Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2011/2012

cson · 17-01-2012 10:44pm

According to this... http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-pleased-despite-fall-in-profits-2363705.html

We have £160m sitting on deposit. Now I know that's not a transfer kitty but you'd have to imagine a good bit of it is and we should have added to it as we've the sales of Cesc, Clichy and Nasri [£67m] as against spending of £50m or so.

Good that the debt is down under £100m too; we should have that cleared in the medium term and be debt free.

One important point to make is that whilst the Emirates is great to have, you'd notice how easier it is to get tickets these days; outside of the top 5 you're virtually guaranteed tickets as a red member for any other game. They're even going on general sale now. What I'm saying is; attendances in that stadium correlate to success to an extent; its all well and good being prudent but if it translates to playing ****e on the pitch and doing ****e in general then you'll quickly see how big the Emirates is when you've 20k empty seats. Gazidis et al and Wenger would do well to keep this in mind.

cson · 17-01-2012 10:45pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Didn't Arteta play left wing a lot for Everton?

He'd be wasted out there for us; he's at his best playing the way he is for us now, an Alonso type role.

Reyes gone back to Sevilla too.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/17/home-is-where-the-heart-is-as-jose-antonio-reyes-returns-to-sevilla/

Drexel · 18-01-2012 11:39am

From F365

Defeat at Swansea on Sunday has left the north Londoners fifth in the Premier League and four points adrift of nearest rivals Chelsea.

They host champions Manchester United on Sunday knowing they cannot afford to drop any more points if they want to stay in contention for a European spot.

Defeat at the Emirates could see them drop into seventh place if other results do not go their way.

The Gunners have qualified for the Champions League in all of Arsene Wenger's full seasons in charge.

But after showing uneven form this season, Hill-Wood is preparing for the eventuality of Arsenal not booking a spot in Europe's top club competition.

"We are hanging on in there, no more," he told the Daily Star of the club's current position.

"From a financial point of view, not qualifying for the Champions League is quite a blow.

"We have been planning for not qualifying every year, so it's not a disaster, but it would be nice if we could."

That bit in bold says it all really. Some might say good planning but to me that just shows the general lack of ambition been shown from the club

Gringo180 · 18-01-2012 12:35pm

jonny666 wrote: »

That bit in bold says it all really. Some might say good planning but to me that just shows the general lack of ambition been shown from the club

Wow! What a ridiculous comment by Hillwood, do we really expect van persie to stay if this is the attitude of the board? No wonder the players dont give a toss when there in an environment with such a lack of ambition. What has gone wrong at our great club

ImpossibleDuck · 18-01-2012 1:07pm

I know he's apparently 'not for sale' but what would the general opinion be as to the possible signing of Peter Odemwingie as a second striker?

Not an out-and-out brilliant player, but certainly has a good eye for goal and is a helluvalot better than Chamakh IMO.

Redzer7 · 18-01-2012 1:11pm

401003_278831602176243_123568004369271_818643_1779977589_n.jpg

Seen this picture, don't really know what to make of it, true in most ways with the main objective the same as any business but this one has just a real lack of ambition!

Don't know Wenger is in the picture though, it's not like he pockets the cash for himself.

jmayo · 18-01-2012 1:13pm

cson wrote: »

I'd rather Mertesacker than Cahill tbh, the latter is yet another example of overpriced overrated English 'talent'. £7m for a player who's had a poor season and is out of contract in the summer is madness.

An Mertesacker is another example of someone whose poor club form was ignored because he had loads of international caps.

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Chelsea have been ripped off with Cahill. I find it a little ironic people complaining about high wages and then complaining we didn't get Cahill for 80k a week, he's not worth anywhere close to that! He'd also be in the EXACT same position as Mertesacker currently is. Third choice. If Mertesacker is a low standard player, Cahill doesn't even regisister. I'd much rather Mertesacker in my team than Cahill.

Scott Parker meanwhile is a very average player. A good run of games and suddenly everyone makes him out to be world class. He's average and nothing more.

