Arsenal Banter Archive July 22 2014

22 Jul 2014 22:36:18
Saurez, Neymar, Messi - Barca

Rodriguez, Ronaldo, Bale - Madrid

Sanchez, Giroud, Walcott - Arsenal

Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo - City

Costa, Schurrle, Hazard - Chelsea

RVP, Rooney, Welbeck - United

Sturridge, Remy, Sterling - Liverpool

Lewandowski, Robben, Ribery - Bayern

Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Lavezzi - PSG

How do we stack up against the others?

22 Jul 2014 23:39:25
Don't think many of those teams would drop anyone to get in Giroud and Walcotts injury record counts against him, kinda answers it for me.

22 Jul 2014 23:39:38
We're definitely down the line I'm afraid.

For me Giroud can't be our starter. I really hope ( I believe we will ) we spend and bring in either another top wide attacker so Sanchez can play down the middle or a top drawer striker with pace and Sanchez play from wide.

I'd prefer our front 3 to look more like

Di Maria or Griezman/Sanchez/Walcott

Pace, creativity and goals from all angles.

22 Jul 2014 23:48:37
Still probably second last, only ahead of Liverpool in terms of the attack mentioned.
This is harsh. but swap Giroud with a better striker and we shoot up the list to just behind Bayern, Real and Barca!

Jenny
To be fair.Liverpool will be set up a different way this season. there's more emphasis on attackers across our forward line just behind sturridge thus a.lesser need for more strikers as we will only play with onr. Our real depth is around sturridge, but remy is a quailty CF and sterling like Walcott can play forward if required but will be a star behind the striker and is just as good in any posi'tion across the forward line.
United if rvp gets injured are poor. Welbeck and rooney? Average IMO
Arsenal are decent. Sanchez is sensnational at times. Giroud is a good striker. Walcott, for me still hasn't done it for me but arsenal like Liverpool jenny have more quailty behind the striker. Germany won their WC with Muller whos part striker.
Chelsea, I will be watching costa. I am not convinced he will do it. Good striker, not the best footballer, will not create something out of nothing. Not convinced by chelseas signings.
Man city are strong
Europe, well for me real slightly edge it but if messi and Suarez hit top form they would be remarkable.

23 Jul 2014 00:08:49
Sounds good Rocky! Bring in either of your picks or even better Marco Reus and that's our front line pretty much sorted for 5 years! (In theory)

Good post jen, I've been one of those calling for a dm rather than a cf. I do still think a dm is our priority but seeing that on paper does realy make us look fairly weak up front.

23 Jul 2014 01:05:30
This is absolutely spot on, and echoes the point I tried to make in an earlier post. Giroud is a good player, but will never really give defenders a sleepless night. He would be excellent as a sub, coming on fresh against tired defenders. A quality LW option, or a quality CF, and a quality DM. 2 more 1st team players, with a backup CB or 2 if TV leaves, we will be a serious threat for the PL and the CL. Now is the time to go all out, we are 2 quality signings away from a serious shot at glory!

Giroud in my opinion will be much better this season. do we give him the chance or sign a martinez type player?

I think people are being way too harsh on Giroud. Set it up the right way and I think Giroud working in the centre with Sanchez and Walcott will be lethal, he will offer amazing support in holding up the ball while Sanchez cuts in and together they can provide some amazing link up plays, who can forget the Wilshere goal linked with Giroud against Norwich last year. With our midfield behind those three, our attack force can be quite lethal. So for now, a quality DM is what we need most. In saying that, I would still love to see another Striker brought in to add more depth in CF position to at least interchange with Giroud and if AW can make another big big signing and bring in a really classy striker that would be amazing.

In terms of talent we don't compete but I think that as an attacking unit playing off each other our front 3 could be awesome the hold up and link play from giroud pace from Walcott and then Sanchez could be fantastic

23 Jul 2014 07:26:15
When I wrote it down I did think flip, we really could do with a better striker.

I know we say we all pretty much like Giroud and he has a lot of quality but we're mid table or lower in that list simply because of him.

Have to agree with Reus or Di Maria as great additions, either with Sanchez and Walcott plus the CDM and we start to look really good.

Big Al, I know teams will play in different styles it was just a list of what I imagined where each teams best 3 strikers. :-)

Fantastic post Jennifer and puts into perspective the argument do we don't we need a striker, but who realistically are we going to get who will put us closer to the top of the pile rather than close to bottom?
Its tough to think of someone we have a real chance of that will make the others sit up and take notice

I think this is a really interesting discussion but feel it'd be much more accurate giving consideration to the whole attacking portion of the team;

Sanchez - Giroud - Walcott
Ozil
Ramsay Wilshere

Now I'm not JW's biggest fan so swapping him for another (Khedira) and there are not many teams with a better team going forward. Bear in mind how our team is set up to play, Giroud is not an out and out striker ala Aguero or Suarez, his focus is more hold up play, being the target man and creating options for players that get in behind - Ramsay, Walcott, Sanchez etc.

