I'm feeling quite negative at the moment as well Boss. All we can do is wait and see. We have made some good signings. Not all of them will come good but hopefully the majority will. I'm not convinced by Chadli either yet but he is young and has only played 3 games inthe premier league. Realistically will he start anyway when Eriksen and Lamela are up to speed? He is still a good squad player to have and could do better option in Europe when he has more time on the ball.
The big problem is over the last 2 seasons the entire spine of the squad has changed and you're competing against very experienced squads and managers for that top 4 spot. Right now it's very much a team of individuals, Arsenal may appear to be inferior on paper (to some) but those players have played together for years. They know each other inside out.
There is no doubting Arsenal have a very good team, just will they be able to last the whole campaign with such a small squad. They will have to play a lot of players almost every match. Maybe they will be able to do it. Generally Messi plays every game for Barcelona and it doesn't seem to do him any harm.
I have a manager in mind (don't worry its not redknapp), yet its more about the type of manager. I want us to have a manager that believes and can implement fluid, creative attacking football, plays players in their best position, has tactical awareness to make the right changes in the game, in many ways I want us to have a young Wenger, as the way he changed Arsenal into a free flowing attacking team, from their boring tag was down to his methods and hes proved that no matter what team he has, they always play creative football and create tons of chances. AVB is dour, rigid but professional and I don't believe his methods will get the best out of our exciting young talent and we really struggle to open teams up, its becoming too much of an issue.
Completely agree, and its what a few of us have been saying, however I just wonder that certain players aren't excelling or fulfilling their potential (like dembele) because of the management, and I can see the same happening with some of our new signings. If we kept this current squad and made no signings in the next two years, then if they grew as expected, we could actually have a great team, but its a big if, as we never manage to keep a team together.
Well let's hope you're wrong. I hang on the the fact that although AVB is conservative with team and tactics, he has shown an ability to learn and to revise his plans as a reality hits him in the face. He has done very well with Defoe for example, but it does appear to take him a fair time to react, Dembele for example. Of course this maybe him giving players the chance to absorb what he wants them to do. He is the complete opposite of Harry ironically. He has no excuses now this is his team and I hope he succeeds, by xmas we all have a better idea.
We struggled to break sides down under Redknapp, too and he was a very, very different manager to Villas-Boas.
Chelsea have completed the signing of striker Christian Atsu for a reported £3.5m from Portuguese champions Porto. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23923446 Having begun his football education at the Feyenoord Academy in Ghana, Atsu was signed by then Porto coach Andres Villas-Boas in 2010.
I still have faith in AVB, and believe that he's as good a manager as we could hope to get at this stage in our club's development. However, we really do need some of these players to step up to the mark, if we are to have any chance of getting CL footy next season. Of course, if Levy came out and told us all that he's giving AVB the time he needs to get this squad to gel and that he's prepared to write-off this season in order to achieve that goal, that would, at the very least, get the wums off our backs, and would help to moderate the expectations of everyone in the football world.
Guillem Balague ‏@GuillemBalague 2m United have offered 36 for Herrera Herrera will have to pass medical and United pay it all in cash but deal practically done
Just took this straight from wikipedia: Ander Herrera Agüera (born 14 August 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao as a central midfielder.He is described as the new Shola Ameobi. Sounds good! In all seriousness this transfer window has gone mad with crazy sums of money being paid
I know Colin it's crazy. Bang goes our theory of Joe Lewis bank rolling our team finally!! If I had Joe Lewis's money I would pay for the stadium as my legacy. He is quite old now and has so much money even if he paid ofr it all it would still leave a hell of a lot of money left!
I beg everyone of you to go, right this instance, over to the Gooners' board and read PESKIE's thread, which he has entitled "Classless Levy." Talk about an epic fail! Even his own supporters have turned on him for his bitterness and unnecessary anger. Pure comedy gold!
Piskie's hatred of the spurs is unrivalled on the Arsenal board. Who knows what HIAG really thinks of Arsenal, I've never actually seen a serious post from him
If Ozil is worth £42M, what are Real Madrid selling him for? Seems like they've made the most of Arsenal's desperation. So indirectly Arsenal have paid half the fee for Bale? Crazy.
Absolutely agree, the team will grow given time and more importantly a pre-season but right now a bunch of players have been thrown in expected to gel and (if you believe some) mount a title challenge overnight. There needs to be a gameplan, a strategy to score goals. Up until the point where Spurs committed bodies forward to try and equalise you were pretty solid, but I don't see a real strategy or gameplan to score goals other than knocking it wide and hoping someone cuts in on their stronger footand scores a screamer. When Redknapp was your manager your side became synonymous with wing play and getting Bale and Lennon in behind defences whilst Modric acted as a deep lying playmaker. Most sides found that style of play very difficult. AVB has to come up with a Plan B, one that can not only just counterattack and shoot well from distance but break down solid defences. In Eriksen and Lamela he could well have those players but it will take a lot of time on the training ground and in that time the other sides around Spurs are likely to grow stronger.
