I’m not going to procrastinate over the United game, I appreciate most of you are suicidal already. I’ll just say one thing… how disappointing is it that I can’t even gloat about the misery going on at White Hart Lane? Very…
Transfer Pipeline…
Yossi Benayoun according to my source is someone we’re definitely interested in. I’m not sure why there was such an outcry about his purchase yesterday. I think he’s well worth a punt. He’s hard-working, Premiership experienced, good with both feet, a great finisher and creative. He’s also 31 years old and obviously, he’s French African, so perfect for Wenger.
I’ve said on numerous occasions he’s Alex Hleb with end product.
The problem here isn’t quality, it’s his injury record and the question marks around an older player returning from an achilles problem.
Yossi Stats…
09-10: 31 games / 8 Goals / 6 Assists
08-09: 24 games / 9 goals / 6 Assists
07-08: 26 games / 10 goals / 5 Assists
Rumours surfaced last night that we were in for Chelsea’s Alex. For me, this is just a ploy to pile the pressure on Bolton. He’s a good player but he’s so injury prone it wouldn’t be worth the risk for such a key position. Cahill is the right age and he’s an improvement on Koscielny. He’d be a great buy. We must be careful though, Spurs are lurking.
News surfaced last night that we were in for Götze of Dortmund. A superb talent, some say the best the German football has to offer, but a non-starter for me. Most top clubs don’t sell to their competitors two days before the window closes because generally you can’t find top class replacements.
The player we were hunting down was Yann M’Vila. Things were looking good and we definitely had the player interested, though I’ve been informed this morning the deal is off as Rennes want £30million and we’re only prepared to go as high as £22million. A bit of a gutter and the reason I didn’t give a name initially. He’s a terrier of a defensive midfielder with the ability to play box to box. He’d be the perfect player to solidify our weak central midfield.
Keep an eye on his name though. French clubs are desperate for cash, that one might be reignited last-minute.
Andre Santos looks like our new left back. He’s a Brazil international, comes with a glowing reference from Sports Illustrated’s Gabrielle Marcotti and has pedigree. The perfect signing. He comes from a match fixing team, but a winning match fixing team! Who cares though, that’s a top deal under the radar.
In other great news, it looks like Chamakh could be on his way out to PSG. The highlight of his Arsenal career would be making any sort of profit on him. Traore left for a fee, that’s a win. He’s not cut out for the big games, if I was to guess, I’d say he’ll bomb at QPR as well.
Looking at our transfer model, it seems we’re shipping out the lazy and replacing them with hard workers which is something we need. How they’ll settle is a worry, but be honest, anything is better than 8-2 players.
Ticket refund…
I had a short conversation on 5 Live yesterday at 1850. I was asked to talk about the refund, here’s what I would have said it I’d been given a bit longer.
Firstly, we didn’t ask for the refund. So it wasn’t demanded. It was a gesture. It’s always nice when you’ve been wronged to be offered before you have to ask. It shows the club take results like that seriously and they’re taking accountability.
United at the weekend was the worst result since 1886. That was no regular defeat. That was a disgrace even at Sunday League level. People are worried it’ll set a dangerous precedent. I say it would set the perfect precedent. Away games should ALWAYS be refunded when we lose by such a humiliating margin.
Buying a ticket is a two-way commitment. We part with our cash and support. The manager puts out team capable of winning and the players work hard and fight like their lives depended on it.
Our supporters kept their part of the bargain, they were world-class, an inspiration to all football fans. They reminded me of the string quartet on the Titanic… The point is, those are the type of fans we should be encouraging. A well deserved gesture. Simple fact is, no amount of free tickets will remove that foul taste… but a free ticket to another game goes someway to helping.
Finally, the stats around the refund…
The average ticket price was about £46. Our allocation was 3000. The total cost of the refund was about £138k. That’s roughly what Arsene Wenger is paid per week.
I’m not drawing any logical conclusions as to where that money should come from. Nor would I point out our weekly wage bill is almost 17 times the refund cost.
Right, plenty for you chew through this morning. Sorry the mystery player looks a dead duck… but like I say with all transfer deals, until they’re done, anything can happen!
There are plenty of twists and turns yet… Wenger has a career, season and a legacy to save! Come on Arsene, show us you know!
P.S. 100,000 of you visited the site on match day this weekend. That might not be a lot for other sites, but my god, that’s feels like something special to Geoff and I. Thanks for continuing to drop by this summer and thanks for telling your friends to drop by as well, you’ve all helped to make the summer so much more bearable with your top comments and banter!
Follow us on Facebook, subscribe to our daily e-mail or catch us on Google+!








