With Frimpong out for the season and Nasri out for a month, Wenger’s midfield plans have gone awry, so there is renewed talk of us having Ben Arfa, and to be fair he was on the cards before Samir Nasri, but if Squillaci, the longest transfer since Koscielny, who was the longest transfer since Nasri takes place, then we are getting way too many French players in my book.
I have nothing against the French, not even the fact that most of them collaborated with the Germans in World war 2 and did shell the Royal Navy when the 8th Army was on it’s way to Egypt and Libya.
It’s because we are in danger of having cliques in the dressing room and that can’t be good, so on that basis I would sign Steven Taylor as a centre back, he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he is a classic English hard man and that’s what we lack, a shouter as well, and if we had Schwarzer or Given behind him, then we would have a rugged spine running through the team, more Anglo Saxon than Gallic and it’s what we lack.
I also understand he’s holding Lansbury back (from loan) as he plays DM as well, whether our Henri is ready or not I’m not sure, but Denilson wasn’t and Song wasn’t and he threw them on, so I wouldn’t be unhappy if we kept him around.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Ben Arfa, but do we need him? I would give Vela more time and alternate him with Rosicky out on the left wing, he is starting to look the real deal.
Anyway Wenger has always said no more than 3 and if Schwarzer and Squillaci are coming then he’s already gone past it, so I can’t see it happening.
Not a lot else on, other than the speculation so let hope for some news today, but Arsene, Taylors for sale, we can’t lose there and he doesn’t get injured like Djourou, so go and get him, he also has the bonus of being home grown and EPL tested.
Have a great Day grovers, today could be moving day!
fc braga look like a good team – shatkar donetsk are tough as well – they’ve got Honda haven’t they? don’t know about Belgrade, but don’t think this will be easy
honda is in cska moscow
a new goalie will ease some of the tension for sure,when wenger fails to bring in a keeper tho,,,,well,that will be terrible.
Well I fancy one to come in.
Liverpool… what a joke.
Cescs, you need a police guard to transport cardboard through Ukraine… I wouldn’t risk sending someone as valuable as Bergy over there!
shit not Honda – they got Eduardo! i knew we should never have sold him
As everyone else is having a rant today i thought i would as well.
I’m all for having exciting foreign players in our team but I still want a large English presence in the team.
Some of my favourite players are foreign – Viera, Henry, Bergkamp, Overmars, Pires (etc), but I also have lots of English players too – Adams, Keown, Bould, Dixon, Winterburn, etc
Wengers best teams have been with a large English presence – predominately in defensive positions. Even the invincible team had Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Ray Parlour, Martin Keown in it. Since then we have had less and less English players and no success. I’m not saying there is a correlation but…lol
I’m not saying I only want a team full of just english players as they would be rubbish. But English defensive players do often appear to have more steel in them and that is what we need now. Obviouly you can get similar foreign players (the likes of Vidic) but me personally, would prefer to have them as English. Just as i love seeing the attacking flair from the foreign players. And before anyone starts no i don’t want any old English player – only quality players!
I am English therefore i would prefer to see a few english players in the team – simple as that really. It’s nice to see a few Arsenal players play for England as well. i find it embarrasing when there are no Arsenal players in the Squad.
My family have supported Arsenal and so have I. My grandfather was born in a road that was later demolished and Highbury was built on top. I grew up in a London Borough/Essex border and when I was at school you either supported Arsenal, Tottenham or West Ham. The glory hunters would support Liverpool! There was more a local feel to the club, with alot of players coming from the Home Counties. I used to see Ray Parlour on the bus and Tony Adams in Sainsbury’s haha.
But there was more of a London club feel to it. I know we have had alot of Scottish and Irish players down the years but you still consider them British players. When we would play in Europe we would be representing not only Arsenal but a English team as well. When there are no English/British in the side it feels like a bunch of mercenaries out there. I don’t want to win with just foreigners in the Arsenal team – i might as well support a foreign club.
The dominant culture within Arsenal, an English club within England, should be English. If we have a dominant French culture shouldn’t we just go and join the French Ligue 1? lol It’s not that i am anti-French – more pro-English lol I don’t mind small froups of different nationalities – just not one dominant foreign group within Arsenal.
