This is an interim post to block the blog knockers, what I hear you say? What I mean is, I’m reading a lot of posts that say certain blogs are turning on the boss, this is simply not true, this is what I think people are saying.
What you have attempted Arsene is brave, but it hasn’t worked, the work in progress has won nothing so it’s time to tweak it a little and maybe buy some ready made talent, it’s not like we don’t have the money, Edelman keeps telling us we do.
For the 3rd season in a row we have bought very little, but have lost world class stars, such as Freddie, Dennis, Bobby, Sol, Reyes, Ralph and Thierry and to a lesser extent, Baptista and Diarra. Now all that talent has gone and what have we brought in? Sagna, Hleb and Rosicky.
Now one of those is a crock, you may say Baptista was a loaner, but he was still an Arsenal player and Diarra could have featured well in this last 3 months. Hleb and Sagna, top drawer, no complaints.
For me Arsene has been stubborn, not spending money is his moniker and I think he likes that, but it won’t win us trophies and given how much we as fans spend, and how loyal we are, I think he needs to change his policy, now that is not slagging him off, that is merely having an opinion, and that is everyones right.
Not having an opinion makes you a sheep, and we on this site are not sheep, if on the other hand you are from the ‘Arsene knows’ brigade, fine that’s your opinion, blog somewhere else, I’m fed up with telling you.
We had a couple of those on yesterday and I blocked them, if we get more then I’ll block them too, I’ll finish with this, I saw a steward in action yesterday doing something great, diffusing a situation with common sense and telling another steward to back off, she was a woman and I’ll talk more on that tomorrow.
Pedro will be on soon with his match report.
In my eagerness to write the blog I realised I left out two other stars…Pascal Cygan and Stepanovs, sorry!
Yes I agree that AW wants to prove that he can win the title by laying the foundation for youth. That takes time. What happens if the promisng teenager turns out to be no better than a championship star.Then it’s back to the drawing board and in the meantime you can bet the other teams willl buy ready made players.Arsenal will be left behind.
Of course nothing is guaranteed in this world but it is less of a gamble with ready made players.My gut feeling is Aw will unleash his checkbook to buy at least three plyers for about gbp40 m to 50 mil.
ManU won the league in style, then spent 70mil (including Tevez) you need a blend, Dennis was 36 when he retired for christs sake, it’s not new to even Wenger.
You can win the league with kids, if they’re good enough and if you have enough of them, we don’t.
The Denilson, Diaby and Traore’s are not good enough back ups for the Cesc’s and Flamini’s
Geoff, I think that AW is on the horns of a dilemna. The kids MAY be good enough, but how does he find out without giving them a run in the team? The pressures of keeping up with the top two are immense,because the gap between the top 4 and the rest means that fewer points are dropped. So we cannot allow players to develop confidence playing in the first team. Plus and this is a huge plus, we are talking about very young men with no life experience. Do we really expect Traore to have the positional sense of Carragher?
This is a marked change from the ‘old days’, when there was not such a wide gap between the teams.
It is not just Wengers policy to sign established stars but Arsenals, they never have. Bergkamp was having a rotten time in Italy after being a top prospect in Holland, he only really became a star player at Arsenal, Overmars was a gamble after a few seasons with injury, he became a real player at Arsenal. We won the league in 90-91 with home grown talent and no major signings, we won the league in 97-98 with a number of new foriegn players but none who were ready made and at the peak of their careers when they signed. Arsenal has never been a club to sign ready made talent, just talented players who through being associated with the club have won things.
By the way Geoff, I notice that you work on the site very early in the morning. I saw a blog written at 5 am. the other day. Do you have very young children or are you an insomniac?
This is missing the point.
The whole problem, as seen over many years, was the lack of
money. This was not a I will not spend money mantra but
reality. The solution, we need a new stadium.
The problem with this was that it costs a lot. That meant you
had to keep spending low for several years, which we have.
Now generating 3 million every match. Now have 70 million to
spend this summer. Now rich club. Problem solved.
This year was not supposed to be a win league etc.. Would
have liked to have, and were close but now we have made the
transition to having a new stadium, to having money so that can
buy new players.
Patience. A few years of under performance to secure the long
term is a trade I’d make any day.
what about Oleg Luhzny, you forgot him as well
Think your not recognising what we’ve bought in; for one you seem to have forgotten we bought Eduardo and Gallas, and also we’ve bought Theo, Diarra, Denilson and a lot of other quality youngsters who’ll take time to evolve and fulfill potential. Not the finished article maybe, but then is Darren Bent? Its not like we haven’t spent any of the money Edleman says we have to spend.
Further, we all knew there would come a time when the likes of Dennis would quit and the idea of a chequebook solution to his retirement seems fantasy to me.
Do wanna see a top right winger arrive though, and a left one too. Our wings this season have been a running joke, Hleb and Theo apart.
AW did great since he came to Arsenal. I believe he has a positive bottom line of Stg 24 (must be the one of a kind in that respect) and notwithstanding this he won us some silverware, BUT he could have won more and he will win more if he invests more. (look at Chelsea and MU) To do excellent, like all successful managers, he needs to use all the resources at his disposal. So he needs to buy some ready made players. In my view it is the defence that is letting Arsenal down. Attackers need to improve their scoring skills. Goals from afar are a rare thing with Arsenal and in most one on one with Gaolers, Arsenal attackers seem to fail.
Finally, all in all, I do not see many wrong things with this young and talented team, it only needs to be streghtened and increase our best 11 to at least our best 16.
Even the great Herbert Chapman went on a spending spree when he came to this great club, the result of which was a stunning period of success for “The Arsenal.”
Wenger too bought top flight players during the first few years at the club, and success also followed.
Now Wenger is kidding the fans and himself with his new-found policy.
He will eventually rip the heart out of this club if he persists in this shambolic mission of his.
It’s as if he is determined to teach Ferguson and the Chavs a lesson in building a team from the ground up.
Perhaps it’s his way of capturing an honorary knighthood.
Who the f… knows?
But it is killing the supporters who have turned on the club as the boos on Saturday attest to.
And who the hell can blame them.
If you want to experiment with a club, go do it elsewhere.
That is not the Arsenal way and never has been.
It is even less appropriate now with so many mega-rich people buying clubs left, right and centre.
Mark my words, Wenger’s experiment will fail and push us closer to our version of Abramovich.
And though independence would have been great, it’s perhaps as much as we deserve.
He can either change his policies for the sake of the club, or go and tinker elsewhere.
The supporters’ dream is at opposite ends to Wenger’s dream.
And something is gonna give. Trust me on that one.
Raddy no to both, I’m just a committed Journo, I cant help myself, Evo, I didn’t forget, I couldn’t spell his name that’s all!
