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Arsenal Thread

That is what I am thinking at the moment, he might do well at a midtable team. I can't see any huge teams going in for him (Accept Man City who just want anybody it seems). Maybe a foreign team actually, that might be good for him? not sure.

I will probably be made to eat my words, but I can't see it. I think if he can sort out his contract (which doesn't look likely) and concentrate on Arsenal he could do really well.

I dread to think what manager will come in for Wenger if he leaves and how we will play.
 
BobbyBox said:
You should be our new manager, I'm sure you would do a better job. I'm sure when you are manager, if you want a player they will magically appear at the club, as that is how it seems like it works listening to you.

If Arsenal should have got Huntelaar 2 seasons ago, that's it? Reading around though, it seems like him and Van Persie can't really work together, so that might have been a stumbling block along with many other factors.

Why doesn't it make our scout system look good? I don't understand that? I'm sure they are buying players for the future as well (and the league and 2 cups?), not just for the Champs league?

I don't see buying in January as 'Typical' Arsenal? I'm sure if you look back most of our transfers have been during the summer?

Walcott has been talked about in here many times, Arsenal have been trying to sign him up for over a year now...I think even for two years? so they have been trying, but again if you were the manager you would have magically made him sign the thing?

you really do make it all sound so simple, not that I am a manager or anything, but I am pretty sure that things are a lot more complicated.
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I think you're making it sound ok that Walcott goes into his final year of contract. So, in your head, this isn't mismanagement? If I were the manager Walcott would have been out the door by July, with plenty of time to find a replacement. Remember he said he would wait to see whether Arsenal would qualify or not for CL? Then gave another excuse not to sign, but the problem is he has been playing us all along. What he really wants is more money, the kind of money he won't get at Arsenal.

When I say typical Arsenal is that we seem to wait until the winter transfer window to sign targets that were much needed before the start of the season. But by then, they're cup tied and it's really frustrating not being able to use them in the CL.

As for Huntelaar, do you really think he wouldn't have come to Arsenal when he left Milan where he was pretty much out of favour? It's not like signing Ibrahimovic now is it? I didn't know you had such a low opinion of Arsenal to think we wouldn't be able to sign him.
It would have been no magic, it was very feasible as a matter of fact.

As for scouts, it was a humorous suggestion that we don't need it after all, all we have to do is buy players from our opposition in the group stages of the CL. But since we're at it, did you ever stop for a minute to think what the fuck our scouts have been doing? Bendtner, Vela, Denilson and all the Brazilians they have been signing (Botelho, Wellington Silva, etc). Maybe Arsenal should hire Shaktar's scouting team instead, those guys are doing their homework :D

I don't know why you have to be so aggressive defending Wenger's questionable decisions. I'm not saying I can be a football manager (although when I see the likes of Allardyce and McLeish making a profitable career out of being constantly shit I feel tempted to give it a go). But I think you're out of touch with reality and the latest developments. Just remove your rose-tinted glasses and see that even the away fans were chanting "You don't know what you're doing" to Wenger. And that speaks volumes, because our away fans are incredible and always stay behind the team.
 
Rentboy said:
I think you're making it sound ok that Walcott goes into his final year of contract. So, in your head, this isn't mismanagement? If I were the manager Walcott would have been out the door by July, with plenty of time to find a replacement. Remember he said he would wait to see whether Arsenal would qualify or not for CL? Then gave another excuse not to sign, but the problem is he has been playing us all along. What he really wants is more money, the kind of money he won't get at Arsenal.

When I say typical Arsenal is that we seem to wait until the winter transfer window to sign targets that were much needed before the start of the season. But by then, they're cup tied and it's really frustrating not being able to use them in the CL.

As for Huntelaar, do you really think he wouldn't have come to Arsenal when he left Milan where he was pretty much out of favour? It's not like signing Ibrahimovic now is it? I didn't know you had such a low opinion of Arsenal to think we wouldn't be able to sign him.
It would have been no magic, it was very feasible as a matter of fact.

As for scouts, it was a humorous suggestion that we don't need it after all, all we have to do is buy players from our opposition in the group stages of the CL. But since we're at it, did you ever stop for a minute to think what the fuck our scouts have been doing? Bendtner, Vela, Denilson and all the Brazilians they have been signing (Botelho, Wellington Silva, etc). Maybe Arsenal should hire Shaktar's scouting team instead, those guys are doing their homework :D

I don't know why you have to be so aggressive defending Wenger's questionable decisions. I'm not saying I can be a football manager (although when I see the likes of Allardyce and McLeish making a profitable career out of being constantly shit I feel tempted to give it a go). But I think you're out of touch with reality and the latest developments. Just remove your rose-tinted glasses and see that even the away fans were chanting "You don't know what you're doing" to Wenger. And that speaks volumes, because our away fans are incredible and always stay behind the team.
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Not rose tinted, you can see my other posts recently and I can see everything isn't fantastic at Arsenal.

