Arsenal Thread

Clockender said:
One bad game does not make a bad player, Arteta has been brilliant all season. Maybe he needs a rest, he's played virtually every match...
Click to expand...

In all it's simplicity, this is a brillaint post with the obvious reason why Arteta had a lesser match.
IMO there is too much negativity around Arsenal and the players, this negativity is coming from the fans.
Wenger is over-protective towards his players but maybe he does that because he also thinks that there is too much negativity.
Basically Arsenal fans have been spoiled over the years and Wenger has set a standard that he can reach with the current crop of players and within the financial limitations Arsenal currently has.
I still think Arsenal are overachieving considering the money clubs like Chelsea, Man City but also Stoke (yes Stoke) are splashing around... It's weird that nobody attacks Pulis afte all the money he spended on transfers (over the years he bought some cultured players but never uses them: there is the Turkish player who used to be good for Middelsbrough, There is Wilson Palacios and there
are others).

Some fans act as if Arsenal have a divine right to compete for the title. I'm beginning to see some of Jonney's gripes concerning Arsène, but all in all i still think he has done a brilliant job as a manager.
 
Terrible performance from arsenal.

where has our defence gone?

We are playing well below our abilities and this is not good at all.

Question for u all.

Do u think that last season we overachieved/underachieved/achieved what we can?

Same question for this season so far?

IMO we overachieved last season getting into top 4 and finishing 3rd.

this season we are underachieving. We have a better squad then last season minus RVP yet we are playing worse then last season.
 
Last season Arsenal definitely overachieved.
It is hard to judge this season right at the moment because Arsenal have a bad spell (this happens to every team, although Arsenal seem more vulnerable than for example Man United or Chelsea).
I honestly think the game against Spurs comes at the right moment. Spurs were abysmal against a far from impressive Man City. I think Arsenal will beat Spurs and this will be the beginning of a better series of results. If you loose against Spurs, then you are in big trouble.

PS: also don't forget that Fulham are a very good team...
PPS: there is a rumour in the Belgian press that both Chelsea and Arsenal are after Fellaini. Chelsea would be prepared to pay 37 million euro for him. If this is true, then Arsene will never be prepared to pay that. Arsenal could use a player like Fellaini who is immense for Everton...Call me chauvinistic but he must be the best EPL player of the moment...
 
Last edited:
Chelsea needs a poacher not Fellaini... I would love Fellaini at Arsenal. We lack width , I rather a top GK to win us matches not save a few goals n still lose.

Arsenal n Wenger are keen not to spend, they wont pay to even keep a player. We get what we deserve in the end. Arsenal won`t win trophies it`s not priority . Arsenal is waiting for clubs to run out of money or sugar daddies get bore.

We Arsenal fans don`t expect or have a divine right ? gerd, its been like this for a decade ffs! Im getting older each match :RANT:
 
bebo said:
Chelsea needs a poacher not Fellaini... I would love Fellaini at Arsenal. We lack width , I rather a top GK to win us matches not save a few goals n still lose.

Arsenal n Wenger are keen not to spend, they wont pay to even keep a player. We get what we deserve in the end. Arsenal won`t win trophies it`s not priority . Arsenal is waiting for clubs to run out of money or sugar daddies get bore.

We Arsenal fans don`t expect or have a divine right ? gerd, its been like this for a decade ffs! Im getting older each match :RANT:
Click to expand...

Bebo has turned to the Dark side! ;))

It is frustrating though, For me it is frustrating because I feel we have a really good set of players, but something is missing and mistakes just keep being made. It is the same old problem that keeps rearing its head every season.

It sounds like Podolksi and Cazorla haven't been a great influence while I have been away? but Giroud has done quite well. If they can all click, then I believe we will get better and better. The problem is with leaking the goals, it needs to be addressed asap.
 
Cazorla has played some good matches, but not outstanding. But maybe expectations are too high. Having an immediate giant impact might be unrealistic.

Podolski was rather poor lately...but he needs to adapt too...
 
be very interesting to see what would happen if Arsenal miss out on CL this season by finishing 5th/6th

Would board still stick with Wenger? The team have gone so far backwards over last 6-7 years its not even funny

I feel for Arsenal supporter
 
I think we will do nothing if we miss the CL. The board already stipulated last season that missing out on the CL was not the worse case scenario.

