Arsenal Banter Archive January 09 2013

09 Jan 2013 23:11:21
The problem is the board can not tell wenger what to do and he is running of the entire club.. dein and fizman told wenger what to do

usmanov to kick wenger out.

Totally agree it time someone show wenger who the boss and the door

10 Jan 2013 09:16:10
We won't buy anyone. I want us to lose every remaining game left in this season

Yyyeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh thats just how it is........awkward, do you really believe your statement or are you just saying it to cause a fuss? Wenger has a Boss and he has to answer to that Boss just like all of us.

1404

ps well i don't im self employed, but you get the drift..........well actually you probably don't.

Do you know why they don't tell him? It's because the current board know nothing about football. They are all business people.

Paul - Rochester

Come on 1404 yeah this post has had the disagrees hammered but really it's true - we all know Wenger runs the club.

09 Jan 2013 22:44:46
Some reports are out that Walcott has signed a £90,000 a week contract for 5 years. £30,000 increase from his original wage.

Sneijder to Galatasary is almost done.

As Wenger said, Arsenal will only sign "exceptional" players IF any at all. I wouldn't get my hopes up at this stage. Diaby is back and although we all know he is made of glass, I see AW bringing through youngsters rather than sign anyone.

Possibly a LM to come in. Apart from that, I anticipate no other incoming transfers until the summer.

A South East Gooner.

09 Jan 2013 21:42:41
Anyone else watch the Chelsea Swansea game just now?

Amazing! What I found interesting:

- it proved that if you defend with discipline and confidence you will not lose the game.

-it proved that fans love a GOOD signing regardless of price - the cheer Demba Ba got when he came on was immense!

-the difference he made was remarkable. Until he came on it was like watching Arsenal of two seasons ago play - all the possession, passing sideways, one side of the pitch up to the edge of the box then pass back and across the pitch, and repeat. We are shocking for this and Chelsea proved it gets you nowhere. Demba Ba came on and had 3 clear cut chances on goal and a goal wrongly disallowed - what a singing he would have been.

-Any top defender is prone to mistakes, and I hate it when the fans jump on our defenders for unfortunate mistakes. People slated Vermaelen for his slip against Man you as though he meant it...what a disgrace!

I have to say, I thought the scoreline flatters Swansea somewhat but we seriously could take a lead out of their book for that defensive display, for sure. I feel a bit better about our draw now.

Metal Gooner

Apologies for dodgy spelling and typos!

Metal Gooner

Imo the cheer towards demba ba was more about relief that torres was leaving the field ;)

asyd

Asyd you may be right haha! But I noticed a distinct 'weeeeeeeeey' when he was leaving the pitch, turn into a 'YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!' when Ba came on...either way, it was a good moment. I am not sure of any people in the country who think Ba isn't good enough for a top 4 team - except Wenger.

P.s. I think the Giroud comment is balls. Ba offers what Giroud offers plus a whole lot more. And I like Giroud!

Metal Gooner

09 Jan 2013 21:31:58
Just a thought...chelsea don't want Lampard....QPR might be in the championship next year....Spuds seem well stocked in central midfield....West ham could offer between 50k-70k per week, but i really don't see him going abroad due two his two daughters living in London....Experiance, goal machine and a free transfer to boot......a one year contract to be reviewed after the first year, just like Bergkamp signed for 3 succesive years.....Wouldnt be getting the hugh salary he is presently on, but might be happy to remain in the capital.......km

Don't need or want him to be honest.

Yes he probably does, but not with you

Not with who?

09 Jan 2013 20:29:55
There is absolutely nothing in the stekelenburg rumours. Why would we go out and pay for a keeper like that when we have szchesney. There is no sense in it at all.

I can see us buying a cdm and a striker. But i can't see it being any players that we have currently been linked with.

