So we’ve been speculating like crazy about who we’ll be signing in the holding midfield role, I hate to say it but I think he has made his mind up. I think he will play Nasri there. Either that or Eboue. I say Eboue as that’s the only position he hasn’t tried him in yet, I think this may be his last chance.
But I have a feeling it will be Nasri because Nasri said it himself, he is French so is hardly going to miss-understand what his boss says. Who knows it may work. He’ll then have two options out left in Rosicky and Vela two options out wide in Theo and Wilshere and the centre midfield will be Cesc and Nasri with Denilson and Ramsey as cover. That leaves Diaby, and I think he’ll sell him. So with all those to chose from I really can’t see him buying.
The defence is looking increasingly like adding a young dutchman if the press are to be believed, though his size does bother me, perhaps he’ll make up for that with a great jump! He will partner Gallas for one more year until Song is ready with Djourou and Silvestre as back up, I expect Kolo to go, I don’t want that but it’s the way it’s looking.
What does puzzle me though is why Wenger would spend £11mil on a smallish defender from the Dutch league when he could splash out a little more and get Chelleini or a premiership proven monster, or even swap Kolo for Richards.
He should get rid of Silvestre but I can’t see him admitting to such a huge error after only a year.
Up front he’ll sell Ade and maybe buy Dzeko, but more likely run with what he has and go with Arshavin and Robin as his main pairing with Eduardo and Bendtner as back up.
The full backs pick themselves with Clichy and Sagna and Gibbs and Eboue as back up, I expect he’ll sell Traore as he won’t dislodge Gibbs, and rightly so, Gibbs has looked really solid.
So I can see us buying a new centre back, but also selling a centre back, a full back, a midfielder and a forward, the board get richer and a few youngsters step up and join the squad.
If all fit we do have a reasonable squad, if he gambles on that, it may work out, but this will be the third season on the trot without Rosicky and Eduardo if he’s wrong, and that in my book could spell disaster.
It’s only my opinion though, he may well buy Cana and Dzeko as fool us all. Is it me or is this Vermaelen deal looking like the Nasri deal all over again?
I think we need to sign a defensive midfielder that is world class to lift the team and the fans though, so I hope my hunch is wrong, but all the noises the boss is making seem a little familiar, there was a lot of dissatisfaction from the terraces last season and he would do well to heed that, I think the expectation of the new season will be massive.
The excuse that this team is very young means nothing, it’s time to deliver, the boss once said he doesn’t look at passports, if they’re good enough, they’ll play, same with birth certificates then, who cares how old they are, if they are good enough to play fine, if not sell them and buy some that are.
Have a great day Grovers today our squad may get bigger!
Le Grove is now smart phone compatible!
Pedro
Geoff
1
Panchod !
gold
morning GROVERS
2
am I 1st?
oh well…podium…
so close
Eboue started the season in DM
http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/06/08/Prem-Vermaelen-on-Arsenal/gnid-56188/
damn
He’s Belgian not Dutch
I was saying on Saturday that we are gonna have the Nasri saga with this Belgian guy. Why cant we just get in there and pay ourselves out of these situations??
Geoff, good post but don’t get your hopes up about Vermaelen signing today unless he already has. He went off on holiday on saturday so like Nasri last summer it won’t happen until he arrives back.
Having read the post now, it does worry me also if he’s looking to move on Kolo and have Fish head as back up. Someone was saying in the tail end of the last ost they thought the Verminator would replace Cichy and we’d get Chellieni + cash for Clichy. While I’d be sad to see Gael go I’d rather we got a bigger centre back in and the Verminator could do a more than adequate job as left back.
I couldn’t stand another long, protracted transfer like our last two, It’s looks very unprofessional and is not good for our mental state.
Get it sorted Gazzy Gazidis !
Toure for Richards could be prefect for all.
Mornin
I think Vermaellen is Kolo’s replacement, TBH. Then that will mean another CB is signing too, IMO.
Cant see nasri as our new DM either, not a regular anyways. I think AW will sign there too and if Ade goes, a replacment for him too.
The twats at the M*rror are already slating the Vermaellen signing…
I personally think DM is a bigger problem then CB, we almost won the league with flamini and the same defence, we lose the quality DM and we look awful
What’s the lowdown on Vermaelen? He’s Ajax captain so he must be good I’m hoping.
Hopefully this dzeko guy will come in seeing as his agent said we are the only offer they consider serious,
GMR… how reliable is your agent info?
insidealbania – That Nasri deal wasn’t actually dragged out at all last summer (well it was but only for the fans). I remember Wenger talking about it at the beginning of the season & admitting he had already signed & done the photo shoot prior to him going off on holiday. It’s just Arsenal decided not to announce it until he came back for some reason.
The more I think about it, the more I cant see us having gallas, Kolo, Vermaellen, Song, Djourou a our Cbs next season. Way too similar in stature, although Vermicelli leaps like a young salmon apparantly and is great in the air!
wenger turned Henry from a winger into one of the best forwards in the world. im sure he can turn nasri into a DM
Arsenal Tom – he’s just an agent, he isn’t involved in any of this. However agents talk & this is the rumour which is doing the rounds. I’d say it’s 50-50 certainly no more than that.
I’d also reckon that our DM has to physically more imposing than Nasri – I really hope his talk of being the DM on Arse.com was just a bit of subterfuge, but I suspect Geoff may be right on this.
That can’t be right (playing a small guy as DM, not Geoff being right – which he always is!)
I really hope this is not the truth. If we don’t win anything this year will be in big trouble, with this fresh influx of money coming into other clubs, I fear we may take a major step back. We need proven quality, not players who take time to find their feet.
morning all…
our defensive woes started after gallas went off injured …
Thats why, although it will be sad, selling Kolo seems quite likely.
is it facking true that newcastle are only valued at 75 mill?
that is almost as much as kaka?!?!
Well im confident on the Vermaelen deal going through. Just hope he isnt injury prone!!!
Gallas should stay till his contract runs down, giving us time for the likes of Djourou, Nordveit, Bartley and Ayling to come thru.
I’d take Micah from City tho, as he can play RB.
I find it shit that the tabloids are trying to put a downer on this Vermaellen dude coz he’s 6ft… Have any of these twats seen him play??? Doubt it.
GMR, cheers… with gibbs looking so solid its a good time to get chiellini if possible, plus having another english player might help calm the media down a bit!
shame we’d have to loose one of our best players though
LL bollocks ain’t it, I forgot that the paper hacks are the ones who have found and made endless quality not wenger. Mugs
chary… unless nasri does a flamini…
anyone else see that yaya turned down a contract offer at barca???
Here are some stats;Ajax have conceded at least one goal or more in 16 out of 27 matches
Ajax have conceded at least two or more goals in 8 out of 27 matches
Ajax have conceded at least three or more goals in 2 out of 27 matches
Ajax have gone 1 away games without a win
Ajax have gone 2 away games without a loss
Ajax have scored in 11 out of 13 matches away
Ajax have conceded three goals or more in 2 out of 13 matches away
There defence ranked 11th Away from home with clean sheets only 24% of the time. At home 2nd with 59% of the time.
Morning all
Geoff, assuming that of course you are right – as always, aren’t you worried that Nasri has no pace and Cesc has no pace…….just a thought…..
Chary – great post on saturday, didn’t get a chance to read it till yesterday – couldn’t find the spelling mistake
What does puzzle me though is why Wenger would spend £11mil on a smallish defender from the Dutch league
————————————
because he is there captain , and he is not bad either .. i think if you want a good defender plus another player with experience- leadership
its not a bad thing , he is 5 cm shorter than me .
but who care if white man can jump i think he will do ok ..
and although GMR is right he played a lot on the LB position last season i think youll find even if clichy does go … gibbs will be the one to take over …
stonroy maybe his defensive partners are shit??
just a question, but how much do you think we might get for clichy…if it is for more than 15million i might consider it………
That is possible A Tom, but Nasri has never seemed to have the required energy levels – even the season before Flamini stepped up I could see the stamina and force of the guy – albeit in headless chicken mode. Also Nasri still seems too small to me, as our major weakness of being unable to defend the long ball into the area, either from open play or set pieces. Has Nasri ever headed the ball clear?
Please Wenger, buy us a proper, Vieira-like monster for mid field.
Also the Ya Ya contract hitch is just agent talk to push through a bigger pay deal, no way will he leave Barca and he’d be off to the ACN also so that’s a no on.
Thanks Peaches, nice to see you as always – I couldn’t find the spelling mistake either – I only thought I had a superfluous apostrophe after TA06’s name.
I’m thinking about going to Barnet also – could you see me right for that if I can go ?
chary, i agree to be honest mate that he’s not big enough or good enough the way anelka strolled past him to score at the grove was pathetic, lets have viera’s size with flaminis running please!!
He wouldn’t give Clichy up. He’s not 30 yet
Yaya also wouldn’t join if toure left
Not anybody becomes Ajax captain. Just saying.
Against the lesser teams it might work with nasri as our DM.I don’t think wenger will buy a DM unless het can get someone really cheap
That would be lovely chary, are going to bring your boys? Last year I didn’t get my tickets till late and was in the stands – do you want me to find out about seats?
if our defence is good enough i really don’t see the point of a DM against 90percent of the teams.
however we need to win against the other 10% to get any silverware, and therein lies wenger’s problem.
Nasri in DM mode is a big big gamble in my opinion. His creative urge will not allow him to stay back all the time and against sides like chelsea, united, pool and city it will cost heavy.
Is there anyone else who thinks Ramsey is perfect for that job. He is technically not as gifted as either Nasri and Cesc, but has a great eye for pass and has the ability to find out his way of cramped positions. He is physically strong for his age, and does not over exert and hence will most of the times stay away from injury.
I think Cesc-Ramsey would be a treat for the eye.
What happened to buying experience then? Vermaelan/ Matuidi are hardly seasoned pros.
Maybe he’s got an old horse (or 2) in mind
I watched some of Vermaelens performances on youtube. He is strong & he has a very good jump. He out jumped Gareth Barry in one of the goals he scored. He is also an aggressive defender from what I saw.
Nasri has shown a very good defensive side to his game; tracking back, puttin tackles in, etc. His work rate has put certain others to shame. I think he could do a job there – if needed – against certain teams. But we have Song for that, and I think we’d be losing too much of Samir’s creativity if he was asked to play the DM role…
Nah, can’t see it really…
Morning all!!
I would love some sort of swap deal with Man Citeh for us to get Richards. He is strong, fast and good in te air. Him and Willy G i think would be a good partnership but doesn’t look like happening.
Maybe YAYA speaking about playing with his brother is code for he is going to man city and i will play with him there?? There would be truth in that as Citeh seem to be trying to buy all the midfielders in the world. They almost have as many as us now
Ikon, i like the idea of Cesc and Ramsey, andother plus from that is that Rambo also has an eye for a great pass. His only problem is that his tackling isn’t the best. but he is young, he can still work on that.
Lewyd24;
Yeah, thats what Ive heard fella. Like Sagna has a great leap on him, so does this Vermilli fella, strong too. If he is quite nimble and athletic too, well thats everything innit! Why bother just looking for a 6ft 5 inch monsyer, whose as slow as shite???
Has anyone got a link to vermaelen on youtube? I haven’t seen him play before.
All this talk of players joining Citeh.
They have a full fledged team and no ones left yet.
Anyone we would want from the “Old Citeh”?
I don’t think my boys would be likely to go so it’ds probably be just me. I’ll check I’m allowed out first but it’d be cool to get some pre season peroni’s in !
i think we lack bottle at the back more than height… people ready to put their body on the lines will usually do enough to put a striker off… plenty of times we got done at set pieces because our players stood off and looked like they didnt wanna risk getting hurt for the cause
iceman;
Micheal Johnson and Micah
Hi Clacko
Good point about collecting mid-fielders – I was having a joke with a friend yesterday about whether Arsene thinks he can maybe turn Vermaelen into a DM
KOLO to man city is just paper talk to fill up the pages
Clacko just google youtube and then put his name in the search area. It will come up automatically.
Morning all,
I noticed nasri playing the defensive midfield roll against middlebrow,he did well. to put him there against the bigger/stronger teams might be a bit overzealous on wengers part.
What do you all think of RVP being linked away? personally if he signs great if not he is replaceable.Although some magic moments that’s all they are, he spends more time out then in.A fit motivated RVP is obviously what i want but….
Peaches, that is probably the twist to the tale haha.
Arsenal Tom;
I dunno fella, IMO, Vermaellen is a replacement for Kolo OR Gallas.
This Nasri news on him being our DM is not on. You rather leave Song in there than NAsri. Nasri is not big enough or strong enough.
Loved up…
Isn’t Johnson an AM?
Don’t we have too many of his kind.
AW should seriously consider Richards for Toure
Morning/afternoon
So Wenger does read le-grove, which is understandable as it is the only French arsenal blog. I say this because i suggested the Nasri Fab partnership more than a month ago. I hope it works out and i think it can, but if it does Wenger should give due credit to me.
Nick, i agree that losing RVP would not be a massive blow as we do have players that could come in and do what he does, most notably Vela. i think those two are quite similar in that they will try to hold the ball up but if they see a chance to go at the defence then they will. In all honesty though the only reason that papers are speculating him leaving is because he is stalling on signing as he wants to see the ambition with the signings we make. He does have about 2 years left though so it’s not that bigga deal!!
one report read said kolo only has 12months left on contract so may be forced to sell him.Galls also with 12months left,who ever does the contracts needs a kick up the ass letting them both get so low at the same time
Iceman;
You asked me who, out of Citys ‘old boys’ Id like at Arsenal mate!
Oh guys, i guarantee if we all keep talking about the Richards, Kolo swap deal the press will print it soon enough
morning all
Noooo!!!! nasri as a holding midfielder!! please wenger don’t do it!!
So are we going to have to wait a year now for nasri to learn his trade as defensive midfielder!!
Nick i think we are looking to let them both go. Weird as it sounds i have a feeling that this new guy will take over from probably Kolo and then gallas will have his contract run out and leave at the end of next season allowing either Song, JD or Nordveit to take over.
LL.. thing is if he replaces kolo who goes the man city at the end of next season when gallas is 32-33 ish and on his way out we’ll be looking for another CB…
i think silvetre will go and we’ll have
JD
kolo
gallas
vermealen
as our 4 CB’s, which doesnt look too shabby to be honest
clacko they say his mrs is expecting the second child and the family is settled in England so might be paper bollocks or his agent trying to drive up his neg position. hopefully its sorted one way or the other so we can get on.
HES BELGIAN! And i heard that he is NOT 5″11 but 6″2
What about Vermaelen as our defensive midfielder??
looks like a done deal
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5368964,00.html
‘There is still time on my contract and I hope the club will show that they need me,’ Toure told the London Evening Standard.
The way they were: Arsene Wenger and Kolo Toure embrace after the 2005 FA Cup final
‘When you love somebody it’s important that they love you back. I have loved this club for years and I always give everything for the team.
‘I have been here a long time and when I saw some players leaving the club last year that was difficult for me. Then when we didn’t start the season well I was scared.
‘You start to think that maybe the club don’t need you any more. When it’s like that and you are 28 you have to think about yourself as well. But I came back, I’m playing at the moment and I hope that will carry on.
‘People know I love the club, nobody can say I don’t. I believe you can only truly love one club in your career and my club is Arsenal.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1180833/Kolo-Toure-love-Arsenal-getting-seven-year-itch.html
See clacko how easy it is
The player has said it himself that he wants to move to Arsenal whenever this happens the deal is usually pushed through and there haven’t been any report denying this from our side either. The thing is you don’t have to be tall to be geed in the air. Song is decent in the air but he ain’t tall. If you want a defender to scare the opposition thats a different matter.
clacko could be the plan ie gallas/toure but if so he will bring in another cb like sahko.with fishface moving on and gallas taking the senior role,people have said gallas wouldn’t stand for this and cause trouble so….wenger can earn his money on that little conundrum
Arsenal Tom;
Henry still loves Arsenal fella!
Vermaelen as a CDM could be on the cards, who can track back to cover the backs. It could work
GG9 doubt it,always surprised me why he never gave toure the chance in dcm.Maybe he did in training and he was crap!!!
Erm, how come when you look on Vermealen on Sky Sports, he is the ONLY player whose height is in feet and inches? Every other player is in cms! have they just done that recently? Conspiracy theory no.23550
Yup Wenger may suprise us with Vermaelens position.He played Song at centre back at the end of last season cos he said he wanted to have a look at him in the CB position. So this may be on the cards.
Wenger had said that toure doesn’t have the stamina to be a DCM.
Nasri playing DM is just so ridiculous that I can see AW going for it just to show he can do it. I hope he doesnt coz it will really damage us as a team and damage Nasri who is meant to be our new Pires
In an interview didn’t Nasri suggest lorik for the CM position. Doesn’t that mean that he doesn’t want to play there.
inside your right we buy him as the next ZZ and play him as the next PV4 something odd there
Guys, don’t rule out Yaya moving to us, I know it sounds daft, but it it may happen
Mayank – Wenger said that about Song
Nick I agree on the Kolo as a CDM once upon a time.
lewyd i hope not we should buy players for the position on their cv.
Yeah Loved up…
I’m just saying we could do with Richards more.
vermaelen should be a CB… we need to stop trying to convert players and play them in their best posistion
LL… he said he wants to stay though… if he was gonna go he’d have gone during the jan window, wenger never usually keeps a player if he really wants to go
Big Dave, the thing that puts doubt into me is our clubs track record in the past 3 seasons. I cant see us going for very well established player let alone one who has just won the treble.
How tall id RVP, coz that should answer any questions on vermaelen’s height.
http://www.depers.nl/beeld/w440/2007/200709/20070924/000vermaelen.jpg
Hey Alex .
where did you hear he is actually 6ft 2 ??
ps guys . richsrds is only 5 ft 11 !!
Tall enough doesn’t mean good enough.
But as Ajax captain there’s def gotta be somtehing there.
RVP is 6ft’1 ish i think
vermaelen is about 6ft give or take an inch
RvPs about 6’1″ gnarleyg
a picture can be misleading
He is supposed to be 5ft 11ins.
IMO we need a defender over 6ft
jules;
Id take Micah for the RB role.
iceman, i agree mate… plus i think we miss fight in our back line rather than height
Well, jusging by that photo, Vermilli is taller than RvP, unless he wears Sven style ‘lifts’ in his boots…
If he is good in the air, dominant, strong in the tackle, nippy and a good reader of the game… That will do for me.
over sagna loved up ?
He looks good in the air; he can head a goal, get him
why not, he is obviously multi skilled, & has grunt.
Loved up, great minds
Come on lads since when has an inch made any difference?
Reading forums on Ajax sites, that can’t believe we are paying 11mill eu fro him, they say he is good ,but not great, he jumps well and gets stuck in but they doubt if he can cut in PL football.
Proof in pudding i suppose, this signing should be announced by wednesday latest.
I wrote to the club telling them that Arshavin should be our number 10 next season and not 23
Geoff, Eboue has been played in DM, in pre season and against West Brom in the first game of the season.
I’m sure the fact that The Club doesn’t have enough depth has been a talking point on Le Grove. Here we are getting umpteen players for each position, its got to be all good for a 38 game season plus Cup campaigns
11m does seem like allot but they usually say we pay allot more than we actually do because we never disclose anything…
remember when they said we pad 5.5m for diarra and it was actually only 2m
Big Dave is any player worth 71 million, I can’t believe that
…….actually is the Kaka deal actually happening?
hello every1
just wanted know what is the perfect hieght for defender…i men this ajax guy is 5’9 or 5’11 (whatever)
Kaka will join them later today.
11 mill is alot but he is young, so maybe that has something to do with it
Gnarley… medical today apparentely
Why Micah Richards for Kolo instead of Richard Dunne who is the far better defender, Hughes and City had knocked his confidence this season imo.
Hows things lads,
Ive done a little digging on this Belgian guy at Ajax, I have lots of friends in Amsterdam who regularly go to matches.
He is not the tallest, but is reported to be amazing in the air, and a very dominant, brave defender. He is versatile, apparently can play anywhere in defence, and has also played as a holding midfielder. Also, Ive been told he is an organiser at the back, a true defender.
On the down side, while he is very talented, most of my mates think he needs a bit of fine-tuning before being a regular. Also, they think the price seems high.
In my opinion, it boils down to who leaves – if hes a replacement for Kolo or Gallas, its a risk, if hes bought to compete with them, then we have really strengthened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCepc7H8s1E
Funnily he seems to get more goals from the right side
Is it for £71 million?
Thomas Vermaelen details:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=40543&cc=5739
GG9 – Kaka deal has been done for ages. He will be number 5 next season.
and their captain thatll add a mil or 2… must have good leadership to which we lack
‘It is a great sporting challenge and I will also be financially better off. I think everything is going to be okay. In the coming days there will be more talks.’
jules;
Not Micah replacing Sagna, competing with him, as well as CB too.
Irish; Howdy! Mightve known you’d rather we sign Dunne!!!
Here’s that Setanta exclusive. Zzzzzzz
http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/06/08/Exclusive-Senderos-on-Milan/gnid-56206/
Lovedup – Seriously, Dunne was City’s best player for about 5 years running, even though they weren’t great he looked really good. This season he seems affected by Hughes and the money off the field at City.
For Ireland he has been nothing short of immense. On Saturday he was excellent against Bulgaria despite having an injury to his cruciate knee ligament.
I think he’d be a better signing that Richards.
good shout loved up I guess
I would,nt suprised if this Vermaelen is bought in with a view to be a dm
GP, to be honest it is often about the leap and the timing and the desire to win the ball. I am only 5’11″ but I win balls in the air against bigger guys for the reasons above. That said I would be happier if I was 6’1″ say, as it would be ideal.
dunn has been shocking this season
see,
i think richards would be ok but his attitude and behavior wouldn’t be something we need, if the press is to be believed and there always right
It could be a plan on his part knowing we don’t splash the cash, he has come up with a cunning scheme to lower the fee and secure his dream move
by the way morning irish
Irish; Dunne has 1 massive mistake in him every game tho! I know loads of City fans, who go every game, they arent at all arsed he won’t be getting many games now.
I think signing Micah, would make sense in that; he’s young enough to develop, can play in several positions, will be quite cheap coz City want rid due to off the field activities, is a Gooner and English.
my concern is not how good in the air this guys is or is,nt , the main point for me is we are a short side in general , when why lined up against manure in the tunnel , they were visably stronger than us , our team of 2004 had 6 or 7 players over 6ft m, th 14, bobby , dennis , pv 04 , edu , sol etc etc .
that side looked fucking big and imposing in the tunnel which others must of crapped themselves about . not the case now which is why I would prefer a couple of bigger guys in . alonso and zapatta would be my choice but probably dreaming !
Even if he does sign, surely it is better to give the guy a chance, than just write him off for not being tall enough before he has even played a game for us?
Since when did height stop Cannavarro from winning headers and being a leader at the back?
Morning Nick
Lovedup – that is only this season though. For Ireland he has made John O’Shea look like a commanding center back beside him. Maybe the Irish management can just get the best out of him, now who is that guy that is on the management team … Liam Brady – why does he sound familiar??
Richards is a liability IMO, Wenger would bore of his bling.
