I have now read on three sites to my horror that Arsenal old boy Tony Adams has asked to take Fran Merida and Carlos Vela on loan, with Vela being allowed to leave at the end of the season should we buy Arshavin, I sure hope that is bull as that would be utter madness.
Vela has only started 8 games this season and Wenger seems reluctant to play him which baffles me, but to sell him at his age, with the talent he has would be utter madness.
Man City are also in again for Kolo and may be prepared to up their offer to £15mil, I love Kolo but if they were serious with that offer, I’d take it and buy Chelleini straight off, but again I think it’s all paper talk and Wenger wouldn’t spend that much on the 6th best player in the world let alone a defender.
Or maybe we could swap him for Richards, now that would be an awesome deal, and one I think they would entertain.
Moyes says it shows how far they’ve come that they’re disappointed not to have beaten Arsenal, he must have forgotten when they beat us in the snow two seasons ago. Plonker.
Anyway, what’s worrying is we only have 2 days left to sign Arshavin, whilst I still think we’ll sign him, if we don’t Arsenal would have gone 3 complete seasons selling more players than we buy as well as progressively getting worse as a team, at least last season we got to the semi final of the Carling cup.
So if Arshavin really is the only target we do have and we don’t sign him, the boss should be looking forward to another bumper pay packet this year so at least someone will be doing well, his words not mine.
On to tomorrow, the day we hope we unveil Andre, I have a feeling Eduardo will either come on or start, I think the theatrics of a situation like that appeal to our Arsene and Eduardo deserves all the cheering he’ll undoubtedly get when he trots back out on the pitch, he may also be the toe up the arse that Adebayor needs as well.
Ok West Ham played well the other day but we did beat them at their gaff so I fully expect us to beat them again at our place, I mean when was the last time they beat us at home eh?
That by the way was irony and the reason I mention it is they have probably beaten us at home as much as anyone in the last five years so we need to be on our toes.
That said though I do expect us to win this one, and win well, Eduardo if he plays will be wanting a goal or two, Ade will be trying like hell not to get subbed and Robin just loves the big stage, so expect a better game than on Wednesday Grovers, Arsenal to win 2 nil.
Have a great day everyone, dare we expect that today Arsenal will do their duty???
Paulinho – I don’t think he’s earmarked anyones coming of age, it’s a steady progress over a certain amount of time, we’ve got no-one left from the midfield of last season but we’re not completely off the pace and we have produced cohesive performances to build off.
I know you don’t like Denilson, but it’s not a massive stretch for him to grow into a sort of Flamini-esque player, where he might not have massive amounts of skill or technique but be consistent enough a player to make up for it. With the right players around players like that we can still move forward.
It’s pretty obvious we’re not going to suddenly become this sqashbuckling team agin over a season but as long as you bring players through and together you can build from it.
Keyser, yeah roughly.
From what i remember that was the reason we were hardly breaking the bank when we were the best team in the country (those were the days).
Well, that is great news: Rosicky has started doing intense runs. I cannot wait for his return. Still my third favourite player. Cesc, RVP.
Ethan you may know construction but you dont know finance.
The highbury debt is roughly 6% pa which is capitalised into the debt, so when it was 130m in the summer that included the interest.
gambon
Ethan, arsenal could comfortably borrow money if they needed to
oh come on ! would you lend any more money at a bad financial time to a organization that is in
debt up to and beyond there eye balls ?!
also would the board want to get in more debt ?
i think not !
thats why they started this youth project to begin with !
thats why wenger needs to make a profit every season !
to make way for these hard times ..
also dont count on real estate moving too quickly , and calculate a huge drop off in people who have money over the next 12 months too 2 years .. sorry i cannot NOT see the credit crunch taking its tole on highbury in some way – shape or form !
Ethan,
yes the crunch will affect the flats. They may have to market some flats at a lower price, probably not a lot though.
as for the loaning thing, well banks dont go by the opinion of a few posters on a blog, they go be ratings, Arsenal are AA rated, which means there are maube 10 banks who wouldnt loan them money.
