So we didn’t sign anyone… 2 September, 2008
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
Yesterday was a mental day in the transfer market. Lots of deals going on but the headlines are going to go to Manchester City. In the morning they have an agreement for a takeover by one of the richest men in the world, by the evening they’re sending out bids all over Europe for the best players in the world. In the end, they only signed Robinho, outbidding Chelsea but I’m sure they will be a very busy club in January.
Chelsea were to first to do it, when Roman Abramovich came in. Now we’ve got another European super power were money is no object and it’s Manchester City. As funny as it was thinking of how fucked off Chelsea must have been not getting Robinho and how City nearly stole Berbatov off their local rivals, however this now means that soon enough it will become a ‘big 5′.
What does that mean for Arsenal? Well with things as they are I’m quite worried but that is really a debate for next summer. I don’t think City will have enough to challenge for this season’s title. Maybe after a few January signings they’ll be up there but they will have played half a season by then.
Enough about them, what about us? What did we do yesterday? Well, I heard from someone close to the club that we made a bid for Alonso that was a few million under Liverpool’s valuation. I heard this morning that we met that valuation later on in the evening but a deal was never sorted out. I don’t really know whether I wanted to hear that. Yes, because it was some intent in the transfer market. No, because I’ll be fucked off we hadn’t sorted it out weeks ago.
I stayed up last night, watching Sky Sports News like every other football fan in the country watching this saga unfold. There was so much going on, but nothing about Arsenal. We played Chelsea in a reserve game at Barnet and Wenger was there, he was asked:
Will you be signing anyone?
“No”Will anyone be leaving?
“No”“I have to go, I’m very busy.”
That last bit left a chance but I don’t know why I ever felt that. It got to about 11:30pm and I started to finally come to terms that we weren’t going to sign anyone. I carried on watching, I told myself it was fun just watching this Man City thing unfold but really I know I was just sitting there waiting for any Arsenal news.
I couldn’t sleep, a few times I sat up, turned the TV back on, checked Arsenal.com. Nothing. I waited until the morning, still with the faintest of hopes that Wenger had strengthened our squad. So I woke up this morning, rushed downstairs to the computer and went straight to Arsenal.com praying that Xabi Alonso’s picture was splashed across the home page. Who was there? Emmanuel Eboue. With Wenger saying he is a ‘pass master’. I swear they did that on purpose, just to infuriate me further.
Now it’s Vela up there with the headline: Wenger: Vela class is positive for our future. It’s now Wenger’s plan to remind us what players we already have.
I am very angry with it all today. Well not angry, more frustrated mixed with disbelief. Wenger will talk his way out of it and the board will bow down to him. I’m not going to bother going into this any further today but I want to remind everyone how Wenger has lied to us over the summer in another post. If we can stay fully fit Arsene’s plan will all fall into place, but if someone gets injured now then we’re screwed.
Goodbye for now then, speak to you soon.
1ST
Wow! I had the strangest dream last night..
Some crazy bunch called abu dhabi brought Man city and want to take over the footballing world by doing a “chelsk”. In one day, they laid out 300 million euros in possible transfers and manged to land some doode called Robinho for a princely sum…Phew, thank god it was only a dream…
Couldn’t agree more!
I resided my self to this state of affairs after Inler/Barry fell through.
If Barry went we would have Alonso right now, and i still want to know what happened with Inler. It looked like we were right on his tail and the deal was materializing well.
That said, as i resided in this, we have competion and hungry players. not to mention an international DM who has just been in 2 international finals and got DM the tourny in both. And he has a seasons Premireship experience.
i was talking about Song if you were struggling to name that player.
Things are not as dire as so many fickle Arsenal fans say. So we didn’t sign a DM. Consider these points.
- I read that Benitez wanted 17 million pounds for Alonso, even though he was cup tied. Even if he wasn’t cup tied, I’m sorry, he’s worth no more than 11 million. I’m glad Wenger didn’t throw money away.
- Everyone is saying we have no DMs. What about Song? What about Diaby? What about Denilson? What about Bischoff? I really think Song can be the player we need. He’s a hard tackler and he’s improved leaps and bounds to the point where he was voted on the team of the tournament at the ACN
- Something may happen in the January transfer window.
- Give the team a chance before writing them off and saying Wenger lied to us. It’s clear he tried to sign someone, but it didn’t happen. So the fuck what. Wenger has single handedly brought this team to where it is. He deserves a bit of slack from all you glory hunting plastics that have joined the Arsenal ranks.
Man City are not better than Chelsea or Manure but they are certainly strong enough to take 4th place away from us. Let’s hope we don’t do a Leeds Utd when we don’t qualify for UCL next season. I think even 6th place is going to be tough for us as even Aston Villa look better than us. Let’s hope we avoid the biggest disgrace of all of having the Spuds finish ahead of us this season. Oh well, at least I’m not a season ticket holder and so I don’t have to watch yet another season of futility. Suddenly, David Dein looks like a fricking genius. Kroenke save us! We need your mulah!
This is coming to a stage where I’m starting to give a fuck.
