Yeah… that’s me… a happy Gooner rolling in transfers. What a bloody day eh?! The best day since time began? Or maybe just the best summer in 5 years? Either way, all the right things began to happen yesterday!
Now, there was obviously disappointment yesterday morning when everyone thought I was telling lies about Yann M’Vila, but then later that day, the backpage of the Evening Standard ran the story pretty much word for word and The Times are reporting the same this morning. Now, they’ve either got someone telling them the same things, or they’ve got a penchant for a daily dose of Le Grove. Either outcome is pleasing. Like I said yesterday, watch this space. We could easily spend £60million today and not bat an eye lid.
Simple fact is, Alex Song not the one and he’ll be off next summer. Frimpong is a very good prospect, but he needs guidance. Whichever way you look at it, we need a defensive midfielder today. We’re desperately short in the middle.
Defence…
We landed Per Mertesacker yesterday after he completed a medical. Andre Santos was also doing the same. There were a few articles floating about online that stated he’d changed his mind and flown back to Turkey to sign a 4 year deal. I’d be very surprised if that were the case!
Per Mertesacker was a massive curve ball yesterday, but ultimately a fantastic one. He’s a player we’ve been calling for on Le Grove since before June 2008. We reported that he was a Gooner way back then here, 3 years on, whaddya know, he’s going to be turning out at the home of football!
He’s 6ft6, he’s built powerfully, he has 70+ caps for a very solid German team, he’s won trophies, he has Champions League experience and he knows how to defend. Rumour has it we’ve picked him up for £9million. What a price!
This is the sort of player we should always be in for. He has pedigree, he has presence and he’ll slot in perfectly next to Thomas Vermaelen. We have a genuine little and large combination. We have a defender who has played the highline for club and country and we’ve done something crazy… signed a tall player to deal with our fear of high flying balls!
Sacrebleu! <- Does that mean what I think it does?
I’m very pleased.
Park Chu-Young signed for us officially yesterday. The South Korean captain joins us under a cloud of ‘who the f**k’, but the key point here is versatility and hard word. Mainly hard work though. Arshavin and Rosicky showed at the weekend that they’re not cut out for Arsenal when crunch time comes. We need someone who is going to work for their salary, this guy will. Does he have the required quality? I’m not sure… but if he can bag 12 goals for a relegated Monaco, I’d hope for something similar or better for a team capable of teeing him up with far more chances.
Oh, and he takes the number 9 shirt. You knew that already though, right?
Clint Dempsey…
There are big rumours we’re looking to add the American to our attacking line up. Whilst he’s not world-class, he’s a very good player with a superb eye for goal. He has that aggravation factor and a terrific work rate. You don’t need all your players to be La Masia schooled. Sometimes you just need a player who is direct, in your face and not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. He scored 14 goals for Fulham last year and he was very impressive. I’d welcome him into our squad and word on the South American street is that we’ve tabled a $16.8million bid for him.
Gary Cahill…
Have Bolton burned their bridges in negotiations for a player they’ll lose on a free if they don’t get rid of him today? We’ve signed a centre back already. That puts the pressure on Gartside’s hugely indebted club to do a deal today. I think we’re still in for him. Johann Djourrou has been so bad over the past 6 months, you wonder for his future. Cahill is still a top defender and regardless of how many people tell you he’s rubbish, he’s not, he’d make a great addition to the squad.
I still remember how many people told me Ashley Young wasn’t Arsenal quality… some statement eh?
Chris Samba…
There were a lot of rumblings about the shower bully from Blackburn. I have my doubts. The rumours feel more like stories designed to get him a move away from Steve Kean. He’d be a useful addition, but we’ve already filled the role of ‘massive beast’, if we get another centre back, they’ll be good on the ground and stylish… Like a break dancer.
The creative hole?
There’s a massive hole in our side, that’s the one left by Cesc Fabregas. If there’s going to be a monster signing today, I’d love it to come there. Yossi looks like he’s off to Spurs, so good luck to him, quality player, poor injury record. That leaves us with the prospect of Gotze or Hazard. There will probably be another curve ball thrown there, but I’m struggling to see where it’s coming from. The German might be pulled away from his club for £35million and a massive salary, I’m not sure though, it would be a bad move for Dortmund but I guess it depends on how much they want the cash. They’re not flush!
My money is on Arteta. Like Yossi, top quality, just not so much on the fitness side of things. I’d also be interested in Frank Ribery. He was once a £60million player, then his mates bought him a 17 year old hooker, now he’s not quite as popular. He’d be amazing in the Premiership. He’d replace Nasri perfectly. Could we move for him? I’d love it… who knows! Sky are reporting that Honda is in London for a medical… it’s all too much!
Medical…
I was told that two medicals were booked yesterday, two more for today. Make of that what you will!
Conclusion
It’s a shame it took an absolute spanking to push the board and Arsene Wenger into some serious action. Nearly all of this business could have been conducted in June. I don’t believe all these players have been targets all summer, we’ve just shown intent and made things happen because careers are on the line.
Still, that’s a story for another day.
We’re developing a strong core to the team now. We could make top 4 if we make 2-3 signings of intent again today. Amazing how quickly things can change eh? The squad will be revitalised and fans will be excited for the Swansea game. A morale booster for everyone!
