Hey gang,
Before I get going a couple of quick items.
Firstly, thanks for your thanks for my first post but it really goes to Andy. He’s the one who built this blog and has sustained it through the years. The wonder is that he even gives the keys to this baby to our quarrelsome rabble. Secondly, I work on-call consequently, (as in this instance) my post may be a wee late. Sometimes it might just be on time though: stranger things have happened.
Stranger indeed, like for example a 1-3 home opening humbling at the hands of Aston Villa a survivor of last year’s relegation battle. It all began so well in fact, there was signing and chanting and colorful banners that said things like “You can’t buy class” and “In Arsene We Trust”. You could see that class and almost feel the trust six minutes later when Ox tore down the left and with the outside of his right foot found Giroud steaming down the slot with a perfectly executed ‘Rosicky’. The Frenchman slotted it home with robotic coolness. The crowd cooed “Giiiirrroooud” and sang “There’s only one Arséne”.
Who was to know that would be as good as it got? We made a few more chances but never converted, cooled off, lost focus and in just 15 minutes—with the help of the referee—things had gone quickly from good to bad. Not that Gabby Agbonglahor need the refs help to cruise by no less than four Arsenal defenders on the way to goal but for Anthony Taylor to play an advantage that really was and then pull it back to the penalty spot after that advantage was so plainly squandered was criminally wrong. Nevertheless we had been exposed at the back.
The real truth is the crowd turned. It turned instantly, utterly, savagely.
Four minutes later we were exposed on the bench as an inadvertent clash of heads claimed profusely bleeding left-back Kieran Gibbs. Now the murmurs begin. Perhaps we couldn’t buy class but purchasing another defender might have proved a prudent. “Not to worry” thought the banner-wavers, Arséne will get it straightened out at the half. However, the singing had stopped. The half would eventually come but before we got there we would be exposed again—this time in midfield—and this time it would prove decisive. When Oxlade Chamberlain went down the game descended from bad to ugly.
Santi Cazorla had never expected to play and it showed. 15 minutes after coming on for the Ox, Cazorla took a pass across his body from Wilshere with a first touch that might be charitably described as rugged. Charity it was for Agbonglahor who gathered it up, bolted for the box and won his second and equally undeserved penalty of the game.
What happens next for me is the story of the game. It’s not lax passes or poor touches. It isn’t even the almost bizarrely poor refereeing decisions, though only God knows what this man was thinking or even how he came to be in charge of anything much less a Premiership match. The real truth is the crowd turned. It turned instantly, utterly, savagely. No one hooted Cazorla nor blamed the penalized Koscielny; they went straight for Wenger. “Spend some ****ing money and “You don’t know what you’re doing” rained down for the balance of the match. Finally, we had been exposed where it really hurts, at the heart.
I don’t recall what game the fans started chanting these things last year except that it began earlier than the year before which in turn was earlier than the year before that. This was game one. Today Wenger is talking about a “response in Turkey”. This is window dressing. Any idea of a Champions League win against Fenerbahçe “righting” the ship or assuaging this anger is sheer idiocy. There is a deep and material distrust between a large portion of Goonerdom and the people who are running the club.
It is absolutely superfluous for me to recount the events of this and many previous summer transfer windows. You know all the stories. How much we have to spend, how we can’t find the right or “better” players than we have. I know no more the reason for our inability to bring in good players in good and proper time than you do. But I’m getting to the point where the reasons why mean little to me. I look around and see that our opponents find and sign good players (including the ones we want) while we cannot or will not.
We head to Turkey with a team decimated by injuries and suspensions. Perhaps no one can be blamed for them but someone must be held responsible for the lack of any cover whatsoever. It’s not good enough.
To call Taylor’s handling of the first penalty wrong criminal is wrong. The rule state that a referee can allow advantage and after a few seconds if no clear advantage is gained the referee can pull it back to the original offence something Taylor did. Granted it is rare that happens but that’s the rule. What you could and should have highlighted is Taylor’s decision making in not booking two villa players after sending kos off namely vlaar and Westwood who were already on yellows and would have walked. I disagree the result was down to our inactivity in transfer window but more down to our change in pre season training and matches.Since we have stopped using the high altitude training in Austria and travelled to lucrative Asia our season starts have dipped we don’t seem to be as fit and ready as before now this is wengers fault for pandering to market forces. Now people and blogs say why do we need cabaye simply put apart from cazorla our other midfielders do not supply enough goals cabaye does. Our second problem freeze the video of giroud s goal is the amount of bodies we throw forward in attack for giroud s goal 3 players in the box against 5 defenders ok on that occasion we scored but on many others we were crowded out or failed to find the target man or missed the target. Now it hurts we lost to villa but its not our lack of players in we need to work on its how we play as a team when arteta is out and this needs to worked at both Ramsey and wilshere could do it they just need to work out how to play that like viera and petit. One staying one going forward.
