The last four years of Wengerball: Keeping it in here, fellas.

Hopefully also the age of Chesney. And no more rapists, 3 fills our Premiership quota.

Thought I'd do this in anticipation for going batshit while watching the motd highlights of us LOSING TO WEST FUCKING BROM with THREE SUPPOSEDLY EASY GOAKS TO DEFEND IN THE FIRST FUCKING GHALF.

We are so, so very boned when Cesc leaves next season.

Typos? Fuck 'em, I apologise for nothing in this thread.

If Almunia and Fabianski are still #1 and #2 goalies in a years time, I think I may break into the stadium and chain myself to our bench for a hunger strike. Or just be quite frustrated. To declare record profits and still have these fuckers losing us games in the same week is just like they want to make children cry.

wenger's doing it deliberately, though there's no convincing explanation as to why. were arsenal to sign a cattermole and any large and ugly centre half to go along with a competent goalkeeper, they'd be looking at top two instead of looking behind themselves at the chasing pack.

We really don't need a Cattermole. Song is now the 2nd best anchor man in the league imo, now Masch has left (De Jong being the best).* And Squallici has made a career of being a rough-and-tumble dude, so... I dunno, maybe his funny name makes him seem more sophisticated than John Terry. Other than being unsure of Koscielny - but 'foreigners need a bit of time to adapt' and all that bollocks - I genuinely believe we are a buying-Reina-and-Kuyt**-on-the-cheap-in-a-fire-sale away from winning the league.

*Just because he doesn't have brain freeze with the ball at his feet doesn't mean he isn't an anchor man btw.

**Yeah I'm not Kuyt's biggest fan but to give Arshavin and Nasri a fella who will actually do the hard work for them? You can always make the argument that Park made Ronaldo into an 80m player. (You'd be stupid for making such an argument but still... there is a reason why Jose bought Di Maria instead of Ribery).

Still have not watched the highlights btw. Dunno if I ever will (depending on how much I'll want to kill Colin Murray laterz).

song is not an anchor man, and it's nothing to do with brainfreeze.

Why?

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/44114/Wenger_signs_up_six-year-old_New_Beckham.aspx?

smh

we can afford all but the biggest 5 players in the world, do we really to fuck around with new Scrooge McDucks so heavily when our starting 11 is so fucked? (The answer is yes, of course we do, but can we not pay attention to both? for realz?)

an anchorman sits, he patrols form side to side, when his team has the ball he's like a dog the other side of a fence. he doesn't want the ball until someone he gets to tackle has it. a good anchorman then lets the ball quickly and simply to a teammate with possession football abilities.

a great anchorman can go beyond that, obviously, but if yr anchorman doesn't first-and-foremost have ^ in his head going on to the pitch what you got is a frustrated footballer, and not an anchorman.

if you think song is an anchorman, i'd counter by saying only under arsene wenger- in much the same way that huddlestone for spurs isn't an anchorman, he's similar to song in that he only happens to play in that area of the pitch, which tbh has nothing to do with it imo.

xp chamakh, kozcielny and squillaci are good and sensible additions tbf- but gk gk gk gk gk gk gk. if wenger isn't waking up all of august with that in his head he's guilty of gross professional negligence.

Song does spend all his time when we are off the ball playing like that.

And yes I agree.

And fucking hell, we gave away a penalty AS WELL? Fuck Almunia with something sharp.

Hahaha - is that Fletcher Toll thing a joke? I'm loving it. Another one for the child prodigies thread there.

No laughing matter and all, but I just love how it's written - 'it was feared that doctors would have to amputate...' Brings to mind sports hacks crowding round the door of the pediatric ward, trying to sneak a look at the chart pinned above his cot. Concerned gooners holding vigils outside, etc.

almunia saved the peno, tbf, but yeah he was miles out to give it away.

defence for the goals was shambles, yr first goal against us last week kinda bad

1st goal - Koscielny totally at fault, GK had nothing to do with it.

From what I've seen of this guy so far he'll have a cracking 89 minutes but the 1 he turns off is the 1 where we've been punished. Obviously yesterday he didn't even have the cracking 89 minutes.

2nd - oh lol manuel. Andrew Sachs must be rolling in his grave. Also Koscielny and Clichy deserve some blame. And Song. But fuck you Almunia. A tame shot right at you... goes in? WTF. My mother could save that. And she has arthritus.

Teams ought to just shoot-on-sight with Arsenal really

3rd - ok we start by giving the ball away from A LONG BALL? LOOK AT YR BADGE WHOEVER THE FUCK DID THAT? DOES IT LOOK LIKE THIS http://www.fansonline.net/images/westham/BoltonWlogo.png ? NO, IT DOESN'T? WELL DON'T FUCKING PLAY LIKE IT THEN. KEEP POSSESSION AND THEN THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO FUCKING SCORE.

After that Almunia never learnt from the mistake he made two weeks ago, surprise surpise.

I'd been looking forward to it, only just realising it's actually going to be torture.

otoh we hit the woodwork 3 times and had a teams worth of players injured. but still... fuck almunia with a big stick, we could have been 1 pt behind chelsea going into stamford bridge. now we are going to leave there 7pts adrift.

no, it just seems when i c&p ppl on here to show it? hmm, or it did then but didn't when i tried it a second ago? colour me confused

's fine, I got chuffed when I realised I had a chance to engage my fancy new mod powers

transparency ppl, transparency

itt a hoy hoy is gracious in defeat

i could spend the next year tryin to find out who this alex song enforcer dude is tbh, i'm not admitting defeat on that one just yet

Koscielny is looking as likely to be a liability as a sensible reinforcement from what I can see so far.

got to allow him a few weeks if not months- Vermaelen settled in amazingly well considering Arsenal only have one line of defence, either before or after the Centre halves.

wenger is shit at buying centre halves, vermaelan was just a lucky break that let him off the hook for a while. (sol was free, toure was a right midfielder and then... gallas? possibly a worse record than his keepers.)

love the story that our chief scout decided vermaelan was the one after seeing ajax concede 10 in 2 games where he played left back. seemed almost too on the nose.

nah, it's just that there's two centre half positions to be filled and they need to work together

also- bringing a centre half through the ranks- not the same as bringing creative midfielders/attackers imo

didn't do too bad with adams and keown and they are being taught by bould - so gtfoutovere

otoh i hear good things about bartley. guess i should take it to the sheff utd thread.

?

who brought through adams and keown? not wenger and his staff?

missing you here i think. pre-emptively disagreeing with you anywah tbh.

just saying we have a kinda recent history of doing it until wenger decided that defending was pointless.

want me to post a team of players tottenham could have fielded in the time since adams came through? seems a very strange point to make.

anyway, strikes me that spurs genuinely have brought through better centre halves since wenger arrived- we had campbell at that stage already iirc, then y'know ledley.

that's better already, really

in this thread i am allowed to be stupid. the most successful academy centre half i can think of is Matthew Connolly, who will presumably be playing Premiership football next season when QPR get promoted. Not exactly Sol and Ledley (or Evans, or Carragher, or Terry etc. etc. is it.)

Seriously the day we hire a fucking defensive coach is the day I fly to Ireland and kiss darragh on the mouth.

(under Wenger. I trust a defensive coach to be the first signing under the next coach.)_

like i needed another reason to hope the gooners never get that shit together

:)

empty promise obv, why would i go to ireland

ps- evans has been found out, startin at AC milan last year when utd should have beed down to 10 men ten mins in, and running thru as far as last weekend (ps haven't seen today's highlights)

carragher never needed to be found out, as his faults were never punished by referees for whatever reason- same as terry, vidic et al.

spurs and arsenal dont really go for those type of centre halves, which tbh is a blind spot.

go to ireland because of the kind of scenery i just posted to my FB tbh

finding it weird Wenger has not made a move on Lloris yet.

finding it great Wenger has not made a move on Lloris yet

hah - he could also make a move on Ruffier methinks

just saying we have a kinda recent history of doing it until wenger decided that defending was pointless.

― a hoy hoy, Monday, 27 September 2010 00:18 (Yesterday)

(under Wenger. I trust a defensive coach to be the first signing under the next coach.)_

― a hoy hoy, Monday, 27 September 2010 00:27 (Yesterday)

truly wenger is but a grim and fleeting aberration

A Long But Good Mail Criticising Wenger As A Coach
I coach a bunch of 11 year old boys. Good lads. Talented. When I am tired and am happy with them, I give them a session that I know that they will like. Some small-sided-games with limited touches. Make it a lighthearted competition. They love that. All can enjoy. Smiles everywhere, including from me. Easy streets.

The sessions that turn talent into results, individual defending, keeping a solid line, communication when without the ball, defending set pieces and applying pressure, they hate. Boring, hard work, no showboating. But we do them anyway. One has to, and they know that. But they hate it and its hard work for me.

A few years ago Wenger said he wanted to grow a squad, a happy, talented squad of friends. Friends that love to come to work every day and enjoy it. We know they play a lot of 4 a-side, one and two touch. It's well documented. Anyone think they do defending, shadow-play, set pieces ? Of course not. Do they ever alter formation or tactics to adapt to the opposition? Of course not. Boring. Hard work, all of that.

They are a light-weight, under-prepared, under coached bunch of chancers. They have inflated senses of their talent and most can't appreciate the work required to win. And its because they never do it in training and few have the natural desire to overcome the inadequacies in Wenger's approach. Fabregas is the exception that proves the rule.

Bottom line. Forget the lack of spending and stubborn refusal to cast aside players that underperform. We all know about that. The biggest issue at arsenal is wengers inability/desire to actually coach.

Arsenal is a defenders graveyard. All defenders that have come to or through arsenal under Wenger have damaged their careers (Cole apart). Kolo, Sol, Senderos, Gallas all left with their reputations damaged and Clichy and Sagna are going that way fast. They live in a coaching vacuum for defenders. They live in a club where defence is optional.

Look at Song. We waited 4 years for that lump to develop into a decent defensive midfielder, and now he's a star, he doesn't wanna do that. He wants to attack. He leaves Wilshere to hold the shape of the team. Jack, a player 6 inches smaller, 2 stone lighter and 5 years younger, is required to hold the team together. And Wenger allows this. Think Fergie or mourinho would ? Me neither.

Mark" saddened to have to write this" johnson

^ Real Dunphy styles about that one.

lol at the idea that the third most successful team in the country never practises defending. Or that Sol's reputation was ruined by what happened on the field - he scored in a Champions League final ffs. Or Kolo, who will almost certainly win the league again. Or Senderos for that matter - because how would he have ended up playing for Milan if not for Arsenal?

We need to train harder at it, and turn the fm tactic from 'overload' to 'attacking', but jeez, only 4 teams conceded less than us last season (incl. Liverpool which intrigues me...)

”Fabianski is ready. I don’t have any concerns. Fabianski made mistakes at Porto but he can show he has learned from that. When you watch a video, it is always better than the feeling straight after losing. Physically, it was actually tremendous. What we did physically, it was one of the highest performances this season. The distance we ran, the sprints we made, were the highest of the season so there was no lack of effort. We were not sharp, maybe, but the quantity of work was there. You cannot fault the willingness of the players. Just for the lack of concentration and defensive mistakes. I’ll tell the players to keep believing in themselves. It is the first match we lost this season so it is not a catastrophe. It is an experience, not a disaster.” – Arsene Wenger.

^^^fire this rafa.

only 4 teams conceded less than us last season

This is misleading imo - teams don't score freely against Arsenal because they're often playing 9 behind the ball but it's an issue if those teams are still emerging with 1-1 draws via a header from one of their three corners.

Yeah its an issue but not exactly the same as what that dude was on about. Hoarding is a great possession technique and so we obviously don't concede many from open play. We just need a strong organised goalie (CHESNEY or fucking buy someone) and some more time on the training ground and we'd be fine.

http://www.worldalmanac.com/blog/100hours.jpg

no wait

http://i38.tinypic.com/dls50j.jpg

FABIANSKI'S READY:

http://i42.tinypic.com/906fdu.gif

Can redeem himself entirely if he sets John Terry on fire on Sunday.

Apropos of nothing, I've just ordered a top quality home shirt from a China wholsaler for £20:

http://imgur.com/XXmjq.jpg

flammable

Think I spotted a hoy hoy:

http://imgur.com/OGy50.jpg

cute little dude

ahoy ahoy is everywhere this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n5MgQ0iwLY

Bacinjury Sagna.

what's the story there, is there a story there?

Maybe he tried sitting in Wilshire's lap:

http://imgur.com/gd44j.jpg

don't think 'merked' is really sufficient for that

He was asked for his feelings about the Mosel area of France in which the game took place at the Metz stadium; "Fun, already. I have experienced here a few attractive games, and especially bitter derbies whether with Strasbourg or Nancy. When we arrived here, we realized that the pain would last 90 minutes. The football played in this stadium reflected the values of the area, made of hardship and sacrifice. On the negative side, I notice that there is more open ground directly behind the stadium: I remember when we arrived, there were always youth teams training there."

