Pretty much spot on. Piskie, we are not being negative but highlighting the mistakes made before the season began that cost us valuable points and morale. As mentioned by RVB, taking it to the wire has not allowed the new players to bed in. Now, we are seeing this happening and starting to look like an Arsenal team again. I know you are being positive and i agree, some of the signings have been good. But, we seem to be making some elementary mistakes of recent and we want them cut out.
I can't believe that anyone would think Wenger did well this summer. Letting the issue of Fabregas and Nasri drag on till then end of the window (when in Nasri's case we definitely could have sold him earlier) and then making a load of panic buys on the last day after our squad was shown to be incredibly weak is not good strategy. Every time you go on about how we couldn't attract the players we needed because we didn't have money I always mention the likes of Inler and Vidal who could of improved our team and we could have bought. All in all it was a pretty awful transfer window that was slightly improved by the final day and I don't understand how anyone can say Wenger did a good job in it.
What was mystifying is we didn't even come in for Scott Parker? Look at what he's brought to Spurs and you wonder why we didnt even bid for him. The sad thing is he wanted to come to Arsenal......
Ditto. There are some things Arsene does or doesn't do that are mystifying. When we discussed this before there were suggestions that Arsene may not think he is our style of player, that he may not fit in with our style of playing, words to that effect. Could well be right but I would perhaps also suggest that this is a clear example of Wenger not thinking beyond the confines of his box. We can't get everyone we want but to miss someone like Scott Parker isn't the type of mistake you expect from a £135K a week manager.
Lack of resale value, only good for perhaps 3 seasons tops, cost 5m, and Song, Frimpong, Coquelin can all play DM, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky can playmake, Ramsey, Rosicky, Diaby, Wilshere can play AM. Is there much room for another player? Who would you leave out to play him? Arteta?
Piskie, I think this is a underhand swipe at those who questioned Wenger's dealings or lack of in the transfer market. I also noticed you waited until we put a decent run together. The next thing you will probably say is that the team currently has more quality than last season.... The great man himself knows he got it horribly wrong with his dealings, a lot of which is down to luck than judgement. To say Jenkinson has surpassed what is expected of him is a bit laughable, he was not expected to play this term, so nothing was expected...... I think we need to take it one game at a time, no need to start patting each other on the back and say what a bunch of world beaters we have in our squad! The goal from the club as always is to make champions league football, over the past few season we have a squad equipped to do just that (whilst pretending to challenge for the league itself), this season, I think it will be a straight fight between us liverpool and spuds for that 4th spot..... and that is the best we can all hope for.
Good question Bon Perhaps for me it wasn't a question of in whose place he would come onto the pitch for us. Of greater consideration for me was what he could bring to the table, experience, determination, an ability to organise and help us get the job done. I'm aware he is 31 and there would be no return for us at the end of his contract. However for £5m I felt he was worth a throw of the dice and his contribution at Spurs would appear to indicate that they made an excellent investment in the man. I don't think he could have done much to reverse the result at OT but he could perhaps have made a difference to our meeting with Pool, Blackburn and Newcastle. Indeed perhaps even that afternoon at WHL. But you do have a point as to where he slots in given our purchases at the end of August. Had we bought him earlier, who knows what we may have done on that final Monday. I like Arteta and I'm glad we bought him but I also feel we missed out on Parker.
PISKIE and all the other guys who think Wenger did well with this transfer window.......NO RVP, what do you think happens to Arsenal now.............
He isn't a true DM. For me he plays more box-to-box, in the role Arteta currently occupies. Would you rather have him than Arteta in the team? At Spurs, there was significantly less competition for his preferred role. Sandro & Huddlestone being the obvious two, though I'm sure there are more. At Arsenal, with the rise of Song, and great promise of Coquelin & Frimpong, plus Rosicky coming back, Wilshere being exceptional, and Arteta coming in, I honestly don't think there was any room for him. At his age, and with the Euro's coming up next year, he wants to be first choice. He is a good player, and yes I'd have loved him to come to the club, but coming in instead of Arteta? I'm not so sure about that.
Let's not even think about that! We should enjoy our small run and be grateful. No RVP?? Maybe Oxo can come in and do a job for us..... But we'll cross that river when we get there!
Yes you're right. I'd hate not to have Arteta too and their roles are similar. Sadly I'm not too convinced about Frimpong. As said often before, I really should leave these discussions on positioning to those who know better
Not at all mate. Everyone's opinion is valid. If you watch the games you should be free to offer an opinion.
I think people have short memories concenring RVP. He's never been a player we've ever relied on as he's never played more than a handful of games in any given season. The worrying point is we are over reliant on him now and without him, we would truly be scraping the barrell. How has it come to this? This is the point posters like Piskie need to realise.
Lack of resale value I can understand but we paid £10m for Arteta at 29 and I'm not convinced there'll be a great deal coming back on him either. The way the finances are in football and especially Champions League football £5m isn't a huge investment, Chelsea thought it sensible to spend £50m on one player to ensure Champions League qualification. I always though Parker was quality, I know many Charlton fans who say he's the best player they ever saw in a Charlton shirt, he was never given a fair shot at Chelsea but what that means is that he doesn't have the miles on the clock like other 31 years old midfielders. He would have walked straight into the team if I'd been in charge and even if the likes of Coquelin and Frimpong do turn out to be worldbeaters then he's still be a decent squad option for a reasonably low cost.....
You may be surprised to learn that RVP have played almost 250 times for Arsenal and has never had a season where he's made under 20 appearances, of course we're all aware of his injury record....
Thanks for the responses. I must admit that I did write the article with a slight bias, simply to get some reaction. I still think Wenger did well, eventually. But I agree that we should have put our money on the table earlier to secure the likes of Cahill, M'Villa, Mata. The Nasri and Cesc situation was pretty much out of Wenger's hands really, I think he did the right thing to try and keep them both at the club. As for DM position, I think we should be enquiring about John Obi Mikel in Jan, he seems to have fallen out of favour at Chelsea and I think he'd fit in at Arsenal. He's quick, strong and skillful
Piskie - 2 points: 1. Going after rivals leftovers I don't believe is the way forward, if he's not considered good enough to be a regular for Chelsea then whilst he might improve our team he won't help get us to their level or better. 2. The transfer windon, in my opinion, should close 31 July - the ****ing about in August after the season has already started is so disruptive on clubs. What chance did Everton have on deadline day when we were after Arteta so, when made clear of our interest, handed in a transfer request ?