With all that Wenger said at the end of last season, he adressed our problems and said that his priority was to keep hold of the first XI. Well, he didn’t manage to do ANY of those things. He said that the fans would be “very assured”. Assured about what? Nasri, ok, he’s gonna come good, but what else has happened? Nothing, besides losing some vital, vital players..
Wenger is so fookin full of himself, and even though he’s brought a lot of good to this club, the money is there to be used, as the board have been saying for months.. If we had decent backup on every position, that would have been fine, but we don’t have that!!
Wenger is an economist, and is doing everything out of a financial aspect. Football is not just economy, it’s passion.
Im not saying we should spend £30m+ on Berbatov or Robinho, but STRENGTHEN THE TEAM WHEN IT’S SO FUCKING OBVIOUS WE NEED DEPTH! Not just more depth, but depth. Plain.
Cheers. See you all in the 1/8-final of CL and at fifth place in the league.
Eboue a pass master, my ass.
Marv. that’s the kind of dream that happens if you stay up too late drinking in the ‘holic’s bar! You’ll be muttering Rick Astley under your breath soon…
Arsenal is a good business for the board. However the club was nearly set for a competitive season and now only time will tell. Like everyone else I feel we needed a player or two but Wenger is looking long term. He is not much interested in the here and now. So it looks like a miracle is needed to keep Fabregas fit for every game and hope that RVP stays fit and everyone else plays to 100% because that is what it will take to repeat last season and we overachieved by a mile last year. At the end of the day we will still get behind them and the fans will be there after Wenger et al are gone. I’ll be in the green zone watching till I die come what may-shame Wenger has lost the plot.
@Jrockdc I totally agree. We can’t just pay over the odds for players, and as someone on another blog said this morning (Goodplay I think) it’s not like opening the Argos catalogue.
It seems that Wenger did try and buy players, but the ones he wanted just didn’t come off.
We have some serious quality in the team already, and when our injured players like Rosicky and Eduardo return, it’ll be like a whole rafter of new autumn signings.
the man wanker, sorry wenger has lost d plot. His flagrant disregard for the sensibilities of the loyal fans is disgraceful. He has clearly shown a lack of ambition by his inaction in the transfer market. Its laughable when he keeps dreaming about winning titles. Win titles with denilson, eboue and diaby at the heart of midfield?. come one!. These squad is too thin, tooe slght and too inexperienced. Compare the sizes of the players with the glorious invincibles which is the last title winning squad we produced. Lets not delude ourselves, this man is past it. he lacks the mental resources to propel any meaningful title challenge. Mr wenger, thanx for your contributions to arsenal. However, its time to go and show your frugal character elsewhere. U clearly dont belong here anymore, period
ABsolutely spot on mate. Same happened to me, was awake till 2 waiting and waiting for some thing to come up. Eyes fixed on sky sports news and laptop in my lap refresshing newsnow arsenal page. how on earth we didnt buy anyone i have no idea. God forbid, cesc gets injured, who will come into his place. i am amazed after all three games of this season wenger praising how good denilson has played. Am i the only one who is so blind that i saw him passing balls to opposition so many times. Cant bear the thought of another season without any trophy, but i am afraid i have to live with it now. God help us.
Heh, well, I wonder how many times I’ve heard fans and Wenger say “He’ll be like a new signing for us” bla bla bla.. The fact is, it’s more likely that RvP and Rosicky will be the new injured players. It’s no coincidence they’ve been injured for so long.
And one of the “regulars” Wenger bout - Silvestre - has a serious injury record for the past two years.
YIPPI!
What you were doing in England at that hour was the same with thousands of Fans across the World.AW is super lazy and the results for the last 3 years are ample testimony to that.What is worse, in the height of arrogance, he ridicules FRIENDLY Ramos who won CCup beating Chelsea in just 5 months in office.Another manager joins the unhealthy relationship existing with most of his peers.It translates into isolation termed SELF BELIEF by AW.
Self belief will fly in opposing grounds and will be strong at home-that transaltes to 72 ponits
Now the BOD at Arsenal must ASK him to come out NOW AND TELL THE FANS WHERE HE EXPECTS TO BE COME MAY.If he fails again,it is time to say goodbye.
Amazing he has not bothered to address the FANS NOW.
Enough of bulshitting with Eboue & Vela
totally agree with the post.
and that eboue story was a kick in the testicles this morning, while other club’s are showing off their new signings on their websites.
i think we have become somewhat of a joke this summer and arsene has made so many stupid bloody comments that went unfulfilled.
ARSENE JUST GO BACK TO DOING THINGS THE WAY YOU NORMALLY DO. DONT EVEN SAY ANYTHING IF YOU CANT DELIVER, OR EVEN TRY TO DELIVER!
Will you be signing anyone?
“No”
Will anyone be leaving?
“No”
“I have to go, I’m very busy.”
DOESN’T SOUND VERY BUSY TO ME. A PIECE OF ADVICE. SHUT YOUR MOUTH IN FUTURE AND DON’T BULLSHIT FANS ABOUT HOW YOU’RE GOING TO DO THIS AND THAT. VERY FRUSTRATING.
