Barcelona unsettled Cesc so badly this summer that the player himself was in two minds, the reason he’ll be back to his best is because both Barca and Arsenal wanted him, so in effect he had two birds fighting over him, only our bird had him tied down to a 5 year contract, so the old slapper from Spain lost out.
All the pundits were giving their reasons as to why he should go or stay but all agreed he was up there with the worlds best, giving the assist in the world cup final merely put the Cherry on the cake.
Now let’s move on to our two keepers, Almunia and Fabianski, they have been bandied about by the press all summer as hapless and guilty of costing us points in many games, we have made 2 bids for Fulham’s keeper and had them rejected, Wenger said in pre season, he didn’t know who his number one was and admitted he was after another keeper, all this will tell even the most stupid of people they are not considered good enough for this team and one would suspect the captain has given his opinion and that Almunia knows it as well.
So what we have achieved is to unsettle three keepers, two of ours and Fulham’s, he can’t now go back to them and have any kind of relationship with their fans, Almunia will always know he wasn’t wanted and isn’t rated, so for many, many reasons we have to get a new keeper today. Giving him the armband doesn’t made it or him better.
What we have done is not professional and that’s not Arsenal, yes we may get a cheap keeper with these tactics but if we don’t, we’ll screw up two careers and for me that’s as bad as Barca and their tactics.
Come on Arsenal, we are better than that, do the right thing and spend that extra £500k, he could win us the EPL and the ECL, maybe even the FA Cup and the Carling, don’t lose out again.
One last thing, let’s put out a proper team against the spuds, I would hate to lose out to them again in this cup, it means a lot to us fans to win a trophy, it means every bit as much to us to beat the scum.
WE NEED TO PUT OUT A DECENT TEAM, THEY DON’T CARE WHAT THE AVERAGE AGE IS OF OUR TEAM, AND NOR DO WE.
Have a great day grovers, we are half a million quid away from having a great team, now we signed Squillaci I am happier at the back, we aren’t far off, getting cover up front would be good, getting cover at DM would be better, but getting a new keeper now, is an absolute must.
van der Vaart has signed for Spuds… for 8 mio, makes me want to cry…
WHERE IS OUR AMBITION, CANT EVEN GET A FUCKING GK!!!!
wenger is probably sat with gazidis and hillwood right now, all with hard-ons over all the money they still have that they didn’t spend. Money in their hands has to feel better to them than winning trophies.. because with the keepers we have now theres not much of a chance
another transfer day let down!! at least we didn’t have to stay up until midnight for it!! but i think Mark Schwarzer seems to have been built up bit too much i don’t think he’d have changed our season i seem to remember him throwing in a fair few howlers for fulham and aus last year but not much was made of it because to be fair it was for fulam and aus!! so while we def needed a new keeper and i’m gutted we didn’t sign one i’m not all that dissappionted we didn’t get Mark Schwarzer while he would have been a improvement he wouldn’t have been that much of an improvement
Ray in SF, lol!
Breaking News: Real Madrid pull out of Van der Vaart loan deal 5 mins before deadline in frustrating end to Tottenham transfer window
Van Der Vaart for 8m!!!!!
That is a bargain,
The kind of player we should be signing yet once again we show the ambition of a homeless junkie crack whore.
Same old Arsenal always bullshitting.
Fuck you Wenger you are dead to me
hey, I’m as gutted as you all are, but we need to all get behind Alumina, he is our keeper and he needs support to gain and retain confidence. I feel we are stronger as a squad our backlinehas been strengthen number wise and the boys look hungry and extra determind to win something this season.
So lets start acting like fans and support our team!!
wow, snig..provocative. Didn’t realize that the more we show support for a player, the better he/she will become. And that anyone with the power to change things doesn’t care about us anyway. So we as supporter’s have quite a bit of responsibility, don’t we? Here I was thinking that a player improved with training and development of some natural skills. Didn’t realize what I signed up for: well, the pay is decent, that’s for sure..
PTG, lol; AW is dead to me! Classic!
VdV stays at real madrid.
Pat, what have you expected from Wenger.
He has been doing it for 5 years.
Sad, but true.
But Hill Wood and Gazidis are even more to blame, they are in the cofort zone, and they don’t care.
Dein cared, so he was kicked out.
where have you read that, Zeus?
Spurs get RAFAEL at 8m pounds!! he became cheaper suddenly on deadline day by 10m WTF!!
The good news is we do have a strong squad and we might even manage somehow to win the league with a good injury record (oops, forgot RvP already out for a couple games!).
I am not heartbroken that Schwartzer isn’t coming. He isn’t much better, if at all, than Almunia. Mostly he would have been a change that would give some more confidence to a back line that had lost confidence in Almunia to some extent. Then again, the centre halves are almost all different anyway and haven’t worked with Almunia or Fabianski. Perhaps he would have been more of a leader in organizing the defense. Who knows? But he isn’t coming.
What I object to however is having Fabianski as number two. At the very least we could have found a better keeper than him who could bakcup and compete with Almunia, which is when Almunia plays better–under a bit of pressure and competition when he is fighting for his place.
As a result, I see the only reasonable step now is to unleash Chesney, promote him to number two and try to push Almunia to play like he did at Blackburn to keep his spot from the phenom.
Goal.com
And yeah I know its goal.com butwhen they say official its no longer speculative bullshit from them. Its true.
More to follow apparently.
Evening, no keeper i assume. Oh well.. onwards and upwards.
it’s a Catch 22, the defense won’t improve while they are leery of the goalkeeping and Almunia won’t improve until he gets better protection from the defense
I don’t think Almunia is as bad as the extremists make out, granted there have been some woeful efforts, but he’s a scapegoat for an often poorly-organized defense
he has the ingredients to be a decent goalkeeper I think he would benefit from solid coaching and better support from the defense
granted he has to earn that support but I also think the defense needs to shape up
we need a top class goalkeeping coach AND a top class defensive coach
also if his confidence is rock-bottom why don’t we invest in some sport’s psychologist to help him or is that too touchy-feely, 21st century?