And by the way – as soon as you start having and debating opinions you are effectively talking politics – Arsenal politics.
I wonder if we have much money at all if we can’t buy a top class keeper and just not someone just better than what we have because he’s cheap.
At least buy some DM cover if not, because that is still a problem area and we’ve barely spent much on defenders who haven’t played in this league.
THing about English players is the ones worth it are already at clubs where they won’t want to leave. The rest are just over evaluated and overrated. Some of England’s most promising youngsters are already at Arsenal.
Agree with Marko
Although I do think we should be making an effort to sign the next wave of good english players, i dont care about the price.
Id be disappointed if we judt let Rodwell join a big team without trying to sign him ourselves.
Oh and I like Cahill.
OPG, agree with you entirely goalkeeper is just about the most important position on the pitch we should be buying a top class keeper instead of a cheap stop gap
BTW. Given is a defo no go.
CL fixtures are out
Rodwell is part of the next wage of english talent. Cahill, at 24, is not.
what have you heard Dave?
Most of the really promising one’s in the youths are already with us though Gambon. But yeah it’s be nice to do a ramsey and get a jack Rodwell by spending a few million on him and he’d end up top class. But the thing is Everton and Moyes aren’t stupid and they know the current market and so they’d probably be looking for between 10-20 million for him. Which is crazy when you consider he isn’t first choice and he hasn’t really accomplished anything yet. We’re lucky that we don’t need to spend 30 million on the next big thing from England cause we’ve already got him. His names is Jack Wilshere
Oh look its that small team Man City playing…wait for it *drum roll* 4-4-2!!!!
Marko
Youre completely wrong there.
Which great english kids do we have?
Wilshere, Gibbs, Lansbury, Aneke, Afobe, Ansah…..thats about it.
Gooby
Happy Birthday Mate..have a good one
thanks sabeel mate
btw, i saw the spuds director on Tv after the draw, he is so stupid, said they can get through no problem. also said our group is the easiest
marko
Define crazy? He is a top class player with 15 years left.
Fergie paid £27m for Rooney, hes now worth £60m.
Ferdinand was £30m and has been awesome for many years, apart from 8 months!
Man, whats the team they’re playing?
Gambon, who else is there really? Rodwell, Maybe count Smalling, that kid at WBA even though he isnt english. Im sure there more so this isnt a rhetorical question.
Gooby, happy birthday!
Chris Beef, great post… most people would call you a racist for thinking like that.
Just thinking about you know our needs and whether or not there’s better English options for us than say buying french or spainish. And I came up with the fact that forgetting they’re mostly over priced and technically speaking not great either there’s not too much that you can honestly say we’d off been better going English. Obviously forgetting the goalkeeping situation cause Joe Hart looks like the business but thinking centre backs all the good ones are already at top teams, same with forwards. In terms of midfielders I can’t think of any real defensive midfielders from England. Hargreaves but he’s crocked is probably the best english one. It’s something to think about
Paying over the odds for someone Rodwells age is a risk that you just have to take. Either that or let him go to a rival or end up being worth twice as much as he is now.
We got a bargain by paying only 5m for Ramsey imo. Theo was definitely not a bargain.
That Given want’s to stay @ cityyyyy and that we have gone cold on MS
Its Goobys Birthday? I suppose a Happy birthday is in order then. So…happy birthday Gooby.
Stu
I think an english team will always do better with an englsh spine, whether its brought through the academy or bought in.
I dont watch much youth football, but being that we seem to do well at youth level there must be a few kids to scout out there.
Arsenal’s fixtures for Champions League Group H are as follows:
Match Day 1
Arsenal v SC Braga
Wednesday 15th September 2010
Match Day 2
FK Partizan v Arsenal
Tuesday 28th September 2010
Match Day 3
Arsenal v FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Tuesday 19th October 2010
Match Day 4
FC Shakhtar Donetsk v Arsenal
Wednesday 3rd November 2010
Match Day 5
SC Braga v Arsenal
Tuesday 23rd November 2010
Match Day 6
Arsenal v FK Partizan
Wednesday 8th December 2010
Or it could have something to do with the fact that english youths are so much bigger than theyr counterparts in youth football. Talent aside, the biggest, fastest team generally wins in youth football.
