Arsenal Rumours Archive November 21 2012

21 Nov 2012 22:25:43
according to former dutch player and german football expert we are favorites to sign hunterlaar in january,sounds good

ty.1

21 Nov 2012 22:01:36
Two well taken goals tonight. Great strike by the Pod. Two more assists by Giroud. Cazorla! What more can I say.
Passing poor in the first half, but Jack will improve with every game. Glad to see him on the score sheet. I know finishing top is the preference, but at least we're through. Players coming back from injury, but still wouldn't mind a class d.m.
Thinking of starting a cult. Cult of the PER! HAHA!
UP THE GOONERS. Flybo

21 Nov 2012 21:47:28
Could Al Habsi be an Arsenal man?

21 Nov 2012 21:14:51
In fairness to Sagna he's been way better in the second half...and his recovery after his slip was brilliant!

Metal Gooner

21 Nov 2012 20:39:55
Well it's half time and it looks like precisely ZERO of the confidence from the spuds game has rubbed off imo. The passing has been average at best, too many poor passes, behind players, out, to the opposition or backwards.

Sorry but people like Sagna as a RB but he just brings nothing going forward. Anyone can cross a ball and I don't consider getting 3 or 4 crosses per half into the box 'top attacking play'. He sees a space and NEVER runs into it, he plays weak passes down the line all the time and he seems to lose possession far too much, unless he's passing backwards. It's really starting to get to me now. Jenko just brings so much more balls and fight to the team, he's far better going forward and makes Sagna look reluctant to help out in attack. Poor first half.

Nice to see Pod being vocal...what the team needs.

Santi and Arteta have been busy, obvious tactic getting Yanga to mark the most forward of the two.

I am LOVING the fact that Kos's confidence seems to be back, he was so close with that header and he made a great run at their defence too after reading a pass and intercepting, and he's made some great tackles. Keep it up Kos!

But the star of the first half for me is Mertesacker, he is actually like he is playing with swagger tonight. His little dribble into the box might actually be the most exciting thing I've seen anyone do all season haha. If only he'd buried that, instant legendary status would surely have been achieved!

The defence has done well, keep it up boys, we've limited their chances and considering they've had a lot of possession that's not bad. Jack's passing needs to be tidier, The Ox needs to keep it up and get into the game more, give us some width on the right so Giroud and Podolski can exploit the gaps.

Poor first half, most notable Jack, expecting a far better second half.

Metal Gooner

Glad to say we turned it round, we had some dull moments but Jack and Sagna were far improved in the second half.

Overall fantastic result!

Metal Gooner

21 Nov 2012 15:00:06
I found Theo's words on his contract really interesting. He wasn't like RVP and Song coming out with OTT gushing praise that stank of BS in the vein of 'I could never leave this place, I dreamt of playing here as a boy and I would cry if I had to go' etc etc. Nothing like that. He's come out and said he really enjoys playing here, he doesn't sound like someone who's hiding anything, he's said how his last contract took 6-7 months to get sorted and how he's happy doing his thing. I was one of the first to say he needs to go last season, but Theo has been a revelation this season, he's made Hazard look AVERAGE and it would be suicide to sell him.

I know there are suspicions that we have to sell approximately £20m every year, but I think this year that will happen even if don't sell Theo. With Rosicky, Arshavin, Chamakh, Flappy, Santos, Djourou, Squillaci almost 100% likely to be gone by next season, then the potential sales of Sagna who I imagine would consider something new for one final decent contract, then one or two youth players as usual, and maybe some loanees hopefully e.g. B52 and Denilson, then we really do not need to sell Theo to make this money. The thing is, every single one of those players I have mentioned is expected to leave the club. They either want out or aren't in the plans.

I know it is looking exactly the same as with RVP, Nasri, etc etc, but something about Theo tells me he's actually trying to stay here and doesn't want to go. We all knew the others did. Theo's place still isn't guaranteed in the starting line up here so he must surely know he's not going to be a starter for anyone of the clubs above us.

I am hoping he knows the best place for him, on current form, is here, and that he'd be benched elsewhere a lot more, and he really should sign.

My worry is although subtly different, we cannot deny that we have been here before. Wenger says he'll let the contract run down...nonsense. He won't, and he should be saying 'Theo WILL sign a new contract, believe me'. We have had the propaganda nonsense about how ridiculously good Gnabry is even though he's done about 1 good thing in all the reserve games, and done maybe 2 decent things in all his senior appearances. Wenger says if we don't sign a replacement we'll make one. I am worried because so far this season the Ox, who would realistically be Theo's starting line-up replacement, has been poor apart from the Spurs game.

If Theo goes and we don't sign someone then it will be a step sideways as usual. It's taken Theo many years to get to where he's at now, and if we bring through Gnabry or some other kid it'll be another 2 years at least before they resemble anything close to Theo. We should be going and making a top signing if he goes. I know it's slight MOTD fever so to speak but that Giovinco is class, he's very similar to Ben Arfa, small, nippy, strong, beats players, direct on goal, he's an awesome winger and in 38 games he got 16 goals and 13 assists last season. Doubt Juve would sell him after 1 season though.

