Mario Gomez, 22, plays for Stuttgart, is Germany’s player of the year, scores lots of goals and is being talked about to play for the Arsenal, YaYa Toure and Belgium defender Vincent Kompany have also been linked, add that to Barry, Veloso, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Diego, Mertesaker and two girls from the double winning Arsenal ladies team and we really have a mouth watering list to choose from.
Arsene says he will start today and have deals tied up within 3 weeks. I know we spent all weekend speculating on the why’s and the wherefore’s but to be honest all of them tick the boxes for me, though I can’t see him signing a striker, unless of course one goes, and if you count Hleb as a striker it’s a possibility.
What we desperately need is a world class centre back, a strong midfielder and a winger, if we sign those we should be okay, but we do need to bolster the squad.
The kids did great yesterday, yes I know it was Sunderland, but we only just beat them at the Grove and they must have fancied their chances against our third team, it was ‘the Sunderland’s’ that cost us the title, so the big question today is, are our kids ready to step up and make our squad bigger, rather than bringing in 5 new players.
Randall, Djourou and Theo were pretty good by all accounts yesterday, Theo I think will be like a new signing next term.
Gibbs and Vela will step up on the wings but are they ready? I’m not so sure, but I won’t say no, Wenger’s confident that’s for sure, one thing is apparent though, we can’t go another season without a pot, and he needs to have a squad that can realistically compete for all four trophies.
Other news is it looks like Milan won’t qualify for the Champions league, so ha, ha, ha, you greedy git Flamini, he won’t be meeting us in the Final next year.
I would like to ask Jenas how he expects Top4tottenham to finish above us when they finished 11th and 37 points behind us, and I think they over achieved as well. What a dipstick!
We will be doing player analysis over the next few weeks and Pedro is offering an email service for those of you who can’t get Le-Grove from your PC’s at work, or in me and Pedro’s case, Macs.
Any suggestions you have for making the time go by through the summer will be gratefully received, this is your blog as well as ours so we appreciate your input.
I took a bet yesterday from Wrighty7 that Theo would score 15 goals or more in the League and Carling cup, I think I’m onto a winner.
If we can sign a winger, a good solid midfielder and an animal at the back we can score a lot more than we did this season, and that was a lot.
It was a great debut season for Le Grove and we’ll be here all summer, so you won’t get bored at work anymore.
Have a great week, this could be an interesting few days.
Le Grove is now smart phone compatible!
Pedro
Geoff
Wrighty7 is paying out, I fancy theo to have a blinder next season! I didn’t catch any of the game, but seeing him on the score sheet in an average side is always a good sign!
Mario Gomez plays like Ruud Van Nistelrooy… tall strong and an eye for goal! At 22 he’d be a great addition, but like you… I can’t see it!
So all the shopping is going to be done in the next 3 weeks! Exciting times!
Can anyone enlighten me on Randalls display? His talents mostly go unnoticed on the reserve sites… someone told me he is like Ray Parlour?
Guys you have just done us
Spurs were infact 37 points behind us
Great post though
Can’t see Wenger signing Yaya. He’s just had an operation (or is having one) & would probably cost 5 million more than he would’ve last summer when Wenger wasn’t interested.
The Mario Gomez one is interesting, he looks some player but at over 6’2″ tall you’d have to think that either Bendtner or Adebayor would be out the door. I can’t see Arsene going with 3 tall front men. Bendtner has been linked with a move to Germany so maybe a partial swap is in the air??
As for Kompany, thanks but no thanks. He hasn’t played much for Hamburg in 2 years & when he does he’s playing out of position & not even as a defender.
Lets hope these deals do get done in the next 2-3 weeks so we can all relax over the summer & look forward to the Euro’s & pre season. I couldn’t bear to have another summer seeing all the clubs around us buying quality players whilst we aren’t doing anything.
Wonderful post.
” add that to Barry, Velosa, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Diego, Mertesaker and two girls from the double winning Arsenal ladies team and we really have a mouth watering list to choose from.”
great line.
Jenas was a bigger cnut tha you thought, the Spudz finished 37 point sbehind us, not a mere 31 !
Sorted Pat, good spot.
jenas is still tripping on the cheap champagne which they got on free after winning the cup.
Why are you so generous tot eh Spuds? They finished 37 points behind us, not 31. They can celebrate finishing top of the league though – that is, top of the relegation strugglers league. Bwahahahaha !!
I don’t think Milan are out of the Champions League yet, are they? There is one game left and they are only two points behind fourth place. I do hope they don’t qualify though!
All I saw of Randall was from the MOTD highlights, he sent one excellent crossfield ball to the feet of walcott then ran on to meet the return and score with anice finish, but it was wrongly ruled out for offside.
Despite not winning a trophy I feel this was the most encouraging season for quite some time. Nobody expected anything from Arsenal this year but for most of the season they surprised everybody. They play football like no other team and I would rather be entertained, proud and excited at the prospect of watching them play. Does anybody remember last year’s FA cup final between Manure & Chelski. If that’s what football is about I will chose another sport to watch.
One result at Birmingham cost them the Premiership and who wouldn’t be affected by seeing blood on the grass after the horrific Eduardo incident. A mistake by Clichy (who is my player of the season) a dubious penalty and the season was lost.
The champion’s league exit was a tale of 2 decisions, one not given and one that was. That’s how close success and supposed failure is. Who cannot be proud of the display at San Siro and against Liverpool. Yet after that when they were on fumes they took it to Man U and almost pulled it off.
Arsenal surprised me this season and I am so proud to be a supporter of this truly footballing club.
Our smaller squad lost Van Persie for most of the season, lost Eduardo just when he was fitting in, lost Sagna arguably the best back in the league for the final run in, lost Rosicky for most of the end of the season. Four very valuable players and yet we fought till the end.
Forget Flamini, he’s a mercenary, just after the most money. Look more at Theo and how he improved. He and other young stars like Wiltshire are the future. Holding midfielders are not that hide to find, truly skilled players are and we have lots of them.
Arsene will find what we need and to be honest I don’t care if we don’t win a trophy next season as long as we play football that excites me enough to stay up till 3am here in Australia just to watch the best footballing team on the planet.
After that positive rant, I truly hope that Arsene knows best about Eboue and he shocks us next season because this year he was truly shit!
PS: Traore looked great on the wing against Everton
Morning,
Good game from Theo yesterday; he will be like a new signing next season. I thought Denilson had a good game and Song impresses more with every game. Fabianski seemed more confident yesterday as well. Randall came on and had two good attempts on goal; he looks like he can step up next season.
Bendtner again failed to really impress and Djourou didn’t look that comfortable at RB.
Again the travelling support (myself included
) were ouitstanding – how do we get that atmosphere tranferred to the Emirates?? God knows!!! That could take all summer to discuss!
So 4 points of the title; nearly but no cigar, let’s hope AW makes some telling signings in the summer.
They are reliant on Fiorentina slipping up against Torino! That got a big laugh from me… what a short sighted idiot flamini is? Surely he could have waited an extra week! No champions league… what a silly move? I’ll be wearing my purple shirt next weekend, that is for sure!
Gomez is quite injury prone and not very technical..he is pretty much a route one striker
dont think we need another one the less mobile strikers brigade .. we already have Ade and Nic B in that group..cant see this happening at all unless we get rid of one
hey all…
Pedro- Randall had limited minutes, but he had a shot on target after Kanu Jnr slipped him a ball in the box, but it was kind of straight at the keeper, who saved it! He also scored another nice goal that was wrongly ruled offside. Ive slowed down the vision and played it frame by frame and he looks ok to me…
Mario Gomez speculation. Well it may just be but if you look at wikipedia, MARIO GOMEZ, it has slaready updated that he is joining arsenal next season. maybe wrong but if true it shows Wengers intention to get a forst class team togehter. If we buy a striker he has already stated he needs a winger and a centre half so signs look good.
Pedro, or maybe it was a smart move on the part of Flamini. Now he’s earning even more money because they’ll play reserves in that joke of a competition so he’ll get more time off but still be earning the same amount. As we all know he moved for money reasons not football reasons so actually its worked out ok for him!!
im having 100 coins on Fiorentina next week!
vid from yesterday but limited length
http://www.zshare.net/video/11863978e3d13a49/
http://soccereview.blogspot.com/2008/05/highlights-video-sunderland-vs-arsenal.html
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v9999241fKswE4JN bbc highlights
Evo – caught it later last night and yes he was on-side, goal should have counted
GMR what odds did you get on man city yesterday
guys plzz go n check out mario gomez’s profile on wikipedia…dey say we have already signed him!!!!
indgooner, i am afraid wiki is edited by regular persons and therefore open to abuse speculationa and sometimes just wishful thinking,
It really is amazing how much more open Arsene has been with the press in recent months….
Compared to his usual stance and secrecy he has revealed a hell of a lot this summer already.
I like it. Get aggressive Arsene.
I’d have Yaya Toure.
It seems there are split opinions on Kompany. Am I right in thinking he was with Liverpool for a while bu tdidn’t lay much or stay there long ?
If so, if he wasn’t good enough then for the’Poo has he improved now ?
Does anyone think Karen Brady would be a good shout for replacing Edelman now Brum have gone down?
She’d certainly be alot more plesant to look at than grizzy old Edelman.
Barnsy, I hope you are on for the right reasons, if you are you’re welcome.
I thought Liverpool bought him but the Grovers told me no!
was ade sulking all over the pitch yesterday?
he didn’t look very pleased when theo scored
Setanta:
“I do not pay attention to this,” he told L’Equipe. “If I had to pay attention to everything that is in the papers…
“That is true that we have spoken about Arsenal, but we will see how it is going to happen.
“If I stay at Lyon, it is to play. Wherever I go, it will be to play.
“The season is not over yet, two games are remaining (one in Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France final).
“Today I am at Lyon. We will see what tomorrow is made of.
“I try to give my maximum and to give everything when I am on the pitch.
“It is frustrating when I am on the bench but it is part of the job.”
There was a report last week in the Birmingham Post about Karen Brady being linked to AFC; seems like the fraud probe at Birmingham hasn’t done her any good though.
She’s a Gooner thru & thru and she’s done a good job at Birmingham so forget the past and get her in!!
is that ben arfa pedro?
he was sulking cos he’s been rumbled on wanting 80K a week
scuba .. lol at the “get her in”
Yeah, who are you talking about Pedro, are you still drunk?
Choy, Ade does that all the time. I love him, but I think he is a bit of a selfish player, watch when another striker like Bendtner or one in transformation (Walcott) score, he looks kinda jealous. It’s my one problem with him, that he is not a true team player…
I don’t think Liverpool ever actually had Kompany in the end.
I don’t drink Geoff… it’s a sin.
Arfa.
sounds like he’s on his way then.
Chris, Not sure what the actual odds were but I made £5k & I had put £4k on, so overall I got £9k back. I don’t usually bet with quite so high stakes but I was totally convinced that Man City would blow that game off, although now it seems Fulham may have overtaken them in the fair play due to Dunne’s sending off!!
What’s the story with this Atletico Madrid midfielder Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Camacho that we supposedly are making a move for?
we have signed Gomez. go to his wikipedia and he is already an Arsenal Player…
Mario Gómez (born July 10, 1985 in Riedlingen) is a professional German football player of German-Spanish descent (his father is a Spaniard from Granada and his mother is German). Mario Gómez currently plays for VfB Stuttgart until the end of the 07/08 Bundesliga season when he will move to Arsenal F.C.. It is said that Arsène Wenger has agreed a €20 million deal to buy out Gómez’s contract, which was to last until 2012, and carry over the clinical finisher to North London club, Arsenal F.C. this summer. Mario Gómez confirmed this on Sat 10th May in a press conference after the 4-0 defeat VfB Stuttgart suffered to VfL Wolfsburg as the half german, half spaniard was quoted as saying “I need to develop to bring my football to it’s top level. Arsenal are a club that play beautiful football and that is the kind of football I want to play.”. Regarding the hefty price tag placed on Gómez he said “There is no way the board can hold me up for more than €25 million.”. Gómez was brought up in Unlingen, an Upper Swabian village.
hi barnsy
toot toot !