*their
gambon says:
August 26, 2010 at 20:21
Marko
Youre completely wrong there.
Which great english kids do we have?
Wilshere, Gibbs, Lansbury, Aneke, Afobe, Ansah…..thats about it.
I’d add Frimpong too if he plays for them, Cruise too. Thats a lot of promise no? How many do Chelsea have coming through or United? I don’t know but if even a couple of those mentioned come through to make it at Arsenal then Arsenal in the future will have a nice english core in there.
And hey I’d love Rodwell but sometimes the prices are a bit much. He’s not gonna score 20 goals a season and as a midfielder he’s not gonna be the new Ferdinand.
win the first 3 then get a point in the last 3?
thanks lads
vela is better than ben arfa imho. did wenger say we are not in for a keeper?
Ukraine in November christ.
Stu
If that was the case wouldnt Stoke academy win everything?
Happy Birthday Gooby, where’s the cake ?!
Happy birthday Gooby. I think he’s just keeping his cards close to his chest. I’m sure he’ll still come we’ve gone too far now and Schwarzer too. Almunia knows there’s absolutely no confidence in him for the long haul by anyone really.
Rodwell and Carroll are 2 players who have a good future in front of them
Arsenal getting to Wembley anyone? It’s be super to go all the way.
wheres rohan? ricky van wolfswinkel has scored a hattrick against celtic
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-i-accept-different-styles-of-play
spot on i have to say!
Celtic 3-0 down hatrick for wolfwinkle.Who was it earlier that said we should sign him oh yes it was me,what a name to have on your shirt
Keyser says:
August 26, 2010 at 20:36
Happy Birthday Gooby, where’s the cake ?!
already ate it
—
Gotta be said it’s no big deal when you put a player in and around the goalie but when you put the likes of Samba and Shawcross then you’ll have a problem. And that goes for any goalkeeper. Funny how Pulis was remarking on the premier league losing the art of defending too. Laughable
so that’s good it means chelsea have an away tie in europe before we play them….
ooops vienna goal!
Celtic 4-0 down Dundee already out, how shit are the sweatys.
Marko – don’t forget Freeman, he’s also a top prospect, there’s also Rhys Murphy who’s been injured a lot but could be the best finisher of the lot. and in defence, kyle Bartley and gavin Hoyte have a chance of making it, all english.
There is no art when you’re talking about just packing the defence with as many players as possible. There is safety in numbers. Defensive brilliance is when a team can leave 4 or 5 players doing the defending on their own.
Theres nothing special about crowding around your own goal to stop the oppo scoring.
I dont think Hoyte has much of a chance of making it. Although i havent seen much of him, he is too small for a CB and thats where he wants to play. If he was at right back full time he would have a much better chance.
Someone should get on to their “sauce” and see if there’s any truth to the Yebda or Marchetti rumours.
Yebda? I remember hearing Wenger was a fan of his last season. WHat part of midfield does he play? defensive or just plain old center?
Stu – I haven’t seen much of him yet either but he seems to play both full-back and centre back and YoungGuns reckons speed and energy are his strong suit so right back looks like the way forward if he is going to break through
heskey – you donkey!
Heskey is shocking.
Hoyte and Murphy have got no chance of making it with us.
Bartley looks good and Freeman looks OK, but nothing special.
Ashley Young is filthy, what a cheat.
They’ve got plenty of years to try and make it though, seriously if Heskey can, anyone can.
Keyser
Funnily enough i dont remember Heskey playing for Arsenal.
gambon – Don’t you ? Good for you.
The odds are against them, but they’ll get a shot.
happy birthday Gooby!
What’d Young do? And Yebda is wait for it a deep lying playmaker. Meaning he can spot a pass and tackle a bit too. Like Cabaye, Asamoah and Montolivo.