And to be honest, with the current team, who have we got to lose if we don't make the CL - not like anyone is going to come and poach our 'world class' players.

Sure there are rumours of Sagna's discontent and also to the fact that Walcott hasn't signed yet. The larger ramifications will be if we try to bring in reinforcements. I sense a strong selling point of the club in the past has been the ability to be in the CL every season.

Whatever happens, something just isn't right. I can't believe Wenger's gambled on Diaby (again) and Rosicky(again). We simply do not have the squad to be able to rotate like-for-like quality.

We're becoming 'also-rans' from 'perennial top-4 also rans' - a sad notion in itself.
 
beachryan said:
Chelsea aren't gonna be anywhere near FFP regardless, and it's just play money anyway. Who cares what the price is? Get him AND Falcao. Now we're talking.
Click to expand...

I think Jonney was talking from an Arsenal point of view :)
Of course Chelsea can buy Fellaini and Falcão, and while they're at it, Neymar too, and if Abramovich digs deep enough for extra pocket change, Soldado and Llorente, why not? :P

Fellaini to Arsenal was a rumour during August. He already had a breakthrough season last season, but this season he has been phenomenal. His price tag has just doubled, I reckon. No way Arsenal can get anywhere near Everton's asking price.

As for Falcão Garcia, you can expect City to break the transfer record for him. Mark my words. The guy is a goal machine and he went to Atletico Madrid for silly money already. He will go for even more.

I spent the summer cursing Wenger and the board for not buying Fellaini, Dembele, Dempsey, Miguel Veloso or any kind of talent whatsoever for midfield.
AW said we had enough cover on midfield, but we started the season with Wilshere and Rosicky injured, with Diaby returning. This is madness!

As Iceman reminds us, Diaby and Rosicky are guys Wenger actually counts on! This is crazy. I mean, they're good players, but they cannot be counted on due to their injury records. Anything from them is a plus, unfortunately.

Anyway, I was angry during the transfer window - despite signing 3 really good players we still let out the door 2 players who were massive for us. It was like taking 2 steps forward and then 2 steps back.
I won't be losing sleep over this, I'll just sit back and watch. Wenger has quite a challenge ahead.
 
Can't see us signing Falcao. Think Chelsea have the higher will to spend big, big money on him(eg. Hazard) and have more need considering they only have Torres and Sturridge.

Can only see 2 plus points for City and those would be 1) the fact we have more south americans and quite a few spanish speaking players (Colombians speak spanish, right?) and 2) Atletico might want Dzeko or (less likely) Mario in part exchange.
 
Last edited:
Agreed that Falcao isn't really needed at City. Mansour has already provided the most expensive quartet of strikers in the world (and arguably the best). To go and add Falcao would be ignoring bigger issues in that squad (could really use some defensive bolstering).

Sadly he'd be a great fit for Chelsea. Sadly from my point of view as, despite how great it will be watch him in the prem, it'll just mean that Chelsea grab City's title by spending another £100m in 12 months.

It appears the league will be decided by which sugar daddy dips deeper...
 
The Tim Stillman Column on Arseblog is really good this week.

TO quote a section on if Wenger should go or not;

"The question also arises around expectation. What can Arsenal fans reasonably demand? You have to apply soccernomics to the conundrum. Given the competitive environment, 3rd place is the most we can reasonably expect. To finish above both Manchester City and Chelsea consistently – even leaving United to one side – would require a managerial miracle. (To that end, it must also be said that finishing lower than 4th would constitute failure. How you apply performance in cup competitions to the formula is a contentious and ultimately subjective equation).

If there’s a managerial miracle worker out there, I’m all for signing him up. I’m just not convinced that, in the long term, a new man would achieve results in excess of the ones we’re experiencing. The journey may be different, but I am still to be convinced that the destination would change. For all the scepticism around Arsenal’s ‘prosperity is just around the corner’ bluster, the environment will alter soon."

To be honest I am getting fed up with the Arsenal situation at the moment, but really does anybody think that getting a new manager in will do much? I'm not so sure. It will have to be one of the best managers and even then nothing is guaranteed.

