After a truly embarrassing collapse at the end of the season and the need to (i) sort out the future of Nasri & Cesc (ii) Offload Bendtner, Almunia, Eboue & Co (iii) Reinforce the squad...mainly a strong centre back So with 8 days to the start of what looks a very tough start to the season where are we... *No clue what's happening with Cesc and Nasri *Bendtner, Almunia, Eboue are all still here and Denilson only went out on loan *NO Centre back...only 1 signing in position we have tons of players How does a manager that a underachieving season, being paid one of the highest wages in world football get away with it? For those he keep defending how long do we wait? Some were defending saying we need to wait until July 1st for the International Window to open...now at August 4th we don't seem any closer I hope I am proven wrong and by the beginning of the season all is well with the squad but right now I'm very pessimistic and fear the long term effect to our club
I couldn't agree with you more! I'm not too hopeful for this season and hope to be proved wrong. If we start the season w/ what we have now, I just don't see how we'll finish fourth or better.
Im a Wenger support and love what he's done for the club, but he seems to not be proactive enough. A worrying start to the season......
ii) Not sure why offloading Bendtner and Eboue is a priority. Bendtner is the second best striker at the club, far more effective than Chamakh or Vela. Eboue is a great squad player, a very able back up for Sagna and willing to help the team by playing out of position when needed. I would prefer for both to part of the squad this season. iii) Yes its frustrating, but look around. Spurs have signed no-one (barring an OAP keeper!), Chelsea have signed a couple of youngsters, Everton have signed no-one, Villa have just replaced their keeper but lost their best players, even Man utd have only replaced players leaving (van der Sar-de Gea, O'Shea-Jones, Scholes-Young, very questionable if they have improved...). etc etc.
Spurs were worse than us last year so who cares what they do? They've spent way more than us over the years so maybe its finally caught up with them Villa are crap, they almost got relegated so of course players are going to leave I only care about us!! Man Utd, Chelsea and Man City all finished above us so there was more concern for us to strengthen to close the gap on them. You can't honestly think Man Utd have "only replaced players leaving"? Young wasn't a direct replacement for Scholes they might still get Sneijder, Jones is MUCH better than O'shea/Brown I just can't see how any of us can be happy with the state of our squad (in particualr) defence....who cares about others, if we enter this season with the same centre backs (including a returning Vermaelen) we'll get the same results
The point is, apart from those spending over the odds, nothing is happening in the transfer market. Closer to the end of the window teams will start becoming more active. You may not care about other teams, but they have a direct influence on our transfer window activity. Jones much better than O'Shea?? You obviously missed how important O'Shea has been over the years for United. MUCH better? You're having a laugh.
IMO Jones had a much more impressive season in a weak Blackburn team then O'Shea did in a Championship wining team, O'shea has been successful 'over the years' but Jones is only 19 so I'm judging him on now, the present, and I believe it will have strengthened United...who would you rather have in your side? I understand your point but the pressure is on us to strengthen, if Chelsea only sign a couple of youngsters and we don't really sign anyone we haven't got any closer to them. If teams are all waiting to the end of the transfer window then surely our competition will also be stronger, we need to do more than they do Recent history has shown that our tactic of waiting till the last minute to drive the price down does not work (Samba, Schwarzer, Xabi Alonso)
It is certainly the worst pre-season of Arsene's tenure at Arsenal but I don't think it is all his fault. The way things are done by the management I wouldn't be surprised if signatures for new players are not penned at the last minute. Part of Mr Gazidis's sustainable business approach I dare say. It's frustrating indeed even nerve-wrecking for the fan and much fodder for these pages and elsewhere on the net. I'm sure Arsene would have wanted to make the signings he needs by now so I believe Ivan Gazidis it is who has to shoulder a great proportion of the blame here. Like you I hope we have much more to cheer about this time next week but it is cutting it awfully fine.
