Written by MickyDidIt89
Today I am prostituting myself and as the title would suggest, I am appealing to the Asian Market for my “Hits”. Now that I am a record breaking AA Poster, I would like to move swiftly on to today’s topic. Total Football and The Wenger Way. At this point, I am about to drop a bomb on some heads, and would therefore urge the likes of TA to “Tin Hat Up”.
I do not believe we play Total Football, in fact I do not believe such a thing exists. I do know a thing or two about this because I have looked it up (born in Hungary, moved to Holland. You see, homework done!), but to add some personal meat to my theory here goes. A Total Goalkeeper? No, thought not. You can already see where I am going with this and it concerns Positional Specialists. Now I realise that David Platt once played in goal as I was there. I was also at WHL when O’Leary came on as a striker, but you know what…nah.
There has been much talk recently of us reverting to the 4-4-2 and until the Champions League Final I found myself sniffing around in this area as well, but no longer. Watching Barca so happily dispatching United made me realise how close we are. Imagine last season had Szczesny begun between the sticks and TV been fit throughout. We would have come mighty close.
Having said all this, I do like much elasticity and fluidity between my front three. They should be allowed, encouraged, and able, to move hither, slither thither and as far as I’m concerned stop for a fag break somewhere in between. You see, I like to keep an informal trench as far as my attack is concerned. I remember being young and impressionable, standing on the North Bank for an evening game against City and being mesmerized by their wingers (Peter Barnes and ?) who kept switching flanks and running exited little circles around our confused full backs. At that point, I had a dream.
Thing is, I still have dreams. Henry, Eto and C.Ronaldo , and No I am not suggesting for one minute. However, each of them have speed, power, goals and the ability to play anywhere across the front.
So, to conclude, for me it can only be Total Three, and that my Merry Fellows, is your lot.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Ha Ha Peaches,
I am not vanishing for the day to avoid tha fallout. Simply, I made a deal. Children away for weekend. Yesterday I called the shots and a fantastic ten mile walk along the North Cornish Coast. Today is payback and a shopping trip. Apparently I need a new shirt as it is impossible to distinguish one set of family holiday photos from the next as I appear the same!!
Urrgh.
Morning all
I’ve just seen that Micky has gone out for the day so he won’t be joining in the chat until later.
When Nasri joined I was very excited at the thought of us playing 4-1-5 where our intelligent players would switch positions at will to confuse and exasperate the opposition. Song in front of the back four, Cesc just in front of him with licence to get forward, Nasri on the left, Theo on the right, Robin in the middle and Ade/Nik up front.
So, what went wrong? It certainly worked at the beginning of this season and the season before, we were banging in the goals for fun and remember 2007 when Flamini got his chance alongside Cesc – amazing fun for everyone.
The system works until for some unfathomable reason it doesn’t 😦
I can hear the distant stomping of heavy boots and I have a nasty feeling their occupant could be TA.
Bye.
Morning all! Just read through yesterday’s comments- quite a debate sparked! I am reserving judgement on the transfer front. We’ll see what we will see and then we can judge no?
On the “Total Three”, I think I agree that apart from RVP we don’t have the other 2. Maybe Theo can continue his development and make up one but who to have as the third? You all know I really rate Miyaichi but it’s unrealistic to expect him to step up to that level next season…
haha Micky.
Almunia has tried to play rush goalie once or twice!
Was it Mike Summerbee or was that before Barnes?
Thanks to all for the messages of support on here and twitter and text message for my skydive yesterday. Leading up to the drop I was putting on bravado and pretending not to worry but as we started falling through the cloud I can honestly say I’ve never been so terrified in all my life! Quite a thing to pop out of the cloud and see the landscape open up beneath you! We were in freefall for about 45 seconds, which felt like plenty to me, before the parachute opened up and then it was all serene! A great experience but perhaps not my extreme sport of choice! The video will take a week to reach me, but once I’ve got it, I’ll post a link for you all to view my terror! 😉
Morning all, the fluidity of the attack requires all to be in total understanding.
I think our end of season malaise stemmed from rigidity in our approach up front with too many players sticking to their starting positions, even when NikB came on he stuck to his wing when it was crying out for him to help at the centre of the pitch.
The question is is this Wengers instruction or are the players incapable of taking responsibility…..or recognising when their teammates have moved and then fill in for them defensively.
