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cubeadvance

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JDubYes

JDubYes

Posted
Posted

Still more than the clause supposedly mandated, so I'd think it a bit odd to go over it.

The real problems here look like a clause not worth the paper it was printed on, and a bunch of bullshit macho posturing. If the £1 was enough to begin negotiations, then if Liverpool had been willing to sell discussions (including moving toward a more acceptable price) could've taken place from that point. Instead they chose to publicly present themselves as aggrieved and immovable, and it worked out brilliantly for them (and terribly for Arsenal) in terms of how the situation (and season) unfolded.

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Oh Danny Boy

Oh Danny Boy

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Man, I wish people would give me HALF A MILLION POUNDS just because they were worried they might annoy me.

has there every been a case of a club offering £1 over a release cause before? If Arsenal offered £42m they could have played ignorance once it triggered a release cause as it was the fee added insult to injury as it blatently suggested that Arsenal were contacting the players representatives over intimate contract details behind Liverpool's backs.

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The Fox

The Fox

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"Arsenal" have posted on FB, asking for fans teamsheets for the FA semi.

the vast majority of replies are "anyone but Giroud".

:(

It's not like we have many options! I'd go with:

Szczesny - Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs (if fit, Nacho if not obvs) - Arteta, Ramsey - Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski - Giroud

Or you could've waited until a £22m release clause had expired and then pay £27m for a useless midfield lump

Bleh, I don't think he's as bad as he seems at the moment. Just not what you needed, and not suited to what he's being asked to do. A lot of his problems are surely down to fitness struggles and a crisis of confidence. That said, I did say in here numerous times before last summer that I didn't want him at Arsenal as I didn't think he was technically good enough, and it's probably one of the few things I've subsequently been vindicated on.

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toythatkills

toythatkills

Posted
Posted

Wenger has publicly admitted that in hindsight it wasn't a smart thing to do. £0.5m isn't a lot in the scheme of things we're talking about, and if it had made Liverpool less entrenched in their stance by keeping relations more positive and respectful, it would have been well worth it.

Yeah, I do see your point but like you say, it's one of those things that you can only really see in hindsight. If we'd have signed Suarez for £40,000,001, people would have called it the transfer of the decade and we'd be hailing Arsenal for the fantastic back room staff who made it happen.

The problem is that we had no fucking idea what the details of the clause were and not the amount we bid. Any issue at all we have with the attempted transfer is there rather than with the money, really.

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The Fox

The Fox

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I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. 15/15 points will surely get us fourth place, and on paper we should do it, but it will depend on us dragging our form out of the toilet.

If we get a relatively comfortable, morale-boosting win at the weekend then we might just do it, especially if Ramsey stays fit and Ozil & Koscielny get back in the side ASAP. Get knocked out by Wigan though, and I can't see any way back for our confidence or form, or indeed the manager.

edit: lol Gibbs, Ox & Rosicky all doubts for Wigan, ffs. Maybe a start for Gnabry then? Kos hopefully back for West Ham, Ozil for Hull

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The Fox

The Fox

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Yeah, it's totally ridiculous. Wenger's bizarre statement about it being down to supplements doesn't exactly fill you with confidence either. It's totally ruined our season and at least some of it is directly his fault, seeing as he admitted to playing Ramsey against medical advice. He also did the same with teenage Wilshere, which has surely contributed to his knackered ankles and stunted football development.

Anyways, do you ever get the feeling the Mirror don't like us much?

Bk2YcQrIgAAjXJb.jpg

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Rev

Rev

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Posted

I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. 15/15 points will surely get us fourth place, and on paper we should do it, but it will depend on us dragging our form out of the toilet.

If we get a relatively comfortable, morale-boosting win at the weekend then we might just do it, especially if Ramsey stays fit and Ozil & Koscielny get back in the side ASAP. Get knocked out by Wigan though, and I can't see any way back for our confidence or form, or indeed the manager.

edit: lol Gibbs, Ox & Rosicky all doubts for Wigan, ffs. Maybe a start for Gnabry then? Kos hopefully back for West Ham, Ozil for Hull

If we get the defence together for the run-in, we might go unbeaten. I really can't see 15/15 happening. Everton are on a massive high and we're relying on the Manchester clubs, City which Everton have had a bunch of good results against and Utd which...Moyes. I just can't see them dropping enough points.

