Then there is the theory that AW doesn’t want to scupper the chances of the younger players getting first team opportunities which is admirable and I for one have longed for the day when we actually have a few players competing for places in the England squad again.
Congratulations to Kieran Gibbs who was completely unfazed by the occassion last night and was one of England’s best players in the second half. Unfortunately Jack Wilshere didn’t really have enough time to show what he could do coming on with only 10 minutes to go.
I would also hate to see us become a buying club making wholesale changes season after season and simply paying whatever it takes to get the next ‘star’ player who will transform the team from average Joes to title challengers only to see the ‘team’ become a collection of ego’s and starnames rather than a capable solid unit (team). It isn’t the Wenger way and I am glad of that however the sad truth is that if we had that relatively minor investment a couple of seasons ago things could have been so very different. Song was a revelation in the holding role last year with his power and energy but does he need help and do we need more cover/options ?
This is the bit where I have become unsure. I find myself in two minds as to whether the need is there anymore with so much young talent available…but potential is one thing, stepping up to the mark is another and the question is do we take the gamble that one or more of these lads will sieze the opportunity ? The biggest frustration for me during these years of financial constraint disguised as “project youth” has been the reluctance of players to take their shot and prove their worth.
We have seen Frimpong have a great couple of games in the Emirates cup in the holding role and this certainly gives us hope for the future along with Eastmond and Lansbury who could also provide alternatives to the obvious purchase of a ready-made player but we have been teased with such promise before. A two-game friendly show-piece is a totally different ball game from the week-in week-out battles of the premiership.
Whether the fear of failure or the lack of desire or purely not being good enough has restricted some of the young players in the past I dont know but does AW gamble again on so much potential or buy a more mature player to help bring these lads on? Personally I prefer the latter, IMO the young players at the club have had to hit the ground running and this is why many have fallen. As good as they are they would be better if they had the opportunity to learn from more experienced players whilst ultimately striving to take the position for their own.
Its been said many times but over the years we have released too much experience too readily and left the apprentices to learn their trade for themselves. Sol proved in a small way last season what a difference an older head can bring to the game and to me unfortunately I’m going to be sitting here at christmas hoping AW will bring in a CM in the January sales again!
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morning charey, rico again
and welcome back braddy. yep its been a well dissapointing (lack of) transfer period but i’m well excited about sunday….
not much chance of gerrard having two good games in a row is there??? hope not!
i thought gibbs and yound looked brill together last night, that for me will be the future of englands left flank.
walcott looked pretty good too.
i hope he rips the dippers to shreds on sunday, one good thing is that liverpool will be at home and wont be looking to play on the break, we have as good a chance as them to get the 3 pts.
i agree 100%
song can be second dm or utility player and still play most games.
time to sell clichy me thinks!
good post barumg, i think the DM aint gonna happen, i think frimpong did enough.
for me i would like to see a change in formation that saw frimpong sitting back with song which hopefully would go someway to shoring up our defensive frailities of last season.
I know that would leave conundrums of which creative midfielder that we’d leave out but hey ho.
good post man, if wenger buys kompany he can play cb & dm…problem solved! Then buy a fcking goal keeper and we’ll be all set!!
Weak in the middle,weak in defence and as for the goal keeper’s,s.n.m.we should be in for a great season,thanks arsene f.c
anyone know why torres and reina didnt feature for spain last night? did they even travel?
You have good points. This is what Barca is doing. Matching the experience with the apprentices. This is what Mr Wenger fails to do and this is why I question our chances of winning anything every season. I don’t want to say much b’cos some would ask for my head. Up Gooners
because they are a brace of cnts…
good point colin however half the spanish squad are what you called them, yet they travelled. 😉
Good post Barum,
Very interesting subject and very topical. 🙂
Did you read in the morning papers that Aston Villa were interested in buying Almunia? Apparently they are about to sell Friedel to Fulham.
Also that Schwarzer is flying back early from his Australia game to discuss his future with that bundle of mischief Mark Hughes.
Things could be coming to a head in the GK merry go round. 🙂
good morning Red
it wont be sorted for the weekend though will it? are you for almunia or flappy starting?