My worry though, is that we’re once again in a transition year. This sort of frenzied 48 hours should never have happened and if we’d made purchases like this 2 years ago, who knows who’d still be here fighting it out in the first team.
Anyway, it’s the last day of transfer rumours. There won’t be a live blog, the comments section will going mental all day, tune in, you can get far more info than 140 characters into a comment and all the stories will come direct to you all day from the Grovers! Life is very exciting!
P.S. For some further reading and listening, check out Tim Payton in the Independent talking business models(I’m not talking topless Staples Girls) and the Footy Shows Podcast starring king of AKB’s, Bob Wilson!
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Transfer Updates
- Keisuke Honda in for a medical according to Sky Reports
Give gambon a break, reality’s just dawned on him, he’s upset, in a few days you’ll see a new gambon, a realist.
leon
its on arsenal.com
Ddg,
You mean, hamstring fabregas/ built like an ox arteta – hard as nails benayoun?
Yh good call.
gambon – Gervihno is for Nasri. At least we have a f***kin bench now. Remember Nasri was’nt Messi
judge wenger on may….
my predictions we get found wanting. we lose rvp. wallcott
we finish 5th 6th. we use the 50 mill leftover to cover us
not a doomer per say just a realist on paper we used to have a top 3 squad now its 5th at best even the spuds have more quality than us
god save the arsenal because we have shot ourselves in the foot with the emirates stadium
worth a note subotic is a classy cultured defender vermaelen lyk but tall…n fast
In
Gervinho,
Benayoun,
Chambo
Jenkinson,
Arteta,
Mertersacker,
Campbell,
Park,
Santos,
Ryo
Bellerin
weird bunch init
incesc – such a pity for the everton fan who got unemployed and just bought arteta’s shirts for his kids…
sad
the world is really cruel
In fairness i will say we could have done better then Benyanoun. I will say this Wegner did’nt identify these players. They were selected and delivered to him. mark my words.
————————–Szczesny—————————
Sagna——Mertesacker————Vermaelen——–Santos
——————————-Song———————————-
——————Benayoun———-Arteta———————-
Walcott——————————————————Gervinho
—————————-v. Persie——————————–
Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Arshavin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ryo, Fabianksi, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Djourou, Frimpong, Park, Chamakh, Mannone, Afobe
Not super duper, but better than 8-2 FC
fuck off
spurs dont have more quality than us.
they will be 8th max this year
colonel,
i’d have been more pleased with de rossi, schweinsteiger and gotze…..
RCB I’d have to agree. Cesc and Nasri were big big losses but where were they when it mattered?! Cesc’s backheel vs Barca, hand ball vs Spuds. Nasri generally being invisible….
We’ve got an established keeper now in Szczesny, big improvement.
Vermy back from injury, big improvement.
Mertesacker in ahead of JD/Squillaci, big improvement.
Frimpong in for Denilson, big improvement.
Santos should certainly be much better than Clichy going forwards too, and Young should give us something that we didn’t already have up front, although both of those remain to be seen.
Gervinho and Miyaichi give us a new dimension with the pace as well that we lacked whenever Theo was injured.
Arteta and Benayoun are experienced and do have a great deal of quality, even if they don’t have the talent of Nasri and Cesc to be top top draw.
Lots of reason to be positive now. Just gotta get behind the team. Going to be interesting to see how it all evolves in terms of our starting eleven and systems
never mind the signings,whos going to coach them or is wenger going to just leave them at it! martin keown would do more for the team than a £50 million signing
He’s just signing a couple of cheapies near their sell by dates so’s not to piss off Jack & Rambo & the board.
Wish he’d done it with Parker too though cos he’s not addressed our most important issue since PV4 left – the DM slot.
(Unless our surplus of central defenders allows TV’s conversion to replace the lumbering oaf!)
I think we should consider this a transitional season…hopefully not the one where we make the transition from Sky/ITV to Channel 5.
Ricky, ever heard the saying, “2 heads are better than one”
schezney
sagna vermaelen mertesacker santos
ramsey arteta wilshere
walcott van persie gervinho
fabianski
jenkinson kocielny miguel djourou gibbs
diaby frimpong cocquelin rosicky song chamberlain
park chamakh miyachi arshavin benayoun
numbers wise were healthy
i think the best deal offf the summer for us is getin rid off Bendtner hes a very shit player but the best thing is we wont have to put up with hes big mouth anymore.
Benayoun ahead of jack dale,
My god! You must really hate the arsenal name..
You’d rather have a on loan benayoun start over arguably the best young midfielder in england?
dale-
no way yossi starts ahead of a fit jack wilshere.
Wilshere is injured….for now…calm down
Bade
Starters are important (I count 3 in and 3 out) but the most critical thing is that we’ve strengthened in key areas.
First, Mertesacker coming in drops Squillaci to the 5th or 6th spot (if Song is used). Second, we were all fearing a Gibbs/Traore combo at LB. Santos/Gibbs looks much better.
Gervinho gives us pace and directness which helps to offset Nasri’s loss. We all know that we couldn’t keep Cesc and so Arteta is a reasonable option while Ramsey and Wilshere continue to mature.
Park pushes Chamakh to 3rd CF option, which was also needed.
