Good morning Grovers!
How was your weekend? Mine was great… I stayed in and watched the rain during Saturday and Sunday (Not the whole time)… it was depressing. Now it is Monday, the weather gods are having a right old laugh at my expense! What a great day! I do love the sun!
It feels like it could be a good day for Arsenal to buy a player, are you feeling that vibe?
I think the whole Samir Nasri thing has got a bit out of hand over the last few days. I’ve read his agent say he may go, Sammy says he may go and now I am reading he completed a medical yesterday and he may sign in the next 10 days!
People are either getting fed some bullshit of the highest proportion or Wenger is losing his touch on the transfer secrecy front.
Nasri looks a great player, but before people get too carried away please remember that he is relatively untested on the European stage and plenty of players with big reputations have come over to England and flopped sensationally (Cisse, Guivarch, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Cygan, Malouda).
There is not much else going on today, so it seems a good time to have a gloat up.
Matty ‘I am so hard done by’ Flamini, who just moved to Milan will not grace the Champions league until August 2009 at the earliest. Milan managed to finish 5th behind Fiorentina putting them out of the Champions League.
So, if you want to see Flamini play in London this year… it will more than likely be at Shite Hart Lane. I will be sure to write him a post card from the Champions League final next year… ‘Wish you were here Matty Boy!’.
Ha fucking Ha. The grass does appear to always be browner when you leave the mighty Arsenal!
Speaking of Italy, Roma superstar Aquilani is rumoured to be in talks over a £23million move to Arsenal. What do you think? I’ve seen him twice. Would Arsene spend £37 million on 2 creative players? Someone’s agent is telling porkies!
Finally, Geoff is in New York, so if anyone fancies meeting him up for a beer drop him an e-mail. He needs an Arsenal fix and I don’t think he is having much luck with his wireless over there!
Have a great day Grovers!
poor old flamini, what a shame, boo fucking hoo!
the nasri thing looks like it could end up like ribery last year… loads and loads of press about it but nothing actually happening, hope not but its not very arsenal like to be so open
Please wenger, just sign someone already!! I can’t get any work done for checking the latest news!!
is he wat we need? 12 goals out of 122 games, from a player that is often deployed behind the striker?
we need a scorer
I agree Arsenal Tom.
There is no way Wenger is going to fork out for Nasri and Aquilliani. At least the later has done it on the international stage and he has pedigree coming from a big club.
Nasri looks amazing, but I am always wary of you tube hype…
I hear Barca are after Ribery and are also looking to sign Hleb.
Hleb would flop so badly at Barca.
I’m off to work… writing a post from a service station is no way to go…
Happy blogging.
hrmm, i heard that arsene is only looking to spend 25 million pounds this season, but maybe i mis-read it. aquilani would be nice, the italians are creative, but they are a bit of a push-over around the box (if you catch my drift…) ;P
good luck to flamini, but i hope he’s played in a similar manner to how henry has been played at barca. sweet players, but show us some loyalty! your careers were built at arsenal, and there’s been offers on the table for the both of you at the time of you leaving, but hey… greed dominated it seems. pity, but no matter!
as to the news about nasri, idk either… arsene is usually coy about everything and then bam! we have a new player… seems to obvious. it could still be anyone, but we’re pretty much expecting a player from Ligue 1 within that timeline, so who knows… arsene could have done the job on both ben afra and nasri, which would be nice, but i don’t think either is the “big player” he was talking about on friday.
we’ll wait and see though.
It’s fucking great news about Flamoney!! the fucking little nicken-poop !!
Aquilani isn’t a bad player i’ve seen him play a few times, he didn’t stand out as a player i’d LOVE to see at Arsenal, not sure he’s worth £23million though ?!!
Interesting story about Santa Cruz IF Adebayor leaves.
Does anyone know if Flamini and Diarra got into the French Squad?
Amazing that neither Sagna or Clichy made it in. nice to have them fresh for next season though.
Re: Nasri, who would people prefer, Krankaer, or Nasri?
I think it would take Nasri a while to settle into the Prem, where as Krankaer knows what to expect.
i think the aquilani story is pure bullshit did u see how the agent said
“Aquilani is speaking to Arsenal, We will have to see if Roma will be able to match his demands.”
thtas clearly just an agent tryna get more money… and at 23mill!? it doesnt seem likely.
its all gone quiet on ben arfa to… done deal???
did you read that tony adams knows the real reason diarra left arsenal, but he is not saying, although it was on lible football, but we all suspect something happened and this kind of confirms it,
the nasri speculatioin has been fuelled by the tabloids and fans blogs.
has Arsene Wenger or anyone at Arsenal mentioned samir nasri? NO! Wenger has not talked about him at all, the only player he talked about was ben arfa.
there are a lot of agents trying to engineer moves as the transfer season has begun, so take a lot of stuff with a large pinch of salt.
Thenry, Arsene Wenger didn’t say anything about Flamini until 4 days had past… so I wouldn’t hold your breath on him for transfer news.
I would agree though, someone’s agent is making stuff up to get a new contract and I would put my money on the Italian chaps agent doing that.
Nasri seems like he is genuinely leaving… but will it be to us? We seem to be the only club interested which is strange.
@Chris – That is well funny, for everyone else’s benefit here it is…..