Morning all…
I agree with tommy, Frimpong has done enough to convince wenger not to spend, a good post that reflects how we all must feel…. sadly!
And I am cheesed off that cesc played last night, he better be on the park for the dipper game!!
Yeah Rico it all seems a little odd this spain business
tommy, very odd, wenger says he will ‘be short’ for Anfield, why?? He played about an hours footie in SA and is deemed unfit, what utter garbage, robin yes, cesc, no way, he should be told to wake up and smell the gravy, we pay his wages and he should be putiing us first… if there was any slight doubt he sjhould not have gone with the spanish party and ceratinly should not have been risked!
Grrrrr
Morning all,
Its pretty obvious that Almunia will start on Saturday. Unfortunately Flappy’s confidence is shot to pieces and it wouldn’t be fair to put him under that pressure. He is the one I think should go out on loan.
Kieran Gibbs showed yesterday that some players can take the pressure and perform at a young age. We have no evidence to say that Chesney is not of a similar mindset. He was excellent at Brentford and I have not seen any incidents where he has lost his bottle.
No problem with signing experienced players to complement and help to develop our younger players in principle, but I think DM is an area we no longer need to recruit for: Song, backed up by Eastmond, Denilson, Frimpong, Nordtveit and Ramsey is more than sufficient, even if Song plays a few games at CB, where we are deficient.
And much as I love Clichy, I really do think moving him on some time in the next 12 months would be a good move, Gibbs is a fantastic player and should be in the first team.
I wonder if Reina pulled a Barca shirt over Cesc’s head again in Mexico last night.
In descending order of c**tishness I would put the Barca players in this order:
Xavi(by a distance, drunk from swallowing pints of Barca DNA from sources I won’t mention)
Puyol(hard on Xavi’s rear, as he likes it with his 1980’s glam metal gay hairdo)
Pique(Still doing ole bacon faces dirty work for him, once a mankskummer, always a mankskummer)
Busquets (silly name, silly guy and a girly, cheating diver to boot)
Messi (sadly getting in on the classless behaviour even though he has Newell’s boys DNA and should morally be allowed to “go home” to Argentina)
Iniesta (couldn’t resist joining in the “fun”)
Villa(see Iniesta above)
Hi Rasp, i would rather see Chesney than either Almunia or Flappy, Chesney won’t stand flat footed on his line when a cross gets whipped in… he got more about him already than either of the other two..
in fact one could put flappy and almunia together and we still wouldn’t see a great keeper….
yes Rasp i think Almunia is 100% to start, as you say flappy is zero confidence.
i remember when flappy first came i thought he was fab (pardon the pun), he was confident seemed like a good shot stopper but the big one for me was that he wasnt scared to come and collect crosses, he was sort of commanding!
now fabianski is confidence shot, maybe chezzer is ready but wenger may be a little too scared to throw him in the mix from what happened to fabs.
you think reina travelled charey??
I assume he did travel TommyS – purely for the “wind up ” value of goading Cesc !
If I was in charge of sorting ouit the goalie sitation I would flog both the Clown and Flappy and let Chesney & Vito fight it out for the number 2 spot(I mean 2nd GK not right back) after having brought in an established number one.
Morning all,
Kyzone….no one on here throws insults about..nwell no one who sticks around anyway.
Great post Barum. I have the same dilemna re ‘buying stars’.
“hate to see us become a buying club making wholesale changes season after season” – Quality !!!
Sharkey, just two additions would be nice though 🙂
chary, spot on, just what i would do with the keepers too…
I just wish le boss would see it too, Rico. I’m still annoyed at how he talked about “we would be reassured by 2 or 3 world class signings” and then we got no one.
He never sees anything chary….
time is ticking by too, 18 days left to sort us out, i am getting less and less confident as the days go by sadly….
catch you guys and gals later….
