Arsene Wenger needs another striker as he admits Eduardo is 9 months away from being match fit, that’s the average age of an Arsenal prospect! That means he’ll be back next January, so I think we need to find someone.
The two to three week signing thing has to be related to the French league and because he added the 3 week bit, it has to be the French cup, which means it’s Ben Arfa, I haven’t seen much of him outside of youtube, but if he’s as good as he looks, he’ll be just what we need, a proper winger.
Vela is a forward as is Walcott so if Eduardo is out for 9 months, perhaps they will fill the strikers role, but either way we need a replacement, we can’t leave his slot vacant in the hope he comes back as sharp as a tack, because he might not.
There was a lot of talk about signing Richard Dunne yesterday, why, I don’t know? I know he’s a premiership player, but it’s Wenger’s style to sign a player that has barely reached puberty, and in Dunne’s case, he’s at the point where the boss doesn’t even extend contracts, so I can’t see that happening.
Richards is too short and will cost too much so I can’t see where this centre back is coming from if he’s from these shores, my guess is the Prem player will be Barry or Johnson in midfield and someone like Kompany or Mertesacker in the centre back role.
I can’t see him paying £10 million for YaYa especially since we could have had him for nothing, I could see a Hleb swap plus cash for YaYa and Henry though, interesting concept don’t you think, midfield sorted – Eduardo covered, for practically nothing, or is that fantasy?
I watched the highlights and Theo looked great, and Randall looks like he knows where the goal is, maybe all the kids will put on a bit of weight and surprise us this summer.
Jens hasn’t disappointed – with a farewell pop at the boss, saying only at Arsenal would his job be safe, I wonder if the AKB’s will be looking for his email address to berate him for daring to have a go at their leader?
Jens may have a point though! This young team is good, it has promise, but if it goes on too much longer, it won’t be a young team any more will it? That will defeat the argument, twisted logic I know, but logic all the same.
A final bit of news, Pedro has made it possible for you to receive Le-Grove by email, there is a widget in the sidebar or you can click the here to register – then you’re away! It will save you time and improve your relationship with your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or husband, trust me, it really works!
Well another day of speculation so let’s make Arsene’s job a little easier, we know he reads Le-Grove, give him your ideas!
Pedro
Geoff
May 13, 2008 at 09:08
Err… first Grove?
Nice post Geoff, it’s a shame about Eduardo, I thought he was going to be back in October! The sooner we ditch Lewin, the better in my eyes!
I completly agree with you about Dunne. I think we as Arsenal fans are jumping to conclusions. He looks ok, but an Arsenal player? I’m not sure…
If Jen’s blogged, he’d be that Gelbs chap… and you know that he’d blog over here! haha!
It’s funny, since being on the mailing list, my life has improved?
May 13, 2008 at 09:09
i was looking through Inter Milans list today to see who we might be able to do a loan deal with, the only guy i could see was a dude called David Suazo – a striker!
May 13, 2008 at 09:10
Hleb for YaYa + Henry. Intresting shout. I love TiTi to bits. Don’t you think that other players have grown since he left though ( the old play everything through henry) approach to the game has long gone. Got me thinking now though….
May 13, 2008 at 09:10
Good post Geoff but will Hleb want to move to Barca? I thought he’d be happy with his mate Flamini acroos the road from him in Milan. A Hleb plus cash for YaYa and TH14 would be a good deal for us though.
Jens is right; anywhere else and AW would have extreme pressure on him for results.
I still say get Nesta in from Milan
May 13, 2008 at 09:12
Pedro – ditch Lewin; you havin’ a laugh?!
May 13, 2008 at 09:14
I am Scuba.
May 13, 2008 at 09:14
where is my post… oh crap
May 13, 2008 at 09:15
i read some report from AST arsenal supporters trust and they had a meeting with the board.
he mentions that they never disclose any information about their exact transfer budget due to the fact players value will inflate.
so everyone can suspect what they want £25m, £50m or £100m, we will never know, but they say they always back arsene if he ever wanted to make a signing
also mentions he loves making jewels into diamonds, so i guess no world class sigings like ronaldinho, messi, adriano, ibrahimovic and dare i say it David Villa
the best news is he mentioned that he got off the phone with arsene to finalise a transfer deal
but who is it?????
Mario Gomez, Jean Makoun, Hatem Ben Arfa, Samir Nasri, Amauri, Gareth Barry, SWP, Richard Dunne, Diego, Raul Albiol, Kompany
your guess is good as mine
May 13, 2008 at 09:16
anyways we never dislclose transfer info incease it players valuation inflation
arsene has a signing in place right now as we speak
read this on AST report
May 13, 2008 at 09:17
i think Adriano would be good signing on loan, he has sorted himself out apparently
May 13, 2008 at 09:23
gunnerShabaz who got off the phone to who?
May 13, 2008 at 09:23
I’d like tpo see Gareth Barry and Julian Lescott signed; Lescott scored again on Sunday, that’s 10 goals this season – not bad return for a CH/LB
May 13, 2008 at 09:24
yeah Adriano could be ok
May 13, 2008 at 09:24
i read that too gunnershabz , wonder who the signing is , i think it maybe ben arfa.
also apparently we have sold 92% of the flats , surely this is good news too ? will that reduce the debt on the stadium etc ?
May 13, 2008 at 09:24
I would like to see a top class keeper brought in – like Gigi Buffon. I am still not convinced by wither Almunia or Fabianski.
Add to that a big fuck off Centre Back like David Wheater at Boro. Tall, strong, wins everything in the air in both boxes. I’d stick him straight in alongside Kolo.
Then I guess Ben Arfa on the wing, although I would prefer Robinho. In CM i would like to see someone with potential but a name so Yaya, Makoun would fit although would like Barry too and then up top just bring back the mighty TH14.
Simple.
May 13, 2008 at 09:25
Good post as ever Geoff. Like the idea of the swap deal with Barca as well.
I really don’t get this Richard Dunne thing, I thought it was just me. I don’t think he’s any better than Senderos.
May 13, 2008 at 09:26
the report was on arsenalinsider.co.uk or something
robinho is a no no, apparently real madrid are having contract talks with him
May 13, 2008 at 09:30
I think when it comes to other clubs desperately wanting our players we have to use that to our advantage and demand one of their players in return. chances are Inter have too many centre backs. so lets have one of their best ones if we are to lose Hleb. everyone’s a winner. No money may change hands in a pure swap deal. Inter wouldn’t have crap defenders would they?
May 13, 2008 at 09:30
gazzap
swap deal with christian chivu would do fine for me
May 13, 2008 at 09:31
Nobody has ioned Eduarod’s injury caused by Taylorn of Birmingham.I am very happy that the blues under Mccleish have been relegated and will go out to celebrate.there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Eduardo was deliberately injured. Prior to this Arsenal were going great guns.
Suddnely a new Blues boss is appointed.He was a protege of the red faced.After the injury arsenal simply pressed the self destruct button.How do we know the injury was not inflicted to take out a striker who was becoming very deadly as attested by the number of goals he scored.
then we have the penalty given to the blues towards the end of the game. I had said bf this game that for Arsenal to win the title the gunners have to fight against twelve and maybe even thiteen players.
Know what I mean.I hope the blues stay in the championship for as long as Eduardo is out of the game.
May 13, 2008 at 09:31
geoff mate, just thought I would point something
out…
if you read the eduardo comments again you’ll see that the 9months comment refers to 9months from the beginning of injury. What he’s saying is that you can fullly physically recover sooner but there are psychological issues that take longer to heal. So 9 months from his injury is November, which means he’ll probably be back training in Aug/Sep.
Good news I think.
By the way I had a dream last night
that we were signing Sergio Ramos, let’s hope its a prophecy.
And one more thing, the whole Barry to pool things gone quiet- maybe that means we’ve made a bid??
May 13, 2008 at 09:33
I think you are being very generous with the value of Hleb, great player, however not enough concrete impact to justify two players of that quality. Would be great though. Arsene reads this does he well i would like to say thank you for all you have done and can you sign a 10 year extension to your contract. Come on the gunners.
May 13, 2008 at 09:34
Very good thoughts Geoff.
but personally i feel upfront we need someone who is more aggresive (Someone like Tevez), all our forwards at the moment are a bit weak, RVP & Theo not that aggresive Ade lacks good 1st touches and his finishing is a bit poor at times, tho i am happy to say that the man has improved this season.
Robinho would be a very good buy, look at the pace he has and the type of football we play at Arsenal, i think he would fit in well.
In the midfield i think we are lacking a proper replacement of Vierra, Yaya toure would be a perfect replacement i think…
http://www.latest-arsenal.blogspot.com
May 13, 2008 at 09:35
Taylor didn’t mean to snap Dudu’s leg, but he did mean to rough him up. And Brum after the game were fucking graceless about the whole and tried make Taylor out as the victim. Fucking happy they’ve gone down. Hope there’s good transfer news today! Encouraging Friar had to interupt a press conference (?) to take a call about one
May 13, 2008 at 09:35
To be honest half of us or more on here are hypocrites (& yes I do include myself in that).
We’ve been saying for weeks/months we want experienced signings & yet most of us will be happy if Wenger spends 15+ million on Ben Arfa. This guy has played around 65 games or so & isn’t trusted to last 90 minutes. His current manager sees him as an impact player (remind you of Walcott??), he isn’t a regular international & whilst his youtube clips look good so does just about every player you want to mention.
We have to accept that either we get these potentially exciting players or we go for experience pro’s like Quaresma who has improved no end since his short stay at Barca. Ben Arfa could well be another Robinho & take 3-4 years to settle in.
Then when a player like Dunne is mentioned who is in the peak of his career & playing superbly its said that he is too old, hasn’t played in the CL etc but those same people would welcome Kompany, an injury prone out of form player thats never lived up to his billing but he’d be welcome because he’s young!!
Its not adding up, either we want experience or we don’t??
May 13, 2008 at 09:35
JULIAN LESCOTT, JULIAN LESCOTT, JULIAN LESCOTT, JULIAN LESCOTT, JULIAN LESCOTT
May 13, 2008 at 09:38
i dont think sergio ramos is what we need, he has to much flair to be our centre half and besides i think he similar to gallas
we need a tall big fucker at the back like materazzi, strikers know they up for game when playing against him and they think twice
May 13, 2008 at 09:39
wong meng , glad too , mc cliesh showed no dignity what so ever after that game , he even had to promted to mention eddie by the interviewer . all they were bothered about waw themselves , look at them now , in fighting , bitching , slagging previous manager and his signigns , publicaly slating players , turning on the board and smashing up their own ground . what a great club …………….. well fuck all off you pleb brummie scum bags , i hope you stay down ,
May 13, 2008 at 09:39
Chipo, nice dream! the 9 months I think are football season months, when he did it Wenger said a year, add to that the time it will take to get sharp again, I think it will be next January.
Look how long it take RVP and Rosicknote!
May 13, 2008 at 09:40
Good call Geoff, Eduardo was in the spotlight yesterday with what look like Wenger priming us for somebody to help us out in Eduardo’s absence.
As for Vela or Walcott playing there, I doubt it.
Eduardo’s signing was brought about by Henry’s departure, he was the one to replace the goals. Eduardo is a proven international, and scored approx. 70 goals out of approx.100 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb. He was the star player of the Croatian squad, the difference between an average and a good team having supplied many of the key goals which earnt them Euro qualification. A real star player.
Wenger has talked about “ready made” talent, so to replace Eduardo we need someone as good as him, Vela and Walcott are nowhere near that. Also, Walcott mentioned that he’s looking forward to working with Vela, they both currently play on either wing, all that training would go to waste should we switch their positions. Walcott has equalled Rosicky’s finished product and is perfect for us on the wings, and he can score from there too. Wenger’s style of “total footballl” where a player can assume more than one position at different points during a game is how we make sure we’re never completely out of options, most of our players can play more than one position.
With both Vela and Walcott on the wings, it’s the closest we can get to the most attacking of styles, old school Brazilian 4-2-4.
Since they’re both strikers come wingers, we can easily mutate when launching an attack and have four players who know how to find the net in the box. For that to work we need two VERY strong players in the middle, we already have Fabregas, I wonder who will join him.
May 13, 2008 at 09:40
i think we need defensive experience not attacking
it does not matter if he buys good potential attacking wise
but like defensive midfielder and centre back we need the experience we are ok in other areas
May 13, 2008 at 09:40
Love the Tevez idea. We need an aggressive poacher. RVP smacks em in and he tidies em up.
May 13, 2008 at 09:42
it still seems the two strongest rumours are for Ben arfa (£16m) and Albiol (£10m). that would take wengers spendiing to £26m meaning he has no other money to spend this summer. That would mean that wenger is going with the current midfielders ie probably Denilson and Gilberto to slot in for Flam. that would definitely be a worry for me.
May 13, 2008 at 09:43
Interesting concept Finest! GMR, I think we’re saying 25 is experienced, not 30.
May 13, 2008 at 09:45
David Wheater is the best choice maybe Arsene can do a swap deal with Southgate two for one?
May 13, 2008 at 09:45
Dunne is 28, a perfect age for a defender!!
Ben Arfa is 21 & his stats aren’t as good as Carlos Vela’s so do we need him especially for the 15+ million he’d cost?? I’ve been one of those saying I hope we sign him, I’m just questioning myself as to why we want or even need him!!
May 13, 2008 at 09:46
gazzap , we don,t know the budget and he may raise some cash with senderos , hleb , hoyte and PLEASE GOD , EBOUE ! ( unless he keeps him for cover at r b and bans himfrom ever playing r m again !)
May 13, 2008 at 09:48
im sure that if we do sign ben arfa we will do wot will did with reyes and walcott pay them an amount up front and then pay them more based on appearances and goals ect
May 13, 2008 at 09:49
Gazzap, Wenger has already suggested he wouldn’t replace Flamini at that shareholder meeting last week. I don’t see any problems with that, but if Wenger can’t trust Denilson or Diaby to fill in by now then he may as well sell both (Everton want Denilson & Diaby would find a club abroad quite easily), then he’d have good cash to replace Flamini with another ‘ hard worker’.
May 13, 2008 at 09:49
I watch a lot of Bundesliga football and have a friend in Germany who watched everybody like a hawk.
Without tipping my hand, I asked him about Mario Gomex since there’s been so much talk about him linked with Arsenal.
My pal’s take — and I agree — is that Gomez is a flat-out scorer. My friends quote was that “the guy never seems to make a great play, but he’s strong and he seems to find ways to will the ball into the net.
On one hand — assuming Gomez actually in on the radar — you can say we need help up front, especially to start the season as RVP has proved to be brittle, Eduardo remains a major question mark and Bendtner is probably a year away, at least.
Furthermore, it’s true that we’ve wasted endless scoring chances and the goals will have to come from somewhere. Even if you assume Ade is the real deal, he needs help and that help should be somebody — like Eduardo was becoming — who converts half-chances and somehow finds goals. That’s Gomez.
By the way, Arsene already has said that Theo will spend another year on wing and I’ve seen Vela several times and he plays exclusively on the left wing for Osasuna. No strikers there.
On the down side re Gomez, do we want another big, strong bloke in there? We’ve got Ade and Bendtner already.
It makes for interesting conversation.
For whatever it’s worth, I still think AW is concentrating on CB — somebody like Albiol from Valencia, although all the signings probably will be players who’ve never been mentioned.
Still, if they’re as good as Dudu and Sagna, I’ll go with that type of under the radar scouting every time.
I’m not a guy who believes Arsene gets everything right, but his record at turning up outstanding players who’ve been overlooked is almost magical — look no furhter than our 30-goal scorer, who was considered a problem child at Monaco.
It’s still fascinating that AW came out and said he’d sign somebody from the Prem, leading you to believe there’s deal virtually done because he NEVER gets into bidding wars (Barry, Johnson, etc.).
The one exception I take to a lot of Gooner opinions here is that this season was a disappointment. Everyone and his dog — inclduing most Gooners — feared the worst and were frightened we’d finish sixth. Instead, FOUR points from the tile and if you reverse three awful refs’ decisions, we’d have won the title.
Given everything that happened to this team in March — particularly that awful day at St Andrews — I think it was a fantastic season.
Cheers, all.
May 13, 2008 at 09:51
I’m probably the closest thing to an AKB afficionado around here that doesn’t hounded and abused with every post, but I will be disappointed with AW if we spaz 15m on ben arfa. We need players that can make it in the prem – ben arfa is weak and will get hacked to shit and fuck off before we even remotely have the time to recoup our investment. It would be, and mark my words, Reyes MkII.
When was the last time the French league produced a remotely good defender? All the remotely good ones (Thuram, Gallas, Evra, Clichy) have been in foreign leagues for a long time now. Rick Waller could score for fun against the remaining chumps. So how the hell can an attacking player up against that lot get a £15m price tag before he’s even won anything outside of a domestic league title? Baffling.
Compounded by the problem that a player that doesn’t even weight over 69kg, is just 21, wouldn’t even have someone in the club to understudy whilst he gets used to this league – we don’t have any proper wingers, Hleb may be on his way out, Walcott ain’t exactly mentorship material yet, Rosicknote is… rosicknote. Who’s he gonna learn his trade from, our standard left winger, Diaby?!!
Fact is, HBA is someone you sign as a kid and wean into the league, not as a 21 year old. That’s No Man’s Land unless it’s a brick shithouse type of player
May 13, 2008 at 10:00
Morning fellow grovers!!
Read online Barcelona want to offer Puyol to arsenal in exchange for CESC FABREGAS!! Oh Joy!! I think we Should jump at this mega oppotunity dont you??
http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=92443
PS. Oh yeah, if you were taking me seriously,you need to be shot.
May 13, 2008 at 10:00
Some interesting posts on the site today.
I know nothing of Ben Arfa. Bradley’s assesment doesn’t make for happy reading, but other bloggers rave over him. My concern is that if Ben Arfa is not good enough for Lyons, then he sure as hell isn’t the man for us. I don’t swallow that stuff about his feud with Benzema. If he is good enough, he plays, whatever a prima donna centre forward may think.
On the other hand, HBA has just won the best kid award in France. If he is as good as the EPL winner, I would be delighted to sign him
May 13, 2008 at 10:00
Here’s an idea, why not Tiny Tim Taylor, from Birmingham
har, har, har.
on a more serious note, would Everton let Lescott go as they bump on the top 4 ceiling, desperate to get into Europe for good? Dunno enough about their chairman to know whether he has the balls to risk holding onto a very sellable asset or not.
May 13, 2008 at 10:00
Diaby isn’t a left winger, he was the most technically skilled player we had available for that position, but he wasn’t brought up in that position, but it’s good that Diaby can play in the middle and on the left, obviously we need a real winger there but he’s a good backup option, we can win games with Diaby playing there, a bit like sparkling white wine in the place of champagne…..of course he’s not the real bubbly on LW.
May 13, 2008 at 10:01
Sorry ….very rude of me…. Good Morning.
My rudeness is due to a return from holiday, to the daily drag
May 13, 2008 at 10:03
Albiol is another one who is young & weak. We need a commanding centre half, not a lanky streak of p*** that doesn’t even challenge strikers when the balls crossed into the box like he done recently when Valencia got hammered by Athletic Bilbao.