“It (The Rafael van der Vaart deal) is still dragging on. We have been trying to do something but we are waiting to see if it has all gone through and we are hoping it has. It’s something to do with clearance. I think he was going to Bayern Munich yesterday for £18m and suddenly he became much cheaper. They let me know around 1600 BST that he was available for £8m and for that money he is a top player who will definitely improve us. The fee has come crashing down because the deadline is so close. He’s a great passer of the ball, he’s a top footballer, he will join in here and be a big plus for us. We were also interested in Ryan Babel, he was a player we made an enquiry about but it never came close.”
have you got a link to it, Zeus? Just went to goal.com but couldn’t find it.
Praying it is true, Spuds don’t deserve him!!
I think the club is now really on a decline. I for certain will not be going to any matches which I had earlier planned. My friend has messaged me , and he is also against the idea of wasting money on a semi decent team , which was capable of challenging for the honors with some meaningful addition to squad.
Like Franchise, I have lowered my expectation,and will be trying to hurt the club through my refusal to shell out any subscription money. I think that will be the best course of action for this money minting regime.
I agree that accountability has to rest with the board and Gazidis to some extent. Don’t they realize that seizing this chance to win the PL, while we still have Fabregas, actually makes great economic sense? Since that seems to be such a major priority even now when we are coming out of the burden created by the Emirates and we can reap the reward of our high matchday turnover.
Ray in SF, plus some competition behind Almunia is no bad thing, though, you have to admit. And Fabianski is not competition for anyone right now.
Guardian football writer Daniel Taylor on Twitter: “Strange that Arsene Wenger never thought Shay Given could solve goalkeeping problem. Told he would ‘have walked to Arsenal’. Whether Man City would have loaned Given to a rival, I don’t know… but it’s hypothetical as Arsenal never posed the question.”
1 WORD ———————- CHANGE —————————
I need a bit of help from you guys,i have just bought the new Arsenal goalkeepers shirt but want the name of the new guy on it how do i spell his name?
dont the idiots realise the stadium is going to get more and more empty (to a certain degree) whilst they refuse to spend much of the astronomical ticket prices etc.. im meant to be going on a full arsenal legends tour later this month and i wont be screwed into spending money in the shop thats for sure
Sir Henry – I don’t really see how our defence has improved in quality or number wise
We let go of 3 and got in 2, so worse off numberwise
Koscielny – never been capped internationally, and only played 1 top flight football last season for a mediocre team v’s Campbell. 16 years PL experience and our best player for the last 4 months of last season.
Squillaci – was on the bench for the world cup squad of France (who were the worst team in the comp) who was keeping him out??? Gallas!! The player we released
On top of that Clichy has been poor for a while now.
A good GK gives the defence confidence and a good defence gives a GK confidence. We have neither!!
I want to be optomistic but having a real problem witht that!!!
It’s time for Wenger to fuck off and take Gazidis with him !!
What a fucking joke of a club we are !
The next AKB I come across will get a fucking smack in the face.
I will NEVER sing ‘there’s only one arsehole wenger’ EVER !
In fact, I might run down the road and brick his fucking house, the tight fisted twat !
I’ve had it with him. He is well well well past his sell by date.
How the hell can we give him a new contract?
Wenger what were you doing today? Harry was receiving calls at 1600 that Van der Vaart came available for 8mill. Getting jerked off by Almunia I suppose.
Just wait till you see our finance results in september
one word ————– CHANGE—————
I tell you what though, some of the comments on here really sort out the proper fans from some who would not deserve a new keeper anyway!
“I’m not going now AW has not signed anyone….”
Fucking grow up!
The biggest problem is not just Almunia.
Its that every team we play knows we have a keeper who can’t handle crosses, corners or any ball in the air.
So no prizes for guessing what other teams will be doing to us all season.
We’re vulnerable with set pieces… de ja vu or what?!
On this useless day,non-AKB guys just ignore discussions,its waste of our energy,conserve ur energy like i did…
Nite All
Why did Wenger sign Scillaci? Gallas was picked ahead of him for France yet Wenger lets him go and brings in this guy. He has no premiership experience and is 30 years old. Looks like Wenger didnt want to pay the big wages to Gallas then decided he would sign a player who must not be as good as Gallas just to save a few quid
@ Limestonegunner, I agree, I think that the cost of not buying a player is often considered in isolation and considered a saving
for example, it may cost x million for a key player, but that x million saved by not buying him could be eroded by the loss in match day turnover as fans get increasingly disillusioned
or could be more than compensated for by having a successful season
What a shitter of a summer.
I was in Florida for the only two weeks that we had warm dry weather. I had to put up with watching that pile of shit World Cup.
I looked into all the web sites every day waiting for us to sign the one player we really needed a Keeper.
I said it years ago and I say it again you can’t win fuck all with a poor Keeper and by fuck have we got a stinker playing for us.
I was sucked in yet again by The Manager telling us lies telling us we would get a keeper and yet again I feel like someone has mugged me.
Unlike many of you guys the club pay me to go to every home game, although the cash is crap I did it for the past 15 years so I could get to see my beloved Arsenal. You guys have to pay through the nose for the privelage of seeing our beloved Club.
We deserve better than to have asub standard reserve Keeper playing as number 1 for the past 3 years.
The window is closed so now is the time to demonstrate our unhappiness. I personally couldn’t give a fuck if it demoralises Almunia or Fabianski as I have seen the best of both of them and their best will never be good enough for our Team. They couldn’t give a fuck when turning a winning score into a loss or a draw.
They couldn’t give a fuck when they nick thousands of pounds per week from our Club when they surely know they are no better than any semi pro player earning a few hundred a week.
Well now we know our fate so lets hope the attacking players for us have the season of their lives to enable us to compete this year. Somehow I doubt we will have a better season even though I doubt it will be any worse than the last.
Same old same old.