23 Jul 2014 11:54:43
I'd like to invite you all to join the cult of Jackson Martinez. There will be scripture readings at 9:00 sharp.

22 Jul 2014 22:55:36
congrats dags, I'm in Rhodes at my brothers wedding, so struggling to keep up with everything (can't wait to get home no one drinks).

Personally I think we are only ahead of man u and Liverpool. Way behind madrid barca bayern and psg. Giroud is not in the same class as any of the others, even real has no benzema says it all . The top strike forces have 60 mil + players in them.

Sorry meant to be in jens post about strikers.

22 Jul 2014 20:35:11
Stoner, Jenny T, Dagenham, what's your take on the window so far? Fair play on signing Sanchez although I'm not convinced about Khedira. Rumour is we are also are looking at Carvalho if Vidal doesn't happen. Shaw fixes an issue, for us and Herrera gives us pace and potential but we are hoping for 2 more 1st team signings.

My view is the top 4 will revert to normal this year, with the loss of Suarez and Champions league Liverpool will struggle. However, difficult to call the order. Not suggesting United will win it after last years carnage but with no Champs League, a top class manager and (hopefully) a few more quality signings, we will be in the mix.

What's your view?

22 Jul 2014 21:24:39
Liverpool will be back in it again this year. Chelsea and Man City are the only guarantees. Man utd, Tottenham, Everton, Liverpool and us will be fighting for the other spots. The order will be decided with how all the new players gel and we haven't addressed our defence yet and that I believe will decide a lot same as Liverpool too. If the pool do that then they won't leak 50 odd goals and the 31 goals Suarez scored won't be a problem. I don't worry about utd, whole new team so will take time and lvg always upsets players he manages and when I say players I mean Rooney.

Pfft, if RVP stays fit we have other options than Rooney. I'm amazed you think that other than Chelsea and City it is a free for all. I genuinely feel it will be City, Chelsea, United and Arsenal although God knows what order. LVG may or may not be divisive but he will get the best out of players that won the league 2 years ago.

22 Jul 2014 21:43:23
Hi AJH,

I'm happy as of now but we need that CDM that has so far alluded us, our attacking options are looking pretty good to me but we will be so much stronger with a Carvalho, my choice, Bender or even Vidal, I'm sure we'll get one and I'm sure after injuries cost us last year that we can have a real go this year but we have to start beating City, Chelsea and yourselves.

Vidal is a difficult one to call because if he is available who else is going to want him, will PSG, Barca or Madrid become involved. They have plenty to sell if they want him.

Think it goes without saying City and Chelsea will be up there and again Liverpool are going to be an unknown although I think the difference this season could be more goal difference, if they get a settled back line, than necessarily points. I also think under Martinez no one can discount Everton but they will need to spend some money.

As for yourselves a lot depends on what happens over the next 6 weeks, I'm of the honest opinion that you have RVP, Mata, Kagawa, Januzaj, Herrera, Shaw, De Gea and Rooney who are the main players in your squad.

I'm not a fan of Rooney and think he stifled you as a team last year but beyond the other 7 I mentioned your squad is not great. You do have some good youngsters and no Europe will certainly help but you have to add some real quality for me. You've got the money and Mr Woodward knows how to seal a sponsorship deal.

RVP like in 2012 will have a big factor on how well you do, I know you have Van Gaal but again not sure how that will work out. I think there's a good chance you could make top four but it maybe won't be as easy as some think.

At this moment in time on paper top 4 should be City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but the windows not shut so who knows. :-)

I think Arsene has another surprise for us and come the end of the season we could be any one of 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

Jenny

As usual, great post, apart from your top 4. Liverpool over delivered last year and have lost their best player. Are you seriously suggesting United will be at best 5th? Have you been on the pop? You need to understand the impact that Moyes had on this team last year. He has gone, r replaced by a proven winner. Add in a few new signings and I sure we will be top.4.

22 Jul 2014 22:26:41
Jen but don't injuries cost arsenal EVERY year? I always have wondered why ure players seem to get similar injuries season after season.