Anyway, all irrelevant, we dont need any loans, we just need to spend the cash we do have.
gambon
The highbury debt is roughly 6% pa which is capitalised into the debt, so when it was 130m in the summer that included the interest.
what ?
well as global interest rates are more like 9 %
and they obviously can pay off there loan at any time (hence building highbury to begin with) too off set the stadium costs ..means the loan is flexible and fluctuates with inflation
yes and in the summer you were probably like at 30 % of the total repayments of construction costs then , and done so to avoid paying capital gains on the financial year . now its probably more like 270 mil !
and in june/dec full repayments will be closer to 300 + mil !
so you had better hope they sell them quick !
gambon
Anyway, all irrelevant, we dont need any loans, we just need to spend the cash we do have.
thats the point we dont have any …
can you think of any other reason why we are close to losing AA over 3 million short fall ?!
and you cant blame wenger he isnt the director of football – CEO anymore , he talks to the media but they got Ivan Gazidis doing negotiations with zenit ..
so its the board tailoring the deal !
I can understand the frustration of many an Arsenal fan as when you are used to a winning mentality it is hard to stomach insipid performances like Man City away,Fulham away and Everton away to name but a few which is all made worse with the knowledge that Arsene could have resolved these issues in the closed season with the purchases of 2 players,in my opinion(One central midfielder and one centre back).However it seems to me that some people are going way overboard and losing their memories regarding our performances in the last few seasons.As far as I can remember and please correct me if Iam wrong last season we were topping the table playing some great football until it all fell apart at Birmingham away and we dropped away dramatically and embarrassingly but my point is that until that point I didn’t hear too many concerned voices at Arsenal on match day who were genuinely worried that Arsene had lost his ability to manage the team so for some people to suggest that this average brand of football we are witnessing at present has existed for some time is wrong.We shouldn’t also forget that we were 5 minutes away(and a shit ref home and away)from knocking Liverpool out of the advanced stages of the Champions League so in my opinion the woories have only really starteds this year as we don’t even look like competing.
This guy is seriously good.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu4bcKTZ5PY&feature=related
This guy is seriously good
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu4bcKTZ5PY&feature=related
But George, we shouldn’t have fallen away. Granted there was no way of predicting Eduardo’s injury but when Rosicky got injured his replacement was Eboue. We are the only “top team” that has absolutely no strength in depth.
Add to that the situation where we sell our better players for relatively low fees damn near every summer and don’t replace them.
THAT is why Wenger has come under massive question this season in particular. Also its because of the amazingly ignorant and stubborn comments coming from him. I know he needs to give the players confidence but saying our squad is only 2 or 3 % off being a top team is down right astounding. I hope he doesn’t believe what he says because they are the words of a man gone mad.
You create your own luck through preparation etc and naive performances this season in too many games for comfort would suggest that there is little or no preparation for games. Success covers up the cracks temporarily because that’s all most of us are concerned about (and i believe rightly so) but when a team is doing as poorly as we are (given the expectations surrounding the club) then the cracks, flaws, problems etc become clear for all to see.
All but Wenger it seems.
Luca Toni just has a shocking miss. Worse than Bents imo.
Anyone think we would be able to get Philip Lahm? He looks the bollocks! Great attacking full back and fairly productive too. I wonder if he’d be expensive.
Ethan,
Without a doubt the club has some financial challenges and it shows in the laboured maner we try to make a 15million signing. Such decisions are made routinely by even Bolton!
My take is we know all of this, what can we do as ardent fans/supporters to check these guys. We know they have more funds in the club, but that does not mean that they have the best strategy to move the club foward.
Defoe has broken his foot, out for 10 weeks. hoho
Agreed Stu that it wasn’t good enough to fall away like that last year but playing Devil’s advocate;do you not think that as Eboue was effectively 3 choice right sided midfielder it is a little harsh to blame Arsene when he would always now play Rosicky or Walcott in front of the hapless Eboue but couldn’t because both were permanently injured.This is the first season in Arsene’s time at Arsenal that I feel someone else could have made better decisions overall but Iam prepared to forgive him a couple of errors of judgement because I believe no one else could have done a better job.