I just think about things rationally and with common sense. Sometimes I think you treat everything like a game of Championship Manager....the old game ;))

You seem to dismiss my observation that Huntelaar really doesn't like Van Persie and Vice Versa. This observation was just to point out that even if Arsenal wants a player there can be many reasons why they don't go for them. It is not just as easy as wanting them and then buying them, which from what you are saying, it really is that easy?

I don't think it is ok for Walcott to potentially go away on a free. But I also understand that there are many things that go into consideration to make those decisions. Like we bought him for quite a bit of money when he was younger, he still has lots of potential, he is a good player and suits our type of play, Wenger has put in many years trying to develop him. Wenger is taking a gamble, but he would have probably gone in the summer for 12m - 16m maybe, so we wouldn't have made any money from him and Wenger still must think there is a chance. Because we really don't know what is being said etc were you in the meetings with him and Wenger (or Arsenal and Walcotts agents?) you are basing your opinion on paper talk, Wenger and Arsenal are basing their decision on real life and what they have actually seen and heard.

Especially now he has more room to gamble because we are getting more money in from now on. If he doesn't stay we lose 12m but if he stays and signs then we have a player potentially worth 20m or so if he reaches his potential and also contributing to Arsenals progression. It is a gamble and sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don't.

I know why you said typical Arsenal and that is why I said what I said, for something to be Typical it needs to happen more often than not and be the characteristic of a club. Show me how many players we have bought in January and show me how many we bought in the summer window and I think you might find we buy many more in the summer windows (Setting myself up for a fall here, because I haven't checked it :LOL: but I am pretty sure I am right).

The thing about the scouts is silly imo. Our scouts have to go on potential in young players (Look in the Barca thread, I think they are discussing it at the moment with a certain player that didn't make the grade). Denilson and Bendtner showed amazing potential for young players, they both showed promise, Denilson had a couple of great seasons for a youngster and Bendtner had also a great season for us. Vela is good (Playing well in Spain) he just wasn't for us, sometimes that happens. Just because now in hindsight they didn't make it, doesn't make our scouts shit. I think our scouts have proven in the past they can get absolute bargains and Arsenal stars that have given a lot to Arsenal and been sold for many millions more than we got them for. Just because we have not had a great deal recently, doesn't mean they are suddenly shit.

Also you seem to forget about the players we have actually got in, Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla (All in the summer window by the way :DD)etc they are doing pretty well for us (Still early days) but you seem to think they are hopeless? because that is the only reason I can think for you saying our scouts are not doing their job well?

I would much rather Wenger managed our team than the away supporters and you. You see the substitution as a striker for a defensive midfielder, when we needed to win and that is it. When in fact Giroud did fuck all for quite a while and Villa were looking dangerous. So in the last few minutes Wenger went for safety in getting a point rather than risking it. Our team just weren't working against Villa, sometimes teams just don't function for some reason and you have to accept it and make the decisions based on that.

You see, I think you are not in reality, if you think about things a bit more, then you see a different picture. Think a bit more rationally and take off your shit covered glasses :PP
 
I also wanted to point out that Huntelaar and Van Persie can't stand each other.

Concerning the scouts job: the only thing that a scout can say is that a certain young player has lots of POTENTIAL. One never knows if he will fullfill this... That is always a gamble. An yes a certain player can be fantastic for club a and not good enough for club B.
 
My glasses aren't covered in shit, unless I had been seating in the front row to watch Arsenal, because what's on display for Arsenal fans is nothing other than shit. This is the weakest side Wenger has managed in his Arsenal career, but this is not all down to financial constraints, but to the manager's stubbornness too.

You fail to see beyond the microscopic thing that was Giroud being subbed by Coquelin when we still needed a goal. Yes, that in itself was a bad thing because drawing against a team in relegation zone is not good enough. But can't you see there's much more to it? Why did Wenger resort to that substitution in the first place? Did he even had other strikers on the bench? Why didn't he call up Chamakh to even sit on the bench? And if Chamakh is so shit, why didn't he go for another centre forward after Van Persie left? Wenger basically settled for going into a new season with Giroud and Chamakh as his only recognised Centre Forwards.
This is one of the reasons why fans are so unhappy. Not to mention that the lack of CF play saw Wenger experimenting with Gervinho in the middle at times? WTF!

We might have signed 3 very good players before the season started, but in the final weeks we let Van Persie and Song go without replacement. So there's a sense of 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, we can't say it has been great transfer activity for Arsenal. This is a well treaded path of discussion here, I don't need to write more about it.