1st
Morning grovers
First for Africa
he’s still there?
Still think we’ll be short of players by the end of this window.
come on, get m’vila ffs
What ever you do, never mistake Goetze and type in gotse on google. Disgusting
Andre’ fuckin Santos..Top Buy Mr Wenger
If we sell Chamakh and NB is also leaving a new forward must be in the pipeline, Park Chu-Young aside, or Van Perise has now got Wolverines abilities to recover form injury!
great post today guys
First?
Good post. Though Yossi Benayoun is not French African. He’s Israeli.
Bollocks…shouldn’t have read the post first
Good morning to all!
Still top 10…cant complain…hat trick?
great post.. next 2 days are going to be fun
Morning lads, top posting pedro
Is Yossi not Isreali ??
lol @gunzsp
It’s kind of sad we’re going for a Liverpool and Chelsea reject and did anyone read the Gervinho interview? Another Barcelona/Man City player in a few years?
Wenger always makes marquee buys in January, but I fear it will be massively late.
Log into paypal now and transfer what the asking price for the players are now. Surely paying over the odds now will make up for any shortfall in final league position if he doesn’t?
Yossi Benayoun is sraeli
pedro – He cant get into the chelsea first team why would we want him!! as that what we are about now buying backup players from top clubs!!
”I think he’s well worth a punt”
Surely the last thing we need to be doing is taking another punt!!
We don’t need another injury prone [player
i am surprised you are keen on him!! i didn’t think you was one for the stats!!!
When i read your post on twitter that a big signing doesn’t mean a creative player…i thought it was a DM and that the DM was M’villa..
Its a shame, but not the end of the world for me..For the moment i’m OK with Song/Frimpong but agree we do need cover if both go off to ACN in Jan..
i think the urgency for a creative midfielder or 2 and a CB outweighs any position (assuming Santos is a done deal which i would be ok with him and gibbs at LB)
I hope Wengers 20 scouts are burning that midnight oil!
spanish morocan israeli
Yossi Benayoun is from Israel
Leaked info – wilshere out for 10 weeks
Im afraid that things might be a bit too late…. M’Villa would have been superb…. Parker on loan would provide the necessary stop gap….
Im over challenging for the title…. We need to make SOLID buys that can help us secure top 4…. Solid experienced buys at decent prices…. That way when AW leaves next season (please) the new manager will have funds to make impact signings
Per mertezaker? Really?
GunzSp I once made the mistake of going to queen.com looking for the band…a mistake I haven’t made since. Queenonline.com is what I wanted!
Top 20
chamack leaving arsenal would be the best peice of busines we’ve done all summer.
keep bendtner.
So pedro if the mvilla deal is off,are we looking for a nother big name signing then?
top post by the way!!
What about creativity? I think that’s lacking still. We need players to fill in the gap left by cesc and na$ri! Hope a surprise is on the cards!
Jules..I think he was referring to his origin.. Morocco. Sephardic Jew. But the use of the word French is a bit of a strectch when describing Benayoun!
Alex, apart from being a crock, is a beast of a CB and isn’t starting because David Luiz is more of a beast.
He’s solid and has a great shot + free kick on him (as all Arsenal fans should know by now).
Alex/Jagielka + Cahill = me happy.
Sorry based on the last 2 weeks I’m just not convinced Kos/Djourou are capable of partnering Vermaelen in a trophy-winning team
Hmm Bremen said no bids apparently.
Werder Bremen insist the club have not received any offers for Germany international defender Per Mertesacker. Was Linked with Arsenal.
Benayoun French African? U sure about that one mate or am I missing out on the joke?
Bendner doesnt wanna stay.
we def need a creative midfielder,come on get eriksen of ajax
“he’s French African, so perfect for Wenger.”
He isnt at all. He is Israeli
i like Mertesacker but he is slow and i want a defender with premier league experience!!
Goetze will not come, his agent has apparently said he wants two more years with his current club but I guess the word of an agent these days means nothing.
I think we have to sign at least another 3 players before thursday & Sundays game highlighted that fact.
It will be interesting to see what we do & how the fans respond.
According to Le Equipe we signed Mertasacker last night and as per arseblogger Bendtner is off to stoke
Twitter
Chamakh, Denilson, Traore out? Damn our squad is already stronger even without signing any replacement for these wastes of space.
Not gona mention Eboue in that list coz he was a top bloke off the pitch, shame he was pants on the pitch
I thought Yossi was Israeli.
we left it too late we left it too late
League title is as good as over IMO
so 8 years no League title it probably will be come May 2012
VP to do a NAsri next summer
??????