Two players I'm glad we avoided.

As someone else said there is a fair bit of arrogance in that statement.
People complain about how players like Parker, Cahill or the likes of Long were not good enough for the club, yet the club has a list as long as your arm of substandard gutless wonders.
Added to that Wenger went out and brought in a rag taggle bunch, primarily ones who have no experience of PL, but yet are meant to slot into prominent positions on the pitch and deliver from the start.

People need to forget about chasing after the world class players.
When did Wenger ever buy the guys who were at the very top of their game and were labelled world class ?
His biggest successes were when he tended to buy young guys with bags of potential (Fabregas, Anelka, Toure), guys who had once shown great potential but whose careers were stalling at other clubs (Henry, Viera) or huys with big injury worries (Overmars).

Nowadays when Wenger shows an interest particularly in young players the other bigger clubs wave the cash about and he tends to lose out.

Arsenal need a few so called "average" players sourced from the PL or hell even the Championship to add a bit of good old fashioned steel to an often flaky squad.

cson · 18-01-2012 1:37pm

jonny666 wrote: »

That bit in bold says it all really. Some might say good planning but to me that just shows the general lack of ambition been shown from the club

Hill Wood is a general mongtard. Always mouthing about what the club should do or about players or whatever. He seems to have this perception that people give a shite about what he says and [ii] he's someway entitled to say Arsenal should be run xyz way because his great grandfather brought us forward or some such nonsense.

He doesn't own the club, he doesn't manage anything to do with the club. Chairmen should be seen and not heard, he should shut the **** up tbh.

Frisbee · 18-01-2012 2:23pm

Two signings are needed before the end of the month. Simple as.

However I'm convinced the board are happy for us to be in the Europa League next year as the Cesc + Nasri money will offset the lack of CL revenue. Then they can spin us some bullshít about how we can't spend big in the summer as we don't have CL money coming in and then if we can get 4th. next year they'll present it as some big improvement and victory against the odds.

Galvasean · 18-01-2012 2:32pm

It's sad to watch us penny pinch while Liverpool with no European football at all had money to burn in summer. I know they have a bigger global fanbase than us, but surely our constant Champions League revenue and miniscule transfer spending over the last two decades would mean we'd have enough disposable cash to buy a few quality players.

Don't get me wrong, I think Arteta was a wonderful piece of business, but the other signings haven't been all that.

Redzer7 · 18-01-2012 2:33pm

Anyone seen this guy play for the reserves or know anything about him?

Barnet manager Lawrie Sanchez has signed rookie Arsenal defender Sead Hajrovic on a month's loan.

Sanchez moved for the Swiss right-back after Danny Sendasuffered a knee injury last week which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Hajrovic, 18, joined the Gunners from Grasshoppers of Zurich and has impressed for the reserves this season.

"This has come out of the blue and I am looking forward to playing first-team football," he told the club's official website.

Hajrovic is in line to make his Barnet debut against Northampton on Saturday.

emergingstar · 18-01-2012 3:27pm

Redzer7 wrote: »

Anyone seen this guy play for the reserves or know anything about him?

Barnet manager Lawrie Sanchez has signed rookie Arsenal defender Sead Hajrovic on a month's loan.

Sanchez moved for the Swiss right-back after Danny Sendasuffered a knee injury last week which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Hajrovic, 18, joined the Gunners from Grasshoppers of Zurich and has impressed for the reserves this season.

"This has come out of the blue and I am looking forward to playing first-team football," he told the club's official website.

Hajrovic is in line to make his Barnet debut against Northampton on Saturday.

He is only ok can't see him breaking through

Redzer7 · 18-01-2012 3:33pm

emergingstar wrote: »

He is only ok can't see him breaking through

Haven't even heard of his name ever being mentioned to be honest.

Fuzzy_Dunlop · 18-01-2012 4:31pm

Say what you want about Mertesacker, but at least he's actually a fan of the club and has been for a long time...