“And we have to get rid of Clichy - the guy is a crock and he’ll never stay fit for a whole season - just look at his injury record”
“Flamini aint gonna cut it at DM and lets face it Gilbertos lost a yard or two. We NEED to sign a new DM”
“If we don’t sign a new striker then we will be right royally screwed”
Just a few random quotes from this time last year….
I don’t know what games you have been looking at Ben but Rosicky hasn’t done anything for Arsenal. Eduardo is class but not for this season and possibly never again. If you are putting all your hopes on them then you are indeed optimistic. Nasri looks a player and the full backs are class. I know that Wenger is not so much concerned wit individuals as with the team as a whole but by any measure we are weak in the middle. Ive been to all our games so far this season and we have played rubbish teams so far. The performance against Twente was poor and Newcastle were a joke (even though we did look fantastic) Lets not talk about Fulham. Anyway, at least the seats at the Emirates are nice Fabregas is worth the admission price alone. Lets hope he doesn’t fancy winning anything for the next few years because our rebuilding will be ongoing I fear.
Totally Agree with Jrockdc & Ben, you wouldn’t pay Aston Martin money for a Skoda just because you needed a car would you?
Can someone clear something up for me, are we still able to recieve players on loan even though the window has shut now?
Cheers
I share the authors sentiment. My evening mirrored his completely. Now its alright for everyone going on bout Rosicky, Diaby. Eduardo coming back the squad saying we will be fine. We wont. For one reason. Our players cannot stay fit. The squad will never be strong cos at least three or four will constantly always be injured. Statistically this has been case for 3 seasons now.
It was a massive mistake not signing and so f*cking what if they wanted a few million quid more. Sometimes you have to pay over the odds why can’t the club accept this!
The fact that rumours circulating say we made a late bid makes the whole thing even more annoying
Crumbs, here come the angry brigade. I do wonder sometimes whether modern life has left us all devoid of patience, perspective, and perseverance. That’s my 3p worth (groan).
Board dont care mate about fans. The only thing board is worried about is they have wenger who uses clubs money as his own personal money i.e never spend it. Board cant find such a tight manager any where on the globe. As long as Arsene is saving clubs money they are not bothered about fans or wining any thing. Peter hillwood makes me sick and so has arsene started doing as well. Now we have got another holding midfielder in Eboue, why bother buying a new one.
Well, re Rosicky always being injured - did they not discover that this was probably down to a ligament becoming detached from a bone or somesuch? This wasn’t discovered till they opened him up for surgery a few months ago, now he has a piece of metal in his leg, and the bionic man may not be Rosicknote anymore…
i want song to play midfield and see how it goes!
We were so unlucky last year and we did not need a lot to compete again. Nasri for Hleb is good. Senderos gone is good. Gilberto gone is no big deal but it is the Flamini exit that is the problem. I remember the opening game last year and being horrified that Flamini was our starting midfielder. How wrong I was-along with every other gooner I know so it is a case of suck it an see. I just can’t help thinking the team is weaker this year than last year and we were amazing last year and still fell short.
january transfer window will be where the league is won for us,lets see how we do until then and then strengthen where required if the right players are available!
I wonder how much of the failure to sign anyone was due to not having a proper deal-maker in the club.
Both David Dein and Keith Edelman have left in the last 18 months and not been replaced - a problem that seems to permeate the club.
There seems to be either a lot of indecision, or an inability to efficiently sign replacements in the board-room and on the pitch, and possibly a modus operandi at board and manager level that it’s always better to wait for exactly the right person, even if that does mean we jeapordize success in the short-term.
Whatever it is, it’s not good enough. Surely Wenger must be aware of a player somewhere in the world of football who would have improved our midfield and been within our budget. If he didn’t, he isn’t doing his job. If he did and we just failed to buy one, the board’s not doing its job.
Hopefully it’s the latter, and the imminent appointment of a new Chief Exec will allow the club to deal more effectively.
Whatever we think of Wenger, the failure to sign a DM is going to cost us dearly.
This new deal with Manchester City and even the poxy spurs spending like drunken sailors is going to affect the league immensely.
Whatever the complaints against Arsenal and lack of English players is going to be more affected by Manchester City, Chelsea and Sale United than anything we do. (notice how many English players got transferred yesterday?). The impact of the action was the result from yesterday and I do not think the Board and the Manager have grasped how the football world changed in one day, and when they do we are going to be poorer until then.
Great! Just read that Man City want to buy Cesc and Torres. What great ambition! I’m envious; I won’t blame Cesc for leaving in January for a team that actually matches his ambitions. I guess I’ll always be a fan even when the club’s become a selling one with no ambitions. If I was a fan during the mediocre 80s I’m sure I can be a fan no matter what. Thanks for the great memories over the last decade when I was truly proud to be a Gooner. Back to mediocrity now but I guess it’s only fair that another team with ambition and who wants it more should have a chance at the UCL. God knows we don’t have prayer with this team so it’s only fair that Man City have a crack now that their owners are even richer than Roman A.