I believe Wenger has talented individuals and he believes so too but perhaps he has put too much faith in such a squad…
He believes that having surplus is 1. difficult to manage (lets talented players go) but also 2. unnecessary (since he has a squad of talent), which is why he refuses to purchase.
Fabregas is young but yet bears the responsibility of learning (his own game), creativity, other midfielder roles and ideally scoring goals (for the team).
In a long season at this age its wise to rotate him.
We need a bigger squad, and yes at the expense of rotation, perhaps buy more physical, stronger and less injury prone players for those bullish away games that ‘total football’ is totally ineffective.
You cant fault the players, they have been fantastic this season well apart from those that always seem to get injured
Which top flight players has Wenger ever bought?
Vieira- a reserve team player from Milan
Petit, Grimandi, Garde, Wiltord, Anelka- all from the French League
Henry- after a failed season in the top flight- played 16 games for Juventus
The few who have been bought from the top flight- Reyes from Sevilla and maybe Jeffers from Everton have both been failures at Arsenal, it seems to me that it is a much better system to buy players with talent and a prospect for doing well than players who are established.
i really think we need 1 world class striker,2 mids(wingers),i good defender,they all should be developed players,look at manu they have a bench as good as are 1st line up,chelsea have sheva in reserves and their bench is world class too,
Look at manu they have ronaldo,rooney to push them and win
chelsea have drogba
we have ade?is he there?
2 be fair i don’t know what u r saying man……!!!!but anyways..what a ‘cufk’ is EBOUE still doing in the arsenal shirt??????he must b saked…he’s a waiste ,sloppy and not sure what 2 do with the ball whenever he get’s one, he plays with no head….he makes me feel SICK…+ sloppy sloppy TOURE..what is wrong whith him????ALMUNIA could have save that P.CROUCH effort..!! J .HOYTE…give me a breake man ..stay on the bench cause u can make it far from there..GET IT..!!!!??? T.WALCOTT grow up please .. for get about R.VAN ‘NURSEY’ he’s getting old..T.ROSICKY ..i think u better play volley ball man , HLEB must eet some more ,BENDTNER not all that …
Arvo all, morning if you live anywhere other than down under!!
Looking forward, out of Meredia, vela, Barazite and co,Who do you think will be a) the best in 5 or so years and b) the one that will be a firt team regular next season?
you know you cant blame wenger because we were not even predicted to come 4th and we fought for the league ,in the cl we beat milan,we were by far the greatest team in the start of the epl,it is just a dip in form and a lack of a wc player who could turn the match i feel wht wenger is doing is good but needs to but 1-2 good players
I have been wondering for awhile now if we are going to win anything anytime soon, you are right about wengers stubborness, thats why I predict that other than vela and maybe some other youth, wenger will not be strengthening the squad with solid exp players.
You will hear wenger talk about were do I play all these people when fit the squad can compete. People knock manure for spending big, but they win big, the money they spent last summer will pay for itself if they win the pl/cl this season. Manu seem to be in the business of lifting trophies, sadly arsenal in business of making money! very interesting to see where this road leads. That pretty football tag, but don’t win anything can’t last forever!
We weren’t predicted to even come 4th because we spent no money, we over acheived, if he blended youth with class we would have won the league, that’s what ManU do!
To do that you need to spend money.
G4L, RvP is only 24, but he does seem to be injured a bit. How caan you criticise theo? he does a damn good job for his age! Hes not a Bojan or Pato, granted, but hes playing decent football, did you see him play on wed? he was constantly among play, creating chances with the ball, so give him a break!
Aakash from india – good point, its obvious we need players, and i have a feeling that we are going to get them. I dont know about loss of luck, we have just been flat with fatigue.. but that said, we have been playing well in CL, so…
Corection on above comment – Seems to get injured a LOT
morning people.. sad sad day today.. me just gonna watch some f1 today…..
We still have a chance to beat Liverpool. Wenger will not have Traore or Hoyte on from the start and Hopefully walcott will start….as welll as Hleb.
We need this lineup for 85 minutes to stand a chance of winning. I feel the best chance of winning will be a penalty shoot out at Anfield. It’s slim but possible. Arsene must play a 90 minute team and only make substiitutions late for the possibility of extra time.
Almunia
Toure, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy
Wallcott, Fabergas, Flamini, Hleb,
Bendtner. Adebayor
We must play with our strongest best 11 available.
We have 3 vunerable poistions.
Toure is more a Centre Back.
Walcott is more a striker
Bendtner is inexperienced
Those are the three positions Liverpool will want to most focus on to find a weakness.
At least Theo can win the Grand Prix eh Choy!
ANYONE WHO THINKS WENGER ALL OF A SUDDEN IS GOING TO BUY THE 4 WORLD CLASS PLAYERS THAT WE NEED IS TOTALLY DELUDED . HE IS TOTALLY STUBBORN AND WONT .THAT IS WHY NEXT SEASON WILL BE 4 YEARS WITHOUT A TROPHY . HE THREW THE FA CUP AND LEAGUE CUP WHICH WERE OUR BEST CHANCES OF SILVERWARE . HE HAS MADE TOO MANY MISTAKES FOR MY LIKING THIS SEASON .
no worries Geoff, i was very dubious on the spelling as well, just took a punt!
i think we’ll win at anfield, i have that feeling in my gut!
Liverpool could be playing for 0-0 becuase that would get them through, we could play along with that and try and get a late goal. Hopefully a late 1-0 to Arsenal, from which Liverpool can’t come back.
I would gamble a 4-3-3 in this game, instead of putting Walcott on the wing, allow him to play up front in a free role mutating from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 throughout the game.
if liverpool sit back and defend they will(should) concede,rafa knows tht and will not defend at home too so i think we need pace to catch them on the counter,hope walcott starts cause eboue is not a winger he is hopeless
Wenger is totally to blame. So we turned out to be better than we should have this season. Wenger knew this in January and by then we knew that we needed streangthening in order to keep up our momentemand Arsenal have the money to buy players. My only reasoning is that Wenger gets paid a percentage of the profits from the transfe money he doesn’t spend!!
Morning all,
I tried, to be too pissed off to post, but that would be giving up! Gooners dont do that!
One question, did anyone watch MOTD?
Please tell me if Aston Villa’s 2nd goal did not remind you off us as the invincibles, or the title winning teams of 98 & 01?
Opposisiton attacking, quickfire break 3 players touch the ball, goal!
That’s what the problem is, the brand of football that AW wants to play is great but the current crop of players are not good ebough to play it, and worse still, we cant rely on them to change to a plan B if need be because they cant even get plan A right!!