Much rather have stekenlenburg in goal over shez.

shez hasnt convinced me he's good enough to be keeper for a side that should be competing for trophy's. His decision making can still be very poor in some situation. Also i think he gets beaten far to often by shots from outside the box

09 Jan 2013 19:15:23
any interest from arsenal in fellaini or negredo?

would be qaulity signings these 2?

paul

09 Jan 2013 19:00:04
Greetings and salutations my felow Gooners,

A busy month indeed is upon us. Transfer speculation, fixture congestion and frustration amongst the supporters.

I am and will continue to be on the side of Arsene. I appreciate and respect the opinions of those on the other side of the fence, but I remain steadfast in my support of him.

I believe that our club is structurally sound, I believe our brand is continually growing, I believe we have world class facilities and I know he has been intrical in all of these aspects.

I also know that the financial climate of football has changed. Greater competition has led to higher wages and difficulties in the transfer market.

I also know Arsene has made mistakes. Many of you have pointed to his socialist model, but I ask you to question how many of his signings were poor when they were signed? Its easy to criticise in retrospect. Further to that many corporations and governments have moved towards this type of model to achieve financial stabilization. People forget that the financial instructions of the club come from the ownership not the manager. I know this contradicts what Arsene himself has said but that is what I believe his role is for the board, he shields them from the criticism of the supporters, it seems to be working.

I will state emphatically that I believe Arsene is stubborn, his tactics in particular, switching from our successfull 4-4-2 to a Barcelona like 4-5-1 is puzzling. I believe a CDM in the mould of Viera is not something we should be without for the past 7 seasons. I also believe that we lack a contingency plan during a match and that I believe all lies with the manager.

However, I also believe that a person should be judged based on fact not on assumption or media reports. I believe that our club and in particular the ownership and board has a responsibility to tell the supporters the truth about our spending and wage policies. We generate the largest game day revenue of any club in the premiership, we are one of the top 5 financial viable clubs in the world yet recently we have lost many of our prized assests and I believe as supporter we have the right to ask questions, I however believe these questions need to be directed at Stan Kroenke.

8 years is a very long time for a club that has a culture of winning. However I ask you to rationalize just how difficult it must be for Arsene to also be in this position. We all forget that he day in and day out puts the time and effort to create a winning club. I for one do not believe that he is driven by a financial platform in exchange for silverware, but I do believe he is trying to balance his and the supporters ambitions with the direct goals of the ownership!

I hope Arsene does turn this around. He has done so much for the club and I won't lie as a supporter it bothers me how fickel some supporters are towards his contribution based on current circumstances. Until I know the entirety of the truth I won't condemn him, frankly he has done way too much for the club for me to act in any other way!

Gunners4life, In AW we trust!

Nice post!

WG

I do not judge Wenger on media reports. I judge him on his decision making when it comes to players brought in, tactics, players not brought in, driftwood on colossal wages when they don't deserve them. Believe it or not though, i still back Wenger for the same reason you do. I want to win things and I want Wenger to be the man who acheives it once more. We have high expectations given to us by Wenger.
My question for you would be.
What would it take for you to change your mind? ( I'm not asking that in a aggressive way, just curious.)because my patience is wearing thin.
Flybo

I am a big AW fan also. I will change my mind after 20132014 season. In 2014 all of our commercial deals would be renowed and it will be FFP time(IF UEFA don't change their minds). Until then we must support wenger, because he works with far smaller resources than other teams in EPL but in the same time we are the most consistent team in the league(not as good as the most succsessful team, but it is big accomplishment anyway). And after all I want everybody to ask them selfes who can make that with these resources

Flybo its a valid question you ask. I often debate with my friends and peers regarding this exact topic.

I for one am of the belief that its only fair to judge an individual according to the parameters of which he has been enabled to succeed.

When Arsene came on board he changed the style and the culture of the club, boring boring Arsenal became the mighty Invincibles.

He bought renown talent (Bergkamp) and spent according to market value (Wiltord) and achieved unparalleled success at our club.