I know real reason why Diarra quit Arsenal
Portsmouth No2 Tony Adams admits he knows the true reason why Lassana Diarra quit Arsenal earlier this season – but won’t be letting on.
“I know why Arsene [Wenger] let him go but I’m not going to say,” said Adams with reference to the Arsenal manager’s £5.5m sale of Diarra five months after paying £2m to take him from Chelsea. “Have you asked Lassana?”
Diarra has maintained that he left the Emirates Stadium because he was frustrated at his lack of playing opportunities in the countdown to Euro 2008 with France and knew that Portsmouth could offer him the pitch time he craved.
“You have to think outside the box,” advised Adams.
SO GROVERS… LETS THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX FOR THE MOST AMSUING REASON HE LEFT THE ARSENAL…..
LASSANA DIARRA LEFT BECAUSE…… HE THOUGHT HE WAS IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE WITH EVERYONE SAYING EBOUE WAS INDEED A BETTER PLAYER.
I hope Barca’s interest in Ade means we could snap up Benzema. Along with Vela, Theo, van Persie, Bendtner and Eduardo theres plenty of firepower. Nasri is a far better signing than Ben Arfa. My team would be (subs in brackets)
G Kirkland or Green or Almunia
LB Clichy (Traore)
RB Sagna (Eboue)
CB Gallas or Zapata or Albiol (Song)
CB Toure (Nortveit)
M Yaya Toure or Barry (Diaby)
M Cesc (Denilson)
LW Rosicky (Vela)
RW Nasri (Theo or Eboue)
F Benzema (Bendtner)
F van Persie (Theo or Vela or Eduardo)
Probably cost us £60m
Imcome
Ade £15m
Senderos £ 5m
Hoyte £ 3m
Gilberto £ 3m
Hleb £ 7m
Djourou £ 4m
TOTAL £37m
+ another year under the belts of Randall, Merida, Barazite, Gibbs and Lansbury.
Wenger DID say that he would be signing two Experienced (Or, in other words, DECENT) players this summer. Havent heard of Aquilani, But Nasri has got me excited! Perhaps this is Wengers way of appologising about all that rubbish reguarding Eboue=Parlor……
Pedro – Your right with your comment- Why are we the only club interested in Nasri? Especially when he’s meant to be the all singing all dancing superstar of the future. Something doesn’t add up – or maybe this guy might not be as good as we might think?!?! Looks good on Youtube – but were these flashes in a the pan????????
bare in mind even eboue looks good on youtube!
we have to remember our season finished a week early to… madrid etc will all start dealing now.
it was 2 players providing hleb stayed so we have to expect it to be 3 cos hes long gone. so it could be nasri and ben arfa plus the mystery CB
The press surrounding Nasri this year is similar to that of Ribery & Babel last year but there is a difference, a very big difference. This year we dont have Ebeneezer Scrooge as MD, AKA Edelman.
Prior to our champions league match with Liverpool at Anfield friends of mine bumped into Babel’s agent on the way to the stadium. A friendly conversation ensued until one of my friends asked the agent outright “Why didn’t Babel sign for Arsenal?”. The response confirmed that the player wanted to sign, the boss wanted him to sign but the club wouldn’t part with the money. I can only assume that the Ribery and other deals went the same way as the chief bean counter wouldn’t authorise funds for reasons better known to himself. Well, it seems now additional funds have been liberated and certain restrictions could be lifted but does this mean that Arsene will now go some crazy spending spree? To be honest I don’t think its his style but I do think he will bring in three or more quality players this summer like he did in the summer of 2001 when he ended another season empty handed. That summer Campbell came on a Bosman, then there was Wiltord, Edu, Van Bronkhurst, Wright (Richard) and Inamoto on a free.
Perhaps the fear of ending another season potless next year may encourage him to alter his recent spending embargo and make a serious attempt at bringing in serious players with bigger reputations. So this summer we may see Nasri, Ben Arfa and a big centre half coming to the Grove. Who knows maybe another one or two more?
Pedro/MarkB
‘Tis indeed odd… Maybe the other clubs (Man U, Chelski, Barca) are more concerned about stemming the flow of player(s) leaving (in Manures case, only Ronlado. Hope he leaves…)
and dont forget that Manure and Cheleski still have 3 play the CL Final.
Im not sure who I want to win that one… but i hope that Ronaldo and Cech get injured!! I would say Ballack, but hes a legend… Even though he plays for the wrong team…
Morning all, Dos Santos, as said yesterday must be captured by the boss.
Ben Arfa – i wouldnt say he was any better than hleb, albeit younger and could get better i suppose
Nasri – this is who i think a deal has been done with
Villa – i think he could be in, cesc wants him and the boss wants to keep cesc…
Yaya is the one i see coming in to play alongside cesc
CH – i still aint got a clue, but Kompany’s name pops up, so we will have to sit and guess.
This is doing me in!!!
Nasri YES YES YES, that appears to be happening. Aquilani. NO NO NO way would wenger spend that much on any player let alone another creative player!! that will not happen. I would bet my house on it.
Pablo – food for thought, maybe Babel is the EPL player for us…….
Rico – You could be right with Nasri – which would answer my earlier question about why no else is interested in him. Maybe it is a done deal already – it all points that way i guess- Nasri stating in not so many words he’s leaving, no bids/interest from anyone else made public, as a deal has already been agreed/signed. He could be on his way .
