With Wenger declaring today that we are more likely to keep Cesc and Nasri he does need to be held accountable by the fans if either leave!! "Cesc loves the club and hopefully we will manage" "Will he be at the club next season? I say yes. The second part (of the question) - will he sign a new contract? I hope yes, but I am not the only one to decide." We've been feed so much bu**sh@t from Wenger over recent seasons about reinforcements and the direction the club is going in...even his post match comments seem like he was watching a completley different match blaming everything but our obvious short comings. The relationship between the coach and fans is a hugely important one and we realize sometimes a manager won't reveal all the facts for the sake of the club (i.e. interest in a player will only drive up the price or admitting a player wants out will lower the fee we recieved, etc..) but how many really "trust" the manager now? I'd respect Wenger more if he made no comment on the transfers out of the club than give us false hope. And with other tansfers seemingly slipping through our fingers he needs to produce an awful lot with only 1 month left until the start of the season!
Transfers are only slipping through our fingers if you believe he gossip columns that we were after certain players in the first place
I have learn't not to believe a thing that is written in the press unless it's confirmed by either the manager or the player himself. Speculation is just that and for very good reason because no one knows whats gonna happen until it happens.
The press has little or no knowledge when it comes to Arsenal transfers. All they do is play on the fears and fustrations of the average Arsenal fan. Wenger did make a statement last year about reinforcements, but it was a very weak one. I do not expect anything major apart from a couple of average players coming in (Gervinho). He will continue with his project and wheel out the usual excuses when we don't win anything. However i really hope we do win something! I will be very annoyed if he doesn't use all the money from Fabs and Nasri, should the sales go ahead. That money should IMMEDIATELY be ploughed into the squad and not line the pockets of shareholders!!!
Agreed on the dangers of speculation by the press. They certainly make out as though they have an insight. If Arsene does not use the available funds to ensure that the team is at full strength and instead continues to rely entirely on 1) members of the current squad or source only from the discount market 2) his plan A 3) an absence of an alternative when plan A does not work 4) does not institute an effective defensive strategy then we'll find at season's end that the exodus will be even more marked and his days will be numbered. I don't think this team can endure another season as the one we've just had.
The Trust is wearing very thin. It's not the press speculation about transfers that worries me, but Wengers history on player sales and aquisitions. It has to be realised that he does very little to keep good players from leaving (Henry, Toure, Flamini et al) and also he is traditionly extremely reluctant to buy the players needed. No one i know is advocating spending a fortune on big name players but he never seems to try very hard to get any thing but youngsters.
"Cesc will be here next season" Translation: Barca won't pay the price, so we're keeping him, your move Barca Nasri will most likely go to the wire. Wenger will try to convince him with his transfer activity to sign a new contract. If he can't, and he won't sign, he'll be sold in the last week of the window IMO. Part of the problem is the dross needs to be moved before players can be brought in - wage bill space is needed. Several players have been released, that's freed up some which Gervinho has taken. If Bendtner & Almunia go, there's 130k immediately. If Denilson can be shifted, there's another 50k and a couple of decent players can be purchased. It's not just the initial fees, it's the wages etc. on top of that that have to balance.
I'm in agreement with Mr Turfnell T on this. I think Wenger has enjoyed a free hand for too long. It seems he almost has no one to answer to..... especially when things go wrong as they did last year. Our downfall was the departure of David Dein. I have said good things about Arsene Wenger before and with good reason, since he has done much for Arsenal. However as you say, this youth policy is getting us nowhere. It has to be a mixture of youth and experience. When is this 110K a week man going to realise that?
Well friend, one could say that it's the manager who picked them in the first place. I'm happy to start the 2011/2012 season on a clean slate but if we go back to the ways of yesteryear and place all our reliance on youth then I fear we may not be in line to win anything. The final two months of the past season has been woeful and it seems that the manager was powerless to do anything or indeed influence his players. Never have I seen an Arsenal manager so helpless as Arsene Wenger in the final furlong of last season. It may not always be his fault but he has to be aware of those occasions when it is.
The papers are full of guff and bluster. They'll invent a story about us chasing a player one week, then that we've missed out on him the next, only for the truth to be that we had no interest in him anyway. It's close season, there's no football, so the rags have to invent stories to sell their products. If you actually look at the quotes from players and ignore the speculation you'll find that Fabregas has said 'I'm very happy at Arsenal, anything else would be speculation' and 'I'm looking forward to winning an important trophy with this team' and Nasri has said 'I will sort out my contract in the summer, don't believe everything you read in the newspapers and the speculation' Pretty straight forward stuff in my opinion.