All this shite about his height stemmed from sumfin Tony Adams recently said. The same Tone who is the new celtic manager apparantly…. He’s going a bit David Icke it seems…
Oh and Vermilli is about the same height as Jagielka (who many pundits said we shud sign!), Carragher… Nom one saying they are shirt arses… But they aint signing for Arsenal are they?
matt good point agree that dont happen often
can this guy talk English that may be more important then his height if his going to be the organizer or better still french
short arses obviously! Dam
i see the possible signing dutch defender in a different way it might be the case that wenger will look to keep his experienced defenders in gallas/toure and sell silvestor and senderos,i am not siue about nasri playing dm role,when he has played he has played very well but i think a more experienced midfield player is needed,but wenger will try to get his signing done before the july
Irish;
Indeed, it would be a bit of a gamble with Micah, if his blingin charlie big bollocks and largin it attitude are for real…
This is worrying when our manager doesn’t even knw what positions he’s players play.
Nasri defensive mid????
Eboue central mid????
Bentner right-wing????
Diaby left-wing???
Van-persi left-wing???
Silvestre????
All season we’ve seen this rubbish of constant formation changes,how are you supposed to have a sttled side?
Toure and Gallas have proved(3 conceded in 16 games)they can play together but suffer by not having someone Solid in front of them.
Lovedup – I think Richards would only get more into the party lifestyle in London, not worth it IMO.
Has Mowbary been confirmed as Celtic boss yet?
ibbs
Im very worried for you!
first of all i am pretty sure he must be 6ft.He does look really tall.Richards is supposed to be 5ft11
Irish;
Mowbray aint confirmed yet, dont think.
Matt, very good point… it just seems a bit of a contradictory signing?
Imagine…
The core of our team being… Gallas, Vermaelen, Nasri, Cesc…
That is very short!
I don’t think anyone is saying he is going to be a bad signing, I just think people are baffled that Wenger pointed out height as a problem… then signs another short ass?
Mornin All
i see we’re still hunting high and low for replacements….damned…am i the only one who actually think we’re good…
besides i guess it will be a rather slow summer of transfers…economic situation…the only thing that could affect that….is some big transfers..like kaka’s…
the Ajax defender looks good but not proven quality…
So i just keep to my old tracks and say a little pray every night …let Our Beloved Arsenal be injury free this season..:)
tom
Oh… Cannavaro was 5ft 9!
If he was 5’8″ Id be concerned, but he aint, so Im not… Let that be an end to this sizeist with hunt!
witch hunt! Jeeez
Isn’t there anyone else we can take from city?
Following on from Geoff’s post…
I can see this defender being our only signing.
We don’t need a striker regardless of Ade staying or going.
Anymore defenders would require us selling.
Anymore midfielders would require us to sell.
Also… is it possible this guy could be used as a DM?
I’ve heard he is pretty mobile and tenacious?
If you’ve been through this… Ignore me…
and bendtner can do what adebayor does?
Pedro surely he will buy a defender if toure leaves.I really hope gallas isn’t the one who leaves
Nishanth… I can’t see Toure or Gallas leaving.
BBK, moping around looking disinterested isn’t exactly irreplaceable.
Pedro;
Gallas or Kolo will leave.
We need a new central midfielder.
Ade is leaving.
So, that means;
2 CBs, 1 DM and a striker….
When it happens, dont be forgetting who told ya how tings would pan out… And IF nuffin of the sort happens, we can all pretend I never said a bleedin word, right?
BBK bendter doesn’t have to play in the first team.We could use eduardo,rvp arshavin vela.Bendtner can be a backup plan
ibbs
i think its good when you players who can play in different positions because injuries will occur but they must be quality and good it,nasri has clearly shown that he can play anywere in midfield,i feel eboue is good utility player but diaby is far to inconstsnat for me
but don’t you think an offer of 12million for toure should be accepted?Toure has been really poor this season.
We could get a good defender for 12
nish;
IF City come in for Kolo again, with anything approaching a £10m bid, he will go I think.
BBK, moping around looking disinterested isn’t exactly irreplaceable.all that moping around still got him 16 goals,bendtner tried his hardest to get the amount he got.
Pedro mate…
good point….but still im awaiting what happens with a few big names….if Zlatan leaves Inter,if Ronaldo leaves manu..Kaka has already left Milan…and i think Drogba is outbound from chelski…if theese transfers happens…there will suddenly be alot of action going on…
still i think that the financial situation makes it easy to buy not proven quality players and very difficult to buy top notch players…
back here in Norway there suddenly are 5-6 teams who feels the affect of the financial meltdown,and i think that situation is no better in clubs around Europe….so there isnt alot of cash to spend out there…..
tom
Lovedup, I know what we need… and I don’t disagree… but looking at it through Wenger specs… he has all he needs.
Who is he going to cull in centre mid? It certainly wont be Denilson… maybe Song will move back into defence. Not sure what the hell he’ll do with Diaby.
Up front, I think we’ve got about 5 people who can play there.
Centre back… well… unless City come back for Toure… I can’t see either leave.
Didn’t Wenger say no one would leave? (I know, I know… he says that every year!)
There is a guy on my desk called Pedro… it’s very annoying… It’s not my real name… but it’s confusing all the same.
we should buy a winger and put theo up front, he’s wasted on the wing.
if vermaelen is in the vidic mould then being an inch or 2 shorter wont matter… its challenging for the 50-50s and putting yourself on the line we miss
BBK… Bends got 15, Ade got 16… I think I’d take the guy who is 21 over the 25 year old who can’t be assed on £80k.
Tom, we don’t need mega signings… we need 2 or 3 Sagna/Eduardo signings.
Players on the verge of becoming world class. Like Bobby, Paddy and Vieira.
Apparently sunderland are buying bassong for 6million.Finally we won’t be linked to him anymore
the guy who is on 80k pisses all over the 21 year old
I have mentioned this before but if toure leaves should we make a move for metzelder?He used to be good.Havn’t seen him play for a long time.Surely madrid will be selling him
the 21 year doesn’t exactly scare other defenders either
and Wenger knows
due to market it will be amost impossible to get cash from selling..thoose we would like to get out..like Senderos,Silvestre,Traore,etc…the only way He can brign in some cash is by selling the likes of Persie…Ade…
so therefore i actually hope we keep the great team together and work with that….and if we’re lucky enough to have a troublefree preseason…we should be ok…
look at the rather small activity on the transfer market and ask one question ….Why ???
tom
Madrid and valencia will be offloading a lot of players.Surely there will be some on good enuf
adebayor is a massive cunt though
if wenger thinks signing players like vermaelen and possibly dzeko will appease the fans he better think again
so is bendtner
Nish – Metzelder is on Madrid’s transfer list I believe
tom, its very early mate… theres usually one signing that kicks things off… kaka to madrid means milan will buy, and so on…. when villa replace barry with whoever they are looking at it’ll have the same effect
wat do you think irish should we make a move for him?He definitely fills the height criteria and offload that useless silvestre
Pedro good point…
and i agree mate,if we really have some cash to spend,,,it would be crucial to use it in a clever way…the thing stopping all acton at the moment is the trouble we have offloading players we dont need..
tom
Sell Adebayor, Toure, Senderos, Diaby and Traore.
Buy Hangeland, Vermaelen, Cana & Young/good RW (suggestions?).
That’s basically 3 out, 4 in considering Senderos and Traore both play out on loan right now.
Properly promote Ramsey, Wilshere and Thomas.
Our best 11 is then:
Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Hangeland – Clichy
New RW – Fabregas – Cana – Rosicky
Eduardo – Arshavin
With a bench from:
van Persie
Ramsey
Wilshere
Nasri
Walcott
Bendtner
Song
Denilson
Vermaelen
Djourou
Silvestre
Fabianski
Thomas
to be fair id play eddie, rvp & theo up front before either of them two anyway
i hear ya Arsenal Tom…and its true..still i think it will be a different summer mate..:)
tom
van Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, has told Arsenal fans that they are currently enjoyed a “golden” period in the club’s history.Is this guy having a laugh,no wonder we are not winning trophy’s.If he thinks this period is golden we are in big,big trouble
young good RW would be navas
BBK, signing highly rated young, but expereinced players would appease any normal Gooner….Just you aint normal!
BBK;
You are a tabloid hacks wet dream… You lap up all their shit like a good puppy… slurp slurp!!!
nishanth – any good? Not seen him play really….
The Ade of last season would not be missed. I hope Eduardo is finally injury free and gets the chance to play up top, whether as the focal point of our attack, or with Arshy, RvP, bendy or whoever….
Nish – if we could get him cheap he could be well worth a punt. Bring in him and Vermaelen and try to keep Toure and Gallas if possible – competition for places
frasier Campbell, 6 million quid. Are they havin’ a larf!
Nish;
Potential Real cast offs; mamadou Diarra for me…
we dont need no more young players it’s getting us nowhere
He is really good but i think hez got travel sickness.
zorro; Hey fella!
Frazier Campbell for £6m is effin funny. Thing is, United need to get some money to be able to sign themselves.
BBK will only be happy if we sign Banks, Beckenbauer, Cruyff and Pele!
23 year olds tho BBK, hardly kids, especially in football terms, IMO.
Lovedup i think diarra is too slow.He is strong and his tackling is good but not a great passer.Don’t think he will be adjust in the premier league.Thats my opinion though.In an interciew recently he said hez staying
why zorro when almunia is better then banks,vermaelen pisses all over Beckenbauer,and bendtner and walcott are your modern day cruyff and pele we have a team of superstars didn’t you know that.
we should be looking to sign defenders that are 26+
http://goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/06/07/1309978/mahamadou-diarra-confident-of-real-madrid-stay
BBK;
Thats crackers dude! Why 26+??? If they are quality at 22, why not sign em??? You are making arguments from nuffin now!!! If this Vermilli turns out to be a top CB, then thats all that matters innit? IF he does sign…
i think it sgoing be while before plays rambo and wintshire i know alot fans want to them play more often i know i do but i have keep reminding myself that that there only 17 and 18. when it comes to ade i thant wenger gave him better contract to qickly,i know alot fan s wont agree with this but i dont think flamani did enough to hearn a huge contract he only had 1 good season and so far he has not been able reproduce that,i still think an experienced midfielder is urgently needed cesc for is still got long way to go not that same level as steveie g not yet
Taig mate ..
the only prob there is NO market for Senderos,Diaby,Traore….Toure maybe but just because mancity has the cash…
look at the Gallas situation i think he would jump at a chance of gettin back home,,,the only prob there isnt a french club who have the money to buy him and certainly not one who can aford his wages,,,what is Gallas option …yes to stay another year and sit out his contract…sad but true ..
tom
This last 10 years has been a golden period BBK….
And by the way – i won our bet – Adebayor did score more than 15 goals in all comps. this season.
We should not sell anyone, unless we have to.
why do we need to sign vermilli when we got senderos
Oh – and Toure will be at the ACN, so a centre half was always going to be required.
nish;
Yeah, maybe. Just I saw a quote from perez saying 9 1st teamers would be off loaded;
Mama D, Robben, van der vaart, Sneider, De La Red, Guti, Salgado, the likkle Argentinian striker?….
BBK,
I’m pretty sure you spent most of the season slating Ade… now you are a fanboy like David?
Hating on Bends who is 21 and scored 1 less… but loving Ade whose attitude, work rate and goal return was terrible for an £80k a week striker.
Can’t quite work out how he ‘pisses’ on Bendtner?
Sometimes i feel its just wishful thinking having a wishlist every season.
Is there anybody out there that has the intricate workings of Arsene’s thinking figured out?
It’s been a while since we’ve been title contenders.
the last 5 years have been shit
if hull are gonna pay 6m for f.campbell, we should get 10 for diaby and atleast 7 for traore.
silly season indeed!!
Do Arsenal release shirt name sales figures?
I’d be really interested to know who sold the most shirts last season and who sold the least.
I honestly didn’t see a single Adebayor 25 shirt in the 28 games I went to last season.
If anyone knows how to get this info let me know
Lovedup you referring to saviola right?
LL… sneijder all day long
Senderos seems to be surplus to requirements. maybe this Milli Vermilli is better suited to the prem than Big Phil?
Lovedup – Isn’t Salgado sold to an Egyptian team already? Or somewhere in the that region of countries?
De La red looked a good player – pity about his health issues
If there is 1 player i would want from madrid it would be higuain
Lovedup mate ..
Real is having the excact same probs…a shitload of players to offload,,,,and well no interest or cash to buy them…
i just hope one small thing,maybe this situation will put and end to the crazy wages and fee’s beeing paid…that would be great
tom..
nish; Yeh, Saviola! And metzelder makes up the 9 Real wanna off load. And possibly RvN
i did hate on ade but now i can see what he brings to the team,as for nikoloss obviously ade didn’t nut him hard enough,what other defender’s have come out and said bendtner is a knightmare to mark?
In fact did ANYONE at all see anyone wearing an Adebayor shirt this season?????
pedro you about????
also them misses from bendtner this season have been shocking
BBK, that was last season… all he’s done this year is complain about hard it is playing against the likes of vidic.
no ones said he’s hard to mark or play against this season
bbk
i am afraid senderos wants leave,personaly i would bring back senderos get rid of silvestor and still buy this dutch defender but senderos will never start and he doesnot want come back plus the the italian style suits him because of lack od pace
BBK, it seems a dumb argument… Ade is great, Nik is not?
How many defenders have praised Ade this season?
I think Ade was 24 before people started talking about him being a hard striker to mark.
Tom;
maybe theyd be into a loan of one of their cast offs like Baptista?
BBK ade is on paper what all strikers should be but on grass well think its something stronger
well out of bendtner and adebayor you know who they would want to face all day
How many has he scored against chelsea,liverpool and united since joining arsenal? 2 against united and 2 against liverpool(UCL).I am sure he has never scored against chelsea.Not entirely sure about united and liverpool
NikkiB is on the upward curve, Ade, at Arsenal anyways, is on a downer…He needs a move as much as we want it… IMO
BBK, Ade has missed countless chances as well.
Nick, yeah, I’m here!
agreed Pedro..
i think Nick will come good…and well at least he’s able to actually think…Ade well it must be his upbringing that haunts him…no brains whatsoever…
tom
Lovedup that may well be a solution…it will be intersting to see what happens mate..
tom
Bendtner alone upfront won’t be that dangerous.When he plays along eduardo,vela or arshavin he is really dangerous
Exactly Tom… I don’t buy into this ‘who he scored against’ crap either.
That was Niks first proper season last year… and I think he did alright for the 4th choice striker.
He also realises he has a long way to go… unlike Ade who believes he is in the elite already.
I would take Bendtner over Adebayor every day of the week
LL, i doubt it but its a nice idea! lol… we should just got in at 10m and see what they say his value will have dropped after diaby smashed him up plus if they say he can leaves that another few quid off!
ok you lot will all see next season when he (ade) is sold how much another team will benefit from him,then all we are left with are theo,bendtner,vela,eduardo whether or not he will play a full season is another story,v.p doesn’t want to sign a new contract,we are fucked
yupp Nish..
but truly Ade wasnt really a threat either playing alone up front…and as he stated himself…its so hard pleying upfront alone…?
tom
Top yourself, why prolong the agony that is your pitiful existence fella???
ade was given a big contact far to early the 1st 2 seasons he was very good,his fisrt season he started in jan and scored aroung 12-15 goals and secong he scored around 30 because he had fight for place and he point to prove, and not just goals he scored he had very high work rate but once he was given new contract and was linked to ac milan it clearly gone to head and cant keep his mouth shot always infront of camara
Hi Maire – I’m with you on Micah Richards, I think he’s party lifestyle would affect his attitude and I can see him being another big time Charlie. As we’re on a sizeist witch hunt I have to add he’s to diddy to be a decent CB and too inconsistent to be a back up RB – hr’s overhyped because he’s English. Meh !
lol you seem to forget that alex song is not only currently our best dm by a country mile (and although nasri is potentially good there, song is better at the moment in dm) but you didn’t even include him as backup.
and eboue started last season with a couple of games at dm where he wasn’t bad- such as fulham
Keith, Wenger sees him as a centre back… hence him moving him there late in the season.
anyone know how theo got on the other day for england?????
[...] the original post on Le Grove VN:F [1.4.2_694]please wait…Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes [...]
With a forward line including the likes of;
Theo, nasri, Arshy, Vela, Bendy, RvP, not forgetting cesc, feedin a clinical finisher like Eduardo, I cant see how we are fucked??
Sooooo negative…. soooooo predictable too!
L.L if you think that this situation at arsenal is good your the one who needs help
BBK, you’ve spent the whole season lambasting him… now everyone is in agreement he should go… you’re defending him?
Sounds like you just like to disagree for the sake of it…
There is no reason for you to change your opinion on him… if you can’t rate him after 30 goals and loads of hard graft… how can you now decide he is great… with 16 goals and no effort?
Chary – Totally agree with you. I’m not saying we should go out and but Dunne but if we were going to do a player plus cash deal with City for Toure I would personally rather Dunne over Richards.
BOY BETTER KNOW Says:
August 11, 2008 at 14:34 edit
Adebayor needs 10 chances before he scores 1 that is not good enough we should of been 2-0 up the other day against ajax it is partly down to him why we did not win the league too
well off ..
have a great day Pedro.Nish,BBk,Lovedup,Taig,Arsenal Tom,Leon,Nick,Keith,charybdis….and all Grovers and Gooners alike,,,
and of course Irish
….
tom.
BBK;
Why? When the likes of Rosicky and Eduardo will be like 2 new signings… Vela, Bendy, Nasri, with 1 seasons prem experience under their belts, Arshy settled in nicely, Wilshire, Ramsey, Gibbs coming on a treat, 1 or 2 yutes coming thru, Song ready to step in at DM and CB if needed as well as the new signings…
What the fuck is YOUR major malfunction soldier???
That took about 2 seconds to find… I’m sure there are a lot worse…
So what’s changed BBK?
A year on… he’s scored even less… been worse… and now we shouldn’t sell him?
i have changed my mind on him because he can give us that extra bit what no other striker we have got can.
Laters Tom.
Laters tom.
Went on for 5 mins last night and all that was happening was ade shit/Bendtner shit and a variety of playing formations which ended up looking like a Fibonacci sequence!!!
Pedro brought up Megan Fox, which was far more interesting!
What BBK?
10 chances to score one goal?
Is that now deemed as good enough for you?
what’s that arsene i mean L.L???/
look when that was pedro
Zorro, my women is always a good topic of convo.
BBK, so what changed in a year… he’s performed worse… yet you opinion has gone up?
Sounds like you just like to be the opposition voice…
Better topic than us lot regurgitating the same stuff over and over, which is what happens during the close season when life is meaningless without games!
Pedro;
Dont even bother mate. BBK is what professionals like myself would categorise as a sado-masochist; enjoys torturing himself!
Half empty and then some!
out of an average bunch he’s above the rest
Laters Tom
BBK
You just want to keep him to make sure we’re definitely doomed lol
Adebayor has been so bad this season and lazy and just everything and instead of apologising he just does an interview with the BBC saying he doesnt know why the fans give him stick and they have no right to give him stick! He is a cunt and shud be sold! wanker!
Love this one BBK:
As i said – BBK was slating Ade and the start of the season, and i defended him to the point where BBK offered me the bet that he would not score 15 goals this season…
He did – and was injured, out of form for a long part of it.
The Richards thing would make sense IF we lost Eboue. we would need another RB if Eboue goes.
But I dont particularly rate Richards. He is OK and if he was available for a few million I would take him but not if losing Kolo is part of the deal. I would rather have Kolo in the squad than Richards.
I can see City trying to pair the Toure brothers. So they need to buy both of them. I have no idea whether Barca would sell. possibly at a much inflated fee (which arsenal could not afford).
theres a difference to being “out of form” and a lazy arrogant cunt!
lollllll good one pedro,you got the ammo there for sure but i have changed my mind on him…..
ok matt lol my bad i have changed my mind since then
Matt, you bet your season ticket that he’d get more than 15… BBK owes you some dough.
http://tinyurl.com/ly8mau
16:58 is where the proof is at!
I agree gazzap, Kolo currently is twice the player that richards is, who was so bad at the start of the season he even lost his place in central defence to onuha, and only got back in the team at right back! He’s also only 5ft 11 so is smaller than kolo!
I dunno gazzap, I could see barca being willing to let yaya go, and not for an astronomical fee, but obviously if City were involved we’d probably be priced out of the market as they’d be willing to pay silly money
Size ain’t all when it comes to defenders – Cannavaro is rated as one the best in his position and he ain’t exactly big…
ade isnt a better player than eddie or rvp, no way, he was plan B who became plan A when henry left and RVP got injured
Hey Kenny – long time no speak
You in Norway or Scotland?
I dont agreee. i cant remember the last time toure played well… im sorry but i cant… maybe the game against Roma at Rome
pedro are you a shrink????
PS regarding eboue at DM – he did play there in pre season, and either one or maybe two proper games at the start of the season!! He actually did well there too!
LOL – did i?
I don’t remember that…
Oh well – feel free to send me a cheque for £1400 then BBK.
Lovedup, I can understand not rating a player… they have a good season… then you rate them.
However, when someone despises a player… they have a turd season… then they start rating them… that doesn’t make sense to me?
That doesn’t really follow logic…
I’ve been a big supporter of Ade all year… but I think selling him would be beneficial to the whole club now. I think he’s a good player… but without effort and a good attitude, he is an average, expensive luxury.
irish… Scotland but just come back from Norway thats why ive been away for a few weeks… Miss me? You behaving? o and i saw Brede Hangeland in a bar when i was over there
E-man, well it matters when teams play against us
Buffon isn’t coming – what a shock ….
matt do you accept I.O.U’S
nooooooooooooo irish you lie
Nick… an amateur one… you know the drill… I’ve read a lot of books on the subject. haha!
How do you feel about that comment Nick?
E-man size isn’t everything, but you can’t have two small defenders playing together, or if you do then you’ll be beaten in the air and concede goals as a result.
Cannavaro is a great defender, but if he isn’t playing alongside a big fucker than the defence would always concede goals.
kenny… well said bentder had a shocking couple of months where nothing went right for him… that was bad form, ade picks and chooses his games… usually the easy ones are the only one’s he’s interested in
Course I missed you Kenny
I’m trying to behave haha Did you ask Hangeland to join us?
Afternoon Gooners & Gonads boring blog today same trash again,again & again.but oh well at least we’v got Vermin signed-dnt slag him off guys for his height etc – give him a chance plz.its getting worse than the Daily Mirror in here. 2 more signings left – Dzeko & ‘that DM’.
A, I remember writing a post about him there… he was ok!
He certainly has the tenacity to play there… and now the bulk.
If Dzeko was to happen I’d expect it to be at the very end of the window, after Ade goes and if VP doesn’t sign so is cashed in, though i’d much rather he stayed than dzeko came in
Its okay Nick, its okay and we were so close to signing him and it wasn’t a figment of the media’s imagination at all
Pedro, careful though, it does show BBK was right!!!!
ha ha – OK BBK.
I will forfeit my winnings for you to become a positive supporter.
I agree pedro – problem solved then!
gazzap
if eboue left i would toure there but he might be there cb situation is very much up in the air i have no idea who is staying going
KM, that is a bit harsh… when was the last time we talked about Nasri in the middle?
It takes a lot of effort to write a post in the close season, and comments like that are out of order.
irish, No i couldnt get near him the bar i was in was soooo packed you wouldnt believe it. We were just leaving when we spotted him
haha setanta are brilliant – their big “exclusive” they were saying yesterday they would announce today is……. “Senderos wants to stay at Milan”
Zorro, he was write… but to be honest… if you slag everyone off… you’ll be right sometimes wont you?
A, I wouldn’t be opposed.