As for Huntelaar and Van Persie not liking each other, I chuckle at this situation. They play in the same National Team don't they? They're both grown ups (although the little boy inside RVP dictates his actions at times). And they're professionals aren't they?
Boohoo, life's tough isn't it? You're making £80k a week and you have to work with someone you don't like?
This is the kind of stuff that alienates us from football as it is nowadays.
When I got relocated to another division at work I had to work with a despicable bitch, and I wasn't making 80 grand a week. So I'm sure the Dutch boys would be fine :)

The January thing I made it sound worse than it actually is. I don't know either, and the only ones I can remember from the top of my head are Reyes and Arshavin, after much protracted transfer sagas. The manager really wanted the players badly and only got them when they were cup tied. This is bound to happen this season again, if we really want quality reinforcements. Although, I think Henry's 3rd spell will be all we get. Oh well.

But hey, I'm being unreasonable here, aren't I? Arsenal only charges for the most expensive ticket in World football, what am I thinking here?? :P

This squad is short in depth and quality. Everybody knows it. And us fans feel ripped off.
The away fans know it, the home fans certainly know it - see all those embarrassingly empty seats in the Champions League match. I for one didn't renew my membership, didn't buy that horrendous new kit and stopped attending.

And this is me being very fucking rational indeed.
 
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Rentboy said:
My glasses aren't covered in shit, unless I had been seating in the front row to watch Arsenal, because what's on display for Arsenal fans is nothing other than shit. This is the weakest side Wenger has managed in his Arsenal career, but this is not all down to financial constraints, but to the manager's stubbornness too.

You fail to see beyond the microscopic thing that was Giroud being subbed by Coquelin when we still needed a goal. Yes, that in itself was a bad thing because drawing against a team in relegation zone is not good enough. But can't you see there's much more to it? Why did Wenger resort to that substitution in the first place? Did he even had other strikers on the bench? Why didn't he call up Chamakh to even sit on the bench? And if Chamakh is so shit, why didn't he go for another centre forward after Van Persie left? Wenger basically settled for going into a new season with Giroud and Chamakh as his only recognised Centre Forwards.
This is one of the reasons why fans are so unhappy. Not to mention that the lack of CF play saw Wenger experimenting with Gervinho in the middle at times? WTF!

We might have signed 3 very good players before the season started, but in the final weeks we let Van Persie and Song go without replacement. So there's a sense of 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, we can't say it has been great transfer activity for Arsenal. This is a well treaded path of discussion here, I don't need to write more about it.

As for Huntelaar and Van Persie not liking each other, I chuckle at this situation. They play in the same National Team don't they? They're both grown ups (although the little boy inside RVP dictates his actions at times). And they're professionals aren't they?
Boohoo, life's tough isn't it? You're making £80k a week and you have to work with someone you don't like?
This is the kind of stuff that alienates us from football as it is nowadays.
When I got relocated to another division at work I had to work with a despicable bitch, and I wasn't making 80 grand a week. So I'm sure the Dutch boys would be fine :)

The January thing I made it sound worse than it actually is. I don't know either, and the only ones I can remember from the top of my head are Reyes and Arshavin, after much protracted transfer sagas. The manager really wanted the players badly and only got them when they were cup tied. This is bound to happen this season again, if we really want quality reinforcements. Although, I think Henry's 3rd spell will be all we get. Oh well.

But hey, I'm being unreasonable here, aren't I? Arsenal only charges for the most expensive ticket in World football, what am I thinking here?? :P

This squad is short in depth and quality. Everybody knows it. And us fans feel ripped off.
The away fans know it, the home fans certainly know it - see all those embarrassingly empty seats in the Champions League match. I for one didn't renew my membership, didn't buy that horrendous new kit and stopped attending.

And this is me being very fucking rational indeed.
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Yep complete shit, qualifying for the champions league knock out stages again, beating spurs 5-2, we have played Man United, Chelsea and Man City and the only game where we let ourselves down was in the Man United game imo. The other two we were more than a match for.

I am not saying it is amazing at the moment, but shit? come on and this is rational thinking?

Wenger experimenting with Gervinho in the center at the beginning of the season saw him score 5 goals in 10 starts for Arsenal.

I agree with professional footballers having to work together, but having to go to International duty and spending 5-6 days a week with somebody are completely different things and did Arsenal really want to unsettle their star striker? In an ideal world then two professionals will get on with their jobs, but footballers are different and disharmony in a dressing room is not good.

The point about getting another striker is a good one, but we have players that can chop and change in the forward positions, Podolski can also play central and Walcott too (;)) ) and Gervinho can play quite well there as well. So I can see why Arsene didn't buy another one, especially if he couldn't get the striker he wanted at the time.

I really feel you underestimate the team and think it is a lot worse than it actually is.