Thanks Pedro – it’s ok no one really reads my comments anyway so i should be safe for now lol
gambon – always so ‘gloomier than thou’ – you can’t possibly know what the future holds for these youngsters. nothing special you say? but i forgot, special for you, means scoring a world cup hat-trick at age 17….
Young just did one of his star-jump dives, don’t get how refs fall for that.
Also he’s a proper mouthy git and he whips his little one out on webcam.
Can’t be. English players don’t dive. Only johnny foreigner does
why is stephen ireland playing in the back 4 i don’t get it
timao
Im not sure what you expect from Arsenal, but a fairly good young player is nowhere near good enough for us.
The fact is the failure rate for kids at a club like Arsenal is over 99%.
However romantic the idea of a homegrown team is, it doesnt exist, even if you put your red slippers on.
The very, very best will make it, the vast majority wont.
The Vienna fans have got ‘the Nightmare returns’ banner in the crowd, in their colours, they knocked them out last year aswell.
gambon, curse you, snorted my coffee back out my nose when I read your post @ 17:18
point taken gambon but murphy was a sensational young player brefore his injuries – i don’t remember his exact goalscoring record but it was pretty special. if he can recapture that form he could be like ian wright (though presumably you would have written him off at age 19 as well?)
timao
At what level was this record?
cos if you just wanna check out what happened to these ‘Phenoms’
- Jeremie Aliadiere
- Quincey Owusu Abeyie
- Carlin Itonga
- Isiah Rankin
- Marc Elston
And non Arsenal
- Cherno Samba
- Courtney Pitt
Unless a player is Very, very special they wont make it, certainly upfront.
Murphy is good, but wont be a prem player.
you’re stating the obvious but i still say murphy has a good chance, why not? he just needs to stay fit.
timao
Cos we are one of the top 10 clubs in world football, and murphy isnt even close to a ‘top 10 club in world football’ player.
He turns 20 in a couple of months, and hes yet to play for us, that says a lot, he isnt even in the squad this year.
nooo keepah
nooo future
gambon your on this site more than i daydream about shakira
eboue
You talk about me more than i daydream about Jessica Alba.
what comment number is that gambon 10 billion
you can continue your debate if rhy murphy will be good enough for the prem even though you’ll be the only one in the discussion ciao.
no your not the only one gambon i’ll keep it going! you just have to realise and accept that players develop at different rates. it’s simply not true that all top players were playing at the top level by the age of 21. so the jury’s out on rhys. he’s on loan at brentford i think so we’ll have a chance to monitor his progress.
did he really say no keeper on the cards?
I don’t know if it’s been said. Home to the spuds on Sun 21 Nov, away to Braga Tues 23 Nov
not very good at refereeing and now not very good at writing
well done poll, keepin the quality level on all you do at a pretty standard level of shitness
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1306510/Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger.html?
forgot the link, no matter im lost in moderation anyway
the spurs game would have to be moved to saturday – they don’t allow 2 day turnarounds
Guys , just got in , please help , did wenger say no more signings ?? do we think he is bluffing as MS did,nt play again and the deal may still happen
say it aint so !!!!
jules.. he didn’t say no more signings..
he just said no signings are close atm.
Cheers Choy
Hope so , now we have the squid who I think will be ok , a decent keeper and i would hope but doubt a strong def mid player and we would really be in with a shout .
Choy
hopefully wenger is just playing it down to bluff fulham into accepting the offer for MS ?? do you reckon ?
jules…
there could be many theories..
we all know wenger loves a bargain.. and come deadline there could be an additional MF coming in… this is very unlikely..
he is def on the lookout for a keeper, thats for sure.
he may also be delaying the keeper buy so that almunia stays as no.2! if he does it early, al gets time to look for another club!
it is said MS deal is dead now we are after Landreau but he isnt that tall. Around 6 ft or something. What do you guys think about him finally Hazard could be signed for next summer!! I really dont think Wenger wants to miss out on him as he already lost out for Ronaldo and Messi!!
so MS deal is far from dead!!!