Aquilani is a centre midfielder right? In the mold of Cecs right?
I can’t see it happening.
I could see Nasri signing, but I wont get too excited!
Ben Arfa news has gone a bit quiet? I bet he ends up a spud…
Good point Olli… regarding the concern of stemming the flow. I heard there will be an exodus at the Chavs next year (May have heard it from a grover!).
Pablo… I think Edelman is at Arsenal for another year, and I don’t think Arsene wanted to sign Babel. I read that he got poor scouting reviews due to his weak first touch and bad decision manking.
Theo looks as if he will become twice the player anyway.
I read Traore may be off to Pompey… Do we believe that? I think he will be a monster of a player for us… he really excited me.
So, are we definitely not signing a Flamini replacement and why are there not more names being bandied around regarding a centre back?
more paper speculation about kranjcar being allowed to come to us if pompy get kewell….. hope this is rubbish, kranjcar is not good enough
http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=93603
probaoly rubbish, but food for thought….
Pedro – the Chelsea Exodus “Rumor” has been worrying my Chav supportin cuzns for a while now.. and its been in and out of the news, so there are some fallback points!!
Nasri looks abit light weight no?
I think AW is pissed off how he missed out on Ronaldo and wants to make amends…but will Nasri be as good?
Even from the youtube vids i’m not entirely convinced to be honest.
@ arsenal tom
i think it’ll only be one of that french duo, just not sure which. both are in different situations, with ben afra wanting more playing time (as alain perrin dislikes him) and nasri seems set on bigger, better things.
arsene has said 2-3 players and i doubt that’ll change with hleb leaving. we still need a big CB (but we’ll see more of song next year, no doubt about that one imo) and a second keeper. gilberto will be given more time on the pitch and if rosicky is fit, we’re set! play 4-3-3 with ben afra or vela in the hole, or theo on one flank and RvP on the other… we’d be sweet mate =D
Dtx… his youtube looks like the highlights reel of his misses this year!
He is light weight, but he has magic feet! To be honest, he is a player who for a while I’ve liked the look of, but never felt Arsenal would be able to compete for his signature. Like Quaresma and Benzema…
Who would you guys take… and you only get one!
Hi all.
As much as I’ve also seen clips of Nasri,I havent heard of any other top club chasing after this kid too.Does he come with too much baggage(eg Le sulk Anelka) or sees red mists alot(eg, a younger RVP).
I think its best we ask the AKB’s and see what they know then!
Pedro – like you i dont understand how when the boss has made it clear he is going to buy a ch, that we are not linked with everyone who plays in such position.
the only reason can be that like nasri, this deal has been done already but can not be publisised until all footie has finished. we all know we are not getting anyone from the mancs/russians. so he must be coming from abroad, funny enough….
the french league has its ‘fa’ cup to play, so i guess we will be kept in the dark about ben arfa/benzema (IF either are coming to us)
Otherwise, if the CH is coming any other leagues that have now finished, hopefully we will hear something in the next few days.
Also, at the Q&A meeting, didnt Mr F say he had spoken to Arsene that evening about finalising a transfer.
I think its all happening as we write, and it wont be long…. just wish it would hurry up..
then we can end the speculation, and get on to reseraching the players, slagging them off, telling arsene he has made the wrong choices etc etc….
Hopefully then come Christmas, he would have proved us wrong, we will be sitting 10 points clear at the top of the league, watching the spuds in the bottom three, and we will all be smiling
Sky Sport News – Interest grows in Frey
Arsenal, Bayern, Milan and Barca reportedly track keeper…….
My god… now we are being linked with Seb Frey of Fiorentina!
They are open to £16million offers!
That is like saying Arsenal are open to £20million offers for Eboue!
Pedro, i know you have explained this before, but i am thick with computers. how can i change the picture against my name please,
idiots guide version please, and no teccy language allowed!!! Thanks
i think that the transfer being finalised was ben arfa especially afrter the boss said we would be ‘very interested’ if he was available. the nasri thing seems to have come from no where so im still sceptical on it… would like to hear somthing soon tho, but atleast know wengers been busy
Morning guys….
If you had a choice between either Ben Arfa or Nasri who would be your choice?
I think we should get both, do a swap deal with Barca (Hleb for Toure) and get in a monster CB… But we all know that won’t happen
I like Quaresma (closest thing to Ronaldo in my oppinion)…but i think he looks like an arrogent punk on and off the field.
Benzema looks great too, but i don’t think we need another foward (although i wouldn’t complain)
So i guess i’ll choose Nasri…but what about Ben Arfa? Another rumour thats just fizzled away
rico,
http://dashboard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/profile.php
change picture which you should have saved on desktop or somwhere and click then add, wait i day till updated,
you are done
assumeing you have opened a word press acccoutn
Rico:
See the instructions below…
Instructions:
1. Go to WordPress.com.
2. Open an account (Remember whatever name you give yourself stays, so don’t use your real one!)
3. Go to ‘Users’ (Far right two tabs tab in the dashboard)
4. Click your new user name, then upload an avatar.
The picture normally takes a few hours to register, then you are away!
I hope those instructions are clear enough, if you get any problems, let me know!
JAMES BARTRAM where u from mate?… we got the same surname!
