Arsenal Thread

meh I wish I was there tonight! We dominated and they couldn`t get it out of their own 35 yard side half. WOW Sagna left footed cross nearly went it :SHOCK: Jack deserve the goal and happy we went through the next round :APPLAUD:

MOTM coq for me :SMUG:
 
Although Giroud didn't score and missed some chances, his overall play demands he starts up front. His holding up of the ball and bringing players into play is key and with Walcott coming in from the right it is much more effective.

We can use Walcott in the centre against 'lessor' teams and defences, but other than that Giroud has to play in the centre.

Seeing Jack in the more advanced role just makes you think, why play him any where else? he was so good.
 
Cavani would be a great signing, but I guess would cost a lot (which I don't mind) and would he be interested in joining Arsenal?

Zaha I haven't seen a lot of, but if reports are true he has great potential and it sounds like Ferguson is after him as well....plus he supports Arsenal. But I heard he put a twitter post implying he was going to Man United?

There have been other names banded around, so it looks like Arsene is trying to buy people? we will wait and see.
 
Wenger will not spill the beans like this. He rarely does.
The Cavani story was reported with less enthusiasm in other sources I read, implying that Wenger was even dismissive of that particular piece of business.

As for yesterday, I was very happy with the 2nd half performance. Jack was outstanding indeed, with and without the ball.

But as Winston Wolfe would say: "let's not suck each others cocks just yet". There were some worrying signs.
We turned possession over time and again and wasted so many good chances. We should have scored 3 before Wilshere's goal.

And Swansea went for the game playing and letting us play. It was very open, but ultimately we had more quality.
But let's not forget it took us a while to gear up and start dominating. We even had a header against our bar by Kyle Bartley I believe.

There's much work to be done in terms of strengthening this team and we need more attacking power/options and the so much fabled defensive midfielder (by now almost a mystical creature to us Arsenal fans). Flaminis, Gilberto Silvas, Vieiras, Grimandis... we need a guy in that mould. And in doing that we could finally go to a 4-4-2?

Yesterday Cazorla played as a winger, but he had a lot of freedom. With Wilshere being a AMF, and Diaby and Coquelin behind. Is a return to 4-4-2 possible?

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the old fashioned but more solid 4-4-2. Especially for us with this set of players. If we had a proper enforcer, then maybe we could do with a midfield trio. But the way it is right now, I cannot agree.

For now, 4-3-3 it is, it seems. And since Podolski got rested I can see us playing with him, Walcott on the wings and Giroud in the center. At least on paper this is the strongest attacking lineup we have. With Ox as an impact sub option, Gervinho in the annual African Cup of Nations from Africa and Arshavin exiled in Siberia. I still don't know what's the deal with that!

But anyway... I digress. Considering the players we actually use, Giroud needs a sequence up front. I hope to see that, although in the meantime getting a new striker in wouldn't hurt.
 
I don't think anybody is getting too excited about the performance in the second half and we never go a full game without showing our frailties, but apart from the header against the post and 1 save, everything else was convincing. Vorm did very well in goal and we had two cleared of the line and hit the post....so you can have say the finishing could be better but we were also unlucky.

But Swansea looked tired so we need to take that performance with a pinch of salt. If we have a good game against Chelsea and win then we can be a bit more optimistic.

The likely hood though is that we will get beaten and we are back to square one again and further off the pace in the prem.
 
3yr deal ! This is great news for a new core of British players at The Arsenal.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/theo-walcott-signs-new-long-term-contract

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Only 3 years, so in a year and a half we will be going through it all again :ROLL:

Happy its sorted, but not that overwhelmed with it all. He needs to do a lot more to show he is worth it.

Good that we can just concentrate on the Footy now.
 
It puts us in a weak position, he gets paid a shit load and when he finally leaves we won't be able to get top dollar for him because these days if you have a year left on your contract the price goes down.

A 5 year deal would have shown that he is committed to the club and means that we would get the most for him in a couple of years when he leaves (If he leaves). He could still leave in a couple of years if he wants as we all know contracts aren't worth much and if a player wants to leave they find the way to do it anyway.

I don't know, we went all this way, we are paying him a lot of money and he is on a short contract (In this day and age it is short).

This is all for a player that really splits opinion, no doubt he has talent and can score and assist as he has shown this season, but against bigger teams/better defences he goes missing quite a bit and you want your biggest/well paid players to be key and influential in those games.

