Mario Gomez, YaYa and Kompany in mix for Wengers war cry.
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:21 am
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?
May 12, 2008 at 9:26 am
Guys you have just done us
Spurs were infact 37 points behind us
Great post though
May 12, 2008 at 9:26 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:29 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:30 am
Jenas was a bigger cnut tha you thought, the Spudz finished 37 point sbehind us, not a mere 31 !
May 12, 2008 at 9:30 am
Sorted Pat, good spot.
May 12, 2008 at 9:33 am
jenas is still tripping on the cheap champagne which they got on free after winning the cup.
May 12, 2008 at 9:35 am
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!
May 12, 2008 at 9:37 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:37 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 9:38 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:40 am
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!
May 12, 2008 at 9:42 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 9:43 am
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…
May 12, 2008 at 9:44 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:45 am
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 9:45 am
im having 100 coins on Fiorentina next week!
May 12, 2008 at 9:45 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 9:46 am
Evo - caught it later last night and yes he was on-side, goal should have counted
May 12, 2008 at 9:48 am
GMR what odds did you get on man city yesterday
May 12, 2008 at 9:50 am
guys plzz go n check out mario gomez’s profile on wikipedia…dey say we have already signed him!!!!
May 12, 2008 at 9:52 am
indgooner, i am afraid wiki is edited by regular persons and therefore open to abuse speculationa and sometimes just wishful thinking,
May 12, 2008 at 9:53 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:54 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 9:55 am
Barnsy, I hope you are on for the right reasons, if you are you’re welcome.
May 12, 2008 at 9:58 am
I thought Liverpool bought him but the Grovers told me no!
May 12, 2008 at 9:59 am
was ade sulking all over the pitch yesterday?
he didn’t look very pleased when theo scored
May 12, 2008 at 10:02 am
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.”
May 12, 2008 at 10:02 am
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:03 am
is that ben arfa pedro?
May 12, 2008 at 10:03 am
he was sulking cos he’s been rumbled on wanting 80K a week
May 12, 2008 at 10:04 am
scuba .. lol at the “get her in”
May 12, 2008 at 10:06 am
Yeah, who are you talking about Pedro, are you still drunk?
May 12, 2008 at 10:06 am
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…
May 12, 2008 at 10:06 am
I don’t think Liverpool ever actually had Kompany in the end.
May 12, 2008 at 10:07 am
I don’t drink Geoff… it’s a sin.
Arfa.
May 12, 2008 at 10:09 am
sounds like he’s on his way then.
May 12, 2008 at 10:11 am
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:12 am
What’s the story with this Atletico Madrid midfielder Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Camacho that we supposedly are making a move for?
May 12, 2008 at 10:13 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:14 am
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 .
May 12, 2008 at 10:17 am
There is no way Bebatov will stay.. No chance
May 12, 2008 at 10:17 am
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!
May 12, 2008 at 10:18 am
GMR you made 5k… round of drinks then!!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
bloody hell GMR, that is a whopper of a bet, well done to you
May 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:19 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 10:24 am
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??
May 12, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hey Thor, do you mean ‘your’? how about disappearing up your own arse?
May 12, 2008 at 10:28 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:28 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:28 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:29 am
Edo, go & look again its been removed once more!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:29 am
lol he even got the number 14!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:32 am
I see Bosingwa has joined the Chavs for 16.5 million today!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:32 am
According to the lads i work with in Brussels, Kompany went directly from Anderlecht to HSV……..
May 12, 2008 at 10:33 am
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?
May 12, 2008 at 10:34 am
Kompany didn’t go to Liverpool. He rejected a move to the Chavs though.
May 12, 2008 at 10:37 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:40 am
I thought that was a new blog GMR!
May 12, 2008 at 10:41 am
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 ?
May 12, 2008 at 10:43 am
Pedro, see I told you its easy to fool people & I wasn’t even trying to!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:44 am
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 ?!
May 12, 2008 at 10:48 am
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 10:51 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:53 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 10:59 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:00 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:04 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:06 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:08 am
“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?