Man Utd went & signed Nani & Anderson last summer even though Fergusmoan has said he didn’t want to sign them then, he did it anyway because he was scared of losing out this summer. I have a feeling Wenger may be doing a similar thing with Ben Arfa & Nasri. Ben Arfa is going to be sold, nobody knows the real reason why but what we do know is that it has nothing to do with lack of talent. We can get a potentially great player for a very decent sum.
With Nasri, I’m not sure about him. The Marseille fans loved him last season making him their player of the season, he even kept Ribery out the team at times. This season he has gone backwards & the Marseille fans have been yelling for him to be dropped. Once again though he is young, a super talent & would be available at a great price!!
I still can’t see both players coming & if I’m honest I reckon we won’t end up with either. A player from Marseille or Lyon’s youth team is more realsitic!!
I can’t even spell anymore. Realistic not realsitic.
nasri looks like a giggs type of player – determined, decent vision, hates tackles and will fight his way out of them, not the best shooter but not bad either, two good feet, quick, likes to run at defenders. Doesn’t seem to have a selfish streak, which is good.
I don’t understand why people think this is likely to be happening. What signs are there that it is?
If it does, we might see a strange switcheroo – nasri to arsenal, vacates at spot at OM for ben arfa, who is out the door since pjanic is in.
Somehow I think OL may get the best deal out of it.
I can’t help but think that if we do get a youngster to play in the front half of the pitch, it’d be a great shame for our current crop, which for the first time (cesc excepted) looks like it’s close to dropping some major forward talent into the first team – barazite, merida, vela, wilshere. Would it not be better to replace Hleb (*if* he goes – not so sure he will) with someone his age or older, teach the kids some craftmanship and then retire just as the kids are reaching their prime? Or does Wenger not like nice, smooth transitions between old guards and new kids, or is it that he wants to be the only father figure in the squad?
I might be a bit harsh with my following comment and not everyone will agree, but AW – ‘This coming season failure in not an option’ I don’t want to be in every cup come Feb next year, only for our season to crash and burn come mid March, as usual. AW needs to start spending money on proven ‘World Class players’, not players that could be good in the future given 3 or 4 years, player that will make us champions in one of the four cups NEXT season. His summer signing need to be spot on!! We’re a winning club and the sooner we get back to that , the better.
If we don’t win anything next term AW needs to start becoming accountable to HIS failure, he’s had long enough to build a squad, an it’s time to start delivering. If we don’t win anything next year then we can say goodbye to our best players.
Mark you won’t get no stick from us with that comment mate…. that’s your opinion and you’de be surprised how many of the guys on here would agree with that
I just reistered wit wordpress got the email back cliked on the activating link and……………….nothing is happening any ideas?
“with”
The Avatar takes a day to load up (Maybe less…)
I don’t know why there is a winking man there…
Fuck me… the feeds are dead today… all the comments sections are dead!
GIVE US SOME NEWS!
Aquilani is a great player with an amazing shot, probably on the level of Seedorf. Cant see us getting him though, he just seems like he will stay at Roma for the entire career. And if the 23mill pricetag is correct Wenger will never go for him.
News:
Libelfootball.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger wants to bring David Dein back to the club, it has been revealed.
The Times says Wenger hopes to use the power vacuum created by the departure of Keith Edelman, the former managing director, to facilitate Dein’s return to Arsenal. The Frenchman remains close to the man who took him to the club 12 years ago and has championed his cause to Peter Hill-Wood, the chairman, and Danny Fiszman, who has a 24.11 per cent stake and is the most influential man at the club.
For now, Wenger has received little positive feedback, but remains hopeful of persuading the board to accept Dein’s return.
Controversial!
i too dont want to be in every comp up until Feb again just to crash out, but im not keen on making demands ‘Failure is not an option’, ‘Buy world class players or else’ etc etc.
We were a bee’s dick away from winning the Premiership and also making the CL Semis, it was just tough luck in the end! Id prefer to be confident come the new season rather than pessimistic.
Thanks Pedro – i have followed your instructions, the cropping of my picture could turn out to be interesting, may have to change, my word that was bloomin challenging….
how good was it that Osvaldo scored for Fiorentina in the 76th minute! A draw in the game would have been enough for AC to make 4th!
I think Wenger might sign 3-5 players with the 4th and 5th guys being some1 obscure, either 2 young blokes that wont get counted in the main stats, or maybe 1 bloke on a free and a loan swap..
just to throw something different into the mix!
Hey Pedro…Odub mentioned that you can change your name somehow even though you have to nominate it at the start as he used to be odubber? i cant figure out how to do it as i used evo007 instead of Evo in Oz
To be honest Pedro i wouldn’t mind the idea of this Kroenke geezer to come onto the board.
He has Business knowledge that our current board don’t and has money for added investment.
Failure should never be an option again… we are in a new stadium, we are making loads of money and we have the best manager in world football.
Failure is definitely not an option! I am very positive about the new season, if we buy well… it could be a great year.
The event of the summer? Rosickys operation. If that goes well, we could really contend next year.
Bradley, there are loads of signs pointing to Nasri. He is creative, young and French to start with (What Wenger said he was after, bar the French bit). Nasri said it was his last game on Sat, his agent says there is interest from abroad and he wont move within France and Marseille say they will sell.
Excuse the grammar.
There are many signs if you read between the lines… what a poet!
