This guy is a “sniffer” and is already creating headlines.
Tarik Elyounoussi :
(born 23 February 1988 in Al Hoceima, Morocco) is a Norwegian footballer playing for the Norwegian Premier League side Fredrikstad.
Of Moroccan descent, Elyounoussi started playing football in the club Trosvik in Fredrikstad, from which many of the young players in the Fredrikstad Youth team have their roots. He is said to be the greatest talent Fredrikstad has produced in decades. He was awarded the Young Player of the Year trophy in 2006 and 2007, after two great seasons in the league, and a Norwegian football cup trophy. In May 2008, he was linked with a transfer to top English Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur????????. He scored in is first appearance on the national team against Uruguay on 28 May 2008 after only 4 minutes on the pitch, the fastest debut-goal on the national team.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:14 am
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/01/sfnfro101.xml
How about the next manager?
June 1st, 2008 at 4:11 am
No thanks. We dont need any other “prospective” strikers. We have Bendtner and Walcott already.
PS: You know it is quite easy to be the agent of an unknown youngster these days. First make up a wikipedia page (ofcourse), then copy verbatim from that page unto a few Arsenal fan sites - before long the “proper”, more traditional websites and tabloids pick it up from the feeds - and before you know it the Sun or the Mail links the player to us.
And viola a dozen clubs will suddenly start looking at the new prospect!
Damn, I would make an awesome agent, if only kids in upstate NY had any interest in soccer - or had any talent
June 1st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Or you weren’t an idiot
June 1st, 2008 at 11:16 am
lol we dont have any trouble scoreing goals or seting them up we just need to be tuffer at the back so why do we need some over rated striker from norway no thank you and if he was linked to tottenham most likely hes shit
June 1st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Toe let me break this to you gently, Arsenal do not need you using Wikipedia to scout nobodies in East Bumf**k Siberia. Besides, we have Bendtner who is clearly the cream of the young Scandinavian crop.
June 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
According to Wenger: http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/06/01/Prem-Wenger-on-Nasri/. WTF is this all about. He won’t commit before July! A good Euro2008 and we may get priced out. Timing as they say is everything and we may regret not moving sooner. I hope we have a backup plan to avoid a repeat of Baptista scenario.
June 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Oh boy, I smell Baptista all over again!
Nasri is about to f-ck Wenger over, Flamini-style ….. there is only one reason to wait till after the Euros - to get other bidders and to get more money from those other bidders.
Wenger better forget Nasri and chase other prospects NOW!
June 1st, 2008 at 4:44 pm
@ brendan: My bad, didnt know you also duplicated as “toe”. lol.
June 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Nery Castillo (Man City)vs Vela vs Dos Santos (http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8198026/Dos-Santos-close-to-Spurs-switch). Who (barring injury) will have the biggest impact? Of course I’m hoping player will. Anybody who uses the words ‘prestigious’ and S***s in the same paragraph is already deluded.
June 1st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Will the hope and the dream of Nasri become a withered thing in the heat of summer. good friends, I fear we have lost this target and must move on to other lesser players.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
i got a bad feeling about this nasri deal
June 1st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
At the first sign of trouble, I had said that I hope the Nasri deal does not end up like Baptista. Wenger heaped pressure on himself by publicly announcing that he will sign someone before the Euros. It was intended to placate the fans but it turned out to be a bad move as it gives the agents an edge in the bargaining stakes.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 am
I think we’ll just have to wait and watch now. I was actually surprised that Nasri was ready to sign for us before the commencement of Euro 2008, as only Arsenal stood to gain from that move. But i’ve learnt my lesson from this…..am not going to believe any transfer news story until it’s confirmed on the Official site.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 am
sigh, what else u want from Wenger nipuna? if he didn’t say a thing, fans would be crying over how we needed new signings. Now he did make a promise, then it gave agents an edge?
how on earth it’s always Wenger’s false? as far as i m concerned, the new generation players’ attitude suck. isn’t this where the problem really is? announced a new signing or not, if a player is greedy, he’s greedy. it makes no difference to me.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:18 am
anyway, if this guy got an attitude like this, i don’t think it’s such a shame if we miss out on him. cos who knows, maybe one year later he will do a Hleb or Cashley Cole?
hadn’t some folks been talking about the character and attidue of a player a while ago? now if this rumor is true, then this guy’s atttiude sucks. so move on, i just don’t believe a club like aRsenal will fail to buy any quality players.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 am
Andez, I’m relaxed if we don’t sign Nasri before the Euros. I am NOT blaming Wenger but merely stating that Wenger’s public announcement may have backfired. But hey, I could even be wrong.
I just don’t want this to be another Baptista affair. Since it is early days, if this thing doesn’t work out, I simply hope Wenger moves on to other targets.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 am
Nasri himself is taking a risk. he could get injuried during the tournament, he could have a carp tournament as well. or someone else may shine in the tournament and caught AW and other managers’ attention.
also it’s worth to mention the coming Olympic. there will be many Under 23 youngsters playing in the Olympic, another good chance for scouts to earn their money, and for the young players to make a name for themselves.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
@Andez…I agree with you. The attitude of the new generation players is pretty bad. But I guess, this was something that was going to happen given the obscene sums being pumped into football. Today’s players just seem to be motivated by money and nothing else. It’s reached such a stage now..that when a player signs….I keep thinking of whether he actually loves the club or just in it for the money. I think players and their agents are digging their own grave by holding clubs to ransom.
A large reason why such large sums of money are being poured into the sport is because of the huge fan support. I’m not sure if i’m correct…but a reason why fans are so passionate about a club is because they identify with players and the team spirit. If the current attitude of players continues then it won’t be too long before fans begin to to question why they need to support a team so passionately in the first place. Once this happens….then you can be sure that wages will start to drop down. Won’t happen overnight but eventually will.
The amount of money that has started to flow into the game has largely been in a period of a sustained economic boom. Recent events indicate however that this is not going to continue for long..in fact we might be at the beginning of a global recession. Unless fans are really really passionate about a club…spending money on football would probably rank low on their list of priorities. Will be interesting to see what effect it has on players and their wages. When that happens …I can probably see a lot of players professing their loyalty to a club and seeing out the end of their contracts before re-negotiating with the same club
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Mourinho takes over at Inter. Let’s see how he fares. Some big names (like Lippi and Hector Cuper) have failed at Inter. Mancini himself won two of his three titles at Inter due to the bribery scandal. Milan are supposed to concentrate on winning the Scudetto since they are out of the CL. It should be interesting.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Mourinho is already looking to bring his Chelsea folks to Inter. There is an article saying the Essien is his first target. It will only go from there.
Nasri is as good as ours. You wait and see.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
yes, Essien is his priority. i remember reading Mourinho saying “Essien is the reason he wants to stay at Chelsea”, shortly before he was sacked. but it just showed how high he rated Essien. who wouldn’t? arguably Chelsea’s best player the past 2 seasons along with Drogba.
as usual, he picked the easiest job of all. Juve still yet to recover, AC Milan out of CL. basically he has no competition at all next season in Series A. Roma isn’t strong enough. AC Milan are aging. no wonder he’s so special.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
waiting till the end of euro may be a bad deal for us in terms of money, but since we’ve been signing a lot of “softies” lately its’ better for see if Nasri is going to be injury-free after euro 2008.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I’ve been amazed once recently - and that was with Flamini choosing to leave Arsenal.