I’m going to the Blackpool game Rico, but if we end up with the present gk/cb position I’m quite sure I’m not going to bother going to many more games and perhaps stopping blogging as it’s getting quite depressing – I have enough “real life” stuff to depress me without the hurt of my club imploding through squad mismanagement. It’s this feeling that’s led to season tickets being more readily available. Of course I’ll always be a gooner but the motivation to go to games will slowly trickle away.
just caught you chary, i can understand what you are saying…. i’m just hoping a miracle happens and wenger still surprises us before the window closes….
True Rico…but Schwarzer and Spahic will do for me.
I cringe everytime I hear ‘if we get x and Y then the league is ours’. Footballs just not that simple.
Maybe I’m an old sentimentalist who likes to see players develop. Who loves to see a relative unknown join our club and take the Prem by storm.
Nothiong but nothiong pleased me more than seeing our beloved team spend under £2m (Mad Jens and Gael) in the summer of 2003 and proceed to ram the criticism (and laughter) right back down peoples throats.
I’d spent that summer stating/arguing that we’d been the best team in 2003 and had actually chucked/lost the League, and that there were very few players who could improve our first team.
Same thing almost happened last season !
Nothing but nothing…is that even alllowable/correct.
Is that a new nadir for my typos…doubling them up!
All these questions to self – I’m starting to sound like Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb now.
Oh dear, I’ve just seen the goal Fabianski conceded against Cameroon last night …. he really needs a run of games in a low-pressure environment. Maybe Brentford would take him for a year. I can’t be angry about the guy, he must really be in a state.
S Sure – do you not think that our youngsters would improve quicker with some experience in the team to show them how it’s done? I don’t believe the blend of youth/potential and experience has been right since the summer we lost Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto without replacing them.
Here’s one Polish fan’s comment on Fabianski’s performance against Cameroon: “has problems defending against corner kicks. Caught in no man’s land twice, we’re lucky that Eto’o didn’t score when he tried to lob Fabian in the 3rd minute. Made some good decisions as well.” That said, it sounds like there were plenty of culprits for Poalnd’s 3-0 defeat.
Morning all.
Morning all,Nice read Barum but worry not. Chary we will have our new CB and GK and you will have wasted all that nervous energy for the lack of a little patience.
DM we have a gaggle of them coming through don’t waste the money AW
Good times are a comming, miles of smiles for Rasp are just around the corner.
Oh happy days.
Morning Kelsey – or should I say afternoon now.
Nice post barumgonner.
It’s all about finance.
We have spent half in the last 4 years as to the 4 years previously,and of course the main reason was the financing of the stadium and the highbury square project.
IMO the main fault with Wenger was that the over 30 rule shot him in the foot.We let the likes of Pires,Gilberto and even lehmann leave too early and therefore project youth was implemented to a bigger degree than we thought and we didn’t maintain a balance.
Well its a funny one Chary, cos I’m not too sure that Song would have learned a lot from watching Yaya run our midfield.
Having said that our team clearly lacks a proper leader who will tell players their jobs and make it clear that what he says goes.
I can imagine the likes of BigTone or Scumbag JT pinning players to dressing room walls and ‘educating’ players about the exact level of committment that is required.
I think (even asan AKB) that this is Arsene’s major fault…ie that he is too indulgent of many players. Go thru the motions, play again next week. And when Gallas speak sout about it, then he’s painted as the bad guy.
Another caveat coming !
Occasioally you get ‘leaders’ who are mostly self serving, who are as bothered about who sits where on the team bus, rather than the greater good of team performance, and I think that both Gallas and Thierry fall into this category.
I still bristle when I think of how poorly Thierry treated Reyes
chary it was 36 degrees here last night at midnight, no fun.
I hope so too Dandan – my dream would be Friedel and Subotic in at the bare minimum and Mashers as competiton/cover for Song.
Tommystout,
Sorry, I did not intend to ignore you. I had to go out before I saw your question to me regarding the GK’s.
Actually, since then, Rasp and others have said who the GK should be for Sunday. I particular agree with Rasp that Flappy simply cannot be put into the inferno of Anfield.
His confidence has been shot to pieces and I think it is a great shame because he does have all the physical attributes, however, Psychologically he is at a low ebb. Pity.
