31 Aug 2013 17:39:04
on the eve of the derby, let's examine what our neighbours have actually done.

at first glance, it's obvious they have spent lot's of money, but look at the players they've got.

paulinho - this was a solid buy imo. he seems to be a good player and i'd have taken him to arsenal as well. however there are risks as he's played only in brazil before.

chadli - meh. a guy from belgium. I watched him against swansea and he wasn't looking like a threat at all. still only 24, but wouldn't have been good enough for arsenal.

soldado - another meh. apart from two nice penalties this guy seems useless. he's 28 and has played in spain only. sure he's a good finisher but there's nothing more in him. i'm surprised if he turns out to be something else than an expensive flop.

capoue - average. we always complain when a player comes from france because it's not a very tough league nowadays. this one comes from an average team in france. in my eyes he wasn't even the best dm in the ligue 1. surely he's better than sandro but that's not a big compliment.

chiriches - so he's an almost 24 year-old defender from romania. that's where he has played. don't know anything about him but if he turns out to be a worthy defender for a top 5 team i'm amazed. or maye in 2-3 years if everything goes well for him.

lamela - the second spurs signing i'd have wanted. he's not going to carry them like bale did though. not yet.

eriksen - same as lamela.

so as you may guess i'm not that convinced about spurs. sure they have spent a lot of money, but have they actually strengthened their starting 11? not much imo. when you take bale out who's their attacker we should be scared of?

now let's look at us. we haven't lost anyone of our better players. the first team has been together for a long time now and we're playing like a proper team. the back four is superb, ramsey is superb, giroud is in-form and walcott and santi can do wonders. i'm going for a win.

1.) 31 Aug 2013
You know what? I was going to post the same thing. If we make a few decent signings I wouldn't be that worried about them. The loss of Bale will mean they lose a lot of points from last year, and they need to make up for that.

Also Chadli is 24? I thought he was around 19 after all the hype he is getting. Nothing special IMO.

Great post.

2.) 31 Aug 2013
Top post iceman. I agree and They haven't had time to gel yet either. I would've liked us to make a signing for morale at least before the game.

3.) 31 Aug 2013
Paulinio was a failure on his first transfers to europe he played in romania I think then went to poland then went back to brazil so he has already had a go ineurope and was not successful.
i don't know why everyone is bigging up the spurs they are losing their best player who made the team tick without him they have looked average in both their games and won because of penalties not scored in open play yet.

4.) 31 Aug 2013
I agree Lamela, Paulinhio and Erikkson are good buys. Capoue good squad player IMO.

5.) 31 Aug 2013
You lost podolski, chadli is a squad player as is chiriches. capoue is to help sandro and cover for back four as a matter of interest sandro is a beast. lamela and erikson SHOULD be two real stars that could well light the premiership up. soldado is a recognised spanish international they are the best team in the world right now so I wouldn't underestimate him especially when erikson and lamela start to gell with him, which I accept will take time. as for paulinho he looks like he could be similar player to lampard and doesn't look lightweight which would be my only concern from brazillian players but he also is an international. I agree arsenal haven't lost much (podolski) but surely this time round it was about gaining some players not feeding others again. 6 of the seven players are all full international players from spain france brazil argentina you can deny their quality all day long if this makes you feel better because of your lack of signings but you can't get away from them playing for some of the greatest nations in the land and if your truly honest you would love them to come and help you guys out of the sticky situation you are presently in. your ins so far flamini (free) bendtner (back) sonago injury plagued unheard of french kid and now you chasing kalou meh and venga isn't panic buying that is right because these signings are free meh

6.) 31 Aug 2013
Pauliniho played in Ukraine at a very young age but flopped