No problem Rico… I look forward to seeing your avatar!
im with evo… WHEN hleb goes we’ll have to buy a replacement that makes it 3 ‘top class’ players for me with 2 being midfielders.
presuming ben arfa is already a done deal who would u rather replaced hleb…
nasri, diego, or kranjcar
Evo change your nickname in your profile (Where you add your avatar).
You can have any nickname you like!
Thanks Pedro, got it !
I think the boards plan is to eventually bring Kroenke on board & then gradually sell him shares over a long period of time. That way he eventually takes charge & there is no way F&O can get their hands on the club.
We will have to see if it ever works out that way but I have a feeling it might. Kroenke is a billionaire but he still isn’t rich enough to buy the club outright in one go without placing the club into debt. This way he can purchase the other board members shares over many years!!
In the meantime all I want is a few signings to get me really up for the Euro’s & the new season (or at least pre season).
Stan the man is a sportsman, a shrew business man with a few dollars, not an over sized ego man from russia…….
If bringing Stan on board to help with the business side of our club, and make more money for us to spend then i say go for it, also this should keep DD well away. There must be a good reason why DD was oiked out, and rumour is that it was trying to sort an unwanted takeover. So that now could all backfire on DD who now feeds the Russian his lunch, and plenty of it.
This Aquilani story, smacks of an agent trying to get a better deal for his client, so i dont think any of us should waste time reading any more – unless ATC.com announce something very different of course.
Dos Santos is off for an Op today, so he will have recovered well in time for our new season…. i know, wishful thinking…..
Pedro, so Nasri will end up at spuds then!!
its really turning into a big race about which rumour can get the most headlines…the aquilani one is starting to hot up today!
http://www.soccernews.com/arsenal-eye-3-french-players/2150/
Hope this link works.
Well whatever transfer Wenger supposedly spoke to Friar about finalising is taking a fucking long time to complete.
This is going to be another very long week.
I am sat watching the cricket, sky sport fully aware i should be out cutting the grass, doing the weeding etc as not at work today, but its chilly and i’m sure my throat is sore……
but hey, sky sports have just reported from moscow, its so funny. the grass turfts on the pitch have not knitted together, and there are humps, lumps and bumps all over the pitch – scouser mcmahon has been on the grass in his socks and reports that the pitch is absolutely dredafull, and dangerous if it still is the same on wednesday. some places the turfts have been taken up. on a serious note, if they play on this surface, players will get seriously injured…… mme mme mme
Ol’ red nose will not be a happy chappie!!!!
sky also goes on about us in talks with Aquilani again, having had an offer for him rejected last september…… they just wont give up
Could it be that Hoyte is going to villa in aswap deal plus cash for Barry?
So what effect does the weak dollar have on Stan the man taking over at the Arse? $1billion isn’t very much is it? He certainly wouldn’t be able to make any lavish buys?
What benefit would his leadership have?
Hey, I don’t mean to talk about the mailing list, but it’s my thing at the moment. It is really pretty damn cool… it updates throughout the day telling you how many comments are up!
That is very clever for an e-mail!
Lehamann is off!
Evening all. Its a bit quiet on the signing front so I thought I’d vote on arsenal.coms 50 greatest Arsenal players. 1st DB10 2nd CG9 3rd TH14. Anyone disagree with Bergkamp as the greatest ever.
i’m an aussie, arsenal tom. from melbourne. way back from england though (like 150 odd years… haha). gj with the surname though, haha, where are you from?
also, just quietly amongst all this talk of nasri, i’d much rather yaya toure. i know its been quiet on that front but i think with guardiola coming in as the barca manager, things’ll change down that way, and its been indicated that they’ll change in a big way from everything i’ve read. also he’s indicated that he wants to play in england alongside his brother so i’m kinda hopeful that arsene’ll make a pass for him. i think nasri still needs developing and i don’t think we can really afford to be bringing developing players into the fold next season.
Hey James, im also from Melbourne, but live in Sydney these days!
gah, booo! i need more arsenal supporters down here, its only mainly me and my brother, and even then we’re hardly ever able to watch games (as i work in a bar and he’s always drinking/partying)… haha! =D
DB10 – the best ever to wear an Arsenal shirt!
They even have Ashley “enema” Cole as a candidate/potential vote.
All hail King Bergkamp… Legend in every sense of the word
i used to watch the games at the Charles Dickens Tavern on Collins street!
Evo, where’s your map gone?
shutdown my internet explored by accident then i forgot to log back in.
There you go.
Santa Cruz, do you make much of this latest talk. I reckon we’d have more chance of Santa claus signing.
PEDRO… i just registered with that wordpress site… will the avatar automatically appear when its loaded?
london here JAMES! god its sooo quiet today! i pray we hear somthing this week from the club… wenger saying it should all be done in 2/3 weeks has made me even more unpatient!!
It will appear in a few hours Mr Bartram…!
Santa Cruz rumours are a few…i doubt he will be signed!
Hey evo it sounds pretty quiet over there. Everyone has either gone to lunch or gone for a sun bake in Hyde Park.
or a booze up in the pub…that was me yesterday!
What? again! I’m limiting myself to one big session these days @ my age.
……per week.
yeah i need to try and do that…easier said than done!