I coulda sworn #Arsenal boss Wenger has changed his own rules! Squillaci gets 3 yrs and Schwarzer set for 2 yrs
He was the last times right on any rumours!!
Wenger didn’t say that the Schwarzer deal is dead.
He just said everything is dead at the moment and he is no closer to signing anyone!
exactly last week this time around he said the same thing and one week afterwards we’ve signed a CB!
sorry quotes are from John Cross!!
I dont give a shit that he has definitely signed, why the fuck isnt anything on arse.com about it! THey are fucking slow pricks on there i tells ya!
Yeah he does like to keep his cards firmly to his chest. Remember last sat he said he wasn’t close to signing anybody but by sunday or monday Sevilla confirmed they had excepted a bid and even though it wasn’t announced til yesterday we all know it was coming. Schwarzer wants out and we want him and things can happen very quickly in football and thing is this transfer would probably go through quickly if Fulham would just accept the offer on the table.
Guys , i heard wenger on sky say when asked that was the end of players coming in , thats what concerns me !!
still think MS will happen myself and hope so ,
i guess wenegr will say that so not to de motivate who ever is in goal on saturday !! hoping
Marko
good point re sevilla , i think MS will happen , the guy has.nt figured at all and has had a ” back injury” even though he played a pre season friendly and has since put in a transfer request and we know we have bid for him ……. should be a deadline day deal i think .
Wasnt it the US fleet they shelled at Casablanca? because a german delegation was in town.
I cant believe wenger has left our most important transfers until the end of the window, 4 days left u are a fucking negligent egotistical racist cunt wenger.
We’re not a french team in the EPL, buy british players FFS.
If he wants to be the man to unearth the next gem, then let him be our chief scout, and/or put him in charge of the youth team, and let someone with REAL ambition take the reins.
Yeah thats likely to be the reason Jules. I dont think its doing much good though. Everyone knows Wenger is after MS and whoever else. Theres no chance that Almunia and Fabianski dont know too and regardless of what Wenger says to them or in public it will definitely affect their confidence no matter how often Wenger says that we arent after a keeper.
I would much rather something like Wenger implying that it was up to Al and Fab to prove to him that we dont need a keeper. I mean, we obviously do but this way gives them something to prove and maybe they can up their game until being replaced.
They do have some good goalkeepers in France though. Lloris, Carasso, Mandanda, Landeau, Pele are all good to super goalkeepers.
Now theres an idea. Have Bould and Wenger swap positions. Wonder how that would work out (assuming Bould has the necessary qualifications to manage us).
@ arsenal4eva
whats that about hazard?
do you reckon lille are finaly ready to sell hazard to us?
Fucking dredding this international break coming up.cunts the season just started and then we have a break for the micky mouse shit
Theres another fucking international break? For fuck sake! Who gives a shit about int football anyway!
i agree marko..
im English through an through but i FUCKING hate international football
hate watching england play, ther’yre ignorant cunts and dont deserve to represent England.. cole/terry/gerrard an co..
not only that the quality of football is pathetic
It’s not even that, a week before the season starts they have a round of games. 3 games into the new season they have another break for 2 weeks and in oct or nov another 2 week break. I just want Arsenal me. Sick of the stop starting crap
John Cross is just another journalist that is speculating like those Twitter ITK’s, hoping one of his stories comes through.
Why couldnt we get Squalacci before the world cup or at least before preseason? Why does wenger have to wait until the fans nerves are at the end of their fuckin tether before acting.
Probably because he wasn’t the primary target and we try to bargain with the clubs to get the value we want otherwise we move on to our next target most of the time.
Shame about the Celts………….not, fucking inbred cunts!
Masch fee agreed with Barca. Official
I really hope LPool didn’t cave in to their demands
So, even though AW himself has (finally) identified the fact that our ‘goalkeepers’ are indeed a weak spot in the team. And, he’s had all fucking summer to rectify this glaring problem, it would now appear that Mark S is not coming to us! The fact that he’s chased a 38 year old cheap option is bad enough, but to not have another option as a plan b will bite us all in the arse this season. Let’s be brutally honest here, he’s done this before, and hasn’t learnt, yet he gets rewarded with a new, improved deal on the back of some real managerial fuck ups.