Benayoun is a low-risk addition so no problem there.
well i think it puts them in contension to finish top 4 however there still a few weak links in the team like aa dj sculacci almunia.having said all that the team is alot stronger no they have much needed exerience and hopefully thet bring real committment and rugidness something that manu have lots of
i laugh at some people who purposely and conveniently avoid putting Song in their line up, instead putting Ramsey in….Ramsey is the reason we are getting Arteta in the first place…he’s just not up to it…right now.
RCB – correct but – Arteta+Benayoun for Cesc= not equal
DaleDaGooner- wilshere is the first name on the arsenal team shit.
alot of wasters and wanta ways gone hopefully the wasters left will buck up or fuck off
I’d like to see Kos get a go at DM. He’s a better tackler than Song and seems to be able to pass well too.
telarse-
transitional season? that has been the state of arsenal since eduardo had his leg “accidentally” snapped in half. this is the state of arsenal until some direction is taken by the board.
fuck sake get over jack wilshere hes a 19 year old boy whos very overrated coz hes english. he did fuck all last season. jack this jack that hes won fuck all.
i really hope dortmund and lille bomb out this year so we can get hummels subotic goetze and hazard….. qualiddy
Best deal is no Denilson, in, Frimpong.
We’ve lost 2 of the best midfielders in Europe.
…and replaced them with Yossi Benayoun and Mikel Arteta.
———————————————-
Boooooooo!!!!!!!
Wenger Out!
overrated mark?! you’re having a laugh, one of the best young players in the world
So… been offline for an hour… what happened?
A you melt, did you get a call today?
once upon a time
———————-Almunia————-
Sagna—–Gallas——-Toure——Clichy
Eboue——Cesc——-Denilson—–Hleb
———————v. Persie——————
———————-Adebayor—————–
we did alright, even though we sucked…have some faith…
Really pleased with Arteta signing as takes pressure off Jack and Rambo who will develop and be top players
Yossi is not the real replacement for Nasri as Gervinho will be
After today the squad looks so much better
Mert is an immense CB and with Chezzer emerging as a top top keeper our defence could be better than it has been for no of years
Deals are done so no point the half empty glass people moaning any more – let’s get behind the team and put the bad memories behind us
Mark,
Jack was arguably our best player last season.
You feeling alright mate?
Just switched my phone on… lots of sad spurs fans! haha!
Piers Morgan and Jack Wilshere think some of you are muppets…they love the ins today
DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
We are dealing with FATS here
A…where have you been! we missed you on here man!
Goodnight yall
We don’t have to replace Cesc or any other player who’s been with us for all these trophyless years. Happy with these transfers. We wanted depth, now we got it. ‘Super quality’ costs only what we can’t afford. Let’s support the squad. I just have one arsenal.
Now the pundits and that arsehole Evra can’t refer to us as “boys” we signed men all around!
no im not ok whats so good about jack wilshre? hes only playin for arsenal coz off wenger. barcelona 3rd team have many like.
stop obsessing over nasri and fabregas people. if they were as good as u make them out to be , how come we didnt win shit with them ? we asked for premier league type players and now that we got them , we are still complaining.
i bet if we didnt sign them , we ll be calling for arsene’s head now.
arteta and yossi are very good players. plus i can bet my left kidney and my right ball that we will sign world class players this january or summer.
yes wenger and the board messed up big in the earlier part of the summer. but thats then and this is now.
lets support them and shut the fuck up with the bitching already.
hazard has just handed in a transfer request
well said afrogunner
maybe instead of asking to replace Na$ri or Fabregas, we should ask for Pires and Vieira replacements, they won us trophies as the others didn’t have the heart to win for us.
get lost mark.
I did indeed Pedro, and it looks like Tuesday….
As if transfer deadline day wasn’t hectic enough I had a bit of a crazy day at work so my head was all over the place and any attempt at coming across as articulate went out the window so I hope I didn’t make too bad a first impression….
I owe you though
Been keeping my distance Dale, what with the horrific ending to the season I felt that joining the hysteria on here wouldn’t be the best remedy to the hurt I was experiencing
DaleDaGooner – i disagree. He has had a slow start but blends better with Jack. Arteta, Ramsey, Jack is a lovely centre MF
Thank you naija! sensible lad.
Pedro i’m a numbers person.
is today’s post a new record?
Jacks tweet – lobe this kid
Best news of the day! Brilliant signing! Welcome to Arteta! Great day all round for #AFC this is why #ILoveAFC. Come on you gooners!!!!
Good to have you back A,
haha really lurch?
noooooooooooo!!!
4 signings in 2 days , not kids !! happy with that , much stronger than we were .
A , bang on !
RCB
Nasri is much better than Gervinho right now.
Arteta & Benayoun for cesc, what are you on about? We cant play 12 players can we? Which means its one or the other, and Cesc is 10x the player either of them are.
Park????? Are you kidding me, the guys a bargain basement loser signed because he looks like Jin from lost. He will bring little.
Mertesacker is a good signing.
Santos wont be an improvement particularly, but will be a good signing.
—————————————————————————–
Now lets get this right:
City were better than us and brought in Aguero, Nasri, Clichy
UTD were vastly better than us and brought in Young & Jones
Chelsea were better than us and signed Mata, Mereiles & Lukaku.
We are shopping around in the bargain basement for £10m players constantly & strategically weakening while our rivals are buying the best players available in europe.
Gwaan we can sign him under the Arsenal : Arshavin transfer window end exemption clause, we’ve only got until midday now.