May 12, 2008 at 11:08 am
Frichie
good answer ! i like it ..
or maybe ade is really going ?!
we can only hope
May 12, 2008 at 11:10 am
Chelsea to sign £16.2m Bosingwa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7395831.stm
May 12, 2008 at 11:11 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:14 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:14 am
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…….
May 12, 2008 at 11:16 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:18 am
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).
May 12, 2008 at 11:19 am
“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?
May 12, 2008 at 11:22 am
guys go on mario gomez’s profile its all fixed up now and well funny
May 12, 2008 at 11:23 am
Yaya would be a perfect replacement for Flamini….We need some big signings this time around. these small boys have failed us once AGAIN!!
May 12, 2008 at 11:25 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:26 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:31 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:35 am
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??
May 12, 2008 at 11:35 am
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??
May 12, 2008 at 11:41 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:42 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:42 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:43 am
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 11:45 am
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 .
May 12, 2008 at 11:51 am
How much would Dunne cost anyone heard a price beign mentioned?
May 12, 2008 at 11:51 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:52 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:53 am
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
May 12, 2008 at 11:57 am
very true finest, any other CB u can see coming to us from the prem?? apparentely micah richards iff to man u?
May 12, 2008 at 11:57 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:58 am
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.
May 12, 2008 at 11:58 am
Arsenal tom what are you saying, are the cretitors knoking on the OT doors?
May 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:02 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Choy, dear me x 2. That doesn’t remind me of Rocky.
May 12, 2008 at 12:07 pm
choy as beavis would say ….erotica!
May 12, 2008 at 12:07 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 12:09 pm
sounds positive !
RE : ben arfa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/12/ufnben112.xml
May 12, 2008 at 12:11 pm
GMR
it did with the ANC looming
why have more players who will only play 3/4 of a season !
May 12, 2008 at 12:11 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:11 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Is he like a more mobile Sol Campbell… no frills defending?
May 12, 2008 at 12:12 pm
How old is Dunne Chris?
May 12, 2008 at 12:14 pm
born September 21, 1979
May 12, 2008 at 12:16 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:20 pm
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 !
May 12, 2008 at 12:23 pm
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!!!
May 12, 2008 at 12:25 pm
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!
May 12, 2008 at 12:27 pm
sorry blackburn!
May 12, 2008 at 12:32 pm
i think we can all agree that all our international teams can do with a bit of wenger magic,
May 12, 2008 at 12:37 pm
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 12:38 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 12:40 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:40 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 12:40 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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 ????????????????
May 12, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Geoff, thats a good point about him sulking, I remember him saying a few choice things about Arsenal when they didn’t sign him.
May 12, 2008 at 12:42 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 12:48 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 12:50 pm
yeah i agree twin… bye bye taylor, u big clumsy stupid cunt
May 12, 2008 at 12:51 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Al we did lose Eboue, and Song!
May 12, 2008 at 12:53 pm
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!
May 12, 2008 at 12:55 pm
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 12:56 pm
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 (3
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
May 12, 2008 at 12:57 pm
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!!
May 12, 2008 at 1:05 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Just watched the highlights show on Fox sports. The old sweaty sock looked like he had the comb over happening with the hair.
May 12, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Impressive Kenya but we aren’t going to buy him! sorry to burst your bubble.
May 12, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Sorry chaps… the mailing list is now the link in the side bar!
Sorted.
May 12, 2008 at 1:41 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 1:48 pm
gnarly.. who are you referring to?
May 12, 2008 at 1:57 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 2:06 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 2:07 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 2:11 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Ethan, have you a link???
May 12, 2008 at 2:15 pm
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)
May 12, 2008 at 2:17 pm
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/
May 12, 2008 at 2:20 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm
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??
May 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 2:23 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Ethangunner, have you got the link to that news about Ben Afra please?
May 12, 2008 at 2:26 pm
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!!!
May 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm
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
May 12, 2008 at 2:41 pm
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?
May 12, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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.
May 12, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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