Given is apparently not an option, the fact that he’s probably available and by all accounts very interested in coming to us, but our glorious leader’s apparently not interested. Why? Is Given crap compared to the great Mark Schwartzer!!! Or is it that he hoped to get MS for £2m and Given would be at least three times that. Well Arsene there’s a fucking reason for that my friend, Given is three times the player!
I find it mind numbing that we now find ourselves in the very likely situation that we’re stuck with two of the most incompetent ‘keepers in the Premiership, all for what? Tto save a few million, is this why Arsene got a 20% pay increase. Me, I’d take the money back from Arsene and use it to buy Given.
Make no mistake here, as sure as night follows day these two Championship level clowns WILL cost us points this season. You could argue that Almunia has cost us two points already!!
I try, I really try to back this manager, but every fucking year he makes it harder and harder for me to justify his position at the club outside of making money for a select few.
Arsene Wenger is no longer a football manager, he is a book keeper now. You cannot reward any manager for football reasons the way the board has just rewarded him. He has been rewarded for making the board money, NOT the club the board.
Where did yousee that Pat?
Just seen it on the BBC website…….
SkySports breaking news and then I checked the Liverpool Website. They are quick to update their news unlike Arsenal!
Wenger may want Given, but there are 2 problems:
-mancini doesn’t want to strengthen the teams he will be competing against.
-He is on huge wages at City, probably the best paid keeper in the country.
Why would his wages be a concern? Wht, we don’t make enough money to pay proper wages? AW’s on £115,000 a week. We are rolling in money now!!
If he could be the difference in one, two or even three places in the EPL surely his ‘massive’ wages will be money well spent. It would be money well spent if Chezzer finally gets to learn from a proper GK rather than the idiot who currently has the No.1 jersey.
Answer this, if the player wants to come, and he’s not getting games at City, the likelyhood is that we could probably get him, but to not at least try smacks once again of choosing cheapness over a footballing decision!
I’m so concerned about this Goalkeeping situation, i truly believed if it is left unaddressed it will be the difference between winning and not winning something.
The fact that most if not all on here see a 38 year old as a massive improvement on what we have says it all as to how the goalkeeping situation has been allowed to deteriorate.
Think on this with that in mind, the fact that a 38 year old is an improvement on our current setup, are you not fucking concerned at facing the coming season with the same two clowns?
And before some numpty decides to ignore the argument/debate in favour of dismissing it for dooming! This is NOT doom mongering, this is a cold hard fact, a cold hard concern for the club I love.
If people wanna brush this under the carpet because it involves having yet another pop at their ‘can do no wrong’ manager then so be it, they can stick their collective heads in the sand or indeed up his arse. My concern is my club, not a negligent manager.
DDM
Mancini wont sell to a rival… unfortunate fact.
But agree completely regarding GK situation.
Im at a point where i feel it would be better to have Mannone and Schezny as our 1 and 2
Anyone see that we’ll be in for Landreau if the Schwarzer deal falls through?
He used to be a pretty good stopper… French number 1 for a bit if I remember correctly?
Morning!!
why have arsenal.com not officially announced squillaci?
Rob, busy preparing an article about Adebayor leaving the club.
its a joke!!
I really hope we get a decent keeper!! come on wenger dont let us down again!!
Official:Schwarzer deal has fallen through after Wenger refused to pay for the telephone call,which he made to enquire about his availability.
Landreau!!! WTF??? Wasn’t he in Space 1999
Im pretty sure the money thing wouldnt be an issue with Given, The blokes got a few years left at the top and where better to play, Hed probably sign for half what hes on at City just to play for us !!
The issue is City and selling to us they know we badly need a Keeper so cannot see them giving in to him to be honest,
Pedro put something new on now
Michael Landon?
If he hadn’t dies a few years ago, I’m sure he’d have been much better than our current options. Especially as he was American.
NEW POST!
Just watched MOTD….What a back tracking prick Hansen is.. A prize turd!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbrSO81KhBY&ob=av2e