The saga continues
No use buying celsea rejects ..no thx.remind me to much of a certain manu reject called sylvestre
Lookin good. Guys.
Alex and Malouda would be decent signings. But if we’re competing with Chelsea, it absolutley doesn’t make sense to sign their rejects. If they’re not good enough for them, go forbid that they should be good enough for us. Prime examples would be the gallas and sylvestre signings, and then wenger acts as if we should revere him for pulling these players…they never work out anyway. I bet messi still nags Xavi , because Xavi could not play the sharp one-two pass as Sylvestre did in the CL final. Top class incisive passing, just not to his own players.
“The player we were hunting down was Yann M’Vila. Things were looking good and we definitely had the player interested, though I’ve been informed this morning the deal is off as Rennes want £30million and we’re only prepared to go as high as £22million. A bit of a gutter and the reason I didn’t give a name initially.”
You didn’t need to give his name as it’s been all over the internet for weeks now!!!
M’Vila would be a great signing. We should not give up yet because we had the same issue with signing Arshavin I believe.
25 million should close the deal. Come on now!!!
Eboue was a joke of a player,glad we got rid of him. When is almunia contract up?
scorpion says:
August 30, 2011 at 09:30
According to Le Equipe we signed Mertasacker last night and as per arseblogger Bendtner is off to stoke
Twitter
————————————————————-
If true, I can see Bendtner rising to head in a few of Delap’s throws against us at the Britannia…i hope they sell him to a team in Europe..hopefully a cash/swap deal for one of our targets.
I still maintain I would keep Nik over Chamakh every time
morning all.. good post… and i dont think the time it has come to we will be getting any more than one extra defender other than the lb and the striker.
Looking at the post on arseblog, the confusion in most minds is regarding the mismanagement and the efficiency of the couting department. Well i have a feeling the mismanagement is down to the manager himself. Before going off to negotiate for Cahill or anyone else, the manager is the one who logically sets the upper price limit on the player. So the negotiator has literally no more power than just a dealer. Its a conflict in roles. Since the manager manages accounts as well as has a clause in his contract which pays up bonuses for transfer gains/loses, he safely keeps the upper limit a little less than what the market perceived value is. I mean there is no reason for him to bid 17 million that bolton asked for, but a safe 12 million upfront with 2 more in add ons would have landed us the man, and for any international player let alone England considering his resale value that comes with age, thats a fair amount to pay.
Wenger’s contract clauses needs to be altered, that is if he is “allowed” to sign another at AFC, which i highly doubt. One more draw at a lesser known team (which seems highly likely considering teams know its easy to beat this team), and he would be fired…. I imagine he would be gone by December, a similar turn of events that led to his departure from Monaco.
Great post, we as AFC supporters/fans have been here through thick and thin. It’s just that there have been more thin and thick than good or great!
Trying to obtain quality players will be difficult as per the following reasons:
1. It is 2 bloody days before the transfer window closes
2. We lost heavily on Sunday
3. We lost heavily on Sunday (repeated for emphasis)
4. Everyone knows we have a large amount in the transfer kitty
5. We seem to be really desperate
6. Demand is high but supply (AW prospects) is low
7. We refuse to break our stance on wages and transfer fees
We can all hope and pray.
Youtube is great for checking out Park and Andre Santos.
BUT, I looked at Hazard M’Vila, Martin etc and I am left drooling.
I just wish we started the process of obtaining players 3 months ago.
RvP was not impressed and seems highly frustrated with what is going on at AFC.
He is a good captain, but…..how long will a captains badge keep him at AFC.
I was bombarded by my mates at the office yesterday. It didn’t help that I came in with my Arsenal shirt over my work clothes!
I was embarrased by the loss, but not about my club.
We need players who feel the same.
11pm tomorrow night….praying to the football gods for a miracle.
Am I the only one wondering why we haven’t put in a bid for Mereiles? Full of energy, premier league experience, tenacity, good technique, really useful player. Still don’t get why we haven’t bid for Parker though…
Cant believe we have a
TEAM OF 20 PEOPLE WORKING ON TRANSFERS
wtf are they doing
we need like 6 signings before now and the end of transfer window
what, we need 4 people to one player? geez
Would much rather get a world class creative midfeilder in.song and frimpong can only get better.we lack serious creative in midfield
Great Pic Franchise lol
looks like Bendtner is going!! i would rather keep him than chamkh!!
arseblog
”78 starts 45 goals and 79 sub appearances”
AND may I wish EID MUBARAK to all Muslim GOONERS! I sincerely hope Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club help to make this day a special and memorable one for you.
