I watched a really great film the other day, it was called ‘Thank you for smoking‘. The film is about a guy who works for Big Tobacco, basically promoting the good name of smoking. The film is a satirical look at the way big bucks corporations spin the press and public into their way of thinking.
It’s funny… because I drew a lot of parallels between that film and the way Arsenal are run.
To run a successful Arsenal these days, you have to be able to convince people that bad is actually good … it’s all about reframing fans perspective… the art of persuasion. The art of being a good persuader is to frame your point of view more positively than whoever you are debating with \ selling to…
Arsenal have become experts at this art of late… for me, 4th in the Premier League is a failure… Marketing Guru, Ivan Gazidis sees this slightly differently,
‘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.‘
Well, when you put it like that Ivan… it makes me feel kind of special inside! I mean, we were looking down the barrel of 5th place in December… so technically, that makes it a great year… right?
Well, how about if one of your kids came to you in December with a predicted F- in their exams… then they came to you in July with a D and told you that you should be pleased, because it was better than an F… would you bust out the Champagne? Probably not… would you drop them another grand for next semester? Probably not…
The other way Arsenal try to keep a good fan down is by making them feel stupid. Arsene Wenger will often do it when one of his long term projects come good… lines like,
‘Last year people were telling me Song was the worst player in the world, now they are complaining he is left out.’
All of a sudden you double take before you point out a player is poor… what if Arsene turns them around, I might be left looking silly! What Arsene fails to mention is that Song was probably the worst player in the world when people were complaining about him!
Kid #3: My Mommy says smoking kills.
Nick Naylor: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: A scientific researcher of some kind?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: Well, then she’s hardly a credible expert, is she?
Recognise the sketch above…? I think every AKB has that comment cut and ready to paste quicker than you can say, ‘So I suppose you could do a better job?’.
Sheep mentality is easy to get sucked into… because it requires no effort. It’s the same as being constantly negative. If I say every player is going to be crap… the chances are, I’ll be right sometimes… the same as if I say every player will be great. Having an opinion of your own based on your own thoughts is the skill for me.
I’m not a Michelin star chef, but I reckon I could spot an undercooked bit of steak if it was dropped on my plate… just because you’re not paid to do something for a living, doesn’t mean you don’t have a good feel for what is right.
Just like no one says,
‘Hold on Arsene… you’re taking control of the finances based on an Economics degree? Shouldn’t we send you back to Business school to do a Management Accountancy Masters because Economics is the theory of money… we’d rather someone who was interested in tried and tested methods… ‘
It’s a silly analogy… but almost as silly as telling me I can’t question the coach because I’m not a professional football manager!
My favourite related sketch in the film is this one,
Joey Naylor: …so what happens when you’re wrong?
Nick Naylor: Whoa, Joey I’m never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But you can’t always be right…
Nick Naylor: Well, if it’s your job to be right, then you’re never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong?
Nick Naylor: OK, let’s say that you’re defending chocolate, and I’m defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: ‘Vanilla is the best flavour ice-cream’, you’d say…
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is.
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can’t win that argument… so, I’ll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice-cream, do you?
Joey Naylor: It’s the best ice-cream, I wouldn’t order any other.
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it’s all chocolate for you is it?
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice-cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the defintion of liberty.
Joey Naylor: But that’s not what we’re talking about
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that’s what I’m talking about.
Joey Naylor: …but you didn’t prove that vanilla was the best…
Nick Naylor: I didn’t have to. I proved that you’re wrong, and if you’re wrong I’m right.
Joey Naylor: But you still didn’t convince me
Nick Naylor: It’s that I’m not after you. I’m after them.
[points into the crowd]
Ok, so replace Vanilla Ice Cream with young players… replace Chocolate with big money transfers… replace… actually… it’s not that simple… but you get what I mean!
One minute we’re all sitting there moaning that we don’t sign enough adults and we’re upset because we haven’t won a trophy… the next thing you know we’re all sitting there applauding Wenger for having the youngest team outside the under-16′s league! How did we get there… that wasn’t what we were talking about! He won the argument by changing the argument… I’ve gone from being upset… to being pleased that we give youth a chance and we have class and integrity when it comes to buying players!
I’M CELEBRATING THE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL!
WHAT HAVE I BECOME!
HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?