From a strictly football point of view I think the Thursday Night Cup would actually be quite good to be in, I think it's actually better suited to Arsenal and might be quite good fun. In terms of re-building and finances though it'll be a disaster. Plus embarrassing.

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The Fox

The Fox

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I hate how that Cazorla stuff is being twisted.

Yeah, no idea why people are having a pop at him about that. He's just saying stuff that is demonstrably correct, and he's not excluding himself from blame. Very odd to see people getting their knickers in a twist over it.

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Rev

Rev

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I disagree with a couple of bits - I don't think Podolski is as surplus as that suggests, he can finish, and I don't think that Cazorla is best on the left. I'm also not massively convinced Sanogo has shown that much to be excited about, perhaps not worse than Giroud but he's missed some real sitters.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Podolski is extremely limited. Great shot, clinical finisher, but he needs to play in the space between the RB and RCB. It's such a weird and niche role, and you'll generally see him do fuck all for most of the game, but then suddenly that pocket of space he likes to exploit will appear and he'll pop up with a goal or assist.

I'd say Cazorla has played at least 70% of his career matches primarily on the left.

With Sanogo I think he looks way off being good enough for Arsenal. I think people are going a bit OTT with him simply because, unlike Giroud (especially the current utterly knackered version), he does actually run.

edit: Tim Stillman said this of Podolski last week, which I think sums it up:

Jose Antonio Reyes suffered uncannily similar issues to those that Lukas Podolski currently presents to us. (That said, though Podolski appeared to have trouble settling into Munich life in his younger years, you don’t get the impression he yearns for home comforts as much as the Spaniard did). The issue for Podolski, like Reyes, is that he is neither a striker nor a left winger. He simultaneously convinces you he is both and neither all at the same time.

Podolski isn’t technically threatening enough to be a winger and not physically imposing enough to be a lone striker. He likes to play in the corridor of space between a full back and a centre half. The trouble for him is that that’s not really a recognised position on a football pitch in almost any formation you can name. Podolski essentially waits for the very small passages of a game when that small area of the pitch is useful. Podolski is good at finding space, but he doesn’t move an awful lot off of the ball.

Walcott has managed to fill the chasm left by the likes of Ljungberg and Overmars by playing as a forward that starts his runs off the ball from the flank. Podolski doesn’t represent a moving target for passers in the same way. So he basically has to wait for the perfect storm of a defensive lapse and a penetrative pass to ignite him into life. His delivery from the left is good, but his most productive crosses are usually a result of him having been played into some space. It’s rarely a product of his creative intuition.

Podolski rarely beats players and he’s not much use at bringing the ball in from the line because his refusal to use his right foot usually just sees him feeding the ball backwards and in field.

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Rev

Rev

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The trouble is the same as all the other problems we've got - that space isn't ever going to be made wider by the rest of the team. You can leave one defender on Giroud at all times and still have two left for Podolski.

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The Fox

The Fox

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Podolski's goal/assist record is very good, even this season when he hasn't played as often. It's just that he offers fuck all else, and the defensive cover is woeful (which is especially problematic when the left side of defence is Monreal & Vermaelen). He's obviously a popular member of the squad so wouldn't be adverse to retaining him, but I wouldn't mind at all if he wanted to leave.

Interestingly, Tim Stillman, who's normally one of the smartest and least reactionary bloggers about, looks like he's reluctantly tired of the journey under Arsene: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/arsene-wenger-should-he-stay-or-should-he-go

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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

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Posted

Had a dream that Wigan had been replaced by Chelsea for some reason. And we were having to play the players from the under 21s and the players who won the Cup in 2006, but only Bobby P was bothered. We were 3-0 down after 30 mins. Was fucking horrendous.

Don't think I've had a silly FA Cup dream since I was a kid. Probably says a lot about how excited/scared I am. And it's only the Semi.

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wev

wev

Posted
Posted

I'd love to have the money, time and opportunity to go to a match though, its an experience I feel like I've missed out on (I've been to football matches, just not an Arsenal match, and the matches I've been to have always been paid for by someone else)

Also, if it does go wrong, I still wouldn't be able to turn it off,

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