We need to look at Barca and ManU for the type of players willing to do a job for the team at expense of limelight for themselves, Busquets, Mascherano, Fletcher, OShea. And even look to our recent past ….. Silva.
good post there,
i am a huge arsenal fan and will be forever ,
i want a confession to make i live in singapore,and i know that we have a very good side and are very close for he past three seasons the maager has come out and said we are gonna win this time but the same mistakes have occured .
I confess i dont know much about football and 90% of them dont know about finances ,the issues for transfers etc etc which im coming to know now,
but i can see that
1.almunia wasnt a good goalkeeper we lost because of him the season before this… and still he was pesisted this season which completely dont understand..
2.playing players out of positions eg nick bendtner..
3.i saw all the games this season,and there was no change in formation for the whole season except the last few games which came late and we lost….
4.not signing any player this january,even when vermalaen was injured and the manager said about it
These are some of the points i wanted to tell ,we have not won a trophy for six years and not even finished in the top two for same time…. why would a future generation football fan suppot arsenal for , they would go for a manu and chelsea cos he doesnt know about the things going behind the scenes and these teams are winning…. i hope the tables are turned there seems to be no activity made by the club and the manager….
i found this a good blog where the people are still 100% behind team in a sort of a crisis why many are not behind the team and the club ….what do u think
Apparently City have put a £4m price tag on Bellamy….I’d take him in a heartbeat.
Arsenal Legend…..whilst I agree with most of that one thing bothers me….the fear that we won’t get new fans because we are not winning things….to that I say so what…to that I say good. I don’t want glory hunter fans supporting the Arsenal. The result is the hyperbole spouted day in day out by so many current fans in the blogosphere who are more bothered with winning trophies than supporting the club, team and manager.
Rasp raised a similar point yesterday which the battery on my iPhone denied me from commenting on.
I just don’t get why we should be worried about new fans especially not those choosing to support a club because it wins trophies. I’m more concerned with the generational fans that are being denied the opportunity to take their children to see their team due to ticket prices or poorly thought out Membership rights (JGs are Silver Members, yet if their parents are Red they cannot guarantee seats together until Red tickets are available).
Morning arsenal legend – thanks for your response. Your points are all valid and we have debated them many times.
There is a real frustration amongst Arsenal fans that the some of the persistent problems haven’t been addressed and there are others who feel that Arsene also now feels that some of his players have let him down and that he will make changes.
The summer will be long and quite tortuous for us Gooners while we sit and wait.
Hey Micky, Pak Choi is highly nutricious, can be used in a number of dishes and combines very well with other veggies… Like you, I am out with family today, but hope to get back to you tonight. For now: Total Three My Arse..!
GiE
I like the idea of it, but Bellamy is a perennial crock, dodgy hamstrings….he’d fit right in the treatment room!
WG
Morning GiE – hope you had a good holiday.
We definitely do need to be encouraging a new generation of supporters if only for the revenue that they will bring. When you live abroad, as arsenal legend does, it must be great to see people wearing Arsenal shirts.
Rasp’s point early this morning about signing Honda – who was great at the WC last year is a valid one. Think of the influx of Japanese supporters and the numbers of shirts that would be sold. I’m not saying that Arsene should only be signing players to open another market but the added value of a Honda would be good for the balance sheet.
Morning Peaches,
I’m fairly confident that’s the only reason we signed Junichi Inamoto 🙂
WG
So what I am trying to say is: respect to the Pak Choi – it is a Total Vegetable.
Micky good post, very cheeky, like it.
Great read this. Nice to see the positive view. I am totally 100% positive about our future. Great comments from REAL fans as well! Good all round.
IMO, we need 3 things to happen at Arsenal.
1) A tall, hard CB (exactly like Samba) who will play alongside Verminator or Koscielny or Djourou against tough, rugged teams like Stoke.
2) A striker of epic proportions to go with RVP and Chamakh. Chamakh imo is amazing at holding the ball up. His goal for Morrocco the other day oozed class and was slotted home with composure with his foot. Once he finds his shooting boots with us he will be a major force in world football. He’s already the best header around!
3) A much better atmosphere at the Emirates. This is the key here. Had we had the kind of support that we give at away games we would have walked the title this year. We have been blessed by having a team that plays by far the most exciting football in England. An atmosphere like at Celtic Park or Anfield would make the Emirates a fortress.