Noting that times had changed in the area and the Metz team at which Robert Pires and Adebayor, among others, made their mark Arsene acknowledged: "Yes, and the club's situation saddens me. However, it is consistent with these old industrial and mining areas which have their source of funding dry up. We have the same phenomenon in England, where teams like Leeds and Sheffield are struggling to regain their place among the elite."

Responding to the suggestion that he was here to cast his eye over the Metz as winners of the French Youth Cup he smiled as he replied "That's false. You know, we have an eye on the world, but we recruit very few: three, four young players a year who really shine. "

Asked if it was difficult to judge players from Arsenal performing for France detached from his charge of them he answered "No, instead, it allows me to monitor their performance with more distance away from the bench. See them evolve in a different context is interesting, insightful. And this allows me to function as a consultant even sometimes to bring them back as soon as the game finished (laughs). This will happen tonight we start together in London."

Disagreeing with the suggestion that Abou Diaby is often compared to former Arsenal stalwart Patrick Vieira he said "I do not agree with this parallel. The comparison is based primarily on their physical similarities. Patrick is a distributor, someone who organizes the game Abou himself is a striker going forward and taking players on."

With a new mood affecting the French camp since Laurent Blanc took over Arsene felt that there is still some way to go "You can feel a new enthusiasm, but it is too early to make a final decision on this team in France. Now I can only welcome this attempt to give the Blues to Laurent Blanc. Generation 98 has demonstrated proficiency on the field and off. I find boys Bixente (Lizarazu) and Christophe (Dugarry) very competent and intelligent. It is time they took over coaching from those like me." he laughed.

Before contemplating retirement Le Boss still has ambitions to satisfy ... "Yes and they are simple: win everything. Cups and the championship of England." And despite it being a few seasons since he lifted a trophy ... "Yes, but I'll answer that Arsenal can each season reach a higher-level without losing € 200 million per year. This is not true of all my colleagues in England and the rest of Europe."

Finally he dealt with a rumor in France that he`ll join PSG in the near future ... "It's not impossible, but it would not be in the shoes of a coach. PSG is the only club in the world to develop in a population of ten million people without knowing the highest level of competition. In Paris, it is believed that a simple change of coach can solve the problems but what is really needed is investors sitting at a table and providing the club with the funds."

Intresting he thinks PSG need investors. Hypocrit :) Also has anyone written much about the downfall of sports in mining areas or similar situations of losing local jobs on masse?

Arsenal are putting the finishing touches to Aaron Ramsey’s rehabilitation from a fractured tibia and fibula. The Welshman returned to full training this week and plans are afoot for Ramsey to turn out for the Reserves in the coming weeks.

Ramsey has been training at Arsenal’s state of the art indoor centre based at London Colney for a number of weeks, but the 19-year-old was told he is free to link up with the first team last week. Newly appointed fitness coach Marcus Svensson is running the rule over Aaron’s come back and was happy to give the midfielder the green light to do ball work and exercises with the team.

The hope is that Ramsey will be able to turn out of the Reserves sometime in November. Arsenal are also hoping to arrange a selection of behind closed doors fixtures should he need it, with a first-team return being penciled in before Christmas. So far the youngster has suffered no muscle set backs; meaning his return has gone according to plan.

:)

Arsenal have reportedly won the race to sign 17-year Romelu Lukaku, who had been linked with just about every half decent club over the summer transfer window.

Now, just one week after Arsenal had confirmed interest in Lukaku, a confirmed deal looks ever more likely. The player-winning bid is apparently somewhere between £9.5m and £12.5m, but any overall payout may rise depending on appearances.

For a teenager, Lukaku’s scoring average is impressive for one relatively young in years, with an overall hit-rate of just under 50%. He is also the youngest goalscorer in European competiton and was top scorer in last season’s Belgian Superlig.

Ultimately this would be a lucrative deal for both player and club at first glance, with the only potential drawback being the fans’ patience versus Lukaku’s time needed to adapt to the pace and physicality of Premier League football. Nevertheless, Lukaku’s speed and skill has led to favourable comparisons with Didier Drogba – so why on earth should Arsenal shy away from closing the deal at a reasonable price?

The champagne however, may need to be kept on ice just a little longer, because there is a contradictory report from the YoungGuns blog indicating that although interest is confirmed, a deal is far from imminent, stating:

“Arsenal remain keen on the powerful front-man, but a move to Chelsea sooner rather than later is the general feeling in Belgium.

“The powerful, all action and clinical striker is valued at around €18 million euros; a dramatic hike on the initial €3 million The Gunners were prepared to pay a year ago. It seems certain Lukaku will be one of the stars of the future, but if his future does lay in London, it’s almost certainly in the West, and not the North.”

Goodness knows this transfer saga needs to be laid to rest…

---

i really fucking hope we win the race for this guy.

A new development on the Wengerball thread has ILF posters purring with pleasure. Long, detailed posts appear without provenance; it is possible that they are quotes pulled from articles, but no-one is sure. In the meantime, readers can only wonder at the rich, hypothetical world inside Arsenal. Each proto-development receives acclaim suited to a transformatory event; none will ever transpire. Yet Arsenal continue to behave as if the title is within reach.

loving this maximalist posting style tbh

My green home kit from China has still not arrived.

that interview on Metz, the depressed mining towns, etc. comes from a regional paper

inevitable merging of ILF and ILW to result in everyone contributing such transferslash

Dirty Wolves? Dirty Arsenal.

Yes, rest easy Mick McCarthy, the real bad boys of the Premier League reside at the Emirates.

Any fan of football should admire the way Arsenal play the game. They don't paint by numbers, they prefer elegant, impressionist brush strokes. It can be a joy to watch.

Then there's their dark side. Jack Wilshere's tackle (it wasn't 'mistimed', it was reckless), Samir Nasri's knees up Liam Ridgewell, Emmanuel Eboue's scissor challenge, Marouane Chamakh's gamesmanship (he says Scott Dann made contact, Scott Dann said he never touched him; someone is lying).

looooooool. yeah that team that has constantly come in the top 5 of the fair play league in the past 5 years are EVIL.

also lol he's foreign, he must be lying.

We also ended Martin Taylor's career by sending him to Watford.

someone is lying

well the pictures show conclusively that Dann did touch him, a bit, so...

Someone shoudl just ask them if they dived, fuck this 'contact' shite. Call them on it.

"He is from Barcelona and has an attraction to where he grew up," Wenger told shareholders at Arsenal's AGM on Thursday.

"At the end of the day, I believe he wants to win with this club. For how long I don't know but hopefully for many, many years. I'm not pessimistic. I'm confident we will keep him for a few more years."

well considering barca are skint, we aren't and he isn't exactly unhappy waiting a couple years - thats that settled then.

best manager of the last ten years
http://www.iffhs.de/?20e22b04ff3700e46b55a76917f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6e0f

well duh

of course he is

ignore scolari at 6

is that sarcasm because dude won the wc?

Lol domenech at 32

mourinho in third with just two european cups and a string of league titles to his name. loser.

2009 Youth Cup sealed it for Arsene I reckon. Another year without a trophy might have knocked him off the top spot.

considering that team gave us wilshere, i wholeheartedly agree :)

mourinho by some distance the manager of the last ten years.

by some distance.

manager of all time? There'll be a thread for that of course, in time, but imo he's already getting close

if he quit after winning the cl or league with real and never managed again, he'd be in exalted company, certainly.

but i'm convinced he'll take over from ferguson.

why tf will he go to a sinking ship?

he is marvellous but dude has been bankrolled his whole career, i'd like to see him take on a job where the club he has isn't by far the club with the biggest transfer ability in that country and then we can talk about best ever.

errr what about winning the CL with Porto?

Can't argue with that, it's the achievement of the decade (along with Rehhagel maybe, and grudgingly).

Strikes me Man Utd has got to be the job to avoid until the Glazers are out.

tbf...rafa winning the cl with that utterly shit team was prob even bigger.

There's no way Wenger deserves to top that list. Well, if you stopped the clock at 2005, maybe. Mourinho all the way.

no cl no cred

Also lol @ David O'Leary appearing on that list.

above martin o'neill!

Also Del Bosque with two Champions Leagues and one World Cup under his belt is stupidly low.

Strikes me Man Utd has got to be the job to avoid until the Glazers are out.

Odds on Mourinho succeeding Wenger instead? I don´t even want to think about it, actually.

Mourinho back to Chelsea is what I think, to win the CL and fill in the gap on his cv

There's no way Wenger deserves to top that list. Well, if you stopped the clock at 2005, maybe. Mourinho all the way.

― Matt DC, Friday, 22 October 2010 13:18 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is trolling, right?

Mick McCarthy- Best English manager of the decade

this is trolling, right?

Err, no. Two Premiership titles, some FA Cups, one season unbeaten (in the league), a middling Champions League record and no trophies whatsoever in five years does not The Best Manager Of The Last Ten Years make.

In that time, Ferguson has won the league five times and the Champions League once. He deserves to finish above Wenger for that alone.

one season unbeaten (in the league)

Rules all, FYI.

Rong.

Hate to say it but yes, you do need CL.

Although winning a title and not losing the game is really special.

a game

do people generally think CL is bigger than the prem, or vice versa, or does it depend on a club by club basis?

CL's the big one for most clubs I think, but the other way round for Liverpool

An element of luck with winning cups compared to winning the league in my mind. So winning a league when not losing a single game is an awesome, singular achievement.

But when a manager drives a club to two CL trophies that's something else, too.

BUILT A FUCKING STADIUM AND WAS ABLE TO MAKE IT TO A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL AND ACTUALLY PAY HALF OFF IT OFF AND PLAY BEAUTIFUL NEARLY WINNING FOOTBALL WHILE MAKING A PROFIT IN THE TRANSFER MARKET WHILE UTD BOUGHT £30 MILLION FLOPS says fuck you

srs only Rehhagel's achievement is on the same scale imo. And yeah maybe Jose at Porto but they were still rich then and were able to convince the best of Brazil to come to them (remember Deco?).

(as well as 1. lol porto in the league at the time wasso guarenteed they rested their first team before cl matches when the likes of utd couldn't 2. match fixixixixixixixing/bungs'n'shit)

BEAUTIFUL NEARLY WINNING FOOTBALL hahahahaha

Wenger should be shot out of cannon just for signing Silvestre, lest we forget.

There's no way Wenger deserves to top that list. Well, if you stopped the clock at 2005, maybe. Mourinho all the way.

― Matt DC, Friday, 22 October 2010 13:18 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is trolling, right?

― O holy ruler of ILF (a hoy hoy)

you asking if such a reasonable statement is trolling is actually trolling, right?

crazy stuff...being a good manager is about winning things, football is no more about who spends the least money than it is about who spends the most.

Not strictly true. Woy is most definitely a good manager.

Relative to resources / expectations, maybe.

(btw, I do not agree with sam on this one)

ok for once i see ronan's sarcasm :)

If the money us there the manager can spend it, if it's there and his strategy is not to spend it, for whatever reason, then he must still be judged by results on the pitch. Its actually ironic how 2010 modern football woe it is that a guy is suggested as best manager in the world based on his fiscal plan. Could he have spent more money and won major trophies without jeopardising the club? Could he have bought in diff areas of the team? Wenger is obv doing something unique and is obv a great manager, but even within that, is he doing everything right? Sacrificing your team's success to a philosophy is noble but it's also a bit of a ruse, nobody can ever fully criticise because you're not playing the same game as them.

I don't know, the impression I get is that, more than any other manager, Wenger's role extends far beyond coaching. Seems fair to give him credit for that - with the caveat that we won't actually know exactly how much for a decade or two.

I wrote something a while back about genuinely transformatory managers, meaning something other than just successful ones - no hesitation in putting him on a very short list there.

ronan nailing it. wenger is operating within well his potential as a football manager, strictly defining that role. everyone knows why, but that's not what we're talking about- redknapp takes stick for bankrupting pompey, but the power to do so should never had been considered within his remit, and the opposite is true for wenger, and does not excuse the caution that keeps the club self-satisfidedly (?word?) cruising in the top 4.

exactly....when winning trophies (or success on the pitch) isn't your primary goal then you can't win best manager in the world either...

'cruising' - we had to sell our best players and spend less than hull. Compare to Valencia and Spurs. Valencia won the title the same years as us last decade, tried to build a stadium. They are now nearly bankrupt, unable to pay their players on a regular basis and often come outside of Europe - all still while having no new stadium to move to. Spurs spent more than any team bar Chelsea (and City) to take advantage of Arsenal's hindrance and never did it. We made a CL final that should have been won if not for a lunatic German. We made a Carling Cup final that would have been won if not for our star striker BEING SENT OFF FOR BEING BLACK NEAR FRANK TORY LAMPARD (I may be remembering this game wrong and Drogba may have already scored before this happened.)

