Well, I have never been as big of a fan of Mata as everyone else. Having said that, I think he will do OK at United, the upside of his game (creativity) is something they are missing. However, he is terrible defensively, and it will be interesting to see if they can afford to put him into the team, alongside a few other defensive lightweights they have. Mourinho obviously thinks that Mata will not help them much, or enough let's say. I thought Felliaini would be better for them, but that hasn't turned out too well, so I really don't know how Mata will do. I have this growing belief that United's problem, is more of a mental one and less of a matter of tactics and players. I say often that Football is a thinking game and a game about decisions and I just feel that Moyes is struggling to create the atmosphere required for good decision-making at United. He may have been fine at Everton where winning was less expected and sixth place was considered good. At United winning is expected and he seems to be having problems inspiring the players to play freely and without tension. When they get in a good position in a game, they seem to tighten up and play like they are petrified they are going to make a mistake. Of course that usually means that they do make one. It is something we don't see much as Arsenal fans. Our problem is usually the other way, in the past our players were so busy having fun, they forgot there was a game to win. That seems to have changed this season. I am a big believer that the manager is the key to success and Moyes, IMHO, is the issue at United. I don't think Mata is going to make a big difference, just like Felliaini didn't. I could be wrong, but they need a really big Ozil type signing to restore their confidence and swagger, not someone who will be low on confidence himself, after being rejected by the special one. I guess the hope is that he will come in with a slugger's attitude of "I'll show those bastards!" I think Wenger's a genius and I think he knew that Ozil was a best signing for Arsenal mentally, even if perhaps a striker would have been better tactically. It turned a page and set an attitude. United need something like that, and Mata isn't that type of signing. That's why I really oppose changing anything too much with signings. We are flying right now, and adding something to the equation, that demonstrates a lack of belief in the current squad may not be what is required. A hard search that tells our players, "I looked hard, but you guys are so good, it is tough to find someone that improves us", may be a better message than, "I don't think we are good enough to beat Chelsea and Man City, so I bought this guy who is sitting on the bench and can't get into their first team. It probably will not help much, but oh well, anything is better than you." The second message seems to be the one Moyes is sending to his players.
You're assuming Gundogan-Reus are on the way to United, this is United PR to quell their fans discontent by linking them to every major player in Europe, similar to what Arsenal have done during transfer markets when we were struggling. Plus I don't see a Fellaini-Gundogan partnership as effective, Fellani is the odd one out.
Agreed Moyes is the problem but I wouldn't quite call Wenger a genius for signing Ozil. After all, he is one of the best players in the world and is the best play making midfielder at present. It doesn't take a genius to workout that a top world class player would improve us.
No, I think you are linking the two parts of the sentence together more tightly than I intended. The second half was not meant as proof positive of the first half. It was more the other way round. My point in the thread was to argue that the merits of signings are not always decided on tactics alone, and that Wenger (Who I believe to be a genius) understands this. I don't spend my time trying to prove Wenger is a genius, they way some people spend their time trying to prove he isn't. I would take issue with what you say though. There are plenty of people who didn't, and still don't, believe that Ozil was the best signing for us, or that think Flamini was a better signing for example.
problem with mata at united is where to play him. with rooney and van persie out, moyes has to play him behind welbeck or hernandez. but when they come back, is he gonna shoe mata out to the wing, where he is nowhere near as effective, or drop one of rooney and van persie. i always see united's style as being 2 up front with quick, agile dribbler. mata doesn't fit into that system either.
Our squad needed strengthening and both players did the trick for us. The Flamini transfer I would say was a master stroke in my opinion. We all knew how good Ozil was but Flamini has proved to be a fantastic one, being free. He has really strengthened our spine and provided us with more leadership and steel in the middle. Both have helped us achieve the league position that we are in.
And I would argue that the transfers are leagues apart. Flamini tactically was a good signing, but getting Ozil, for the lift it gave the club, and the players, and the belief it instilled went far, far, beyond that. Just look at what it did to this forum. Overnight, the optimists started winning. As far as the team was concerned, it said Wenger believes he has a team, that they are a team, to put round this guy, that can win trophies. They said - He staked his reputation on us, "Holy ****!"
Our officials are in Germany to negotiate a transfer for Julian Draxler but we're still haggling over the price according to the Telegraph.
Not likely in this video http://www1.skysports.com/football/...balance-in-transfer-window-says-jeff-stelling. After the question was posed about transfers/Draxler, he said a clear No, and I didn't pick up any expression from him saying otherwise. If he is then he'd make a great poker player.
I can't see even Wenger saying that while his negotiators are over in Germany trying to negotiate a deal.. If the right striker became available on loan i'm sure he'd still try a late move
Is there an instance when he's said a clear no, yet we've gone into the market? Last summer he was clear about wanting players, this Jan he's just saying no. He is talking about players coming back, which are Oxo and Bendy, so he's pretty much saying we have enough. Do we have enough? It depends on how Bendy and OXO perform really.
Funnily enough I am not too bothered as to whether we sign anyone or not this window. There's still more to come from this Arsenal team, we can certainly improve over the second half of the season and if that happens, it's enough for me.
I'm with you on this. The team we have has shown to be good enough to win the Premiership. Yes, it would be desirable that we had another top quality CF and having Walcott out is a big blow, but we have a pretty good squad to last us for the rest of the season. This goes down to consistency for me and whoever loses it, loses the league. As long as we keep our spine intact (Mert, kos, Sagna, Flamini, Giroud), then we are good to go.
He is a reliable source. BeIn Sport also reported that we'd agreed a fee. Deal not done yet though. Could be, soon?