And to be even more honest I think if we finish out of the top 4 then we will see the end of Wenger, if he is sacked I don't really think that will happen, more of a mutual consent or Wenger thinking he isn't doing the best for the club and leaving.

It's tricky, I really think if we can sort out the defence then we can be much better, but we have been saying this for years now. Maybe Wenger et al are incapable of making us defensively sound? if so it doesn't matter how well we are attacking because any team has the potential to beat us at any moment.

If Wenger leaves, I see us doing a Liverpool for a few years, I am much more confident if we do finish out of the top 4 and Wenger stays, we have more of a chance getting back there again.

But something has to change, hopefully the Spurs game will put a bit more belief in the team and we can go on a good run and get back up there again :))
 
I don't think so, in terms of being competitive your stuck in limbo. Your never going to compete with City and Chelsea and while your willing to sell your best players (even to us!) your not likely to get up to our level either.

So 4th really is and has been the target and anything more is a great achievement, essentially you can only play the waiting game for FFP to step in or wait for your debts to clear and try to improve the clubs marketing profits to get closer to the other three.
 
The only change is a sugar daddy to pay the wages. Having Wenger' as the highest paid on 135k n most of our players on 70k. It won't happen!!! Money is not everything but it keeps player leaving 20k more to reward the player is more than reasonable. Greedy is a cancer! F' off Stan .
 
I still don't get why everybody hates Stan, just because he doesnt throw away half a billion pounds of his money? and is not the most talkative of people?
 
From what I've seen from talking to Arsenal fans it's the chronic lack of investment and more importantly ambition during his tenure at the club. We've all seen how the squad has been whittled down, some very good players like Fabregas, Van Persie, Adebayor, Toure, Song, Clichy, Nasri, Flamini, Henry even going back to Vieira have been sold and not replaced. It's not so much the fact they're sold, as sometimes the financial offer has been too good to resist or there are other reasons for the player going, but more the fact they've never been adequately replaced.

In the last 5 or so years the only ambitious signing they've made has been Arshavin - it's the only time they've signed a player recognised to be of immense talent and also a player at the top of his game when they signed him. Sure there have been some good youth signings, the likes of Wallcott, Ramsey and Chamberlain, but these have been signing prospects and not players who were ready to take the team on immediately. There was a mini-flurry of fairly good signings after the disasterous start to last season (big defeats home to Liverpool and away to Man Utd) but Mertersacker and Arteta, while reasonably good players, are not really stellar footballers.

What doesnt help is that talent has been allowed to leave prematurly because of their age and wages. Would it have killed the club to have given Pires or Gilberto Silva another two years on their contracts when they left the club? Even players like Lauren and Campbell could have made the difference and would have been great backups to have when they left.

A lot of these issues were set in motion before Kroenke came in, but the weakening of the squad and the stagnation of player purchases have really accelerated under his tenure. I can appreciate that the likes of City, Chelsea and the Spanish two can beat Arsenal when it comes to signing players - Mata was probably going to be an Arsenal player before Chelsea stepped in. But there are still a lot of quality players on the market at reasonable (while in footballing terms "reasonable") prices, whom Arsenal should be able to afford given the money they've recouped in transfers over the last few seasons. Falcao wa signed by Atletico last season, there is no reason why Arsenal couldnt afford to go for him given the money they had got in previous seasons. In the last few years Spurs have signed players like Van Der Vaart and Dembele, Milan have signed De Jong, Liverpool have signed Suarez, Kiev signed Veloso, there are some excellent players available for moderate fees, yet Arsenal have just been treading water in the transfer market. I'm not saying they should go out and buy player after player, but their current policy smacks of lack of ambition. I don't see how at least some funds cant be there, the stadium loan is almost totally paid off now, there have been massive in-flows via transfer fees and the club charge the most for tickets in the UK.

And while it might be true to say that finishing 4th is reasonable given the resources of Chelsea and City, it really shouldnt be banded around in public repeatedly as some sort of trophy. It's simply isnt like a trophy - if Arsenal were to finish runners up in the League or the CL that would constitue a reasonable season, but if they finished "runners up" in the battle for 4th place (i.e. 5th) it would be an underachievment and disaster - so equating it to a trophy is, in my opinion dangerous, it more like a minimum standard, like Fulham saying that Premier League survival is a minimum standard. This together with the lack of transfers, hints at some sort of managed decline which Korenke seems to be encouraging or at the very least incapable of halting.