Lefty, nice article and a well thought out response by Richard. According to the press we have put bids in for just about everyone. I really hope this isn’t true. I may be wrong but under Wenger/Dein we used to get the business done, which just doesn’t happen these days. Whilst a striker and an experienced keeper are necessary, I would really like to se some steel added, Fellaini maybe?
It’s gonna be tough inTurkey, but I am hopefully we will get a positive result
You are right Richard but they got their advantaged and clearly missed an open shot. There was not then nor is there now any argument even by the Villa players that they did not gain the advantage. They simply blew the shot.
For that you get NO second bite.
Nice article lefty,
Theres a thousand more fans like that guy whos video youv linked but I bet they wouldnt have put their points across quite aswel. Theres a giod one of a belgian fan aswel if you could post that lefty hes very composed and articulate considering.
Our fans are hurting.
It might sound over-dramatic compared to other peoples struggles but its true.
I, and some others like Kel, have been hurting for years. I said this was coming, indeed in my early quarrels with Shard when I had alot less respect for him than I do now, I promised him I would say ‘ I told you so’ but I would rather have been wrong a thousand times over than ever utter words recognising our current state.
Every year, selling our best to our domestic and CL rivals to the chorus of In Arsene we Trust.
Gary Cahill.
Chris Smalling.
Phil Jones.
Perrotti- argentinian who snubbed us for inter.
Juan Mata.
Higuain.
Jovetic.
Gustavo.
Wilfred Zaha.
Hazard.
Vertonghen.
A list of the players we didnt do enough to sign and who in turn joined teams who expressed more of a desire to sign them.
These are the players we KNOW of, like I said, what is the stuff we are not hearing?
Like I said, I expect a bid for Richards, an enquirey at least for Muniain, after that I havnt a clue but Cabaye wont join when given the option of us or PSG.
This board and manager, this window more than any other have confirmed how inept they are in transfer dealings, every club in the world now know that they can add millions onto any sale of a player should Arsenal approach because they know the fans have reached boiling point, does that affect Wenger & Gazidis approach….No!! They put in a derisory bid of £10m for Cabaye!!!!! I find it derisory and Im not even a Newcastle fan!!!!!!
Its mental.
If they really believe the guy is worth 10m in todays market then they both deserve to go because their seriously out of touch.
And Dick Law should have gone a long time ago.
Wenger thinks a win tomorrow night will buy him time because we, the hamster masses, can only think short term and we forget whats gone on. He thinks we are idiots and the board trust him, hence our current predicament.
But they have gone too far and gambled with our emotions too long andnow we are in decline, if not decline then standing still while all around us move forward.
We are in big trouble because we cannot attract the necessary footballer to improve us.
To be honest, we have allowed it to get this far in the first place, fair enough everyones up in arms now alright, and Wenger & Gazidis have outdone themselves reinventing their lies and propoganda eachyear, but this has been happening for five years.
Look, this is the best way I can explain to you where we are now that simultaneously puts Wenger and the boards utter uselessness and incompetence, and arrogance:
Man Utd 8-2 Arsenal.
Wenger panics and buys Arteta, Park, Santos, loans Benayoun and Mertesacker.
Forward on two years.
The Utd team that beat us 8-2 and has finished miles ahead of us the two seasons since has most of the same personnel plus Robin Van Persie, Kagawa, etc.
The Arsenal side that lost 8-2 has acquired Giroud, Santi and Podolski but only Arteta remains of the players Wenger brought in after the 8-2 mauling.
Surely Wenger knows we are further away now to closing the gap than then, and what has he tried to do to put it right?
He sells our best to our rivals and takes their leftovers when he can i.eSylvestre and Benayoun.
I mean the more you look back the worse it gets.
Add to this the amount of teams rumoured to still owe us money and itd put you in a straight jacket.
Great article Lefty!