If Hleb goes to Inter that will be twice!
Hleb just doesn’t appear to have the attitude to cope with Mourinho. And I doubt Mourinho would want him. Barca look a better bet, altho they’re in their normal state of flux..
Most Wenger transfers are ‘under the radar’. You only hear about them when they are confirmed. So the Nasri situation doesn’t look particularly good - for those who want him to come that is. I can’t see why Wenger would have wanted the situation to be unresolved over the EC’s particularly after it had become public. It does smack of Baptista and Robinho a couple of seasons ago. These players would probably be happy to come to Arsenal but they had a ‘preferred destination’ and in a sense they were using Arsenal as a bargaining chip and as a fall-back option. We can only speculate that Nasri is adopting the same strategy, but you have to say that if he wanted to do the deal you would think it could have happened. He seems to be keeping his options open.
One site suggested that Arsenal/Wenger publicised the Nasri interest to coincide with season ticket renewals. Too cynical? Perhaps. Although I’m becoming less hurried to adopt a ‘positive take’ on everything.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
i think the reason Wenger publicised the Nasri interest was very simple - because of the FANS.
hadn’t the fans been calling for buy buy buy since last summer, since January, since forever? We failed to win anything last season, so i think AW finally bowed under pressure and told the fans something they wanted to hear.
i said it long ago, it’s not a good idea to let others know ur interest towards a player u r targeting. but fans don’t care. they want the manager to guarantee he’s going to buy buy buy.
now they got their wish, and things didn’t turn out as smoothly in the deal, so they are coming back to blame the manager. or came up with some rubbish theory and hook the season ticket reneval issue into it. Those ppl need to get real. Do they really think even if AW does not buy anyone, ppl would not be renewing their season ticket? correct me if i m wrong, from what i known, once you decide to end ur season ticket renewal, in the future if u change your mind, you will have to wait down the tail of the queue. True fans will never want to give up their season ticket as easily. What next? if AW to leave on 2011, the stadium will be empty?
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 am
Most fans are as good as the media..seriously. They want action ..all the time..zero patience totally. Sure even I’m excited about Nasri n stuff but what then if it doesnt happen? AW knows nothing and he’s a jerk? Seriously.. as for the AW 2011 bit I dont know..but it sounds logical though I’d much prefer he moves upstairs. What I think though will happen is that fat boy will take over the club , all the old guard slowly move out and I will no longer watch football when it officially happens.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
@LDE…Precisely. I used to think that Wenger would remain with Arsenal for life. But the way things have been going …..it will be a wonder if he sticks on till 2011. Really sad to see the reaction..and the pressure they seem to be heaping on Wenger. This after we had a really good season if things were looked at with a sense of perspective.
I became a fan of this club because …at all times..though we were a part of the big 4…we stood out as a club….not only because of our style of play…but because of the club’s philosophy..of unearthing talent rather then taking the easy way out and buying players just for the sake of it. This is what true management is. If Arsenal don’t win anything of note for even the next 4-5 years….they will still be remembered as a club which tried to do something different and will always have their loyal fan following.
Unfortunately…most of the “fans” want us to be a part of the crowd …….and lose our identity in the process. They should get their wish soon.
I remember one statement which Wenger made recently….”To say you have made mistakes is fine….to say you do not know what you are doing is disrespectful”…that he even had to comment on it shows to what extent people are getting on his back.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Not about a new player, but interesting nonetheless:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3643504,00.html
Wow, it only took him ten years to figure that out. Flams and Hleb, take heed.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
well said Wayne. my love towards Arsenal also based on the similiar thing u mentioned - when i started following Arsenal, we didn’t spend big money buying stars. in fact, George Graham kept getting rid of the big name (yet underachieving) stars of our team at that time. and put his faith in the young guns.
it’s a great feeling watching a player growing from a youngester to become a star. that’s why Tony Adams will always hold an important place in my heart. he started his career around the same time i started following the Gunners. so i had virtually followed his entire career.
LDE, u know i read from somewhere else that a Gunner fan saying if AW doesn’t win anything next season, he should be sacked. because he’s crap at transfer market (in response to this latest Nasri development).
it’s these soft of plastic that piss me off most.
When comes to working the transfer market, AW has a better record than anyone else. he got more bargain of the century on more occassions than any living manager, special one or ordinary one. and u got some plastic popped up out of nowhere let going his crap with his mouth??
some folks really mistaken Arsenal as Real Madrid or Chelsea. if AW really goes on 2011, I’d like to see how the new manager going to do working under a salary cap, along with a tightly controlled transfer budget, speical one or ordinary one.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 am
I think Anelka told his two France teammates (Diarra and Flamini) that they were “STOOPID” for leaving a team like Arsenal and a manger like Wenger. Thierry was probably in the background laughing at them in total agreement with Anelka. Poor Nicholas was probably so pissed off at them, and himself, that he felt the need to go and tell the media.
I don’t think it took him ten years to figure it out though. I guarantee he had that figured out while he was still at Real Madrid.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
Anelka’s probably like, “shit, I should have 100 caps too. I was at Arsenal before Henry. Ain’t this about a bitch!”
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Great article by Arseblog….
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/arseblog/posts/the-littlest-mary
Guess most of us are just little mary’s!
There’s no point getting all worked up because we are not as aggressive or as silly with over-the-top spending on over-rated players in the transfer markets as other clubs.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Neova, that Arseblog is a funny dude. That satire will unfortunately go right over the heads of a alot of mindless supporters. I sometimes want to scream: my Wenger, right or wrong!
Dull day in the ‘hood. Hughes to Man City. Can we now expect Man City to start kicking the s**t out of teams. One less team trying to ‘play’ football. …and starring as ‘Robbie Savage’ will be Dieter Haman.
Man U trying to bum rush the Ramsey kid. Hold on there ‘Rudolph’, the deal ain’t done yet. You have to know we’re in the mix because Cardiff won’t speak our name (just the way we prefer it). Liverpool are out because they are trying to save their pennies for Barry.
Ancelotti to Chelsea. Now this is actually an interesting rumor. If true, Galliani and Berlusconi will bust a gut. More importantly is what happens to all those rumored player moves. Players going to Milan (Drogba, Eto’o) and Essien, Lampard, and Carvalho to Inter. Ancelotti will now drop Anelka and Drogba and start Schevchenko at Abramovich’s ’suggestion’. Ancelotti will not tolerate the Chelsea’s classless behavior. Which Italian ‘retread’ gets the Milan job and what becomes of ‘rich boy’ Flamini. Hleb and Mourinho, a match made in …
McNally quits Fulham. If he is to be the new Managing Director, WTF did he do so well at Fulham that gets him this job? Will this mean an American invasion at Arsenal, I’m American and I hope not.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
The BBC has basically confirmed that both Man U and Arsenal’s bid for Ramsey have been accepted. Its now all left to Ramsey to decide now.
I have a strong feeling that if we do get Ramsey he will actually start beside Fabregas. He has a bulldog stature and playing style but is exactly the same height as Flamini.