On the bright side, I don’t think that almunia can have as bad a season as he had last year.
Equally I don’t think rocky could possibly be any more devoid of intelligence in his next comment.
On both counts, I could of course be disappointed.
Sol, also these three CB’s haven’t played with Vermaelen and the rest of the back line much, so it is going to take a while for the defense to settle. They did quite well against Blackburn but the error on their goal is endemic of disorganization, which we have suffered for a while and a group of new players won’t fix that right away. So we’ll see but you raised some good points about the overall diminishment in experience. Hopefully, they show other qualities and an understanding quickly. For this reason, I’d be inclined to start Squillaci.
Sol, we got rid of Sol, Gallas and senderos. Senderos didnt play all season and Gallas was missing for half of it. Consider that 2 gone at best.
We got in 2 who will compete with eachother for the no.1 spot next to Vermaelen.
Numbers wise i think we are at worst level with last season. Not having Silvestre can only be a good thing.
Wenger has left us short again, it is really unbelievable
a new goalie and a new DM and most of us would be over the moon
we could still win the league though, IF IF IF
Al has his best season
Denilson and Diaby improves magically
injuries stays at a minimum and the rest steps up as well
So how did Pakistan get on next week..?
Maybe Wenger is going to play Song’s invisible friend in goal? Either that or he could pile his stash of cash and fill the goal line?
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/08/31/2097246/breaking-news-real-madrid-pull-out-of-van-der-vaart-loan
Are People being serious when they use the french national team squad as proof of players abilities? FFs the manager was a nutcase. He refused to pick Frey and forced him into international retirement, he didnt even consider Mexes for the squad. He didnt bring Benzema and as a whole the french tournament was a disaster mainly because of the manager.
Saying Gallas is better than Squillaci or whoever because Domenech prefered Gallas is ludacris.
I need change I can believe in.
I thought, error aside, Kos still looked promising…if it’s possible, think about his performance if he hadn’t made that error?
he and vermaelen were anticipating well and usually got in front of their man during the aerial assaults and cut off most of the balls fed in
I’m not as negative about the individual talents in defense as I am about their organization
no keeper
mmm
i wonder where is A
Nah twitchy was just on SSN saying it should go through
You know what ;;;; I’ve just lost the will to live!!!
I hope that on Wednesday am, AFC web page will give an explanation as to WHY they have only bought in two players via money, and 1 via a free transfer (Kozzer, Sciallici and free Chamach, or whatever their names are) – Kozeer zero experience with ‘big’ boys (aka Drogba etc), Sciallici +30!!! and, well I suppose we can’t complain, a decent striker. Is the reason money? If so, is it because AW has recently been given a ‘pay rise’ for achieving nothing in the last 5 years? Please, don’t patronise me, and suggest; ”well we got the final in Carling Cup (we lost to Chelsea), we got the CL final ( we lost to Barcelona) and?? can’t remember any other finals? I am SO disappointed! Who is this bloody Gazidis anyway, what bloody experience does he have with the EPL? Even that conceited Jamie Redknapp said ”all Arsenal needs is a decent goalkeeper, aka Given, and I reckon they’ll win the League”
City didnt have a clearout because alot of their new signings are under 21 so dont need to be included in the 25 man squad. I know some keepers that play sunday league that are better then Almunia or Flappy
We will sign Schwarzer in JANUARY. FACTTTTTTT
This International break is going to go ever so slowly.
PS: why arn’t AFC after VDV? Surely he is a much better option than that fantastic Denilson???
Limestone – exactly.
For us to win the league we need:
– Koscielny or Squillaci to fit in as qickly as TV did, and somehow organise the rest of the defence.
– Denilson or Diaby to do a Flamini
– Almunia to stop making mistakes in BIG games
– no major injuries to key players
At the moment I cant see any of the above happening, but somehow we need all 4 to happen.
Lets start praying……………..
By G STAR | DIE HARD GOONER FAN
When Manuel Almunia threw his shirt and armband into the crowd after the whistle blew on a mightily impressive Arsenal victory against arch-nemeses Blackburn Rovers, it seemed a statement of finality.
If it turns out to be the Spaniard’s goodbye to the fans rather than a mere hasta pronto, he can at least close the book on his Gunners career with his head held high.
Few professional footballers have had to put up with the kind of criticism and derision that has been directed at Almunia while he has maintained his paper-thin grip on the Arsenal No.1 shirt.
He has made blunders, of course he has. Too many for comfort, and too many when the pressure has been at its most intense.
Most Gooners had made up their minds three or four seasons ago that Almunia had neither the physical presence nor presence of mind for a team with genuine trophy-winning aspirations.
Compare his rabbit-caught-in-headlights on-field persona with the sheer exuberance and absolute confidence in his own ability displayed by Joe Hart since displacing Shay Given in the Manchester City goal.
That Wenger has continued to persist with him through thick and thin – mostly thin – is testament to the Frenchman’s consistency of selection and faith in his own decision-making. Perhaps a hint of that Alsatian stubbornness, too.
Nevertheless, the abuse and ridicule that Almunia has suffered has been horrible to witness at times.
As any journalist who has spent time with the Spaniard knows, he is as charming and pleasant as they come in a profession not renowned for its grounded, approachable personnel.
Schwarzer | On his way?
Wenger has taken Almunia out of the firing line at times to allow him to regain his shattered confidence away from the Emirates Stadium microscope.
After being selected ahead of the equally fallible Lukasz Fabianksi for Arsenal’s curtain-raising 1-1 draw against Liverpool, the Spaniard admitted that he had found the criticism tough to handle at times.
“To be honest, it is so difficult to concentrate because Arsenal is a big club and speculation is always in the news and everywhere,” he admitted.
Even the London Colney bubble does not provide complete protection from the constant opinions emanating from phone-ins, messageboards, TV programmes and forums such as this.
So, Almunia’s solid display at Ewood Park, where Fabianski had been monstered by a Christopher Samba-led assault at the end of last season, was a welcome victory for the underdog – and a good guy.