Shambo – yes I too remember 5 or 6 years ago when it took balls to say anything negative about WEnger’s methods. The insults were harsh, but I endured because I knew that we were on the wrong path.
My greatest fear had always been that as the quality of our players decreased that one day Arsenal we would reach a breaking point. The board would not sack Wenger , but the fans would turn on him one day. Arsene a man full of pride would quit and leave us with our club in such a shamble that we would be lucky to finish in the top 6.
I was hoping that I would be wrong , a man who had so much success as a manager knew better. I stopped believing Wenger about 5 years, I never beloved that Denilson was the box to box midfielder we needed, I did not believe Song could replace Viera , I don’t believe that Arteta or Cabaye are the DM we need!
Gunfest,
I doubt he would ever quit to be honest, but I dont think he will sign a new contract with all the current unrest.
You just cant believe a word he says anymore, even yesterday he told us ox- chambo would be out for 6 weeks but then the player tweets it will be three months, double the length of time.
Arteta was not a holding midfielder at Everton, he never was. He was their link player, and quite a good one. Dont forget that Wenger haggled again with Everton, they then pulled out of the move , the player himself then forced through a move and Wenger and Gazidis made him take a PAYCUT!!!!!
I lay zero blame at Artetas feet, he is being played out of position and has been nothing but professional since joining us.
The question Gunfest is why, in the last 8 years have we never once tried any other tactical formation other than 4-3-3.
Wenger is so arrogant that he thinks if he changes his approach in any area that it will be viewed as failure, I even heard before that this is why he is so slow to make substitutions because he believes the 11 he selectd should be enough to do the job every time.
Its documented that Southampton have been getting 10,000 pounds everytime Ox chambo plays 20mins and thats why he was only getting the last portion of games last year.
Its a complete mess and Wenger AND the board have got us here along with Gazidis negotiation tactics…..his tactics are this.
Step 1…download frugal sustainability manager to laptop.
Step 2… approach selling club with half dozen lawyers in tow.
Step 3…leak interest to media around season ticket renewel date, then pretend were unhappy with publicity.
Step 4…make derisory bid.
Step 5…meet again with selling club reps and enquire about selling price.
Step 6…Enter said price into laptop on frugal sustainability manager, look up at selling club reps, cough in their faces and say: ” computer says no….”, then leave.
Step 7…Get Arsene to say the selling club were holding us to ransom and we are keeping the money to spend on a bomb proof underground training and living quarters for the impending demise of every other football team in the world that spends money and subsequent end of the world as we know it.
Step 8…Get PR manager to put it out there that this day, and the FFP rules are not too far away and when they arrive we will be the strongest team around.
Step 9…Privately try to look self in eye in mirror.
Step 10…Offer Arsene new contract on gis already hypocritical salary.
Step 11…Ring Stan about bonus.
Oh yer nice story , so many times good players prefer not to join the gunners simply because Mr Wanger’s ideas fits the board members not players neither fans. Look the pay roll of Arsenal compared to the other BIG four or Five Clubs. In Wanger its all about making profits , profits and profits only. He (Wanger) stated dt to finish in top four position is a TOPHY of it self, Imagine. Come next year or years Arsenal will be in archive unless otherwise.
@ Shambo
Do you realize what wenger is up to?? They had no intention of buying any top class players this summer hence all these ridiculous bids.
I don’t know who wenger is going to get this late because all the top players are gone so its going to be the same as seasons past and that is, BUY players for 10 and 15 mil £, and that my friend would be the samething they have done in the last 8 years or should i say the same price they have paid. We may get some additions BUT they will not be top class i can assure you.
Spurs have no CL and look who they bought, so when people come here mentioning Players waiting to come in when we qualify i find that disrespectful and absurd to even mention. We had 3 months and nothing done, what do you think can be done in 1 week and 1/2 when all the best players are gone or will not be going because of the Time, hence as i said we might sign players for 15mil the same as seasons gone no different, what a master stroke by wenger.
look at the update with ox these day when i see wenger i get angry because his mouth is only full of lies.
I which the guys luck tonite because i honestly believe they are honest and hard working BUT the rest, wenger, ivan, stan and the money grabbing board who does not have a clue about football you guys can go to hell, and if we loose I’ll Booo wenger from here to Christmas because he’s done as a top manager and once he stays we will never progress.
wenger out at the end of the season!!!!!!!!!
