Arsenal

[hauk]

I still think Parker would have given us a decent couple of seasons.

I forgot about Parker. Not sure where he would have fit into the team if everyone was fit but when is everyone fit at the same time?

[Dude Ranch]

Was just reading the letters of discontent on football365 and someone pointed out that we've actually got two billionaire owners which made me snort out loud and then actually recoil in horror.

[Dude Ranch]

I forgot about Parker. Not sure where he would have fit into the team if everyone was fit but when is everyone fit at the same time?

Well, he would have given us a much, much better game than Ramsey, Song or Benayoun yesterday. Parker works hard. My dad says that Arsenal players don't have to work hard cos they're already stars and then we both roll our eyes and do a facepalm.

[Rev]

Well, he would have given us a much, much better game than Ramsey, Song or Benayoun yesterday.

If it was known Wilshere was going to be out for the whole season I'm sure we'd have considered Parker more carefully.

[Daley]

If it was known Wilshere was going to be out for the whole season I'm sure we'd have considered Parker more carefully.

There were iffy rumours about Wilshere being out for ages as far back as September I think.

If anyone really wants to see something depressing, look at this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm

The BBC's league table splits home and away. Our away record is simply amazing. Most goals conceeded. Only two teams have lost more away games. (Both in the bottom 3)

[Rev]

There were iffy rumours about Wilshere being out for ages as far back as September I think.

That's too late though. We'd need to have been in for him fairly early August - Tottenham might not have signed him until the end of the window but it was fairly clear they'd been in touch with West Ham for ages before that. No-one knew how bad Wilshere was then.

EDIT: Also, I'm starting to think away form is my fault. Compare and contrast Arsenal with Wednesday:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/table/default.stm

[Daley]

That's too late though. We'd need to have been in for him fairly early August - Tottenham might not have signed him until the end of the window but it was fairly clear they'd been in touch with West Ham for ages before that. No-one knew how bad Wilshere was then.

EDIT: Also, I'm starting to think away form is my fault. Compare and contrast Arsenal with Wednesday:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/table/default.stm

Maybe but maybe we need to build a squad without thinking this mythical "when everyone is fit" thing is ever going to happen.

Let me ask this. When was the last time we ended a transfer window with a stronger squad than when it began?

[Steve007]

Maybe but maybe we need to build a squad without thinking this mythical "when everyone is fit" thing is ever going to happen.

Let me ask this. When was the last time we ended a transfer window with a stronger squad than when it began?

If you mean non-summer windows, then when we signed Kanu in February 1999. I miss the days we'd get a surprise mega-signing like that. That boy could play!

[Rev]

Maybe but maybe we need to build a squad without thinking this mythical "when everyone is fit" thing is ever going to happen.

Let me ask this. When was the last time we ended a transfer window with a stronger squad than when it began?

It's clearly Wenger's basis for transfers though - he sold Clichy entirely on the assumption Gibbs would be fit all season.

The trouble is, having an excess of players wouldn't be great with a strict wage structure in place - the average player would have to be have a lower standard if we wanted complete cover.

[Dude Ranch]

Names such as Hazard, Podolski, Gotze etc. that we're led to believe we'd be interested in signing, forget it. I'll be interested to see what kind of deals we manage to complete in the summer if we can offer neither CL football nor top wages. We've gone backwards, we all acknowledge that, but we could be about to take a massive backwards leap if we aren't careful. It's not knee jerk or scaremongering, we are in serious decline.

[humdrum]

Names such as Hazard, Podolski, Gotze etc. that we're led to believe we'd be interested in signing, forget it. I'll be interested to see what kind of deals we manage to complete in the summer if we can offer neither CL football nor top wages. We've gone backwards, we all acknowledge that, but we could be about to take a massive backwards leap if we aren't careful. It's not knee jerk or scaremongering, we are in serious decline.

You could argue the quality of players we have brought in over the past couple of years haven't been of that standard and we still managed to finish top 4 for the last 14 seasons or so.

Would any of the players we have signed in recent history be of the level that they would require us to be in the champions league for them to sign?

[Art Vandelay]

I couldn't care less that Cahill has gone to Chelsea, he's absolutely crap. A centre half pairing of him and Terry is going to be so slow and full of errors I can hardly wait. Should take the spotlight off us for a few weeks anyway.

[Dude Ranch]

You could argue the quality of players we have brought in over the past couple of years haven't been of that standard and we still managed to finish top 4 for the last 14 seasons or so.

Things have moved on a bit though, the top teams have properly good players and the team dynamic Arsene strived for hasn't worked and has actually more or less collapsed. Also, we had Cesc as a starting point with RvP and then supplemented them with players like Nasri.

Would any of the players we have signed in recent history be of the level that they would require us to be in the champions league for them to sign?

