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.

johnson, walker, richards, smalling, kelly all good rb options, couldn't say england have same depth at cb, lb, lw, cf, midfield questionably but not definitely

'Jenk' would look good on the back of a shirt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bvOml9a7_oc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-dmRJp0Ljs

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/why-arsne-wenger-has-allowed-arsenal-board-to-preside-over-painful-fall-from-grace-8301455.html

lot to chew on here

today i was reminded not of how much weaker they are than the 2003/4 team, but even the 2007/8 one that were competing with probably the best epl team there has been until the eduardo game

ade rvp
rosicky hleb
fabregas flamini

Smashing article. I can't believe the book'll be as good, but I do want to read it now.

'a caviar'. How lovely.

when does this financial straitjacket come off again? Cos y'all need a fuckin left back pronto

yes ma'am

setanta team think it's outrageous that we're forcing belgian left back vertonghmaelen to play at left back. when our first chouce left back is injured. ye're struggling lads, ye're struggling cunts

― threat of the author (darraghmac), Thursday, November 8, 2012 3:35 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it is too early to start a thread about villas-boas, right? when nakh asked earlier this season who should take over from wenger i couldn't really think of a satisfactory answer but this guy looks like the real fucking deal.

― irish xmas caek, get that marzipan inta ya (a hoy hoy), Friday, December 17, 2010 10:31 AM (1 year ago)

avb isn't the problem here, but then i spose he wasnt at chelsea either. Gallas is a fucking rot at cb.

tbh i still think he will find a place to become a star. whether that is tottenham idk but a squad of players who work to his formulas and he's golden imo.

and gloating about beating him on a day when they had a player sent off at 1-0 up seems like silly business. arsene has lost in stupider fashion.

afaict avb's error today was to keep pushing and pushing, which is an error I'd want him to make tbh

So, tell me how to speak Dench

Aha is this to do with frimpong?

tom hardy speaks fluent dench iirc

The only Dench I know was in EMF

I don't believe you.

selling squilacci to galatasaray was a real balls up, really couldve done with dude out there tonight

maybe (hopefully) too optimistic with the thread title.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5847/picture1fj.jpg

Aw I feel bad, I didn't know it was his dream. You just want this guy to have his dreams.

On 30 August 2011, Santon signed for English club Newcastle United on a 5 year contract, for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £5.3m.[15][16]

On 31 August 2011, André Santos signed for Arsenal on a long-term contract. He was given the number 11 shirt.[14] Via Turkish Public Disclosure System (for Turkish stocks), Fenerbahçe SK announced the fee was €7 million.[15]

http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1356808942370.gif

I've seen She & Him live but nevertheless that is the most twee thing I have ever seen.

It really is. I like that even their retreating teammates treat that with the disgust it deserves.

Arsenal fans have punch-up with each other after fan unfurls banner calling for Arsène Wenger to leave the club

http://www.africatopsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/YayaSanogovsMali.jpg

Gilles Grimandi's been playing Football Manager again

Wolfsburg have moved to beat Arsenal to the signature of Bayern Munich's Luiz Gustavo, with reports in Germany stating that the club have agreed a €20m (£17m) deal for the Brazil defensive midfielder.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, who arguably did not replace Alex Song last summer following the player's departure for Barcelona, said on Saturday that he was interested in Gustavo to plug an area of weakness in his squad.

Arsenal valued the 26-year-old at around £14m but appear to have been unwilling to go much higher, allowing Wolfsburg to seize the initiative. The German club have been long-term admirers of Gustavo.

http://brainvsbook.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/the-value-of-nothing-2.jpeg

Telegraph reporting that and also that they're putting in £49m for Suarez

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HhiTiE-gnq8/Ugfr8JEeKWI/AAAAAAAAG1Q/Bwrbt0zWSgk/s640/3b+Cash+-+Arsenal+vs+PL.jpg

Would u be careful i saluted that twice before copping

http://i.imgur.com/tv2tVo5.jpg?1

9/4 on Fenerbahce qualifying for the CL looks pretty attractive atm.

Arsenal are good at this though, I can't recall there being any fuss over qualification before. This, though:

Interest in Cabaye, a ball-playing midfielder of undoubted class, crystalised as Arsenal were contemplating awkward Champions League qualifier against Fenerbahce in Istanbul and digesting the loss of Oxlade-Chamberlain to long-term injury.

I don't understand how they're only having ideas now, rather than mapping out business-to-be-done at the end of last season and using the summer to get on with it. Utd seem to be working similarly, if the occasional nuggets about Moyes' thought processes are accurate, though at least having new men in charge explains that.

yeah you don't detect any sort of real sense of conviction with these bids, just semi-resentful and obviously not particularly researched sops to the moaners

even with suarez like it gets painted out as a ballsy power move but really it's more like hurriedly buying the most expensive thing (i'm thinking a lawnmower) in the shop to get the migraine-inducing task over with

and like why cabaye really even. gonna play him next to arteta?

dear arsene,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWjlBKq0EMI

http://i.imgur.com/4tkw68o.jpg

happy 64th gaffer!!

Pat Rice has cancer. I was never really sure of what he did at Arsenal but I really like him and this is sad, sad news.

:-( fuck cancer.

http://i.imgur.com/I21Hrnb.jpg

Carlos Vela will return to Arsenal next season, the president of the forward's current club, Real Sociedad, said on Tuesday.

The Gunners can activate a clause in the former Mexican international's contract to bring him back to the Emirates, and Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay confirmed the move, telling Spanish radio station Cadena SER: "Arsenal have informed us that Vela would be with them next season."

Vela, 25, previously played for Arsenal from 2008-2010. He initially joined Sociedad on loan before securing a permanent deal two years ago.

He excelled this season, scoring 16 goals in 34 games, prompting Arsenal to call him back for a reported 3.5 million pounds.

Also I guess this thread title needs changing since Wenger signed a new contract.

Feel a lil sorry for him if arsenal don't sell and just have him bench warming.

i read somewhere that his clause includes playing for the team for a year so they couldn't just turn him and make a quick profit. it seems like he'd at least be competition on the wings.