Kel,
I wish I could not think of all the stuff thats gone on but I cant and its making me bitter to the point of calling negligence on them all, and as fans we should be signing a petition for a motion of no confidence in this regime.
Like you say the excuse of not signing players till CL football has been assured is absolute shite, first of all you will lose certain targets as they could be in danger of being cup tied if they are turned out by their clubs, secondly any player with anything about him should say he wants tosign and help push the club into the group stages, and finally, the fucking deals should just be done Im sick to the teeth of hearing about Arsenal applying tactics when approaching signings, ha!!! More tactics that dont work!
I know were interested in Richards at City, he would be a big signing for us. Cb or Rb, powerful, great from set pieces, hes homegrown AND hes a gooner who has always said hed like to wear the shirt….hiw many of them do we have??? Wilshere, rosicky, Arteta, jenkinson, gibbs and Ox, they are the only ones I get a sense of Arsenal pride and identity from, maybe Caz and Monreal in time but some of these guys I mentioned arent really Arsenal quality or are in the wrong positions.
I know Wenger likes Muniain also and hes quality and could replace Gervinho and probably take podis spot if we bid.
Navas should have been signed at 17m and Jovetic also at 22m if we were alert at all.
Maybe Lisandro Lopez is also in the picture but I think hes on the downward slope but short term is what we need.
Kongdobia, Pogba- not for me, untried at PL level and inflated fees. Cabayes is worth more for his set piece delivery and eye for goal.
Schezny is a clown, he cannot be taken seriously, I used to think he could be great, but then he started opening his mouth, he doesnt get the seriousness of his job or the situation we are in, not many of our players do to be honest.
I dont want Ashely Williams either hes slow thinking tho a great presence and leader hes not what we need to get us back and he and Mertesacker would be a huge risk against pace.
Abbati at rb would be my choice to sign the guy is quality, Sagnas not up to it anymore and is a liability.
I like Carl Jenkinson but Iv no idea why he was signed and I dont think hed even be in the Charlton side now had he stayed wholehearted and a gooner, but honestly the guy has very little to offer.
Nice article. Any good streams? Mine is hanging
I need a link guys HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
Got my HQ stream going……
Barring anymore injuries and with Podolski set to come in, we will be okay.
But, we need to watch out for the Nigerian striker, he will be not be like Webo
Cheers guys
Kel try sportlemon.tv
ramzidane get in there!!!!!!!!! well struck
2nd away goal by Ramsey.
If we can get outta here with a clean sheet and nobody else kicked in the face I’ll be totally stoked.
BTW: My Turkish isn’t very good but I get the feeling some of their supporters are no happier than some of ours. Go figure.
You know Arsenal will never win anything with Ramsey in the side. Well done Rambo proud of you
great pen by giroud.
not that i am a massive poster on here but can we change the time of postings to uk/arsenal time
We should wear blue shorts in every game.
vcc – This blog was started when I lived in Australia, so the post times match that fact. No need to change them in my opinion.
We did it even though we had our backs up against the wall.
Now, Merson just said Suarez is worth 60mill…..I totally second that.
Why cant we spend 50mill to get Suarez? That we’ve not bid atleast 45mill for him yet is quite absurd to me. And this is the LACK OF AMBITION. Fuck Luis Gustavo and GET SUAREZ.
I wish all the Arsenal blogs will write the same thing as a header….”GET SUAREZ”. Instead of fans chanting “Spend some fuckin money”….they should rather be chanting “We need the fuckin Suarez”. Goal keeping is not a problem if you are confortable in the middle and striking positions.
I say get Fellaini, get Suarez and it would’ve been an excellent job done.
Retsub, you know he is now improved. I admitted that in my last post even though we lost the game. I know he has improved cos he has been getting regular time at our expense, hence the confidence boost……but my analysis still stands.
The goal was a fluke, another keeper could’ve held that (I hope you are not trying to say his shot was spectacular)….taking nothing away from his performance, I think he did brilliantly today. He MUST sustain this else, we suffer for it.
Wow, Villa just scored against Barca (and celebrated), amazing stuff going on. We completely underated this guy and NO-ONE spoke against it. Athletico sneaked in from no-where and got him extremely cheap. Even then we were everywhere….this victory notwithstanding, if we dont buy a genuine striker, we might not celebrate for our regular 4th place trophy.