Wenger probably sees him as an exact replacement for Flamini.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Hold your horses there Fred. 17 going on 18. 22 appearances for a Championship side. I don’t think he jumps the ahead of Diaby and Denilson. I saw his brief run out the in FA Cup final for about 20min. He looked spiffy but he has a ways to go the development ladder.
I hope Barcelona wants Hleb bad enough to pay 14-15mil and I hope we ask for at least that much. After all he’s in his ‘prime’ and Henry was past his prime.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I like Arseblog’s witty style, a lot.
Boris also writes a lot of good commonsense…..
http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/498/f/6643/s/12daf4c/story01.htm
One thing I would say is the off-season is a time to reflect and toss about ideas. It would be a pity if this site descends into a “positive comments only” forum. Granted some fans shoot from the hip and make unbalanced comments that are a bit raw. But similarly an assumption that all-will-be-well-no-matter-what-happens seems to me to be less than intelligent.
If you think we have a title challenging squad - good for you. Argue your case. If you think more young players are the answer to the mature players leaving - again, argue your case. But don’t kid yourself that you are more a fan simply because you won’t talk about our weaknesses. Or your more a fan because you put a positive spin on whatever happens.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
@ ctpa: Well, I am just trying to “read” Wenger’s mind. Fabregas was this age when he started playing in midfield.
Of the very little that I have seen of him, he is very combative, albeit in the Championship, and seems to be going the Gerrard route. Wenger has also placed bids for him 2 summers ago and last summer. Wenger definitely rates him highly.
And lets face facts. Diaby is not combative and is poor defensively.
Denilson is surely not the answer.
It is obvious to everybody that we need a combative, runs-around-a-lot CM to partner Cesc. Denilson and Diaby just dont satisfy that requirement.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Wenger has acknowledged that we face problems with the high ball right through the middle. I remember he used those exact words. He actually said that on corners and set pieces we have done fine. It’s the ball through the middle (something like a long punt to Crouch/Davies?).
My though at this point is that the next DM will NOT be a short player. He will be a TALL player.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Fred, good points. I haven’t seen him enough to judge how combative he is. If he’s a Gerrard type player, then bring him on. Considering that we are going against ManU, this could be a key acquisition. Ramsey has to look at where Walcott was, is and where he could be going under Wenger. At ManU, he has Anderson, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, and Hargreaves in the MF. Whatever this kid has got, can we really contend whlie the ‘Flamini’ replacements get it together.
Jeez Louise, what is it about Arsenal that has ex-players taking shots on a ‘monthly’ basis. Now we have Ljungberg crying about how Wenger discarded his injury ridden 30yo body. What has he done for West Ham that’s been so great for big money. Nada. Anelka finally grows up as he enters the twilight of his career. Diarra is sitting pretty now but its early yet. i like Diarra but he is still an A-hole for his early departure.
Wenger putting out more positive noise on Nasri being able to adapt to the BPL. If he hasn’t signed, I don’t want to hear ’spin’. I hope Ribery has a big Euro tournament because that means Nasri won’t showcase and draw more flies or make his head swell.
Apparently we’ve lost out on a 16yo African kid to Atletico Madrid. They were willing to spend 1mil (we offered 700k) without a trial (we wanted him for a 2wk trial). We can’t afford to gamble with our limited resources.
The story is not that Hughes is now at Man City but what kind of talent can he bring in 30mil. Managers who get the most out of limited budgets, Moyes, Hughes, Wenger and Allardyce can screw it up when they get the big budget. Allardyce at Newcastle is the most recent example of buying bad players for stupid money.
We can only hope and dream that Chelsea is a ticking ‘Gretna’ timebomb in the next 5 yrs.
Carvallho, Lampard and Drogba to Inter. “Make it so”, ‘Special one’.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:17 am
CTPA@38 The team which worries me the most going into next season is not Chelsea but Manu.
Chelsea has a lot of issues with player and coaching stability and could easily implode with some key players leaving because of the internal turmoil constantly associated with the organization. A meddling owner in Abramovich, obviously an ‘A” type personality with Napoleonic tendencies, a third set of mass coaching changes upcoming in one year, their lack of recent trophies and “The Great One” now installed at Milan will certainly hasten their demise.
Manu on the other hand is basically set in their organization, have an excellent team and is looking to make quality additions as we speak. Combine this with Fergie’s ego and his need to go down in history as the greatest EPL manager before retiring in a blaze of glory in the next two years means he will stop at nothing to continue their winning ways until he rides off into the sunset with 2 bottles of expensive and exotic wine secured in his holsters.
At this point I don’t think he cares about the future of Manu and whether they will be in debt or on the verge of bankruptcy after his departure. Their only setback would be if Ronaldo decides to skip the British Isles and moves to the sunny climes of the Spanish Netherlands, which I do not see Fergie allowing at this time. Even if Ronaldo left I am sure his fee would be astronomical and they could easily bring in two quality replacements without further stretching their budget.
As I sit here anxiously awaiting news of Arsenal’s signings and read of us being connected to every player between the ages of 15 and 34 hailing from the Falkland Islands to the Solomon Islands, I’ll continue to sip my Martinis and try to focus on the Euros as a means of escaping my anxiety attacks (LOL).
June 4th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Ramsey’s a good footballer. Is he better than Denilson? I don’t know. He could be. From what I’ve seen, he’s a very inteligent player with a bit more steel to his game. He actually plays a lot like Denilson. He’d definitely fit at Arsenal. We’ll see.
Nipuna, when Wenger talked about those high balls, those are often long balls directed to strikers like Carew/Crouch/Drogba that are good in the air. I don’t see a tall DM being the answer as the long ball bypasses the midfield. However a tall CB might be the right answer. What really kills us is the second ball that gets flicked on by the tall striker so that means we need a CB who’ll win more high balls or a CB who’ll track the runner a bit tighter to win the second ball. It’s a very effective tactic that teams like Bolton have used against us for years. We’ll see what Wenger has in mind to combat that.
I haven’t talked much about the Euro 2008 coming up because I don’t care, but I think Spain might win it. Just for conversation, who’s the best out of Iniesta, Xavi, and Fabregas? These are three fantastic footballers. Fab has been given the #10 jersey for Spain and I know we all love him as Gooners but is he better than the other two? Please be objective.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Very happy to see Sagna sign a new deal. Times have surely changed. Now we have players signing new deals within one year of joining, players becoming captain within one year of joining and players signing 8 year long contracts!!!
June 4th, 2008 at 8:24 am
@Kiwi@35…I assume that part of that post is directed at me..so here is my counter argument
I have to admit…I am generally positive about Arsenal’s chances…but I’m not one to say that we are the best in the world with the best players all over the pitch. Of course we have our weaknesses, and we have to look at how we rectify them. I don’t have a problem with that
But I have a problem with people believing and constantly harping on the fact that big name signings are the only way to go. You don’t need to be a manager to do that…..if Arsenal did have an unlimited supply of money….and the management of the club was entrusted to any of us….there is a very good chance that we come away with the title.The truth is we don’t have an unlimited supply of money…..even if we did have a decent stash of cash….I find it difficult to believe that we let Flamini go even after having cash to spare. Going by that fact…i don’t think it is too hard to conclude that we have limited resources at our disposal.
