Strangely enough the loss of the Flamster could well see the re emergence of Gilberto, he could get his chance in central midfield alongside Cesc Fabregas, or he could play Hleb there.
I’ll be surprised if he puts Diaby there, as he has been suspended!
I would play Theo up front with Ade, I would do that as he does seem to cause (Ade) the Mancs problems.
Capello hails Theo as incredible, as do most of us, so come on boss, play him and see what happens.
I would put Hleb out left and Robin out right, like he does when he plays for Holland (just before he normally gets injured).
My back line would be Clichy Gallas Kolo Eboue
Almunia would be the goalie and Jens would be sacked, for what he said to the German magazine about the boss and Manuel, it has to make the atmosphere in the dressing room horrible.
We have nothing to fear from the outcome of this game as we’ll get 4th place regardless so we may as well go for it and throw caution to the wind, show the world what we all know we can do.
It’s tough to call this but with Vidic out we’ll have a punchers chance, I don’t, however think we’ll get stuffed like in the FA Cup.
So I’m going for a narrow win.
I get really fed up with saying this but I’m going to say it one more time, we welcome ALL bloggers to this site, we only block people that use racist, bigoted or insulting language to our bloggers, as you would in your house, office or pub. We welcome debate what we don’t welcome are people that just want to argue for the hell of it.
As far a we are concerned all Arsenal blogs are just that, Arsenal blogs, full of Arsenal fans, just like we are, we got another blog bent out of shape yesterday and now he using his site to bad mouth us, we’ve had 975 comments in two days against this guys 19 in three, so I rest my case. We must be doing something right and something our supporters like.
I even let him back on this morning as he had a sensible, reasoned comment.
I’m not going to lower the integrity of Le Grove and name him, that’s not what blog sites are for, and I’m not in a pissing contest, suffice to say if you didn’t like us, we wouldn’t be here, so a big thank you to our regulars, don’t forget blogs sites are supposed to be fun.
Anyone is welcome at Le Grove if you are a disgruntled blogger and you want to ask us a question, do it, but please, in a reasoned way, we love Arsenal too, but if they do stuff that makes us unhappy we’ll debate it.
I read some interesting stats today that showed the Mancs had 565 shots. 70 goals and 6,175 passes, we had 450 shots, 63 goals and 6,705 passes.
It shows our shots to goals ratio is better, our amount of shots is lower but we have way more passes than they do to score, that says to me, less passes and more shots are needed and I think we can all agree on that.
I still think we can win this (EPL) but we need to do the Mancs on Sunday, throw on Theo and Gilberto in Central midfield and see where it takes us Arsenal. Have a great day Grovers, this weekend is our whole season, after that as Ade says, it’s time to go on holiday!
2-1 Arsenal and lets rain on red nose’s parade.
I like Hleb, he has genius in his boots. Have you noticed how he has taught Diabyand Cesc, to do that incredibly tight turn away from the defender.
With our first 11 available, he makes the team perform on a different level.
If one of the East European has to ge, let it be Mozart. But I hope both stay
I agree Odub. I was talking bollocks.
AGAIN big man? Youre turning into steve!
Center back, proper winger and I suspect that will be Ben Arfa and a goalscorer.
I can’t see anyone other than Ben Arfa coming though and that will not be enough.
Traore, Gibbs, Vela are too young and inexperienced and Rosicky is never there, he won’t be next season either, but we went through this with Freddie didn’t we.
We really need to sign 2 proper wingers, and the rest of the midfield should vie for the center roles, we always have loads of injuries so it wouldn’t matter would it?
Then a goalscorer, Eduardo and Robin are injured, Bendtner not there yet Ade eventually and Theo, but he doesn’t get played enough but I can’t see him adding.
He didn’t used to be so stubborn, he got shot of Jeffers and Wright quick enough didn’t he!
just cant see him buyin 4 new players! 3 maybe (CB,ben afra and a striker) but that’s it! Come on! we know our manager well enough by now dont we?!!
I pretty much have given up on delusional tools like him !
before i found my home (here ! ) i used to put up with them all the time !
id love to go back there now and give em a bollocking myself !
but i cant be bothered wasting the energy on them…
We all have opinions .. im sure you dont agree with everything i say .
but looking back on it .. its great to have a differing opinion . sometimes your eyes
are opened to things that were right in front of your nose and couldnt see it ..
like pedro said 2 days ago senderos was to blame re the 1st liverpoo goal !
but if almunia didnt do something stupid prior , which could easily be avoided
there would be no corner and no goal ! Its like life you get in trouble for abusing 1979
when if he didn’t come here in the 1st place everything would be cool
shame on him !!!
Well let’s see last season we sold Muamba, Freddie, Henry, Connolly and Stokes (I think) and we bought Sagna and Daiarra and then sold Diarra.
So 5 out and one in, what makes you think we’ll sign three Odub, or is it wishful thinking!
I guess I’d be disappointed if I spent all day writing a hate mail and only got 18 comments, I’d feel like Billy-no-mates.
Also the comments don’t have a thread, no conversation, that’s why he came on here Ethan, he hasn’t got any friends, one of them even concurred he was mentally ill.
Twat.
I can see some of the reserves going. There must be doubts about Djourou, especially with the Norwegian fella coming through. Two of Diaby, Song, Denilson, Flamini , Gilberto will go. And of course, Mad Jens.
