@ Adhom. I didn't say that about Santos, a South American journo did. It was tongue in cheek to point out that he never bothers defending and, considering the amount of opportunities he creates for himself but not defending, only gets 1 in 5. Yes, having an attacking FB is one thing but his first priority is to defend. I hope the first time he leaves the defence exposed Sanga bends him over his knee and gives him a good paddling. That boy knows his duties! Still, as I said I can't judge him until I've watched him play, which I haven't. Oh, and yes you are an optimist.
I admire your optimism! and its a good analysis of the transfers! Hopefully the new signings will freshen up the place and get rid of some of the damage that is currently in the Arsenal camp! I dont think the signings are anything to get excited about to be honest which is why there wont be too many Arsenal fans because after coming so close last season to winning the league they have now fallen very far behind! Like you said they have made the best out of a bad situation but the frustrating thing is that they shouldn't have been in the bad situation in the first place!!
He's currently one of 3 choices in one of Brazil's worst positions. They haven't had a decent left back since Carlos retired! To suggest he's better than Cole or Evra is stupid. I'm not convinced he'll be any better than Enrique or Clichy!
atleast he signed some ppl they may be not world class but still they will make a difference. there is still the january window, wenger might just go for cahill or get a pre contract with him, with fab he tried his best and thought he could of changed his mind, did you hear the guy from AST last night on football focus. cheer up lads it could of been worse
@John Jensen. Fair enough, I understand where you are coming from. I just don't like it very much when I perceive players being dismissed out of hand before they have played a single game. Santos certainly does need to prove himself. That said, I see him being an improvement on Clichy due to the fact that the Frenchman was never the best defender. Santos from what I can tell cannot be any worse than Clichy in defense. Santos' attacking qualities are a massive improvement on Clichy. Simply put, I see things the following way..... Defending: Santos = Clichy Attacking: Santos > Clichy From this unscientific analysis I see Santos as an improvement for the team. He also should be player whom Gibbs can learn from, when he is not injured. The thought of Sagna paddling Santos does make me laugh, keep that in the dressing room!
Park - looks technically sound and a solid footballer who has a work ethic. I think this is vitally important in the English league, we've been crying out for this sort of player for ages, a Ljungberg type player offensively and defensively. Oxocube - WTF ! Wenger lost the plot with this signing, we didn't need him, he only has Div 1 experience and we spent how much on him ??? Jenkinson - I have no idea why he was bought, I cannot see what Wenger possibly saw in him to buy him. Maybe he thinks he has the frame of Bale so might develop the game of Bale. Div 1 player. Gervinho - looks a good player, quick feet and creative, doesn't run offside all the time and has a good first touch. Can see him scoring and creating plenty of goals. Benayoun - I am not happy about this purchase, i don't rate him at all and I don't know what he will give us. As a squad member I am less annoyed but WTF ! Mertesacker - Good purchase, at last a tall commanding CB with experience. Very happy with this purchase and glad we didn't go for Cahill or Jagielka at inflated prices. Santos - I don't know anything about him .. but he can't be worse than Clichy, Gibbs or Traore if he is a regular for Brazil. Arteta - I'd like to see what he can do in our team, certainly no Fabregas but maybe he can provide enough of an offensive option to our game that we desperately need. I'll wait to see how good a purchase this actually was. All in all I think we have a decent attacking line up with Arshavin, RVP, Walcott and Gervinho - Walcott and Arshavin are too inconsistent though, this is still my fear as it was last season. Midfield is initially weaker but I think the responsibilty will be more shared - between Arteta and Wilshere to provide the bullets, so maybe not a bad thing. Defence is greatly improved, TV and Mertesacker should combine well in the middle, Sagna is solid, lets hope Santos knows how to defend, I don't want to see him bombing forward every 2 mins.
I am annoyed at our transfer business too, but it is offset by relief that we have at least improved our squad.
What's the definition of World Class? i thought it was basically a player capable of excelling at the TOP level (particularly international level). In which case you would have to say mertesacker is a world class defender. Germany has always amazing defenders and mertesacker is getting on for 80 caps at only 27 should probably exceed 100 by the time he retires.
