Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

SlickRic · 05-05-2009 10:24PM

i feel for all of you to have to witness your team be dismantled like that.

wenger needs to change his policies now. men against boys tonight unfortunately. it made for uncomfortable viewing for me as a non-fan, so i can't imagine what it's like for all of you.

i would say, keep trusting in Wenger until it becomes really impossible to.

he's done so much for your club.

Mweelrea · 05-05-2009 10:57PM

SlickRic wrote: »

i feel for all of you to have to witness your team be dismantled like that.

wenger needs to change his policies now. men against boys tonight unfortunately. it made for uncomfortable viewing for me as a non-fan, so i can't imagine what it's like for all of you.

i would say, keep trusting in Wenger until it becomes really impossible to.

he's done so much for your club.

I expected it so I'm not too heartbroken. As for keeping the faith in Wenger, he's clearly a world class manager but i think it might be time for a change of scenery, we can't keep going on like this and that side won't win much if anything. Far too much dead wood imho

DSB · 05-05-2009 11:35PM

Yeah from an outsiders point of view, I'd say now is the time for Arsenal to come to thank Wenger for the excellent work he has done for the club, and look for someone else to take them in the right direction.

jank · 05-05-2009 11:46PM

Was anyone surprised really with that performance. Gutless.

It was coming for a while. Yet again the team fails to deliever. The whole squad should be made watch it every night for the next 2 weeks!

I dont want Wenger to go. He needs a change of tact and maybe now the penny has dropped for him that alot of that team is not good enough!

Diaby and Eboue should be first out the door IMO.

It will be a very interesting summer.

kinaldo · 05-05-2009 11:50PM

Arsenal fans calling for Wenger's head once again is laughable.

Careful what you wish for...

FearDark · 05-05-2009 11:51PM

Just watched the game there now as I recorded it. Terrible performance, Utd got lucky with that first goal and it just killed the game there and then.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Wenger is still the man for us but things must change, we have to buy a decent CB or two, we do not have enough cover at the back, Nasri is far too light as is Walcott (most frustrating player to watch).

Wengers lost his way since 2004, now I know we have a shiny new stadium to pay for but there is funds available, there always has been.

Players leaving like Hleb, Henry and Flamini is just unnacceptable. Wengers got to buy EXPERIENCED players during the summer, this current team is far too lightweight both physically and in numbers.

Nalz · 06-05-2009 12:11AM

get a CB and holding midfielder.... if there is cash available this season

Makings of a title winning team if everyone stays and those positions are filled. Rosicky back too

United are the better team now and will take some stopping for the next year or so, but Arsenal arent as far off as people are suggesting

OPENROAD · 06-05-2009 12:12AM

DSB wrote: »

Yeah from an outsiders point of view, I'd say now is the time for Arsenal to come to thank Wenger for the excellent work he has done for the club, and look for someone else to take them in the right direction.

Totally disagree with you, considering the clubs finances and what they have spent compared to utd, liverpool and chelsea, he has done a great job, semi finals of the cl this season only 4 points off the league last season, he continues to get us in the cl, who would you replace him with and would they achieve the same results with the funds available

Kirnsy · 06-05-2009 12:18AM

In my humble opinion :
The team is not better / worse than it was this morning when we as arsenal fans felt it could give this match a right go. alas it was not to be. but any kneejerk reactions calling for wenger's head are ridiculous. this is merely the second time we've ever been to a champ league semi final and we were well beaten by the defending champions and the best team in Europe.(in saying that, if gibbs hadn't slipped in the 8th minute im convinced it would have turned out to be a very different game.

we've struggled with injuries (fabregas adeboyar rosicky eduardo gallas clichy almunia RVP) throughout the year. there is no question but with a full team arsenal would be a more dangerous force in the premiership than we were ultimately.

We also reached the semi final of the FA Cup losing to Chelsea in what was a close game only won in the final ten mins due to a rush of blood to the head of our stand in GK.

we have exceptional talent coming through; the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela, Bendtner and Gibbs as a few examples of youngsters who will make their mark on the club in the coming years.Nasri, Song, Denilson, Walcott Diaby will all have grown as players and will be better equipped to deal with the Premiership's trials and tribulations next year.

Wenger must see however that experience is needed to guide these potential superstars through the coming years. Someone to admire and look up to for youngsters a la Walcott and Vela while also someone to step up when Fabregas or Adebayor are struggling. In my opinion a CB and a powerful midfielder are needed to strengthen the team.Likes of cana,xabi alonso etc. (my dream would be daniele de rossi :rolleyes: not much chance though!)