No, but we need to play catch up now and we need to rebuild to a certain degree. We can't go in for kids or hopefuls. We need really good players, the fans are absolutely demanding it and will vote with their wallets sooner or later. The way things are, if you haven't got CL football or top Dollar to offer then the likes of United, Chelsea, City and Clubs on the continent will hoover up the best talent without a second thought.

[Daley]

No, but we need to play catch up now and we need to rebuild to a certain degree. We can't go in for kids or hopefuls. We need really good players, the fans are absolutely demanding it and will vote with their wallets sooner or later. The way things are, if you haven't got CL football or top Dollar to offer then the likes of United, Chelsea, City and Clubs on the continent will hoover up the best talent without a second thought.

I have got tickets for home games easier this year than at any time in the last 15 years I would say. Not sure if it is the price or the performance of the team but tickets are selling much much slower this year.

[BlinkyBear]

I couldn't care less that Cahill has gone to Chelsea, he's absolutely crap. A centre half pairing of him and Terry is going to be so slow and full of errors I can hardly wait. Should take the spotlight off us for a few weeks anyway.

I don't post as much in here as I used to for various reasons, but I do sit back and laugh at all the Cahill chat. Anyone who's properly watched him knows he's turd. He's been especially so this year, probably because he had his head turned this Summer, but he's a very average defender. He's slow, can't read a game, isn't great in the air and is hardly the ball-playing centre-half we need. The fact that he was asking for £100k+ tells you all you need to know about him as a person and the main reason people wanted him in, either explicitly or not, was because he's English.

You all lambasted Koscielny last year (and to be fair, I wasn't especially impressed to begin with) but there are few better centre-halve in the league now and is an infinitely better footballer than Cahill.

Also, Mertesacker will come good, but he has been thrown in at the deep in and needs time to adjust that he would have got if Kos and Vermaelan were fit and able to be rotated.

[Daley]

To be honest my dig was aimed more at Bolton for their £18m(!) price tag than saying we should have got him. Even paying £7m for a player who will be free in 4 months is madness regardless of what you think of him.

Also according to who you believe Cahill is on £80k a week. Roughly (again depending who you believe) what current PL top scorer RvP is currently on. Are wages just going to keep going up forever?

[BlinkyBear]

To be honest my dig was aimed more at Bolton for their £18m(!) price tag than saying we should have got him. Even paying £7m for a player who will be free in 4 months is madness regardless of what you think of him.

Also according to who you believe Cahill is on £80k a week. Roughly (again depending who you believe) what current PL top scorer RvP is currently on. Are wages just going to keep going up forever?

He was asking for £120k a week and £3mill up front for signing on I think it was. His agent was arguing that because Chelsea got him a lot cheaper now than it would have cost in last summer, they should pass this 'saving' onto the player. Greedy prick.

Anyways, we'll all be fine when Corporal Jenkinson comes back. So long as he's not in some sort of supportive girdle.

[toythatkills]

I couldn't care less that Cahill has gone to Chelsea, he's absolutely crap. A centre half pairing of him and Terry is going to be so slow and full of errors I can hardly wait. Should take the spotlight off us for a few weeks anyway.

It seems a bit like tempting fate to say that when our centre back pairing is only an injury away from being Mertesacker and Squillaci.

[Lucky]

Yesterday was a pretty good example of where we are this season. A bit too easy to beat and not quite good enough in a number of positions. We got out-passed by Swansea! No disrespect to Swansea, they played very well and deserved to win. We were the first team to even score twice at their place, not that it did us any good, but Swansea? Really?

It's obvious that the Manchester teams will fight it out for first place, and as difficult as it is to admit, Sp*rs should have third place sewn up. That leaves 4th place up for grabs and the contenders are of course Chelsea, us, Liverpool and even Newcastle.

I'm pretty confident we'll finish above Newcastle, Liverpool seem to drop too many points so I would go for us over them, but I'm not too sure if we can finish above Chelsea. I'm not too impressed with them and they've certainly got their own issues. They were very lucky to collect all three points on Saturday. If Sunderland's finishing was a bit better (a certain striker missed an excellent chance at the end) then they could have easily got at least a draw.

We can finish above Chelsea but games like yesterday, the Fulham game and the Wolves game were just so frustrating and an example of us throwing points away.

Walcott continues to miss chances & make the wrong choices. Not sure what Arshavin is playing at. The defence looks way too shaky.

Rosicky, Banayoun, Djourou, Park & of course Squillaci were in the team or on the bench yesterday. Are these players really good enough to get us in the top 4? I know we've got a silly number of injuries, but don't we always have?

Where's the cover?

What if Chelsea go a bit mental in this window and add a couple of faces? What then?