Oh and mark this on a Rafa scale - he got his huge contract to give him more control and used it to barely make it into the Europa League. And Redknapp can take a hell of the lot of the Pompy blame, as O'Leary can and should for Leeds. Don't tell me they weren't always begging for new players no matter the financial risk for their team.

Then there is the Barca thing. We know Spanish clubs are run by their president for signings and budgeting and wages etc. whereas managers in England traditionally do that themselves (see the Rafa thing again, or the Keegan bust-up for trying to do it a different way). Rossell currently has a lawsuit against Laporta for the ridiculous amount of debt he has put onto the clubs and this summer they had to take out a huge loan to pay their players. As much as people scoff about the dominating top 2 in Spain, like they did about the top 4 here, Barca and Real's recklessness is eventually going to be their downfall and not the ability of those around them. Why the hell shouldn't managers or those whose job it is not be defined by taking down the club or spending so much that they can't even afford to pay their players?

And then back to the cruising argument and whether we could have done more to actually win things under Wenger these past five years. Well, yes and no. Teams have proved many many times that buying does not nec. bring trophies and success. And the 'if only for a gk and an anchor man' argument seems off as well considering Liverpool's 2nd place run - competing against Ronaldo and the bankrolled Chelsea would never guarantee a team anything. Then compare him to Mourinho (as he has supposedly told Perez that he must be in charge of transfers to go there, I think this will work) - this summer he bought a back up (Di Maria to Kaka/Ozil) and a back up to a back up (Leon to Di Maria to Kaka/Ozil) in one position. And that's just one position. And as much as I think they will win the title, they are still not guarenteed it.

Could he have done more in Cup matches? Sure. Even taking away the sending offs in finals, losing to PSV in the 2nd and Liverpool in CL quarters was partly from tactical naivity. Utd in the CL semis from atrocious keeping and defensive slips and mistakes. But considering what Arsene was working with, again it seems more than just 'did he win everything y/n'. Could Jose have made a rookie Gibbs stop Ronaldo, then WPOTY?

Maybe Wenger isn't the best manager of the past ten years. But personally I consider there being more to the game than 'did they win a trophy y/n' and when the only person who comes close is one that couldn't win the CL with Chelsea's game changing billions then I think he who was able to not win while also changing his club for the better is. (Only Bayern and Chelsea from the past five years look like they aren't trying to cover up their deathly problems and Bayern had a shitty 5 years for them and Chelsea are lol Chelsea.)

AAAAAAAAAND its rants like that for why this thread was made.

there is more to the game, there definitely is, that's why i said i do think he is a brilliant manager, my highest praise for him would be that the football arsenal play when they're playing well is absolutely brilliant. but i do think if he has a fault, it's that he's taken the ideal a little too far, i mean don't you think he could have spent a little more, on a few more seasoned pros, kept arsenal in the black, made the defence better, bought a keeper, and then there might be no doubt he was better than mourinho?

Yes and no. The first season Almunia took over he did look like a terrific keeper. And other than Gomes, Lloris and Given, I'm stuck by a lack of quality keepers who have been available since Jens left earth. Gomes went when Almunia was still looking good and spent his first year being hounded more than him. Given took the City money and Lloris wanted to stay in France early in his career. Could we have done more to get them? Maybe. The same kind of applies to the centre half issue. I remember when Woodgate was available and Arsenal fans were going mental that Spurs signed him instead of Arsenal. When Lolathon Woodgate is a most realistic option...

The first season Almunia took over he did look like a terrific keeper.

This is trolling, right?

We made a CL final that should have been won if not for a lunatic German.

This is horseshit.

Why? We were 1-0 up and running it until fatigue from chasing Barca around kicked in that most probably wouldn't have been so noticable if we had 11 men?

not trolling. he was terrific that season. no mistakes. dealt with an ever changing back 4. Stepped up his game for big matches (particularly against Chelsea when Shevchenko had one of his few good games in England).

you still absolutely fail to respond to the assertion that a manager's job is to operate to the maximum footballing success within his parameters.

that wenger sets himself punishing parameters in not buying experience, in making a profit, in not compromising on his ideals in terms of style of play is relevant- that makes a big difference in judging his success.

lol woodgate scored the goal that won us a cup final. we have probably three goalkeepers better than any of yours. almunia has never not been shit. palacios would win you leagues just by existing on your teamsheet.

i'm as big a fan of wenger as you'll find, and absolutely, give him credit for the theoretical exercises he's set himself and the numerous successes your club has enjoyed off the field as a result.

he'd make a great director of football for mourinho

is it memory loss, or current form trumping past form, or a commentary about english goalkeeping, but remember when Almunia For England was a thing, not but 2-3 years ago

tbf Steve Harper for England was a thing too, not exactly been blessed in that dept

'within his parameters.' you say it yourself.

well done, woodgate scored a goal in a carling cup match. and then missed 4000 games. dunno how he would have been more useful than silvestre, other than making sure arsenal couldn't afford vermaelan. you hammer palacios like twice a day for not being in form since his first couple games at spurs. and you know we are talking as if wenger didn't win a bunch of trophies incl. the league last decade. OR BUILD A FUCKING STADIUM AND STILL KEEP ARSENAL WITHIN THE BEST TEN TEAMS IN THE WORLD AT THE SAME TIME.

p sure Arsene didn't build the stadium doesn't look like he could hold a shovel the right way round tbh

ok yes sorry he only helped plan the idea of and how to finance and how to keep the team one of the best in the world while labourers built the stadium.

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/e/epmd~~~~~~~_yougotsto_101b.jpg

He dud build the fucking stadium! HIMSELF. With a fucking spoon.

'within his parameters.' you say it yourself

within his own parameters, u clot. that's the relevant point- he creates imagined ones for himself to avoid having to make the final leap to actually winning things these days.

the rest of your post was either nitpicking at my half-bothered defence of players you picked out for attention, or the same rating of wenger for things we dont consider a manager should be rated on.

Tragic, all of it: http://www.yiannimizeworld.com/index.php#num=content-267&id=album-6

Sorry A Hoy Hoy but your entire argument is bollocks, he's a football manager not a CEO. And I think he might have had some help from the Arsenal board on most of the off-the-field stuff, perhaps?

But yes, he nearly won the Champions League, well done him.

most probably but this thread was never going to be about cogent arguments.

Unnamed party in talks for Bracewell-Smith's 15.9% stake.

Lady Nina far more likely to sell to Fat 'n' Orange than Stan imho.

refuses to sell to either iirc

lol

Arsene, you old dog.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/11/06/arsene-wenger-accused-of-having-secret-affair-with-french-rapper-115875-22696435/

Arsene Wenger and his blonde mistress looked like an intimate couple in love as they held hands and leaned towards each other over lunch in Paris.

Married Wenger, 61, jetted to the French capital hours after returning to England with his Arsenal team following Wednesday's Champions League defeat in Ukraine.

He kissed leggy rapper Sonia Tatar, who was waiting for him outside an airport hotel, before the pair went inside to eat.

At one point Sonia, 39, helped wipe food from the dad of one's chin as they chatted.

Wenger, who is married to ex-PE teacher Annie Brosterhous and has a 13-year-old daughter Leah, first met the blonde two years ago when she worked at a diner in Paris.

He invited her to come and watch his team play football and they embarked on an affair, secretly meeting up in a smart hotel in the French capital.

The couple met in the same £250-a-night Concorde Lafayette hotel which lies near the Champs Elysees and has breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower. Sonia lives in a crumbling council block off a market street in a poor suburb of the city with her daughter, 17. A close friend told The Sun: "Sonia is a streetwise single mum and rap singer from the suburbs of Paris.

"She loves her music, but she's never been able to make much of a living out of it, so had to take part-time jobs in all kinds of places — pastry shops, jewellers and restaurants.

"She was a maitre d' at a restaurant when Mr Wenger arrived with a number of business associates.

Sonia got chatting to him and the mutual attraction was pretty much instant.

"Mr Wenger took her phone number and they started seeing each other. It was all very secretive for obvious reasons — but she really fell for him."

Wenger, based in North London as Arsenal boss for more than a decade, bombarded her with gifts. The pal said: "They would meet for meals and meet in the hotel. They were always very discreet, keeping a very low profile and acting is if they were business colleagues.

"Mr Wenger managed to spend a great deal of time in Paris, he's a football pundit on French TV."

Sonia, who was previously wed but divorced aged 20, comes from a close-knit Algerian family.

Her late father was a chauffeur to the Algerian government. The blonde's latest date with Wenger came on Thursday.

He arrived in Paris at 1.45pm, amid airport strikes.

As he and Sonia dined in the hotel restaurant, he kept shooting glances around him to see if he was being spotted.

They sat in the eatery for just over an hour before walking back to the airport terminal together. At one point they left the terminal building so Sonia could have a cigarette — while Arsene held his hands over his face after being spotted by fans.

They then strolled back into the terminal and, in full view of onlookers, drew close to each other and kissed and held hands before saying goodbye.

Last night Wenger said: "This is a very serious matter. I do not intend to make any comment and wish to deal with the matter privately."

hoo

google images not coming up with the goods, frankly

indeed

stoker16 says:
November 6, 2010 at 6:45 pm

why are people havin ago lol

this proves that we have litraly got the gretest manager in england:

he makes everyone has strict wages nd will never raise his price… while hes getin cash flow out of his ears as the highest paid prem manager.

he makes all his players under 20 be in befor midnight and live with there parents… wile the old geeza is gettin sum blound gash.

the mans a genious and everyone elses is his lil bitch lol

wenger i officaily love u!!!

gotta say i'm disappointed - if he really wanted a vivacious and controversial bucktooth experience in paris he should have signed ronaldinho back when he had a chance.

ffs what is in the water in north london? can a centre half not go months without injury? rip verminator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZixaQA5CGw&feature=player_embedded

not putting this on the amazing goal thread because its only a reserve match. jet NEEDS a premiership loan and on current form he is 5000000000 times better than the likes of players West Ham and Wigan and etc. are relying on to let them go down.

I'm confused and scared. Nothing seems that real any more.

been a crappy transfer rumour staple for years that is never going to happen. we won't buy another centre half until 1. bartley doesn't turn out to be good enough or 2. real try spending a fuck load on vermaelan

RealArshavin
I hear this word Swag a lot lately. What is this please?
12:44 PM Nov 10th via Twitter for iPhone

wonder how many brits using it since before 2010 enlightened him.

I never hear 'swag' anymore, who's he talking to?

Cher Lloyd

Turn his swag on!

Maybe his fellow players think swag is an appropriate term for the millions of pounds a year they take from the club with no expectation that they'll ever need to win anything.

and who knows how good henri lansbury will be (i do, answer is 'fairly')

― acoleuthic, Thursday, 18 November 2010 22:07 (Yesterday) [IP: 109.157.43.101] Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Didn't want to disturb the Cattermole maths so... yeah, fairly is about right. On the Utd scale I'd say (my-opinion-of) Carrick - kinda decent at everything, has turned it on enough on cameras to make you think he could be special but really he's... just kinda there.

btw current recognised arsenal english yuts on the utd scale (beckham > scholes > a bunch of ppl > quientin fortune or whoever): wilshere > afobe > gibbs > jet > walcott /> aneke > lansbury > frimpong > freeman > watt > deacon/ > bartley> cruise > randall >hoyte

unless major injuries happen, i'm p certain those first five will play for england (3 already have/helps my cause when boothryd is a striking option to say jet and afobe will i guess), aneke looks like a cracking box-to-box powerhouse type but may choose ghana iirc, every one from him down to deacon has a chance if they work fucking hard and from there to hoyte it depends on work ethic and good agents to see who are going to languish between middle of the table premiership teams and the second division.

WHERE'S CRAIG OWNGOAL EASTMOND

i knew there was someone i was missing!

Wenger loves him (didn't buy a DM like everyone clamoured for because he sees him as that player) and on occasion he has looked terrific. But DM seems like the one position England don't need to worry about, and I can see him getting Phil Neville'd back into right back and making his career decent but not remarkable.

LITERALLY BREAKING NEWS

RVP IS INJURED AGAIN

FUCKING MUPPET

EVEN THE JOKES ABOUT HIM BEING INJURED ARE FUCKING STALE AND BROKEN

SEE YOU IN 2012/13

He is just being rested, jeez.

crisis

FUCKING MUPPET

ROBIN VAN PERSIE is massively overrated and annoying

Aliadière always scores against us. Props to Wenger for selling him in favour of Robin van Injury.

― James Mitchell, Saturday, 13 December 2008 14:26 (1 year ago)

original; best

Yeah that post makes me look like the sane arsenal fan between the two of us.

I'm really starting to despise RvP.

Supposed to believe that Wenger's rested him after playing him for 45 minutes after two months out? He's crocked again, fucking cripple.

