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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

Posted
Posted

Excerpts from an email I sent to a fellow Gooner earlier just about my general feelings about the current situation.

Thought some of you may care to 'discuss'.

I gather that you're a touch incensed by the 'state' of the Club then?! I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to the Arsenal and have faith that He knows what he's doing. That's not to say that He's always correct and I've been reading a bit about Him and his methods, especially on the training ground and in the dressing room and I get the impression that with Him not being an out and out coach, many of the problems on the pitch can be attributed to His very hands-off and expectant approach to management. I've no doubt that the likes of Diaby, Denilson et al can all be stupendous players in the future, but the way in which He doesn't train players to become better players (rather he expects them to just know apparently) suggests to me that these players simply won't improve under him. If you look at the way in which He deals with transfers and players, that is to say, He buys players of quality and then sells them when he doesn't think He can get any more from them in many cases very quickly. Despite what people say, I don't feel that He has really improved his players and developed them, rather players have got better because of the players around them and their natural ability (Anelka, Vieira, Henry, Cesc to an extent). Let's not forget that he inherited a hell of a squad when he took over that needed a bit of polish and some fresh faces, but really, when you become a manager of a team that has the Back Four, Bergkamp, Seaman, Wright, Parlour even, you don't need a miracle to make them better players, rather some inspired signings.

I guess my point is, He (or should I say we?) has/have a team now that lacks leaders on the pitch and to an extent off. What He needs to do is either bring in those experienced, proven players that we haven't got (yes, Cesc, RvP, Toure and Gallas all have caps and a raft of games under their belt, but what have they won collectively?) through the spine of the team, or bring in the backroom staff needed to really bring these players on. Given the imminent departure of Pat Rice, I'd like to see some of the old-Wenger school come in, Bould (a worthy promotion) Adams (not a manager by any means, but by God a leader and apparently a stupendous coach) and Bergkamp (who not only has expressed a desire to do so but is actively working on his coaching badges.

Also, I had this idea for a starting XI I'd like to see next season

GK(Akinfeev?)

RB (Sagna) CB(Upson?) CB(Gallas) LB(Clichy)

CM(Xavi Alonso) CM(Cesc) CM(Nasri)

RF(Theo) LF(Arshavin)

CF(Eduardo. Or idealy, Villa.)

The only real issue there is Upson, but my knowledge of dominant, available and quality CBs is poor. As for Akinfeev, he's probably too young to make the step, but he'd be more than a match for Almunia, never mind that clown in goal at the moment.

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carlito

carlito

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I don't know why people have beef with Almunia.

Yeah he's made a few mistakes this season, but not as many as Cech or Van Der Sar but you don't see their fans crying out for a replacement.

He has made so many game changing great saves it seems a bit fickle to want a different goalkeeper just because he hasn't got that "best in the world" caché.

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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

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I don't know why people have beef with Almunia.

Yeah he's made a few mistakes this season, but not as many as Cech or Van Der Sar but you don't see their fans crying out for a replacement.

He has made so many game changing great saves it seems a bit fickle to want a different goalkeeper just because he hasn't got that "best in the world" caché.

I'm with you.

I should change that starting XI and have a subs bench with Akinfeev on it.

Basically, we need a 2nd keeper who will push Almunia all the way. Fabianski doesn't.

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dogsout

dogsout

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It won't happen. If Barry does get brought in I'm sure it'll be to complement the squad rather than to replace Xabi. He's been back to his best this season and he plays every game he's fit. He's proved the doubters wrong and he's a key player for us.

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Daley

Daley

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Posted
I don't know why people have beef with Almunia.

Yeah he's made a few mistakes this season, but not as many as Cech or Van Der Sar but you don't see their fans crying out for a replacement.

He has made so many game changing great saves it seems a bit fickle to want a different goalkeeper just because he hasn't got that "best in the world" caché.

He's not top class and has been lucky the rest have been so shit or he would have stuck out more as a weak link.

Speaking of shit.

ars0910awaykitnike.jpg

:)

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CandyBob

CandyBob

Posted
Posted
Excerpts from an email I sent to a fellow Gooner earlier just about my general feelings about the current situation.

Thought some of you may care to 'discuss'.

I gather that you're a touch incensed by the 'state' of the Club then?! I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to the Arsenal and have faith that He knows what he's doing. That's not to say that He's always correct and I've been reading a bit about Him and his methods, especially on the training ground and in the dressing room and I get the impression that with Him not being an out and out coach, many of the problems on the pitch can be attributed to His very hands-off and expectant approach to management. I've no doubt that the likes of Diaby, Denilson et al can all be stupendous players in the future, but the way in which He doesn't train players to become better players (rather he expects them to just know apparently) suggests to me that these players simply won't improve under him. If you look at the way in which He deals with transfers and players, that is to say, He buys players of quality and then sells them when he doesn't think He can get any more from them in many cases very quickly. Despite what people say, I don't feel that He has really improved his players and developed them, rather players have got better because of the players around them and their natural ability (Anelka, Vieira, Henry, Cesc to an extent). Let's not forget that he inherited a hell of a squad when he took over that needed a bit of polish and some fresh faces, but really, when you become a manager of a team that has the Back Four, Bergkamp, Seaman, Wright, Parlour even, you don't need a miracle to make them better players, rather some inspired signings.

