Sorry pal, I don't care if you beg, it's military service for you...
So the big, fat, exciting news that had us all glued to whatever social network was talking about it was the story of Yann M’Vila. The journalists finally caught up with the story and suggested the deal was going to be struck at £17million. Julien Laurens, who apparently has a a direct line into M’Vila said the deal was going ahead. Matt Spiro (who told us all how average Park was against the grain last year) also confirmed he was coming. Then the Telegraph, then the Mail (haha! I know, I did reference them). Then Phillipe Auclair waded in and said that no offer had been made and he was unsure one would as he’s too expensive, violent and in poor form (what a reference). Where this story goes today is anyone’s guess.
Sadly, I have no steer on this one. All I know is that we’ve been in talks about a big name Ligue One star since February. I’d be quite surprised if we didn’t land him. He ticks all the Wenger boxes bar the price. It’s also interesting that we have a defensive midfielder who has performed quite well this year… yet we’re replacing him with someone else. I wonder why?
The Daily Mail (sorry) are saying that he is set to hold talks with the club about his future, he’ll be seeking assurances over his place in the team with the imminent purchase, perhaps, of someone 4 year younger. Now, some are suggesting that Song is going to move into a more advanced position next season. That won’t have come from anywhere within the club. Probably people picking it up from me communicating it as my biggest fear for the last 4 months.
Anyway… from what I’ve been hearing, that’s unlikely to be the case as we’ll be looking to fill that creative void left by Cesc this summer with, errr, a creative player. Not a free creative player either. A top notch one.
It’s clear to me that Jack Wilshere isn’t a Cesc Fabregas. He can be creative, but he loves to be in the thick of it. He’s like a half breed between Makelele and Cesc. I’m just not sure he’s the type who’ll grab us 20 assists a season. I might be wrong, but for me, he sits smack bang in the middle of the park. Not in a more advance role. Alex Song is not better in the middle of the park than Jack Wilshere. He’s certainly not good enough to be our creative force all season, so I wonder what the coach has in store for him if he’s looking elsewhere for the creative spark next year?
Again… Darren Dein is his agent, Real Madrid stories emanting in the press, clear the air talks are in the Mail… M’Vila is nearly in. It all looks very interesting doesn’t it?
Our forward line is going to be interesting next season. One thing we haven’t had for a while is proper experience. I’m sure Wenger noted how a 34 year old veteran of the Premier League came into the side and scored some important goals for us last season. If he keeps hold of Robin Van Persie, I think the vibe is quite strong for Clint Dempsey. He’s 29, he works incredbily hard and he’s got to that age where he’s found his shooting boots.
The key to having a good strike force is to have a mix of skillsets. Clint Dempsey will put his head on anything, he’ll hussle in the same way Adebayor used to and he’s more than happy to let fly from distance. He has that last twenty work ethic that can lift a team. Very similar to Rooney in that sense. Outside him, I’m not sure what we’ll do. Giroud looks like one of the hottest strikers in Europe at the moment, but with all these other big dollar moves we’re looking at I wonder if he’d be in budget? Joel Campbell could be a nice third option, but is he too raw like Afobe?
Like I said the other day… for all the Chamberlain hype, it’s clear he wasn’t ready this year. Let’s not make a similar mistake with Campbell and Afobe.
I think if we know Robin is off the year after (a very big if that he’s not off this year), we need to be signing our 2013 man now. We can’t buy in someone next summer and just hope they’ll come good straight away. There’s a fine balancing act to this summers dealings. I just hope we get it right for once. We haven’t managed to in well over 7 years now.
We also need to show the same desire to bring players in as we will to boot them out. Let’s not haggle up all summer and screw our plans. Get rid of them early doors.
- Vela £8million
- Denilson £3million
- Bendtner £6million
- Almunia £freeeeeeeeee
- Fabainski £3million
- Mannone £500,000
- Squillaci £500,000
- JD £4,000,000
- Diaby £4,000,000
- Song £25,000,000
- Chamakh £5million
- Park £2million
- Andrey £5mill (Update, not considered in the sums)
That’s £61,000,000 you could recoup at bottom of the barrel prices (bar Song, but he’s had a good season), plus another £595,000 a week you free up in wages. Factor in the £50million you have from the summer… well, you can work it out. That’s a great summers rebuilding you could manage with plenty of freed up squad places.
I know people will say that these players won’t leave on the salaries they’re on. Well, that’s only true if we’re charging too much to let them go. If wages and transfer fee are counted as one with football clubs… we might have to budge on our valuation. There’s no financial sense in not moving on a £12million Bendtner fee if you’re going to have to pay half his salary over the year. Move them on.
As for the Vertonghen story. Here is the issue as I see it. He’s in the last year of his deal. He thinks he should go for a pittance. If he goes for half his price, he’ll want double his salary. That’s not going to work at Spurs as they have a strict structure in place. That’s unlikely to happen at Arsenal. However, he’ll get what he wants at City or United. I also don’t believe it’s his dream to play for Spurs. Didn’t Hazard say something equally as bizarre a few months ago?
[twitter-follow screen_name=’LeGrove’ show_count=’yes’]
Anyway, as you can see, I’ve once again solved all of Arsenal’s problems this summer in under 1000 words. How would you make it happen for us next year?
Geoff/Pedro:
re Dempsey.
The only connection i still have is Clint Dempsey, a very very good friend of my son. He is on 28K a week, the highest paid at Fulham is Murphy at 40K
Arsenal have enquired twice about him and have bid 10 million in the last two weeks. He has moved down to Oxshott/Cobham and is reluctant to leave the London area and has inferred he doesn’t want to join us.Spurs and liverpool have also approached Fulham. Dempsey would love to play for Chelsea, but i doubt that will happen. He is not money motivated and his wife makes all the decisions. His very words were “i am open to offers”.