Our attendance for the Montpellier game was 59,760 (from 60,351) so yeah that speaks volumes :ROLL:

The top band of seats are the most expensive (But they get quite a bit for it if I remember? free booze some food? and a great view etc), but when I go I usually get mine for around £35 with a lovely view as well. :))

You not renewing your £30 membership a year is really a good way to help things forward, you are really showing them ;))
 
BobbyBox said:
Yep complete shit, qualifying for the champions league knock out stages again, beating spurs 5-2, we have played Man United, Chelsea and Man City and the only game where we let ourselves down was in the Man United game imo. The other two we were more than a match for.

I am not saying it is amazing at the moment, but shit? come on and this is rational thinking?

Wenger experimenting with Gervinho in the center at the beginning of the season saw him score 5 goals in 10 starts for Arsenal.

I agree with professional footballers having to work together, but having to go to International duty and spending 5-6 days a week with somebody are completely different things and did Arsenal really want to unsettle their star striker? In an ideal world then two professionals will get on with their jobs, but footballers are different and disharmony in a dressing room is not good.

The point about getting another striker is a good one, but we have players that can chop and change in the forward positions, Podolski can also play central and Walcott too (;)) ) and Gervinho can play quite well there as well. So I can see why Arsene didn't buy another one, especially if he couldn't get the striker he wanted at the time.

I really feel you underestimate the team and think it is a lot worse than it actually is.

Our attendance for the Montpellier game was 59,760 (from 60,351) so yeah that speaks volumes :ROLL:

The top band of seats are the most expensive (But they get quite a bit for it if I remember? free booze some food? and a great view etc), but when I go I usually get mine for around £35 with a lovely view as well. :))

You not renewing your £30 membership a year is really a good way to help things forward, you are really showing them ;))
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I'm not doing it to show them, I'm doing it for myself. I don't earn 80 grand a week, I have to work with people I don't like and the 30 quid + inflated ticket prices + £14 fish and chips do sting on my pocket.
But most of all, I rest assured I'm not sending my money straight to Silent Stan's big pocket.

The Champions League group stage matches this season showed an unprecedented number of empty seats. I didn't go looking for attendance numbers, but it has been talked about even in Arseblog, a very optimistic blog if you ask me.

Out of the big games you mentioned, the only one we can really say Arsenal were good was against City. Against Chelsea we had our moments but the match was tarnished by horrible defending that cost us the game.

But when you look at turgid performances such as against United, Norwich, Villa... there's a chronic lack of objectivity in our attacking play. We looked toothless on many occasions this season, more than I can ever remember.

Podolski can play in the center, although that's not his best position. Plus, he can't play there when he played 70 minutes in the wing and gets subbed, can he? Walcott can play there too. Or can he? I think he's not suited to that, and when he plays in the wings he's able to get himself into central positions anyway. He's been very good this season. But please, he's not a centre forward.

I didn't want to make my post too long, but Wenger not only left us short on attacking options, but midfield ones as well. He said we were didn't need any more midfielders whilst counting on Diaby and Rosicky! How crazy is that?

Wilshere is only returning to his best conditions, while Cazorla is dipping in form due to fatigue and Arteta obviously is being overworked.
Today we will see a true test against a dangerous and in form Everton.

Wenger only managed to be in this Champions League and to qualify for the knock out stages because he can overachieve, he does very well with what he's got. But that's not to say he is exempt of any shortcomings. He neglected some very obvious issues going into this season. And this is the very annoying and frustrating part of it all, because you know you got a very good manager but our team is not gonna fight for silverware yet again. To realise this as soon as November is a real pain.
 
Rentboy said:
I'm not doing it to show them, I'm doing it for myself. I don't earn 80 grand a week, I have to work with people I don't like and the 30 quid + inflated ticket prices + £14 fish and chips do sting on my pocket.
But most of all, I rest assured I'm not sending my money straight to Silent Stan's big pocket.

The Champions League group stage matches this season showed an unprecedented number of empty seats. I didn't go looking for attendance numbers, but it has been talked about even in Arseblog, a very optimistic blog if you ask me.

Out of the big games you mentioned, the only one we can really say Arsenal were good was against City. Against Chelsea we had our moments but the match was tarnished by horrible defending that cost us the game.

But when you look at turgid performances such as against United, Norwich, Villa... there's a chronic lack of objectivity in our attacking play. We looked toothless on many occasions this season, more than I can ever remember.

Podolski can play in the center, although that's not his best position. Plus, he can't play there when he played 70 minutes in the wing and gets subbed, can he? Walcott can play there too. Or can he? I think he's not suited to that, and when he plays in the wings he's able to get himself into central positions anyway. He's been very good this season. But please, he's not a centre forward.