… it’s simple my friends, becuase Arsenal are pretty damn good at reframing a bad season.
Oh and to finish on a positive not we received an e-mail yesterday from Ivan, and he said this about the old ground. 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. So what he is saying is we are not skint.
Have a great day Grovers… if you’re not, remember… it could be worse, you could be dead!
The idea that Wenger is a stubborn man who’d like to prove his youth project right over the good of the club is hardly original. Its been constantly rammed down our throat since Henry left by the media. Wenger’s project youth is the one that’s won the FA cup not the one that came 4th in the PL. But of course Bould who’s a defender should get all the credit for that.I personally would like to see LJW or walcott tearing defences apart in 2 years than Ribery next year. Wenger buys experience its just that we don’t know their names beforehand.
‘
Agreed irish.
Why are we one of the richest pedro? Its the same system we’re applying right now. To defend the ‘i want the world now’ is hardly smart it just shows we’ve learnt nothing from the recession.
“agree with u gambon-the league table doesnt lie.”
So Cesc is the fourth best attacking midefielder in EPL? BS. Carragher is a better player than Gallas? Please. There are lots of factors that go into results across a season.
I don’t know why Diaby gets such a hard time. I think he’s an amazing player, esp when you consider hes only 22. For his position (behind a striker there are few players better), and hes always played out of position at left wing.
IMHO the single biggest flaw with Arsenal is AWs choices/tactics on game day. Granted Cesc wasn’t fully fit, but he should have been playing deeper with Diaby in front of him, and Nasri on the wing. Instead of: Diaby lost on the wing, Cesc wasted forward and Nasri impotent in cm.
Mayank, I’m struggling to see where you going with this?
Do you think Project Youth is something he’d rather not be doing?
‘Wenger buys experience its just that we don’t know their names beforehand.’
I don’t understand that comment?
I see that Yaya’s agent has ruled out Arsenal but not another English team because they are offering more. I would that team has to be Man City. I still think Man City are trying to pair Yaya and Toure together in the same team. I reckon we could get a decent fee for Kolo.
Not saying I want him gone but Vermaelen looks to be Kolo’s replacement. Gallas and the others will all stay. No other additions at the back.
I still think we should sell RVP if we are being offered £25m. That money would put us in the frame for a top striker like Dzeko. Then we can either stick Ade in the stiffs or sell him for a cut price.
But I still think a top DM is more important even if RVP goes.
Ryan L what budget are u talking about???? If the board turned round to wenger and said right Arsene you have virtualy no money to spend and we will tell the press that u have heaps to spend and u just have to pretend u are just not spending it (like the subplot u described) then Arsene would walk! Its not the same as Keegan but its the the same thing (a subplot) that u… not me are talking about!
dbp,
No, but our midfield is weaker than Chelsea, Pool and Utd.
Our defence is weaker than all three.
Our attack is on a par with them.
Your method of analysis suggests if Ronaldo played for Macclesfield they would win the CL an PL every year.
Oh and Carragher is better than Gallas, of course he is.
I don’t think anyone honestly is expecting to see David Villa or Kaka to be coming any time soon but more Eduardo’s, Sagna’s and Rosicky’s would be nice and if any manager can find the likes of them it is Wenger.
DBP, Diaby… one of the best second strikers in the Prem? Please…
Where would you rank Cesc in the Prem then?
Ronaldo, Gerrard, Arshavin, Lampard are all better than Cesc!
For his position (behind a striker there are few players better), and hes always played out of position at left wing.
I can name one. Arshavin. In fact I can name more then one even in our squad. Nasri, RVP. The point is if Diaby can only play well in the hole yet we have 3 players better then him why is he in the team? Why don’ we move him on and his “potential” talent and get us a proper LW player? All of those are Wenger’s choices, and they are all the wrong ones imo.
Pedro what I’m saying that his project youth is not the one that’s playing in the PL as i stated it the youth side(imagine that). And with the senior side he is always looking to add experience like eduardo sagna rosicky arsh. Last season was an anomaly in the terms it was the first when he didn’t /couldn’t buy a proven player in the summer and made up for that by breaking his no major signings in winter rule. Wenger doesn’t buy big but he always buys experience last season being the only exception.
like irish said i think wenger has gotten the kick up the arse he needed.
Mayank, you’re reframing there mate…
I didn’t say I wanted the world did I?