Saiful07

23 November 2010 10:45PM

SACK WENGER - THERE I SAID IT.

PLUS, ARSENE KNEW about 5 seasons ago and successful seasons before that.

Time for a change. You never want to throw out your favourite boxer shorts but once they get that irreparable tear in the inside leg, you're fuked. Wenger is like a boxer short failing to hold the balls in place. The tears are coming from all angles and we need new material and warmth to support our crown jewels.

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/848698-arsenal-close-in-on-kevin-gameiro-as-spurs-and-liverpool-express-interest#ixzz16f4ev4po

Even if this isn't true, it does look like the end of RVI or Bendtner or both. And maybe Vela.

he looks like Koscielny. Do they have a squad of clones?

The news that Pat Rice is retiring at the end of the season seems to explain why Thierry keeps popping up at all those games recently.

Or promote Steve Bould, or get Dennis back and get him on Skype for the European games.

pat rice evra

pat rice vieira should retire from citeh and start earning his badges.

retired in 2004 iirc

"should climb out of the money pit" then

henry has been turning up at every other game since he joined barca?

its gonna be bould, training him for the day he takes the big job. we are going to have a bit of graham defending influence back :)

or alternatively it'll be grimandi or someone he pulls from french football and i'll grumble.

Igors Stepanovs and Nelson Vivas dream team.

Fingers crossed for Szczesny.

I thought he did very well. Liked his ridiculous OTT 'i dont care if im not saving this, i'm putting you off' style for the penalty. would like to see him stay in the team

hope we're not planning on starting to use his real name, cuz i've found myself 100% incapable of remembering how to spell it. kind of like beu bea buuuu bureaucracy.

He is Chesney.

Txeçni

http://imgur.com/xk8Y3.jpg

drench is terrible, fuck those guys.

who's shredding in the back?

Looks like Pascal Cygan imho.

diaby not looking happy :(

had to increase the gamma to see him in the low sunlight, damn racist winter sun

A-ha ha ha, cheeky fucker: http://twitter.com/#!/cesc4official/status/15767554710577152

ingles or gtfo caganer buying motherfucker

http://twitter.com/cesc4official/status/15769684649451520

translates, fyi, as "send us a pels oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh vuitens-finals of the champions! The article further goes a moooc moc!"

http://imgur.com/nxKCs.jpg

look at the fear in those eyes, the uncertainty, the lad just doesn't have a badmintoning brain.

:)

itt nicklas 'grandpa bendtner

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1986/bendtnergrandpasweater.jpg

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lei710dR5a1qba68g.gif

Gotta love the kids : http://twitter.com/#!/AyJayy25/status/22770423477309440

Something amusing about this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgjk81_samir-nasri-receives-his-french-footballer-of-the-year_sport

lol. "who didn't go to the world cup?" "nasri? benzema?" "just give it to the one who is closest so we can get on with life"

ha i was going to say

nasri is great tho, probably deserved it...malouda would be only other viable candidate

or abidal or lloris

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/1/10/1294658737635/Samir-Nasri-009.jpg

Oh Mehnilson.

not exactly balotelli levels of lol comments, mehnilson apt name.

"The best keeper at Arsenal is Manuel Almunia," he said.

ok lol

Arsenal midfielder Denilson reassured the fans that the hamstring injury suffered on Sunday against Huddersfield will only keep him out of action for three days.

I can't really see why you have a grudge for well, any of our players - maybe Almunia for being shit or Arshavin for not living up to his potentialDenilson. He's not a bad player and maybe will one day become a good one. He's not in the first team and not a liability when he plays. And most importantly, it is starting to become very obvious Wenger sees him as someone just to keep around until Ramsey is properly back. He fell behind the Welsher before, and is now behind Diaby and Wilshere today, add in that he is being sounded out for a deal away from us... Just... meh.

In other news, I have been told that Jack Wilshere's twitter is just pictures of him posing in his underwear on a leather Union Jack flagged couch. *shudder*

He's the seventh choice central midfielder, it's just annoying that Arsene considers him good enough to be the Song back-up. He has some sort of sick obsession with him. I think he could be his dad.

Gael Clichy (has won more tackles than any other Premiership player this season)

themoreyouknow.jpg

Torres for £50m must push up Cesc's price by a ton, especially considering Torres hasn't performed all year and has dropped out of Spain's starting XI and Cesc may leave with honours on his sleeves (Has Torres ever won a trophy in domestic football?). If he now goes for anything less than £70m, I'll set my Cesc shirt alight (I won't.)

http://imgur.com/U52mg.jpg

I love the way all these honourable British managers renowned for meeting adversity head on squeal like babies at every opportunity when they play us.

Arsene 'not a wheeler dealer'

And RIP Flappy.

i just need to loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool itt for a sec

ok

(for future readers 4-0 @ halftime @ st james. 4-4 final)

I like the idea that there are things to come which mean today will one day be forgotten

:DDDDDDDD

I think today convinced me that we are genuinely just 1 player away from something special. Which is fine, because Vermaelan is that one player and he's already ours.

Ok so Barcelona have made it to February with a near perfect league placing, only having dropped points in 3 games. They should end up on 100+ points easy. Messi scored another hattrick, and not against piss easy competition either. Jose, who may have scalped them last season, lost 5-0 with a superior set of players.

Is there a way to stop them? Even playing all our best players, on their best day, as tight tactically as we can be (lol at Arsenal) - I still cannot even consider it.

Just hoping FIFA declare Messi unable to ever play professional football again in the next week after we find out he's not human but a super saiyan.

http://i.imgur.com/M2iFT.jpg

http://arsespeak.com/2011/02/07/arsene-wenger-the-nancy-years/

i have the same haircut atm, good i was going to walk into town and book a stint at the barbers later anywayz.

I think today convinced me that we are genuinely just 1 player away from something special. Which is fine, because Vermaelan is that one player and he's already ours.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_04/035ostrich_468x538.jpg

eh. when city destroy utd this weekend and we are crowned champions-elect, i won't look so ridic

I think you might be missing something important in this "when City destroy United" scenario.

god and you mock other fans...you'll be saying "missing piece in the jigsaw" or "a real push for the title next season" soon

This is a thread I made to mock myself Ronan. I know I am as crazy as other fans.

http://arsespeak.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/wenger-asnl.png?w=423&h=308

http://www.brenocallaghan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/GregorysGirl2.jpg

The biggest thing I miss because of football is that I really, really love to go on a skiing holiday but as long as I have my career, I can’t do that because of the risk of being injured.

“Cesc is a great Catalan player. He played for us as a kid and he will be welcome back at Barcelona for the Champions League match. Right now, everything is dead regarding a transfer.” – Raul Sanllehi, Barcelona’s director of football.

£55m move in the summer, guaranteed.

Either that or he walks out in two years for free. Wouldn't be surprised if he does that.

Or whenever his contract is up.

iirc he's contracted till the end of 2013/14, have ta be a madman to leave what will be by then the world's only solvent club. right?

Henri Lansbury needs to be back at Arsenal ASAP if only so that his pitiful attempts to Dougie can have a wider audience.

is he any good at football tho

Ignasi Miquel is handed his Arsenal debut at Leyton Orient at the heart of the Gunners' defender, but it's still a strong side at Brisbane Road - Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendter and Andrey Arshavin all featuring.#

---

Terrific lame rather ordinary counter-Barca trolling here from Wenger. Got a week to turn him into a £30m player they regret letting go.

RIP RvP.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5096/5468218433_a37f31dc34_z.jpg

Conor Henderson, a young Irish playmaker given his debut tonight.

look forward to trapp finding a reason not to play him in favour of that green bloke from derby county

tbh i don't know how to judge him. he's just fit right in to our passing metronomy. Against a better team who'll close down quicker then i'll tell you if he is good or not. But he's looked classy tonight.

beautiful header, gonna have to come back from 4-0 are orient at this rate.

glad to see bendtner getting a confidence boost

Ha ha, that were ace, except I couldn't focus on anything for about ten minutes when Rosicky was hobbling off the pitch. It literally took him that long to get from the far side to the dugout, like a funeral procession. He's done, wouldn't be surprised if it's his last appearance for the club. Everyone else around us seemed more concerned with waving wanker signs to the O's fans.

Almunia made an absolute clanger a few minutes in and only managed to hold onto the ball about four times after that.

Leyton's Fox must have had his Readybrek at half-time because in the second half he was all over the pitch and created most of their moves. He's the physical spit of Rosicky as well - they could swop the two and no-one would notice unless they waved a metal detector over Rosicky's leg.

was only a concussion btw, rosicky will play again for arsenal.

dunno if it's my v partial attention but arsenal seem to be fail to win every time rosicky plays, no matter how well he and the team play overall.

we won 5-0 tonight with him iirc

yeah but he went off, orient would've pulled it back to a 4-5 otherwise.

http://i.imgur.com/Q71tP.jpg

Wee Jack and Emmanuel Frimpong in the U12's team. In 2003.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJsq9V-MdXc

o_O

the hell

haha wth

http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2011/03/aliadiere-hopeful-of-arsenal-return/

going in goal, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdEPdUxQN0

Ten years, fuck.

wilshire slips one past the keeper
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1371784/Jack-Wilshere-dad-pregnant-ex-girlfriend.html

Rumour has it Lady Nina is selling up pretty soon, and before the end of the season. Could be Kroenke time, finally.

Hopefully he'll push Wenger to an early retirement and we can get a proper fucking manager.

Ah, you'll miss him when he's gone. It's so noble, this playing with your hands tied behind your backs - there's been nothing like it since Old Etonians refusing to accept penalties.

fuck a 'proper manager'

^otm

Looking forward to Pepe driving us to bankruptcy within 18 months, winning the title and three cups on the way.

No idea who Arsenal fans would actually accept as their new manager - maybe only Guardiola would be enough. They're one of maybe two clubs in Europe I could never imagine taking to Mourinho.

Hopefully he'll push Wenger to an early retirement and we can get a proper fucking manager.

stfu.

:) Oh come on, I was obviously half trolling. We do need to replace Pat Rice with someone with testicles though.

Jose would be terrific by the way. He could play that same sort of ridiculously fast counter attacking football we played w/ Henry and Pires like he does now w/ Ozil and Ronaldo. I guess he trolled us well enough in the past that the majority wouldn't take though.

Tbh I don't understand why wenger doesn't just admit that he doesn't know how to organise a defensive line and hire a dedicated defensive coach. Adams? Keown? Steve fucking Bould?

The arsenal backroom staff is seventeen deep, including two/three masseurs, two gk coaches, a kit man plus assistant kit man and several physiotherapists, doctors and fitness coaches. Why they can't add a defensive expert to that lineup I have no idea.

Either that or a defensive marshal whose prepared to shout "mine" and "yours" when the ball's vaguely in the final third.

Have been saying the same thing for years.

two gk coaches you say?

Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sues Werder Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese over 'muppet' slur

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lieym6Nqr71qze9tko1_500.gif

Tbh I don't understand why wenger doesn't just admit that he doesn't know how to organise a defensive line and hire a dedicated defensive coach. Adams? Keown? Steve fucking Bould?

I think Adams' record at Portsmouth might have harmed his chances of ever getting near coaching an Arsenal team tbh. Still, he's taken Gabala to the top of the relegation group in the Azerbaijan Premier League so there's still hope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabala_FC

Collins John, Deon Burton, Terry Cooke!

http://i.imgur.com/1mskw.png

http://www.footballkitsonline.com/new-arsenal-away-shirt-201112/

That Gabala wiki makes me sad xp. A 2,000-capacity stadium - you could get more than that standing round a pitch on its own. Not that they ever fill it going by those attendance figures - 150, 300. Nice to see that Ganja are a bigger draw for some reason though.

that would like p sweet if it was another clubs shirt. but we are not fucking spurs, stop giving us white shirts.

Putting my bet on Jens getting Pat Rice's job in the summer.

What, you mean bloke who sits beside Wenger and does nothing?

Van Injury haz a Tumblr - http://robin10.tumblr.com/

Please let Arsene read this. That is my only wish.

Fábregas has revealed his frustration at Arsenal's failure to take the "final step" on the eve of his team's to Tottenham Hotspur, when they will attempt to revive their faltering Premier League title challenge. He also said that the managers of the top clubs in his native Spain would not survive three years without winning a trophy. Arsène Wenger's Arsenal have won nothing since the FA Cup in 2005.

"If you went to Spain and said to (Pep) Guardiola, (José) Mourinho or Unai Emery (the Valencia manager) that they would have three years without winning a trophy, it would be obvious they would not continue (at their clubs)," the Arsenal captain said.

"Here, it is different, the manager is intelligent and the club value different things: that the team is always in the Champions League, that we compete until the end, that we have young players, economic stability. For the board, this is important. But I imagine there will be a moment when you have to decide: do you win things or not?