For example Alex Ferguson in his ifinate wisdom moved Stamp on and replaced him with Blanc which was the mother of all shit decisions and he earned his son a cool £2 million by employing the services of the blind Venetian Masimo Tahibi which definately wasn’t in the best interests of his employees but ask any Manchester United fan if they forgiveim and they would say “yes”.Just as an aside Alex went 4 years without winning anything when he first joined and 6 years without winning the Premiership which makes all those people who were screaming for his head look a little bit foolish andhe had the benefit of Manchester United’s open cheque book.
Stu, Lahm is worse defensively than Clichy this season! And thats an in-form Lahm v. an out of form CLichy!
Anyways, RVP isn’t on the “key battles” article on Arsenal.com. He won’t start tomorrow, I guarantee it. Wenger is too cautious with him. As a 25 year old, he should not be hit with fatigue.
Stu mate
Lahm in p0lace of who?
Eboue of course?? Yay!!!
Pat;
OK, I bet you £100 RvP starts tomorrow?
Heh, seriously Luca Toni has shocking misses almost every game he plays, he’s like an Italian Adebayor, a bit more refined maybe.
One thing that should conern every Arsenal fan is that when wage bills are declared each year our’s is 3rd from top regularly,which I can personnally handle if you are watching the likes of Pires,Cambell,Vieira and Henry but does that mean e are fucking paying Alex Song and Eboue £40 k a week?Please no!
Confidant Gooner – Did you mean to say Bolton sign 15 million pound players regularly ?!
Guys be patient
Wenge denied the work permit issue. There is no smoke without a fire. They have the work permit done and approved already. Wenger is not a stupid man. He will never spread his clothes in public. He knows wat he is doing trust me. Arshavin deal is done already. Just wait and see.
Goonerman, I heard thet about Defoe, is it confirmed, shame isnt it, they only just bought him, and £15m as well, dear oh dear!
SSN are saying its 3 weeks I think.
RVP better fucking play!!!
i doubt rvp will start.. he wanted rvp to rest for the cardiff game!
morning all,
I was reading somewhere, i think Football365, that Wenger gets annoyed when people concentrate more on who might be coming in rather than who is already here and what they do for the club.
Ok signing Arshavin and getting CL Or
Watching Lazy Song & Ade do sweet Fuck all and fighting for 5th…..Hmmmmmm which would i prefer??
Rob from Aus…
Do you have some stats for me fella?
Arshy is dans le sac mate!
Stats on what my man?
I’m positive that Arshavin will come
If City wants Touré for £15M, lets do it and then try to lure Alonso away from Pool for £18M and fill that hole in midfield. Sort the CB issue in the summer
So defoe is out for how many weeks?
Lexy,until this season I would have shared your confidence in the respect that Arshavin will sign but unfortunately after the embarrassing Summer we had in the transfer market where Arsene admitted that we needed strengthening in certain areas and indeed virtually went as far as confirming that we would be lookig to buy a central midfielder we wer hen subjected to a complete uturn where he then tried to persuade himself and us tht what we had was good enough.We know it isn’t and I think he would now endeer himself to the Arsenal faithful a little more by admitting that we are short in this area….I don’t care if it hurts Sog’s feelings as quite frankly ifyou are not good enough for the job at the moment no amount of sweet talking by Arsene will persuade the fans that you are.I really now take Arsene on his word regarding the postion we are in on Arshavin adit doesn’t look as promising as some newswires will have you believe.I hope you are right and Arsene prodces one of his smug smiles ove the next couple of days.
An Arsenal fan remarked to me that he felt that Arshavin wasn’t necesarily ourmost pressing necessity and we shoul be looking to sign a £15 million entral midfielder to which I think theanswer should be “I would rather see Song and Arshavin than Song and Eboue!”
gday all,
how are we?
what is everyones % chance of us announcing 2 signings before the window shuts? thats provided the Arse deal goes ahead!
Manchester City will make one last bid for Arsenal defender Kolo Toure and may offer Micah Richards as part of the deal. (Daily Mirror)
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NIce
It is odd, I just watched SSN and they said despite Wenger saying that no work permit had been applied for, they could confirm that the paperwork and had been completed and submitted.