Fabregas Adebayor and RVP must be kept at all costs. If they pledge their loyalty to the club which has turned them into household names this will not only give the younger ones a boost but also help attract big names. People that Wenger needs next season.

I hope that he realizes the need to tweak his idyllic philosophy and mould his youngsters around experience.
Up the Gunners:)

Anyone got any ideas on who we should realistically be bringing in?
i think Sakho as CB but i can't think of and CMs now that would really suit us other than alonso?
(ps - i know you are gonna suggest Veloso;) Frisbee but unfortunately i haven't seen much of him..why do you feel he's the player for us?)

DSB · 06-05-2009 12:21AM

OPENROAD wrote: »

Totally disagree with you, considering the clubs finances and what they have spent compared to utd, liverpool and chelsea, he has done a great job, semi finals of the cl this season only 4 points off the league last season, he continues to get us in the cl, who would you replace him with and would they achieve the same results with the funds available

How bad are the clubs finances though? I was always under the impression that there was money there but Wenger favoured bringing in youth.

L'prof · 06-05-2009 12:26AM

DSB wrote: »

How bad are the clubs finances though? I was always under the impression that there was money there but Wenger favoured bringing in youth.

Nobody knows for sure, but the feeling is that there isn't really that much money to be spent and that Wenger is taking the brunt of the blame for spending on youth when actually, the money just might not be there!

OPENROAD · 06-05-2009 12:37AM

DSB wrote: »

How bad are the clubs finances though? I was always under the impression that there was money there but Wenger favoured bringing in youth.

They are not that bad i.e. our accounts suggest we have surplus cash in the region of over £30m but the club is run very prudently, which will pay off for the club in years to come. I'm sure the club could go further into debt just to finance paying over the odds for players, but they rightly won't, it is not just the transfer fee they have to take into account but also wages. I believe Arsene had banked on getting Alonso last summer but when that fell through it threw his plans, he bought Nasri last summer and has bought Arshavin in January, I expect he will strengthen in the summer but he or the club will never pay over the odds for players.

06-05-2009 01:45AM

Bitterly, Bitterly disappointed.

The worse case scenario came about tonight. To be fair to AW, we cant exactly blame his transfer/youth policy for tonight. I mean it is so unfortunate that young Gibbs slipped up the wrong moment and while Almunia really should have done better for no2, to be fair to him the tie would have been over had it not been for his saves in the first leg. The 3rd goal, give Ronaldo his credit was some run from him. Perhaps Djourou should have been wiser or even thrown a last ditch slide to prevent the ball from getting to him. the most alarming thing regarding tonight was the lack of activity on their goal because arsenal have this ridiculous policy to score the perfect goal and perhaps weren't more adventurous. alot of soul searching and hopefully spending will be done. we beat united this season don't forget so the ingredients are there. after the cruel way we exited CL last year alot of people thought this might be our year. i am disappointed by the manner in which we went out but cannot think of anyone else but AW that can guide this team to success.

Mossy Monk · 06-05-2009 08:35AM

DSB wrote: »

Yeah from an outsiders point of view, I'd say now is the time for Arsenal to come to thank Wenger for the excellent work he has done for the club, and look for someone else to take them in the right direction.

Get away out of that.

Wreck · 06-05-2009 09:38AM

The current squad is one or two signings away from being real challengers for the title next season. If Wenger leaves players like Fabregas and Van Persie are likely to follow, and then we are in the position of having to rebuild from scratch once more. This would pretty much be the worst time possible for Wenger to leave.

I know there are no trophies to celebrate, and we were never really in the running for the league, but fourth place and two semi-finals is most definitely not a bad season for a young team that is still in transition, and a club that obviously can't compete with Chelsea, Liverpool and Utd in the transfer market.

NabyLadistheman · 06-05-2009 10:34AM

I wouldn't be getting two carried away by this as alot of people are. In truth Arsenal are 3 players away from being a really really top team. It's not so long since (2 years I think) Man U were stuffed 3-0 in Milan in a European Cup semi final. Look at them now?

Arsene needs to get the finger out - he needs to buy. Either that or Arsenal will never win anything again. He will leave for Madrid because ya can't go on season after season falling short because of not purchasing.