I agree with AJH here I think the top 4 will revert to type this year, I just see Liverpool spending money like a kid in a candy shop who just found a tenner. Markovic for example has cost them well over 20m and this is a player Chelsea turned down taking this season for as little as 7.5m I think ED02 said, Lallana is not that bad but for 25m does seem a large amount of money for a player that imo will not get much better than he is (I rate him before the Liverpool lads see this).

Arsenal will be fine as per normal, I feel you now need to kick on though, u had a taste again last season of what u missed out on and I know your fans liked being talked of in the conversation of a title race past feb.

To summer rise;

IMO Chelsea will be fine, there strikers still dnt convince me but they have brought some real quality.

City will buy again and be strong they don't need to much.

Arsenal have brought a gem in Sanchez and a decent RB too, and like Jen says if you can add a top quality DMF and Striker, if Wenger is not thinking of playing Sanchez up top, u will be there or there abouts come may.

United I feel will be stronger, our troubles were highlighted last season with Moyes and lack of investment in quality and tatics etc, but it does seem with a new manager and talk of more players arriving that will be different.

My one to watch next season has to be Everton, they have made a great signing in Barry that seems to have gone under the radar with talk of Sanchez and Vidal but he was for me very good last season and if RM is allowed a bit of a budget i'm sure he will buy well again, I feel they will fall short of top 4 but I can even see them finishing above pool next season along with spurs under MP.

Like I said just my opinion though.

Arsenal to win it if they keep their bottle and.keep ramsay fit.
Liverpool will finish top 4 and.challenge if sturridge is fit for most.of the season. City 3rd.if they make no more signings
4th is between United and Chelsea.

22 Jul 2014 23:25:51
AJH / Chris,

I said for me on paper who looked like top four at this time.

If you hand on heart at this time however look from back to front you have De Gea, Shaw, Herrera, Mata, RVP and Januzaj as a core of quality with Kagawa and Rooney as in my honest opinion cover for Mata and RVP.

I just don't think Rooney should be played outside the striker role and Mata is your best 10.

You can't play Shaw and Januzaj every week and outside of those you have the likes of Young, Nani, Fletcher, Cleverley, Smalling, Jones, Rafael, Anderson, Evans, Valencia and Carrick none of whom surely inspire any great confidence in you.

So honestly at this moment and no I'm not drunk, I can see you outside the top four despite the addition of Van Gaal.

It is of course only July 22nd and a lot will change by end of window. But as ed002 has been saying it will likely be a few windows before you're right back in the mix.

Just my opinion guys :-)

{Ed025's Note - if im honest jen...most of the country hope your right..

I think you have it about right Chris, but for you guys I think a lot depends on how LVG both gets on with and how he plays a certain Mr Rooney.

Ed025 were do you think United will finish. i'm taking Liverpool out of the question. I think lvg is a ticking timeball.
They didnt.score enough goals and conceded to many and havnt improved ay, enough for me yet. For me fifth

{Ed025's Note - 4th or 5th would be my guess al, not having european games will help them a lot just like it did liverpool mate..

Ed025 I agree it will help them . Though Liverpool.could be out of Europe early with our likely draws( i'm honest) . i'd like to see everton.have a go again. Makes it more interesting. i'm away to bed, work.and teenagers in the.morning. The joys mate the.joys

22 Jul 2014 20:21:55
What's the likelyhood of us going for di Maria now that RM has James Rodriguez? Is there any interest from Wenger?

22 Jul 2014 19:08:43
Hi all, havnt posted anything serious for a while, oh DAGS, CONGRATULATIONS MATE.

My Mrs is a week away from giving birth to my Son.

Anyway, the signing of Sanchez is an absolute master stroke by Wenger in my opinion. And at 30 odd million is good business. let's not forget that Torres cost Chelsea £50,000,000.

Ive said before that I think Theo14 has the makings of a very good striker, and still think he's good enough to fill in in case Giroud or even Sanchez were injured. And let's not forget we still have Podolski fresh from winning the World cup(even though he didn't do anything, being part of it must be a huuuuuge confidence boost).

So I don't think we need to worry about attacking options.

I know people may not like to hear it, and personally i'm a huge fan. But I don't think selling Jack Wilshere would be a huge blow to us. The money we would get for him would be big, and I think could be invested much more wisely. I hate to say it because I love him, but from a tactical point of view i'd take Khedira or Bender over him all day.

All that aside i'm very optimistic about this season, and would also like to extend a big hand in welcoming Matthieu Debuchy to our great club.

Live long and prosper my fellow Gooners, great times are on the horizon.

And Spursman. Shut up mate you're boring.

Good luck G83, for the coming days (and years to come). Hope the new gooner arrives safe and well.