I had to replay it, they definately said SKY SPORTS CAN CONFIRM
We play Tottenham at their ground in the near future and they will start as usual at 100 miles an hour which incidently is 98 miles an hour to fast for Eboue and Song.My point is that we could win tomorrow against West ham but no Arsenal fan I know is confident about getting a result away from home against any of the Premiership teams without a new enforcer in central midfield.
George,
whats actually scary is that he signed Mikael Silvestre outa the blue with out any warning/Gossip
So im worried that he will do the same thing like sign Dean windass on a lucrative 5 year deal
LE CHUMP is Arsene…
I am CONVINCED he does not watch any footage of our matches…if he would he WOULD NOT PLAY THE SAME LINEUP week in week out…
He would make the changes necessary…Like Nasri in the middle with Song/Denilson with Vela out left…
I MEAN CMON…we were OUT SHOT by EVERTON in LATE JANUARY…a time when we should and COULD be playing some of our best football…
He is NOT making any changes and I simply cannot believe it…
We DID fight hard against Everton,but the thing is we wouldnt have to with a line up change…
No way Vela would/should be allowed to leave, loan deal for 1 season maybe, but not sold!
Rob from Aus sorry to piss on your fire but Micah Richards has found himself languishing in the reserves for City due to a lack of form which reportedly(complete speculation)has been bought on for his new found love of the nightlife in Manchester.As Arsene hasn’t exactly got a huge reputation for sorting out wayward star’s problems that aren’t related to injury as he tends to sell problematic players I cannot see him signing someone who doesn’t take to his spinach and brocoli nights in!
ive never seen anything good from Richards, especially when we’ve played against him.
I suppose, but we can have a cheaper player and make a mint for toure. If the deal went through, i dont care about Richards but why waste a player like Kolo on the bench thus paying him a shiite load of cash when we could make 15mill and have a so called bench player actually being on the bench if u catch my drift
if 15mil is true i would be ok to sell, he is approaching 30 and we can just continue on without him
Evo, the probablity of us signing two players is dependant on the probability of our selling two players. The more experienced players AW can sell, the more kids he can buy.
Holy Shit!!!!
Just watched the Hamburg V Bayern game
The Hamburg keeper is fucking quality!!!!!! no wonder they are 1st
…..
arshavings going to be introduced on wednesday night then?
Not quite the headline I was hoping to see on Arsenal.com
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-why-i-won-t-buy-a-central-midfielder
God give me strength. I know he does not see a lot during games, but failing to recognise how Shit Song is as a Footballer in any position is beyond me.
Arsene seriously, we cant compete by gambling the future of our club on Diaby and Song as our CM Answer.
If he does Darren, it will ensure a sell out
Not sure if anyone posted this yet, but have a look. Yes, its about the Russian.
http://goonertalk.com/2009/01/30/lachter-already-in-london/
Paulinho, you and I are very alike, I noticed.
We both really saw what Hleb gave this team and we both think Song has potential. haha
City want Toure for 15 million? Arsenal has to sell. Thats too much money to refuse. A really, really good CB can be brought in with that money.
Evo from Aus;It would only be acceptable to accept £15 million for Kolo if we replaced him with an equally talented cntre back which in the current climate would seem like a tough call as we have 2 days to replace him!Selling Kolo and not replacing him whilst getting an injury to Djourou or Gallas would quite understandably lead to cries of near sightedness regarding our board and manager.My point is that all of our fans are crying out for a stronger deeper squad so why sell a quality defender with 2 days left of the transfer window?
sorry Evo from Aus that should hav read Pat…that 1664 is stronger than I thought.
Remember Song can play CB as well
I say play in the loosest possible sense, but even still it is cover of sorts. If anything I thought Song was a better CB at the tail end of last year than he is as a DM
I just think it is critical to solve our CM shortage. We lack a key part of our spine, so I would take the 15m from Toure and either bring Ireland or Richards in or spend the cash on Alonso.
no probs lads. if toure was sold, obviously we would want to buy a replacement. 15 mil for toure wont happen, that is 1 mil less than henry’s sale, it just doesnt add up
Evo, right now, City are overpaying for everyone. Didn’t Bellamy go for 14 million?
Looks like I was pissin in t’wind then thinkin Wenger would sign a central midfielder then, judging by his comments!