I guess my point is, He (or should I say we?) has/have a team now that lacks leaders on the pitch and to an extent off. What He needs to do is either bring in those experienced, proven players that we haven't got (yes, Cesc, RvP, Toure and Gallas all have caps and a raft of games under their belt, but what have they won collectively?) through the spine of the team, or bring in the backroom staff needed to really bring these players on. Given the imminent departure of Pat Rice, I'd like to see some of the old-Wenger school come in, Bould (a worthy promotion) Adams (not a manager by any means, but by God a leader and apparently a stupendous coach) and Bergkamp (who not only has expressed a desire to do so but is actively working on his coaching badges.

Also, I had this idea for a starting XI I'd like to see next season

GK(Akinfeev?)

RB (Sagna) CB(Upson?) CB(Gallas) LB(Clichy)

CM(Xavi Alonso) CM(Cesc) CM(Nasri)

RF(Theo) LF(Arshavin)

CF(Eduardo. Or idealy, Villa.)

The only real issue there is Upson, but my knowledge of dominant, available and quality CBs is poor. As for Akinfeev, he's probably too young to make the step, but he'd be more than a match for Almunia, never mind that clown in goal at the moment.

I think its easy to forget the situation the club was in when Arsene took over. We had won nothing for 5-6 years and the type of football the club was playing, even with some of the players we had, was pretty poor. From a footballing perspective the Graham years were also dark one's albeit fairly successful.

Arsene's advantage initially was that he brought all of these new ideas to the PL. Training, fitness, diet, scouting etc. For a long time all of the other clubs were playing catchup and it was really only the blossoming youth at ManUtd (Beckham etc) and their money that prevented us from dominating during that period.

What Arsene was good at (and still is) was spotting potential and then nurturing it. I honestly don't believe that the likes of Paddy, Petit, Overmars, Henry, Anelka and the like would have reached such a level without him. I think most of them have actually stated this. He is also great at spotting when a players time is up. Although they moved onto historically bigger clubs, players like Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Gilberto, Lauren etc didn't reach the same level as they did at Arsenal. Although its early days the same could be said of Hleb and Flamini.

I don't think the team is far off of winning something although we do need some experienced cover at CB and CM. We also don't really know whats going on financially. Some say we have money to spend, some say we haven't. Its probably in the middle. We have money to spend but not to make wholesale changes with and we need to be shrewd.

It'll be interesting if the Usmanov rumours are true and funds are freed up for players, whether it gets spent or not.

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Lucky

Lucky

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I don't think the team is far off of winning something although we do need some experienced cover at CB and CM. We also don't really know whats going on financially. Some say we have money to spend, some say we haven't. Its probably in the middle. We have money to spend but not to make wholesale changes with and we need to be shrewd.

I agree that we're not that far off winning something, but we're very far off from winning the PL, maybe not so far off from winning the CL what with it being a cup competition.

We need more than cover at CB & CM, we need some quality to step straight into the 1st 11. The players we have playing there now are barely good enough for cover.

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Daley

Daley

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OK since our season is basically over let's play a bit of Fantasy Football. Who, and how, do you want Arsenal to line up next season?

I would go for.

New Goalie (not sure who, but nothing less than the very best or we might as well stick with Manuel)

Sagna Gallas New CB (A big monster. Hangeland maybe?) Clichy

Theo Cesc New CM (A real monster. Think Yaya Toure but not him as he probably wouldn't come. Vieria 10 years ago.) Nasri

Arshavin

A New Striker (not sure what type).

This is to try and mount a serious challenge for the league. Mmmm still lacks a bit of pace for me. Nasri and Cesc are both a little slow. And I don't know if Theo is really going to do anything on the right, he just doesn't get the whole tracking back thing. Perhaps if the new striker and the new CM were quick that would balance things out.

This would leave our bench looking something like:

Manuel

Toure

Djourou

Song

Vela

Eduardo

Bendtner

I would get rid of Adebayor and Van Persie. Adebayor is greedy and will never replicate last seasons form. Van Persie is too injury prone and cannot be relied upon for a whole season. Eboue and Diaby can leave too. Denilson i'm not fussed with either way.

Total cost is probably about £50m. Chance of getting them all = Zero.

