Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Just heard a rumour that Van Persie broke his metatarsal at the weekend... any truth in this? Cant find much on tinterweb

kronsington wrote: »

Vincent Kompany could have filled both those roles

Is Kompany really that good right now? I'm genuinely asking because I haven't seen that much of him but to me, if Hamburg was the best club he could have gone to when he was leaving Anderlecht, then there's an issue. Also, I seem to recall reading when he moved to City that his attitude was poor, which wouldn't exactly be Wenger's cup of tea.

eZe^ wrote:

Seydou Keita can also play both those roles, although he is much more of CMF.

Christian Poulsen...

From what I saw the other night (all I know of him), Keita's passing would leave a bit to be desired in the Arsenal system.

Poulsen is probably the best shout of any of the names mentioned.

eZe^ wrote:

If you had kept onto either Gilberto or Flamini...

Not to be a smartarse but - well, obviously. Or even better, Lassana Diarra.

eZe^ wrote:

FFS even Thiago Motta would have a added that little bit of grit like Silvestre.

I used to like Motta when I saw him with Barca but isn't he constantly crocked? We don't need anyone else who's injury-prone.

Basically I just don't see that many people around to turn this current Arsenal squad straight into serious title contenders (ie when they're not overachieving slightly like last year).

EDIT:

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

I also think Alex Song may be ready to make a real impact for us, as he has been outstanding for Cameroon over the last year.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, for me this is practically a new signing, given that he was away at the ANC and then the Olympics. I'd also be very hopeful that he can bring something that we missed last year.

Diarra, obviously has attitude problems. Didn't look like he was needed, was let go at a nice profit. Nobody was exactly devastated at the time were they?

Flamini, wasn't much of a player up until last season. Proved to be very important to the team. Board dicked around too long on offering a contract, and he left. Can't blame him, definitely the club's fault.

Gilberto, why the fúck was he let go? He'd have been perfect to keep for at least another season. When he was let go everyone was certain there was a centre mid signing coming soon, because it really didn't look like Arsenal had a choice, they had to. They didn't.

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Nobody was exactly devastated at the time were they?

From last December in the old thread when Diarra first started to talk about leaving:

yahoo_moe wrote:

as for diarra, i'd be very disappointed if he leaves. i was seriously confused when wenger signed him but i think he's shown a real touch of class mixed with the ability to get stuck in. in fairness, i guess it doesn't help his patience that he had the exact same experience just before we signed him...

Evil_Clown wrote:

I wouldn't like to see Diarra leave but if he does it will be for a nice profit

OPENROAD wrote:

Diarra has looked quite good so far, I hope we hang onto him

yahoo_moe wrote:

Central midfield is about partnerships - out of Denilson, Fabregas, Flamini, Diarra, Gilberto, Diaby (though he's not played there yet), you have to look at how many balanced partnerships we have.

Look at the partnerships yourselves but I think we absolutely need Diarra. Personally I'd like to hang onto Gilberto till summer but I'd rather keep Diarra for current and future reasons if it came to a straight choice.

Denilson can get stuck in but he's cover for Cesc as far as I'm concerned. Diaby is a good worker too but I consider him cover for Hleb/Rosicky primarily - again he doesn't do the job Gilberto/Flamini do. For me, Diarra is the one who best fits into that mould but he's got far better passing than either of them to go with his tenacity.

A 5-year deal for Flamini doesn't exclude injuries/loss of form and if Diarra goes, I wouldn't fancy Cesc + anyone else as much as I would Cesc + Diarra.

I'd have loved Diarra to stay then and I'd love to still have him now, more so than Barry or Alonso. I like Denilson and Song a lot though so hopefully one or both of those will justify Wenger's faith in them. They'll have to.

I agree with you about Wenger, he's not refusing to buy because he's too arrogant and wants his youth team to win something. My guess, there's no money there. Wenger knows best, that hasn't changed in the past few years. He's a very smart guy, and some fans are becoming frustrated because they actually believe the board when they say he has £30m to spend but just doesn't want to.

But I think you're a bit deluded if you think Arsenal can win the league this year with the midfield they have. Yeah they did well in the past week against poor teams at home, but it was only 10 days ago they were soundly beaten by Fulham. Without a doubt the team has gone backwards from last year, although on first thoughts, Nasri might actually be an improvement on Hleb. 3 centre mid's all gone without replacement. Senderos swapped for Silvestre, and Vela coming in. All our rivals have strengthened.

Evil_Clown wrote: »

Stephen Appiah is a free agent apparently and so could move outside the window

**clings to faintest hope**

i was just about to raise this point. sky sports news just mentioned some club were in for him but i doubt it's us, would be a good signing, for nothing!

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

If Pool fail to finish 4th, you'll get a load of whinging scousers, but I can't see that being a disaster for them. Huge fanbase, they'll always get money from somewhere.

If Arse fail to finish 4th, it could be a big problem. I think the debts in place are structured assuming Arsenal will be in the Champions League every year for the next 2 decades. Miss it one year, fall behind on payments, and that could be disasterous.

I have to disagree, if we fail to make the champions league for one or two seasons it would not be a disaster, of course this is not ideal, Arsenals accounts have been published on numerous websites and while no expert I have to say the figures suggest that the club is in a good financial state and is producing a large amount of EXCESS cash. I would rather our fincial position than Liverool who really do need to make the champions league year on year at the moment. Having said all that it is still vital that we do still have a good football team that is competing on trophies and can continue to some extent to fill the Emirates and in particular Club Level which is a great earner for the club.

OPENROAD wrote: »

You are not suggesting that the size of a football club is based on spending are you?

No, but I do believe that if we continue this trend, then we won't be able to compete for trophies any more (which we are barely doing at the moment) and without that, we cease to be a big club. I know we have a big fan base, but I don't think that alone makes us a big club.

I don't even think we need to spend as much as the rest, just enough to make sure that we can challenge on all fronts and start winning trophies again!

Basically our squad was too small last year, but instead of adding quality we let quality go and now our squad even smaller!

OPENROAD wrote: »

I know where you are coming from, with all the hype yesterday I have to admit that when the transfer window closed I was really reaaly down about it. That said when I saw those figures earlier( are you on awimb?) Im actually not so down now.

Football clubs can't carry on spending the amounts of money they are spending. I believe the board when they say that we have money to spend however it appears that Arsene does not want to spend it for whatever reason he obviously has great faith in the likes of Denilson Song etc... We will see come the end of the season if he has made the right choice or not.

I doubt it, I can't see us winning anything...again!

Quazzie2002 wrote: »

I remember being so optimistic and patient this time last year:(

And we were very very unlucky last season, for me the Birmingham match was a turning point,i.e. the penalty that should never have been.

We played Liverpool three times in a very short period and again we had decisions go against us in each of those matches.

Don't get me wrong I am not making excuses, just pointing out how very close we came. Teams need luck and I honestly believe we did not get it last season.

Okay we didnt sign the midfielder we all wanted..........its done and dusted now..........we still have a very good side........backed up by some injuries that are due back in the next month or so..............so lets stop all the wenger ranting and get behind him and our team.

Allows him to play the 2 international matches. I'll be amazed if he does'nt come back crocked.