Mr Watford - good to see you again. Hope you had a good day yesterday. I'm dead happy with our signings. We have the depth and experience missing from the past few years and we all know what happened to us after that night in February..... This won't happen again. We may not have replaced Cesc but you can't, can you? Not easily anyway. I posted this link in another thread. It sums up everything in a far more eloquent and detailed manner than I could ever manage. Enjoy
A good read Mr van Bergkamp. Having been aged six when my team was relegated from this division last time round and seeing some incredibly abject and, at times, abysmal players during the last 15 years the prospect of seeing established players like Anton Ferdinand and Shaun Wright-Phillips is an exciting one. I agree that those brought in look like good acquistions and you're certainly far stronger than you were 48 hours ago. I still believe it's not quite enough for that much craved top four finish but I hoped to be proved wrong if it means Chelsea finishing fifth. Of course there is still the next transfer window to rectify anything that needs doing so but I'm glad Mr Wenger has bought a few players who know this unique league and won't be too perturbed at the typical 'tuesday night in Blackburn' type fixture. Kind regards
Why should Wenger be applauded ?? For doing something he should've done 2 months ago ??? Do we say those who stay out of the courts should be applauded for being good people or is that what we should be doing as a matter of course anyway !! Some of you are far too easy to please. I am NOT happy ! All of this should've been done ages ago and it goes to show that Wenger was talking crap about transfers taking ages. Funny how when he wants the players he can get them in 24 hours !!!! ........................................................................................................................................................ It has been Arsene trick of buying cheap, can you imagine him bid for Ateta before now, he wouldn't have got him for just 10m. Let us credit the boys that play to qualify for group stage in champion league, I think they make these signing comes possible
I quite like the idea of the board forcing Wenger's hands...because that shows they're not prepared to sit on the fence and watch the image of Arsenal get humiliated in front of the world's media. Much as I admire Wenger's flair in creating attacking sides his stubborness when it comes to signing older players and traditional centre back is the reason why we got humiliated on Sunday...the board need to step in...if that means he leaves then there's no other option. As much as I want Wenger to stay...he needs to become less stubborn and adapt his views.
If Wenger had made these signings two months ago, you can bet we would have paid 25% more for each player. Would that have made you happy?
Piksie - I would've been far happier !! Lets look at this, had we paid 25% more .. .big deal. £10m becomes £12.5m, £20m becomes £25m, not massive increases in any way. WE wouldn't have gone to Udine kacking our pants and we wouldn't have 1 point after 3 games. The little extra was worth paying in my opinion. Players need to bed in, what bedding in period will all these new players be getting now ? And don't forget many foreign leagues either haven't started yet or have only just kicked off so these players will also be short of match fitness.
In an ideal world mate, I would go some way to agreeing with you. The reality is though, that the transfer market doesn't work on the whim of one party's intentions only. It's much more complicated than that, the deals that were done on the last day, may only been able to happen because they were on the last day. If we had been bidding for Mertesacker from day one, we could have ended up paying somewhere nearer £15 - £18m for him or knowing that he was available, another club with more financial clout could have come in and stolen him from under our noses. I think it's too simplistic to say that we could have conducted all of this business two months earlier with the same outcomes. I also don't share your view that paying another 25% would be acceptable. We signed nine players this window, if we'd payed 25% more on each one, we would have been looking at shelling out nearly another £20m - which could be the bulk of a bid for someone like Eden Hazard in the future. We are not Chelsea or City who can afford to pay over the odds for players, we need to conduct our business in a considered way, and I think Wenger has done well to bring in the players he has. That said, the one area that I do think Wenger could have made more inroads into however is with the Mata deal. It was clear that he wanted to come to England and whilst Chelsea would probably have outbid us in the end anyway, I would have liked to see us put some effort into signing him.
I cant see us playing this way when arteta and wilshire are in. I think we will play without a number 10 type player and more like spain do. WHich is essentially have a front 3. And 2 cm and 1 dfm.
As a converse to what hothead said earlier I would like to add that while some fans may be too easy to please, a large percentage of Arsenal fans can seemingly never be pleased. I honestly believe that some supporters would be angered if Arsenal won the double solely due to the fact that we didn't win the treble. Come on now, lets not be selfish. In reality the club owes the fans little to nothing. If anything I owe them for the incredible entertainment and awesome moments (and yes a fair amount of heartbreak) I have experienced in my 20 years supporting this glorious club. I cannot put a price on these experiences, and they are certainly worth more to me than what I and my family have spent every season to go to games and support the side. Enough f*cking negativity already.
