How can anyone think that arteta played the DM position better this season than song? We have looked so lightweight in the middle this season on several occasions, arteta takes too long on the ball at times and can be extremely static at times. We definitely need to bring someone in for that position next season because you could see especially in the champs league that arteta was well out of his depth. It's almost as if people have forgot just how good song was there, you put him in that midfield now with wilshere and cazorla and we have one of the best midfield trio's in the league. The amount of times he broke up attacks went completely unnoticed and his distribution with the ball was brilliant. Too many times this season i've seen arteta dive in and miss the ball or get out-muscled by opponents.
Not a surprise to me: Wenger is an excellent manager who really gets the best out of his players and generally selects those who fit his system. They are bound to look worse elsewhere. RVP is probably the exception - good enough to look good anywhere.
I think it is a myth about ex-Arsenal players not doing well once they leave us to ply their trade elsewhere.... If Arsenal fans want to believe that garbage then fair enough. I know they will peddle names like Hleb, Petit etc etc. They will conveniently forget the likes of Ashley Cole who has probably won everything winnable, Henry, even Fabregas. I think we never effectively replaced Song, and we are the poorer without him. I know fans are quick to poke fun at him, because he is not getting enough game time at Barcelona, even our poster boy (Fabregas) sometimes struggles to get into the starting 11, it shows the quality they have in their team! I believe players should always aspire to ply their trade at a higher level. We are now a Tier2/3 team (both in Europe and Domestically), and if a Tier1 team comes calling why not! I am sure the lads who left us in the past few seasons would have noticed the manner in which we (myself included) celebrated coming 4th! I don't delude myself that we are equipped to challenge for major honours, coming 4th is now the target, shame we cannot get a small trophy for that! At least this is first time in a long while, when we do not have to worry about which talent is likely to leave.....
Don't agree with this at all. Ashley Cole is probably the only player who has gone on to do better away from Arsenal, and it's no coincidence that his success was supported by a massive cash influx at chelsea. As for Henry really ? Barca may have won the CL, but how much of an influence did Henry have there ? Barca obviously had very little affection with him as he left pretty soon after. Fabregas ? Really ? He can't even get in the team, they won la liga but again, with how much influence from him. Same with Nasri at City. As for Song, he went from establishing himself as a regular in our team to a bench warmer at Barca, and was voted one of the worst signings in La liga !
It certainly was remarkable how fast Wenger got rid of him when he got the chance. The speed with which he left, was the equivalent of Wenger biting Barcelona's hand off. It didn't look like we even negotiated. It was like: "We'll give you 15M for Song" "Done, verbal contract is binding, no take backs!"
I know it is difficult to convince you that we are not the force we once were. Playing for the Arsenal meant you were playing at the top of your game, you had the same chance of winning major honours as playing for Manure. We might not be the top payers, but a player can be rest assured we would be giving the major titles a great shot. It pains me to accept (unless there is a massive sea change) that champions league qualification is the most we can hope to achieve. The tension I felt last Sunday was palpable, it felt like we were playing to win the league.... I do not begrudge players like Nasri, RvP, Fabregas, Song who have left us recently to ply their trade elsewhere, they as well as I know they will not be winning anything anytime soon by staying with us. Fair enough they may not be Kings of the hill where they have gone (that is a sad indictement of our club I feel)..... I have worked in the same IT firm for the past 14yrs, I could not leave because it was easy, I knew my way around, everyone knew me I was the go to guy..... I will have to re-establish myself when I do leave, unless I leave for a smaller firm!
That was exactly what it seemed like. I remember saying at the time, why do Barca do these things, we needed him (Song) more than they did. Really they did not need him, he was more crucial to us than he would be to them, but we let him go. From what I read, he only got a 5k increase on what we were paying him.
That's not the point were talking about here though. I'm well aware that not the force we were in 02 or 04. But the players you mentioned were playing regular football at a good level when they were at Arsenal and since they've left they have either become bit part players or bench warmers.
Things change though. Arsenal have never been one of the clubs that won things for decades. For those that started supporting the club 1999-2004 it must have seemed like that, but we have never been like a Manchester United or a Liverpool and dominated the game. I hope that one day we will be in that position, but we were lucky in that 5 year period to have had that particular set of players, but like it has always been, it was just the one team, not a dynasty. You can't describe it as a failure to not go on and dominate the game as a club, when only 2 clubs have ever managed to do that, and as each was financially dominant, during their time at the top.
My point is aspiration, the desire to challenge, the desire to want to win trophies blah blah. I know fans are tribal, and want any player to who leaves their team to fail! I cannot bear to see RvP in an Manure shirt, was quite pleased when he went 11 games without scoring..... Saw a picture of wife in the Daily Mail and got angry at her for not convincing him to stay as she said she would . However when I look at it logically, he left to a team capable of winning things. There is no loyalty anywhere, whether it is in the world of football or otherwise. I sometimes put myself in their position, yes Fabregas, Henry, Nasri et al were guaranteed a place in the starting 11 at the Emirates..... Should that fact stop them from trying to better themselves. Granted sometimes it does not work. I once had an interview with Microsoft in Reading, but felt I would not be important as I am at my current job...... A decision I regret. Sometimes in life we have to take a gamble...... It is not a forgone conclusion Bale will succeed at Real were he to make the switch, he might find himself on the bench like Modric, but if you dont try.....
I no longer see us as not competing for titles as a failure. I think that notion died 5yrs ago. I am happy these days to be bed fellows with our poor cousins from down the road. I am happy to poke fun at them and the highlight is us finishing above them, don't care whether it is us in 9th and them in 10th, as long as we are ahead of them, (hence the reason I celebrated like a lunatic after the final whistle). Look at Everton and Liverpool, they have their own little competition, not who wins anything, but who finishes ahead. All I am trying to say is that, we have to accept there are teams who would offer our players (I mean good players) a BETTER chance of winning silverware. I think it would be criminal if players like RvP (dare I say Bale) ended their careers with nothing to show for it, and yet you have players like Carrick ending up with a cabinet full of medals!
I agree with the sentiment, but I still feel that Fabregas, Nasri and Song would have had better careers overall if they'd stayed at Arsenal.
I think at the time there was talk of a training ground bust up....turning up late or refusing to train at all...something along those lines that pissed Wenger off. My personal view is that the Fabregas transfer saga had scarred Wenger so much that he: a) didn't want another to and fro to start or/and b) was so angry that yet another player wanted to leave....so just told him to **** off The Fabregas thing hurt Wenger more than any other player who left....he was the player that reflected Wenger's philosophy more than all the others who left. A player who literally grew up from a boy into a man under his tutelage.
