Arsenal Thread

Rentboy said:
Sagna's departure on a free was something waiting to happen. Inter Milan were trying to sign him, but their president said 'Sagna wants to stay in England'.

So what does that mean? He's probably not staying with Arsenal. Normally my bet would be Man Utd, because they need a RB, since Rafael has been so rubbish. But then again, no Europe for him next season if he goes there.

City, Chelsea, Liverpool? I really don't see it, but it is bound to happen.

If this is the case, the saga continues... Arsenal selling their best players to domestic rivals. In this case, not even selling.

How Wenger gets talked into letting a player go into his final year without renewal? If he's concerned with finances and squad stability he should have placed Sagna on the Transfer List and started blooding in young Carl Jenkinson.
That's ruthless and sounds crazy given Sagna's performances, but this would be the only way to retain some control over such assets.

Sagna came in 2007 for a very small fee and turned into one of the finest fullbacks in the world, and we're letting him go on a free.
What's next, they will let Özil run down his contract in 4 years time too?
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Totally agree!!
 
BobbyBox said:
Im sure we want him and we have been trying to sign hkm up in a new contract for a very long time, if he wants a new challenge and a final bumper pay check before he retires the. There isnt much more we can do, unless we offer him 100,000 a week for the next 3 years and i can understand why Arsenal wouldnt want to do that.

In this case indont think you can be pissed with Arsenal, as i said from what i have heard he wants a new challenge and Arsenal have been trying to renew his contract for the last couple of seasons.
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I didn't mean Arsenal could have made his mind up, and it's not as if Arsenal doesn't want him.

What I meant is that Arsenal could have dealt with it differently. When the player turns down a renewal offer in his penultimate season with Arsenal, the manager should have said 'blimey Bac, we have an impasse now, don't we? I'm gonna have to put you on the transfer list now and I'm taking you out of the first team, because your plan your future elsewhere, don't you?'
And maybe there and then, buy another Right Back as soon as it became clear that he wouldn't be renewing, giving us a chance to offload him before this season started.

You have to remember the club has some bargaining power too, it's not only the player. But the way things are going, the players are having it their way with Arsenal.
If he chose to see out his contract, he could potentially face one full season sitting on the bench during a World Cup year. So Arsenal could have a strong hand in this matter and settle his transfer one year earlier on our terms: with a transfer fee and preferrably to a team out of England.

It's very similar to what happened with Van Persie - except he was our star striker, and much more high profile than Sagna, therefore difficult to justify leaving him training with the reserves in case he didn't want to leave.

In the end, I'm highly suspicious Wenger just doesn't want to get in the way of his players, maybe because he likes those guys. Yeah, Wenger seems like a really nice fella.

But this is not always nice to the club. Take a look at how some other managers do everything in their power to prevent their players from coming to Arsenal. We offered 40m good money on Suarez (which indeed activated his release clause) but the Liverpool chairman said 'contracts don't mean a lot these days'. See if Mourinho cares about Demba Ba sitting the whole season on the bench, instead of playing for Arsenal?

What I suggest here is ruthless, I know. But think about it, it would be the right way to protect you assets. If you foresee that a player departure is inevitable, you have to do it. Nothing personal, just business.
Wenger is losing the arm-wrestling with his players who want out and turns out they go out where they please.

I won't hold it against Sagna, especially because he's a discreet fella and I think he will do things in a respectable manner. But the problem is there, no doubt. Food for thought...
 
So when everybody is going crazy about us selling our best players, you think it would have been good to sell another one of our best players at that time? do you remember the shit storms at the time?

You make it sound easy that we would have got a player as good as him as well? for the same money we would have sold him for?

For one I thing he is great, but at that time, the time you suggest we should have sold him he wasn't playing well and everybody was saying how shit he is (Typical Arsenal fans) so we would have got less money for him. Plus we wouldn't have got much, because he only had a year or so left on his contract and he isn't seen around the world as a star right back.

He is solid and dependable and has been great for us, but we wouldn't have got a great deal of money for him, to find a replacement would have been tough.

I think Wenger kept him because he is a great player for us in the hope he would sign up again.

It hasn't worked out that way unfortunately.