Piskie I respect your opinion and believe you to be a good poster, but I have to say I think you are way off on this one. At the end of last season the message seemed clear to me at any rate that we needed significant investment in to the team this summer, as well as keeping the players we already had. If we were forced to sell Nasrigas then we had to buy top level players to replace them. However, by the end of the window our signings have been with the exception of Mertesacker, either equal to or worse than the players who have departed. Nasri>Gervinho, Fabregas>>>>Arteta, Clichy=Santos, Park?Bendtner. The signing of Chamberlin is frankly a joke considering the money we spent on him. Where is the exceptional striker who can cover for RvP during his inevitable 2 month layoff? What about the midfield general who can protect our defence? For this year I wanted us to be genuine title challengers, around the level of man utd. We had plenty of cash so there was no excuse for not buying 'super-quality' as Wenger puts it. Instead we are pretty much at the level we were at by the start of last season-not good enough to win anything. If you accept the the transfer business has been good this summer then you are accepting that we are nothing more than a glorified Everton. Whilst there is nothing wrong with being at that level in itself, when you consider how good we were less than a decade ago then it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Thats why I refuse to accept that Wenger should be 'applauded' for what he has done this summer, as it has largely been a mess with a slightly positive ending. Other managers could have done better.
Likewise mate, respect your opinion and always look out for your posts. On the surface, I think it's easy to look at this as a failure on Wenger's behalf. But the reality is that he tried his hardest to keep both Fabregas and Nasri at the club - and rightly so. I don't think he could have acted any sooner to be honest as (1) He was trying to keep these two (remember that the timing of their moves were not solely down to Wenger alone) and (2) Who else was available to fill their boots? All summer I've heard plea's for us to sign Hazard, M'Villa, Higuian, Benzema, Kaka etc, when the reality is that these players were never available in the first place. So what was Wenger to do? I've already argued that for players like Mertesacker, Cahill, Arteta...Had Wenger been going all out to get them earlier in the window, we either would have ended up paying significantly more for them, been priced out due to the selling clubs asking for too much or had them swiped from under our noses once other clubs had been alerted that they were available. Given the circumstances. I think Wenger did well to strengthen throughout every area in the team. Looking at our actual signings: How could we ever adequately replace Cesc and Nasri? They were irreplacable, hence Wenger's desire to hang on to them both. Arteta is a good player as is Benayoun, both have bags of premier league experience and can score goals, maybe more importantly, both want to play for Arsenal and Cesc and Nasri didn't. The Benayoun deal is a good one especially as it's a loan dean, he gives us a season to prepare a bid for a longer term solution, whilst giving us options in the meantime. Mertesaker - Exactly what we need - we got him for £9m too which is a bargain given his age and experience. I'd like to see us sign Cahill too, perhaps we'll get him for around £5m - £6m in Jan or on a free next summer? Gervinho - looks the business to me, quick, skillfull, and full of desire - he's busting a gut to win for Arsenal, that's exactly what we need. Santos - Not seen much of him, but compared to Clichy he's likely to be an improvement. That said, I would have liked to see Wenger go for Baines or Enrique. Time will tell, but Santos looks quick, physical and keen to attack. Oxo - Yes he's a gamble and an expensive one, but 'a joke'? Again time will tell, but Wenger has a good track record here, so until proven otherwise, I'll trust that he's going to be a good signing. Jenkinson - He's done really well considering he was playing non league football not so long ago. I think he's a squad player really and at £1m he's already surpassed expectation in my opinion. Park - Again he looks like the business, he's a leader too and at £3m another great piece of business. Maybe not an adequate replacement for RVP if he gets injured, but who could we have realistically signed? The names that were being touted around never moved anyway. I do understand the frustrations of not making big marquee signings, I really do. But the reality is that these players were just not available, at least to us. Look at Chelsea, they bid £40m for Modric, what does that tell you about available Midfielders? even then he didn't move. Wenger promised to strengthen the squad where it needed strengthening and I think he has delivered on that promise - they may not be big name signings, but they are effective signings.
