Arsenal Banter Archive September 02 2017

02 Sep 2017 21:35:17
Well, window is shut, so in terms of personell, we know where we stand.

With that in mind, will we finish top 4?

02 Sep 2017 21:46:52
Dags, I don't think we will finish top 6 mate. I think the next three months are going to be hell on earth for us. And then start getting worse.
Lol.

02 Sep 2017 21:47:41
Top 4 chelski, man city, Liverpool, man u, in any order.

02 Sep 2017 21:51:40
Top 14 yes Dags.

02 Sep 2017 22:09:07
Hard to disagree 😑.

02 Sep 2017 22:20:01
With Xhaka and Ramsey? Unthinkable on anything we've seen so far.
Our best player desperately unhappy to be here? Not likely
With our defence and one of our CBs who making playing a flat back 4 possible as unhappy as our star player to be here? Less likely than ever.
With a mentality that's been in question for years now at a new low even for us? Impossible.
5th would be our absolute limit and now even that looks ambitious for the Arsenal class of 2017, top 7 realistic still and possible European football in the Europa league again.

02 Sep 2017 23:06:03
Far too optimistic for my liking 62.

03 Sep 2017 08:42:36
Well I didn't want to spoil people's excitement Banbury:-)
Seriously Xhaka and Ramsey is there a worse CMF partnership in the premier league ?
How can that be allowed to happen at a club like Arsenal.

02 Sep 2017 20:42:15
We can all blame the board for our demise. But they have spent 50 plus million on lacazette. Wrote off 70 million in keeping sanchez. wrote off 40 50 million keeping ozil. Made 90 plus million available for lemar to no avail.
We have our gripes with kroenke and gazidas but they are not the ones who pick a team which consists of monreal at centre half with centre backs sitting in the stands or kolasniac and lacazette on the bench. They don't put right backs on the left or ox at rwb then sell him or ramsey in a midfield 2 when he plays out of his skin further up for wales. Sanchez is better upfront but he will play him on the left. Walcott is better on right but he will keep on bench. Ozil needs a free role but he expects him to defend.
The point is that the money is available at the club its wenger who is delusional with his crazy team selection and decisions. He sits on the bench clueless with a backroom staff who are too scared to tell him he is ruining this club. We need a change of direction or we will remain in the premiership wilderness along as wenger is there.

{Ed025's Note - i agree with some of that arsenalator but when it comes down to the nitty gritty the chairman and his cohorts are the ones who employ mr wenger so the buck stops with them mate..

02 Sep 2017 21:10:37
Mate if you employ a cowboy builder to build your new £10 million mansion but you've seen numerous examples of his shoddy work, noted that he keeps using balsa wood instead of steel and concrete and the places collapse at the first sign of stress, but hey you think I'm going to employ him anyway.

You know there's plenty of other quality builders out there but you employ him and hope it works out. You even provide him with all the expensive tools he'll need.

Sadly he makes the same old mistakes and your posh new mansion is a mess. So is it you the guy who employed him or the John Wayne you employed.

As ed says, you need to look at the clown at the top.

02 Sep 2017 21:14:29
I agree with you both but would also say us fans must take some responsibly too, we have made Arsene untouchable even if the board wanted to accept change.
We have been far to precious over both Jack and Arsene over the years and for change to finally cone it needs to be both accepted and supported.
Both the board and the fans have backed Arsene without question and accepted his excuses for far to long.

02 Sep 2017 21:07:18
Good post mate, but totally agree with Ed025.

The board of Directors employ Wenger, they should make sure he's doing the best job possible and, not just make funds available, but make sure he uses the funds.

Every man and his dog knows we need strenghtening, yet we have just made a profit of £17m in a transfer window.

That's a disgrace and it's a collective blame between Wenger and the board.

{Ed025's Note - i think its totally down to kronke and gazedis dags, arsene cannot really be blamed for wanting to keep an £8m a year job but them two gave him another 2 years mate..

02 Sep 2017 21:28:05
62 mate I know you like to hold the fans partially or wholly responsible but plenty of managers loved by the fans have been sacked by owners because they preferred success or believe the club wasn't heading in the right direction.

You could even sight Mourinho and Ranieri as two recent examples.