Was this post meant to be funny, to take the piss out of twitter twats?
because it is a let down after all of the hype about insider knowledge since last night! You’ve only gone and ‘revealed’ names that were public knowledge to any gooner with internet access! We’ve been talking about M’vila in the comments section for a week!
DEMO…..SWANSEA…ARMOURY ROUNDABOUT FROM 2PM
Whoever signs or goes tomorrow night is still desperate business.
Almost like someone relying buying a lottery ticket praying its the answer to their problems.
Wenger’s past it.
I was told from an incredibly strong source that allegedly our manager had something personal breakdown 3 years ago due to a family bereavement. As sad as that may have been, it doesnt take away his appalling performance,
The youth set up is so overrated.
The first team squad is as bad as any I can remember in 35/40 years.
He’s lost the players.
WENGER MUST GO
KRONKE HAS MUCH TO ANSWER.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.lequipe.fr/&ei=0p9cTsyQAZS1hAei7LCVBA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dl%2527equipe%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1693%26bih%3D1144%26prmd%3Divns
Mertesacker article translated. If you can understand it.
And frankly if RVP leaves i think it will be good. I know i might get bashed up for saying this, but he is too injury prone, too unpredictable, a terrible free kick taker, and neither falls into a category of finishers nor a playmaker. The best players at the club have already left, and anymore leaving wont be of much difference. Cant say the same about Sagna though… a class class player with consistency that others could as well try and learn from.
Great post Pedro, though I don’t share your opinion on Yossi, he’s more of a crock than Diaby!
ArsenalColumn Arsenal Column · Follow
L’Equipe are usually very good but they have seemed have confirmed us with about 138 signings this window. Per Mertesacker is the latest.
If true so much for buying PL proven especially at this point of time and somebody slow and sluggish where is the money?
Think chelsea is in for meireles
have spurs signed parker?wish we moved for him
hope the jack injury doesntturn out to be a vermalaen one
i mentioned m’vila a year ago
Yossi Benayoun – you have to be kidding me! We lose Nasri and Cesc and look to get this guy – perhaps the nightmare is still not over!!!
So Rennes want £30m for M’Vila – why doesn’t Wenger just pay the money for him as we have enough stashed away. Now is not the time to save money as we need big signings to stop the rot. And while he’s at it just pay the £18m for Cahill too.
the emirates sponsors wont let arsenal sign a jewish player
Morning, at least some positives. Like you said Pedders, at least we seem to want to ship out the lazy/poor players (Clichy was poor, we want to sell Almunia, we loaned out Denilson and now Chamakh & Traore). Then Park, Santos and the others we are chasing look like hard workers.
I think we will finalize Park & Santos today and then hopefully Cahill & one or two pleasant surprises tomorrow. I would be exstatic if it was players out of the following list: Hazard, M’vila, Felliani, Kaka. I would be happy if it was players out of the following list: Parker (why not?), Yossi, Alex.
Naveen, Chamakh is in any case worthless to us, so Park is his replacement and Gervinho is NB’s replacement. That would leave our CF options for this season: RvP, Park, Gervinho, Theo & Afobe.
Lets say we manage to snag Cahill, M’vila & Yossi tomorrow on top of Park & Santos today. That would leave us with the following options:
Gk: Chezzer, Flappy, Mannone
Fullbacks: Sagna, Santos, Gibbs, Jenkinson
CBs: Tommy, Cahill, Kozzer, Djourou, Miquel, Song, Squilly (nooo)
DMs: M’vila, Frimpong, Song, Coquelin
CMs/AMs: Jack, Aaron, Rosicky, Diaby, Yossi, M’vila, Arsh
Wings: Theo, Gerv, Ryo, AOC, Arsh, Afobe
CFs: RvP, Park, Gerv, Theo & Afobe
Starting 11 if everyone is fit:
_________chezzer____________
_sagna_cahill_vermaelen_santos_
______m’vila_frimpong_________
__________jack______________
_gerv/AOC_RvP_theo/ryo/arsh___
bench: flappy, kozzer, jenkinson, song, aaron, park, winger (ryo/arsh/AOC)
Not bad! (if everyone who was out for the Manc game was out our starting 11 would have been: Chezzer, Jenk, Cahill, Kozzer, Santos, M’vila, Aaron, Yossi, Theo, RvP, AOC/Ryo/Arsh. That team would not lose 8-2)
Our new lb,dont look to bad.what ever happen to wenger saying we dont need 1 ?lol
Israeli’s are ‘French African’ according to le-grove.
hahahahah
Morning Pedro,
If you build it they will come. haha you know what film this is from ??
Good post today and a great delivery on 5 live yesterday……your point was well delivered, factual and non agressive. Just a very concerned true Arsenal fan is how it came across.