Matt ,no you cant take players on loan but if a player has no contract and is a free agent you can have him or u can recall players you have out on loan!
dm is hardly the hardest position on the pitch,everything about matt flamini is average apart from his desire and determination,thats all that is required,desire to throw urself infront of the ball !
Ben - F#ck off!
That was a joke. I wonder the same thing as you. That’s part of it. the other part is that the internet has allowed a lot of street and pub banter and blather, which always existed, to have a global readership, but hopefully not any influence over affairs at the club. The world is getting too democratic in some ways, while autocrats and global oligarchs take over English institutions! It’s a tense but amazing time to be an Arsenal supporter.
‘chef, I’m sure he meant “piss master” and he’s just been misquoted.
Thanks for clearing that up Bergkamp
All this whinging and moaning for gods sake if you so called fans think Arsenal don’t match your ambition go and join the glory hunters who follow Manure, and Chelski, and leave Arsenal to the the true fans.
It’s a shame Emmanuel Frimpong is only 15, if he had a couple more years on him he would be ideal. In his own words he said all he wants to do is win the ball and start attacks, exactly what we were looking for really, watched him a few times and think he is going to be class.
what you should do JonJon is go and support a low achieving team-try Hull, they probably match your obviously limited ambitions and expectations you muppet
Waooo chef, I lived exactly the same in these last 24 hours.
I’m frustrated that we didn’t reinforce our squad, I’m angry we have been told a lot of lies and bulls***t.
Those who said we have Diaby and Denilson are crazy or haven’t seen many Arsenal games lately. Diaby played great just ONE game on that position in all history of Diaby performances. And Denilson has been a disaster every single time he had play there. Did he make a good goal last Satruday? Yes, but he could cost us 4 four goals again any good team (no offence, but Newcastle is far away from a top team right now).
Song??? Well, could be, who knows. But we haven’t seen him enough to really believe in that. We need a Flamini replacement, period! Even Wenger said it many times… but did nothing about it. We will pay the price of our incompetence in the market. We need a Dein replacement.
nice one mjc we gotta support the squad we have. Every effort was made to sign player who are of a higher calibre or of equal calibre to Song, our best cdm. So yes we lack some depth but only the results will tell whether it was a mistake or not. Baying for Arsene’s head is uncalled for and frankly behaviour that should be restricted to bandwagon supporters. Who else could manage the results Arsene has with the smae finances. Oh yes he has money available, the reason why he is not spending it is because he is prudent. Money not spent now ensures we don’t end up like leeds united.
im very disappointed like most at our activity in the transfer market, but to get wound up by the comments of Man City’s new owner is ridiculous.
He is simply spouting names off the top of his head - he literally has no chance of signing any of ronaldo, torres or fabregas. He hasnt a clue how the real world works. Not all footballers are utter mercenaries like Robinho.
Someone tell me WHAT IN THE BLUE-FUCK is going through Wenger’s mind? The guy has had ALL summer to replace Flamini… ALL FUCKING SUMMER, yet he decides to be stubborn and feed the Arsenal Fans the regular bullshit. I want a takeover bid now, and i want arsene to remain as manager, but at least to see sense to fill blatent gaps in the team. I mean… What the fuck are the board saying to him? If this was Chelsea or Man city now.. For that matter, the board would be urging Wenger, forcing him to sign a midfielder out of fear of a repeat of last season. I can’t believe that NOBODY in the board, has the balls to confront wenger with this issue. THIS IS THE TIME WHEN BEING AN ARSENAL FAN SUCKS, and i am more of a gooner than anyone and will never change. But when u see OBVIOUS FUCKING ERRORS that dont get fixed… You start to get PISSSSSED OFFFFFF.
Hi Denilson,
‘the internet has allowed a lot of street and pub banter and blather’
Indeed. Although I build websites for a living, I do fear the internet is leading to the tyranny of the mediocre and banal.
‘autocrats and global oligarchs take over English institutions’
Surely Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim was a boyhood City fan? No? Oh, my mistake
Talawah - you say you want a takeover bid, but do you really want the team you love to just become a foreign billionaire’s plaything? And what happens when they get bored with their shiny new toys?
i agree ben,
however frustrating this window has been, nothing could be more satisfactory to earn success in the way we are attempting to, instead of being taken over by some random billionaire who is literally buying a club for a bit of fun.
when we have won the league it is because we have built a team that is worthy of it over a number of years without spending masses of money. the same goes for united on the whole.
chelsea’s two titles are all down to money, money, money and it is a bit of a false way of winning.
city are the same.
never ever do i want that fat ugly fuck usmanov in charge of this great club.
Ben - I didn’t say i wanted a billionaire takeover, i want a take over that is controlled and well funded; such as Man Utd’s take over, its not over the top and the board room are always involved. Whether or not we like it, we need David Dein back or someone as good as knowledgeable and passionate as him. The game is moving on and i like to call it the Abrahamovic era… We better keep up or we will certainly get left behind. We may not notice it instantly but gradually, our lack of funding and policies of wages and youth players will be bombarded bout third parties with exuberant budgets to spend on the players that we are interested in. Adapt or die, Simple.