Kroenke does not give a flying one about fan opinion but simply what suits his financial agenda.

02 Sep 2017 21:56:59
I think everybody was thinking arsene was going to change his ways but its clearly evident he hasnt. Yes the board employ him but he had the last say before the whistle blows.
I think the board will act if gate receipts drop. But footballing decisions are down to wenger and that's where the buck stops.

02 Sep 2017 22:03:14
I think wenger could still make something of these next two seasons but he needs someone, board member or coaching staff or a collection of both to tell him when his stubbornness and blue sky thinking just isn't going to work.
In the past he continued to play fabregas at 17 years old, I remember one pundit specifically saying 'if wenger is one thing it is stubborn, and he will play that boy till he comes good'. It does work sometimes but sometimes he or anyone just needs to be told what they are doing isn't working. I think dein did this, viera and adams probably did this, which is why all our captains in recent years have been wilting flowers.

02 Sep 2017 22:31:01
Stoner mate my opinion is we all played a part in our downfall and it's up to us all to help things turn round by accepting change now that should have happened 3 or 4 years ago but there simply wasn't the support for.
If the board went against the fans wishes and sacked Arsene we would have seen empty seats no waiting list for tickets and hostility towards the new man no matter who they were.
The board will take the path of least resistance every time.

02 Sep 2017 23:18:05
I just think the board and fans alike have backed Arsene in all he has wanted to do in the way he wanted to do it and in truth both have been patient to a fault with him.

No manager could have asked for more than to be allowed to do all they wanted and be backed in all they do by both board and fans alike.
Arsene has got things very very wrong but if the board are accountable in their backing of Arssen then surely the fans are too.

02 Sep 2017 21:33:32
Agree Ed, seeing as they employ Wenger, and have the capacity to hire and fire him.

Either way, it's just a complete and utter shambles.

{Ed025's Note - hopefully the squad get it together dags and even if its only for the sake of their own careers start to perform, i dont like whats happening at arsenal at the moment and just hope they have a decent season mate..

02 Sep 2017 12:09:38
What is with that draxler to arsenal 3 to 5 in sky whispers forprobable signings? Isn't the window closed?

02 Sep 2017 11:13:46
I've heard a rumour that higuain, benzema, lemar and everyone else we have been linked with in past windows are set to join in January window fact.

02 Sep 2017 20:15:10
doesn't that rumour only come out when the season tickets are due for renewing.

02 Sep 2017 07:37:14
Mustafi - It seems that we were prepared to sell him if we had received an offer of the £35m we paid for him.
Taking this into account, why were we willing to sell him after ony a season at the club and what plans were in place to replace him if he had been sold?

The other question I have to ask is why we signed Mustafi and Perez for fairly large sums, over £50m for the pair, if they were going to become available after only one season? We devote huge resources to scouting and one would hope that when players are bought in for large sums, that we have done our homework and made the correct signings. In effect we have utilised £17m to the purchase of Perez, only to loan him out and in effect no longer have such a large sum at our disposal. I understand taking a gamble on low cost signings such as Holding, but surely when large sums are shelled out they are for players that we will make very few, if any mistakes.

02 Sep 2017 09:16:57
To be fair RG you can't tell whilst scouting a player if he'll be happy after a year. But you're spot on it is ridiculous.

02 Sep 2017 09:37:33
apparently mustafi had a massive falling out with wenger, which is why we werewilling to move him on.

02 Sep 2017 10:37:00
Interview the players before you sign then just like the real world.
If a player has ambitions of challenging for the premier league then he probably isn't right for us so don't sign him but if he's happy and committed to a 4th place battle he's ya man.
Simples :-)
All joking aside people can talk all they want but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and Arsenal football club have shown repeatedly they are not in the market of winning big prizes.
Our ambition is strictly champions league participation we have repeatedly demonstrated this for a decade and actions speak louder than all the silly words that next to no one actually listens to anymore.
Yes we would take a title if it fell on us but it isn't what we are about anymore.