A Marcus Senna type midfield man (Flamini, Gilberto, Viera even never replased)
A central defender. Remember Clichy and a few of the other injuries were badly missed last night. When the chips were down there were no leaders to be found - Fabregas had the head down and was bet. They need some hard men to compliment the nice boys

L'prof · 06-05-2009 11:43AM

Injuries this season:

[LIST=1]
[*]Mikael Silvestre Injury  	  Groin Strain   	2009 April 29th
[*]Robin Van Persie Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 April 18th
[*]Emmanuel Adebayor Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2009 April 18th
[*]Kieran Gibbs Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 April 15th
[*]Bacary Sagna Injury 	Virus 	2009 April 13th
[*]Johan Djourou Injury 	Knee Injury 	2009 April 11th
[*]William Gallas Injury 	MCL Knee Ligament Injury 	2009 April 7th
[*]Manuel Almunia Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2009 April 7th
[*]Gael Clichy Injury 	Back Injury 	2009 April 7th
[*]Gael Clichy Injury 	Back Injury 	2009 April 7th
[*]Eduardo Da Silva Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 April 1st
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Virus 	2009 April 1st
[*]Vassiriki Diaby Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2009 April 1st
[*]Robin Van Persie Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 March 30th
[*]Nicklas Bendtner Injury 	Knee Injury 	2009 March 28th
[*]Theo Walcott Injury 	Cartilage Knee Injury 	2009 March 20th
[*]Manuel Almunia Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2009 March 14th
[*]Eduardo Da Silva Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 March 11th
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2009 March 3rd
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2009 February 28th
[*]Vassiriki Diaby Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2009 February 24th
[*]Eduardo Da Silva Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2009 February 16th
[*]Emmanuel Adebayor Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2009 February 8th
[*]Vassiriki Diaby Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2009 January 31st
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2009 January 5th
[*]Denilson Injury 	Back Injury 	2009 January 3rd
[*]Mikael Silvestre Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2009 January 3rd
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Groin Strain 	2009 January 1st
[*]Gael Clichy Injury 	Calf/Shin Injury 	2009 January 1st
[*]Johan Djourou Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2008 December 27th
[*]Alexandre Song Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2008 December 27th
[*]Johan Djourou Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2008 December 26th
[*]Alexandre Song Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2008 December 26th
[*]Nicklas Bendtner Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 December 22nd
[*]Cesc Fabregas Injury 	MCL Knee Ligament Injury 	2008 December 21st
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Sprained Ankle 	2008 December 7th
[*]Bacary Sagna Injury 	Illness 	2008 December 6th
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2008 November 30th
[*]Johan Djourou Injury 	Hip/Thigh Injury 	2008 November 30th
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 November 24th
[*]Vassiriki Diaby Injury 	Abdominal Strain 	2008 November 22nd
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Calf Muscle Strain 	2008 November 19th
[*]Theo Walcott Injury 	Dislocated Shoulder 	2008 November 18th
[*]Bacary Sagna Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2008 November 2nd
[*]Theo Walcott Injury 	Shoulder Injury 	2008 November 1st
[*]Emmanuel Adebayor Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2008 November 1st
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2008 October 29th
[*]Emmanuel Eboue Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 October 29th
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Shoulder Injury 	2008 October 18th
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2008 October 18th
[*]Johan Djourou Injury 	Conussion 	2008 October 15th
[*]Nicklas Bendtner Injury 	Sprained Ankle 	2008 October 15th
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2008 October 15th
[*]Bacary Sagna Injury 	Sprained Ankle 	2008 October 13th
[*]Robin Van Persie Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2008 October 6th
[*]Alexandre Song Injury 	Hip/Thigh Injury 	2008 September 23rd
[*]Gael Clichy Injury 	Calf/Shin Injury 	2008 September 21st
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 September 6th
[*]Robin Van Persie Injury 	Ankle/Foot Injury 	2008 August 31st
[*]Theo Walcott Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 August 27th
[*]Mikael Silvestre Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2008 August 27th
[*]William Gallas Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 August 27th
[*]Amaury Bischoff Injury 	Groin Strain 	2008 August 14th
[*]Cesc Fabregas Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2008 August 13th
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Hip/Thigh Injury 	2008 August 13th
[*]Philippe Senderos Injury 	Hamstring Injury 	2008 August 13th
[*]Samir Nasri Injury 	Knee Injury 	2008 August 11th
[*]Vassiriki Diaby Injury 	Thigh Muscle Strain 	2008 August 3rd
[*]Kolo Toure Injury 	Malaria 	2008 July 23rd
[/LIST]

Taken from here, it may not be 100% accurate and doesn't say anything about the length of these injuries, but it gives you a fair idea how many we've had!