Give it up Geoff. Don’t waste your pearls of wisdom on him.
geoff .. I have an inkling that there will be more changes that we are anticipating ..
this end of season will have to be an eye opener for Wenger .. I personally also think that Wenger will leave the club within the next 3 seasons .. I always thought that the ideal replacement should be an educated man..I always hoped that DB10 might be theman .. not Tony “retard” Adams .. now that we all know the good news about Dennis..well..maybe we are getting there
Traore will either be loaned out or move into the squad .. we all seem to think that Vela is coming back .. This might NOT be the case as, by his own admission, his passport is apparently NOT sorted out yet.. chances are quite high for him to play one more season in Spain .. so will Merida
then comes the Senderos situation .. I personally think that he will now leave.. the problem with Philippe is that he gets paid too well at Arsenal compared to what he would get in Europe.. so he will have to get kicked out, but after tuesday, there does not seem to be a way back for him
Hoyte will most likely leave .. Eboue no chance in hell, he will stay unless we get a lot of money
wenger is trapped with rosicky, but is probably keen on cutting his losses, so good chance he will move, but on the cheap
we will get at least 3 new players .. proper players next season..prob one absolute superstar .. I feel its moving this way
we still play the beautiful game ..
Bendtner should go out on loan..especially if we buy another centre forward .. but I think that Wenger will rather buy a flexible player, but one with a goal threat
Gilberto will be told to go .. Djourou will move up one more rank again and get a chance to prove himself .. like Senderos this season..if this does not work, then he will get forked out next season
if Flam leaves, which I think he will, Arsenal will buy probably even 4 senior squad players ..
dont know why, but i am getting bullish all of a sudden ..
Also bought Dudu Geoff.
I just think he must realise the lack of height at CB needs to be adressed, and considering Big Phil is the only option height wise, a change is required.
Rosicky needs replacing end of, and another striker is needed because Dudu will be missing for half of the next season, and it’s asking a lot for him to get back into the groove.
So yes Geoff…wishful thinking!!!!
Young players to watch next season…
Denilson? – if we can find him!
Diaby – if he gets played in the middle like he should be
Traore
Nordveit
Fabianski
Theo – obviously!
Song
Anymore for anymore?
does anyone know what Ben Arfa thought of arsene tapping him up ?
i know arsene said he would like him 2 weeks after wenger blew a blood vessel on icecream gate ..
which seems pretty hypocritical to me ..
arfa might be happy still ? are we presuming or did he come out and say when do i pack my bags ? it will be interesting to see if he takes the bait ..
Ben Arfa is not 1st choice at Lyon anymore..but he is known to be more Lyon affliliated than Benzema .. Ben Arfa is a 100% Lyon boy
Why dont we get linked with any pigging English players?!! Dont we do any scouting in this country apart from at toddler level?!!
We get linked with french players every summer! Anyone else noticed that?
I think he had a ding dong with Benzema Ethan, correct Odub, I forgot about him, so 2 in 6 out, strange for a team whose squad is not big enough though.
BB I can’t see Bendtner agreeing to go out on loan, nor Traore.
Now I read we are chasing 14 year old Spear from Plymouth as he’s the next Rooney.
Raddy you’re right, I’ll give it up!
odub .. who do you want mate??
England isnt good enough to qualify for Europe .. point!!
but there are some very good English players .. the only caveat is their price!!
btw Gerrard didnt win the game for Pool .. lets be realistic .. players like Young/Agbonlahor etc .. are 2nd class players .. no AFC material .. and even they are too dear
yeah they didnt qualify BB because of the wally with a brolly!! No tactical nouce,… we know the rest. they should have qualified because I’m sure anyone who knows their football could pick 11 englishmen to win every game in that group. Anyway that’s a topic for another day, preferably a day including a lot of alcohol and dobbie to dull the pain!!
BB are you saying there arent English players good enough to play for us?!!
blimey-for people who seem to have problems with people re-posting the same thing over and over, you sure have gone on about 1979 rather a lot don’t you think??!!!
whether i agree or not, you’ve banned him now (i assume?) so shall we just concentrate on chatting arsenal?
my team for sunday would be:
almunia
eboue toure gallas clichy
hleb gilberto cesc theo
rvp ade
i know i said earlier i quite like theo as a sub, but lets face it, who else have we got to start?!
If Flamini leaves. Let’s sign Hargreaves !!
And swap Ade for Drogba (plus some dosh)
And swap Eboue for Wright-Phillips (with the exit fund Chels will go for it !!)
what about the Richards, Wheater and Onahou, you know the guy with the funny name!
big raddy-agreed SWP has and always will be an arsenal star in the making-he has everything arsene would want in a player (speed and goals). it’s just a damn shame those chavs priced us out of him
geoff-micah richards would be ideal choice to sign. a fantatsic defender and would also be able to cover right back as well
jimbo I believe his father also suggested he join the chavs instead of us!!
On young guns yesterday it said that Traore was highly likely 2 be loaned to portsmouth – next season,
And please remember that Wenger was doing commentry on the france game & his co-commenter asked he his opinion on Ben Arfa!!
The 1 thing your not gonna do is rubbish a french lad on french tv, while speaking french. In France.
All the speculation might be true but who knows? i dont that the one thing i know
not sure about that odub. wrighty always says he begged arsene to sign him, he just wouldn’t pay the 25mil asking price. whether that is true or not i guess is another matter!
odup .. read what jimbo just wrote .. I am not saying that there are no good english players.. but i am saying that the FEW there are of them are too expensive for us ..
look at recent players tarnsfer prices
Ferdinand/Carrick/Hargreaves/Rooney/SWP .. btw we paid steep steep money for Theo.. no surprise that the only English club trying to buy Gerrard was Chelski
Joe Cole .. I like a lot.. not his antics though.. but why would he come to us.. Fat Lampard.. no need Richards I would love to get him..but how much will he cost??