How did we go from Seam,Dixon,Adams,Bould,Winterbrun,Petit,Vieira,Overmars,Parlour,Bergkamp,Wright/Anelka
or
Lehmann,Campbell,Toure,Lauren,Cole,Pires,Vieira,Gilberto(then) ,Ljunberg,Henry,Bergkamp /Wiltord
to players like Traore,Hoyte,Gilberto(now),Almunia,Eboue,Diaby,Bendtner,Adebayor now playing for us??!!!
Call me harsh if you want but ask yourself this question and answer it honestly, how many of the squad we have now all 26 of them, would get into the 4 title teams we’ve had in the last 19 years? Cesc would be on the bench,RVP too, I cant see any of them displacing any of the guys we’ve seen win titles in 89,98,01, olr 04!
Whose fault is that?…the manager. He’s decided we dont need to strengthen extensively despite just about finishing in the top 4 for the last 2 seasons! How the fuck does that work?!
Look at the money Manure, the chavs and scousers have spent in the last 3 years, we can afford to but wont, we never used to spend because we had a 38000 seater stadium and did not have as much match day revenue as before now we do, but still refuse to spend!
Either we change that policiy this summer or we’re going to go thru this every season so get used to it! We’ll challenge for a bit and hope our manger takes the FA and carling cups seriously!!
Once the Euros start, our knackered french, spanish, dutch and czech players will have no time to rest and then be expected to carry a small team/squad again!!! Beggers belief!!!
I would also shock Liverpool and give them the intiative and defend and counterattack, and try to keep possesion.
Didnt have much to say then did I!!!
ya odub is right the player we had 2 generatinons ago(was not born tht time but have seen the videos),1 generatino ago were top class and now we have half retards
Spot on Odub, but will he listen?
Mike, notice I said “top-flight” and not world-class, or world’s best, or from England or Spain or anywhere else for that matter.
This I did intentionally.
For one thing, Wenger doesn’t buy world-class.
Didn’t have the money then, nor the inclination.
Has the money now, but not the inclinaton.
1. Robert Pires – a top player at Marseille and chased by Real Madrid and Juventus. French international.
2. Sol Campbell – a famously top player at Spurs, captained them to a League Cup Final win. English International.
3. Thierry Henry – didn’t make it at Juventus but not because of a lack of ability. Said his time there was “like a living hell.” Cost the club 11M pounds. French international.
4. Marc Overmars – famous Dutch player who played in Ajax’s European Cup triumph of 95. Dutch International.
5. Manu Petit – a top, uncomprimising defender who captained Monaco to a title in 97. French International.
Now, Mike, all these players got even better when they came to Arsenal, and that you can put down to Wenger if you like … but what they all had in common was a superb pedigree.
Where are the same pedigrees now?
All we have are 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds who might have played at international youth level but that is NOT AND NEVER CAN BE THE SAME THING.
So, please, don’t make out as if Wenger has never bought a “top-flight,” or a top rate player.
Whatever you call it, that IS SIMPLY NOT THE CASE.
+WENGER SAID WE HAD TO MOVE TO A NEW STADIUM IN ORDER TO COMPETE IN THE TRANSFER MARKET , WELL WE ARE THE 5TH RICHEST CLUB IN EUROPE HAVE £70M IN THE BANK , SO IF HE IS NOT GOING TO SPEND IT THEN I SUGGEST MY SEASON TKT NEXT YEAR IS FREE , PLS DONT SEND ME A BILL IN MAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Been there Paul and tried that, it’s actually £120mil with the prize money from this seasons comps, that’s if we lose on Tuesday and finish 3rd.
All that money, we don’t spend it and we pay more than any other fan in the world, bollocks isn’t it?
I fully agree with paul but I would like to add that wenger threw the FA and league Cup not once but for god know how many seasons and for what reason?so that he can win the league and champions league .So out of 12 attempts at the leauge and another 12 attempts at europe he has won only 3 out of 24.Great record indeed and he sacrificed the lesser 2 cups for these 3 titles.I have said before the longer it goes on without winning anything the harder it becomes.So in my humble opinion let us start from scratch by winning the league cup first like George Graham did and like Ramos at spurs and then take it from there.But I am afraid the rot has set in and I do not think wenger will be able to win even the league cup
ollie, I know RVP is 24 and i know we haven’t seen him that much in the last 2 years ,because of his nurssing injuries..but at 24 years of age ..you shouldn’t really take that long with this kind of injuries..and let me tell you some thing about walcott….every body is talking about give Theo a break..he’s still young..he’s age and all this staff..!!!!! Ithink 19 years old is pretty good 2 show something ..I watch him last week ..i can’t say he didn’t play well but he should learn how 2 kill games .. how 2 score goals ..not only creating chances you know..!! he must make his mark 2 ..i think the time has come now..people expect a bit more from him , please don’t tell me he is still young ..! cause U AND I know he’s 19.. and there are some super star players who start 2 ‘florish’ in their career arround this kind of age too.. just let’s hope he will be there soon …..BE GOOD..BE A GUNNER..thanx man.
Have to agree with alot that’s been said, let us all remember that wenger’s early success was built on that famous back five. Quality manager, but in danger of undoing all his good work.
Has anyone like me tried to play a season with arsenal on pro evo 8, I know it’s only a game but that tells you everything you need to know about our squad, bloody hard if you can’t buy anyone. Wenger you try it!
Wenger last stated he was not looking to buy when he expected to win the title and the CL. If we don’t win the CL, I expect a major re-shuffle, two or 3 new names in the first team, and we’ve got to get a better squad, Arsenal’s backup is second rate.
“work in progress” 5 years and waiting
Wenger cant spend money now so lets just get behind our team. We were unlucky with Eduardo, Van Persie & Rosicky all missing half a season each! Gilberto’s sudden decline & the non-improvement of the likes of Djourou, Diaby and Denilson who’ve also struggled with injuries.
It is frustrating coz you can see that we are almost there but the transfer market is not always the solution. OK I wouldve loved it if we got Torres but £26m is alot of money & in Adebayor we have someone who has produced just as much as Torres. I think we are 2 or 3 players from arriving but Wenger needed this season to see where exactly we need to improve and it’s now obvious in which areas we need to strengthen and I am sure that he will add what’s needed.
We are still in the CL and I think we also need to fight to finish 2nd in the league
Why should we have to pay premium price for tickets to watch Hoyte, Senderos, Gilberto and Eboue!
We are not winning and we dont even look good playing lately!
With Eduardo out, and a six month bedding in period after that, he won’t be fully ready till the 2009/10 season. We need two top quality strikers.
Then we need two good wingers, one for left and right wing. Creditable backup for Fabergas and Flamini (who is there…..why are people panicking that Flamini is leaving….no creditable backup)
New backup needed for left and right wings.