He dealt capably with the inevitable bombardment on his goalmouth, punched with conviction and commanded his backline as well as he has done for any tricky away day engagement.
Those who believe all Arsenal’s ills will be solved by the acquisition of 37-year-old Mark Schwarzer may be in for a rude awakening.
Wenger spent most of the day with England today.
Ivan was polishing his desk
Almunia is 33 years old FFS, how can he get better? He gets beat from distance so often becuase other teams see it as a weakness, he is total shit from crosses even worse when 1 on 1 as he makes 6’3′ into 5’2 he is sloooooooowww.
I am totally gutted that we haven’t signed any keeper. I never asked for a Buffon or Akinfeev I just want a keeper who sometimes pulls off a match winning save and he hasn’t done that ever as of yet.
In the old days we all guessed the score. and 1-0 2-0 and up was always the favourites yet these days its always 2-1 3-1 ect.
We just rarely get a clean sheet anymore. The fucking Chav cunts havent let a goal in yet after the first 3 matches and it looks unlikely they will let one in for a few games yet. They very rarely let in 3 or more and its a shock when they let in 2. Fucking hell we can’t believe it when we keep a clean sheet these days.
Sad times.
Anyone else just get an email from Arsenal saying you’ll get a ‘free’ 10/11 shirt if you spend on your Arsenal credit card!!!!
Fucking cunts!! I don’t even have an Arsenal credit card!!
We are where we have been for the last few years.
Good enough to win the league, providing that we have a prevailing wind and injuries don’t pile up especially before key games.
We could have insulated ourselves better with a couple of additions but we are Arsenal, we don’t do things the easy way for some bizarre reason.
I’ll be saving my energy, for an up and down season rather than crying over the nonsignature of a goalkeeper who let’s face it, is close to getting his bus pass.
I certainly won’t be trying to ” hurt” the club like may suggested earlier.
Mr wenger, we are about to find out if thus team is as good as you think it is and frankly if you are as good as you think you are.
Come on the gunners!
So Stu you are happy that we have signed Squiiaci and you think he is the man we need? The fact that he couldnt take the place of Gallas despite him being injured most of the season tells me that he cant be all that good
Fucking Clueless greedy bastards, the whole board and their GOD WENGER!!!
FUCK OFF
why would we want VDV we already have nasri rosicky jack fab4 diaby and ramsey to return just don’t have room for him in our squad
How many kids does Sarah Beeney have, she allways pregers on these diy programmes
78 kids on the last count Dave
QoS – We are not good enough to win the the league though and the last 5 years has proven that without question.
The injuries do pile up because we have injury prone and fragile players. We’ve already suffered injuries to Nasri, RvP and Frimpong who many said would feature this year and we’re only 3 games in.
If we are doing the same things as we have done in the last 5 years then we will get the same results.
taig
we became a joke on the pitch since we moved to the emirates
I dont know TomTom because i havent watched Squillaci play but i’ll assume he will be fit more than twat Gallas who missed half the season and caused problems within the team imo.
Vent your anger:
http://www.arsenal.com/supportcentre/showContact/-2?setLogin=false
lets not forget bendtner is rumoured to be out till jan
I couldn’t give a fuck about VDV or twitchie we have not signed a Keeper, any Keeper.
If we didn’t get MS because Hughes hates us then there is even less places for us to seek a Keeper as most of our opponents hate us.
We don’t need a vDV we need a fit RVP and a fit fab4!
Gooby – Correct!! But we moved so we can compete! ppfhfhfhfh!!
Danny 20.26 that cheered me up after the transfer let down.
B i hope everyone vents their anger on that link i am doing so now
this team lacks strength and aggression.
vierra, petit, parlour, henry, keown, campbell, pires, adams
where have the good times gone?
Fucking Clueless greedy bastards, the whole board and their GOD WENGER!!!
FUCK OFF and give us our club back..
For all you almunia lovers and AKB’S why dont you get a dvd of the champs league semi final against UTD, and watch your clown in action i was their that night and fucking knew he would fuck up.
take a look at Ronaldo’s free kick Then tell me That this CLOWN deserves to wear the jersey that used to have
Wilson, Jennings , Seaman , Lehman on it.
TOTAL LACK OF AMBITION .
FUCK I WISH I HAD IVANS JOB ALL THAT MONEY TO DO FUCK ALL, EXCEPT cHANGE THE Menu in the Diamond Lounge.
Another Hapless YANK who knows Fuck all about Our Club.
Fuck off back to the MLS,and its sub standard Football .
i just pray that wenger fucks off at the end of this season,hopefully he will get cunted off at the q&a’s,he deserves it.he has brought in chamakh,squilachi and koscielny,cesc must be thinking why the fuck have i stayed here.
qos, I agree but WE WILL NEVER SEE A FULLY FIT RVP,
EVER .
TIME FOR BIG CHANGES
I know Gallas was a cunt and caused problems but I thought we would sign a top quality cb and I dont think Kos is strong enough and from what I’ve seen of Squillaci he looks very average. I really think its gonna be a long hard season although I think we will get fourth place
You are right QOS how would any Arsenal fan want to harm their own team?
I want to be upbeat and usually I am but this is hurting the fans.
I would have taken even David James today after the deadline and that is saying something.
I agree MS wasn’t ny choice either but it is so desperate that anyone would do.
i might not like hughes but he did what was best for fulham and who can blame him for that his only other keeper is out injured why would he sell his other keeper!! we should have been aiming higher than MS anyway!!
5 months till next transfer window, yipeeee
Twitchy got a good deal their the wheeling dealing cunt
Blog of love tonight i see
Im totally and uttery dejected, another season of winning nowt and giving up points due to the complete lack of a decent keeper, No wonder Cesc wanted out,
Oh well Record profits will be reported, I bet they carnt wait till next summer when they get the bonus of 50mill for our captain.
I actually feel for Almunia now because everytime he makes a mistake the crowd will be on his back when in honesty it should be Wenger in the firing line!