Thats it, we are officially skint and only have enough funds to sign Arshavin and no fucker else!
Apparantly Diaby and Song are developin well….
At least he didnt mention Eboue in that sentence
If City want Kolo sooooo very much and him and gallas hate each other sooooo very much, then, as much as I love that big Toure fella, City can give us Micah and a few mill oh and Michael johnson too for good measure…
we need someone that is over 6 foot 1. we dont have anyone that is bigger than that in defence
Id rather we played 17 year old Coquelin or 18 year old Jay Emmanuel-Thomes instead of Song….Hmmmmm
Hold up, wasnt City offering effin Own goal Dunne?
Evo;
Not sure if we need someone whose over 6ft, or just a defender who actually attacks the ball and is good in the air. How tall is cannavaro? Or that Inter CB, wossizface? They’re about 5ft6!!!
Evo, Senderos is 6’3
Today’s mantra;
We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…We don’t need a defensive midfielder… the answer is in the squad…
Nitey nite!!!
Angry Loner I totally agree that given our knowledge of Song and Eboue in the midfield I would prefer to surrender 4th spot whilst training and blooding the promising Wilshire and Ramsey than sticking with fucking Eboue and Song but I have been made to eat a small piece of humble pie in respect of Bendtner’s last 2 performances as I was advocating playing Jay Simpson all day long in front of Nicholas however I unfortunately doubt that Arsene will ever be able to convert either Song or Eboue into decent Premiership midfielders.
I don’t think we need a CDM either. If you notice, we’re not conceding that much anymore.
We need more creativity and I do agree with AW making Arshavin top priority.
Pat
I totally agree that the signing of Arshy makes perfect sense, but I really think a DM is also required
senderos is at AC remember lads….
anyone whos 6ft can be made into a defender. you need at least 1 big oaf in my opinion
We need an even balance of attack and defence. Well, when I say even balance I mean either 5 defence minded players and 5 attack minded or, 6 defence minded players and 4 all out attackers ala 2DMs in the midfield with 2strikers backed up strongly by 2 widemen/playmakers.
The first option would be 1 DM sitting in front of the defence with the other 3 contributing to a team defence.
The second is basically what we played during the invincibles era….Vieira and Gilberto playing pretty deep with Vieiras odd few runs and the front 4 on all out attack.
These days we dont concede much because we have no at out attackers really. Diaby doesnt go that high up the pitch despite prefering the ss role, Denilson is learning not to attack much and Song just cant attack. Adding to that RvP and Ade constamtly dropping deep. We only seem to concede stupid goals, rarely are we torn apart.
But Evo, Senderos was our oaf and played well whenever he had a run in the team. He only seemed out of place when thrown into the team at the last minute because of a short term injury or suspension.
I would much rather have kept (and played) Phil than waste a cent on Silvestre.
I liked and still like Senderos. Last season when Kolo was away losing form Senderos played and played very well next to Gallas. Its the ball-winner Ball-player combo.
Chelsea use it, United use it and Liverpool usually used to very god effect, amongst other defending tactics.
i concur. i was a Senderos fan all along when many were not. im ok for him to come back, hopefully he will be fit and better for the experience.
Some ARsenal blog reckons we may unveil Arsh before the game or at halftime. Its just speculation, but Wenger did say he wants it all done by kickoff.
But Pat, he aqlso said it could go to the wire.
Evo, I was hoping he would learn off the likes of Nesta, Maldini and their array of defensive coaches etc etc but alas he hasnt neither been playing or training much due to injuries. I hope he was taking notes on the sidelines because Italians are the masters of defence.
Evo, we have Djourou is is way over 6’1
I really like Djourou but at 15m he would be great business. Henry, Vieira, Cole, Pires all left when we still needed them….Toure is a squad player now and isnt good enough to be any more.
G’Day all
gnarley knows when to go on hols. 42.2 degrees celcius here yesterday
& ethan I’m in Tasmania on the coast. I’m @ a mates work PC here in Bicheno so I can only post one comment 
So we have west ham tonight & a must win @ the very least. I see villa are are still grouting out points but surely that will come to an end soon.
