Arsenal Thread

This is the best transfer window Arsenal has had for a long time! Welcome aboard Santiiiiiiiii! Malaga already paid a $hitload of money for him last season (More than Arsenal did) and he was still worth every penny!

For once, they're buying quality international players in their PEAK not 10 years before they 'may' or may not become something! :P

Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud, these are 3 quality players who can instantly add to the team which is very refreshing to see rather than promising 'youth'! In that sense, I'm very excited!

If you get Sahin as well, then I don't think even the wildest Gooners could've dreamed of this! I'm impressed by Wenger this summer! He finally seems like he means business and isn't prepared to wait forever so maybe a title can fall in his young guns' laps.
 
I would love to ask Van Persie and Uzmanov now if this is ambition enough for them?

This is already very good, and if Sahin signs we have it all wrapped up and ready for the season! No CL qualification playoff, just a proper preparation with our complete squad. I'm very happy with this!
Quite different from last season.

Of course we still have players to sell, but the longer it takes, it is worse for these players, not for the club. Arsenal already knows who can be counted on and these players are being prepared. The others who want to leave or are taking too long to sign a contract (I'm looking at RvP and Walcott) should be considered as surplus to requirements, and if they stay they should be used as squad players only.
 
I think you've done really well but still short in defence, once those defensive injury's pile up it could be awkward again.

apart from last years disaster (which we all saw coming) start Arsenal normally start the season strongly, I think you'll start well this year.
 
To be fair to Wenger he brought in experienced players last season as well, with Arteta, Mertesacker, Benayoun, just they were a bit late in the day last season.
 
Feels good to to dip into the kitty! RVP is still looming about and Song is getting Barca players speaking out publicly! Its crazy I remember they (media)asked Arteta about Cazorla he looked nervous and then released "He is great ,very good" So it must be a Spanish thing they just have too answer :LOL:

rumor mill is that Ajax van weiler £7m #rightback hopefully Berkamp could steer him towards us.
 
I'm going to pray to God that we won't get Van Der Wiel. He is just AWFUL! He had a decent season and World Cup, but after that he was just awful. Plus, he isn''t a team player. I would rather have Jenkinson than him.
 
I think you've done really well but still short in defence, once those defensive injury's pile up it could be awkward again.

apart from last years disaster (which we all saw coming) start Arsenal normally start the season strongly, I think you'll start well this year.

I don't think we're short in defence this time around, far from it, we have 2 different sets of back four with great quality (*except Jenkinson for Sagna):

Sagna - Koscielny - Vermaelen - Santos
Jenkinson* - Djourou - Mertesacker - Gibbs

As for the Van der Wiel rumours, I really don't think so! He is an international with Holland and plays week in week out with Ajax. If he comes, he will know he will be a reserve to Sagna all season long.
 
I don't think we're short in defence this time around, far from it, we have 2 different sets of back four with great quality (*except Jenkinson for Sagna):

Sagna - Koscielny - Vermaelen - Santos
Jenkinson* - Djourou - Mertesacker - Gibbs

As for the Van der Wiel rumours, I really don't think so! He is an international with Holland and plays week in week out with Ajax. If he comes, he will know he will be a reserve to Sagna all season long.

I guess you can field two back fours but the quality gap between the first and second absolutely huge and your first choice defense isn't amazing by any means.
 
I guess you can field two back fours but the quality gap between the first and second absolutely huge and your first choice defense isn't amazing by any means.

I agree with that. The question is if the defenders are to blame for the shakey defense. You defend with 11 players and on top of that Arsenal need a really good keeper. The Polish guy with the difficult name is not good enough IMO.
 
I think the defence is underrated quite a bit, Mertesacker, Djourou (Had an off season last season but I think will come back to form) and Gibbs (When he is fit and can stay fit will probably be first choice) are very good second string to have.

Our defensive problem come from the whole team I think, lazy midfielders not tracking back etc

I am hoping the new regime can sort a few of the problems out.

But also the way we play, I think our defence is always going to struggle a bit, because of the demand on attacking play.

I am happy with our defence and back up at the moment.

If we can get a defensive minded midfielder in and if Van Persie does a huge back track and stays, then I think if it all gels, we can put up a great fight for the league this year and other trophies.

I think Gerd might be right about Szcz, ideally we could have an experienced keeper to share duties with Szcz until Szcz gets better and can also learn from them. But he has been number 1 now and there is no going back I think. If we get another keeper in, he won't stick around to long if he isn't getting enough game time. I really like him and think he will be great, but there is no doubt he is far from the finished article.