Hardly major surgery. With Samba (or his like) and another top Striker (or Bendtner cos he COULD be world class withoiut the crap or playing out of position) we will have plugged the gaps that were so exposed last season. Defensive coaching needs a bit of Dixon or Adams type attitude that will permeate the team with confidence!
Wenger knows this and I believe he WILL act. Actually our defensive record pre the implosion was very good.
All in all not a lot needs doing. We have the best acadamy, by far the best balance sheet and the best team in the world!
Incidentally, Nasri’s interview said nothng about United, only that he wanted to sit down with Wenger this week and sort out his new contract.
The future is bright – No Worries!
the total 3 is good, but unfortunently we seem to lack the tactics to change the formation when needed (except when we are losing and wenger chucks on every forward we have). Not to mention our wide players (nasri and walcott) come in board leaving it very compact (its bad enough when we play teams who park the bus, without us adding to the pain). I’m not to sure on the tactic given to sagna to send in crosses whenever he gets a chance to either (game against manure he sent in about 100) because without chamma in there who is going to head it home?nasri?walcott?fabregas?
We need tactics because as it stands it seems like the only tactic we have is playing our way and thats it. I’m not going to go into defensive tactics because they are obvious and won’t change until someone like keown takes over (his part time stint in 2006 should of been enough of a reason to bring him on full time).
pointless 2 minutes of my life reading that
A very funny opening Micky and I agree with the thrust of the post: more fluidity up front. I think things got a bit confused when people started calling for the return of 4.4.2. I was one of those but not for it to be set in stone as the 4.3.3 sometimes seems to be. It can be so frustrating when we are passing back and forwards around the 18 yards box getting nowhere before the ball is played to either Clichy or Sagna who send in a cross to RvP who is usually marked by three tall CBs. On these occasions extra height in the box would be a very useful thing and a quick reversion to 4.4.2 would solve this. In brief, as you say, more fluidity up front.
bellamy? no chance, so when we have a golf day he can whack someone upside the head?! denilson is leaving so we don’t need that to happen.
If drogbas wages wern’t so high he would be the perfect partner for RVP. Cheaper due to his age and dip in form, and hes been replaced by torres so not much persuasion would be needed
if only you lived up to your name
Silent Stan
Why don’t you try writing something that we can all read, you will find where to send it in the box above entitled “Be our guest”.
It would be interesting to see if you have what it takes to write a head line post.
IF THE CLUB AND MANAGER DON,T BUY ANY PLAYERS,SERIOUS PLAYERS IN THE NEW SEASON COMING FORTH,WE WILL NOT WIN FCUK ALL AGAIN AS ALWAYS.
IT IS TIME THE CLUB STOP TRYING TO GET PLAYERS ON THE CHEAP,ALWAYS CHEAPY CHEAPY…WE WANT TO SPEND 1 MILLION POUNDS TO WIN 50 MILLION…
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE ,BUT NOW WE HAVE THE LIKES OF CHELSEA,MAN U,MAN CITY,LIVERPOOL ALL WITH NEW OWNERS AND ARE LOOKING STRONG.
COME TO THINK OF IT,WE HAVE USMANOV & KROENKE BOTH OF THEM ARE WORTH MORE THAN MOST BUT WE ARE STRUGGLING TO SHOW INTENT COS THE MANAGER WANTS PLAYERS FOR PEANUTS.
And that last message was brought to you by the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.
@ london
well said.
Saying it in capitals aswel makes it all the more important!
lol London – sometimes you do have to wonder why people think they’re gooners don’t you …………………….
Peaches, London – they are the leftovers from the glory days. Started to support Arsenal because we were winning trophies and now wishing they supported the Chavs
Ronaldo to ManCity, Samir staying and Jones to Liverpool – latest transfer gos, supposedly very plausible
Ronaldo to Citeh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats hilarious, they’d have to have another ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster 😉 🙂 😛 😀 😆
By the way Evonne, my Pak Choi all flew away when the greenhouse blew over 😦
Nice one Micky, I always laugh when people bang on about set formations, its about getting the best from the players available and been able to change formation to suit a situation. Your right mick we were damn close and everyone as usual is forgetting that……We can guarantee that when the xperts do their predictions for next season Arsenal will be in 5th or 6th……..A couple of changes here and there and we’ll be fine, its more about changing around the squad players, my article tomorrow willl highlight who should move on.