As much as id like to slag off spurs .. but looking at things logically we have lost 2 players and they’ve starting recruiting the likes of modric .. I hope berbatov leaves then i might join in the merriment of jenas’s statement .. But the worst part about it is i always liked ramos as a manager . And knowing what he is capable of … id prefer to wait and see .
There is no way Bebatov will stay.. No chance
Thanks for the links Chris, I saw Song flap at one and almost give a penalty away, he’s not for me I’m afraid.
Morning Ethan, I think every Spurs player has been bought, and they’re crap, if One day Ramos has a £100 million to spend, I may be concerned!
GMR you made 5k… round of drinks then!!!
bloody hell GMR, that is a whopper of a bet, well done to you
With the poor Euro/£ exchange Wenger might do most of his shopping in the premiership this season or stick to form and sniff more bargins from somewhere like Barundi.
I read this morning that Ramos is trying to get funding to bring in Eto.They can only afford 60 thousand and he wants 100…I think they have spent their load. Good manager, wrong team to pick
Yeah come the new season I shall come to the pub & buy a round of drinks for the excellent bunch from Le-Grove!!
Edo, anyone can edit wikipedia & that story keeps being removed just for someone to put it back up again. He apparently said it in a press conference but I cannot find any details about that. Would Wenger spend 20 million on a striker??
Hey Thor, do you mean ‘your’? how about disappearing up your own arse?
Mario Gómez (born July 10, 1985 in Riedlingen) is a professional German football player of German-Spanish descent (his father is a Spaniard from Granada and his mother is German). Mario Gómez currently plays for VfB Stuttgart until the end of the 07/08 Bundesliga season when he will move to Arsenal F.C.. It is said that Arsène Wenger has agreed a €20 million deal to buy out Gómez’s contract, which was to last until 2012, and carry over the clinical finisher to North London club, Arsenal F.C. this summer. Mario Gómez confirmed this on Sat 10th May in a press conference after the 4-0 defeat VfB Stuttgart suffered to VfL Wolfsburg as the half german, half spaniard was quoted as saying “I need to develop to bring my football to it’s top level. Arsenal are a club that play beautiful football and that is the kind of football I want to play.”. Regarding the hefty price tag placed on Gómez he said “There is no way the board can hold me up for more than €25 million.”. Gómez was brought up in Unlingen, an Upper Swabian village.
I think this Mario Gomez one is somebody trying to trick the Arsenal fans again, just to prove how gullible fans are when they want signings. Pretty pathetic thing to do really.
Edo
I am not saying it wont happen, but pretty much anyone can add to Wiki sites, so this could just be a bored fan. You could change it to say he was joining the dog and duck if you have an account
Even if you check it again now, it has already changed.
Edo, go & look again its been removed once more!!
lol he even got the number 14!!
I see Bosingwa has joined the Chavs for 16.5 million today!!
According to the lads i work with in Brussels, Kompany went directly from Anderlecht to HSV……..
Ethan, you’re still going into spam, we’ve checked all your numbers and everything is fine, we can only assume it’s your new email address not being allowed by wordpress, can you go back to your old one?
Kompany didn’t go to Liverpool. He rejected a move to the Chavs though.
Arsenal3dayslate.com are reporting that Wenger story about new signings. However their take on it is that Wenger will make 1 signing in the next 2-3 weeks, whereas I thought he was doing all his shopping in that time.
I thought that was a new blog GMR!
i think ramos will do some wholesale changes this season as well as man shity .
juade ramos is unfortunately for us a great manager .. i might change my tune of him after next season but currently id prefer to sit quiet on the spurs subject .. I rate him more than any other manager in the EPL .. Id love to rip into to them and have a fuckin laugh at there expense .But i dont want to jinx Arsenal … Im sure he will sign some more stars …
I just hope our signings are better … i didn’t think much of johan last night ..
randall looked far better than the explanation of a ray parlour ! Not sure how long some of our youngsters will take to develop but we do have a few players that will be ready for next season .. lets hope we tie them down to contracts that are fool proof and win some silverware next season ..
One things for sure we wont be the only team making purchases .
a lot depends on what other teams do to enhance there chances ..
Losing flamoney and hleb pretty much rips the gutts out of our creative department .
who knows who else will be disenchanted by no medals this season .. who will be tempted by more cold hard cash to go to greener fields ?
Let just hope we keep the rest of our players and can build on areas we lack class in !
speaking of which if everyone thinks we dont need a striker why is the 1st target Mario Gomez , a striker ??
please enlighten me ?
Pedro, see I told you its easy to fool people & I wasn’t even trying to!!
geoff
my old one was a phony ..
thats the stupid thing .. when i just used to comment as a non- wordpress member
i just used to type in any old bollocks ..
im out of answers ? maybe should just go back to a anonymous user ?!
morning all….
liverpool didnt have Kompany they had kromkamp.
funny how jenas mentions us even tho we finished way ahead of liverpool! and it makes me laugh that little gay cunt thinks we’re gonna fall away after our best season for 3 years! cant wait to see him being sold off to some other shitters by ramos!!
Seasons over I think its been a good season overall at the start of the season I was worried about our lack of depth and experience in the squad. I think the lads have done great we have had great entertainment and I think we will be better next year. I watched both games yesterday and I am in no doubt we can overhaul the Chavs and Man U next year. Arsene seems to be listening and the statement about some new players in the next few weeks is encouraging. Good points for me this year the emergence of Theo and Ade. Sagna and Clichy were outstanding bad points not winning a trophy and Flamini fucking off for free. Cant wait for next season and next week I will be cheering on Fiorentina aswell hope the greasy money grabber ends up missing out on Champions League football.
Is there any more talk on the portugease winger Qase somthing or other and why would we want another 6ft+ striker when we already have Ade and Benthner. The central defence is where we need to strengthen the most and Dunne would be an excellent signing, mayby not the fastest or technicaly gifted but good organiser, brave and very good in the air.
Can’t see Porto selling Quaresma (well certainly not cheaply) now that the chavs have stumped up 16.1 million for Bosingwa!! They tend not to sell too many players each summer unless they get ridiculous offers.
heres some stats from last nights game ..
also choy theo started on the left
MATCH STATS
ade 19 passes 1 ball won . -shots on goal 2 ..
bends 33 passes – assist attempts 1
eboue 30 passes ‘ ‘ ” 1
denilson 58 passes ” ” 1 – 5 balls won
bert 66 passes 1 assist – assist attempts 2 – 2 balls won .
theo 13 passes – 5 shots on goal – 1 GOAL ! HOORAYY ! THEO THEO THEO !
johan 53 passes . AND FUCK ALL ELSE !
song a massive 85 passes assist attempts 1 -3 balls won
senders 63 passes AND FUCK ALL ELSE !
clichy 57 passes assist attempts 1
fabianski
1 high claim
13 ball recoveries
10 goal kicks
3 saves
Wouldnt be surprised if AW merely made an Enquiry for the the German dude, when Ade’s agent cam sniffing around for 80k, simple response…message to the agent rather that Ade, that if you want to try bribe this club, there are other options out there.
I would love to see Yaya come to Arsenal, someone in the middle that can win headers.
Where the money goes
Position Merit Money GD Pts
1 £14.44m Man Utd 58 87
2 £13.68m Chelsea 39 85
3 £12.96m Arsenal 43 83
4 £12.24m Liverpool 39 76
5 £11.52m Everton 22 65
6 £10.8m Aston Villa 20 60
7 £10.08m Blackburn 2 58
8 £9.36m Portsmouth 8 57
9 £8.64m Man City -8 55
10 £7.92m West Ham -8 49
11 £7.20m Tottenham 5 46
12 £6.48m Newcastle -18 43
13 £5.76m Middlesbro -10 42
14 £5.04m Wigan -17 40
15 £4.32m Sunderland -22 39
16 £3.6m Bolton -18 37
17 £2.88m Fulham -23 36
18 £2.16m Reading -29 36
19 £1.44m Birmingham -19 35
20 £720,000 Derby -65 11
“It would be better to buy someone who has played in England because they are less risky,” said the manager. “But it costs more money if they are from the Premier League, so maybe I will try to do both.”
So what you reckon Barry or Krankjar? or Richards or Wheater?
Frichie
good answer ! i like it ..
or maybe ade is really going ?!
we can only hope
Chelsea to sign £16.2m Bosingwa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7395831.stm
i think dunne would be a great signing. i think someone without pace could actaully be a good thing…
cos both gallas and kolo are fast the are happy to let the ball bounce then deal with it, if we get a centre half whos a bit slower he has to go attack the ball… exactely what we need
He did have a good look at Yaya in the last couple of years so if he did not go for him then then why do so now? As for a replacement for Flamini why not look at Barry, he’d cost 12 to 15 mill at 27 but is well seasoned in the prem so he would fit straight in with out any bedding in time, he’ll also get us more goals than Flamini would have done and win more headers in the middle of the park.
Mark Randall oo-oo-ah
Mark randall oo-oo-ah
He’s only eighteen
He comes from Milton Keynes
His “debut goal” was definitely onside – but fitting in a way that or season should end with an incorrect refereeing decision…….
We won’t be kept waiting too long to see who shall join Arsenal, Wenger has promised to act swiftly and tie up the deals within a few weeks and has made a very bullish statement to that effect. The hint is that we’re to expect someone with Premier League experience:
“It would be better to buy someone who has played in England because they are less risky,” said the manager. “But it costs more money if they are from the Premier League, so maybe I will try to do both.”
Fewer apprenticeships are expected and a player who’s already experienced would be ideal for us, he knows his position, he’s familiar with the climate of the league and most importantly, we know exactly what we can expect of them.
Walcott playing on right wing on a regular basis has been the feature of much speculation, and Wenger has finally admitted that this is his plan for the future. The young boy is now a man, after two and a half seasons of training at Arsenal, we’re finally beginning to see what an important player he’ll be fore us. Which is good news, Eboue looks to be used sparingly.
Justin Hoyte hasn’t featured much recently, the fact that he could have been utilised at right back for many of our remaining games and hasn’t must bring his future into question, Wenger’s preference for playing Toure out of position rather than playing Hoyte shows us and him that despite plenty of experience that he’s not good enough to play there, and being a number 4/5 right back at the club after many years with the club seems like an untenable position for someone seeking to be a successful professional footballer. His Champions League experience will be key for him to make a transfer to a club who can make better use of his abilities. I don’t see the point of him hanging around just to play in the reserves.
Therefore it’s clear, we won’t be looking to replace Rosicky, we have Walcott and Rosicky will have to fight for his place on the team as a number 2 with Eboue third choice there if we’re short of players there. Eboue looks like he’s being trained to be a utility player being asked to play left and right wing, if we’re short we have Eboue ready to play left and right wing as well as right back, Wenger sees him as a useful cog and he could be a very useful number 3 for all those positions.
I really think Barry is the one we’re looking for, with Rosicky/Walcott/Hleb and Eboue available to play on right wing and Hleb, Traore and Vela on left wing Wenger could look to hedge for Hlebs impending departure. Hleb has been warned and I don’t think he’s stupid, hopefully he won’t be naive enough to start a war against the club, he’s the one with the most to lose.
Mario Gomez…..somebody has altered Gomez’s Wikipedia entry claming he’s already an Arsenal player, is it possible that the cat could have got out of the bag so quickly?
Fifteen goals from eighteen starts this season is a very respectable figure and although my preference for that position is Huntelaar; Europe’s number one form striker apart from Eduardo however if Gomez becomes one of our players he will be a great addition to the squad.
We do need a striker, Theo will be on the wings leaving us with Ade, Bendtner and RVP. For the past few seaons we’ve had two strikers out injured for significant portions of the season, therfeore, with our current setup, we could be down to just one at some point in the season. To risk playing Walcott up front when he hasn’t had the PL experience is too much of a gamble, especially when aiming for a trophy.
The Carling cup is a target of ours next season and RVP and Ade will most probably be saved for league and CL games leaving us with a vacancy up front. This is a very appealing prospect to a top striker looking to join our ranks, a trophy in their first season at the club.
Winning the Carling cup is more important than many seem to think, should we win it we’d have the ideal squad to fire us towards the FA cup and possibly the title in the second half of the season.