Since our last title a couple of prominent things have changed. Greater wealth in the form of competion has provided players with an opportunity to excersise their financial free will, as such prominent players have left the club accordingly. The departure of David Dein I still contest has left a tremondous amount of responsibility of the plight of the club on Arsene. Gazidis I believe while prudent is not passionate and endearing to the club and the supporters. Further to this we have significantly increased our debt load, this tied in with our strict policy of spending has I believe limited Arsene's ability to buy the best. As such I believe he has taken greater risk on certain talents, some have paid off (Carzola, Chamberlain, Kos) others have been a disaster (Park, Squallacci, etc).

Finally and I think the greatest factor in all this has been the ownership of Stan Kroenke. Its clear Mr Kroenke tremondously values Arsene but I strongly believe as with all his other clubs (Rams, Nuggets, Avalanche) that he prefers to work within the financial confines of the club. This in turn has left us looking from the outside for the last 8 seasons. My hope is that with a decreased debt burden that more will be spent on impact player acquisition.

Finally I believe Arsene is a man of stubborn principle. I almost believe that he believes that he can accomplish glory in an ethical manner, this is why I love him because I believe this is the Arsenal way. The only problem I see is that the landscape will make it very difficult for him to achieve this goal.

I believe strongly that Arsene has earned the right to leave on his terms. I would like to see him bring on a successor who learns the "non managing" aspects of football and bring in an a manager with a different flair. Its important I believe that we as a club continually evolve.

Flybo, I hate loosing but I don't want to win by buying a trophy. My hope is that Mr Kroenke gives Arsene the financial resources to purchase according to our means, something we have not done since highbury. I also hope Arsene remembers no one including himself is bigger than the club. I trust him to understand and evaluate his performance and when he decides to move on I will applaud his time with the club and welcome the next manager with open arms!

Gunners4Life, In AW we trust! {Ed001's Note - Bergkamp was already at the club when Wenger arrived.}

I am not so sure we are fickle my friend. Some of us have ad enough. Big difference. It's not as though if we win our next game I will want Wenger beyond the end of this season- I want him gone, I want new ideas, the wage policy addressing, I want someone who isn't tactically inept.

Like you I appreciate everyone has their own opinion. I do not struggle with fickle fans because that is the nature of the sport. I think the fact that a club can go and do whatever it likes, lose every game and still people will say 'I love this club and always will' is remarkable and actually, if we want to have a moan because things kind of suck, we will! I will always be a fan of this club, I was before Wenger and I will be when he's gone. If a change of manage brings lows before highs then so be it but being stuck in the same rut for 8 years of getting weaker, competing less, and seeing players leave, is getting tedious.

I find it remarkable that you litter your post with reasons not to support the manager any more but still do. As you know I do not understand this, and this is what many refer to as blind faith. I am asking in the same tone as Flybo, one of genuine curiosity, but what would it take for you to say enough is enough? Your post concedes that Wenger is costing us badly one way or another - yet it's the board and owner's fault? This is what I cannot understand.

I just think there comes a point where you have to say we need change. At the end of the day Moyes delivers every single year regardless of what is at his disposal. For several seasons now he has been knocking on the door of the top 6, it is incredible. We though, have been consistently disappointed year after year. When you combine this with the stories from Wenger that fail to tally with both stories he's given us previously, but also what we hear from Gazidis, and it's hard not to feel we're being duped. Wenger has a choice. He can be honest. He be straight up about so much stuff he isn't.

I would support him if he didn't keep doing things which cost us - and those things, which matter on the pitch, the things that are affected by nobody but the manager i.e. what happens during the season when the transfer window is shut- are all his responsibility. To think no other manager could coach this team, pick a formation, whip the defence into gear, select the player positions etc, and rotate the squad, is bizarre. Plenty could.

In conclusion, I don't mind one bit if people want to support Wenger, or even if they don't want him out - but I do mind when people cannot justify that by anything logical. What he did 8 years ago building the stadium and whatnot is great. Telling us it was so we could one day buy the best players in the world - not so great. Telling us it would be 5-6 years before this happened - fine. Leaving it another 2 years and selling £100m of players- not so great.

If someone gives me a sound logical reason why he should stay beyond the end of this season when there are younger, hungrier, tactically-astute managers out there who would kill to try and take us to the top, then I will consider it.