I think we are good enough taig. I’m not sure we are tough enough but then the last few seasons we’ve only had our first choice cb for half a season and our first choice cb for half a season. We’ve got a replacement and cover now , only the fullness of time will show if that’s enough!
TinTin – Spot on!!
RVP is a liability injury wise. That challenge on Saturday nost people would’ve dusted themself off and ran it off. No not for RVP – 4 weeks out.
Too fragile – we cant rely on him anymore, and unless Wenger is thinking of playing JET regularly, then I really believe Wenger hasn’t stacked us with depth in that position either
Spot fucking on Simon Mc.
That free kick should be in an advert for should have gone to specsavers.
I knew hw was taking the shot on yet that prick was still static as the 40 yarder was coming back off the netting.
I hope we dont play Barcalona this season,our squad is weaker than lastyear while they have added Mascherano and Villa and sold Ibra. We have no chance in cl this year. I see Man Utd have not signed a midfielder so they will win fuck all and look poor as they have no creative midfielder
What I don’t get is, why make such an effort to keep your captain and persuade him to stay if your not going to provide him with quality players around him, starting with the keeper
We dont need a top quality CB, we need one that suits our needs and that will work well with organising the defence. We could have 4 shit defenders in there but if we are organised then it doesnt matter.
What have you seen of Squillaci that makes you think he is shit? Was it getting to the CL final with Monaco, winning the league with Lyon or being a regular for Sevilla when they finished 3rd?
I havent seen him regularly so cant comment either way but i’ve definitely heard of him and he has a decent reputation. There is nothing to suggest he wont be a roaring success with us.
This is what happns when you act like a c8nt and leave it to the last day.
How diluded can wengers supporters really be when we really spend fuck all on the 1st team squad this year.
after we pay 130m off the debt last year , then say we have no money these bastards think its great to pay more of the structured debt early
patting themselves on the back and giving themselves a medal , rather than investing in the first team squad .
then try and tell us that we have no money !
silvestre moved to werder, fuck. they play spuds in the CL
Stu – Yeah Squillaci should prove to be a good signing, I just hope he has organisation skills, and at least he’s an Arsenal native speaker, so he will def be able to communicate. I worry about defending from midfield as well, although that has had a slight better look so far this season.
our weak link for the last 4 years has not been adressed, WHY??????
we pay alot of money week in week out, and yet all the club seem to crave is making profit and the manager is rewarded for this with new improved contracts
when are we going to start acting like a big club, we had 3 months to sort this out and yet nothing, schwarzer is a 38 year old playing for a mid table club and yet we cant clinch the deal, he may not be the world class keeper we need but he is better then either of the 2 keepers weve got,
THE CLUB ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH FANS VIEWS ITS A JOKE
WE WERE ONCE TOP OF THE WORLD NOW THE CLUB TREAT 4TH SPOT AS SUCSESS,
PS. IS THERE ANY PLANS TO SORT OUT THE TERRIBLE STEWARDING AT THE EMIRATES AND TRY TO GENERATE A PROPER ATMOSPHERE
In Wenger we rust,
Buy players we must.
Profits are more important now than trophies.
We may as well go cheer on our local accountants. Football is just a side show at the Emirates.
I think the league is there for the taking. ManCity will take a while to get organized and there is no guarantee the players will gel as a team and Chelsea have not really improved themselves this year while losing some experienced players. Unless some of their younger players are promoted (like Kakuta) and turn out to be good, you’d have to think that they are slightly weaker than last year. I don’t think ManUnited is as good as last year either.
What I don’t understand this year in particular when both the board and Wenger have acknowledge the ability to spend, why we continue to be so ultra prudent. Sometimes chances have to be seized. I hope we still can and perhaps we tried to do more in the transfer market than we heard about. We don’t know all the negotiations that went on, but if there were lots of real attempts that failed, then you also have to count that as the cost of not winning for several years. Maybe not so many established and quality players want to come to Arsenal, unless like Squillaci they are Frenchmen who really do seem to idolize Wenger and the culture of Arsenal. I remember Ozil did not even mention Arsenal when he talked of teams in the PL he would like to join.
Well, we are just going to have to rebuild that culture of winning this season, even if we are doing it the hard way by barely replacing our outgoing players in defense and changing Eduardo for Chamakh (given the way we play, an improvement). We can still do it.
this whole team is average apart from a few,they will win nothing,to clueless to turn it around,blackburn’s goal on saturday highlights what we are in for all season.
What Almunia doesn’t have (amongst many things) is that abiility to make saves at crucial times in games.
A lot is said about our defending, but the truth is Chelsea, Man U have a lot of lapses in concentration but often get bailed out by their keeper.
Even watchin the Man City game against Liverpool, which was a fairly comfotable 3-nil win, but Liverpool had a spell when Man C were 2-nil up and Hart made a great double save, and you sensed at the time if it had gone in, then Liverpool would go and get something from the game.
City went on to score another
That sort of thing happens all the time with Cech, Van Der Sar etc…. but never in our games with Almunia
NEVER NEVER NEVER
three more years off,lies,lies and more lies,by the end off that we will have about 38,000 in the stadium,should off stayed at higbury,we had some product on the field then,those were the good old days,arsene,ivan and the board should be ashamed off themselves for giving us another lost season,pathetic.
I suggest all Arsenal fans save their money and just watch a DVD of last season – because this is exactly how the following season will pan out. Yeah – we’ll beat those smaller teams etc….we’ll get beaten by Manure and Chelski and when it comes to the crunch part of the season the wheels will once again fall off the wagon due to injuries and it will be another trophy-less season…..Groundhog season looms….
Bravo Wenger and for all those season ticket holders….remember to renew for next season…
Can’t wait for the pre-season ticket renewal propaganda once again promising new signings that will then not materialise…..
chelsea will still embarrass us this season and so will united
Yup pay him 6mill a year and see if he can find us a top keepeer, oh……..
heh… they might get Van der Vaart for 8mil?