At least 8 new players needed, and 8 players need to be sold.
RVP
Bendtner
Diaby
Gilberto
Eboue
Justin Hoyte
Traore
Rosicky
These are all players where a superior playert can be brought in, and that don’t have a history of injuries/recurring injuries.
These 8 players under-performing/not performing have cost Arsenal a chance to win the title.
GUYS THERE’S A NEW POST UP!!!!
IT DOESNT TAKE A GENIUS TO WORK OUT THAT A TEAM WHO WON NOTHING LAST YEAR AND DOESNT SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE SQUAD WILL WIN NOTHING AGAIN THIS YEAR ………………ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
I think Samik is right. AW is so used to not spending from the years we didnt have money, now he just cant change. And he should!!! Because this tactics might have worked with teams like BOlton with Big Sam in helping them syrvive relegation , but not good enough nowadays in winning tropfies.
I thing Geoff that Denilson and Traore are good back ups for Clichy and Flamster. I dont know why all you guys R slagging Traore so much. He is having poor 2-3 games this season ,but is very talented with loads of potential . Maybe 1 year short but will be there
that’s what we’re saying arsenaldo loads of potential, but we’re fed up with waiting.
I agree with you all that AW is stubborn and have to add that I dont undestand why is he having so much patience with some individuals and giving them so much chances. And why playing ones who R not in good form??? That buffles me . Someone has to tell him -honestly. What R his PA’s doing around him? Advise him guys. When someone like EBOUE is consistently underperforming WHY still playing??? I dont get it.
I get the point and Im fed up with waiting as well, but if they dont get games -they dont get ready, and will be like Theo “nearly” ready 2 years allready.
Traore was faultless last season and everyone was saying he was maybe better than Clichy,and now all of a sudden hes rubbish.
waah wahh wahh, and great blog guys, I think this site gets it spot on everytime, thanks.
Normie give it a rest on Senderos will you, thats totally out of order!
AW won’t start walcott on Tuesday and I agree with him. He’s still losing balls too cheaply when starting games and doesn’t have much impact. Our defense is left exposed , as our midfield doing too much ball chasing. This is a game we must win or draw by at least two goals. I am confident we will score a goal, but our defense must do better this time around.
I had my critisism of AW ‘s policy and right now I only want to talk about the game on Tuesday.
The formation we need to win this game:
Almunia.
Eboue – Kolo – Gallas- Clichy.
Hleb-Fabregas- Flamini-Diaby.
Bentner- Adebayor
or
Kolo- Gallas- Senderos- Clichy.
Eboue- Fabregas- Flamini.
Walcott- Adebayor- Hleb.
Its all very simple.
Wenger has built a team that precludes “readymade” players having an impact in the short term – he says ittakes 6 months for a player to get up to the pace of the premiership but actually it doesn’t – torres, anderson are proof of that.
It actually takes 6 months to get up to the pace of playing for arsenal. The team built around cesc is a far more precise team than anything that came before and fitting in requires a long curve. I think we should have kept a hold of Baptista because although he was muck for the early part of last season he started to turn a corner after christmas and ended up scoring as many goals as henry last year (Although in more games – same starts but lots more sub appearances)
Where the team failed this year was on the flanks – eboue was an experiment which went wrong and wenger won’t admit it – eboue looked good at right back for 20 minutes against liverpool.
Rosicky missed most of the season and diaby is a central mf player who played crap on the wing.
Hleb is not a winger – he is an attacking central midfielder or support striker
So plan a worked well until teams realised there was no plan b and flooded the centre of midfield – adebayor found he had to drift to the flanks for space which meant we had noone in the middle.
So inshort the minimum we need from youth team or purchase in the summer is
1/ a left winger
2/ a right winger
Diaby needs to take over from gilberto as the 2nd choice central midfielder.
This leaves us with cover at every position and the only questions we have are are these options good enough –
Gk
Almunia
Lehmann
Fabianski
LB
Clichy
Traore
RB
Sagna
Eboue
CB
Gallas
Toure
Senderos
Djourou
RW
Walcott
AN Other
LW
Rosicy
AN Other (Vela?)
CM
Fabregas
Flamini
Diaby
Denilson
FW
Adebayor
vPersie
Bentdner
Eduardo
Hleb
WHEN YOU LOOK AT OUR SQUAD YOU REALISE THE SERIOUS LACK OF WORLD CLASS PLAYERS . BARCA MADRID MILAN WILL NOT BE KNOCKING ON OUR DOOR COME THE END OF THE SEASON 2 TRY AND BUY OUR PLAYERS . 1998 AND 2002 THE TEAM WAS FULL OF WORLD CLASS PLAYERS , NOW LOOK , HOW MANY OF OUR SQUAD WOULD GET INTO ANY OTHER TOP TEAM ………… EXACTLY
Wenger has lost the plot and I’m gonna tell you why.
He is a walking contraditon.
It wasn’t that long ago, and I don’t have the quote but remember the gist of it as if it were yesterday, that he uttered the words (and I’m paraphrasing):
“I would rather have money to spend on players than have that same money sitting in a bank.”
Now, not only has he not been doing that to the extent that the above quote implies, with the lack of success of late, it is now a matter of this:
“Trophies are not important to me.”
If that is now his belief, and I do know the context he said it in (something about cheating, but how many cheats exist in the EPL, is Ferguson a cheat?), then God help us all.
It seems to me as if Wenger is putting up smokescreens now more than ever.
I suppose that’s one way of deflecting all the criticism and expectations which supporters have long held.
Believe me, Arsene is the greatest SPIN DOCTOR out there.
Politics would suit his style better, I think.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3391344,00.html
Here’s the new way way we’ll be getting players.
Huntelaar plays for Ajax…
I’d give him a go!
Fans have said it all. We have a stubborn man as a coach, his policy has failed, but he wont admit it. I like the boos on saturday, it hasnt happened before, it is a wake up call, at least he will know that the days of keeping quite are gone.
No team in the level of arsenal will give him the kind of patience he enjoys, and it has entered into his head. All trophies he won in the past was done with matured and tested guys. Where will the likes of Eboue, hoyte, djuorou, denislson, traore, lead us to? I feel sorry for rosicky, rvp, but then every one knows that injury is part of the game. That is the more reason why he has to buy more players. I have a dream that he was dismissed from the club and no big team will wait for four years before getting a trophy. Enough is enough.
Good post Maximus.
You’re right about those players who were top flight but became better at Arsenal.
If you think Wenger has lost the plot, who would you replace him with?
Taking into account that he is more than just a football manager, a man who has lifted the whole club with his presence, been massively involved with the creation of the great training facilities and new stadium. Not even mentioning the great brand of football, great youth and scouting systems and trophies he’s also added.