Until then I will stick by my belief that after this season he should go, because he's a 90s manager in in the 2010s and he is like a fish out of water.

Still, I will try to respect your opinion that I do not understand!

Also, I am not saying the board do not have a hand in this, they do. I am basing this solely on what he does.

Metal Gooner

Also, may I put something to you - you say you don't want to win by buying a trophy. But what if that money is earned through usual business practice and not loans/dodgy sponsorship/sugar daddy methods? We rake in the money now, yet we spend the same money we did 8 years ago.

You mention parameters Wenger works in - but AGAIN you have not addressed the issue that other clubs have better players on lower wages and sign very very effective, cheap players and we all sit here asking how Wenger missed out. You have not addressed the fact that he thought Jelavic was not good enough for us, for 9m, nor Cisse for 9m, yet Gervinho for over £11m was? He will not spend £13m on M'Vila but will spend £12m on the Ox and then not play him when we desperately need him because then that fee rises to £15m. I have asked you a few times your take on this....and again, not getting aggressive or anything, but I would like to know what your thoughts on that are.

We spent more on Santos than Liverpool did on Enrique, who is one of the best wing backs in the league. Thoughts?

Also, if you look at things from a different angle, we have approx a £150m wage budget yes? How we apportion that means that 1) we cannot afford to pay world class players and 2) we actually overpay about £50m to undeserving players every season! This is Wenger's remit, he controls this. With half an hour with an accountant and a bit of brains this issue could be dealt with and a plan set in place so that we actually free up a huge amount of money by binning this absurd 'socialist' model, stop throwing away money and actually spend when we need to. We would be like United, with very expensive world class players, some in the middle ground and some on not much. Those on not much have an incentive to play through their skin. We do not put players in a position where they need to prove to us they are deserving of a contract! And this again is Wenger's remit.

With a little bit of thought, things could be so different and with the money we earn through normal club operations we could bring some of the best players in the world here, the team would be more successful and life would be great.

I feel Wenger uses his own agendas and puts them first. If he believes clubs and the world should be run a certain way then go set up your own club and do it your way Wenger! But this is our club. I just watched a video of Stephan El Shaarawy and it made me sad - the gulf in class between most of our players and players like him is scary. And the only reason why we can't sign players like him and Mata? Because Wenger wants to pay everyone the same so everyone is happy - except our best players who do more than the rest, get tired then leave. If Wenger spends X, then conversely X is his budget. Why he doesn't re-jig this to allow for better players is anyone's guess. He'll say with pride we can afford to pay everyone the same (as in, even players we shouldn't) but will be the first to say players are paid too much and we can't afford wages.

Metal Gooner

Hi Metal,

You make some very interesting points and I think its fair to say that we can agree to disagree.

My belief is that any business directives are always driven from top down.

Decisions are made by the owner, administered by the board and applied by the manager.

With regards to player purchases a few variables come into play: 1. The decision of where to sell a player resides with the selling club and the wishes of the player. Who is to say we didn't attempt to purchase Enrique? Perhaps it was the player who decided to choose to apply his skill set at Liverpool. We don't have a monopoly on acquistion of talent. 2. Assesment of the team. In hindsight Im sure there were players that we feel that would have been better suited for the club, but its a free market. Sellers, buyers, players all have the right to excersize their free will to choose a destination and the amount they wish to purchase.

Arsene I believe needs assistance in tactical decisions on the pitch, as such I believe this should be provided. However when it comes to managing a fiscallly responsible club there is no one in the world who does it better than he, all you have do is read the praise he receives from other people in the know in his industry to appreciate his talent.

So herein lies the quandry, Arsene is a tremendous asset to the club because financially he ensures our viabillity however as of late we have failed to achieve a benchmark we have been accustomed to. So the question I ask to you Metal, are we failing to achieving our benchmark because of the managers tactics or external competition (both on and off the pitch) and do you believe another manager would add greater value to the organzation with the same confines and parameters?

My answer and clearly that of the board remains to support Arsene as such I will continue to do so because I trust that our club is being managed in the right manner. When the time comes for the board/ownership (who have all the information we do not have and know) to make a managerial change then I will support their decision and thank Arsene for his dedication to the club.