By the way we did bid for Schwarzer initially at 2 million then 4 but Hughes wouldn’t release him (last Summer)
Dempsey would be a perfect wenger signing, but unless he is telling porkies it won’t happen. Cheers.
Song would absolutely mop the floor with half of that list only Toure ,Busquets and Khedira had me sweating , Just . we also shouldn’t forget our back four which frequently forget to defend ,norwich was absolutely unacceptable and all to easy we shouldn’t need a DM for norwich .
Song has not had a great season
Any DM whose team conceded 47 goals can not be classed as a good season
The whole point of a DM is to protect the hole in front of the back 4 – Song has no idea how to do that, hes either wandered up field or tries to beat 2 players before passing.
if Mvila only gets 5 assists every season, i will be happy as it means he is back their doing his job
Song is way over rated – a few chips to a guy who can finish from anywhere dont make u any good.
What about the instructions players recieve? Vermaelen goes forward, Ramsey goes forward ( total garbage). Koscielny breaks up play when necessary, he is really saving us a lot of trouble. We need proper defensive coaching. That in my opinion is the biggest problem. How does Clichy play so well with City? I hope Bould does a good job with the defense.
Gooner63,
Bang on the money !!
“What about the instructions players recieve? Vermaelen goes forward, Ramsey goes forward ( total garbage). Koscielny breaks up play when necessary, he is really saving us a lot of trouble. We need proper defensive coaching. That in my opinion is the biggest problem. How does Clichy play so well with City? I hope Bould does a good job with the defense.”
Im sure Arsene asked him what he thought of the defence.
Bouldy said – first u next a LB who knows what a line is, then u need a DM who doesnt think he is Iniesta, and finally u need them all to play as a unit and learn that when someone goes forward, someone fills the gap
‘learn that when someone goes forward, someone fills the gap’
So who fills the gap when song goes forward. Ramsey? With him there is a gap anyway.
Core squad for next season – would this win the league?
Chesney, Robinson
Baines, Kos, Mert, Verm, Vert, Sagna
M’villa, Song, Diaby, Jack W, Arteta, Ox, Hoilett
RVP, Pod, Dempsey
-in reserve : Theo, Rosicky, Jenkinson, Santos, Gibbs, Gerv, Ramsey
-new signings would £ 45m ( but recoup £15m from sale of dead wood)
The Song hate’s crazy like I said ill give you Yaya Basquets and Khedira and maybe the two from Bayern That’s it…..! I heard Vidal and a few other miscellaneous name’s banging around ill tell you, They can’t touch song right now, half of um shouldn’t even be mentioned, im not on the guys cock at All mate but some of these names aint in the same league a Song. I remember everyone hating on Clichy like he wasn’t one of the best LB’s in the league .
‘learn that when someone goes forward, someone fills the gap’
So who fills the gap when song goes forward. Ramsey? With him there is a gap anyway.
But thats the whole point, its Songs responsibility to make sure that if he goes forward , there is a midfielder slotting in behind him, if there isnt then he shouldnt be going forward, but laying the ball off to the CM or someone outside him.
Ultimately its Songs responsibility if theres a gap or we end up 2 on 2 like we did against Norwich a lot. If Sagna and Gibbs go forward to provide width them Ramsey and Rosicky slot into the middle and Song drops back to allow Koz and Verm to cover the channels.
Basic football
I have been doing similar fantasy sales myself for months and my logic is very similar to yours. Frankly if you can’t sell some of the dross,give it away. The wages are the unseen cost and the thing that kill you. If the M’Vila story is true and I hope it is £60 k a week is not a bad wage to pay for one of Europe’s finest. Personally Ithink everything is in suspended animation until Sunday. If we can beat WBA the world is our lobster and things can proceed but the thought of Bayern needing towin and then having to qualify with a new squad and some players still not ready is terrifying. Please lad just win on Sunday and give us. Decent summer for once.
I think the potential likely signings like Dempsey and Hoilett made perfect sense but I would like Jaskelainen in as back up to Szczesny and Flappy packed off too.
There will need to be. Stewards about a team that need to offload three very average goalies in one go and four ver average strikers in the same window.For a team who never buy anyone we accumulate some real dross and that group does not include Arshavin. All of those players were bought rather than developed but the Wenger alchemy went awry. In truth we have always brought in dross like Mendes,Malz,Diawara and Bischoff not to mention Stepanovs and Cygan but we have gone a bit overboard this season.
But at the risk of being boring all that matters is win on Sunday.It would be nice if Spurs mess it up big time and Newcastle have a very tough assignment but w are so flaky nowadays I have absolutely no confidence we will do a good professional job and neither has any Gooner I know.
M’Vila and co can wait- but hopefully not too long.
‘Ultimately its Songs responsibility if theres a gap or we end up 2 on 2 like we did against Norwich a lot. If Sagna and Gibbs go forward to provide width them Ramsey and Rosicky slot into the middle and Song drops back to allow Koz and Verm to cover the channels.’
Unfortunately that never happens because all go forward. Gibbs stays up, Rosicky shouldn’t be playing deep when we attack, Ramsey wanders everywhere. The team is not organized. Blaming it all on just one player is what i feel is incorrect.
Now everbody saying M’Vila story was a make up.
Well, if you know Wenger you don’t believe in it anyway.
Another report suggests the M’villa story was fabricated by his agent to get a better deal from Inter Milan. http://www.theweek.co.uk/football/46793/arsenal-deny-mvila-deal-and-blame-agent-juve-circle-rvp
“Unfortunately that never happens because all go forward. Gibbs stays up, Rosicky shouldn’t be playing deep when we attack, Ramsey wanders everywhere. The team is not organized. Blaming it all on just one player is what i feel is incorrect.”