May 13, 2008 at 10:04
the one player I *do* really want from Lyon is Coupet. For a cool £5-8m we pick up a fantastic keeper that, as a big bonus, is capable of communicating with a francophone back 4 in their native tongues. From such small details are legendary defences built.
May 13, 2008 at 10:05
Geoff, Chipo is right. When Wenger told the shareholders that Eduardo was out for nine months he meant from February, which is entirely consistent with this statement
Link
which was released in the immediate aftermath of the Birmingham game.
May 13, 2008 at 10:06
NO Lescott Thanks!
May 13, 2008 at 10:07
If wenger thinks Ben Arfa or whoever else he signs is the right man for Arsenal then who are we to disagree. he has them scouted for years and knows all about them. OK so some of his developmental players have not worked but the vast majority of his ‘big’ signings have all been very good players. probably the biggest two failures were Reyes and Wiltord and even they were good.
Maybe then if Ben Arfa is not the man we need (what with Vela coming back), its Makoun we are after? surprise surprise, the websites also say spurs are after him!
I watched the sunderland game last night and although the defence were not under much pressure and looked comfortable for long spells Sendy and Song still made 2 mistakes that should have led to Sunderland goals. this is what I am concerned about. its lapses in concentration and the odd mistake that costs goals. if you only make 1 mistake a game in the prem league, you let in a goal and you can drop untold amounts of points over a season. I am convinced Senderos is not good enough and will always make his one mistake a game and the jury is still out on Song, who has only just come into the team.
May 13, 2008 at 10:08
A signing will be leaked today !!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 10:08
NOT MUCH ON THE NEWS FRONT YET ONLY..
MANCHESTER UNITED look to have pipped Arsenal to the signature of Cardiff City’s wonderkid Aaron Ramsey.
would have been down arsene’s ally but looks like red nose is getting on the youth band wagon . i suppose youll see that more from him now .. he only has to keep the squad level up now .. and snow ball along
. the cunts !
May 13, 2008 at 10:09
I think the only people who say Ben Arfa has a £16 mil price tag are the press.
He did get French young player of the year, he reminds me a bit like Ronaldo, when he first arrived, what would happen if he turned out like him eh?
May 13, 2008 at 10:10
you want to do what to my “inbox”? oooh matron!
“We can’t wait to fill your inbox with glorious Arsenal news and opinion every morning”
May 13, 2008 at 10:11
That’s why I don’t rate Song Gazzap, he’s just like Phil with his big lashes, he frightens me.
May 13, 2008 at 10:11
how do you know bud ?
May 13, 2008 at 10:12
last stat and I’ll shut up for good about HBA. Since 2004, he has played in the French league for l’OL. 77 appearances, 9 goals. since 2005, Hleb has played at Arsenal, and has scored exactly that many goals (in a similar-ish number of appearances, 89). 5 assists in 33 games. That’s fewer than Benzema, who we would be complete chumps to let Man Utd sign instead of us – he’s the tevez-like player someone above mentioned we need. Bendtner’s not a champions league winner, anybody should be able to see that!
May 13, 2008 at 10:13
jules.
Bud knows….
May 13, 2008 at 10:14
i though ben arfa was the ligue 1 player of the year or something no?
May 13, 2008 at 10:16
bud is there something you are not telling us?
May 13, 2008 at 10:18
no chris , budsene knows !!
May 13, 2008 at 10:18
I dont see why as soon as we do our analysis on our defence, the mistakes (1 or 2 or however many) lead to a synopsis of Senderos being no good, im pretty sure ive seen equal mistakes from Toure and especially Gallas!
Time will tell! Give he a go lads!
May 13, 2008 at 10:18
seems like these young guns have failed to mature. Arsene Wenger, please revisit your policies…seems they stumbled in the final round, we need experince in the team
look what happens when we try to build it, unappreciative punks like Flamini & Hleb start to grow big balls and want to move away, that means we will always have the same problem..
May 13, 2008 at 10:19
Who’s Bud?
May 13, 2008 at 10:20
lol jules!
but he may be right based on what the others were saying earlier about the phone call during the press confrence,
May 13, 2008 at 10:20
Bendtners not a CL winner cause he’s only 20 and he hasnt been in the final yet, thats pretty easy to work out!
May 13, 2008 at 10:20
Spurs are a bunch of peeping Toms that will go after any player linked with us cos thats how intelligent their scouting team is. If we Wenger plays a prank that he’s looking to re-sign Stepanov, trust me, Spurs will offer him more money to join them!!
Much has been said about our strickforce with RVP+Eduard O’Silva out injured, Ade and Bendy Nik cant play together. I strongly hope Ben Afra is on his way.
We need another CB to compete with Gallas and Kolo(no offence to Johan and Phil but them two dont fit in).
Is Kompany a CB by the way?
May 13, 2008 at 10:21
I think Song is improving with every game; the mistakes at Sunderland were down to big Phil. Give him time to settle in and Song will be okay either as CB or DM. Watch him; he reads the game better than most and I think will improve further given more games – also think he’ll be better once Sagna comes back in.
May 13, 2008 at 10:22
Geoff, even if Ben Arfa does turn out to be as good as Ronaldo it’ll take a good 2-3 years of building himself up & getting regular games.
Wasn’t this our whole complaint, that we want players for the here & now not for 3 years down the line??
If he can afford to buy Ben Arfa & Quaresma, plus a strong CB then he should do it. If he can’t afford all that then shouldn’t he just concentrate on getting experience even if the quality isn’t as good as say a Ben Arfa could offer in years to come.
May 13, 2008 at 10:22
ok im fairly new to this site….. how do u actually know that Arsene reads this page?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
May 13, 2008 at 10:23
bud ( sene) where are you ? How do you know ?
May 13, 2008 at 10:24
Agree GMR. We need someone to walk into the first team straight away. Not some ‘prodigy’
May 13, 2008 at 10:24
Chris …. think buds gone huh??
May 13, 2008 at 10:25
Kenny Smith, the AKB actually pass on our comments to the Boss!! lol
May 13, 2008 at 10:25
It’s interesting with all the comments that have come in over the last few weeks, all the players mentioned have been rated then not rated, the only one that hasn’t been has been Benzema, we’ll never buy him so we’ll all have to try and agree on some of the rest, it seems that whoever he buys, someone won’t be happy.
??? anyone!
May 13, 2008 at 10:27
It’s fucking obvious he does Kenny, who wouldn’t? the fucking comment was meant in the nicest possible way, welcome aboard!
May 13, 2008 at 10:30
Not only Arsene but the board and several of the players read this blog. We’re almost sure he posted here: there have been several with pronounced French accents strongly defending team decisions
May 13, 2008 at 10:30
know what you what you mean geoff , i think we are all desperate to hear of anyone decent but le boss will probably sign some one we have not even heard speculation of as usual. ie eduardo . last summer it was ribery all the way , shame we did,nt get him.
May 13, 2008 at 10:30
Some seriously interesting debate going on today!
Geoff,
‘Song is big Phil with lashes’
Hilarious. I had a dream he moved to Newcastle last night? It was a fucking great dream!
California Steve, Check out the Gomez youtube video here… your chums assessment stacks up. 6ft 2 goal scorer… i think we already have that with Ade.
If we sign Arfa… rule out Benzema!
The only think i’ll say about HBA is that he may not have scored many goals, but Pires and Overmars were not prolific… nor Freddie Ljungberg…
Ethan, did you get on without being spammed?
May 13, 2008 at 10:31
Jules,
have you seen the picture of bud with ray parlour, he has some influence over the greats so he must know something!the picture is in the funnies section above
See below:
Bud
May 13, 2008 at 10:31
“I think the only people who say Ben Arfa has a £16 mil price tag are the press.”
i was gonna say the same thing myself… the press always blow our signings up… they still mention theo as a 12 mil signing even tho we paid him off early to save about 2 mil i think plus all the targets he hasnt met! and reyes as the 17mil flop… think he ended up costing 10!!!!
16mil is a lot of money and even more so for wenger to spend so it owuldnt surprise me if it was closer to 10 ish.
May 13, 2008 at 10:31
hey bobby , wheres bud !??
May 13, 2008 at 10:32
Bendtner has done well in the second half of the season, he disappointed in the Carling cup but over the course of the season he has proved that the time we gave him in the Prem was well spent, he scored more goals than Eduardo in that same amount of time.
He’s an extra 5-10 goals per year for us in the Prem and hopefully 5+ goals in cups, Bendtner’s target for next season should be 10-15 (dependent on playing time allocated). His Premier League goal ratio is 1 goal every 189 minuted, almost exactly one every second game, that is above average even in Premier League terms. Better than Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, Michael Owen and many more “good” strikers this season. And i believe Bendtner will get even better, I’m pretty sure with 20 starts Bendtner would get us 10 goals, so 5-10 is what we’re looking for him. In terms of time on the pitch, Bendtner got 9.45 games worth, so we’ll be looking to use his skills in a similar way next season, with 10 – 20 matches worth of time on the pitch, his goals will give us a few wins just like they have this season. His role is not as major as other strikers, but definitely significant. I wouldn’t want to swap him for a striker with an inferior goals to minutes ratio.
May 13, 2008 at 10:34
brilliant chris !!lol
May 13, 2008 at 10:36
BUD FOR LE CHAMP………. SURELY IT’S IN THE BAG FOR THE KATE ADIE STYLE ROVING PAP STYLE VENEMOUS HUNTING DOWN OF THE GREAT RAY PARLOUR AND UNASHAMEDLY GETTING HIM TO POSE WITH THE “I LOVE LE GROVE” SIGN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 10:36
Finest – Fully agreed, good synopsis!
Did i hear that Man Scum are looking to get Owen?
May 13, 2008 at 10:36
Geoff, from a personal point of view I realise I’m contradicting my own earlier comments on previous posts & I still rate the players I liked such as Ben Arfa, my issue now is that after thinking about it I realised that as exciting a player as Arfa is it will take a few seasons for him to make a difference to us, which puts a big downer on signing him.
There aren’t that many top quality CB’s around so Dunne as a 3 year stop gap would be ideal. I don’t see what Kompany or Albiol would add, neither have that much experience & both are young. I’m sure Wenger has others in mind that none of us would have heard of, but then a central defender isn’t the sort of position where you get excited about a signing so an unheard of player is equally as good as a known one that hasn’t achieved much.
May 13, 2008 at 10:37
wow finest that was some good stats.. i like bendtner.. he gives ade competition
May 13, 2008 at 10:37
Would we be happy signing Owen ?
May 13, 2008 at 10:38
self promotion, shame on you malcolm, we know who you are!
May 13, 2008 at 10:39
Bigraddy – i was keen on Owen and Woodgate!
May 13, 2008 at 10:40
raddy i s was gonna suggest that… id take owen… good covr and can play off a big front man like ade or nik, or behind 2 like he does the toon… wouldnt cost much either
May 13, 2008 at 10:40
You are either Bud or you work for him as your spelling is the same Malcolm.
It’s as bad as Bud’s, so if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s bud.
May 13, 2008 at 10:41
we simply don’t need a striker with Bendy, Ade, RVP , Eduardo, Walcott and Vela all here next season. why spend all the budget on a striker when we need wingers, a defender and a defensive midfielder? Its like people who say we should blow £10m on a keeper. whats the point? some parts of the team need surgery so why divert the money to keeper and striker, which are fine.
May 13, 2008 at 10:42
It’s worse guys… it’s someone who works for bud!
He is making his employee’s post propaganda…
May 13, 2008 at 10:42
GMR .. have you seen Ben Arfa play??
the guy is top class. he is not an impact player btw .. he has fallen out with Benzema and is on his way out of the club .. this means that Benzema is rated higher than Ben Arfa by Lyon and plays ahead of him
no big deal as Benzema is an out and out frontman who scores goals which is not the case of Arfa and we dont need somebody like him as we got alreday Ade/Nic B in such a position, but we dont have a Ben Arfa type player in our squad
now Pape Diouf, current president of Marseille, came out saying that he would take Arfa to Marseille every day of his life, even going so far as to publicly offer Nasri for him!!!!!!!
this is coming from a man who made a fortune playing agent to the French black players brigade of which his most prominent client was no other one than TH14 for many years
so I trust his judgement .. Arfa is no push over either.. he is strongly built..
we will see .. but to me, he is experienced enough to cut it.. big time
I would be more concerned about buying an inexperienced centreback .. thats where we need experience in my eyes
May 13, 2008 at 10:45
Diiieeeeggo!!!!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 10:46
Well said Finest.
Iam not sure what target Wenger set for Nik Bendy but Iam sure he’ll come out to say that Nik has surpassed his expectations. Surely theres plenty of room for him to improve, like releasing the ball much quicker. He is a good header of the ball though so I think he’ll have a better season next time.
May 13, 2008 at 10:46
would rather sign BUD ARFA myself.
May 13, 2008 at 10:48
bud arfa , a combination of romford pele and ben arfa , tough , quick , can dissappear as quickly as he turns up and shit hair , fucking quality.
May 13, 2008 at 10:49
Wasn’t he being touted as the next Zinidene Zidane?
May 13, 2008 at 10:49
who , bus arfa ?
May 13, 2008 at 10:51
geoff ,
i think that was nasri , good player as well .very good.
May 13, 2008 at 10:53
i think you all have got it wrong….remmember the bulgarian?????dimitrov aor smthing like that.left winger ????i recon he is the sighning
May 13, 2008 at 10:54
BB, I’m not going to pretend I have seen Ben Arfa play, like most all I’ve seen are youtube clips which show he has quality but don’t give a genuine picture.
I disagree with you though, he isn’t out the team because of a falling out with Benzema. If he was playing well enough he’d be in the team, no manager would drop a player & risk losing the league title just because two players don’t get on.
May 13, 2008 at 10:54
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=184752443
richard dunne fansite
May 13, 2008 at 10:55
blimey ,another link with dunne for 1 mill saying he can buy out his contract too , arsene said we can do this to others as well re hleb , maybe something in this .
guys , do we think dunne is good enough ie quick movement , distribution ??? not sure myself.
May 13, 2008 at 10:56
actually dont bother all the videos are deleted
May 13, 2008 at 10:57
GMR
your right , weve lowered our game plan again , and id say it was brought on by lack of funds & also due to the departure of 2- 1st teamers who arsene was hopeful of them staying put!
I for one am sniffing around the media mine fields desperate 2 find so some clue of a signing . as for 16 million deal done ?! well too tout a figure like 16 million you either have to be Nostradamus or think theres some truth to the rumor , the ben arfa deal if ALREADY done was completed in utter secrecy , just the way arsene likes it and conducts his business . And from the french quarter im sure he can command complete secrecy , how ever im 90% sure the transfer is a done deal !
it all sounds pretty positive from both ends .. and with wenger he is quick to kill any false rumors ..
no comment is a good sign !
May 13, 2008 at 10:58
We cannot buy out his contract!! I really don’t understand how the press and media have been so ridiculously shoddy in their discussions about the “Webster Clause”, which in actual fact is an irrelevance! It’ll only be used in extreme circumstances, and takes months to go through the legal processes. I guess it sells more papers therefore no actual mainstream media has pointed out how the clause actually works as it would void all the gossip!
May 13, 2008 at 11:00
a
read this and sorry to send you to the enemy, but why cant we do what we did to chelase with gallas?
or am i missing something as i thought the webster bullshit menat the player had tp leave the country
http://www.chelseablog.com/2006/09/01/do-players-have-a-right-to-buy-out-the-last-year-of-their-contract/
May 13, 2008 at 11:01
And Ben Arfa has started on the bench a fair bit recently, but has still made a major impact on the team. He isn’t on the bench because he isn’t good enough, he even won the League 1 Young Player of the Year Award the other day, ahead of the likes of Nasri and even Benzeama
May 13, 2008 at 11:03
Arsenal have been put on red alert after Crystal Palace midfield starlet John Bostock stalled on signing a professional contract.
The Gunners are interested in signing Bostock, who became the Eagles youngest ever player to turn out for the first team when he made his debut aged 15 years and 287 days.
Bostock has also attracted interest from Tottenham and Chelsea, while Spanish giants Barcelona are also keen and are awaiting developments.
Palace chairman Simon Jordan is said to be furious with Bostock, who could leave the club for minimum compensation if he does not sign a new deal with the Eagles.
Bostock is highly-rated by the Gunners, who would be happy to take a tribunal valuation to settle a fee if Bostock cannot agree a deal with play-off contenders Palace.
May 13, 2008 at 11:04
the webster clause only works for players moving abroad. despite this, Dunne would still be a reletively cheap experienced no nonsense defender, who Man City consider to be one of their most dependable players.
I would be happy to see him come in. Experience is only needed at the back. up front you need youth and energy.
May 13, 2008 at 11:04
Chris
What did we do to chelsea re gallas?? Cole wanted to go to them, Gallas was unhappy at them and we demanded him in return for Cole. There wasn’t any buying out of his contract or anything like that was there….??
May 13, 2008 at 11:05
this is a great post about the state of french young talent at the moment: http://www.espoirsdufoot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=382
(french forum but the guy wrote it in english)
Pires, not prolific? 62 goals in ~190 games is a decent tally for a midfielder. 1 every 3 games, compare that to the people that currently replace him (hleb – 1 in 12; Rosicky – 1 in 4.8; Walcott – 1 in 10; Diaby – 1 in 13) and to HBA (mentioned earlier – less than 1 in 9)
May 13, 2008 at 11:06
gazzap do you think dunne has enough pace and good enough distribution for us ?
May 13, 2008 at 11:07
Sorry, just seen the dismissive comments made regarding my nomination for Bud to be Le Champ. Guys, as a neutral, I still found the pic of Ray Parlour holding “I love Le Grove” placard while being held himself in a vicelike death grip by Bud one of the most iconic images of all time!
May 13, 2008 at 11:07
Bostock eh? I’d have him.
May 13, 2008 at 11:08
oh did i not mention that eboue was going in exchange, sorry i must have left that bit out or i was dreaming or something,
to be very honest A i dont undertand the procedure.but the gallas bit is in the text and that is why i mention it as they are using it article but with no cole reference,
May 13, 2008 at 11:08
Malcolm or Col U Mac, does bud not have any work to do today?
May 13, 2008 at 11:09
Fuck Hleb off and bring in Diego and a top CB and we’re laughing. DIego is Rosicky with Hlebs trickery and ronaldos lethalness infront of goal.. and you’d hope a bit healthier.
May 13, 2008 at 11:10
pedro/geoff. why should someone who was drinking in chelmsford be awarded anything?!?!
May 13, 2008 at 11:10
GMR .. Arfa came on against Marseille when one of the Lyon guys got injured .. maybe Benzema not sure though .. but I know that Benzema wasnt on the pitch when Arfa played and he came on early .. lets say after 25 minutes or so .. he was the best man on the pitch ..hence Pape Diouf’s comments
the situation at Lyon has become unbearable such is the animosity between both players.. Arfa will not be at the club next season..wherever he will end up at ..
May 13, 2008 at 11:11
Nothing in my book, especially as they are barely literate.