Ok so Blackburn are about to sign Scott Dann from Birmingham. Samba could be free to go ??
If Arsene makes the following signings, then hits the January sales like my missus would if she had my pin number for my credit card then he could just save his career imo !!
Santos – done
Cahill – poss
Samba – poss
M’Vila – poss/doubtful
Malouda – poss
Benayoun – poss
Gotze – doubtful
We need to seel Chamakh.
I must say that Arsenal are letting alot of players go this summer…….this is turning out to be a (very ugly and poorly run) clear out !! If he replaces correctly (and we dont need 1 for 1 imo) then it could be job well done……but, it will have to gover over the next transfer window as there is not enough time.
we left things like M’Vila too late. wenger thinks he can use the deadline as a motivation for the other club to jsut do the deal. But it doesn’t work like that. Clubs want to keep their players this late, and then its much to late to start bidding on a new player with 24 hours to go.
Another major fuck up by Wenger. I would just go get Parker from under Spurs’ noses and be done with it. should be an easy deal.
come on wenger get Cahill now
£30m for m’vila is a fuckin joke! Even for a club like man city its too much money.
I don’t know where these clubs get there valuations from. Ten yrs ago u woulda got a player like m’vila for under 10m at most. No wonder why we never buy these players.
decampo.. exactly, the time to negotiate is gone… just shell out the money and save your face in front of the entire world and more importantly the fans… Paying up more is a part of just accepting that you have fucked up the transfer season big time.
But considering we are dealing with king size egos at the club, acceptance wont come along, and it will be another struggle till january, where again at the start we will be priced out by other clubs, and in the end same old story of 20 ppl trying to amalgamate and make a super negotiator out of themselves.
No way decampo. There is overpaying a bit for players and overpaying a lot. Cahill is not worth 18 mil and M’Villa is not worth 30 mil. Arsenal have typically been way too cheap in the past I agree, but there is no point going so far overboard like 35 mil for Carroll.
what we need apart from a CB (considering LB & striking position is sorted out) is not a defensive midfielder…we already have song and frimpong to just sit ahead of defense and do this job..instead we need a world class play maker…not some unknown target which is a gamble that arsene takes all the time… we need to bring a player of the caliber which is > = cesc/nasri…
And this every1 keeps on missing out; that arsenal do not have a playmaker…a person in the middle of the park who can give that decisive and an ingenious pass cutting through the entire field and making an opportunity to score…Arsenal at this point are lacking such kind of a person…cesc & nasri had that ability…right now ramsey although talented is somehow missing that spark which he had before his injury…i see something is not right…on a physical level he is there but the way in which he used to hold, turn, dribble and pass the ball before injury seems to have lost…hope a goal or 2 will help him get that confidence…
only players like schwni, sneider, kaka et al. fit the bill…arsenal has to decide on whether they stay thrifty and risk becoming a mediocre club…i m am fully confident these targets look impossible….as stan/board/wenger are here not to win anything just to earn the year on year revenue from just playing the CL/PL and hoping that with some luck maybe bag a minor trophy here and there…
for me the only way to compete for the trophies will happen if the russian buys a majority stake and orders wenger or a new coach for a total overhaul..
“there is always a difference between a ferrari and a ford…you cannot expect a ford to do a job of ferrari now can you?!” – wenger has to understand that a ferrari is always very expensive!!
nuudles
any team with arsh, walcott could lose 8-2
also the amount of time you will have ur strong 11 starting you can count on one hand
we need about 6 players.
more attackiing players
i don’t want yossi!! Injury prone and a player who can’t get into chelsea we don’t need to be making more punts and cheap buys!!
Arshavin is awful he is fat and lazy!! ramsey isnt doing it for me either at the moment but let’s give him time.
I really want to see Cahill!!
kick chamakh out of the club
if chamakh and bendy are off, surely we must sign another forward
bergy says:
August 30, 2011 at 09:32
Eboue was a joke of a player,glad we got rid of him. When is almunia contract up?
————————————————————————
I totally agree, he was a huge liability on the pitch and the less playing time he got, the better for all of us.
The reason I’m not going to abuse him is coz in 2005 I travelled up to Blackburn for our away match when we won 1-0 from a goal from RVP..after the game me and my mates waited for Autographs when the players were boarding the bus…majority of the players just stormed off into the bus with their headphones on, but Eboue was one of the few who made the effort to sign autographs for almost everyone, and that constitutes a top-bloke for a fan like me who never had the chance to go to many live games.