I don't think it is because Arsene is too nice etc etc he wanted to keep one of his best players in the hope he would sign up again and not sell him for a pittance that I think we would have got.

I wish Sagna luck, but I blame neither him nor Arsenal for the current situation, it just happened this way, that is it.

he served us well and us him, good luck to him.
 
Arsenal-formation-tactics.png


Ox__.__Arteta vs Toure__.__Fernandinho
I think OX brings speed and possibly tire out the opponent. That`s it :FAIL: Arteta is there for penalty kicks :FAIL: Toure has free reigns and Fernandinho will do the Ramires job! :COAT:

Manchester-City-formation-tactics.png


Sagna might play for the shop window to either get what he wants or let others know how valuable his market trades.:SMUG: I won`t predict nothing ,but a draw will be massive :COAT:

Ppl say Everton can catch up(4th) and Wenger said that means Arsenal can catch up too (1st) :LOL:
 
Since he's non existent defensively, if Podolski plays on the left I think we can overload down our right with Navas/Milner, Zaba, Silva and Yaya, and cause Gibbs and Vermaelon hell.
 
Don't get me wrong, Sagna has served Arsenal very well. Last season he even filled in at Centre Back and did quite well there too. I don't think it was justified to say he was shit last season, he played quite well IMO - with the exception of that fuck up against RvP in the Emirates match.

But all I'm saying is that the club should be a bit more ruthless with players. I know I make it sound easy, but something should be done there. It was a case of better selling him for some 6 million pounds one season earlier than for free one season later.
There is the issue of Arsenal getting a lot of flak for selling the best players, but the criticism was stronger due to not replacing those players.
Now the situation is different, if the club can shell out 40m on the likes of Özil.

Well, moving on to the next match. I don't like what I see in the lineup posted by bebo... Why play Ox and Arteta together in midfield? Again?
We saw the disaster it was against Chelsea. So I hope Wenger rectifies that.

Not to mention it is a massive waste to play the Ox almost as a DMF. I'd like to see Flamini or Källström there, because Arteta isn't exactly a physical player, he needs support from a more defense oriented midfielder.

And Ox should be played as a right winger no doubt. Looking at City's left side, with Kolarov and De Michelis. I think that's the key to cause damage. Play a fast guy like Ox there and he can cause havoc in that side of their defense.
 
I think Flam and Rosicky have to start to break up play as much as possible and to hassle Man City.

I would actually like to see Pod start and to be in Man City faces also.

We need to be tough and work tirelessly out there.

The key is defense, if Man City are on form they will just go through us.

But we will see, hopefully they can pick it up from the last couple of games.
 
Why can't we play like we did in the second half all of the time?

good result, need one against Everton now and hopefully we will at least have 4th spot.
 
What happened after Mertesacker nearly scored an own goal? Didn't show it on SKY because of the replay. I presume he gave a goalkick because you went up the other end and scored.

Rosicky should have been sent off twice ffs.
 
Its not that sad of a statement, i think most fans realised that our run at the top wasnt going to last much longer going into February and March.

We hopefully will be 4th not that far off first place and fingers crossed with an FA Cup (ive jinxed it now :PP). If that all happens, then it has been progress from last season and we can strengthen in the summer.

The only thing we could have done i think is to buy a world class striker, but there wasnt that many going around in Jan unfortunately.

Its all too early to say really, just happy for the result tonight and we didnt get bummed, which was nice :DD
 
Draws a good result although their gol was a lucky bounce . I thought podi was going to bury that ball in. So, Flamini a zero in mid week to become a hero at the of the week lol
 
that was a decent comeback, at half time it didn't look like you would of had a chance to get anything from this game but ye flamini is a massive fucking hero now aint he?, bit dissatisfied though with rosicky sometimes tbh..
 
Rosicky had plenty of fight in him, what a player! He got lucky with a challenge here or there when he already was booked. But he's got the right attitude. Him and Flamini.
TBH, Flamini had nothing to answer for. That own goal against Swansea was totally down to bad luck - the ball bounced off him from a very short distance.

Still he played this game like it was a world cup final. Amazing display!