London, just going back onto yesterdays post my friend, you misunderstood perhaps and also you were wrong on the alonso story:
1. Agreed the board set the budget, Wenger set’s the limit on players worth, I never mentioned budget………
2. Alonso WAS 2million from signing for Arsenal, we didnt pay and he stayed at Anfield for the next season, there might be more to it than just 2m, but that is fact. At the end of that season, then Real Madrid came in for him, benitez by then realised his worth to Liverpool, too late he left because Benitez had tried to sell him previously to us. (we didnt go back for him as real madrid offered more than we would pay (wengers limit again), if we had paid the 2million we would have got him the year earlier)………
Super witty post Micky, but with an important point to make. The debate as to whether we needed to score more goals last season or concede fewer is another that divides us (actually we need to do both)
I see Usamov read my post yesterday and is in agreement 😳 Seriously I know he is just trying to garner support to get his ass on the Board (if you’ll excuse the expression) but he is reflecting the growing belief that the Board is not giving AW the support he deserves.
Harry
I accept that I was guessing but you are guessing as well, there is absolutely no proof that for just two million more we could have had Alonso. This is a story started in the blog world that then moved onto the red tops. I choose not to believe it and as someone who has always struck me as a solid Arsenal supporter I really do not understand why you do.
It is far more feasible that A Liverpool changed their mind about selling him when they realised that they were not going to get Barry or B as I said: Real Madrid became interested and at that point he lost all desire to go anywhere else. With these two logical scenarios out there why do you choose to believe the anti Wenger story?
Wenger sets the limit on how much the club pay for players……….really?
Let’s just look at this: there was a negotiation going on between Liverpool and Arsenal about Alonso and Liverpool say, in theory, if you offer two million more you can have him and Wenger says — no — we would prefer to lose him, does this strike you as logical especially when you consider it is not his money?
Wenger does not decide how much the club are prepared to pay for a player in the same way as he does not decide what the annual transfer budget of the whole club is.
Where have you heard him say that he decides how much Arsenal PLC pay for an individual player?
Rasp,
I note you said; ” he (Usmanov) is just trying to garner support to get his ass on the Board”
Why does Usmanov want to get his donkey on the Board then?
Hi Micky, 🙂
I find the opening line of your Post difficult to believe; “Today I am prostituting myself:”
Out of curiousity, how much do you charge? 🙂
Nice post Micky
I suspect half the people linking on it are doing so because they think Pak Choi is a Korean midfielder we’re about to land.
Fluidity in attack? What’s not to like?
Micky,
You said you did some research on ‘Total Football’ but you don’t share the findings with us. That’s a shame because it would enhance the debate today. You seem to aim at an important element of the total football philosophy i.e. the ability of a footballer to play in more than just one position.
I am not an expert on total football, but what I have seen of it, the following elements are key:
1. High level of ball possession and circulation
2. Ball being moved around the pitch quickly, with lost of (triangular) combinations
3. Continuous pressure on the opponent, all over the pitch, with the aim to win the ball back asap (if and when lost)
4. Players can interchange between their positions: flexible pegs in flexible holes
5. Everybody is responsible for defense (mainly through point 3) and everybody could get in a position to score
6. It is very attack-minded and produces some of the most beautiful and deadly football you will ever see.
I think Arsenal are pretty good at doing most of the above mentioned, but we are not the full package yet. Especially points 4 & 5 need more work after which 6 should follow.
Wenger is working on this and every year we are getting better. The main reason we have ended up in the top four again, is because we play a decent variant of total football – it is like an insurance policy, especially during away games. However, we need to find the extra 20% to push us over the last hurdle. As always, I trust Wenger and the board to find us a few players that will add value to the team and help us make the final push.
Hi RA,
I chose ass, the american variant for derriere as whenever I see the word Arse, I think of you 😆
@ totalarsenal
during the chelsea game point 3 looked so good, unfortunently it only existed for that one game. The main contributor as to why arshavin cannot play on the left because the gapping hole he leaves meand clichy is exposed. But you are right if the team works on a couple of things over the pre-season, a couple of fresh faces, and some desire nothing is stopping the team from going all the way. To many supporters forget that before the carling cup final the title was ours to lose (unfortunently we did just that)
True oz gunner, during the Chelsea game we got the pressure right. The problem with our system is that the whole team have to work their socks off all the time, which is hard to keep up throughout the PL season. If one or two players don’t put in a shift, it is not going to work as well, and it leaves us exposed at times.