You said it was time to toss up new ideas to discuss and sort out the weaknesses. The problem with most discussions of this sort is…things are too easy. Let me explain
Problem: Arsenal have a problem in the centre of defence
Solution: Let’ sign Vidic/Mertesacker/Any other big name
Problem: Arsenal have a problem with Strikers
Solution: Let’s sign Villa/Eto’o/Aguero/Any other big name
Problem: Arsenal have a problem in Midfield
Solution: Let’s buy Essien/Yaya/Any other big name
This gets boring after some time. And after a while of seeing no signings…people start to convince themselves that Wenger is a fool..and he is stingy etc etc.The point i’m trying to make is that if you are a fan of the club and believe that big name signings are the only way to go..then you are likely to face disappointment season after season…atleast until Usmanov takes over. I too would love big name signings…but if that is not possible..do we have a ‘plan B’ in the transfer market ?.I beleive we do. True we have not yet won a big title with this plan….but we have got as close as it can get last year without winning. I do believe that our team has learnt a lot and will put it to good use next season.
How about ll of us playing Football Manager with a twist. Assuming the Arsenal board have appointed you as a manager….and you have been told that the transfer kitty is zilch….all you have is the current squad of players (yes..we have lost flamini and hleb) and the youth(u can include Vela)/Any possible free transfer . You have been told that the board expects the team to win the title this season. Would you just give up and say there is no chance so don’t bother trying OR take up the challenge and try and make a fight of it. If we do ….it would be interesting to see the squad/tactics/formation and backup that we could put in place in such a scenario..would make for a good discussion
Cheers,
June 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I agree with Wayne. Kiwi, I don’t think there was anyone who had ever come out and suggested Arsenal are going to win the league next season. Or anyone had indeed believed our team is perfect.
and surely i never seen any stuffs like “all-will-be-well-no-matter-what-happens” being written here on this site.
the arguments most of them are “counter arguments”, in RESPONSE to some extremely negative stuffs we had read here or elsewhere by fellow Arsenal fans.
I have never read anything like “We will be alright, we will be winning the league next season”. But i have read plenty of “If Wenger fails to win anything next season, he should go” or “Arsenal will NEVER win the CL under Wenger” or “Wenger should have done this, should have done that, or shouldn’t have done this, shouldn’t have done that”.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I agree. I think Wayne summed it up beautifully. I couldn’t have put it better. As far as I am concerned as far as we play the beautiful football I care a fuck about the trophies. they are just a reward for the guys who play — I’m sure they’d prefer the trophies but for me? As a fan? The trophies are just a bonus, I watch the game to be entertained and no one IMO does it better than Arsenal. What are trophies to a fan? If we’re better than ManU .. so what? It actually is nothing more than bragging rights if you look at it objectively. Trophies are key coz the best players wont stay otherwise - which might lead to worse football which’d be sad but as long as AW is here I doubt that’ll happen. After 2011 when fat boy comes in who knows?
June 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
The point is we could have won something this year with only a few minor additions to the squad. Yes, we had injuries. But strength in depth is the key. In the last third of the season, your bench is often what makes the difference.
We came agonizingly close. The previous two seasons we were out of the running by January and clearly not ready to challenge. So the pressure is real on for 2008-9. Especially if Ronaldo leaves ManUre and Chelsea lose Lampard, Drogba, Essien and - ha, ha - hang on to Shevchenko.
Then we have no excuse. Wenger must know in private he has to come up with a CB. It was goals conceded that did it for us, not insufficient goals scored.
But I don’t think Wenger is stingy. He obviously prefers the romantic approach of building a team from scratch, rather than assembling a bunch of superstars.
It makes us delightful but also somewhat brittle. Even the 2004 team had this oddly fragile quality at times.
If it adds some steel over the summer, it will make victory this year so very gratifying.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
We have failed in a bid for Cristian Zapata, a CB at Udinese where he is the captain: http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overseas/italy/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/06/04/manual_163019.html&TEAMHD=italy. We offered 15mil euros (9.5mil pounds) and they want 20mil euros to get serious. It’s nice to know that Wenger is actually actively seeking a defender. Either we’ll make an improved bid or go elsewhere.
Everton have tossed there hat into the Ramsey sweepstakes. I think it will come down to what can each club offer towards the kid’s future development. ManU will loan him back to Cardiff. Wenger will give him a shot to make the bench. Everton will put him on the bench. Fingers crossed. Decision by the Friday the 13th.
Ljungberg now denies he ever bad mouthed Wenger.
2 games during Mourinho’s rein at Porto had the ‘fix in’. Porto are now booted from the CL along w/ the Bulgarian league winner. Sorry Milan, you are not getting in through the back door no matter how many teams are thrown out for rules violations. Ironic isn’t it.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Wayne #42, counter arguments address points raised.
Andez #43, most of what you have said in your post is blatantly incorrect. People have expressed an “all-will-be-well-no-matter-what-happens” attitude to the departures of Flamini and Hleb and the ongoing injuries to RvP, Rosicky and Eduardo and the question as to whether the young players (existing or new) can step up. And some have said we will win the title next season. It’s true, re-read the posts
LDE #44, are you serious? I care about winning, for myriad reasons.
Macmac123 #45, “The point is we could have won something this year with only a few minor additions to the squad.”
That I agree with. We also could have won something if injuries didn’t bite so bad - I think the margin between winning and not for us was very close last season. But Wenger’s compact/young squad policy proved a bit short.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Macmac123 #45, “It was goals conceded that did it for us, not insufficient goals scored.”
We can argue that one till the cows come home.
What did happen was that for 50 days between Birmingham in February and ManU in May our season ground to a halt.
We struggled to score.
We rolled out horrid looking weak attacking teams that could only score 15 goals in 11 games, 2 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses…….that’s not champion quality. During that time we only conceded 16 goals which isn’t bad for an attacking team.
I agree strengthening the centre of defence would be hugely positive. But what’s the likelihood?
June 4th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I agree with Andez@43, the “all-will-be-well-no-matter-what-happens” attitude results from the “Wenger is failure and must go if Arsenal can’t win silverware next year” attitude. And the impact of the departures of Flamini and Hleb is impossible to even begin to analyze until we see who and how Wenger intends to replace them. Also, I believe Wenger did not cause or want them to leave so to blame him for their departures is unfair.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I agree VG, it’s a lack of analytical ability.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Kiwi@48,
Have to agree with Macmac123 #45, “It was goals conceded that did it for us, not insufficient goals scored.”
I can see your point to an extent because logistically if we scored more goals we could have won some of these games. However, if you look on the number of goals we scored it compares very favorably to Manu and was more than any other team. It was also more goals than the “Invincibles” I believe.
Manchester and Chelsea won a lot of 1-0 games sometimes even when they were outplayed and if Manu had allowed a goal in 3 of those games we would have beaten them by 2 points. In fact, Manu had some 6-7 more clean sheets than we did.
No one is really wrong here, but historically the teams which produce the best defense tend to win the trophies. Mourinho and Chelsea did it on defense and the Manu team this year gave up the fewest goals, had by far the most clean sheets and ultimately the best goal differential.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Agree with Kiwi and Macmac123 #45, Macmac123 #45, “The point is we could have won something this year with only a few minor additions to the squad.”