I much rather wait a few years until we bring our own English players through of which there are quite a few now in the young teams
could have sworn i read that somehwere, could be wrong!
Not true Jimbo, I asked Ian Wright in July in Spain (just before he went to the chavs) was his boy coming to Arsenal, he said no, I didn’t believe him, rest is history.
Greedy sod springs to mind, 60k a week was more than we could offer I guess.
Ian is his agent so I’m guessing gets a cut, either way SWP is an Arsenal fan but again, when Wenger gets spurned, he never goes back.
BB-you’re spot on. english talent is far too expensive – look at darren bent for example!
however any price for micah richrads i’d pay-he’s that good
col.. Wenger did tap Ben Arfa up .. he went over the top praising him.. btw Ben Arfa is a typical Wenger player .. good etchnique etc.. very fluent player..typical Wenger material
Yeah but only the spuds would have paid that much, Potato head Jol had no idea, look what he paid for his other English talents, and look where he is now.
BB I wouldnt have minded Ashley Young, he went for less than 10 if I remember correctly. Nothing wrong with Agbonlahor either.
The 2 at Man city (Onuoha and Richards) have looked good thi season, ok Richards would be a 15mill+, but what about Onuoha, same for Wheater from Boro, I reckon 5-10 mill would get either.
Surely you cant tell me 10-15 is too much for us to pay for a player?
o i know BB its just – also something he who have to say as well.
And its such an untypicial thing to do – the opposite of how he works,
col .. you are right .. its not his style normally .. maybe it was a weak moment on his behalf
it could well be that he is hiding his cards and sending us the wrong way
I want Robinho .. that would be smashing .. I rate him above anybody else
odub.. Young is not AFC material..Richards .. every day he can come
Wheater is a bone breaker and Onuoha is well below richards ..imho
Almunia
Eboue Toure Gallas Clichy
Fabregas Gilberto Hleb
Theo RVP Ade
I heard that the only thing Wenger would do for summer transfers is get an Ice cream maker direct from Italy.
Hleb will stay.
BB completely agree wit you on robinho – i think under wenger he would set the world alight. Even at the start of this seson he was unstoppable – the reason? Ronaldo had left and he calmed down the partying.
If he came i would get his name on my jersey – something i’ve never done with a new boy, cause it just might not happen.
No im rite im gonna stick wit sagna – wat a guy
Love to see it Trinidad, but I don’t think AW will put out such an attacking team.
And who would we drop to accommodate Richards? Kolo ?? Surely not !
kolo would stay in the team, but we all know injuries and suspensions happen. and he can cover right back so he’d get enough games. plus he’s still young and could wait a couple years to take over from gallas
Nothing wrong with a bonebreaker BB, Keown was!!! Not all CB have to be all finesse and moon walking like rio!
people @ city have said Onuoha will be better than Richards, but then again they might just be trying to flog him!!!
Just got on scanned a few comments did I miss a fight by any chance?
Any way sorry if it has been discussed already but what has ahppened to Kerrea Gilbert, When he first played he really impressed me?
Big Raddy, one of the CBs has to be a big tall commanding lump, has to be. our 2 are both under 6, all it takes is a drogba,crouch,kohler,kareem abdul jaber type striker and we’re doomed!
If flam leaves I still think Kolo can play his role.
I agree Odub, but isn’t that what Big Phil is meant to do ! I cannot believe a player with Richards ego would come to warm the bench, and play second fiddle. It is a difficult situation especially as we are meant to have a world class kid coming through at CB
Big Raddy, do you really think Big Phil can be relied on to produce consistently big game after big game at the business end of the season? I dont.
Yes I do Odub. With reservations
it’s the mistakes that worry me, will they ever stop?! And he seems to freeze anytime he comes up against Drogba!
On reflection, I have changesd my mind. He can’t. It is just that I love the big lump. He gives everything and is such a decent chap. But can he be relied upon against the very best … No, However, he is fine back up for when the CB’s need a rest
TTFN
I think Kenweyne Jones would develop really well under Wenger. He is better in the air than anyone we have, but of course if you have that you need good crossers of the ball.
He is a bit raw though, we need someone proven. But he could be the next Dwight Yorke (without the sex scandals)
Not sure Jones is good enough Trinidad, Phil is just like a gentle giant that makes at least 2 howlers a game Raddy, trouble is against the chavs and the scousers, it’s the difference between winning and loosing.
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=653079
News about Huntelaar….he needs a very special offer to leave. Arsenal are in the best position in of the top 4 to get a striker.
Man U, Tevez, Rooney
Liverpool, Torres, Crouch
Chelsea Anelka
Chelsea will also be ina good position to get a striker, I hope Avram Grant has different targets from ours.
We NEED a striker, Eduardo is out, in other clubs they couls still spend lots of time on the bench.
One more thing about Adebayor.
Manyoo’s striking setup is Rooney and Tevez.
Rooney plays second fiddle to Tevez, does a lot of the running work. He scores but also has dry spells. But woulsd anyone consider calling Rooney lame etc. Everybody’s always going on about what a top player Rooney is, but I’ll have Adebayor over Rooney anyday.