May 13, 2008 at 11:11
@A
We were paid by Chelsea and Received Gallas. At the time the Webster ruling wasn’t in effect so Ashley fif not have the opportunity to do a Webster, and anyone who tries that at Arsenal will get into trouble because Arsenal believe that it is down to the club once the contract with the player is active. Before hleb signed his contract he knew how long it was for, how much he’d get paid in that time, that while he’s under contract it’s down to the club and that he’s free to speak to agents next summer but not yet, therefore in our case we would win because before the 2 year period, any deals have to be done with management first. For example Gilberto, if he doesn’t sign a contract he is free to speak to other agents, he only has 12 months left. So any player trying a Webster on us could only do so with 12 months left on their contract, with hearty disapproval. Hleb can do a Webster next season, but not quite yet, the club trying to sign him could get done for tapping up banning them from the transfer market for a few years, a risk too high to take for any logically thinking club.
May 13, 2008 at 11:12
BB sounds like we should sign them both, they can take on Bendtner and Ade!
May 13, 2008 at 11:12
OK Malc, you can have a payrise……. not because you deserve it, but for the sheer underhand anashamed arse kissing it has ever been my pleasure to enjoy !!!!
I love you Malcolm Charnock/ColU Malc !!!!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 11:12
I must disagree with any sort of criticism of Ben Arfa and that is not because i’ve watched his youtube clips. For the last 3 years or so he has been spoken about as one of the most promising French youngsters and has just won young player of the year. For those of you that want to know why…..he has played 1606 minutes of league football this year i.e 17.8 games and has scored 6 while setting up 5. That’s more than Hleb has done in the last two seasons playing over 70 games. If you think the French league is easy well UEFA doesn’t because by the official UEFA coefficients Ligue 1 is the 4th Ranking league in Europe.
I also suspect that Ben Arfa was a done deal in March. Here’s why….Wenger would never openly declare interest in a player that he hasn’t already bought because all that would do is get every club in Europe interested. We know that Wenger did this in March hence I feel it was a behind closed doors agreement between Wenger and Lyon’s Chairman. Big talent but not a big name, I think Ben Arfa fits that bill don’t you?
As far as the English player is concerned the only player we need right now is Gareth Barry. He never misplaces a pass and both defends well and is always involved during attacking plays! Mark my words Gareth Barry would run the show alongside Fabregas!! at 27 he still has 4 good seasons in him!!!
May 13, 2008 at 11:12
didnt we ge gallas +5mil?
May 13, 2008 at 11:13
Everyone saw that??? That is legally binding Bud!
May 13, 2008 at 11:14
Are you doing him Bud?
May 13, 2008 at 11:17
No Geoff, but he is my top biller, so a bit of love in return bever hurts !!!!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 11:18
that is a bit in return NEVER hurts !
May 13, 2008 at 11:20
exactly what i was thinking about ben afra and the end of the french league/cup geoff. to those who’re saying he’s not so flash though, his number of assists is enormous. he supplies benzema with the ball whenever he’s on the pitch. also a young player of the year award is pretty neat too, but hey…
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/05/12/ufnben112.xml[/url]
just found that regarding the man in question though, sounds pretty promising imo =D
May 13, 2008 at 11:20
As for the Hleb situ – I don’t know if someone’s already mentioned but strategically we would need to extend his contract and get him to re-sign THIS summer or either sell/not play him because of. Reason being is that, if it gets to next year without negotiating, he could more easily buy out the remainder of his contract for a around 3mil.
This would be compared to the 11 or so mil we paid for him. That’d turn round another loss for the club, so it may well be the only option to sell him now if he’s not prepared to extend his contract…….
May 13, 2008 at 11:20
bradley .. fantastic link .. looks like Arsenal needs to produce shit loads of English talent to compete with the froggies in years to come
May 13, 2008 at 11:21
Bostock and Martins are being linked…
May 13, 2008 at 11:21
Finestcuts
I think Hleb can actually “do a Webster” now, but neither him nor Inter would want to. It is a very difficult legal process that takes months, costs loads of money, and a player would most likely be banned whilst the ongoing court cases ensue. That’s why not a single player nor club in world football has done it since Webster, and are very unlikely to do in except for in extreme circumstances.
The criticism of Hleb is ridiculous, he has been on par with Fabregas this season in terms of making the team tick. You massively see the difference in our ability to dominate when he isn’t playing, more so than Cesc IMO. The lack of goals isn’t great, but the lack of assists is misleading. He is the linkman between midfield and attack, he’s the assister of the assister, the person who actually unlocks the defence slotting someone in, who in turn sets up the goalscorer. Losing him would be a massive massive loss, but hopefully we wont
May 13, 2008 at 11:23
Bostock to Spuds one site says.
May 13, 2008 at 11:23
hrmm, my post didn’t post on my screen… ? weird, oh well.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/05/12/ufnben112.xml
may’ve been cos i tried to use html or something like that. anyways, link from the daily mail from yesterday regarding ben afra. you stated what i was thinking with the french league and cup not being done yet geoff, good post though, and it brought about a revelation fby myself about TH14… =D
May 13, 2008 at 11:24
5am
Like with the “Webster clause”, the buying out a contract is much more complicated than the media would have you believe, and as such players and clubs are incredibly reluctant to do it. If he hadn’t signed a contract extension next summer we’d get rid to prevent him going on a free the following summer, but we’re not desperate at the moment.
May 13, 2008 at 11:29
Sky have also been saying spuds have made a 5 million bid for Bostock. They must have seen the early morning papers that Arsenal were linked so immediately put a bid in.
I bet they are after Ben Arfa as well. Whoever Arsenal are linked with the little spuddies follow.
May 13, 2008 at 11:30
shit, i promised nothing more about pjanic, but one last comment. In clichy we have one of the most talented young attacking full backs in world. Time and again this season he has brought cut and thrust, and flair, when we were flat. Given adequate protection on the wings – which we criticised Reyes for not providing, Rosicky too, and probably walcott could also be accused of not providing, we unleash a significant attacking option.
So why sign a person who’s on the bench at the moment because he refuses to accept l’OL’s manager’s criticisms about his total lack of interest in doing any sort of defensive work whatsoever, and then throws sissy fits in training. He’s 21 years of age, time to cut that shit out.
Go browse YouTube for miralem pjanic videos. He’s the real deal. Not enough goals at the moment but with decent forwards (metz is a disgracefully bad club) he’d be topping the assists chart, and you can tell when he misses an end product situation (like Ronaldo used to miss) he’s the sort of player that will hang back at the end of training every day, not talk to anyone or hit the clubs or whatever, and shoot, shoot, shoot. This guy is one of the few real deal, Ronaldo/Zidane-class players. Picture a future where he, fabregas, merida and wilshere boss the midfield, commanded by nordveit at the back, clichy and sagna tearing up the wings, and walcott, RvP, Dudu and Ade fuzz around the box.
The future’s bright.
May 13, 2008 at 11:31
geoff.. would you like to play UN mediator btw the two??
I can see a few minefields separating them on the training grounds
dont know though how we would be able to get them to join forces in a frontal attack during a game situation.. will have to work on this one ..
May 13, 2008 at 11:33
BB it would be fun to watch though!
May 13, 2008 at 11:34
bradley .. he is top class but too green for us .. he is one for the future not for now..
on pure class and talent, he is absolutely outstanding .. I agree but we need a more finished product
also, as I said before, we are linked heavily with Pjanic before..even Mueleer, Metz psorting director, mentioned him leaving for us
recently though, he was the guest at Lyon when they palyed Sedan in the French cup..and that to me is the sign of a done deal .. me thinks we are leaving Pjanic to them so that we get Arfa to sign for us.. what do you think?
May 13, 2008 at 11:42
Geoff, this is an excellent blog man, im loving it.
Keep up the good work!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 11:48
Glad you like it Latest!
May 13, 2008 at 11:53
So there’s me thinking, oh how nice, Arsenal are inviting me to a golf day… wrong, Arsenal are asking for £1600 to play with a bunch of old Arsenal players at Brocket hall, and when I say play with them, they don’t mean that, they mean they’ll be there.
The season’s just finished, we won fuck all, we get charged more to watch than any other supporters, we sign no players and they’re trying to get even more out of us.
I think it’s sad that they can’t see that all they want is our money.
May 13, 2008 at 11:55
How old is Bostock; he’s another kid right?
Given the talent we have coming through, do we need more kids?
May 13, 2008 at 11:56
16
May 13, 2008 at 11:56
fuck it geoff go with gmr he is up from the betting, get some i love le-grove signs done, it would be great whats £1600 between 4 people, especially when GMR is paying!
May 13, 2008 at 11:56
Geoff
That’s the purpose of golf days, to generate extra money! Why on earth would it be free?! I find that an extraordinary thing to complain about, it’s like walking into the club shop and being outraged that you can’t just take products off the shelves without paying
May 13, 2008 at 11:56
nice blog 2day Geoff-interesting deal it would be 4 YAYA and Henry U mentioned.
A- Benarfa won young player of the year in front of Benzema just because he won the PLAYER of the Year Award himself…
May 13, 2008 at 11:57
Great site… …this is the Colbert report to Gunnerblog’s Daily Show with John Stewart
May 13, 2008 at 11:59
Because the club are permanently trying to bleed the fans dry.
£1600? That is a huge amount of money…
Am I wrong Geoff, you organise these sort of things sometimes? Do you normally pay that much to get on a golf day?
May 13, 2008 at 12:00
Yeah I know, but it still sounds better if Benzeama was behind him! In reality it was ridiculousness as with the English situation where the player of the year was behind the young player. Just doesn’t make sense. Still shows he’s up there though, I was surprised he beat Nasri
May 13, 2008 at 12:03
Pedro
That’s not a massive amount of money for a corporate stylee golf day at a football club with players etc there
May 13, 2008 at 12:04
Agreed Pedro, A – I wouldn’t mind that much but they don’t stop, the Emirates cup was advertised before the season had ended and yesterday I get an email asking if I want to buy Bruce Sprinstein tickets, Pat Jennings is playing and he’s a Spud fan, I know because he told me.
I wouldn’t mind all this if they spent some of the money they get from us on the team, but they don’t, they seem more interested in making money than winning.
May 13, 2008 at 12:06
A .. Nasri had a pretty average season .. injured for a long time and then a touch disinterested in many games .. he needs to leave Marseille as they are the best place to fukk up young talent .. even though Gerets is a better coach to what they usually have..
May 13, 2008 at 12:06
A – no it’s not, I play on the Bobby Robson classic and for that money I get better than Brocket Hall and a professional footballer in my buggy, Ok so it was Lineker but It’s done on a draw, so I had no choice.
May 13, 2008 at 12:09
To be fair I’m pretty sure last year’s golf day’s proceeds went to charity….
I’d personally much rather we were run as a business rather than being a billionaire’s plaything, and in two or three years we’ll have massive spending power.
May 13, 2008 at 12:13
Geoff
How much was the Bobby Robson Classic if you don’t mind me asking? Brocket Hall is a pretty nice club, where was the BRC?? I’ve never been to a celebrity golf day, but corporate golf days in lesser clubs than Brocket Hall cost around £200, so wouldn’t think it unreasonable to be double that for Arsenal’s golf day
May 13, 2008 at 12:13
What people forget when they say “Senderos makes at least one mistake per game” or “Song made a mistake” is two things.
Firstly every top defender will make at least one or two mistakes per game. If we assume that ManUsa (the Ferdinand/vidic being the main CB pairing), they let in 22 in the league, the Chavs 26 and us 31. So we let in 9 more goals in the league.
Secondly, if you have a good defensive midfielder in front of the back 4 the shielding he allows stops the constant pressure on the defense – part of defending from the front. I believe the Scum benefitted from Hargreaves breaking up play in front of their back 4) and the Chavs from their more negative style of play(we let in 5 more than them). TA6 said in his autobiography that the back 4 defended best when they had protection from the midfield (e.g. Thomas) and Wrighty harassing at the other end.
For both the above reasons I think we’re overblowing the fact that Song/Senderos/Gallas/Toure make “a” or “a few” mistakes per game because if we had huge, frightening midfielder (like PV04) breaking up opposition attacks then the defense would hold up better to the reduced frequency of attacks.
This is probvably what Wenger means when he says he wants to reduced our vulnerability to long balls through the middle – such a commanding/huge DM would blot out these avenues of opposition attack. A lot of times these sort of long balls wouild lead to us concedeing – and generally soon after we’d scored.
It’s for this reason that Richards is tooo small to provide the aerial dominance we need. The Gallas/Toure CB pairing is vulnerable because they are too similair a style of defender – niether are good in the air and that’s why we need at least another CB who is.
Whether that is Dunne or not, who knows.
May 13, 2008 at 12:18
im with you charybdis on that one!
May 13, 2008 at 12:20
Judging by Ken Friars response it seems that sometime around 2010 dividends will satrt being paid, as a shareholder for many years now I’d actually prefer that money to go back into team building. Apart from Usmanov (who wanted dividends paid) we all know who stands to make the most money from this & its the current board.
To me this was always their plan. The transfer budget won’t get any bigger because the money is going to be heading towards certain shareholders pockets.
May 13, 2008 at 12:20
Good point; well made Chary – maybe we do just expect too much from our defenders.
May 13, 2008 at 12:21
i actually cant wait for the next couple of weeks to fly by so i can see who wenger signs. it looks like ben arfa is a done deal, the sun have reported that he has actually signed already! i agree that we need a centre back big time but not so sure about a striker. If we could shake off the injuries then i would say no to a new striker but RVP seems to be pretty injury prone. Personally i cant wait til eduardo gets back! i dont know if he will be the same player as before but he really really impressed me and i was gutted when he got his leg broken a
May 13, 2008 at 12:24
Ben Arfa is unlikely to come, I remember an interview a few years ago DD mentioned we conduct transfers in private and if reports are leaked we withdraw as not to get in an auction with the likes of the chavs and spuds down the road. Ben Arfas comments suggest he is distancing himself from these reports but if Lyon are leaking info to the press to get more offers and bump the price up the deal will be dead.
Richard Dunne is not the answer he is a good player but in my opinion no better than what we have already.
I reckon he will go for Loic Perrin, Pjancic and Raul Albiol all will be relatively cheap all young and would fit in with our system and way of playing
May 13, 2008 at 12:25
£1600 does sound a lot, but I think it is £1600 per team of four, so it is £400 per head.
It is usually £120 a round there so with a buffet and lunch thrown in I guess it is not too bad. If it were for Charity I would be happier, but I imagine it would be a fairly good day out. Depends on who the Legends were, it could turn into the Sky Sports Master series of 5-a-side where you get some bloke you have never heard of that played for the reserves once
I think the bigger rip off will come when the Red, Silver and Gold Memberships come out for renewal
You have to have a Handicap though, so I think I will leave my clubs and municipal skill level of golf in the Car.
May 13, 2008 at 12:28
yes kenny .. he sure was looking the part….
what immaculate finishing….
come back soon eduardo!!!
May 13, 2008 at 12:29
jens is off to germany !- stuttgart
good riddens you sad mud slinging bastard !
fuck off !
May 13, 2008 at 12:30
Afternoon. Nice blog.
Dont normally coment, but, after le boss’ recent comments i’ll thrown in me tuppenceworth. its hard not to speculate. Heres what i’d like.
Intersting what you said bout Dunne. He doesnt fit the normal criteria of an AW sining, maybe he’ll change policy for once, but as u said its unlikely. After being dismissive at first, i’d quite like to see it.
If not…I’d also like to see either of Lescott or Wheater.. Good strong defenders and both are fucking ugly bastards. Which i think we need. scary, stinkin, stay away from that cunt, meaty CB’s!
I like the sound of quaresma, ben arfa and so on. I think the boss will most probably go british /or based here for a CB/ Defensive player and Euro for an attacker. I dont watch enough euro leagues to pass coment on any of the zillions of european players we ge linked with, but im sure AW knows what he’s doin.
Anyways good post. keep it up
May 13, 2008 at 12:30
I think the point is that Arsenal are constantly bleeding the fans without putting much back in… we were advertising the Emirates cup before the season had finished!
We can harp on about not wanting to be a billionaires play thing… but the fact is, we are in the new stadium and still playing the ’skint’ card.
That, despite a £70mill cash surplus and Friar saying the transfer budget rolled over.
Are we saying this years budget is £26million based on last years budget being £13million?
May 13, 2008 at 12:37
Pedro that’s because we’re still paying off the stadium, within 2/3 years we’ll be able to compete to an extent regarding transfers with the top clubs, but because of the way we’re run rather than a rich mans pocketmoney which is very risky.
Ethan that’s a wee bit over the top. Jens was the top keeper in Europe for a period and did great things at the club, as well as always being a model professional.
May 13, 2008 at 12:45
Evo, thats a nice map of Tassie you’ve got there.
May 13, 2008 at 12:50
I agree with you on that Pedro, A trip to any food or drink bar in the Emirates alone shows how much we are bled and how much we are putting into the club. I am still not convinced on this Transfer Budget, I think the board fucked up when they mentioned 70m, and have now tried to back track to release rumours of 25m. I personally think it is somewhere in between,
I dont think they will make anything out of the Golf day, certainly not enough to be even be bothered to organise it in the 1st place, it probably gets shared out between the Ex-pros and Charity.
I personally get more annoyed every year when I have to fork out for a bit of plastic that then allows me to buy tickets. They must make millions on it
May 13, 2008 at 12:52
Gary lewin has gone apparently. good news for one of the posts at beginning of this blog.
May 13, 2008 at 12:59
Good post. But I have a slightly different opinion. I think we should concentrae on what we have at the moment. Watching Monday Night Football on a pay t.v. yesterday, it was said that the worst thing that can happen to arsenal this summer is allowing our stars with whom we have endure some bad runs in the past leave, when they are now at thier prime. Flamini is gone, good ridance! but to also loose hleb or any other promising star will be disastrous. Ryn Giggs just worn his 10th premiership with Man scum, i think he must have had some bad runs when he started but the red nose still kept the faith. Ronaldo. was shit in 2004 when he joined man scum, liverpool even rejected him, but look at him today. Please let speak less evil about our players.
May 13, 2008 at 13:03
why are our transfer funds so little anyway??? everyone saw the interview with Eldman on ATVO when he spoke about the gate reciepts, highbury square etc etc, not to mention sponsorship + merchandise all the other hundreds of things we make money from!
cant wait to see vela in action though, carling cup will be awesome next season, im relishing watching barazite in action he is a quality player, would also love to see Jack wilshere in the too hopefully. Fran aswell.
i think we should get rid of hleb…. i know hw is under contract and he is a really skillful player but i dont want anyone at the club that doesnt want to be there, i liked the idea someone had earlier of swapping hleb+cash for YaYa and henry! Although even if henry was left out of that deal id still swap hleb=cash for Yaya he is a quality player and is a perfect replacement for flamini.
May 13, 2008 at 13:04
How about we buy Samuel Etoo?? i think he would fit in well into the team?? or get our great prodigal son, thierry henry…
of the subject, i am soooooo happy that birmingham got relagated, for some reason i feel they are the one’s that killed our season…they should rot there in D1.
May 13, 2008 at 13:08
I don’t know how many times I have to go over this same old story but here we go again.
1) First of all, we don’t have to pay for the stadium in 4 years, most new builds have loans, ours is 17 years I believe..
2) In the last two years at Highbury we were told once we move to the new stadium, we’ll be able to compete with the Mancs and the chavs, but we have no money now as the new stadium is being built.
3) We paid £450mill for the stadium, we got £150 million for naming rights and shirt sponsors, up from, that’s 15 years and 8 years.