On that note, I’m confident that Wenger’s master-plan will bring us silverware next season, just about everyone has caught the vibe of next season being make or break season and on that note I agree. but I’m not one of those who will keep bringing up the past and keep asserting that we’re going to fail to win anything again next season until it actually happens. Expectations have been elevated rather than dampened and even with our youth setup we can beat most experienced Premier League teams, home or away, and we’re only going to get stronger.
Arsenal tom, yes someone with aeriel ability would complement Toure or Gallas better, however on a good day Senderos does that too.
SWP was going to be our premiership signing accordin to some, but we have Theo so we would end up beinching him, like the Chavs have done.
Sadly I think Barry will go to the Poo, if anyone. I think our premiership signing will probably be Kranjcar (the creative signing Wenger speaks of).
“It would be better to buy someone who has played in England because they are less risky,” said the manager. “But it costs more money if they are from the Premier League, so maybe I will try to do both.” Arsen Wenger ( 11/05/08).
Is either talkin about Dunne, Micah or Barry plus Ben arfa, isn’t he?
guys go on mario gomez’s profile its all fixed up now and well funny
Yaya would be a perfect replacement for Flamini….We need some big signings this time around. these small boys have failed us once AGAIN!!
The only reason we didnt sign Yaya perviously was due to work permit restrictions. At the time Yaya wasnt playing for his country and Wenger said it was too difficult to get a work permit, although they did want to sign him.
Mario Gomez coming to Arsenal…thats not gonna happen. Wikipedia is shit and the story about him coming to the grove has already been taken off.
G’day all,
I don’t know whether im getting a bit sentimental, but Theo is starting to remind me of Rocky. I know he’s playing on the wing @ the moment, but some of his goals and runs are so Rocky like. Also, has anyone heard what the new home strip is going to be, or is it still a bit to early for that. I know the old ’70′s style one was for 2 years and thats up now. I hope the away one doesn’t go too retro like that yellow one from the early 90′s. It looked like some one had spewed on it.
If Wenger had wanted Yaya he’d have signed him last summer. The work permit problem was from way back now when we had him on trial, he’s been playing regularly for his country for several years now.
Why would Wenger spend 15 million buying a player he could’ve bought for 6 million last summer??
I am hearing from rumours out of France that there is a good chance that Gallas will leave the club .. dont know where to though?? anybody know more about this??
finestcuts
i agree no point in saying we wont win anything . now is just a waiting game .
and yes wenger knows we demand better .. I think it was brought on by us leading the EPL for 70 % of the season only to lose pace in the final 1/3 of the season to slump as flamoney put it . AND US FANS !!! and the media feeding off us !!!
gotta love the internet !
However interesting pickup on gomez wiki has made him a an arsenal player already .
seems wiki knows things we dont and definately are a ahead of arsenal . com also
(fuck that wouldnt be hard ! )
I am scared about the rebuild of the midfield . it was responsible for our early push for the title race .. Seeing too many changes in such a crucial area leaves me with too many gray areas about next season .. all i can say is wenger needs to pull out all the stops in replacing hleb and flamoney ..
time will tell
BB it is not impossible, if Wenger strips him of the captiancy he’ll definetly go IMO. I hope he stays as we need all our exsperinced players for next season and I’m not one of those Gallas bashers as I think he had a good season, mayby to tempremental at times but a good defender.
i agree senderos can do it, and on his day hes a class act – milan etc, but we always know hes got that cygan-esque mistake in him… its a shame cos for a while he looked like he was gonna be the big ugly lump we’ve been screaming for at the back.
dunne for 1mil… even if he wasnt in the plans surely thats a good bit of business even just as a back up centre half.
i think ben arfa will be the creative player… it’ll probably drag like the sagna story tho for the next few weeks till their season ends
nah havn heard nythin bout galas leavin, and i hope ther not true because we cannot afford to lose more players especially at the back and with his experience it would be quite a loss…. id love to see ben arfa in the arsenal shirt, quite excited to see what Wengers got planned hope he dont let us down with some guy no1s heard about… maybe we shud draft in some of the ladies…. keep up the good work! this website has to get me through a football-less summer!!
GMR
also why would we have bought yaya last year when we already had the personnel
i think he has a chance in coming to us this term because we now have the vacancies .
How much would Dunne cost anyone heard a price beign mentioned?
Morning y’all.
Like Lalas and all have rightly stated, wikipedia is not always correct. Remember the Palacio story?Apparently he had done a medical at the Emirates and just had to agree terms…only to find out that it was some Argiekid posting the rumours about cos he was p!ssed off by the fact Palacio hadnt extended his contract or some silly excuse!
Ade was Le Sulk yesterday and kept flapping his arms in the air whenever he didnt get the ball…just like Henry14 used to do! Wake up Ade.
I cant wait to see what role Randall’s going to play next season cos he sort of reminds me of the way Ray Palour plays, e need that in the team and he wasnt offside in yesterday’s game.
Quite alot of positives in the game, really happy for THEO32, good goal Theo,plenty of room for improvement too.
Tom, Wenger being a man of principles would not condemn players buying out their own contracts and then sign one who has done so. Dunne would only come to us for 1m if he bought his contract out, otherwise Man City could probably get a better fee for him.
Gallas won’t be captain next season, I’m almost totally sure of that. Wenger labelled the Sunderland game the first game of next season….and Gallas wasn’t captain so it doesn’t make sense not to give him such a duty. Which defender we’ll get is difficult to guess, but it has been made clear that we’re buying for that position. Either Gallas is prepared to fight for his place in the team which he probably won’t because he could easily be first choice elsewhere.
Two most likely candidates to leave:
Gallas, Hoyte
thing is with yaya when we didnt get him, wenger went out and got diaby straight away, id like to see diaby get a run in CM providing he can stay fit cos hes got the size we need in there.
i also read that man utd have 56mil of unpaid transfere fees… irelevant i know but nice to hear thye might not as well off as we think
very true finest, any other CB u can see coming to us from the prem?? apparentely micah richards iff to man u?
Hey fellas this sounds like TH14 just before he pulled the plug on Arsenal.
Goal.com
Ben Arfa Cool On Arsenal Link
Hatem Ben Arfa says he will wait to see what happens regarding Arsenal’s reported interest in signing him.
The pacy Lyon winger has been linked to both The Gunners and Marseille, with Lyon boss Alain Perrin apparently not convinced enmough abnout his talent to give him regular run-outs for Les Gones.
Ben Arfa, 21, was voted Ligue 1′s Young Player of the Season on Sunday, despite not getting many starts lately, and has been asked about his future after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger last week said that he wants to sign a ‘creative midfielder.’
The France international has reportedly been scouted by Arsenal, and in response to questions about a possible summer move to North London, he told L’
Equipe: “I do not pay attention to this. If I had to pay attention to everything that is in the papers…
“That is true that we have spoken about Arsenal, but we will see how it is going to happen.
“If I stay at Lyon, it is to play. Wherever I go, it will be to play.
“The season is not over yet, two games are remaining [one in Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France final].
“Today I am at Lyon. We will see what tomorrow is made of.
“I try to give my maximum and to give everything when I am on the pitch.
“It is frustrating when I am on the bench but it is part of the job.
To me that says he’s a definite signing for Arsenal.
Ethangunner, We didn’t have the personnel last summer which is why Wenger went out & bought Diarra from Chelski on the last day of the transfer window. Yaya moved in June so that argument doesn’t hold up.
You’re also forgetting that he has been playing injured for several months now & needed an operation. Its not usual for Wenger to sign an injured player or one thats just had an op, he usually waits to see how its gone.
Arsenal tom what are you saying, are the cretitors knoking on the OT doors?
have you guys checked out the wallpaper
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491391&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Sunderland+0-1+Arsenal+-+Exclusive+Wallpaper
dear me
Dunne can buy out his contract for 1MM or so I read .. dont know whether this holds any truce in it though??
Franky .. I agree..I dont want to see him leave either .. the problem that I have with Gallas is that he wants to play as a sweeper in the old fashioned way behind a strong guy .. I think he lost some of his physical strength .. if Dunne joined, this would mean that he would be the aggressive wall in front of Gallas .. where does this leave Toure I am not sure ..
we definitely need a defender that provides cover against route one football .. cant see Yaya joining either .. too expensive .. Wenger only pays money for creativity and flair .. and quite rightly so IMHO
I still expect a replacement for Flam, but not a super star
The only player who can be captain next year is Cesc, all the other candidates are either always injured or there place is threatened except perhaps Sagna or Clichy.
Pictures of the rumured new shirts are on the net the home one looks a bit like the dreamcast one very red, red collar. The away one looks like the one before the retro one a bit like the Martin Hayes era
Choy, dear me x 2. That doesn’t remind me of Rocky.
choy as beavis would say ….erotica!
How do players go about buying out their contracts? Is it a simple chip and pin transaction?
I thought clubs were trying not to exploit that loop hole? Is Richard Dunne an Arsenal type signing? He has always been solid when I’ve watched him… and if Wenger wants to buy Prem stars he could be a choice, but I hear it takes a while to buy out a contract.
I think he’ll sign Barry and Arfa… anyone else would be a mega bonus!
3 players in one summer… I’m hyper ventilating with excitement!
I really hate reading sites that talk about championship manager fans… Why do so many AKB’s assume if Arsenal spend big money, we’ll spend it on rubbish players? I would have thought Wenger would be the best manager to be armed with a fat transfer budget.
If you can spot talent in crap players… surely spotting talent in great players should come naturally?
sounds positive !
RE : ben arfa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/12/ufnben112.xml
GMR
it did with the ANC looming
why have more players who will only play 3/4 of a season !
pedro, the irish blogger here will big up dunne and deservidly so, he is rock solid for us at international level,
FAI Player of the Year
2006–2007
He has been capped 40 times for the Republic of Ireland, scoring five goals
Tom, if we get Dunne it will only be with City’s authorisation and at their asking price. Wenger mentioned the possibility of buying in the Prem but he didn’t go as far as to say that all our transfers will be from withing the Prem.
If we’re going to buy a CB who can play our game from within the Prem it would be very expensive, I can’t see any clear candidates at CB apart from an Everton defender, no -one from the top 4 will sell us one of their best “ready made” players, and considering how expensive English defenders are it would have to be a foreign EPL player and if we’re going to spend that sort of money we might as well go for Mexes of Roma. Your guess is as good as mine.
Is he like a more mobile Sol Campbell… no frills defending?
How old is Dunne Chris?
born September 21, 1979
someone mentioned yesterday that brady is a big fan, that may be so but id love it, but there is better out there but price, expeirence etc will always play a part,
if getting this guy frees up money for proper signings then why not,
but please note i am biased as i am desperate for wenger to get an irish player and in turn benift the irish team
pedro
precisely , they talk like wenger cant be trusted to purchase a star that will obviously retain his value , if not escalate it by playing for us .In affect a win – win scenario . wenger will obviously buy ‘said star’ at a reasonable age .. So as to resell him to get the cash back he put in ..once he is getting on … EG TH14 .. and countless others ..
Wenger has screwed the pooch on reyes and others , but generally anything wenger touches in the transfer department means not only do we get some quality , we get an asset that retains value !!!
the AKB brigade want to run it like a business ! making a rock turn into a diamond !
stupid fucking obsessive twats they are ! They cant see buying a star player simply means we have top rate players at the club and good cover in that said position !..
stupid purchases like cheva .. a 28 year old for mega bucks is just something wenger would never do in a month of sundays !
dip shits the lot of them ! stunting our club with that train of thought !
hope fully this time wengers ” by this month” doesn’t turn into months and months…
like the way it does for injuries… i still remember rosicky was supposed to be back for balckburn!!!
What if we swapped Gallas for Dunne, I wonder if Shin might be up for that, he’s into big names. i agree with you Chris, he’s a good player and being captain at City makes him an attractive option, we already know about him thanks to the Steve Staunton link, Wenger can call him up and have a friendly chat whenever he wants….Dunne is a possiblity.
But lets not bring the Webster route into the equation, if we get him, we’re going to have to strike a deal….and who knows.
If we get Dunne, it means he’s good enough ,simple as….so good luck Chris!
sorry blackburn!
i think we can all agree that all our international teams can do with a bit of wenger magic,
ethangunner,
Last summer we needed a central midfielder so why didn’t he buy Yaya?? If your point was that he was going to the ACN & would miss 2 months then fair enough.
