So we all now know that Arsene Wenger has turned Real Madrid El Presidente Perez 3 times, you would think if he had any brains he would work out by now Arsene doesn’t want the job! Why would someone want to manage a club that sacks its managers even when the win their respective league? Anyway, Arsene has the safest job in football so why would he leave? I also think his ‘judge me in two years’ comments mean that he will see out his contract and of course, project youth.
Well as I have said many, many time here on Le Grove, we are 2 or 3 players short of being a great side, he now has a great chance of signing players, as he has made it clear that he at last realises he needs them, so who will he buy and who do we need?
Centre backs, we have had a look at Hangeland, Vermaelen and Zapata all their current clubs or agents have said we are sniffing, who would I have? Hangeland, he’s big, has premiership experience and would partner well with what we already have. Who will he sign? Vermaelen or Zapata, why? Because they are young, but at £13 mil being talked about for Vermaelen I think he’ll buy Zapata.
One that hasn’t been talked about is Chellieni, I would have him over them all, but to be honest anyone will do for me because what we have clearly isn’t working.
So that leaves us with the age old problem, will he buy someone to play with Cesc, if he does, he’s saying that Song, Eboue, Diaby and Denilson aren’t good enough (yet) and to be honest, I don’t think he can bring himself to do that, I hope he does though, so who are our choices? Matuidi, Veloso, YaYa or Alonso.
Liverpool are in the shit so maybe they would let Alonso go, YaYa is African and with the ACN coming up I can’t see the boss hamstringing our chances in February, Veloso would cost too much, so the cheapest option would be Matuidi, seems like a Wenger signing, so that could be the way he’ll go, but having said all that, I seriously doubt he buy anyone in that position.
On an aside I think Ramsey can eventually fill that role and I would prefer to see him get the chances he gives to Denilson, Diaby and Song as I already think he’s better than them all. And before anyone goes on about stats, let me tell you 200 passes going backward or to a player surrounded with opposition defenders may look good on their opta but it does bugger all for the team.
Up front I would so love to see a winger, maybe Silva or even the Russian Jerk-off, but he seems to be gravitating around Dzeko, if that’s true it hugely exciting as this kid is the real deal, and great news you think because it would see the end of Adebayor and that would fund him and maybe a defensive midfielder, but what if it meant Robin.
Yes shockingly I fear that if we don’t sign a quality defensive midfielder then Robin won’t sign a contract and will be sold to inter for 30 pieces of silver, so now we come full circle with the Judas thing! I hope like hell I’m wrong with that conspiracy theory!
So Arsene deny Perez, but not us your fans, please make three signings that will give us all the hope our patience deserves, I renewed my season tickets because I believed that you now realise you have to spend, if you claim you have no money sell the following players to raise some. You would also save a boatload of cash on their wages.
Adebayor, Simpson, Randall, Senderos, Silvestre, Diaby, Traore and if Hoyte is ready to step up then add Eboue to that list. We would raise a good £45 mil from that lot, then add that to the £13 million we already have and that would finance the purchase of Chelleini, Alonso and Dzeko, now with those 3 coming in we could win the lot next year.
Maybe now all the internationals are over, we’ll see some movement but we know the Chav’s will bring in a shed load of talent, let’s get ours in first.
Have a great Domingo Grovers and enjoy the weather.
a shite team could out think a good one and stop them from playing. knowing ur best formation is important
im off for real until the morning
Not sure on that one Yaya is first choice for the DM spot after that its a toss up between Keite and Busquets and when it came to the ECL final picking Busquets over Keita might be an indication of a pecking order…
of course Yaya is 25/26
Frangelo you’re leaving already??? We just got started..
Busquets just gets picked cause he is young and Spanish, at least similar to why we would want Wilshere and Walcott in the team.
on the tactics thing it is hard to exactly prove that point you argue? i mean how do you prove it?
a manager could ask a player do something specific but he fails to do it right
there could be a deflection that could cause a team to loose even tho the losing team has had the upper hand
etc i could go on but i’m sure you can make more suggestions
By the way…shout out to my man ROGER aka. the Greatest FEDERER!!!
Will Arsenal sign an exciting player?
No.
Why not?
Too expensive.
Will they sign necessary players?
NO.
Will BBK ever drink his milk?
No.
Why not?