We had the physical bodies and the number of players we rolled out for the first team even surpassed Manu. The problem was not one of quantity but that of QUALITY. Walcott, Bendtner, Denilson, Eboue (in his new position), Traore, Hoyte, Djourou, Diaby and Song were all unproven commodities and while it would have been great to give them experience in the Carling and FA Cups and trot them out for end of game minutes in the CL and EPL they were not mentally or physically ready to provide steady first team support.
A year later, Bendtner, Walcott, Song and maybe Djourou have cemented themselves as viable team options. The verdict is still out on Denilson, Traore and Diaby, and Hoyte is just a waste of time. I purposely left out Senderos because I think he has established himself as an excellent backup CB. The inclusion of Vela fills one of the gaps but the likes of Wilshere, Mannone, Fabianski, Merida, Randall, Lansbury can not be seen as short term solutions to the squad for next season.
With the departure of Lehmann and Flamini and us holding our breath over the health of RVP, Rosicky and Eduardo we will still enter next season with a squad bereft of quality depth unless we acquire at least 3 seasoned players (I count Nasri as such, just barely).
While it is futile to speculate on Arsene’s philosophy in regards to new acquisitions I can only wait with bated breath to see the final 08-09 squad.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
CaribKid, the truth lies somewhere in the combination of both attacking and defensive facets of the game - but when have Arsenal been a defensive team? For me I ask the question what is more rational based on what we know of Wenger over 11 years? To expect his sides to outscore the opposition or to keep clean sheets?
In the 50 day period I referred to (Feb to Apl) we generally had enough possession to bury the teams we met. We often had the lead but couldn’t finish the game with a 2nd goal. So we paid the price for not putting sides away and for having a defence (and team mindset) that wasn’t up to keeping clean sheets. The point that is easy to miss is that during that 50 day period Wenger had little quality options from which to select. I honestly can’t remember us being so threadbare in al of Wenger’s reign. So the truth is the team did very well given the circumstances - we could have done far worse.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
CaribKid #53. I like your summary and agree we need to replenish the squad with some experience/maturity to improve the likelihood of avoiding last seasons slump. Three new bods sounds about right too (plus any kids).
June 4th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I meant CaribKid #52
June 4th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
A point I made long time ago. Spoken by the chairman himself may increase the creditability:
And Hill-Wood believes the biggest obstacles in keeping the wage bill down are the players’ egos.
“If you pay a player a salary, you must assume the rest of the team know within five minutes of him walking out of the door what he has got,” he said.
“And they quite often exaggerate. It happens when they go away to play for their country. They talk up their own salaries, but you’ve just got to keep firm and sensible and if people go and leave you, well, tough.
“But I don’t think you can keep putting the wages up and the price of tickets up. You have got to somehow balance the books.”
June 5th, 2008 at 12:26 am
New kit looks nice
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1247520.ece
June 5th, 2008 at 1:25 am
New kit? Just go buy an “fly emirates” logo, slap it over your old “Sega Dreamcast” shirt and you’re done!
Can’t keep up with a new kit every 1.5 years… I like the current home kit and will stick with that for a long time.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I just hope we go back to yellow for the away kit. The white one makes us look like West Ham, Aston Villa or worse, the Spurs!! Ditto with the third kit, we don’t want to look like Barca’s feeder club.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Man City - sacked Sven after one season, and hired Mark Hughes?!… those clubs just never learned.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:21 am
@Kiwi: Thought that might come out wrong. Of course the winning is great coz it shows that we’re superior to the rest and coz the taste of losing is awful and coz rival fans will talk senseless rubbish which is not true.
What I meant was — Just because we didnt win we link it to 1 million ficititious reasons which range from “Wenger sucks” to “Buffon,Nesta,Villa and Maradona will solve things” to “kids are useless and not mentally strong” — That makes no sense specially since we missed out by so little. Chelsea didnt “WIN” anything either — what does that mean? they’re shit too? Oh wait…They fought till “the last day” .. and reached the final .. But “History remembers winners” — so Chelsea are shit as well. Its that mentality which irks me and hence don’t subscribe to the “Winning = ur the best” theory. What about Greece 2004??
June 5th, 2008 at 6:40 am
LDE….I think there is a middle road, as such. We don’t have to go to polar extremes and say either Wenger sucks or Wenger always knows best. The truth may well lie in between. The kids may not be useless but they may also not be the appropriate answer for every vacant position. We may not need to buy todays Maradona but that doesn’t necessarily mean we need to buy Nasri.
I’m a huge admirer of Wenger and I always will be. The job he has done at Arsenal has been immense. He is a legend in every sense to me. But I feel at ease analysing where we are at, accepting that it’s just my opinion, but stating, hopefully in a balanced manner the weaknesses that seem evident in the squad.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Have you had your cornflakes and OJ yet? Your mocha joka latte supremo?
How about that expresso?
Now comes this shocking rumor: http://www.gazzetta.it/primapagina/.
For those who are not in literate in Italian, I’ll spare you the google translator version and say this: Gazettadello Sport links 3 things- Adebayor, ACMilan and the word yes. They’re saying he agreed to personal terms and now they reckon that Milan have now meet Arsenal’s 30 or 40mil price tag to complete the deal. Literally a few days ago, Adebayor was proclaiming his loyalty to the club.
Funny how this all happened while Galliani admitted to meeting w/ Kenyon to discuss Drogba and Schevchenko
June 5th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Here is the link to the story on goal.com:
http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=724190
If this rumor is true, then Ade has got some splainin to do about his “staying here to win things” comments he made a few days ago. Hopefully this is anothercase of the media making something of nothing so that they have a story to report.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:56 am
The hypocrisy of Adebayor kissing the AC Milan badge after scoring a goal (when and if and the jury is still out as to whether or not this is an Italian paper’s pipe dream) strikes me as funny as hell.
I support Arsenal no.1 and AC Milan no.1a (not w/ a capital A mind you), so I can’t lose in this deal. One of my personalities supports the most morally ethical football team on the planet and my other personality supports a team with no morals and has acquired one “greedy” player and maybe another who reportedly asked for 80k/wk. I support PHW when he says Arsenal are not breaking the bank for players who come in every year looking for a raise.
This rumor will surely fire up the debate as to who will we get to replace Adebayor. The man has not even left The Emirates (yet?).
Replace 2 years BPL experience, high work rate, 30 goals, strength to bang w/ CB’s and not cry, fall down too easily and go boom.
The names: Gomez, Villa, Benzema, Gomis, Arshavin, etc., etc. We need a YOUNG,physically strong, target player who is comfortable on the flanks, can head the ball, has speed, go 1v1, is clinical, is technical, and has a high work rate for the team. Guess what, Adebayor ticks off most of those requirements and can still improve in those he doesn’t.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=news&article=492289&cpid=703&title=Euro+2008+Week:+Arsenal+old+boys+pick+their+winners
The number of pundits and ex-players tipping Spain is unbelievable. Surely that means, they will not win it.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Adebayor is not going anywhere. Its hilarious that a lot on here are discussing it based completely on a random Italian paper’s fart.
And even if it is true - Adebayor’s position is the very least of our problems.
We have a very well talented 20 year old in Bendtner waiting on the wings. If Bendy is a starter he will be massive. Even bigger than Anelka was in 97-99.
Bendy-Walcott - works.
Bendy-RvP - works perfectly.
Bendy-Eduardo - works sweetly.
Bendy-Vela - will surely work as well.
Put two fast wingers and thats it.
If Milan are actually idiotic enough to offer us 30 million pounds for Adebayor, Wenger should bite their hands off!
June 5th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Looking like Ronaldo might really go to Real. Even if Man U get Berbatov then—and coupled with Chelsea’s likely unsettledness after whatever rebuilding they do—we will have a very real chance at the title, no matter who we get this summer.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Fred@67,
Sorry Fred, disagree with you on this one. Bendy does not work with any of your suggestions because he is not a target man unless it’s from set pieces. Bendy likes to lay back and thread the pass to a finisher and even internationally has shown this to be so. He lacks the natural pace, clinical finishing, aggressiveness and instinct for goal and whereas he certainly will only get better at finishing goal instinct and pace can’t be thought.
If Ade or a Ade type of front man is not present we will have to change our current attack philosophy completely. He would do very well as an anchor in a 4-3-3 or as a support striker in the 4-4-2 but does not have the work ethic or explosiveness to spread a defense the way Ade does.
He also still lacks experience and definitely would not want to rely on Bendy as the main target player and having to score 20 + goals in a season.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Sorry, meant “can’t be taught”. I wonder where my “thought” was.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
The Ronaldo situation is fascinating. It must be in the balance. He has been linked with a move in the past. What has impressed me, was his ability to put speculation and discord (Rooney) aside and perform to an exceptional level.
Just shows that unwanted attention and speculation affects every club. I’ll be interested to see how Fergie deals with this. My gut feel is that this type of thing fires Fergie up positively not negatively.
The Adebayor to AC Milan story doesn’t ring particularly true. What is it about ‘the silly season’? People’s rational thought goes out the window. 20 yr old Bendtner is now the answer….LOL. Let the guy develop, let him earn the role. Last season was a good learning experience for him, another couple of seasons of learning in the 1st team squad will help him become more imposing.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Kiwi@71,
Fergie probably looks like a cooked Lobster at this stage, but you are right, he’s a fighter and this will only motivate him to play serious hardball. If he is traded they will be able to acquire 3 top notch players with the money involved.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Yeah, Bendtner’s not even close to being ready to lead the team. People say that Bendtner and Ade are too similar but I disagree. Their only similarities is that they’re both tall, they’re both good in the air, and they both play for Arsenal. That is where the similarities end. Bendtner’s more like a number ten where Ade’s is more of a number 9.
Bendtner better than Anelka! I don’t know what you’re smoking but you need to stop being stingy and pass some of that to the rest of us so we can get on your level. Anelka went for like 23 million. Ten years later, with inflation, Bendtner still isn’t even worth half of that. You must be on some powerful, industrial-strength dope; like the stuff they had on that movie Half Baked when Chapelle and that dog were floating all over New York.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
United better use that Ronaldo money to pay some of those damn bills.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Sources say Wenger is meeting w/ Ramsey in Switzerland this weekend. If I’m Ramsey, I know who my choice would be. What young player has Moyes or Benitez developed into a stud player. Rooney doesn’t count because he still has not reached his ‘potential’ IMO (or maybe he has). So the choices are us or them (ManU). Hey Ramsey, here’s what its like to train with “Le Professor”: http://www.footballingworld.com/2008/06/04/arsene-wenger-offers-a-continental-coaching-masterclass/.
Wenger can’t be too worried about Adebayor if he stays in Switzerland to do EURO 2008 commentary for French tv.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Read it and weep Ferguson: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.us.terra.com%2Fshared%2Feurocopa2008%2Findex.htm&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Shopping List:1) http://www.soccer-spain.com/ssdocs/stats/pichichis.html.
2) http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=iht&page=soc-ger/stat/germ-leaders.htm.
3) http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=iht&page=soc-fra/stat/french-leaders.htm.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Ronaldo is todays version of Ronaldiniho or Henry in their prime. You can’t replace him as such. He is iconic. The thing that will really annoy Fergie is that he is just coming into his prime. One thing to lose an iconic superstar when he’s moving out of his prime (like Arsenal with Henry) another to watch him go to another side for his most productive years.
In saying that, ManU are the type of club that will spend to mitigate his loss. And given the other versatile star personnel they already have like Rooney and Tevez they strike me as having the ability to quickly adapt to another attacking pattern.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=iht&page=soc-spa/stat/span-leaders.htm
June 5th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
@ Caribkid 69:
Bendy is actually a “natural” poacher not a target man. He knows where to be when the ball enters the box. The only thing he lacks is pace - and that is where Walcott, Vela come in. And that is why I said we will need to get fast, nippy wingers.
And lets face facts, how many top strikers have great “work ethic”. Sheva in his prime? Cruiyff? Henry? Strikers dont have to run around. Shearer didnt need pace.
Hleb is leaving so we would have to tweak our system anyway.
Am not trying to downplay Ade, I am one of his biggest supporters here. Infact last summer, I was one of the very few who thought he would have some value this season. I am just saying we have a very able replacement.
I can tell you for sure that Bendtner can hit 20 in a season - if he is a full starter. and doesnt have to try to impress in his short cameos. I can bet on this.
Experience is overhyped in a striker. Defenders and keepers need the experience far more than strikers.
Bendtner is more cocky and confident than Anelka in those days. I remember em vividly. Anelka had more pace. But Bendtner has the technique.
I like my Ade, but if he wants to jump ship … NO WORRIES at all.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
@ Josh:
Bendy has started games like Anelka, so what exactly are you using to disprove me?
June 5th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
i agree with Fred. i too been backing Ade all season. but 30 mil? he sure hell does not worth as much.
to me, he’s a very important link up man for us up front. but he’s not a reliable goalscorer we can rely on. The 30 goals season last term has been outstanding. All credit to Ade, he did extremely well. but I will not count on him to bang in as many goals next season. a 20+ goalscorer maybe.
i m not saying we should sell him. but if he WANTS to go, and we can get 30 mil in return, i wont shed a tear for his departure.
Ade is a hardworking player. but let’s face it, a player can only be hardworking when he WANTS to play for the team. if he’s not happy and his heart being elsewhere, i doubt if he will be working as hard.
bottom line - to hell with those gold diggers, they can all go as far as i m concerned. Yes, we want trophy, and Arsenal want title, but we do not need to BEG on the players to stay in order to achieving that.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Bendtner is not close to Anelka, when Anelka was here… not that I have seen. And I like Bendtner as a young player.
I doubt Ade will score 30 goals again… if AC Milan want to spend crazy money on him, we should let them… AS LONG AS WE SPEND IT ON PLAYERS COMING IN. If we keep it, whats the point.
You simply can’t rely on RVP to be able to play a full season, he’s fragile.
You can’t expect ANYTHING from Eduardo. We have no idea what he will be able to do off that injury… if anything.
So we are not exactly set up front. Come to think of it, with Flamini and maybe Hleb gone…. we aren’t exactly set in the middle… and we aren’t exactly set on defense either… or… at keeper!!!
We have some work to do in all aspects of the game!!!
It is TRULY silly season with the crazy rumors of Ronaldo / Madrid… and I for one am very happy its them, not us… past years it was Henry and Vieira, year after year… glad to watch that all unfold elsewhere.
Enjoy silly season… its fun… and ludicrous… and everyone is linked with everyone!!! haaaaaaaaa.
Can’t wait for Euro2008 to kick off… should be some good Summer footy.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Hi y’all. Hope y’all well haven’t read all the comments. But the Ade for £30 mill story is interesting, as much as I appreciate Ade I cannot be convinced of his value to us until he proves he can do it again next season, I would snap up the thirty mill and buy Villa (for no more than 15 mill) to fill the gap. (Why I seem to always agree with Andez on almost everything I don’t know, maybe we got split up at birth or something,LOL).
Nice to see the likes of Carib, Andez, Fred, Ctpa, Kiwi here keeping things interesting. Joshuad I love your posts they are either very interesting or extremely funny, you kill me at @73, my belly is still hurting! By the way Fred what have you done with Mazza? If Mazza had been murdered you would be my number one suspect, LOL.
Just thought I would share this depressing news with you all. Hopefully it is not true but it could well be as I know the “Cally” ( Caledonian Road) Ladbrokes (bookmakers) he is talking about and I would not doubt that Charlie George frequents there as it is close to the school that we Charlie and I went to (not at the same time though, he’s a lot older than me).
Any read this comment I found on a obscure little website full of Wenger haters and discuss:
“first time ive posted but always read the site daily and thought i might add something I heard yesterday which i found intresting and maybe others migth be able to look into, I was in the ladbrokes in the cally road yesterday and a reguler in there is none other than the great charlie george, a few of us asked if he knew what was going on with sigings etc and he reckon’s that wenger only has around 13 mil once all other current players have been tied up with new contracts, charlie also stated that we HAVE lost out on nasri and thats why wenger was trying everything to get ramsey, but app has left it to late, now normally i dont listen to anything until i see, but being its charlie and he still works at the emirates i have no reason not to believe what he said, and he was very down hearted about the going ons at the arsenal
he believes there will be no signings at all this season and wenger WILL promote from within, maybe other could shed more light on this.”
Hopefully it is a load of rubbish, some Man U fan or something trying to start a controversy on the site, but I would not be surprised if the Ade story is true about him wanting £80k etc, if Flamoney and Hleb have not caused major unrest in the camp with the outcome being players seeing us as a stingy club who are not going to pay them what they see themselves as being worth. IF it is true this team which has so much promise and Wenger has built is falling apart and a proper drought maybe coming (in regards to trophies). The only way we could keep up therefore would be to listen to Double D and bring in the likes of Kroenke or the dreaded Usmanov. How about that?
June 6th, 2008 at 2:09 am
arthur, yes i wouldn’t be suprised if AW’s ACTUAL transfer budget is left with 13 mil.
we should understand the wage budget and transfer budget are tied up. u pay more wage, you get less transfer fund. heard that Arsenal is offering a new contract to Cesc. if i remember it rightly Arsenal had offered a new contract to Cesc EVERY summer the past couple years. Then Sagna in his only 2nd season, he got a new contract as well. van Persie is also in talk of a new deal.
that means in order to keep the players, the club been offering a pay rise to many of its players every summer. $$$ is bigger than life in this game today.
i am not suprised with this latest Ade rumor at all. It’s very easy for a player to move for a transfer today. Get a friend of you sell a story to a paper that you wanna move, or u want a pay rise or you will leave. Then u come out the next day and tell the media it’s all “RUBBISH”.
Rubbish or not, the other clubs are already alerted of you “intention”. While at the same time you gave the fans an impression that you are still being “loyal” to the club.
Sound familiar?…..
Sometimes the players should stop thinking fans are all 3 years old.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Andez, what frightens me is if this is true (it is a very realistic story) , with our new breed of fickle fans who lack understanding of the intricacies of economics and our financial situation will continue to abuse Wenger. Someone, maybe yourself quoted Wenger as saying he finds it disrespectful that people have suggested he doesn’t know what he is doing, that does in fact indicate that he is affected or at least listens to fans opinionsSincehe has some of that ice cold Germanic blood in him he probably wouldn’t let that affect him, but if he chose to leave because of the financial constraints and our spoilt unappreciative fellow Gooners, we would be in serious trouble. We could go back to the dark days of Terry Neil.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I find all this speculation about Ade interesting but refuse to judge until his intentions are known. Granted, at 30 - 35 mill for a one year wonder who is still learning the game it would be foolish not to sell, especially with our financial restrictions. However, if we were to rely on Bendtner as our main striker the only Trophy we could think of winning next season would be the Carling Cup.
If in fact he wants to leave, then sell him and purchase another first class striker and CB for the transfer fee. I am saying this as an Ade fan who fervently thinks he will improve even more next season although it would be grossly unfair to expect him to duplicate his 30 goal feat. The other elements he brings to the table in our attack and his ability to stretch defenses will allow us to spread the goal scoring around if RVP and Rosicky remains healthy, Vela and Walcott comes of age and Eduardo returns to his old self.
Our biggest problem last year was that too much of a goal scoring burden was placed on Fab and Ade and like life itself, players go through bad patches and there was no one else to step up and fill the void when that happened. Walcott, Vela and Nasri (if he comes) will be the key to our ambitions next season and we will win or lose based on their ability to come of age.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:39 am
arthur, i share the concern as well. I think fans have a tendency to have their emotion sucked into the (short term) event, and lost sight of the fact we are currently being managed by Arsenal’s most successful manager of all time.
i m not under delusion, next season is going to be TOUGH. Kiwi made a valid point previously - last season we made a quick start, and there’s no guarantee we could repeat the feat.
IMO last season we had very much overachieved. the team was not ready to seriously challenging the title last term. in the end we finished 4 points off the leaders. And let’s bare in mind - we were beaten by the BEST team in Europe in the league, and the 2nd place team being the CL finalist as well. it sure hell was no shame losing to them.
Question is - even IF Flamini, Hleb, Ade stays, would we be able to launch a serious challenge next season? We need to take into consideration that the Premiership, among the top 4 in particular, gotta be the TOUGHEST league in the world at the moment.
United’s title winning years before AW arrived basically had little challenge compared to today. Chelsea’s era under Roman A. furthermore changed the landscape of the Premiership. Had out unbeaten side of 2004 participated in last season’s campaign, there’s no guarantee they could win it neither.
now with a few key players leaving, next season life would be tougher than ever for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. But fans won’t take that into consideration. If we fail to win anything again, they would probably say “Wenger has taken Arsenal as far as he could, let’s get a new man”.
That would be the worst sceniro. The most DANGEROUS time for a football club is when they changed a manager. Sometimes things could go better, but MOST OF THE TIME it’s downhill all the way. I have seen enough of examples like that.
Espeically for the big clubs, cos the successor inevitably will be under even bigger pressure. if he fails to win anything in the first few seasons, fans would be crying for his head, and dream of some special one would change the fortune of the club. Then the next guy comes in he will be facing the same crap…… in the end, fans may finally come to term - WHY the fuck we sacked the original manager at the first place? yet by then it’s too late.
Look no further than Liverpool FC. so if anyone think 3 years without a league title is too LONG, try 18 years.
bottom line is - no manager will be able to BUILD a successful side without giving him TIME. sometimes it would take 5 or 6 years. but no manger has that kind of time today. Had Ferguson born 20 years later, he would not have lasted for 6 seasons before winning his trophy for sure in a club like Man Utd.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Andez@88
Gawd, we actually agree 100%. I could not have said it any better.
Abramovich has raised the bar so high that most teams would end up in bankruptcy if they tried to follow Chelsea’s mode of operation. In fact, Manu and Liverpool are already teetering on the brink in order to compete at this level.
Let’s just hope that sanity and fiscal responsibility prevails in the long run or we will certainly see the demise of the EPL as we currently know it.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:54 am
that’s one reason i think Man City next season will be doom.
Their owner clearly had no idea what he’s doing. u hired Sven, gave him load of cash, and he bought in load of players which suit his style of game. One year later u sacked him. Bringing in Mark Hughes. An entirely different style of manager from Sven. Now will Sven’s men suit Mark Hughes’ no-nonsense, hardworking approach? Or indeed will Mark Hughes like their faces?
If NOT, and most likely not, Hughes’ is going to bring in his own men. more money is gone. And if Hughes couldn’t do any better than Sven in his first season, what next? Hire another manager which has a different approach from Hughes (had to be, otherwise what’s the point of replacing one no-nonsense manager with another no-nonsense manager?), so the next manager is going to bring in his own men again to suit his very own playing style….
It’s exactly what has been happening at Newcastle for years. Hired big Sam, sacked him midway of the season, then bringing in Keegan, an entirely different type of manager from big Sam. Now big Sam had just bought in load of new guys merely a few months ago, yet those players, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, they will never be Keegan type of players.
Now we heard Keegan saying 50 mil wont’ change a thing for Newcastle next season. I think he’s being very honest.
As far as i m concerned, Newcastle can go on and spend 50 mil in the summer, Keegan won’t last an entire season next term. So they will probably bring in another guy which believes in a different style of football than Keegan….. well…
June 6th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Caribkid, the irony thing is we are probably the ONLY club who been insisting running the club the RIGHT way, yet in the end we are losing players to a club (AC Milan) who’s not even playing in the Champions League next season?!
I hope justify will finally being served one day. and may all those clubs go broke one day.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:59 am
IF Arsenal really, really, really only has 13 million to spend - then the board deserve to be SACKED for fraud. And I am one of the most optimistic people on here.
Last summer we made a profit on Henry minus Eduardo to the tune of: 8 million pounds. Henry was on over 100k/week. Eduardo is on about 45k/week. That is a lot of money saved.
Ljunberg and his 80k/week was cut loose. Aliadiere and his about 20k/week was cut loose.
Baptista was also moved. I have no idea about his wage.
We sold Reyes on for 8 million.
We made a profit of about 3 million on Diarra.
Overall that leaves us with a transfer PROFIT of AT THE VERY LEAST 20 million pounds. With significant wage “profit” as well.
And nobody in their right mind can tell me Arsenal didnt have at least 5 million pounds before last summer - to spare! And 5 million for this summer too.That would be incredulous.
That leaves a sum of at the very least 30 million pounds that Wenger CAN spend. No question about that.
We definitely have 30 million. We are still “poor” compared to Man U and Chelsea…..but a sum of 13 million is ridiculous.
And nobody should say because we need to improve contracts therefore our transfer pot goes. Every club makes MORE money each season - especially Arsenal. Yes we have debt, but the stadium is much larger and the TV money is much, much larger as well.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Euro2008 is almost upon us. It will be nice to concentrate on some real football rather than listen to continuum of rumours about Arsenal players - Flamini will leave (he has), Hleb is leaving, Nasri is/is not joining, Ade is going, etc. etc.
Speaking of which, is RvP really asking for a new deal? On what basis? For missing more than half of Arsenal games for three seasons in a row!!
June 6th, 2008 at 6:50 am
http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/06/06/eduardo-injury-affected-us-mcleish/
speaking of EXCUSE, you cannot beat this! “Excuse of the Year” by miles. Come on stage and grab ur award Mr. McLeish! and check this out:
“When he came back I didn’t think Taylor was quite himself. He played against Wigan and it wasn’t the Martin who had been playing before the Eduardo incident.
So Taylor wasn’t quite “HIMSELF” after coming back from the ban. Other Premiership strikers gotta thank heaven for that that their legs were safe.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Of course, Taylor wasn’t himself. He couldn’t break legs anymore.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I cheered when Birmingham went down. I will be cheering again when they don’t come back up next season. I also usually detest name calling but McLeish has earned my ire: what an ignorant prick. Let’s all shed a tear for for Taylor who is just a poor misunderstood over-sized miscreant. May he follow Dan Smith into oblivion.
13mil uh. I love fables that start off w/ once upon a time: my uncle 3 times removed has a nephew who is married to the hairdresser of the poodle belonging to the steward in row zed behind the stadium out-house who over heard a conversation between so and so player and the holder of his left nut-sack that went something like this: blah, blah, blah. Never forget how the Palacios rumor got started on a small web site. There are no ’small’ web sites on the internet and rumors are like fleas on a mongrel dog.
Just to keep the Ramsey story connected to fact: Ramsey meets w/ Wenger in Switzerland (where he’s doing EURO 2008 reporting for French tv) after he checks out Everton. No point in flying to Switzerland if it’s pointless is it?
Funny how the media are using Adebayor’s previous loyalty statement to now down play the AC Milan link. There’s nothing in that statement that ’specifically’ refutes the AC Milan link, is there? Time will tell.
The return of Yoan Gouffran according to ‘Young Guns’.
You have got to wonder why Barcelona let’s ‘up and coming’ dos Santos go for 4mil (up to 8mil w/ targets met). Is this guy a leper? Fittingly, the ONLY team interested in him, signed him
June 6th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Honestly, I’ve never seen what the big deal was with Dos Santos anyways. It is very telling that Barca let him go..and for that small sum.
However, I do think Bojan is the real deal and Barca will be hanging on to him.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Trust me, Vela is much better than Dos Santos.
My initial thought when I heard the Adebayor rumor is that’s bull. But with Hill-Wood coming out and saying we won’t be held ransom to greedy players, maybe he was talking about Ade. Time will tell.
I believe Ade deserves a pay raise. He’s been a fearsome striker for the past two seasons for Arsenal. His goal tally reflected that this season. He’s a pain in the ass for any defense to cope with and any team would want someone like that in their team. He’s a striker who’s big, strong, fast, tough, works his ass off, and he’s going to get better. These qualities make him one of the best strikers in the world and his pay should reflect that. Unlike most, I think he can hit thirty goals again as the youngster is sure to improve and he’s playing for a team who creates chances by the boatload.
His best course of action is to stay at Arsenal and finish as many chances as he did last season and convert some of the many he missed this season. If he does that, Arsenal will give him his money and he can continue to be in a team that creates so much for him.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I don’t know how true this is.
http://arsespeak.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/adebayor-stops-the-rumour-over-milan/
June 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’ll bet Ramsey decides to come to Arsenal. This team will give he the chance to grow as a player, truly express himself on the pitch, and the chance to play first-team football in the Premier League and the Champions League. Who else will help him develop better than Wenger? Besides, Manchester United will be in serious financial trouble and may go bankrupt soon. Arsenal is a team on the rise for sure.