Fucking hell… An injury to Robin and we’re left with Park and Chamakh. Imo the squad’s stood still. We’re still nowhere near winning the Champions League or League title. At least I have something to look forward to in the next game. I’m tired of seeing the same bunch fuck up season in-season out. It’s time to watch AND support Wenger’s newest bunch of fuck ups.
Not overly impressed by our dealings this window. If you walked up to to me in May and told me that we’d sell Nasri and Cesc, and replace them with Arteta and Benayoun, I’d have called you a fucking alcoholic.
Anyways onwards Arsenal!!!!!
Nice to see you back A, hopefully you can get to a few games.
Laters chaps and chapesses.
I just hope that todays dealing dont stop the planned protesting.
Wenger & Gazidis need to forced out of the club.
i think how fast we blend is very key.
we’ve got like a whole new team.
Boozy… I think today is a comments record, Sunday was a hits record, this month has been a record as well.
Good times on LG!
A, you made a good impression… we’ll have a chat tomorrow.
I think the quality of siging has been ok, not in comparison to Cesc and Nasri though. That’s what will cost us…
Mind you, does experience out weight that?
Cheers Zorr0, nice to be back. The season begins for us at Swansea, looking forward to it!!
I hope it does gambon – don’t think it would’ve gotten THAT much support anyway….
Naijasoccer
Arteta and Yossi are average,Arteta when he aint injured can’t and wont get in to the Spanish national side.
If you want to accept average then get on with it.
I told my 11 year old son to take off he’s new blue away shirt Monday morning,because of average players.
Trouble is there are a lot of Arsenal fans just accepting average players.
Where were the Hazard’s and Mata’s that we all thought we would get 25–30 million is now out of our league,i supose you will be happy with 4th place ?
arsenal supporters are so fickle….
no hieght in the team…mertesaker 6 foot 6 dortmunds captain
y we not bought a left back …santos brazillian attacking left back
we need a striker…young south korea captain
we need to replace nasri..gervinhio ivory coast international with pace to burn/chaimberlain
we need a replacement for fab…arteta 29 class ..
we need prem experienced players…arteta and benayoun
we need leaders …mertesaker young arteta with van the man percie
we only sign kids…. ages 28 29 26 31
but we got lots of crap players…eboe bedtner troare denilson clichy all gone..only diaby rosicky and almunia left
plus we added some better youth players..jenkinson chaimberlain joel campbell
so all you moaning gunners….go support some other team…
or step up and support the team we all love….
we are the gunners and i salute you all!!!!
2460 comments? Wholly crap!
Can you say “panic buy”?
I like the signings but did it really take 8-2 to get us here?
Now let’s sign a defensive coach have at it!!!
at leat arteta injuries aside
can hit the ground running, he’ll fit right in with our passing game, and will be proving himself at a big club for the first time.
its a solid signing.
replacing cescis impossible.
Mata would have been better, but this is arsenal.
we needed 5 signings a couple of years ago and only got silvestre.
its a step in the right direction, even though we took 5 steps back when we sold cesc
gambon…whether Na$ri and Cesc were better or not, we won fuck all, we look different now, wait till you start passing judgments. Goetze, Hazard are hardly Cesc either.
Glichy? Half a season quality Nasri? Aguero, ok, quality
Young, was great against us, but how consistent will he be, Jones still a rookie, a better team will run rings around him…we were shit on sunday so those 2 don’t count as super quality yet. Man U will still do well cause they are tactful
Mata, Lukaku…jury is out Meireles is top player, he’s in the Arteta Benayoun range.
dont see why people keep banging on about nasri .hes a prick worked harder for city in his 1st game than he ever did for arsenal.
gervino looks a good replacement already
Sounds good Pedro.
I agree transfer wise, but we’ve strengthened other areas….
Cesc is exceptional, but Wilshere has been groomed for years to take his mantle, and I think he has it in him, although the injury is a concern. Very good that Arteta/Benayoun have come in to take the pressure off him.
Nasri is very talented but Gervinho being his replacement I do think he could be just as productive in terms of goals and assists, even if he’s a different type of player.
Just a pity we didn’t get in a DM, M’Vila really would’ve completed the set….
More solid at the back, MUCH more experience. Year more under the belts of out wonderkids in Szczesny and Wilshere…. Certainly things to be positive about!
gervinho will be better than nasri ever was for us.
nasri was a lazy fat ponce wh only gave us 6 months of good football
gambon well said gives the moaners a day out venting and hopefully WTL will grace everyone with his presence.
wow…incesc is talking like a non-noob….i clap for you, well said …for once.
with 25-30 million players we cant compete with the high wages that come with them….but people still go on about signing this and that player….NO chance we have a wage structure only way it will change is if we bring in the russian…DRAAAAAGOOOOOOO!!! lol
i think we still get hazard soon enough.
coming here is the perfect chance for him to get barce noticing him
We were never going to compete with the City’s and Chelsea’s spending on real quality I mean City bought Aguero and kept Tevez somehow.
Overall our squad lacks strength in depth in midfield and upfront I feel but enough to stay ahead of Liverpool and Spurs.
arsenalone says:
September 1, 2011 at 00:30
Naijasoccer
Arteta and Yossi are average,Arteta when he aint injured can’t and wont get in to the Spanish national side.
cesc couldnt get in that side. soon real madrid players wont get in that side
I’ve had a bizarre day personally and professionally.