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CandyBob

CandyBob

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I agree that we're not that far off winning something, but we're very far off from winning the PL, maybe not so far off from winning the CL what with it being a cup competition.

We need more than cover at CB & CM, we need some quality to step straight into the 1st 11. The players we have playing there now are barely good enough for cover.

Last season we almost won the PL.

I don't think the season has been a great one this year overall. Chelsea have under-achieved in the league and all of the top four have had periods where they haven't looked great. ManU went through a period where they were scrapping games by the odd goal and Liverpool edged quite a few points in the dying minutes of games. I think thats been the difference, those draws we had, especially the one's where we had the chances to bury the games but didn't.

I agree we do need a bigtime CB and CM, but I don't think it'll happen. Arsene has already given us the "We will sign one or maybe two new players" line and talked of the team not needing major investment. Same lines he used last season.

Its a fine line and I think this same team could give the other three a run for their money without any new signings if key players, which seem to be our achilies heel, stayed fit. Arshavin is looking likely to have a big impact next year as well.

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Daley

Daley

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Last season we almost won the PL.

I don't think the season has been a great one this year overall. Chelsea have under-achieved in the league and all of the top four have had periods where they haven't looked great. ManU went through a period where they were scrapping games by the odd goal and Liverpool edged quite a few points in the dying minutes of games. I think thats been the difference, those draws we had, especially the one's where we had the chances to bury the games but didn't.

I agree we do need a bigtime CB and CM, but I don't think it'll happen. Arsene has already given us the "We will sign one or maybe two new players" line and talked of the team not needing major investment. Same lines he used last season.

Its a fine line and I think this same team could give the other three a run for their money without any new signings if key players, which seem to be our achilies heel, stayed fit. Arshavin is looking likely to have a big impact next year as well.

I completely disagree. The last two weeks have proved we are miles away from the other big teams. We are 15 points behind Man Utd and they have a game in hand and we play them on Saturday. I cannot disagree more with what you say here.

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CandyBob

CandyBob

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OK since our season is basically over let's play a bit of Fantasy Football. Who, and how, do you want Arsenal to line up next season?

Ideally.

Lose Ade, bring in a recognised CB (Hangeland/Cahill/lUCIO) and CM (Alonso/Senna).

Al

Sagna Bill Toure/New bloke Clichy

The0wn Cesc New Bloke Nasri/Arshavin

Arshavin/RvP

Edu/Bendy

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CandyBob

CandyBob

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I completely disagree. The last two weeks have proved we are miles away from the other big teams. We are 15 points behind Man Utd and they have a game in hand and we play them on Saturday. I cannot disagree more with what you say here.

And thats how it should be surely? What right do we as Arsenal fans think we have to compete with teams who throw tens of millions around for fun? It seems pretty unrealistic and Arsene has put us in this position where we think we should be.

Saying that we pretty much outplayed Chelsea on Sunday but couldn't hit a barn door for toffee and their goals were well, pretty shocking. Either ourselves or the ref should just have kicked them into the net and had done with it.

The ManU game was an eye opener but there was a certain amount of bad fortune. Had Gibbs not fell I think the game would have been at least more competitve (although I'm not saying we would have won).

Most seem to agree that one or two good players in certain areas are needed to put us on a more even keel so I really don't think its that bad.

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hauk

hauk

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As much as I would like it, I don't think we are going to see a world class goalie or striker being signed in the Summer, unless Adebayor goes and is replaced. I do think we need a new CB and CM to compete with Toure/Djourou and Song. It will be interesting to see how we line up next year; Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea all play 4-5-1 now, not sure if Wenger will stick with 4-4-2, or go with 4-5-1. Would like to see us line up like this:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Upson Clichy

Alonso Cesc

Walcott Arshavin Nasri

Eduardo/Bendtner

I do think that most our problems this year have been from having no proper DM and to many injuries, meaning the first choice 11 haven't played together enough. Hopefully some stability, Arshavin and a couple of new players will make us more competitive next year.

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phresh

phresh

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To whoever said that Wenger has been excellent at getting rid of players at the right time I would strongly disagree. He may have got rid of some players at the right time ability wise but he has let far too much experience leave. Isn’t it something like only 2 of your players have actually won a league title? That’s insane really, against United your team was desperately crying out for someone with experience to steady the ship and show some leadership.

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Daley

Daley

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To whoever said that Wenger has been excellent at getting rid of players at the right time I would strongly disagree. He may have got rid of some players at the right time ability wise but he has let far too much experience leave. Isn’t it something like only 2 of your players have actually won a league title? That’s insane really, against United your team was desperately crying out for someone with experience to steady the ship and show some leadership.

The problem is that he replaced experienced players with unproven kids.

Jesus it's like last summer all over again. :angry:

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