There is no way in hell we could afford Sneijder's wages. By all reports even United refused to pay him what he wanted.
The fact that Sneijder didn't go to Utd says it all - he was not available to Arsenal. Even if we'd had a bid in for Mata, Chelsea would have usurped it and offered more wages. Cahill is a player I think we should have signed - and one we could have signed.
In summary, we didn't sign any players who weren't available to us, but we did sign players in every position that we said needed strengthening.
Maybe but we didn't sign some players who were available to us and you've already admitted to Cahill, Mata was available at a cut price in July before Chelsea were interested but AW prevaricated as usual and we lost out. We could also have had Jose Enrique, Leighton Baines, Scott Parker or Phil Jagielka but AW's aversion to English players has cost us again.
Only Jose Enrique was a major miss from that list. Even then he might have not wanted to come here. Liverpool is closer to his home and for all you know he could be mates with guys like Reina. Oh and the amount Everton wanted for Jagielka was absurd.
I agree that Cahill or Jagielka would have been really good signings. We didn't get them, but we did get Mertesacker, who is just as good. We replaced Clichy and we added another defender in Jenkinson. Nasrigas situation was absurd - and very harsh on our club. How could we ever replace players like that? We've already discussed the players who were and weren't available to us. Signing Arteta (class act) and Benayoun (a better Rosicky) was a good move given the landscape. Gervinho already looks like he got what it takes. We've signed Park and Campbell too, it would be nice if one of them could play for us Like I've said, we've strengthened where we needed to. Some people are disappointed with the names, but looking at it realistically - it's good business. But of course ultimately results are the only judge of whether it's worked.....
It would be good business if we had improved from the beginning of last season but we obviously haven't so thats not the case. I do feel this article is overly negative though.
It's not easy trying to gauge where Arsenal are at because there isn't any consistency to the team's performances at the moment. We did well to overcome Udinese but the domestic form hasn't been encouraging. That said, there have been a number of mitigating factors. I think once we are more settled and back to a full complement, we can then have a better picture of where the team is at. While we have certainly lost a good deal of quality, we have also gained experience which we have been lacking. Form has also been a little wayward amongst regular players and the return of this cannot come soon enough. Apart from the key contribution of Mikel Arteta and the ever-rising prowess of Wojceich Szczesny, perhaps a stronger defence, there is another positive to be taken from Saturday and it is that we have shown for the first time in a while that we can get to grips at how to run down time as opposed to giving the ball away in a panic. Hopefully all the pieces will come together over the course of this month. Late I know but better than never I suppose.
Constructive criticism is all well and good, but the OP does nothing but slag off our club. Just take a look at his posting history and judge for yourselves. eg: RVP is leaving at the end of this season because we are so bad....classic support from the king of the doom & gloom brigade. <dousallafavourandfuckofftoMUFCsmiley>
I prefer to stay and lobby for change of approach, thats what sensible fans do instead of acting like lemmings with blind faith. Oh and on the subject of RVP i think we should wait and see if he is still here this time next year or will the Board cash in on him too.
I think we need to look at the game with a little more perspective. The team are suffering from low confidence and the most important thing was to get win and hopefully not concede. We did that. Unconvincing however, but we still did it. We now need to look at stringing a few good results together and put the past 6-7 months behind us. Once we've done that then its time to start criticizing performances but for now the team need our full support and I will gladly give them it.
So a team that got thrashed 8-2 (incidentally they were still in the game at 57mins) who have had a total of 3 days training together since all being in various parts of the world for internationals manage a 1-0 win - how awful!! None of the players played a blinder, but in the end they got the job done. With more training, fitness, and time to gel as a team they'll start performing better. The win was needed to boost their confidence. I've no idea where this "30m on Oxo, Park & Campbell" came from either!! Oxo varies from 10 - 15m depending on source, Park from 1.8 - 5m, and Campbell is known to have been 900k - 1.2m. That's an absolute max of 21.2m, and a minimum of 12.7m!! I'm all for supporting the team, and criticising players / managers when and if they deserve it. Fact is, Wenger was nieve in the transfer market, and with his experience he shouldn't have been. The players I genuinely believe are doing their best. Gibbs got torn a new one at the weekend, and Arshavin still doesn't track back. In my most humble opinion they're fair criticisms. Just coming out with "x is rubbish" or "y shouldn't wear the shirt, he's useless" are stupid comments and I have no time for their perpetrators. If you work in business, at any sort of management level, you'll be taught the "art of the sandwich" when dealing with problematic employees. You start with something positive, then go through the negatives, then finish on a positive note. If the doom-mongers applied this to their posts, I think we'd all get along a bit better. For example: Great to get a win at the weekend, Gibbs looked very vulnerable though, Arshavin left him exposed and he really got run ragged, positionally a little suspect too. At least Arteta slotted straight into the side though - looked like he could have been playing their for ages!! Now you try...
A win is a win at the end of the day, I don't care how we do it as long as it's a win. Yes it wasn't a good game I agree but we have new players who have only had a very short amount of time to bed in with the rest of the squad, our confidence isn't great at the moment and we do have a few players out, suspensions, injuries etc, but we still won, which is an improvement. If arsene can get a bit of belief back onto this squad I think we may surprise a few people? Give the team some time.
Whilst enjoying a pre match aperatif on Saturday we were discussing the merits of our new signings.The consensus seemed to be that our first team and squad have improved since last season.The reasons being,we have improved our CB position with the signing of Mertesacker,we have signed Arteta who has replaced Fabregas who during games last season made it painfully aware that he didn't want to play for Arsenal.Let us not forget Fabregas chose to watch a grand prix rather than coming on the pitch to thank the fans at the end of the season.If we get half a season out of Benayoun it can't be any worse than the half seson we got out of Nasri.Santos has replaced Clichy and let's be honest,Clichy had done **** all for us for the last few seasons.Park has replaced Bendtner and let us again be honest who's really sorry Bendtner has gone.Chesney has now cemented his place as our first choice goalkeeper which is again another plus.Hopefully some of our younger signings e.g. Oxo,Myo etc will also get their chance this season not forgetting the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey are now older and more experienced.Some of you may think i'm mad but i honestly thinks are looking good for AFC and i for one are looking forward to the rest of this season
Do you really think Nasri and Fabregas can be replaced by Benayoun and Arteta? The idea that Fabregas didn't try for us last season is a myth in my opinion. He was just injured a lot because the world cup didn't give him a rest.