Ade didnt have the best season, that is without question, but is it right to write him off after one poor season?
On his day, he is a very useful player to have, and can offer a team more than most forwards.
I think he deserves at least a season of the fans getting behind him, and then lets judge.
Matt that will only happen if we sign the likes of players real madrid are wanting to sign
Matt – Hell and freezing over spring to mind when talking about BBK and the positive word
i agree matt
bbk with irish me tooo
Agh darn Kenny – asking you to kidnap him might have been a bit much so
A;
Yeah, I posted the link to the Setanta exclusive before! Earth shattering or what?
I’d still prefer Yaya though pedro! I’m not sure Eboue would have the tactical and positional awareness to play DM consistently.
Matt Ade can offer a team something that most forwards can’t, but not more than most forwards.
Alot of people never saw him as the future of the club, he simply doesn’t have the attributes to EVER be intelligent enough, or cultured enough to be a top class player, though he should always score goals.
As someone else said earlier he’s a great plan B, but because of injuries had to be our plan A last season, had an absolute freak wonder season, and as a result of that it’s ruined him as he thinks he’s far better than he is.
yeah irish considering he is almost a foot taller than me! lol
Whats been happening anyway?
Ha yeah it’s superb isn’t it loner! Setanta are genuinely no better than tabloids like the news of the world, it’s ridiculous that some people actually listen to a word they say!
Nasri in DM would be a massive disaster. He cannot position himself properly to protect the defence. Song is a considerably better DM already.
Nothing much Kenny – still unemployed and whiling my hours away on Arsenal blogs and now facebook – have you a facebook account?
KM in WALES 12:38 – I would like to see you do better!!
irish if you have facebook does that mean photos????
no but i was thinking of making one cause a few of my friends have… im on bebo though
Setanta will go bust any day soon. Still owe the SPL £3mil
we definately a DM imo but i believe Song can become a class DM with more experience
Have you facebook Nick?
Oh I have bebo too but don’t use it anymore – facebook is better
They better not i subscibe to setanta lol
Setanta are in massive trouble Kenny
bebo is ace.. why no use it anymore???… ill let u know once ive set up facebook then lol
it’s all about the facebook, EVERYONE who’s cool has facebook nowadays….
na have only just got an email not into the tinternet really only come on here and one other Lesa blog to pass the quite time at work
Ooh, Im on tha there facebook…
irish, you wanna be my friend?
Everyone is on facebook now so no point in using bebo to be honest that and facebook has great games
Is there a “le grove” group on facebook??
FINE!
lol facebook is gay… bebo is soo much better but ill get a facebook just so for you irish!!!
but irish are their photos of ya on it ?????
Nick – you should join facebook, the games on it really pass the time
Lovedup – sure, we need to exchange e-mails with Pedro could do
Gotta go…
catch ya latersssssss
check nic dyin for some photos
concerning the height or lack of height I woul like to tell you a story about the original club from Vermaelen. some 20 years ago they had a mananger who only wanted players bigger than 180 cm.
So “Beerschot” (name of the club) was getting big and strong players from anywhere. Didn’t matter if they could play with the ball, they just had to be big.
To make a long season short, at the end of that season they went down. They were strong but didn’t have the skill and technique to play at the highest level in Belgium (in those days the standard over here was rather higher – Belgium was always qualifing for world cup even finishing 4 in Mexico).
So it doesn’t matter how big you are, your skills, technique and attitude are far more important.
Sorry Pedro.i shouldnt have said that.but i got annoyed by so many ppl dooming Vermaelin to fail at arsenal we need to give him a chance. Pedro just a suggestion i think u need some more guest columnists during this summer maybe 2/3 per week.it’l give u a break & bring something different to Le-grove.once again apologies to all for my harsh words.
Just one I think
west ham have been sold,didn’t know and don’t care really
can ya post it on here coz i cant be bothered setting up a poxy page just to see ya
A – nope but there should be, hint hint Pedro
Kenny – I thought that too, I only signed up to facebook about 2 weeks ago
I would like us to get rid of Ade to sign the Wolfsburg player Dzecko. He is a good finisher that we desperately need. The only other finisher we have is Eduardo and I am not sure how many matches he will play for us next season.
Matt, Ade… or a couple of decent signings?
I think it’s either or isn’t it?
I would keep Ade… but if it’s at the expense of signing a couple of important players… I’d sell him.
£80k is a helluva wage to gamble another year on.
I’m on Facebook… I’d set up a group… but I don’t want get a whack when I’m on a train because someone has seen what I look like! A few too many stalkers out there…!
It’s a balance walter, you can’t have a whole team of small players, including the defence, or teams with big players will always score goals against you relatively easily. Our whole team has been too small for a good while, which is why we conceded so many from set pieces, or crosses
I think we should go for a straight player swap Miare if Citeh(or should I say Shitty, as their vulgar, nouveau riche attitude is quite shitty) are after Kolo. I’m not too sure about Dunne but surely they another player we could swap – a right winger maybe ?
I personally don’t think Kolo is going anyway- it’s probably regenerated/recycled crap from January when he was supposed to be clearing out his locker form London Colney. Soike here think Kolo should go, but I’d take someone with Arsenal in his heart even if his form has been erratic lately over a new signing who will take time to settle in. I’m more forgiving of players who are Arsenal through and through over mercenaries.
Has BBK paid his forfeit to Matt for the bet he lost yet ?
No I can’t Nick
what was the setanta exclusive they talked about last night?
A few points:
I say Eboue as that’s the only position he hasn’t tried him in yet, I think this may be his last chance.
Eboue played there against Fulham.
Second half of the season Song was first choice as dcm most fo the time, he’s only filled-in at centre half a couple of times since graduating from the carling cup team. Cesc’s partner in central midfeild is a race between Denilson and Song.
IMHO Nasri is too small, not energetic enough and certianly not def minded enough to play the role.
Gibbs filled-in at left back but hes a mid-fielder as well.
this vermellen guy is ok only if wenger decides to do some shake with his staff like bring back keown as defence coach for starters. there is no way nasri can be a defensive midfielder maybe a central midfielder in a 4-3-3 formation alongside fabregas and a serious defensive midfielder say cana. my preferred formation for next season would be gk almunia-rb sagna,cb gallas,cb vermellen,lb clichy-cm fabregas,cdm cana,cm nasri-lam arshavin, st edin dzeko,ram van persie
irishgunner….it seems the guys here cant get enough of u:)
I can’t find you on facebook Pedro cos I don’t know your real name ha ha well I know your first name – you know mine though
Well said A… it’s all about balance.
Oh… and I’d love Yaya… but I’d also love Sammy Eto’o!
We’re unlikely to get either!
I know KM and I don’t get it
Ha that’s a very good point Pedro, it can get pretty heated on here at times, I like the anonymity of being known as “A”. Though people wouldn’t necessarily be able to associate the name on here with the name on facebook?!
Irish… If I could set up an LG group anonymously, I’d do it… I’ll see if I can tonight!
Chary – what about Elano or Johnson?
I dunno pedro – Etoo would never happen, but i really wouldn’t rule out Yaya just yet….
It gets heated on here… and some of the hate mail we get is pretty vulgar… I know most of it is from kids and blog tough guys who aren’t really tough… but there are always exceptions to the rule.
Defending yourself against something you’re not expecting is tough!
Mind you, no one has ever come down the S+B for a row, which is nice.
Like a group that can only be seen if you join so no-one outside Le Grove can get in?
I feel safe over in Ireland
A… I think he’ll use us to bolster his contract. That is the issue apparently… they’re not offering him parity with the top players.
A bit like Mak at Madrid all those years ago.
Good shout pedro, though regarding the stalking – you’ve got everyone’s emails so you’d easily know who’s who, can we trust you?!
lol A, I bet your name is Alfonso, or Artemis, or maybe Arsene!
I’m not allowed on FB anymore, my missus banned me! Too many female friends at work apparently!
Pedro – they probably do go down to the S&B for a row … see franchise and run away
Sorry Irish… I mean, if I set up a group, I wouldn’t want my face to be associated with it.
Everyone else can join it… but I wouldn’t.
I dunno pedro – I’ve been campaigning for him to come to us since last summer, I still havn’t given up on him yet – the reason they don’t want to pay him top money is because they want Busquets to replace him sooner rather than later, so I dunno if they’ll reach an agreement
pedro do you really get shit like that???
i did read earlier someone asking what you look like on another site from over the weekend….sad cunts 
Agh okay I get you now course you can do that
ha i’d prefer to remain as “A” zorro – i am to le grove what “v” was to london in “v for vendetta”, voice of reason etc
Pedro you wouldn’t be a member of the group?? Or is your name actually Pedro so people would immediately know who you were?
that film was shite A
hmmm Re.Nasri-he is energetic (think back to the Roma match guys).its just he is a natural attacker while Flamini was the opposite.i’d love to get a DM like Flamini the guy might be hated by most,but i’d love him back. Re.Diaby i think Wenger needs to be ruthless or think with a v.clear head on what he brings to the side & whether he’s stopping some younger players stepping into the first team (ramsey/merida etc).
Irish… I wouldn’t pick a row with the people outside the S+B… there are some hefty characters who blog here!
A, I don’t mind Grovers knowing what I look like… it’s the militants from ACLF I’d worry about… the fantasists.
Like Nick said, one of them was asking what I looked like the other day… they hate us so much over there and talk about us so regularly… that I wouldn’t be suprised if one of them martryed themselves in the name of the site!
I don’t want to die in the name of a blog… haha!
Pedro
You could use an alias face.
I would disagree nick. V is a great film
Nick… someone threatened to shoot us… someone else wanted a fight until I found out where he worked and what he looked like (Gimp).
A, maybe I’ll set up a Pedro profile.
My name is an English take on Pedro… so it wouldn’t be hard to work out who I was!
Well Maire, I think Elano is the type of player we already have plenty of already, so maybe Johnson if he’s a bit physical.
I can vouch for a the fact that all the S + B drinks we have are trouble free, even when Franchise brought a Mank along,but Pedro’s right,life is too short to worry about Internet tough guys.
Pedro think they wanted to love you not Mame you
That would mean leaving the house for most their country on that site. some are to far away and the others like matt out of game on
Sky reporting Tevez joing citeh.
Pedro, just hire Franchise as your personal bodyguard, job done haha!
GM each to their own
That’s true Clacko… Odub would be pretty useful as well!
Nick
It was actually very camp and a bit silly but I thought it looked good and was a bit different. I can understand why lots of peiople think it’s shit though.
They could be your two henchmen. Then you would just need the slick Armani suit
A your name is Alex
What do people know about Serdar Tasci.
he plays for Stuggart, is a German international, and we have been linked with him.
irishgunner @ 13.03 ur the only woman amongst a sea of men….so i guess that might be a reason:)human psychology….
KM – women wise we also have Peaches, Rico, Skandibird and Ladygooner.
As we’re here for a shared interest I doubt there’s anything odd about that – I used to blog on a site where I was the only bloke. It got a bit bitchy at times though.
strange really with all the other team blogs out there and we argue with a fellow gunner page
Tevez to ManCity?i think its because l’pool couldnt cough up….every day we’r reading stories abt l’pools financial trouble.Then theres rumours linking Alonso with Madrid & Mascherano to Barca.if all 3 become real,we’r in for a fun summer.
Exactly Nick – I’m embarrassed to admit I used to hang around the Vital Chelsea site harassing the Chavs.
A bit childish really, but fun too.
I must say, the women who blog over here are a credit to the site.
We’ve got a ripper of a guest blog from a lady this Sat!
is it irish???
Pedro, is about cooking or maybe how to get stains out of carpets, or to get nice creases in your husband’s shirts???
Can I just ask why the fuck are we signing this Dutchman, if Wikepedia serves me correct this chap is shorter than Toure I mean hasn’t Wenger learnt anything this season.
haha, Zorro you’re officially the sites sexist!
lol MG, FFS keep up!
It’s an impassioned post about support…
what like what bra or something
Zorro – red card for you – and don’t forget I know what you look like
chary i stand corrected! More on Tevez to City.they’r slowly building a good side who will challenge for 5th/6th nxt season.if they achieve that it’l be easier for them to recruit good players.but can mark hughes do that? I think nxt season is his D-Day.i cant see the City owners sticking with him if he doesnt reach at least 6th.
ha cheers for that Man, well remembered
GM/Nick – big fan of the film, got alot of modern political connotations etc too
Geoff do you think Eduardo will be back up 2 VP he is no where near him in term of clinical finishing VP is much more likely 2 be playing second fiddle 2 the best finisher in the country and arguably in Europe.
We have come to the conclusion that size doesn’t matter MG, whatever the ladies may tell you
chary – are you still there? I replied to your Barnet question earlier – did you see – sorry if you replied abd I missed it……
Zorro have I missed something?
A, are you guys talking about V for Vendetta?
lol zorro!Metalgear we havent signed a Dutchman.but we’r close to securing a Belgian:)
indeed pedro
Ahh… I think if you watch it through the spectacles of a political connotations, it is much better.
I thought it was good… but I love politics etc…
http://www.sott.net/
I get my dollop of politics from there!
Some of it is a bit far out, but a lot of it is really interesting.
They did a piece about V a few years ago.
Did you like children of men Pedro?
yeah same pedro – though doing a degree in politics killed off most of my interest in it!
Watched it the other day actually, it’s like a modern day but obviously dumbed down and popularised film version of 1984
Not that we want to get onto Politics… haha!
Metalgear-RvP is not the most clinical but every striker misses.its just we dnt get to see that on youtube:)i believe we need to keep him however if we sell Ade & buy Dzeko we’r gona have a LOT of strikers…..something is going to give imo.
Isn’t this dzeko’s first year actually scoring goals, will be really replace a striker because he only had one good year, then a crap year next, and replace him with a striker who’s only had one good year?!
I agree with Pedro about V for Vendetta. It has some political elements that can be related to what is going on today and what can happen in the future.
talking abt politics…the Tories hammered Labour in Wales…i think the Tories are going to win the nxt General Election.
GM, I thought they could have done so much more with that story line!
I watched a doco on the plastics industry and how the biproducts of petro chemicals are lowering sperm count in all creatures including us!
Scary stuff… mind you, there are few people I’d sterilise.
Anyway… enough of my rubbish…!
What do you reckon of my new type thing… when something good happens you follow it with…
PTL \ 0 / (praise the lord)
I'm not religous, but I like it!
Labour came 6th in Cornwall. The Cornish National Party came 5th lol
KM I never said anything about selling VP what I was saying was Eduardo would knock him off his spot in no time there is no way we are going 2 win the league if 1 of the 2 up front is not efficient like Anelka, Wright or Henry I would prefer Arshavin on the left and Walcott and Eduardo up front.
you don’t say KM? lol
A… so true… so many strikers have one great year then flop the next…
You don’t have to look far from home to see that!
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_5369153,00.html
another CB… weak link though
A, check this out:
http://www.nme.com/news/glastonbury/45167
A-tru what if Dzeko is a flop 1st year?the likes of BBK will murder him on here.
e.g.
Arsenal win Champions League 2010 PTL /
just see a fella in a quality T-shirt,Ketamine just say Neigh
Ha that’ll be great fun Pedro! It was almost a disappointment last year when there wasn’t any mud to play in!
Man?
the / did not come out
the PTL thing is not working on my keyboard.
km not for me id prefer a woman
I tried to watched V for Vendetta at about 3 in the morning – not a good idea as my brain wasn’t awake.
guys whats V for Vendetta abt?u’v got me curious….
Basically a modern day film version of 1984 KM
lol nick.i’d prefer 2-variety is the spice of life.
km aint got a clue and ive watched it but like irish wasn’t compass mantas just remember it being crap
barry norman eat your hart out
V for Vendetta = Dark Knight with less budget but more ideas thus becoming preachy
Hi Peaches – it’ll just be me for the Barnet gig although I have to check with the house managing director (the other ½) I’m ok to be allowed out on the 18th of July.
I’ll get back to you on that this week though.
A-1984?sorry u’v lost me.i was 3years old then:) what is it abt?
I thought the Dark Knight was a great film – Heath Ledger was excellent but there is something about Christian Bale’s mouth I just don’t like
Dark knight can’t be compared to V for Vendetta! Dark Knight is a batman film designed to be an action film! V for Vendetta was a politically motivated film based on a political comic from the 80s
km you old like me 28 this year bad shit dude you feel old???
Feeling old Nick
ha sorry KM, the george orwell book called 1984!
today iam irish
Maire, I think KM is not a George Orwell fan.
Man-havent watched Dark Knight….coming back to politics.Labour need to go,we need a different party in & i’d love it if we get coalition of Tories & Green party.(i wish)
Irish – could it be the contant urge to smack him in the mouth??
afternoon all…
is this to say he is leaving or staying
http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/06/08/Bundesliga-Dzeko-calls-press-conference/gnid-56272/
Jeeeeeeez A have you seen Dark Knight? yes it is an action film but its plot touches on ‘ideas’ or issues that transcends the action genre…similarity? they both have a masked anti-hero symbolic of…ok i’ll stop now i’m sure you know where i’m going with this
Wardo – that could be it
KM why do you think the Tories would do a better job than Labour?
looks like milan will sign him then, were stuck with ade. see be careful what you type as chary said loose lips sink ships
Fuck off milan 
A statement on his official website read: “Chelsea, Real, maybe Milan or Bayern are all the clubs that would like to see Edin Dzeko as part of their teams.
“To stop all the rumours and speculation, Dzeko has decided to have a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday) at 12pm at the hotel Herzegovina, where the Bosnian team is at the moment.
“He will announce the names of his potential new clubs.”
sounds like allot of fuss for nothing!
Man…..cause the tories aren;t run by a bloody fat idiot who just bull craps his way through everything……..worst PM since Major imo!!
I’d even have Maggie back over him
irish-bateman was awesome in American Psycho(LOVE THAT MOVIE),however since then he hasnt done anything to interest me. NICK-yes 28 in July.i’ve been feeling old since i was 10 haha. Heath Ledger was a good actor but in that generation i like Leo-he’s class & has got a good body of work & Matt Damon especially for his Bourne series.
km snap, me july too
irish-sorry i meant christian bale – who’s bateman?:)
a press conference to announce the clubs he might be moving to??????? huh?
If that part about Milan offering £26m for Dzeko is true then thats a double whammy – no Dzeko for us and no £££ from Ade’s big Milan move!
Are there even any clubs who will show an interest in Ade apart from Milan?
So what was ythe press conference about?
Man, I read Bush compared himself to Batman in that film…
I liked the underlying them to the Dark Knight… it was a dig at America’s world police thing…
Chelsea maybe gambon
Is there any other club other than milan that could be interested in adebayor?His agent said few clubs have shown interest right?
wow Wardo that was heartfelt…you are right the Tories are run by Cameron and his chaps
One of the best political films has to be “Team America:World Police”
If it were up to me, I would play Ade and Edo when going with 2 strikers, and RvP if lone in front of Arshavin. Ppl are always complaining that we are bnot direct enough – and yet how many goals have we scored in the last two years with Cesc hitting Ade with a long direct pass. Ade allows us to have another dimension to our game. Granted hes a confidence player – very humble and needs support to take the load off his shoulders, but when hes confident hes brilliant. As to ppl saying he picks and chooses his games cause hes lazy, does that include his bicycle in the Champos?
irish nack a nacker
gambon… inter might, mourinho loves a big forward like ade especially with ibrahimovich maybe on his way.
pogrebnyak is still available
If it were up to me the front 2 in 4-4-2 would be Bendtner and Eduardo. Simples. Eduardo is its 1 ahead of AA tho.
AND What was the press conference about?
stu dezko one?
hi guys we might be on the verge of signing diego forlan
PTL \ 0 /
No Nick, Lovedup said yesterday that there was supposed to be an arsenal press conference. Was there even one?
Get in Fran!
Forlan played against Brazil at the weekend. He was facking useless! As was Suarez.
Man…it was straight from the heart !! I hate Gordon Brown and think he should just f off asap. Cameron is much much better. Bring back Stitting Image also
they would have a field day with GBrown!
Irish…yeah I saw Team America…….Trey and Matt know how to take p155 out of the way America over reacts to a few things.
fran his shit fact stu said and i believe him
Stu – That was Sellotanta and its “breaking news” that Senderos wants to stay at Milan
nick-me & my 2 siblings were born in july! Man-i dnt think Labour are worse/better than Tories.i think Labour has become diseased/infected & is rotten to the core.I believe the Tories are no better but i want to see if Cameron is the real deal or just bullshit.my wish is that we change the way the parties are elected & the whole political system & i want to see Vince Cable(sp?) working with Brown on our economy,because he has forecast every stage of this financial crisis & no-one took notice until it was too late.
PTL \ 0 /
pichichi the prophecy has come to past
Oh right Irish. So their breaking news is something he said about a month ago. Nice.
Franchise…..I know you are taking the michael with this Forlan stuff.
You can’t be serious…….I’ll get out the converter and convert you into a WKB if you carry on
* spitting image
talking about brazil and uruguay. felipe melo looks a good DM but wld be too pricy
Please less of the politics – it’ll only depress me. I’ll just say one thing and that is that the US are not the major threat to world peace.
I’m trying to stay positive as it looks like the Bosnian won’t be coming to us yet I hold out hope for a Dm, now a Vieira type would be qualidee.
PTL \ o /
Yeah stu – it’s the brilliance of setanta!
http://goonertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ceschair.jpg
cesc’s new haircut
Pedro, I really enjoyed the Dark Knight seeing the Batman franchise combine all the standard explosions of an action flick with the depth it provided was cool…I saw the American thingy you describe…Bush like most politicians is just a bloody opportunist, he’s more a dumbed down joker if you ask me
Peaches, my bad.
But while you’re on, my wife needs to learn how to crisp the top of her fish pie; any tips?
Dark Knight on bluray is a quality transfer, just like being at the movies but without the annoying kids!
lol irish-team america was poop.Stu-is the Dzeko press conference 2day? & yes Forlan didnt have a good game vs Brazil but Uruguay are a poor version of Chelsea while Brazil were resolute in defence & amazing in attack. I didnt see much of Melo….. Franchise- i spotted a comment off u on a Facebook article abt Arsenal & left a comment for u-did u spot it?:)
tell her to stick it in the oven Zorro…..
what article km? cant remember
team america poop?! absolute gibberish!!
KM – Team America is brilliant
After Nasri as our ‘new’ DCM, WTF next, Rosicky as CB, fucking laughable…….almost as laughable as Eboue as an Arsenal Football Club First Team regular….
I didnt watch all of the dark Knight but it looked shite.
Bale puts on a weird Paedo kind of voice when he is in the suit. Oddball.
And i always thought bats were discrete and batman should be too but he buys a fucking tank car or whatever it was crashing into shit and wrecking bridges etc.
It ruined the whole batman experience for me….not that all the previous Batmen were amazing….but whatever.
Dzeko is a no no:
firstly there’s no way we’re paying £26m for anyone.
secondly I don’t want another player who refers to themselves in the 3rd person. Adebayor is enough.
“To stop all the rumours and speculation, Dzeko has decided to have a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday) at 12pm at the hotel Herzegovina, where the Bosnian team is at the moment.”
What a tw@!
I
BREAKING NEWS FROM SETANTA;
Senderos eats pasta for lunch!
We cant sign Pogrebnyak, he is Jacob from lost!
Nasri as a DM…and Pat Rice as Wengers WAG
Team America is absolute genius.
Dark Knight was pretty damn good- watch it in BluRay if you can, makes an awesome amount of difference…
are we talking about politics or arsenal?