Mr Fiscal Responsibility Wenger is getting out bargain-hunted by the Spuds now.
Simon McMahon–
Gazidis is not to blame. EVERYTHING at Arsenal revolves around Wenger. He farts – the board smell it. Simple as. For all we know our scouting network came back with 1,001 goalkeepers only for Wenger to cast an eye over them and circle two or three names. I blame one person and one person only that we haven’t signed a goalkeeper: Wenger. No one else.
EL TEL —
did you say you are PAID to go and watch home games?? Why??! HOW???! =)
wegner..deluded….Rice..pointless..Gazidis…impotent….Hill-Wood…dusty….Kronke…dollar signs….Usmanov…roubles…..
Although I would have liked us to sign Akineef (sp) or maybe the Ajax stopper I was never convinced the Aussie was much better than Almunia. Although Almunia is not a world class keeper I dont think he is that bad.
I know Ill get slated but the season before last he was good. Had a dip last season and who knows maybe he will do a Flamini this season.
What saddens me is the idea that supporters will abuse him if he makes a mistake all players and all keepers make mistakes. Isnt now the time to get behind him.
me Im starting the amunia is the answer supporters club. Anyone want to join?
Wenger never ashamed, he gets 6 mill p year!!!
so only cesc n rvp n clichy in our squad know what it is to win a trophy…shame ….
a good keeper bring brought in would have made us real contenders for the title
instead cast your minds back 4 months to st andrews, we need a win to go joint top with 7 games to go
we go 1 nil up and with just 16 secnds remaining this happens, and it WILL happen again, he wont turn into a great keeper at his age, he just isnt upto it
this was the final straw and i was certain wenger thought the same, instead he will be wearing the captains armband for us in the coming season
fucking disgusting
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.picapp.com/ftp/Images/e/9/e/5/Kevin_Phillips_Birmingham_c1d8.JPG%3FadImageId%3D12094089%26imageId%3D8354930&imgrefurl=http://www.epltalk.com/birmingham-city-new-2010-11-home-kit-vote-now/17473&usg=__qyPrfF4PIPSPKyEI7q1AKU9hfsM=&h=459&w=500&sz=44&hl=en&start=72&zoom=1&tbnid=ZjfwHc0frtj07M:&tbnh=156&tbnw=180&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkevin%2Bphillips%2Barsenal%2Bgoal%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D807%26tbs%3Disch:10,1652&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1165&vpy=502&dur=485&hovh=215&hovw=234&tx=155&ty=85&ei=SGJ9TKWfHc-TjAfX56XTDg&oei=LWJ9TN4RyJCMB7PJtNIO&esq=5&page=4&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:72&biw=1440&bih=807
as long wenger is in charge I think I will never be excited for any transfers again. What will he say in his fukking pre match interview. He should shut up and never speak again. Most stubborn manager ever. Retire now thight fukk… k….!!
Limestone -The league was therefore the taking last year and the two seasons before that. However Wenger and the board took the calculated decision not to go for it. If it happened all well and good but they werent prepared to sacrifice guaranteed profits for trophies. Yes we were unlucky with injuries but we have always been 2-3 players short every season. £25-30m would have put us very close to winning a major. But Wenger and the board aren’t interested.
You are correct in that our reputation has suffered. Our stinginess means no big name is willing to sign for us. We are famous for being also rans.
To get those type of players in we will now have to do a City and pay over the odds.
Our policy isnt being prudent, its cutting your nose off to spite your face.
disgustingly pathetic today,WENGER OUT,he can take this average,injury prone bunch of cunts with him aswell.
Listen, the best we can hope for is that we get to January still in the hunt, at which point we can resume our interest in Schwarzer or another ‘keeper. Fulham aren’t in the Champions League so he won’t be cup-tied if he comes in the New Year.
Provided we are within 5 points of the summit at Christmas, then there’s every chance we can still do it. Unlikely, I know. I’ve always said I didn’t think we would ever win the league with Almunia in goal, and I’m not the only to say that. It’s been said time and time again.
One thing is for sure– Wenger will have some serious questions to answer at the AST Meeting, not to mention to the media.
I still can’t believe that last season we didn’t have a big enough squad and were cut to shit by injuries, yet this season we have even fewer players and only 3 orthodox centre-backs, one who hasn’t even kicked a ball for us yet.
I do not class Djorou as a centre-back. You cannot be 24 years old, never have started more than 15 games in over 6 seasons at the club and play only a handful of times in the last 18 months yet be classed as a first-choice defender. Djorou = shite.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/arsenal-truth/2010/8/31/skinflint-wenger-buggers-arsenal-again.html
Quality Article.
Dave T – I agree Almunia wasn’t TOO bad the season before last (Except Bentley’s 40 yarder and the CL against Man U) but he was still WAY OFF being really good.
I will never be behind an ‘Almunia is the answer club’
Because I will be lying to myself
really hope for empty seats but there wont be enough to change wenkers and the boards view!! Unbelieveable as I dont think Chezzer will start!! Wenker has no balls, fact!!!
isn’t gazidis in charge for the transfer deals?
The deadline passed at 6pm, and Arsenal are stuck with the two worst goalkeepers in the Premier League; I’ve accused Wenger of tactical incompetence in the past, but nothing – but NOTHING – beats this for managerial incompetence.
Time, and time, and time again our beloved Spanish keeper and his even more inept protege Lukasz Flapianski has cost this club goals and points.
The gruesome twosome finished the second half of the season in a blaze of ineptitude and calamity, swapping places with each other every other month as they both tried to outdo each other in the raging cock-up department. If one wasn’t throwing the ball in his own net, the other was giving the ball to the referee to help the other side whack it into an empty net. In between that they both dived around like dying swans as corners, throw-ins and crosses ended up in the back of the net, and defenders panicked like they’d seen the ghost of Attila The Hun creeping up behind them.