I didn't want to make my post too long, but Wenger not only left us short on attacking options, but midfield ones as well. He said we were didn't need any more midfielders whilst counting on Diaby and Rosicky! How crazy is that?

Wilshere is only returning to his best conditions, while Cazorla is dipping in form due to fatigue and Arteta obviously is being overworked.
Today we will see a true test against a dangerous and in form Everton.

Wenger only managed to be in this Champions League and to qualify for the knock out stages because he can overachieve, he does very well with what he's got. But that's not to say he is exempt of any shortcomings. He neglected some very obvious issues going into this season. And this is the very annoying and frustrating part of it all, because you know you got a very good manager but our team is not gonna fight for silverware yet again. To realise this as soon as November is a real pain.
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First of all where are you buying your fish and chips from! :LOL: you need to eat before you go, or find somewhere cheaper, there is one on Seven Sisters road and quite a few on Holloway road where it will cost a few quid....are you stopping off in Harrods before you go to a game ;)) (Or are you buying fish and chips for another couple of people?)

Again I haven't checked it, but I am sure that if you compare attendances across the years (With similar or same teams) then they will probably look pretty similar.

This season;

Olymp 60,034
Shalke 60,049
Mont 59,760

I do not see anything significant there to say that it is a problem? Just because an optimistic blog says that attendances are low, I don't think shows to much. Do those look really bad to you?

I don't agree with the Chelsea game, we more than matched them...BUT there were defensive mistakes that cost us, which we need to sort out.

I think our attack looks quite good, Podolski and Giroud have the same amount of goals between them as Van Persie did at the same point. This I think is a big step forward that our goals are more spread out.

I think our midfield looks stronger than it has done for many years, with Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla, but you are right we need better back ups and not injury prone players.

Our defence is stronger that it has been for ages as well, we just need to find a way for them all to defend together :LOL:

In regards to you saying we wont win any silverware?! this makes me laugh we are 10 points away from top, the battle with Man United/City last year and our own come back against Spurs point superiority last season, shows that at this point in the season we still have a chance. Also in the other comps we can be in, too early to write us off.

Your downplay of Arsenals achievements in getting into a 13 consecutive knock out stage in a row, just I think shows that you really don't realise how hard it is to be in this competition and progress in it.

Ask Spurs and Liverpool how hard it is. Both of these teams are supposed to be taking us over and have better teams than us and have a better future than us (If you listen to a lot of people) but Arsenal are still there season after season.

A lot of improvements can be made of course, but the way you talk about this team and Wenger is just not right imo.
 
Wenger sure likes putting Ramsey on the wings, it makes us play too narrow.:COAT: I`m praying for a result 3pts ...ugly if needs be.
 
This is going to be super tough, everybody needs to be up for it and playing well if we are to get anything from this game....fingers crossed :DD
 
pretty fair result, we dominated posession, but our sloppy play and Evertons pressing and good defending limited our chances until the end when they were tiring.

We had some scary moments though! Everton probably had the better chances, but we had a few ourselves.

Positives were Szcz and Wilshere, Sagna didn't play well and kept firing crosses into Baines all night.

If we would have won against Villa this would have been seen as a good result, but getting 2 points from 6 is disappointing (Although they were both away games).

We definitely need to pick things up against Swansea on Saturday.
 
BobbyBox said:
First of all where are you buying your fish and chips from! :LOL: you need to eat before you go, or find somewhere cheaper, there is one on Seven Sisters road and quite a few on Holloway road where it will cost a few quid....are you stopping off in Harrods before you go to a game ;)) (Or are you buying fish and chips for another couple of people?)

Again I haven't checked it, but I am sure that if you compare attendances across the years (With similar or same teams) then they will probably look pretty similar.

This season;

Olymp 60,034
Shalke 60,049
Mont 59,760

I do not see anything significant there to say that it is a problem? Just because an optimistic blog says that attendances are low, I don't think shows to much. Do those look really bad to you?

I don't agree with the Chelsea game, we more than matched them...BUT there were defensive mistakes that cost us, which we need to sort out.

I think our attack looks quite good, Podolski and Giroud have the same amount of goals between them as Van Persie did at the same point. This I think is a big step forward that our goals are more spread out.

I think our midfield looks stronger than it has done for many years, with Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla, but you are right we need better back ups and not injury prone players.

Our defence is stronger that it has been for ages as well, we just need to find a way for them all to defend together :LOL:

In regards to you saying we wont win any silverware?! this makes me laugh we are 10 points away from top, the battle with Man United/City last year and our own come back against Spurs point superiority last season, shows that at this point in the season we still have a chance. Also in the other comps we can be in, too early to write us off.

Your downplay of Arsenals achievements in getting into a 13 consecutive knock out stage in a row, just I think shows that you really don't realise how hard it is to be in this competition and progress in it.