Uruguay are actually quite brilliant. They finished top of some soth american thing a few years ago. And that was their first loss to Brazil for a few decades. They arent shite. And Brazils defence is shite, why else did Julio Cesar have so many saves to make.
talking abt movies…i watched Terminator last week – total trash-1/5. X-men was amazing for an action flick 4/5
Boom Boom Boom, let me hear you say weeeeeeeeeeeyoohhhhh!!
Rob, we’re talking about football!
PTL \ 0 /
chipo…that was his agent who said that
tututut Stu you should have watched all of it mate that’s prob why…
as for Team America that’s a marmite film i think, my brother loves but i can’t stand it
blimey it must be a slow day for people to talk about films and politics on an arsenal blog!!!
The weather in london Sunny Intervals temp 18°C
DDM…….weeeeeeeyyyyyyyoooooo girl your booty is so fine I just wanna make you mine put your faaaaa…..
I’ll stop there me thinks
Rob, we are talking about how poor you were on Saturday v Borat and Co.
KM, Terminator Salvation?
http://www.skysports.com/fun_games/missingmen/0,20922,15138_5323178,00.html
Beat 1 min 6 secs.
rob – these days Arsenal IS politics fella!
thats ok then pedro!!
talking about marmite films, does anyone else on here love kung pow?!
What do you think about:
adebayor out 25m
traore out 4m
senderos out 7m
toure out 12m
dzeko in 15m
vermaelen in 12m
mexes in 17m
cana in 13m
mexes because tony adams was scouting in italy and i think mexes is the name.
so, that’s 9 million of your own bank.
This is what wenger can do, if he really goes for vermealen as only signing, it’s wenger fault if we win nothing. Wenger must think about the singings. But i think vermealen won’t be the oly singing, I think i’m realistic what i have done.
adebayor out 25m
traore out 4m
senderos out 7m
toure out 12m
dzeko in 15m
vermaelen in 12m
mexes in 17m
cana in 13m
Realistic or not??
Drag Me to Hell has got to be best film out atm, (not that I’ve seen all the new films out)
Rob, we are talking about how poor you were on Saturday v Borat and Co.
KM, Terminator Salvation?
Talking of Blu-Ray, you wanna check out Troy on Blu-Ray………Boomshankayanka!
Zorro –
i have right gone off england games to be honest!!
Wardo – Oooooooerrrrrrrr!
Is that the Outere Brothers DDM??
The thing about Wenger is that he always bows down to these bigger clubs when it come to transfers. If there is a target we have in mind all that needs to happen is the Milans of the world or the Barcas need to show some sort of attention & Wenger backs off . These big clubs know Wenger will never compete with them in thetransfer market.
Dutchman it makes sense but never ever ever gona happen.
AC Milan turn their attention to Dzeko.. Looks like another missed opportunity!
Any team with that Chinky Throw-Back Terry in it can go fuck itself……..
On the talk of films, anyone else seen Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanemo bay?? Funny as fuck!!!
Speaking of films….i saw “the last house on the left” last night. Not for the squimish(sp). There was a hammer head and a microwave in it.
Dutchman,
i dont mind your list but dont think your prices are right.
I doubt Wenger would send Tone out to scout Mexes, he would know him inside out.
if wenger came in for a player i owned id get barca involved as well. the fact wenger wants a player adds ££££ to any fee put barca in there and the price goes silly!!!Manshitty love it
I dunno about that lewyd, when has it happened before?
clack that film is funny thought it was gonna be shit but had me in stitches
DDM….ha ha. Can’t believe I know the lyrics to that song…its complete toss !!
As for TROY…..blue Ray or Normal. Its cack !! Typical hollywood ruined.
Altho Gladiator was good
irishgunner-IceAge 1&2-genius! WTF is Dzeko doing? This is not Wenger’s way.but still its going to be good talking point.
Dutchman…..no one is going to buy Ade for £25mil (except Mancity)……..If Barca come in for him it’ll be for around £12-15mil
Wardo i’d say more 15-20, but absolutely no way we’d get 25 for him, unless as you say city came in, or chelsea
Irish – it was the outhere bros. I have the clean version on “Dance Massive 95″ those were the days….
It certainly was Oirish……..
talking bout movies the makers of Police academy 4 should be arrested for torture
KM – Yep those are tops, I love kids movies, Chicken Little is great.
Wardo/DDM – I have it lying around here too on some compilation CD, agh the 1990s
sorry i meant police academy 5: assignment miami beach
A….Barca and other teams seem to take liberties with us…..Look at Barca’s bid for Henry !! If that was a player from Manure at that age, they would have got at least 22-24mil at least.
Anyway, I’d take £20mil for Ade atm
what do you think he is worth
worst movie ever
“It is not possible for Dzeko, who is a leading player in Germany and has the chance to play in the Champions League, to go to a mid-table club like Manchester City,” he told Onet.
“Arsenal would be a different matter.
“The Londoners’ offer is one we treat very seriously.”
However, German newspaper Bild claimed on Tuesday that Milan vice president Adriano Galliani held talks with Redzepagic at the weekend in Sarajevo about a potential €30 million (£26.1m) move, and Inter are also said to be interested.
It appears Milan have the edge, though, as Dzeko has revealed he is a long-term supporter of the Rossoneri.
“They have always been my favourite club, right back to my days as a small boy, growing up in Sarajevo,” he said in the Daily Mail.
I have had it about euro. But 12-15 is very low.
But do you all think wenger will buy vermaelen only, i’m sure it isn’t. He will buy another DM and CB, i think.
watched Chucky 4 the other day boy that was funny, can’t believe it scared the shit out of me back in the day…it had changed from horror/thriller to comedy over time…thin line btw horror and comedy eh!
Agreed, Troy is a load of old Hollywood cack, but visually stunning nonetheless……
Best films ever…Godfather, Godfather II and III
Followed by Casino (Joe Peschi is fking brilliant in that film)
The Departed isn’t too bad either……
Nah no way Wardo – We were lucky to get £16 mil for him in the state he was in then, and Barca called us crooks in his first season saying we’d robbed them for getting that much!
I’d take 15 mil for ade, anything more is a bonus imo. Without wanting to start up the debate again, imo and only imo he’s surplus to requirements, doesn’t suit the system we’re going to play, so it’s simply a case of offloading him and getting as much as we can to spend in other areas. I wouldn’t say we need to be offered x amount to tempt us into being willing to lose him as such, as he’s surplus to requirements anyways
The first Police Academy was great. The rest were useless.
What ever happened to Steve Guttenberg? Bet he’s an alcoholic wreck right now, Gazza style.
ditto all those Wardo but would also add Usual Suspects…
Man – we agree on our hate of Team America.Harold & kumar was a crazy film-loved it:)zorro-yes it was rubbish! Wardo-I loved Troy-thought it was brilliant.Gladiator is class.
I prefer Goodfellas to Casino, but undoubtedly both great films.
Guys, I wouldn’t class missing out on £26million Dzeko as a missed opp… I’d say he was an unattainable opp in the first place!
Can you imagine us spending that much money on a striker!
so noone else a fan of Kung Pow??!
Gambon, I thought Pesci made Casino the better film!
Did you know he is 70+ now!
Too right Rob Green – I’d rather we want back to the heightist witch hunt of the Verminator. Apparently Vidic is only 5’11” too – that can’t be right?
If so then I say bring on the Belgian.
PTL \o/
Wardo – Yellow card fella, The Godfather III was shite!
or spending that much and he flops!
Man…know what you mean mate. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street 4 not long ago. Cant believe i used to cack it back in the day. Haven’t seen Chucky but (used to shit me up) bet I would find it funny now.
Godfather III isn’t great. Godfather II was excellent.
The Usual Suspects is class too.
A, I’ve never eaten it.
chary isn’t vidic 6’2″
coolest has got to be scarface.There is nothing that can beat tony montana.Godfather is more classier though
DO YOU THINK WE WILL ONLY SIGN VERMEALEN. WHYYYY??
WE ARE CRYING FOR AN EARLY SINGING AND VERMAELEN IS THE ONE. aND THAN WE THINK HE’S THE ONLY SINGING, THAT’S STUPID.AW WILL BUY MORE THIS SUMMER.AGREE?????
yeah wiki says 6’2″ charys
If you want a truly funny film – Love, Honour and Obey.
Vidic is 6’2”
I’ve never seen the godfathers…i think.
And nice one Pedro. I got it.
From my experience in this part of the world, any player from the former Yugoslavia would choose Italy over any other country. So if a bid comes in from Italy for these players then no other league can compete
Man – Lets spend £26m on ten 16 year olds and watch them all fail then….
Ajax defender Thomas Vermaelen has claimed he is poised to complete a move to Arsenal.
With Gunner boss Arsene Wenger admitting he needs to strengthen his defence over the summer, the Belgium international has been tipped as a likely target.
And a switch to Emirates Stadium could be completed before the end of the week, with the 23-year old confirming further discussions are due to take place.
Reports suggest a fee of around £11million has been agreed for Vermaelen, who can operate in the centre of defence or at left-back.
Challenge
Vermaelen told Dutch newspaper 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 OK.
“In the coming days there will be more talks.”
But Gunners legend Tony Adams has warned Wenger against splashing out on Vermaelen, who stands at 5ft 11ins.
Small one
Adams fears that the Frenchman’s top target lacks the height required to dominate in the Premier League and believes he has been playing at an inferior level.
Adams told the Daily Mirror: “Thomas is a very good player but I don’t think he’s ready for the Arsenal.
“I don’t think the punters at Arsenal would like another small one.
“I have been looking at the Dutch league, but it’s been decimated. It’s a poor league at the moment, there’s one or two players, but they’re leaving too early as well.”
http://arsenalheat.blogspot.com/2009/06/adebayor-agrees-four-year-deal-with.html LOOK AT THIS, ADEBAYOR IS GOING, yesterday wenger were qeustioned, what about adebayor??? wenger’s answer: i do not want to talk about it!! except this please.
Pedro,
What ever you want Leo Getz!
godfather series were amazing.i thought part2 was best cos Al Pacino was just AMAZING.thats was class. Franchise-police academy was good stuff.loved it as a kid.The GOONIES was a classic- remember that fat kid & chunk? Haha
Kung Fu Hustle is a classic
Anyone seen the Dollar Trilogy – the Good the bad and the ugly, fistful of dollars…the best spaghetti westerns…the soundtracks are off the shizzle
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/
i can’t see anything on l’equipe’s website about that!
Kung Fu Hustle is bloody funny film. one of my favorites is the guy who cannot cover his ass.
If adebayor is going, than i know for sure he will buy some more players. He sells adebayor and the funds are for defenders maybe chamakh is coming to the emirates. I think realistic that this is the selection 2009/2010 : almunia/fabianski/eboue/sagna/zapata/gallas/vermealen/toure/djourou/gibbs/clichy/denilson/inler/song/ramsey/fabregas/nasri/rosicky/arshavin/vela/walcott/v persie/chamakh/eduardo/bendtner 25 man. good squad
maybe wilshere and thomas play some games too.
I don’t know “A” – I read on another site he was 5’11” and I just couldn’t be bothered to google it to find out.
PTL \o/
fuck… milan may have done a deal for dzeko, therby leaving us holding the big ugly baby
Well on Wiki Vidic is 6’2. But they did also say Vermaelen was 6’5, 8’2, 3’5 at various different times.
DDM… love honour obey is a great shout!
where he stabs the little fat boke in the pub an they just park him up outside is classic!
Faceman, there is still Man City.
lol faceman
tho seriously that sucks
what is ptl /????
Ye think we can pass Sheyi off as a Golactico(sp)?
(Praise the lord!)
i think we should just settle that vermaelen is 6ft ish…
DDM we have underperformed this season but half our first team prob cost less than 26M, yet we got to the latter stages of the ECL and FA cups. I’m not against spending at all mate just don’t think we need to spend silly money esp on a player that’s just had one good season I could understand paying 26M on Iniesta or Villa even Mario Gomez etc…we are not miles away
is the worst case scenario Ade staying? I mean I would hate to keep the lazy ass in our team, but is it really that bad if he stays??
veermalean at left back and chiellini in a swap deal with clichy??
sounds good to me
Man, someone gave a stat the other day. The whole squad cost about 89m, 3m per player on average.
yeah.. forgot about city
sorted
ATom – My favourite scene, is the one where they all dress up as Arab Sheiks after taking all that Viagra!!
inside
i think the board know that ade’s times up with the fans and that the big problem… if he was all heart and hard work but with limited ability then people wouldn’t hate him, but he’s arrogant and lazy and for 80k a week thats unforgivable
yeah that bits quality… alone with denise van outen sucking off the cucumber!!!
Man – all spending is relative mate, so with hindsight would you say that £70m for a single player is silly money if that player ignites the team and is the catalyst to say 2 or 3 ECL’s, 4 or 5 EPL’s, a couple of FA Cups and massive worldwide marketing revenues etc etc……….
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not advocating spending £70m on a single player, i’m just stating an extreme example. However, for a club af AFC’s supposed stature should we really consider £26m for a player silly money……Remember in life you gotta speculate to accumulate….
Tevez off to Shitty
the fact dezko is calling a conference with no team announcing one says to me he is gonna stay at wolfsburg
Stu, good info there…does that include reserve and youth teams
i was referring to our first 11 mainly
Well said DDM…
I’m with Nick on that one….
Yeah, sounds like when henry signed a new deal in 2006
26M for a player who has had one great season in the Bundesliga is silly money in my view…I think we paid 11.8M for Hleb after he beat Ballack to the player of the season in the Bundesliga
If we sold diaby, senderos, adebayor eboue and silvestre we could use the 40 million or so to buy mascherano.
sorted, then we would win the league
DDM…..Love, Honour and Obey is one of the funniest films ever!!
I have it on DVD and have seen it bout 100 times….the sub plots are so funny esp when Fat Alan tells Jonny to stab him
Geoff just sent this over:
CEO’s Quarterly Update – June 2009
Ivan Gazidis’ update includes news on Emirates Stadium as a proposed venue for the 2015 Rugby World Cup bid and 2018/2022 World Cup bid.
Dear Shareholders,
Welcome again to the Quarterly Update for the Shareholders’ Portal, for up to and including May 2009.
Although the 2008/09 season is now over, everyone here at the Club has already been preparing for a while for the forthcoming 2009/2010 campaign.
If we had been told back in January that we could reach the Semi-Finals of the both the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, together with guaranteeing qualification for the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League for a 12th consecutive season, we all probably would have been delighted. And yet, after putting together a consistent run of League results and successful FA Cup and Champions League campaigns, we felt we were on the cusp of achieving something very special with our young squad and are all disappointed we couldn’t progress even further.
Our ambition grew as we saw our group of young players develop throughout the season and I’m so pleased that I’m part of an organisation for which second best is not good enough.
It’s a good sign that our expectations and our goals are high and that we feel disappointment, but this season hardly constitutes a disaster. We must put things in perspective. Although we weren’t able to win a trophy this season, we are very well positioned and have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.
Away from the First Team, we can all be delighted by the success achieved by both the Arsenal Youth Team and the Arsenal Ladies this season.
The Under-18s Youth Team have just completed a truly fantastic season, in which they achieved a league and cup double. Steve Bould’s team finished the season by winning both the FA Premier Academy League title, and, in a two-legged victory over Liverpool, the FA Youth Cup Final. We should all be proud of this great achievement and congratulations go to all the players, coaches and staff in the Youth Development Department.
Congratulations also go to the Arsenal Ladies, who won both the FA Cup and FA Women’s Premier League in such dramatic fashion, with their last day win over Everton.
The continued success of Arsenal Ladies is a fitting tribute to Vic Akers in his last year as Ladies’ Manager. I’m happy to report that Vic will continue to be involved in overseeing the Ladies team as it moves into a new era.
From a personal point of view, I’ve now been at Arsenal for over five months now and am enjoying every single minute. I have been overwhelmed with the passion and commitment shown to this Club by both supporters and staff. These are exciting times for Arsenal Football Club and I’m so proud to be part of this great institution.
The topics covered in this update are as follows:
1 Club ownership
2 Highbury Square
3 Organisational Review
4 UEFA Champions League – Qualifying procedure
5 Rugby World Cup 2015 Bid
6 World Cup 2018 / 2022 Bid
7 Date of announcement of 2009/2010 fixtures
8 CAS ruling on Matuzalem’s transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk to Real Zaragoza
1 Club ownership
I just wanted to update you on the current situation in regarding the ownership of the Club, as there have been some changes since my last quarterly update in February.
As you many of you will be aware, there have been regular speculative media stories about the ownership of Arsenal Football Club. In fact, the current situation is fairly simple. We have four major shareholders: Mr. Kroenke at 28.3%, Mr. Usmanov at 25%, Mr .Fiszman at 16.1% and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith at 15.9%.
I am in communication with all of our major shareholders on a regular basis. As you will all probably be aware, should any shareholder take his or her shares over a 30% threshold, they would be obliged to make an offer for the whole company. However, there is no indication that any of our shareholders has an intention to make such an offer at this time. The club’s self-sustaining business model provides it with inherent stability because it means that it is not dependent on the welfare of any particular investor for its success.
2 Highbury Square
Similar to the ownership of the Club, Highbury Square also continues to be the subject of speculative media stories, many of them wide of the mark, regarding the future of the development.
While the property market is of course challenging and the discussions with our banks complex in this environment, it is important to understand that the Highbury Square development is ‘ring-fenced’ from the football club side of the business.
We have not budgeted for, or relied on any profits from Highbury Square, nor can the football club itself suffer if we do not reach a new agreement with our banks. In practical terms, the only way that Highbury Square can significantly impact the financial position of the football club is positively.
3 Organisational Review
To keep all shareholders fully briefed, I recently released an advertisement announcing executive opportunities within the organisation.
We have an extremely successful executive team here at Arsenal Football Club, but I want to strengthen the Executive team at the Club through a number of senior appointments. We are in the process of recruiting further talented business executives who can drive the club forward.
4 UEFA Champions League – Qualifying procedure
By finishing fourth in the Premier League, we have now qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the 12th consecutive season, which is an outstanding achievement, one of which our Club should be proud.
By virtue of finishing fourth, we will enter into the 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League at the newly structured ‘Play Off Round’, which is a two-legged tie (one home, one away), to be played on Tuesday 18th / Wednesday 19th August 2009 and Tuesday 25th / Wednesday 26th August 2009.
The winners of the ‘Play Off Round’ matches will enter directly into the Group Stages.
Preceding the ‘Play Off Round’ will be the Third Qualifying Round, which will be played in late July / early August 2009.
In the Third Qualifying Round will be the following 10 teams, who will be drawn against each other in five two-legged knock-out matches.
1. 3rd place team in the Russian League – Dynamo Moscow
2. Runner up in the Romanian League – Dinamo Bucharest
3. Runner up in the Portuguese League – Sporting Lisbon
4. Runner up in the Dutch League – FC Twente
5. Runner up in the Scottish League – Celtic
6. Runner up in the Turkish League – Sivasspor
7. Runner up in the Ukrainian League – Shakhtar Donetsk
8. Runner up in the Belgium League – Anderlecht
9. Runner up in the Greek League – Panathinaikos
10. Runner up in the Czech Republic League – Sparta Prague
The winners of the above five matches will be joined by the five teams below in the ‘Play Off Round’ in what UEFA has called the ‘Best Placed Path’, as the qualifying route applicable to us.
1. 4th place team in the English League – Arsenal FC
2. 4th place team in the Spanish League – Atletico Madrid
3. 4th place team in the Italian League – Fiorentina
4. 3rd place team in the French League – Lyon
5. 3rd place team in the German League – Stuttgart
The 10 teams will then play home and away in order to determine who progresses through to the group stage.
The draw for the ‘Play Off Round’ is seeded. The five teams with the highest UEFA co-efficient, being drawn against the five teams with the lowest UEFA co-efficient.
Please find below the UEFA co-efficient rankings:
UEFA Co-efficient rankings:
Arsenal Eng 106.899
Olympique Lyon Fra 91.033
Shakhtar Donetsk (3QR) Ukr 74.370
Sporting CP Lisbon (3QR) Por 68.292
Panathinaikos (3QR) Gre 56.632
VfB Stuttgart Ger 45.339
Fiorentina Ita 42.581
Atlético Madrid Esp 41.853
Celtic (3QR) Sco 40.575
Anderlecht (3QR) Bel 32.065
Sparta Praha (3QR) Cze 26.150
Dinamo Bucuresti (3QR) Rom 25.781
FC Twente Enschede (3QR) Ned 17.825
Dinamo Moscow (3QR) Rus 9.525
Sivasspor (3QR) Tur 6.445
From the above co-efficient rankings, we know we definitely cannot face Olympique Lyon, Shakthar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon or Panathinaikos.
To further explain and clarify the entire qualification process for the 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League, please find below explanation from UEFA.com:
The UEFA Champions League, UEFA’s most prestigious club competition, will undergo a series of significant changes from 2009/10 following a decision from the UEFA Executive Committee in November 2007.
The main points are:
• No changes to the format of the main competition, which will still involve 32 teams, split into eight groups of four in the group stage, followed by the knockout phase. The eight teams that finish the groups in third place cross over into the knockout phase of the new UEFA Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup.
• The 2009/10 access list has been changed according to the following principles: 22 teams (21 teams + the titleholder) qualify directly for the group phase instead of 16. The three national associations with the highest UEFA coefficient ranking will each have three teams who gain automatic entry to the group stage, with the countries ranked 4 to 6 in the standings having two automatic qualifiers and the associations ranked 7 to 12 having one.
• As from the 2009/10 season onwards, there will be four qualifying rounds (including a play-off round), to be played in home-and-away ties, to complete the 32 participants in the UEFA Champions League group stage. There are two qualifying routes; the Champions Path and the Best-placed Path.
• Champions Path: The first qualifying round comprises three two-legged ties involving the champions of the countries ranked 48 to 53 in UEFA competition. The winners of those ties progress to the second qualifying round where they are joined by the champions of the 31 countries ranked 16 to 47 (except Liechtenstein). The victorious sides from those 17 ties join the champions from the associations ranked 13 to 15 in the third qualifying round, with the winners of those ten pairings reaching the play-off round. These five play-off ties will take place on a home-and-away basis with the winners qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Best-placed path: The third-placed side from the sixth-ranked member association, plus the runners-up from the associations ranked 7 to 15, start the competition in the third qualifying round. The winners of these five ties progress to the play-off round, where they are joined by the fourth-placed sides from the associations ranked 1 to 3 and the third-placed teams from the associations ranked 4 and 5. The victorious teams from the five play-off ties qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Teams from the Champions Path and the Best-Placed Path cannot meet in UEFA Champions League qualifying.
• The losing team from each of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round ties will go into the UEFA Europa League play-offs.
• The losing team from each of the UEFA Champions League play-off ties will go into the UEFA Europa League group stage.
• The team who finishes in third position in each of the UEFA Champions League groups goes into the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. The four best third-ranked teams will be seeded for the Round of 32 with the group winners of the UEFA Europa League group stage.
• The matches in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round will be split over four weeks instead of two, using dates reserved for the UEFA club competition in February and March to maximise live match opportunities.
• The final is to be played on a Saturday, with kick-off time at 20.45 CET.
• The UEFA Champions League play-off rounds will be centrally marketed by UEFA in accordance with the concept already used for the group stage.