4) We’ll get £250 million from the old ground and given their signs say 95% sold, don’t tell me the housing market drop will make a difference, it won’t.
5) Arsene Wenger over his 12 years has spent £20 million net, even though he has had hundreds of millions in, in prize money.
6) We are the worlds 3rd richest club charging our fans the highest ticket prices.
7) We made £13 million on player transfers last year, plus what we got for Diarra, we got £30 million from the premier league £25+ from the Champions league, £12 million from Barclays in prize money last weekend, plus Nike, Granada, Setanta, the Emirates cup, Brazil matches, the Argentina game, Bruce Springstein concert and the golf day at Brocket hall.
I’m told by a director of Arsenal we’ll be debt free and have £35 million in the bank in 2009 so please, please don’t keep saying we have a stadium to pay for and we’re skint.
May 13, 2008 at 13:09
I heard that Cech is looking for a way out of Chelsea.
He wants 100k a week.
Perhaps we could sign him !!!
All the talk of henry coming back is a bit off the mark. I doubt if he would take 50k a week as a salary, if we pay him the 120k a week, then that is 6 mill of our transfer budget gone !!!
I said it last week but Sidwell from Chelsea would be a good idea to replace Flamini. I have no idea about the CB.
May 13, 2008 at 13:19
And by the way £100 million for the naming rights (15 years) and £50 million (8 years) for the shirts was the worst piece of business since Flamini’s contract, and if that was Edelman then he deserved to get fired.
May 13, 2008 at 13:29
I’m on the side of the arguement that says that c*nt ‘Flamoney’ needs replacing, as i don’t think either Diaby or Denilson can step in next term and do the job he’s done for us this season. They’re not bad players to have in the squad and say the Carling Cup, but for a serious title bid, they don’t cut the mustard. Which brings me onto who i’d like to see fill that role in midfield – Jeremy Toulalan. This isn’t just throwing another name into the pot of just about every other player in Europe we’ve been linked to, i seriously think this guy would do well for us.
I watched him in the CL this year as well as highlights of Lique 1 and he looked the part, holding midfielder, he tackled hard, passed well, can shoot, and is a general work horse for the team, he’s 24 and French, so he should fit right in. I think he’d complement the way Fabs plays, all this coupled with the fact he knows how to see out and win a campain, as he’s done with Lyon for the last two seasons. I know he’s just signed a new contract with Lyon last year which could be a stumbling block, but i think a bid of around 8/9 million would be money well spent personally.
Lescott would be a good signing, just for the amount of goals he gets from his position, i think he’s improving all the time , however he’ll have some stupid price tag attached to him, which will put the Boss off. So it’d have to be Per Mertzacker or Raul Albiol providing the price is right again
Ade in my eyes over achieved this year, scored some good goals and played well at times but i’d be very suprised if he repeated it next season, if our kids are as good as Le Boss says they are then give them there chance to show it, Theo of Vela as options up front !!
May 13, 2008 at 13:31
100% agree Geoff….sold away our identity for a fraction of it’s value…..shirt sponsors for Arsenal at £6m a year? Joke.
£100m for the most state of the art stadium in the league to be branded with your company and continuous free advertising on matchdays to 60000 for £6.6m a year? Massive joke.
May 13, 2008 at 13:42
Geoff, that bad piece of business is worse than you keep saying. Its 90 million for both the stadium naming rights & shirt sponsorship deal. It only goes over 100 million based on certain factors & is certainly nowhere near the 150 million.
Don’t take my word for it though go look at arsenal holdings, I’ll post a link if you need it!!
May 13, 2008 at 13:42
That’s why we call it The Grove TH14, we’ll never call it The Emmmmmmmerrrrits, see I didn’t then!
May 13, 2008 at 13:44
Post it GMR because they were the figures they published at the time, if they’re worse than that then the whole board need sacking.
May 13, 2008 at 13:45
Arsenal Holdings plc announces that its subsidiary The Arsenal Football Club
plc has signed a new sponsorship deal with Emirates.
Arsenal Football Club Plc will grant to Emirates exclusive worldwide rights as
the official naming rights sponsor of Arsenal’s new stadium, currently under
construction and due to open in August 2006. From today, the new stadium will
be referred to by its official name as Emirates Stadium. The naming rights
term continues until the end of the 2020/21 football season.
As part of the deal, Arsenal and Emirates have agreed a significant package of
sponsorship and other benefits for Emirates. This includes an eight year shirt
sponsorship deal which will commence at the end of Arsenal’s current shirt
sponsorship deal with O2 at the end of the 2005/06 season. The sponsorship
package also brings to Emirates a number of other exclusive rights including
new stadium advertising, merchandising rights and the right to promote and sell
its official airline services by reference to the Arsenal brand following the
end of the 2005/06 Season.
The sponsorship fees, of GBP90 million, will significantly enhance Arsenal’s
commercial revenues over the contract term. The sponsorship fees, which are
payable by instalments, will provide Arsenal with operational cash-flows of
GBP72 million between 2005 and 2012 with the remaining GBP18 million receivable
between 2013 and 2020.
May 13, 2008 at 13:46
Check out this link…
I don’t think we did too badly…
http://espn.go.com/sportsbusiness/s/stadiumnames.html
May 13, 2008 at 13:47
Here’s the actual link:
http://www.plusmarketsgroup.com/story.shtml?ISIN=GB0030895238/GBP/PLUS-exn&NewsID=20208
May 13, 2008 at 13:47
Has Hleb’s Agent been given a kick up the arse
http://arsenalanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/05/hlebs-agent-latest-real-and-barca-in.html
Suddenly his Agent seems to be respecting the fact his player has a contract
Cant confirm the validity of this though, I have been to the paper’s website and cant find any link
May 13, 2008 at 13:52
Found the Link, here is the translation although fucked up I think you can get the gist
In the London-based “Arsenal” Alexander Gleb was the bronze winner Championship in England. For our midfield is still the most important achievement in a career. The ambitious coach “Cannoneer” Arsène Wenger believes that his team a great future. . But build it Arsenu may have to be present without pleymeykera.
Many sports commentators are already talking about moving Gleb station in the Italian championship leader as a fait accompli. Although official statements about this clubs not done. Moreover, Wenger does not want to come to terms with the loss of the principal players, and states that will fight for it.
Yesterday, we phoned manager football player Nicholas Shpilevskomu to clarify the situation.
Nikolai, whether Gleb intends to sign a contract with “Inter”?
I have no words not say that Gleb becomes the “Inter”. He had a valid contract with the “Arsenal”.
In newspaper “Pressbol” you said that “the issue of moving to another club Gleb finally clarified within two weeks”.
— Alexander Gleb now preparing for the game with the German national team, and it is for us the most pressing issue. And some passages… This is no pressing issue today. While no one hides, a class Gleba that will be interesting for all teams. And for “Barcelona”, and “Real”… A theme of its transition to “Inter” has to spend much time over the year. This is normal. If some clubs want to see in their ranks Gleba, they will negotiate with “Arsenal”.
Yesterday, Alexander Gleb was to fly to Minsk. A week later, he will join the national team players who will conduct training gathering friendlies before the meeting with the German national team.
May 13, 2008 at 13:55
good diggin pat,
May 13, 2008 at 13:56
Taking a look at the weekend’s Serie A results, it looks like Flamini has given up Champions League football next to the best young midfielder on the planet for sitting on the bench for AC Milan’s UEFA cup run…
What a move, Flamini, keep making such such moves….hahaha!!
May 13, 2008 at 13:58
I think that tosser Flamini had a word in his ear all season about Italy and how those two could cosy up to eachother in Milan.
At the start of the season he was saying Wenger was a coach sent from god etc. Why the dramatic turnaround?
May 13, 2008 at 14:00
Okay GMR, I read the link which says the actual deal is in excess of £100 million and Arsenal expect a lot more with team performance bonuses up to 2015, that’s where they get the £150mil from there expectations.
What a shit deal that was, I read Pedro’s list, but that’s each year, we sold our arse for 15 years, that sort of money will be nothing in 15 years time.
When I had my box, it was £110,000 over 11 years, now they’re are that much for one season, my point is if you do deals with sponsors, you do them every 3 years, or less, like they do with our season tickets, they really are shit businessmen.
If I ran my business like they do I’d have gone bust years ago.
May 13, 2008 at 14:09
just a test to see if my avatar worked.
May 13, 2008 at 14:10
No. Thats not it.
May 13, 2008 at 14:11
Geoff maybe because we r trying to be debt free next year we don’t have money now. The board are pushing things to the max until AW is on the helmet ,because they know when he is gone, whoever comes will want MONEY for transfers every year, and they will never find a coach who refuses money being given to him.
May 13, 2008 at 14:14
Afternoon everyone,
Just been told by my Belgium workmates that Arsenal have put in (and has been accepted) a £16m bid for Kompany. This was reported on the Belgium equivalent of the BBC News Channel.
Here’s the link, sorry it’s in Flemish/Dutch, but i think you’ll get the gist………
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/voetbal/buitenlandsvoetbal/Duitsland/Duitsland_achtergrond/1.303672
May 13, 2008 at 14:21
Flipping exciting news there Dennis!
That is a whopper of a bid!
Do you believe it?
May 13, 2008 at 14:22
I dunno, although according to the local lads, this news site is very reliable.
They’ve also clarified that the bids has not been accepted, but they also said that further details were reported that AW sees the player as not only a CB but a DM too…..
May 13, 2008 at 14:23
js got some new info.If grumpy jens id going to stuttgart that means we could add some qiud + jens as part of the deal and get mario gomez .massive!! Another thing is that our wingers used to bang in lots of goals which now is our major weakness.u js cant compare eboue wit freddie……
May 13, 2008 at 14:23
wow.. 32mill kitty already!!!
May 13, 2008 at 14:24
Also, if he is for sale, we’d have to be quick and offer that sort of wonga, coz the Chavs were after him a while ago, and he turned them down, so they’d probably wanna try again if only to stop us from getting him……….
May 13, 2008 at 14:24
well, does it mean that after 15 years Emirattttttts we will name it Highbury again:))))))))))))))))))))) iupiiiiiiiii
…or will sell its names rights to whoever gives the most money -probably ”CHIna computers” stadium……..:(((
sounds like hookers stuff. give your ass to the highesst bidder….
fcuking money buy you everything
May 13, 2008 at 14:26
Geoff, thats my issue. Yes they get bonuses dependant on shirt sales & attendances etc but even if they had done a deal for 2 years they’d still get bonuses for the same things.
Man Utd’s shirt deal earns them over half what we are getting for our entire deal and their’s is for 4 or 5 years.
I’ve said it all along our deal was pathetic, but they done it because Emirates were the only ones to pay a large portion upfront.
May 13, 2008 at 14:26
If we have made a bid for company it’s worrying that it’s been publicised. As was said earlier we don’t like doing business in the public eye, the fact that it’s come out in the press could prevent the deal happening
May 13, 2008 at 14:28
They seem to be referencing the Rumour mill as their source
This is the translation
di 13/05/08 – Arsenal have still an eye on fin penny Kompany. The English club offers 20 millions euro for the Belgian international according to the rumour mill. Coach Arsène Wenger still knew Kompany already then he at Anderlecht played, but our compatriot drew to Hamburg. The German plough can do golden matter. Hamburg Kompany in the summer of 2006 for eight millions euro obtained. Kompany have still a contract up to 2012 at HSV. In the German press he keeps in advance the lips rigid on each other. ” I have to about that tell nothing. That I have geleerd” in Anderlecht; , the verdediger/middenvelder says
May 13, 2008 at 14:29
any one still want gilberto here next season… ?
I do..
He is the epitome of the word loyalty and professionalism…
“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 fella…
May 13, 2008 at 14:30
Hey, I’ve just made a Walcott video
Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9EmdHp5_k4
May 13, 2008 at 14:31
They do s*** deals & then bleed the fans dry to make up the difference!!
May 13, 2008 at 14:34
Patthegooner – totally agree, but the boys over here are very sincere in their opinions of this site, much like the BBC Sport website for us, so it’s a weird one alright. But the quote at the end was interesting, basically “I should not say anything, i learned that while at Anderlecht”…………..if it’s from the fella, i dunno what he’s getting at??
May 13, 2008 at 14:37
What Wenger saying is probably why I thought Kompany was a centre back/DM.
Is he ugly as well as big and scary ?
Things haven’t been the same since Keown retired.
Also, rather harsh on Jens a coment earlier. He’s got a right to point out failings when he sees them; plus of I was dropped – after playing well when the waiter was injured- for a sub standard replacement I’d get the hump too.
May 13, 2008 at 14:38
I think I’m in the minority here but I sincerely hope we aren’t after Kompany. What a serious waste of cash that would be.
The fact that he can play in several positions makes it a very Wenger like purchase, the fact that he isn’t very good in any of them is a serious worry.
May 13, 2008 at 14:40
good video joshua low, well done
May 13, 2008 at 14:41
Great video Josh
May 13, 2008 at 14:47
Very good clip Josh, he’ll be a star next season, that’s for sure.
May 13, 2008 at 14:49
That theo video is quality – I forgot just how good his run against Liverpool was
May 13, 2008 at 14:51
Anyone know this Gervinho we’re been linked with?
Or is it just paper talk?
May 13, 2008 at 14:52
Josh, well done, great video. Shows how much more attacking capability our side has with Theo in it!!
May 13, 2008 at 14:53
i dunno scuba i cant keep up, we collectivly are going to have to watch every league in eth world just to debate such matters by teh looks of things, however it’s postive
May 13, 2008 at 14:53
I do like Kompany, I just dont like 16m Kompany
I dont value him that highly,
May 13, 2008 at 14:55
I do, and i thought about the £10m mark, £16m sounds way way too much…..
May 13, 2008 at 14:56
I’ve heard that the belgian guy keeps good COMPANY so he won’t bring in a disruptive element to the dressing room.
I know, crap pun.
Seriously, don’t want him either. We need more specialists and less fluffy multi-functional players how get exposed as jacks of all trades and masters of none. Johan Djourou being a prime example.
May 13, 2008 at 14:57
If we’re giving HSV 16 Mil it should be for Van Der Vaart instead. Find a CB better than Kompany. He’s not worth that much.
May 13, 2008 at 15:01
The good thing is .. 3 weeks of transfer activity, then Euros start, so .. busy summer and some football to look forward to.
Can’t wait to see: Robben, Huntelaar/RVN , RVP, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart and Seedorf line up for the Dutch
May 13, 2008 at 15:02
Paulinho – dreadful mate!!
The truth is that this could be true, as AW’s track record when purchasing CB’s has been quite woeful………..Stepanovs, Cygan, Senderos………..the only success at that position was Sol, and even he went seriously flakey at the end, couple his CB track record with the fact he likes players to be multi-positional and you have the makings or a true AW signing……….ooooooooooor maybe he’s got soooooooooo much money that he does’t know what to do with it all………….ha ha ha, oh jesus i think i’ve just wet myself……….
May 13, 2008 at 15:03
I thought we might get some real whispers today after the AST meeting with Friar where he all but admitted a signing was imminent.
I reckon he took a phonecall & pretended it was from Wenger to cause a distraction & throw people off the questions they wanted to ask, by getting people intrigued as to who the supposed signing was.
May 13, 2008 at 15:09
That would be a machiavellian manoeuvre by Friar, if that were the case GMR.
But in show biz all things are possible.
May 13, 2008 at 15:15
Dennis
Senderos is still a good player, Toure was a fantastic centre back signing, and Gallas is also still a very good player, so to say he has a poor track record with centre backs is a bit dubious
May 13, 2008 at 15:18
I’ve just been reading up on that meeting, apparently the rumour which was doing the rounds between the shareholders there was that the ‘imminent’ signing is a player from Man City, but not Micah Richards. So that leaves Dunne or Johnson (if its true of course).
Apparently it’ll be announced withing 3 days!!
I won’t hold my breath on that though & if its announced on Arsenal.com then thats a minimum of 6 days!!
May 13, 2008 at 15:20
I don’t want Michael Johnson. He hasn’t really impressed me that much. Give him another season.
I would be happy with Richards or Dunne. Dunne, if he doesn’t fall apart mentally from the pressures of playing for the Arse, could be a great signing. However, I have question marks over his temperament in this regard.
May 13, 2008 at 15:25
A – Sorry mate i don’t subscribe to Senderos being a good player, for me he’s gone backwards. He had a very good run when we got to the CL Final, in fact he was probably our best defender, but since then he’s cost us more than he’s won us, particularly in the big games where he’s been found wanting. Toure, if memory serves me right, was signed as a midfield player, then move to RB where he was very ordinary, then finally move to CB…………..Gallas for me blows hot ‘n’ cold, but i take your point and say that maybe AW has a 50/50 record when it comes to CB’s then………….funnily enough i do remember a game where Stepanovs looked world class……………!!
May 13, 2008 at 15:25
that is all in the past paulinho, this is the second coming of dunne,
the dunne monters is coming, i prefer the honey monster name my self
May 13, 2008 at 15:28
I want Dunne as well. Being half-irish and all!
May 13, 2008 at 15:30
I for one will not be shouting from the rooftops if our premiership player turns out to be Dunne or Barry. I will be quite disapointed.
And if the new signing that is days away turns out to be Ben Arfa, i again will be a little disapointed, mainly due to the fact that because it has been in the pulic arena for so long as a possible it just seems like we have him already.
I have just been reminiscing about when SOL joined, now that WAS a suprise as with DB10 many moons ago.
No champions league next year!! KaKa anyone? just a thought!
May 13, 2008 at 15:33
Cor blimey, i remember being in Cancun when the Arse had their press conference to announce Richard Wright and Sol Campbell…………
My brother rang me coz he fell off the sofa when Campbell came out with AW………
Great days, that’s the way to do business…………
May 13, 2008 at 15:33
Dennis
He was apalling against Liverpool in the Champions League, but take away that match and since Christmas he was our best centre back, far more solid than Gallas or Toure and was terrific in both legs against Milan. Toure was signed as a centre back, that’s where he played before he signed for us, but was too raw when he first arrived so was used in pretty much every other position before having a full pre season as centre back and put in his rightful position. Gallas was fantastic before christmas, but afterwards and especially after the Birmingham game something seemed to be wrong with him, likewise Toure.
If it is Dunne it means that Arsene still has alot of faith in Senderos and Dunne is just someone who is there at the moment whilst Senderos develops a bit more. Johnson would be a bit of a weird one, I don’t think he’s good enough defensively to replace flamini. With arsene saying he’s looking to sign one defensive player and one creative player I’m not sure Johnson is either….
May 13, 2008 at 15:36
In my opinion I feel that CB’s don’t peak till they are in the mid/late 20’s. Very few are that good till at least 25, how well regarded was TA6 at Senderos’ age.
Gooners of my vintage remember the EE-AWs he got, both from Arsenal and oppo fans.
I’m not saying he is the next TA, as the number of chances he has left are running out, but it would be hasty to write him off as being no good.
May 13, 2008 at 15:37
A – Do you really see Dunne as a stopgap signing then? He is only 24 (right?), so he could play on at that level for 5 or 6 seasons! I would say that a proper defender, which i how i see Dunne, would really help the younger defenders become a little tougher and focussed…………..i must say i have been impressed with him whenever he’s played against us.