There’s only one man that encompasses a whole club in the same way and that’s Ferguson.
I don’t think Wenger needs replacing, I just think he needs to realise that the fans wont tolerate under achievement anymore.
He has all the resources to push us into the the upper echelons of world football, so this summer he needs to do it.
He is stubborn, but not stupid. He now knows who is good enough and who needs to go. He has given the boys a chance and some of them have let him down (Cough, eboue).
I think he needs to recognize that big name players don’t demoralize players, they inspire them.
The whole camp needs a lift this summer… bring a big name in Arsene and push Arsenal on!
Great post Geoff.
if u want to have a look at the goals and motd highlights, visit
http://srohit.blogspot.com/2008/04/arsenal-v-liverpool-bpl.html
I couldn’t believe it when I saw The team sheet yesterday. I could understand changing it a bit upfront, but to play Hoyte, Traore and Gilberto??? That to me showed that Wenger was bullshitting us when he said we could still win the league. Why the fuck not play the strongest team for an hour, then rest em? The scousers were there for the taking and United have justb dropped points against Boro!!!
The atmosphere yesterday was garbage, people around me were too concerned with having private little chit chats than even contemplating singing, shouting or heaven forbid, support the effin team! Wankers, the lot of em.
No wonder away games are soooo much better to go on.
I think we have to get this in perspective…. if we get third we will have out performed our expectations. Yes I think it would be folly to say we can go another year on the excuse that our team is a young one after all they will be a year older !!! but I think we need a proven goal scorer as robin is injured more times than not and vela needs time to acclimatise to the english league………………
A proven set of wingers and maybe a new centre half
i just think wenger had alot of belief in his squad…. the thing is if u get world classplayers then there has to be casualties in the squad. maybe wenger didnt feel like he wanted to do that, maybe he will next season. its either he waits for denilson, bentnder,traore and these kids to improve or just sells them and buys big players. foe me personally the players who should leave next season are hoyte, eboue and maybe djourou and diaby. i dont think there should be major changes in the team. if we need a world class player maybe it should be a winger coz hopefully walcott will be a striker next season
Personally i like WENGER to be fired. A disgrace he has not bought proven quality players. Pool will piss on us on this week, and we get nothing. If that is sucess, then you all deserve it.
We need a ownership thats will put presure on Wenger to win something, just like us.
bit of a contradiction between the title of this post, and the subsequent post, no? there’s nothing inherently wrong with criticising the manager, if you’re going to do so, don’t stick a ‘we haven’t started criticising the gaffer’ headline!
Just like your tagline shouldn’t be ‘where you can have an opinion, not get one’ if you are banning people whose opinion is that wenger is still one of the top managers in the prem.
I think double98 gets it spot on. I would add a couple of things
1) AW seems to be too prepared to lose good, valuable players to higher-paying clubs. We the fans get scalped on match day and then the club plays tightarse with good, known quantity players, like Flamini. We got Gallas because for once we decided to pay someone top-end wages (he is, apparently, the only Arsenal player in the top 50 best paid worldwide – though average age of players plays a factor, obviously). To be prepared to lose Flamini when we sold his best backup (Diarra) and be confident of getting a replacement in a Euro year is madness – not just because the price of the leading european players will rocket over the summer, but because it gives us even less time to train the player into the Arsenal way.
2) I disagree with Odub highlighting even our key players as under-par. Fact is, we have a high Prem points tally, close to our Invincibles season. That suggests that the quality of our players hasn’t much changed relative to the League.
That said, the squad is particularly thin, especially on the wings. Perhaps out of loyalty to Theo and Carlos Vela AW didn’t want to bring in a potential starting XI-class winger over Xmas (who would compete for the position once TW and CV are experienced enough/back in the country). But whoever said competition for places is bad? Gael Clichy would probably not have become the player he is without one of the best left backs of the time (cashley) to compete with/learn from
Hey Phil, I have an idea, write your own blog, you obviously know better, call it ‘I’m a know all’
I’ll then come and criticise you.
Phil, we don’t ban people who disagree. We just don’t post up opinions that are boring. Those opinion are ones that include,
‘Why don’t you support another team’
‘Arsene is the best manager in the world, you’re all cunts’
‘Arsene Knows, trust in arsene’
If things aren’t working, blind faith isn’t the answer is it?
Its not constructive to say the above things. We get more comments than most other sites because people like blogging in an environment where they’re not going to get slagged for having an opinion that goes against the grain.
If you come on and say, I disagree, here is why… that is fine.
However, if you act like an idiot or you intentionally come on the site to wind people up… you’ll have your comment removed.
‘We haven’t turned on the gaffer’ is a bit different to ‘we haven’t started criticising the manager’.
We haven’t turned on the gaffer means we don’t want him sacked, we just want him to go back to his old policy. So I think the headline is fine.
And once again Phil… you are posting in the wrong article!
the fact that we let your comment stay up proves we don’t ban people who disagree with us, so have an opinion by all means, the minute you tart telling us how we should write, you cross the line, as I said, if you don’t like it, write your own.
See how many people agree with you.
I agree entirely with your latest blog. I have hinted at this likely scenario earlier in the season, even when we were top of the league and looking good. I believe most thinking fans always new though that the squad was too thin with not enough experience and were just waiting for us to implode and unfortunately that is just what has happened.
A symptom of the coming problems was in not keeping Robert Pires. How different last season could have been with him bolstering the youngsters and bringing them on more and how invaluable he would be right now.
Arsene might ‘know’, but he doesnt know it all. He has blown a very good chance of the PL Championship by not bringing in 2 or 3 quality experienced players. He should have done that in January when the early signs were there.
The Highbury excuse of not having any money is gone now. We fans are building a wonderful bank balance for the club, filling the Emirates every match having bought 60,000 very expensive tickets. We are owed the team we deserve now
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT WENGER HAS BECOME BIGGER THAN THE CLUB AND THEREFORE UNTOUCHABLE . THIS HAS CREATED MASSIVE PROBLEMS ON AND OFF THE PITCH . THE RESULT IS A POOR SQUAD WITH LITTLE OR NO CHANCE OF A CHANGE , SAD BUT THIS THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION .
I think there is truth in saying we need to bring new players in, however some people are getting carried away and going way over the top in suggesting a mass clear out.
We definitely need a a top class goal scoring winger brought in.
Vela is coming back who will be a valuable player for us on the left of midfield.
Eboue can do a job as a squad player, as cover for Sagna, but if he wants to play regularly then he should be sold.
Traore is a good kid who will be a great back up to clichy.
Denilson needs time free of injury to prove his ability.
Diaby may have run out of chances I agree, but he’s a reasonable player as back up centre mid.