2009/10 UEFA Champions League match calendar
Stage Dates
First qualifying round, 1st leg 30.06/01.07.2009
First qualifying round, 2nd leg 07/08.07.2009
Second qualifying round, 1st leg 14/15.07.2009
Second qualifying round, 2nd leg 21/22.07.2009
Third qualifying round, 1st leg 28/29.07.2009
Third qualifying round, 2nd leg 04/05.08.2009
Play-off round, 1st leg 18/19.08.2009
Play-off round, 2nd leg 25/26.08.2009
Group stage, Matchday 1 15/16.09.2009
Group stage, Matchday 2 29/30.09.2009
Group stage, Matchday 3 20/21.10.2009
Group stage, Matchday 4 03/04.11.2009
Group stage, Matchday 5 24/25.11.2009
Group stage, Matchday 6 08/09.12.2009
First knockout round, first leg 16/17/23/24.02.2010
First knockout round, second leg 09/10/16/17.03.2010
Quarter-finals, first leg 30/31.03.2010
Quarter-finals, second leg 06/07.04.2010
Semi-finals, first leg 20/21.04.2010
Semi-finals, second leg 27/28.04.2010
Final (Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid) 22.05.2010
5 Rugby World Cup 2015 Bid
On Wednesday 13th May, The Rugby Football Union (RFU), unveiled its bid to host the Rugby World Cup in England in 2015.
We are proud to announce that Emirates Stadium is one of the proposed stadia which will be staging the matches.
A decision on the host nations for both the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups will be made on Tuesday 28th July 2009.
Follows is the full announcement the RFU released on 13th May 2009:
England’s bid to host RWC 2015: A Lasting Opportunity
The Rugby Football Union today unveiled its bid to host the Rugby World Cup in England in 2015.
In a presentation to the International Rugby Board (IRB) Council in Dublin today, England’s bid team outlined proposals to bring the RWC back to England for the first time in 24 years, a move it believes will leave a lasting legacy for the global game.
Pool stages would be held in nine cities across England, with the latter stages scheduled to take place in some of the most world’s most iconic sporting stadiums, including Wembley Stadium, Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, Emirates Stadium, Old Trafford and Anfield, with the final taking place at Twickenham Stadium.
The other outstanding venues involved in staging in the 48-match programme would be Elland Road in Leeds, Kingsholm in Gloucester, the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, St James’ Park in Newcastle, St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton and Welford Road in Leicester.
RFU Chief Executive Francis Baron believes that given the global economic climate, hosting the tournament in England would support the growth of the global game and provide a lasting legacy for the future of world rugby.
“In 2015 it will be 24 years since England last hosted a Rugby World Cup and we believe the time is right,” said Baron. “The RFU is 100% committed to delivering an outstanding RWC 2015. These are turbulent and difficult times but we believe the bid we have put together represents a low risk but high potential return.
“The combined capacity of our chosen stadia is in the region of 700,000 seats. Our target is to sell 3 million seats, that’s a 30 per cent increase on France 2007.”
The bid has the full support of Her Majesty’s Government, as the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Andy Burnham demonstrated in Dublin today when he said, “From the Prime Minister down, the RFU’s bid has the Government’s total backing. These are exciting times for sport in our country. Next month, the cricket Twenty20 World Cup marks the start of what we hope will be the most memorable and successful decade in our sporting history.
“A Rugby World Cup on home soil in 2015 will be a central part of that vision for a decade of sport. It would take the game to new audiences and inspire a new generation to take up rugby.
“To help the RFU make this bid we have agreed a package of measures which includes a partial underwriting of the RFU’s financial guarantee and a guarantee for the security of the tournament outside the stadia involved.”
With the business case laid out, Baron went on to assure the Council that England 2015 would not only deliver financially.
“At the heart of our bid are passion, love and commitment to the game and its ideals. Our desire is to broaden rugby’s horizons by reaching out and embracing new audiences. The tournament would serve as a catalyst to drive participation, awareness and opportunities supporting the development of the game nationally, in Europe and across the globe.
“The RFU is committed to investing 100% of its surplus from the tournament back into the grassroots game, both here in England and through our continued investment in our development agreements with North America and support for the Pacific Island nations.”
England 2015 would also be very much a tournament for the players. “This tournament would exceed the players’ wildest dreams,” said Lawrence Dallaglio. “It would be about playing in truly iconic stadia, to full crowds of passionate supporters, drawn from the multi-cultural melting pot of England, one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world.
“It would be about creating a unique festival of rugby for all. By drawing on our rich heritage and culture, we would make sure that every team has a fan base before they even arrive.
“Finally, it would be about quality accommodation, unrivalled training facilities and state of the art medical facilities. It would be every athlete’s dream.”
RFU Director of Business Operations Paul Vaughan added, “With a proven track record of organising and delivering major sporting events, hosting the tournament in England would, we believe, deliver the best possible return to support the IRB in the development of the game worldwide.
“We will use some of the largest and iconic stadia in the world, venues like Twickenham Stadium (82,000), Wembley (90,000), Old Trafford (76,000), the Millennium Stadium (74,000) and the Emirates (61,000). Each of these venues is already equipped with the highest quality facilities, served by a comprehensive travel infrastructure and experienced in hosting world class sporting events. The result is a low risk, high reward strategy, capable of providing the ultimate experience for spectators, participants and partners alike.
“With an advanced broadcasting environment, we believe that hosting the tournament in England would attract more global brands to sponsor the event by providing the optimal environment for them to activate their rights.”
Rounding off the RFU’s presentation, Will Greenwood returned to the legacy of the bid and its impact on grassroots rugby.
“I am a grassroots man through and through and I have seen the power of rugby and its ability to change lives on an individual level and on a community basis. We hope our bid will allow more youngsters to experience this incredible power as a positive experience in their lives,” said Greenwood.
“Rugby is the fastest growing major sport in England. Participation is up 40% since 2003 and we want to target a further 40% rise in the next eight years. The health of the nation is at the forefront of our bid. Over half the UK’s 11 to 14-year-olds now watch or play rugby at least once a month, keeping kids active and healthy.
“Our bid contains the outline of a schools and youth club programme aimed at translating the unprecedented interest into long term participation to broaden the base of the game at all levels by working in conjunction with charities like the NSPCC, the police, Sport England and other governing bodies, both here and around the world.
“Once in a lifetime we have the chance to deliver a lasting legacy, to reach out to new players and fans and recruit a new generation to our wonderful game. Our legacy will not just be to grow the playing, coaching and support base for rugby but also to spread the values and beliefs of our very special game: teamwork, respect, discipline, friendship and the celebration of difference. What a legacy that would be.”
A decision on the host Unions for the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups will be made during a Special Meeting of the IRB Council on July 28 in Dublin.
Rugby World Cup 2015
Match schedule and venues
Pool matches would take place in 10 cities in four main regions across England and Wales, with the latter stages culminating in London (Twickenham Stadium, Wembley Stadium, Emirates Stadium) and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Stage Region City Stadium Capacity
POOL MATCHES
September 4-27, 2015 SOUTH London Twickenham Stadium 82,000
Wembley Stadium 90,000
Emirates Stadium 60,432
Southampton St Mary’s Stadium 32,689
MIDLANDS Gloucester Kingsholm Stadium 18,000
Leicester Welford Road 20,000
Coventry Ricoh Arena 32,500
NORTH Leeds Elland Road 40,204
Liverpool Anfield 45,000
Manchester Old Trafford 76,100
Newcastle St James’ Park 52,387
WALES Cardiff Millennium Stadium 73,350
QUARTER FINALS
October 3 – 4 WALES Cardiff Millennium Stadium 73,350
SOUTH London Wembley Stadium 90,000
Twickenham Stadium 82,000
SEMI FINALS
October 10 – 11 SOUTH London Twickenham Stadium 82,000
BRONZE FINAL
October 16 SOUTH London Emirates Stadium 60,432
FINAL
October 17 SOUTH London Twickenham Stadium 82,000
6 World Cup 2018 / 2022 Bid
As you will probably be aware, the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups is currently underway.
Candidates have applied for either or both of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, but the 2022 hosts will not be chosen from the same continent as the 2018 hosts
On Monday 19th May, England officially launched its bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, and we are delighted that Emirates Stadium is one of the proposed venues.
The England World Cup Bid team will be making their decision in December on which cities and venues will be potential hosts. We are hopeful and confident that Emirates Stadium will be chosen.
Important dates in the World Cup 2018 & 2022 bidding process are as follows:
• Monday 14th December 2009. The decision is made regarding which host cities and stadia will be involved in England’s bid.
• Friday 14th May 2010. Deadline for bidding nations technical bids.
• July to October 2010. Inspection visits to bidding nations.
• December 2010. Decision on hosts of World Cup 2018 & 2022.
Other nations bidding for the World Cup in 2018 & 2022 are Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, USA, Belgium and the Netherlands (joint bid), Portugal and Spain (joint bid), South Korea (only bidding for 2022) and Qatar (only bidding for 2022).
7 Date of announcement of 2009/2010 fixtures
Just as a reminder, the 2009/2010 fixtures will be announced by the FA Premier League on Wednesday 17th June.
Full fixture details will feature on Arsenal.com, as soon as we receive confirmation.
8 CAS ruling on Matuzalem’s transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk to Real Zaragoza
On Monday 19th May, The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) made an important judgment concerning the transfer of Brazilian midfielder Matuzalem from Shakhtar Donetsk to Real Zaragoza that will have wide-ranging implications for future player contract negotiations.
The Matuzalem decision sheds further light on FIFA Article 17, which a player had previously invoked in the “Webster case” to buy out the remainder of his contract and leave his club to join another team.
Article 17 provides that players under the age of 28 can walk out of their contract after three years, even if their contract is for a longer period without facing a sporting sanction. For players over the age of 28, the “protected period” of their contract is only two years.
The open question has been how much compensation the player or, more usually, the club that acquires him under Article 17, will have to pay the aggrieved club in compensation. The “Webster” decision suggested that the player and/or his new club would have to pay only the remaining compensation due to the player under his pre-existing employment contract, which as you can imagine might be very modest compared to his transfer value as his contract runs down. It therefore seemed to encourage clubs to induce breaches, and players to breach, the contractual obligations players had entered into for effectively a fixed buyout sum.
In the Matuzalem case, the CAS decided, in awarding a high compensation amount, that there is no fixed formula and that all circumstances, including the loss suffered by the aggrieved club through its opportunity to generate a transfer fee with regard to the player, should be taken into account. In other words, in future, the club that is the victim of a breach of contract will be fully compensated for the player’s loss, the exact amount to be calculated, not by a formula, but on a case by case basis. Any club now hoping to acquire a player cheaply by having him breach his contract will now have to think twice and player contracts will be strengthened. This is good news for stability in the world of football.
As FIFA said, the decision is “very important, as it gives clear and strong support to the FIFA regulations and defends contractual stability in football.”
Please find below FIFA’s statement, as appeared on FIFA.com on Wednesday 20th May:
Matuzalem case: CAS decision fully backs FIFA regulations
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the case involving the Brazilian football player Matuzalem, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Zaragoza SAD and FIFA following the decision of Matuzalem to terminate his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk. CAS has determined that an amount of EUR 11,858,934 has to be paid by Matuzalem to Shakhtar Donetsk as compensation for unilateral breach of contract.
FIFA considers this decision to be very important, as it gives clear and strong support to the FIFA regulations and defends contractual stability in football.
In particular, this decision, at its outset, once again underlines that article 17 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players does not give a free pass to unilaterally breach a contract. In fact, the decision concerned confirms that any player in breach of contract must pay financial compensation to his former club.
Furthermore, CAS confirms that article 17 of the aforementioned regulations cannot be interpreted as a simple buy-out clause for players for a predeterminable amount of compensation. This is a major conclusion. In other words, football players in a valid and ongoing employment contract hence do not carry a price tag with which they could be offered in the football market.
On the contrary, this CAS decision in fact shows that the compensation payable in case of a unilateral breach of contract must be calculated in each case individually on the basis of the specific circumstances of the case concerned. Furthermore, when establishing the compensation payable by the player, the decision in question also takes into consideration the specificity of sport, which FIFA deems very important and appropriate.
What is more, this decision passed by CAS also confirms, once again, that the new club of a player that has breached an employment contract, in this case the club Real Zaragoza SAD, is jointly liable for the payment of the compensation for breach of contract, regardless of any involvement in the breach or inducement of the player to breach his contract.
Considering the decision passed by CAS in the Matuzalem case in general, FIFA is satisfied that its efforts to defend contractual stability in the world of football are backed by CAS. In fact, this is an issue in which it is crucial that FIFA, representing the entire football world, and CAS are pulling in the same direction.
Ends.
I hope you have a good ‘close-season’ and manage to have a good summer break ahead of what I’m sure will be an exciting 2009/2010 season.
Yours sincerely,
Ivan Gazidis
Chief Executive
Where do people think we rank amongst the top teams in the World, all things considered ?!
£26 million could be maybe justifiable if said player is one of the best around. Dzeko is far from proven etc though, and can’t be classed as anything other than silly money! He’s had one good season in his career, in a pretty average league, paying £26 mil for him would be like someone paying £35 mil for ade last summer!
I asked a guy I know in Holland who goes to Ajax games about Vermaelen and this is what he said:
“Vermaelen is a solid defender. Strong, tall, good in the air. His on the ball skills are also quite decent, but nothing spectacular. He has a decent pass too. He can play as a centre-back or as a wing-back. Personally, I believe his strengths are best applied in the centre. He is best when man-marking an opponent, whereas he lacks the pace to bomb forward down the wings as a wingback.”
If Thomas Vermaelen is a Sagna or Eduardo type signing then I would welcome it. Also if the deal is done by the end of this week then it would show the clubs intent and maybe it would be a start of a good a summer.
Also the Kaka going to Real could spark a chain reaction of sales which I hope will include Ade somewhere along the line. A few players changing clubs with Real’s money.
Besides, if anyone remembers a post i made some time ago, in fact quite a few weeks back, about Ade definite departure, AND the fact that there will be no EXTERNAL replacement for him…..
So, if my source (by the way it’s gotta be HP all the way on a toasted bacon sarnie, anything else is Northern!) is correct all the talk about Dzeko et al is just that, talk!!!!
v for vendetta was an adaptation of a comic book
The thing about Wenger is that he always bows down to these bigger clubs when it come to transfers. If there is a target we have in mind all that needs to happen is the Milans of the world or the Barcas need to show some sort of attention & Wenger backs off . These big clubs know Wenger will never compete with them in thetransfer market.
-Do you mean like Ramsay and Walcott?
I can see Dzeko going to Inter – two Bosnians together would work well for them.
Gazidis needs to remember we’re supposed to be a fucking football club, no a rival to the O2 or Twickenham……but hey, i suppose there’s no real money in putting together a team that’ll challenge for the top table honours……
cheers for that pedro, interesting stuff. At least we wouldn’t risk another Hleb situation again because of the Webster clause, bit late now though!!
ddm your quote is looking good at the mo.
how complicated is the cl qualifying now
gazidid there’s alot to be optimistic about lol yeah right
wenger will always win on high profile kids,its the stars that opt elsewhere
Did everyone take note of the housing situation?
All those boring nights spent arguing that point…
The agent of Corinthians’ forward Dentinho has admitted that a bidding war for his client has already begun between Juventus, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United. Talking exclusively to Sport.co.uk Ferhat Ciftci revealed that bids had already been lodged and that the 20-year-old hitman favours a switch to the Premier League. However, despite an obvious desire on the part of the player to make the move, negotiating a fee with current club Corinthians appears to be something of a stumbling block.
“They (Corinthians) want too much money for Dentinho, so the club who are willing to pay that kind of money will land the player.
“The real question is ‘show me the money!’ At the moment we have Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus and Real Madrid in for the player,” revealed Ciftci.
When asked how much the player could fetch Ciftci remained coy:
“I can’t say that. But at the moment Corinthians want too much for the player.”
Ciftci also revealed that his client favoured a move to either Arsenal or Manchester United:
“He wants to play in the Premier League. It doesn’t make a difference if it is Arsenal or Manchester United.”
The Brazilian starlet’s agent was also asked what he thought the youngster would bring to the Premier League, he said:
“He is a great talent. Another great Brazilian talent. A very good technical player who is good on the ball. The fans will love him in England, the public will worship him. A little bit like Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Nick, I hope he doesn’t put too much of a Dentinho in our transfer budget…
Pedro – Did they borrow the money to invest in it, in the first place, can’t remember ?!
Keyser – Probably in the top 10/12, but only because of the fan base and revenues, certainly not on European Honours….
Further to above:
“To be fair, you’re probably overpaying… But I can understand why, as Ajax don’t really want to sell.”
pedro
its not even friday…no wonder they want to shoot ya 
Keyser, it was all part of the deal… I think it cost £90 miullion and they expect to earn £140mill+ from it… all that money is bonus money… it’s not budgeted for… I suspect it will go on toward paying off the stadium quicker… or signing Kaka from Madrid in year.
irish where did you see tevez has gone shitty???
Who read the long post from Pedro??
Could they bullet point – I’m lazy
Gonna definitely be cheering on whoever is drawn against Shakhtar, Panathaniokos and Sporting in the 3rd round qualifiers!!
Someone on Bleacher said it was on talksport a short while ago
propaganda
bollocks
propaganda
waffle
hope that helps irish
Pedro – ‘Dentinho in our transfer budget…’ Another classic.
Thanks Nick
Dennisdamenace – Where would you place Liverpool, Chelsea and United ?!
I think thats the difference now and it’s a pretty big one, we don’t just face the biggest, richest, whatever teams just in Europe now, we face them in the league aswell.
Excerpt
Chelsea and England left-back Ashley Cole, 28, could be set to depart Stamford Bridge because of wage demands that would see him equal the pay-packets received by Chelsea’s top-earners, Frank Lampard and John Terry, according to The Sunday Mirror.
Cole, who has been dubbed ‘Cashley’ due to the manner in which he parted ways with former club Arsenal, is looking to receive a deal in the region of £150,000-a-week. This would more than double his current weekly wage, which stands at £60,000.
The weekend tabloid is reporting that this demand has been rejected by Chelsea and that a move to Primera Division heavyweights Real Madrid or treble winning form-team Barcelona could be carved open.
Big Tone has properly fucked the signing impact of vermin the press are on his case already, thanks to him not the best bit of PR his ever done for us.
Pedro – Who fronted the money ? The Club ?! Or was it borrowed aswell ? Or am I confused, heh.
Usual stuff irish!
None of major shareholders planning on a takeover anytime soon.
Highbury square has nowt to do with the footballing side and doesn’t affect any funding, unless it goes well in which case we’ll have more money, but it can’t result in us having less.
Champs league qualifying is seeded, 10 teams, 5 teams who come in in the final round, of which we are one, the other 4 are Lyon, Athletico Madrid, Fiorentina, and Stuttgart, and 5 teams who have to play a previous qualifying round.
seeded with top 5 according to Uefa coefficients playing bottom 5, we’re in top 5, as are Lyon, and currently the other three would be Shakhtar, Sporting Lisbon, and Panathaniokos, but they have to get through the round before first. If they were knocked out in that round then Athletico Madrid, Fiorentina, and Stuttgart would also be in the top 5, so we couldn’t play any of them
see irish just as i said
Oh and regarding the webster clause, it’s been amended with a precedent set in the transfer of Matuzalem to Zaragoza, and now the compensation if a player chooses to leave a club wouldn’t be simply the cost of buying out the remainder of the player’s contract, but set by a tribunal case to case, so based on the player’s value.
Oh dear:
“Vermaelen has a lot of potential, so in a few years time, he will be even more expensive”
He’s gotta be decent enough to be captain of Ajax at 23 – If he’s captain then does that means he’s a good organiser too?
A – cheers for that. So we should be okay in the CL qualifying? We could get FC Twente again?
I read the long post irish, but skipped the Rugby world cup thing.
So will we be in the ‘ply off’ round only or the round before that as well?
I asked if he is a good organiser “A”
we only have one qualifying round
inside i did exactly the same, just read the football parts of it haha.
inside just the playoff round, same as before for us really.
I dunno irish, not necessarily, if Shakhtar, Sporting, and Panat get through then of the 5 teams we could be drawn against Athletico, Fiorentina, and Stuttgart would be 3 of them!
http://www.arsenal.com/fixtures/fixtures-reports?season=2009-2010
So who are our possible opponents in the qualifying round ?
Oh, and
PTL \o/
yeah as did i clacko/insider, switched off when it got to the being a venue for other comps part!
I suppose the likes of the Italian and Spanish giants will always be able to outbid Arsenal for the worlds best players.
It does not matter how much we earn or how well run we are, we will never have £40m to splash on a player.
to be fair neither do any prem league clubs (excluding sugar daddy clubs). we just dont earn enough from TV deals to compete with the european giants, who all sell their own TV rights.
So Milan are interested in Dzeko. that totally blows us out of the water even though we are meant to be in the top 5 richest clubs in Europe. even when Highbury square is off the radar and we dont have much in the way of loans I still dont see a day when are strolling in and slapping £40m bids on the table for the worlds best players.
All the more galling that Man City can do that overnight.
anyone thinking of going to hanover?
That’s not good – some tough teams there
Arsenal Eng 106.899
Olympique Lyon Fra 91.033
Shakhtar Donetsk (3QR) Ukr 74.370
Sporting CP Lisbon (3QR) Por 68.292
Panathinaikos (3QR) Gre 56.632
VfB Stuttgart Ger 45.339
Fiorentina Ita 42.581
Atlético Madrid Esp 41.853
Celtic (3QR) Sco 40.575
Anderlecht (3QR) Bel 32.065
Sparta Praha (3QR) Cze 26.150
Dinamo Bucuresti (3QR) Rom 25.781
FC Twente Enschede (3QR) Ned 17.825
Dinamo Moscow (3QR) Rus 9.525
Sivasspor (3QR) Tur 6.445
that’s who we could play, anyone who isn’t in the top 5, though obviously if any of the 3 teams in the top 5 who have to qualify are knocked out, the next team down would be seeded
Keyser – I would place ManUre and the Bindippers above us, comfortably. But, the Chavs below us, but another 4/5 years like the last 4/5 years and we may well be below them….
So we could definitely get celtic, sparta prague, dinamo bucharest, fc twente, dinamo moscow, and sivasspor. Also athletico, fiorentina, and stuttgart depending on whether shakhtar, sporting, and panathaniakos get through
gazzap
surely thats why we built the emirates, so we can even the playing field a bit more.
Obviously the debts are contricting us a bit now but does this mean in the future we will scrap the wage structures so we can get the best players in for competitive wages?
Or will we forever be a little club inb a big old stadium
If Tone had said I have seen this defender at Ajax and he is the dogs bollocks, every man and his dog would have outbid us for Vermaelen. what TA said did us a big favour. If wenger rates him and wants him then he would have bought him regardless of what TA had said. Its well possible that wenger told Tony what to say.
inesc, maybe its not fair that I have said EVER, but certainly in the short and medium term while we are paying debts I cant see us being a big club in transfer fees.
anybody tried that liquid form of viagra?
fucking hell…mental… even if you are off your head on booze.. it still works as it bypasses your digestive system and goes straight to work via absorption by the tongue.
I disagree stu – If tone had said that he’s the bollocks then everyone would have steered well clear! I’d imagine with his reputation and some of the things he’s come out with since his playing career ended, a rule of thumb would probably be whatever he says, the opposite is probably true.
dunno about that sometimes just say nothing,his put a lot of people against him from the off.Seems unneeded imo
real madrid
barce
milan
man u
liverpool
arsenal
juve
inter
incesc Says:
June 8, 2009 at 16:21
gazzap
surely thats why we built the emirates, so we can even the playing field a bit more.