23 Jul 2014 08:18:41
Gooner83

Your Mrs (and you of course) timed that well. Baby born between World Cup ending and the new season starting. Good luck over the next week or so and hope all goes well.

22 Jul 2014 16:09:29
Not too worried about Schneiderlin to Totteringham rumors, I think they signed 3-4 CDM's last year. And let's not forget he is French and all this chat about Kheidera and Bender for Arsenal has probably hurt his feelings a bit. We'll sign him and all will be good!

22 Jul 2014 14:37:29
Alright lads new user here from sunny scotland lol seen that james rodriguez has signed for real so wondering if anyone thinks benzema might be worth another go? can't see james, bale, ronaldo and benzema all playing together in that starting 11 plus there is di maria to add in aswell. Plus think we all know we need another striker in even if arsene said there won't be any coming in. Cheers lads

Welcome onboard Scottish mate, new posters everyday lately which is is brilliant and a fantastic testimony to just what a great job all the Ed's are doing

22 Jul 2014 18:59:31
Glad to join mate been a reader for a long while and supported arsenal since I was a wee boy. Looking forward to talking arsenal with fellow fans

22 Jul 2014 12:44:51
If verm goes to utd apparently we would look for A swap deal with either Jones or smalling.
Not a bad call in my opinion, although neither have quite reached the heights they were expected to so far I think they could both do a job and can both play more than just cb providing flexibility and cover, whilst also adding to our English contingent.
They are both young enough to improve and stake a claim for the starting position in the next season or 2.
Make it happen arsene.

If he signs jones it would be as cdm and also cb cover typical wenger signing

{Ed025's Note - but hes crap at doing both!...so no thanks..

Please keep them both away from our club, would rather have cygan back than either of those two

22 Jul 2014 22:45:14
Funny thing jc7 he was the highest rated defender in Fifa 2003 on the PS2!

22 Jul 2014 12:03:06
Just watched a video clip of Carvalho playing for Sporting Lisbon in the latter part of last season and the guy looked simply awesome, PV Mark 2 if ever I saw one.
More importantly he seemed to have the self-discipline to play the DM role to perfection and realise his job was to win the ball, either on the ground or in the air and to pass it on quickly to his attacking team-mates.
Even if the fee reaches or surpasses £30m, get the guy Arsene. We made nearly £17m in found money on Vela and Cesc, so use it before someone else beats us to this talent. I firmly believe in 2-3 years time this lad could be the most valuable player in the EPL and the rock behind Arsenal for the next 10 years.
For those who disagree, I simply ask you to find the video, then respond.

22 Jul 2014 13:04:55
Smartie I've been following him for a while, not literally, and he has been getting MOTM awards all season so I would love him here.

Think the buy out figure is either 34 or 37 million and believe that was in Euro's, got that from the internet a while back so don't hold me to those numbers or currency.

Just think like you he would be immense in front of Per and Laurent.

Vieira was not a DM?

22 Jul 2014 22:47:53
Youtube has even made Bendtner look good!

I'm not disagreeing with anyone because I haven't seen anything of him but watching 3min youtube clips does not a good scout make!

Gilberto was our dm

22 Jul 2014 09:41:21
just had a thought and no it didn't hurt before you get in there dags.

for the last few seasons with have been some what predictable when its come to our tactics. no plan b as some pundits have put it. however I think just with the signing of sanchez our oposition will be completley overwhelmed with the options we have at our disposal now. not only is sanchez fairly versitile but he frees up other players who can also play in different positions i.e walcott, podolski, cazorla, the ox. the options are endless.

sudden realisation that sanchez is not a good signing, he is a great signing. good work mr wenger. very impressed. keep doing your work proffessor.

22 Jul 2014 18:02:48
Ed025. You say you don't like players changing position. And I do agree to an extent however sometimes it can work for the better. On the top of my head arsenal wise. Obviously Thierry was a winger. Gibbs I believe was a LM. Even if you look up sol Campbell he started as a cf at the S**rs. Just saying it can work. Rarely but still. Not saying we don't need a cf tho. Just throwing my little thought out there lol

{Ed025's Note - we all have opinions on things like this D16, it does not mean anyone is wrong mate..

23 Jul 2014 00:49:18
True ed025. For the record I wasn't indicating your wrong if it came across that way! Just saying sometimes it can work. More often it doesn't tho!

22 Jul 2014 08:23:39
If verm goes to utd apparently we would look for A swap deal with either Jones or smalling.
Not a bad call in my opinion, although neither have quite reached the heights they were expected to so far I think they could both do a job and can both play more than just cb providing flexibility and cover, whilst also adding to our English contingent.
They are both young enough to improve and stake a claim for the starting position in the next season or 2.
Make it happen arsene.