You’re moving the goal posts to make your point valid.
We’re one of the richest in the world because we charge the most… it’s not complicated.
The only trouble is, we don’t spend it.
If you sell the fans a dream, and it fails… don’t be surprised that people are annoyed.
Gambon
is the MF of Rosicky arsh fab weaker than Fletcher anderson carrick(ronaldo is a CF) its less defensive, i’ll give you that but weaker no.
yeah Mayank think about it after 3 years of winning nothing and hardly competing for the league, going into last season we didnt sign experience not only that we lost 3 experienced players. u cant defend that can you?
Mayank, project youth is sitting in the first team!
Clichy, Fabregas, Song, Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, Vela, Rambo, RvP, JD….
They are all part of project youth!
After all this back and forth debate, call me whatever you like, AKB or not, personally I still believe though that Wenger will deliver us to the promised land in this season or the next. No I am not patient or unambitious or anything else of the sort and I recognize plenty of fuck ups have been made at this point but in Arsene still I trust, definitely not as much as I used to I must add, but to a certain degree yes.
LAzer, it’s quite simply not true that he is one of the best second strikers in the Prem!
What are we basing that on? A goal against Newcastle and a few against a crap Turkish team!
… remember, this is my best mate I’m slagging off here!
He holds onto the ball too long, his passing is atrocious, he dithers and he isn’t very good at tackling.
He has been very disappointing for his 25 games this year.
LAzer, I’m not calling for his head at all… just for him to return to his old ways.
Buy some talent on the verge of greatness and deliver us some trophies.
That is what football is all about… we’re not in it for a nice profit margin.
No Pedro you didn’t, you’re playing it very safe by saying that we need to spend 30m on proven quality as if 2 players for 15m each will magically fit into the squad. Big signings fail all the time. The truth is if we sign 3 players over 26 there’s a good chance that only one will fit in. Experience also brings with it unbreakable habits. The ones like Kaka Ribery etc are players that could play for any team because they are that good but thats why they’re world class and hence the price tag. Arshavin was an exception because people didn’t have the cojones to bid on a russian.
ERmmm Pedro i think you’re bashing the wrong fellow if I am not mistaken. I have been calling for Diaby’s head for a long long time simply based on inconsistency. Please read my post at 17:08 again if you are implying I was supporting him. That top paragraph was a quote from dbh I think. So….apology accepted..:-)
I am with you there on 17:16 Pedro. Am calling for the same things. Do I have a target on my back or something ??
LAzer… sorry, my bad.
What a tard… I should have read the whole comment!
this is the 1st team
AL
sagna-gallas-toure-gael*
rosicky/nasri-fab*-song*-arsh
RvP-ade
*project youth
Out of these 3 fab and gael could make it into most teams.
All I said was seeing all this debate back and forth I just have to say I still trust the man to bring us some trophies and soon. That’s all.
Excerpt
Pavel Pogrebnyak has been tipped to join his former Zenit St Petersburg team-mate Andrey Arshavin at Arsenal.
But Russia rival Roman Pavlyuchenko has outed the imposing striker as a fan of Manchester United.
Asked to name a Russia player who would suit United, Tottenham Hotspur striker Pavlyuchenko told Russian newspaper Sport Express: ‘Pogrebnyak. He dreams about Manchester United and would kick everyone to wear the red shirt.’
Mayank history tells me that ready made players are often more reliable than inexperience players. it was wengers duty to ensure that we didnt have to rely on inexperienced players. flamini came to us as a young emerging player if we kept him we wouldnt have had the season this bad. he left the logical solution was to replace him with sm1 for the now. An apple not a seed. u r taking the arguments wider than its mark
Someone said yesterday that Gallas and Toure were doing really well up to when Gallas got injured and I agree. With a strong/quality DM in front of them I honestly feel it will improve the defence and with Vermeulen coming in we have much better options in terms of injuries at the back (if he can hang on to Toure and Gallas). Fingers crossed if Rosicky and Eduardo can stay fit for a chunk of next season I feel all of a sudden we would have very strong and quality squad especially since Arshavin will be available in all comps. (and he will be a strong leader next season which we need) – Sell Ade & Senderos. Up front, if he gets the likes of Dzeko thats a bonus but with Eduardo, Arshavin, RVP, Bendtner, Walcott & Vela there – well…..