I can see both sides, Piskie's and Robin VF's What I believe has disappointed many fans is that as the club is sliding away from the Top 2, some may say 3 or 4, the focus of the management seems to keep things the way they are. So from that point of view and it is a very big perspective, Arsenal Football Club is no longer in the big league so to speak. In fact it remains to be seen how long we hold onto our Forbes' listing of most valuable sports teams too. Utd made a profit slightly in excess of 100m, we of 50m. While their spend is greater and it would also seem that their profits are greater too. This naturally makes a lot of people question the wisdom of our approach which appears to be something of the order of being penny wise and pound foolish as my dad always says. That the club seems to no longer set it's sights on being amongst the best and fighting for a place at the top is the thing that hurts fans most. Are we thus to now be consigned to being no more than a glorified Everton or Aston Villa? Wouldn't this betray the efforts and successes of players and teams who have become household names to us? I would be gutted if the management see our sporting goal as being the occasional FA Cup and that a Top 4 finish in the EPL was good enough. Is that the new spirit of Arsenal FC? It certainly isn't ours and shouldn't be. It seems more like the goals of the money men who look at P & L accounts, balance sheets and share prices. Contrast this if you will to say the Mclaren or Ferrari teams. They shoot for the top. it doesn't happen every year but you can bet your bottom dollar that they don't stop doing this. Then take Williams F1 for instance. They no longer expect to be able to go for wins. At least not now anyway. Has Arsenal fallen the way of Williams F1?
These signing had more to do with beating Udinese. No player would come to AFC without Champions League qualification. See Arteta's comments for proof. Wenger's stayed his hand until that win so he could use CL to entice quality signings. Wenger also had to wait for the $ clubs to spend out before he could buy. how many times did we hear a player we were in for suddenly linked to another club? Wenger sent some smoke screens, made some genuine inquiries, but ultimately had to wait for the $ clubs to finish their biz before he could make successful moves. Credit to Wenger for having nerves of steel and veins full of blood cold as ice. That Udinese game did it. And credit to the Arsenal squad who went in undermanned and brow beaten by Liverpool and the media but still won that convincing result in Italy!
...................Szczesny............. Sagna...Vermaelen...Mertesacker...Santos .............Song....Frimpong........... Walcott........Arteta..........Gervinho .......................RVP................ Thats until Wilshere is back. We need to become solid first then build on that with attacking players.
I don't think Wenger or the board are settling for not being at the top, but given the circumstances, it's a reality that we find ourselves in. How other than pumping Usmanov's and Kronke's billions into the squad could we do otherwise? Especially given that this type of practice is soon to be outlawed anyway? It's easy to have a wish list - much harder to deliver it. Wenger has done well given the circumstances.
I agree that Arsene has done well to deliver and indeed too to nab those players in the closing stages of the transfer window. It's just the shift of our focus on the big prize that I'm sad at seeing. Kroenke has not put in a single cent into the club AFAIK. He has only bought the shares. Correct me if I'm wrong but did Usmanov have intentions of investing in the club as opposed to just the shares since the latter would only be for personal gain and not the sporting goals of the club. It's not an uncomplicated issue I know. I'm merely saying that it is no fun just looking to get 4th place. Now if one looks at SAF's approach. I believe it was written somewhere recently or he may have said it himself that if he fails to win one year, he works to see how he can change this in the next year. Seems we don't do that anymore......
You're right, Usmanov did say that he would use his money to invest in the squad. But the one man who we really need at Arsenal again is David Dein. He is Wenger's right hand man. As I've said, Wenger did really well this transfer window, but with Dein alongside him, it would have been a lot smoother.
Couldn't agree more about DD Piskie. Did he not say that he considered himself to be ' on the bench '? Perhaps there is a return on the cards in which case I'm sure we hope this will be at the soonest possible opportunity. Perhaps he may be the catalyst to Mr Usmanov introducing his chequebook.....
He did say that and with a wry smile too. DD is Arsenal through and through, along with Wenger (who he brought to the club) he engineered the transformation of our club and I believe that the club still owe him a place on the board. Especially given that they ousted him for bringing in Kronke, the man that they have all now embraced. He is still the closest person to Wenger, privately Wenger still describes him as his right hand man - and Dein says that he misses 'on a daily basis' working together with Wenger. DD was shafted by his beloved Arsenal, but Hill-Wood won't last forever and I think Dein will be back.