Obviously the debts are contricting us a bit now but does this mean in the future we will scrap the wage structures so we can get the best players in for competitive wages?
Or will we forever be a little club inb a big old stadium.
the bottom bit seems about right
Gazzap….understand your point but, Wnger would never have told him to say that……if Tony A and Wenger were in conversation about it, Wenger would have told Tony A to not say a word about the subject and not to draw any media attention to the subject.
gazzap
its interesting to think how we are going to change. Arsenal dont pay the high wages that attract the top players.
with the emirates our ambition should have increased but will it ever??
Not in arsenes wengers reign, thats for sure.
faceman have you tried the viagra eyedrops?
they make you look hard
The Vermaelen quotes were from well before there were rumours about us being interested in him anyways, can’t find the exact date, as all the media sources are lying and claiming that Adams has just said them in all the articles now!
GM put pedros joke book down
poor old tony adams
celtic look to be turning to tony mowbray after adams virtually pencilled himself in for the role.
You bitch Nick! haha!
haha mike, the old ones are the good ones
GM, top joke.
incesc that’s exactly how it’s going to change….
Arsenal don’t pay the high wages to attract the top players.
Because they can’t afford to pay the high wages.
With the emirates once the debt is cleared they will be able to pay the high wages.
Simple!
pedro
but can you really see this board changing A?
weve lost a few really good players because we wont pay them the money they are worth in todays market. Paying flamini an extra 10000 a week could have easily been viable, dont buy silvestre…
but it almost seems a pride thing that we wont pay players enough, we need to keep the structure…
A, I still think we’ll keep it respectable because we wont sign mega stars while Wenger is here.
We pay superstar wages if a player merits them… ala Henry!
Incesc… i think we lost Flamini because he saw the milan opp as a once in a lifetime chance…
I thought you might not notice
flamini is a cunt Allah cashless his pulling the same shit at chavski as he did with us now and they aint tight and Fleming will do the same to AC shit is shit imo
I think we DO pay high wages. wenger’s strategy is to buy players when they are 18-21 before they are mega expensive. these are players that at 26 would fetch 3 times the transfer fee in theory.
Arsenal simply cannot afford those fees so we buy them young. but you still need to pay them the wages they are worth otherwise they will leave.
I admit we dont pay the very top wages but when there are clubs around where money seems to be no object, Arsenal cannot compete with those clubs and there is no shame in that.
But basically our wage bill compared with our net transfer spend is massive.
The main drawback to the strategy is 1) you cant absolutely predict that a brilliant 18 year old will be brilliant when he is 25. and 2) young players use Arsenal for experience and a stepping stone before they move onto a genuine european giant, meaning we can never get into the position of winning titles.
Nah it’s not a pride thing incesc, it’s a budget thing. We always work inside our parameters, and as those parameters increase we’ll be willing to pay top wages. Never silly wages, the sort of wages that say City will pay, because those wages are simply not sustainable in ANY business model, the only way they can exist is with a multi billionaire paying them out of his own pocket!
Depends what you mean by mega stars pedro – we’ll never be spending 70 million on players, but we could be snapping up players for 20-30 mil on a regular basis, as long as there are players and needs that warrant that
henry was a once in a lifetime player
if we lost him over wage demands i think fans would have burnt the grove to the ground
Yeah – and flamini had nothing to do with the extra money, he wanted to go to milan, and was fucked off that wenger didn’t rate him before the start of the season, and therefore wasn’t offered a decent contract then. It was his pride that meant that he wouldn’t sign a new contract in the end, rather than an insufficient offer.
so why is adebayor on such high wages when we didnt put a high enough offer on the table to get flamini signed up before milan came in.
why is rvp stalling now? come on he loves arsenal, its the wage structure.
we lost ashley cole cos of money, ok he is a cunt.
hleb recently said we will always have trouble holding onto players because they can get higher wages else where…
there is a problem there, its undeniable
A, I do make DDM right though… sometimes I think there are times when we should take a punt and we don’t.
We are the very low end of the risk taking scale…
More on the Belgian:
“Ajax’ defence was a shambles last season, but it wouldn’t be fair to pin that on Vermaelen. Plus Vermaelen played most of the season as a left wing-back, to cover for Emmanuelson in midfield. I reckon he could do it (a leader… Someone to shout and give orders) in a few years time, but not now.”
incesc – ade had a good season last year, but he’s far from our best player, yet he’s being paid silly wages. In my eyes that shows that the club ARE willing to pay decent enough wages, and money isn’t the issue with flamini going, and vp not signing now.
It’s undeniable that we can’t pay the same wages as the biggest clubs, but the problems with the wage budget are exaggerated massively imo
incesc if greed is the drive they will always get more else where, you cant justify doubling a players wage on one season look at ade. fucking wish i was as hard done by as some of these fuckers insulting me by offering 60k a week
I can see no one coming in for Ade this summer. the pool of clubs in a position to buy Ade, pay his wages and importantly actually need a striker this summer, is actually very small.
If milan buy Dzeko it would rule them out. How many other clubs need Ade?
I can see him being here next season.
If he is it will be very interesting to see the reaction of the fans. If we want him to perform we cannot be on his back. But personally I cant stand the guy. its a horrible situation.
RVP said the offer we made is fine financially but he wants to know we’re gonna compete properly… once you’ve proved your worth you’ll get what you deserve
Flamini had 1 good season, then said he was staying, while all the time he knew he was effin off to Milan… Not much you can do in that case…
Sell Silvestre
Sell Senderos
Sell Adebayor
Sell Van Persie
Sell Fabregas
Sell Kolo
KEEP THE REST OF THE SQUAD
Vermalaen bought
Another CB needed for departing Kolo
If Eboue isn’t gonna stay then we need to buy Micah Richards.
Nasri won’t be DM. That will be Denilson next season. Nasri will replace Fabregas.
Bendtner will have a blinder next season and with the depatures of Van Persie and Ade I expect Diaby to be promoted further forward where I believe he will be at his best.
We don’t need a defensive midfielder. Denilson is 1st choice, Song 2nd and now it seems that Nasri is 3rd should there be a situation where neither Denilson nor Song can play.
Don’t forget that as things stand right now. We will lose Kolo, Ade, Song, Eboue for 1 month next season for the ACN 2010.
i agree gazzap, it does worry me. I really do think Milan will prefer ade to Dzeko though. There are realistically 3 clubs who would be probably interested, Milan, City, and Chelsea, and maybe Inter too. After them I can’t see anyone else, unless someone persuades Perez that ade is galatico material!
IMO the way in which we lost Flamini AND Dolphin-head in the same season was a disgrace – whoever was in charge of contract negotiations should have been summarily dismissed for that.
I suspect it was Friar but some of the blame must go Wenger’s way.
It still annoys me now, as does his treatment of Pires, but I’d best not go on about it. I can feel my blood pressure rising.
Jav sell vp, cesc out of choice?!
you having a laugh?!
Level pegging would equate to a reported £60,000 a week pay rise for Cole but the West London club are not willing to undermine their wage structure to accommodate the much maligned star.
————————————-
What wage structure??? Fat Fwank and GayT get what ever the fuck wages they demand and everyone else has to make do on £100k a week…
chary – we lost diarra because he’s a complete cunt, and flamini chose to leave when we thought he’d sign a new contract, i don’t have any problems whatsoever with those negotiations!
A on the money for me mate those two just fecked us nothing on our side.The only good thing is we seem o not let players go past 24months now it seems ie RVP
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d take Joe Cole in a heartbeat…
He is a top player.
yep I agree Nick, makes my blood boil thinking about what fuckheads they are, not how they were treated by our club!
Diarra wouldnt wait to get into the team, even tho Flamini was havin a blinder, he wouldnt go on loan and refused to play in a CC game….
Maybe Wenger shudve just benched him? Or maybe, for the good of the spirit, etc, he cut the effin cancer out…
undoubtedly pedro, where did that come from though?!
Pedroni;
Yep, Joe Cole is quality…
How about Carvahlo then? He is unwanted by the chavs and is 31…
Thick twat as well Loner, it was obvious that he was much more talented than Flamini, yet with the way flamini was playing he couldn’t be dropped. If he’d stayed he would’ve been first choice sooner rather than later, but he threw his toys out of the pram and was rightly shipped off
A, I don’t think he’s being treated very well by the Chav’s… well, that’s how I’ve been reading into the situation…
Lovedup, I suggested that in my post the other day and everyone said he’d be as bad as Silvestre!
I don’t agree… He’s got at the very least, another year left!
“A” – we shouldn’t have let Flamini keep us dangling that season, he should have signed or been benched and flogged off with a year left on his contract. What AFC did was crap negotiations.
Dolphin head, whether you rate him (or think he’s a cunt) or not(R Madrid paid enough for him so to let him go without playing him much was a dumb thing to do) we still lost out on the transfer fee, something Wenger usually prioritises. Dolphin head left because he wasn’t being played enough something he was still annoyed about form his time with the Chavs.
Had Flamini signed at the beginning of the season his subsequent departure would have been less likely and our title challenge this season may not have evaporated with 5 losses in the first 14 games. so crap negotiations with him too. I think it’s a bit glib to say losing 2 central midfielders in one season was not an issue.
dont THINK CAVARLIO is injued he got fucked out the team by terry imo, remember he wanted to go off during a game and terry flipped on him.He never played after that from memory, his a dirty fecker alright at chealsea but he would get sent off for us imo
Chary… I think that summer we tried to flog him off to Birmingham… Wenger wanted rid of him… but he decided to fight on.
Once he was the heart beat of the team, I think it would have been very hard to almost black mail him into signing.
I know Geoff also shares your opinion on this matter… but I think he luckily weighted the whole situation in his favour…
If we’d benched him at Xmas… Diarra wouldn’t have replaced him adequately.
charyb;
No offence, but we’ve done the dolphin head ting…Me and A explained precisely how it unfolded…What more can we do???
Sheeesh, some people…
if we had offered flamini 80k a week instead of adebawhore he would still be here.
I guarantee it
I disagree chary – before the start of the season he was nothing more than a decent utility player, who’d performed admirably as an emergency left back, but looked like he’d never be at a level to play centre mid regularly. We wanted to keep him as a utility player for a second, because if we’d sold him we would have lost a player who provided cover for a number of positions, and we only would have gotten a couple of mil for him. There was therefore absolutely no point in selling him in case he left on a free, and likewise he hadn’t done anything to warrant being offered a good contract then.
We got decent enough money for Diarra – he hadn’t done anything to warrant a starting position, with Flamini’s form he was undroppable then, he should have been intelligent enough to understand that his chance would come, and he just had to be a bit patient.
We could never have gotten more money for him then, Pompey got what they did because Madrid were desperate, and he’d been able to play for a year regularly. We signed him from chelsea, a rival for less than what we sold him for just a few months later without him doing anything to increase his value!
Pedders;
I think Carvalho would be a very decent signing for at least 2-3 seasons. He aint as muchof a crock as Silvestre and is a far far superior defender too.
then we would have missed songs metamorphosis from useless to worth more then before
its no coincidence when flamini got injured against liverpool in the champions league our season ended.
He was the heartbeat of the team and the leader.
fucking tight bastards on the board fucked it up.
if lampard earns 140k at chelsea, Flamini was worth more than 50k or whatever was offered. If we him a decent wage early on he would have signed up and stayed
very interesting guarantee incesc!! or should i call you mathieu?!
We got Diarra for £2m, sold him for £5.5m in the space of 3 months. Not bad really.
IF Flamini wasnt gonna stay, even tho, him, cesc and hleb were sooo matey, then that tells us it was purely about the cash. Im sorry, but rightly or wrongly, defensive midfielders, generally earn far less than strikers, well, unless we are talkin about the chavs or City now…
A
Flamini had been playing at a good level for us for ages.
Ok he played at left back for one season but he had experience playing the likes of man u and chelsea from the days when vieira would always get injured for the big games.
He was behind silva and fabregas understandably but he stepped up, worked hard earned his place and we lost him because the board are idiots. Then when hleb fucked off as well they paniced about adebayor and gave him a huge pay increase.
morons
incesc;
Blame Flanini fella. he wanted close to £100k! never gonna happen at Arsenal. He made promises all season ling he was staying, basically lied to the club, players, manager and fans…But nope, lets blame the board…
The fellas got previous too, dont forget. The way he left Marseille werent too friendly either…
We lost him because he wanted to go to Milan incesc, pure and simple, it wasn’t the board’s fault, it wasn’t wenger’s fault, and it wasn’t because of money!
Oh dear…
Loved Up
i understand that he is a bit of a mercinary but come on does it affect us as fans what players earn or what the club has to pay to keep them? As a fan id rather we didnt lose our best players every year, i dont really care if they all get pay rises. (Ade doesnt count in this because he is a cunt)
If you are British in the kitchen, what are you in the toilet?
European!
This is really boring, goin over old news yet again…. BUT;
Diaby was lined up as cesc’s partner in preseason 2007-8. He obviously got himself injured. Flamini, who Wenger persuaded to stay and fight for a place instead of moving to…wait for it; BIRMINGHAM, got his chance unexpectedly, meanwhile AW, probably signed Diarra coz of Diaby’s injury, not thinking Flamini would do soo well… So, Flamini plays well, Diarra gets frustrated, Flamini makes loadsa noises about staying while all the time he’s been flirting with Milan…
Badda bing badda boom.. They are both gone.
Lets not forget, we still one jack shit WITH Flamini, so lets not get all rosey tinted about him. basically, he pretended to be injured more than he was when we ran out of steam anyways…
We really need something new to talk about….
incesc;
“Ade doesnt count coz he’s a cunt…”
Thats YOUR OPINION fella. So, what if I say Flamini’s a cunt, then he doesnt count either!!!
i agree irish, has pedro made a le grove facebook group yet?!
with this 50p/£ income tax we might actually start losing out on players e.g. Kaka is reported to be on £8M per year after tax, that would cost Real £10M to pay that with a 20% income tax rate whilst it would cost a prem lge side £16M to pay him that wage…Do we overstate the amount players earn considering the large chunk they have pay as taxes esp when compared to players in say Spain?
irishgunner;
Praise be! What a fabulous suggestion! 8D
No yet “A” tsk tsk swear he had work to be doing or something
most deals are set up with the money going abroad or into a pension plan dedicated to footballers so the taxman dont get to see much of the wage but losing half they do is a real kick in knackers
flaminis just an example
i was just arguing that our wage structure is prohibitive to us signing new players or keeping our best ones, and now we are in the emirates we should be acting like a big club, not a small one still who wont pay the correct wages
im sorry that you are all such know it alls (lovedup) about flamini but he was our best player last season
Even Arshavin is making noises that he isnt getting paid enough already
Thing is Lovedup I’ve no suggestions ha ha
opinions vary incesc – i certainly wouldn’t say flamini was our best player last season!
imo our best player was hleb, followed by cesc. After those two Sagna, Clichy, Ade, and Flamini were about on par with each other, all performed in their roles very well, but all had their limitations
Here are the top ten richest footballers aged under 30.
1. Michael Owen
Worth: £40 million
This week Owen, 29, accepted a substantial payout from the Daily Express over “incredulous allegations” that his football career was over. The injury-prone star is currently out of contract but he was earning £105,000 a week at Newcastle United. He also has a sponsorship deal with Umbro, netting him £2 million a year.
2. Wayne Rooney
Worth: £35 million
One can only imagine the life of luxury that baby Rooney will be born into later this year. Wayne and Coleen, who are expecting their first child, are worth a staggering £35 million – not bad for 23 year olds.
Manchester United pay Wayne £100,000 a week and he has endorsement deals with Nike, Coca-Cola and EA Sports, the computer games company. Last summer, he signed a £1 million two-year deal to become a global face for Mercedes.
3. Rio Ferdinand
Worth: £30 million
The Manchester United defender has come a long way since his days growing up on a Peckham council estate. The 30 year old earns £120,000 a week and has a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike. He also has properties in London, Morocco and the Caribbean.
4. Frank Lampard
Worth: £20 million
Lampard, 30, is likely to be financially hit by the split from his ex-fiancé, Elen Rives, who has moved out of their £8.5 million townhouse with their two daughters. He signed a five-year, £140,000-a-week deal with Chelsea in August.
5. Steven Gerrard
Worth: £20 million
Liverpool’s talisman, 28, earns £120,000 a week, and endorsement deals with Adidas and Lucozade add £750,000 a year to his income, giving him annual earnings of at least £7 million. His wife, leading WAG Alex Curran, admitted in February to Tatler that the credit crunch had reined in her spending. “I do my nails myself,” she said. “The nail varnish I’m wearing was only £2 from a bargain bin.”
6. Cristiano Ronaldo
Worth: £18 million
Recently dubbed “Mr. Metrosexual” after being spotted wearing a pink baseball cap with a flower tucked behind his ear, the Manchester United forward can afford to splash out on colourful accessories. The 24 year old has a £120,000-a-week contract and is the face of Coca-Cola and Nike. He has also opened a fashion boutique under the name “CR7″ – his initials and shirt number.
7. John Terry
Worth: £17m
The England and Chelsea captain’s mother and mother in law were arrested recently on suspicion of theft, after making off with £800 worth of clothes and groceries from Tesco and Marks & Spencer. It all seemed rather bizarre given that their son is one of the best paid players in the Premier league, earning £130,000 a week.
8. Damien Duff
Worth: £14 million
Notoriously shy Duff does not rake in the cash from magazine deals or sponsorships, but the Newcastle defender has invested in property in Ireland, London and the Caribbean. With a wage of £70,000 a week he can afford a little privacy.
9. Ashley Cole
Worth (with wife Cheryl Cole): £13 million
Ashley Cole, aka “Britain’s most hated celebrity”, was recently arrested for being drunk and disorderly whilst wife Cheryl was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief. His marriage may be turbulent but his earning power continues to increase, with a £4 million salary from Chelsea and a lucrative Adidas boot deal.
10. Harry Kewell
Worth: £12 million
“Australia’s finest football export” now plays for Galatasaray in Istanbul, although he is based in the UK with his former Emmerdale actress wife, Sheree Murphy, and their three children. Kewell left Liverpool last year after five years on £60,000 a week.
anyway
heres a reason to be confident next season.
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/21189/Ex-Chelsea_coach_calls_Arsenal_star_unstoppable___.aspx
to think he nearly went to spurs last summer
Our best players last season were:
1. Hleb
2. Rosicky
3. Cesc and Flamini as a duo
4. Sagna
5. Clichy and Ade
Night all Grover’s and voyeurs. off to the gym,going puerto Banus at the end of the month so want to look my best
ey guys do u tink kakas sale is gna spark a transfer frenzy frm mst teams in europe
And you can blame wenger for me going on about flamini.
If he had replaced him we would have all forgotten about him…
Finally a decent scouting report on Vermaelen! He’s 6ft1! Case closed!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/08/the-inside-track-on-arsenal-target-thomas-vermaelen-scouting-report-and-video-115875-21424475/
well, apparently Jaap Stam said Vermelean will be a world class defender….And that he “likes the way he defends”
chiku
Thats what the press want us to believe i guess.
I dont really believe all these huge players are going to swap clubs in a huge merry go round
Pat Cesc was a level above Flamini!! Cesc was absolutely awesome last season!
I dunno about that incesc, I think if Flamini had been here this season he would have ended up with fans disliking him, probably coming up with some sort of clever word combination with him playing alongside Denilson, maybe Flaminson, and Songini for when he played alongside Song.
chiku i really think it will yeah! Both Madrid and City’s transfer dealings this summer could create a massive dominos effect.
Songini
A, Cesc woild have never done that without Flamini.
And correction, Cesc had an awesome start to the season. He declined after that.
The truth is, while Xavi and Iniesta are healthy and playing football, Cesc will never be a starter in the Spain midfield. He might start behind the striker, but not midfield.
I disagree pat – cesc was awesome all season, but just scored goals at the start but not at the end.
I agree that Flamini was integral to our style of play last year, but Cesc could have still been very good without Flamini, though I think Flamini’s style of play was much more suited to the system we employed last season than Denilson or Song’s.
Of course Pat, at least not in the foreseeable future, although there are very few midfielders in the world who would start ahead of Xavi and Iniesta!
Rolfes would start ahead of both of them.
Speaking of Flamini. He was player of the season last season IMO. Well….he was part of that midfield. The midfield up to around January was player of the season.
Stu and his Germans
He aint my German. Dont be silly Irish.
I agree stu – the midfield was the most significant unit last season. As a midfield 4 it was awesome, but taking the individual players out limited it in different ways.
Hleb was the most integral, then Rosicky and Cesc, and finally flamini, but take any one out and it wasn’t as strong.
Then this season we lost 3 (Hleb, Flamini and Rosicky) and at all stage four when Cesc got injured
I think Rosicky was more important that Hleb but thats just me i suppose.
rosicky better than flamini last season?? lol
come on.
Hleb maybe but flamini was the driving force behind everything.
we were all over liverpool at anfield before flamini went off injured.
can sme1 plz tell me y cesc wud wanna go 2 barca coz thse 2 wont b dropped…. nd i do tink he will be benched 4 tha confed.. comin on for like 20 mins..shame… myt sound cliche bt i tink cesc ws made for arsenal
=.=”
The season collapsed when Rosicky got injured and Eduardos injury happened. Then whey Flamini got injured in april and then the season was over and 2 of them left for good.
Nice stability.
Are we talking fondly about flamini again?
Do you reckon any of us will be happy with the squad by the time the first game comes around this season?
FACT incesc, FACT! Flamini was vital to that season! He was brilliant…no matter what A says.
incesc;
Im really sorry I have an amazing intellect! Don’t be afraid of my superhuman brain fella, it won’t bite…Jusy whoop ya ass is all! Joke!
David;
Pure Rose tinted specs as far as Flamini is concerned! He was a 1 season wonder, wouldve been booed like Eboue and bendy if he’d stayed, ooh, it wouldve been horrible, I tell ya..
Flamini does look quite dirty doesnt he. Needs a wash.
What should have happened was Wenger should have said to Flamini was”Sign now or I play Diarra”.
If Flamini signs he stays.
If Flamini doesn’t sign we play Diarra and he stays.
BUT – Flamini fobbed us off, and more tellingly AFC believed him, with “I’ll sign later…”
I call that being a bunch of mugs.
Still, we came out of it well his season didn’t we?
OMG!
We left this one hours ago Charyb!!!
Diarra is shite and the cunt of all cunts. 2months of not starting ahead of Fabregas and Flamini and he wants to leave. What a little big headed bitch.
Thomas Vermaelen
Born: Nov 14, 1985 (Aged 23)
Height: 6’1”
Position: Defender
———————————
Hmmmm…. Check the height…
Where did you see that Lovedup? If it was Wiki then dont believe it. They cant be trusted!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/08/the-inside-track-on-arsenal-target-thomas-vermaelen-scouting-report-and-video-115875-21424475/
——————————-
I know it aint much better, but its from here….
who gives a fuck how tall vermaelen is. As long as he can defend and wont panic every time there is a long ball like toure
Diarra is NOT shite….
Loner…I dont know…he did have a fantastic season…and hasnt looked all that bad in milan.
he’s 5’11″ loner! that’s not true – football manager is the fountain of footballing statistical knowledge
There’s no way if he was 6’1″ Adams would call him small!