Unless we buy, we will undoubtedly be the WORST losers of this transfer season
Gunner boss
Rambo,s shot wouldn’t.t have been saved by any keeper in the world. Well ok maybe my granny then.
Have to say I agree with you in Suarez and Fellani though. I don’t like Suarez much, he’s committed a number of sins, the World Cup penalty save stank in my opinion, but undoubtably a classy player
Okay, I just read the post and Richard is spot on. This is why I said I agree with us not buying anyone, but if you as a coach is so confident with your team and cannot find better at reasonable prices, then your(Good) team MUST step up and be counted. Else, the whole thing looks silly when we lose simple winnable matches and made to look thin. How many years has this sort of thing happened?
I have done my fair share of the criticism thingy for the past 4-5 years….what have we not written on this blog? Remember when the “Doom and Gloom” thing was reigning? Spanish gunner was chased off, lots of crazy stuff happened that is still happening today and as a result I came to the conclusion that our FANS are the problem. We are not united, some want to support Wenger no matter what and as a result become unwittingly biased in whatsoever judgement they try to mutter. We literally fought on this blog cos of taking sides…..what happened on the stands on Saturday? Fans were close to trading blows.
I NEVER berate our players unless they are completely useless(whether we win or not). But, to see fans boo (or whatever they did) Cazorla means we have ANIMALS as fans. It means we have loads of know-all, but SILLY fans everywhere. How on earth does any fan justify booing Cazorla? It was same with Song, Arshavin, …..good players.
We claimed Song does not know his position, but we have a coach who keeps on playing him and allowing him to keep on doing things we felt he should not be doing. So, its either we know better than the coach or WE ARE ANIMALS. Cos, I dont understand how we blame players for tactical decisions and leave the coach completely free. When has Wenger ever spoken out for anything? Guardiola says “I need Thiago” and it was done amidst interest from Manure. It was done. Here, Wenger is the overall….and it is now we are beginning to see it. Like Shambo said, the quality has been in decline and the fact that we could not use this period to silently recruit quality means we are not serious at all.
Gazidis said we have money. Mistakes can be made and amended easily. Moyes said Rooney is second choice, Rooney became mad. Has that made them rush and cast him away like the unwanted rash? NO. But, RVP RIGHTLY criticized us and FANS justified selling. We have NO ambitions whatsoever, FUCK whoever says we do. Napoli sold Cavani and have been active since, why cant they seemingly not-recruit in the presense of inflation? No, inflation affects ONLY Arsenal. Everyone knows they have Cavani money, yet they have been busy.
We just need to start adding QUALITY….one by one will do. But, we have failed to strengthen our core. Shitty have been doing so and look where they are. Nobody compares us with shitty anymore, they look at them as a far superior club now.
Fellaini should’ve been a good start, but now it seems we NEVER wanted him. Doesn’t it seem so now? Who is complaining about our not getting him? Instead now, the bandwagon is on the Newcastle guy…WTF? We need the giant more in my opinion and that should be the start. Any form of panic buying people who were not even on the scouting list means we as a club have FAILED. We have money(in the bank), we had targets….what is happening to the targets? That we put in a pound on top for Suarez shows how much we did not want to do business. And when they came out smoking hot and angry, why have we not gone out with a superior bid (atleast to calm them down)? We have what we want because we have a set of fans who know more than the best managers, but do not unitedly speak out when it matters. Our solidarity is our bane
And wenger lives another day, lucky man, a win is a win 17 years in CL
here we go
We’ve won! Nice for the lads , they played well !
The true test will be against teams in the EPL.
The more I watch Giroud , he is not a top 4 starting striker
@Gunnerboss you must have stolen my thoughts. I entirely agree that if we got just two players from the 70 million fund available i will call it a success. The players are Suarez and Fellaini plus may be a cheap center back.Am assuming Suarez costing us 55 to 60 million if not trying Lewodwoski for about 5o million.Buying Fellaini at 30 million and a cheap center back at 10 or 12 million. The total is about 90 realistically within our reach.Those 3 or 4 players will be enough for us to compete in the Top without any shadow of doubt.
Great result last night,
Not taking away from it but my god Fenerbahce were atrocious, their midfield never supported their attacks and stood off us and retreated, I couldnt believe how much they played into our hands.
Everyone played well but there was no pressure put on us at all.
Cazorlas passing last night was fantastic but hes not able to get into the box on the end of things and Im concerned over his fitness.