AjcWkM6CQAEiAuT.jpg:large

Marty McFly · 18-01-2012 4:40pm

Galvasean wrote: »

It's sad to watch us penny pinch while Liverpool with no European football at all had money to burn in summer. I know they have a bigger global fanbase than us, but surely our constant Champions League revenue and miniscule transfer spending over the last two decades would mean we'd have enough disposable cash to buy a few quality players.

Don't get me wrong, I think Arteta was a wonderful piece of business, but the other signings haven't been all that.

I agree completely I know people keep spouting how we have no money to spend on players but surely there has to something there, Im just not sure if its the board thats holding back or Wenger himself to stubborn to break his own philosophy of getting players on the cheap when he has spent money it hasnt worked out for him in Reyes and Arshavin. I belive myself its more Wenger than the board you can just picture him going down to tescos at midnight to do his shopping looking for cheap baked goods instead of spending the few extra pence, no other manager talks about the club finances they only worry about the players they have and want and let the board worry about the money side.

I do agree on Arteta hes been a wonderful signing but I also think Mertesacker has been underated by a lot yeh hes made one or two blunders but otherwise hes been solid and a very calming influence on the defence.

kellso81 · 18-01-2012 4:43pm

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

Say what you want about Mertesacker, but at least he's actually a fan of the club and has been for a long time...

Doesn't really mean much TBH. I've had Dortmund, Milan, Monaco, Barca tops since I was a child, don't support any of them!

keano_afc · 18-01-2012 4:44pm

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

Say what you want about Mertesacker, but at least he's actually a fan of the club and has been for a long time...

It was nice to the fellas beside him to stand on boxes so he looks smaller.

Marty McFly · 18-01-2012 4:52pm

Random stat via twitter

Koscielny has only lost 4 tackles all season, winning 50 (93% success rate) - statistically the best tackler in the PL.

Marty McFly · 18-01-2012 4:58pm

Sorry for the double post

but this from Van Persies twitter

Persie_Official Robin van Persie

Just had lunch with @T_Vermaelen05 sjesus this guy can eat ha ha ha he vermenates da food!!!

gnfnrhead · 18-01-2012 5:13pm

jmayo wrote: »

An Mertesacker is another example of someone whose poor club form was ignored because he had loads of international caps.

As someone else said there is a fair bit of arrogance in that statement.
People complain about how players like Parker, Cahill or the likes of Long were not good enough for the club, yet the club has a list as long as your arm of substandard gutless wonders.
Added to that Wenger went out and brought in a rag taggle bunch, primarily ones who have no experience of PL, but yet are meant to slot into prominent positions on the pitch and deliver from the start.

People need to forget about chasing after the world class players.
When did Wenger ever buy the guys who were at the very top of their game and were labelled world class ?
His biggest successes were when he tended to buy young guys with bags of potential (Fabregas, Anelka, Toure), guys who had once shown great potential but whose careers were stalling at other clubs (Henry, Viera) or huys with big injury worries (Overmars).

Nowadays when Wenger shows an interest particularly in young players the other bigger clubs wave the cash about and he tends to lose out.

Arsenal need a few so called "average" players sourced from the PL or hell even the Championship to add a bit of good old fashioned steel to an often flaky squad.

We have players not good enough, so why should we be looking to add more? We should be looking at players better than what we have, not the same or worse. Cahill and Parker are not better than what we have.

Noo · 18-01-2012 5:50pm

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but this from Van Persies twitter

Persie_Official Robin van Persie

Just had lunch with @T_Vermaelen05 sjesus this guy can eat ha ha ha he vermenates da food!!!

Those two are the bestest buddies! RVP is always tweeting and posting pics of him and the verminator. It always reminds me of this, the silly sods...

Drexel · 18-01-2012 5:56pm

Noo wrote: »

Those two are the bestest buddies! RVP is always tweeting and posting pics of him and the verminator. It always reminds me of this, the silly sods...

Who'd win?

