Press Conference

Wenger says:
** All players rested at Brighton are available
** Vermaelen Back
** Coq & ARTETA still out
** Beckham has arrived to work on his fitness - no chance of him signing
** Barca don't want to sell Villa, then "I said they don't want to sell, didn't say he was [a] target"
** "We are still trying but it's hard to sign players in Jan who can improve you"
** Theo's contract "shows we want to keep our best players and are capable to do it"
** Arsenal have enough strikers if they don't buy

That's about it. Absolutely nothing on new signings, but there's zero links in the press at the moment other than Villa.
Looks like Ramsey will be DM against Liverpool - big game for him to step up in. Verm & Kos could be the CB pairing, though Merts did very well against Liverpool in the last game.

Beckham can hopefully help people with their free kicks & crossing - could be a huge bonus to have him around working with some of the players.
I have nothing to say on the rest, let's be positive. There's still 2 1/2 days left of the Transfer Window. In summer Arsenal signed 5 players in that time.

 

M'Vila
Ba

I'm sick of this nonsense that no-one is available. He needs to reword it from "it's hard..." to "I'm no good at...".

Saying "it's hard..." is just a tired excuse for a manager who doesn't ever seem prepared for any transfer window.

 

The likelihood of not getting 4th this season is so high that we should have gambled on a few players. M'Vila, Ba, Llorente, Holtby, Sissoko, Mbiwa, and even Fer looks a quality DM.

 

I think the likelihood of us getting 4th is high. that's why we haven't brought anyone in. We seem to be playing better than before. Chelsea and Spurs are still not convincing. Chelsea still need another striker and Spurs are still gelling as a unit under AVB. Arsenal is the only team out of the 3 that has consistency, and that is Wenger.

 

How exactly are Arsenal THAT convincing? Our win over West Ham was our first win in the league in 4 games. I don't see how on earth you say Arsenal are the only team that have consistency, the stats don't support that claim.

 

If Wenger put as much effort into Arsenal's defense as he does into defending himself then this Team would concede far fewer goals.

 

Having Wenger as our manager is a massive advantage to us getting 4th. He has yet to drop out of the top 4 and that is down to him knowing how to do that. Our team has enough quality to achieve this, and we've played most of our difficult fixtures. Apart from Spurs away and Manure at home, most of our fixtures are not impossible to get something out of them.

Both Spurs and Chelsea have new managers, and we will see if they start flapping coming to the business end of the season. We have the experience to do it.

 

You are being severely optimistic thinking we will claw 8 points back on Chelsea. Yes, Chelsea have a new manager, he's been there for some weeks now, and in that time we haven't gone close to them, instead the gap in points has widened.

 

I don't understand this optimism. I'm not even being pessimistic when I say there's a big chance we won't finish in the top 4. Just ask fans of other clubs what they think. It's probably about 50/50. To not take this opportunity to increase our chances by strengthening the team seems like madness to me. If Wenger fails to get top 4 after this, it will be all on him.

 

Optimism isn't a bad thing.

 

We clawed back 10 points on the Spuds last season

 

Exactly and they were in a better position last season than now. They have a new manager, new players and a new system. Last season they had a big points advantage and an established manager yet they still stuffed it. The pressure to get into the top 4 is quite high, especially when the rewards are so great. Under Wenger we are able to cope with things better, as he has the experience to guide us better than the other 2. Saying that, it will be far from easy....

 

Ah yes, because Chelsea and Spurs are comparable right? Chelsea are a stronger team than us, which is why they also did the double over us this season.

Also just because we made a major comeback last season, doesn't mean it will happen again.

 

Last season the gap to Spurs was 10 points. Arsenal made it up due to a horrific loss of form from Spurs brought about by some serious destabilisation of the manager by Capello leaving. In short, and absolute fluke. Can you see something like that happening again?

If anything, both Spurs and Chelsea should finish the season stronger than they started as their managers bed in and get more used to the club and players and the players get used to the managers and their tactics.

Make no mistake, Chelsea, Everton and Spurs wouldn't swap their current position with Arsenal. It will be VERY difficult to finish Top4 this season, yet Arsene isn't making it any easier. A league challenge is but a distant memory.

 

Are you saying Chelsea players aren't as proper equipped to handle pressure???????? Seriously, what on earth are you talking about, they're team has actual championship medal winners, and I'm not talking about the ones they've brought from abroad. They've won the UCL, the Fa Cup, the league etc, the fact you're trying to somehow prop up Arsenal players as having an advantage in handling pressure, over Chelsea players, is so laughable. You're living on another planet.

 

It doesn't mean we wont either

 

I look at stats and way things are, when people just come saying well we did it last season, that's not a real argument based on substance. Last season was last season.

 

I honestly think some of our fans want us fail just so they can say "I told you so"

 

I'm referring more to Spurs than Chelsea. Yes Chelsea have a better squad than us, but i'm not convinced of them under Benitez. He is under a lot of pressure at Chelsea and any slip ups can have detrimental effects. You think the players are not affected by this?

I honestly don't see much difference in terms of team quality between the three, even though Chelsea have some better individual players.

 

I don't want us to fail, but sorry, I'm not into false optimism which is only based on "we did it last season".

Why do you feel that all other fans have to share in your false optimism? Being a realist doesn't mean we want to fail, but that's the problem with fans like you, you never want to be a realist, but want to keep clinging to false optimism.