I really think we can still finish 4th, but we're gonna have to improve and hope Chelsea go back to their form of about a month and a half ago, hope Liverpool keep dropping silly points & Newcastle go away.

We can only hope.

[Lucas]

Well guys. I hope you are happy now. Steve007 called it the other day, but did anyone listen to him? Oh no, we were all too busy enjoying the moment. Some even negged him. And he was right! Who knew?

Disappointed gooner, London.

[Steve007]

I couldn't care less that Cahill has gone to Chelsea, he's absolutely crap. A centre half pairing of him and Terry is going to be so slow and full of errors I can hardly wait. Should take the spotlight off us for a few weeks anyway.

Cahill is still better than Mertesacker & Squillaci.

Samba has handed in a transfer request and they reckon he could be off to QPR! Q P fucking R! For fucks sake sign him, Arsenal!

[Steve007]

Well guys. I hope you are happy now. Steve007 called it the other day, but did anyone listen to him? Oh no, we were all too busy enjoying the moment. Some even negged him. And he was right! Who knew?

Disappointed gooner, London.

I'd love to have been wrong. I'd love to have seen us go and batter Swansea and believe that everything is great, but we got a huge dose of reality yesterday. Everyone knows where we are right now.

So Man United Sunday then. Fuck.

[Lucas]

Season can't get any worse/more humiliating. May as well just enjoy it.

[Jonathan_Kerr]

I really think we can still finish 4th, but we're gonna have to improve and hope Chelsea go back to their form of about a month and a half ago, hope Liverpool keep dropping silly points & Newcastle go away.

We can only hope.

This is the problem. We don't want to be relying on other teams to play poorly so that we can make 3rd or 4th. We need to be [spooky voice] in charge of our own destiny [/spooky voice].

[The Fox]

Well guys. I hope you are happy now. Steve007 called it the other day, but did anyone listen to him? Oh no, we were all too busy enjoying the moment. Some even negged him. And he was right! Who knew?

Disappointed gooner, London.

I don't think anyone said he wasn't right. People just took exception to the timing of the whine.

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Paying seven million for someone who is free in the summer isn't that bad at all..you guys did something similar with a far more extortionate fee. You do need players and its not a bad price for some pretty decent cover - tempted to say we could've used him too.

[The Fox]

Well regardless, centre back is hardly our main problem position at the moment. We've had all four full backs out for ages (plus Vermaelen and Coquelin, who had been filling in), which is a bit mental. In midfield, too, Ramsey is suffering from being asked to do too much and play too often. But we're forced into it because Rosicky is a complete non-event every time he comes on.

Wenger does deserve a lot of credit for getting the ship back on course after that horror start, but the squad is still patently not good enough in certain areas. We have three decent midfielders, plus the deceased Wilshere and the promising Coquelin. Everyone else is crap. The defence would actually be in decent shape if it we could play Verm and Kos together with Mertesacker and Djourou as backup, but that has barely ever been possible this season. But up front is where the real issues are. Gervinho has been mostly good in his first season in a new league, but Arshavin is totally shot, Walcott is still largely useless, Ox is raw and obviously can't be relied on against top opposition, and RVP has been carrying the side and can't continue to do it forever.

And, as usual, you could see this problem with the forwards coming a fucking mile off with Gervinho due to go to the ACN, but nothing was really done to avert it. Again.

[Steve007]

The team had the guts ripped out of it when Cesc & Nasri left. Cesc was the link between the midfield and attack, he fed those killer passes that resulted in goals and chipped in with his fair share. He has been replaced with a cart horse from Everton. Nasri was the next most creative player we had, he also hasn't been replaced. We all know he's a back stabbing little wanker, but he was great for us. The club knew 12 months ago he wasn't going to sign a new contract yet nothing was done about signing a replacement.

I don't know what the fuck the club are playing at. I wish our muppet fans were a bit more vocal with their discontent. Perhaps they could put the nacho's & latte's down and make it loud and clear that everyone's pissed off with the way the club is run. There is supposed to be a supporters group that actively talk to the board. They should be demanding Silent Stan announces just what his plans are. I don't think the board even know, they are only too happy to hide behind Wenger and let him take the full force of the fans anger.

We are halfway through the transfer window, we're desperate for new players and it appears there's not going to be any activity, with the exception of the absurd decision to loan out Frimpong. When the squad is low on numbers, I find it astonishing that he was allowed to join Wolves. With the injuries & suspensions we get it's not like he wasn't going to get a game. Madness.

[BlinkyBear]

He has been replaced with a cart horse from Everton.

Have a word.

Cesc he is not, but he's still an excellent player.

[Dude Ranch]

Have a word.

Cesc he is not, but he's still an excellent player.

Sky reported that his pass completion this season is top five or six in Europe. He is a good player, we missed him Sunday.