Id have to say TV

Noo · 18-01-2012 5:58pm

jonny666 wrote: »

Who'd win?

Id have to say TV

No question.

wandatowell · 18-01-2012 7:37pm

luvbulmers01 wrote: »

Random stat via twitter

Koscielny has only lost 4 tackles all season, winning 50 (93% success rate) - statistically the best tackler in the PL.

Pity about the tossers playing alongside him

cson · 18-01-2012 7:47pm

Wouldn't quite call them tossers, Vermaelen, Sczesney and Mertesacker have all given a decent account of themselves this year so far, we're unlucky to have had to play a makeshift blend of full backs over the course of the season.

I'm hanging for us to hockey a team 5/6/7-0. We haven't done it in ages.

This weekend would be nice. :pac:

greendom · 18-01-2012 8:12pm

Gringo180 wrote: »

Wow! What a ridiculous comment by Hillwood, do we really expect van persie to stay if this is the attitude of the board? No wonder the players dont give a toss when there in an environment with such a lack of ambition. What has gone wrong at our great club

I don't agree - the club has to manage its finances correctly - if you want to know why just take a look at Leeds

Pepe LeFrits · 18-01-2012 8:14pm

Noo wrote: »

Those two are the bestest buddies! RVP is always tweeting and posting pics of him and the verminator. It always reminds me of this, the silly sods...

Robin's hands present some great opportunities there. I'm thinking ice-cream cones...

L'prof · 18-01-2012 8:19pm

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Robin's hands present some great opportunities there. I'm thinking ice-cream cones...

Haha, yeah. Vermaelen must be lactose intolerant!

Blatter · 18-01-2012 8:19pm

When was the last time van Persie was injured, 12 months ago at this stage is it?

tayto lover · 18-01-2012 8:20pm

Blatter wrote: »

When was the last time van Persie was injured, 12 months ago at this stage is it?

SShhuuussssh FFS.

cson · 18-01-2012 8:21pm

greendom wrote: »

I don't agree - the club has to manage its finances correctly - if you want to know why just take a look at Leeds

There's managing finances and then playing the poor pauper schtick. Had we attempted to retain a number of players and quality in certain areas then I hazard a guess that we wouldn't be lamenting a barren run of 7 years without a trophy.

The clubs reluctance to spend money on quality players instead going for the cheap option has cost us; and more than just in terms of trophies its cost us players too. We'd have kept Cesc, Nasri, Adebayor if we'd have added the right type of player. We had a chance to buy Alonso, we had a chance to buy Pepe Reina to solve a goalkeeping crisis that dragged on for nigh on 6 years, we had a chance to buy Yaya Toure, we had a chance to buy Juan Mata. If those four players were bought then I'd guess Cesc would still be here, we'd be title challengers and probably even have a Champions League in the bag. Instead we opted to either buy on the cheap or cross our fingers and hope someone would come from within to do the job. We only had to wait 6 years for that to happen with the GK in terms of Sczesney.

The club is horrifically shortsighted sometimes. They'd do well to examine the correlation of success to revenue.

L'prof · 18-01-2012 8:23pm

Blatter wrote: »

When was the last time van Persie was injured, 12 months ago at this stage is it?

Get out!!! :mad:

cson · 18-01-2012 8:26pm

Blatter wrote: »

When was the last time van Persie was injured, 12 months ago at this stage is it?

Fuzzy_Dunlop · 18-01-2012 8:26pm

Blatter wrote: »

When was the last time van Persie was injured, 12 months ago at this stage is it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf5FRPfGiC8

greendom · 18-01-2012 8:31pm

I agree with this. The cost of the new stadium is now behind them and the increased revenues from the bigger capacity means that surely the club can start spending a bit more than it has to retain and attract players.