I agree with you Bacon, I would personally want Jones. Smalling seems to get turned quite easily by skillful wingers

Vermaelen has never looked the same player since his achilles ops.
Of the two United players I would prefer Smalling.

22 Jul 2014 11:06:34
Personally why bother taking any dross from United, they are having enough trouble moving on deadwood so let Louis Van Gash keep it all.

Both injury prone and nowhere near good enough. Same as Micah Richards, just what is the point. How many times did City struggle for someone next to Kompany and he didn't get a sniff, let alone at RB.

{Ed025's Note - your right jenny, jones and smalling are both poor players, they both had potential but have never realised it, and micah is about as mobile as keith richards due to his injuries!..

22 Jul 2014 14:13:35
Something I was going to post a while ago about United fans and Scholes and more getting on Wilshere's back for not developing in the last couple of years yet Jones has not improved since leaving Blackburn!

22 Jul 2014 13:27:49
Spot on Jenny, I'm liking us being linked with Nastasic. That kid is quality, in my opinion. Any substance to that rumour eds?

{Ed002's Note - I really don't know.}

Think i'd rather keep tv. smallings or jones? not that desparate are we?

22 Jul 2014 00:42:50
Seriously what's with the invaders from other pages on here at the moment? All I'll say is its your own time your wasting, if you haven't got anything nice to say don't say anything at all.at the end the day you can just add your own cliché's here

22 Jul 2014 14:16:57
We've had Manc, Scouse and spurs.

they're sporting lives are miserable so they wanna come here and suck dry our enthusiasm.

And before anyone points out Van Gaal at United, they've spent £60m on a mid table full back and a europa league player!

22 Jul 2014 16:27:12
So wot is debuchey then Sheeny? Correct me if i'm wrong but wasnt he 1 of the players at Newcastle that once safe went through the motions? Obviously u dnt know la liga mate because if u did u would no athletic finished in CL spot, they wanted to keep him very much so whereas barca was offering Sanchez to a lot of clubs.

Dnt worry mate u have a good team :-)

22 Jul 2014 17:18:16
Chris,

There is no relevance to who Barca offered Sanchez too, he came to Arsenal above anyone else.

Making a bid above his value for a 24yr old Spaniard who has yet to win a single cap for Spain is the odd thing. I think in your current position you are having to pay top dollar to get players in right now.

He may be a good player but there are countless young Spanish guys ahead of him in the pecking order.

He is however an upgrade on Cleverley, Carrick, Fletcher etc. :-)

22 Jul 2014 19:36:11
Name all these youngsters jenny? i'm not claiming Ander will be the next big thing I do however rate the lad, Sanchez is a great player u won't get any argument from me darling bout that 1, just pointing out to good old Sheeny that we have done decent business, after all he does seem to be the 1 claiming because we signed a left back from a team that finished 8th and a CM from a team that finished 4th that these signings are somehow not decent signings.

Yes we are paying top dollar for players much like arsenal our club seems to have grasped the fact that i'm order to buy good players u need to spend good money, dnt u agree?

Luke Shaw will give us many years and Anders is the sort of CM we have lacked for many a year, kind of a carvalho player u need who I see u rightly touting for arsenal now.

22 Jul 2014 21:35:34
Where was he playing last year Chris? Europa League. either way he's not even a europa player now! :P

22 Jul 2014 22:03:14
Chris at 24 and not to have a full cap for Spain is you'll have to agree a little odd, I'm not saying he's rubbish but with players like Koke, Sergio Roberto, Muniain, Isco, Alcantara, illarramendi and even Suso touted as the next big things in Spanish midfielders he is someway down the line.

No one really mentions Herrera albeit like I said he is a good little player and a definate upgrade.

Shaw has all the potential to be a quality signing, no doubting that.

22 Jul 2014 22:09:09
lol yes Sheeny that is correct mate, I can't argue that point.

22 Jul 2014 23:45:21
On debuchy I think he's a competent replacement for Sagna, not exactly an ambitious signing but someone whose has already acclimatised to the league.

I would wish you all the best with your new signings but I hate United :P

{Ed025's Note - hate is a very strong emotion sheeny...

23 Jul 2014 12:18:41
How about Liverpool then ed?

{Ed025's Note - actually sheeny my 2 lads are liverpool supporters, so i only detest them mate.. :)

23 Jul 2014 17:48:59
I feel like there is room there for a bad parenting dig :P