We still haven’t replaced David Dein. Like him or not he was the man who struck all the tranfers.
Arsene would identify a player and Dein would do the rest but now Arsene has to try and do everything and even with Ken Friar or whoever helping they obviously can’t strike deals like Dein could.
The board have screwed up and i actually feel sorry for Arsene. Most other clubs have someone doing all the deals (we had Dein). How is Arsene meant to balance it all. He said at the time of Dein leaving that the club would have to get someone in and they haven’t.
I doubt there is that much money to spend. The club aren’t going to publicly declare we barely have any money but i’m almost certain there isnt that much for Arsene to spend.
We all have to accept we don’t have unlimited funds so everyone needs to stop comparing us to Man Utd (always spent big), Chelsea and now Man Utd.
We have a very good sqaud in my opinion and one that is capabale of fighting for the big trophies this season.
I’m sure Arsene tried to bring in a new face and it wasn’t to be.
We can’t spend £32m on a player and nor would i want us to. A wealthy owner buying players on £4m a year contracts is not healthy for Man City, Chelsea or anyone. Pull the plug and what happens?
Arsene also knows that Arsenal is a club for then, now and the future not just for a couple of seasons. I dont want to end up like Leeds and i don’t want our club’s future to be threatened for one moment of success.
Being a suporter isn’t just about today it’s a lifetime and in 50 years time i want my club to still be here.
We need to get someone to replace Dein to secure transfers for us like he did with Arsene, with getting Bergkamp, Henry, Fabregas……..etc etc
Harry, glad there are some other rational people here today! Arsenal is a fundamental part of our community. It gives us something we can be proud of. Granted at times it can make us cry with frustration, but selling out our souls is not the answer.
Talawah - Man U’s takeover wasn’t well funded. They’re totally in hoc to the banks, and it could all go horribly wrong for them.
Merse, I don’t like Dein, but there may be something in what you say, and I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments in the penultimate para.
Arsenal’s for life not just for Xmas.
every should read mjc’s random quotes from last year.
this time last year people said we need new striker to replace henry, one dm, and blahblah. Hell, was flamini the player he was for us last year if it weren’t for wenger?????? Ask yourself that. And now you all whine so much for aw to replace that cunt, give denilson, diaby, song some a chance would you?
Fuck alonso, he s an a average player who pass the ball great. Why the fuck do we need him for? Cesc can do that, and plus the guy can’t tackle for shit. Apart from eboue I think our midfilders are fine, give them playing time and I’m sure they ll be better than the cunt flamini.
If we win something this year you people who looked down and talked so much shit at the team, wenger, and the wonder kids are going to have to eat your own words up for a long time. Maybe you don’t even fucking deserve enjoy the happiness when we win, I’ll even go that far.
Chill the fuck out, go and dig up old season reviews under wenger. Come tell me if he ever buys expensive stars. Come tell me if we didnt challenge for the title(but 2 seasons) and put out good teams. The guy took us to 2 europeans finals, so unluckily lost, won us 3 league titles, won us 4 fa cups, made so many young and exciting players into worldclass players. Oh, and we went 49 games unbeaten also. And our team happened to be the best footballing team in the world, now he’s just another liar and cunt to you.
Manchester city is looking very exciting, maybe you people oughtta go support then, they re going to be in top 4 and not us after all, right? Fuck me, yeah right!!! I can’t believe arsenal fans said these words.
diceman, I think we almost need to set up some betting syndicate.
Pessimists v optimists, then we might get to make some money from all the whiners in a few months time (though then they’d whine about that too).
Hell, with all the money we’d make we could even then buy the club ourselves
ben,
You toched on one thing that’s so true.
We are the fucking arsenal, we do things our way.
3 seasons and all this whining(3 games into this season), I wonder how could you all live before wenger, the genius you are slamming, came and trans-fucking-formed this club!
Arsenal for life.
I bet half of them wouldn’t even be Arsenal fans now if it weren’t for Wenger.
I’m Arsenal till I die.
shit ben, I’m afraid the bet against us will be so hugh the players will lose on purpose just to win the pot.
My point: confidence and belief boost our players so much, while disbelief and shit talking never result in anything other than losing.
shit ben, I’m afraid the bet against us will be so hugh the players will lose on purpose just to win the pot.
My point: confidence and belief boost our players so much, while disbelief and shit talking never result in anything other than losing.
Damn, its like you all want the team to fail with all these pessimistic and thrashing comments.
I totally agree with you diceman. If all the ranting emotion that seems to have spilled onto the blogs today could be channeled into singing for the team home and away, just think of the boost it would give our boys.
I do fear that we’ll instead enter a vicious circle of demoralising sniping and moaning.
how could abou diaby afford 2 buy city?
i swear hes got down syndrome?
guys dnt b so upset our squad is amazing and we have wenger and fabregas above all.
we r still in contention for everything.
@adam re ‘how could abou diaby afford 2 buy city?’
thank you so much. you’ve made me laugh again
jrockdc:
“Give the team a chance before writing them off and saying Wenger lied to us. It’s clear he tried to sign someone, but it didn’t happen. So the fuck what. Wenger has single handedly brought this team to where it is. He deserves a bit of slack from all you glory hunting plastics that have joined the Arsenal ranks.”