May 13, 2008 at 15:39
I don’t understand how he hasn’t taken his chances though. When he was originally in the team he won player of the month awards, this season bar the mare he had against Liverpool he’s been very good as well…. I really think it’s the way he carries himself, his running style, he looks clumsy etc which puts people off and makes them think he’s much worse than he really is. He’s also the best defensive organiser we have
May 13, 2008 at 15:40
i think he’s 28 mate
May 13, 2008 at 15:43
Yeah Dennis he is 28, and is a good premiership defender, but I think Senderos will be better eventually. Dunne is a ready made good premiership defender, and Senderos is still developing, and having issues with his confidence etc. Dunno could also come pretty cheap
May 13, 2008 at 15:43
Cheers Choy – Fuck me if he was 24 he would’ve had a fecking hard life!!
May 13, 2008 at 15:44
It’s got to be David Wheater. I think AW may have been referring to Oba Martins and Wheater when he talks prem players…neither would command a huge fee – maybe £15m for the pair?
Bit of pace on the wings and a big fuck off centre back. Would suit me down to the ground.
May 13, 2008 at 15:44
Dunne is 28.
Senderos ain’t good enough to perform consistently. He’s been taken out of the firing line several times now and come back and after a decent period he screws up again. It’s the same old cycle. Even against Sunderland he made at least three stupid mistakes.
I don’t buy all this Gallas stuff either. I think his form has been good all season. He was brilliant against Torres in the first leg and great in Milan. He is very good defending when facing his own goal and that often overlooked. Senderos suffers in this area. He shats himself when someone chase him down after a ball over the top and that’s because he has zero mobility or technical ability on the ball.
May 13, 2008 at 15:45
He’d be a wenger signing as well, stop gap whilst his youngster who he expects to develop into a superior player isn’t quite there yet. Dunne would be to Senderos what Almunia is to Fabianski.
May 13, 2008 at 15:48
A – Don’t get me wrong, i’d love the big lump to do well in the red ‘n’ white because i want everyone to play well for us (with the exception of that toerag Eboue), but for some reason there’s always that feeling in the pit of my stomach that there’s an almighty fuckup just around the corner waiting to happen to the big fella, am i being harsh??
Alright then, if we were to get on ’super’ class player this summer and it happened to be a CB, but to get him meant letting go one of our current crop of CB’s, which one would you be prepared to lose??
May 13, 2008 at 15:49
I think senderos needs to go out on loan…
May 13, 2008 at 15:49
TH14 there’s no way Martins was a player Wenger’s referred to as he’s categorically stated that he isn’t going to sign a forward, unless someone leaves.
Paulinho in my opinion Senderos performed very consistently when Toure was away at the ANC, and when Toure returned it was very close as to whether Wenger put Toure back in. When he did it destroyed Senderos’ confidence and Wenger took the first possible opportunity to put him back in when Sagna got injured. Senderos was dodgy against Sunderland, but that’s because the Liverpool mistakes destroyed him. Before that match he was better than Gallas and definitely Toure IMO since he came into the team
May 13, 2008 at 15:51
Setanta.com
Hamburg centre back Vincent Kompany has refused to comment on speculation linking him with a summer move to Arsenal.
The Mirror reported on Tuesday morning that the 22-year-old Belgium international would cost The Gunners a cool €19 million (£15.1m) should Arsene Wenger’s outfit want to prise Kompany away from the Nordbank Arena.
The player himself has deflected the attention, citing the circumstances of his departure from Anderlecht two years ago for Hamburg as reason to avoid making comment.
“I have nothing to say,” he said.
“I am sure that I will not say anything about this, I learned in Anderlecht that it is better [to keep quiet] – otherwise I will regret it.”
Kompany’s two seasons at the Bundesliga club have been dogged by injury, but despite his reduced appearances he is still widely regarded as a top talent.
May 13, 2008 at 15:53
feck me.. this sounds like he is on the way here.. we sure are breaking the bank it seems…
May 13, 2008 at 15:53
Yeah Dennis that’s a very common feeling with Arsenal fans, but that’s what i meant when i said I think it’s very undeserved and down to the fact he looks so big and clumsy, which results in the misconception that he’s injury prone. However I’d be very happy for us to sign a Lucio standard player. Djorou will be the one if anyone has to go I’d imagine, or Song if he’s considered a CB, though both of them can also play centre mid, or Djorou full back so would probably be kept as squad players
May 13, 2008 at 15:54
Good to see Hleb has refused to be drawn on his future by merely stating he won’t fan the flames!!
He did say he owes Wenger a lot though.
What a c**t, get him out the club!!
May 13, 2008 at 15:56
I’ve never actually seen Kompany play, does he fit the bill?? My only knowledge of him is football manager, in which he can’t head?! bit worrying if he’s our commanding centre back….
May 13, 2008 at 15:57
GMR – There’s a very possible danger that this Hleb situation could bite us in the arse (!) again as he’s not likely to sign an extention to his current deal, so i say flog the ungrateful fucking nobody before he runs his contract down too…………
May 13, 2008 at 15:58
‘Kompany’s two seasons at the Bundesliga club have been dogged by injury’
Perfect!
I can put him straight on Le List!
May 13, 2008 at 16:01
On sky sports:
Alexander Hleb has refused to be drawn on his future at Arsenal.
The Belarus midfielder is being strongly linked with a move away from Emirates Stadium with Internazionale understood to be at the front of the queue to sign him.
His agent has suggested that he will be departing North London – but Hleb insists he does not want to fan the flames.
“As is said, there is a lot of speculation about me,” Hleb told German website transfermarkt.
“And I will not be making statements on this and stirring it up further.”
Hleb did admit that Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has played a huge part in his career and he ‘owes him a lot’.
“Wenger is a coach who you can learn a great deal from,” he said.
“He is not loud, he is a thinking type.
“I owe a lot to him.”
Dennisdamenace, I agree 100% get rid of the f***er now.
May 13, 2008 at 16:03
I agree A that Senders played well in Toure’s absence. He prefers the calm influence of Gallas than Toure. Toure is a bit too panicky for him.
Your right, bringing Toure back seemed to send him back to square one.
Even in that good period though he somhow contrived to score an own goal against Villa when his body positioning was all wrong.
May 13, 2008 at 16:05
Such a shame with Hleb. He’s such a brilliant player and yet he wants to leave. Fuckin typical!
If he goes, Arsenal won’t win the league next season.
Himself and Fabregas have put an indelible mark on this Arsenal mark III side. If he goes, we’re trying to create a fourth side and that will take another couple of seasons.
May 13, 2008 at 16:06
Pedro, I must have said how injury prone Kompany is about 10 times now.
Since his debut for Anderlecht in 2003 he has played 116 matches in total & that includes international matches. The guy is a liability & not what we need especially at a high price.
At least we’d actually get to see Dunne play, this guy would forever be in the treatment room. If we are intent on signing an injury prone player why not have Ledley King, spuds want shot of him, he’s proven in the premier league & at international level & will probably play the same amount of games as Kompany.
May 13, 2008 at 16:08
The frigging dilema’s we seem to find ourselves in – this Hleb thing, if any mongrel deserves to be put in the reserves and left to think about his actions it’s him, but we have such a piss weak squad we can’t afford to do that. Then do you really want this disruptive, two-faced cock in your changing room when you need everyone to pull together to get the result needed?? So, you end up giving the little cnut what he wants a move away…………fucks me off, but we need to move on this now and do it on our terms rather than letting Hleb and Inter dictate to us……………..fuckers!
May 13, 2008 at 16:10
Yeah he did score that own goal, but I didn’t really think it was his fault. It’s hard for players to adjust their bodies when the ball get played in hard and low, and it happens to the best. Toure often deflects the ball towards our goal, and Ferdinand did it in the match against us. Senderos is just very unlucky that when he does it goes in rather than just wide or saved!
I don’t think we should come down on Hleb too hard. He’s obviously unsettled to an extent, it doesn’t mean that Wenger won’t persuade him to stay. When there was speculation every summer regarding Vieira and Henry they didn’t come out and say they wanted to stay the whole time, but Wenger persuaded them to. If he leaves because he wants to go to a different league then fair enough to him. A big loss for us but we should get good money for him, and he if he wants to play in Italy and Spain still he doesn’t have that many years left to do so
May 13, 2008 at 16:10
Actually i have to agree, and i was one of the one’s that really fancied Kompany at the club, but i’ve just seen his stats for the past two season……………it doesn’t make good reading………….still he should be right at home at THOF with RVP, Rosicky etc etc….
May 13, 2008 at 16:12
The signs were in his body language in recent times. He seemed pissed off in every game, though that might have to do with us pissing away the league and euro cup.
Unless he comes out with a convincing denial I want him gone. If he stays with his half-arsed attitude the fans won’t be so forgiving when doesn’t pull the trigger in front of goal.
May 13, 2008 at 16:12
Don’t think we are as reliant on Hleb as some suggest; bottom line is if he wants to go then he can fuck off now. if he wants to stay then what’s the problem with coming out and saying so – no; he’s just playing fucking games with us – fan the flames; I’ll fucking fan the flames right under the cunt!
We have this every season where we lose players and people think the world is coming to an end.
Have we missed Hleb the last 3 games? Not that I noticed; much the same can be said for Flamini
May 13, 2008 at 16:13
When Kompany talks about opening his mouth… he is referring to his bodged move to Chavski a few years back… I think.
May 13, 2008 at 16:15
Pedro – The guys here say it was all to do with a move from Anderlecht to Real Madrid, that it was well on the way to being completed when he let it slip to journo’s and that’s when the Chavs came on the scene and Real pulled out………
May 13, 2008 at 16:16
Bottom line… people can bang on however much they want to about Hlebs ability to hold onto the ball, but when push come to shove, he doesn’t score enough and he doesn’t assist enough.
What use is a player who does nothing bar make space in the midfield?
I wrote an article on him earlier in the year and said he is more important than Cesc…
I don’t think I believe that now, I think he helps Cesc look good, maybe that is because he is always passing to him? What about if Cesc had a pacey winger as well a two good strikers to pass to?
Hleb leaving could take the burden off cesc on the assists front… and Hleb leaving could take the burden off Ade on the goals front.
Win Win I say!
May 13, 2008 at 16:18
I think we have. Derby doesn’t count as they’re just shit. Everton at home was a glaring sign of what will happen if he leaves. We were absolutely shit and so was theo walcott, the guy alot seem to think can replace Hleb on a consistent basis. Sunderland was another nothing game where Sunderland had more of the game in the first half.
We can only judge what happens without Hleb in pressure games. And this season we saw what happens without Hleb against Boro away, Newcastle away, Seville away, Prague away, Liverpool at home in the league(he was a sub). In all those games we were dreaful in retaining possession and dominating possession like we usually do.
May 13, 2008 at 16:18
I’d say we’ve missed Hleb massively in the last 3 games. We’ve won but we havn’t played the football that’s made us considered the most attractive team in Europe, and we havn’t in any game when Hleb’s been absent.
Scuba if he wants to leave then that’s up to him, but he won’t say it now because it would be disrespectful to Arsene and the club to come out publically and say it. Likewise if he isn’t sure and is just unsettled he wouldn’t want to say he’ll stay when he might not. He obviously is considering his future, and he has a right to do what he wants!! The way he’s treated the media is also the way he should do, he hasn’t said a single thing out of place. If he decides he wants to stay then I for one will welcome him next season with open arms and would hope the rest of the fans will too.
May 13, 2008 at 16:19
Dennis, I wouldn’t want to knock your contacts, but I am pretty sure he was 17 when he was at Anderlecht… a bit young for Madrid? Can you see Madrid backing down in a bidding war with Hamburg and the Chavs?
I thought he fucked off the chavs for Germany?
Please correct me if I am wrong… I am just going from memory!
May 13, 2008 at 16:23
Pedro
The reason Hleb doesn’t get the assists is because he assists the assister. He is the one that creates the situation that results in the pass or cross by someone else (who gets the assist), which results in a goal. Without Hleb playing we get into those situations much much less frequent. Theo will be a fantastic player, but will never be good enough to fill the Hleb role. Rosicky could to an extent, but if Hleb does leave we’ll sign someone to replace him otherwise the team just won’t be able to function in the same way.
May 13, 2008 at 16:27
These one off games without Hleb may be quite refreshing in the sense that we seem to be more direct i.e Walcott’s goal on Sun. However over a period of time Hleb’s loss will be felt more and more.
It sounds simple but possession is an absolute must in our type of game. The more we have the ball in the opponents final third the more chance we have of scoring and the less chance we have of conceding.
Even if you look at Fabregas’s goal against United in November. That all originated from Hleb taking five Man United players out of the game in his own half. He then chipped it to an unmarked Fabregas and we had alot of space to run into. Fabregas then pounced on the Sagna cross with united players still running back from trying to get the ball off Hleb.
Wenger sees this shit and marks it down.
May 13, 2008 at 16:28
A, we are both singing from the same song sheet on this one!
May 13, 2008 at 16:32
Isn’t our over possession one of the reasons we try and walk the ball into the net?
I preferred it when the we played the invincible stuff of the Pires, Bergkamp, PV04 and Henry.
Assisting the assister… seems like a waste to me? I’d accept it if was a holding midfielder doing that… like Makelele, but a right midfielder should be doing more than assisiting Cesc.
Cesc doesn’t need an assister, he needs someone to finish off his chances.
May 13, 2008 at 16:33
he is a great player.. but if he wants to he can feck off.. the last thing we need is another flamini case this time around next year…
A .. i think we need more direct players… more shots on goal usually means more goals….
no more dancing with the ball in the oppositions penalty area..
we should play fast counter attacking football.. the invincible era football.
possession counts for nothing.. ask barcelona.
May 13, 2008 at 16:36
Get a winger to replace Hleb and if we can’t, then trade him for YaYa and Henry ,and if we can’t let him rot in the reserves.
If Kompany is as injury prone as you all say we shouldn’t touch him and Wenger should look elsewhere.
Wheater sounds promising but why would they let him go? they already let Woodgate go. Dunne I think is popular amongst our Irish Grovers because he’s Irish and that shouldn’t be a reason to want him, that’s like me wanting to sign a Penguin, because I like Penguins.
I think the Newcastle player is Nzogbia, but I hope not.
What about Quaresma or Diego, I’d have them …aren’t they Penguins?
May 13, 2008 at 16:37
No but the point is Fabregas gets as many assists as he does because of the work Hleb does. I’d say Hleb has been responsible for more goals than Cesc. Our possession is the reason we’re considered the side who play the best football in the world! As well as the reason we were able to dominate more or less every team we’ve played. The invincible type stuff was different, because the players were different. Arsene developed a new way of playing with the current players and Hleb is integral to it.
May 13, 2008 at 16:40
Arsenal have scored more goals this season than the invincible side of Pires and Henry so goals are not really a grave problem.
I don’t think it is as simple as sticking a direct winger who has good stats and then voila, more goals. Because although he might score more goals than Hleb he will most likely not have the technical ability of Hleb. So, overall we are a worse side at keeping possession and dominating play.
That leaves us with the possibility of a decent goal scoring winger but having a side that scores less goals overall because our technical game suffers.
May 13, 2008 at 16:41
yes so if we let hleb go .. we’ll be more direct…
headers meeting crosses.. shots at goal from outside the box…
no more groans!!
May 13, 2008 at 16:43
I don’t believe Hleb is responsible for Cesc being so good, I really don’t.
Take Hleb away and put a Pires style winger in the same team as Cesc and he’d get even more assists because he’d have more options to choose when picking out a pass.
At the moment it is pretty much Ade or no one…
Walcott is not being groomed to play out wide. He will be central.
Choy bang on… possession is 9/10 of our game… and it wasn’t to productive in the end.
Take Ronaldo out of Manu how many assists would Rooney have?
Put Ronaldo in our team… how many more assists would cesc get?
I like penguins.
May 13, 2008 at 16:43
Choy we don’t have the players to play the invincible era football, that’s the point! Pires, Ljungberg, Henry, Vieira were all so fast and powerful. With theo playing more, Vela coming in we’ll have more pace, but still far from the same sorts of players. We also don’t have the defence that that team had, or the defensive strength of the midfield. We’ve developed a completely new system, which very nearly won us the league.
More shots may mean more goals, but without hleb we wouldn’t dominate possession nor get into attacking positions anything like as frequently, it just wouldn’t happen.
May 13, 2008 at 16:43
I have heard the rumour that the player we are about to sign is Michael Johnson from Man City. He is rated at £12m but I dont think we will spend that much on him. at least he is English, but unfortunately a manc! wenger said he would not replace Matty but clearly he was lying.
Personally I would be happy with this signing. I like him as a player and he is the closest thing to Flam there is in England that is available for a normal price.
May 13, 2008 at 16:44
Pedro – I’m with you mate. I like Hleb but find a very frustrating player most of the time; I don’t see him as the key.
Funny; the games mentioned that Hleb didn’t play haven’t been cited as the games that lost us the title.
May 13, 2008 at 16:46
Pedro
Cesc is fantastic in our style of play, and our style of play relies upon Hleb. If Hleb leaves and we play more direct wingers it would mean a complete change in our style of play, and a period of transition, which just can’t happen!
May 13, 2008 at 16:46
I keep think however good Hleb is at pasing and creating space we need someone who can SHOOT. Im getting reaaly bored with the players in our squad who make assist to the assistant to the assistant to the assistant, who eventually after 20 efforts and 200 pases rolls the ball into the net. We need more direct approach to the goal, and Hleb doesnt fit the bill 4 me-so go if U wanna go w-nker…
May 13, 2008 at 16:46
Yet the invincible team was quite embarassing in europe. Remember the days we couldn’t string a pass together in europe against Panathaniakos and Ajax.
Wenger realised we had to change our style of play to succeed in europe and he moulded his side around the likes of Hleb and Fabregas. I think on the whole it has worked. We look a far better side in europe.
Teams like Everton and Aston Villa are direct and yet they go to old trafford and can’t hold the ball and get spanked. Yet Arsenal can go there and make them look second rate. That’s because of players like Hleb.
May 13, 2008 at 16:46
A
are chelsea technically better than us?
they are second and in the CL final… and we are nowhere…
we need to be more direct… 2 pacy wingers… strong defence.. fab and a DM and two lumps up front!!!
bring it on…
May 13, 2008 at 16:48
Cesc would be fantastic in any style of play, what would change if we had proper wingers?
There can surely be nothing more pointless than 4 centre midfielders in your midfield?
How unbalanced is that?
Wingers create as much space as Rosicky and Hleb would… and they’d have a few goals in them. Hopefully…
May 13, 2008 at 16:49
Paulinho… we’re the same in Europe as we always were…
Final… last 16… quarters….
shite.
When we got to the final we had Pires, Campbell, Henry, Freddie, Cole…
May 13, 2008 at 16:50
Paulinho – did we win at OT? Played lovely football and lost; did we win at the bridge, same scenario
May 13, 2008 at 16:51
and wingers stretch the defense… with a big pitch like ours we need to make use of it..
hleb and rosicky always drift in… and it makes it easier for teams to defend..
and it gets even more crowded with the likes of gallas and toure in the opposition penalty box as well…
May 13, 2008 at 16:51
Pires and Freddie, before that Overmars, we always looked solid and scary with wingers, all we do now is play center midfielders out wide and that isn’t playing wingers.
May 13, 2008 at 16:52
Pedro what would change is that we wouldn’t be able to dominate possession, and therefore Cesc would have much less of the ball, and be much less productive as a result….