Cause the glass is half empty anyways.
lol LAzer
a shite team with players with discipline and implement instructions could be beat a top team…like i said formations are secondary not the most important thing
pool’s comeback against ac milan in the ECL may prove your point but it is very memorable simply because its was a very unlikely outcome or an anomaly….(gerard was inspirational in the second half tho)
this is why we love football it is open to uncertainties…small teams could beat big ones
formations, i think is not the most telling factor i feel
personally
no offense intended buddy. BTW all the folks on here were having some very intense formation discussions and now they dropped of the planet. What gives? Are we going to sign someone tmrw, we are a bloody 7 days into the window already. I suppose it might be Vermin then.
has this blog turned into a barcelona blog
keita was asked to play LB but he said he couldnt as he had never played it in his life. the plan was to play busquets DM, yaya CB and keita LB with silv on the bench. thats why keita missed out. well documented in the press. for most of the season pecking order was yaya, keita, bus. probably cos busquets is better in keeping possession thats why he got the nod. only the barca team know fo sure
formations can decide if u out of ur players or not. its not exactly secondary as u put it
Yeah you are right in many ways Man, but sometimes I feel the managers do not feel that way. Adams was a very inspirational according to reports but look where it has gotten him, simply since he is pants for tactics and the opposing managers were able to take his team out of.
Inspiration only lasts for so long on the field, if you can’t get a hold of the ball or create anything you end up looking like the manc bastards at the CL final.
That’s why the Chavs season came alive as well, I don’t think Big Phil was/is any less inspirational then lucky Guus, just that Guus had much better tactics AND Essien to help implement those tactics.
BBk we are talk formations have a look
You just said Franchise when it mattered most they picked Busquets over Keita…I have a quite a few barca matches this season and its not so clear cut the difference between Busquets and Keita in terms of their pecking order…i think it is fluid depending on the opposition
I think Busquets also gets a look in cause he is Spanish, probably the fans want to see him, and is a developing youngster. I am sure the long term plan at Barca is to have Busquets as their first choice DM.
Lazer I think the word you are looking for is ‘communication’.
TA and Scolari were not able to communicate their ideas to the players or perhaps did not have good enough ideas which is why they performed abysmally…Guus on the other hand…
Francheesy you’re still around!! am glad for it.
I’ll go with that Lazer, Busquets might be the long term solution to their DM
No man am talking about tactics. Scolari didn’t even put men on the post for corners, I think he can communicate that if he needs to. He was never sure what the best formation for his team was and totally confused Malouda on his role for the team. In addition he isolated that big oaf Drogba by suggesting Anelka should play up front by himself. I think it would be naive on our part to simply feel that since Scolari could not communicate ie. speak English he failed.
Mostly he failed cause his tactics were off base and opposing managers taught him a lesson in how the PL is played.
At least that’s my opinion.
Lazer, oh no I wasn’t just referring to his English. Being able to communicate isn’t just verbal…in fact i was sceptical when he took over at the chavs even happy mainly bcos he had never worked in a european club format esp a non-potugese one…working in this format may require adjusting to a differently i.e. culture, in the way you communicate your ideas…his past records suggests that he was a capable manager having won stuff in brazil and done quite well with portugal national team…(i’m seriously trying to keep it brief)
It really does make you think what sort of direction we are going in when you see real madrid wanting to sign players like kaka and us signing vermaelen..
i’m sure he might have known a thing or two about defending corners…don’t forget he lost steve clarke as well someone who acted as a link btw mangt and players
or should i say vermin
Fair enough Man…See your point. I’ll stick to the briefness as well.
BBK there is no way we could have bid for Kaka not even in a fantasy league
Busquets is a really good player, actually. He got the nod b/c he is better than Keita and more physical. We wanted to sign Busquets, if I remember correctly.
Is he a Barca academy boy?
I’ve heard Milan offered us Kaka for Adebayor and a boatload of cash last summer. It was something like Ade + 25-30 million pounds. Wasn’t in the press, I’ll tell you that, but I heard.
Another option involved Pato, but I forget what it was exactly.
can you imagine real madrid’s team next season if they get evrbody in they want WOWWW
I’m pretty sure he is Lazer. Barca started playing him a lot more after he turned down a contract with them when we were linked.
And now Madrid have a fairly decent coach. Actually, more than just decent. He’s the Moyes of Spanish football.
We should offer Milan Cesc for Kaka haha
kaka,ronaldo,villa,silva,ribery,all of them in the same team hahahahhahahhahahh that will be to much to contend with.