Chary
I couldnt have said it better…infact i was thinking just exactly that two days ago…
Sign Now…Or i bench you and send you to Birghmingham…and play Diarra
Why would we have said that to Flamini?! He’d said he was going to sign at the end of the season, and discussions usually don’t happen until after the season has ended as they can be disruptive especially in the business end of the season!
Diarra is shite. He showed as much in the CL against Liverpool. Not really shite tho but not as great as people make him out to be. He isnt even a DM yet people say his name when complaining about all the DMs Wenger let go at once.
Obviously A,
That “end of the season talks” didnt work..and dont work. Just like the wage structure…just like almost everything tranfer policy.
Did Theo sign a new contract “at the end of the season”
Think so David. Didnt he sign one for 60k a week. Or was that just speculation?
Yeah he did David
Now all we need is for Van Persie to either sign an extension or sell him for 25m.
So any news on Vermaelen or any other player, anyone we’re ‘swooping’ for.
Just read that Toure only has a year left on his contract. Is that true? And if so then is he in talks to sign a new contract or will he be sold.
So many contracts running down.
Why the hall are we in for Micah is he any good as a CB. I hope Toure doesn’t go to city.
*hell, we’re not in a hall
no he isn’t any good at centre back mayank! Certainly not at the moment anyways, he has potential to be useful
If Toure goes then City is probably the most likely destination because they would bid the most. But if it was between Toure and Rishards i would chose Toure everytime, simply because he is better and more experienced. But then again Micah is a gunner anyway…but a partyboy from what i hear.
Jeeez, incesc is very arsey today isnt he? Must be coz of that huge brain of mine giving him a dam sound thrashing before…
I only posted that vermaelen link coz every effin fucker was goin about him being a shorty…
Take a deep breath and relax FFS!
I don’t get the logic of this, if city want Toure for RIchards that means TOure is better so why sell him. If its because toure doesn’t want to be benched then well neither will Micah.We should keep gallas and toure and add Vermaelen toure’s 28 he has 4-5 good years in him. At least 2 years. If we have Gallas toure and vermaelen fighting for the CB spot that can only be good for us. Can’t we buy without selling for once!
It dont matter if he is a shorty as long as he can win the ball and control the defence.
rvp will sign soon enough
If there was any truth whatsoever in the story mayank, i’d guess that gallas is actually staying, therefore vermaelen is being brought in to play alongside gallas, and therefore kolo would be sub, therefore we’d be willing to offload him for richards plus money, as it’d give us funds to spend elsewhere, whilst we wouldn’t lose a player numbers wise.
Still think it’s bollocks though!
WTF is this???
http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2009/06/08/1313140/breaking-news-milan-very-close-to-signing-edin-dzeko-report
a story that would be annoying if genuine true, as it would limit our options when selling ade!
City wanna sign Kolo, Kolo wanted to leave, the Micah bit is just coz he’s a Gooner and City are happy for him to eff off coz he’s a flash erbert party animale…
The Ajax site is very poor. I went on looking for Vermaelens height and they had nothing of the sort. No stats on him, nothing!
We know that one out of verma toure gallas will get injured for a good part of the season, its inevitable so i think the others needn’t worry about playing time and who knows even though gallas is the better defender toure might strike a better partnership with him. I guess there’s no point talking too much about it cause we don’t even know how the Belgian plays.
We should swap him for 15m. City will surely go for that.
soccernet is usually pretty reliable and has him at 5’11″
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=40543&cc=5739
As long as they arent injured during the acn then we will be fine.
as does sky sports
http://www.skysports.com/football/player/0,19754,11913_285782,00.html
Milan is apparently Dzeko’s childhood club, as a fan of course.
Our journal NOS says it will be done soon!!!( vermaelen) Vermealen himslef said yesterday: It is a good step up etc. So, he will be an arsenal player, but it will not be the last signing, why??? because wenger knows that the defence is sloppy and he will strengthen in defence. He will sell adebayor and buy a CB or/and DM. Maybe with matuidi but i trust in wenger!!!!
And dzeko to milan, means adebayor stays.
So wait…what youre telling me is that we couldnt give flamini 60K a week and we can give Walcott 60 a week???
For what???
Heh.
No wonder we dont win shite.
Why is it that in recent years our signings are known before its actually made?
Everyone knew weeks in hand that we were gonna buy Nasri. It was expected we would buy Arshavin. And now Vermaelen has said he is signing. It ruins the suprise of new signings.
Because he’s better than flamini…. We don’t know what we offered Flamini, nor what we’re paying theo, it’s only media speculation, as with every player’s wages at the club, noone actually has a club so it’s ridiculous to claim otherwise!
I think if there is to be another defensive signing it will be a player who canplay in the CM or the CB position. Lorik can so can Yaya but he’ll be away at the ACN or maybe someone we don’t know at all.
IF it’s true stu…. Eduardo was an out of the blue, as was rosicky, and silvestre, sagna
DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE theo ly signing????
Walcott is given the money he is because he is very marketable and arsenal make a lot of money off him like that. JS park is given 60k because of his popularity in the far east.
Better MAYBE!
But definately not more important to the team. Flamini was a big part of the almost success we had. But Theo has really done pretty much nothing for us.
the only signing??
True, but flamini didn’t leave because of money anyways!!
If wenger buys only vermaelen and we win nothing than it’s absolutely the fault of wenger. And he knows it, i think he wil sign 2 more players.
Ireland and Netherlands(almost) qualify for the t20 WC q/f Aus may not make it out of the group stage. Finally some unpredictability in cricket.
http://goonertalk.com/2009/06/08/arsenal-replaced-by-sunderland-in-amsterdam-tournament/
I wanted to go as well.
He has GOT to buy more than Vermaelen. Either another defender or move song back and get in a proper top class DM.
Yup flamini left because he was getting too much football at arsenal he wanted to sit on the bench. Cunt.
Holland (football) have already qualified for the World cup next summer. Won all their game in the group.
Flamini left for Milan because he supported them as a kid and he is half Italian with family there.
Flamini wanted something like £90k+!
But, whay the fuck are we STILL even bothering with this?
In other news, Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon’s surface today…
Anyway im off. laters yall……
Thats old news Lovedup. Happened weeks ago!
Or did he????
A …..Vermaelen is about 6 ft 1…all those source probably got their 5 11 stat from the same place.
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05PufDkcgT6DQ/610x.jpg
http://ajax.nieuwslog.nl/data/subdomain/32/article/20090225083418_Vermaelen_Van_Persie.jpg
IN the first pic(vermalen has back turned)..compare him to jaap stam.
Japp Stam is supposed to be 6ft 3
Another grover found a better pic of him beside japp stam and he only 2 inches shorter than Stam or less a pity I cant find that pic.
In the second pic he and Van persie are around the same height if both are on level ground…and Van persie is between 6 ft1 and 6 ft 2..in fact wiki has RVP at 6 ft 2….so Vermaelan is definitley not
5 ft 11…..Tony said he is small because he is not a 6 ft 3 or 6ft4 giant.
So grovers the guy is atleast 6ft 1 stop obssesing about his height.
RvP does good for them at RW for them doesn’t he. Maybe we should move him there move Arsh to SS Rosicky and Nasri fighting for the LW spot and RvP and Theo for the RW spot.
stu
that was revieled by the other club or the player, there is no way wenger do that,but these we high profile signings,this signing if it goes through is a high profile 1 but edwardo and sagna is the way wenger profers to do business in private without attacting other clubs,but its the way it is now it becoming more difficult to keep such signings private,i thik alot people are putting alot enphrases on this players hieght but being tall and having arial presence are completely different things,tony adams was not dominant defender just because he wsa tall,there more to it than that
Vermaelen is no giant but he is atleast 6 ft tall.
The thing with giants in defence is they’re normally slow(Rio being the only exception that comes to mind) and with the high backline we play we need fast defenders. If this guy is fast and has a good jump i don’t think the height will be much of a hindrance.
A,
You have a problem of confusing future potential with the actual present.
Theo is in no way shape or form better than flamini…maybe in terms of pace…but thats about it…going forward flamini could pass (much better than diabolical diaby/denilsong) and he had a nasty shot outside the box….and lets not talk about it defensively…
Theo has potential to be better..I agree. But as of the present moment i cant see how you can say that.
Its like the Bendy-Adebayor thing all over again.
Who cares how tall he is, so long as he is taller than Ronnie Corbett and can head a fuckin ball thats good enough for me boom boom
I wonder about that guy that Geoff spoke about.
Roland Juhasz….I bet he would please grovers..as he is about 6ft 4.
if height is what is needed Wenger should go for this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_uClPe8Wjo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Juhász
i agree…. all this chat about his height and conjecture about 5 11 or 6ft is just pure mundane
talk about his ability.
But what effin shoe size is he??? Thats what I wanna know!!!!
5’11
12 Men size (American)
46 Men Size (British)
arsenal replaced by sunderland in the amsterdam tournament.Sunderland?
I hope your wrong with your post Geoff. If that is what Wenger has in mind he is committing footballing suicide. We need wholesale strengthening. Just buying a 5’11″ centre back wont win UCL or EPL. Has he learnt nothing from last season?
MUFC CFC & LFC & MCFC will all buy quality in the summer. We need to spend big just to retain 4th spot. I have no other expectations already. Has Wenger really lost it? I mean has he really really lost it? Why spend all your transfer kitty on one player who wont even address the main problem with the team – winning headers/ presence in defence. Whats going on?
Harry kari Kewelly = footballin suicide…
I’ll get me coat…
Wow! Theres actually someone out there who thinks what geoff says is gospel…
Blimey! No wonder the BNP got in yesterday in the Euro votes…
HOT NEWS.Peronni 12 for £11 in Tesco
I really liked flamini.When he was an arsenal player he gave his all unlike certain other clowns and thats what matters
Oh my god!!! What is goin on???? Why wont anyone tell us??? We have a right to know….what the flaming Nora is goin on??? Its just not fair…why dont they tell us????
What IS goin on…. why are we here? How big is space? How does the brain work? Why is it, after a night on the booze, I have an uncontrollable urge to eat pink slimy unidentifiable meat served up in a mouldy bit of pitta bread, with a sad wilted bit of lettuce, & tomato and hot sauce that burns the roof of my mouth off?
Oh bruvver!
Its gonna be a long effin summer alrighty
Ronnie Corbett is the only pro celebrity golfer i know who is shorter than his 5 iron.
Hotter news Paul… no one claimed the fantasy grove prize… I guess that means a Peroniriffic night in for me!
i was the winner in disguise pedro!!!
Pedro, i heard you was looking for ways to improve le grove. well if u are then personally if there is anyway u could put a comments button at the bottom of the page that refreshs the comments and stays at the bottom then that would be very helpful, because when im on my phone or itouch at work it takes an absolute age to scroll down through like 1000 comments everytime u want to see what other ppl have put. just a thought
Lovedup
This is last summer all over again. I can feel it. He promises to sign the earth and then nothing much happens and we struggle for rest of the season. Fool me once…
Its gonna be a long summer alright.
good shout dan
Thankyou faceman, just spend ages doing it. i give up after a while haah
Hitman;
Mate, I know exactly what you mean, strewth, I dont wanna close season like the last one…. BUT, this time, I think will be a lot more fruitful;
No major outs and some significant signings.. This vermilli for starters is a good un, IMO. Well, the more I get to know about him, the better.
I have actually changed my mind and hope that Ac Milan buy Dzeko.
Ade may not have had his best season with us, but then there are other players i.e. Cesc who also had a less than stellar year, but I don’t hear you clamouring for him to be sold. I wonder why?
Dzeko had one good season in Germany, which is not the best league in the world, who’s to say he would do well in the PL? £20m is way too much to pay for such an unknown quantity, when we have a player who already has PL experience and when the supply is there, has shown that he can do the business.
A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush, but too many Arsenal fans seem to think that any player who doesn’t play for Arsenal is always better. Maybe it’s familiarity that breeds contempt and perhaps if you saw more than a 3 min You Tube clip of Dzeko, you might notice that he doesn’t do everything right any more than Ade.
And buy the way Vermaelen is 6ft 1 FACT!!!
Samir;
You either have kust copied that, or you are an anonymous poster on another blog… You old dawg you!!!
Lovedup: I was the annonmous before that comment:)
Good work all the same…
Its good to hear a different view. I hope IF Ade does indeed stay, it is the Ade pre-megabucks contract!
I said—-I’m actually quite happy with this. Adebayor is a lot better player than Dzeko. One bad season and you want to get rid of him?
PATHETIC I SAY!!! Players can’t be at their best all the time.
This Dzeko lad has a good scoring record but the German league is piss. Most of his goals were tap ins anyway. Bayern Munich lost 12-1 was it. And Chelsea nearly beat Barca. That shows the difference to their league and ours. Dzeko will be a failure mark my words. Without Zvjezdan Misimovic setting him up for the tap ins he wouldn’t have scored 1/4 of the amount.
LOL
lol samir, noone is clambering to sell Cesc because he’s five times the player Ade is! Cesc at his best is awesome already, and has the potential to be one of the best in the world.
Ade at his best causes defenders problems and will score goals, but he’s not got the attitude to ever be at his best again with his ego where it is now, AND even at his best he isn’t and will never be a good enough all round footballer to play for a top team regularly
I suppose the other dudes comment just sounded better…
IF ade does stay then he’ll be nothing more than a plan B anyways, so it isn’t a massive problem, but still it would limit our spending in other areas, which would be the big bugger. As well as the problems I’d expect ade to cause when he isn’t playing regularly and can’t get in the team etc
Angry/Loved up, just for your information my last comment went up an hour after I posted it as when I’m on my works PC I get held in moderation(proxy IP, spam,bla bla bla) – but as we’ve officially moved on from the Flamini question I’ll say no more.
PTL \o/
I really do think Ade is class and will only get better (24yrs old). It’s true about his attitude I agree 100%. BUT I believe if he can concentrate he will be up there with the Torres’s….
Ade is not class, that’s the problem, he never will be class. He could never be up with the Torres’ because he doesn’t have the awareness, intelligence, or technique of the top players. Without his physical attributes he’d be very very average, it’s only his size and power that sets him apart from your typical premiership player
Ok let me rephrase that before someone corrects me… AHHHHUUUMMMM (25 yrs old) that better. No one will notice…..:D
A- You will be eating your own words this time next season when Ade gets the golden boot….38 goals… with some screamers in there.
Also Arshavin,RVP,Dudu,Bendtner,Vela,Cesc,Nasri,Rosicky, (Diaby…Maybe not)Walcott,Ramsey,Song,Wilshere,Denilson…. All banging in the goals.
Defence sorted with: Gallas, Vermaelen(6ft 1) Toure, JD, and…Zapata
We shall deffo win something… Maybe even all of em available…??!!!
Ade will never be class? I bet people said that about Drogba when he was 24.
By the way Gibbs just scored for England….5-0 in the U21.
Also on top of that Ade’s power and pace only causes defences loads of problems when he’s putting himself about all the time and really running and challenging all the time, as he was at the start.
Since he decided he’d “made it” he no longer needs to do the challenging in his eyes, so his effectiveness is very limited compared to what it was
wise words Samir but one thing I can,t stand is fucking laziness and the sort of attitude displayed by Ade , he needs a good talking to by someone who knows what it means to wear the shirt someone like big tone ,so the person in our squad to explain to him what playing for the arsenal is erm…………………… gallas , erm no , ……………… erm , ermm ….
there in lies the problem my friends
lol im pretty confident i won’t be eating my words regarding ade, because he won’t be in the team even if we don’t sell him!
He’ll score goals, but he’ll never have class or be class. Players who are natural footballers, the likes of Torres, Bergkamp you can see it from an early age even when they’re developing.
Gibbs scored a second!
I disagree I think he was injured…and when he came back from injury he showed what he was about scoring 6 goals in 7 matches.
By the way Gibbs just scored again….6-0.
Samir, Ade doesn’t have the ability to be anywhere near the player Torres is.
Torres didn’t get that ability through hardwork, he got it becuase he is a natural…
Ade will at best be a work horse that gets goals.
Seeing as he no longer deems it necessary to work… he is surplus in my eyes.
Dan, I think that is a word press thing… it’s so you can pick up where you left off! I don’t think I can change it!
I’m pretty sure A wont be eating his words as well…
Quick post guys!
My assessment of Arsenal is a weak mid, weak defence. The mid / defense weakness allows teams to violate us almost at will. Toure and Gallas are average. Gallas is prob better at scoring headers not defending as he has been raped on several one on ones this past season.
Solution: Sell one of Gallas or Toure. Sell Sylvestre and buy 2 seaoned & tall defenders. One tall and the other not so tall Ok. Mid we need a styrong DM to mentor Song. We need a replacement for Ade if we sell him.
badey …. golden boot?
yeah right
Exactly pedro – players who are class have the natural ability, ade is someone who last season exceeded his natural ability, and doesn’t have half the natural ability that the top players have.
Gibbs got a quality assist in first half too, played midfield second half, maybe he could be our new DM, left footed too!
Chary, you are keeping the PTL \ 0 / thing alive!
Good work sir!
I believe a player can be class without being like Fernando Torres…and I do believe Ade WILL be class…he’ll be a late bloomer whether or not that is with Arsenal is yet to be seen but he will score goals for fun.
Little wonder why Milan and Chelsea want him.
Keiran Gibbs has been “a level above everyone else tonight…” Played LB, LM and CN tonite…
The lad is a likkle gem and future star for the Arsenal… Woo-Hoo!
The Chavs will buy Ade anyways!
Sorry but ade ,s attitude and work rate have been a disgrace this season . would not be sad to see him go as long as we replace him
Thats a shame pedro, thought u might of been able to set something up like f5 refreshs the page back to the bottom. oh well
Gibbs is too small to be a DM,
Charyb;
Sorry mate, was only messin anyways! What is the PTL ting???
How tall is Gubbs tho? Is he too short to go in goal?
… and as for Drogba… he was poor in his first season at Chelsea but he had calibre before that.
Last season was the exception to the rule… Drogba not scoring was the exception to the rule.
Ade can never be like Drogba because he thinks he has made it already… he’s lost his drive.
Dregz was 27 when he had his breakthru season with Marseille tho…
Lovedup, he is like Ashley’s nicer brother… if you’re sister came back with him, you’d be pleased!
Unlike that filthy little shit Ashley cole…
agree Pedro ,, how you doing by the way ?
gibbs is the same height as our supposed new centre back….
to be fair he was a centre mid most of his youth career, you never know!
(though the opposition are so bad England just brought on joe lewis up front!)
Not true, Ade can get his mojo back… He just needs de-programmin like those people who get brain washed by religious cults n shit…
I think he was 25 when he joined the Chav’s lovedup.
He is 30 now.
I’m all good Jules, have you been busy lately? How have you been!
Nah, Gibbs is a left back now, well for Arsenal anyways…
wiki say gibbs is 5’11, do they have any other sizes apart from 5’11 lol
Yeah i saw that Dan – actually thought gibbs was a bit taller than that though!
Angry/Loved up – I just felt we shot ourselves in the foot last summer and it hurt when we could all see that we had to recruit to stay in contention.
ARRgghhh.
By the way the PTL is Praise The Lord – something Pedro(I’m hooked on the PTL at the moment) started up earlier. I kinda like it as it reminds me of the synchronised screaming we had a while back whenever we found out another of our first team were injured.
PTL /
Been fine Pedro , apologies for the lack of comment lately , new job role , v busy but back for some transfer window chat and hoping for good things !!
good to be back
Yea A i thought he was at least 6’0, 6’1. looks tall when in the line up
Pedders;
Drogba was 26 & 1/3rd when he signed for the Chavs!
Also, as Geoff’s not around, let’s all laugh at the Aussie’s who’ve been knocked out of the 20-20.
Not that 20-20 is my bag anyway.
Ok – I’ll take my yellow card….:(
Nice to see you back Jules.
Hot transfer gossip? What have I missed?
Chary. Fine post on Saturday…..
lol , dan , wiki have mini mi at 5 ft 11 too
Wow! We’ll soon have a team of monsters again at this rate!
I think ronnie corbit is 5’11 aswell
charyb; Ahaha! The Ozzies out? Blimey! Not my bag either, but funny nonetheless!
Jules, mini me at 2’8 would slip nicely into our back 4
Glad to have you back Jules, what are you thoughts on our slightly height challenged Belgian?
BTW Thomas Vermaelen is 6ft 1.. So one of our tallest cb’s…
Here’s my back up…
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/08/the-inside-track-on-arsenal-target-thomas-vermaelen-scouting-report-and-video-115875-21424475/
He’s 6ft 1 I tells ya
The Mirror say hes 6ft 1 so they must be right:http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/08/the-inside-track-on-arsenal-target-thomas-vermaelen-scouting-report-and-video-115875-21424475/
Also Wiki has just changed…
Thanks Radders – Pedro said earlier that we have a ripper of a post awaiting us this Saturday too.
Angry/Loved up – to be honest I’d laugh even harder if the Clogs(Holland) win tomorrow.
Now that certainly would be cause to….
PTL \o/
Bonjour
lol dan , don,t joke though mate , arsene is probably thinking excactly that !!
Great to be back Pedro ,
Hi Big Raddy old bean , how are you ?? Hope all is good .
Pedro , not sure , he looks bigger than 5 ,11 but have not seen much of him . I read he is quick and agressive and strong in the air which is all good , I would like a class d m as well and we do need some hieght in the team .
the team of 04 had 7 ,6 ft plus players , that would scare the crap out of opposition in the tunnel, we lack that now for my money
1966
you have got it with the clogs , stick vermaelen in a pair and the fucker will be 6ft 3 and we will all be happy !!
All good Jules. Summer in Scandinavia has some definite benefits (eye candy!)
I agree, we need someone who can mix it. Song seems handy as does Sagna. But Denilson, Diaby, Cesc, Nasri etc are too ‘nice’
We were saying that last week when the Verminator first appeared on our radar Radders. We need some players with some menace in them- to scare the oppo while they’re in the tunnel. Actually the “tunnel” doesn’t apply at the Grove as it’s a wide open expanse – big enough to play tennis in.
Still,it’d mean we’d kept pushed around less at places like Stoke, Bolton,Blackburn, etc..
Good to hear from you big rad , enjoy the scenery .
agree , need a bit of hieght /grit , pv04 , th14 , dennis , bobby , edu , sol , keown all big and a few of those you would,nt mess with , also as i said before , if someone know needs pulling into line and explianing what it means to put on the shirt like a few of those guys could …… who in our squad now is that person ? maybe kolo or cesc and thats it !
not excactly scarey though
Zapata is someone we need. He is real scary.
Look how built up he is:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0eJi98X98naEE/610x.jpg
Interesting Jules/Chary.
The Dippers have Gerrard and Carragher to instill the meaning of the shirt.
Chavs. Terry and maybe Lamps.
MU. Scholes, Giggs, and Rio.
AFC. Perhaps Kolo and Cesc (who is just a boy). We have to find a new TA.
Big raddy, notice all those people who fight hard for the club are english. theres what were missing!!
Exactly the point im trying to make big raddy
your examples are bang on , we need a tony / keown figure ,
can not see willy g dishing it out
anyone watching ross kemp on pirates
they found an abandoned somalian pirate boat and the pirates had arsenal stuff on board
good lads
I love those Somalians. Real life Robin Hoods. Steal from the Rich to give to the poor, I am not surprised they are Gooners.