It doesn't change the fact that the club has to be financially astute and not bank on revenues before they've recieved them - unlike Leeds for example.

greendom · 18-01-2012 8:32pm

Listen, if you come to the Emirates, I take the free-kicks, right ???

jordainius · 18-01-2012 8:49pm

Our finances aren't being managed as well as some would believe, unproven players were clearly offered wages based on their potential rather than on what they have acheived, we were unable to sell Denilson and Bendtner probably because no club was willing to match the wages we pay them.

People should bear that in mind when talking about clearing out the deadwood- I'd say selling the likes of Diaby and Squillaci and even Arshavin will be quite difficult unless they are willing to take a pay cut.

greendom wrote: »

I don't agree - the club has to manage its finances correctly - if you want to know why just take a look at Leeds

Not a fair comparison, what Leeds were doing was clearly not sustainable, their business plan was over aggressive yet ours is arguably over conservative. The board love waffling on about our financial results in the last few years, they are totally out of touch with the fans, disappointingly Wenger is probably getting a lot of stick that lies squarely with the board. (Hill-Wood's statement along with Gazidis' similar statement a few months back really speak volumes.) Just to add in, not saying Wenger is blameless, he has made plenty of mistakes too.

The biggest problem with Wenger now in my own opinion is that he is too cosy with the board, he is happy to live by their rules and is on their side, as a result he is essentially unsackable. Why would they sack him? All they care about is the financial side and from that point of view they have the perfect manager.

greendom · 18-01-2012 9:16pm

jordainius wrote: »

Our finances aren't being managed as well as some would believe, unproven players were clearly offered wages based on their potential rather than on what they have acheived, we were unable to sell Denilson and Bendtner probably because no club was willing to match the wages we pay them.

People should bear that in mind when talking about clearing out the deadwood- I'd say selling the likes of Diaby and Squillaci and even Arshavin will be quite difficult unless they are willing to take a pay cut.

Not a fair comparison, what Leeds were doing was clearly not sustainable, their business plan was over aggressive yet ours is arguably over conservative. The board love waffling on about our financial results in the last few years, they are totally out of touch with the fans, disappointingly Wenger is probably getting a lot of stick that lies squarely with the board. (Hill-Wood's statement along with Gazidis' similar statement a few months back really speak volumes.) Just to add in, not saying Wenger is blameless, he has made plenty of mistakes too.

The biggest problem with Wenger now in my own opinion is that he is too cosy with the board, he is happy to live by their rules and is on their side, as a result he is essentially unsackable. Why would they sack him? All they care about is the financial side and from that point of view they have the perfect manager.

I agree with this, but I was just making the point that we shouldn't be banking on revenues before they are received. I agree the board may well be over-conservative but Hill-Wood is right to plan on not qualifying for the Champions League.

Galvasean · 18-01-2012 10:51pm

The Mirror's back page today claimed Lazio want to buy Arshavin for €6million. To be honest I'd take it. He's clearly not up for playing for us anymore, is getting old fast, his wages are too high and he's probably only worth that much at this point.

jordainius · 18-01-2012 10:56pm

greendom wrote: »

I agree with this, but I was just making the point that we shouldn't be banking on revenues before they are received. I agree the board may well be over-conservative but Hill-Wood is right to plan on not qualifying for the Champions League.

Actually my apologies- while attacking your Leeds analogy, I intended and forgot to say that I know where you were coming from, I wasn't trying to take what you said out of context!

It's all about finding that happy medium between over-conservative and ultra-aggressive I guess. I'd like to think that in 10 years that the club will be debt free and very profitable with the ability to both spend big and pay big- I just hope that by whenever that debt free day finally does come that we'll have a board in place who will be driven by success on the field. I don't trust the current board to ever see it as anything other than a business.

The more time goes by the more I can't help but feel that the Alisher Usmanov/David Dein combination would have been best for the club. I'm not fully certain on just how much of an influence Dien really had but things were good while he was around. And Usmanov is reportedly worth close to 20 billion!

greendom · 18-01-2012 11:15pm

Galvasean wrote: »

The Mirror's back page today claimed Lazio want to buy Arshavin for €6million. To be honest I'd take it. He's clearly not up for playing for us anymore, is getting old fast, his wages are too high and he's probably only worth that much at this point.