Sure he was an awful player, but for this one gesture I will not abuse him like I do the likes of denilson, Chamakh, etc
Sick as it sounds, this loss could be the best thing that happened to us in a longtime.
It’s kind like having a massive argument with the missus. You clear the air and then everything’s fine after and great make up sex (as long as it’s not with Yossi – great footballer, but he’s a Minger).
LOL
Amit ,finaly someone agrees with me on the worldclass playmaker.we lost fab and nasri,who were our main playmaker.at the moment we have no one that can do that
Bendy is a good backup!!
I didn’t rate eboue but he is better than what we had at right back and left back on Sunday!! he was a ok as a squad / backup player
AW Is just an old moron.what will this chelsea morons do to this depleted team.buy cahill,santos,gourcuff and stop talking nonsense
If M’vila is quoted as 30m I would let it go…spend that money on Hazard or any other world class playmaker.
And throw in a 6m bid for Parker before he ends up at the scum down the road who he would be a top signing for
djourou is not good enough for arsenal football club!!
Elia is heavily linked, but that would leave us with too many wingers which puts question marks over Arshavin’s future.
Walcott,
Arshavin,
Miyatchi,
Chamberlain,
Gervinho,
it does appear quite clearly that Wenger and the board had no intention of signing players
just a look at the dross we’ve been linked to
in my eyes, this more than anything, constitutes the biggest crime
From top down, lies and more lies
we are run by a lunatic fundamentalist and by a bunch of US assets strippers
Pedro, no need to go to the Q&As anymore – it’s all US corporate spin
So its park tthe brazil lb. Cahill ,parker and a playmaker would give me hope
i dont see why we are not in for parker. I know he is getting on but we can match his wage demands and he wont cost a fortune!!
he is a fighter!!
We got out LB we’ll get a CB
But we need 4 creative players, cause this arsenal team is as creative as my arse.
arsh and walcott are shit.
we need creativity
I don’t see the need for an attacking mid. The minute we stop fucking around and put Arshavin in the middle (his actual position) we will be sorted. He sees everything, picks out great passes and knows where everyone is. We have wasted him on the left wing making him run up and down all day long. He is not a runner. If you put Bergkamp on the left wing he’d be crap too.
have we really signed mertsacker???
Chamkah is on his way out due to ‘personal issues’
I laughed off rumours of a super injunction and gay orgy but maybe there was something to it?!
L’Equipe saying we signed Mertesacker. The man has no pace
Arshavin in the fab role?
Cahill better be coming.
this Korean strike sounds like a joke!! what is he thinking!!
lol everyone knew about M’Vila… you talked as if you had info about a player which would surprise us all. We’ve been linked with him on an almost daily basis for weeks now!
And of course the deal hasn’t come through, all the media sources are reporting that Rennes are looking for over £25m for him, which Arsenal simply won’t pay.
Mersacker is a good buy – Fuck the pace just defend set pieces you tall fucker!!!
So far we’re looking at:
OUT:
Fab – 35m
Nasri – 23m
Clichy – 7m
Eboue – 2m
JET – 1m
Traore – 1m
—————-
(Bentdner – 7m) – Total = Approx 76m
IN:
Gervihno – 11m
Chamberlain – 13m
Jenkinson – 1m
Campbell – 1m
Santos – 6m
Park – 4m
—————–
Total = Approx 38m
LEFT OVER = 38M
(And that’s before we dip into ANY transfer funds that have been set aside for this season)
According to L’equipe we have signed Mertesacker:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2011/20110830_101313_mertesacker-serait-gunner.html&ei=h6RcTuHrF4fG8QOLiJnDAw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBsQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2011/20110830_101313_mertesacker-serait-gunner.html%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1760%26bih%3D978%26prmd%3Divns
@robgreen – Park looks useful… very Arsenalesque.. I invented a new term. LOL
lol GUYS
you could play Arshavin in a central role against a team of 10 year olds and he will still be shit.
i cant believe how little criticism he gets
HES FAT
HE CANT BE ARSED
geez
him and walcott are pathetic, we need them gone, why do you guys not see this
everybody wanted mertezaker last year
Just heard we signed RICK ASTLEY – He’s never gonna give us up!
Try this translation,
Mertesacker would be Gunner
Team Info. Per Mertesacker has signed for Arsenal on Monday night. The German international defender arrived from Werder Bremen. 26 years old, the man with 75 caps formed in Hanover, is not the only defensive recruit of the Gunners. Indeed, the London club will sign a three-year contract to André Santos, the left side Fenerbahce who gets 7 million in the case. However, the defense of Arsenal lost Armand Traore. The 21-year Senegal international has signed a contract with Queens Park Rangers. Finally, the Monegasque Park Chu-Young has signed his contract with the team coached by Arsene Wenger. (With J-M.B.)