Eboue 27, least he has a fan supporting him incesc lol
yeah fair play to them i reckon, although i dont condone violence.
haha dan, maybe the club sent out all the un purchased eboue shirts to somalia, theres probably a few silvestre ones out there as well
Nope, not English, just nutters we need! That Vermilli Vanilli looks like a loon! He’ll do for starters! RvP has an edge to him too, or he used to…
Yea but loved up all the players big raddy said were english. Because generally we have alot of fight and passion in us
lovedup
how about that madrid cb pepe, he went nuts in a game recently and violently attacked a striker
They had a Eboue 27 boat hahaha
I think Vermaelen is about 6’0 6’1. Look at the pictures of him standing next to Stam, Van Persie, Kompany etc etc etc.
Yep, a lot of fight, passion and zero talent!
http://www.imscouting.com/press_article.aspx?id=335
Someone just came on and said Geoff was stupid for suggesting Eboue might be a good back up for DM…
Then said he was even more stupid for suggesting we’d sign Micah because he is small.
Well Max… Eboue played the holding role a couple of times this year… and it looks like we’re going to sign Vermaelen who is 5ft 11.
I guess observations like that are the reason Geoff writes posts and you don’t.
If Kolo is wanted by City, what about askin for Kompany in exchange? He can play CB and DM, apparantly…
Theyve got way too many midfielders, want to buy lescott and Kolo, it seems… worth a shout…
Yep, Im very happy with that suggestion…Smug mode…
Im goin now… before I say sumfin stoopid… ahem
Ooh, soooo, Gallas and Kolo out, Vermilli and Hangeland in then???
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/08/arsenal-thomas-vermaelen-brede-hangeland
anyone seen this? http://goonertalk.com/2009/06/08/gibbs-scores-twice-in-under-21s-rout/
I just saw a report saying the Verminator’s agent is the guy who allegedly was involved in George Graham’s bung scandal.
Weird.
Hangelands agent Charyb
Yup, you’re right Angry, I misread that.
My god… big brother is depressing.
However, my post tomorrow is pretty damn good.
You should all tune in!
Chary, your post was well received at the weekend.
Well played!
Gooner pirates !
Look forward to it Pedro – and I’m glad it got the guest blog off to a tidy start.
On that note, I’m off and one final….
..PTL \o/ \o/
Guys, relax. We will buy Varmelaen,and Matudi. Gallas or Toure will be sold.Ade will stay because Milan will outbid us.Silvestre will stay of course as he is Wenger’s love child.Expect another frustrating summer.
Do not expect Chiellini, Zapata, Cana or M.Diarra or Akinfiejev.It’s all about the money at Arsenal. Sad but true.
*Milan will outbid us and will sign Dzeko.
Evening GM!
Night Chary
\ 0 / PTL
Hi Maciek!
If thats the case then we will lose Van Persie.
Julian Clary is 6′ 3″. Will he do?
That is one tall poofter!
How tall must a poofter be?
it’s official then kaka is a real madrid player arghhh lucky cunts
At least he didnt sign for he chavs or city. And now milan can waste their money on TT. Hopefully……
After seeing the above video on Juhasz i’ve gotta say he looks good. And being tall he would ccertainly solve some problems.
nah milan will waste there money on dzeko
damn if real madrid sign all of there targets they will be some force next season
Thats only if they have the right coach. The last Galactico era went 4 years without wining anything because everyone they bought was at their peak and went shite after a season or 3.
If we dont get a high profile signing like Chielling (which we wont) then Juhasz or Hangeland would do fine.
Toure, Gallas, Vermaelen and Juhasz.
Silvestre, Senderos and JD(loan) out. Nice!
i reckon they will be different this time,can you imagine there team jheez kaka,ronaldo,villa,ribery,silva,robben,cassilas fuckkkkk that lolllllllll
and then there’s us with denilsong,vermaelen and bendtner in the ranks…..
I heard that Robben will be one of those that have to make way tho.
But…..
Silva Kaka
Ronaldo Villa Ribery ………that is a scary thought for defences. And whoever else they have too.
Hopefully Huntelaar will be seen as surplus to requirements and allowed to join us on a free. Nice!
Just heard the Kaka news. It puts the old saying “worth his weight in gold” into perspective. Judging from the comments on here Kaka won’t be the last big spend for Real. How the fuck can idiots like Platini allow this sort of bullshit to keep going unchecked. At what point does he say enough is enough.
im also happy that cuntski didn’t get hold of him
Platini will complain when City make a big signing. Or any english club for that matter.
Fuck me, if you took football out of the Spanish Gross Domestic Product, Spain would be little more than a 3rd world tourist destination for Northern Europeans.
Other than football & tourism, would I be right in saying that fishing is the next biggest industry in Spain.
also city’s possible strikers next season eto,robinho and tevez lollllllll
also city’s possible strikers next season eto,robinho and tevez lollllllll
City had better fuck off next season and so on.
I swear to jebus! If someone gets into the top 4 at our expense then Wenger had better be prepared for a backlash!
If he doesnt add quality to rival other clubs improvements then fuck knows what i’ll do.
and people think vermaelen will be the adequate added quality Hmmmm not sure about that one there arsene
if arsenal fall out of the top 4 next season it will be down to the board,it will actually serve them right for being cunts
and if wenger thought people were being disrespectful about his players this year just you wait untill next season when we finish outside the top 4……
BBK
IMO, The Arsenal will be a serious challenger for The PL Title. But I agree, if things do go pearshaped, the finger should be pointed @ The Board.
Can anyone name a Real Madrid player that Real Madrid actually made into a footballer. They are like the cunt who ponces about like a big hero, then steals his mates hot girlfriend coz he isn’t good/bothered enough to find one himself. If you know what I mean
I’d be more worried if i was a utd or liverpool fan about falling out of the top 4 next season! in the last quarter of the season utd were the 4th best team, behind us, and they’re losing tevez in the summer, and maybe ronaldo. Liverpool apparently have loads of financial difficulties. Next season could be between us and chelsea, and only if ancelotti makes them tick quickly, otherwise we could be long gone by xmas!
vermaelen seems to be higher rated than vidic was before he went to utd, so i wouldn’t rule him out just yet! Though i’m still iffy about him, if he does come in, or whoever else does then i’m sure it’s because the scouts have done their homework.
you been taking any drugs today a????????
we could be long gone by x-mas,have a word lolllll
League table speaks for itself bbk.
Last 11 games we were better than utd.
So far we’ve got stronger since the season finished, they’ve gotten weaker.
Simple logical analysis
vidic is 6ft 2 not fucking 5ft 11
So what bbk?! We’re talking about the quality of the players, not the height….
Zat Knight is huge, Cannavaro is tiny, it doesn’t magically mean that Knight is better than Cannavaro!
A you really do come out with some crackers,united with there weaker finish still beat us and got to the final of the c.league they also wrapped up the league for a third consecutive season and that’s being weak shittttt what are they gonna be like at full pelt
Im hoping you’re right A.
But seriously, what makes you think we will even be challenging. No signings have been made yet. We are still stuck with the dsame squad. Why are you so optimistic?
look you know full well a we struggled last season because our c.b;s height was a major issue
One season recently we finished very strongly in terms of defence and everyone tipped us to have the best defence the next season. Guess what? We didnt have the best defence and i think we might have even won nothing. Im not sure tho.
As i said stu – in the last 11 games we were challenging in the league, so since we signed Arshavin we’ve been challenging in the league, and ahead of Utd. Next season we’ll already have two additional players in Eduardo and Rosicky, as well as Arshavin from the start.
Utd have also lost Tevez and could lose Ronaldo as well.
Liverpool have big financial problems.
Chelsea have a new manager and noone knows how he’ll suit the club and the players etc.
We’re the only team who’s on the way up and getting stronger, everyone else is on the way down
as for the quality if he was that good other major teams would be hovering around him
like everyone was hovering around vidic bbk?!
the two new players will not have a full season you will see,liverpool are in finacial difficulty but there still better then us,man u and chavs still got a stronger team then us we are the 4th best the table don’t lie
All ifs and buts tho A.
I heard today that IF Liverpool had Torres and Gerrard fit and playing together all season they would have won the title with a record amount of points.
Still tho.i hope you are right. But those final 11 game stats dont fill me with confidence.
It’s irrelevant whether they’ll have a full season bbk….
this year they played 0 games
next year if they play half a game between them that’s still more than last year, so we’re stronger as a result!
I agree the table doesn’t lie – before we signed arshavin, we were behind the other three
now since we signed arshavin we’re ahead of utd
with rosicky, eduardo, and any new signings, we’ll be ahead of EVERYONE
now you are talking bollocks a lolllllllllllllll
since we signed arshavin we’re ahead of united he say’s lollllllllll
yeah but they managed 50+ games between them stu
Eduardo and Rosicky managed 0 games between them, and Arshavin just into double figures.
I think it’s undeniable that we’re much stronger with Arshavin than we were without him
im sorry a but that is just utter crap
After the initial hiccup of 5 losses to poor oposition, The Arsenal lost 1 game to Chelski. I think the other clubs are in for a reality check by xmas. Only this time, the mind games by SAF won’t work IMO. & if can have any imput to Le Gaffer I will be saying keep the blinkers on mate & don’t be swayed by fuckwits.
We are bbk….
Count up the points….
In the games since we signed Arshavin the League table would be
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal
Utd
at the end of the day united won the league and a few other things what did we win fuck all again
yeah i agree gnarley
in the big games in the league, against the top 4 we were beaten just once, we really aren’t as far behind them as alot of people who’ve lost any sort of perspective seem to think.
we signed our best player 2/3 of the way through the season bbk, we’ll see what happens when he’s around from the start next year
I cant take any more of this weird deluded positivity. Im off to sleep. Night all……..
yes a we will see
deluded stu?!
We had two teams this season, pre-arshavin, and post-arshavin!
pre-arshavin we were the 4th best team in the league
post-arshavin we were the 3rd best team in the league, above the overall champions
no point in losing just once to the other 3 if you are gonna lose to the crap aswell
yeah i agree bbk, we will certainly see! i think alot of things will surprise people next season, arsenal as a whole, as well as individually bendtner, vela, denilson, song will prove to be miles ahead of where people thought they were!
anyways i’m off to beddy byes
nite people
yeah of course they will a,night
Actually BBK
City have just signed Tevez…apparently
Well A , i always thought you were a bit of a dreamer , more so than a man of facts and now you have proved it ..
players cannot come on in leaps and bounds without hard work and constant games under there belts .. i agree with you on nik B to a degree , but we have already seen a bit of promise from both he and song …
but are they top flight starting 11 material ?
NO
i think your stretching it there ..
and if we are to keep persisting with bring up these guys and using the EPL as a breeding ground we will reap what we sew .
the accolade of a selling club whilst winning fuck all in the process ..
there needs to be a massive swing in the mentality of this club .. it needs to get serious and recruit quality ..
all these young players are great back up ..
but in no way – shape – or form should they be our starting 11 ..
david
it wouldn’t surprise me ..
man shitty is serious about the top 4 , even if our board isnt ..
man shitty didnt have the time to spend there hoards of cash last season at thaksin bailed
bailed just prior to being arrested ..
now he is exiled in morocco , but that’s another story .. the arab didnt have time to
make any purchases other than robinho . but youll see that squad get serious this season !
will they have enough time to bed down and play as a unit ? who knows ….
but if i was AFC id seriously look at it as a threat …
Shitty have some good players that will come good imo…that will feck off with their…”buy quality now” mentality and alot of players will be going to the bench that are starting…Elano is a player that has handed out a tranfer request…we are in for Richards (allegedly) and i dont see them as a top 4 team even though…i do see them in the top 5…
If Ronaldo fecks off to Madrid….United is out of the top 4.
ethangunner Says:
June 8, 2009 at 06:01
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 .
========================
SO what Ethan????
How old is Pato?
How old is Messi?
How old is Sergio Aguero?
Whats your point?
BBK’s half empty glass fell off the table and cracked and A’s glass is overflowing even though it’s half empty.
I am guessing we will have a good run for the PL if we can sort the defensive positions out. Shitty will find it hard with Sparky packing the side with midfielders and forwards like he did last term and getting fired by Jan so the Sheik’s can let a big name manager do the spending. Pantcelotti will struggle in his first season in the PL and won’t adjust right away (Guus was the man simply cause he has been all over the world and has a lot more exposure). Pool will challenge but are an injury or two away from disaster as are the Mancs. Doesn’t look like the Mancs will be adding anyone big, perhaps Benzema for Tevez.
yes how old is pato – messi etc . YOUNG !
all the best strikers are young .. they dont
start blooming at 23-24-25 …
they show good signs well before 24 ….
the year ade was when he fluked 24 goals ..
what is your point david ?!
fuck the cunt is useless !!?!!
who is he ? your brother ?
are you really an arsenal fan ?
or do you just like us having average to poor fucking players ? and love sticking up for them ?
REALLY WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM ?
Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko is seriously considering a bid from Arsenal according to his agent Irfan Redzepagic.
The 23-year old is being chased by many clubs including the Gunners and Manchester City but it seems the latter is out of calculations and the former is a realistic chance.
“It is not possible for Dzeko, who is a leading player in Germany and has the chance to play in the Champions League, to go to a mid-table club like Manchester City,” Redzepagic told Onet.
“Arsenal would be a different matter.
“The Londoners’ offer is one we treat very seriously.”
Those quotes were before the Milan quotes GG. And the Milan quotes actually come from the player not the agent. He was apparently a Milan fan since childhood. Also according to rumour Galliani and a contingent flew to Sarajevo to speak with the agent already. I reckon with the windfall of Kaka this will piss 20 mill away on Dzeko which in all honesty gives them a good pairing up from with Pato. I don’t see who else they will try and buy, probably some players from Serie A or Silvio will just pocket the cash for retirement since he might not be PM for too much longer.
*front
So as Geoff’s post suggest we may be going in to another season unprepared with very few signings. All we can hope for is Eduardo and Rosicky to return fit and put some time in and perhaps we will see Wenger’s vision for this current team with a fully fit squad.
If the winker does join Real and lose Tevez to Citeh then manure will bring in Benzema.
I think Mancs see Benzema as step up from Tevez and have been tracking him for a while now so yeah I see that happening. Fergie pretty much always gets his man even if he has to plunge his club in further debt or drive himself there to bring the fella back (like Berba) so I can see that happening. They will then have Rooney, Ronaldo, Benzema, Berba as 4 choice strikers, probably the best 4 in the world overall. The only ones who really compete with that set is us with RVP, Arshavin, fit Eduardo, Ade/Dzeko imo.
LAzer
If you are right, then you know who ain’t going anywhere then? His surname starts with A & ends with R.
Manure needs help in the midfield more then anything else though. Giggs and Scholes are a year older, Nani is absolute pants, Anderson has done OK but I don’t believe he is good enough for first choice 11 for manc quality yet, Hargreves is done for, which leaves them Gibson, Carrick and Fletch. Not a whole lot there imo so Fergie might pull some rabbits this summer.
Yeah I can know what you mean GG. Its looking like it unless someone comes in for a move, maybe the Chavs but they will keep Drogs and Nelka I think and Milan are looking towards Dzeko. I can see Wolfsburg bite there arm off as everyone in the world knows they have the money now and meanwhile use us as a bargaining chip.
I suppose for us the main thing is if we have a ball winner/tackler/interceptor in the midfield along with a settled squad of Cesc, Rosicky, Arshavin with RVP I can see us going back to the days of creating more so perhaps togo will not be as big of a lump as this season. He is clearly not a complete player and never will be, and will always rely on the creation of others and 5 chances to put 1 away along with a healthy dose of offsides.
So much for our hope about Zeko, I think it’s safe to say that one is done for with quotes like that coming from the player.
“Arsene Wenger’s hopes of landing Edin Dzeko have been dealt a huge blow after AC Milan moved for the Wolfsburg striker.
Arsenal boss Wenger held talks with Wolfsburg about Bosnian goal machine Dzeko, 23, who struck 26 goals in 32 Bundesliga games last season.
But AC Milan vicepresident Adriano Galliani met Dzeko’s agent Irfan Redzepagic in Sarajevo at the weekend and the Italian giants are now determined to beat off competition from Arsenal and Manchester City.
Dzeko (above), now pinning his hopes on a move to Milan, said: “They have always been my favourite club, right back to my days as a small boy, growing up in Sarajevo.”
Bye to Dzeko as he disappears into the the black hole known as Seria A.
Here is an interesting case for a pure 4-3-3 ala Barca for us made by Arsenal Insider. I think he makes some good points but I feel our team are not drilled to track back the way Barca is. Someone like Henry had to adjust to the new system and so would our boys. Anyways an interesting read imo.
http://www.arsenalinsider.com/?p=5023
Does this mean we’re stuck with Adebarndoor?
Bye bye Dzeko, we offer a lot more imo, but I suppose you will do what you consider best for yourself, hope you do not regret it since you probably won’t get another chance for a move. Unless of course you’re a superstar in a few years and then the Chavs/Shitty/RMs of the world will look to you.
If everyone is fit against the top teams i can see wenger playing this side
Almunia
Sagna New CB Gallas CLichy
Nasri New DM Cesc Rosicky
Arshavin
RVP
This team would give us 65% possession not sure how many goals it will provide us
Seems like Ice, if AC are looking to Dzeko then I don’t see any other suitors for Badey. Maybe the Chavs but that only happens if Drogs moves on, personally I don’t see that unless Pantcelotti has other ideas. Perhaps Shitty but I have not heard Sparky ever say anything or any rumors. So Badey it is. Hesitantly I must say, but I for one will support him to the fullest if the lump shows up with our crest on the start of next season (but then again, what other choice would we have).
No team can stick to its formation all the time.I have seen henry play really deep at times and sometimes etoo.Starting with 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 is not the problem.Team needs to learn how to adapt to certain situations.We never have a planB
On a positive note Gibbsy the boy wonder scored a couple of goals for the under21s yesterday (granted it was vs. a shit team but still) and played as left back, left mid AND center mid, AND was the MOTM!!
Heard the keeper got to play in the midfield
See your point nishanth but no matter what Barca really only play one formation regardless of the squad. They might make adjustments positionally within that formation but they always play a genuine 4-3-3. Regardless of all the debate about formation it is not as important as Wenger finding the right solution for us where we neither concede silly goals at the back nor stifle creativity by being to cramped or defensive. Personally I would like Wenger to revert to the old days where we would be up 3-0 by halftime or strike the fear of embarrassment into most teams with our attack, perhaps with a fully fit squad of Arshavin, Nasri, Cesc, Rosicky, Eduardo, RVP, Walcott, Ade available that is possible again.
So many rumours
Here’s one:
“Valencia striker David Villa will decide on a move to either Real Madrid or Chelsea this week.”
I reckon Abramovich will blow his lid if he can’t land at least one of the big names this summer in Villa or Ribery. Mancs will obviously never sell Ronaldo to them, and Ribery already said he doesn’t want to go to England, although 150,000K per wk would make him get over the weather am sure.
Confirmed sighting. I didn’t realise Geoff played on the circut.
http://www.aroundhawaii.com/assets/articles/2008/09/1460/images/10-Bear_atSeniorOpen.jpg
He’s tanned abit since the last time I saw him Gnarely
I think I just got sick…..It’s the thought of barndoor not leaving
And he looks pissed like we are about to start Denilsongiaby in the same lineup.
Ade flu could be getting to you iceman.
Ice I am going to get you a badey jersey next season to ease the pain.
Yes the ears are up, he must have just bogeyed that hole
Morning all and yes Gnarley, that was me!
Kaka has signed for Real Madrid for £59mil, what a waste of money, and we get £13mil.
Yeah with all the holes in RMs squad and they plump 59 mill on one player, typical Perez for you. Hello Geoff.
Morning LAzer, maybe whoever he replaces will leave???
LAzer as long it’s not an Arsenal one I could wipe stuff with it
Yes Gnarley, I have a bad bout of it. Can the eyeties take him off us already.
How much do you think the winker will be flogged for?
Gidday folks, All the sites I can find (including the Ajax one) have vermaelen listed at 6ft 1in, so not too short I would have thought, we’re not looking for basketball players are we?
Morning
Hopefully the sale of kaka will give Milan money to spend and we might get rid of adebayor once and for all!!
Morning All,
Kaka sited his move as helping AC out of a financial crisis. Funny how a move to Citeh for £20 million more would’nt have helped eh? they are all hipocrites. He stood on that balcony ealier this year and declared undying love!!!
Start of the transfer merry go round
Jerseygooner for a change Milan were willing to sell. kaka to city that is some serious stand up. Kaka has been loyal to Milan, Galliani said that they cant be turning down 60 million euros every year. it was a deal that all 3 parties involved are happy with. same thing happened with arsenal and vieira. vieira said that arsenal told him that they had got a good offer from juventus and asked if he wld be willing to discuss a move with them. same might happen with cesc one day. its not a sin IMO
Any rumours today of players moving to THOF
Not a sin imo either.
not in Kaka’s case at least..Barry is another store though imo.
He would have stayed. At the end Meelan couldn’t say no to the money on the table.
Hopefully Ade’s on his way now.
kaka gives a lot of his wages to churches in brazil and charity
just more vermin rumours, I want a new rumour to get me excited for no reason
Dan – Here’s a rumour for you, the rumour is that Angelina Joli is actually a man!!!
Reposting for all those pining for Dzeko…seems like another one bites the dust..
“So much for our hope about Zeko, I think it’s safe to say that one is done for with quotes like that coming from the player.
“Arsene Wenger’s hopes of landing Edin Dzeko have been dealt a huge blow after AC Milan moved for the Wolfsburg striker.
Arsenal boss Wenger held talks with Wolfsburg about Bosnian goal machine Dzeko, 23, who struck 26 goals in 32 Bundesliga games last season.
But AC Milan vicepresident Adriano Galliani met Dzeko’s agent Irfan Redzepagic in Sarajevo at the weekend and the Italian giants are now determined to beat off competition from Arsenal and Manchester City.
Dzeko (above), now pinning his hopes on a move to Milan, said: “They have always been my favourite club, right back to my days as a small boy, growing up in Sarajevo.””
ill be so pissed off if villa joins a EPL team and it aint ours ..
i really enjoy watching him play and the thought of him wearing a blue shirt is just too hard to take !
curse you wenger !!!
DDM
what does that make brad pitt then
??
Dzeko speaking about Meelan right now is very convenient…prob to see if Arsenal offer more money.
Or it’s genuine. Meelan will def be looking to add to their strike force as Kaka and Sheva have both left.
Also, Pedro and Geoff are one and the same, never seen in the same room together. much like Michael and Janet Jackson…….
Yes hopefully Real sign Villa next.
I can’t imagine him playing for the chavs.
Dennis that’s not true, at least my posts go up at 9 sharp.
Abramovich will likely offer something something so large Valencia won’t be able to refuse plus am sure they would like to see the back of him at a different league. Thing is Villa has said in the past he does not want to leave Spain.
NEW POST!
ethan – A Purveyor of the Pink Oboe!!
We only ever get the players that no one else wants, sad really.
Shout out to young Gibbsy on a terrific U21 debut!!
ice
we have been poached pure and simple ..
this is why wenger likes doing deals on the sly .
he points out gems and now he is left kicking his own ass , because the deal wasnt done behind the privacy of closed doors ..
i feel the agents spread the word nowadays to get the highest bidder ..
thats why i disagree with chary’s post the other day ..
the agents now want to make these rumors public as possible to get their client to get entered into a bidding war with 2 rival clubs .
its a win win for agent and player alike .
Wouldn’t it be absolutely genius if the Le Boss is buying the Verminator and turning him to our DM? From what I’ve heard his attacking is as good as his defending.