Ask Spurs and Liverpool how hard it is. Both of these teams are supposed to be taking us over and have better teams than us and have a better future than us (If you listen to a lot of people) but Arsenal are still there season after season.

A lot of improvements can be made of course, but the way you talk about this team and Wenger is just not right imo.
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Dude, that's the price of fish and chips at the stadium. It's serious! I'm just saying it for the sake of argument, I think I only bought food there once when I was really hungry :)

The consecutive run of qualifying for Champions League knock out stages is something I might have taken for granted already, I admit. I don't doubt Wenger's ability to assemble a team with what he got and have it playing under his style.

But what I (and many other fans) question is why is our team getting weaker and weaker, in a time when the worst is behind in terms of financial constraints. Dammit, when we were buried in stadium debt our squad was not bad at all, with Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie.

Now that we should be expecting more stability financially and the new sponsorship deals are kicking in, our squad should be bigger and better, don't you think?

The lots of improvements you talk about will only be possible if Arsenal adheres to the salary caps that top players in this league earn. Unfortunately, that's how we keep our best players, I don't see another way. And we know the club will be reluctant, even though they charge us the most expensive tickets in football
 
Everton look more dangerous or We look a bit shaky at the back , We lack that bit of flair and the communication in the final third is getting somewhat bothersome.

Ramsey lost the ball way too much and never wants to run on the break. We have lots of games next month. I`m sure Wenger is trying to rotate players everyone needs to be on their best. TBH I`m not convince with this Arsenal the feeling I`m getting Arteta is out of his depth. He is covering too much ground and being stretch.
 
Rentboy, you forget that the stakes are higher now that billionaires like Mansour and Abramovich are investing billions in Chelsea and Manchester City.

You can't compare Arsenal with those clubs, you got to compare them with clubs like Spurs and Liverpool, like Bobby did. Arsenal are overachieving for years now.

And the fact that the team is not as strong as you want, there is a very simple explanation for that: money.

One could point to a club like Udinese or even Palermo: clubs that keep on finding fantastic young foriegn players. But English clubs are hampered by the rule that a player must have played for his national team before he is allowed in the EPL. That is a useless rule that handicaps English clubs. The FA should abolish it. This rule is used because the FA wants to protect English players and only wants really good foreign players...the rule doesn't serve it's purpose...
 
Rentboy said:
Dude, that's the price of fish and chips at the stadium. It's serious! I'm just saying it for the sake of argument, I think I only bought food there once when I was really hungry :)

The consecutive run of qualifying for Champions League knock out stages is something I might have taken for granted already, I admit. I don't doubt Wenger's ability to assemble a team with what he got and have it playing under his style.

But what I (and many other fans) question is why is our team getting weaker and weaker, in a time when the worst is behind in terms of financial constraints. Dammit, when we were buried in stadium debt our squad was not bad at all, with Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie.

Now that we should be expecting more stability financially and the new sponsorship deals are kicking in, our squad should be bigger and better, don't you think?

The lots of improvements you talk about will only be possible if Arsenal adheres to the salary caps that top players in this league earn. Unfortunately, that's how we keep our best players, I don't see another way. And we know the club will be reluctant, even though they charge us the most expensive tickets in football
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Wow that is expensive Fish and Chips, the food is silly at Arsenal. I remember my dad getting two hotdogs and it costing a fortune....then I dropped mine on the floor, while throwing mustard all over myself :LOL:

I don't think we are getting weaker and weaker, I think we are improving slowly and becoming more of a team with players that want to play for us.

We are only now getting on top of the finances, the debt is going down and we have the new sponsorship deal that is only just kicking in now (We get a bit of money this year I think?) So I expect in the next year or so we will start to see a difference.

They will have more money for salaries as well, but they are never going to give a player 200k a year or anything silly like that.

The announcement of the new deal with Emirates is a mile stone, this is where we become less and less hampered by the new stadium and actually start really benefiting from it.

Other deals will be done in the next year or so as well, if we can stay in the Champs league then it is looking good. If the financial rules actually come in and work, then we will benefit from this greatly as well (I have huge reservations that it will work, but we can hope).

I think 5 years ago I was paying £32 for a ticket and now they are £35? I haven't been for a while. The expensive tickets are expensive, but if rich people are willing to spend that, then they can keep the prices like that.

Edit: just seen that the cheapest tickets on the majority of games are between £25.50 to £35. The big games are a lot more though. The prices for League cup games as well they made cheaper and also they let fans come and see the youth teams at the emirates for a few quid, which is great, especially for young supporters.

So the most expensive ticket etc is true, but if you look into it further it isn't too bad imo.
 