One last point Metal, you state this "our" club, it is emotionally, but not in reality. This club is owned by a majority stakeholder Mr Kroenke. Arsenal are run in the same motif as his other sports franchises. Carmelo was traded last year and young assets were received, sound familiar? George Karl (A basketball coaching legend) remains their coach and continues an exciting brand of basketball without trophies, sound familiar? The Rams and Avalanche are both exciting up and coming young clubs who won titles several years ago and are all run within their financial parameters, sound familiar Im not sure why we expect Arsenal to be administered any differently.

Metal I believe the time for Arsene will come, but I sincerely believe that he still provides us the best opportunity to be successful considering all the parameters he is given.

As always I enjoy the banter. Ed my apologies for the Bergkamp error, the mind was very tired after a long exhausting trip across the pond!

Gunners4Life, In AW we trust!

09 Jan 2013 18:45:34
Just read another rumour. Not going to bother with the name. The first sentence went a little like this.

" This player will be a more affordable option"

Yes of course I know we have to be responsible, but continually reading that sentence is so depressing.
Flybo

09 Jan 2013 18:39:18
Not a rumour, just made me laugh, Frimmy first game back from his loan spell st Charlton and he gets sent off.


Topboy

I posted this the other day, he is a liability

Massive potential, still young. arsene will sort him out. BW

I don't think he will be our future dm, it's a shame cos he loves the club, London lad, but ATM to much of a liability and missing that extra spark that it takes.

I hope he improves and proves me wrong tho

Dubz

09 Jan 2013 17:14:25
As far as I am concerned we've had two utterly piss-weak performances from the team to welcome us into 2013. Thanks lad. The fans and club are really grateful for all you achieved against Southampton.

That said, the last 20 mins of the Swansea game, in an attacking sense at least, were brilliant. All season we have seen games where you don't turn up for the first 39 mins and then dominate for the last few mins of the half, and then turn up in the second half, or late in the second half. There is never any tinkering at half time so this is solely an ATTITUDE problem.

Well lads, we've got City coming to town on Sunday and if your heads aren't in the right place as of last calender year then they will play us off the park and you can expect to be booed at half time and the final whistle if you cannot be bothered to close them down, find space and look for the ball. When you do this you are brilliant.

This is such a massive game. That said, every massive game we've had where we've won has so far NOT given us that mojo to go on and win comfortably. We've had mega comebacks where we then sucked in the following game. We've thrown away leads time and time again, and we scraped through december and only dominated teams decimated with injuries.

For me this City game is good for 2 reasons - if we win, it gives us confidence for the following two games. If we lose, it gives us the kick up the arse we so badly need.
But I'm sure it doesn't need saying that regardless of scores, if we do not perform well all game in any of these games then the fans will go CRAZY. We fans are sick of watching games where we feel the players simply do not care. If they play their hearts out for every minute of the games this month we will get some amazing results. Let's see what happens....

09 Jan 2013 16:11:13
although the barca manager has said the Villa will not be leaving in january, i think we should take a leaf out of their book and just keep plodding away at them and the player. don't give in so easily

Yorkshire Gooner

09 Jan 2013 14:38:07
Step one - find out which Spanish clubs are struggling with finances.

Step two - work out there best players, their positions and their value.

Step three - bring top class players to the emirates for way under typical value. This is business. This is what we did with Cazorla.

Why are we not doing it again?

Are you sure we are not, how soon did you know about santi, after the deal was all but done!

Mong Out!

Because we are Arsenal and nothing is simple

09 Jan 2013 13:42:12
Mert needs to play on Sunday because he completely shut Silva out of the game at the Etihad.

I'm quietly confident that we can win against City tbh, as they won't have Aguero, Yaya and Nasri and we always seem to well against them anyway. It would be a great morale boost before our horrible Jan fixture list if we win, as well.

Diaby, Chamberlain and Jenkinson are all starting for Arsenal's U21s today. I'm guessing as a result they won't start against City which means Giroud will most probably start in the middle with Theo out wide.