Choy I wouldn’t exactly say we are nowhere, we could very easily be where Chelsea are now with a bit more luck.
If we change our style of play it would take the team time to adapt, which would mean no silverware for yet another season
May 13, 2008 at 16:54
Scuba it was when Hleb and Cesc tired at OT and SB that we stopped dominating possession and got beaten.
Rosicky being out all season was a massive loss, he was expected to be the midfield goalscorer, Diaby couldn’t do the same job.
Yet we still scored more goals than the invincibles!!
May 13, 2008 at 16:55
Afternoon all,
Been so busy havent even had a chance to get on to post!! Shocked really!!
Just read the last few posts, and my take is this.
Hleb great player with the ball at his feet, great to watch and fantastic close control. A bit like a bloody performing seal with a ball on it’s nose… Great to watch but hardly any end product.
We would not be regressing if the fucking ice cream chomper moved on, we would become more direct and get some flipping shots on goal!
Win win me thinks.
I dont care what anyone says, there is no way replacing Hleb with Bobby Pires at his pomp would be of detrimental effect to the team! No way!!
Please see below for a reminder!!
May 13, 2008 at 16:56
Choy
Hleb and Rosicky drifting in doesn’t make it easier for other teams to defend, it means that Sagna and Clichy can overlap making it harder for opposition to defend. Pires and Ljungberg drifted in and made the biggest impact centrally as well….
May 13, 2008 at 16:56
ye -and we had Sombreros on the final as well Pedro…..tried to play offside ,,,too slow as ever, bang ,red card,bang -game over
May 13, 2008 at 16:56
No A – we got beat at Ot & SB because of crap defending.
Agree re Rosicky; hopefully next season he gets fit and stays that way – who am I kidding!!
May 13, 2008 at 16:58
Performing Seal? that’s getting very close to my love of Penguins, and we have none of them on our books and probably have no intentions of getting any, fucking cunts.
May 13, 2008 at 16:58
Odub obviously theres no way replacing Hleb with Bobby Pires at his pomp would be of detrimental effect to the team but Pires was the best player in the world at his peak! I’m sure bringing in Messi wouldn’t cause many complaints but it isn’t gonna happen! Henry, Pires, Vieira were the best in the world. VP, Hleb, Cesc are all very good but not yet at that level, and are very different players anyways
May 13, 2008 at 17:00
A… are you saying we didn’t used to dominate possession with the invincible’s!
40 shots a game and 1 goal sometimes!
All Arsene’s teams have dominated… all Arsene’s teams have had great wingers, we are lacking 2 at the moment.
May 13, 2008 at 17:00
A .. yes clichy and sagna overlapping.. now how many men would we have back defending our goal then?
May 13, 2008 at 17:00
Scuba
That’s the point though, our defence only came under the pressure that it succumbed to because we weren’t dominating possession anymore. If we’d had the ball they couldn’t have scored! That’s the way Arsene looks at it, and the way in which the current system is so successful
May 13, 2008 at 17:03
Pedro
I don’t think we dominated possession then like we do now. We used to be a power/pace team. Attacking quickly wave after wave after wave, with attacks often breaking down but we had so many that we scored a lot. Now rather than attacking in waves we hold the ball passing it back and forth keeping possession until we get the chance to walk it into the net. The new style is more successful defensively as us holding the ball for longer periods means the opposition have less opportunities to attack us.
May 13, 2008 at 17:04
A
that is a very wrong way of looking at it..
there are games like boro where we have had 60-70% possession.. yet we were still chasing the game…
possession does not not not mean we are going to win… barcelona manu CL semi final?
May 13, 2008 at 17:04
Odub, what a great video, he was the best, good looking and a great footballer, I read his book too.
Funny though one of his best goals was at the Villa and it wasn’t on there.
May 13, 2008 at 17:06
Gazzap, if that rumour turns out to be true I’ll be well annoyed. Who the f*** wants Michael Johnson. I don’t mind if we sign him as long as we don’t pay more than a million.
To be honest I hadn’t even really heard of him before we were linked to him. I watched him play against Liverpool & to say he was poor would be an understatement.
One cap for the England u21’s & that being in 2007 seems to suggest he just isn’t very good. He is 20 & even a no mark like Huddlestone is a regular in that squad.
May 13, 2008 at 17:08
A – I’d settle for less possession and winning a few more games – I’m with you Choy.
And sorry can’t agree that it was lack of possession that lost us those games – long balls hit up by the chavs and poor defending nothing to do with our midfield.
May 13, 2008 at 17:09
geoff.. i think his best one was against pool…. he he…
show me if hleb has scored such a goal!
May 13, 2008 at 17:09
Scuba, the reason those games haven’t been cited is because they were in December. Games later on are always deemed more important.
The big difference is our defence. Back then we had Campbell and Keown and now we have Senderos and defensive midfielders not up to the job. That’s we lost at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and got knocked out of at Anfield.
Pires was a freak. Of course I would take him over Hleb but I don’t think there are many of them out there.
May 13, 2008 at 17:10
Yeah but the thing is if we had less possession we’d win even fewer games, and lose alot more!!
The defence came under constant pressure because we stopped keeping possession, which had alot to do with our midfield!
May 13, 2008 at 17:11
and pires did not want out from arsenal!!!
he never went out to have ice cream!
May 13, 2008 at 17:12
Great link Odub. How I miss Pires. One of AW’s worst moment’s letting him go and that is not with hindsight, it was bloody obvious at the time! I wonder if there’s a youtube vid of Hleb’s goals for us? It would probably last about ten seconds………
Helb is technically very gifted but very frustrating. Maybe if his two league goals had been at least six (surely a minimum for the games he played) we would have finished top of the pile.
May 13, 2008 at 17:13
The fact that Barca got to the semi final is justification for their style of play. And both them and Arsenal got to the final two years before.
They pissed over United but again, like us, they’re defence let them down and their strikers never took their chances.
Barca’s philosophy is the not the problem. It’s just that have brought in too many unsuitable players and Ronaldinho just went to pot. Rikjaard has lost the plot a bit.
May 13, 2008 at 17:13
I must admit that i have a love/hate relationship with the Silly Season in the summers but this summer will be one out of the ordinary…
Already, (and we’re only in mid May) there has been so many rumours of possible signings that i’m just sick of it!
I have made a list of all rumours that i have read only in the last week, and i’ve put the players in reasonable ranking system starting with the most possible signing and down to the least possible one.
Here it goes:
Mario Gomez (Stuttgart) – 50%
Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon) – 50%
Amauri (Palermo) – 25%
Raul Albiol (Valencia) – 25%
Gomes (PSV) – 20%
Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth) – 20%
Gervinho (Le Mans) – 20%
Jean Makoun (Lille) – 20%
Aquilani (Roma) – 15%
David Villa (Valencia) – 15%
Yaya Touré (Barcelona) – 15%
Obafemi Martins (Newcastle) – 10%
Joey Barton (Manchester City) – 10%
Gareth Barry (Aston Villa) – 10%
Vincent Kompany (Hamburg) – 10%
Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff City) – 10%
Richard Dunne (Manchester City) – 5%
Diego Capel (Sevilla) – 5%
Yohann Gourcuff (Milan) – 5%
Gennaro Gattusu (Milan) – 5%
Thierry Henry (Barcelona) – 5%
Micah Richards (Manchester City) – 3%
Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea) – 3%
David Silva (Valencia) – 3%
Carlos Marchena (Valencia) – 3%
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) – 2%
Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax) – 2%
Karim Benzema (Lyon) – 2%
Samir Nasri (Marseille) – 5%
Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona) – 1%
There are of course more players linked with Arsenal but I only picked out the ones that I found interesting or possible to sign…(most of them only interesting though, not likely to sign)
For me i would be ok if we got Ben Arfa, Gomez, Touré & Kompany.
But would be even more happy if we got Ben Arfa, Eto’o, Touré & Sergio Ramos, but that is only dreaming and i know it!
May 13, 2008 at 17:14
Yeah Paulinho I agree. Although I think Senderos is a good player we aren’t as strong now. With the past style we could attack in waves, over and over again, as when we lost the ball it didn’t really matter, we were so strong with Vieira, Petit, Campbell, Keown that we knew we’d just win it back. Now because we aren’t as strong part of our defence is being in possession of the ball for the majority of the time
May 13, 2008 at 17:15
Fuck me… I take a phone call for 2 minutes and I’m out of the debate!
May 13, 2008 at 17:15
Paulinho – I take your point but the point I was trying to make was that Hleb played in those later games – the comment was made about the games that Hleb didn’t play but the ones he did play in were the ones that done us – ie: those later games.
May 13, 2008 at 17:15
we were linked with joey fuckin barton?
May 13, 2008 at 17:15
We won’t sign Gomez, we don’t even need a striker!
May 13, 2008 at 17:18
Ray that list is far from accurate if you’re talking about likelihood
Arsene has stated he isn’t looking at any forwards or goalkeepers, so your most likely signing is one that is incredibly unlikely!
Gomez, Amauri, Gomes, Gervinho, Villa, Martins etc just aren’t going to happen!
May 13, 2008 at 17:18
Choy – that was to fool the spuds; they’re now bidding for him!!!
May 13, 2008 at 17:19
But we might sign Gomez to play on the wing. Just because he’s a striker doesn’t mean that Wenger would play him there.
May 13, 2008 at 17:20
Scuba
Hleb did play in the later games, and had a massive hand in us dominating them and getting ahead. Unfortunately he was fatigued and his impact lessened as he tired, resulting in us no longer controlling possession and the defence crumbling under pressure.
May 13, 2008 at 17:21
i think everyone who joins arsenal.. does play on the wing at least once in their stay at arsenal…
maybe not the goalkeepers though.
May 13, 2008 at 17:22
I think a problem that occured was when the formula of feeding Adebayor and relying on him to convert started to fail when we approached the business end of the season. This is when players such as Hleb should have maybe took responsibility and realised Ade couldn’t hit a barn door and went for goal themselves. But no, Hleb carried on looking for Adebayor when the world and his dog knew he was in poor form.
May 13, 2008 at 17:24
We definately need a striker because there aren’t really many goal scoring wingers available. This team creates many chances but we are playing with a striker who is a horrible finisher. Replace him with a good finisher than more goals. The midfield should be Walcott ???? Cesc ????.
May 13, 2008 at 17:25
A – Wenger needs a replacement for Eduardo, he will buy a striker i’m sure of it!
May 13, 2008 at 17:25
A – do you think we are a one man team? I seem to think that Hleb played his part but not the way you suggest. Once again we talk about dominating in those games but we didn’t win them, did we? Maybe if we had more of a direct approach (at times) we’d win a few of those.
The one point we all agree is the defence – and that’s where I think our real issues lie – that and not taking our chances; not making that domination count – and the main two at fault there are Hleb and Ade – one doesn’t shoot enough and the other misses too many chances
May 13, 2008 at 17:26
Ray he’s categorically stated he won’t – so we won’t!!
When a player is injured you don’t buy a replacement for him, especially not at a club with a strict wage structure like Arsenal.
May 13, 2008 at 17:29
Wenger alot of times says one thing and does another. He came out and criticized Adebayor because he knows he’s a horrible finisher and becoming lazy. I think he will buy a striker.
May 13, 2008 at 17:31
Scuba
I don’t think we have to be a one man team as such, but our style of play doesn’t work without Hleb playing certainly. We became something of a one man team due to the injuries to Rosicky, VP, and Eduardo meaning only hleb could link the play between forwards and midfield.
We didn’t win them because of Hleb and Cesc tiring. Against the big teams our defence and midfield (defensively) isn’t able to handle constant pressure, which is why we play the possession game we do. A more direct approach would put the defence under more pressure from the start of the match and we’d get turned over alot easier against the big boys. The possession game takes all the pressure off the defence, so although it is very attractive etc it’s also a fundamental defensive strategy
May 13, 2008 at 17:33
Almunia/Fabianski/Mannone
Sagna/Hoyte
K.Touré/Djourou/Nordtviet
Gallas/Kompany/Senderos
Clichy/Traoré
Walcott/Eboué/Lansbury/Gibbs
Y.Touré/Gilberto/Song/Denilson
Fábregas/Hleb/Diaby/Merida
Ben Arfa/Rosicky/Vela/Randall
Adebayor/van Persie/Bendtner/Villa
….and it’s Game, Set & Match!
May 13, 2008 at 17:36
As the saying goes…we will just have to wait and see…
May 13, 2008 at 17:37
haha, I don’t think that is a saying Ray!
May 13, 2008 at 17:40
A – but it seems that Hleb and to a lesser extent Cesc tire very easily (I don’t fully agree with that) when we have so much possession so why persist with it – play direct get a few goals and save your energy!! You say that the direct approach from the start puts more pressure on the defence – but when Hleb and Cesc end up tired with possession we concede anyway.
I see where you’re coming from but can’t understand why we can’t mix it a bit – something like direct possession – bang bang 2 – 0 to the Arsenal rather 70% possession and we lose 2 – 1. All this possession and we’re trying to walk the ball in the net – we don’t really do that all that often do we?
Take a look at the goals at Anfield, OT, & SB – didn’t really come from lots of possession rather than a direct attack on goal – okay Sagna’s goal was from a corner
May 13, 2008 at 17:40
A why U like Sombreros so much? He is not top defender and will never be.period
May 13, 2008 at 17:44
Arsene Wenger has categorically stated that unless someone leaves unexpectedly he WILL NOT sign a forward, 100% it just wont happen. VP, Adebayor, Bendtner, Eduardo, Walcott, Vela are at the club. The latter two could be considered wingers as well but Arsene has said he sees them as forwards and will not sign anyone up front who would limit their and Bendtner’s development as strikers. It simply will not happen
May 13, 2008 at 17:47
I’d agree with Wenger on that one… any more forwards and we’ll have a major congestion problem.
2 wingers and a defender would do me.
What do you guys think?
May 13, 2008 at 17:47
I think we are quite direct at times anyway. I remember Bendtner threatening twice in the air in the last ten minutes at OT. This team can mix it up quite well. We’ve seen the countless times Toure and Fabregas do the long ball to Adebayor only for Ade to mess up the control.
Hleb also crossed for Van Persie at West Ham and Ade at Fulham.
What we need are more options on the bench to rotate with Hleb and sometimes, Cesc when they start to flag.
May 13, 2008 at 17:48
Arsenaldo when Senderos first broke into the team he was fantastic. He got player of the month awards in the invincibles season.
Scuba we play the possession football because if we don’t big teams will score alot of goals against us! Hleb and Cesc tired towards the end of games at the end of the season because of the ridiculous number of injuries meaning that they’d been forced to play nearly every match all season. That won’t happen again. It was only at the end after a very long season that they tired.
We don’t have the players to go bang bang 2-0 anymore, that’s what Utd do now.
May 13, 2008 at 17:53
Despite having only 25mil available, there is more scope for deals than just using this money to buy two players. For example we do not need to spenf this money to buy a centre back. It could be a straight swap deal with Gallas. With Gallas set to lose the captaincy it is better to get rid of him and avoid dressing room problems. Besides gallas and kolo are too similar ..
May 13, 2008 at 17:54
Pedro I’d agree. Though we don’t want wingers, we want attacking midfielders, of the Pires/Hleb/Rosicky mould. Ben Arfa can play that role, as could Diego. If Hleb stays we only need one of them. We will play more direct at times next season I’m sure. Against lesser teams Hleb or Rosicky will be rested for Vela or Theo.
May 13, 2008 at 18:02
A – we do have the players and I made the point about the goals that we scored because of being direct. As Paulinho said we play direct to ade but he usually fucks it up!
I love watching our possession play but all too often there is no result.
I don’t think we play possession to keep the score down against us – it’s a style, great to watch and it’s entertaining but the result of that should be that we score – and yes; by doing that we do stop the opposition from scoring.
Valid point about injuries and games played but then we have to lay the blame at AW’s door not enough quality in-depth – which has been the major point on this blog for a long time. Many times I have said that our first 11 are the best but as soon as we have to make changes it goes tits up! However; there were many games earlier in the season that we failed to kill teams off and that’s down to this walking the fucking ball into the net style
Anyway; I’m off now; good blogging with you and we can agree to disagree on these points all day long – we still love AFC!!!
May 13, 2008 at 18:03
I could be putting 2+2 together & getting 5 but judging by Hleb’s agents most recent words saying he won’t buy out his contract but everything should be sorted in the next 10 days, I think that Arsenal have a deal to sell him but don’t want anything announced until they sign Ben Arfa.
As I say it could just be a coincidence but the timeline seems very much in line with that of the French cup final.
May 13, 2008 at 18:15
see if Hleb and his agent acted like this in the first place, you would not mind so much
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_3560802,00.html
May 13, 2008 at 18:21
“Hleb has been playing in London for three years now and isn’t sure whether in the future he can show the level of talent that he is showing currently.”
Does he think he will be found out next year?
May 13, 2008 at 18:23
I’m not sure what changing London for Milan does though!!
May 13, 2008 at 18:24
I’m not sure what changing London for Milan does, but thats life.
May 13, 2008 at 18:24
It might mean his form may be affected obecause his off the pitch set up is not particuarly rosy. A guy on another forum seems to have it on good authority that his wife hates London.
May 13, 2008 at 18:25
My first comment went AWOL & has now reappeared!! How strange.
May 13, 2008 at 18:25
well i think people are hitting on his wife.. so he needs to move to quieter climes..
lol
cnut
May 13, 2008 at 18:29
Hleb was at Stuttgart from 19 to 24. At Arsenal from 24 to 27. He probably thinks it would be nice to round off his years in a nice place like Italy where he has more of a chance of domestic glory and a less demanding league.
He probably looks at Chelsea and United and thinks we have very little chance of uprooting those two fuckers within the next couple of years.
It’s kind of understandable. London is a bit of a shithole compared to Milan.
May 13, 2008 at 18:30
‘The city lies at the centre of a heavily populated area, circled by a ring of smaller towns. The inner urban area has a population of 2.63 million making ‘greater Stuttgart’ the third biggest city region in Germany after the Ruhr Area and Berlin.’
Stuttgart sounds serene as well!
May 13, 2008 at 18:32
I think a lot of people would disagree with you there!
London is a great city… especially when you earn £40k a week.
He could live in the suburbs… St Albans isn’t exactly rough is it?
May 13, 2008 at 18:56
i have said it many times…..
forget all centre backs like kompany
Lucio is the one we need, 29 years old, experience, tall, comannding
£10m and he is ours
Gareth Barry should be signed but not at £15m – £10m max
Hatem Ben Arfa is a winger we should sign
SWP also should be bought and thats it we done
May 13, 2008 at 18:57
why is it so quiet in here?
May 13, 2008 at 18:57
will wenger sign some one at 29?
May 13, 2008 at 19:13
if he looking for experience and commanding
Lucio is the man, and he looking for a fresh challenge
May 13, 2008 at 19:24
If Hleb is that wanted we should sell him, get a shed load and spend that on a better player, if Madrid want him, swap him with Robinho or if Barca want him swap him with Ya Ya and Henry and so on, or get in Diego, don’t keep him though, if that’s how he feels, he’ll disrupt the squad, but we need to make an example or next year it’s Cesc.
Either that or stick him in the stiffs.