But it comes down to your role in the team and how your team plays
Chelsea have full backs who bomb forward, even CDs who do, but they have a DM who knows this and so stays in the gap ready to cover ie Mikel
Everton have or use Fellaini – but he ventures further forward because his defenders dont always go forward as much, and normally theres only 1 full back forward when fellaini goes forward.
They play it correctly so your never short at the back. At the end of the day its Songs judgement as to when he can go forward, and he gets it wrong a lot.
What ? The back four should have mopped the floor with any norwich threat . that was the problem,Basic defending , we had to win the game. tell the back four to do there jobs ,any CB and GK that conceded 47 should look at themselves first and four most .
Gooner63
I admit defeat. Hope song leaves as soon as possible.
Anyone that even mentions Diaby and a squad with capable of winning the league needs to see a doctor.
Great post Pedro, well thought out
Bould coached gibbs for years i doubt he’ll be looking to see him dropped.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again
Have Arsenal got their Yann or does it really Mata?
Tottenham opening bid for Vertonghen thrown out by Ajax
Cheap skates 🙂
fucking hell, I was reading through the comments and I just had to stop halfway through the first page:
I mean, ROBINSON???
what the fuck are these people smoking, it sure ain’t pot 😆
and please, please, please, selling Song would be just a bit daft, what this team needs is continuity, why sell an experienced ‘homegrown’ player when he has just become a bit good?
a player with (rare at Arsenal) superb fitness record at that?
yes, he has flaws, but I would really fancy seeing him in the conditions where there is competition for places in the first XI!
What if M’Vila comes in and picks up a long term injury, what then? Who replaces him? How are we really improving the squad by replacing like for like? You are really ready to trust Coquelin with a significant portion of games over Song?
Keep Song.
Well, unless somebody does bid 25m. Good god.
But, what’s wrong with having depth and rotation?
Even though I think M’Vila’s better, Song on balance is a good (if flawed) player. Nice to have in the squad. Gives us another option, a player to rotate, and even the ability to lock down (Song/M’Vila together) when we’re ahead.
Why is everyone saying Song had a bad season. He’s been great. 15 or so assists plus he mops up most situations in front of him. It’s our defence that’s been out of shape and bad. Apart from Sagna we have no decent full backs. That’s where I think we should be spending our money. If we buy some decent full backs plus another striker we’ll be good to go as we have enough in midfield especially in M’Vila signs.
Wilshere, Walcott, Ox, Song, MVila, Arteta, Rosicky, Gervinho, Coquelin, Frimpong & Yossi (if he stays) is more than enough.
Upfront we only have RVP & Podolski as the rest aren’t good enough so we need another top class striker.
Plus we need to get rid of Almunia, Squilaci, Djourou, Diaby, Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner, Park & Chamakh who all add to our wage bill and are not needed.
i won’t blame song for going forward too often as long as arteta is on the pitch.When song leave his position to going forward,arteta stay in the back to cover the back four.The problem is when arteta injured,no one can do that thing,and arteta’s determination make him a good emergency DM
still pissing myself laughing about this Robinson shit, anyone care to remind me his record against Arsenal of all clubs?
‘even Sp*rs know, even Sp*rs know, even Sp*rs know U R shit’
Arshavin leaves for half a season and he’s already won a league trophy!
FUCK!!!!
i hate when football agents make it public when our club is after their player in the hope a bigger club snatch them!!!!
this kind of shit doesnt happen with the likes of manuited or chelsea so why us!!!!!
players like di maria, ricky alvares and nearly campbell where snatched bcoz the agent opened his gob.
i hate people going on about blaming this player and that player for our defensive record. its everyones fault bar a few players…….
rvp doesnt track back or hassle defenders…
gervinho, i dont kno why he doesnt get the braids torn out of him even though hes the same as arshavin…..
ramsey…..nuff said…
song bilong is out of his mind….he should only produce those dinked balls 4-5 times a game……you would never catch gilberto or gareth barry that far up the pitch time and time again…
gibbs and santos leave us exposed while vermaealen is slacking.
walcott, benayoun, rosicky, sagna and kozzer come out with credit because they actually defend our team from attack.
im half and half with chezzer as hes still young but severly needs competition to be kept on his toes…
RANT OVER…….discuss please.
Wenger wont sign m’villa… he will go to inter….. same thing to ricky alvarez last summer……
reading some of the comments above people need to realise that song is not the sole reason for our defensive problems this season. Yes he has more assists than you would expect of a “defensive mid” but a lot of these are from deep anyway. When our creative department has gone AWOL for long periods of the game atleast he’s bringing something to the table.
Having a go at him for not sitting tight all game is ridiculous, he has to play like that because of our system and other players not doing THEIR part!!!!
Song is decent, not a world-beater, but decent enough. Although I do think m’vila will be better song is a good option and no way we should sell (unless he is indeed angling for a move as some suggested yesterday, in which case get him out!). And I doubt we would get £25m for him…
“and please, please, please, selling Song would be just a bit daft, what this team needs is continuity, why sell an experienced ‘homegrown’ player when he has just become a bit good?
a player with (rare at Arsenal) superb fitness record at that?
yes, he has flaws, but I would really fancy seeing him in the conditions where there is competition for places in the first XI!”
Some sense at last!,,,,
As I said earlier it would be just absolute stupidity to let him go or any of the starting players who have done well this season.
I can’t stand Walcunt but we have to keep him as well.
Selling Song would be dumb. He’s be a solid mid if M’Villa takes the DM role.. If you guys what a championship team with a deep squad, you wouldn’t want to sell Song, he’s a solid asset.