S Sure, I think it’s very telling that our 2 world cup finalists learnt their trade whilst playing with the likes of DB10, Bobby7 and TH14; who does Song learn from ? Denilson, Diaby ?
Having a three quarters of your squad at the same early stage of development of their game is as bad as having all your players grow old together, like the Chavs will soon find out.
The age profile of our squad has been imbalanced for far too long and there seems to be a hastiness to bundle the over 30’s out of the door (regardless of how well they play) which is unseemly. These are considerations removed from simply not buying expensive players – it’s called retaining the quality you have.
You must be in the tropics Kelsey, it was 12 degrees here last night!
I just more or less said that :)chary
Kels – I hear that a lot re the over 30’s, but will respectfully disagree.
Pires really didn;t play a lot in his final season, and I was very surprisd that he started thefinal ahead of Reyes.
Gilberto really didn;t look up to it in his last few apps forus. Admittedly, they were towards the end of a season in which he had hardly played. But I remember in particular a couple of ‘non tackles’ against the Spuds in the CC.
Both great Arsenal players, but I do think they needed lower tempo leagues.
Another point is whether or not we let them go or o tey chose to go having received better offers elsewhere.
We didn’t exactly ‘let Bergkamp go’ did we..? He CHOSE to keep signing what he was offered.
Oh yeah Kelsey – didn’t see that. 😦
CharyB,
You have some delightful dreams! Mine are far more graphic and never include footballers! 🙂
Kelsey, I hope you don’t mind me disagreeing with you about the three over 30’s you mention.
Pires said in aninterview recently, that whatever blandishments Arsene offered him, he was so gutted being subbed in the CL final he intended to leave.
Gilberto, sweet guy that he was, admitted that he had lost half a yard of pace, but felt he could still do a job for us. Sadly, I’m not sure in the PL that was true. (not that Denilson had much pace either, but he has bags of energy).
Mad Jens was well past 30 when he left, and if Arsene had replaced him with a top goalkeeper at that time we would not be in this situation now. (hindsight and all that, I know). 🙂
How many times have we heard Wenger say after a defeat that we lost the game because we were naïve? With youth there is niavete so either keep your experienced players if they are performing or bring in experience where necessary if they are not.
Every time I heard that in a post match interview it made me groan because if you know about the lack of experience then why not address the issue? How an earth can letting all those experienced midfielders leave in the summer of 2008 have been any good for the team balance?
Sharkey,
I see where you are coming from,but Gilberto if i remember had family tproblems and was in brazil for a while and i have watched pires over here and he still looked quite useful.
Even reyes who was cast aside by everyone had quite a good season at Athletico just now.
cesc had the benefit at 17 to be in the first team with the invinsibles, we don’t have those luxuries anymore.
Morning/Afternoon.
Fine post Barum. Hope to read many more.
I agree entirely about our weakened midfield. We play Diaby to add some height to the defence and what happens (OT o.g.). Denilson is a worry for me – he is simply not good enough for the team. I wrote a piece trying to fid positives (his goal tally for one) but in all honesty can you imagine winning the title with him in the side??
Chary. Spot on about the GK’s. Get rid of two, buy one.
Kelsey. Last night it was 14C and absolutely throwing it down with rain. Same expected today. I would swap for air con and 36C !
i give in then.You have both proved me wrong, but i think you get my gist.Where is the seasoned pro now in our team ?
Chary you seem to be praisning Chelsea for retaining older players but also berating then for having an ageing squad !
Note my response to Kels re our over 30’s, and I’l add that to keep certain players you have to pay them a premium. Look at Gallas’ lack of success at getting a better contract than we’ve offered. Joe’s Cole’s lack of options when it was clear that he wanted £100k+ pw.
Chelski keep their players by offering obscene amounts and long contracts. When that player’s performance drop, Chelsea loan them out and continue to play most of their wages, cos they just can’t sell players who are on those salaries. Crespo, Shevy, Veron et al
You are not wrong Kelsey.
All these opinions are based on personal observations and are always subjective. 🙂
Who can definitively say which is right?
Well RedA – I was just using a figure of speech; my actual dreams are generally just random nonsensical scenes that mean nothing.