In all truth though I don’t believe Wenger would’ve ignored signing a player because he was going to miss a couple of months one season just to sign him the following year for an extra 9 million or so. You’d also have to ask why Wenger didn’t sign him the previous summer when he moved from Olympiakos to Monaco as the work permit still wouldn’t have been a problem even then. If Wenger wanted him he’d have signed him by now just like he has with other players that couldn’t get work permits like Vela.
Personally I’m glad he hasn’t, I’ve never seen anything from Yaya that makes him stand out, he’s just a much poorer version of PV!!
I don’t know why you guys are debating it, why would you think we’d go for Dunne?
I know it would buy time for our young uns, but why do you think Dunne?
tt,
probably not that extreme but i think allot of us (myself included) thought that when they went out spending they were spending real cash they actually had and it seems they wernt…sooner or later theyll have to pay it back tho along with all their other debts
http://soccerlens.com/richard-dunne-is-the-star-of-the-manchester-city-show/5775/
Here you go Chris, something which allows you to bask in Dunnes glory. For those who don’t know, paired up with a top defender such as Micah Richards, Dunne can hold off defences as good as Manyoo’s. Oh and Arsene is mates with Sven as well, but Dunne has proved himself beyond just someones judgement of his ability.
GMR I think the reason we didn’t was because Ya Ya was having a sulk up with Wenger and wanted to go to Barca, can’t say as I blame him, Wenger had his chance.
I don’t buy the work permit thin, what are they saying, that Wenger is that stupid he didn’t know that Ya Ya wasn’t a full international, or wasn’t African?
Dunne’s a solid player, that sending off yesterday was extremely harsh he didn’t do anything wrong, even if he did catch the player you couldn’t get a more accidental incident.
Wenger talked about an experienced player with premiership experience, but it costs more when they are from England………………. is he saying that he wants an experienced player with premiership experience that is not playing in the premiership at the moment…… and a player that will reassure fans……… is he talking about THIERRY HENRY ????????????????
Geoff, thats a good point about him sulking, I remember him saying a few choice things about Arsenal when they didn’t sign him.
I would not like to see Kolo’s brother sign for us it is not on ability but nationality. Every African Cup of Nations we will lose half a team this year we were lucky Togo did not qualify otherwise we would of missed Kolo, Ade, Eboue and Song in reality we only lost 1 first team player this year Kolo but if we sign many more Africans we will struggle every time the tournament comes around.
One thing sure delighted me yesterday, and it was the blues (Birmingham) going down relegated, it really delighted me, at least that wanker McFadden would bit his finger for leaving Everton to Birmingham in January, let him start looking for another club, i pray he goes down with them to the lower league so that no club will take him. That guy really disgust me with they way he was protesting Taylor’s card on the the sad day of Edu’s injury. That is a dose of what they did to Edu, may they stay in the lower league for a loooonnnnnng time.
yeah i agree twin… bye bye taylor, u big clumsy stupid cunt
Been having a few problems subscribing. hope you guys ot my email.
Anybody seen kompany play? apart from the mandatory youtube vid of him playing amazing i havent seen any “Real” footage of him.
oh and to whoever talked baout porto letting quaresma go… we are meant to be watching his younger cousin with the same surname. havent heard much about him but he’s meant to be good
Al we did lose Eboue, and Song!
The first mail shot goes out tomorrow Jay… anybody else who wants to join the mailing list… let me know.
No ads, just a manual mail shot!
Sky are going to do their team of the season (I can’t remember when but its either this week or next weekend), what’s the betting the only Arsenal player in it will be Cesc?? It’s Andy Gray & I think Richard ‘dickhead’ keys doing it!!
Mario Gómez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mario Gomez)• Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
Mario Gómez
Personal information
Full name Mario Gómez
Date of birth July 10, 1985 (1985-07-10) (age 22)
Place of birth Riedlingen, Germany
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club VfB Stuttgart
Number 33
Youth clubs
2001–2003 SV Unlingen
FV Bad Saulgau
SSV Ulm 1846
VfB Stuttgart
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2003–2005
2003– VfB Stuttgart II
VfB Stuttgart 43 (21)
88 (38)
National team2
2007– Germany 09 0(6)
1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 10 May 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 26 March 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)
This article is about the German footballer. For the Argentine football manager, see Roberto Carlos Mario Gómez.
Mario Gómez (born July 10, 1985 in Riedlingen) is a professional German football player of German-Spanish descent (his father is a Spaniard from Granada and his mother is German). He currently plays for VfB Stuttgart.
Gómez was brought up in Unlingen, an Upper Swabian village.
Contents [hide]
1 Club career
2 National team
3 Honours
4 Career statistics
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Club career
In 2004, he played for 10 minutes for VfB in the Champions League in a game against Chelsea F.C. (March 9) and made his debut in the Bundesliga side (on May 8).
In the 2004/05, playing in the Regionalliga side, he scored 15 times in 24 games and was to be capped 8 times in the Stuttgart Bundesliga side.
In the 2005/06 season, Gómez joined the first team permanently. He played 30 times in the Bundesliga, scoring six times at this level, his first goal coming on September 17, 2005. The striker also played five times in the UEFA Cup, scoring twice, and in three times in the League Cup.
In the 2006/07 season the youngster established himself as one of the top scorers in the Bundesliga. However, he broke his hand on March 10, 2007 and suffered a torn ligament in his left knee. He made his comeback on May 12, 2007, and immediately scored after coming on from the bench. In that game, VfB defeated Bochum (3-2) and went two points clear heading into the Bundesliga’s final weekend where they won at home against Energie Cottbus, thus becoming German football champions. Furthermore, VfB also reached final of the German FA Cup, where Gómez participated, but VfB lost to 1. FC Nuremberg. After the season, he was named German Footballer of the Year 2007.
In July of 2007, Gómez extended his contract at VfB until 2012.
While, in the 2007/08 season, the rest of his team struggles to keep performing to their 06/07 season standards, Gomez remains at an astonishingly high level, scoring 15 goals with only 18 appearances (as of March 2008). He is currently high up in the Bundesliga’s Top Scorer list, just behind Bayern Munich’s Luca Toni. Because of this, he has recently gained the nickname “Mr. Zuverlässig” (lit. “Mr. Reliable”), as seen in his second of three goals against major league rival Werder Bremen (final score 6-3), where he managed to net in a virtually unreachable pass by teammate Yildiray Bastürk.
[edit] National team
Gómez has both German and Spanish nationality, but played for all German youth national teams from age 17.
He made his debut for the German national football team against Switzerland on February 7, 2007. Germany won the match 3-1, with Gómez scoring Germany’s second goal. Gómez gained his second cap for Germany, coming on as a substitute for Kevin Kuranyi in a EURO 2008 qualifier against San Marino, scoring two goals that contributed to a final 6-0 victory.
[edit] Honours
Club Titles
German Youth Champion 2003
German Champion (2006-07)
Personal Honours
German Footballer of the Year 2007
National Team
[edit] Career statistics
All-Time Club Performance Club Season Domestic League Domestic Cup European Competition[1] Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
VfB Stuttgart 07-08 24 18 3 6 4 3 31 27
06-07 25 14 5 2 0 0 30 16
05-06 30 6 3 0 5 2 38 8
04-05 8 0 1 0 1 0 10 0
03-04 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
Total 88 38 12 8 11 5 111 51
Career Totals 88 38 12 8 11 5 111 51
[edit] References
The sky commentators yesterday during the Wigan vs Man Utd game even suggested that Evra was the best left back ever in the history of the game!!
He’s not even the best left back in the premier league!!
so typical gmr… sky bumlicking man u? whod have thought it???? evras good but he does get a huge amount of press… the sun do the same thing
I think even if Wenger did want Yaya last year
The reason we did not buy him was probably because like it or not Barca is a more appealing destination, and we would have been outbid by them anyway.
I dont even think we needed another CM last year, I was quite shocked when we bought Diarra at the last minute, it made no sense given that Flamini, Cesc, Gilberto, Denilson, Song and Diaby were already there.
Just watched the highlights show on Fox sports. The old sweaty sock looked like he had the comb over happening with the hair.
Impressive Kenya but we aren’t going to buy him! sorry to burst your bubble.
Sorry chaps… the mailing list is now the link in the side bar!
Sorted.
Do the guys at WordPress have a thing for Arsenal FC? This is the second blog, and the umpteenth blog-post, I have seen featured on the WordPress homepage that is devoted to or is about Arsenal. Impressive work — I wonder what the secret is.
Kudos also for putting a grizzly bear on the site, so that it shows up as soon as you see the post from your blog on the WordPress site. A real attention-grabber.
As a Brit in North America, blogs are one source of information I use to keep up on the Champions League, so many thanks. This helps me combat my otherwise football-isolation, so it is a service much appreciated.
Check out my own blog if you have the inclination at
http://adsensestrategiesadsense.wordpress.com
gnarly.. who are you referring to?
good posts …. i loved reading quite a lot of posts of yours. but in this post, the pics of Flamini … well .. you should probably read this… may interest you…
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=686506
I have just read the article on Jenas saying that the spuds could finish higher than the Arsenal, wasn’t going to read it because it is so stupid but saw you guy’s referring to it on many occasions so I went and read it. So tell me how stupid can a guy be before it starts to effect simple functions such as breathing and the beating of the hart. They say this every year and every year they fail so you would think that they would learn but no they still spout the same nonsense. It reminds me of a cartoon I saw somewhere where one of the characters, who was so stupid, kept on running into a wall instead of using the bloody door. How long do you think it will take the spuds fans next year to realize that they still are sh#@t, will finish below the Arsenal again and start to shout for Jaundice Ramos to get the sack?
JUST READ AN ARTICLE WHICH STATES WE HAVE SIGNED BEN ARFA TODAY ..
Lyon winger Hatem Ben Arfa is believed to have signed on the dotted line for Arsenal in a staggering £16million deal.
After netting eight times this season, Arfa is becoming one of Europe’s hottest properties and is being courted by the remainder of England’s ‘top four’ of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
But according to The Sun, Wenger has captured his man – but at a price!
Not sure if its a YOU HEARD it here 1st or just wishful and bogus thinking ..
but i think either way wenger’s tap up in the paper last month obviously worked .
I think he is having a crack at signing him ..
yes totally agree pat/geoff/GMR at the end of the day why goto arsenal when you can go to barca ! RE : yaya
More money more prestige , better weather .. no big brother to give you shit !
but i also agree with AL .. steer away from African players due to ACN’s poorly timed competition .. It should be on par with the EURO’s ! it fucking makes sense
maybe it would not be so good for publicity , so run it inline with the copa !
or alternate years to the euro but at the same time period !
And no im not racist i love black women
Atwd, that’s what we said in November, December and every month since, Wenger wasn’t listening, now he’s blaming Edelman, read our archives, you’ll see.
Ethan, have you a link???
Unfortunately they are still rehashing a story that was in the Sun on Friday or Saturday,
So no Ben Arfa just yet,
I think we should stay away from African Players too, the ANC cocks up seasons every two years, and they should be made to fall in line with the European Football Schedule (Especially as all their players play there). If they do that then start signing them again
It would not surpise me if Chelsea get involved in the Ben Arfa deal now. Not because they want to need him, but because they have the finincial muscle to push the price up and take a player to ensure the competition dont have them (SWP, Malouda, Sidwell, Anelka Etc)
its here Geoff
I might be wrong but it looks Just the Sun story, nothing else yet
http://soccerglobe.net/2008/05/lyon-winger-signs-for-gunners-in-16million-deal/
Seriously, Mario f–king who ?
Had anybody seriously heard of this guy before the weekend. No I guess. Time has come to spend big on a leading frontman. David Villa is the man – a proven goal scorer.
As for Richard Dunne, he would be a great buy. He is 28 and was on the same very successful Irish u21 side as Robbie Keane and Damien Duff. Wenger with his training and conditioning skills will make Dunne in to a very top defender. The guys can head the ball and is as brave as anything out there.
Anybody hoping Senderos will come good need to wake up and smell the salts. The guys cost us the CL. He is an accident waiting to happen particularly in big games. He does’nt have the head for the very big games. You either have it or you don’t and Mr Senderos does not. Best of luck to him.