Sorry what’s this thing about a defensive midfielder? Does every team have to have one. I don’t remember a defensive midfielder being a nailed on starter in the 70s and 80s. Why shouldn’t Song play further up the pitch and who says it’s his fault we let in 47 goals? Are you sure Wenger sends him out with those instructions? Who plays defensive midfielder if you play 4-2-4?
i hoped M’Vila would be the one, but it looks more and more sceptical by the minute. I’d prefer Javi Martinez as he can also drop in at centre half.. Reads the game well and passes well. Don’t necessarily need a brute enforcer in there, but your team does need a bit of fight in the middle. We lack that quality somewhat but VP, Vermaelen and Podolski all carry have that fiery quality you sometimes need in the prem.
When you play al ot of high velocity games and with the emergence of the scum and local derbies, there is a lot of blood and guts games for Arsenal these days domestically. Wenger’s current teams lack a “we will not conceded” mentality (collectively and defensively) and a bit of bark to their tippy tappy bite when Robin doesn’t feel like scoring for the day.
Finally! SUGA3 comes in and talks sense, I mean some of you are nuts!! Robinson? SELL SONG? He isn’t doing his job? You lot obviously have no clue…we should stop selling our better players or experienced players, but you don’t mind selling Song…so when M’Vila comes in and becomes Diaby, you can get on his back for being either shit or fragile…what a bunch you are…same folks would say “Wenger should have gotten Song…” if he was playing for Juventus or City….It’s not Song’s only job in a 3 midfield team to defend, we don’t play with a “defensive midfielder” we play with 3, each rotating, problem is we are carrying a passenger in Ramsey, who can’t track back or is causing problems in the attack my standing next to Song demanding the ball, when he should (a) make space to receive in a dangerous goal bound area, (b) get back to defend if attack is being initiated by Song or Rosicky…add Sagna and Gibbs to the failing defensive issues and Vermaelen, with Szczesny standing like a “pole” when a shot is fired at goal. So much team defensive issues and you want Song sold for M’Vila?
so basically were slagging off song for taking responsibility ramsey’s not doing his job so some1 has to.
only arsenal fans could slag off their dm for getting 10 assists…. 1 every 3 games
Come on Bilbao.
Some have even said Arteta makes Song look good, maybe because they compliment each other, Song has the ball, Arteta gets back to defend, or Rosicky chases down if we lose the ball, I saw Ramsey do a Denilson several times against Norwich, he is either not fit, or can’t cut it in the league.He doesn’t create goals and doesn’t score enough to be in an Arsenal midfield. Rosicky doesn’t either, but he looks dangerous and faster than Ramsey.
if we actually brought in £60 million in transfer fees I seriously doubt we’d spend more that 40 on new players. I’m willing to bet that we definitely recoup more than we spend this summer. Doesn’t matter how much is available in the kitty, It is now the Arsenal and Wenger way to make a profit on transfers. This is the clubs true ambition, not trophies or winning but profit. Cynical but true. I’d love it to be proved wrong and I’d happily write a letter of apology to the board and Wenger if I were wrong but I’m very positive that won’t be necessary. Soon Wenger will come out with the same old guff about already having lots of players in lots of positions and players returning from injury being like new signings. He believes in this squad and give youth a chance etc. It’s all a smoke screen designed to justify not spending any of our money and some of the more stupid AKB’s will lap it up as usual. If they were just more honest about it, it would be easier to stomach but unfortunately honesty is no longer the Arsenal way. Sorry to be so cynical but years of false promises and being sold the ’emperor’s new cloths’ will do that to you.
Amen! HumAnimal….the vitrol some people spout is amazing!
Ins;
L. Podolski (11m), J. Martinez (16m), R. Adler(free), C. Erickson (14m) (41m)
out;
Almunia (free), Fabianski (1m), Mannone (500k), Squillaci (500k), Denilson (3m), Vela (7m), Arshavin (5m), Chamackh (4m), Park (1m), Lansbury (2m) (24m)
Squad;
GK: Szczesny, Adler, Martinez
LB: Gibbs, Santos, (Vermaelen)
CB: Koscielny, Vermaelen, Bartley
CB: Mertesaker, Djourou, (Martinez)
RB: Sagna, Jenkinson, (Coquelin)
CM: Martinez, Song, Coquelin
CM: Wilshere, Arteta, Ramsey
AM: Erickson, Diaby, Rosicky
LWF: Podolski, Gervinho
RWF: Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain
CF: Van Persie, Bendtner, (Podolski)
Best we’ll ever do in my opinion…
falcao is class. Sweet left foot. Why we aren’t buying those types is beyond me
Vela £8million (maybe 5 million)
Denilson £3million (maybe 1.5 million)
Bendtner £6million (ok)
Almunia £freeeeeeeeee (ok)
Fabainski £3million (out of contract?)
Mannone £500,000 (ok)
Squillaci £500,000 (free based on salary)
JD £4,000,000 (not being sold)
Diaby £4,000,000 (not being sold)
Song £25,000,000 (not being sold but 15 million tops!!)
Chamakh £5million (ok)
Park £2million (ok)
Andrey £5mill (Update, not considered in the sums) (ok)
Looks like 18 million to me, not 60….
lol..why do arsenal fans always support the underdogs. bilbao are gonna get well beat tonight
oops, I mean 25 million. Still a long way off 60 million but being forced to sell RVP would get it closer.
Goal Radamel Falcao
WOW!!! WHAT A GOAL FROM FALCAO!!! Open up the top drawer and reach in and take that one out. The Colombian races into the box on the right before cutting on to his left and curling an absolute pearler into the top left corner past the despairing Iraizoz.
agreed dale… im not trying to say that song is untouchable… but he has his flaws and he’s still only 24, getting better every season. and to blame him for our poor season is stupid to say the least.
some poor soul said that u cannot be a good dm if ur conceding 47 goals in a season… by that logic koscielny is shit. the things people come up with
I think wilshere will eventually be moved further up the field at some point because he’s too good.