Gnarleygeaorge9
I agree.. Bergkamp was my number 1, closely followed by Henry
Henry is would have been my number if he finished his career with us.. but take nothing away from Bergkamp he was in a class of his own, not an out an out goal scorer in his later years, but probably the best player ive ever been privileged to have watched and grown up admiring. Loyalty & determination is another factor that Bergkamp had and always showed, Henry was amazing but sumtimes he would get in a strop which would annoy me, but he did make up for it most the time.
Anyway i think our strike partnership of Ade – V.Perise or a V.Persie – Walcott will blossom.. we have so many combinations to try out, and all our skillfull in their own ways. Bendtner + Eduardo included.. we have a very promising future if we keep them all happy.
Ive seen a Ben Arfa a few times… he will definately add sumthin to our team, but he wants more football – could that be a problem when Rosicky Hleb are all fit? Cant help thinking that sum1 has to go.. I relly hope Eboue gets sold so Hoyte gets to compete for RB.. but i cant see that happenin.. I like Eboue but we wasted a whole season trying him in that position in my eyes.. Yes he added Defensive stability but that isnt enough for me.. Flamini added defensive stability, Sagna.. Clichy as well but they still managed to contribut to the attcks.. Eboue simply looked lost. Wenger we are not sayin this in spite to prove it failed becos he might turn into a decent midfield player. But it has been very very frustrating watching him this season.
Im not the type of Arsene Knows fan.. im a very dedicated arsenal supporter with my own opinion. And my opinion is Wenger didnt get it wrong but its not worked as well as he planned it to, but at times he had to make the choice of riskin Walcott in that position or Eboue the safer option defensively. In a way it hasnt done Walcott any harm and its taken alot of presure off him this season, but i think Walcott has got to be above Eboue in the pecking order by now?????
Good 1 chris. I wonder if anyone managed to scrape Cole or Anelka into their top 10?
Pedro, Kroenke has 1 billion GBP. In USD he has an estimated $2.2 billion. Anyway although it would probably never happen I’m sure his wife’s family would help out. She is one of the heir’s to the walmart fortune & already has a personal fortune of over $2 billion herself!!
As I say thats not worth worrying about right now. Even if Kroenke does eventually take over it’ll be years down the line.
Still no transfer news!!!
Lots of people seem sceptical of us signing posssibly both Nasri and Ben Arfa. From a financial view I can see why but in terms of pure playing ability it wouldn’t surprise me at all. Neither of these guys are top, top draw and in the Lionel Messi bracket. They’re both unproven, sketchy talents who could go either way.
Neither particularly excites me and that usually is the case when Wenger signs a player. Then they become very good players!
My dream this summer would be to sell Ade and buy Samuel Etoo. Then keep Hleb and buy a winger and a creative central midfielder.
So:
Etoo
Aquilani/Nasri
Ben Arfa
Carlos Cuellar
i cant wait to see walcott next year, i think he’ll be our version of ronaldo obviously to a lesser extent but in him we have a player who is used to playing up front so will get us goals, he’ll be flying down that wing roasting 90% of the defences in the league and with a fit RVP and a repeat from Ade & cesc & a few new faces we should be very this time next year
Chris, Rosicky will never be fit! But you are right to assume Walcott will be his cover this year… I hope!
‘And my opinion is Wenger didnt get it wrong but its not worked as well as he planned it to’
I think you are saying he is wrong using political double speak!
I know about the connections, I just wondered whether Kroenke would look for ways to invest in the team organically or would he look at investing personal wealth? Also, how would he pay for it? Glazer style or Abramovich style?
The Walmarts are the biggest landowners in America I think… he should pay for it himself…
Hey, did anyone know the guy who writes ACLF is 21? That was a shock… I imagined him to be quite a bit older… the internet eh?
Pedro, when does the big brown bear get back?
eto is past it…. sell ade if he makes too much noise
He is back in a week, but I am hoping to see him online later on!
He e-mailed me, the man drank a lot of beer yesterday…!
What is ACLF?
A cultured left foot… its an Arsenal blog.
Cheers, Pedro, Over and out.
Catch you later Gnarley
nite guys, catch you tomorrow!
That’s a complete fallacy about me drinking/partying all the time James.
In more Arsenal related comments though, i can’t stand the offseason. Every year it’s the same – links with everyone coming in but nothing much eventuating and all the European giants picking over our squad like carrion. We really need to have a few seasons of strong moves and growth to dispel this myth/conception that Arsenal are a feeder club for the big teams.
Personally i’d like Hleb out, he’s had three seasons to make an impact and whilst looking good this season has failed to produce the end product thats required of players in the attacking mid/winger position that he’s been playing. Add to that him and his agent making noises about leaving and i wouldnt be too bothered if he left – a swap with Yaya Toure would bring in the defensive midfielder we need at little or no cost.
to be fair to rosicky prior to joining us i dont think he was especially injury prone. hopefully the op will get him back to where we was cos if hes fit for a full season he’ll make a huge difference
If we do lose Hleb however, the average hotness of Arsenal players girlfriends will drop significantly.
Nasri, Ben Arfa, Yaya Toure swap with Hleb and a big CB and we would all be happy… and it’s not out of our reach neither… we supposedly have £25m but is that with or without last years kitty that was never spent?
Barcelona chasing Arsenal pair Van Persie, Walcott
tribalfootball.com – May 19, 2008
Barcelona are chasing Arsenal pair Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott.