I would not mind us going for Pedersen at Blackburn. We need a cultivated left side midfielder.
ethan .. could the dates of the ANZ have anything to do with the weather situation??
and btw .. stop the “I like black women” comments..you are living in bloody Thailand for fukk sake .. what else do you want? fancy a few flat arsed chubby British lasses??
wow.. if it is true.. wenger sure is spending the dosh!!
how much you guys reckon wenger is going to spend? i hope he spends 30 mill at least..
i think that would also be the highest transfer fee for arsenal !!
is ben arfa better than nani?
Just seen highlights of the Scum-Wigan game.
How blatant a nailed on peno against the drug cheat was that ?
Why the hell didn’t the ginger twat not get a second yellow for the body check on the Wigan player when he was breaking free on a counterattack ?
Refs (media also) in Scum pockets ? What a surprise. Despite all in their favour they only beat us by 4 points.
With their resources the Scum(& chavs) should be beating us by 20 points year in year out.
Ethangunner, have you got the link to that news about Ben Afra please?
no thanks to pedersen… 1 good year and hes been average for 2… if they dnt cause us problems when we play against us then they arent good enough to play for us!!!
http://soccerglobe.net/2008/05/lyon-winger-signs-for-gunners-in-16million-deal/
RE : ben arfa
and check this out barca courting cesc .. whilst this is a proposal ..
its a proposal that wenger wont go for in a billion years ..
my point is there signaled intent this summer to unsettle cesc ! AGAIN !
fuckers !
http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=92443
Barca can fuck off… can you see Cesc begging any club to take him? They are further behind us I think. They need a complete transition to compete again… I think Cescy boy has had enough of all that!
Ben Arfa is certainly making all the right noises!
I didn’t think Pederson had a great season?
Gallas may be a make weight in a Ben Arfa signing. Gallas will play his last days out at Lyon and it will knock £5m off the transfer price.
Then Dunne could come in on a Hleb style Article 17 signing for just £1m.
then all we need is a central midfield mobile brute.
i think regardless of if he has signed or not it seems from ben arfa mouth via L’Equipe
that talks have already taken place
http://www.football365.co.za/story/0,22162,14287_3555712,00.html
all roads lead to rome .. or ben arfa
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8129306/Ben-Arfa-reveals-interest-from-Gunners
sounds like theyve already been in talks at the very least ..
if talks have taken place a deal could of very well been drafted ! ..
you know how wenger likes to keep a lid on these things !
so before you start pat .. have faith and believe , remember wenger wont tell you everything pat .. he’s doing it for your own good !
have faith in the ethan gut feelings !
too many media vultures are reporting the same thing for it to only be hear-say now !
pedro….i meant 3 seasons ago now remember when he couldnt stop scoring!? hes been avergae now 4 the last 2
Thanks for the link ethangunner.Not sure how reliable the information is especially coming from the Sun news paper, but glad to see its not some 4year old wonderkid from New Zealand we’re signing . lol
Have Arsenal fans convinced themselves that Dunne is the answer? I know he is solid, but a world beater? Are we really going to draft in someone with no champions league experience as our ‘star’ defensive buy?
Pederson was definitely a bit tasty a couple of years back, maybe in the right team he could do somthing, but i’d prefer a bit of a flair player!
Is nobody on the Gattuso band wagon with me? It would give us a season to get a proper replacement!
t- buzz
there are at least 6 links all running a similar story ..
its gaining momentum .. (check news-now-arsenal)
its all becoming arsenals news of the day…
I wonder if Hleb sees a few player join he might have a change of heart ?
would we throw objects at him if he stayed ?
possibly ..
maybe wenger is doing this early for that reason ???
You are too quick to have a pop ethan
The link you first reported was a rehashed story from the Sun on Saturday, so I am not starting anything
And the stuff you just posted has been posted all day mate
I am not fussed who tells me if he signs or not, I am just saying nothing has changed from the stories 1st thing morning and the Sun on Saturday
I think Ben Arfa will sign but not getting excited just yet
Ethan, check your mail for a solution to the spam issue.
Cheers.
yup excitement generally leads to dismay all the time.. so lets talk about other transfers…
chelsea paid 16 mill for a full back.. how rich is that roman?
Does anyone know how much the £880 Season Tickets have gone up by this season?
I see the Arsenal website and subsequent email does not mention price anywhere !!!!!
I think the telling line in all that Ben Arfa stuff is where he says:
‘It is true that we have spoken about Arsenal, but we will see how it is going to happen,” he told L’Equipe.’
See how it is going to happen suggests a deal is certainly in the pipeline. It may well be that a deal has already been struck but that Lyon won’t allow anything to be made official until after the important title decider & cup game in the next couple of weeks.
well arsene said that “the fans will be reassured”
we’ll see….
What about Ben Arfa for £12 million or a swap with Eboue, Song and Senderos and we give them £16 million.
Kills several birds with one stone eh?
GMR
I think that is about right, I dont expect any transfers until after the European Leagues finish next weekend ………unless they are premiership players.
It is funny though that the various media sources have interpreted his words in different ways, some say he has cooled links, some that he is being coy and some that it is a banker.
If anything I am a bit gutted that it is now potentially in the open. It invites other clubs in that may turn it into a bidding war.
Why would we sign Dunne and not Richards? Money?
I hope AW goes out and spends an absolute boat load on some shit hot players.
We were so close this year and I don’t want it fucked up again by sub standard players….i.e. Eboue.
Oh and injuries – Rosicknote, RVP, Eduardo etc
pat i think that is where the french influence on arsenal will help..
th.. anelka.. viera… everyone will only point him towards one club.
and wenger’s pretty respected in france no?
£990 tickets have gone up to £1015
patthegooner, Unfortunately if one of the signings is Ben Arfa that won’t happen until after the 24th May as they are in the French cup final against PSG. As you say the european leagues all seem to end next weekend. That will be tight as the Euro’s start on 7th June (I believe) & I would think the French team would want him to join up straight away after the cup final.
As for missing out to another team I’m not so sure. The way Wenger was so confident seems to suggest he already has the players lined up & he knows the fans will really start turning if he fails to deliver this summer.
pat .. do you think that Lyon wouldnt have tried to maximize Arfa’s value anyway??
sure that they know what they are doing .. we are not dealing with a 3rd tier club
also as I wrote a couple of days ago, Pjanic, somebody we have been linked with and spoken to from Metz .. 18 years wonderboy .. was a guest at the Lyon-Sedan cup game
this is a clear sign that he will move there..to me this looks as if we have given up on him to secure Ben Arfa..makes sense no??
Pedro,
Dunne would be a great addition to the squad, especially at the knock down prices been mentioned. AW would make him a better player in time – possibly automatic first choice. Most importantly he attacks the ball and wins the vast majority of headers he competes for – this we badly need.
If Gattuso was younger I would say yes please ! However, he is not, and we have a very experienced world cup central midfielder in the squad presently, who has shown good end of season form and will be rejuvenated by the departure of Flamini.
As left sided midfielders go, Pedersen is one of the best. A player that would improve under AW. He would be a very good addition to the squad.
Hey if not why don’t we sign him?
“It would be better to buy someone who has played in England because they are less risky,” said the manager. “But it costs more money if they are from the Premier League, so maybe I will try to do both.”
Does the above mean someone who has played in England but doesn’t anymore?
If it does, what the fuck does it mean???
Pjanic that is.
Fair point Choy.Wengers almost like a national treasure over there for the player’s he’s influence for the national team.
Hope this Ben Afra speculation turns into a signing, Wenger has already said he’s a fan
French media reporting that Barca are after Keita from Sevilla..def means that Yaya is on his way out .. maybe if we can get him on the cheap, but then again
a lot of African names to be tossed around for big transfers..Diarra/Mamoun/Keita/Yaya..looks like a defensive round about is about to hit the market in the summer ..
yes my ticket went up 2.5% – same as the supposed inflation rate. The club would have factored in price rises into long term turnover forecasts. so therefore, I dont think they would have wanted to deviate away from that. I think they only plan to stay with inflation for a few years. thats not too bad, and its necessary if they want to stay on course with all the stadium debt.
if wenger gets Ben Arfa, then he wont get Richards or Krancjar as well. Ben Arfa is £16m. Richards is more than that and Krakcjar is about £15m. wenger does not have that sort of cash. But if you offered him Dunne for £1m I am sure he would be more interested. It would leave around £8m-£10m for a DM. not sure who would cost that amount.
the fact that wenger said he can do his business in 3 weeks time tallies up with the end of the French season so the Ben Arfa rumours will persist.
the answer is levan kenia from georgia,he has curently signt for shalke 04 first team, he is great playmaker and has already capt for national leam, man of the match georgia 2-0 scotland.guys he is amazing and man to watch naext year believe me;)
so i think his budget is max 30 mill….
There saying makoun for 11mil (if not keita) do they fit the budget.
Seems like too many ANC players to me.
after the ACN most players have been hit and miss…
i think it took a lot out of them..
Dunne would cost more than a million. As Wenger has told us its not a simple process to buyout a contract so Dunne would have all the same issues as Hleb & everyone is forgetting one very vital point about this.
Although Dunne can start the process if he wishes it means he cannot join a club in the same country so he couldn’t join Arsenal.
If Wenger is saying the fans will be re-assured by the transfers then that suggests players will be mainstream and names that blogs such as this band about with some anticipation.
That means that a Richard Dunne transfer is highley unlikely due to the lack of glamour attached to it, and hopefully Wenger doesn’t count Kranjcar as a marquee signing.
It’s looking more likely that the two of the players we will bring in will be Makoun II and Ben Arfa.
As for the central defender, feck knows.
we could get dunne for about 4 mil i reckon due to his contract about to end and for me thats a good bit of business. i think its very unlikely tho, its more of a blog/paper story, we’re far more likely to bring in a unknown
No way we he sign any more Africans, I’ll have a weeks wages on that (£55k no more) Makoun my arse!
fuk benitez is talkin some serious rubbish!…sayin that we spend over the top on youngsters!
‘I think we are signing fantastic young players but not spending big, big money. I think that is massive difference between Arsenal and us. They have spent big money on young players for a long time.
We are signing players that sometimes you only have to pay compensation for, so we are trying to do our best not to spend too much money. If I told you some of the figures we have paid for certain players and what other clubs are paying you’d be surprised.’ Said Benitez.
…what a wanker!!!
what a pathetic excuse as to why no good young players join liverpool… nearly as stupid as his beard!
Geoff, if the bets only worth 55k I’m not taking it on.
Benitez always goes on about Arsenal comparing them to us, especially in the money we spend – but its all made up lies. its like he has some inferiority complex about us. Spuds do the same thing. why dont he just concentrate on Liverpool and stop doing us down?
GMR, with your record on betting, I’m now safe then!
GMR
Unfortunately if one of the signings is Ben Arfa that won’t happen until after the 24th May as they are in the French cup final against PSG.
makes sense that wenger states in 2 or 3 weeks the signings will start … ben arfa has said he still has 2 games to play .. .. He must be confident , to the point of ‘deal done’ !
Ive never heard wenger so clear cut certain about any transfer dealing in the past.
Plus Ben arfa has come out and showed he has been approached ..
Its looking good , we can pencil him in i feel !
ill check it out pedro ..
(my email)
is it something weird i have to do ?
does it involve a circle of salt ?
upside down cross ?
ok dont tell me i love surprises !
Benitez is a c*** but his information really is correct. We overpay for youngsters & then pay them ridiculous amounts of money for wages (hence our high wage bill).
I don’t know why he wants to stick his nose in though especially considering the fact he has spent over 150 million on transfers since being at Liverpool compared to the paltry sum Wenger has spent.
As Gazzap says he should concentrate on his own club, the same Liverpool that overspent on players for so long they were 70+ million in debt & had to be sold to a couple of idiots. Those idiots have applied for planning permission for the same site 4 times now & still cannot afford to build the stadium.
No they just pay out 13.5 Million for Babel, 18.6 Million for Mascherano, Torres for 20.5, Lucas for 6m, skrtel for 6 and Benayoun for 4.
68.6 Million to come 4th and win fuck all……Top management
I think the Fat Spanish Waiter needs to look a bit closer to home.