Rentboy said:
Dude, that's the price of fish and chips at the stadium. It's serious! I'm just saying it for the sake of argument, I think I only bought food there once when I was really hungry :)

The consecutive run of qualifying for Champions League knock out stages is something I might have taken for granted already, I admit. I don't doubt Wenger's ability to assemble a team with what he got and have it playing under his style.

But what I (and many other fans) question is why is our team getting weaker and weaker, in a time when the worst is behind in terms of financial constraints. Dammit, when we were buried in stadium debt our squad was not bad at all, with Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie.

Now that we should be expecting more stability financially and the new sponsorship deals are kicking in, our squad should be bigger and better, don't you think?

The lots of improvements you talk about will only be possible if Arsenal adheres to the salary caps that top players in this league earn. Unfortunately, that's how we keep our best players, I don't see another way. And we know the club will be reluctant, even though they charge us the most expensive tickets in football
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Listen mate. i was like u. full of doubt. wanting wenger sakced etc etc but i asked myself this one simple question

Have arsenal overachieved or underachieved in the past 2-3 years?
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Consider these things when answering:

  • Transfer budget
  • Squad we have had for the past few years

Next thing u said is the price of tickets.

Tell me again what city the emirates stadium is based in and then after, calculate the cities expense compared to another city's expense.
 
About ticket prices: last year KRC Genk made a record profit of 28 million euro due to CL income and also because they sold Courtois, De Bruyne and other players.

The club is debt free and decided to sell season tickets 30% cheaper next season. I know i'm prejudiced because that club is my favourite club, but this is IMO an example of what a football club should be. They have the best youth academy in Belgium (Courtois, De Bruyne, Defour, Benteke, Vossen, Praet (now Anderlecht) and watch out for 16 year old Siebe Schrijvers), they are debt free and refuse to do financially stupif things if they play CL (hence severe beatings by debt ridden clubs like Chelsea and Valencia, but the Genk board doesn't care) and they do fantastic community work.

On top of that they are rather succesfull (for a Belgian club).

What do i want to prove with this post? It is not good to waste huge amounts of money in the hope to get short term success. Sooner or later this will turn negative...

I'm the first to defend clubs like Man City and Chelsea when people attack them, but this doesn't mean i agree with the way these clubs are run. The day Mansour or Abramovich are getting bored and stop their support, these clubs will implode. As ridiculous as it may seem now, in the long term i see a brighter future for Genk than for Man City and Chelsea.

Arsenal has an even brighter future in the long term, because they have their own state of the art stadium that will allow them to remain competitive without doing stupid things. Fans should have a litle bit patience.
 
To be honest though I do back them, but I really give Wenger another year/season.

By that time I want to see the defensive mistakes limited and good back up for our players (This includes another quality striker, def mid, and another creative midfielder, also GK) and less injury prone players relied upon.

Hopefully we get a couple of those players in Jan, but if we can hold on this season and keep in the champs league and do our best in the other comps. Then next year is where I expect us to really push on.

If our defence is still fragile and we are relying on Diaby, Gibbs, Rosicky etc then I will not be best pleased by xmas 2013.

I can understand why fans are annoyed and frustrated now, but I do believe we are going forward, a few tweaks here and there and a few more players and it could be great.

All ifs and buts, but me personally I will give Arsenal/Wenger another season to try and remedy things.

If it is not sorted then maybe....I might be asking for a change :))

Key things this season are getting a striker, and getting Walcott and Sagna to sign new contracts.
 
gerd said:
About ticket prices: last year KRC Genk made a record profit of 28 million euro due to CL income and also because they sold Courtois, De Bruyne and other players.

The club is debt free and decided to sell season tickets 30% cheaper next season. I know i'm prejudiced because that club is my favourite club, but this is IMO an example of what a football club should be. They have the best youth academy in Belgium (Courtois, De Bruyne, Defour, Benteke, Vossen, Praet (now Anderlecht) and watch out for 16 year old Siebe Schrijvers), they are debt free and refuse to do financially stupif things if they play CL (hence severe beatings by debt ridden clubs like Chelsea and Valencia, but the Genk board doesn't care) and they do fantastic community work.

On top of that they are rather succesfull (for a Belgian club).

What do i want to prove with this post? It is not good to waste huge amounts of money in the hope to get short term success. Sooner or later this will turn negative...

I'm the first to defend clubs like Man City and Chelsea when people attack them, but this doesn't mean i agree with the way these clubs are run. The day Mansour or Abramovich are getting bored and stop their support, these clubs will implode. As ridiculous as it may seem now, in the long term i see a brighter future for Genk than for Man City and Chelsea.

Arsenal has an even brighter future in the long term, because they have their own state of the art stadium that will allow them to remain competitive without doing stupid things. Fans should have a litle bit patience.
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a little? its been 7 years lol :)

BobbyBox said:
To be honest though I do back them, but I really give Wenger another year/season.

