Hull fan in peace. I was just wondering how you Gooners feel on the current situation(s) at the Emirates at the moment, long term and short. As much as I like Arsenal and love to watch them play it's not quite the same as supporting them, so would like to hear it from a true fans perspective. Personally, what with Ronaldo going to Madrid for £80m a few years ago, I was expecting Arsenal to hold out for £50m-£60m for Fabregas. He's reportedly leaving for £35m, do you think you could find a good enough and young enough replacement for that amount? Or are you content with someone like Aaron Ramsey taking over the role and hoping he can rise to the challenge? When it comes to Nasri leaving, I'd bite Man City's hands off for £23m, considering he's in the last year of his contract and plans to leave regardless. Like Chamakh suggested, I reckon Gourcuff would be a quality replacement. And finally, what are your feelings towards Wenger these days? I know he's been around for a long time, but is it time to go? You haven't won anything since Vieira captained the side in 2005 and unless you bring some big names in this year I'd say it's not looking promising, if and probably when you lose Fabregas and Nasri. I personally think he's relied on young players coming good too much. Granted it worked for Fabregas, but Denilson has been supposedly 'coming good next season' for a few years and has now ended up shipped out on loan. Hoping to be better received on this board than Hull fans are usually received on Premier League threads, so if you fancy replying to me with 'you're a Hull fan, you clearly know nothing about football' then please don't bother. Cheers Gooners
Welcome to The Arsenal Board Mr Dream I'm sure you'l find a warm welcome here I think 50 to 60 mil would have been a little high to ask for Cesc. Perhaps in a couple of years time when he would be even more polished that might have been a good for sale tag to hang around him. At today's level of performance 40mil was a reasonable price though I'm not surprised that Barca sought to reduce even that. While it would be a tall order to replace him on a like for like basis, I'm sure there are players out there who would fit in very nicely at The Emirates. Thiago Alcantara for one if he was available. I think Eden Hazard would be a good buy or Juan Mata. Whether Arsenal go for either remains to be seen. Arsene keeps these things very close to his chest these days. While I can understand that 180K a week would be difficult to turn down, I definitely do not think Nasri is worth that much, certainly not on the basis of his performance last year which was only good for the first half of the season. Thereafter he simply faded away so if he were to claim that the team lacked ambition, then he did nothing to help change this. I too would take 23mil for him and help him pack his bags myself!!! Don't know Gourcuff but I have read that he would be a good person to have. Now we come to Arsene, the architect of our rise and hopefully not the engineer of our fall either!! Arsene revived my own interest in football. Back when he started I was working strange hours and missed much of the football at weekends. He was such a breath of fresh air and more. The titles and trophies flowed and it was such an exciting time. We had exceptional players too. Then Arsene had a brilliant idea about instituting a youth policy. It seems to make sense but there were deficiencies in our style of play. Under pressure the young players found it difficult to cope, especially when the play became physical. We played with flair and the goals came by the bucketful but these would similarly dry up when the opposition defended closely and especially when they parked a bus in front of goal. Back in the year of the Invincibles, Arsenal would wrap up a game within the first thirty minutes of the start. Over the last year or so this became a rarity. Holding onto leads too have become more difficult. There was clearly a lack of a defensive strategy and not only that, the players sourced were generally smaller in stature. Perhaps Arsene believes that height does slow a player down but as the years drifted by without silverware and for the club to get ahead only to be pecked back come February/March, one had to wonder how and when this exciting initiative would be complete. Then came the meltdown last year when we managed only two victories in I think the final 15 games. Had the defence been tighter we would have chased United all the way. Instead we fell to fourth, behind richly-spending City. The close season friendlies have all but served to make fans aware that there are gaps in our play. At the start of the transfer window the management gave assurances that the problems of yesteryear had been identified and that the club would be very active in the transfer market. Sadly this has not come to be. Well at least not yet and we go into the first match of the season unsure that our defensive weaknesses have been resolved. It is probably the most difficult start to the year that we as fans perceive. However we won't know until the whistle blows on Saturday evening. Wish you well for the season