Gunners striker Emmanuel Adebayor has already emerged as a top target for Barca and DiarioSport says Van Persie and Walcott are also on their shopping list.
New Barca coach Pep Guardiola wants to add quality wingers to his squad and both Arsenal youngsters have been discussed.
Link
Chris i wouldn’t read too much into that mate… Tribal are well known for being shit spouting twats who make up their own stories like a Gypsie to a policeman.
Bit late, but yes – no question, DB10 – best ever.
how reliable is this epping local guardian, they report we are after Dabo, via the mirror tho i think
Aussie site right?
It spouts shit, but I love it! Its in my favourites and they sometimes get it right! They were on the Hleb story a month before everyone else!
jay, i read that the money from last year rolls over into this years fund… which makes the idea of 25mil laughable… that 12.5 a year… teams coming up have more than that!!
wenger will have as much as he wants (within reason) if he chooses to spend it is up 2 him
With all these rumours of Krancjar… just out of interest.
Would any of you be happy if we sign him?
I watched him closely on Saturday and i would be extremely disappointed if we signed him
cheers pedro – i love it too, seems a little more reliable than Tribal who just seem to make anything up – pedro, do i need to do anything else now i have set my account up and added a picture or will it just appear tomorrow like magic, as will our new signings….
It’s that end of season feeling, but we have plenty to look forward to. Nasri and Arfa are the “leaders” as far as public infor goes on who will join us. But there are big question marks over both. Nasri has the professional history with Ligue 1 player of the year award last year, but he has only scored 11 goals in over 120 appearances. His own fans are on his back because of his dip in form, is this the ready made player we’re looking for?
Ben Arfa, once again has tons of awards, has been schooled for pro football since an early age. But 7 goals in 62 appearances. Arfa is 21, Nasri is 20.
Hardly “ready made” material. Both have the skill, the pace but are unproven in the Premier league(or La Liga or Serie A) and neither have an outstanding record of personal achievement as far as goals are concerned. This may be the way forward for Arsene considering he feels that some players who play in the middle DON’T have an obligation to score.
We can rely on Fabregas to a certain extenet but there has to be more quality accross the board. Without Fabregas we would not be a top 4 team this season, he is the clear difference between us and other top 10 teams.
If we get Arfa and Nasri, these are not ready mades, they are up and coming players.
I mean Nasri v Barry? Give me Barry anyday.
Justin Hoyte looks likely to be off to Villa, a good deal for us and them. We’ve taken Hoyte as far as we can, and if O’Neill wants to finish the job off and pay us 4.5 mill I say let him go. He is definitely Premier league standard but not really Arsenal standard. For Villa he’s a major deal, and even if he flops there, once he has a season under his belt he’ll be easy to offload to any team who have just joined the Premier league. We have Kolo and Eboue at right back for cover.
Eboue only has a year left on his contract. it was amusing reading stories about how he planned to make right win “his” position. He’ll no doubt be able to get another contract in the Belgian league once he’s done at Arsenal, if Arsene doesn’t renew his contract he could leave on a free like Flamini. I’d try and flog him in the January transfer window when clubs with injury problems will pay top dollar for anyone who has experience at a top 4 club.
Santa Cruz’s name has popped up as a replacement should Adebayor choose to leave. If we sold Ade and got in Santa Cruz, we’d probably get 25 mill for Ade and pay arund 15 for Santa, a good bit of business as far as I’m concerned but Ade will most probably stay and now the public expects.
Bendtner matched RVP’s goal record this season with a similar amount on the pitch. This years experience should put him in good stead and he could challenge Adebayor next season.
Bottom line: Arfa and Nasri are young guns, Santa Cruz? Adebayor ain’t goin’ nowhere, he’d never get the chances he get at Arsenal, he can take the money from Barca but he’ll never get em singing “give him the ball…”.
yeah gonner jay, it is sourced from a spanish site which i gave teh link to and even in eth comments section people are calling them liars,
RICO epping local guardian is a shitty free local paper in essex… take no notice if i was you mate
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N6O9aa5lQMs&feature=related
cross bar challenge, i havent seen this before
cheers ArsenalTom
Epping Forest Guardian just copy stories they’ve read on websites and “copy write” them or if they hear a jazzy rumour they type it up and print it as a story.
There are quite a few sites I detest…
Epping news
The daily mail
Fans FC
Sportingo
Football corner
All shit websites that are there purely to make money from ads.
finest how can you compare Nasri and Barry? Its like comparing Vieira and Merson- i.e. completely different players in different positions. Nasri is a Zidane type player- second striker, behind the two in the hole, or cutting in from the wing.. Barry is far more defensive.
I’ve been thinking about our keeper situation- Jaaskelainen? I would LOVE him, he’s perfect competition for Almunia, very experienced, and FREE.
Come on lets have Bolton do US a favour for once!
the crossbar challenge is quite old, i like it how it says ‘extended official edition’ at the start, the original that was on french tv (i think) had a few more players have a go – i distinctly remember Alex Song completely hacking it.
sportingo is probably the worst site as it tries to give the impression they know what they are talking about!
the daily mail is fucking awful to.. like a paper version of tribal football
Nasri plays out wide though right? So it would be quite difficult to compare Zidane and Nasri… unless we were talking vision?
Chipo, I think Almunia has done fine this year? He hasn’t cost us any games and he has played well. Jussi is a good keeper though… but would you stifle the first ever keeper Wenger has raved about?