Some of us just sat their and laughed, because if you took it any more seriously you’d throw yourself off a bloody cliff.
Still, as the season finished in its usual state of collapse, together all Arsenal fans could at least breathe a sigh of relief. For all the infighting, at least us Gooners were absolutely unanimous on one thing – the season was over, and we’d never have to watch at least one of them, if not both of those chumps pulling on an Arsenal jersey ever again.
As the summer began, rumours of Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer surfaced. Hardly the ultimate solution, but blessed be – any vaguely competent human-shaped body would suffice to put us out of our misery; give us a sense of optimism.
The story dragged on for months, but why rush eh? A new season was starting at Anfield, and with our new number one Flapianski dropped again (after looking worse than ever in pre-season) surely Almunia could at least get through one more game before getting kicked out the door?
Naturally, Almunia had a stinker that day, but a fluke goal managed Arsenal a draw – we’d survived and a home game against Blackpool in which the Spaniard probably wouldn’t even touch the ball was a worthy compromise for the impending arrival of Schwarzer.
Day after day passed with no news, just paper talk of how it would happen any day, any minute. Of course it would happen, it’s inevitable – how could any manager be so brazenly daft as to even contemplate it not happening!
Well here we are, it’s 9:05pm on August 31, the transfer deadline has been and gone, and where’s our new goalkeeper? Nowhere.
Just like Wenger made the catastrophic balls-up of starting last season with only three recognised and available centre-backs – and paid the price, he’s only gone and done it again.
Our manager has left it so late in the window to pull off the Schwarzer deal that he simply hasn’t allowed for unforeseen circumstances, such as Manchester City’s Shay Given – Schwarzer’s intended replacement – accepting a fat pay rise to keep him sweet, whilst the keeper promoted to vie with him at Fulham, David Stockdale, has picked up an ankle-ligament injury that will rule him out for two months.
The Schwarzer deal was, therefore, in an instant, dead and buried; Arsenal stuck with dumb & dumber. No time to look for an alternative solution. Wenger’s ridiculous gamble, lost.
In my book, this is laughable management and an utter disgrace. Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have no ambition at all – and if this season goes down the pan in the same shambolic fashion as the last then Wenger should be given his marching orders, and if he isn’t then the board should be hung out to dry for allowing him to get away with such feeble supervision.
Is this club actually serious about competing for anything these days? Is Wenger serious about doing anything other than farting about on the training pitch and teaching his pampered babies pass and move. Does he have the burning passion to manage a club of Arsenal’s stature – or is he just old and decrepit and out of touch, a pale, weak shadow of the super-motivated marvel that arrived at Highbury 14 years ago.
And what of the board? What do they care? They’ve just lavishly blown £3.2m refurbishing Arsenal’s bars and restaurants, while the fans pay the highest ticket prices in Europe to watch two arseholes chucking the ball in their own net every other week.
Meanwhile, Wenger has been handed a fat contract following five years of nothing.
I’m even reading Arsenal blogs with Wenger apologists sticking YouTube videos up of Almunia’s best saves, as if everything’s going to be alright, all his mistakes were an aberration. Here Gooners, have some visual dopemine to take the sting out of this century’s most inept piece of domestic transfer business.
Some are downgrading Schwarzer now, where once they were saying he’s not world class, but he’s miles better than Almunia, now it’s “he’s not world class and he’s about the same as Almunia.” The spineless fecks!
Of course things won’t be ok, I’ll eat my hat if Almunia doesn’t cost us valuable points for as long as he’s in goal, and god forbid even he should get a long-term injury and be replaced by that slapstick bozo Fabianski – who makes Peter Enckelman look like Lev Yashin.
If this season ends up potless and Arsenal uncompetitive, for obvious reasons, somebody quite simply HAS to be made accountable with their job! I am also leaning further and further towards wanting David Dein back at the club, even if it means having his sidekick Usmanov with him. Dein would be at the forefront, the beached whale would be peripheral, and his vulgar money is really no different to Kroenke’s.
They’re all in it for the prestige and the profit – but at least we know Dein cares passionately about Arsenal. He loved the club since he was a kid and always had ruthless, naked ambition. He sacked Terry Neill and brought George Graham to Arsenal, they didn’t even like each other that much but Dein sat it out because George was a legend and a winner. And Arsenal need that now, not a board full of corporates and a manager that even alongside Dein, best friends as they are, wouldn’t be allowed to get away with this ludicrous incompetence.
gazidis is Wenkers muppet!!!
Dick – “Listen, the best we can hope for is that we get to January still in the hunt, at which point we can resume our interest in Schwarzer or another ‘keeper” – are you F***kin serious…..?? yeah lets wait….Heavens to Murgatroyd!
To be fair, watching the ronaldo free kick again, you can see that almunia slips as he pushes off across the goal.
Soft goal for sure but just of those things on that occasion.
Not that excuses all of his errors by any means.
Almunia better start practicing crosses and corners. How about going on an assertiveness course.
Anyone know who our goalkeeping coach is these days?
I feel sorry for Alumia….any ..I mean ANY mistake will be the start of a riot.
In some ways we will be a tougher team. Chamakh and Koscielny both seem to be rugged, fighters, though Kos is physically slighter than would be optimal perhaps.
My hopes for the season are that the defense gels, that we avoid further injuries at the business end of the season, that Chamakh grows into a really effective option, that Theo continues to show good form this season, and that Wilshere stays out of trouble and makes the sort of leap forward in the first team that Fabregas did.
We don’t need Van der Vaart–we needed a GK and DM. We didn’t get them but we will fight on. If this season is a repeat of last season, everyone’s patience will have been exhausted. To my mind it is on the board and Gazidis now. They haven’t demanded more.
Oohhhhhh…
Arsene is a cunt
He wears a cunty hat
And when he saw his new contract
He said im having that!
Time for a change – I’ve had enough!
QoS have you been taking the happy pills again? lol
Tomorrow on ARSENAL.COM
we will be playing the interview with Arsene Wenger on how he stayed up all night trying to get the right players in before the deadline.