I think wenger has a plan for ramsey, eisfeld, oxo who can all fill in the creative boot. Not saying i agree with him, just predicting his moves.
If we do sign m’villa, we will be selling diaby, denilson is already gone and frimmy will go out on loan here’s the way i see it:
CM/DM: song, m’villa, coquelin
CM: wilshere, arteta, ramsey
AM: oxo, ramsey, eisfeld
wings: theo, gervinho, oxo, myiachi,
CF: RvP, poldi, chamakh (yeah i’d keep him as a third choice), campbell
I think we might be a bit short in the wing department as imo miyiachi and oxo aren’t ready yet and oxo might be used in a more central role so there is room for a winger. I’d love to see hazard, he was again unbelievably good this weekend.
Finally, I don’t mean to disappoint but m’villa isn’t a done deal yet and we’ve been there before, if he ends up at Inter or Real let’s not get angry and start calling everyone working in the club’s management a cunt.
Atletico vs athl madrid… brilliant match so far
Song is shit end of any player given his chances over the time he has would and should have learned their position better then he has managed. Yes he has inproved but it was hard not to. Blaming ramsey haha fuck wits his still learning the game song should have seen what was going on and altered his game to compensate even better would have been to tell ramsey where he needed to be. The fact song never made a tackle or a telling contribution other then for them sums him up. I would keep him now but only why the new dm beds in but would have sold him years ago.
Gooby
Hopefully not true. Jack offers so much in the engine room. He loves getting stuck in and dictating from deep.
I don’t want him to learn on the job like Cesc. Cesc was moved there behind Adebayor at the time in 2009 and prior to then I’d never seen Cesc so poor.
He grew into the role obviously. But Jack is no Cesc. No round pegs in square holes. Lets give ourselves to best chance of winning by playing everyone where comfortable.
Wilshere has no experience in a #10 role at senior level, though he excelled in the position at youth stage.
nick im slightly confused at something u said… apparently song NEVER MADE A TACKLE. u dont have to slide to tackle u know.
maybe i misunderstood u
Arsene Wenger has some issues but surely he is not going to sell Song. He is much better than that. Anybody who thinks that Song should be sold is clearly not talking football.
and 16% percent of our goal tally is quite a telling contribution.
That’s what 40m gets…..Sheer Class!
gotta ask yourself how bilbao got this far in the first place
Dale
Song made ZERO tackles against Norwich Ramsey made ONE tackle.
Norwich of all teams were walking through our midfield with zimmer frames unchallenged. I guess someone forgot to tell them that we play with 3 rotating?
I would add TV and Gibbs to the failing defence as well as Chesney, but as far as I know we’re not bringing in a better player in their positions like we are supposed to be with Song.
Hum do you go to games? Not saying your not a fan if you dont or anything like that! But when you see matchday even live games on telly it dont show the true worth of some players song to me looks half harted and if you go to games must see where im coming from?
Deluded brainwashing maniac dictator OUT.
This just proves what we’ve learnt the hard way, that youngsters can only get you so far
Gooby
Jack by his own admission is shit at shooting. Doesn’t mean he can’t score but I don’t think he sees himself in that position. I thought he might have been able to play there too when he emerged but he knows himself best.
cant afford on my student budget lol… i appreciate that he doesnt work as hard as say de rossi or gattuso and thats probably why people blame him… he could be much better but hes still very good. i think i’d love us to have mvila as the anchor, song/arteta slightly infront of him and rozza/arteta/jacko in the playmaker role
Nick
You don’t need to go to games if you know anything about football and how a team should work. Everyone is clutching at straws with Song for fear of us not getting a better player, dumbed down to the max, just because he’s got some assists? So TV is a genius then player of the season? The question they need to ask themselves is if Song continues the way he is will we win the league or CL. Will we fuck. He might be the highest scoring CM in history but we might be conceding 50 a season by then. We’re not looking for glamour football we’re looking for effective football. It’s time we reverse the trend before we become a laughing stock and Song is not helping that.
Thats the most important lesson Wenger needs to lern players play best in the position they are comfortable or even suited to yes at junior level players change from striker defender and vice versa but at senior level its rear so like utd do sign the specialist for the rquired position not a project wenger miss uses utility players imo
Dale
The rotating 3 argument is an excuse for an ill disciplined midfield. My sons sunday league club play a rotating 3 as well and they know fuck all about midfield and get battered regularly.
Nick
It’s possible that Wenger wanted to build a team with every player converted to a different position just to prove he can coach anyone to play anywhere that’s how fucking deluded the man is.
2301 solution buy a very good playmaker so song has no reason to advance and buy a rock solid dm as competition to keep him focused… i think we have a gem of a player on our hands
2301 your preaching to the choir buddy I think he represents all thats bad with wenger and this latest crop of players!
Why is every one throwing shit at Song? He has made one of his best years in the club and he can still develop his game to a really good box to box midfielder (yaya toure ish, besides shooting and speed).
If any of the starting players should be sold this summer besides gervinhio (want to se second year) and Gibbs (homegrown rule) it is Walcott. He is clearly not a football player and could be sold to the NFL as a runner or what they call it. If it is possible to keep him happy as an impact sub (his brilliant for that role) and on a matching salary to that, I would keep him otherwise cash in on him.
Out: the “post list” switching Song with Wally 18 £
In: Manninger 2-4 £, Hummels/Sahko 18-24 £, Mvila 18 £, Podolski 13 £? and Dempsey 12 £?.
Spent: 67 £
GK: Chezzer
CB: Kos
CB: TV
RB: Sagna
LB: Santos
DMC: Mvila
Holding MC: JW
Attacking MC: Dempsey
RWF: Ox
LWF: Podolski
What ever he wants position: RVP
Bench: Manninger, Hummels, Gibbs, Song, Arteta, Gervinhio, Wally.