Key is QUALITY EXPERIENCED DM & CB – Job Done
Some of these look photoshopped ha ha
http://arsenalspot.net/2009/06/wenger-visits-the-birds-nest/
No worries mate, entirely decent of you to own up. I know this is a heated debate. I think a lot of us stand on the same side to be honest, we are loyal and loving supporters and hate the deception and “stories” we have been told. Some of us may be a bit more tainted then others but I must admit I do not shell 2000 quid from my pocket to attend the matches and then be treated to utter tripe with denilsong pants from the start of the season and Diaby fumbling on the LW so fair play to you and Geoff in your frustrations.
Mayank, sorry… what a load of rubbish. Only one out of three over 26 year olds make it?
What you are calling for isn’t an acceptable solution.
> Do nothing.
When did that ever work.
How do you think the 18 points are magically going to make themselves up?
I’m not asking for £30million to be spent, but you know what… that shouldn’t be out of the question for a club that has had Champions league football for 12 years running.
A club like Arsenal should be buying proven talent. If we’d had a couple of decent players plus Arshavin last summer, we’d have made a serious dent in the league. No real question in my mind about that. If we had a proper defensive midfielder, a proper centre back and Arshavin… we’d have been a lot closer.
… a sustained challenge is all I ask for… and all most reasnoble Arsenal fans ask for.
Not out of it in October.
Irish, the guy who runs that site copies GoonerChris’ avatar from Goonertalk and posts abuse about the site here.
LAzer, I like a heated debate… we can all state our points without being abusive.
Happy days… like hanging out with your mates down the pub.
sagna-gallas-Song*-gael*
Walcott*-fab*-Denilson*-arsh
RvP-Bendtner*
Mayank, you can chop it anyway you like… most of the squad are project youth.
Ooby, the recurring theme there is that most people play well next to Willy G… it’s when he’s injured things start to go wrong!
franchise – Yes it does seem like that doesn’t it, then why did Barca who have a large no. of homegrown players win the treble. Why do giggs and scholes still get the nod over nani and anderson. Why is it lampard and gerrard bail out their respective teams asses at least 15-20 times a season. Arsenal need to have an unrivaled youth system to have an unrivaled team in the long term that is if you want to win the league next year above all else then that is a different story.
I just looked at the pictures Pedro – you know I can’t resist Arsene in his shorts
haha, you old perv!
Pedro my point was the our first choice team would have much lesser youths. We all know that we ended up with more inexperienced players than we would have liked to due to injuries.
This point about Barca came up earlier Mayank and I am sorry but it’s a myth they do not need outside purchased talent.
Here’s a list from the first 11 and you be the judge:
Purchased
Henry, Eto, Yaya, Abidal, Alves, Marquez
Homegrown
Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol
Mayank, because you mix youth with experience!
Barca had Henry, Eto’o, Yaya, Silvinho, Alves and countless others they’d bought in and they combined them with the best youth players.
If you’re average as a kid at Barca you don’t make it.
If you’re average at Arsenal as a kid… you’ll be persisted with.
More rumors
Tottenham are leading the chase to sign Atletico Madrid captain Maxi Rodriguez, claims the Daily Mail.
The 28 year old midfielder was strongly linked with a move to Liverpool last year as he is close friends with Fernando Torres, but the transfer never materialised.
The Argentine international would love the chance to showcase his talents in England or even Italy if Tottenham do not come through.
Rodriguez said: “I have already received offers but I didn’t feel it was the right time to leave the club as they have looked after me.
“I am not ruling out the possibility that in the future I could try something new with an English or Italian team.”
He has nice legs for an old man I must say
Maxi Pad don’t go to the spuds, its a graveyard out there!!
Mayank, I posted at the start of the year about that.
I said, we can’t blame a bad season on injuries… because we know a bulk of our players are injury prone.
I also said we can’t blame youth… because we know the bulk of our players are young.
You can’t keep using the same excuses over and over again… especially when lay people like me can predict them!
What I’ve been trying to state in the past posts is simply this, Youths are in fact more reliable than buying experience that is available in our price range. This season we failed because of what for me were unforeseeable circumstances. We ended up with too many inexperienced players on the pitch at the same time.
The only experienced player missing that would have strengthened the first team was Rosicky. Gallas was fit for the most of the season.
Anyone watching the Spain match?