But its a much needed tonic and lets see what Wenger does now with CL all but secured.
@Shambo the passing was meticulous and i for once enjoyed it.However am not buying into that so much as Fernabache were crap and this was a demotivated team whose efforts were already in a balance. They didn’t have anything to play for as even if they won the tie the likelihood of sanctions for match fixing is looming and obvious.
We thumped MANCITY 3 to I only to loose to a mediocer Aston Villa.I suspect this may happen against Fulham. As a London derby will be more intense and fierce than this Turkish tie. I hope we change tactics.otherwise Fulham is abit advanced than Fernabache.
I think Villa are probably a better side than you think. They were very unlucky to lose at Chelsea last night.
@ Restub Villa may be a good side but Arsenal should not be at the level of Aston Villa. We must be a class above.The fact that they played so well and lost to Chelsea tells you what a good side chelsea are and how average Villa are. Actually had chelsea taken its chances they would have won by a wider margin.They play counter attacking footie which Wenger failed to understand and react to quickly.I doubt arsenal could loose the second league when they meet. The 3 points lost at home were just un acceptable and nothin g other than 3 points at Craven cottage can restore parity.I pray we are tactically sound to get all the three points at Fulham. I would thus prefer a Defensive approach at Fulham with Walcott leading the show up front due to his speed.
wenger’s Quotes: “Quality wise we dont’ need BUT number wise we are short”
HAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!
So wenger in his interview lastnight thinks we only need squad players because the players he has are world class and he called diaby’s name in that HaaaaaaaaaaaaH!!!!! what a piece of work
We don’t pay top wages we don’t win anything, what top player would come to us????? And to compound that the fan believe that wenger will buy quality now after last nites result (against as Piss Poor as a team as i have ever seen) Got a mate who told me that we would win this game quite easily, and he was spot on. I think i need to stop feeling sorry for the fans because we are the main reasons why we are where we are and until they man up and make sacrifices then this will continue he’s not going to spend big on any player, he has his own valuation of other peoples players which i find disrespectful, out of place, and Bold, I would really like to tell where he should put his valuation BUT this win just papers over the cracks for a next week until the window closes and then you’ll here the excuses come out: “you can’t change it now so get behind your team” Arsene Wenegr will not change get that through your thick skulls am sure wenger wish all teams were as piss poor as last nite then we would have won the CL about 10 times already.
I may seem negative BUT am going based on what has gone on in the past and this summer, no top player in their right mind will come to us under this regime so all we’ll get is 10 and 15Mill £ pound players and told that their world class Because based on what wenger thinks and said last night: that all we need is squad players then as usual he is an idiot
I want wenger out..
By the way the rumors are heating up that we will resign Flamini and i think that has a big possibility mainly because he’s free, typical wenger
BUT it only rumor rite!!!!!
Yesterday, it was Benzema, now its Casillas, Di Maria and Oezil…..
What the fuck are we smoking? What do we want? Are we just realising we have money? If it is a strategy, it better work. There’s nothing that will harm us more than another set of patch-gap buys.
I must say Mertesacker and Arteta were good panic buys. We especially needed Mertesacker(height) at the time and now, Arsenal no longer look vulnerable from set pieces. However, we cannot afford to be panic buying every two years. This was our best chance to solidify, I hope we can still make good use of these few days.
On another note, 40mill for Benzema sounds absurd. Is he an upgrade to Higuain? Why pay 40 for this guy? Why couldnt we pay the 25 for Higuain instead of haggling and now claim we want to pay 40 for Benzema? I would happily take Rooney at 40 instead. David Villa might not be the fastest, but he has ACCURACY, same with RVP, Lewandowski and Rooney. Higuain and Benzema are in the same bracket (some speed, not accurate). But, Suarez….what can I say? This guy is like a midfielder that strikes….he can do lots of stuff with the ball, but he has speed and works tirelessly too. We know what he can do. Oezil and DiMaria woud split fans again, but I would prefer DiMaria just because I think we are short on the flanks. If Oezil were to come, then Wilshere, Arteta and Ramsey will have to share DM (this would mean we cannot afford to buy a DM anymore) because Cazorla MUST play. If it were possible, I say grab Oezil and DiMaria, let the selections sort themselves out. Alternatively, we could just add a striker and a very solid DM, because like it or not, we do have a bunch of mad central midfielders waiting to explode right now. If only the coach start utilizing Cazorla more in the middle to get the best out of his strengths.