Adebayor v Rooney
What do you think? Would you swap Adebayor for Rooney?
I don’t think we can get Huntelaar, especially with Read Madrid, Chelsea, and ManU interested. He might favor Real with Robben, Sneijder, Drenthe, and RVN there. And we won’t compete with the transfer fee.
Real has declared interest in Benzema and Huntelaar.
Does that mean Robinho will become available?
Erm Trindad…we can compete, we have direct links with Ajax, Wenger is directly connected to Van Basten, he can phone him up any time and discuss it.
They’re considering working together next season, and I’ve no doubt Huntelaar will be amongst the topics of discussions as I’n sure managers love discussing their teams.
Imagine if we got him, he’s going to be the number one transfer target…what if from all the offers Huntelaar chose us…there is a chance and he knows there is room.
I’m not really that impressed by Huntelaar?
He seemed sluggish and he didn’t look a patch on a young RvP.
We’ll see after Euro 2008 I guess. Didn’t Alfonso Alves score more than him this year?
He is similar to Eduardo… 2 specialist finishers in the team seems a little too many.
It would be awesome if he joins .. RVP and KJH for club and country. You’re right, the Arsenal – Ajax relations could play a part in it, and we could send some of our 12 year olds over there for experience.
But a good ammout of cash would still have to be shelled out.
KJH, Ben Afra, and a good CB would be all we need. And Quaresma would be a bonus if Porto get relegated.
When they say Wenger will have 35 Million …. I hope thats in addition to the 70 Mil that he had from last summer right?
But if KJH and Robinho are going for the same price … Robinho is more proven quality
Van Basten is interested in some of our youth players, maybe a deal which includes players developed at Arsenal meaning they’d lose a player but gain many more. Many of Arsenal’s youth are perfectly qualified for Dutch football. We need a UEFA/CL level club to loan players to, and they want free loans, in return we buy players off them meaning Ajax profit once again. A deal made in heaven for Ajax, and one which doesn’t cost Arsenal much, but delivers a lot.
Van Basten and Wenger are both attacking football specialists, I believe he will trust Van Basten’s opinion of Huntelaar….and since Van Basten picks him for national games, the question answers itself.
Arseblog is really starting to piss me off with his constant anti-Gallas agenda. On the list of Arsenal problems, willy gallas is right near the bottom.
A captain leads by example, and boy has he lead by example, scoring a vital opener against Wigan and Chelsea, and equalised versus the Mancs.
Who gives a toss about public statements anyway? Alot of our players like to talk a good game and few usually play it. Gallas has had about three poor games this season, and two of those were in the domestic cups.
Odub, Huntelaar is an agile player, deffo not sluggish.
Huntelaar is similar to Eduardo? Exactly…Eduardo is out, he won’t start until the 2009 season. Huntelaar is the closest thing to Eduardo.
6 months till Eduardo can walk, 9 till he can run, 6 months of go slow training in the reserves,Feb 08 + 15 months = May 09
Huntelaar will do what Eduardo did….and…In 09 while Eduardo is coming back we have a fully fit Huntelaar, so we porbably won’t have a first class Eduardo again until 2010. We need someone to replace him….
The Arsenal-Ajax partnership is definitely good news, hope it happens, I think it will.
It was the first match at the Emirates right?
My two favourite clubs in a deal together?
Should’ve happened a year or two ago, then we might have had Wesley Sneijder
Yeah definitely good news, Ajax are a quality prestigious Dutch club, they’re always qualyfing for Europe, producing top talent. The Dutch have one of the best football youth development systems in the World, they won’t just be learning from Wenger, Wnger will be learning from the Dutch model., and trying to implements it’s success. Clubs like PSV, Feyenord have top academies, talent factories….
odub
Im with you on this one ,
BB how can you say english talent is second rate !Agbonlahor etc.
I think its safe to say even ben arfa will take time to settle . If we got Agbonlahor
i think arsene would whip him into a world class player .. In fact by the letter of the law he already is an international ! jimbo i hate people who use darren bent as an example of expensive CRAP English talent .. If you want to say that look at another good European buy by the name of shevchenko ! almost triple the price of bent .. and bent was younger !
Theres plenty of potential english good players around .. And besides anyone who read that link i put up yesterday will understand thats where we might be going wrong !
You know if raffa gets into the C.L final that will be 3 times in 4 years , these European
managers strive to win the C.L they look at it as the pinicale of footballing excellence
he doesn’t rate the title race as highly as he does the C.L the stats speak for themselves .
sound like a manager we know ??
English players will put back some gusto into our team .. give us the driving force for excellence .. an English captain would help too ! ferdinand – rooney -scholes
or terry – lampard – cole .. All driving forces who help motivate and educate the foreign players about what the EPL means to the fans !!!
have i sold it
?
im not sure i believe it either
but im willing to give any cunting thing a go !!!!
And those who don’t know much about Dutch football, it is well under-rated. PSV, Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord…..they’re all major Europen players.
Finestcuts, just got back on and noticed your comment re Huntelear, I never said anything about the guy!!
Ah, t’was young Pedro I see!!
Ok so back to Adebayor v Rooney? Any views?
It also looks good for us that Van Basten has offered Bergkamp a trainee post at Ajax while he does his coaching course.
No doubt he will accept.
Oh yup, sorry Odub!!!
Bloody hell, I was flicking through Friefox too quickly up and down the page…yup Pedro…Huntelaar sluggish??….no way Pedro.