What ya'll think :)
Eman.

Mert was a beast at Etihad, even man of the match! City haven't scored on Emirates since 2008 so I'm expecting a 2-0 victory to be honest. City haven't won away against Arsenal since 76.

09 Jan 2013 13:36:11
Our major problem is wenger. yes we do not have a complete kind of squad we would want, but still with the players available wenger still makes tactical mistakes that cost us points. can't wenger see that playing ramsey as a LWF can never help our course. we hv tried this over and over and over again and still it does not work. so why is he still trying it? if we start with such front 3 on sunday...we are going to be having enough attacking issues for sure.
Geo ob

09 Jan 2013 13:05:47
Arsenal have a strong team out v west brom in the u21s at the moment:

Mannone, Jenkinson, Angha, Hajrovic, Santos, Coquelin, Diaby, Frimpong, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Eisfeld, Akpom

Why play so many first team players when we have a dense fixture lsit this month...

Bit worrying it finished 1-1 then

Just read the report, makes it sound like Diaby had a good game. Regardless of the PR spin, I really hope he can stay fit - crossing all my fingers.

Amused me seeing Frimpong sent off, read he was playing on the left wing too...doesn't look too promising for him.

Dicky

Didnt do very well though. 1-1 and Frimpong sent off

Yorkshire Gooner

Not a great result and Frimpong got sent off - apparently he was playing on the left wing.

On a more positive note with Mannone, Santos, Diaby and Frimpong playing after injury/illness we only have one player injured at the club. When was the last time that happened?

To attain a level of fitness beyond training with team mates....what do you think....

PingPong needs to learn the diff between Dench and Bench

09 Jan 2013 13:04:34
after getting slatted for critising the team following the 7-3 win over ( a very depleted) Newcastle, I decided not to post about they following games just to see how they went ! ( I still believe I was correct, team has no drive no passion, pass's backwards to many times and the crowd at the emarites is far to conservative to help motivate the team during matches) I don't mind getting slatted at all but felt most people missed the point in the excitment of the win, but we conceded 3 goals at home and scored 7 but this was against a Newcastle side that were missing 9 first team players and all but 1 defender and what have we done since then !
but anyway i thought I'd risk another post !
with all the talk of transfers I can't help but think what we are really missing is creativity, we are missing a player like cesc or rvp that is so head and shoulders above everyone else there cocky style rubs of on the rest of the team! I'm not sure who we should buy but believe above all ( striker winger defender ) we need this type of player ! we have scored plenty of goals this year but when watching matchs it seems difficult to move through midfield unless the opposition are sitting back ! like I said I think we need a midfielder with vision and that has the attitude that I'm just better than everyone else on the pitch ! Any ideas who ?

09 Jan 2013 14:28:27
Diaby is the man, unfortunately we only see him a few weeks of the year.

Stoner

Whatever your opinion is. Never stop posting if you have something to say. On this occasion it just so happens your right. In the future you might be wrong and get slated, but f**k'em. Then again you don't put a name to your post so it doesn't really matter if you post or not. Spot on with your assessment though whoever you are. :-)
Flybo

09 Jan 2013 15:11:53
Jack Wilshere? What we lack in midfield is a player whos attitude is "you better have a trick up your sleeve if you want to get passed me" type of monster/bully

Garbage - how much did we win when Cesc and RVP played for us?

09 Jan 2013 12:20:49
Just a thought - Would any of us consider Cashley back for a seaon or two on a free in the summer?

Nooooooooooooooo

1404

09 Jan 2013 10:48:15
Hi ed, was watching espn classic last night (when we were great), showing goals from our glorious past. It got me thinking who from our current squad would get a place in our 1998- 2006 best team. Depressingly for me, in truth, not many. I jotted down the team szczesny, Lauren, cole, vermaylen, Adams, vieira, fabregas, pires and Walcott on the flanks and bergkamp and Henry up top. Think Theo would flourish in that company. Please tell me your team as I am interested who you see as top class from our current crop. Thanks ed. Alex p.