Just that
All right … all right … but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order … what HAVE the Romans ever done for US?
Could Gallas not play DM ?.He has all the attributes of Flamini and more. Cheers.
P.S Stop slating the boss ,go and support city if you prefer blasphmous boneheads.
Imagine this scenario.
We draw with Blackburn away as we did last season. AW gets some abuse for not signing anyone but the headlines will be full of the Man City/Chelsea game so nobody gets too carried away.
Lose 2-1 in Kiev. AW blames the ref/pitch. It’s all doom and gloom in the media but AW gets more personal flak than in the past.
We beat Bolton away and even though we’re just treading water in about 5th place AW says we’re going to ‘challenge’ for the PL and CL.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the above came true.
Blackburn will still be steaming after the West Ham game and will come out with fire in their eyes. That game will be a battle.
We don’t perform well out east and I’d be more than pleased with a point in Kiev.
The win at Bolton last season was a bit freaky and it’s unlikely that the same gods will be on duty this time round so we’re actually going to have to play well away from home to get the 3 points.
AW knows we have 3 very winnable home games coming up at the end of the month so he’ll weather the storm and we’ll be hovering around the top 4 places having played some ‘outstanding’ football against Sheffield Utd, Hull and Porto.
Eboue looks better in the middle than out wide and he hasn’t been a twat recently.
Nasri is a tidy player, knows where the goal is and he makes us more likely to score when the ball is in and around their box.
Hleb was more useful in keeping possession between the halfway line and the edge of their box but then of course he would waste the good position more often than not.
The end result is that we won’t have as much possession especially away from home but we carry a more potent scoring threat.
Nasri can also look after himself better than Hleb which helps to make up for the loss of Flamini’s bite to a degree but we are going to need Eboue/Song/Diaby or whoever becomes Cesc’s partner to develop a well balanced nasty side.
RvP seems to lack a self preservation instinct so it’s a question of when he gets injured, not if. He stretches his lanky leg for balls and gets caught or connects with the ball when slightly off balance and damages himself. He’ll realize one day that he has to stay on his feet and balanced to avoid missing three quarters of every season.
Arsene knows (how to spin us a line)
“We draw with Blackburn away as we did last season. AW gets some abuse for not signing anyone but the headlines will be full of the Man City/Chelsea game so nobody gets too carried away.
Lose 2-1 in Kiev. AW blames the ref/pitch. It’s all doom and gloom in the media but AW gets more personal flak than in the past.
We beat Bolton away and even though we’re just treading water in about 5th place AW says we’re going to ‘challenge’ for the PL and CL.”
Well, this scenario to me is not the end of the world if it came true.
We have to accept that we can beat any team, but we can also lose to any team. It’s just football.
Man U lost 5 games last season, don’t forget. We’ll slip to some teams along the way but that doesn’t mean we won’t win anything.
To this minute, although I also want AW to buy more players and I was another person who sat and waited the whole night yesterday, I still don’t understand why’s signing 1 player gonna make you guys be happier. Signing one more player doesn’t guarantee we’ll be champions. And Wenger said the problem was availability and potential signings’ qualities relative to our current players. You think these kids, Denilson or others, are not good enough, but that doesn’t mean you’re right.
Wenger, and many fans, believe in this team. We’re not saying we’ll win the league for sure. But Wenger’s messes so far are not enough, to me, for Arsenal fans to slam him this much. He’s human and he can be wrong from time to time, but he delivered us successes and happiness more than any other manager in the world, except Fergie to Man U fans. So why is he now just another manager who you guys despise, and because of what? Not signing players like we want? For the accusation of lying? Please, he ALWAYS been this way. He never buys a lot of players and never spend much money. And what manager doesn’t say one thing and do another sometimes? Give him some credit, he said he’ll sign if he finds the right player, and 18 mil for Alonso is not ideal at all for me. Smart move I’d say.
I don’t know why anyone would think Wenger doesn’t want to win and didn’t sign more players on purpose. He’s desperate for a trophy, more than we are I believe. Let the kids play, we’ll see then.
Wenger has been terrific to the club but his greatest strength has become his achilles tendon. His eye for young talent has diminished his focus on tittle-winning. . Yes win titles dammit!. Ferguson goes for the jugular. He sees proven talent and goes for it. In the mean time Wenger is embroiled in talent identification. Someone in the Board must say something. They are all overawed by Wenger they have become stooges. I was up all night like other Arsenal fans around the world searching feverishly for a big catch but Alas there was none. Mr.Wenger you have been good but you we demand better. We want Titles!
With our mortgage through the roof, i understand not purchasing big money players at the moment, but with Liverpool’s stadium being held back at least another year, Chelsea and Man City’s money all coming from an outside football source (imagine if their owners left, how could their wage bills be kept on?!) and the Glazers getting Man Utd into big debt and keep splashing out 30 mills left right and centre, Arsenal will one day be the most financially secure and the titles will come back to North London. We just have to be patient for a little while longer! (I know its been 4 years)
However it is extremely frustrating that we did not sign a partner for Cesc, or someone who can fill in if he gets injured. I like Diaby but he loves to bomb forward so i can’t see the partnership working, Denilson needs some more time, and Song could be the perfect partner but hes a little unproven, even though getting the DM of the tournament at the African Nations. Ramsay is too young at the moment, and apparently Bischoff can’t hardly walk..let alone play football!!