Yeah that would be awesome. If Wenger ever left, Van Basten or BegKamp would be just fine. And Ajax is a great place to learn your trade, great club.
And recently the Dutch leauge hasn’t been one-way traffic either. Last season I think 3 teams finished with the same points and the title was decided on goal difference.
Although teams like Ajax and PSV mostly feed the bigger clubs with their best talent, they do pretty well while always losing their best every year.
I hope we’re taking part in the Amsterdam Tournament this year.
Rooney all day fella!!! skill, pace, adaptablity(on the wings and thru the middle), will not give a shit about going to battle! first touch, has been a half decent player (not a prospect) since he was 17 (remember the screamer the cnut scored past seaman?)
If I had the choice I’d play them together, and I bet you’d get a total of 50 a season between them at least!!
I think when your looking at local talent and even euro talent based in the EPL . you cant just look at how they play at there current club .. end of story !
You need to think of would they fit into our team can they do the role wenger asks of them?
can he change them ? make them better !!! I do believe if 1/2 the good English talent played for the top 4 they all would advance as players .. no doubt .
Yeah it’s magic isn’t it how Ajax and PSV are always selling, yet keep producing more top quality players, that’s the model that Wenger wants for us, if we can successfully copy what the Dutch are doing, plus working together with them, both clubs have a rock solid foundation.
Rooney
but thats no surprise coming from me is it
I was just about to come on and correct everyone for slating odub over my comment!
He looked sluggish at the emirates… sharp in the box, but slow to the ball.
Think of the scorers that have come out of holland lately..
Kezman
Alves
Kuyt
None of them are world beaters are they?
I’m with ethan! Agbonlahor for Arsenal! He would be a perfect buy!
Maybe even Ashley young, Lescott or Mark Noble?
Micah Richards if he can keep out of the news… or single cubicles with a mate and a phone!
Adebayor and Rooney together? I wouldn’t mind that. Ethan and co, we are developing English talent from within. Besides in nature cream always rises to the top. Nothing has held the best English players like Gerrard back….there are some top quality English players. I’m a fan of quality English defenders, but they cost top whack and Wenger won’t pay it when you can get Kolo Toure from Africa for 100,000.
Finestcuts… they don’t really produce in the purist form…
They buy the cream of South America because they don’t have work permits issues like we do… then they trawl the lower leagues in Holland and pinch the best!
They use the same model arsenal do, but do it on a smaller scale.
I tell you what is amazing… how a country as small as Holland (5million?) produce so many good player!
Training I guess!
By the way, if Flamini decides to leave, (maybe he likes the women in Italy as Hleb likes the ice cream) … does anyone rate Mark Van Bommel?
MVB is going to resume his international career when Van Basten leaves after the Euros, the new Dutch coach is his father-in-law.
pedro
lescott would be good wouldnt he !
plenty of years left in those legs ..
England breed good defenders it must be said ..
we have more quality defenders than any other nation i think !
its like ireland in the 70′s pedro!
you cant seriously be comparing shevchenko to bent can you? shevchenko was a world class striker that’s whjy he was 30mil, he just didn’t settle here. bent on the other hand cost 16.5mil purely cos he is british. other examples are SWP, injury prone woodgate, emile heskey, owen, alan hutton, jenas, craig gordon etc..
you canmt argue with the fact that british players are far more overpriced than foreign players.
Van Bommell is a dirty cnut of a player! And he’s a bit on the old side isnt he Trinidad?
Chris, were you about in the 70′s? you would have only been a little bambi wouldnt you?!
Yup exactly, Lescott, Richards….I can name lots of good English defenders…but they cost money.
The Dutch league produces lots of talent every year, a good place to look out for some of the big stars of the future.
I’d go with comparing Shevchenko to Bent.
If Bent had gone to spurs and banged in 30… he’d be VFM for £16mill.
Shevchenko would still be costly regardless of how many goals because he was too old and he was only ever going to have a couple of seasons in his legs.
I wouldn’t compare the 2 as players… but I can see the logic in paying £16 mill for a 23 year old with 2 seasons worth of 20 plus goals.
I couldn’t see the logic in Shevchenko when they had Drogba?
Finestcuts
you mean like bentley ??
hey id take him any day over eboue !!!
i think 90 % of bloggers would agree too !
we develop them from within like mumbva (under 19 captain )
I think we’ve sold every English player we’ve ever produced !
we didn’t produce theo ! he was already great before we had him .
in fact i agree with initial reports, i think we stunted the lad !
He would be playing for a blackburn or wigan week in week out by now
, kicking asses and taking names by now if it wasn’t for wenger !
rooney started early he isnt a burn out ! and i think theo has more talent also ..
he just needs to use it .. or loose it ..
Maybe thats what we need, a couple of top quality English defenders, Lescott and Richards would do nicely. Jagielka would be good…
Yeah he’s 29 or 30 … but not as slow as Gilberto is right now though. Maybe we need a strong player like that to break down the opposition … a little bit of muscle in the middle of all the flair.
I think there’s a bit of delusion and a bit of wishful going down here.
Lescott has only just joined Everton.
Agbonlahor and Young are both in a rich club and will go nowhere, they don’t need to sell and the same with the 2 young City players, we have zero chance.
Robinho maybe as Real have 84 left wingers and he’s not first choice, same with Arfa, Huntelaar for me is a bit like Kuyt, goalscorer in Holland but not as fast as we would want.
Quaresma and Robinho/Arfa would do it, with a big fuck off take no prisoners center back preferably English.
