And neither are Mertz or Kos. The fact that we got hammered on more than one occasion against our direct rivals does not equal great either. The last greats we had were Campbell, Adams, Cole etc. Vermaelen is a top player and we will see that when he goes to manure very soon.
He's a good defender, but he's prone to rushing in, which makes him easy to target. Put a big CF on, let Verm mark him, wait for the ball to come in and Verm will try and nip in front to steal it. Get your arms out, and you can roll him and you're past him. It's happened many times. If that could be coached out him he'd be a very, very good defender. He's easily one of the best 3rd choices in the league and Arsenal will need someone very good to step in and replace him. Ashley Williams suddenly becomes likely. I will be very disappointed if Arsenal gift ANOTHER player to a team who are meant to be a direct rival. When was the last time a player moved to Arsenal from Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd?
The full backs and Arteta were more to blame for the thrashings, we had no defensive shape in those games
Seriously??.. Your arguments tend to bend to back up every decision the Boss makes. It wasn't long ago you were talking him up. Wenger made him Captain. In my opinion Vermaelen is every bit as good as Koscielney. He can play left back, he's a goal threat and I wouldn't be surprised if he's also a very good DM. Sagna - to City Fabregas - No thanks he can go to Chelsea Vermaelen (Captain) - to United We will go cheap in the transfer market - this is exactly why I think Vela will be the forward we bring in. No Mandzukic, No Balotelli.. Certainly not the 3 World Class additions we need. I have no idea how you can still be optimistic about next Season.
From Chelsea to Arsenal = I would say probably Gallas in 2007 (as part of the Ashley Cole deal). From Man Utd to Arsenal = Silvestre? You got him from United right? What was that 2008/09? From Man City to Arsenal = Not sure
We might have got Gallas but Cole ended up being one of the best left-backs in the world, the potential was clearly there to see when playing for us. Chelsea definitely got the better of that deal! Apart from that, we've got scraps and access denied from our rivals.
So the players Arsenal have taken are Gallas, and Silvestre. Brilliant signings they turned out to be. Meanwhile, we've seen Ade, Nasri, RvP, Toure, Cole, Sagna and potentially Vermaelen move to rivals, as well as not taking up the option to bring Fabregas back. I wholly agree with Bear, Vermaelen is a good player. What he lacks is a bit of tactical awareness, but most of his flaw could be coached out of him. He's fallen victim to the great partnership of Kos & Mert but Arsenal should be saying: "Yes you can move if you really want to, but ONLY ABROAD. It's your choice, you can run down your contract and leave on a free, or leave now to anyone outside of the PL."
As a non Arsenal fan (if any of you care), I agree there does seem to be a level of nonchalance from Wenger regarding players moving to rivals, which is all well and good if the transfer is inconsequential to the Arsenal team, or if Arsenal have lined up a much better player as a replacement. The odd thing is, this never seems to be the case with Wenger. He just sells your best players to direct rivals and is all "Meh!". It does smack of a complete lack of a competitive streak in him. Like he seems to just accept Arsenal will not win the title and is only concerned that they get CL qualification every year as cheaply as possible so the directors can keep filling their pockets with CL TV money to the detriment of your squad.
How much would that be. His market value would be around £15-£20m after his stunning season. Also he is still quite young.
Where does it go then? Because you earn a s**tload of cash, I read somewhere its around £1m for every home game with the size of your stadium and thats before merchandising and sponsorships..... So if its not been spent on the squad, and face it, for the last 10 years, it hasnt....and its not going in someone pocket....then where the hell has it been going? Especially in the last couple of years when your debts were all cleared. It just being stuck in a huge piggy bank?
Our debts have not been cleared,far from it.If rumours are to be believed we pay off the debt at approx £20 million p.a.
a) Mertesacker has never played for Bayern. He was first choice for Bremen. So don't know what you're talking about. b) Vermaelen was good for us for a short while. Never brilliant. And he's been average for us for longer than he was 'good'.
So Mertesacker and Koscielny are not good, but Vermaelen (who can't get in the team ahead of them) is?