Exactly pat why not
Since they like old defenders, throw in Silvestre in there as well
Same as Figo, Zidane, Becks, Makelele etc..and Perez eventually fucked that up. The thing with Galactiocs is, they only really last a few years since all the players are in there peak and start to decline sooner or later.
I don’t think they will get Ronaldo and Ribery, it’ll be either or imo. Ribery seems pretty certain apparently though, he already rejected a move to England.
Figo > CR
Zidane > Kaka
Makalele >>>>> Dolphin face cunt
Kolo for Micah?
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/06/07/1311658/kolo-toure-to-leave-arsenal-for-manchester-city-in-micah
I don’t see it as an improvement
are we the only one’s linked with all these dwarf defenders
so if them rumours are to go by toure and gallas are on there way out
David Says:
June 7, 2009 at 16:56
Im sure you were there how Ethangunner and I figured out how Bendy hadnt scored any goals at all this season stu…
—————————————–
i dont know why you put words in my mouth .
all i said was RE nik B was at least you can see improvement in Nikb ,not regression! .
thats why he’s worth keeping and ade isnt .
wages is another big factor ..
if nik b got ades pitch time he would have easily scored more than ade this term .
and he has made more of an impact as a PLAN B this season coming off the bench than ade EVER has ..
both havent scored as much as you’d like but if you compare nik=b’s pitch time compared to ade’s , you get more bang for your buck with nik B !
and less off sides also ! less disruption in the final 3rd , and nik b isnt afraid to attack the defense , where as ade pulls up and passes back . further stunting our attack chances by letting the defense build because the cunt is incapable of taking on the defense and getting past it !
and which striker hits his peak at 24 ?
A LOT !!!!!
if your talking defenders or midfielders yes 24 . but strikers can have there best run of form in there early 20′s !!!!
and ade is 25-26
and nik is 21 ..
THIS IS ANOTHER REASON OUR FAST BREAK COUNTER IS INEFFECTIVE ..
nik b isnt afraid to attack the defense , where as ade pulls up and passes back . further stunting our attack chances by letting the defense build because the cunt is incapable of taking on the defense and getting past it !
————————————————
how often have you seen ade as the only advanced player to receive the counter attack , and pull up and wait for the defense to form in front of us ..
FUCKING HEAPS OF TIMES .. we used to have strikers like Th14 capable of attacking the defense and going 1 on 1 with the keeper ..
not getting the early goals have put alot of pressure on the defense this season ..
and you can thank ade for that , and RVP being played as 1st striker when he really is a 2nd striker .. or the inexperience at times of nik B …
thats why its paramount for arsenal to get a experience clinical striker to abait these weaknesses !
nik b at 21 has more of a chance of coming good than ade, who at 26 is in the middle of his career,
and if your in the middle of your strikers career and you play this fucking badly then we dont need you at Arsenal ..
Ade is 25
He was 24 at the start of this season.
Good article on Walcott in the times.
Here is an excerpt:
“…It must be noted that Walcott is keen to travel with the under-21 team, partly because of the hope that he will be given the opportunity to play up front, which, along with Wenger, he considers to be his best position. Capello appears to have a different view, however, because despite giving lip service to the idea of playing Walcott as a second forward, it is inconceivable that he would ever be preferred to Wayne Rooney.
“He’s young and if Theo plays like a centre forward for Arsenal, then he can play for us here both on the right wing and as a second forward,” Capello said. “It’s another option for us.” Walcott should keep his place for the visit of Andorra to Wembley Stadium on Wednesday, not least because the erratic Shaun Wright-Phillips was equally disappointing in Kazakhstan.
Capello’s model relies on having pace down the right flank because there is precious little elsewhere in the team, meaning that David Beckham may have to continue to be content with a place on the bench.
As Beckham pointed out, Walcott’s pace means he will always trouble defenders even when he is playing badly, which cannot be said for players such as himself, who rely on their technique to make an impact.
“A player of Theo’s pace and the way he goes at players is always going to be a threat, no matter what people say about his form,” Beckham said. “He’s a talented player. You give him the ball, put the ball in front of him and he causes any defence problems.”
Such a view clearly has merit, although at the moment Walcott is also struggling with problems of his own.”
LAzer
I don’t think we’re about to see Theo start upfront for Arsenal anytime soon.