As I said though politically this is great that he has signed, it would have stirred up a whole load of shit if he left and it means we can just concentrate on the second half of the season. It's also good as hopefully we can get a couple of others coming in this transfer period.

I hope his new contract makes him play well and he can live up to it, but the way this has all gone, I see him not having as much commitment and motivation....I really hope I am wrong and he plays fantastic as he does have the potential to do so.
 
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BobbyBox said:
It puts us in a weak position, he gets paid a shit load and when he finally leaves we won't be able to get top dollar for him because these days if you have a year left on your contract the price goes down.

A 5 year deal would have shown that he is committed to the club and means that we would get the most for him in a couple of years when he leaves (If he leaves). He could still leave in a couple of years if he wants as we all know contracts aren't worth much and if a player wants to leave they find the way to do it anyway.

I don't know, we went all this way, we are paying him a lot of money and he is on a short contract (In this day and age it is short).

This is all for a player that really splits opinion, no doubt he has talent and can score and assist as he has shown this season, but against bigger teams/better defences he goes missing quite a bit and you want your biggest/well paid players to be key and influential in those games.

As I said though politically this is great that he has signed, it would have stirred up a whole load of shit if he left and it means we can just concentrate on the second half of the season. It's also good as hopefully we can get a couple of others coming in this transfer period.

I hope his new contract makes him play well and he can live up to it, but the way this has all gone, I see him not having as much commitment and motivation....I really hope I am wrong and he plays fantastic as he does have the potential to do so.
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Not the post I expected from you, lets remember Arsenal has a reputation like Chelsea does with their managers. The most important thing is the squad and I would like to think Jack,OX and Gibbs feel value that Theo stayed. At this time, when the means is vital at this juncture in time. While the ends (profit) needs to be executed in a delicate manner.

I think Wenger is talking rubbish about names he would like to bring. No intention in bringing top level players . I think he`s happy w/ what he has at his disposal. Theo is the top paid player but Wenger is still the highest paid employee ;)
 
I think it is great we have signed up the British lads and it is good that Theo stayed with them, I just don't like the way it all played out etc

I think Wenger is looking for players, but it is another thing if he is successful in bringing them in and willing to pay the money. I think he does want better players and he would live to win, I don't think he likes the things everybody is saying about him.

He could do a liverpool and spunk lots of money on mediocre players just to appease the fans or he can do as he says and get players he really feels would add to the squad. The only thing I have a problem with is that if he finds the players to add value he has to pay the money to get them. The squad needs to be strengthened and he knows this, if he doesn't buy anybody and we continue not to do well he will have to go.
 
I agree with Bobby on Walcott. You have had this endless saga towards a new contract and the one he signs is only for 3 years. That means Arsenal are worryless for maximum this season and next season, then it all starts all over again... After what happened one would have expected a 5 year contract.

But it is always the same with players. The best example is Anderlecht's Lucas Biglia. He is their captain and when they rennewed his contract there was a clausule that said he could only be bought (before the end of his contract) for 8 million euro. Suddenly this example of a player starts behaving weird and a litle bit more egoïstically. There is intrest from both Fiorentina and Milan (and Arsenal is mentioned quite often too). But both Italian clubs arguably rightly think 8 million euro is too much for an unproven player in big leagues.
Biglia goes to Argentina for Christmas and turn out to be AWOL for the winter camp in Turkey after his holiday. According to his manager he his sick from the stress...and the manager said the contract was signed before the financial crisis and that 8 million is too much as a buy-out considering the economic circumstances surrounding football (but if you take this in account, then Biglia earns too much aswell...).
So an ideal team player and a player seen as an icon and adored by the fans suddenly becomes a dificult person because his manager wants to earn big money...of course what Biglia is doing is not very intelligent and this for a very sensible guy...
 
Well, when players n their agents put ideas in their head. We see them go through the emotions It`s normal,why 3 yrs? I can only assume it wasn`t 100k as the media says ,but more like 90k and in 2 yrs time he wants the 100k. It`s all guessing atm its funny how we talk about 100k but look at Chelsea, MCity and Mutd their players are on 185-220k not sure if any on them are worth that much either.
 
Only Rooney and RVP are on 180k at United, the latter is definitely worth that and Rooney with his profile could easily get more somewhere else.
 