@ totalarsenal
It would be hard to keep up the whole season but Barca manage to do it, so we can’t really use that as an excuse (although the EPL is alot harder and physical). I just don’t understand if the lack of desire most of the players exhibit is from within themselves, from a motivational stand point delivered by arsene, or the lack of leader/s on the pitch. You’ve got squad players coming in (denilson, diaby, vela) for games and just going through the motions. While players like lansbury are chomping at the bit to get out there and prove himself (something all players not in the starting lineup should be showing!).
A bit of fire and passion would go a long way to applying pressure all over the pitch, and turning the chelsea game into a regular occurence
watching this picture bring tears to my eyes. whoever Arsene want to buy this summer, please oh please find somebody that love Arsenal as much as them..
Happy days johnQ
London, your right in many ways its all guess work and reading between the lines about situations and you have to piece together comments from various sources………
On the wenger limit, it was in an actual interview (TV not paper) he gave several years ago, he sets a value for a player and because of the budget restraints he tends not to go pass it……..Do you really think wenger just says go and get that player? come on…………When Dein was there I’d have maybe agreed but now he assesses the value…………..
On Alonso, it was from a Liverpool Supporting friend who for me has been spot on with all he has told me about Liverpool………..He told me about Torres to Chelsea in october, he told me about the 20million bid for reina before it was in the press, and until dalglish game in he was definitely leaving this summer……He knows someone but has never told me who………I dont see it as an anti wenger story, anti wengerites might use it to justify their stance…….I dont, hey I might be wrong who truly knows the whole truth as I said there might more to it, but that was the basics, I wouldnt put my house on it, but as I say lots of other stuff I have been told has been true,………..And as I said for definite the real madrid part of the scenairo was a year later…………So there is no link there to why we didnt get him……..
Total Arsenal@2.59pm: Quality statements, as say point 4 and 5 need refining…..The main thing we need to do is take more of our chances……………..and then all take responsibility…………
OzG, I don’t think it was a lack of desire with the likes of Denilson, Rosicky, Diaby, Bendtner or Vela, but much more a lack of confidence and game-practice. A strong first team is coming to the top and some players know they have missed the boat. Diaby, Bendtner and also Vela should have another season to prove they can make it at Arsenal.
TA, 🙂
Re your 2:59.
To save you the suspense of waiting for Micky’s return, he was using humour to describe his research of ‘total football’. 🙂
Micky said; “I do not believe we play Total Football, in fact I do not believe such a thing exists. I do know a thing or two about this because I have looked it up born in Hungary, moved to Holland.”
Fine tuned, it means; — total footie started in Hungry and was developed further in Holland.
That’s Micky’s research, and very comprehensive it is too! 🙂
That lad is a genius!!
Harry,
I was reading an article in the Sunday Times trying to rationalize why we seem to keep missing out on transfers.
Apparently, Arsene had authority to spend ‘x’ but because he is so cautious about spending he checks and triple checks the player, his market worth etc, etc. This is seen by many at the club as indecision.
In Dein’s day, this problem was surmounted by Wenger having the task of identifying the player he wanted and then Dein doing the actual buying.
This fits in with your comments about the Board settting an overall transfer budget, but Wenger negotiating (or not) the transfer of an individual player and arriving at the value of the transfer fee and the player’s contract, in conjunction with Gazidis. (Gazidis’ involvement is a natural consequence of the George Graham era). Nudge, nudge, wink, wink! 🙂
RA, thanks. I agree Micky was being funny, and yet he touches on an important subject. What sort of football do Arsenal play – can it be called total football – and should we continue to play our variant of total football?
There have been a lot of comments about footballers being played outside their natural positions and many of us want Arsenal to stop doing so. Yet, we are now seeing a group of footballers coming to the fore who are very talented and can play in more than one position and fit well into the total football philosophy: TV, JD, JW, AR, SN, RvP, Chamakh, CF, AA, Koz, Song. Theo, Diaby, Vela, frimmpong and Gibbs could still make it as well.
It is an interesting debate to have – what do you think?
Bang on Red Arse, Dein made the final financial decision, but when he left there was no one to counter wengers indifference to a value, hence he set a limit and never goes past it, or extremely rarely……….
And dont forget as well as this value wenger sets he then levels this in balance against existing players, asking who will he stop the progress of……etc….