AW still feels the need to blood him in gradually from the wing.
I don’t necessarily agree with it…but that the way it is for now….
Yeah I can believe that. Although for me the article basically highlights that it’s just about obvious to everyone that is where he is meant to play. Who knows, maybe with his pace if the ball is played in front of him more often he might start to come good halfway through next season if given a chance up top.
I don’t think his development went as well as planned this season plus the kid had a long injury layoff so perhaps will hit some form and score some goals prior to season opener.
yes he will be 26 during the 09-10 season .
this next coming season ..
how old is torres ?
how old was rooney ?
talk about late bloomer ..
also talk about arguing for the sake of arguing dave ..
you need to goto ACLF .. you’d do well over there .
And most times everyone forgets…he’s 20!!
As good as he was, even Henry didn’t really turn it up till he was much older.
ice
said that months ago , wenger needs to fill the gaps, and he wouldnt give eboue the flick at RM, and start experimenting with eboue at DM etc this season
if theo , wasnt long term @ the RM position ..
thats theo’s position to make his own ..
he has pace and wenger will give him another season there im sure …
narsi will be DM … and thats that , rosicky is back at LM .. and cesc in the central role .
dont expect to much movement in/out of the club for the midfielders .
well not unless someone does a hleb of course ..
So here is what we are looking at then
If we move Ade on and add Dzeko we will have
Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Arshavin, RVP, Eduardo, Dzeko. I suppose that means Arshavin won’t be getting too many looks in up front but can play the hole in A’s 4-2-3-1.
Back 4
Cesc-Nasri
Walcott-Arshavin-Rosicky
Bendtner/Vela/RVP/Eduardo
Since RVP won’t be on the bench if fit he will be playing up top. If we have a slow start again, or if Nasri is a calamity as a DM Wenger will have hell to pay, mark my words.
We all know he’s in for a CB.
Maybe with a tighter defence, a Nasri-Cesc partneership would work?
“Manchester United have accepted a reported 6million-pound from Hull for England U-21 striker Fraizer Campbell. The 21-year-old was instrumental in getting Hull into the Premier League while on loan there during the 07/08 season. He spent last season on loan at Spurs as part of the deal that brought Berbatov to Manchester, but now looks to be heading back to the KC. (BBC Football)”
Why can’t we liquidate on some of our kids as well, raise some cash and add a proper experienced DM instead of going with Nasri/Denilson/Song. WTF Wenger, I thought you would have learned your lesson on having players play of position by now.
*out
I guess you can never say never Iceman but Nasri is not naturally meant to protect the back four, track back and make tackles or break up play with intercepts as Denilson was not meant for that role either. I do suppose Mancs play Fletcher, Anderson, and Carrick so they do not have a proper DM either but they have Vidic and Rio behind them to clean up.
Why insist on having a player do that when they have not their whole career. Plus how can Vermin constitute a tighter defense if he is 5’11 and most of our problems were with balls over the top.
I really like samir nasri.A real team player.I don’t think the idea of nasri as a DM is a great one.But still he is willing to try.A step down for someone who was hailed as the next zidane.It might work but it is too big a gamble
Precisely the kind of gamble we took last term and look where that landed us. I like him as well and understand he wants to do a job AND keep a place in the starting 11 but unless Wenger has something special tactically up his sleeve I just can’t see it being worth the gamble. I mean in that case you might as well persist with poor Denilson and see what happens, why try an old solution to a recurring problem.
Nasri’s tackling is better than cesc.He does a lot of tracking back playing in the wings.I hope wenger buys a new DM though.
Vermaelen’s height is not that big a factor.Those who have watched him have said that is a tough defender and his heading ability is pretty good.That is good enough for me.Kolo and gallas are really really poor when it comes to heading.They should be winning a lot more headers.
All the talk about not being good enough.
Most of us haven’t seen him play.
And you don’t become captain of Ajax just like that you know…
Anyways too many names flying around to be sure what’s happeneing.
Gossip today talking about Toure being on his way to City.
Yeah I will give the guy a chance, being captain of any club says quite a lot imo. I don’t know about plugging Nasri in as DM. Instead we should be moving Walcott further up the pitch and give Nasri the position on the right if we have to and add a proper DM.
TBH I’d sell.
10-12m…maybe that can free up some money for a decent DM.
He’s gonna be off for the ACN anyways.