Injury list: Diaby (who won’t be sold).
You can always dream…
HumAnimal
Agree we need a good playmaker, let’s just hope that Song hasn’t convinced Wenger that he can save money and play him there instead. Has this been Songs motive all along?
In terms of the skills required to play DM, I actually think Le Coq is a more accomplished player in that position than Song, better positioning, cleaner tackling, well disciplined, better brain all round. Le Coq doesn’t have the experience but should get more games next season.
PK
We’re not saying it’s only Song it just so happens he’s the subject of the discussion at the moment. Walcott I could go on about all day long. TV has been bollocks most of the season (once you remove his goals, just like if you remove Songs assists) it goes on and on.
Jack excelled at a youth level in a creative role, means he’s got it somewhere in him.
I can see him being moved further up the pitch if he proves to be “too good” to sit deep
coq is amazing and will overtake song very soon…
u know the problem isnt song or even our defenders
the problem is that we try to play possession footy without having good passer
u cant hope to keep the ball aslong as u have ramsey, feo and gerv on the field at once…
thats why barca do well every player in every position can pass…
u cant conced to a team who never touches the ball. so dont blame song
blame wenger for not buying mata and getting gervinho instead. blame him for sticking with ramsey instead of gourcuff. blame him for letting nasri and cesc go. im sorry but if we had nasri mata cesc arteta in the same squad… the opposition would never even touch the ball
2301 i would agree with you on coqolin but my fear for him is wenger will use him as a utility player like flamini until he gets bored and leaves or fucks up and gets turned on like eboue!
Jack still needs to learn the game. Moving him forward handicaps us.
Cesc got away with it because his speed of thought is out of this world, and even his struggles extended to months in that position when moved forward.
I want a fluid side. No learning a new position on the job.
If Song was to be sold we should use the cash to bring in Mats Hummels. Hummels, M’Vila and then a cheap LB would sort our defence out, as long as Steve Bould gets to coach them. A defence of Hummels and Vermaelen would compliment each other, especially seeing as you’d have Koscielny and Mert as your back up.
Young, talented playmaker in the Erikssen/Gotze/Tello mold a pacey tricky winger and we’re done.
So if Song were to leave Hummels, LB, AM and RW.
if the club have ‘budgeted’ for not getting int he champions league then surely this year we can use the champions league money in its entirety to buy, as well as the Fabregas/Nasri/Toure/Adebayor money to full effect.
But that’s me using common sense, it seems that’s in very short supply at Arsenal these days.
My first port of call if i was Ivan would be to get Usmanov on the board and see if he can ‘get’ us some big commercial deals from the companies he owns. For example MegaFon (makes about $3-4 Billion a year) to give us a stupidly large deal. Facebook, Twitter any of the huge energy/production companies he owns/has shares in.
Stack the cash then spend it.But again, i doubt anything near that would happen and upset the apple cart of free money for the BoD
Remember guy’s that we don’t know if Jack will be the same player if/when he shakes of the injury problem’s. We need to bring in a quality AM to assist Rosicky.
Agreed that le coq will be a much superior cm that Song.
If a good offer comes along them flog him and throw in Walcot.
HumAnimal
I agree about the posession football and another reason why I don’t see Song as being good enough. Wenger won’t change the posession football because he wants to be like Barca but he’s trying to do it on the cheap with inferior quality players and that doesn’t work and it’s blatantly obvious to see. Song gives away multitudes during a game. Why do you think we say he has an imaginery friend?
Ramsey is just not ready by any means but Wenger won’t do the right thing which is either sell him to a Championship team which is about his level or loan him out until hes ready. So I would like to see Ramsey gone too because as long as he’s still there we have a Denilson situation on our hands because Wenger can’t do the right thing when it needs to be done.
kwik like i said you could sell Song get Hummels and have cash left over (if Pedro’s estimates of £25 Million are right), i think we win in that situation hands down. A centre defence of Hummels and Verm with M’Vila in front of them, solid….surely even Wenger couldn’t fuck that up!!
Sell Song, get Javi Martinez for 34m….this game is shattering a lot of nonsense talk…not saying J. Martinez is shit, but what has he done in this game to show he’ll be much better than Song in defence or Defensive MF?
Gunner2301, agree. Ramsey COULD be a good player but needs to go elsewhere either permanently or until he’s ready.
We cannot afford anymore to be a bedding in team that allows young prospect to try and find their feet because statistically most never do…
CescAppeal, what makes you feel Dortmund want to sell Hummels? They just won their league and want another go at CL, they are buying quality players, why would they want to sell Hummels??
Cesc appeal
Don’t think we’ll get any more than 15m for Song. Still a half decent price.
I would actually prefer Hummels partner Subotic . Just think that he is more mobile. Agree with dale ….why would dortmund want to sell.
And i hate to keep getting on Ramsey, but if we are talking of fuck ups this season, Song is allowed to get away with murder simply because, Ramsey is so shit, i don’t see what he adds in the team, he makes everyone’s game slower and no direction, he’s been the focal point most of this season and we have not looked like the Arsenal of a few years with beautiful play.
Cesc
It’s possible. I think any defender is going to struggle with the high line we play and with our low quality midfield that can’t keep the ball. If you think about it like I said in my earlier post Wenger wants to be Barca but he doesn’t have the money so he thinks he can create his own cheaply. We also have ill disciplined players who can’t press the player with the ball and win the ball back quickly they can do it for about 15 minutes but don’t have the discipline to do that for a full match.
That’s why Barca are successful with the way they play and teams sometimes don’t even get a shot in the whole match against them but contrast that with us trying to do a poor imitation of them who lose posession easily and get caught out on the counter regularly. Between Milan and Sunderland we conceded 6 goals in 7 shots. We have a long way to go and hanging on to players like Song and Ramsey is going to make that “long” even longer.