"When I started here, we won the Cup (in 2005) and got to the Champions League final (in 2006). Barça beat us with an extra man and it was not a victory but it was the first time that the club had got to a Champions League final. Millions of players had played here and it was us that did it.

"But from 2007 on, I started to say: 'We don't win but we play very well.' And after that you realise that it doesn't work. You enjoy it, during a part of the season, like this year when we were in four different competitions and you say: 'Here, I have it all.' But then you cannot make the final step and it is here where a decision has to be made: to go out to win or to develop players."

Fábregas, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona at the beginning of the 2003-04 season, said he had enjoyed learning from the club's Invincibles (who were unbeaten that season). But he lamented the lack of experienced "reference points" in the current squad.

"I was in a winning team and it was impressive," he said. "You felt that if you had a bad game, nothing happened because your team-mates helped you. Now, a lot has changed, and I am the man that everyone looks to. I don't like to say it but it is true. If I play badly, I take responsibility and the pressure of the supporters. Only me and (Robin) Van Persie remain of that generation, and we have a lot of responsibility. Me and Van Persie learned from the best. Now it is different because we are all so young and there is nobody you look at and say: 'Wow.'

"Young players learn from the older ones. Now, it is more complicated. If you put (Jack) Wilshere in the team that played before … it is different. I am not saying better or worse. Before, there were reference points, winning and strong players and playing with them, you learned faster."

Wow, that's pretty damning in its way.

He's now saying his words were twisted, should have kept it between him and Wenger then, idiot.

Yeah Valencia would be pissed if they could have a manager like Wenger while trying to build their new stadium! He'd you know, spend wisely and help them get it done!

fuck that's ... yeah, damning is the word alright.

he's hit the nail on the head. arsenal are putting too high a price-tag on him tho, so could well live to regret coming out with it.

what exactly is too high a price-tag btw?

they rejected £29million for him iirc? so unless he goes to city or chelsea pretty much nobody can afford him.

real i suppose. that would be some great trolling. or inter, they'll no doubt be busy in the summer.

so maybe i was wrong.

"afford".

Liverpool spent more on a guy with 1 England cap than you think a world cup winning playmaker is worth?

i don't remember anyone thinking that the price-tag there was, to say the least, somewhat exorbitant.

Dull game.

How to win Premiership 2011/12:

Sell Rosicky (2m), Squallici (4m), Almunia (Free), Bendtner (8m), Chamakh (12m), Vela (5m), Denilson (5m), Randall (Free), Hoyte (Free). Buy Gary Cahill (12m), van Nistelrooy (3m), Hazard (20m). Promote Lansbury, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Benik Afobe and Pedro Botelho.

Hire anyone to work on defending set-pieces as well as Arshavin's fitness.

Give Lehmann the Assistant Manager job, just to scare the shit out of everyone.

bendtner £8 million!!!!!!!

I think he will go for more than that tbh.

arshavin's 'fitness' is illness and fatigue due to taxation

van nistelrooy and van persie to play in the same forward line?

must admit i don't know hazard- is he a defensive midfielder beast?

I also don't think he will go this summer though. xpost.

Not at the same time, van persie will be injured most weeks. I guess you could also make a case for Pippo if he is still about. Someone who'll just hit the fucker in.

Eden Hazard is the most-wanted player in the world right now? Like the cheap Belguim made Messi.

isn'tr just hitting the fucker in chamakh's job?

Yeah but he's not actually v. good at it.

In my world of knee jerk opinions I thought Chamakh was 'the answer' to Arsenal's problems at the start of the season and would be the catalyst for them winning the title.

lock thread

I thought that until he went missing as Bordeaux came 6th in the league.

Eden Hazard is the most-wanted player in the world right now? Like the cheap Belguim made Messi.

― popular gay automobile (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 24 April 2011 17:37 (11 minutes ago)

lukaku, cavani, pastore, aguero, neymar too

sanchez, hamsik

samba makofo paim harbuzi

swap samaba for farnerud tbh

dont bale out on us deems

ur determined to make deems happen huh

lol

i have every confidence in my young nicknames, they have the ability and the maturity is there also

We might as well talk about moving Arsenal to another league is my feeling. They'd clean up in France.

xp oh nice

what do arsenal have in common with algerian immigrants?

they'd both clean up in france

P certain we are going to walk the English league next season, but yeah we could do two leagues at once.

Would love to see Van Nistelrooy and Lehmann work together. Might as well bring in Keown as well.

Happy St Totteringham's Day, everyone.

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

New shirt gives Arshavin anti-gravity powers:

http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/images/may_11/zp_Picture-2_1238.jpg

Oh blimey:

http://i.imgur.com/7e5Sq.jpg

Wow, that's fantastic.

I'm not happy about the new shirt though, the current model had a good long run in it imo. Plus my little 'un's just acquired one of his own, he'll be dismayed at finding himself out of date so soon.

Posited a theory in the pub last night that Wenger owns a 1999 "Best Goalkeepers in the World" album and that's what he bases his acquisition strategy on

omg if we buy taffarel i'm gonna be PISSED

Go for that promising young Buffon guy before Juve snap him up.

We're getting Fatty Vela back and we'll just have to like it.

“A colleague from my company rang Steve Rowley (Arsenal’s Chief Scout) to discuss the reports about Arsenal’s interest. He called Steve and said we have heard Arsenal are interested in our player Mario? And Steve said that they are aware the player will stay in Germany this summer and that the club are unwilling to sell the player.

This quote is about Gotze. Never actually seen Dortmund this season but I've heard the guy is a really exciting talent? Glad we are paying close attention to him and in contact with Dortmund at least.

How to win Premiership 2011/12:

Sell Rosicky (2m), Squallici (4m), Almunia (Free), Bendtner (8m), Chamakh (12m), Vela (5m), Denilson (5m), Randall (Free), Hoyte (Free). Buy Gary Cahill (12m), van Nistelrooy (3m), Hazard (20m). Promote Lansbury, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Benik Afobe and Pedro Botelho.

Not gonna win you the league.

Gotze is really really good a hoy hoy. Not ready for the prem yet imo but with a Champions League campaign under his belt who knows. Got a lot of playing time in the second half of the season after kagawa went down. Still only 18 I think?

Does Goetze pull out wide or can he play in the hole? The defence doesn't need another player who would leave them exposed at the back.

you were stretching a bit to get all of those in

He plays kinda leftish drifting in James. Some similarities to Ozil. Not really a winger at all but you wouldn't put him in a 2 in central midfield. Which is a roundabout way of saying-yes he probably would be yet another player that would leave you exposed at the back. The kind of creative player Chelsea more in need of than you tbh. He's like a potentially much much better Benayoun imo

^^^didn't get it.

iniesta is like a much much better benayoun

maybe much much much much much better

Speaking of creative types from Dortmund, where does 2006 Rosický fall on the Iniesta to Benayoun scale? His continued presence in this squad is the saddest thing about '10-'11 Arsenal i.m.o.

rosicky was much much better than benayoun, back in the day

BTW pandemic or anyone if you could recommend a match to seek out in which at least two of Şahin, Götze and Bender excelled I'd be grateful.

Is Iniesta particularly like Benayoun?

Six out, apparently. Denilson, Almunia, Rosicky, Arshavin, Vela and Cesc?

arshavin's a cert to go anyway

Replace him with jon walters to show you mean business imo

Cesc, rvp, Szczesney, vermaelen, nasri and Theo, I'm hearing

lol

In, improbably: Vertonghen, Lombaerts, Fontàs, Jeffrén, Willian, Miyaichi. BRB going to have a cigarette ...

Arsenal have reportedly secured their first signing of the summer with Ricardo Alvarez set to arrive from Velez Sarsfield.

The Argentinean attacking midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season, and South American media are claiming he’s already signed a deal to take him to the Emirates in June.

The move would represent a significant coup for Arsene Wenger, as the 23-year-old has been likened to Lionel Messi after enjoying an impressive season in the Primera Division.

Velez Sarsfield are currently top of the Argentinean league and Alvarez has contributed three goals in 25 appearances, but it’s the attacking flair and silky dribbling of the 6ft 2in winger that’s really caught the eye.

Alvarez holds an Italian passport and can play across the entire midfield, suggesting one of Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, or Carlos Vela will be headed for the exit door.

Wenger has pledged to strengthen his squad this summer and news of the potential arrival of the little-known midfielder will come as no surprise to Gunners fans, who have become accustomed to obscure names arriving in north London.

----

Have heard this from a multitude of sources, thank fuck he is looking to replace Rosicky and Vela. Sure I have no idea who he is but since when has that stopped a player being a cheap punt hoping he's not shit a potential superstar? Also lol any argentine being the new messi instead of the new maradona from now until forever. 6 ft 2? 3 goals in 25? sounds like messi!

So many reservations about signings like these. I suppose there's no price tag attached yet?

"currently top of the Argentinean league" is like being current holder of pass-the-parcel

Yeah, that system they have is messed up. Imagine trying to do the "who's up, who's down" math yesterday with multi-year relegation coefficients to be reckoned with as well.

Vélez are in the Libertadores semifinals, so they're clearly a good side. But I hope this Álvarez is on a free because his career to date isn't so impressive.

So many reservations about signings like these. I suppose there's no price tag attached yet?

― boxall, Monday, 23 May 2011 08:59 (1 hour ago)

he's on a bosman?

you hope he isn't good? why?

Eboue to Rangers. Sad times.

where you getting that? opens up alves as part of the cesc swap lol :D

good signing for arsenal, wenger has obviously realised the long standing need for creative attacking midfielders which has cost them so dearly in recent years. it's high time he abandoned his stoic safety first approach and put some faith in players who aren't just about physicality and hard work, but actually have skill too.

Basically I think the quality/talent in the current squad is maybe 15% of what's wrong with Arsenal (attitude of those same players is another issue). But it's at least 85% of what gets talked about year-round, and is about to rise even higher for the next few months.

so what exactly is wrong with this squad? I follow Arsenal (and the Premiership) from quite a distance and all you hear about is how young these guys are and how they need some kind of father figure in the team to add that sacred "experience". Having never really played in a team sport, i'm always a bit skeptical about the importance of having a bunch of old guys on your side but I'm ready to listen.

Probably too much an internal-affairs matter to be identified from without, unless you're v. skilled at separating truth from bullshit in what's relayed by the press.

That said I do think there are problems that can be discussed outside of the transfer-rumour world. Last I checked this thread was 200 posts behind "Tottenham are still" so we might as well try to recapture that "big thread" mentality and hope results follow.

there is 2 major problems, and a couple little ones. sort those 2 out and we should, in theory, be by far the best team in the league. they are: defending set pieces and injuries. the little ones are keeping with 'more experienced' players instead of giving youngsters a chance (lol i know, i know) - arshavin only started to show a bit of form this season when he was dropped for theo but when he had a free run he couldn't care less; no real defensive midfielder while full backs AND centre halves still get caught too far upfield etc.

basically new defensive coaches and physios are the most important signings needed this summer.

Injuries are def. something I wanted to talk about. Raymond Verheijen's claims are very interesting to me. Given his personality I can understand why he's made so many enemies but there might be something to him. Has this article been discussed on ILF ever?

I think it got a 'this is a good article' nod but not much more. It is awkward to talk about. There is obviously something wrong (why can Milan lab and Verheijen work wonders while big clubs seem to have injuries by the bucket load) but as a fan it is hard to know what the magic bullet is, other than "they should make it happen less often". I mean I'd guess that Arsenal training sessions would be anti-survivalofthefittest like Verheijen claims is the biggest problem and yet we still have massive problems with it? It's not something you can easily approach in conversation the way say transfers or tactics can be.

AHH re: "no real d-mid" - I thought you liked Song? Do you think he's too undisciplined/goes forward too much?

I heart Song but in any other team in the country he would not be seen as the anchor.

Always had the impression arsenal was traditionally pretty rich when it came to def. mids

Diaby has given lots of people that impression based solely on his physical resemblance to Vieira. If they'd kept hold of Flamini or Lass Diarra they'd be rich indeed in that area.

Ugh, unintentional rhyme.

Arsenal need rah-rah, boisterous high-character guys like Parker and Samba. This squad is too young & voiceless. Cesc is not a leader, Arshavin looks like he doesn't give two flying fucks playing out there. Nasri is holding out for more money but wants assurances for reinforcements this summer.

It would be a dream to win the Hulk and/or Falcao sweepstakes (lol) but we all know Arsene is more stubborn than a privileged, prepubescent nose picker. Perhaps returning to a 4-4-2 formation would bring out the best in the underachievers.

It's the name. You can't have someone named Hulk playing at Arsenal. Just can't. Too grotesque, too larger-than-life. Arsenal can't employ superhero footballers apart from Peter Parker's like RVP. Chelsea? Yes. I can see them pulling off buying Hulk, but Arsenal, never.

Falcao at Arsenal on the other hand, I'm down with that.