09 Jan 2013 14:35:32
I watched that, geez it was slightly depressing watching so many of our great players, Eduardo's goal with the outside of his left boot, on the volley and from a pass from all people, Song with one of his trade mark passes he clipped to RVP over the defence did it for me.

It was also a surprise to see a young RVP in with all the greats, guess didn't realise how long he'd been with us.

Stoner

Szez wouldn't get in infront of Seamen or Lehman

09 Jan 2013 15:34:08
Are you joking? Szczesny ahead of Seaman or Lehmann? Not a chance. Would have Ljungberg over Walcott any day of the week and I'm sorry, but big Sol Campbell would breeze past Vermaelen at the back. I think the rest are just about spot on though.
It's such a shame to see this huge decline in our team. One by one they have all gone and have never been properly replaced.

Big Jim

09 Jan 2013 12:11:13
why are arsenal going to pay Walcott a kings ransom to stay at Arsenal when they let Van Persie walk out the door. In my opinion Van Persie is a far better player by a mile
Limerick Gunner

RVP's ransom was quite a bit more...

I fully agree, however with age on Walcott's side and his "growing" reputation the board will probably looking at it as a blank cheque for themselves. Walcott signed, nice little nest egg for them!!

N. Wales Gunner

Please understand, van persie wanted to go, he was offered around 150k per week to stay, but that was not enough.

Walcott wants to only be in line with other plays at about 90k per week, big difference!

Stupid statement

Well theo willl get 90k while rvp is on 200k a week.

Walcott has a better agent and wants to stay

So should we sell him and rely on giroud???

No prizes foe stating RVP is a better player. But right now Walcott is scoring the goals for Arsenal NOT Man Utd. If he goes we have to buy a replacement. Lets say Adrian Lopez for example. A player who doesn't play week in week out. How much will he cost? Add on his wages. Won't be far short of what we pay out for Walcott over 5 years. The main problem will be how long will we have to wait for a new striker to settle? Time is what we can't afford right now. That "kings ransome" as you put it doesn't look to bad now.

Paul - Rochester

Because Theo doesn't want to leave, he just doesn't see why he should be paid the same as Chamakh, and because RVP wanted to leave. The won't be a starter anywhere and is as likely to be used as a winger as he is here. At Arsenal he is a starter. He's young enough to continue developing here playing every week and still land a mega contract in a few years.

RVP was tired of life at Arsenal, knew Wenger was not going to make a squad that will compete for anything any time soon, he met with Wenger on many occasions to discuss the club's plans, which are a joke, and he was offered twice as much by a bigger club and an immediate opportunity to win something during what is likely to be his last decent contract. The two players are totally different in their demands, and put simply, Theo doesn't WANT to leave. Van Persie did. RVP saw every world class player we have leave before he did - to a guy in his shoes that has 'sinking ship' written all over it and nobody in their right mind hangs around in that situation.

09 Jan 2013 11:13:12
Does anyone else ever wonder how things would have panned out had Abromovic followed through and bought Spurs like he originally intended?

How sick would we all feel if they were the ones winning the trophees and signing some of our targets and maybe players.

Or would it have galvanized our manager and board to go all out and fight them the way Ferguson is refusing to bow down to the Sheiks billions?

Abramovich didn't buy them and they are signing our targets! spurs are far more ambitious than us! thats the sad truth!

09 Jan 2013 09:52:20
before people free out about the man city game and ticekts...

this is 900 tickets out of 60,000....

What do you mean freak out? You're missing the point. Just under one third of City's allocated tickets were returned because we are too expensive - that is a disgrace. I couldn't care less if it means some more Arsenal fans get the chance to go - those tickets should be for the away fans and nobody else and I am glad that finally someone other than arsenal fans are complaining about our stupid ticket prices!

Obviously it is not good, but when the Media portrays this as a CRISIS - I would argue that it is a managable dissappointment and no where near a crisis.

Just shows how dedicated the City faithful are!