Frisbee · 06-05-2009 11:46AM

Kirnsy wrote: »

(ps - i know you are gonna suggest Veloso;) Frisbee but unfortunately i haven't seen much of him..why do you feel he's the player for us?)

He's off to City by the looks of it.

Also people saying that we don;t spend and that's why we don't compete.
We spent 12 mill on Nasri and an undisclosed fee that was probably around 13mill or so on Arshavin this season.

If that's not spending i don't know what is.

Typical Arsenal performance and I reckon we'll beat the same team comfortably in two weeks

Quazzie · 06-05-2009 12:02PM

Frisbee wrote: »

Also people saying that we don;t spend and that's why we don't compete.
We spent 12 mill on Nasri and an undisclosed fee that was probably around 13mill or so on Arshavin this season.

I think that just proves the point. He spent money on probably two of our best players this year (despite Arshavin only being here 4 months)

This just proves that the players he buys are much better than the majority of the youth coming up. Good teams are experienced players supplemented by youth, not the other way around.

mike65 · 06-05-2009 12:09PM

That list is shocking, once Arsenals first team squad appeared to be built from granite now its delicate crystal.

Frisbee · 06-05-2009 12:31PM

What position do people want to see someone coming in?

The only real places I'd want an improvement are CB and a sitting midfielder.

At CB no-one big is going to sit on the bench behind Toure and Gallas, so the only reason I can see someone being bought here is if Gallas is off.

As for a CM it means one of Denilson, Song or Diaby has to be sold or we'll have far too big an overload in that position.

yahoo_moe · 06-05-2009 12:45PM

Last night's United team was practically the exact same as the team we beat 2-1 back in November - so the gulf in class might not be quite as big as supposed. On the day, the whole thing fell apart because of a slippy surface - we've no idea what would have happened otherwise so there's no sense jumping to speculative conclusions.

We've shown over the last few months that we're slowly getting back to a situation where we can beat most "lesser" teams in the league most of the time. We've also shown in the last couple of seasons that we can beat the big teams too - but in the PL or CL, any number of big teams can beat any of the other "big" teams on their day, so there are no guarantees.

The fact we're still (just about) part of that set of teams is quite something. Wenger should stay, and only buy if he sees the right player at the right price. Even if that 30m spare cash is completely his, look how close we came to missing 4th and missing out on about that amount this year.

OPENROAD wrote:

considering the clubs finances and what they have spent compared to utd, liverpool and chelsea, he has done a great job, semi finals of the cl this season only 4 points off the league last season, he continues to get us in the cl, who would you replace him with and would they achieve the same results with the funds available

Agree completely with this.

L'prof · 06-05-2009 12:56PM

Frisbee wrote: »

Also people saying that we don;t spend and that's why we don't compete.
We spent 12 mill on Nasri and an undisclosed fee that was probably around 13mill or so on Arshavin this season.

Players Purchased	Fee	 	Players Sold	Fee	Net Total	
Season 08/09	 	 			 	
Amaury Bischoff	Undisclosed	 	Mathieu Flamini	Free	 	
Mikel Sylvestre	&#163;750,000	 	Alexander Hleb	&#163;11,800,000	 	
Andrei Arshavin	&#163;15,000,000	 	Gilberto Silva	&#163;1,000,000	 	
 		 	Justin Hoyte	&#163;3,000,000	 	
Total	&#163;15,750,000	 	 	&#163;15,800,000	-&#163;50,000	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Season 07/08	 	 	 	 	 	
Samir Nasri	&#163;15,800,000	 	Jens Lehmann	Free	 	
Aaron Ramsey	&#163;5,000,000	 	Lassana Diarra	&#163;5,500,000	 	
Luke Freeman	&#163;200,000	 	Matthew Connolly	&#163;1,000,000	 	
Lassana Diarra	&#163;4,000,000	 	Joe O'Cearuill	Free	 	
Bakari Sagna	&#163;6,000,000	 	Ryan Garry	Free	 	
 	 	 	Jose Reyes	Signed	 	
 		 	Fredrik Ljungberg	&#163;3,000,000	 	
Total	&#163;31,000,000	 	 	&#163;9,500,000	&#163;21,500,000	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Season 06/07	 	 	 	 	 	
Eduardo	&#163;7,500,000	 	Peggy Lokando	Free	 	
Nacer Barazite	Signed	 	Arturo Lupoli	Free	 	
Lukasz Fabianski	&#163;2,000,000	 	Thierry Henry	&#163;16,100,000	 	
Denilson	&#163;3,400,000	 	Jeremie Aliadiere	&#163;2,000,000	 	
William Gallas	Swap	 	Mart Poom	Signed	 	
Alexandre Song Billong	&#163;1,000,000	 	Fabrice Muamba	&#163;2,000,000	 	
Fran Merida Perez	Free	 	Sebastian Larsson	&#163;1,000,000	 	
Joe O'Cearuill	Free	 	Bisan Lauren	&#163;500,000	 	
 		 	Anthony Stokes	&#163;2,000,000	 	
 	 	 	Ashley Cole	&#163;5,000,000	 	
 		 	Pascal Cygan	&#163;2,000,000	 	
 	 	 	Sol Campbell	Free	 	
 		 	Ryan Smith	&#163;300,000	 	
 	 	 	Graham Stack	Signed	 	
 		 	Michael Jordan	Free	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Total	&#163;13,900,000	 	 	&#163;30,900,000	-&#163;17,000,000