City started much better the match and had a couple of counters that were reminiscent of the Chelsea match and I was hurling abuse at the TV because of that same old naivity! Why go all guns blazing within the first 15 minutes and offer so many counters??
City eventually got their goal but we were able to stabilize things. In the second half we were the best team and could have come away with the victory.

I thought that Podolski shot that came off Hart's leg was going in, I was alerady celebrating that! :LOL:

Anyway, we were buried after the Chelsea and Swansea matches, but after Chelsea lost to Palace, it gave us a lift - indeed if we prevented City from picking up points and grabbed all 3 points ourselves, we would have been back in the race big time. But with a draw, nah... not gonna happen for us. We have to concentrate in the FA.

But the players certainly responded on the pitch. After beating Man United at Old Trafford, City nearly lost the match at the N5 and that's the kind of attitude we want to see from our guys.
I wonder what that ginger twat Paul Scholes has to say about Arsenal after this performance against the team that put his Man Utd in their place.
 
Rentboy said:
I wonder what that ginger twat Paul Scholes has to say about Arsenal after this performance against the team that put his Man Utd in their place.
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I'd imagine he'd refer you to his 11 premier league medals, and 2 champions league titles, and the fact he's probably achieved more for a club in his home country than any other Englishman in the past 20 years. Oh and that he came out of retirement and still won a league medal.

So aside from being a serial winner second perhaps only to Ryan Giggs in this country, I'd imagine if you're going to listen to anyone about winning things, he'd probably be the person to listen to.

If you think anything Scholes said about this Arsenal team is wrong, please debate the points he made. Because every single thing he said for me is spot on - and accepting that as a team would make Arsenal a lot stronger.

Aspiring to 4th place is not good enough. No trophies in 9 years is not good enough. Having a strategy that can be undone in a single counter-attack - and then not changing that strategy for 9 years is not good enough. He's not wrong you know, even if you don't like to hear it.

Oh and Jack Wilshere hasn't progressed since he was 17.

Harsh truths are what both Arsenal and Manchester United need if they're going to get back to the top level in England.
 
Im also not sure though, i think his statements were over exagerated like so many when Arsenal have a couple of bad results.

I dont think we are a million miles away at all, i dont know if it is true but we have spent more weeks at the top of the league than any other team, in our toughest period we basically have a large chunk of our better players injured (which always happens i know).

Depending on who leaves in the summer probably Verm and Sagna, i think we are a top striker and good defender away from challenging very well for the title next season.

Scholes played for arguably the biggest club in the world with probably one if not the greatest managers etc but he is not a manager and that is he point, people not managing pointing out stuff and making it sound so easy to change it and win the league.

Compared to Chelsea and Man City who have unlimited resources we are not doing too bad, liverpool are having a storming league season, but havent had europe or long cup runs to contend with.

We are building up slowly but with the burden of the stadium off our backs and the new deals we have in place he future is brighter.

Seeing Liverpool and now Man United, Everton and Spurs, i know people take the micky, but for me with the limited resources we had available, it shows how difficult it is to stay in that 4th spot and get that Champions league spot for so long.

After these years hopefully we can now spend money and build on the great basis of the team i think we have.

But yes it is frustrating away from home against the big teams, we have to do better, but i am sure we will.
 
beachryan said:
I'd imagine he'd refer you to his 11 premier league medals, and 2 champions league titles, and the fact he's probably achieved more for a club in his home country than any other Englishman in the past 20 years. Oh and that he came out of retirement and still won a league medal.

So aside from being a serial winner second perhaps only to Ryan Giggs in this country, I'd imagine if you're going to listen to anyone about winning things, he'd probably be the person to listen to.

If you think anything Scholes said about this Arsenal team is wrong, please debate the points he made. Because every single thing he said for me is spot on - and accepting that as a team would make Arsenal a lot stronger.

Aspiring to 4th place is not good enough. No trophies in 9 years is not good enough. Having a strategy that can be undone in a single counter-attack - and then not changing that strategy for 9 years is not good enough. He's not wrong you know, even if you don't like to hear it.

Oh and Jack Wilshere hasn't progressed since he was 17.