Forwards, no chance, he’ll stick with what he’s got and you all know it…deep down.
Yup Bentley over Eboue anyday, agreed, but Wenger won’t buy him back….we know he won’t…
pedro-i’m not saying i can see the logic in buying sheva, just saying he was that price firstly cos it was chelsea, and secondly because he was a world class striker. you cant tell me that iof darren bent was born in frnace and scored 20 a season for lyon for 2 years he’d cost 16.5 mil?? you’ve only got to look at eduardo to realise that bent was that price because he’s english
correct pedro ,
plus i was just trying to drill home that some European players just cant cut it here !
so thats why our British players are over priced ! They dont need to adapt ..
they are used to the style of football played and they are low risk – high priced
as against high risk – lower price for imports …
Ok so we all wouldn’t mind Lescott, Richards, Jagielka, Bentley and Roonev. Total cos = about 80 million, team instantly improved. But it’s a huge price, but definitely a long term solution cos they’re all young. And the wage bill would probably double.
Not gonna happen.
you could hardly say bent was low risk-he’s fucking shit!
as were jefferes and richrad wright-they were high price, and high risk as they both turned out shit!
Yup…all this hype about English players just pushes their price up. There is some great English talent, but it’s spread very thinly, there’s tons of English dross in the Championship and League 1….if they were good enough they’d make the step up, natural selection….
Van Bommel is well past it .. believe me..I watch Bayern games on Setanta and he is shiit..plus a dirty foul mouthed bad tempered arrogant cunt who gets his fair share of red cards .. and nowhere near physical enough
guys .. Agbonlahor is not a new kid on the block anymore .. yes Ethan there is Englsih talent available..but at what price?? mate SAF paid 27MM for Rooney 25 for Rio.. Capello looked long and hard at Agbonlahor from what I can read in the media here and was apparently enthused about his early performances, but since the turn of the year, he has been shiit .. everybody knows this.. he couldnt even select him any longer
Young is not good enough for Arsenal .. I agree with Ethan on defenders .. I rate Richards very highly as he is versatile .. Lescott seems also a decent enough chap to play for us and score a few goals as well .. all the other English palyers are either not good enough or too expensive
what hapened to Rio’s drug taking brother? is he doing the job at WHU these days? he looked at once like a decent prospect ..
He wasn’t world class… but maybe Commoli (Once a gooner, always a gooner!) thought he could reproduce that form over 5 years and £16mil would be ok for a 23 year old english boy who can score.
I know why Sheva cost so much but the thinking with signing him was as wishful as the thinking when spurs signed Bent.
There were some Gooners out there asking why we didn’t sign him at the time!
Not me though… no way… he has one season wonder written all over him!
Geoff that would be all we need … Quaresma, Ben Afra, Robinho … Robinho can play on the left and right? And a CB.
We do NOT need to sell .. of course Jens, Gilberto if he wants more games …. but those who aren’t good enough yet like Hoyte, Eboue and Senderos can stay as cover and play in Carling and FA
We shouldn’t compare Bentley and Eboue .. of course Bentley is better on the wing, Eboue is a RB out of position and has no hope as a winger. Can’t shoot, can’t cross.
But i’m not sure how Bentley would do as a right back.
Shevchenko was bought because Abramovich didn’t have one, spoilt brat buys who he wants and as it isn’t his money, doesn’t care how much he pays, so for me what he paid is irrelevant.
Bent though I didn’t rate that highly at Charlton so I didn’t want to buy him and would have been pissed off if we did, laughed myself stupid when the spuds did though.
Muamba I’ve always been a fan of and would have him over Diaby and Song any day, unfortunately the English kids don’t get the same chances as the foreign ones at Arsenal.
I’ve said this a zillion times before and been shouted down, there you go.
geoff
i think the whole lot is wishful thinking .. but please dont take our dreams !!!
we will be left with less than nothing … this season was bad enough !!!!
but seriously .. we probably will buy no one ! Every time wenger talks about a war chest .
it never happens ! It is interesting that the war chest price has gone down thou ! halved in fact !
So maybe there is some truth too it .. all i can say is wenger will have to sell a few this summer then ! and loan just as many out !!!
maybe the laboratory is being dismantled !
ive been away 10 minutes and things have moved on so much it’s untrue! A bit serious today arent we?
Ok not as good as steve or goonerjay, but……
An old man of 70 married a young girl of 18. When they got into bed the night after the wedding, he held up three fingers.
“Oh honey,” said the young nymph, “Does that mean we’re going to do it three times?”
“No,” said the old man, “it means you can take your pick.”
We don’t need anyone Ethan and Geoff…
CARLOS ‘THE KING’ VELA IS COMING
He is a one man team, he can play in any position and will be better than Maradonna.
I’ll try not to shout you down Geoff but i do disagree with you! look at the likes of cole, bentley, jeffers and you can see why Wenger doesn’t like their attitude. he was prepared to give them all a chance, but bentley was too impatient, jeffers was too injury prone, and cole turned into an arrogant cunt who no one wanted anymore at the club. you look at the youth set up now and there are loads of English lads there. wenger runs the rule over all the youth groups so he must see something in them
way to let the boy bed in quietly Pedro…way to go!! No pressure aye?!!
good man odub, lower the tone!
so is buying a proven goal scorer from the EPL for twice or three times the money better than a rough diamond, for me the climitisation is infinitly better and to a degree eliminates an chance of being a failure, but then we look at jeffers and pennant and that thoery goes out the window,
Besides…more money needs to be invested in football schemes in London.
