, with many viewers reacting in disbelief that Derek, who simply lit his cigar as Kat unmasked him as her obsession, would be attractive to the pub landlady character.

  94. JW says:

    Hi DG10, Is that a Dutch soap you are talking about, it sounds a lot like some awful programme that has been running over here since the last century. 😀

  95. Charlie George aka AK says:

    Cheers Dutch. I’m still baffled and frustrated though.
    I wanna know what Ken Barlow has to say about it all..?

  97. DutchGooner10 says:

    JW

    Charlie George aka AK missed a EastEnd cliffhanger. Daily Fail runs the aftermath like Kate got knocked up by the stable cleaner. 😉

  99. Charlie George aka AK says:

    JW, Ken Barlow is one of the central characters of Emmerdale Farm…

    He is 95 years old and still going strong.

    He was in the same class at school as Wath…

  100. JW says:

    DG10,

    Stable cleaner? Wouldn’t she be more likely to get knocked up by an unstable cleaner? Trigger who sweeps up down the market, might be available and he’s pretty unstable, just ask Del Boy. 😀

  102. JW says:

    Trigger’s been doing the job since his old dad retired and is still using the same broom, it’s had five new heads and six new handles.

  103. JW says:

    Arkwright sold Trigger’s dad the original broom on the same day as he had his evil way with nurse Gladys Emmanuel.

  106. DutchGooner10 says:

    JW

    Waiting for the truth is the hardest bit. Still a few months of nail chewing beyond repair before the world gets shocked.

    Revealing baby pictures, with the toothless wearing an oversized overall and a fluorescent vest.

  107. JW says:

    Adam,

    Which was younger Elsie or your first wife?

    Dg10,

    At last we are back to talking about Arsenal, a few months of nail chewing before the world gets shocked….by The Mighty Gunners becoming European Champions!!!

  109. Adam says:

    JW. It was my first wife who was younger though she was very feisty like Elsie and used to beat me heavily. It didn’t stop me remarrying her though, after our acrimonious divorce.

  110. DutchGooner10 says:

    Hahaha JW

    We’re tapping from the same collective HH conciousness only my line was: Waiting for the truth is the hardest bit. 😛

  124. Scott from Oz says:

    JW…….i call them bangers as well mat3 lol.
    Bear Grylls is not a tough nut.
    Cutting a camel open and sleeping inside it for warmth is what we in Oz call camping!!!
    Bear often pops down to my joint for some tips on what might shock you poms….we just call it life 🙂
    Morning all.
    It’s game day!!!

  127. Scott from Oz says:

    I know Rico……some say you guys 12 hours behind…i reckon it is more like 12 years 🙂
    How are you…..a lovely friday night i trust??

  131. Scott from Oz says:

    I am done with work for a few weeks.
    My wife is having her bi-annual garage sale, so i will be moving things around for her, then off to cricket.
    Big weekend planned???

  133. rico says:

    Very nice Scott, maybe you will catch up on some sleep too…

    Quiet weekend for me, few things to do which mainly involve using a cooker 🙂

  138. marinello says:

    Evening all, as Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green used to say… Good post Rico.
    Wigan away tomorrow, the least we should expect is a draw. I do like Martinez, and what he has done with the budget that he has.
    Any news on which season Diaby may return in?
    I have a sneaky feeling that Walcott will be off, and probably to the Mancs. Fergy will pay him £100k + and leave the worry of their mounting debt to the Chairman.

  139. rico says:

    Hi marinello, I used to love Dixon of Dock Green….

    Not this one re Diaby and I thought we’d win tomorrow, then realised we were away….

  146. Scott from Oz says:

    Hey Kev.
    Diaby….his thighs are more famous than those of Colonel Sanders!!
    What a crying shame such an immense talent is going to waste.

  147. Charlie George aka AK says:

    It is a shame Scott, and the dip in our fortunes since he broke down, again, only makes it worse…
    Likewise Rosicky.
    David Villa on loan for the rest of the season looks interesting.
    Bendtner returning to Arsenal next summer is just depressing.

  149. Lee says:

    Morning Rico, my heart melted this morning my daughter said “three sleeps until comes…” Told her not to believe in that old crap! 😉

  151. rico says:

    Morning Lee, you cruel man, your poor daughter…

    And what do you mean, Santa still comes down my chimney…. 😉

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