Yeah, im sorta over it now. We didnt sign anyone. OK. Lets just try stay positive and support the team this season now, and hope that we at least challenge for the title.
Diceman 1984
I reckon the Blackburn and Bolton away games will show us which way the season is headed.
We need a strong performance after what happened at Fulham to show that this team can be effective away from home.
If we do get 4 points (and then win those 3 home games) everyone’ll be pumped up even if we lose in Kiev.
2 or 3 points will bring accusations of inconsistency but personally I’d settle for a win and a loss. 2 draws would be disappointing.
1 or no points means it’s time for AW to put on a very hard hat.
The PL is turning into a monster.
I know, I think the competitiveness level is getting so much stronger this year in the league.
I don’t want the team to draw too many games. It’s how many games we win that always determined our standing in the league. If only we could turn 2 draws from last season to wins, by even losing one more game, we won’t be here criticizing the manager and the team right now. We’ll be defending the league trophy!
I hope the lady luck is with us this year.
the article about eboue being a pass master
hah
eboues problem was always that he could make some fantastic runs, but then when he runs into a position where he has to make a passing decision, well we’ve all seen the reulsts of that
against newcastle he wasnt bad at all, but what worries me is i reckon that could be more down to the fact that newcastle are shit, not that eboue has improved
on the fact that we didnt sign anybody, im cranky, we didnt win the prem with the players we had last season with injuries, this season we have less proven first teamers, so if an injury hits in that midfield, we are in some serious trouble
Diceman
The squad was not strong enough last year and we lost the title after we had a FIVE point lead this season the squad is weaker.We havent won a trophy for 3 years cant you see that what Wenger is doing is wrong.Yes we will finish in the top 4 but win the title no chance.Fans like you who think the sun shines out of Wengers Arsene and he is never wrong do my head in.
“When the Arab investors decided they wanted to purchase a Premier League football club, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool were also in their thoughts before they settled on City. ”
Why not us?
NZ, because the board’s not going to sell. There’s a verbal agree by the board not to sell before next year when the Highbury Square development finishes. I’m a bit cynical and think that that’s more to do with maximising the share price, but you never know - they probably do have a sentimental attachment to the club.
But cheer up, people. We weren’t in the title race before Man City, and we aren’t in it after Man City. What we do have is a cushy Top 4 position. That’s not going to change until Wenger leaves - he’s too good a manager. And we DO have the finances if CL qualification looks in danger - remember that January when we bought Ade and Walcott out of the blue? The depressing thing is that we’re not going to go any further, but that’s life.
Susan,
And its fan like u who only thinks about now now now without ever considering the past and the future that makes me furious.
I never said wenger dire everything right. He made a lot of mistakes but buying is not enough a reason to call for his name.
He made mistakes but he won us so many things I can’t forget. U think Im fucking happy that we didnt win a trophy for 3 years? But without wenger we wouldnt even be here, one of the best club in Europe. So give him time and credit for gods sake.
Like I said, I wonder where were you all doing and how u lived before wenger came and transformed this club.
Its fans like you that we won’t win anything cause the players, our players, will be real confident, right? Even their own fucking fans don’t believe in them.
How the fuck could u say we haven’t win for 3 seasons and he’s so wrong he should go? Remember 1999-2001??? Three years of nothing also.
Be fucking patient. I, for one, will be here support this team forever so I can fucking wait. Liverpool buys alot of players, u want us to be like them?
And people, Man city won’t win a fucking thing anytime soon. Buying robinho doesnt mean they ll be a god like team.
I believe in wenger, always after the first double, and believe in rvp, ade, dudu, vela, cesc, tomas, samir, theo, denilson, diaby, song, young jack, gael, sagna, kolo, william, johan, and manuel enough to deliver us happiness. Watching them played last 3 seasons provided me great happiness to be an arsenal fan.
We didnt win for 3 years, but we went to european finals, almost beat Chelsea full strength side at the millenium, and led the league for 7-8 months before player after player got injuried.
Give the team, our team if it s still yours, and the manager who won us 7 major trophies, gave us so many exciting teams and players, took us to 2 European finals and lost undeservedly, spent smartly and never bought success, and produced the legendary invincibles team, SOME FUCKING CREDIT!
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/arsenalblog
Every arsenal fans should, must, go to this blog and read it now.
In the end, we all will be sad or happy because of the same team.
We are the arsenal, I can’t say enough how i love and proud to support this team.
“Eboue is a pass master” yeah and my chopper is bigger than John Holmes’. No signings? Wenger has lost the plot. People often say we haven’t the squad to deal with the Bolton and Blackburn trips, well we don’t have to wait long for the litmus test coz these are the next 2 league games. 4 points from these 2 will shut me up. 6 and I will beg for forgiveness for my lack of faith. 2pts or 3pts and we are 4th again. 1pts or 0pts and Wenger can eat my fart.