Kelsey.
Cesc has played over 200 PL games. So has Clichy. Arshavin is captain of his country. RvP a WC finalist, Sagna a seasoned pro. TR another national captain.
We have the seasoned pros but not all of them have WC winners medals 🙂
CharyB,
I know, just teasing! I never remember mind, which is abit worrying. 🙂
S Sure – us and the Chavs seem to be 2 extremes, neither are optimal the middle ground is best; anyway perish the thought I’d praise those scummy bas***ds from the bus stop in Fulham!
ooops , just checked.
Cesc has played 187 and Clichy 154 (wikipedia), but you get the gist
I wish I could have some pleasant dreams too though Red A !
It would be totally unacceptable for AW to keep using the “immature” response. s has been said, it is his choice and the facts belie the teams so called immaturity. Age is not the issue here, experience is more important.
We have a squad packed with full Internationals.
My concern in this discussion about the mix of experienced and youthful players is that it all feels like yet another excuse.
If it wasn’t that, it would be something else.
What the Chavs have benefitted from is the now ageing John “watch your girlfriend” Terry. He sometimes won games for them, not by skill, but sheer bloody minded determination to win at whatever cost. Can’t stand the bloke but I think credit where it is due.
That’s what we need! We are too flippin’ nice!
Kels – don;t get mewrong, I alluded to Tone and JTs influence as older heads, and we deffo saw that Campbell had that effect last season.
Chary – RVP and Cesc are both supremely talented players. I’m not sure its older players that they need to play with, just other good players.
Isn’t it about time we had some AA predictions about how the season will pan out?
This is mine:-
MU
Chavs
AFC
MC
L’pool
Everton
AV
Fulham
B’burn
S’land
THFC
RA. Spot on. We lack an enforcer. As good as Song is, he is too “nice” for the role.
Big Raddy you are on!
Call me a dreamer (or better still a dreamboat) 😉 but my predictions are;
1. Arsenal
2. Citeh
3.
Big Raddy you are on!
Call me a dreamer (or better still a dreamboat) 😉 but my predictions are;
1. Arsenal
2. Citeh
3. Manure
4. Spuds
5. Chavs
The rest can squabble amongst themselves. 🙂
It’s time for lunch, and we usually get a frothing, inarticulate loon on about now, so I’m off for some grub too, before that happens.
Later guys. 🙂
Oh and Kelsey, I haven’t proved you ‘wrong’12.31, just shared my point of view.
Afternoon all 😉
Afternoon FIL, you just missed RedArse…he’ll be gutted!
FIL,
🙂 🙂
1. Chavs
2. Gooners
3. United
4. City
5. Liverpool
6. Spurs
Everything’s gone very quiet….
The first match of the season is Spurs v City on Saturday lunchtime: would I be the only one here wanting Spurs to win that one??
Not sure 26th – I’d go for a nil nil bore draw with 3 red cards for each team and multiple season ending injuries.
Just three red cards each?
The only player we don’t want to get injured is the City keeper – want to keep that hope of picking up the other one on a year-long loan don’t we.
So a midfield melee with lots of straight reds and hopefully one of them being shown to Greedybayor as he’s stretchered off would be sweet !
I am hoping for a severe bout of Lasagne poisoning. Loads of red cards , Ade doing a Cantona leading to a 4 month ban, Harry being arrested at half time and Health and Safety closing Shite Hart Lane on the grounds of it being infested by unwashed, unhygenic low-life,
Oh and a 0-0 boredraw
BR – Lol !!
BR _ I’ve just checked the odds on your scenario with Paddy Power…its only 4-1. I’ve stuck £20 on
It’s in bad taste to wish such things but I’d be perfectly happy for Adebayor to get a career-ending injury. After all, he’ll have banked enough cash to make him very happy for the rest of his days without having to play football or kick people in the face anymore.
Oh stop being wuzzes you lot.
I’m hoping they both lose! 22 red cards, and both sets of fans banned indefinitely for being ugly!!