Hulk's quite medium-sized and plays wider, Falcao is a true striker but he's almost comically undersized for such a good header of the ball.

I hope they get a proper chance at Europe with Porto though.

Just noticed that Roger Johnson would be a perfect signing if ever there was one to be made this summer.

All depends on how much we make from Cesc tbh. And Bendtner. And Arshavin. And Denilson. And if we get any pennies for Almunia. etc.

keep bendtner, play him upfront for a change

getting rid of cesc will only help ye in the medium/long term.

get a shit footballer and stick him into dm. it will send the right message to the rest of em.

you don't have a goalie, and wenger can't train them up. buy a championship journeyman. same for cb.

have faith in both chesney and fabianski tbh

Just noticed that Roger Johnson would be a perfect signing if ever there was one to be made this summer.

lol

i think he may be the most objectionable player in the epl, or was until yesterday obv. he's just not had the exposure he so richly deserves

keep bendtner, play him upfront for a change

^Yeah, this. It didn't happen much this season but when he and RVP were played together the team scored something like 3.5 goals per 90 min. If Bendtner doesn't go would love to see the two of them start - if he does go, try RVP and Chamakh.

Van Persie's goal-a-game stretch was marked by a near-total absence of scoring from everyone else. There are various reasons to believe this is coincidental but it's worrisome all the same.

it's down to playing him on his own, with the assumption that arshavin will cover the ground from the left

fabregas missing for pretty much all of that run too tho?

wenger stopped playing chamakh very all-of-a-sudden for a guy that picks abou diaby for 6 years. i don;t think he was great but he was getting goals when he was dropped.

he went 14 games without scoring iirc

yes but again, this is a manager that has made abou diaby into a professional footballer, in the strictest understanding of those combined words. almunis still gets a game at ye ffs. chamakh was still breaking into a team at cf, and had scored some goals- ie demonstrated more ability in his position than either of those players ever have. if diaby even has a position tbh?

Yeah but they told us when he came (or the year before, drawn-out process that it was) that he wasn't a goalscoring forward. Crouch may have made the notion of such a player laughable but the team scored a lot when Chamakh played this season and I think he fits the offensive system well rather than just being a tall CF who's supposed to knock them in.

i agree, team was scoring a lot more when chamakh was making a nuisance of himself in the box.

tho he looks the poorest player technically in the front VI imo

diaby played for auxerre in ligue 1 iirc

ya for a fucking dare

he was alia dia's cousin ffs

Almunia got dropped for our second choice, third choice and then a retired player. Diaby is pretty fucking awesome on his day. Chamakh was a useless waste for half a season who not only missed every easy chance handed to him but also seemed disinterested in our team game to the point where Wenger saw Bendtner as a more viable option.

The player Wenger sees when he looks at Diaby is more of a theoretical/nostalgic concept. It's possible he could have been that player if he wasn't injury-prone. Still plays for France even under Blanc, or would if he were healthy.

bendtnenednner was preferred to chamakh.....on the right?

chamakh is a useful player, about as good as you'll get so long as you play 433 and he has to fit around rvp's injuries, or not if he stays fit

almunia got two full seasons or more? extravagant point wenger was making there, whatever it was.

diaby has fewer 'days' than alaskan december

Almunia made eight league starts, Diaby 13 - one is probably gone and the other is a squad player. Unless they're whispering "yr gonna fail" into the starters' ears on the team bus they're not really the problem.

well i mean if either's on yr team bus to begin with it sends a pretty shit message imo

almunia got 1 full season. last season he was regularly dropped for both fabianski and mannone, this season fabianski and chesney.

diaby, like anderson and ramires, has all the talent and none of the consistency.

when bendtner came on he'd usually play on the right of 2 up-front.

diaby and ramires lack quite a lot of technical skill

if your gk is constantly getting dropped for other failures then he's either the starter or you need to sack yr manager just cos

diaby is not as good at football as either of those other players. that's just the str8 up, ok

only saw bendtner playing rw as a sub, pr certainly that was his position 90+ of the time i saw

i don't know what you are trying to achieve here

He's helping us close the gap on the Spurs thread - only ~150 to go, down from 200!

boxall conference

i am trying to achieve SLEEP ffs, going over the three pillars of wengdom again should prove sufficiently numbing

Wenger should make a move for M'Vila who seems to blossom quickly into the kind of player Diaby should be/should have been

Finland’s men’s football coach Mixu Paatelainen has not selected Jari Litmanen for summer internationals against San Marino and Sweden. Paatelainen picked 19 players who will be part of the squad for the European Championship qualifiers.

The squad includes Alexander Ring, HJK Helsinki’s 19-year-old midfield starlet, who is less than half 40-year-old Litmanen’s age. The squad will be completed later this week, and Litmanen could still join the squad after HJK’s cup tie against FC Lahti on Thursday.

Paatelainen is also holding a training camp for players on the fringes of the national team. Dual citizens Carl Jenkinson and Lauri Dalla Valle, who will then join up with the under-21 squad, are included. Defender Jenkinson has just signed for English Premier League club Arsenal.

The Finnish FA confirmed to YLE that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had approved Jenkinson’s arrival to join up with the Finnish squad.

lol wut

if we have the new jari litmanen i think i will ejaculate. but instead lol wut.

wenger seems to actually be playing Football Manager with real life.

This is the Charlton kid there were rumours about in April.

Most surprising fact dug up from '10-'11 match reports so far: a midfield with Nasri but not Cesc meant very few goals. Cesc + Nasri versus just Cesc was about even, though. Yet to draw conclusions from this.

it means cesc is a v good footballer?

http://i53.tinypic.com/iwrk34.jpg

Put that down!

http://yfrog.com/gz64wuhj

Sigh, was supposed to link to this: http://yfrog.com/gz64wuhj

http://yfrog.com/gz64wuhj

lolz.

more and more i hear '30m + 2 non-essential players of our choice'. in which i say, wooooo! keita and mascherano and enough to buy benzema wut

This training-ground arrangement wasn't part of the supposed Cesc deal, was it?

Keita would be OK ... do young players on the outskirts of their first team count as nonessential? If so, any of Fontas, Jeffren and Thiago would be great. I know they'll never let the last of those three go.

RIP Tom Cruise.

There are no words:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pdi83i_StM

Why we aren't spending our war chest, or how we are spending our war chest:

Barratt London have announced that it has exchanged contracts on a deal to build 375 new private homes on the doorstep of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium – completing the final piece in the nine-year Ashburton Grove regeneration project.

Together with 50:50 JV partner L&Q, Barratt expects to start on the site in Queensland Road, N7, in January 2012. This is the second major JV which Barratt has announced in the capital with L&Q in the last six months.

The £128m development will comprise three residential towers with units ranging from studios to 1,000 sq ft penthouses priced at more than £500,000.

Although there is no social component, L&Q (an RSL) will be acting as a development partner on the scheme and will take an equal share of the profits. Barratt’s first major partnership with L&Q - the 27-storey residential tower at Alie Street in the City - started on site earlier this year. The £100m development will deliver 235 units by 2013 of which 64 will be affordable.

Alastair Baird, Regional Managing Director of Barratt London, said: “We are delighted to be delivering a second landmark scheme in conjunction with L&Q, who share our commitment to building the high-quality new homes which London desperately needs.”

“The homes will be situated literally yards from the stadium and we expect them to become as sought after by Gunners fans as the properties at Chelsea Village are by Chelsea supporters.”

Mike Johnson, Development Director at L&Q, said: “We are very pleased to be working in partnership with Barratt to delivery this landmark scheme, which will provide much-needed high quality new homes in a place which is especially important to many Londoners.”

Arsenal FC Director Ken Friar said: “We are delighted to have signed with Barratt. This is the last piece of the jigsaw in our new stadium project which has delivered huge regeneration to the Borough of Islington. 2,500 new homes and 2,500 new jobs have been created over the past six years. I am proud that we stayed in Islington and proud that Arsenal has helped contribute to the local community in this way.”

The first units at the development, designed by CZWG architects, will be on sale in September. The scheme will also comprise 440 sq m of commercial space and the build programme is expected to take three years in total.Barratt is the only major national housebuilder with a significant presence in London. Its landbank of more than 7,000 units in the capital comprises 30 sites located in 16 London boroughs.

Word is they are looking to double that 128m in 5 years, which will pay off the stadium 15 years early.

i remember literally nothing of my contribution to this thread 23-4 may, 2011

but i was otm and i would like to point that out

"three pillars of wengdom" was excellent, I'll give you that.

ya apparently this is how stephen king feels about cujo

darragh what is your pint of choice when contemplating north London football?

i don't drink as much as you'd expect while ilxing or watching/contemplating tbph, but it's moren likely gonna be a peaty scotch of not less than ten years

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lic0x4RRfz1qz5hh4o1_500.jpg

Also, RIP JET. We're doomed.

?

Aaargh, gooner here very frustrated at cesc and nasri, cesc, love you but over rated, issues with injuries now and to used to acting bigger than the club, if we can get 35 m for him, bye bye fella, let's see how you like going from captain to sitting on a barca bench. Hope this doesn't upset mate rvp as I feel he is vital to nxt season.
Nasri- this hurts more, strangely, contracts are so useless now but why is his run down so much??....guess club kinda refusing to be held to ransom after, finally, a good season from him...I'm at the point to say f.u. wantaways, you're causing too much noise, disrupting the club, bad influence on younger players, don't care if we finish midtable as long as we don't get into pandering to a handful of egomanaics over the whole team, also, excited by prospect of vermaelen and koscielny and szczesny together in the box, don't care what you say, all deserve more faith
:)

otm tbh, but i dunno will board and majority of fans share yr sentiments re midtable

except for sczelczkny, notm there

Hate to see Darren Dein succeeding in his plan to ruin the club after the board took away his dad's job and the director's box him and his mates used to get pissed in every game.

huh never expected this thread to bait random googlers

Uh? He's posted before (something about 'Jol out' I believe)

Anyway, what's Lady thingy up to with all these barbs at the board?

crushedrobot was on transfer thread iirc, but fresh blood don't hurt imo.

oh my bad

she doesn't like them and don't think they are right for arsenal as shown by her selling all her shares to one of them

Denilson's agent Gerardo Santiago:

"The only certainty right now is that Denilson will be at training with Arsenal on July 7. Are Spanish and other Italian clubs chasing him? Currently there are no negotiations.

"With Wenger we often talk about other issues, but we have never touched on the topic of a possible departure for Denilson."

Yes xp, welcome crushedrobot, and don't let the board bully put you off. You were our top summer target. Just a pity it's Arsenal really - couldn't you be persuaded to follow maybe Sunderland or Birmingham instead?

sunderland fan would be choice imo

Would like a Norwich fan.

'overweight Newcastle fan with a massive sense of entitlement' and a short fuse still the holy grail imo

i tick all but one of those boxes tbf

hold on, I've just described Raoul Moat

rip u legend

The Adventures of the JACK WILSHERE GANG

future interior life of

Love the url with that (non) story

The rest of the squad must terrified of him. I'd like to see Bendtner try wearing trainers when that guy's around.

SSN going big with "Man City have a serious interest in Samir Nasri"

Arsenal will be utterly loaded by the end of the transfer window.

So Clichy out is a done deal too? If Cesc and Nasri leave as well, no doubt Van Persie will leave in winter, too?

Clichy going to Roma for £7m is what I've heard for ages.

Gervinho may have had his medical or it is tomorrow? Maybe?

Isn't Clichy on the way to ManC?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/30/arsenal-gael-clichy-manchester-city

Roma already have a really good left back. City seems more likely just b/c they're weak at that position.

well was it the poof brigade or not?

it's alright to be a horrible cunt as long as you play for arsenal and no england.

"Mr Osbourne added: “I saw one of the men grab Ben by the lapels of his jacket. Ben said ‘Go on then, hit me’ and the man said ‘I will f****** hit you’. He then let go of Ben and walked over to me."

The lad knows how to ask questions of the defence - "Is it the poof brigade?", that's quality build-up play right there - but where's the finishing, where's the commitment.

So Clichy out is a done deal too? If Cesc and Nasri leave as well, no doubt Van Persie will leave in winter, too?

Van Injury's agent is also Darren Dein. The board should tell him to kick that cunt to the curb after his shenanigans with Adebayor and Cesc during the past three summers.

and henry iirc

Yeah because Van Persie chased the godlike Adebayor away lol

xp

In the Dutch press at least Van Persie has increasingly expressed his frustration playing for a club that somehow are champions of not winning anything. If Nasri, Clichy and Fabregas leave he's out too. Maybe not this summer, but within a year, I'm positive about this.

Oh you meant Darren Dein not Van Persie, soz :-)

hey i wonder if rvi can stay injury free for a season

sell him nasri rosicky diaby all, keep fabregas, buy some fulltime professionals, sunderland and newcastle have already bought several players each that could have helped arsenal.

xp He had a scare in that Brazil friendly a few weeks ago, ankle injury I think, looked nasty at first but he got up.