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/arseblog
sorry mistake in the link above.
stephen appiah for free!!..perfect 4 arsenal!..we should not let him slip away 2 west ham r whoever is interested as well
As a fan i am extremely disappointd in AW..really thought he could pull something off..well his still has his chance..i’m beginin to become sick of the utd scum etc. takin the piss out of arsenal’s recent lack of trophies but i’l stick with it till next summer i suppose, if yet again we finish with nothing and are squad is more or less the same..maybe its time for wenger to stop lookin forward and think about arsenal and what we can do NOW
Dice,
Susie’s right. We’ve got a thin squad which lacks experiences, and which contains a number of injury-prone players (RvP, Rosicky, Diaby). The thin squad wouldn’t matter if we had fit player. The injury-prone players wouldn’t matter if we had a large squad. It’s the combination of the two, and the inability of Wenger to pull his finger out at buy someone, that’s going to stop us winning the title.
I agree that the Newcastle match was awesome. I was there! But Denilson looked out of his depth, and Eboue shouldn’t be playing, hilarious backheel assist to van Persie aside. IF Denilson improves to succeed Flamini, and we don’t get any injuries, then maybe we’ll be in with a chance this year.
But otherwise? Nah.
Diceman
Between 99-02 there was only one rival for the title that was pre Abramovich
How can a top class manager not see we needed a CH and a DM all summer and he has failed to purchase either one of them
Dont get me wrong Wenger is our greatest manager and we play the most wonderful football but sadly Wenger has lost the plot like GG did at the end of his reign.His decision to still have Gallas as captain is mindblowing.Gallas a leader my arse.As long as he picks Eboue he is admitting defeat
In the last 9 months we have lost Diarra,Flamini and Gilberto and not one of these players were replaced
Just remember everyone.. “Eboue is a pass master” All the world’s top clubs were after him offering bids of £100 million before the transfer deadline but he’s so fantastic we refused to sell…
I’m tired of arguing with fellow gunners.
Wenger may lost the plot like you all said, I don’t know. Or he might still be the best manager like he was, I dont know either, I just believe hes still got it that’s all.
But after reading the post at arseblog, I dont really care to make my point anymore. There re people in both sides, but we all agree that we need to buy, everyone knows that.
I only want us, the fans, to believe in these players because they all we have. U dont know if Denison will be good or even better than that French cunt or not, I’m only asking for u to be patient. This is the first season he ll be a regular, that French cunt was average before last season also.
I protect wenger so much cause I want us to support him in bad times thats all. He just believe in these players maybe too much but he always does anyway.
And im proud that although our record signing is like 13 mil for wiltord, we are still the second best team in the new era, and I still believe Chelsea will not win more than us ever.
You all might hate me for my opinions or insistence trust in wenger. But I dont think I’m wrong in believing in him and this team although many mistakes were done in the past three years. But please dont forget we almost win Europe with eboue-toure-senderos-flamini back line, so anything can happen.
Im giving this team one more year, thats all. And deeply I’d like for you to do the same cause they are all we have right now. I’m mad only because of comments saying we won’t win for sure, where’s the spirit? We all dont know where we ll be come may. Its like some people like to see this team fail to be right u know.
After all, who would’ve thought we could go undefeated you know. Speculate but dont hurt the spirit of these great players of ours.
Just pray hard that injuries dont hit us this year.
And susan,
and replacement for that French twat MIGHT be someone from the current squad u know. I’ve move on that we didnt buy but although appiah could be nice right now, diaby song or denilson could be the answer, let’s wait and see okay? Wenger never, yet, let anyone go without being sure he had replacement,: overmars henry viera are classic examples. Maybe wengr is an ass saying he ll buy but didnt, but maybe it might turn out alright and better than we think.
The thing is Wenger didnt call him a “pass master” it was the retarted publishers on the Arsenal.com website who said ”
What Wenger said was that Eboue has had 2 good games and improved his end product. And he has.
“Since the start of the season, Eboue has played well,” said Wenger. “He had two good games in central midfield.
““There was a little bit of frustration from the fans because they thought that he didn’t always have enough end-product, but he has improved a lot in that respect. He has put over good final balls since the start of the season.””
So at least use proper quotes if you are gonna slam the guy….
Having said that though we will most likely need a bruiser in the central midfield position. Currently theres 3 options - Song, who is a very strong athletic player, who can muscle players if needed. Denilson who isnt as strong and likes to go forward too but has good positional sence if not a good tackle. And Diaby who has all the qualities you would want in a CM, hes strong, technically sound, decent passer, good shot and a good engine. What he lacks is experience and quick decision making - both due to lack if playing time because of injuries - the biggest hindrance to him being the main man.
So until Jan at least its one from those to partner Cesc. Or a different one for different games/circumstances.
Id really like to see them all make it. Song as Gallas replacement. Diaby and Cesc partner in crime and Denilson as a stand in for Cesc in less important games and a partner for him in other games when required.