How reasurring to listen to Ronaldo.
May 13, 2008 at 19:28
@Pedro you need to get out in St.Albans…. they have bouncers at McDonalds! Trust me it’s rough….
May 13, 2008 at 19:34
The Ben Arfa reports look very credible, if he signs he’d be a great addition. As well as that, my dream signing for this summer would be:
Huntelaar
Barry
Mexes
Stillic
Those + Ben Arfa would have us totally sorted for all eventualities, Top Quality Up front, in the middle, on the wings and at centre back + 1 up and coming “Fabregas” style player.
That would cost us a bomb though:
Ben Arfa 12-18 mil
Huntelaar 20-25m
Barry 20-25 m
Mexes 20-25m
Stillic 3m
Total: 75-95 mill ie. very improbable
Although there are lots of other good suggestions that I wouldn’t turn down like:
Dunne, Krancjar Gomez
Is Wenger really gonna take a gamble on RVP’s fitness and just have Bendtner as backup and if RVP + Bendtner are out stick Theo there? I’d say that’s incredubly risky because we need someone who is 100% ready playing next to Adebayor to ease the load. Add to that, Adebayor might be injured.
May 13, 2008 at 19:40
Hi Pedro/Geoff and Le-Grovers,
How would everyone feel about Kolo Toure stepping up into midfield and Le Boss signing a big dominant defender to play alongside Billy?
Billy and Kolo havne’t gelled completely and seem to be to similar to play together.
Both play better with a “lump” next to them.
Remember Kolo and Sol? Billy and the big Chav Terry?
May 13, 2008 at 19:42
Wrighty, we’d never in a million years get Terry. And no I don’t fancy Kolo there, we want a proper midfielder playing in that position.
May 13, 2008 at 19:42
I think we are fine upfront. $ established strikers (OK two are kids but svored 16 between them).
Should RvP break down at the Euros, AW will have time to sign someone on loan (which seems the best option). There are plenty of ageing strikers that could do the job for a few moths and a shitload of dosh. It worked for MU with Larssen, so why not for us?
However, a big unit at DM, is a priority.
May 13, 2008 at 19:46
No matter who we sign unless the FA tidy up the coruption from the Mancscum and to a lesser extent the Chavs
May 13, 2008 at 19:48
No I don’t mean signing Terry, just meant an example of when Gallas played alongside Terry at Chelsea.
Both Gallas and Toure play better with a big defender and allows them both to clean up whatever is left over.
May 13, 2008 at 19:49
Big raddy, but Wenger doesn’t go for stopgaps though. Looking at that possibility from a purely academic perspective, which “quality” 30+ striker who would do a good job for a year can you think of? There is only Henry who could do that for me. That’s the only possibility I can see of Wenger going for a stop gap option 30+ option, and there is no indication of that happening.
May 13, 2008 at 19:50
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Mex%C3%A8s
Mexes is the answer, but I doubt Roma would sell him.
May 13, 2008 at 19:51
If we could have stop-gap Id sign Gattuso in a second
May 13, 2008 at 19:51
Lived in London all my 46 years and it has deteriorated into a fucking shit hole. Another death yesterday and thats 3 this week. I would move now if I had the dough and a wife who doesn’t want to live within a mile from her parents. Love the ARSENAL though and this makes the difference. I live in the suberb as it was years ago Blackheath.
May 13, 2008 at 19:51
Mexes is the answer in central defence for that role Wrighty, but I doubt Roma would sell him.
http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Mex%C3%A8s
May 13, 2008 at 19:51
He did do it with Davour Suker mind ?!?
May 13, 2008 at 19:52
You are right Wrighty a big CB to attack the first ball and Toure or Billy to clean up.
May 13, 2008 at 19:54
Hi Grovers
“There are no problems with regard to his playing opportunities. Alexander is just tired of the noisy and chaotic life in the British capital and feels like living in calmer surroundings” Hleb’s agent said
Can i offer my deepest sympathy to MR. Whippy who’s having to live in horrible London, earning more in a week than most of us do in a year!
It must be hard adjusting coming from beautiful Minsk, with the lovely communist bleak architecture and pollution from the numerous power stations.
Why do people treat us like mugs, I’d have more respect for him if he said he wanted to experience a different league or something along those lines.
The sooner he leaves the better for everyone, not only has he been a disapointement on the pitch but is showing no class nor dignity with the way he’s handling of the whole situation!
wanker
May 13, 2008 at 19:54
He also tried the Beast on loan and although we didn’t keep him the Beast did ok. How would we have done if we had the Beast this season?
May 13, 2008 at 19:54
how many season did davor suker stay with us
May 13, 2008 at 19:56
Finest, off the top of my head , Jon Dahl Toamsson, the Italian Aussie (Vieri ?), Gudjohnsen, ++ ??? . I agree about AW and stopgaps, but surely as an intelligent man, AW must be flexible. I am not suggesting that we sign on a 3 year contract an older player (though I find his reluctance mystifying), if we are prepared to loan players OUT , why not IN ?
May 13, 2008 at 19:57
Hleb’s missus should get out more often as London is more and more like a former Soviet colony every day.
May 13, 2008 at 19:57
The Beast is a useful player but for the money he’s not worth it, thats what Wenger thought. I agree, taking over his Real Madrid would be huge, so if we’re thinking about the Beast, we’re thinking of an extra 10 goals a season player. Barry over the beast anyday of the week.
May 13, 2008 at 19:58
Guys this is quality
HLEBS AGENT 6TH FEB 2008
“I can understand why Barcelona would be interested in Alex,” Spilevski told The Sun.
“But Alex loves life at Arsenal. He feels he is at the best club in the world.
“He has the ideal manager, he loves his team-mates and loves London. Why would he want to leave?”
Loves London. not quite the quotes released today
I think I can guess what is going on here. Has anyone worked somewhere where someone has become dissilusioned and left the Company. They start bitching about all that is bad there and their poor morale rubs off. and before they did leave they could not help but try and talk others into coming with them,
I think this has happened with his Chum Flamini.
Most People (Cesc Included) have enough about them to see right through it but I think Hleb has been talked into it. He is a Follower not a Leader…..Cesc is a Leader
May 13, 2008 at 19:59
I appologise for my political rants regarding London. London is a wonderful city.
May 13, 2008 at 19:59
Agree El Tel, but it makes us sound like old fogeys !! ‘Oh, It was so much better in my day etc ‘……. that is why I got out.
But if I could get paid £40k a week , and live in Arkley/Hadley Wood,… I could cope with the ‘difficulties’ of London !
May 13, 2008 at 19:59
@Gunnershabz – he was with us for 2 seasons…. an ageing established striker. Shows wenger would look at this as an option…. or last resort..
May 13, 2008 at 20:00
Wenger may have done that in the past , but as we are all aware, Wenger’s theme is about building for the future,(the young guns) so he’d rather give the time to a youth player and develop them.
May 13, 2008 at 20:00
Finest I didn’t mean we should sign him I was making a point that AW does do loanees and wondered if Baptiste could have helped us at the end of this season.
May 13, 2008 at 20:02
TH14 on a loan deal…. what a fine idea
May 13, 2008 at 20:02
Where would you have played him El Tel?
May 13, 2008 at 20:02
@Finestcuts – true, but a loan option or indeed a next to nothing transfer fee may see it through. im not talking about us spending 30mil on a 30 year old. Ahem Sheva!
May 13, 2008 at 20:02
Spot on as usual Raddy. I spent my teenage years in Bethnal Green and it was better there in the 70s than it is in all of London at present.
May 13, 2008 at 20:04
was just reading around and came across something abit interesting, what if we signed a nasty ass CB, and move Kolo to holding midfield, think its not bad idea it seems like kolo and willy havent stuck as well as I thought they would and kolo would be quite a scare for offensive midfielders and hes good at breaking attacks…
May 13, 2008 at 20:05
Kolo has to stay where he is, He’s our best defender!
May 13, 2008 at 20:06
Finest the Beast could have played up the middle a bit more forward of the Flamster and Cesc on one side instead of that Cunt Eboue and Hleb on the other side. Up front Ade/Bendtner and Theo. The beast is a lump who had an eye for goal in my opinion he never got a chance with us because TH14 was mates with Ade and clearly didn’t like Baptiste.
May 13, 2008 at 20:06
He’s suffered a dip in form but he’ll come back next season…..
May 13, 2008 at 20:08
hope so…. hes all we have left in the 1st eleven from the invincibles, dont want to see him anywer else but on the pitch! great experience and fine defending… when hes on form, still i wouldn mind seein how he wud fit in CDM
May 13, 2008 at 20:08
do me a favour El Tel , the beast was hopeless & couldn’t hit a barn door , he has a 1st touch of an elephant!
May 13, 2008 at 20:09
Like it or not Abdenor. Kolo isn’t our best defender. Gallas as won everything and thats not because he is shit. Sagna is a far better player than Kolo and Clichy is Clichy. Kolo in midfield for me as I have thought this for years. Why buy his brother to do what we know Kolo can do.
May 13, 2008 at 20:09
And Kolo doesn’t have the mobility to play there. Just wttch him on the ball in the opponents half…. he appears out of place. He doesn’t have Makalele’s intellligence, or Flam’s athleticism. What he has is strength, enthusiasm and presence
May 13, 2008 at 20:10
Henry back on loan for a season while Eduardo recovers? I’d agree with thatas a plan B, but plan A should be getting a striker good for 5 + seasons.
If we went for plan B, I’d be ok with it.
Plan C is not bringing an extra striker in, and I’m definitely not in favour of that, that’s far too risky.
Besides that, we need one more technically super skilled player like RVP, before we had RVP and Henry. I am greatful for Adebayor’s slam dunk action, but we lacked those sublime Arsenal quality goals up front this season. Huntelaar would do it for me.
Here’s what I mean, a good vid with a great soundtrack, enjoy:
May 13, 2008 at 20:11
Well said bigraddy, i have a stange feeling that Gallas will be out the door pretty soon!
……I might wrong though
May 13, 2008 at 20:11
Abdenor The Beast destroyed Pool at Anfield and scored against the Spuds a few times i remember. He played for Real this year and they won the league.
May 13, 2008 at 20:11
Nah El Tel i wouldn say that, hes got top class defending, id rather see him in midfield but he looks quite solid at the back!! Think i agree with abdenor on Baptista… nvr settled, only way he could score was if the defence wer busy lafin at his first touch…
May 13, 2008 at 20:12
And above all, we need a first rate defensive coach. Our back line is fine IF we can get organised and totally concentrated. We fall apart because the space between Kolo and Gallas opens up too wide when the full backs bomb forward.
Bring in TA or Keown, or even better George Graham to coach us to defend as a unit !
May 13, 2008 at 20:12
yeah maybe but his performances for Arsenal we few and far apart and i dnt care wat he did for real :s
May 13, 2008 at 20:16
If Gallas goes I wouldn’t be unhappy but Kolo and I love the guy needs to improve enormously if we are to win the Prem and I think Kolo has had his best moments with experienced players around him showing him where to stand. Senderos gets shit for losing his opponent but Kolo does this regularly without criticism. Jens nearly layed one on him last year, poor fucker.
May 13, 2008 at 20:17
The beast has been warming the bench all season for Real although he scored the winner for at New Camp!
…. but he’s not good !
May 13, 2008 at 20:17
I know one game does not make a player.. but The Beast against Liverfool, 4 goals. But your right he did miss a pen in that game, and on that basis it was right to send him back
May 13, 2008 at 20:19
Big Raddy your point is the same as mine mate. I agree the CBs are great players but they get dragged about into ares they shouldn’t be. I think a proper defensive midfielder could also help by shielding them and holding them back. Flamini was doing a good job but he trotted up field regularly and there was another big gap between the CM and defence.
May 13, 2008 at 20:22
I agree with all of you
Let’s bring big Tone back home, There’s some arses that need a good kicking!
May 13, 2008 at 20:23
I didn’t say we should have kept him I was just making a point about AW loaning players. Please though don’t slag him off because he scored a few goals for us in very few 90 minute games. Poor touch or not. Did you guys see SuperMac play, his first touch was crap but power speed and an unstoppable shot made up for his deficencies.
May 13, 2008 at 20:24
Besides AW needs a proper number 2, Pat Rice doesn’t appear to do much other hold Locazade Bottles !
May 13, 2008 at 20:24
El Tel, would you want Wenger to sign Baptista this summer if he’s available?
May 13, 2008 at 20:43
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_3560802,00.html
If Hleb leaves, we need a good fee for him.
May 13, 2008 at 20:45
If Hleb leaves this summer we need a good fee for him.
football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_3560802,00.html
May 13, 2008 at 20:45
Helb should be put on the transfer list and sold to the highest bidder,Instead of him and his agent dictating his move
May 13, 2008 at 20:46
My area (Chigwell) should pick up nicely once the scum move their training ground to Enfield!! Maybe Hleb could move next door & do some shooting practice in my garden, god knows he needs it & its a nice peaceful area!!
May 13, 2008 at 20:50
Sell, sell, sell sell….
May 13, 2008 at 20:50
Pedro how can I get a picture of a player Rocky would do nicely
May 13, 2008 at 20:52
We don’t need 2 creative central midfilders playing out wide, how huch do reckon we’d get for him!
May 13, 2008 at 20:54
If we’d get anywhere near 20m i’d help pack his bags,
May 13, 2008 at 20:55
Terry, open an account on wordpress.com, upload an “avatar” (there is a search on there if you get stuck, just type in avatar) pic, log onto it when you post.
May 13, 2008 at 20:57
So Hleb fancys a quiet life away from the city?
Milan’s the place for him then i suppose!!!! NOT
Perhaps his favourite flavour ice cream is only available in Milan or his bird Nastya likes the fashion out there!!!
May 13, 2008 at 21:00
If he goes he will not be a great loss . I agree it has looked like he’s had a good season but he is not as effective as you think. He’s scored 5 goals and has only 8 assists to his name in 42 games. Hardly setting the world on fire. He just will not pull the trigger either and when he does his shots are either too weak or well off the target.
As long as we have someone good enough to replace him I think we’re ok. And I dont mean someone who has the same skill as him. Just someone who is more effective and a bit more direct. Pires was not as skillful as Hleb but by god he was a heck of alot more effective – with driving runs and great finishing ability
May 13, 2008 at 21:02
Thanks a lot Finest I will try that,
May 13, 2008 at 21:06
abdenor .. I agree.. btw TH14 never rated him.. his last pass and his shots are useless
he is a luxury player in a team like ours that cannot afford players like him
May 13, 2008 at 21:07
Terry, open up a wordpress account and upload and avatar! Then you are away!
Wrighty, its got to be the worst excuse since he went for Ice Cream with Inter…
‘I fancy a quiet holiday, so I’m going to hit the west end in ibiza for a week’!
A bit of a dumb statement! Like I said earlier, I wouldn’t be fussed if we got a load of cash for him. Anyone can play with Cesc… lets get ourselves a tasty winger in who can weigh in with more than 4 goals and more than 7 assists!
GMR, I thought Chigwell was a nice area already?
Am I the only one who thought St. Albans was expensive? Am I wrong? I thought that was where all the Arsenal and Spud players lived!
May 13, 2008 at 21:10
Pires..why did you leave us?? why did Wenger sell you? what a shame ..
May 13, 2008 at 21:13
hleb has got a decent shot on him.. left as well as right footed.. just ask that reading player… hahah
but he doesn’t shoot ..
actually i don’t think any1 in our team loves to shoot!!!
May 13, 2008 at 21:15
i think bobby pires realised that after he was taken off at the CL final that wenger would probably just give him a 1 year extension.. so he left…
wenger has got to change this policy of his.. look at giggs and scholes…
and FFS we had diaby and our fox in the box and most lethal striker and hleb i don’t shoot playing there….
May 13, 2008 at 21:17
But as the great man said “it’s not all about winning trophies” ……… Yeah Right!!!
May 13, 2008 at 21:34
Bobby certainly did a good job in Spain this year. Good on him.
Should he have stayed at THOF ? I think not, I prefer to remember him as an Arsenal great. One of the good points about AW’s policy of only giving one year contracts to the over 30’s is that we don’t have to see the greats fade away.
Giggsy is an exception, but even he is not the player he was 3 years ago.
May 13, 2008 at 21:37
Get rid of Hleb, find the new Bobby and break the bank for him, ask goofy to come on loan, I bet he would!
May 13, 2008 at 21:39
At the end of the day who really wants players that dont want to play for the cause?
Fla-money showed his true colours and left for the Euro, Hleb has no doubt been offered more dough and possibly ice-cream, I have one word for them both…………
Cesc……
This little Spanish diamond has more loyalty in his little finger than the pair put together and when he eventually moves on to Spain after 15 years service to Arsenal we wont begrudge him that.
Cesc…….i love u…………
May 13, 2008 at 21:41
I hear you Wrighty!
May 13, 2008 at 21:45
van persie sounds very positive as well… hope he stays here for a long time.. hopefully not injured.
May 13, 2008 at 21:46
My opinion is that I don’t mind players fucking off once they have given us a few years great service.
Hleb and the Flamster did not give us that. Cunts.
I think it was Choy who said Wenger should review his over 30’s policy… well said that man!
I can’t remember the last gooner who left us at 30 and retired due to injury…
I know pires picked up a nasty injury, but it’s not like we’re too skint to cover the cost of his wages?
May 13, 2008 at 21:50
No we’ve got no money, we’re building a new stadium and a nuclear power station to help cook those nutritious meals the teams eats. Oh and a fleet of aircraft for our scouts, it will be 178 years before we can compete with the Mancs and chavs.
May 13, 2008 at 21:50
I think Van Persie has the same loyalty as Cesc… we stood by him during that rape debacle and I think he appreciates that.
I hope he has put his injury woes behind him… and Diaby, Denilson, Eduardo, Walcott…
May 13, 2008 at 21:51
Geoff, someone said Arsenal will be paying out dividends next year!
You’ll be quids in!
May 13, 2008 at 21:52
I won’t hold my breath Pedro!
May 13, 2008 at 21:54
hey just listening to Off the ball here in ireland and Graham Hunter(who is a brillant journalist and was the first english speaking journalils barca phoned to let him know about top top class) has said he can 100% confirm that arsenal are interested in RICHARD DUNNE from man city.
Arsenal Have for a fact been in contact with his agent. He has 2 independent sources i think, one from either side.
May 13, 2008 at 21:54
I’m off now, I look forward to hearing what the night shift think of today’s events! Night all!
May 13, 2008 at 21:55
barca let him know first about TH 14 sorry !!!!!! forgot the name
May 13, 2008 at 21:56
well if there is a bargain anywhere .. you can always expect arsenal there!!!
nite geoff!!
May 13, 2008 at 21:56
If it is Dunne, we should know soon. Night again!
May 13, 2008 at 21:56
Night Choy.
May 13, 2008 at 22:00
AW said he was looking to stop the route one stuff and Dunne fits the bill. But I am disappointed . We should be signing players with footballing skills if we want to win the CL. But I guess AW will rotate the team and play him when we play against big forwards.
Disappointed if it is him and not Richards…
May 13, 2008 at 22:01
I just don’t get it! Why Dunne?….. God I hope your wrong COL
May 13, 2008 at 22:04
Wenger said
“I know what I want and I am very confident,” “I hope to turn that around in the next two or three weeks. But the fans should be re-assured by what they see.”
