Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

lanod2407 wrote: »

"Yes I'd prefer Wenger to buy a little more but he has his tactics and they've been good for us so far. "

Let's be realistic here - Wenger's tactics WERE GOOD FOR US up to 4 years ago ......... not anymore.

I've always been a ferocious Wenger supporter, but right now I'm starting to believe that if he continues to insist that he must play the beautiful game and dance the ball into the net, I'm going to have to recommend that he goes to the West End and directs a musical!!! I'm getting sick of the "Arsenal play such great football" comments, while dropping 10 points in 10 games to 4 teams whose collective points at the end of the season wouldn't win the Premiership!!!

WHY WHY WHY did Fabregas, Silvestre & Gallas not know to kill the game and play keep-ball in the Spurs corner for the last 5 minutes last night? You'd kick 10 year olds in the ass for that basic error!

I've said it for the past 2 years (ok, no-one heard me!!) - Wenger is making a massive mistake by failing to put quality back-bone into the team. Gallas ........ one word (Birmingham). Silvestre - spare me. Flamini was the man but his Anelka-esque sense of loyalty has taken him from these shores.

We'll lose Cesc and/or other key players in the next 12 months if we're not in the mix next May. And I hole I'll not be back to "quote" that line!!!!

I have a few different thoughts about all this stuff but can't really organise them into a coherent essay type thing so here's some points.

1: The move to Ashburton grove seriously impacted Arsenal's finances over the last few years.

2: There was no way to pull this off and simultaneously spend in tandem with the Chelsea and Liverpool of the last four years and the traditionally high spending Man U.

3: However, Arsenal went very close last year to winning the league despite throwing far less money at the squad than our direct competitors. People say it was the Birmingham game but I feel that Man U or Chelsea would have caught up sooner or later. I think you also have to realise that when you take one of the top four teams and add a player like Ronaldo who scores 40+ goals in a season, they'll be very very hard to stop.

4: Now that the Grove is there, people want the team to be successful again. 'We've got the stadium, now let's fill it with trophies' type of thing. To do this I think we need to splash out on one serious defensive midfielder(if not two) and a proper stopper to play in central defence. I fully believe that if Essien and Carragher played for Arsenal and remained fit for a season, we'd win the league.

5: The latter type (i.e. the defensive stopper) is a type of player that Arsne has never had much success in bringing up through the ranks. Perhaps he just doesn't like them - players like Vidic, Dunne, Terry, Carragher etc. I'm reminded of a Jack Charlton quote: 'Whenever I hear of a defender with good feet, I think - Oh Fu*k!' I think Arsne might think the opposite way - he only wants defenders with footballing ability. I think you need one serious defender who's main aim is to simply get the ball as far away from the goal as possible - Campbell, Jimmy Nail, etc. We really lack one now and we haven't had much success in finding them recently.

6: Silverstre and Gallas are not the way to go. One of our title rivals was happy to sell one to us and another wouldn't play the other as a central defender - this says a lot.

7: Anyone who says that Wenger's time is over is an idiot. I mean seriously? We're not everyone's 'next favourite team to watch' for nothing'. The man has a superior footballing philosophy and a title won his way is worth so much. If you'd rather the Abramovich/Mourhino type combination and buy and bore our way to successive titles, then fair enough. I want Arsne to stay as long as he can.

8: I think this is the most important point of all. In the past few years, English football has changed totally. Perhaps the 'foreign owner and loads of debt' framework is the way to go and will ultimately be successful but no one's really sure, are they? If for some reason (like a prolonged credit crunch) it doesn't work out, Arsenal will be the 'big one'. I think people look at the success of United, Liverpool and Chelsea in the last four years and see Arsenal as a failure. Arsenal are not mortgaging trophies!!! It might be that this will make no difference in the future and the financial prudence was all for nothing but the club has taken no risk and is not exposed to the same potential problems as others.

9. This team has a soft underbelly and we need to fix that. I will point out that AC Milan had a similar problem a few years ago - conceding loads to PSV and scraping through in the semis and then letting Liverpool back into the CL final - a match which was dead and buried. Two years later they won the thing with practically the same squad.

10. Last year I believed we could win the league. I think it was Pepe who said the whole way through that the squad was just that bit too light. I never believed we could win the league this year with the squad we started with. It annoys me to drop points to Tottenham but that's life and they're still in the relegation zone.

11: One thing that I considered a lot after Diarra and Flamini leaving last year was about our lack of English players. I don't buy this commentator bollocks about 'needing a spine of British steel' in your team. It's a load of rubbish and it doesn't matter where they players come from - otherwise England would win every World and European cup, no? However, Rooney and Ferdinand will never leave Man U until perhaps their careers decline, Gerrard and Carragher will never leave Liverpool for another English team while they're challenging, Lampard and Terry, the same for Chelsea. On the other hand, we're worried about when Fabregas will eventually leave, Flamini left, Diarra left for Pompey and we could really use him now. Obviously Rooney cost Man U loads, as did Ferdinand but the fact that they're there for life is perhaps reflected in the price paid.

lanod2407 wrote: »

Flamini was the man but his Anelka-esque sense of loyalty has taken him from these shores.

We tried to sell him to Boro in the offseason. Then Gilberto got injured and Flamini got real good. I don't think he owed us anything really.

I feel differently about Dribbly McNoscore(credit to arseblogger for the nickname). However, I'm more than happy to have Nasri instead.

wandatowell wrote: »

RIGHT NOW WE ARE SH1TE!!! We are a shadow of our former shadow. Brutal.

Why should we standby a man who has failed at his job for the past 3 years???

There is a culture of failure at Arsenal.

The only thing our young players are learning is how to lose while still playing Wengers beautiful football.

If it means Arsenal start winning trophies I would gladly give Wenger the sack, without a moments hesitation. What Gooner wouldn't do the same?
No man is bigger than the club and that goes for AW too.

If it means losing fans like this, I would gladly not win any more trophies for years, without a moments hesitation. What Gooner wouldn't do the same?