Dale
On that one I agree. Ramsey should not be playing, he’s a good Championship player. Wenger feels he has invested so he must play him regardless. He’s going into another blindness phase where he believes if he continues playing him he will come good. How many players like this can we carry?
Atletico Madrid defending as a team, And countering with Diego scoring….boom
Why didn’t we buy Falcao? Wenger you cunt.
Perhaps but I’d love to have their manager as well, BvB, Arsenal it’s just a step up for sheer club profile and international media attention. However you could totally understand if none of them wanted to move, great thing they’ve achieved over there.
It’s how Wenger envisaged out club being. Difference is Gotze was on 20 000 euros a week until a few months ago. Unlike Ramsey, Denilson, Bendtner, Vela etc who had money thrown at them for zero proof of talent!
The best chance we have of getting Hummels is to bring in Klopp as the next manager when Wengers contract expires and maybe we will get Goetze as well.
Diego is lazy as an AM, but after he failed at Juve, we should have been in for him…not sure that would translate to success, but he’d be much better than Ramsey
Goal Diego Ribas
GOALLLLLL!!!!!1 3-0 TO ATLETICO!!!! DIEGO WITH THE THIRD!!! That is another fantastic goal. We have been spoilt by the quality on show tonight. Diego carries the ball forward before dancing his way past Amorebieta on his way into the area. The Brazilian then composes himself before firing a left-foot shot past Iraizoz and into the far corner.
2301
but i suppose u could say that its only his adventurous balls that go astray (snicker) but if he had a proper creator infront of him he wouldnt have to play like that. he could just focus on breaking up play and distributing to the nearest player…
I used to cring when people said Ramsey was ready to take over from Cesc….i always asked “how?” what has he shown that makes us secured in how we played to win a trophy? Not even Wilshere….now I think Ox would be better in that slot, even at his younger age.
The real central issue of our problems is Wenger awarding of massive contracts to players who have consistently failed and we can’t evens ell on because of it. That’s what i find astounding when he sits there and says ‘its not that easy to move some of our players on’…well that’s because of you you idiot!
Who is going to pay Ramsey £50 000 in the premiership aside from us? £55 000 to Djourou? £60 000 to Diaby? £60 000 to Almunia? And so on
Thomas
Falcao, Hulk, Cavani, Levezzi, Llorente, Aguero are the type of players we should have if we are a big Club, but Wenger will not spend on ready made talent, although that’s changeing now, he’s only 7 years too late. Maybe it will take him another 7 years to bring himself to pay what the going rate is for top talent. I wouldn’t hold your breath though.
Wenger prefers quantity over quality. Funny thing is that he doesn’t play quantity and sticks to his trusted 11 possibly 15 players but doesn’t venture much beyond that unless there are injuries. So why the massive squad? Why spend all those wages on all those players only not to use them? We could forego the quantity and buy quality players like Falcao, Cavani if Wenger wasn’t such a contradictory stubborn fucker.
Dale
No on Diego. The guy has a career of failing to impress.
Brazilian coach after coach after coach have failed to give him any opportunities because he can’t cut it at the highest level.
Only 1 season at Juve after the fanfare signing tells it own story.
Dale Oxo has to start on Sunday for the pure energy and forwardness he brings to the middle. You can tell RVP loves playing with him as well. if he starts Ramsey are team is void until he’s taken off
I would flip Walcott for a good AM so fast…
I agree with the signing of a ‘young’ CAM to fill Cesc’s boots. But it has to be a proven one a la Gotze. Not some obscure player from Dynamo Kiev’s U18’s who no one has ever heard of
So, cocksuckers
How did Fran Merida fare in the game? 😆
this defeat takes me back to 2006…feel bad for bilbao. Hope we can swipe a few of their players though, they seem a good lot
@zeus…agreed, that’s what i meant by lazy AM….but surely, he’d be better than Ramsey as an AM.
@CescA I Swear, if i see Ramsey as a starter in a very important must win game on Sunday, I’d conclude Ramey has something on Wenger would be a right idiot to start Ramsey in that game.
Bade
Hehe. If Fran had stayed he could have been in the team a bit now.
HAHAHA Bade, before this match, i went to search for Merida…what’s he up to nowadays? He turned down a contract to be a nobody at Atleti, he could have been the man ahead of Ramsey had he signed that contract
Cesc
That;s why I don’t understand how these players can get increased contracts. I would quite happily sit there and tell players like Djourou, Almunia, Ramsey to go fuck themselves. They have no argument whatsoever to offer and the Club has just rolled over because the moneys there to lavish on them.
Ramsey has nowhere to go in the PL where he would get paid what he is getting with us. He’d be on 15k if he was lucky and getting the odd game like Spearing does for Liverpool or Cleverly at Man U and if he was performing like he has, he would disappear back to the Championship.
I can just imagine Wenger sweating on losing Djourou because he puts forward an argument that he’ll go to Fenerbache or Galatasaray if he doesn’t get his 50k pw. Who else is paying their 5th choice CB 50k outside of City who have quality so have to pay for it?
Wenger is turning a blind eye to all of this because his judgement would be called into question and by increasing their salaries that’s how he lets them know he still values them. Self indulgent Wanker.
Why are they crying? Don’t they know about the 2nd place trophy? Wenger said he’d hav that for 20 years.
frankly i’d take a europa lge trophy now if someone offered me
When you get beat 3-0 in a final, why d fuck are you crying???? Bilbao’s No 5 SUCKED ass, and Javi Martinez was not in this game….no 34m splashing,
Merida
To think that Wenger was prepared to put him on a big long term contract. Say’s it all really.
Arsenal vs Man Utd…..HAHA!