All bollocks though, we have enough mental strength which IS A NEW SIGNING
It should say Mertesacker is Gunner.
Some proper confirmation would be nice.
Everyone knows that when your desperate in a bidding war your fucked. Hence, we’re fucked.
I can’t even be bothered to say anymore that we should of done this in June. It’s boring and it’s a waste of my brain. i hope that the 20 or so people working on transfers read this and weep when they go home at night.
I seriously don’t understand why we’re not going in for Parker. It defies belief. The guy pretty much was West Ham. We’ve got Song whose more interested in the Selfridges jewelry sale than actually giving a shit about our club.
Given sundays debacle, I would suggest that we should consider this season a write off. it is widely acknowledged that at best we can only finish 5th. What the board should be doing now is to focus on the manager that will be taking over from wenger next season and to ensure that their are sufficient funds available to him to start rebuilding. Wenger should be sacked at the end of the season and the new manager appointed immediately, ready to start reuilding. Wenger should NOT be allowed to make any big last minute signings, which would be panic buying, (he has had months to sort out the mess and has done nothing) This would also be unfair to the new manager who would be lumbered with players he may not want. He would then have a sizeable amount in the transfer kitty. Also, I feel it is crucial that we are not involved in the Europa League, this would be a disastrous distraction. Lets follow the Liverpool example. I appreciate that this can be seen as giving up but after last sunday it cannot get any worse and if we see the back of wenger, who is quite clearly unstable then there is reason for optimism.
We need Bendtner out. Never seen such a disgusting sight in my life than when he walks out onto the pitch. He just struts around on the pitch chewing that gum like some slack jawed hick and trotting around like he has a touch of gold. Absolutely useless and lazy player, doesn’t chase anything down, has the first touch of a rapist and absolutely poor decision making skills. The sad thing is he could have been a real force if he worked for it.
If bendtner and chamack leaves,why not bid for berbatov? He aint getting game time.think he could be a real good player
I know its time to move on but gotta say…
Did anyone watch the Barca 5-0 vs Villareal last night?
It pains to see Cesc wearing that shirt…he was full of energy and played without holding back at all, him and Messi are developing a bit of a telepathic partnership…painful to see the type of quality which has been taken away from our team, especially considering what we are left with.
Mertesacker is a bit slow.Not sure about this signing if it happens.Signing cahill and Dann will make more sense.
Well be back, I know we will not have that starting 11 fit for many games, but with the options I listed under the various positions we would have much more depth in crucial positions (CB, LB, DM & CF) than we have currently.
Also, I know defending must be done by the whole team and Arsh & Theo were very poor but put them in a team with a back 4 of Sagna, Cahill, Tommy & Santos and a DM of M’vila/Frimpong and I can guarantee you they will not concede 8. Remember they are not first choice. If Gerv can play he should be first choice winger. The other winger spot is a fight between Theo, AOC, Ryo & Arsh for who is in the best form. Theo was decent against Udinese, everyone was terribly poor against the Mancs so I am not rushing to put the blame on any one player, it was the manager that left us in this situation of playing kids and terribly out of form players, we should have added to our depth earlier by tying up at least a LB, Cahill & M’vila early on in the season.
let the panic buys continue to flow in
Wenger was most possibly deluded enough to believe we didnt need a left back, he would have signed no one but Park if we left OT with a point or three
the man is a menace to soceity.
@Lamia I think The board realised that we may not qualify for champs league this season hence BUY. Every year the press and pundits say, we are not going to make the top four and every year we prove them wrong. Stay faithful.
It’s always darkest before dawn.
I hope not Mertesacker
dont think mertesacker being slow will be a problem, the rest of our CBs are pretty rapid and they’ve hardly covered themselves in glory the past 6 months have they?
And for once I like how the Sky Sports pundits exposed his cluelessness and naivety when it comes down to tactics
G.Neville said some of the mistakes we were making you wouldn’t expect from an U12 team. I trly thought that was a spot on comment
@ Franchise Gary Neville can fuck right off… Manc Twat!
Why is everyone worried about Mertesacker having no pace? Did Adams? What about that git Terry?
Very slow. But his positioning is very good.
Mertesacker would be good vs. the likes of Stoke, Wolves, Bolton, Blackburn etc where we dont need speed, just a big oaf to head, hoof and wipe out (legally) any striker that comes in his way.
I don’t understand the concerns about mertesacker.
Everyone was more than happy for us to sign hangerland who has no pace either. What worrys me more than pace is that Mertesacker is supposidly clumsy like Djourou.