Yes, well if it is Dunne the only thing i’ll be re-assured by is the fact he will miss the opening 3 games due to suspension.
May 13, 2008 at 22:07
spurs have also offically approached city as has his old manager kevin keegan.
It hs basically decided on the show that while it wood be a very un-wenger like signing, it wood be the closest thing to the tony adams wenger first inherited…………..seems not to bad.
The other was that when he was young and it looked like he was throwing his career and lively hood away because he was putting on so much weight, that when king kev did his famous sugar belt stunt, he completely changed his life around, is unbelieveably fit, completely dedicated to his diet, that he wood regard wenger’s diet as being to lack!!
May 13, 2008 at 22:08
So it looks like we’re shopping in Dunnes Stores instead of Selfridges.
Sorry, another poor pun.
May 13, 2008 at 22:08
Morning all.
Have we signed anyone yet?
May 13, 2008 at 22:10
Hey Pedro, it worked. Thanks for your help.
May 13, 2008 at 22:12
I kept a close eye on Citeh’s back line ever since MICAH RICHARDS declared his desire to play for us coz i wanted him to join us.
I have to tell you guys, DUNNE really impressed me , He would complement what we have he’s big, strong, quick but more importantly is someone who can attack the ball & is prepared to put his head where it hurts and he’d no shit from no one, nothing fancy or pretty just what the doctor ordered.
May 13, 2008 at 22:15
That should read he’d take no shit from from no body…..
May 13, 2008 at 22:17
Hey since there is uncertainty over Hleb, and given that it may not be wise to change the style of play because that would lead to “transition” again.
Why not tell Hleb he is not leaving and bring in Miralem Pjanic to be his undertsudy. Everybody seems to think this young lad is the new Zidane….not BenArfa(more ronaldhino attack down the wings type)
So therefore when Hleb gets tired or is not playing up to standard we put Pjanic in the mix. And also I dont know which one of our young reserves we could use to rest Cesc …could it be Merida or one of the English boys(Randall). I mean we would use these young guys more in the Carling Cup and earlier points in the FA Cup to rest these first teamers. And they could also be something like impact substitutes in league games etc.
This way the first teamers would be well rested.
So I say bring in
BenArfa 15 mil
Pjanic 12 mil
Dunne 5 mil or Matersacker 10mil ( to pluck those long balls out of the air)
Maybe an affordable proven striker (like Eduardo) because we seriously cant expect him to be his best b4 the 2009 2010 season
8 mil
In all thats 40-45 mil which i think is a very respectable amount. That is certainly not breaking the bank.
May 13, 2008 at 22:17
Anyone know what an ole ole account is?
May 13, 2008 at 22:21
i dont know wat to think but i asked my city supporting friend wat he reckon, he said their best player for last three years, only one who really cared when they were just awful wit an awful squad last year,
but most important is that he said micah richards is nothin, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING(he really enforced this point as you can see) wit out dunne. Its dunne who controls the back line, he points consistly with richards should be, and micah has stated on many occasions that he loves playing with dunne, because he is better then any coach he ever had, he’s always teaching him everyday
May 13, 2008 at 22:25
It’s the social networking site Arseblog are part of Wrighty…
It’s a poor man facebook… I don’t really get it?
May 13, 2008 at 22:34
Cheers Pedro,
just had an anon on my blog, post “have you thought of making an ole ole account?”
If its like a poor mans face book it can jog on!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 22:34
Gnarley! Nice pic… what is a VB?
I am guessing if you are an Aussie… it is some type of beer?
I am loving everyones Avatars!
They brighten up the site!
May 13, 2008 at 22:40
I’m off to create an ole ole account………;)
Later on Grovers.
Pedro/Geoff
great post again
May 13, 2008 at 22:42
Laters Wrighty!
May 13, 2008 at 22:50
VB is Aussie beer Pedro. Piss weak, & no taste. Not like good old Danish beer… Carlsberg,
No disrespect, GG9
May 13, 2008 at 22:50
I don’t really get the Arseblog chat in general. Each to their own and all that but mentioning football on it is not seen as the ‘cool’ thing to. Or so it seems anyhow.
May 13, 2008 at 23:00
Hey guys remember my picks
Ben Arfa(to stretch the defenses out wide)
Dunne/Metersacker ( to pluck out long balls)
I had Pjanic as well. This guy really looks Zidanesque but if we cant get him I think Nuri Sahin is very good as well and is too years older with more experience.
I am covinced anyone of these 2 guys can come in and be Hleb understudy or in fact play the Hleb role when he is not available.
And also a good affordable striker/loan to replace Eduardo til he recovers.
And as I said these players wont break the bank.
Ben Arfa 15mil
Pjanic/Sahin 12 mil
Dunne/Martesacker 5mil/10mil
maybe affordable striker/loan 8mil
This is in the 40-45 mil bracket, even less if we leave out the striker.
I mean we must be able to spend that. Imean its not even close to so called breaking the bank.
Paulinho, FinestCuts etc. what do you think about that list. I think its one of the most realistic ones so far.
May 13, 2008 at 23:03
I wish wenger would buy Villa. he is a great finisher and knows where teh back of the net is unlike adebayor most of the time. with the chances arsenal creates for strikers, adebayor should be scoring like 50 goals a season. I really really hope Villa comes to arsenal. any new news related to David Villa and Arsenal?
btw, anyone seen this video?
http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikefootball/en__EMEA/index.html
can anyone tell me who that player is? I think it is RVP but the freekicks were taken by a right footed player. also where can i download this video. it is fking brilliant.
May 13, 2008 at 23:15
Ja_Gunner. Agree with all you’ve said. Pjanic would be a great Hleb alternator. However, he was a guest of Lyon at their most recent match so a deal looks unlikely.
Ben Arfa and a midfielder who looks to come in a link up ala Hleb would be perfect.
Andrei Arshavin is a another who can play wide and cut in and create havoc. Maybe Diego as well.
May 13, 2008 at 23:25
I’m off now… I’ve been working behind the scenes to help create a mighty fine post for tomorrow!
Le Chump of the season is announced!
Be sure to tune in…
Happy blogging!
May 14, 2008 at 00:12
Ja_Gunner. I sat directly behind Hleb & Flamini at the last home game. Believe me, all the body language indicated that they were at their final game for us. If Hleb is still with us next season I’ll eat my own socks.
May 14, 2008 at 00:24
Pedro (if ya still there), VB stands for Victoria Bitter, arguably the biggest selling beer in Australia. Sometimes known as Vitamin B. Not as good as Boags Premium, but when served really cold, they go down like a treat.
May 14, 2008 at 00:27
Whoops! I’m @ work so i used my old name.
May 14, 2008 at 00:29
Oh! What ever!!
May 14, 2008 at 00:43
Big raddy, The amount of assists Radford gave the great Charlie George. No disrespect taken.
May 14, 2008 at 00:51
…….& anyway. Down here we drink our beer to cool down. Not to warm up. lol
May 14, 2008 at 03:30
sorry geoff
disagree with you on this one .. we need a striker as a 1st priority , not only are we going to be missing dudu !have a injury prone RVP, but what happens if ade goes missing again for 11 games ?? whilst your playing the cunt and arsene being arsene is reluctant to give anyone else a chance it could ruin the start – middle – or end of the season again !
scoreless against Everton and more importantly most minutes of any striker on the pitch at sunderland and scoreless again !!!!
do you guys have ade blinkers on or something ???
May 14, 2008 at 03:37
i agree old father gun.
hleb is a dead man walking as far as arsenal is concerned .
too many initial rumors of his dislike for london and his banter in the change rooms ,
hlebs agent summed it up when he said there was no way back !
inter or who ever the guy is looking for the exit door !
lets hope arsene gets some serious cash from him !
sell him to barca .. real … not those Italian pricks !
but im sure article 17 might be invoked thats why all the quietness
from both parties .. what ever has happened .. it blew up last week
and now everyone is playing james bond on the issue !
who will replace him is the major question !?
only way i see hleb staying is if arsene buys mega names !
but then we will get FA for him next season ..
in fact he will probably do a flamini on us !
not worth the risk if you want to keep the players value at the club!
May 14, 2008 at 03:55
another revelation is what happens if our midfeild next season isnt that experienced and doesnt provide there normal lions share of spoon fed chances to ade ? We need someone
Like TH14 who can create his own luck and chances .. like a theo !
big mistake making that boy a right winger ! i know no one else can do the job currently(eboue?)
but why waste the talents of our only player who can beat a defense,pass a man so easily compared with everyone else in our squad .. . and have dumbo in theo’s spot missing 70% of the chances !
Sell ade and buy a forward/ right winger !
its arsenes lust to give players new roles ! most times its a mistake !
my biggest gripe with arsene is his continual passion to play his squad out of position !
May 14, 2008 at 04:33
Hlebs agent yesterday…..
Hleb has been playing in London for three years now and isn’t sure whether in the future he can show the level of talent that he is showing currently.
“I can only confirm that some of the world’s biggest clubs are interested in him.
“In any case I can say simply that Alexander will not buy out the remaining part of his five-year contract for a fixed sum of his sale.
“Hleb is a gentleman and will not stoop to that level. (but he thought about it !!!) Everything will be done properly.
“I am sure that the situation surrounding this issue will finally be resolved in the next 10 days.”
————————————————————————–
its like i said he wont dare use the websters clause but he realizes how good we’ve made the cunt so he’s off sniffing the gravy somewhere else !
this part sums it up for me !
and isn’t sure whether in the future he can show the level of talent that he is showing currently.. ( so move whilst i can still command a huge wage for my services!)
fucking loyalty ! it dont seem to matter whether junior or senior !
no fucker wants to hang around if you aren’t paying them enough ! or ain’t winning enough ! those 2 issues seriously have to change or we will continue do this road indefinitely ..
May 14, 2008 at 05:04
the striker will either be gomez or Amauri
and its good to see hleb come out and clear the air at least ..
i think 90% knew he was going, but to websters or not to websters that was the question .
i think the venom has gone out of the move away, i think wenger will be at least happy to get some funds for him .. the question is … will it be enough ?
will the punters who buy him try and steal a bargain ? id be tempted if the player is a want away .. how much do you think he is worth ? 20 ? 15 ?
how much will we get ? 10 -11 ?
May 14, 2008 at 06:39
I’d say 15 Ethan.
May 14, 2008 at 07:08
No signings as yet.
May 14, 2008 at 07:17
Knowing the way our club has been doing business in the past few years i’d say we’ll probably get about £7m for him, and all at the club will think they’ve done oh so well, while the Italians will be laughing at us………
Once again we pluck a relative nobody from obscurity, give him the platform to perfom, raise his profile, he has one good season and all of a sudden we’re not good enough and he wants to fuck off……………….and lets not kid ourselves here it’s all about money, the simple matter of fact that when it suits Arsenal we hear all about the wage structure, that simply means we will not compete with our rivals and we will continue to lose these players…………..sho’s next? Cesc? Or will they suddenly do an Henry and make yet another exception like they did for him and Sol…………
May 14, 2008 at 07:37
Still haven’t signed anyone?
May 14, 2008 at 07:48
still waiting…
No way we sell for less than what we payed. He cost 10. Needs to be around 15 unless something like the aforementioned player swap plus cash with barca or inter.
May 14, 2008 at 08:03
Did we really sign him for £10m, i thought it was nearer £8m…….
May 14, 2008 at 08:08
I guess you’re talking about Helb?
May 14, 2008 at 08:10
Pedro, my avatars have gone all feral, I’m going to have to email you to help me out here. I’m caught between my work & my home.
May 14, 2008 at 08:12
I had thought around 8 then someone said 10. 8 sounds accurate though.
Yaya on coming to Arsenal…
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3562969,00.html
May 14, 2008 at 08:16
Early reports say that Sp*rs are in for Richard Dunne !!!
May 14, 2008 at 08:16
Gnarley… your comments got held up becuase your IP changed, its been approved now, so you can get on here with both computers now!
Ethan, you are fine now right?
All is good in the world of Avatars and Grovers being spammed…
It’s a good post today, we reveal Le Chump of the season!
I think it’ll go up at 0900. I’m just tweaking it.
Any signings yet?
May 14, 2008 at 08:21
Dennis – Hleb was not a nobody playing in obscurity, he was a top-rated international playing in the Bundesliga (like Luca Toni, Frank Ribery, Owen Hargreaves etc). We signed him for a big sum against competition from several clubs including Chelsea. The obscurity came in his first couple of seasons in the premiership!
May 14, 2008 at 08:21
If we get more for Hleb than we paid for him wich am sure we will then i am a happy man,
“i am aware of the interest from the Premier League,” YAYA told skysports.com.
“But I can’t say anything yet – however it would be great to play in a big team with my brother, it would be fantastic but you never know.”
E-boo-eh has been linked with Barca (they need a right back) for so long mabe a swap plus cash deal could on!
May 14, 2008 at 08:21
As to Hleb, he can fuck off. At first, I stood by the feela, but he should either call his agent a muppet and sack him, or ship out. It is very bad for team morale to have a player who is not wholey committed to the team.
10 days is a long time for him to commit to the team. My guess is that his agent will tout him around, see if there are concrete offers, and if not eat humbe pie and say that ‘Alex never wante d to leave, he loves the club and the fans, and is totaly committed to the Arsenal’. In which case , we should sell him.
May 14, 2008 at 08:22
hah, just in time for me to go to sleep.
I think it will be another week before we sign anyone, waiting for other seasons to finish…
May 14, 2008 at 08:22
could be on
May 14, 2008 at 08:24
Eboue = Barca ? You’re having a laugh
May 14, 2008 at 08:26
Abdenor that is the best idea I have heard all day. Any deal in which we rid ourselves of Eboue and get someone of any interest sounds great to me. He is just never going to cut it. My money is on Eboue for chump of the year, that is if it is a player from our squad. Otherwise its Arsene’s cheque book right?
May 14, 2008 at 08:26
a few months ago is was milan interested right?
May 14, 2008 at 08:27
lol…..I know bigraddy but he’s a decent right back,
May 14, 2008 at 08:30
Yepp …. agreed Joaquim Eboue for Le Chump of the year, he worked bloody hard for it, worthy winner in my book!
May 14, 2008 at 08:30
I was a fan of him until we moved him to mid. Sagna is definitely better, but I hadn’t felt we needed another rb. Eboue had rendered Lauren surplus to the requirements.
May 14, 2008 at 08:31
Timao – Sorry fella maybe i’m just being all bitter and twisted, but for me he was a relative unknown, not what i’d call a big signing at the time. But, you’re right about the first two seasons…………bugger all, then a good season, followed by talk of wanting to leave……….well he can fuck off, take the money now Arsene, don’t let this one drag on and on until we get nothing for the time waster…….
May 14, 2008 at 08:32
Chump of the year, does Wenger qualify for that award?? If so it has to be him!! He continued to play Eboue & Senderos even when everyone else knew how rubbish they were.
It was also him who sold Diarra before he knew what was happening with Flamini & it was Arsene who failed to strengthen at the most important time of the season, when he knew we had injuries.
May 14, 2008 at 08:35
chump of the year…. So many to choose from, but for me there is only one winner..
Martin Taylor – B’rum assasin. Delighted that the fucker got relegated
May 14, 2008 at 08:35
My vote for Chump of the Year goes to Derby County, a quality effort from everyone’s favourite Sunday League team – with a worthy shout going out to those mugs from N17 who managed to fulfill their potential yet again………….well done fellas keep up the good work!
May 14, 2008 at 08:37
Eboue shouldn’t take the award. It was not his fault that he was played out of position. As has been rightly said, he is a fine full-back.
And GMR, that is Blasphemy !
May 14, 2008 at 08:38
Bigraddy – I’d like a special award for Martin Taylor……………Cunt of the Year.
May 14, 2008 at 08:41
Barcelona are almost sadistic in their lust for getting mugged by Arsenal…
Chasing Eboue! My god…
Mind you, VB didn’t look to great at Arsenal but he did a job for Barca didn’t he?
Let’s pray the rumours are true… I’d take anything for Eboue to leave in the opposite direction. I wouldn’t mind adding Dos Santos to our ranks!
May 14, 2008 at 08:45
Or bojan!
I would take Deco also, veteran who seems unsettled. Know he is not young but still quite the player and who would doubt him being able to fit the system?
What do you think Pedro?
May 14, 2008 at 08:45
bigraddy, its all true though!!
How abysmal is the UEFA cup. I’ve just seen Rangers qualified for the final by playing 8 games, they won just 2, got 5 draws & lost 1. They scored 5 goals & conceded 2.
I know that at the end of the day winning is the most important thing but if I was a supporter of theirs I just couldn’t be proud that my team had played for penalties in every round.
How can a team like that deserve anything!!
May 14, 2008 at 08:50
GMR, your points are correct, but your conclusion isn’t.
May 14, 2008 at 08:54
bigraddy, how do you work that out?? If anyone of our players earns the award chump of the year then what does that make Wenger for playing them all season??
May 14, 2008 at 09:00
Le Chump of the year has to go to Martin Jol! Or @ least he’s got to be in the Top 5.
May 14, 2008 at 09:01
He’d get Le Champ Gnarley… look at the state the spuds are in!
oh…. NEW POST!
May 14, 2008 at 09:05
We had a good season GMR. In any season mistakes are made, one could point to Ade’s misses, diabolical refereeing mistakes, Bendtner’s ‘clearance from Fab’s shot (1st leg CL).
Where I do agree is regarding the Flam/Diarra affair. It was chronically short-sighted,
May 14, 2008 at 09:32
CNUTs of the year – Martin Taylor the hitman and Alex McCleish, the Tony Soprano who ordered it. I’m delighted they are relegated and I hope they are never seen in the prem again. Dirk Kuyt and Peiter the Cheater Vink, evil buddies from school will both end up rotting in a hell where Peiter chews Dirks nob off while Alex Hleb looks on eating shit-flavoured ice-cream with his agent Bigshit Shitileshvky. The f*cking ignorant twat who made the end of season MOTD montage and the only Arsenal footage he found to include was shots of Gallas fuming at Birmingham. Wigan’s groundsman. Holland.
May 14, 2008 at 09:59
GNR .. spot on.. I would say that both European finals are not exactly an advertisement for football.. Rangers main objective is too get 0-0 drwas at home .. great, aint it?? no need to question Chelsea’s motivations either ..
May 14, 2008 at 20:24
I must admit I generally enjoy your points of view, but the AKB bashing is slightly annoying. Its based on the premise that we should be spending as much as Chelsea and Manu or even newcastle, Spuds, Liv etc. Unfortunately most of those teams (Man u excepted – they are unfortunately running a good business) are currently playing fantasy football (massive losses each year), with rich benefactors paying the way for big transfers and big losses. Arsenal are run properly and this will ensure that we are kept very close to the top of the bunch (with the possibility of the odd trophy – we were 1 game away from winning the league this year – if we had beaten utd instead of losing to them the league would now be ours) for years to come. I’m sure you’d prefer to be where we are rather than where Leeds are now – they were within a gnats whisker of getting to the top and blew it because they lost the run of themselves. I’m sorry, but Wenger has kept us at the top and he does know best. Have faith, he will deliver, maybe not this year, maybe not the next, but when Abramovich gets 20 years in a siberian salt mine, we will still be rosy. AKB.