Have a good game Geoff, Pedro, & all others going to The Emirates tonight, I’ll be watching.
Has Arswaxin signed yet?
Go Go Gunners
* i meant Toure not JD
So Djourou who is allegedly way over 6.1 is the answer to our problems?
JD isnt the answer, he is still learning but his natural ability will make him a great player. Not a natural defender bt can become a great one.
hopefully. thats what we need
no but you said we have no defenders over 6.1.
I personally think our defence is embarassing compared to our rivals, i think we need a GK, 2 quality CBs and 2 DMs (one starter one on bench).
We dont really need extra numbers in the squad, just extra quality and more balance.
extra quality is a must
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-wenger-suffers-but-his-impact-on-english-game-enriches-us-all-1521569.html
Good, balanced article on our current position, and what it means to/for out manager…
Lawton comes out with those articles like clockwork every six months.
He does like to ramble on eh?
jd is a good defender and no dought has the ability to be great one but as long the midfield continues to give the ball away it just puts added presure on the defence,which why you need bring in more experiened centram midfielders to play along side the likes of song,diaby,delinson and ramey and bring these players gradualy and not throw them in the deep end but wenger stuborn and pride wont allow him to say that
Choy: bit of a late reply but after reading this i agree with you about RVP being rested this afternoon , may well be time to change fantasy captain…
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-means-something-to-van-persie
If Arshavin comes. I would play this side from then on or he could try it in the FA CUp.
…………….Al………….
Sagna……Djourou…Gallas….Clichy
…….Diaby……..Denilson/Song
Bendter……….Nasri……..Arshavin
……………RVP……………….
or
…………….Al………….
Sagna……Djourou…Gallas….Clichy
…….Diaby……..Denilson/Song
RVP……….Nasri……..Arshavin
……………Ade……………….
Those two sides are killer sides in my opinion.
Arshavin should replace Nasri on the left, he will be much better there than Nasri. Arshavin can roam, Nasri will more of a Cesc role while any two of Diaby, Denilson or SOng can protect the defense.
I believe that side could deliver the FA Cup and rise up the table.
thats quite good ja_gunner
ja_gunner i like it but would have Kolo in for Song or Diaby… i still think Kolo could do a job in the holding role in midfield…
plx dont.
vela is the most talented kid in arsenal!!!!
vela is our next-henry!
wenger was quoted on b.b.c. last night that he has given an ultimatum to zenith/ arshavin that the transfer must go through before our game today or the deal is off.
Morning all, any news? I reckon he may be at the stadium today, I have a sneaky feeling!
ssn says he’s on a flight to london…..
Well if you are correct Geoff,and what i said wenger was quoted is also correct,you may well be right.
Rumours are growing a pace, sky say it’s a done deal, I’ve written todays post and I’ll be back in a while, Pedro will post it at 9am, catch you all later.
possibility of being unveiled at todays game?? fingers crossed hey
I have fucking no problem giving 80k per week to persie every season if he stays fit for at least20 games.
20 games for Adebayor on current form, he can have 40
For the first time since ages on Arsenal.com I have seen Arsene’s comment on Arshavin much more in sync to popular and logical logic.
Common Arsene show us the real Arsenal.
arshiven ot reach london at 2pm
lets hope he dont do a manny petite but in reverse and sign for redknobs runts
biggest mistake was giving ade 80k after one full season.wenger should have been strong,there have been many “one season wonders” .Wenger should have said i,ll give you 80k a week this season after you prove yourself,split as 40 + bonuses.Ade has no loyalty to the club,has no real attributes and is no better than any other p.l. striker.(most probably get a brace today)
New post!
You correctly identify the problems in our team. In particular the slow movement of the ball and lack of cutting edge. Then you say how well Denilson is doing. He can’t tackle, can’t head the ball and passes forward every other pancake day. I suggest you watch some films of Petit 1997 to 1999 and then you might understand what a top-class defensive midfielder is supposed to do. Denilson, who started out looking promising, now plays like mid-career Butch Wilkins. He doesn’t pass the ball, he passes the buck!
As for the lazy Togolese tosser up front, it makes me sick that every morning that man is £11000 better off. Arsene is on thin ice and I fear for him.