August has been an up and down month…markets, Arsenal and life…
I’ve enjoyed every minute here. Cheers Pedro, cheers Geoff. Cheers Grovers…ish…
The rest of the season is here…glad to see Mertesacker and Arteta in…Benayoun is far from the end of the world and I’ll reserve judgement on the “defender” Santos…
Regardless…8-2 seems a long time ago tonight.
FORWARD? Perhaps…
i think santos would be way better than clichy.
im really happy, ok arteta is not cesc, but im fucking buzzing we got him, he is a top quality player in my opinion, im buzzing! i kno wenger is a bit a fucker, but im gonna get behind him once more, we wanted experienced players, now we have them, thank u wenger, its taken 5 years, for a bit of action, so im gonna enjoy this moment, ha ha, would’ve loved eden hazzard, but im not depressed about at all, i where gonna be ok!
Hmmmm so Nasri was average eh?
Yet the 3 clubs who are much better tan us in the PL all wanted him?
Funny that.
Gervinho is Eboue upfront, a thick headless chicken who occasionally does something good.
We have strategically lowered the calibre of the entire team in the last 7 years, and whats funny is so many fans have no problem with this,
The very best we can do this season is finish 4th, and on form we are heading for a relegation battle.
When was the last time we went into a season with 4th being the absolute best we can do?
AND THE PENNY DROPS
Why Nasri is even been talked about as world class is beyond me. Overrated player to the max. I watched the man city spurs game and he had something like 2-3 assists in that game………….. by the end of the season , his assists total would be 5. Definition of flatter to deceive.
Gervinho will be more instrumental for us. Hes more direct , score and assists more.
Wilshere is our cesc and now we have a better bench full of experienced players.
No more denilson , almunia , chamakh , bendtner , eboue. That team looks stronger already without those cancer.
Prediction : unlike the last few seasons , our club is gonna improve as the season progress , not fade like before when we had superstar Nasri and irreplaceable Fabregas.
Anyone knows how much we paid for Arteta?
Any clues??
Jake you idiot, Cesc has 50 caps at age 24.
You might wanna think before you start writing.
Let’s go over this again
Goetze wasn’t going anywhere, even if Real Madrid came in, he wasn’t going to be signed by ANYONE, especially Arsenal who would play in the same group as Dortmund
Hazard wasn’t leaving either, Lille are ambitious and selling Gervinho hurt them, so they would never sell Hazard in the same window, not to Barca, Real or Chelsea, they are playing CL and built the team around him…
get a grip people…we tried to sign M’Vila and smash the records, we couldn’t, no one would offer 30m for a 21 year old…we’ve seen Neymar stay put for such ridiculous price.
My only beef is why we didn’t turn to Marvin Martin
At least we didn’t sign Hargreaves… now that would have been embarassing….
Jake
Point taken mate but Arteta aint no were near Cesc, and i for one will get behind Arteta because i have to he’s all we have
Gambon, Nasri isn’t average… but he never gave us a full season of his best.
Arteta is basically a defensive midfielder these days. He does jack shit going forward I know that.
gambon, piss off and follow Na$ri to Man City then….ffs..he didn’t want to sign for us, support Gervinho who signed for us or go watch Nasri twinkle toe about.
I know its easy to be negative – why the fuck did we leave it so late? Why the fuck wasn’t Mertesacker signed about 3 years ago etc etc.
But how good does it feel to actually have had a decent transfer deadline day!?!?!
For me, we are back in with a decent chance of pushing for silverware, and staying in the top 4. I know that isn’t perhaps the most ambitious dream, but with the kind of money Man City and co can spend, its probably a realistic one.
For me Mertesacker is the key signing. Him and Vermaelen are a DREAM partnership in my eyes. Personally I see him as a WAY better option than Cahill, who is very similar to Vermy in build etc.
Arteta is a very decent replacement for cesc (probably the most natural replacement outside of the Barcelona squad) and Benayoun is a decent, hard working player (the kind we lack, quite frankly).
Add to them the others – Park, Santos (really excited that we might have a full back with an end product!!!), Oxlade etc and we’ve actually done some decent business for once!
THANK GOD FOR 8-2 THRASHINGS! is what I’m saying!
we got a few players who can take real free kicks beside vp noe
Guys. We have to accept that until 2015 we’re always goin’ to go for bargains and just try to tuck in that top 4. So be happy.
Jake
You answered your own question with your comment. You said Arteta couldnt get in the spanish team and then say so is Fabregas. So if Fabregas as good as he is ( europe’s most creative midfielder) couldnt get into the team, then maybe its not down to the players not good enough. Its because Xavi and Iniesta are tried and trusted and if it aint broke , dont fix it.
P.S If you think Yossi and Arteta are average then maybe u need to switch the channel back to baseball.
gambon says:
September 1, 2011 at 00:40
Hmmmm so Nasri was average eh?
Yet the 3 clubs who are much better tan us in the PL all wanted him?
Funny that
maybe it takes £180,000 a week to make him above average
the games fucked
Albo… agree on all points there.
Pedro, well said…he is above average but gave us half a heart for 3 years with his eye on a bigger pay day…why didn’t he go to Man U or Chelsea then? I’d rather a hard working Benayoun over a lazy fucker like Nasri.