Arsenal are a great team, 5-10 years ago they were one of the top 2-3 clubs in England and easily the biggest club in London. They were signing world class players like Bergkamp, Platt, Overmars, Petit, Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann. They hardly ever seem to sign players like that anymore and they are in danger of slipping into mediocrity.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
From what I've seen from talking to Arsenal fans it's the chronic lack of investment and more importantly ambition during his tenure at the club. We've all seen how the squad has been whittled down, some very good players like Fabregas, Van Persie, Adebayor, Toure, Song, Clichy, Nasri, Flamini, Henry even going back to Vieira have been sold and not replaced. It's not so much the fact they're sold, as sometimes the financial offer has been too good to resist or there are other reasons for the player going, but more the fact they've never been adequately replaced.

In the last 5 or so years the only ambitious signing they've made has been Arshavin - it's the only time they've signed a player recognised to be of immense talent and also a player at the top of his game when they signed him. Sure there have been some good youth signings, the likes of Wallcott, Ramsey and Chamberlain, but these have been signing prospects and not players who were ready to take the team on immediately. There was a mini-flurry of fairly good signings after the disasterous start to last season (big defeats home to Liverpool and away to Man Utd) but Mertersacker and Arteta, while reasonably good players, are not really stellar footballers.

What doesnt help is that talent has been allowed to leave prematurly because of their age and wages. Would it have killed the club to have given Pires or Gilberto Silva another two years on their contracts when they left the club? Even players like Lauren and Campbell could have made the difference and would have been great backups to have when they left.

A lot of these issues were set in motion before Kroenke came in, but the weakening of the squad and the stagnation of player purchases have really accelerated under his tenure. I can appreciate that the likes of City, Chelsea and the Spanish two can beat Arsenal when it comes to signing players - Mata was probably going to be an Arsenal player before Chelsea stepped in. But there are still a lot of quality players on the market at reasonable (while in footballing terms "reasonable") prices, whom Arsenal should be able to afford given the money they've recouped in transfers over the last few seasons. Falcao wa signed by Atletico last season, there is no reason why Arsenal couldnt afford to go for him given the money they had got in previous seasons. In the last few years Spurs have signed players like Van Der Vaart and Dembele, Milan have signed De Jong, Liverpool have signed Suarez, Kiev signed Veloso, there are some excellent players available for moderate fees, yet Arsenal have just been treading water in the transfer market. I'm not saying they should go out and buy player after player, but their current policy smacks of lack of ambition. I don't see how at least some funds cant be there, the stadium loan is almost totally paid off now, there have been massive in-flows via transfer fees and the club charge the most for tickets in the UK.

And while it might be true to say that finishing 4th is reasonable given the resources of Chelsea and City, it really shouldnt be banded around in public repeatedly as some sort of trophy. It's simply isnt like a trophy - if Arsenal were to finish runners up in the League or the CL that would constitue a reasonable season, but if they finished "runners up" in the battle for 4th place (i.e. 5th) it would be an underachievment and disaster - so equating it to a trophy is, in my opinion dangerous, it more like a minimum standard, like Fulham saying that Premier League survival is a minimum standard. This together with the lack of transfers, hints at some sort of managed decline which Korenke seems to be encouraging or at the very least incapable of halting.

Arsenal are a great team, 5-10 years ago they were one of the top 2-3 clubs in England and easily the biggest club in London. They were signing world class players like Bergkamp, Platt, Overmars, Petit, Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann. They hardly ever seem to sign players like that anymore and they are in danger of slipping into mediocrity.
Click to expand...

They have invested all of the money bar a million or so that they have received from selling players, into buying players. I can't be bothered going back through it, but I worked it out and the money they got in through player sales has been spent.

I also did a comparison of what players Arsenal wanted to keep, which is basically most of the top players, but those players wanted to leave and like Walcott run their contracts down so Arsenal have to sell them, if they want to get any money from them to invest.