What’s the odds on that? 🙂
Afternoon all,
Kieran Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs what a debut. Mind your spot Gael Clichy.
Pity Wilshere didn’t get more time but still at least he is considered.
Hi Bejesusirish 😉 ,
Apparently LJ spent the night before the game in hospital with a dicky tummy.
Hi Lady Pants,
How are you?
Have you got any good footie limericks for us? 🙂
Rasp – Didn’t hear that. Il Trap missed Ireland’s game last night cos he needed surgery, apparently we lost to a dodgy goal so maybe he was just as well.
Red Arse – I’m good thanks. No footie limericks I’m afraid , I could try:
There was an old man from France
Who thought the Arsenal how to dance
(aaaaahhhhhhhhh help…. :lol:)
There was an old man from France
Who taught the Spurs to dance
So he closed the door
Then sat on the floor
And persuaded the poofters to prance
😆 better than mine, least you finished yours 😉
There was an old man from France
Who took a terrible chance
He didn’t buy a keeper
Because it was cheaper
And now we’re f***ed
OK it doesn’t rhyme, but neither does Almunia and safe hands 😦
Lady Pants,
here’s one for you and rasp to finish, while I work on his. 🙂
Young Wilshire from Arsenal was able
While standing on his head on the table
T’was a match ‘tween the Emerald Isle and the Argentine
Maradona no longer coached the blue and white team
By an offside goal
Victory they stole
And for the Irish there was just the 100th cap of Robbie Keane
Rasp how about;
There was an old man from France
Who looked at his Keepers askance
But he didn’t buy a keeper
Because it was cheaper
And now we have effing no chance
YE GUYS ARE FUCKING POETS 😯
Awesome 😀
Nice one 26May, 🙂
How about;
Twas a match between Eire and Argentina
Madonna sang more like a screamer
By an offside goal
Victory they stole
And Robbie should have been keaner
You bring out the worst in me Lady Pants.
I’m off before Dandan turns up! 😉
Bad Goalkeeper (To the tune of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga)
Ra-Ra, Al, Al, Al, Roma-Al, Al, Al, Manu, oh, la, la, la Bad Goal-keeper.
I don’t want your, don’t want your disease,
I think we got you cos you were free,
I want you to go,
Go, go, go,
I want you to go.
I don’t want your drama, don’t want your bad hands,
I’d rather watch you, sitting in the stands,
I want you to go,
Go, go, go,
I want you to go.
Almunia, you know I don’t want you,
You know I don’t need,
I don’t want a bad, a bad ‘keeper.
Before going, I read that we are competing with Pool for Brad Jones of Boro.
Sounds like more rhubarb to me! 🙂
Lady Pants,
That’s given me goose pimples. Definitely off now! 😉
LOL Laters Red Arse
In the face of such poetic brilliance, I can only doff my cap.
Well surprise surprise Djourou is injured and out of the first game. I remember saying here that he could not be relied upon due to his injury record and lo & behold by the time our first competative match arrives he is crocked.
I’m tempted to say “get rid of this persistent crock” but I’m sure there are enough in the blogosphere who will be saying this already.
So Kozzers and Vermy as centre backs it is,welcome to the Premier League Laurent.
So we’ve how many players out injured for Sunday?
Start as you mean to go on I suppose … 😕
So possible line-ups for Sunday (or my predictions at least):
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Aurelio, Poulsen, Gerrard, Aquilani, Kuyt, Cole and Torres
The Mighty Arse: Almunia, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Clichy, Sagna, Frimpong, Fabregas, Walcott, Nasri, Arshavin and Chamakh
Better news: the BBC reckons Ashley Young is staying at Villa rather than moving to WHL.
“Afobe and Yennaris are joined in the squad by Emmanuel Frimpong, who has seemingly backtracked on his decision to play international football for Ghana. Frimpong has not represented England since he played for the under-17s against Israel in February 2009.”
I noticed earlier this afternoon that Emirates said they were “guaranteed” to renew their Arsenal sponsorship.
Well whoopee Dee! If the report is correct, the current $157m deal works out at $8m per annum. (£5.1m at current rates).
When you consider the shirt deals, let alone the naming rights sponsorships, that is a poor return when compared with shirt sponsorship deals negotiated by Manure and the Chavs. I hate to say it but the Spuds have also got a better deal.
What is worse, Arsenal are tied into this current deal for many years yet, and other clubs’ deals over far fewer years is only going to increase the disparity between them and us. Bugger! :[]
I thought Gazidis was trying to get us MORE money from the Emirates … that was his spiel when he joined at least.
Dedicated to Big Raddy,
When Big Raddy doffed his cap
He had a big blonde in his lap
He took out his pen
And said, now and then
I can write my rap like that crap
Lady Pants,
I suspect he is trying. The current deal was entered into before he turned up, at a time when Arsenal were desperate to get funding for the stadium.
At the time it seemed a great deal, although over a lengthy period. A good chunk of it was paid up front which, of course, suited us. It has just become dwarfed by the better deals negotiated since. I’m doing the usual 20/20 hindsight cobblers, obviously! 🙂
A deal is a deal is a deal, and in any deal both parties have to have a lick of the lollipop. We grasped the nettle, threw figures at the wall to see what stuck and went with the Emirates.
That it later proved to be a poor return is no reflection upon the arrangement made at the time. It worked for both parties. Us at the beginning with an upfront payment, and now Emirates with what appears to be cheap sponsorship.
I think we did well and if Gazidis squeezes some more out of them he will have done a superb job, though somehow I doubt they will play ball ….. would you?
RA. Thanks for the limerick. It was to have a Blonde in my lap that I moved to Denmark!! Though she may be disturbed by the “big”11
BTW help is needed. Peaches, where are you?
My wife has just opened a bottle of champagne. I know it isn’t a birthday, nor an anniversary. Should I be worried??
Big Raddy, sorry, I should have substituted “sexy”, of course but I did not want to be too personal.
You sound like a v. lucky guy! 🙂
Big Raddy,
I did admit my 20/20 hindsight is perfect. 🙂
At the time, it worked perfectly, you are right!
Ooooh, Djourou injured…. I’m just itching to put my first entry into ITYS.
Sadly, I fear that all my predictions for this transfer window will prove correct … I hate being right all the time 😕
Rasp.
You are being v. crafty. By omitting to say what your predictions are/were, you are guaranteed to be right! 🙂
My prediction, if that is what you are referring to, is;
a) We will sign a GK.
b) We will sign another CB.
Only 19 days to go. I will win you know! Be positive! 😉
Red Arse,
I am not being crafty at all. My predictions have been clearly outlined in several headline posts published before we had the pleasure of your company. I have also repeated them ad nauseum in my comments – dandan will tell you so because he always disagrees 😛
get the viagra our BR 🙂
https://arsenalarsenal.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/summer-signings-%E2%80%93-expect-to-be-%E2%80%98slightly-disappointed%E2%80%99/
Seriously , I think we are universally agreed that we need not a another average keeper but one who does all the basics right more often than not.
Does Scwarzer really fit the bill ?
I predict that both us and Spurs will draw this weekend. Raddy will do the match report for our match.
Maybe not kelsey, but he’s still better than Almunia and Fabianski.
Aha kelsey… incorrect…. Raddy is doing the pre-match post 🙂 I would settle for a draw against pool looking at the players we have available. I believe that the adsence of Song may be the most damaging to our chances.
Hello all
I agree Rasp, we are going to miss Song.
Kelsey I hope that what Schwarzer will bring is a calming and commanding influence
Evening bg,
A very well received post today. The next couple of days are going to be tense to say the least.
Although Arsenal want Schwarzer and he has openly said he wants to join us, apparently we baulked at the £4m price tag …… what price failing to get CL qualification I wonder?
And some were seriously suggesting we were going to pay £23m for Reina … laughable
Rasp,
I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that you are an up front guy! 😦
I was hoping for a serious challenger for the famous title “Sneaky Prediction Winner 2010”.
Now I know I will definitely win! I have refined finessing, cavilling and procrastination down to a fine art in my determination to win the Championship 😉
Thanks Rasp. Yeah the Reina story was one of the most unbelievable I’ve heard in a while. I think it rests on what we can get for Almunia (dont laugh) if we get 2m then its only another 2m for Schwarzer. I think its a done deal to be honest. I’m actually more concerned about where we are getting a defender or two from ?
Did you see the report that we are on the verge of signing Brad Jones from Boro’?
Probably a diversion to unsettle Mark Hughes’ efforts to hold us to ransom.
If I had a say, I would not want Schwarzer. Go for the best, although not at any cost. £23m for Reina? You are right Rasp, utter nonsense.
😆 Red Arse,
I hope you will be happier than me if we are both proved correct.
I have repeatedly said that we don’t make surprise signings of anything other than unknown players. All of our recent acquisitions have been flagged up for weeks in advance; vis a vis Schwarzer, Koscielny, AA, Vermaelen & Nasri. We won’t suddenly announce one morning that we’ve signed Jagielka …. more’s the pity 😦
IMO Djourou is not ever going to be good enough as 1st choice CB and will always be injury prone. It would be OK if he were as good as Ledley King so that when he did appear he would be an asset, but I see him more as a liability.
Spot on bg,
We need another CB (better than JD), not adding to the defence or taking Song out of midfield to be a CD would be bordering on negligence.
These two in France seem the more likely to me than a big money signing.
Maybe even the German Tasci ?
Rasp,
The biggest problem with Djourou is that he is so fragile. Whenever, you think he might get an extended run he is gone again.
It is not possible to rely on someone like that.
Unfortunately, I am concerned that Diaby is going the same way. Pity. 😦
Djourou also lacks aggression. He has that same ‘rabbit in the headlights’ expression as Almunia that says “I’m scared of making a mistake”
Darn it, I’ve spent too long blogging today (again) got work to finish. 🙂
See you guys.
bg,
Tasci would be an excellent signing for us. He’s probably better able to play Wengerball than Mertesacker.
You cant really believe most of what you read at the moment but I did see that he alledgedly said he would like to play for us and wenger.
Kelsey, You were right 😀
I still have faith in JD. He needs time to get match fit. Just as TR did and RvP.
We have seen repeatedly that players coming back from major injuries pick up soft tissue problems.
JD will rise to the occasion
Far too early to write off JD.
Is Kompany who can play CB and DM better than Song?
To want Kompany is to expect him to spend the best part of the season on the bench becasue your answer to the previous question should have been — no.
In many ways the midfield issue has been resolved, with the emergence of Frimpong; he will happily sit on the bench waiting for his chances and improving all the time.
As for the CB position, all will be revealed on Sunday……Wenger has a plan, I am sceptical but he has proved us wrong so many times I am prepared to wait until Monday…..a clean sheet and Wenger gets it right; a pathetic Arsenal balls up in the area and I may ask for my ban to be lifted from Le Grove.
Come on you reds.
Morning Kelsey
Morning London, are you still hoping about the East Coast ?
Morning London,
I trust you are enjoying your hols 😉
It may be too early to write of Djourou (for some!) but it is equally ridiculous to pin ones hopes on him. The season hasn’t even started and he is injured and that after a less than impressive pre-season. A club of our stature should not be relying on JD as 1st back-up CD.
As I predicted all along, Koscielny will partner TV against pool 😛
ITYS already Rasp 🙂
yep i i echo your thoughts Rasp on the CB scenario….
Morning everyone.
Does anybody know anything about this Brad Jones?
Is he 1st choice material?
tommy
this is ironic
Jones received his first senior international call up on 5 February 2007 to replace Mark Schwarzer for a friendly game.
morning kelsey.
so he’s australian then but not better than schwartzer…. hmmm no thanks
mind you is he better than what we’ve got?
New post ……
I don’t see the point of buying Schwartzer as a short term solution.It won’t make our other keepers better if they are demoted, and next year we might have the same scenario.
If ever there was an argument to spend a decent amount on a keeper,it is now, as it was last season.
last season’s Opta stats on various aspects of keepers listed Almunia as 17th in the PL. I rest my case.