Him, Ben Arfa, Sterling...these are the sorts of players we have been desperate for for years and Wenger doesn't seem to like them even though are total game changers.

Not looking forward to Jan, even if Henry comes back it won't be what we need, it'll just be the second year running that we didn't go and buy what we should have done. Not good enough.

Still, tonight there's only one thing on my mind and that's beating Montpellier at home, and Belhanda's performance. I love that player, he's pure class, he's arrogant, his head never drops, and we should do what we can to sign him in the summer.

Metal Gooner

If i remember right we did look at giovinco when he was at parma i believe it was, ben arfa had problems when he was younger with abou diaby. sterling was being looked at by everyone when he was a qpr youngster but choose to go to liverpool realising he would be able to break through and actually keep out of the trouble which around the area he grew up in had. yes if theo goes we would push through gnabry but, we also have gervinho who can play wide ox who can play wide so its not guarenteed either way if we buy someone or bring through a youngster.

Wheres malaga when you need him?

he seems to get everything right on players leaving.

champagne charlie

Metal, nice post as always.

This point which keeps popping up about us having to sell £20m of player every year is very interesting, i'm not sure this is true but lets say it is. Surely there are better ways of recouping this money ie some of our deadwood players are on 40-50k per week, this multiplied by 5 players is 10-12m per year, but we refuse to let these players go. Surely we would be better off to realease them or let them go on a free transfer?

This figure as well surely includes the fact that we have not won any competition for 7 years so lets hope we can win something or at least get to some finals etc.....

It is just a wonder why a club our size would need to sell a player every year to make up £20m, maybe this is not true?

Ed002 seems to be the king of football finance, maybe he knows? {Ed002's Note - There needs to be continuity of income and whilst Arsenal await what will be significant future revenue from direct streaming of games the club knows what expenses it has and what income it needs. However, income streams vary and even though £20M is less than 10% of the annual income, it could be achieved through additional sponsorship. There has been a significant increase in the value of sponsorship deals over the past 2 years and I would not be surprised to see Arsenal gaining such benefit from futuire deals.}

Metal, I agree with pretty much you whole post apart from Ben Arfa and Sterling being game changers. Ben Arfa is good as is Sterling but neither can compare to Walcott. People seem to forget that Walcott was our second highest scorer and lead assists last season. Theo is what we need. As much as I would love Giovinco he would not sign for us, we are not as good a Juve!

21 Nov 2012 09:06:52
I don't think any doubts that arsenal need an extra left back and to sell andre santos. Anyone else been watching ricardo rodriguez of wolfsburg? Top talent (could already be better than gibbs, who's been great)and only 20. Ed have you heard anything about interest in this player? {Ed002's Note - I haven't, sorry.}

21 Nov 2012 00:30:00
Talking about left backs one I really rate is Lucas Digne from Lille OSC. He 's athletic, creative going forward and only 19. Sadly Lille is his choice of the heart and I doubt he'll join us. At least not until a few years and at this time he might be too expensive. Getting him now would be a real coup if you ask me.
I'd also like to have your opinion on Coquelin's performances and wether if he has a future in Arsenal or not. I'm asking because everyone seems convinced we need some backup for Arteta and no one suggests it could be Coquelin. Is he more of a backup for Wilshere then? I'd pick up Eisfeld instead... And no one sane would consider him as a backup for Cazorla so where's his place in the squad? I'd rather more physical presence for the DM role, even though I saw Coquelin playing fine football a few times... Maybe I have the feeling, as most of you seem to have, that he's not the answer to our current weaknesses. The truth is that I trully miss Diaby but I feel uncomfortable with the fact that playing football seems to be ruining his health.I 'd rather see someone with his qualities helping our squad for the years to come. Wanyama sounds great to me! Forget about M'Villa he's mentaly weak. I don't know what to think about Frimpong too he'll have to improve in Charlton if he wants to reach his goal!
Oh and if any Ed has read so far could you tell me if Holtby is a realistic target? Playing Walcott upfront would mean that we'd lack a winger instead of the striker so many people are talking about. Is Holtby good enough?
Thanks

Stan

{Ed002's Note - Lille's Lucas Digne has already attracted the attention of Lyon, Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid. He would not want to move to sit on the bench.

Schalke have confirmed that they are to offer Lewis Holtby a new contract but are aware that there will be interest from clubs wishing to speak to the player in January. Aston Villa has added to the previously known interest from Valencia, Everton and Arsenal and unconfirmed rumours suggest that both Manchester United and Liverpool may also look to Holtby. Perhaps the most interesting option that he may have is Inter Milan who most definately has an interest after stepping back from any deal for Paulinho. However, Inter are being advised by Di Frisco that Holtby is perhaps two years from being ready for such a move but in my view it remains a possible destination.}