Paulinho it depends on who he’s playing with.
He can still pick a pass, and he’s going to have many more opportunities to do so playing for us with the way we dominate possession, and the attacking options/movement ahead of him, compared to playing in a deep lying midfield with Anichebe or Fellaini running around ahead of him….
So, I’ve just woken up to find we have added Arteta and Benayoun to our midfield. Not sure what to make of that. As I see it, we will still be 50m or so in the black this summer.
The good news is getting some unwanted players off our payroll. Bad news is our strikeforce. VP plays 20 games max every season. Which leaves us with Chamakh, Bendtner in reserve. Or else we play Benayoun, Arsha or Gervinho there…I think we dropped the ball here. A real diamond of a striker and I would have had some confidence for this season.
Also lets put this into perspective:
- We had a £40m transfer budget
- We made a £20m profit and cleared huge sums off the wage bill
- We are taking has beens on loan from rivals who clearly dont care
- Liverpool, City, Chelsea & UTD have all invested £70m more than us this summer.
We are no longer a big team. We are Everton, Villa, Fulham, Stoke.
albo certainly agree about Mertesacker, I’m very excited to see that little and large combination, along with a left back who can really provide another dimension to our attacking play. Just hope he can defend a bit as well….!
taxi for weng
THANK GOD FOR 8-2 THRASHINGS!
the trashing might have saved our season – but the scars of that defeat would take a long time to heal.
Agreed albo. gambon, cheer up. You can moan once we lose to Swansea.
albo! ya bang on mate
Moray we don’t have Bendtner anymore, and it’s all about Park Ju-Young up top!
I agree though – through the middle up front is one area that concerns me, although I wonder if Gervinho or Theo will feature there now with the more direct and pacy style of play
Gambon, what you’re saying is true… and I think we’ll realise that in a few months time.
We’ve signed seasoned professionals with good records, so we’re competitive. Sad fact is, I feel that even if we’d invested 60mill, we’d still be a million miles away from City and United.
Arteta and Benayoun.
Yet two more crocks.
Yet two more players who will be lucky to play half a season.
Yet two more panic buys on deadline day.
Spot the trend, people?
Arsenal is run like a struggling family household that buys all it’s greens just before closing time.
Yet we’re supposed to be one of the richest sporting clubs in the world!
There’s got to be a Hollywood film script in this somewhere – or at least a book outlining how not to run a football club if your goal is to unite the fans and actually win something!
gambon
you used to say nasri is fat and shit last season, now that somebody else have him he’s suddenly a world beater. Who did want him? only shitty went for him.
When we sign a player for a foreign league we should give him a chance, especially if this player is rated (without a signle) among the top 3 players in that particular league last season. If only you followed lille a bit last season you’d know nasri has been properly replaced, i won’r miss the little piece of shit. Although i feel we’ll miss cesc
don’t respond by telling me i am obsessed about gervinho it would be childish
i’m audi
Me- I am pleased with our last minute business. Benayoun and Arteta are good players- and will be better in Wengers hands. The main issue is their fitness and making sure we dont overplay them.
They will definitely strengthen the squad. They aren’t replacements of the class of Fabregas and Nasri though- and the club still need those.
We are also a striker short. Arshavin for Ribery would have been great business.Ribery is a massive talent and Arshavin has lost it- almost completely.
I am not sure about Mertesacker-if he can deal with the crosses and positional weaknesses in our back 4 then I will be happy- but there was always going to be a downside to buying a big centre half.
The fact is Cahill has over-played his hand once again- and been over-valued by his club- Bolton have not exactly helped the guy’s career.
Just remember- Arsenal have made a substantial profit this transfer window(especially if players salaries are factored in) and this money has not yet been invested in players. We have got half a new team and more penetration and experience and got rid of half a team full of players who did not want to be here some of whom were never going to be good enough- that has to be good news who ever the manager is.
that result will never be lived down
Hmmmm
Arsenal & Newcastle are the biggest scumbag teams in the PL.
Focussing on making vast transfer market profits. We go way too far by also charging the highest ticket prices around.
If you want to build a team like Villa charge prices like villa
Right a 1st team that only had the 3 performers who weren’t too dreadful against utd!
Reckon they could hopefully squeeze us 4th from pool or ski
Team 1
GK Wojciech Szczęsny
RB Bacary Sagna
LB André Santos
CB Per Mertesacker
CB Thomas Vermaelen
DM Alex Song
CM Jack Wilshere
AM Mikel Arteta
LW Gervinho
RW Theo Walcott
SC Robin van Persie
Team 2
GK Lukasz Fabiański
RB Carl Jenkinson
LB Kieran Gibbs
CB Laurent Koscielny
CB Johan Djourou
DM Emmanuel Frimpong
CM Aaron Ramsey
AM Yossi Benayoun
LW Andrei Arshavin
RW Park Chu-Young
SC Marouane Chamakh
Subs
GK Manuel Almunia
GK Vito Mannone
DF Sébastien Squillaci
MF Abou Diaby
MF Tomáš Rosický
MF Craig Eastmond
FW Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
FW Ryo Miyaichi
glass players -rvp ,rosicknote, arteta,ben fucking yawn,
dimwits -song, chamakh
glass and dim – walcott,diaby
Naija soccer
Jake never said they were average it was me Arsenalone
Baseball not for me chap.