I think Arteta is a fantastic player and I think we are buying those other players that the stupidly rich teams aren't going for, for the last couple of seasons. Podolski, Merts, Cazorla, Giroud, Gervinho etc.

I think Arsenal are still tarnished with the past and there are a lot of false ideas coming from supporters, like why aren't Arsenal spending the money they are getting from players, when in truth they have. When will Arsenal buy experienced players, they have been for the last two seasons. Why do Arsenal let their best players leave? like they don't won't them?! If the players didn't want to go, then Arsenal would have kept them on most counts.

I agree with the older players thing. We should have kept Gilberto and a few others, that is true.

And I also agree with the treating 4th as a trophy thing. That goes without doubt, but the truth is finishing 4th and getting into the champs league is much better for a club than winning either of the domestic cups, ask Liverpool.

You highlighting how 5th would be a disaster also shows how important getting that 4th spot is. So although not a trophy, it is a great achievement and is extremely important and the fact we nearly always qualify out of the group stages etc (Touch wood).

Anyway, my point is I don't think it is Stans fault at all and I don't necessarily think we should be spending lots more money.

I am hoping that when we renew all of our sponsorship deals in the next year or so and if Financial Fair play actually works, then the whole philosophy Arsenal and Arsene has, will come together and prove everybody wrong.....but that is a big hope.

We are definitely in danger though of slipping into mediocrity, but I don't think it is the lack of investment as I think the players we have can do very well (We showed against City and Chelsea that we can match them). But we are just fragile mentally/defensively, it is our biggest downfall. I can't blame Stan for that at all, I blame Wenger for that, his stubbornness and his failure to shore up our defence.
 
Great game so far, all Spurs until Adebayor got sent off :LOL: then all Arsenal!

Hopefully we don't let it slip like so many other games.
 
I feel like crying...stupid Adebayor.
Good first and third goal by Arsenal.

And now it will become a burden to watch the second half....5 or 6 - 1 is my guess.

Huddlestone is just not good enough...
 
Still bad defending by us, it's never over with us, even if we were 5-0 up I wouldn't be happy until we got into the last 5 mins or so.
 
Still some worrying signs, we were getting dominated by Spurs until the sending off.

But they did really well after and you can't complain too much, a 5-2 win against Spurs is great whatever way you look at it.

Missed the 5th goal had to run into a bunker because of a silly rocket! and my stream has gone all funny, who scored the last one?

Walcott is looking more and more influential for us and he is more or less leaving! just our luck.

Anyway great result, hopefully it kicks starts our season.

EDIT: ah Walcott scored as well...
 
Call me biased, but imo the 5-2 doesn't reflect the real difference between both teams. Last season Arsenal were much stronger against 11 Spurs players, today against 10, i'm not sure.

Of course Arsenal deserved the win and all what counts are the 3 points: congratulations Arsenal. Somehow i did enjoy Cazorla...great player.

About AVB: i see a pattern. His teams concede leads in big matches. Chelsea last season quite frequently and now Spurs (against Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal). Is this a coïncidence (today Adebayor's stupid red card didn't help, what a cunt...). Oh and Spurs miss their best player: Moussa Dembele.
 
Of course, Spurs were a different animal with 11 men. It was plain to see, but the sending off rattled them and Arsenal took advantage.

Spurs picked it up again after half time, but Arsenal were soon in control and had quite a few dangerous chances.

But Arsenal looked vulnerable at the back as always, the good things we can take from this is confidence and hopefully a kick up the arse going on in the season. But it means nothing if we lose our next game.

5 different scorers is another great sign though that we are not relying on just one player and other players are taking reponsibility for goals. For this I think we are stronger than last season.....if only we were better defensively.
 
AVB said:
"were in control from the first minute to the last minute".
Click to expand...

:LOL: You gotta love this bloke! epic response makes 'I didn`t see it ', child`s play.

I love how after the match Wenger was looking for AVB handshake, He was too busy being a host shaking everyone else`s hands on the pitch , Arsenal players included :SNACK:

....on MOTD Harry said "Tottenham will finish above Arsenal, then looked at Kompany and he said "Arsenal were the hardest team to play so far." Kompany doesn`t share Harry`s views. :BLEH:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom