Now that the real Santa has come and gone, here is my wishlist for 2006 from/for ‘Santa Wenger:’
1. Henry signing a new contract
2. Gravesen and Baptiste coming from Real Madrid; Cole going the other way; probably not very likely to happen given that we play them in a couple of months
3. Clichy staying healthy
4. A decent backup LB to Clichy
5. Reyes finding his confidence of the pre-Neville fall of ?04
6. Van Persie continuing his maturation
7. Cygan shipped out to Timbuktu or beyond
8. Another CB, with hair on his chest
9. Senderos regaining his confidence
10. Someone kicking Pires? behind, so he consistently plays like in Nov, not the Aug/Sep/Oct/Dec Pires
11. Baby brother Toure
12. Theo Wolcott from Soton
13. Van Persie teaching Hleb to shoot; our ?passing-the-ball-into-the-net? tendency is worse again now with Hleb back.
14. Someone teaching Almunia to play crosses, to go with his world-class shot stopping ability
15. Bergkamp gracefully riding off into the sunset (not many more games)
52 Responses to “2006 wish list”
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December 27th, 2005 at 10:15 am
Interesting wish list Denver…
I agree on a lot of them.
#1 for me is: OPEN THE DAMNED CHECK BOOK on JAN.1st… and BRING IN THE PLAYERS WE NEED.
I don’t want to hear any more bulls*** from Wenger or the board.
I’d like to see YaYa Toure, as I’ve heard/read nothing but good things about him.
Pires situation will come to a head in the next week or so. If he doesn’t get another contract, or Wenger signalling he WANTS him to stay… the exodus could begin. I could see Freddie / Sol / Ash follow… and if that happens, Thierry will likely go in the Summer.
This is a crucial period for the AFC, on AND off the pitch… the future is NOW. Its time to act.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:39 am
The best thing for Theo Walcott is for him to stay right where he is.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:40 am
I agree with all of that Denver (esp 15 - what a legend) and you too stag. The most crucial thing is that we spend in January to boost size of squad in key positions and too also boost morale of current squad who have all said we need new players due to our lacklustre summer transfer activity. this could affect whether TH14 stays as well. Also Real are on a par with us at moment so it is important we consolidate our defence line in the next 8 games, if we can do that im certain we can cause damage up front.
Only problem is most top notch signings we all would like to make would be cup tied so Wenger would have to think long and hard about how useful any signing whatever transfer would be guys.
There will be no outward players btw, even considering hoew bad Cygan is. Still not sure how he fools Wrenger, id rather not have him on pitch cos opposing teams know he’s shite and exploit it.
Interesting Vidic is going Man U, we need a dynamic signing too, and Walcott wd be good shout tho he should NOT be our main prioity.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:42 am
for him I agree 100% mate. He shouldn’t leave there unless he is blended into a first place at Premiership club in nex t2 years. Only place I could see that happening is Man City who I know Pearce is contemplating.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:48 am
Whoever signs Walcott… if its a big club, will likely loan him right back to Soton.
He is NOT the type of signing I am looking for at the moment, because he doesn’t provide immediate help for our depleted squad.
Yaya Toure.
If you haven’t read up on him, search him on Yahoo.
He is touted as a PV type player. Drogba says he is the next Vieira, and that he would love to see him at Chelsea. If we don’t have the inside track on him with Kolo at the club, who does?!
He will play in the African Nations Cup with Kolo, so there is that negative factor, but he looks to be the REAL DEAL. He is a blooming star at Olympiakos. He is the future and present.
Some want to see Kolo at midfield? Why not Yaya and keep Kolo where he is???
If he goes to Chelsea or another big club, then Wenger missed the boat on this one. It would be IDIOTIC not to try and get him.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:53 am
Not sure about No. 8 but will like another CB for sure and agree with most of your list. Also I hope we start playing a bit of football. Yes first away win for a while against charlton and hope there is more to come with some better football.
If I can add my list I hope Cole and Henry stays.. We should not be a selling club. We should also buy players off Chelsea, United, Barce, RM instead of selling them our star players.
Also I hope Wenger start buying some players not kids and not excuses. Arsenal have to fight for players because like any other team no one is going to give them special treatment.
Ho Ho Ho Santa:-
Pls let us make it to the CL next season. Maybe we will do a liverpool. Win that cup then Henry will stay. And how long is Spurs going to stay on top of us Santa? The last thing I wanna see is us fight spurs for that spot. Wooo!!!!! that is not even worth thinking about for now.
December 27th, 2005 at 11:42 am
Santa is not real.. But your views are, like stag might say, “REALISTIC”…
December 27th, 2005 at 11:49 am
I’m reading that Wolcott has gone to Spurs for 9mill. So let’s forget about him. Marco Ne is supposedly nearing a deal. I know, pulses race at the prospect, eh? YaYa, I don’t know. He signed a 3 year deal with Olympiakos this year. And I think he could be in the Ivory Coast side for the African Nations Cup with Kolo. Not sure though. He’s got 15 caps already.
Don’t hold your breath. As bad as we need players, this January is tougher than most with the World Cup, African Nations Cup, and Cup-tied talent.
Baptiste fails to impress me. He looks lost a lot of the time. I don’t know if struggling at Real is a good indication he could come into our side and start tearing up the leage. Zokora would have been an interesting idea, but Chelsea already took him I think. Shocker.
Hleb is always thinking assist. Let’s hope he gets more of them with this 4-5-1/4-3-3 we’re playing to steel up the center of the park. I think its a plan B we might be able to use until we get someone like the old Vieira again, if that person exists. He’d better, though, otherwise we might as well sell Gilberto who is useless without him.
I would also like to add to the list crooked boots for everyone, but mostly our defenders. Because the perfectly good ones they’re using seem to pass to the other team. Just saying.
And while I think Henry’s signing would galvanize the club, I believe his hush-hush attitude about where he stands means he doesn’t want to make a bad situation worse with the truth. He knows Wenger’s got few prospects to add to the club, and he’s ready to move.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
THIS IS ABOUT ALL I CAN ASK FROM THE MAN:
Henry shrugs off Barcelona talk
Thierry Henry has played down talk of reported interest from Barcelona and says he is totally focused on Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid.
Barca have hinted they want to sign the 28-year-old striker, whose deal expires in 2007, but he says he is focused on achieving success at Arsenal.
“I’m pleased people are interested but at the moment there’s nothing ongoing,” he told French newspaper L’Equipe.
“We have to concentrate on Europe before looking beyond it.”
He admitted that this season was “proving difficult” following the summer sale of Patrick Vieira to Juventus but said the emergence of youngsters like Robin van Persie was a reason to be optimistic.
“I hope these young players can reach maturity as soon as possible,” he added.
I HOPE THEY REACH MATURITY TOO, BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.
December 27th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
We had him on trial a year or so back, why didn’t Wenger see his potential then? Maybe he’s over hyped?
December 27th, 2005 at 3:22 pm
Your wrong here!
Sanata is REAL I know because I spoke with him.
I will tell you what’s not real - the Easter Bunny. I know because Santa told me he didn’t exist.
:}~
I hope Jose enjoys his brick of coal, another thing SANTA told me.
December 27th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
Newcastle are making noises that they are prepared to offload the ‘Monster known as Boyer’ in the January transfer window. My question is… Would this type of player help us through a tough time if Wenger signed him on a loan deal? The player has said he wants to return to London and Charlton, his 1st club, seem to be interested. My position is- If we can get him on the cheap, maybe just pay his wages till the end of the season, he would stiffen our midfield. Dont forget that this ‘nutter’ is actually a very good player, he’s gone off the tracks I admit but if he got back on he’d be a steal! Over to you…
December 27th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
Too many teams say he is very good for it to be untrue. Where there is smoke there is most often fire. As I said, if Chelsea or United or some other big club snatch up Yaya Toure, then its IDIOTIC on our part. We trialled him, teams and players are praising him as a good, soon to be very good player… his brother is on our team… and if we don’t get him, we’re just stupid.
That many teams usually are NOT wrong. There are teams all over the world saying he is gonna be special. He will star for the Ivory Coast National team in the African Nations Cup. Then EVERYONE will be alerted, and his price will JUMP very high. We could get him NOW. Kolo surely has much influence on him.
December 27th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
BOWYER?
I’d rather we did NOTHING than brought him in.
He is bad news. He is a CANCER on his team. Wenger would NEVER bring a bad apple in. It makes no sense.
NO FREAKING WAY.
This team has been about “TEAM” and comraderie over the past 9 years. He goes against everything we stand for. Especially HENRY. Stand up / Speak up.
December 27th, 2005 at 3:40 pm
Wenger doing nothing = goodbye Thierry.
Wenger knows this. If he does nothing, its 100% on him if Henry leaves.
December 27th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Did you really said Lee Bowyer? It will never happen. Never say never but with this one I can say it will never happen..
Are you mad or drunk NBG.? Even if Wenger wants him the folks in London will not allow this to happen. Yes his past is behind him but remember there is more to football than winning games.
Even Spurs will not even sign him …
Not worth thinking about this
December 27th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
December 27th, 2005 at 4:24 pm
Either my comment said it all?
or you have no comment!!?!!?
December 27th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
Who said he is any good? Considering Wenger loves kids so much if he was any good surely he would have bought him.
They all said Song was very good - but he looks like what he is - a little boy with zero experience and about 3 years worth of hard work to do.
One minute you say the midfield is weak and you don’t want kids, the next you want Yaya Toure - a player who has done nothing in his entire career and no big club has ever made a move for or even suggested an interest in. Unless you believe paper talk, which has linked Arsenal with 500 players in less than a year.
No, I don’t want Yaya Toure, unless he’s dirt cheap and we can dump in the reserves for 2 years. We all know what’s needed right now.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
I think you should stop wittering on about Thierry Henry.
You have no idea what his state of mind is, so stop boring us by saying the same rubbish over and over again.
One things for sure, he’s not going to leave because you said so.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Yawn.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
If Wenger bought that pig then he really has lost his marbles.
He’s crap anyway.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:11 pm
So what happens when Toure and Eboue go on holiday for six weeks in January? If Lauren gets injured does that mean that Cygan can try his luck as right back??
Does it mean that the snail-paced clown Senderos gets to play with Campbell every week? Either way, we’re f*cked. I hope Wenger buys a center back, I really do.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Song is 17.
What do you expect of him?
I don’t want ONLY Yaya Toure.
Thats NOT the answer.
I don’t want JUST ONE PLAYER.
He has had much acclaim. Why NOT buy him now?
If we are talking about spending 9 million on Walcott, then surely we can afford Yaya Toure.
We need a STARTER in midfield AND in CB.
Are we likely to get either? No, I don’t think so.
I think it would be ridiculous with Kolo on our team, for Yaya to end up playing for Chelsea or United. That would be ridiculous.
Most of us know whats needed now, but Wenger seems to think we MIGHT get ONE PLAYER, if its the right player AND the price is right.
Thats either posturing… and he’s going to get NOBODY, or its posturing and he’ll get about 3 players! He can’t possibly think 1 will solve our problems.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:15 pm
We have no solutions for situations like that.
The answer is play someone out of position and hope the team we are playing is so toothless, like Charlton, that it doesn’t matter.
We are weak at the back, in midfield, and with our injuries, up front as well.
Is the only strength Lehmann? !!!!!!
wow, I can remember he was our BIGGEST problem about 1 1/2 years ago… now he’s a strength!
December 27th, 2005 at 5:16 pm
If you say so Danny.
I’ll just sit in the corner and say nothing.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Looks like I just walked headfirst into a bee’s nest! I’ll take my stings, but I still see him doing a needed job for us. It would deffinately hang on him convincing everyone he’s not a racist. I admit it’s a highly unlikily….
December 27th, 2005 at 6:37 pm
I don’t only want Yaya Toure - but whose in a better position to make a judgement on him, you or Arsene Wenger?
You are going by paper talk, which means nothing in this day and age.
Who said we are spending ?9m on Walcott? More paper talk.
Yeah, we need about 5 players - Wenger might buy 1 or 2 in January, who knows. There’s no point going apeshit every day about it. Wait and see what he does, then complain.
December 27th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
Look, Bowyer was great 4 years ago - today’s another matter. Personally, I don’t want that racist moron near the club on a purely ethical basis, but even if he wasn’t a racist I still wouldn’t want him - he can barely make the Newcastle team let alone ours.
It was only last year he was punching his own team mate in the face - I somehow don’t think this is the sort of anus that Wenger would go for - and I don’t blame him.
Thoughts of buying Bowyer are sheer desperation.
December 27th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
Yeah, but Lehmann has been good though - I think he’s been our best player this season. he deserves credit for cleaning up his act - so far.
The Senderos situation is another real worry, and again I cannot understand why Wenger has allowed this situation to happen.
He tried to offload Cygan before, but no-one wanted him, he obviously new Toure would be on African Cup duty, so he also knew that an injury to Senderos or Campbell would mean having to play Cygan. So why did he try to get rid of him? None of it makes any sense. The thought of Cambell picking up an injury and having to play Senderos & Cygan against Real Madrid will be the most embarassing day in Arsenal’s history - we’ll get creamed 6-0.
Oh alright 6-3, it is Real Madrid after all.
December 27th, 2005 at 9:57 pm
People here have been going apeshit over potential Arsenal signings for ages now. We still talk about how The Beast got away, but honestly, how many people had even heard of him, let alone seen him play, before the paper talk started up? I know I hadn’t.
December 27th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
If we can only score ONE against a poor Charlton team, we aren’t scoring 3 against Real Madrid, even if they are down to 9 men.
December 27th, 2005 at 11:55 pm
To sign for a Premier League team and you’re not from an EU nation you must have played in a certain percentage of your nations full international matches. When YaYa was on trial at Arsenal he didn’t meet that requirement so Wenger couldn’t have signed him if he wanted to.
This is the same reason Spurs couldn’t sign Bobby Convey. He had a good trial and they wanted to sign him but he hadn’t played in enough senior matches and since the USA isn’t an EU nation, they couldn’t get a passport for him.
On the flip side, Wenger did say he had a good trial but the club didn’t need another passport headache like with Edu, who’s from a non-EU nation and had no international experience, but would continue to monitor Yaya’s progress. FC Bayern and Olympiakos were also scouting the younger Toure at the time and he decided he could get more play time at Olympiakos.
December 28th, 2005 at 12:17 am
Just make sure you wear a pointed hat!
December 28th, 2005 at 12:20 am
You got that right.
December 28th, 2005 at 12:23 am
What do ya mean?
A bunch of old farts with money - we can beat them.
I’d be more worried about Barca, man their hot or; Juve for that matter.
December 28th, 2005 at 12:40 am
Great list, Denver. It is a long list though and Santa may not be that generous. My top 3 wishes for 2006 are::
1) Henry extends contract that will see him at Arsenal thru the age of 34.
2) Wenger opens the cheque book in January and bring in at least THREE experienced players.
3) Wenger brings in Givens in the summer as long term replacement for Lehmann.
Hopefully that is not asking for a lot!!
December 28th, 2005 at 12:46 am
Bowyer could be a negative influence on the team. I don’t think Wenger will sign him even on the cheap. He would fit in with the Manure type of game and could be a possible replacement for Keane.
December 28th, 2005 at 1:10 am
In the CL, we will never beat the likes of Juventus, Bayern Munich, Chelsea or Liverpool. They play defensively and we lack the quality to unlock such teams. Our best chance is against the likes of Real and maybe Inter Milan, teams that play attacking football and are vulnerable at the back.
December 28th, 2005 at 2:25 am
Dont know if i am right here but, our game moving forward seems to be relying solely on pace and playing beautiful football (Henry, v. Persie). Personally, i love the Arsenal style of playing “Football” but it takes 2 to tango. At least 16-17 of the remaining EPL teams prefer a blocking game against arsenal, to just soak up prerssure and hit us from set pieces, and long balls. Would it be a good idea getting a forward who can outmuscle challenges from the oppsition? Dont know who might fit the bill exactly…..
December 28th, 2005 at 6:29 am
The Real Madrid match would be a free for all. Anyone who has watched them recently will note how atrocious they are at the back - absolutely laughable. Their midfiled is non-existant, but in the final third they can still destroy teams who don’t defend properly.
If Arsenal have a full squad to choose from then we are definitely capable of beating them. But as usual, as soon as we meet someone decent after that, we’ll be out.
December 28th, 2005 at 7:49 am
Real Madrid are saying the same exact thing about us… our midfield is non-existant, and we are absolutely laughable at the back.
They have more star players than we do and a better keeper. I bet they are favored to beat us.
December 28th, 2005 at 8:00 am
Heh. You definitely woke up the hoi polloi.
He’s a fighter, alright. But just a liability and chances are, bad for morale which our fragile side relies on a little too much if you ask me. How many times do we have to read “such and such affected us or got to us”. Jebus, lads, let’s strap a set on already.
Besides, he’s not pretty enough for The Arsenal.
December 28th, 2005 at 8:05 am
Its not 100% on Wenger. I think an argument can be made that Chelsea’s benefactor helped them steal our prospects while we were trying to build a stadium. Kenyon really wanted us to load up with midtable talent, and Wenger gave him the finger and gambled. That’s how I believe history will look at it anyway.
Henry stays because he believes in what the club is trying to do or he doesn’t. The thing that I think is hurting Henry’s profile is that he keeps saying he’s focused on winning things, and most Gooners look at his attitude on the pitch as poor. I see it a little different, but this isn’t going away one way or the other and that’s too bad.
So…who should we buy?
December 28th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
John Carew?
December 28th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
Okay, guys. We know we’re weak in a lot of areas, but drop the gun and kick it over here. I’ve haven’t seen woe feed off itself like this since the deck of the Titanic. Well, the movie.
Has anyone given any thought to the possibility that Toure and Eboue have already decided that they won’t go to the ANC? Yakubu isn’t. Guess we’ll see.
Isn’t this fun anymore?
December 28th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
That was supposed to be Baptiste, I think. But Madrid decided to take him and threw him on the wing and in midfield where he sweats a lot.
December 29th, 2005 at 3:43 am
yep…John Carew would be a good option i think. Same build as Adriano and clowns like G. Neville would think twice of messing around with this dude. If a.cole is desperate to go to real, maybe the trade-off could be arranged to bring in baptista, who is currently being, more than just wasted at real….
December 30th, 2005 at 12:55 am
Adebayor at Monaco.
Hey, how about Brian McBride?
December 30th, 2005 at 1:13 am
McBride?? do you think he is good enough for arsenal….?
i was thinking more along the lines of a baptista or carew to play just behind the strikers in 4-1-2-1-2 format or as the primary striker in either 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 formations…..
December 30th, 2005 at 9:02 pm
Adebayor has been disappointing this season. But I have thought about B-Mac. He’s good for ten more this year easy.
January 1st, 2006 at 9:34 pm
did you mean that? i realise it is an american gunners site, but really?