Rosicky may need to be moved on as he cannot stay fit and even when fit isn’t what we need out wide.
Just remember the young players will all be a year older, wiser and more experienced.
Overall I reckon Arsene needs to bring in one or two in mdifield and ship out one or two. Whoever is brought in must be better than who we already have at the club.
Just remember how easy it is to fritter away millions on overpriced tosh, look at Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool.
Some who criticise Arsene would be the first to chuck away millions on dross, so I suggest you suggest practical solutions rather than just slagging him off and saying we need a couple of world class geniuses!
Every club wants a couple more geniuses, it’s just hard to find any that are available for transfer!
Well Utd haven’t struggled to find such quality over the last couple of years. The quality is there if you either have he bottle to spend the money or indeed have the money.
I think you’re missing the point and that’s the defensive problems we have. We’re weak in the middle of the park and I strongly feel that Gallas needs a tall and reliable world class CB next to him. We also need a world class goalkeeper. There are keepers available, Wenger just needs to stop pissing about and go spend 12m on someone. We need to get back to keeping clean sheets, if we were doing that now we’d still be top.
We definitely need a world class winger (of course). We’re very close, 3 solid players in this positions and we have a chance. That is if RVP stays fit and Theo / Bendtner come on next season otherwise we’ll be short again up front.
Goes without saying that a few needs to go like Hoyte, Gilberto and one of the CB if we bring someone in.
Personally I think Wenger won’t buy a CB or a keeper next year and we’ll continue to ship ridiculous goals with our comical defending.
Furious that Wenger decided to to start the game with Traore and Hoyte! Although Traore seems one for the future and is still learning his trade, Hoyte will need to move on to develop as he looks very poor, the two of them have been responsible for our worst losses this season. I do not understand why if Arsene Wenger wants to rest players we does not put them out to play and change the players when the job is done?
We will need a miracle if we are to get anything out of this season, next season we need some fresh faces preferably goalscoring wingers, Eboue playing as a stand in right back only.
Keep the faith!
Quite a frustrating time for us all at the moment, but i am not convinced all is as tragic as is being made out. I have the feeling wenger knew this was his last full season of building a squad, it just so happens that at the start of the season it all came together a bit quicker than expected. A recent poor run has been down to a combination of luck and injury. it’s easy to point out where it all started. Birmingham. Unlucky to lose eduardo, unlucky to lose the last minute pen. Eduardo was to be the saviour of our season. The guy who sniffs out a goal, when the flowing game is not working. look back to games against everton and blackburn where the machine wasn’t ticking over and he came up with the goods. Since then we have struggled, as much mentally as anything else. I believe this summer will be similar to last, 2 players with 1st team potential in, along the same lines as Sagna and Eduardo..not the Torres style signings that are being cried for. I have no problem with this, I think this team is only 5 or 10% away from being the real deal.
Geoff and all, i enjoy your work here and i am a regular reader, though I would agree with some of what Phil says. You do tend to have a negative way of dealing with peoples posts which do not agree with you. There is no space in the world for coming on and saying x you are a cunt, i agree. A 1 liner saying arsene knows doesn’t add anything either. However, I think that as you use the freedom of the internet to post your own views and offer your criticisms on arsene’s work, i think people should be free to offer their criticisms and views on yours. Thats part of the world of fame, on whatever level you reach. The fact that people post shows u are doing something right. I urge you to see it as a compliment.
Mteasdel …. whose expectations are you talking about???? Wenger keeps saying this as well that we are in a better position than we expected. I don’t go along with all that, we are supposed to be one of the elite sides in the premiership and when the season starts I expect as a big club to win or nearly win all the competitions we enter. No it is not our god given right to win them but what is the point in entering competitions if we don’t expect to win them and coming 3rd or 4th in the premiership is reckoned as being ahead of expectations. We were five points clear until recently and we embarrassingly caved in, we also threw the carling cup and FA cup away… similar to a boxer throwing in the towel … we have acted almost cowardly and you say that is above our expectations……. I don’t think we are above expectations I think the manner in which we have capitulated is a humiliation.
Hi Jeffers,
Thanks for reading, I just need to clear this up.
We do not delete comments that disagree in an intelligent way.
If you don’t like what we write, come and tell us why. This is generally an Arsenal forum (Sometimes it goes off topic…)… Criticizing the headline, how much beer we may or may not have drunk, threatening us…. it all stifles debate.
Since we’ve started this we’ve always had the same policy… 8 months on and we’re one of the most commented on Arsenal blogs. Look at how many comments are on some of the other Arsenal blogs… we double/triple most of them… so we’re clearly not blocking that many (4 last week). People come here because its a laugh and they can vent their frustration knowing full well they wont get jumped on.
I might start compiling a list of comments we bar and post them up so you can see the type of comments we block… they are generally poorly written, abusive and add absolutely nothing to the site.
Freedom of speech is fine… but my view is, if you wouldn’t say it to your mate down the pub… it doesn’t go up… simple as that.
This blog is for the fans, not the idiots who trawl the internet looking to stir up arguments.
Cheers
Pedro
Jeffers, please understand I don’t see this site as freedom to abuse people, if those people really hate what we say they should write their own, not get on ours.
We have a huge following because our Grovers feel safe in the knowledge thy can comment and enjoy themselves without having inarticulate blog bullies getting on their case, we have no racists for the same reason.
It’s quite simple really if they don’t fit, they’re not welcome.
You of course are. Providing you are none of the above.
Welcome aboard.
I think it’s important to realise that this season the team has over-achieved in so far as it was not expected that we would challenge for the title. This season has very much been one of transition (a favourite excuse, I know) and many young players have gained invaluable experience – Bendtner, Traore (in the cups), Diaby etc.
However, what has been clear is that certain players are not pulling their weight, with Emmanuel Eboue the main culprit. Although he’s a decent understudy to Sagna, he is NOT a winger that should play for a team with title aspirations.
Add to this the bad luck this season with van Persie’s serious injury on international duty, Rosicky’s constant injuries and Eduardo’s horrific leg break. Had these 3 players remained fit we would have been in a much better position to rotate and freshen the side in these last weeks.
But one or two quality (experienced) signings in the summer and we’ll have a squad that’s capable of big things. But there’s no need to spend £20m+ on a big name just for the sake of appeasing fickle supporters. Don’t lose faith with the boss just yet, Arsene still knows.
Denilson and Diaby should be thrown off a boat.
Agree 100%. None of us are asking for a spending spree of Man Utd/ Chelsea proportions just a few experienced additions. We can’t win anything with this squad for two reasons
1. Primarily its not big enough
2. Some of the replacements aren’t good enough.
It needed to be said- no one is calling for wengers head here- as fans we have a right to criticise/ question some of the decisions made.