Whole lot of speculation, I’m excited, but trusting Wenger is another thing entirely (Just like Podolski/Walcott not playing in the centre). But, Ramsey has been given two good seasons of playing time and look at his form start to pick up(3rd season)…I wouldn’t mind same treatment given to Walcott and we suffer a while, later, we WILL reap cos the guy is damn fast. So, getting those midfielders might actually be better for us cos we have three strikers who could play CF(and bench each other).
For comparison sake, Negredo, Jovetic are not so much of an upgrade to Giroud. Giroud just needs to step up his game and feel more confident. More than 40 mill for one striker is absurd….we are not that weak.
Again, I think the Flamini possibility is why he is not going all out to get a DM. Then, why not get Oezil and DiMAria? Stop haggling unless over-inflated…these guys are not ordinary squad players…they are quality.
30mil for Oezil, 30mul for DiMaria, sign Flamini and let us start there. Three players in, all very useful and money well spent. No matter how wasteful, Giroud or Walcott will be, it wont be that bad cos these guys can score as well.
Manure are the luckiest bastards with RVP…..I really miss that guy. Single-handedly lifting manure game after game after game. Why cant we bid 50mill for him?
We NEED ambassadors at the club. We need to re-sign our legendary players. People who were idols to our present crop, who really have nothing doing, but are willing to make it a career with us by helping out anyhow they can. Right now, we have no old player(bar Bould) in any sort of influential capacity.
Lewandowski claims he had a deal with the club, club says “ur too valuable…..Goetze is already gone, you have to stay”. They rush in and keep the guy quiet. Any thoughts about what would happen here? We have no influential people here. We have no targets, aim or ambitions. I’ve not heard anyone say “Oh, we need to win the UCL in the next 2 years” or anything like this and match it with some signings to show the intent. Look at the way Spurs are going about strengthening, I’m not saying they will win anything, but they have showed their intent with ACTIONS. Manure came for RVP and we could only mutter 24mill, we clearly knew what he was capable of and yet sold him very cheaply and OUR FANS were there to celebrate. So, just like RVP, if we were to sell Cazorla now, fans would justify why we need to sell because he wants more money bla bla bla bla. Then you wonder if anyone really cares for the club. Have Dortmund sold Lewandowski? I bet he is bigger than the club then? Wong. But, they kept him.
I bet I was the only one shouting when Song was sold, DID WE NEED TO SELL? Now, we may seemingly go back to an old vomit(Flamini). This guy left us when we needed him most and now what lessons do the current players learn from this? That they can walk away and come back anytime to open arms?
Our situation is frightening.
Joking about buying RVP, but was very sad to see the way that guy left
Well well lefty you are rocking.Thanks to you and Andy for bringing this blog back alive.
Honestly if Arsene truly deserves another contract , then he should prove that he has it in him to lift the trophy this year, otherwise he can well leave it as Arsenal’s future.
It’s up-to him to buy players or not , but his job is to win trophy and deserve a contract or walk off respecting his usual statement that he honors his contract.
Of-course he is a great manager , one i support and trust , but still, what greatness can achieve without results and can’t take up the challenge or put down to the task.
This season may spill out my tears , either rejoicing lifting a trophy or seeing the manager most trusted leaving his legend behind or crying that Arsene was given a contract again and Arsene managed to finish top four or behind.
Having observed Wenger for many years, I think that he was never really going to strengthen the team. He was hoping that we beat Villa and Fulham to start the season so he ease the pressure to buy truly high caliber /expensive signings.
My feeling is Wenger does not respect the fans, he is condescending , he treats us like we are children.
“Finishing 4th is like winning a trophy”
Or saying that an inferior team like ours is good enough to win the league.
Remember that youth policy that would one day win the league.
Great result against a poor Fenerbahce. Our squad depth still a worry. Flaming hardly set the world alight for Milan and I agree with Gunnerboss about the way he left us left a bit of a bad taste. Maybe he now regrets it. Anyway everyone deserves a second chance. Except Nasri. And Adebayor. And the Dutch Skunk. Be nice to see some other big moves but I won’t hold my breath!
Keep up the good work Lefty and Andrew. The resurrected blog is like a new signing! Now where have I heard that?
Quote of the year? “The resurrected blog is like a new signing! “