It's true about Newcastle at least, Yohan Cabaye might have been great at Arsenal.

Arturo Vidal is going to be a boss in Copa America for Chile.
I doubt Wenger will sign him up though.

Can't believe the board had a £10mn offer for Diaby ready to go and Wenger vetoed it. Should have bitten their hands off. Can't think what he's playing at.

Out of the six players who were meant to be leaving this summer, there's not been a bid for any of them so far. It's Rosicky, Almunia and Denilson who should be getting sold, not Cesc, Nasri and Clichy.

who's gonna bid for those jokes? We'll get rid of jenas first.

Xp funnily enough, I keep an eye on sunireland, having lived in durham and being irish, is someone suggesting wickham's an arsenal loss?? Hmmm, I'm hoping chamakh turns out to have had settlinginitis and comes good, hoping we get an injury/ form and youth promotion boost to offset the uncertain outcomes in this window..e.jay thomas, Ramsey, vermaelan, diaby? Arshavin......xxpost- jack wilshere gang, lol....groan, he's been looking like a tabloid dream for a while.... already!!...need him to focus his limited braincells on the pitch... Its gonna be eventful, regardless the ins and outs

saw e jay thomas play during one of the playoff matches

The boy is no footballer

Think JET is for the chop tbh, probably next summer after another loan period.

is that nippy japanese walcott dude who was on loan at feyenoord gonna be part of the squad this season?

hey i wonder if rvi can stay injury free for a season

― � (a hoy hoy), Thursday, June 30, 2011 8:14 PM (3 hours ago)

if he could, someone would have bought him years ago

probably following the usual arsenal route of asking to leave, being kept for a year of grudging subpar performances followed by a smaller fee being accepted the next year

is that nippy japanese walcott dude who was on loan at feyenoord gonna be part of the squad this season?

― r|t|c, Thursday, 30 June 2011 23:36 (Yesterday)

Nah, work permit issues

nakh i was kidding

With Clichy's depature imminent, would you guys favor John Riise to Arsenal?
He'd be a serviceable stopgap for Gibbs who is 1-2 years away and he'd be on the cheap.
I don't watch much Seria A, can someone tell me if he's still a top level performer?

I can't really think of another sensible replacment for Clichy tbh.

I think he's still excellent but the style of play in Italy is so different, I'm not sure if he's been challenged as a defender like he will be in the Prem.

Vermaelen can play left back, if Wenger picks up another CB or really likes Djourou-Koscielny as a partnership.

roma was about to replace riise with clichy. might still leave i guess. i like the guy but he was pretty bad last season (on par with any other roma defender tbh), slow and horrible positioning.

LB is one of those positions where I trust Wenger to find someone who may be a bit unknown, solid and French/playing in France - it's his bread and butter

like clichy

This cannot be true. Obviously "Vital City" aren't the most credible source but

http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=246133

Advance Notice: City Sign Gael Clichy
Manchester City will sign Arsenal left back Gael Clichy as early as tomorrow, Monday 4 July Vital Manchester City understands.

By all accounts the 25-year-old France international representatives have finalised the deal and an announcement is expected around lunchtime.

The transfer is expected to be in the region of £19 million while the player himself can expect to receive a salary of £110.000 a week.

More on this breaking news as we get it.

that's gotta be rubbish

Yeah more than likely. Funny if true tho. Maybe Arsene knows what he's doing after all.

he sure knows how to sell first team players ya

You're trying to have it both ways darragh.

heh and why not

In this particular instance, if that price is anywhere near accurate, no-brainer decision obviously.

But it's true that they don't have a better lb, vermaelen is better at cb and needed there anyway, and i dunno would i be blasé about wenger 2011 replacing him with as good or better.

yeah this idea "lb is a wenger position" is baseless, the only one he's ever signed is clichy and he's fucking shit, delighted it appears he won't be at liverpool.

would have been a pretty clear improvement on what's at lfc already, tbh, and added badly-needed width attacking besides.

He's not as good as BAE tho, and ffs it's not like benoit's the perfect player. 19m or anything above 5m is great business.

dunno, he's a really poor defender. some width but i wouldn't want him really overall.

So shit he had gave Messi his best game last season. The only one he's ever signed? Including CL winners Gio and Silvinho?

He's the third best LB in the league and if our tactics covered for his attacking ability instead of his defensive issues, he'd be incredibly effective. Playing with someone as workmanlike as Milner in front of him will make him look a lot better than having Arshavin wonder what this 'defending' malark he keeps hearing about is.

Also lol £19m for a full back with 1 year left on his contract. If true then that is beautiful and can afford us p much any left back in the world as a replacement.

So it seems as if we are selling Cesc, Nasri, Clichy, Bendtner and possibly Arshavin to replace them with... Gervinho. I mean I trust Wenger more than most but I can't remember such a bleak looking summer. (Still gonna put a bet on us to win the league the day Cesc goes - presuming the odds rise like they did when Thierry left - damn you Martin Taylor!)

jeez i can't make head nor tail of your xp, but it seems as if you're yet again defending a player based on his best game out of 50 instead of his avg performance

In which case, y'know, you're supporting the right team anyway

clichy is a game lad

city seem to be doing the barcelona thing of hoarding left backs for different occasions, kolarov for strength and setpieces, clichy for overlapping runs, wayne bridge for some obscure purpose

Then playing a right back more than any of them.

I like Zabaleta, though.

zabaleta is a game lad

It would be funny if after a promising beginning Mancini does like Ranieri at Valencia: imports every wantaway player in Serie A and fails miserably.

That's post- not pre-Chelsea Ranieri obviously. Abramovich made him a broken man.

zabaleta levels up to defeat each new challenger he'll be the world's best player in three years

that reminded me of

And while Pearce has insisted the former Lazio player had all the credentials to make it in the Premiership, the City manager accepts the move has not quite gone to plan.

"Bernardo cost Valencia £7million from Lazio," Pearce told the club's website: "He has got 13 international caps, is 6ft 3in and 29 years of age.

"All those statistics add up and a CV of one goal every three games, at a price which the club would afford, made it a sound choice.

he didn't mention how corradi only scored three goals for valencia

Well Clichy also had a very good season overall but whatever. Cannot win on herre. I mention one thing and you go "oh you are ignoring this other thing for a reason!" Pffft. Clichy only really has 3 things wrong with his game - the tendancy to be caught too high up the field, defending set pieces and losing all brain power when he faces Drogba. The first two I think Mancini can knock out of him and Drogba will eventually go away.

I also think that Clichy is a top-five PL left back, and that he'll stay.

sam our methods are rigorous but consistent stfu whinging.

He's good attacking but rooney's a better defender, that's all.

WENGER STEP THE FUCK OFF OUR DOYLER U TWAT

12 MILLION IS AN INSULT TBH

Please take one of Bendtner or Fatty Vela in exchange, please.

srsly think Bendtner could do a job for us. not as swapsies for Doyle tho

P sure Bendtner isn't one of the six out, but he might be getting a loan out somewhere.

doyle at arsenal.

Wenger knows... how to read my posts

course what arsenal really need is bentley on the right with jenas shoring up the middle 20m the pair is top business imo

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/04/article-2010893-0CDB6CFD00000578-802_634x486.jpg

Clichy and a cunt in Manchester, yesterday.

Chelsea in shock move for Arsenal’s Theo Walcott

At this point I think someone's planting these stories just for a laugh.

           Chesney
Sagna  Djourou  Koscielny  Traore
        
       Wilshere  Song
          
            Ramsey   
  Chamakh  Bendtner  Vela

solid top mid-table finish.

top

Cesc, rvp, Szczesney, vermaelen, nasri and Theo, I'm hearing

― Ismael Klata, Monday, May 16, 2011 11:42 AM (1 month ago)

Oh no no no, what 'ave oi gone and dahn?

Aren't you making a move on Benzema with the Cesc money?

forgot worldbeater diaby merdey

if all these players go and are replaced by nothing more than six stewart downings by the start of the season, only might i be concerned about arsenal's capacity to qualify for the champions league. but do y'all seriously thing arsene and the board have been simultaneously struck down with dementia or something, or can you entertain the possibility that this apocalyptic scenario which so many of you gleefully fantasise about might not, in fact, come to pass?

i don't think anyone thinks that for a second, tbh. I don't.

It's when rvp goes that yer fucked, that's not gonna be til next year. Though he will be injured for six of the interim months

Still 2500/1 to go down btw. Not that you will, but you could be a lot shorter odds than that before this is over.

Six out, apparently. Denilson, Almunia, Rosicky, Arshavin, Vela and Cesc?

― James Mitchell, Monday, 16 May 2011 09:02 (1 month ago)

Finishing out of the CL places isn't unthinkable at all. You only need to be caught by one other team.

It's the core of the team that's going just now, and not yet being replaced - llook at what happened to Liverpool two years ago, and that was just losing Alonso, and I think Gerrard to injury.

joeks aside, there's no team in england loses nasri and fabregas that shouldn't at least worry about replacing them, and arsene had other things to worry him this summer anyway with gk and cb being the usual pain in the perenial

Being linked with Valbuena today

leandro damiaio on way to spurs or so it says

Someone please tell me he can head the fucking thing

stewart downing's not the worst template for what arsenal need, btw

Not very good though, is he?

i dunno

List me some players that are 'very good', like

He's good at scoring and crossing, i dunno. Covers a lot more ground than say arshavin

He's never impressed me much tbh. Can't imagine Arsenal fans being too thrilled about him playing for them.

Beggars can't be choosers

lazy daily mail benefit fraud/scandal zing here

joeks aside, there's no team in england loses nasri and fabregas that shouldn't at least worry about replacing them, and arsene had other things to worry him this summer anyway with gk and cb being the usual pain in the perenial

As I pretty much said, I don't disagree with this analysis. But Wenger has known for the last year that he would almost certainly lose Cesc this summer and I can't believe he assumes everyone else at his club is perfectly happy unless the papers report otherwise and is therefore without a plan b. Similarly, he knows that if the club don't qualify for the CL then his efforts over the last ten years to build a financially sustainable football club will be for shit. I guess I'm just waiting for things to happen, or not happen, before I throw my lot in with the gleeful soothsayers and doom-mongers.

well yeah of course

But that's not gonna pass a monday morning is it?

Cmon in and defend arsene vociferously, you'll enjoy it, we'll enjoy it, nobody gets hurt except sam's butt

or i could do this:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/ake/lowres/aken217l.jpg

ramsay/wilshere aren't disastrous replacements for cesc obviously

Arshavin on lw, do need dedicated cover there imo

Still no real dm

rw/striker interchangeable in wenger's head, can't understand this

One beefy cb, one lb, and a vg experienced goalie

Shopping list pretty much as was even with departures

bugger, forgot the image tags. finding myself agreeing with darragh has unnerved me somewhat.

I still think it's more important to sort out the defensive strategy - whether or not that means replacing players - before worrying ourselves with the attacking options that we may or may not have at the start of next season.

wenger has always been good at just plopping in any old player to replace departed first-teamers so i'll be really annoyed if this shit distracts from the problems at the back.

fwiw i don't think clichy leaving makes any difference in that respect.

how the fuck is djourou not first on any departure list, he is appalling

So many appalling centre backs to choose from at AFC?

yeah he's a good sale at around the 9m quoted today

Having trouble shifting bendtner, what kinda price is being sought? Should have though the likes of wigan or bolton would jump

12m apparently

Apparently Arsenal hardly ever lost with Djourou in the team last season? Admittedly I heard that pre-Carling Cup final.

Stuart Downing is too slow, too direct, and too shit to ever work at Arsenal.

If he didn't play for a top club he'd be a quarter of that.

xp

almunia 400k
clichy 5m
squillaci 2m
djourou 3m
bendtner 8m

anyone paying more is off their rocker

Jesus, even Rangers could afford Almunia

It's not Fabregas Arsenal need to worry about losing really, it's Nasri's goal threat. But I suspect Nasri is a little shit whose head and attitude aren't going to give a whole season's good performance and Wenger isn't really the manager to change that. Maybe purging all these flakey types in favour of some professionals with a better mentality isn't the worst thing for them. Chicken/egg though since so many of them came up through Arsenal.

i dunno, again, i'm comin off as downing stan #1 here but i think the ability to cross the ball has become seriously underrated in english football.

Downing's stats hold up, iirc?

I mean there's plenty of quick wingers out there that aren't worth two shits- lennon and theo p much head the list.

Yeah but come on if Arsenal were really going for a wide Villa midfielder who can cross effectively they'd have been better off going for Ashley Young, who can at least run as well.

So shit he had gave Messi his best game last season

was this the first leg? in the second leg barcelona passed the ball in behind clichy about 300 times.

arsenal don't bid for ashley youngs, that's a given.

They don't bid for givens, they're not young enough.