Falcao— KILLER
munain doesnt have ze mental stregntz needed to play for arsenal… crying before the whistles blown… blimey he would have a mental breakdown if he signed for arsenal
kwik, prhaps Merida was not liking London and wanted the warmth (dressing room bench) of Madrid
Ramsey missed a year with a broken leg leading up to that he was starting to really look the part he needs to learn but our whole midfield look shit put him with utd he plays less games learns his position from an older pro then takes over with us his the older pro!
Dale,
He’s on loan somewhere in 2nd division there
Kwik,
Hahahaha 😆
no fran merida….strange eh!
I’ll find him on google….
No insults, but our level is Europa, this is what is winnable with what we have, no shame, but until UEFA makes it more financially viable, Arsene and clubs like ours wouldn’t mind striffing just to be disgraceful also rans in CL…CL should be for Champions only….my view.
HumAnimal…lmao…about Muniain at Arsenal…at least Jack waited til after the whistle.
Commentator: “The occassion seemed to be too much for them in the first half.
By the time they came to, they were already 2 nil down”
Nick, ha he gone to Manure, he’d be sold or on Sunderland’s bench…Cleverly is better than Ramsey, in my opinion…even before the leg break, i scratched my head when people said he was the next big thing.
Nick
That’s what I have been arguing we should be doing with all the youth. Let them compete and unseat an experienced player then we know they are good enough. Otherwise you lower the quality of the team as we have seen and there is no barrier of quality established at the Club.
Why did we not get mata was it money? If so the differance from his cost and gerviniho must make it seem the wrong choice now! Silver mata villia they know how to make em who they got now lets get em 🙂
Howard Webb and Family
http://p.twimg.com/AserChLCAAI-Yf2.jpg
Your Comment HereDale
Munich beat Madrid. Madrid assembled a 1/4 of a billion squad.
Bilbao…just learning, you can’t take babies to a final and expect them not to cry when spanked.
If we tolerate this season then Wenger knows he can get away with anything. A smoother ride to 3rd/4th next year and no trophy and he’ll still know he won’t get the sack because he got away with this season.
The message we as fans are sending out is that we will tolerate the same mediocrity as Wenger does in the squad in our manager and board.
The good news is Le Coq’s gonna replace Song as DM…….the bad news is Song’s replacing RvP!
I’d’ve saved that for joke Friday if I didn’t consider it an actual possibility!
Dale
I scratched my head when we bought him. He;s a good Championship player nothing more. But then again I scratched my head quite a lot with Wenger. Kos I scratched my head but he turned out good, Squillaci didn’t, Jenkinson had me questioning if out of our massive squad we have nobody to play RB and have to go to League 2? 😯 Park has given me head sores I’m scratching so much trying to understand that one. Chamakh i feel like I’ve got head lice.
zeus…but Munich assembled quality players, some not so expensive, others right money for right talent….we should be like Bayern and Atletico Madrid (got Falcao for what he was worth)
telarse
That one had me in stiches you should have saved it though unless you;ve got a better one for Friday. 😆
Humanimal- It shows how much he cares and he is a kid FFS! Muniain is a gem but had a poor game.
WOW…Madrid are 1 game away from 100 points. How is that even possible?
2310 we see the same problems sure others do why cant wenger?
Dale ramsey was/ is a great player in the making wenger has to look at whats gone wrong imo Ramsey feel away after speed death not an excuse but it all went down hill for him from there he has been shit but wenger keeps picking him!
Cesc
If we dropped out of the top 4 Wenger wouldn’t get sacked. Most would want to give him the opportunity to get us back in for sentimental value.
2301…Ramsey was more a head scratcher cos even Ferguson saw something in him…..forget Squillaci and Park (who to be fair NEVER, got a chance to be judged), I didn’t see what made Ramsey on par with say Cesc, Nasri.
goon im just poking fun!!! i can only imagine what it feels like… plus atletico madrid is more like a nation than a club… dont mind me
bilbao not madrid sorry
I’m hearing the new excuse is Ramsey is down because of Gary Speed…what? that was his uncle? Before Speed, he’s been awful, but we believed he’d adjust, he only got worse, he shouldn’t be starting so many games for us, even if Gary Speed were still alive.
Athletic are a fantastic club with a progressive coach and players. It just didn’t go their way tonight. Happens. I think they would beat us comfortably.
iffy the goon May 9, 2012 22:02:39
WOW…Madrid are 1 game away from 100 points. How is that even possible?
Good coaching and tactically astute manager.
http://www.premiershiptalk.com/2012/05/08/wenger-tips-midfielder-to-bounce-back/
When Wenger tells Ramsey he is playing him on the left to balance the team should he be questioning the logic?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-relaxed-ramsey-will-score-goals
Dale dont be a plank 🙂 im not saying its excuse just pointing out time line ramsey was direct had good work ethic and ability thats why everyone was in for him!
Deluded maniac dictator OUT.
Dale
Wenger was softening the blow after the sale of Cesc and Nasri and Cesc was playing along with the game saying he wasn’t worried that Ramsey and Jack would fill the gap he left. Maybe Wenger took his word for it not considering that Cesc was just being polite and couldn’t give a fuck really.
Bollocks im off
Nick
I think it’s more a case of him being a good Championship player who has found it difficult to step up. With the Wenger youth fantasy, it doesn’t matter anyway. There will be no loan, no sitting on the bench it’s either sink or swim and it will take 200 games to sink, before anyone thinks maybe a mistake has been made and he’s not what we thought he was or would be.
Ramsey couldn’t be at an easier going Club, Rewards for failure, wads of cash for underperformance and masses of games an undeserved CL experience. If he’d have been at any other top Club he would have been binned after this season. I have a feeling it will take another manager to come in and do that though. Arsene wouldn’t he has his favourites who he will stand by no matter how poor they are or how inconsistent their performance. I put Diaby and Walcott in that bracket of players he would not get rid of also.