If wenger really is in a shopping spree,lets give him credit due, because i wasnt NOT expecting him to do any more transfers xcept that korean even after the shambles @ manure.
But still not enuf we need that marquee signing
I think Pam is getting her inside info from the tabloids, Pedro!
Mertesacker having 75 odd caps for Germany suggests he is not crap by any means.
Can’t be any worse than Djourou.
its not the lack of pace in our CB that has been killing us maybe its good he doesnt have pace, at least he would have to be positionally correct for his defensive errors not to be apparent to everyone for his lack of ability to get close to getting to his correct position with his pace…
in short we should be ahppy with any signing that is as experienced as Mertersacker, wasnt Hangeland slow as well?
The independant are saying M’vila’s sticking point on the price is about 18 million, Are the Independant very relaible? Big difference between the price you’re saying and the one the independant are stating
Either way i hope we get him but still more worried about a AM as we certainly can’t lose Cesc and Nasri and not replace either!
If there’s one reason I would want Jagielka…
He can be a CB/3rd choice keeper…would rather see him play in goal ahead of Almunia
Marv Tha’ Gooner I bet u were one of the delusionals that were going around blog land saying Neville the Manc is backing Wenger when he chose to a few weeks ago. the truth is bitter ey?
Arshavin & Rosicky must never wear an The Arsenal shirt again.
Both are a fuckin disgrace.
Guys ,
whats this about Wenger being in France ??
any news ?
WTF none of the signings being discussed are toP class players.
No wonder AW only buys young talent we cannot compete against the other top teams
In the PL because we do not have the cash. Emirates drains the coffers hence TTFC trying to get
Access to Olympic stadium. Gives them same advantage MCFC got from Comm Games stadium.
Sunday only told me AW has lost the plot. Cesc was always leaving, Nasri wanted more than the
Wage structure allowed and we needed to buy in June and July just like ManU did.
Just all to late now and a mediocre season awaits us
Sol Campbell was slow in his second stint with us, but was our best defender by a mile. Mertesacker has been capped 76 by Germany and knows how to lead. If anything having a slow defender will be a blessing, since it will force the team to stop playing such a stupid high line all the time. For a high line to work you need intelligent defenders who can run the offside trap. Gibbs, Jenkinson, Djorou et al don’t have the footballing IQ needed to run it effectively.
I’d love to have a non-technical slow centreback in this team again. As someone above said, Kos and Djorou have the pace and technique but they are hapless and shit. All this transfer activity makes me think we need to get spanked like that once in a while more if it prompts activity from Wenger.
I strongly doubt the Mertesacker stories are true though
@Franchise Hardly mate, Search me out at your peril.
That was VERY weak comeback son…
Mertesacker being slow isn’t an issue for most clubs but for Arsenal it is because wenger gets them to defend so high so that we squeeze the game in an effort to win back possession. But simple balls over the top to quick strikers are our undoing time and again, even with quick defenders. As soon as a striker get a yard on the defender it will end in tears. The tactics are all wrong from Wenger.
Great post Pedro.
Guy’s, Is this really true about Mertesacker?
And how brave are Stoke, already trying to loan Lukaku.
Mertesacker should not be our only CB signing. Then I would be happy that we signed him, he is massive, good tackler, reads the game well, good temprament (heard something like he has never picked up a yellow, come to Arsneal son and you will get a red on your first start
). Like other said he is quite slow but he has 75 German caps and you dont get that many if you have not learnt to deal with your lack of pace (for example by having great positioning/reading of the game/etc).
Like I said, as long as we get Cahill too then Mertesacker could be a good signing (sell Squilly too). He will not be expensive and is a massive improvement over Djourou & Squilly.
Dimitri
Well said , i know we try and play a hi line to try to pressure the ball
but it was suicidal yesterday and trying to play offside as well ??
You are bang on re the hi line .
I think PAM lives in Pedro’s mind, much like brad pitt lived in ed nortons mind in fight club.
Re: Mertsacker
Adams was hardly Speedy Gonzales. Good defending is about positioning and timing.
76 German caps don’t lie.
He’s like a Mercedes 500SL… Diesel. LOL
The only reason Andre Santos is a Brazil international is because he has the same career management as the corrupted brazilian coach, Mano Menezes
oh so I was wrong? well, it’s even worse if you thought our play reflected we were seriously experienced
Goonerfied85 says:
August 30, 2011 at 10:07
Mertesacker having 75 odd caps for Germany suggests he is not crap by any means.
Can’t be any worse than Djourou..
=====================================================
Erh…. Mertesacker isn’t shit at all.
He’s exactly what we need.