You are accepting Arteta and Yossi no problem so am i
BECAUSE I HAVE NO CHOICE !!!
I agree with the £180,000 a week Nasri went for the cash,
damned this bottle is sinking down fast..and heey look what i found…sorry Pedro..not trying to be a feckin DJ ..;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsf6c5Uz0A&feature=related
Liverpool, Spuds, Stoke, Sunderland and whoever never stand a chance when it comes to Chelsea, Man U and City, money talks, fact is we never spent money, and that has been the culture of Arsenal, unfortunately, to start moaning about it, maybe some of you chose the wrong club to support…..
I’m hoping for a cup win at best and pipping Liverpool, Spurs and co for fourth, it’s not accepting mediocrity, it’s being realistic…this is what we have and for 3 years, we FINALLY got in some players that where bandied around on rumours for transfer in…we shipped out under archivers and half hearted players
We have more fighters and hard workers
our left backs, Santos and Gibbs now have end product in the final third, could be key
Arteta is a better defender than Cesc, so he makes up for the lack of immense passing ability Cesc has. Wilshere is already a terrier in the middle and Ramsey can now properly emerge with no rush or stress. Frimpong will give Song something to think about
Ou goalie is better than usual and we have a beast in the CB position, I bet you Koscielny, if called upon would do well with Mertesacker.
Walcott is banging in goals, even if he can be clueless, at least Benayoun, Chamberlain or Ryo can come in and relieve him
Park’s energy and above average touch, add to the fact that he carried Monaco is welcomed sight than Bendtner and consigns Maruane down the pecking order or he raises his game
I’m eager to see what these 5 new faces along with our fighters already in the squad can do before i write them off, this is a new squad! This isn’t Nasri+Cesc team, this team is built around a new scope!
I suppose if we moved to Birmingham or Newcastle we’d be able to charge less, good point.
Wenger ran out legends due to age,Patrick won five medals since,the youth project was a complete failure,we lost five years for no reason other than Wenger believed the hype about himself, todays signings prove that Wenger got it wrong,not world class players but yes we are better than we were a week ago,pity we give up on the season before we spent,the club died with the departure off Dein,he made Wenger tick,kept him on his toes,reminded him that he worked for the club,the fans,the history,THE ARSENAL,we can be great again,but the first thing we need is to get rid off that cancer PHW,his father must be rolling in his grave watching what that inept idiot has done to this club,Ivan the Clown is in over his head also,replace these two,bring Dein in again and let the good times roll was more.
where gonna be alright! i cant wait till the swansea game now ha ha,
Remember when the old fart used to say:
“If I buy players it will kill Ramsey, Wilshire, Walcott” yada yada yada.
“If I buy more than three players it will upset the balance of the team” yada yada yada.
How do we know when the senile fart’s lying?
When his lips move!
Here’s another thought for u moaners and Gambonites , besides Rooney , name me one world class player in the midfield and forward areas of the Man U team. Yet they are the best team in the league.
What we have learned with Cesc and the Man U team is that talent and world class status is not good enough, you need experience and drive and we got that now.
albo says
THANK GOD FOR 8-2 THRASHINGS! is what I’m saying!
————————————————-
Wenger knew he had to somehow buy more time for himself . The knives were being sharpened, and he felt it. The players he’s signed guarantee an extra year at Arsenal for him. He had to do something. It’s panic buying at the end of the day… If he wanted Arteta and Benayoun, he’d have signed them weeks ago. He was left stark naked by his team on Sunday. I’ve never seen him as mentally shot as I did when Shreeves interviewed him after the game… He looks a spent man. I still think he’s finished after this season.
The signing of Benayoun makes Spurs games pretty interesting when it comes to “those” chants…
Martin Keown on Five Live tonight: “Koscielny is a very technical player”.
well said gooby!, im really excited about gervinho too, he’s gonna be a real player man!
Pedro – Exactly we’ve been playing catch up with United for 2 decades, dunno why people are soo surprised now.
get ready for all of this next summer again vp,walcot,song,arshivna all on the last year off the contract next summer.the nightmare ant over yet denilson and bent52 only out on loan wenger might bring them back and say they are like signings.
Bentley to West Ham?! Magic…that fuck has always had a Bendtner-esque over inflated sense of his own talent – maybe he’ll get some perspective in the championship
Martin Keown on the BBC tonight: “Koscielny is a very technical player”.
arsenalone says:
September 1, 2011 at 00:59
Naija soccer
Jake never said they were average it was me Arsenalone
Baseball not for me chap.
i was wondering about that
arteta took a massive paycut to join
good attitude
clearly wants to succeed
So let me get this straight, Arteta and yossi Are average but liverpool and Utd are the shiznit because they signed charlie adams, stewart downing, phil jones and young….I guess i must have missed the part where the madrids and barca’s were bidding for these superstars……..people like gambon keep saying Arsenal fans are obsessed with price……yet he is the one that keeps talking about how much we have left over after the transfers we just done……How much did Chica cost again??How much did Torres cost???Who made the bigger impact??Half the folks yelling about Gotze or or the lille fella have probably not seen those boys play 5 games in a season but thanks to legrove and youtube, they are the superstars we need…..how about giving someone a chance before writing him off??Sometimes i wonder.
Thank God For Ea…..at least we can all claim to be Managers.