And it’s Gallas who makes him look good.
Yeah perhaps Toure’s time has come. Its Shitty though so I would try and stall and bite their arm of for 14 given his PL experience and all. That would leave us with Vermaelen/JD Gallas/Song. Hope we liquidate on Silvestre and Senderos as well and add another CB.
Just 4 central defenders?That too song and JD.Well i hope wenger buys one CB if toure leaves(i am not even going consider silvestre).Someone experienced like how barca bought thuram.
Andrey Arshavin has rubbished speculation he could leave the Emirates.
He told Sport Express: “I do not consider it necessary to comment on [the rumours].
“It is just not a topic for conversation.
“I spent a week in St. Petersburg training with my former club – Zenit,” Arshavin explained. “Everybody was quite kind to me. I cannot say that I communicated a lot with anyone just a bit with everybody.
“I hope that these trainings in my former club would be useful. In any case they were better than a week of doing nothing.
Arsenal have struck terms for Ajax defender Thomas Vermaelen over a £10 million agreement.
Though his agent Soren Lerby was still negotiating personal terms last night, Vermaelen seems certain to sign a four-year contract at The Emirates after convincing the Arsenal manager he has the credentials to shore up a defence that was repeatedly found wanting last season, says the Daily Mail.
Surely Dennis The Menace who is close to Ajax would’nt throw AW a curb ball on this signing
Morning all, do we think this Vermaelen deal is a done deal?
Evening/morning Geoff
I spose it ain’t done till its on Arsenal.com. He sounds a bit small, but maybe Le gaffer is thinking of turning him into a DCM or something. I would have thought a big 190cm plus type would be better signed for the CB pozzy
Yet again are we about to sign a player out of position.
Toure for Richards is now being rumoured :s what u think?
Read my post Dan today!
I’d take Denise Richards any day
It’s the only thing that helps kick start my day, course I will
Geoff, from a sports agent I heard that the rumour is Vermaelen is not coming as a centre back (if the deal actually goes through). Apparently he is being lined up as Clichy’s replacement.
The other rumour to that is that Arsenal have offered Juventus Clichy (who they’ve wanted for a couple of years now) + 5 million for Chiellini. Whether there is any truth in these rumours who knows but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
Well done Dan, I talk about that very subject!
Morning GMR, that’s interesting, I would prefer to put Gibbs there and bring Traore back as cover, then do the Chiellini deal, funny enough I talk about Chelleini today as well!
Clichy is Quality, no fudging way!
I hear ya Gnarely!! I’d take her any day, any night!!
Gibbs/ Traore would be the ideal replacements.
I wouldn’t read too much into that.
Vermaelen & Clichy are the same age so should that rumour be true then obviously they see him as a direct replacement. Gibbs is too young to play a whole season at the back.
hi guys
GMR i dont think that maks a lot of sense we just have to wait and see what happens
Thomas Vermaelen expects to make headway in his bid to join Arsenal this week, with the Belgian claiming it is an opportunity he could not pass up.
Arsene Wenger has made no secret of his desire to strengthen his defensive line and it recently emerged that Ajax skipper Vermaelen was on his radar.
Reports over the weekend claimed an £11 million deal had been thrashed out between the two clubs.
There has been no confirmation from either side, but Vermaelen has broken his silence to say he is ready for the step up to The Premier League.
”In the coming days there will be more talks,” Vermaelen told Algemeen Dagblad. “Moving to Arsenal is the right path for me.
”It is a great sporting challenge and I will also be financially better off.
”I think everything is going to be okay.”
http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/06/08/Prem-Vermaelen-on-Arsenal/gnid-56188/
Franchise, why doesn’t it make sense? As I say it’s a rumour not a fact, but having been told it I had a look at the Ajax website & guess what position Vermaelen played most of last season according to their official site?? Left back.
GMR i think that deal would be a steal for us, gibbs looks ready to play full time and traore and even gallas/silvestre can provide cover when needed.
would be a shame to have to loose clichy though
footylineups.com on there you can choose any game and see where he played.
If it is true…how f**kin skint are we that we need to sell before we can buy?
New post!
well to be fair they would have bought two players & sold one. I still don’t believe the whole scenario will come off though as I cannot see Chiellini leaving a top club in his own country to play in the premier league.
I did watch Zapata the other night & one dodgy penalty decision apart I thought he was excellent, especially in the air.