I think your find we haven't sold all our tickets either

09 Jan 2013 12:45:52
If only Champagne Charlie were here now!

Stoner

Away ticket prices for city fans were the same at chelsea and spurs and they sold out.. its because we have only just got xmas out the way!

09 Jan 2013 09:33:01
arsenal to sign malaga gooner in the next few days as replacement for ivan gazidiz...lol

Haha made me laugh

Wahwahhaha brilliant

You are wrong... malaga gooner is Ivan Gazidis :D just his plans are smashed by the demon AW

09 Jan 2013 08:46:31
Wenger 'We will only sign the right players'.. List for Wenger:

1) Buckland
2) Shaw
3) M'Biwa
4) Fellaini
5) Nani
6) Bent

09 Jan 2013 12:48:31
How many football players can one agent have ffs and Nani and Bent...really?

Stoner

1) Buckland - why? And why would he join us to sit behind Szczesny?
2) Shaw - Gibbs is good enough and if we don't buy Baines (I wish) or sonmeone of that calibre why buy Shaw - however good he may turn out to be one day -when we have young Meade who has equal promise. An experienced back-up to cover Gibbs and Meade, sure, but not Shaw, for sure.
3) M'Biwa: hmm, maybe but what has happened to our belief in TV5 LK6, PM4 and Miguel? Djourou and Squid (hopefully) are off and I'm not against another centre half but again I'd have thought getting Hangeland for a couple of seasons wouyld be better.
4) Fellaini: yes please.
5) Nani: why? he's not bad but not good enough for Sirralex, so what makes you think he'd be better at Arsenal?
6) Sign Theo, be prepared to play Theo, Giroud, Podolski up front and if we need cover as we probably all agree we do, then Bent isn't the man. Again he's not bad, but not going to make us progress. I've heard that Falcao is quite tasty...
Max Farnham

5 and 6 would bring on my depression. Flybo

09 Jan 2013 07:08:43
Why are we linked with so many players from Spain it would b difficult to sign any of them due to our wage structure and the tax issues in this country

Spain is suffering a financial crisis far worse then we are. In addition they have increased the tax rate in Spain for footballers, hence the Premier League can compete.

Because of Spain's financial troubles.

With Spain being in masses of debt, the banks are suffering, and as their panicking, their calling in a lot of their debts, lots of Spanish clubs borrow from the national banks, Real Madrid being the most prominent.

With clubs being hounded for their debts to be paid, a lot of them are offloading high earners or high value players.
They don't want to, but needs must.

And of course, with bargains being touted, don't expect our links to be stopped any time soon.

D

Thats a really good post...

09 Jan 2013 03:26:08
i think im losing faith plus interest within this transfer window i think the biggest thing that will happen for us is walcott signing the ting, but it just shows what our ambition are seems like other clubs are buying top quality for now and future and we just buying to make the numbers up where has our arsenal gone we pay the most in the land but yet get below par delivery back edd enlighten me and us fellow arsenal fans is this window looking good for us when it comes to players we our looking to get when it comes to quality

I said before that if our sole aim this window is to simply not get weaker then that is a total embarrassment. That is the aspiration of relegation fodder not top 4 hopers.

That said, Wenger, despite contradicting himself on occasions as always, has been far more vocal about making signings.

I still don't understand why signing another mid, a winger or CB hinges on Theo in the slightest, but that's Wenger for you.

I am sick to death of this transfer window, I really am. It's a bad month for Wenger to be messing around too - his wage thing angered almost every fan worldwide when he thought it would make us respect him. On top of that, we have some of our biggest games of the season and we have loads of games. City, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham and 2 FA Cup games including against a team we seem incapable of beating. Wenger has 2 weeks to get his house in order. I can see him losing the players and the fans this month if he is not careful.

Metal Gooner

09 Jan 2013 00:21:02
In
M'villa-8.5mil
Mbiwa-6mil
Navas-12mil
Total=26.5mil


Out
Arshavin-3mil
Squilaci-free
Chamakh-loan
Djourou-loan
Ramsey-loan

I'd be pretty stoked over that tbh.

Bradders