Hughsie… Song did duff it, he duck hooked it big time! Was that the vid where almunia won?
Chipo ,they’re both central midfielders. I would not want Nasri with us playing 4-4-1-1,
4-4-2 is much better, and where would we play Nasri?
Phil Senderos has announced he is staying at Arsenal. Whoopty doo!
He plays out on the right… he used to compete with Ribery.
Pedro – Yes.
that must be the first new signing then – senderos!!!!!
sup gooners.not at bad day for arsenal.first things first David villas goal yesterday! lol…next torres… wenger hope u were watching..
wheres that paulinho?
I think one of the problems Arsenal have is that their attacking wide players or more correctly our attacking players we play out wide – Hleb, Eboue, Rosicky, Diaby and Walcott all arnt natural wingers and love to cut in.
I don’t necessary think this is a bad thing as it draws the defending full backs in tight and opens up space for our fullbacks to get into but i do think that we’re quite often predictable when we go out wide – Hleb always cuts in, Diaby always cuts in, Eboue always cuts in.
But this predictability surely means we’ve got to look at players who are able to play the dual role of a winger and get to the byline and pull one back or be confident enough to bring the ball inboard and open space behind for our fullbacks. I guess the question is can Ben Arfa or Nasri do this?
I do know that Walcott towards the end of last season started to develop into this more rounded wingers role with his pace getting him around the outside and to the line for a cut back numerous times.
I dunno, im not sure where im going with this. Just seemed like last year there were a few times when we kept trying to smash our way through or lob a cross into a packed central defense when in situations like that beating the full backs out wide and getting around behind seemed like a much better chance of creating chances.
thinking out loud.
arsenal tom, i think senderos news is recorded in ‘house of horror’
Walcott, Nasri and Rosicky competing for the right slot? Surely Nasri wouldn’t join us to become third choice, and Wenger wouldn’t put him straight in there as number 1. He would be a good purchase for the future but what about the instant impact we’re looking for.
With vela covering for Eduardo getting a striker about as likely as us signing Saha.
Falmini’s position is vacan, we have Gilberto and Diaby, but we could do with a ready made player there. Ben Arfa for Hleb makes sense. Nasri?
What about the “experienced ready made” player/s? Unless Wenger believes that their experience amounts to that.
Pedro mate, i’m not saying we sign Jussi to REPLACE Almoon, i just think we need a bit more experience back there- not comfortable with just Almoon and Fabianski for the whole season- who’s our 3rd choice- Mannone??? come on we need to be stronger than that- man u have van der sar kucskak and foster…
And fine, Nasri plays on the right- but he’s still a Zidane-type player, whereas Barry is more defensive!
Stop bullying! lol
I thought Mannone was shite for Barnsley? I know what you are saying though… have a decent back up with proven ability would be nice… and FREE is attractive.
I imagine Nasri to be like Hleb with product (Even though his stats wouldn’t point towards that regarding goals).
Will we sign a flam back up or is that dream over?
Can you believe Sagna and Clichy didn’t make the French team? What a joke… It reminds me of England Coaches overlooking our back 4 of the early 90′s…
Finest, couldn’t agree more about Nasri… I would give him a 10% chance of being an immediate hit.
sky sports news. They were talking about an Arsenal player having 2 years left on his contract and the player wanting to stay and I instantly thought Hleb must be staying. Then they said it was Senderos and my heart sunk.
Once again Wenger sticks his head in the sand and refuses to be ruthless enough. Watch Sendy get us knocked out of all tournaments next season again.
id like to see nasri and ben arfa… ben arfa been spoken about for ages b4 the hleb thing was definate, and nasri could be hlebs replacement as he can play across the midfield
Its a joke- Sagna was streets ahead of any other right back in the prem this season, and Clichy was IMO on a par with Evra as the top left back. Abidal is atrocious, Sagnol is past it and Clerc is pretty dodgy.
But to be honest, i didnt expect anything less from Domenech- he’s a complete fool, how he’s held onto the job for this long ill never know. From a purely arsenal perspective though- fucking brilliant- we’ll have them (and Diaby and HOPEFULLY rosicky) raring to go for August. BRING IT ON
p.s. sign Jussi NOW!
Maybe im just buying into media hype and speculation but the way transfer markets and fees are going these days if you want to buy anyone who’s young and has potential you’re either going to have to get in early and pay a bit or end up competing with every big club and their money driving prices for talent through the roof.
so Arsenal are looking at purchasing Nasri and Ben Arfa, it’s possibly a similar move to Manchester United made last year with the Anderson and Nani buys – getting in and paying a large but not bank breaking fee to secure the rights to talent that’s going to keep the club on the up and up for years to come.
Chipo, I’ve heard lots of comparisons to Zidane but they only ring true once a player has achieved accolades similar to Zidane’s. Stillic of Bosnia is a “Fabregas” type, Vela is an “Eduardo” type. Arfa is still the front runner, with Nasri a length behind…
I ready somewhere that Justin Hoyte is a “JLloyd Samuels” type.
The transfer saga continues…….
How about Canizares from Valencia in goals – He’s going to be released on a free this summer!!
By the way Pedro, how do I change my little picture? I wanna jazz it up!
diego, diogo, gomez, nasri and cana and three from five will do