The Van Persie thing, is a problem. If he does stay, all he has to say are some nice things, apologies a bit and when he starts scoring again, all will be forgotten (Not completely, but fans get over things quickly when people start playing well) He will have to be stripped of the captaincy though.

In saying all of that though, I still think he will leave and I am hoping it will be to Juventus, I just think selling him to Man United just strengthens one of our biggest rivals considerably and if we want to win things, that is just stupid.
 
I can see what you mean bobby. it would be stupid to allow RVP to go to Man Utd, but on the other hand i'm pretty sure that he will never have a season like the last one.
IMO a player like Adebayor is as good as RVP when he has a 'normal' season. If he has a season like last one, there aren't many better forwards.

What i don't understand is that there are no rumours about what is IMO the best goal scorer in the world: Falcao. This is the player clubs like Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea should try to buy. He is the only forward who is better than last season's Van Persie. And he does it all the time. Ir RVP leaves Arsenal, Wenger should try to buy Falcao.
 
Falcao is an excellent player, deadly striker. To think Fluminense almost signed him some 5 years ago from River Plate... now he's a world class hitman. But there's no way Wenger will buy another striker after RvP leaves. Podolski and Giroud came in advance to soften this blow, I think.

Regarding our defence, there is a lot of individual quality there and the problem definitely is working as a team (and that means the whole team pulling their weight defensively). Santos and Vermaelen attack too much and Song sometimes gets carried away trying to contribute in attack, forgetting he's the DMF.
Hopefully Bould will sort these things out and give them a proper bollocking when they relapse and play again as a bunch of individuals, instead of a team.

But all in all, looking at the individuals in this defense, they're pretty damn good. Koscielny was one of the best centre backs in the league last season, Sagna is probably the best right back in the league, and then we still got other seasoned players completing the defence. Vermaelen (who has that winning attitude but has to improve defensively) and Mertesacker is a much much better defender than he's given credit for, trust me on this one.
Sometimes I even think both our left backs (Santos and Gibbs) aren't good at defending, so maybe Wenger could use Vermaelen as a left back, making room for the big Mert as a centre back. This formation could work especially when we face stronger opposition.

As for the keeper, yeah, we only have Szcz (who still has a lot to prove), but I quite like him. Both his abilities and attitude. He certainly has that authority presence we haven't had in years with Almunia and Fabianski.

Seasons ago Wenger tried to sign Mark Schwarzer but it didn't work, so now there's no turning back, Szcz is getting to a good age and has been developing really fast, so it would be a waste to put him back on the bench. He's our number 1, end of story.
We just needed better backup for him, that's for sure. The other Polish and the Italian mafia henchman aren't good enough and get found out every single time Wenger has to use them.
 
I just read on Football365.com that Arsenal are interested in Celtic's Ki and Anderlecht's Kouyaté.
I don't know the Celtic player, but Kouyaté is a class act. He started out as a DMF but got transformed in a CB last season and was absolutely splendid in that role. That would be a fantastic signing. He's not a star, but he can become one of the best CB's...
 
It`s rumored that Cazorla cost £12m initially and could go up :CONFUSE:

Alex Song is being looked at by Barca, last month it was Kosc and the month prior was vermaelen. Wenger must be doing something right that a club such as Barca want our players. I wonder if what we lack to hold our players is wages?

I`m very excited by what we have ,comparing to last start of the season we spent £35m atm .I feel due to other clubs misfortune and financial crisis we are able to spend wisely. You won`t see clubs rising the price tag ,because Arsenal is looking we don`t have that clout :BOP:

Wenger invest in attacking, his philosophy is attacking is the best defending ! I expect Gervinho to have a major impact ,this season. Cazorla won`t score many goals ,but will feed balls for everyone. I see Arsenal going back to that lovely passing again.
 
It`s rumored that Cazorla cost £12m initially and could go up :CONFUSE:

Alex Song is being looked at by Barca, last month it was Kosc and the month prior was vermaelen. Wenger must be doing something right that a club such as Barca want our players. I wonder if what we lack to hold our players is wages?

I`m very excited by what we have ,comparing to last start of the season we spent £35m atm .I feel due to other clubs misfortune and financial crisis we are able to spend wisely. You won`t see clubs rising the price tag ,because Arsenal is looking we don`t have that clout :BOP:

Wenger invest in attacking, his philosophy is attacking is the best defending ! I expect Gervinho to have a major impact ,this season. Cazorla won`t score many goals ,but will feed balls for everyone. I see Arsenal going back to that lovely passing again.