I don’t mean to be a cunt about your blog – it’s still the place of choice to come to for all things arsenal and the comments threads are best bar none – you must be doing something right! I just felt personally attacked previously just for supporting Flamini… the fact that my comment stayed up suggests it wasn’t an ‘le bo$$ knows’ oneliner…
Im not so sure things are aas bad as some say. At the start of this season I would have grabbed at the chance of us being competative in the final couple of months of the season. 1/4 finals of the CL and still only one goal away from the semis. I agree things have turned recently but equally we need to hold onto some of the reality. Eduardo wsa playing well and got injured. No one could predict that. We could not have bought another striker prior as who would we have got who would have been happy to sit on the bench that was better than who we had already. Equally the Rosicky, Van persie injuries are just bad luck. Again you cannot legislate for this. If we are honest would MU be still were they are if Ronaldo, or rooney and giggs had been injured. Alex Ferguson does not have equal players in his squad. Nani and Anderson are ok but they are potential not proven.
The one area I think we do lack is in cover at the wings. Eboue has a great drive and commits oponents but his end product is crap and not up to the standard. Controversially, I think dropping Seneros and playing Toure was a mistake. Senderos was playing really well and was doing the basics really well. Toure and Gallas are hot and cold and rarely great together. Big Phil is I think a better partner for either and offers something.
Im optamistic for Tuesday. Liverpool offered little last week and I think we will score early and then again. My money is on 3-1 to us.
Fly high today for tommorow we may crash and burn.
cheers
caradoc
Then carry on blogging Phil, you’re welcome.
Oh yeah those people on other blogs calling for Eboue, Diaby, Denilson, Hoyte, Rosicky etc to be sold are missing the point too. We actually don’t have ENOUGH players either so its not just a matter of replacing these guys. We need to keep them for now and bring in more quality.
Don’t worry about it Phil, just get on during the day and get involved in the banter!
Being serious for a bit, the key players in our team are Hleb, Rosicky, and Fabregas. Without them three, Wengerball doesn’t exist, or if it does exist it is a pretty shite impersonation.
I stated all last summer, we need like for like replacements for those three players. Denilson is not even any better than Jamie O’Hara for christs shakes, and Diaby is in a permanent coma when attempts to play on th wing. We nneded guys like Modric, Arshavin, or at least get a quality DIFFERENT type of player like Ben Arfa. At the moment are only two direct wingers are Walcott and Eboue, which says it all really.
We also need a striker with great touch. Concrete-booted Ade is not on the same level technically as Hleb and Fabregas and it shows. Plan B is great, but Plan A is our bread and butter.
Bang on Paulinho!
So many of you talk about money like it’s an easy business. Look at Newcastle and to a lesser extent Liverpool Buying expensive players doesn’t always bring great dividends. Also look at United people talk about then spending money but look who they bought last year. Hargreaves (would you wan’t Arsene to pay £20m for that?) Nani and Anderson £32m (not ready made by any means. Then look at thier best player who has taken 2 or 3 years to get to the finished article. I just watched thier game with boro and it’s obvious that they are going to miss vidic (not such a big money signing) And one of thier best players is Evra. I think Arsene will make signings along the lines of Sagna and Eduardo Good mid priced players and personally I think that’s all we need. I think you all give far too much credit too the Mancs and the Chavs because when the have 1 or 2 key pleyers out they are generally shit.
Cheers Geoff.
When those three players are missing, we lose 20-25 per cent of our ball retention abilities, and because possession is our main form of defence and attack, our inherent weaknesses- that are always there but those three mask to an extent- come to the fore. For instance Fabregas not being comfortable defending when being turned around, and our defence’s soft centre being exposed more often because we give up the ball easier(usually through eboue having a brain fart in midfield)
Remember Old Trafford last year? Hleb, Rosicky and Fabregas were ripping the proverbial piss out of United and we looked comfortable nearly all game. If a Diaby or Eboue was playing in that game instead of Hleb or Rosicky I’m pretty sure United would have fluked a goal early doors because of the imbalance a piece of shite like Eboue has on the technical aspect of our play.
David, they take certain things out of the turnover figure… sponsorship, catering deals, transfers.
Michael, we have one of the best talent spotters in the world… you’d hope if he splashed some cash, he’d do it better than Newcastle and Spurs.
You last comment about sounding like manc fans let you down a bit… Madrid fans expect, Milan fans expect, Barca fans expect… Arsenal are in that league, we expect.
Shit they may be Michael, but between them they’ve won everything for the last 3 years and we haven’t, that’s why we bang on, whatever we’re doing doesn’t work a well as what they’re doing!
They haven’t won anything yet this year yet. Utd won their first title in 4 years last year. Neither of them have won the fa cup this year. If we hadn’t of had the injuries and the bad decisions that we’ve had in the last few weeks we would still be top. Before you remind me about all the ifs I’ve mentioned. how would Utd cope with a pleyer of RVPs quality missing for so long? Red nose rested Ronaldo for the away game at Bolton and they lost. At the begining of the season when Rooney was out they dropped points. Today vidic was out and thier defence was shit.I’d love wenger to buy Hentelaar, Modric or Ribery but if they all got injured it wouldn’t change anything would it? Wenger will bring players in but don’t expect players that cost £40m
Michael Well said mate. The as I said yesterday the Mancs are average (dont laugh) without Rooney, Ronaldoa and Vidic. Yes Evra is good but not better than Clichy. Ferdinandgot injured too today. We have been very unlucky and even cheated over the past couple of months. AW has done a marvellous job with better players than most realise. But he threw away a five point lead by making stupid decisions in matchplay. Birmingham away. We were cruising with 10 minutes left and his subs fucking let them average wankers come onto us. I watched it in the pub and people around me got nervous as they saw it coming. Chavs away we were in control and Drogshit wasnt as good as the media say but AW subs let them come onto us again. Yes Sagna got injured but AW put Diaby on and changed to many positions, that fat twat was non existent till we made our subs. Yes they brought on Anelka but he was only on a short while. There were other mistakes since. But to cap it all off Liverpool in the Prem was the end of his silly mistakes. Before the game I thought the Mancs would drop points at Boro and that was before Vidic was injured and I believe the Chavs will beat them and I thought we would do them at their place. That would have put us right back in there without any pressure. But oh no AW decides to play fucking Hoyt and to a lesser extent Traore and Eboue, with a clown in goal I thought it was suicidal. The crowd couldnt get going as they sensed that AW threw in the towel in this game. I think AW is a great Coach but he either needs help or he should be grooming his succesor. If he is the ONLY man who can make teams play like this then when he is gone we are doomed anyway.