The fact is He lost the plot years ago , he has never won a big game against Fergie Or the chavs when it matters for years .
he has invested all the money on
a, Himself,
b, average young players
c, The academy that has produced one (jw) english player through it’s rank, Gibbs came from wimbledons academy for all you akb’s.
£6m A YEAR for failing us
Priceless.
lol gambon….will be humming that to sleep tonight
In some ways we will be a tougher team. Chamakh and Koscielny both seem to be rugged, fighters, though Kos is physically slighter than would be optimal perhaps.
koscielny is shit,expect the same thing(getting bullied off the ball) to happen to him on more then one occasion this season
most disgusting article on Arse.com ever!!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/transfer-window-closes-at-6pm-uk-time-
Given all fans hope and let us done again. WE are no big club anymore thx to Mr. Wenker!!!
Hitman, we agree entirely. The league was there for the taking last year too. Maybe before that you could say ManU and Chelsea were too good. But once Ronaldo left and Mourinho left, we should have made the move up.
It might be starting to cost us now, in addition to then. We are getting known in football culture as a bit of an also ran. A quality club, certainly, but not where you go to better your position from a good club to a championship club. That is sad. I hope somehow we can reverse this slide. Maybe we will get a bit lucky and win the league this year. We deserve a bit of luck.
I don’t want to hear wenger’s voice or or see his face ever again.
gambon
like that a lot !
I want this team to win the league. Not this team with a new dm and a new goalkeeper but this team.
I want almunia to get a league winners medal, I want cesc to lift the trophy.
For me, almunia is an arsenal player, so I’m hoping he has the season of his life. It’s not rational, it’s not probably even all that sane, but if it was rational and sane we’d all support man united.
This is my team, despite maybe even because of it’s flaws.
COLONEL MUSTARD–
given that the choices available to us are:
a) jump off a cliff
b) cry until our eyes bleed
c) kill someone
d) wait until January to sign the goalkeeper we need
Based on those choices, then YES, I abso-fucking-lutely think option ‘d’ is about the only sensible one available to us.
YES, Wenger is a total idiot for leaving it this late.
YES, the board are just as bad.
YES, the fans have been taken for a ride (yet again).
But NO, I am not going to simply give in, cry and slit the wrists because we didn’t sign Mark Schwarzer or Shay Given.
Almunia is fucking shit. Can we change that NOW? No.
Can we sign a replacement NOW? No.
Can we sign a replacement in January? Yes.
Solution? Kick up as much of a stink as a fan-base now so that come January, it really is a last-chance saloon for Wenger and his merry band of morons. And if we’re left in the same situation come January 31st, I will personally join you in smashing the fucking saloon to smithereens, taking Almunia and Fabianski hostage until our demands of a new goalkeeper are met.
Until then, we’ll have to persevere with the infidels.
Sad but true.
Evening guys
I take it we didnt sign a keeper then? What the hell is going on? So Arsene wasted a whole transfer window, trying to sign a 38yr old keeper and still didnt get him. WTF!!
Anyone, is it still possible to make a loan signing after the transfer window shuts?
Dan, the Gooner, let’s not exaggerate. Kos is not a bad player. The point is that he is inexperienced and not as strong as he needs to be for the PL’s big strikers. However, he is tough and unlike so many of our players who get kicked and are out for weeks and weeks, he took a strong knock that looked like another broken leg and came back onto the pitch to play well. He is tough and Wenger has described him as a fighter. Now why Wenger couldn’t find a tough fighter who was a bit bigger and had played more than one season in a top league is a question. But that doesn’t make Kos worthy of such ire.
Dunno if I posed this, but Quality Article.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/arsenal-truth/2010/8/31/skinflint-wenger-buggers-arsenal-again.html
loan deals still possible?
limestone lets not exaggerate,HE IS.
disappointing we haven’t got a goalkeeper. something is very wrong.
i remember when there were a few good goalkeeprs in the english league – pundits used to say – ‘any ball that comes into the six-yard box shouold be claimed by the keeper’
is that no longer considered wisdom then? i notice when the ball goes in our six yard box almunia is most often to be found on his line with hands in the air looking a bit desperate – as when samba thumped a header over the bar on saturday.
maybe goalkeeping techniques have changed?
its crazy….it was crazy when we banked Toure and Bayor money and got caught. We will get caught again as we a short the keeper as discussed and we still need a solid midfielder for european games. Why would he put this much pressure on Almunia? I like the guy..but he could have got an a spanish league club surely? Alumina every move will be under pressure and what if he gets injured..brrr…shudder…
yids have just signed a Stipe Pletikosa as back up
he is 31 years old, 6ft 4 and a croatian international with 80 caps on loan for a season
its a sorry state of affairs when the filthy yids 2nd/3rd choice keeper has a better pedigree then the arsenal No1
Hat-trick Hero–
Loan signings are allowed only in emergency situations (i.e. injury to key personnel leaving clubs short of one particular position – see Man City’s ‘special dispensation’ to sign Fulop on loan late last season when Given fucked his shoulder). Given that we have a surplus of ‘keepers, I can’t see that happening unless someone – *cough, cough* – happens to take a personal mission upon themselves…
The only other way to sign a player after the deadline has passed is they are unattached. That means they have to be without a club- you can’t simply sign a player for free from another club, the player has to be club-less.
I would seriously just consider playing Chesney and be done with it. Seriously, the guy can do no worse than Almunia and Fabianski already have done.
DAN,THE GOONER,brillant summary off whats going on here,i hope you sent that to Arsenal.com or to someone in the club that can get it doing the rounds,maybe we should have it done out as a signed petition,these bastards who are fucking us with a smile every year have to be put on notice that we are not going to keep taking this crap.
mind you, even that is an improvement on fabianski’s unique style which involves throwing himself to the ground and being trampled 6 yards from the ball
SHAY GIVEN said he would walk to ARSENAL but ARSENE never asked the question!!