Whereas Dein would push a deal through quicker and thats what we have lacked over the last few years, its not always about buying the most expensive as I alluded to yesterday………
For example Kompany was 7 million, Van der Vaart 8million, there is players out there…….People get taken in by all the hype, Gary Cahill is a good player and he might well turn out to be fantastic, but 17million, not worth it…….I would buy Samba, he fits our needs more but some would say that is for settling for 2nd best, its not………imho…….
I wont go in my whole shopping list, thats an article for next week…….
And dont forget Gazidis was selected by Wenger…….!!
Seen as most of you lot dont listen to TalkSport much, there was an interview on there today with Steve Stammers. he is a Daily Mirror Man, but very much an Arsenal and Pro Wengerite……….
Discussing Nasri, he is 99% sure he will stay and sign a new contract with us and that Wenger will more active in this TW than any other in the last 15 years and his outlays will mainly be on established stars……
Here is the link, only about 8mins long but worth a listen……
http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/all-sports/blog/2011-06-12/stammers-wenger-confident-keeping-samir-nasri
Gazidis was selected by Wenger?
Harry, Harry, Harry you over estimate Wenger’s control in all this; he is merely an employee appointed by the owners (the shareholders) Wenger may have been asked if he had any objections to Gazidis joining but this would have only been out of courtesy. Gazidis was selected by the board.
TA – if you’re there, I’ve just read the post you sent in which we’ll use in the week – the final photo of AW and TA has left me in bits – two amazing men!!!!!!!!!
The rest of you will just have to wait 😆
The Sunday Times trying to rationalise why we have missed out on “so many transfers” is just another attempt by the media to slur the good name of Arsenal.
There are only two clubs that have beat us to transfer targets: Chelsea and manu and the reason they have achieved this is because in both cases they have been able to offer far more money than us.
This has nothing to do with the speed that David Dein used to work at. If you remember he was the one that said, referring to Chelsea, that the arrival of Abramovich was like having a Russian tank driving up onto your front garden and start firing fifty pound notes. The point he was making was that he could no longer financially compete.
The idea that Wenger personally deals with the negotiations is daft, he has a team to manage, do you really think he has time to speak to all the agents involved as well as the selling club? This is why Gazidis was brought in and he is not answerable to Wenger he is answerable to Kroenke.
Cheers Peaches, the good ‘olden’ days..
One of my clents headhunted Gazidis for Arsenal. She may know if Arsene selected him. I’ll (try to) ask her next time she’s in.
That reminds me why I hate talkshite.
Imagine you owned a hair salon (you may do, I don’t know). Would you let your staff choose the hair dressers or would you appoint them yourself?
Maybe you are an employee of a hair salon, do you employ the staff yourself or is that job done by the owners?
London – maybe it’s time to open a bottle if you’re going to continue this line of questioning 😆
Thought I was about to watch ManUtds next GK De Gea play for Spain U21’s then I did a quick wiki and saw that he is waiting until after Euros and that although a fee is agreed he does not know whether he will join or not according to an interview he gave recently.
Also McLeish has left Brum and there is speculation he will be going to Villa…..brave man…but good news for us as he can take the other half of that craphole city down.
London, you have merely rationalised and confirmed my comment through your response………..Out of courtesy, maybe, but if he had said no………..??!!
Yes he was appointed by the board, but the interview was conducted by whom with whom present…….at some point………
I think that you have misunderstood my comments and also underestimated wengers input in certain situations………He may control the club but even Wenger commented prior to getting Big Ivan in, that it was taking time to find a CEO due to him been too busy to deal with this issue…………
“”The idea that Wenger personally deals with the negotiations is daft, he has a team to manage, do you really think he has time to speak to all the agents involved as well as the selling club?””
Who said he did?
In regards to your comments on Dein:
It wasnt necesarily about speed, ie: “” in walk in and buy”” that dein did, I was reading an article recently in some book, whereas Dein would make a decision on the spot, wenger tends to consider his options at length…..as highlighted earlier…..ie make a quicker decision not move through speed, perhaps my english needs fine tuning……..
Who are the targets that United and Chelsea offered more money to?
Shoudl have read: “””He may NOT control the club but ………………………”
Turns out United might not be getting Jones either…dippers and Chavs have apparently offered more as have we apparently.
Seems United haven’t got all their work done as early as some have given them plaudits for.
Hi GIE how are you?
Have you seen the line up for u21?
He moans about Wilshere and then leaves three of his best players available on the bench…………..
Ronaldo……Cole
Good thanks Harry, well rested after a week in SW Wales.