Man city ad Chelsea you can't try to emulate otherwise we will go bust. Man united win stuff all if the time so if their players want more most of the time they pretty much deserve it (not that anybody deserves that amount of money) and only a couple of players are on silly silly money.

But Walcott is definitely not the best player in our team and he is paid the most now and he really doesn't deserve it. It is only because we have gone through what we have this last couple of seasons that he is able to get that amount.

We were going to pay Van Persie lots of money and nobody would have complained about him getting that, but with Walcott and the length of the contract it just doesn't sit well wih me. He better play well that is all.
 
Maybe Messi is worth 170k a week! :P

The thing with Theo... firstly let me just say I'm happy this soap opera finally ended.

As for the duration of the contract, there are two ways of viewing it:

a) a compromise has been reached, whereas Theo wants more money and sees himself earning £100k+ a week and could even be open to a move to City where he would be on around £150k I'll wager... so this way he gets a significant pay rise at Arsenal but at the same time doesn't tie himself in such a long term.

b) Arsenal doesn't want to keep him for 5 years. In fact, I have a feeling the club only renewed his contract to retain his value in the transfer market. Let's not forget he was about to go on a free. So putting it this way, it was very clever to give him a £100k a week to tie him to us for the foreseeable future. But I wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal jump at the opportunity of selling him for a £20m+ in 2014.
Remember we paid around 16 million when he was a teenager at Southampton. The club is protecting its investment and this is clearly a case of avoiding a loss IMO.

For what he's been playing, he's not worth all that money nor the hassle. But I'm on board with renewing him on those terms. Just wait 1 year or so and don't be surprised if we sell him.

As for Walcott's performances, now they will be under the magnifying glass more than ever. I think it was Gary Neville that wrote an article saying that Walcott starts almost a new career from now on. I think he was spot on by saying that.
It's time to see whether Theo can back his demands.
 
I have a feeling he won't be able to back his demands and fall short. And then people will blame Wenger for giving him that 100k contract. But I'm sure if Wenger didn't renew the contract then people would have made a huge fuss about Wenger 'not being able to hold on to his best players' and how 'the players want to leave so they can win silverware and fulfill their ambitions.' So he gets the stick eitherways...Poor guy...

Again, just look at this transfer window. Everyone is makig a huge ordeal about Wenger not signing anyone. As far as I see there haven't been that many signigs made by anyone but especially Wenger is thrown overwhelming criticism. I know we may need the signings more than some other teams, but who should we have gotten? Sturridge? Joe Cole?

I don't think this squad is good enough. I'm in favor of 2-3 signings. Also, I dont think Wenger is mistake-free, I think he has made same poor decisions here and there. I know everything is not picture perfect. But I feel the fans and media especially like to make large headlines about Arsenal's situations, which usually are much better than all but 2-3 clubs in the league.
 
I don't think Wenger can be blamed if Walcott doesn't do well from now on. Most fans were calling on him to sign and were criticising Wenger/Arsenal for not doing it sooner.

If he went for a free, Wengers/Arsenals head would have been on the chopping block, which is why I think keeping him was more politically motivated. This is why what Rentboy has said makes sense, we can see how he does over the next year and his commitment and sell him for good money if it doesn't work out and replace him with somebody better that we do not have to rush to buy.

Keeping Walcott was a statement to try and stop the feeling that Arsenal are selling all of their best players, it helps players like Jack know that Arsenal are trying to keep the better players and progress.

Anyway, I really hope Walcott lives up to his new contract, he could be a great player for us, but first he needs to realise he is not suited to play centrally in every game and also realise he is not the best player at Arsenal, he needs to stay humble and just get on with improving his game and giving 100% to Arsenal.
 
first was a foul but the 2nd was definitely a penalty, Arsenal getting convincingly outplayed at the minute, with the influx of 'Midgets with Tekkers' at the top teams in England it seems the one area Arsenal were superior to there rivals has gone.
 
It wasn't a penalty, Ramires bottled the finish and tried to get past Szczesny. He saw Szczesny moving and dangled his left leg.
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Well another depressing day, this month is turning out just as I expected which is shit.

They need to show some fight and heart in the next half.
 
Hope I can get a gif quickly of the side angle of the Ramires dive. They just showed it on Sky and it was a clear dive.
 
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