In regards to injuries I think there is a point to be made Pedro. This year we had Walcott, Ade, Cesc, Rosicky, Eduardo, Clichy, Gallas out for long periods of time. I really doubt even you would have predicted that.
That is like Barca missing Messi, Eto, Xavi, Iniesta, Bojan, Alves, and Puyol and still putting up a challenge. Something I think we would all agree would not happen.
Eduardo was always going to play second fiddle to RVP and Ade as well, even if fit.
Pedro agreed on WG – we just dont have adequate back up for him so would hope Vermeulen or more preferably Hangeland would achieve this. The only question is who takes a back seat and cant see Toure wanting to hang around if not 1st choice. Maybe sign Vermeulen and Hangeland and sell Toure – Vermeulen may be more content to act as cover for DM,LB,CB
You’re frustrations are acceptable Pedro but you’re solutions less so. You talk as if we buy players we’re sure to win. If we buy very expensive player maybe but in our budget i’d rather rely on tested player. defence is another issue altogetherwe have nothin to build on there so we MUST buy the risk has to be take but for the other positions i’d say the risk of relying on youth and buying experience is the same.
Right Paulinho that’s why I equate Eduardo to Bojan in the injury comparison above.
A lot of grammatical mistakes in the above post if you have trouble understanding it feel free to ask
Mayank, what was unforeseeable?
So you are telling me that signing Alonso would have been more of risk than playing Denilson and Song?
Mayank, your English is fine!
Lazer, the class gap between some of our first teamers and our backs up are not as big as the gap between Messi and Barca’s back up Hleb or Pedro, or even Bojan who is pretty unproven.
Is there a big gap between Clichy and Gibbs? Ade and Bendtner, Eduardo and RVP? All much of a muchness imo.
When these said players were fit we didn’t even play that well anyway.
I gotta say a fit Eduardo would be my choice in front of RVP. Just think he’s better finisher.
Agree Paulinho… and him going missing most of the year was hardly a big surprise.
Ooby, I’d love us to sign two big defenders, but I can’t see him flogging Kolo and it seems he is keen to keep Song and JD.
We should have signed Alonso. No doubt about that blunder. Mayank can you seriously be happy about having denilsong playing in the first-11 as opposed to Alonso?? And for an extra 2 mill or something. Definitely a blunder imo.
Risks of youth vs experience
youth: Fit into the system but may not be mentally or physically ready
experience: mentally and physically ready but may not fit into the system
The experience i talk of here is that thats in our range. Of course if we bought Kaka, senna etc we’d be better off.So the risks are equal really.
Well I suppose that just says a lot about our squad then Paulinho doesn’t it? Look I am not doubting we messed up in the transfer window and on tactics in some games but I still think injuries definitely exacerbated the situation and in all fairness we should be objective about how perhaps no other club could sustain so many of them.
Our team against Villa at the Emirates contained Gallas, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott and Clichy. We got tonked 2-0 and in the first half especially we got dominated by Villa.
We produced more cohesivness and impressive performances without those players after Xmas with just the extra addition of Arshavin.
So the point is, our team actually improves in some areas when ‘star’ players get injured, although we regress in others. It all evens out to pretty much the same level of play regardless, unless every single player in the squad is fit, especially in midfield. If all our attacking midfielders are fit then we can play at a significantly higher level.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!!
Milan vice president Adriano Galliani has confirmed the Rossoneri are pursuing a deal for Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko.
Following Kaka’s departure for Real Madrid, Milan have money to burn and are looking to invest at least part of the cash in the Wolfsburg target man.
The Bosnia striker was in prolific form last season bagging 26 goals as Wolfsburg famously stormed to the Bundesliga title.
“I was in Sarajevo for Dzeko,” Galliani said on Sky Italia Galliani.
“We like him a lot. Now we wait for Wolfsburg.”
Dzeko has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City reportedly keen on the striker.
kenny – I didn’t say there WAS a subplot !! I was adding to what you said that none of us have any real facts around available funds etc and you used what the board had previously said. In keeping with the spirit of the article – I then suggested that their could be a subplot !! A la the whole reframing thing.
In terms of the budget, it has generally and widely been reported in the past that Wenger has a forecasted rolling budget that he manages, which has to include transfer fee’s and ongoing costs i.e. contracted wages etc.
So if you take the fact that Wenger accepts to work under that arrangement, then THEORETICALLY it could fit my suggested subplot (as in suggestion of a mere possibility), in that Wenger knows his budget (whatever that number is) and works within it. Therefore if he knows what his operating budget is, then he knows what he has and what he can’t have and therefore can’t/doesn’t ask for more. Which then means the board can make statements like “We have never turned Arsene down.”
It was you using that statement as reasons as to why Arsene can spend big, but at the sametime making several comments about how in debt we are and therefore not able to compete.
You say that Xabi was a blunder maybe, maybe not. The fact is he plays with mascherano behind him same with barry-petrov. If we did sign him for 18m and he didn’t provide enough defensive cover we’d be moaning about not signing a more defensive player. Its liek the denilson debate. Earlier everyone was saying that he’s too like cesc then he starts playing defensively he’s responsible for crab football so conventional wisdom comes full circle.
Fair play to Villa. They were the surprise of the season and were in terrific form am not taking anything away from them. We began lethargic and over confident and it cost us games. Look I am not arguing specific games or results with you, just that overall if any team were to miss as many starting 11 players as we did for as long as we did they would suffer. Surely you are not denying that?
I’d keep Song as a squad player
Lazer, injuries definately didn’t help and with our squad and frugal transfer policy, it’s vital we don’t get injuries.
In all of Wenger’s successful seasons, we’ve been pretty lucky with injury.
Yep Lazer agree with the jist. It’s just that I do tend to go into specifics with certain players and see how they affect the side in alot of detail lol.
Rosicky strikes me as the only player that would have genuinely made a big difference to our fortunes. Even without Gallas I think Toure and Djourou can do pretty well for a stretch.
Any team that wins the PL is lucky with injuries Man u had one major injury in the department they were best stocked in. Chelsea didn’t win because of the absence of essien Liverpool didn’t because of the absence of torres.
mayank
man u has won 3 years in a row
dont think you could say that was luck
And that’s all I am pointing out. I think it would be unfair of us to simply deny the impact of injuries. Yes we had crap transfer policies/tactics/substitutions no doubt but injuries cost us as well to a certain degree.
Mayank-hindsight is 20/20 so now going to the injury point. If we had Alonso perhaps he would have provided adequate cover and carried the team like he did Liverpool when Torres AND Gerrard were out. Don’t you think an extra 2 mllion would have been worth it to have converted all those draws we had in to wins. What was it? 5 of them I think? If we would finished 3rd, or 2nd wouldn’t that have automatically paid for Alonso’s extra 2 million?
The thing is i can take the easy route and say we’re going to get injuries next season so wenger better stock up, but we’re not man u players wouldn’t like to be on the bench for us unlike Man u. This would be the easy route cause if we win then all’s good and who cares what i said if it didn’t i told you so.
Heading back to the hotel!
Catch you later!
Mayank, so we should keep the bench packed full of kids to appease average players?
Later Pedro.
Incesc
I could convince you they are lucky if I had the time!!
Lazer, I think all that fans are hoping for this summer are for club not to mess up the transfer policy and the consquent restricted tactics that can result from that.
Of course injuries could scupper next season as well but if we do the right things this summer then at least we have a better chance of riding the storm.
At the start of the season we had leaks in the roof before the storm even hit
Yes like you said about hindsight… those ifs can also go the other way. the truth is the margins are so thin in the PL or football in general that hindsight is all we’ve got. We all saw the difference in the performances against man u in the league and CL(don’t tell me they just needed to draw, thats all they needed in the second leg as well). It’s been a general observation of mine that teams with homegrown player tend to do better. That’s why i have no problems relying on the youth. But like i said defence is a different thing cause we have nothing to build on so we have to buy.
Mayanl, but at least Chelsea and Liverpool put up a genuine challenge. We were gone in November.
Agreed 100% there Paulinho. I hope we add a DM, CB, and Winger. I see enough potential in the side, I won’t lie, if we add the right players we could go all the way imo. But no more mucking about in the transfer window for Wenger. He gets 2 more chances including the Jan window and we need to see an improvement and a trophy.
Pedro you are failing to see my point i’m saying that you cant have a plan with a 100% success rate buying players is not the ultimate solution and to me the success rate of the youth is equal to that of experience.
Anyway later Pedro
As we say across the pond, bring home the bacon Wenger!!
So how much do you reckon Wolfsburg demands for Dzeko from Milan??
Paulhino – I ain’t saying we were briliiant from the off i’m saying i think we started to find our feet later on when BAM! more injuries.
I’ve also realised that I’m saying more or less what you guys are saying, i think we need signings in defence that may or may not include DM but i wouldn’t pay over the odds for one. As for the CB position i might.
Talk about efficiency.
apart from podolski and zeroberto has any other player left BM?
Excerpt
Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have reached an agreement with Dutch side Twente about the transfer of highly rated left back Edson Braafheid. The 26-year-old will undergo a medical test this Thursday and sign a four-year deal.
………..
Braafheid is Bayern’s sixth signing for next season after the earlier transfers of Mario Gomez, Anatoli Tymoschuk, Danijel Pranjic, Alexander Baumjohann and Ivica Olic.
Bloody hell so we are all saying the same thing. I could have left hours ago.
Yes we are :p but i guess my way of presenting it more positive and less accusative of Wenger.
*is more
Egg attack on BNP leader Griffin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8091605.stm
Funny video!!
if everyone chose their favourite positions would Eboue be our only Right Winger? assuming Theo chooses Striker role?
Nasri would do the job on the right better then Eboue imo.
Fantastic Post Pedro,
So we are not Skint, and we are still in Operation youth…and still have a large debt….What does Arsenal Use the money for?
Is the board getting their wallets fat is it then?
Cesc is the only CMF you mentioned. Arshavin, Lampard and Gerrard all playin the hole behind a striker (where Diaby should play), or Hleb played for us in away Champos games last year. It’s a much easier role to play – less physically demanding and doesn’t require the same ball control. Ballack and Alonso would be the only competition for Cesc in the EPL in terms of true box-box CMs.
On a side note I can’t believe anyone would tout England’s fifth choice centre-half over France’s number one. Gallas does have brain explosions (maybe where Senderos gets it from?) but in terms of man-marking, positioning and passing Gallas is easily superior and has always been.
http://blog.sport.co.uk/Football/279/Top_Ten_Fairweather_Footballers.aspx
5 out of the ten are arsenal why does it happen to us.
OK so Nasri can play on right then:-
Almunia
Sagna – Hangeland – Gallas – Clichy
Nasri – Fabregas – Alonso – Rosicky
Arshavin
Eduardo or RVP
with as back up
Fabianski
Eboue – Toure – Vermeulen – Gibbs
Walcott – Diaby – Denilson – Vela
RVP/Edu – Bendtner
This assumes buying Hangeland, Vermeulen and Alonso for £38m and selling Ade, Senderos & Djourou for £30m
i know this is old but what the heck!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV4VVTI5DI8
Brief-Soccer-Fabregas sustains nasty head wound in Baku
Tue Jun 9, 2009 6:17pm BST
Email | Print |
Share
| Single Page
[-] Text [+]
MADRID, June 9 (Reuters) – Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas suffered a nasty-looking head wound and had to be replaced at halftime during the European champions’ friendly against Azerbaijan in Baku on Tuesday.
The Arsenal captain was brought down in the penalty area just before the break and appeared to hit his head on the ground. He looked in some pain as the wound bled profusely and he was treated by medical staff.
David Villa scored the subsequent spot kick, his third goal of the match, to give Spain a 3-0 halftime lead and Sergio Busquets replaced Fabregas for the second half. Spanish media reported the midfielder he would need stitches.
MADRID, June 9 (Reuters) – Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas suffered a nasty-looking head wound and had to be replaced at halftime during the European champions’ friendly against Azerbaijan in Baku on Tuesday.
The Arsenal captain was brought down in the penalty area just before the break and appeared to hit his head on the ground. He looked in some pain as the wound bled profusely and he was treated by medical staff.
David Villa scored the subsequent spot kick, his third goal of the match, to give Spain a 3-0 halftime lead and Sergio Busquets replaced Fabregas for the second half. Spanish media reported the midfielder he would need stitches.
lineup looks good to me ooby. Would Wenger do that?? It remains to be seen.
So Milan can afford Dzeko now that they have Kaka Cash…
WHy why why why why wny why
beyonce sorry milan look like the only ade suitors fuck we might be stuck with ade if they sign dzeko
Don’t deny that’s what you have been secretly wishing all along Franchise.
that griffin is a cock eyed backdoor basher
no lazer i want him to leave we are short of 1 dynamic striker and i only see arsene signing one if ade leaves. no more long balls to the big man keep the ball on da floor
From Goal.com
The Dutchman believes Vermaelen’s versatility could be crucial, as the north London outfit require cover at both left-back, and centre half.
“It’s a good thing,” Van Persie explained to De Telegraaf. “There’s nothing wrong with the qualities of Vermaelen. He can play as a left-back or a central defender and we need this type of player.
“The guys that we now have on those positions are already somewhat older.”
- sounds to me that Gallas is outta here.
Makes perfect sense.
Gallas out = Kolo is happy again , RvP is happy.
Its a matter of 2v1 , Imo.
But personally , I ‘d hate to see Gallas go. He is one of the 3 World Class players we have at the club at present.
When are we going to make a signing fffs….shitty have already signed 2 players….and we are chasing a midget.
oh shut the fuck up you boring cunt
…that had better not be me.
yes it fucking was you nobhead
all you ever do is moan like a bitch about signings
change the record… its broken
arent our players adults? why cant they get along? if they cant then they should act like professionals and get on.
The boys are fighting
Shut the fuck up you stupid shite
When have you seen me moan about signings
Fuck off you sack of shite.
Knob head?
Hahaha…Wow…when was the last time i heard that primary school?
Jeez the little kid wants to start a fight…
Faceman uve been here long enough to know we dont call ourselves name. thrash ur youtube behaviour. if u wanna keep attacking ppl then u can go elsewhere
Franchise, surely we’re allowed to call ourselves cunts?
David , a great many players in the world have been “midgets” : Maradona , Messi , Baresi , Cannavaro .
Also the guy is atleast 6′ or 6′ 1” (dont go by Wiki always)
ok i take back nobhead
you are a cunt…. is that ok?
Cool it , ladies !
Dzeko to Milan 25mil, no problem………….Ade to Wolfsburg 20 mil
yeah paulinho in a fun way
There there now little fella…
Get of the computer and let mommy type
Stupid little bastard….
city will take badey
and Kolo !!
I dont know Aridam
Cannavaro really did look like a midget when Madrid played liverpool….
Honestly
I dont give a fuck faceman..you can die tomorrow for all i care.
nobhead is quite an old one – jiminy cricket he’ll be calling him a nincampoop next!
fucking nincampoop tosspot
is this all gone dead?
come on lads… lets have some postive thoughts and words for the arsenal
eduardo might score 40 goals next season, telling you, with arshavin and cesc supplying the ammo
he might score 5 hat tricks over the course of the season… arshavin may chip in with 20 goals…
how about chat like this?
Because when people agree the conversation dies
I just sent an email to Dzeko through his official website to ask him would he give me a buzz tonight between 21:00 and 22:00 (GMT)to chat about coming to us. Will let you know outcome
we don’t have to agree… its not about agreeing.. its about talking about the pro’s as opposed to moaning about the cons all the time.
postive mental attitude.
good shout ooby, best of luck with that one.
They took the defeat well
http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2696599/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btd5UM0F_O4&eurl=http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2696550/&feature=player_embedded
Looks like the initial transfer speculation regarding yaya is now over. Anybody rate Frings ? I reckon we desperately need an experience DM.
maybe vermalen could be used as a petit style CM????
There is no doubt that we need an experienced player in that position…when Gilberto and Flamini left we looked to Denilson and Song to fill the void. We now know that if this was an experiment it hasn’t totally delivered the goods as nobody is convinced. It won’t take much, just a reasonable international player with some experience and nous. Too many times did we witness the hapless Denilson and Song trotting back too slowly after players who had slipped through the net. Something needs to be done.
Welcome aboard Sherbert.
Sky ticker news says we could along with city of cause be in for veleso
Cheers Pedro. Vermaelen as DM ? Wenger has converted players in the past but in my view the time for experimentation and making economies is not now. We desperately need to tighten the defence which means introducing players with discipline, capabilty and experience in their natural positions. Frankly, playing a centre back/wing back, which is what Vermaelen is, in a centre midfield role would take a period of adjustment which we just can’t afford. We got off to a bad enough start last season as it is.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12010_5371510,00.html
Not the most pleasing of news.
petit was just that for monaco… a wing back/centre back.