London has produced many of England’s players and football clubs where youth can learn to play, but there are not enough football clubs for young people to go and learn football. Beliueve me, if there was more emphasis on football in London, crime would fall dramatically and could produce even more excellent homegrown players. The football culture in london is a great breeding ground for young talent, but London has the resources to produce more, and resources should be channeled by the FA, especially in the more deprived parts of London.
Understand why a Trinidadian would push Kenwyne Jones, but have to admit he looked like the only real player in Sunderland’s side when I saw them play us. Like him a lot.
jimbo, i’d imagine the english youths will move on, why play reserves when you can play at birmingham and get on the ladder rather than waitin
geoff..funny you mention Muamba.. he looked the closest to Vieira.. me thinks Wenger has changed gis system .. plays different football now and wants more dynamic versatile players
having said that, Muamba is not your typical English player either, so to me, he doesnt really fall into this category
Ethan..lets just hope that with our setbacks this season, Wenger will not want to find himself again looking like a stupid losing dikkhead
there is more hope than maybe we can envisage from past behavious .. but then again, maybe not
fukk it.. lets buy the new 10 years old mongolian tango dancer .. apparently hes got some good balance
geoff
the relevance i was trying to make shevchenko V bent , i was making to jamie…
saying you can fuck up by spending a lot on a player and they don’t need to be English
to be over priced and useless !
This again is straight from the arsene knows best handbook chapter 2 !
(backing up why arsene doesn’t buy English youth as a rule )
Jeffers wasn’t expensive was he?
Wenger got him on the cheap because he was always injured… just like Rosicky.
He was only expensive in foreigner currency.
Yeah, I was kidding with Vela. I am hoping he’ll be better than Reyes… but I don’t know?
So many false dawns with things like this!
What are the Premier League and FA doing to promite football for kids and teenagers in London? It’s hardly visible. Arsenal are investing in grass roots at last, unlike most clubs.
like I said before Viera whined about going for 4 years, Henry for 2 and Flamini wanted to buy himself out of his contract, but they were all told they were staying.
An English kid says he wants to go and Arsene packs his bag.
Flamini was played for 3 years before he came good, Muamba didn’t get a game and Bentley got 1 – I think.
Different rules.
ethan- i know what you’re saying, and i agree you can spend big on foreigners and they can flop. my point was though that it is possible to pick up cheap foreigners who are class, EVERY english player will be overpriced, regardless of whether they turn out great or not
The problem with the false dawns Pedro, is we wait so long and the anticipation is so great and they bomb out, like Aliadiere, Larson, Quincy, it could be the same with Vela et al.
I hope not but that’s why I want a bit of instant!
listen..people are talking here as if we were only shipping out Englsih young talent
larsson isnt Englsih.. nor was this Dutch-Nigerian guy Owu something..Wenger’s worst buy ever was Jeffers..total useless crap..Pennent is a complete idiot who wont cut it at a good club..Pool are banging him out now..
Cole wanted to play sex orgies with his pals from the England squad .. Bentley is prob a bit of a failure for Wenger .. same as Diarra .. both seeing the need to play and feeling cornered at Arsenal.. so its not all a one way street
geoff-you can hardly compare henry and vieira to bentley can you? they were club legends who were worth fighting to keep.
and take a look at the english players we;ve let go-bentley perhaps would get near the first team but who else would? no one. and we all know wenger wanted to keep bentley, he just couldn’t be arsed to hang around for his chance, unlike flamini so it seems
And not all English players adapt to the PL, there are lots of crap English players in the PL who haven’t adapted.
I’d agree with you there Jimbo… I winced at Ashley youngs price at the time… £10million?
We could get 8 RvP’s for that price!
vela may do well but not till 09 after he does the whole carling cup thing
1. Andriy Shevchenko: AC Milan to Chelsea – 30 million GBP (2006)
2. Rio Ferdinand: Leeds to Manchester United – 29.1 mil (2002)
3. Juan Sebastian Veron: Lazio to Manchester United – 28.1 mil (2001)
4. Michael Essien: Lyon to Chelsea – 24.43 mil (2005)
5. Didier Drogba: Marseille to Chelsea – 24 mil (2004)
6. Wayne Rooney: Everton to Manchester United – 23 mil (2004)
7. Shaun Wright-Phillips: Manchester City to Chelsea – 21 mil (2005)
8. Fernando Torres: Atletico Madrid to Liverpool – 20 mil (2007)
9. Ricardo Carvalho: Porto to Chelsea – 19.85 mil (2004)
10. Ruud Van Nistelrooy: PSV to Manchester United – 19 mil (2001)
All to the top 4 clubs apart from us, all of these clubs have won stuff since we last did havent they?!! Get the bleeding chq book out Arsene, fuck it! dont care who he buys this summer (english,french,mongolain,martian, just some worldclass talent please!!)
as in each and every member of the sunderland squad, finestcuts?
Or 40 Clichy’s Pedro
jimbo
you look at the youth set up now and there are loads of English lads there. wenger runs the rule over all the youth groups so he must see something in them
Well id hope so ..
wenger has trouble getting 8 year old french boys to come over to the UK and leave there families for 9 years before they can sign a professional contract !
harsh chris!! seeing as there is a sprinkling of your countrymen in there as well!!
Martin Taylor, Lee Bowyer, Kevin Nolan…loads of lame English players in the PL.