Pearce obviously decided his squad couldn’t out football them. Talk about unbalanced formation.
Couple of interesting quotes from Twittersphere:
Cesc:
“Id like to watch the same game with Busquets playing for spain and Carrol, Jack, Gibbs and Richards for England. Maybe next year Olympics12”
RvP:
“Want to clear up some things.I supposed to have made comments about the lifestyle of english players Words have been taken out of context
Only thing I meant to say is if u look after urself u can enjoy a longer career. Never mentioned english players in particular
Who am I to judge. Think the prem league is amazing and so are the boys playing in it!!”
Makes you wonder why these players bother giving interviews if they are constantly twisted.
Seems Cesc and RvP are together again at the moment, been filming something for a new ITV show apparently. They seem to be really good mates, let’s hope that’s a big plus in the positive column for staying when he’s drawing up his for/against lists.
Harry
I don’t want to accidentally let this get out of hand, I do not, and will never accept the idea that for a measly 2 million the person you speak so highly of, Arsene Wenger, would have let slip Xabi Alonso.
It is far more rational to believe that the deal fell through because Liverpool could not secure the signing of Barry
Or, that Alonso wanted the opportunity to play for Real Madrid, which when you consider where he is now, this theory might have some merit wouldn’t you say?
This performance by England U21’s is embarrassing the inability to pass a ball 5-10 yards and move to receive it again.
Stuart Pearce on pitch mic
“get a throw get a throw”
And that my friends is why the future of English football is bleak!
As to who insinuated that Wenger does the negotiating? RA did in his 4.43 to which your response was “Bang on”. If I misinterpreted something, this was the reason.
Agreed GIE, I think they should all stop interviews and just use Twitter, although I am not a fan of twitter it does give them an outlet for rewriting misquotes…..
As for Pearce, he might have been inspiring on the pitch, as the manager he seems a bit of a wet lettuce……….With the talent he had he should have smashed them…….
London,
Its not out of hand is it? you have your view I have mine
Perhaps we have just misunderstood where each other is coming from to a point, I will take note to read twice all posts before commenting on and ensure my comments stand up likewise……
Have a pleasant evening my friends………
Just watched the last fifteen minutes of the under 21s, it reminded me of watching Arsenal: one team seemed to have complete control with the most sublime of interplay but could not kill the game off, while the lesser team who had been on the ropes for 95% of the game got one chance and equalised.
Have a good evening Harry
The biggest difference between England and Spain was the willingness to pass the ball to a man when a defender was tight. If England were going to pass to feet the man had to have ten yards of space, if Spain …… well they just passed.
That Javi Martinez looked the part, 23 years old 6ft 3 comfortable on the ball strong tackler good in the air.
Good morning AAers from everyones favourite blogger and friend. What’s new?
Morning London…..nothings new so far another day of rumour and speculation I guess.
Liam Ridgewell called off his wedding by text 8 days before the event apparently.
I reckon his future wife wasn’t happy about being married to a Championship footballer 😀
Seems like the only story doing the rounds is “Kroenke to open his cheque book to keep Nasri” Will the budget for this be set by Wenger? I don’t think so.
By text………classy guy.
But very funny.
Morning GIE
sambas twitter states “im in london” possibly for a medical for the mighty gunners?
Morning all
Peaches – Ronaldo apparently hates it in Spain and told some of his ManU mates that he would love to return to PL(shame Cesc isn’t one of his friends). Only City can afford him.
England’s under 21s not half as good as the young Spaniards 😦
Micky – how many hits from Asia? I’ve seen the one from Singapour. BTW, love your post 🙂
Gooooooood Morning everyone!
I trust we are all well?
WG
New Post
Morning London 🙂
London…I love the gossip columns….
1: Kroenke to open chequebook to keep Nasri
2: Arsenal set price tag of £25mil for Nasri but will not sell to PL rivals
Two papers two sources two contradictory stories….reckon I might start being a source for some of these papers….first job need to make up a rumour. Maybe our summer challenge should be who can get a spurious rumour into the national press.
Hi WG, 🙂
All well here. Have you finished chasing the missus around the Maypole or whatever it was? 🙂
Harry, 🙂 — When you come on, today — I am sorry you were getting grief for an opinion I expressed yesterday. Best to do what I try to do, (not always successfully) ….. leave delusional types to their own devices! 🙂
Morning Evonne, GIE, 🙂
company formation…
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