Harsh truths are what both Arsenal and Manchester United need if they're going to get back to the top level in England.
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His a player not a manager lol
 
Arsenal's home form has never been a problem, 1 loss all season, I'd take a point at the Emirates every season (tho I am disappointed we didn't put the game to bed yesterday). You need your leaders more in tough away games. At home the fans can act as leaders in a way to help you over the line but against good opposition away Arsenal are the same old naive rudderless team full of little fellas running about trying 1-2's they have been for years now. So, yea, I agree with Scholes. There's a reason why most people in football didn't think Arsenal were going to win it. If City, Utd or Chelsea had been in the same position the same people would have been calling them Champions-elect.

I do agree tho that Arsenal are in a good place now to kick on, spend some money and really challenge. It's the least Arsenal fans deserve considering the amount of money Arsenal take from the fansm
 
I think Arsenal were in a hard financial place in a economic world crisis when the stadium was build. Schole can talk his views but never manage s game . Look at Moyes let see what Mutd will build in a FFP world . That club market value will soon trade places w Liverpool now. I'd be interesting see Schole coach and get sack for the thing Wenger didn't do . It's everyone has a opinion !
 
So guys, eventful week, but I'm happy to say that I have finally witnessed a match at the Emirates! :) I went to the Swansea game, it was a brilliant experience being surrounded by Gooners. I was literally next to the barricade separating the home and away end, which only added to the experience exchanging chants with the away fans. Result was a tad disappointing, but it was an amazing experience nontheless. I will post pictures of where I was sat later.
 
Nice one Damjan :)) i really miss going to the Emirates to see them.

Inonly used to go a few times a year, but i miss it alot! :CRY:
 
It was all on very short notice, so I didn't realize it until the match had started. It wasn't planned really, I went to London on a school trip, and bought my ticket on matchday. Pretty cool my teachers let me go. Paid 40 quid.
 
beachryan said:
I'd imagine he'd refer you to his 11 premier league medals, and 2 champions league titles, and the fact he's probably achieved more for a club in his home country than any other Englishman in the past 20 years. Oh and that he came out of retirement and still won a league medal.

So aside from being a serial winner second perhaps only to Ryan Giggs in this country, I'd imagine if you're going to listen to anyone about winning things, he'd probably be the person to listen to.

If you think anything Scholes said about this Arsenal team is wrong, please debate the points he made. Because every single thing he said for me is spot on - and accepting that as a team would make Arsenal a lot stronger.

Aspiring to 4th place is not good enough. No trophies in 9 years is not good enough. Having a strategy that can be undone in a single counter-attack - and then not changing that strategy for 9 years is not good enough. He's not wrong you know, even if you don't like to hear it.

Oh and Jack Wilshere hasn't progressed since he was 17.

Harsh truths are what both Arsenal and Manchester United need if they're going to get back to the top level in England.
Click to expand...

I don't have a problem with a lot of the things said by Scholes. Some of them were painfully true, but no news to me - I had the same opinion on a lot of that.

But I can detect that little bit extra cuntishness of someone who's just trying to twist the knife in, rubbing salt on Arsenal's wounds, when he goes on about Arsenal being a million miles from winning it, among other exaggerations. The dig at Wilshere was ludicrous!

If he can't keep a clear head and steer clear from exaggerations instead of letting his emotions do the talking, he should try something other than being a pundit.

Wenger responded to that, did you see? In his words 'if six points is a million miles then I don't know what 1 point would be'.

As for the leadership thing, although in part true, it's very poor punditry from him. He's just repeating what others are always going on about.
So 'where are the Cazorlas, Rosickys, Ozils on big matches' is what everybody has been saying, but it's not as simple as he suggests.

I wonder what his words about Man Utd would be. Where are the Vidics, Evras, Rooneys, Van Persies and Ferdinands? These guys are defending champions, for crying out loud!
I think Scholes should publicly acknowledge the massive difference Siralix made throughout the years.

If he does it, he probably already looks at his 11 league medals and 2 champions league medals from a very different perspective.

If it wasn't for Ferguson, a guy like Paul Scholes would have probably been just another overrated thuggish midfielder.

The day Scholes turns into a manager, we will hear his opinions more seriously. Until then he can fack right off!
 
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