Yeah, but when you offset that with the money we made from the sale of Henry and the rest that season, then we haven't really spent anything!

Quazzie · 06-05-2009 01:01PM

Frisbee wrote: »

What position do people want to see someone coming in?

The only real places I'd want an improvement are CB and a sitting midfielder.

At CB no-one big is going to sit on the bench behind Toure and Gallas, so the only reason I can see someone being bought here is if Gallas is off.

As for a CM it means one of Denilson, Song or Diaby has to be sold or we'll have far too big an overload in that position.

We also need a striker.

Wreck · 06-05-2009 01:10PM

Quazzie wrote: »

We also need a striker.

I dunno, I think with Van Persie, Vela, Eduardo, Ade, and Bendtner we've plenty of options up front. And with Walcott, Arshavin, Nasri and Rosicky we've got plenty of players who can do a job up there also. Personnally, I'd like to see Ade and possibly Bendtner sold in the summer and a quality, experienced replacement brought in - Eto or Villa would be ideal

JPA · 06-05-2009 02:06PM

If ye hadn't conceded after 6 minutes due to bad luck who knows what could have happened. United immediately believed they were through, their confidence was massively boosted and Arsenals depleted.

Indie18 · 06-05-2009 03:22PM

JPA wrote: »

If ye hadn't conceded after 6 minutes due to bad luck who knows what could have happened. United immediately believed they were through, their confidence was massively boosted and Arsenals depleted.

Whats more and it showed in the performance is that Arsenal believed that United were through.

For me the problem is the lack of a leader to be found within the whole team, that mixed with the severe lack of experience with the majority of the team is what causes performances like last night. Also there are about 4 or 5 players who need to be shipped.

gosplan · 06-05-2009 03:23PM

United were much better, no complaints. Fair play to Fletcher, being that committed when the game is dead and buried is just the thing I'd like to see more of in a few of our players.

One or two good players in the summer, a sharper defence and a decent run without major injuries and we should be competing for everything again.

On another note, I think that since Henry, we've drifted towards using a big man up top and IMO it's never really worked that well for us.

Most likely because we're caught between two styles but never properly committing to one, evidenced by poor crossing, Bendtner's popping up on the wing frequently and Ade's generally crap attempts to drop back and become a passer and mover as opposed to a big lump of a centre forward.

I mean, if you want a big man up top then get someone like Drogba and start defending like Chelsea. Otherwise, if we're going to be the best of the rest (which I think we will playing big men that want to get involved too much) then I'd rather just see us field Van Persie/Eduardo/Arshavin as the strikers and ping the ball around on the deck as we used to.

On even another note, Walcott's game has been nagging me for ages. I just always thought that he got too much praise for simply being the best English player in the squad. Over the last two games, Man U simply denied him any space to run into and he had absolutely nothing else to threaten them with. Hopefully he's not finished developing yet but he needs to add some things to his game if he wants to become more than a one trick pony ... that said, he is very good at that one trick.

itsjaybud · 06-05-2009 04:08PM

adebayor story

DenMan · 06-05-2009 04:10PM

Why did you have to post that? Poor guy.

Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Comments