Geoff, I’ll come up with a bet for us one day, so keep your money safe!! ha ha
I definately echo those sentiments pedro, gomez would be a great addition he’s got the lot when it comes to a striker, strong, quick, super finisher. The most likely deal has got to be ben arfa, he’s come out today and revealed how he has discussed a potential move to arsenal and lyon are willing to sell, wenger like ethan said has stated 2-3 weeks, after the french league ends so it looks promising.
after reading all the comments, my eyes are about to bleed.
we need to try and read Between then lines when wenger talks.
Fact 1. Wenger admited he was playing Theo in the wrong postion bt playing him on the wing. Meaning we didnt have a Winger to fill that Void. so Wenger will look to fix this. One winger WILL come in. i would like to see Ben Arfa, or Ribery
we will also have Vela who can play there.
Fact 2. Wenger said we couldnt defend Long Balls. So we WILL get a defender. i would love to see Richards in a Arsenal Shirt. he has Pace, Power, good reading of the game, and we WILL have Heart as his a Arsenal fan aswell.
Fact 3. with Flamini leaving Wenger will surly be looking to bring in a Midfielder.
a Midfielder what Flamini could do but still give somthing new to the team. aswell as Complement Fabregas. as he is our Cork in the middle.
Also No More African players Please
I know that most of you have nothing really against African players.
I would just like to say though I think it is held at that time of year to avoid the rainy season if I am not mistaken.
I hope they find a better time to schedule it. But for now I agree that we cant have too much Africans in key positions because the team will hurt during that tournament.
Yea and I am not racist either I from Jamaica and black lol.
I think people would be saying we had to many Europeans if they held Euro 2008 in February! It is pure madness….
No thanks to Makoun… he’ll take a year to settle. The only player for that position is Gareth Barry. Ben Arfa out wide and I have no idea who he wants down the middle! It wont be Richards though… he is short…!
I can’t believe how much the chavs just spunked on a right back? Do you think they did that because the mancs were interested! You would have thought they’d learn after the ferreira mistake!
Interesting Ja, I hate black wine gums, but I love black fruit gums
I reckon Benarfa is in the bag, there’s been too much speculation for it not to true, on the matter of the fat bearded spanish waiter slaguing us off!
Well………….. What a lot of tosh!
Whats up with him these days, he never used to talk about anyone even when Mourinhio was taunting him.
Recently taunted Drogba, we know how that turned out, tapping up Gareth Barry to the fury of O’Neil and now talking bout Wenger and he hasn’t got a leg to stand on.
I think his peeved as Wenger and Benitez haven’t won anything but Only one has spent over 60 mil this season. PRESSURE IS ON!!!!!!
Babel, Mascherano, Torres, CHEAP!? i think not.
Over 50mil on them!
oi benitez shut the fuck up you overated clueless twat!!! like every one has said on todays blog £60m AND FUCK ALL TROPHIES ,, TWO REF’S IN YOUR POCKET TO DO US IN THE CHAMPS LEAGUE QUARTER FINALS,
and now tapping up Gareth Barry I hope you get fucked over by O’NEIL , LETS WAIT AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT WHEN REAL,BARCA, MILAN INTER COME TAPPING UP TORRES from your shit long ball team……
I CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO GET A TASTE OF THAT …
Been reading some of the comment as i just logged in , someone saying Jean Makkoun is a possibility, he aint coming!
Trust me guys!
The poor lad was dropped for some 20 year old player during the ANC and the kid was pure class
guess who!?…………. Song
His agent is just trying to get more money from the Spuds.
Hope he succeeds ……
Africans do disappear for the ANC, but Eboue apart play the game with great spirit and attitude IMO. Seems more upbeat generally about the blogs and Arsenal fans. Not winning the title is a bitter pill to swallow but we finish four points back and came damn close. A stronger squad and better leadership post-Eduardo would have seen us through and its up to the boss to address both short-comings and fo’ damn sho’ we’ll be in the mix next season. I really don’t look at United and think wow they’re so good, or so much better than us, apart from the defence
we need a solid defence and we’re set.
I’d like to see Richard Dunne in an Arsenal shirt, not a big name i know but he’s an old fashiond no nonsense Defender who won’t get bullied by likes of Drogba & Crouch like we’ve done in the past.
just what we need!
……….. and possibly a new Goalie as both Coco & Fab dont fill me with confidence, well not yet!
or am i asking too much?
Seeing as we’re all speculating, i thought i’d do the same, and give you a list of who Arsenal should buy, and the liklihood of it happening. Firstly, we need a player like KOMPANY to take on Flamini’s position. He’s strong in the tackle, fast, and direct when he wants to attack. I reckon there’s a farily good chance we could get him for aroud 12-15m, and well worth it. Admittedly he’s injured, but I think its still worth it. We also need a solid centreback. For me Gallas is a good player, but we need someone fresh in there to re-solidify and form a coherent unit with the other three. I reckon its got to be MICAH RICHARDS. Need a goalscoring winger – I’d lie to see BEN ARFA and obviously VELA back. Up front we should go all out to try and get BENZEMA. He and Van Persie would be complementary, and we need someone who is going to scare the daylights out of the opposition. You may all diagree with my suggestions, but here is how i’d like Arsenal to line up next year – (Hleb put in, but unlikely he’ll stay)
KOMPANY 12 – 15 million
RICHARDS – 18 Million
BEN ARFA – 14 Million
BENZEMA – 18 Million
We need to spend 55 million
Almunia
Sagna Richards Toure Clichy
Kompany
Rosicky Fabregas Ben Arfa/Hleb
Van Persie
Benzema/Walcott
a wee bit too much i guess…
but isn’t buying dunne using the websters clause where it states that he can’t play in the same league?
Goalie please, we must have a goalie otherwise all the good work elsewhere will be wasted.
We wont use the Websters crap …….. choy
Make a proper bid for him, he won’t cost much as he’s only got 1 year left on his contract and is refusing to sign a new one!
Just to clear things up about the Webster clause cos there seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding it. Richard Dunne would only :cost” 1 million if he bought out his contract rather than another club paying a transfer fee for him.
To secure Dunne’s services we would need to use the transfer market (the old fashioned way where 2 clubs agree on a price, the current contract is annulled and “ownershipince if Dunne bought out his own contract, he would be ineliglble to play in the Premier League.
Why oh why are we talking about Dunne, he isn’t and never will be Arsenal quality. Aw will probably do it so we can include him in our all star centre back superstars list alongside Stepanovs, Upson, Cygan, Senderos,Grimandi, and Luzhney. (the last 2 did play better in other positions but awful at CB) appologies for the spelling.
Just to clear things up about the Webster clause cos there seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding it. Richard Dunne would only :cost” 1 million if he bought out his contract rather than another club paying a transfer fee for him.
To secure Dunne’s services we would need to use the transfer market (the old fashioned way where 2 clubs agree on a price, the current contract is annulled and “ownership” is transferred to the other club). If Dunne bought out his own contract, he would be ineligible to play in the Premier League.
Sorry about the previous post, please ignore it, I was typing it and accidentally clicked on submit when it was going to move the cursor to the part of the post I was going to edit.
Randall and Fabianski looked pretty spot on! Randall is a lot taller than I remembered, did anyone catch the whole game?
a simple thing like football can get so complicated…
HUMAN beings!!!
El tel, but micah Richards rates him as one of the best defenders out there, I take it you weren’t impressed by Dunne’s performance against Manyoo?
I know more than most about Fabianski, and I just like Wenger rate him very highly, he is our future number 1, him and Jens Lehmann worked together this year and they both have a lot of respect for each other.
Fabianski won best keeper award twice in a row at such a tender age, his performances were consistent week in week out, Leo Beenhakker rates him as well. He will provide Almunia VERY stiff competition, so you can be assured that if Almunia slows down at all, Fabianski is ready to overtake him.
Finestcuts he is an average player. I didn’t and won’t watch anything Manscum. All players have a good game they are proffesionals. I don’t want to knock Dunne as I like the effort he puts in, if AW can improve him then it would be worth it but I want CL and Dunne isn’t good enough.
El Tel
Dunne has been voted Citeh’s Player of the year over the last 3 years, he outshined people like M.Richards & Distin , I agree he was hopeless while he was at Everton and his early at City but i reckon he’s come on leaps & bounds recently!
Bis ugly Fucker, just what we need IMO
Finestcuts, is Fabianski Beenhakker’s first choice for the Euros?
Finestcuts I hope you are right pal. I must say I think he looks ok, better than our current no.1
Ok guys I trust your judgement. If he signs lets hope he does the business. Could he be captain material for us ?
Yeah, I feel that, I’d like a top of the range defender too, but he’d be alright, a bit like wanting a Jag and settling for a Mondeo.
But will we get a top Spanish or Italian defender, or Lescott or anyone like that? It’s doubtful, and yeah i think Wenger can tinker with Dunne and make him even better, thats why I like Wenger’s choices, he gets it right more often than he gets it wrong, every manager has “made mistakes” when they sign a previously good player who drops their form. I mean Shevchenko, that has to be the craziest decision ever…paying Milan 30m for a player who lacks pace….and the Premier League is much quicker than Serie A, although Serie is a a technically superior league, there are too many shitty bottom 10 clubs in the Prem which play negative football.
I hope so Trindad, but I guess it’ll be Boruc, he’s had a whole Season at Celtic and was number 1 in the campaign, but Beenhakker wouldn’t be scared to play him, it’s just about experience.
Big SOL had no CL experience when we signed him but then become an Arsenal great, i don’t think it matters that much!
Hey guys, I heard the big trend this summer is to sign up to Le Groves brand spanking new mailing list?
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=1385227&loc=en_US
Le Grove, in your inbox… EVERY DAY!
I don’t think you can get better than that?
how tall is dunne?
Yup agreed Abdenor, for me ability is more important than experience and Wenger thinks along those lines too. kolo had no prem league experience, or Saagna, or Clichy…..we get the talent and mould it, something I’m quite proud of as an Arsenal fan, we’re actually contributing to the game rather than just taking. We’re entitled to a ready made player, other teams do that all the time, it’s our turn to get someone like that at last,.
@ choy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dunne
@ Choy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dunne
6’2.. ok he’s taller than gallas and toure..
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nufvnoJMez0&feature=related
This is what Wenger plans on Diaby doing every weekend next season.,the guy has far superior technical ability than Flamini.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vau8Kx_6-CI
He has been on the French radar ever since he was a ki,d it was a major story back in 2006, many people will remember the buzz at the time. Watch Diaby standing up against Bolton, he won’t be bussed about the pitch by the opposition. He’s gonna be big for us next season…he’s always had that technical skill as well as physical presence, it’s finally time for him to make that big step up that people have been predicting since he was at Claierfontaine where he stood out.
Sometimes people forget what we have
we have eboue!!!!!
Finest, what makes you think that Diaby has what it take to become a holding midfielder?
I can see how a player can develop attacking abilities… but picking up defensive skills is helluva lot harder? I can’t see it.
If it happens, he’d be a monster of a player.
diaby is too attacking to be a holding midfielder.. have you seen makele and mascherano…
i think song would be a better DM than diaby
that youtube of diaby is impressive stuff, i think he is one for the future, or shoudl i say i ccertainly hope so
Who can forget about the notorious Eboue! But that will be addressed, someone mentioned Walcott being played up front next season, I don’t count on that and neither does Walcott, he last mentioned he has actually equaled Rosicky’s amount of goals ina similar number of games, therefore he’s perfectly qualified in that position. now if we had Walcott in there for the same amount of time as Eboue……and that’s Arsene’s plan….he is a real attacking Winger like Rosicky. Because Walcott wasn’t ready Wenger’s idea for a poor substitute is to play defensively in that position, hence the low amount of goals, hence Wenger saying he’s happy looking at the stats etc. Eboue’s job isn’t to create but just to get rid of the ball, much like a defender’s, which is no wonder why he ended up doing that, but next season we’ll probably go back to 2 attacking wings.
Effectively playing Eboue meant playing 5 3 2 with Eboue giving extra defensive cover in front of Sagna. In many ways, he is what made Sagna look so good….he was doing a lot of the defending in front of him, so 4 tradiitional defenders and one “sweeper” type since as we’ve noticed Eboue can get all over the place so an attacking left wing and a defensive right. i think this imbalance caused sides to play the long ball as they knew Eboue would just try and defend it, they were not expecting proper attackjing play in that area. I also think that brought more out of Fabregas, he was the attacking flair on the right wing.