It seems to have escaped some people's attention, but these 'World Class' players that we should have been bidding for (with the exception of Mata, who we would have been outbid for) were not for sale anyway.
most were not for sale but the some that were would of never came to us like snijder for instance who wants 200k a week, anyone else come to mind???? also i heard we were in for zarate but lazio didnt want to loan him out, but he goes the inter on a year loan feking nobs
You call these rants. I would say you have summarised my views of each player precisely. Great post. I am annoyed too. But I agree that per merterscaker is a great buy
When we signed Bergkamp from Inter...they were all too happy to let him go. Who was Henry? Wasting away down the flank at Juventus... Kanu was somewhat known at Inter..but he had a ticking time bomb for a heart. Lauren from Mallorca? Anybody? Anybody? Robert Pires? French league Cesc Fabregas? 15 year old promising prospect from Barca, but still a relative nobody Ashley Cole? Besides Arsenal,noboody heard of him Edu? Hahaha...please, I even raised my eyebrows Gilberto Silva? The most unglamorous of the glamorous Brazilian national side...probably the least known of the national squad Silvinho? A relative nobody Wenger bought out of the blue... I won't even bother talking about Patrick Vieira who didn't even make it into AC Milan's reserve team. I don't even know where Emannuel Petit came from... The only "known player" we signed was Sol Campbell from Tottenham. Possibly Marc Overmars from Ajax..but that was "just the Dutch league". So Jon Jensen, I think your negativity and hearburn are a bit premature.
Exactly. These players were somewhat unknown quantities with massive potential. Or top players currently struggling (Henry had a great start to his career which flagged at Juve). But this time we HAVENT BOUGHT THESE TYPE OF PLAYERS. We havent picked up prospects from clubs like milan (vieria) or top players from france (Bobby Pires). Instead we have signed (in midfeild) known average players from the epl. Arteta and benyoun.
Arteta is an average player? Per Mertesacker is top class...we have signed prospects, they just need some experienced players to learn from instead of getting thrown into the fire. Patrick Vieira wasn't an "up in coming prospect" as you say..if that was the case why could he not even be kept by AC Milan reserve squad? Where was the massive potential of Edu? If we're honest he over achieved..he looked like Per Mertesacker in midfield. Petit- massive overachiever. Lauren..wasn't some hot prospect in Spain. Nobody even knew of him. Benayoun isn't here to be a starter, he knows the Premier League..he's a journeyman and can capably fill a gap when there is an injury or suspension....a more skillful Gilles Grimandi if you will. Andre Santos is an up and coming left back for the Brazilian National Side..getting 22 caps with the likes of Michel Bastos, and Maicon as his compeition. We have 4 former captains in our side now...leadership to wrangle in the enthusiastic but very talented younger players. Ryo Miachi set the Dutch League alight...and was Feyenoord's best player after only just playing school league football a year ago...is that not "massive potential"? Joel Campbell is about as exciting striker as there is out there for his age...which pisses me off by the way. How does Sebastian Coates for Liverpool get a work permit and Campbell doesn't?
Also we should be thankful for some more experience in our team. Mertesacker, Santos & Arteta are all established experienced players. Surely that's exactly what Frimpong, Wilshere, Ramsey & Miyaichi need around them in order to step up to the next level.
dude what are you talking about ?? Henry was a Champions League player at Monaco and hotly tipped to do very well hence him going to Italy who at the time had the strongest league in the world. He flopped at Juve but clearly he was a talent. Bergkamp was hot property when he left Dutch football, he flopped at Inter but was still very talented. Kanu had played in the CL final for Ajax against AC Milan so he was hardly an unknown ! Lauren was a very good RM for Mallorca and I regularly saw him on Sky Sports Spanish football. Pires was a top prospect in French football when we bought him, certainly not an unknown. Fabregas - unknown. Ashley Cole came through our youth system. Edu - relative unknown. Gilberto Silva played in the 2002 World Cup for Brazil so hardly an unknown ! Silvinho - relative unknown Vieira - unknown. Petit - known in France and eye catching with his ponytail Just because your knowledge of football players is weak to assume that everyone else's is too is naive !
It's not as easy as just having the money t go buy 2 x 40m players is it. Nobody wants to play for a club wh just sold their best players and are bottom of the league. See you at he den next season