By that time I want to see the defensive mistakes limited and good back up for our players (This includes another quality striker, def mid, and another creative midfielder, also GK) and less injury prone players relied upon.

Hopefully we get a couple of those players in Jan, but if we can hold on this season and keep in the champs league and do our best in the other comps. Then next year is where I expect us to really push on.

If our defence is still fragile and we are relying on Diaby, Gibbs, Rosicky etc then I will not be best pleased by xmas 2013.

I can understand why fans are annoyed and frustrated now, but I do believe we are going forward, a few tweaks here and there and a few more players and it could be great.

All ifs and buts, but me personally I will give Arsenal/Wenger another season to try and remedy things.

If it is not sorted then maybe....I might be asking for a change :))

Key things this season are getting a striker, and getting Walcott and Sagna to sign new contracts.
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All this defence crap is all bullshit mate. the media and some fans are going on as if we have the worse defence ever.

the likes of city AND united and chelsea have all had shocking defensive mistakes this season yet its us who get all the negetive publicity by the media and fans.

go and look and compare our defence to united, city and chelsea and u will see that our defence is not as bad as it sounds.

Also look at barca's defence. it is even worse then arsenals yet no one bats a eye lid.

whats my point? our defence is acceptable at this level of football. its just our goal scoring that is a tiny bit of an issue.

We have let in just 1 goal in 3 games for example
 
I agree it isn't as bad as people say, but we do make many individual mistakes.

We throw games away because of this, we can play really well and let in the most stupid of goals through lack of concentration.

Chelsea game for example I thought we played just as well as them (this was when they were playing really well) but because of silly defending, we lost.

Teams always think they have a chance against us, when our back line is hassled it panics a bit and that is where the mistakes come in.

I don't think it is major and we are completely shit at defending. I think a few tweaks in the way our defenders think and act and how they cover each other will work wonders.

Imagine if we had a solid defence and cut out most of the mistakes? This is the biggest problem for us, but the argument is we will need to sacrifice attacking for defence....look at Chelsea now, two clean sheets, but no goals :))
 
Jonney, I don't want Wenger out mate, I'm fan of his, despite all his stubbornness :)

@ Gerd: I agree that City and Chelsea's infinite money cheat mode doesn't help things, but unfortunately they dictate how normal football clubs are run too. The salaries and transfer fees are all distorted by them, but the one thing other clubs can't escape is salaries.

I know that Arsenal won't be able to pay £200k a week, but a compromise must be made. Currently Arsenal doesn't pay anyone over £100k a week, except for Wenger himself. And when it came to negotiate with Van Persie, it seems our offer was so inadequate it was never actually put on the table.

United don't have a sugar daddy but they are trying to keep up with the madness. Let's see how this turns out in the end.

And I agree with what Bobby says about the defense. I hear what Jonney's saying too, that if you look at numbers, our defense looks good. Those guys Koscielny, Vermaelen and especially Mertesacker this season are really good.

But the individual mistakes play a big part, and the Chelsea match springs to mind. It cost us the game, Mannone's poor goal keeping in that game and Koscielny's mistakes.

I reckon it's a great deal of bad luck with Kos too. His propensity for an own goal is uncanny! If he's standing 25 meters away from the goal, I think there is still a chance a ball would ricochet off him and go inside our own net :LOL:
 
I think wengers time has come. it saddens me to say it because I love the man but he is too stubborn and runs Arsenal as a business first football team second.

Get in Klopp - arsenal will win the league!!
 
Jonney, 7 years is a litle while.
That is the problem, Wenger spoiled you guys.

The big clubs shaped circumstances where only the happy few can win silverware. If i'm not mistaken Blackburn are the only club outside the big clubs that succeeded to win the EPL, but they had a sugar daddy with Walker. Arsenal used to be among those favourites, but since Mansour and Abramovich have upped the ante, Arsenal are not in the same league anymore.

You got to compare Arsenal with Spurs and Liverpool now: they are doing better than both those clubs. One might also compare Arsenal with Man Utd. Man Utd are doing better, but IMO they got more financial clout and i wonder what will happen when Ferguson retires...
 
Sorry®gerd Spur are nowhere near Arsenal. Liverpool is a mid-table club for 4 season they're regular to Thursday night football like Totthenham.

On other news, Arsenal step closer towards FFP ...GAZIDIS has been appointed to the ECA board and is part UEFA governing body.
 
Sounds like Arsene is going for two players in January? quite exciting that he has actually come out and said it, hopefully they are both quality/proven and not youngsters :))

It has got to be a striker and midfielder really, I am hoping so anyway.

Rosicky is back, if he gets anywhere near the form he was in last year that will be great (and he can stay fit). Give Cazorla a bit of a rest.
 
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