A bit like this:
Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy
_
/\
/ \| /
| /
| /
|/
|
Eboue
,
Fabregas
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
|/_ \ | /
Sorry about the crappy diagram, I had to do with what was available.
Oh it didn’t come out as I had it in the post….nevermind
What do position do you guys think Diaby can play then?
Since most people say he cant play on the wings.
Where should he be then?
Playmaker to give Cec a rest sometimes or “hole” behind the striker?
This will be Diaby’s last season at Arsenal if he doesn’t become a first team regular, infact he may even leave this summer if Wenger doesn’t gurantee him a chance this coming season. He already made it clear as did his agent that he was considering leaving at the same point as Diarra, so he won’t wait much longer.
ascii never does
Who reckons the premiership signing that has been mooted will not be any of the obvious suspects, but a real un-inspired signing… call me pesimistic, but i guess im so used to watching players sign all around us…. I mean i got home from work to see that Chelski have already splashed there first 16mil for the summer.
I dunno Pedro, if Wenger sees he’s doing a good job in training….I’m not telling him to put Diaby on, I’ll be satisfied that he’ll pick what in his opinion is the best player for that position. If Wenger sticks him in then Wenger thinks he can make it, he will have his reasons, it won’t just be a lucky dip decision. I’m really not in a position to say, only someone who’s spent a lot of time with him training can ascertain that, from a footballing perspective I think he can make it….and so hints Wenger since he’s mentioned him specifically when talking about who he has when Flamini left, so Diaby is not just a random guess, Wenger thinks he can make it. Wenger has judged him to be good enough for that role and I think Wenger ihas a good eye for these things, so if he decides to play him there, it won’t be without logical reason.
!6 million is a hell of lot of money for a right back. He may be a good player but I’m pretty confident he isn’t as good as Sagna who we paid 6 million for!! When it comes to Chelski the prices they pay don’t relate to the quality they buy.
He is like PV04… but without the defensive ability.
I don’t know where I’d play him? He hasn’t really had a good go in the centre of midfield. The problem with handing him the opportunity to do it is… how much pain do we have to endure before he comes good?
Sorry to say finest… your diagram looks more pornographic than footballistic.
JaGunner, Wenger has addressed that, see the post above.
Yeah cos you can’t see it the way I had it in the post
I’d have to post a .jpg (obviously better not to allow such “jolly fun”), but basically it shows Eboue playing a defensive role, heading towards the back wall and defending the back wall while Fabregas drifted out wide and did the Rosicky role.
@GMR – True they do pay over the odds, can’t deny that. Sagna was a real find. I’ll be honest and say that i didn’t know much about him before he signed. Much better than EBOO-Eh?
Yeah, I was kidding finest… I am just a bit upset you have him in your team!
Do you think he has a future with the club? Will he revert back to right back cover? Or will Kolo continue in that role?
GMR £16mill is a huge amount of money… but I guess money means nothing to a man who has limitless amounts! £16million is like a mars bar to him.
I am so glad we support a club where £16million would only be spent if we could get a £425million return within 3 years.
Yeah I agree Pedro, though Wenger certainly felt he’d develop the defensive capabilities when he arrived. He got Keown on the case to try and help that aspect of his game but I’m not sure whether he ever succeeded, we’ve not had the chance to see yet as he’s not played there. I really think Denilson is the player to replace Flamini, the way he reads the game defensively is incredible. His only problem is that he’s very good on the ball and therefore gets compared to Cesc, when in actual fact he’s a much more defensively capable player. Possibly not physical enough to be Fabregas’ minder against the bigger more aggressive teams though. Arsene has said he thinks we have the players to replace Flamini already at the club so I’d guess that it’ll be between Denilson, Diaby, Song, and probably still Gilberto. Denilson is IMO by far the best player, but just a bit slight alongside Cesc
seriously.. roman can feed millions of starving people all over the world…
16 mill for a full back is a killer!!!
what does he want.. world domination?!!
I’ve said it before but i dn’t think Richards is th answer mainly for 2 reasons:
1. He’s too small.
2. He comes across as a big time Charlie – more likely to be found in a nightclub the night before the game than most players
Also Makoun – not another player whole miss 2 months every other season.
My wish list:
Arfa, Dunne, Barry and Kompany
you reckon we’ll get 2 centrebacks?
Davoody, Wenger threw a real curve ball with the Sagna signing but it really was a great piece of business. I don’t think many people knew much about Bacary before he signed but then I doubt too many people know that much about Bosingwa either. He was due to sign for Man Utd but Chelski have obviously done their usual & blocked a rival’s plans by offering double the money.
Chelski are the biggest cheats going, they want to win trophies by blocking other teams getting their transfer targets.
A… don’t say those beastly words…
‘song can replace’
I really don’t want to be too pessimistic about his abilities, but I just don’t see him becoming the full package. I saw the highlights of the Sunderland game… he made some howlers didn’t he? He has the same error propensity as Senderos. Okay, you’ll get a few good games out of him… but you’ll get a load of shitters in there as well.
Diaby, maybe… Denilson, maybe if he bulked up… I’d like him to put Barry there, but I suppose he could always use Gilberto for experience. I think that is a step back though…
@GMR SWP springs to mind!
Dunne’s a possibility, but only if Arsene still sees Senderos as a future Arsenal captain, just as a stopgap. If not then we’ll sign a top top defender. Ben Arfa is obviously a distinct possiblity, Barry is the most ridiculous rumour I’ve ever heard – an average, old, English player, with average technique, no potential to improve, and very inflated price. The one rumour that could never happen in a million years and thankfully so!
Pedro – Yeah Song was pretty atrocious against Sunderland, but I really don’t think he’s a centre back, although someone quoted some Arsene comments saying otherwise?! I thought he was apalling until the ANC where he just suddenly looked like a completely different player, and carried on the transformation in the reserves, but I still really don’t know about him, not written him off completely though!
Kolo looks to be Wenger’s preference for that role in Sagna’s absence with Song taking Kolo’s place so yes. Eboue will be used as a defender covering the back wall while one of our CM’s drifts out wide should we be short of attacking players on the wings next season but we’re already addressing that.. That was our main problem, who apart from Rosicky did we have for right wing? No-one, Walcott has only got ready by playing.
I believe the covert 5-3-2 was an experiment, and to a certain extent a successful one because we could still win games with only 3 in the middle, but with Walcott ready to take a full-time role we have 2 superb players for that position. And we can revert to a traditional Arsenal 4-4-2.
On left wing we can play Hleb, Diaby, Traore, Vela so we’re sorted there, obviously Hleb being first choice. And we have Eboue….! He can be put on left wing as a defender and we can play 5-3-2 if all those four are out injured.
Eboue could make a good sub, if we want to finish the match a bit more defensively, like locking up a 2-0 whilst retaing attacking flair we could.
Wenger wanted to see if we could still be a positive attacking team with 5 defensive players and the answer is yes we can, if we perfect that strategy to lock games up when we’re ahead we could be onto a winner. Start of 4-4-2, switch to 5-3-2 without losing the attcking edge, and we can afford to do that because Fabergas is such a good player and can dip out wide. He could play right wing, but it would be such a waste.
But this is an idea. Put Barry in for Fabregas and Fabregas on right wing.
Fabregas, Barry, Diaby, Hleb
Absolutely lethal.
Barry would give us so mnay more options, he can play attacking and defensive midfield, so can Fabregas.
Walcott, Fabregas, Barry, Hleb
Any midfield we put out with such a range of players would be fantastic, all we need is 1 more and we can almost mbe guranteed that we’ll have 2 first 11 defenders available for each game.
Yeah, it is pretty un-gooner like to write a player off… and I wont, bar Eboue!
I didn’t really watch to much of the ACN, but Egypt looked great in the tournament and how many of their player play for the top clubs? It’s a poor mans Euros so I don’t know how much you can take from watching it.
Wenger must have a plan… if it doesn’t involve a CM… it involves a CB + 2 wingers?
Alrite fellas,
Geoff, that bet is mine mate!
I agree Pedro that Theo will have a blinder next year,
Got a feeling Ben Arfa is a done deal.
I’m not too sure about Diaby in the middle, YET.
When he learns how to tackle and release the ball at the right time then he will become a centre midfielder.
Lets not forget he was out for a long time and hasn’t progressed as much due to that injury.
He will become a class player, I’m sure of that.
By the way, great post again.
Been out of the country (lived on London from 1997 to 2001) and I’m amazed that Arsene Wenger is still around… a regular Sir Alex (no offence).
Not that he shouldn’t be around, just that football managers can come and go so quick — or maybe I’m thinking of the English national team….
The Adsense Strategist
http://adsensestrategiesadsense.wordpress.com
Choy, hum, mayb 2 centrebacks are only needd if Gallas or senderos go.
Better revise my wish list..
Arfa, Villa, Dunne
Finestcuts
You speak a lot of sense on here most of the time but the Barry rumours are absolutely ridiculous and rightly so, he’s not very good at all and nowhere near arsenal standard!
Diaby won’t ever make it at a Arsenal. He’s just too lazy and lacks intensity. He is the worst off the ball player at the club, alongside Denilson.
I remember that game versus Tottenham in 2006 which finished one-all with Henry levelling. Diaby and Gilberto got totally domianted by Carrick and Tainio. Diaby was totally clueless and had to be hauled off to be replaced by Fabregas. This was pre-dan smith as well so he had no injuries to hamstring his progress. He just doesn’t have the intelligence to play central midfield.
Diaby is very good dribbler, can play the pass and move game quite well, has a decent shot, but he will not be at Arsenal beyond 2009.
I would say a very similar thing about Denilson.
Both these guys will soon be unsurped by the Randall’s, Lansbury’s, and Wilshere’s of this world.
A, he’s been villas powerhouse all season. Do you really think he could not adapt to our style and give our midfield a real energy boost? Yes of course Barry is far flung, he’s an oursider we all know that, but as far as not being good enough, I’d have to disagree, I think you’re just thinking of Aston Villa and O’Neill’s style, he’s a Champions League midfielder and you’ll see him playing CL football next season where he’ll shine. Barry has had an exceptional season, you’re maybe thinking of Barry 2 seasons ago.
He either admits that yes he’s a Villa player and can’t adapt to playing for a top club or that yes he can join a top team and adapt to their footballing philosophy, and he’s good enough in my eyes to make the step up to become a significant player in the Champions League, he is the kind of player that could make a difference in a Champions League side, we’ll see next season. You may be right, next season he may revert to being mediocre, but for someone who has improved their game, regression is rare, and he’s old enough to be fit for a good 5 years to come so no problems there.
Will Barry choose the cotton wool of mediocre-ness at Villa or make the step up to one of the best clubs. That’s the big question. And will anyone pay O’Neill’s ransom fee?
I have to say, David Bentley would be a very good option for us now if we are to persist with playing the likes of Bendtner and Adebayor. He has the quality delivery that both Ade and Bendtner would flourish on.
He doesn’t quite have the mobility, pace, and dribbling skills to play through the lines ala Hleb but he would bring a nice compliment to the Hlebster on the right flank and he’s is fairly decent atplaying Wengerball to an acceptable level to that extent that his strengths would outweigh his weaknesses.
So, maybe Wenger is after David Bentley as the premier league player. After all, the two never fell out. It was just first team football.
The only thing stopping it would be Wenger’s ego. It would be bad business buying a former player back for more than he sold him for.
Yeah Paulinho, it’s easy to say that now, really easy, they aren’t finished article but both are prodigy players.