I think Darren Dein being those players' agent is the #1 issue here. Mr 10%.
Second maybe is the weather? Vieira, even being a very high earner, being captain and winning silverware with Arsenal, still wanted to leave every summer :P

Gervinho I don't know. Anything coming from him will be a bonus for me. A guy like Gervinho in the Prem just doesn't fly.

But Cazorla I can see him scoring goals. Looks like he's got a decent free kick and an eye for a goal, unlike Gervinho who can't finish if his life depends on it.
 
It might be a blessing for gervinho for some reason lots of people have written him off, which I don't understand, maybe now he has a bit less pressure and can regain some form. I don't see why he can't do well this season.
 
I always quite liked Gervinho when he was playing last season. He's direct and pacy - reminds me of Aaron Lennon. If someone can add a bit better decision making (and maybe that will come with less pressure) he could be very effective.
 
IMO Gervinho deserves a litle patience. The year Lille won league 1, he was their most important player (more important than Hazard).
 
I think Gervinho`s ability to hold the ball well and dribble past players and does so much , then misfire! is what ppl notice the most the misfire . That`s part of the level of communication or the lack of w/ other players. Like gerd says gervinho was a hit due to how well he connected w/ Hazard that made him seem more important.


Nasri was the same too ! I remember Malouda and Drogba they we dangerous combination. I really think we`re heading exciting times. Imagine Theo ,if he has an end product whether it be a passing or finishing on a consistency :CONFUSE:
 
I can see what you mean bobby. it would be stupid to allow RVP to go to Man Utd, but on the other hand i'm pretty sure that he will never have a season like the last one.
IMO a player like Adebayor is as good as RVP when he has a 'normal' season. If he has a season like last one, there aren't many better forwards.

What i don't understand is that there are no rumours about what is IMO the best goal scorer in the world: Falcao. This is the player clubs like Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea should try to buy. He is the only forward who is better than last season's Van Persie. And he does it all the time. Ir RVP leaves Arsenal, Wenger should try to buy Falcao.

I don't think RVP is a one season wonder. His Goal Ratio has always been right up there with the worlds best (Messi and Ronaldo apart), it's just that he's been injury prone.

If he stays fit again I can see him grabbing 20-30 goals
 
I don't think RVP is a one season wonder. His Goal Ratio has always been right up there with the worlds best (Messi and Ronaldo apart), it's just that he's been injury prone.

If he stays fit again I can see him grabbing 20-30 goals

This, he's always been brilliant but injury's have hampered him.

I quite like Gervinho too, I think he has the potential to do really well, he's had a season to settle and should benefit from that.
 
Next year RVP will be a 'failure' by the standard set this year regardless of the club he plays at, I'd be thankful for 10 goals out of him tbh.
 
Next year RVP will be a 'failure' by the standard set this year regardless of the club he plays at, I'd be thankful for 10 goals out of him tbh.

He will be certainly better than that, and i agree with Younggun, but how many matches does he tend to play? His last season is a one-off because he stayed injury free... Unless this has something to do with Arsenal's medical staff, they have quite regularly injured players and often the injuries are longterm (Vermaelen, Wilshere come to my mind, maybe they are the only two and then i'm wrong).

Oh now in Belgian press there is rumour that if Song leaves, Arsène would replace with Fellaini. Don't know how credible this all is, ther are also rumours about Real Madrid being after both Dembele and Witsel. And Spurs after Dembele (i hope that last one is true).
 
The Fellaini rumours are going on for some weeks now. It makes sense. We have to be proactive and should really have a Plan B for every player who has that twat Darren Dean as agent. Seriously, how many players who have Dean for agent have chosen to stay at Arsenal? I can't think of any.

As for Gervinho, as I said, anything will be a bonus for me, because he didn't do it for me in his 1st season. Was utterly frustrating to watch at times. But then again, it was only his first season and hopefully that's what he needed to settle and improve. Some players just hit the ground running, like Arshavin, and then all that fire dies down. Let's hope with Gervinho is the other way.

RvP situation is far from being decided as of now, with only Ferguson making comments so far: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19186547
You can feel he's pretty edgy and must be shitting his pants with the possibility of being gazumped once again by the Sheikhs, having already missed out on Nasri last year, and Lucas Moura this year.

But Arsenal doesn't have to make it easy for anybody. We can sell Van Persie at August 31st 11pm to the highest bidder if we want. Having signed Podolski and Giroud we won't be pressed up against the wall like last year, so it's nice to be in the driver's seat for a change :)
 
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