Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14 mod warning post #5144

Griezmann, Bender and a top striker. thats how close we are.

The biggest problem for us is, that I honestly don't think there is a big enough striker for us to get. I'm not convinced by the list of candidates that was suggested the other day.

Wright, Bergkamp, Anelka, Henry, Van Persie...............Giroud.
There is our problem right there. That symbolizes the drop in quality of this team.

purplepanda wrote: »

One of them needs to be a new manager, Wenger is past his sell by date, at any other top European club he would already be gone way before this season.

Other top European clubs change their managers every 2-3 years not reward them with lucrative contracts for 4th place :mad:

I really shouldn't be bothered responding to your ramblings but I'll humour you. What other "top European club" has moved to a new ground and had to make £30mil a year, thus preventing them from spending big to top players?

Did Flamini feauture in our defeats to City and Liverpool does anyone know?

gnfnrhead wrote: »

van Persie had one single good season. Anelka two. They have no business being in that list.

Still will offer more than Giroud if he is here for another 5 years, that im sure of.

Raf32 wrote: »

Wright, Bergkamp, Anelka, Henry, Van Persie...............Giroud.
There is our problem right there. That symbolizes the drop in quality of this team.

Id even rate Adebayor a lot higher than Giroud.


Though it wasnt really his fault today, everyone was shocking!

Oranage2 wrote: »

Id even rate Adebayor a lot higher than Giroud.


Though it wasnt really his fault today, everyone was shocking!

Adebayor, Eduardo and the list goes on.
But no not his fault today team is a shambles but not overreacting, we just need a backup centre half and world class DM and the defence should be ok. Sagna if he stays would be my captain choice, i know many will say BFG.

Lads as bad as Giroud was today (he should have opened the scoring in the first 3 mins) you got taken apart in midfield for 2 of the first 3 goals.

The same thing happened against Liverpool & Man City when Wilshere was fit.

You definitely need to invest in a midfield destroyer/pivot to have any chance next year.

I know Ramsey is a huge loss for ye - he was your leader for the first half of the season, had the most PL tackles won and was scoring more than a goal every 2 games.

But if you can team Ramsey up with a strong rangy midfielder similar to Matic for Chelsea and manage Ramsey's game time using Wilshere and Arteta you are really only short of No. 1 striker to replace Giroud.

Realistically if ye had got Luis Gustavo in the summer you would have solved this problem - but Fernando from Porto or Kondogbia at Monaco would be possible solutions to your lack of a proper DM (bar Flamini).

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Did Flamini feauture in our defeats to City and Liverpool does anyone know?

Started against city, didnt play against liverpool, might have been serving a ban.

Raf32 wrote: »

Still will offer more than Giroud if he is here for another 5 years, that im sure of.

Anelka scored 28 goals for us. Giroud is already on 35. Anelka's best season was only 19 goals. Giroud is on 18 this year. One short with hopefully 10 games to go. He got 17 last year. Giroud is already better than Anelka was for us.

van Persie in his best season got 37. Hardly anyone could match that, his second best was 22. 4 ahead of Giroud and there are still 9 or 10 games to go.

People are being way too harsh on Giroud and are expecting him to do the same as Henry.

LightningBlue wrote: »

Lads as bad as Giroud was today (he should have opened the scoring in the first 3 mins) you got taken apart in midfield for 2 of the first 3 goals.

The same thing happened against Liverpool & Man City when Wilshere was fit.

You definitely need to invest in a midfield destroyer/pivot to have any chance next year.

I know Ramsey is a huge loss for ye - he was your leader for the first half of the season, had the most PL tackles won and was scoring more than a goal every 2 games.

But if you can team Ramsey up with a strong rangy midfielder similar to Matic for Chelsea and manage Ramsey's game time using Wilshere and Arteta you are really only short of No. 1 striker to replace Giroud.

Realistically if ye had got Luis Gustavo in the summer you would have solved this problem - but Fernando from Porto or Kondogbia at Monaco would be possible solutions to your lack of a proper DM (bar Flamini).

i agree, and at least fair play to you for coming in with proper discussion points and not been one of those posters who comes in with "haha you're ****" type stuff.

rob316 wrote: »

Massive pressure on Wenger now to win the FA Cup because 10 years without a trophy is just too much for a club like this. Hes a great manager but I think its just time to move on from him for ye.

Agree. He is not prepared to adapt or buy, or even spend. It's the bare minimum each season, to try and get by. As such, it will not cover the cracks when injuries occur, which is a regular feature in Arsenal's season. When it comes to the big games we do not have the players or manpower to compete. Wenger is stuck in a rut of mediocrity.

There does seem to be a leadership vacuum though when ye are in a hole in a match. And injury crises every single season around February-March.

You'd have to question some of the training methods/squad management used as barely any other club seems to suffer as badly from both these issues year on year.

Regarding leadership:

Mertesacker, Koscielny and Ramsey seem like they take the game by the scruff of the neck
Flamini has been there in the past and seems to drive on other players.
Szszcney seems to have come on a lot in the last year or so.
Wilshere seems a bit volatile at times (ala Rooney when things are going wrong).

Regarding Fitness concerns:
Ye did let go of a lot of squad/filler players in the summer only bringing in Sanogo, Ozil and Flamini

Giroud is playing more or less on his own and he's no good used that way, he needs pace beside him or at least a partner that understands him, like he had at Montpellier, I blame Wenger for that.
I said it after the spurs game that we were poor and gave away the ball too cheaply and it was the same again today. The difference being that Chelsea had the players to exploit us going forward whereas Tottenham didnt.
Without sounding too melodramatic (as some other posters have already been) Its hard to know where we go from here. We have been outclassed several times by the better teams this year, we also failed to beat or even score against the poorest United team that I can remember. Yet, people still make excuses (missed 2 great chances, injuries, referee blah blah blah) The signs are there and have been all season(s) but yet the board failed to even get a few squad players in January when it was obviously needed.

Im disappointed but I cant say im completely shocked, we are liable to those kind of displays every now and then.
Still - Gunner for life