You're wrong there, Don Givens must be in his 50s by now

kuyt etherington giggs silva adam - downing matches or beats for pl assists

Bale young anelka arshavin balotelli - downing matches or beats for pl goals

yeah i knew it, blew yer minds huh

Blew our budgets

1. GK is not a problem anymore.

2. Losing van Persie isn't that big of a deal - dude doesn't play for half a season. Replace him with a consistent 1 in 3 hardworker who can last a season and no-one will really care that some other club is getting 2 months of an amazing player.

3. We aren't going for Downing. We are going to announce Gervinho any day now.

4. Cannot see any team below us usurping the 4th spot - come on. Oooh not Jordan Henderson! So scared!

5. Yeah we need a DM. Much more than we need a replacement playmaker. The cunt Wilshere and Ramsey can easily fill Cesc's position imo, if they have someone to actually cover for them, while Song plays the middle man.

6. Djourou had an appalling end to the season but from August - March was about as good as any half in the league tbrr. 3m is trolling on this thread.

7. Clichy is a talented dude but like RVI, if we can replace him with a solid dude who isn't easily beaten down the wing and can defend set pieces, I don't care if they never cross the halfway line or can cross.

8. We need: a replacement for Clichy unless Gibbs suddenly learns to not have 4000 injuries, a centre half who doesn't have secret ambitions to score 10 a season, a hardnut DM, Gervinho. So 2 replacements, and 2 major problem areas.

1. Really? Is Chesney actually a top-level goalkeeper? I'm not buying it.

2. Yep.

3. Sensible.

4. Maybe but that's not the point, YOU NEED TO WIN SOMETHING.

5. Yep.

6. Perhaps. What caused that appalling end to the season though? Surely not just injury? If it's a mental collapse then he needs to toughen up or go.

7. Maybe, how many fullbacks are there like that now though?

8. And a goalkeeper. And a striker with consistency and minimal injuries.

and a gk

How would Arsenal's second half of the season look without Van Persie's contribution though?

yeah, i think rvp's contribution to the team is being swept here.

Even tho team is shit when he plays well

I remember Chesney making 1 mistake in 5 months while making game saving saves every match. He is also a lot better at communicating with the defenders than we've had in forever. I dunno what else he can do to convince people. Also Fabianski was looking very good before his injury, so we have a capable 1 and 2 who should push each other.

lol at the YOU NEED TO WIN SOMETHING coming from a Spurs fan.

6 I can't answer.

Not many but they do exist. Baines for example is a pretty dull left back who rarely feels the need to go forward (although when he does he is good at that too!). And maybe it's only because I only see them in big games but i think of Enrique as a solid defending full back at Newcastle.

Oh I'd love for RVI to magically become RVP again. He has the talent to be the worlds best centre forward. But he's fucking injured all the time and has been for 6 years in a row.

chesney does nothing out of the ordinary ffs

Fabianski is laughable ffs

We both need to win something, but we've made progress in the last few seasons. And yr expectations ought to be higher, quite frankly.

I know i overcriticise gks and cbs, but seriously dude djourou has lols goin for him and nothing else he rivals alton thelwell as most milquetoast young defender i ever did see wtf is he doing at a top four team

I honestly cannot name a 20m or less gk out there who would be better than Chesney. Given can't get ahead of the kinda shitty Hart, so why would we want him?

My expectations are higher but they are also realistic. A manager who won the double only a season ago got fired for coming second. Only 1 team can win the league and only 1 team can win the CL. Some years its not going to be us.

I watched, say, 95% of Arsenal games last season and saw incredible performances from Djourou week in week out, often against the best strikers in the world. Yes there are questions as to why he fell apart in the last two months but to say he is just lols is trolling.

One thing is sure that many of you will have been well aware that McNulty has the final say on the most turbulent phase of Arsene Wenger's tenure at the club:

If Wenger can get more than £60m for these three players - and it surely unthinkable that the club's board will not hand him the funds he has brought in - then he has the opportunity to shape a new Arsenal built around Wilshere, Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey alongside the young talent he cherishes such as goalkeeper Wojchiech Szczesny.

to say 'incredible week in week out' is no more accurate

To say 'some years' is avoiding everything that's relevant, why bother having a discussion at all.

why bother having a discussion at all.

― Darranzhi MacKhakhala (darraghmac), Monday, 4 July 2011 13:52 (1 minute ago)

I'm not the one bringing it up? But you know there was a time in football when having won 2 league titles in 10 years wasn't seen as abject failure in the eyes of every fan.

i'm a fan of arsene, but he's not doing nearly enough to address obvious issues. That's led to a ?six? year drough while treading water, some achievement

At how many clubs does making a CL final count as treading water?

lol ok man fine, wenger's doing a great job and djourou's world class

never said either of those things.

just gets my goat when supporters of a team like spurs, who should have a reputation, and do have a trophy cabinet, similar to arsenals get pissy that we haven't won anything in a time where we have been doing a lot better on and off the field at their similar goals.

Sorry, but that's bollocks

so ye just stop

Gap btwn this and the Spurs thread now under 50 posts, good job guys.

You're missing the point. When I said YOU NEED TO WIN THINGS I meant to stop the steady erosion of your pulling power among top players, not 'OMG you are shitter than Spurs'. Your stature relative to Spurs is basically irrelevant here, it's your stature relative to Chelsea, United, Barca that you need to worry about.

Most Spurs fans and casual observers would say that Spurs have broadly been on an upward trajectory over the past five years (and we've won a trophy in that time as well, against tougher opponents than Birmingham City). That might all come to an end now, but even the most charitable Arsenal fan would be hard-pressed to say the same thing about them over the same period.

it's monday, fyi

Ye did fuck all all weekend when i was out of coverage so don't blame me when i have to pick up yer slack

matt nailing it there

We're not nicking yer chips, bigger teams than us both are

It's impossible to predict how top players will regard a move to Arsenal after Wenger leaves, but yearly CL qualification is probably the most important feature of the club's last 15 years that needs to be maintained. So far, so good. I don't think many Arsenal fans would trade a year without CL football for a League Cup - don't think the League Cup does anything for "pulling power" either.

We're not nicking yer chips, bigger teams than us both are

this feels pretty much otm to me. when I saw that note in the Chelsea/Walcott piece about Valbuena being interested in joining arsenal my first thought was "really?". my second was to assume that he can't be good enough for anyone else to have expressed an interest.

who have ye 'pulled' recently?

Yeah but that has always happened as far back as Brady to Juve etc. And hey, we are addressing it? Built that big ol' stadium to compete on wages? Remember that? And then there is the 'oh no, utd and barca are getting further in debt by buying our replaceable players' thing, which considering i've just spent 10 minutes going on about the short sightedness of football fans...

Look, I think we have underachieved. I think we can do a lot better. I think it is hurting us in a market where we are still seen as one of the ten best clubs in the world when we should be competing to be one of the best five in the world. (I think it is hypocritical of players to complain about it considering it is themselves who are the only ones who can win or lose games). But I think we are working on it, bit by bit, maybe a bit too slowly at times and I also don't think it matters as much as people say. There are only 5 other clubs in the world where Wenger would be branded a failure, 3 of which have unsustainable debts and the other are coasting on a sugar daddy.

This 'who have ye pulled' thing is a misnomer too. How often has Wenger got in bidding wars or been after the player the papers all go on about? Pires, Ronaldo, Baptista, Essien, Theo... struggling to think of many more names.

wait, you bought all those world class players?

Fuck, my bad!

Never said we won those bidding wars, ffs.

n1ck

I know exactly the feeling! Even modric was a huge worry until i saw him play a few games.

Saves us from 'obertan syndrome', tho

xp losing 'reported' bidding wars in no way supports a single thing you've said

My point was 5 examples in 15 years maybe suggests a different transfer strategy than the one you are saying we aren't doing well at. Because we aren't trying to do that...

Matt/darragh: You need to be worried about competing with Real and Barca in the transfer market

Me: Why? Are they suddenly all over the Toure's and Koscielny's and Chesney's - Arsenal don't often go for the big name signings

darragh: Yeah but who have ye pulled out of their grasp recently?

Me: Well I just said Arsenal don't really have a transfer strategy based on that.

darragh: I don't understand you.

i know you're not trying to

But i, and others, are suggesting that once in a while you simply have to, or you lose the world class players you nurture yourselves.

And that's shitty tactic in the long term, regardless of how much you get for those guys

not to sign players ya dolt, to keep the players you have!

I think Wenger may have decided that Cesc and Nasri are past the point of no return in terms of his ability to reaffirm their belief in the club. They leave, possibly along with anyone else that disaffected (Clichy, apparently), and it's *possible* that their fees purchase a world-class player or two and a new cycle begins. If the club has 50m+ in its pocket by mid-July and still brings in no one before September, that would be worrisome.

So basically nuturing superstars en masse, in which one or two may want to leave to massive profits that can be reinvested is a shitty tactic?

I agree on your point but would also like to point out that Arsenal work to a budget - we can buy Gervinho at 15m but we aren't exactly going to go wading into the Sanchez or Rossi situations when we also need to find a DM, CB and maybe some other players for the prices Barca and Real are spending. We can afford to buy 1, maybe 2 10m+ players if we don't sell anyone.*

*It could have been different if we didn't just knock 1/3 of the debt down and invest in Queensland Road, a development expected to make us at least £150m.

I think Wenger may have decided that Cesc and Nasri are past the point of no return in terms of his ability to reaffirm their belief in the club. They leave, possibly along with anyone else that disaffected (Clichy, apparently), and it's *possible* that their fees purchase a world-class player or two and a new cycle begins. If the club has 50m+ in its pocket by mid-July and still brings in no one before September, that would be worrisome.

― boxall, Monday, 4 July 2011 14:45 (3 minutes ago)

Sure. I don't think we are looking at one or two world class players when what we need is 4 or 5 talented hard workers tho.

go support an interior decorating firm

i agree with the strategy, but wenger's hitrate in the 7-10m range has not been good- and a long way from what it was for equivalent purchases from the late 90's until the invincibles got vinced

xpost I know which of those options I'd prefer, but Wenger can't risk confirming other clubs' fans' suspicions re: pulling power, so let the bidding wars commence.

7-10m range from the past five years:

Rosicky - initially a success, body fell apart: 35% success
Hleb - ok he could have scored more but was to us what silva currently is to city tbrr: 65%
Sagna - one of the two best rbs in the league most of the time: 90%
Nasri - pots and usually great: 80%
Arshavin - ummm...: 40%
Theo: with Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola declaring that “you would need a pistol to the face to stop him.”[5] 65% but gonna rise, come on.
Koscielny - 80%
Eduardo - Not his fault tbh: 20%
Vermaelan - One incredible season, one of ridic injuries: 65%

So I'd say his hitrate is a B-. Also lol at Pep shooting Theo in the face.

Sorry, Hleb Nasri and Arshavin were 10+

But won't losing those bidding wars comfirm those suspicions more than going for other players?

Wouldn't rate Sagna that highly tbh

Good for you.

Darragh we agree on most of these things. Is it just because its a slow day you are being a dick?

Wish we could confirm Gervinho or something ridiculous happens with another club in the next hour to change the topic

The rolling "Quiet day on ILX" thread. [Started by Mark G in September 2007, last updated 8 minutes ago by Post-Manpat Music (dog latin) on I Love Everything] 11 new answers

Kevin Doyle to Arsenal is a thing on Twitter so could get started on that?

i'm not being a dick but we are disagreeing

Btw your b- for wenger, at your own ratings, is 57.5% on avg.

Some b-

Koscielny - 80%

You are kidding, right?

Other than his 2 reds, can't really name a bad match he was involved in.

i'm trolling you, like

go support an interior decorating firm

― Darranzhi MacKhakhala (darraghmac), Monday, 4 July 2011 14:53 (3 hours ago) Bookmark

new board description imo

avoid this thread like the plague when i'm not working

poll for thread title changed to "When, if ever, did you stop thinking Arsenal were one of The Big Clubs?"

wait til fabregas goes, but really it was prob when henry left them

when they dropped out of the top 4

when improvement became a secondary aim, he countered

what is the first?

Moral superiority

fair nuff

there's a first tier, po-faced refusal to spend supposedly available money sits proudly on't alongside po-faced refusal to acknowledge dirty work as a necessity, there's probably at least two other pillars of faith btwn those and 'winning the league' ranked in order of importance to wenger imo

I think i covered all that

i lx on a phone i dont get xpost preview warning fyi but yeah you otm

efficiency vs effectiveness, y'know? Efficiency is beautiful and satisfying but someone needs to force wenger outside the self imposed boundaries of his antfarm because the gap is not insurmountable and the resources are there and giving the likes of chelsea, utd and city free run at titles but pretending it doesn't count in some way because they 'bought them' is a copout when arsenal under wenger are well fit to genuinely compete without necessarily matching them pound for pound in transfer spending.