If his sale is used to get some decent support for Van Persie, absolutely.

emergingstar · 19-01-2012 1:59am

The boards lock in agreement ends in 3 months so maybe we will see big changes in the summer

Galvasean · 19-01-2012 3:43am

Hopefully said changes will not come too late...

Redzer7 · 19-01-2012 8:58am

emergingstar wrote: »

The boards lock in agreement ends in 3 months so maybe we will see big changes in the summer

What's the boards lock in agreement?

Drexel · 19-01-2012 9:27am

Galvasean wrote: »

The Mirror's back page today claimed Lazio want to buy Arshavin for €6million. To be honest I'd take it. He's clearly not up for playing for us anymore, is getting old fast, his wages are too high and he's probably only worth that much at this point.

TAKE IT

Also whats the boards 'lock in agreement'? Never heard of that before?

emergingstar · 19-01-2012 10:24am

When stan took over he couldn't change the board for so long, well that's finished in three months

Noo · 19-01-2012 10:29am

Well in that case we should be ready to go, we'll make up our own board, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the board!

jmayo · 19-01-2012 12:08pm

gnfnrhead wrote: »

We have players not good enough, so why should we be looking to add more? We should be looking at players better than what we have, not the same or worse. Cahill and Parker are not better than what we have.

I think Parker would have been a good addition and I reckon Cahill would have been better long term player for the club than Mertesacker.
Sadly Cahill has the overpriced English player tag which means that he is indeed overvalued and wages would be overly high.

I would have loved to have seen once again an Irish presence at the club. Who thinks Park was money well spent, I will admit I thought he might bring something in shirts sales in Korean market.

No one is saying Long is another Henry or Wright, but for God's sake would people rather see him coming on in place of Chamakh ?
At least he is a battler and won't get pushed around and that is something the club really needs.
Now once again the rumours are that he will go for another import who will take time as usual to settle.

The players mentioned here might not be technically better than some of the ones at the club and they may not be fit to lace the boots of some of the former club greats, but at least they have a fight and spirit that is often lacking in the current squad.

Galvasean wrote: »

The Mirror's back page today claimed Lazio want to buy Arshavin for €6million. To be honest I'd take it. He's clearly not up for playing for us anymore, is getting old fast, his wages are too high and he's probably only worth that much at this point.

Take the money and run.
Take any amount at this stage just to be rid of him and not have him collecting a wage and adding SFA.

greendom wrote: »

If his sale is used to get some decent support for Van Persie, absolutely.

He should be got rid of anyway.

jmayo · 19-01-2012 12:14pm

Noo wrote: »

Well in that case we should be ready to go, we'll make up our own board, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the board!

You never know maybe Charlie Sheen is mates with Stan ?

gosplan · 19-01-2012 2:40pm

jmayo wrote: »

I think Parker would have been a good addition and I reckon Cahill would have been better long term player for the club than Mertesacker.
Sadly Cahill has the overpriced English player tag which means that he is indeed overvalued and wages would be overly high.

I would have loved to have seen once again an Irish presence at the club. Who thinks Park was money well spent, I will admit I thought he might bring something in shirts sales in Korean market.

Parker would have been a good acquisiton. we're well stocked in that position so I can see why they didn't but I would have been pleased with the move.

Park - the mind boggles.

And it's beyond belief that we're going to go through this transfer window without signing a creative midfielder or a wide player.

We have four good players for two positions in the middle(Song/Arteta/Wilshire/Ramsey), one striker(RVP) and nothing else bar Gervinho. Ideally, we need two wide players, a second striker and a new Fabregas.

Now I get that we can possibly mould Ramsey/Wilshire into a Fabregas role but they need decent players around them, not Arshavin and Walcott.

Edited to include: We're also playing a formation that was built around a player that's no longer at the club - ARGGGGHHHHHH:mad::mad:

Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2011/2012

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