Just read AW wants Kirkland. Ok he’s not Buffon but realistically we could get him and he is better than what we have at the moment. English too. Lets keep the faith.
Just a side thought – where the hell has Denilson been for the last two months? He has had two brief spells as a substitute in two months. He doesn’t even make the bench anymore, and he’s not on the Arsenal.com injury list. Has he really regressed that much? I really can’t work that one out, when we are crying out for some bodies to reinforce the midfield. He’s 20 years old now, he’s not 16, what’s stopping him playing?
CONGRATULATIONS from
blogrank.info for the hot post
Thanks you Geoff. For once Arsenal supporters are realising that AW is not a genius manager as we all Arsenal fans believed he is. A good example is; when we played MANU in FA cup, he rested the few talents he had and what was the result? Psychological blow for all. That was the turning point for AFC season. I think it is time as supporters to let AW know how bad we feel about our performances, we also need to tell him to recruit readymade starts doesn’t matter how much they cost. AW must realise that he is not managing his household finance, but a club that have history and supporters everywhere. It’s our obligation to criticise AW policies on transfer market, we also need to tell him that; Diaby, Bentner, Lehman, Traore, Ebou are not good enough to play for AFC. Let’s bring some changes and made our voice heard by AW and his board. VIVA AFC we’ll never die..
i think denilson is a good player far better than diaby but just because these guys are not given chances .arsene does not want to rest fabregas against the weaker teams that why we have lost everything fabregas looks tired .but i believe denilson can play just as good as the other players
I respect AW a lot, however, it frustrates, or even infuriates, me a great deal to see him field players out of positions week in week out. I hate seeing Diaby in left wing, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad player. His potential as a CM shone through last year against Derby.
Wenger said Diaby is better than Vieira was at his age – i do NOT think so.
Hleb needs to learn how to shoot, Rosicky Needs some anti biotics and Eboue needs to FUCK RIGHT off
Adebayor Cesc and Flamini have all done so fucking well.
Cased Closed.
and maybe wenger has lost it .
I read somewhere that Wenger only buys youth because it protects him against over-expectancy from the fans. Maybe we should keep an eye on this, as it is clear as day that the team needs more quality in key positions. Wenger said the other day that everybody expected Arsenal to finish 10-12th this season. This is bullshit, Arsenal have only finished below 12th twice in the last 35 years! I think everybody expected Champions League football, but not to win the Premiership.
However, next season will be a different story. At the end of this season, it will be 4 years without a trophy except for a lucky FA Cup win on penalties. It’s time to deliver. I think Wenger should begin to come under pressure next season if he does not deliver at least one trophy. The FA Cup should be taken more seriously, the fans love it and I am outraged that Wenger is throwing this competition because he misguidedly believes we can win others. GET A BIGGER SQUAD FOR GOD SAKE. Arsenal should not be throwing big trophies!
I advise Wenger purchase Mertesacker and Schweinsteiger, to mid-twenties Germans with steel and power. Toure should be dropped and another wide man is essential. If Wenger cannot find these players he needs to buy similar.
Arsene doesn’t know how to play the players to their strengths
The following need to be axed. In order of shiteness
1) Hleb – biggest waster in world football. Creates few chances, scores even less. Lighweight in every sense of the word. Has a Phd in Futile Possession. We should get Goodnews is that we can get £12-14m on his sale
2) Eboue – cant cross, cant shoot, cant pass. No vision. OMG, how did he become a footballer ? Good news is that AC Milan want him. £8m if we play our cards right.
3) Gilberto – Stalwart but his legs have gone. Respect, but time to move on.
4). Rosicky – good player. Probably our most creative midfilder. But can do anything for the team from the treatment table. Losing him meant losing our creativity. Probably the main reason we have faded away. Sorry but this is a ruthless game. You gotta go. If we can flog him may get £8m
5) Flamini – Hard working but not a great player. I dont like Fabs/Flam partnership as it is too small and too slow. Other teams are overpowering our defence. Man reason why our defence is not protected. He will probably leave anyway. Diarra was the better player. Wnger should have kept him instead.
6) Hoyte – Not good enough. Aston Villa will pay £3m just for being English. Cash in
7) Lehman – respect Mad Jens hope you have a good EURO2008. enjou retirement
9) Diaby – Must get rid of this waste of space. The guy is an imbecile. Can run, falls over too often. Does not have any power for such a tall lad. Another Eboue in the making. To think we saw him a the new PV4!
We must keep the following:
1. Fabregas – disappointed with 2nd part of season. Cesc has some limitations which he must work on. Speed and power. To become world class he must develop these qualities. OK he cant become quicker but must learn to make powerful runs. Must pass less and counter attack quicker. Failure to speed the game up when required has been the cause of our demise and Cesc must take some of the blame. He also needs a rest.
2. Ade. A much improved player. But he has many drawback. Not enough pace. Not enough ball control. Lacks Vision. Needs to reduce his ego. Needs to accept he is not a great player and keep his game simple and play to his strenghs. Needs to put away the easy chances.
3. RVP – Needs to remain injury free. Goes without saying
4. Walott – Star in the making. Wont be good as Ronaldo as he doesnt have the same box of tricks but will be the best player in the Arsenal team in 4/5 years time. Will pay his way next season for starters
5. Denilson – needs game time but will be goon enough in a couple of seasons
6. Bentner – disappointed somewaht but still good enough. One for the future
7. Traore – will come good but not ready for first team action
Anybody else I have not mentioned should remain.
The problem with Arsenal as everybody has said is the lack of depth. We need some world class players wif we are to win league next year.
To make life easier for the reader I will list our problems:
1) Lack of pace through put the team. Especially in midfield.
2) Lack of power – epecially in Mid/defence. We need bigger stronger taller players
3) Lack of goals. Wenger has assembled a team of non goalscorers. Hleb, Fab, Rosicky. Flams do not score enough. Ade Bendtner miss too many. No one in Arsenal team can shoot to save his life (except RVP)
4) Lack of creativity cause by all of the above ans also ball skills. Its all predictable passing at a slow pace. Where are all the dribblers and flare players? We need a balanced squad
Solution. Get cheque book out Mr Wnegr as the current sqau is not good enough
My shopping list would be
1) World class striker – capable of 30 plus goals per season
2) Two worl class Wingers – who can score 15plus goals each person and create and make many more assists.
3) Big tall central midfielder
4) Big tall physical centre half
These five players would be enough to win league.
If we dont spend we wont be able to keep up with MUFC and Chavs.
Hitman, How can u knock Flamini – the geezer is a holding midfielder and makes endless tackles throughout the games and not mentioning the 8 miles odd he runs a game, i can see that chap beeing captain in the future.
you said our centre mids r light weight, why would u want Diarra back then?