But Paulinho, why would he when he plans on playing Walcott and Rosicky there? Of course Bentley is the mutts nuts, but we’d need to ditch Rosicky, I can’t see Wenger doing that, he doesn’t want to let anyone go and would rather stick with Rosicky and keep the team together than trade for Bentley, that factors into hte equation as well.
finestcuts, I agree Barry has had a very good season, but that was for Aston Villa. Arsenal’s style of play is unique, and Barry doesn’t have the technical ability to play it. Just like Julio Baptista didn’t despite being very good wherever else he’s been. He is a player playing as well as he can, and is good, but isn’t a top top player. He doesn’t have room for improvement, and would cost too much. If he leaves he’ll go to Liverpool, I very much doubt Arsene is interested in the slightest. What difference would he make?? He isn’t as good defensively as Gilberto, passing is nowhere near as good as Fabregas, doesn’t have the energy or tenaciousness of Flamini, and is sluggish and not overly strong. If we sign a centre mid it’ll be a younger player with potential to improve far beyond Barry
Paulinho
Wenger said he had a policy of not signing ex players. Bentley left because he was an ass, and would cost silly money. He has an attitude problem and regularly slags off arsenal and wenger for the lack of players, saying theo should follow his example etc. He wouldn’t be welcome at the Emirates, although he would be a good squad player, but that’s it, he wouldn’t ever command a first team place regularly. The Prem player i would imagine is Kranjcar
@A
“Arsenal’s style of play is unique, and Barry doesn’t have the technical ability to play it. ”
Flamini wasn’t a great technical player, Barry is superior.
“He is a player playing as well as he can, and is good, but isn’t a top top player. He doesn’t have room for improvement,”
Very subjective.
“He isn’t as good defensively as Gilberto, passing is nowhere near as good as Fabregas, doesn’t have the energy or tenaciousness of Flamini.”
Once again, v. subjective.
“If we sign a centre mid it’ll be a younger player with potential to improve far beyond Barry.”
What “is” has to be given some credence, not just simply stated that it “is” (the subject of the sentence/question), that happened in Genesis but generally most expect a bit more than that.
What will happen?
See above and replace with will.
Evening Wrighty, I am hoping Geoff will win the bet… the only thing I worry about is Wenger sticking him out on the wing. It might be tough for Theo to get 15 goals from out there! We shall see though!
A, I disagree about Barry’s technical ability, I think he has bundles of it. What Barry lacks it the pace breaking forward. He is very much a controller of the flow… and he mostly slows it down. Well, that is what I think. He does have a much wider variety of passing than both Gilberto and Flamoneynochampionsleaguehowsyourluck.
I would prefer to see a Gattuso like addition in the middle, but I think that is wishful thinking on my part… there are no Gattuso like players out there at the moment.
Paulinho… BENTLEY! I can’t stand that arrogant little prick. He looks ok in an average Blackburn side. I think he’d look worse for us. He doesn’t score enough to make him any better than Hleb.
The Agbonlahor talk has died down, I really rate him. Without a doubt, he was the fastest player at the Grove this year. Wenger would work wonders with him.
The reason Barry wouldn’t be signed is that he wouldn’t make a big difference, and Wenger would only spend 10 mil plus on someone who is or has the potential to improve into a world class player, a level above Barry. Someone like Barry would be useful as a stop gap whilst other players develop, but would only interest Wenger if they were available on the cheap.
david bentley.. no way.. give me walcott any day..
its all about attitude.. skill gives you an edge in one or two games… but in the long run its attitude that keeps you going.
Walcott has more ability and a better attitude than Bentley.
I our wonderboy will become a regular quicker than Bentley does for England.
Amen to that pedro..
and with that good night people!!
Good shout Choy…
Happy blogging Grovers!
Setanta.com
“Maybe in the next few days we will sit down and see what will happen with my future,” the Brazil captain told Arsenal TV Online.
“Arsene has my number and I have his number, and I can come back [to London after holidaying in Brazil] and solve the situation, but I have still got one more year on my contract.
“I have always expressed the desire to stay here to the end of my career. If that happens, it would be fantastic.
“I have been here six seasons now and it has all been amazing.
“I would be very happy to stay here and then discuss another contract to the end of my career.”
What a pro!
I’m really off now…
Finestcuts
I agree about the subjectivity of my thoughts on Barry but I really don’t think he’d make the grade at us. He’ll be Pennant mark 2 at Liverpool. Overrated English player shown up when compared to top foreign players. He does have superior technical ability to Flamini I’ll agree with that but Flamini’s incredible running was what gave him his place in the team, and Barry doesn’t have any such attribute that sets him apart from the rest. Pedro – Barry is a far superior passer than Gilberto or Flamini, or even Vieira possibly, but that’s the thing, Fabregas is the controller of the flow, and Barry isn’t near to being good enough IMO to challenge him.
Yeah, suppose he is a bit of twat. Wenger got angry with his most recent comment as well. Forgot about that.
Man Geoff, you’re gunner have a lot of reading to get through all these posts!
I think one tactic Wengs should employ next season is to blood the young B team players against the lower sides to attack all four cups without jeopardizing fitness & injuries.
A lot would say that’s risky but I reckon they’d be more up for those games than the A team – plus, Weng needs to show his faith as he’s said they should compete in the champiinship (I’m only talking about using a few in games like that with just the bottom four but that should really help with squad depth and pacing the full team for the whole season…..)
Let’s see what any critics have to say?
5am, they need to earn their games through the Carling cup. Wenger should go with his best available and only do that in low risk matches when there is a bigger game such as mid week CL semi-final v Milan and only against bottom 6 teams. They should fight for their place in training, and there should ALWAYS be 5-6 top quality outfield players to get us that win, so even if the B lot don’t have a top one, we’ll still get a win.
Stick with the blend of talented youth + a team players. Don’t drop players when they’re on a good run, only make make changes in the team for poor performance, not for charity, it has to be VERY tough to make it and stay in the first 11, only the very best should get through the filter.
Interesting, I’ve not heard Arteta metioned out of possible players. He’d be good cover for Fabregas, cos when Cesc is out it seems the team lacks fluidity.
S’pose that’s why Barry’s being considered and there’s always the qn if Merida would step up to that role….?
First half of the season should strictly be first 11. Allow for squaddies post Carling cup analysis and only in matches where we’re clearly better.
5am
I agree that that’s something Wenger will do, but he wanted to this season, the injuries sustained were just absolutely ridiculous, and very unlucky! Rosicky and VP were out most of the season, and with an already weakened team Wenger didn’t want to blood more youngsters. I believe that Bendtner would have played a much greater role had VP been about to partner him, and Rosicky’s injuries meant that Arsene didn’t think the team could cope without Fabregas or Hleb, as well as the fact Denilson and Diaby were injured for large periods, and injuries to all 3 potential left mids, (Rosicky, VP, Eduardo) meant that he was played out of position most of the season.
Next season I’m sure we’ll see the younger players getting much more time on the pitch against lesser teams and more rotation occuring.
Finest- yep that sounds feasible, so lets hope on that one Arsene does get to know!!!
I dunno finest. If Rosicky is fit, and we sign Ben Arfa or equivalent, I can see there being much more rotation in the midfield. If we’re assuming the first choice midfield will be Hleb, Cesc, Rosicky, and a DM, i can see against lesser teams Walcott coming in for Hleb, or Vela or Ben Arfa in for Rosicky.
Likewise whereas VP and Adebayor is likely to start as the first choice pairing up top I could see VP and Bend or Eduardo and Ade happening against lesser teams occasionally. Especially with the injuries we’ve received in the past couple of seasons ensuring the players get rests here and there will be good for them, as well as helping the likes of Vela, Theo, Bendtner, develop further
Everyone go quick on kakas winikipedia site it says we ahve got him for 45 million and he is on his way
A, thats not a prediction, I was adding to 5am’s idea. Thats what he said he thought was a good idea, this is what I think is a good idea. I expect Wenger will have his own ideas as would you, I don’t think any of us would play the same team or tactics.
Hey aakash, I think your mate Sandeep did that! Have you two been mashing up Wikipedia again?
im sure merida will feature this season . And up for 1st 11 spots possibly .
(KNOWING WENGER ) ! so calculate that into your reasoning also !
on a brighter note
jens had this to say …
JENS LEHMANN has delivered a final parting shot at Arsene Wenger, claiming the Arsenal boss would have been sacked if he was a coach in Germany.
The goalkeeper said his farewell to Gunners fans after five years between the sticks at the final home game of the season against Everton.
It meant that Lehmann and Arsenal had finished without a trophy for the last three years and he insists that failure would have been punished anywhere else.
He said: “Arsene Wenger is the club – even if he does not own it. You could not imagine what would happen without him.
“We have won nothing and that is not optimal.”
however loud and obnoxious he is , on this occasion he is probably right .
life goes on.
I have been a Stuttgart fan all of my life and have had the pleasure to watch Mario Gomez over his short but illustrious career.
Stuttgart has had some excellent young forwards in the past – klinsmann, Bobic, Elber, Kuranyi, just to name a few.
Gomez from a talent standpoint is better than all of them, that’s how sick his skills are.
Get him the ball near or within the penalty box, and he’s money. He can make a shot from anywhere at the most impossible angles, head the ball, and is just as accurate as they come. He just has a knack for where the goal is that only few people have. And he is a competitor and doesn’t mind helping out on defense. He’s worth every penny. A great kid with loads of intangibles. In one particular way, he reminds me of Cantona. He only needs half a chance to beat you.
That said, he is injury prone, and he will have to go through a long and gruelling Premiership Season. I hope Arsene uses him wisely.
If he can play 30 premiership games, you will have a lot of fun with him. He is a nightmare for any defense.
I see Man Utd are/have signed Aaron Ramsey from Cardiff. That was a youngster that Wenger definately wanted so he’s missed one target already. Not a big problem as we need experienced players but he will be a good player one day.
so i wonder if Wenger will tempt any loan deals as well as signings?
i think he should loan SWP from chelsea
Big question marks hang over several of Avram Grant’s high-priced Chelsea players.
The Daily Mail says Juliano Belletti, who picked up the club’s goal of the season award for his spectacular effort against Tottenham, will be asked to leave, along with winger Florent Malouda and forward Claudio Pizarro.
Khalid Boulahrouz, who has been on loan to Sevilla, will also be released when a fee can be agreed for the central defender. And a Chelsea source admitted on Monday that, despite Andriy Shevchenko’s goal against Bolton on Sunday, “they will personally drive him to anyone who will have him”.
There is also the curious case of Branislav Ivanovic, who has not played since he joined from Lokomotiv Moscow in January. At 24, he should be involved with the first-team squad, but no one in the reserves can understand why Chelsea paid £9million for him.
i wont mind taking florent malouda for £5m
G’Day all
Andlon, you sound resigned to the fact that Gomez is a done deal?
we can say good bye to robinho
Real Madrid have opened new contract talks with Robinho’s representatives.
The Brazilian winger’s agent, Wagner Ribeiro, and his father, Gilvan de Souza, have met with Real sports director Pedja Mijatovic to begin negotiations over a new six-year deal.
Robinho’s current deal runs to 2010 and with a new Spanish passport set to arrive this year, Real are eager to tie him down to a new, improved long-term agreement.
as soon as they get a spanish passport they value goes up even more
maybe arsene got a deal for Adriano in place
Guys please help me out here, did it make sense for us to sell Flamini because we didnt want to give him an increase of 20K?
now we are going to buy someone for 16 million pounds who is going to require as much wages as Flamini…
Was it the issue of wanting to save money or there was something behind the scenes that is being covered up??
http://www.latest-arsenal.blogspot.com
Latest Arsenal News, we covered that last week, we got a lot of AKB’s on over it, go into the archives, it’s a good read!
read some report….
arsenal never disclose infomation about their transfer budget in case of player value inflation….
wenger has signed someone but we dont know who it is, just finalising the deal right now
NEW POST!
… in 1 minute!
AW has alternatives for defensive midfield within the club. The best option is to repeat the Emauuele Petite turn of magic and play the left back in midfield. He has the speed to get back to cover and is one of the cleanest tacklers in the game. Perhaps Thuram at centre back to lead the team and play alongside Kolo and Gallas alternately till Northfeldt comes of age. Ben Alfa to come in on the left flank with Traora at left back. But Robin Van P could to a good job on the right wing, similar to Robert Perez opn the felt, to play Sagna up the wing or find Chesc on a mid field run, or squeeze the ball through to Ade or Theo. Thuram and Ben Alfa would add the 8 points we were short of last season.
I am very dissapointed in Mario Gomez for joining Bayern Munich for the next Bundesliga season. He could have continued his success at Stuttgart, and chose to go with the money!
Mario Gomez is turning into a Ronaldo of Bundesliga!