Martian Odub, who? I don’t mind either but green would clash with our home kit don’t you think.
all nine out of 33 of them!
True goeff, I’ll get of the phone to the hulk’s agent!!
Ok chris, not that you counted or anything!!!
eh dont associcate me with keane, he is a traitor!
not many english boys in that team mate and they splashed the cash
god bless wikipedia!
Finestcuts that is a list of cnuts if ever I saw one!! Add Joey Barton and Kevin Davies and you’ve got a full house!!
IF you want top English talent to develop you need to scout the Championship and League 1 for 18-21 year olds. Just like Walcott was brought in. But that would also be a costly procedure.
our back 4 speak french; make that 5 if you consider Flamininininininini a defensive player. Would it help strengthen them to get a french speaking keeper, i.e. Coupet?
jimbo
i think only the good English players are over priced !
you look down the leagues to the championship there is alot of cheap youth there that do have potential ! they just need to be signed by top clubs.. But there are only 4 top clubs ..
can you see where im going ?
then you get every professional and pundit saying where is all the English talent ?!
if only 4 clubs are in the top 4 and arsenal hasnt promoted or created (manufacturered)any English youth ,wenger will naturally be targeted !
Yup LOL thats the mob, so if anyone wants to say that English players should be brought just because they’ll adapt quicker, take a look at that bunch and ask …how well adapted are they?
chaps it’s been another blinding day, the debates have been enthralling and even when disagreeing it’s been done amicably (this time!!)
Have a good weekend and will catch up during build up to Sunday!! Off to the pub to get cunted (a la steve)
Laters grovers!
Arsene Wenger has declared that making a move for unsettled Barcelona’s Thierry Henry is not part of his immediate plans.
He also announced that a new recruit is expected to head to North London this summer, as well as Osasuna loanee Carlos Vela.
The Frenchman was asked if he was thinking of re-signing Henry, currently not happy as a winger at Barca.
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“That is not something I am considering right now,” he said on Friday. “He seems totally happy at Barcelona. He is currently exposed because the team has had the opportunity to fight back for the title but have not taken their chances.
“He wanted to leave (Arsenal). He played out eight seasons out and it was maybe his last opportunity for him to go elsewhere.”
Wenger will be a Barca fan when they face Manchester United in the Champions League semi-finals.
“I wish to see Thierry Henry win (against Manchester United). I think that Manchester United are the super favourites. But Barcelona remain Barcelona. They are capable of anything.”
The Alsatian added that he may only sign one player in the summer, following Emmanuel Adebayor’s declarations about a big chance expected at Emirates Stadium.
“I do not wish to spend a lot,” he said. “We want to continue what we have been doing. My priority is to keep everybody.
“The team are still young in every area. But if we can take a player, we will do it. [Bacary] Sagna is out. [Tomas] Rosicky will return, as well as Eduardo and Carlos Vela.”
Wenger is believed to have been impressed by young Mexican Vela, currently learning his trade with La Liga strugglers Osasuna.
ethan-i see what you’re saying, but would you be happy if wenger went out and bought 3 english players from the championship for next season??
Yup, just as I thought, so he’ll keep everyone and maybe buy Huntelaar.
Vela and Wallcott on the Wings with Rosicky 2nd/3rd choice.
Hoyte has a long contract since he only signed in 2007 so if Wenger means what he says, only those that wish to leave will.
Are well that’s exciting news, I’m spending fuck all again and I continue to believe in this team, including Eboue, Senderos and Jens Lehmann.
Comforting thought that.
A COUPLE OF TRANSFER TARGETS FOR U
MICAH RICHARDS….I think this is the one occasion when Wenger should open the chequebook, seeing as we have some problems in defence especially at right back he could fill huge voids and not only that could come in for the massive games and perform. remember wenger went out and bought campbell when we was struggling at the back and he went onto form solid partnerships with tore and keown. im saying senderos out, richards in, the transfer is alot of money but a great investment, and of course he is english which would shut alot of people up in the country especially the press, oh yeah and he’s a gooner.
LEFT FOOTED PLAYER/LEFT WINGER…since the departure of reyes we havent had a player who can use the flank and draw so many fouls in, ok we used to moan about him but the guy knew how to invite opposition players into fouling him, thats 5 -8 possible freekicks that fabregas could drop onto ades or someones head, its a extra chance of a goal sort of like the bonus spin on the fruitys..also he chipped in with a few goals aswell….we need a left footed winger that can do them things and compensate for the lack of goals by alex hleb.
Wat u think??
Chris, I read that as well, not sure what he means that Sagna is out, I assume they have got quotes all mixed up unless he’s saying he’s out all next season which I don’t think.
To be honest though I’ve just watched his press conference & he looks very stressed, he was getting annoyed at the questions about Senderos & about lack of signings etc.
Jimbo, do you want to change you’re opinion about signings this summer yet?? We’re not even in the CL anymore & have little to no chance with the title even if we did win on sunday yet he’s still insisting only 1 player will be signed & Vela will come back!! Do you still think thats good enough & that he’s learnt his lesson from this season??
Yup, but Wenger is promoting from within so he’ll only replace those who choose to leave.
I think it’s a great idea but as Chris just showed us, Wenger’s only going to buy one player.
is sagna due back this season after his injury GMR?
sorry i feel bad now ruining everybodys weekend, but as you said Geoff earlier we already knews this, fucking hurts hearing it though,
Finestcuts
did they get the same chance as cesc ?
like geoff said did they even play at the top level at all ?