People go on about arteta’s assist ratio but I read on football365 earlier that he has been in the top five chance creators since 05/06. Just because he had shit strikers trying to finish his assists doesn’t make him crap. Not overly pleased with the purchases but a much better squad now
Night everyone!
My only grievance is Arteta and RvP may combine for 30 games a season…I’m afraid
============
from an Everton fan:
Arteta – Great signing….if you can make him last 20 games. God only knows Everton have been trying the last 3 years. Look at his track record. He is almost as injury-prone as Hargreaves. Aint it bad enougn you already have Van Persie??
Question is: when those two get injured (which will happen eventually), what then? Reckon you’ll be able to compete in 4 competitions? Someow I doubt that very much.
Fair point Yandi he could of brought them weeks ago
Gorge Graham done the same thing panick buys when he took the bung and the Merson scandal.
We look in a better shape now than before Sundays game eith Utd
And fuck it that cunt N.B has left the club
Alright all, time to get behind the team. What we should have done and when we should have done it is water under the bridge now. Yes, the Prof and the Board are stubborn but let’s them a little credit that they finally realised that they had to change course. There are a lot of teams that needed improvement and almost all of them waited until the last minute to pull the trigger. If we approached Everton for Arteta in the summer, it would have been a resounding NO, not to mention the price would have been much more. No more backseat drivers, please.
Things have clearly been moving too fast for Arsenal.com to keep up with…have a look at Meatsacks profile on the website.
Apparently we signed him from Fenerbahce.
i want keown back at the club.whip that defence into shape and a bit of grit in the dressing room. bit of beauty and the beast
I think that we have strengthened the team. This was achieved in a mad and panicky manner, but we are overall better off than last year. 1) We have got rid of awful players (Eboue, Denilson, Bendtner), 2) we have strengthened our defence, and, 3) paradoxically, the loss of our two most talented payers may prove a blessing in disguise: Fabregas didn’t want to be with us anymore and Nasri is a little mercenary obsessed with money. We replaced them with less talented players, but hard-working guys who want to play for us. This makes a better team overall.
welcome back, A. So Bendtner’s gone? To Sunderland? We must be paying some of his massive wages…
Shit, we look threadbare up top now.
I wonder what formation we will be playing this year.
Any news on Jack? Will it really be Feb before we see him back? I hope we’re not in a Vermaelen situation with him.
arteta league games per season from wiki
2006–07 35
2007–08 28
2008–09 26
2009–10 13
2010–11 29
Like I say, of course we can moan about previous transfer windows. And of course we’re behind Man U, Chelsea and Man City right now.
But this has still been a decent window for us in my opinion, as we basically did what we wanted to do – shift some dead wood and 2 players who didn’t want to be there, and reinvest the money in some decent players. Can’t really ask much more than that.
In particular, what I am very happy about is that we’ve bought a beast of a defender plus a handful of guys who will work their arses off on the pitch. Drive and determination has been a CRUCIAL missing ingredient from a lot of our performances, and someone like Benayoun or Park will add a lot of that.
Personally I think (unsurprisingly) there are people on here secretly annoyed that we had a decent couple of days…
I wouldn’t say we’re a better team without Cesc..
What is Arteta’s injury history? I mean type of injuries that has slowly worn him down physically.
Gotta say numbers wise aint bad I mean 5 signings in 2 days has gotta be some kind of record for us and while squad wise the likes of Arteta, Yossi and Park are decent additions I feel so let down with no M’Vila or Hazard signing. Just goes to show you can’t listen to some people and their supposed “sources”.
afrogoon – could not be more right when you compare the Chicharito signing to Torres.
Genuinely surprised how downbeat people are about the Arteta signing. Granted he has had some injuries, but in some ways you could argue he’s a better fit for us than Cesc. In particular, given our defensive frailties, Arteta’s stronger defensive game could be a decent addition to our midfield. He’s not the footballer Cesc is (but then who is), but in terms of realistic replacements, he’s actually one of the best I can think of. Plus, unlike all of the others options that Gambon etc are championing, he actually has Prem experience.
It’s all very well getting all moist about Hazard, but in the end he’s actually exactly the kind of player they usually moan about us signing. Small, lightweight, flair players with no premiership experience…!
albo, I’m not sure we can really say these were a good couple of days. There are still gaping holes in our squad, and it is obvious that we have panic bought on a massive scale but to a centennial raping by our ex-rivals. It is more like a battered wife being ecstatic because her husband comes home one evening and doesn’t beat her.
However, if Arteta can stay fit, then he slots well into the Cesc position, or rather plays alongside Song/Frimpong like Petit and Vieira used to (I am not comparing the quality BTW), making us tactically more flexible and better in defence. The good news is that Arteta will be given more freedom at Arsenal, as we are a much more attacking team.
This is what a google search on “Arteta set pieces” gave me:
26 Feb 2011 – David Moyes, the Everton manager, has moved Mikel Arteta off set piece duty in a bid to rediscover the Spaniard’s form.
Arteta’s Set Piece Delivery
http://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/…/6316-Arteta-s-Set-Piece-Delivery – Cached
20 posts – 9 authors – Last post: 4 Aug 2008
Yes, it’s getting bad enough now that it deserves it’s own thread. I don’t know what the deal is, whether it’s lingering injury, form, .
Hopefully, he will provide us with a good threat from dead ball situations. Something we have been sorely lacking.