02 Sep 2017 13:01:09
You say our ambition is CL qualification it certainly doesn't look that way at the minute .

02 Sep 2017 13:35:29
I know it doesn't look that way right now Banbury mate but it's impossible to think the club or even Arsene have actually accepted top 7 as our new ambition.
It would hurt the Bank Ballance as much as the fans to do that so top 4 must still be in their minds even if they are deluded in their thinking which I think they are.
I said in the summer we'd finish between 5th and 7th and I still think we can but I'm not as sure as I was and 10th isn't unimaginable given the players seemingly unhappiness on and off the field.
For me personally I think top 4 is beyond the club right now I'm just not sure those running it (Arsene and the board) realise it yet.

02 Sep 2017 19:26:46
mustafi goes from a well run german unit to us. he's bound to think what is going on. same as ozil.

02 Sep 2017 20:21:53
62 agree with the finishing position, top 4 we need to forget it, 5th to 7th we will do very well .10th you can see that.

02 Sep 2017 03:02:30
We're in good for going into the man city game after beating arsenal 4-0 last week.
Oxlade-chamberlain.

02 Sep 2017 07:04:38
Trolling us already 😂😂

Serious question about Chamberlain, if he'd been playing for any other team would you be happy Wenger had signed him for £40 million?

02 Sep 2017 07:20:13
Interesting question Stoner. Yes, Ithink I would have been happy if we signed him for £40m. He is still a young talented homegrown player. However, being in the last year of his deal £40m was a decent price as I don't think he is worth any more.

{Ed025's Note - in old money he probably isn,t RG but times have moved on, your average players are costing around the £30m mark now and the better ones really big dosh, i dont wish to harp on but arsenal need to get in this real world if they are to compete or they could well be left behind mate..

02 Sep 2017 08:01:38
Yes, Ed, but is Oxlade considered to be much more than an average player and the main reason he was sought after by Chelsea and Liverpool is that he is one of the better homegrown players that PL clubs have to sign to bolster their squads. You only have to look at last night's England team to see the complete lack of top quality English players. This can be shown by the fact that Livermore, a very average player, was selected. If there wasnt a limit of 17 overseas players in the 25 man PL sqaud, how many homegrown players would be in PL squads? How many homegrown players would get into a PL top eleven selection? Finally, there was absolutely no interest in signing Oxlade from any top European clubs outside the PL, which speaks for itself. Hence I believe £4om was as much as we could have expected to recieve whether or not in was in the last year of his deal.

{Ed025's Note - the price was a little high for me RG but a player is worth whatever someone is prepared to pay i suppose, arsenal should have brought in a replacement though, as a sack of money will not do much in midfield.. :)

02 Sep 2017 08:23:26
Yes, Ed you are probably correct, but the £40m fee was probably paid to secure a homegrown squad player and was considered the same fee whether or not he had a year to run as it secured the player.
As far as Arsenal are concerned Oxlade hasn't been a huge success at the club, often out injured and looking best at RWB or as an attacking wide player and yet wanting to play in a central attacking position where we already have the likes of Ozil, Ramsey, Iwobi and the emerging Nelson. I am certain that the sum received could be better used put toward signing a proper DM or CB.
As a final comment on Oxlade in 132 PL matches spread over his 6 years at the club amazingly he only scored 9 league goals and only 20 goals in 198 matches in all, an extremely poor return considering most of those matches were when he played in attacking roles.

02 Sep 2017 09:10:50
Pass completion of 84%, shooting accuracy 25%, cross completion 20% with nothing of note defensively as well as being poor in the air.

I think most of the time he's flattered to deceive and good money coming in but shameful we didn't buy an upgrade.

I can't say I'd have been happy if we were the buying club but who knows what Klopp can do with him.

02 Sep 2017 10:35:48
Stoner, like you I'd not be happy with that purchase. He's never been consistent and has very rarely shown any star quality. Maybe Klopp can get the best out of him, but I won't be placing any bets on that happening.

02 Sep 2017 11:23:18
for me he has no end product, can't cross, can't score and jumps up and down like a child when things go wrong for him, so no I would not be happy if we bought the mini hulk.

02 Sep 2017 13:04:53
Good posts Stoner

My Liverpool mate was going on about what a top signing AOC was. I pointed out his stats . he didn't realise how poor he was.

Of course a better manager might get much more out of him?

02 Sep 2017 00:31:11
£17m profit in this transfer window.