Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

gosplan

I've stayed away for the last couple of days but have to add a bit to the stuff here.

1: Liverpool were (deservedly) going out and got a lucky lucky desicion 4 minutes from time - they were very very very lucky.
2: This doesn't mean the fact they frequently progress from close ties in the CL menas that they're frequently lucky, just that they were this time.
3: All the 12th man did was shout 'penalty' to very good effect.

i realyl hope liverpool go all the way now

Malice

Does anyone know what's going on with Denilson?
From here

The mystery of Denilson's whereabouts has intensified after the Brazilian was once again omitted from the Arsenal squad to face Manchester United this weekend and the club failed to provide any sort of explanation for his absence.

The young Brazilian has not been seen since being an unused substitute in the San Siro over a month ago and would have been in contention to make a start at Old Trafford this weekend following Mathieu Flamini's ankle injury. However, Denilson's name was conspicuous by its absence from the 17-man squad named for the trip.

While Flamini has been added to the 'Injury News' section on Arsenal's website, no mention of Denilson has been made on the page. Nor has the club updated his personal profile on their site to provide any sort of insight as to why he has disappeared from view.

Meanwhile, with Flamini out of action and Denilson out of sight, Gilberto Silva is set to play alongside Cesc Fabregas against the league leaders. The news should fill Arsenal with foreboding: Gilberto deputised for Flamini when the Gunners were thrashed 4-0 at Old Trafford in February and Arsenal have won only two of the Premiership and Champions League matches the Brazilian has started this term.

Evil_Clown

PHB wrote: »

Portugese league is, wait for it, average!
French league is, wait for it, average!
German league is better, but Ribery hasn't exactly ever set the world alight either.

Ben Arfa looks a good prospect, no doubt, but Young has shown some real talent this year.

What Wenger needs for Arsenal is somebody who organises the counter-attack at extreme pace.
For Arsenal to go to that next level, they need to be able to play the way they do, and add counter-attacking to the way they score.

The Leagues may be average but some of the players in them certainly are not.
Sagna came fromn Auxerre to the Premiership and settled in straight away, he has been fantastic for me and the best right back in the league this season imo.
Essien, Diarra from Lyon
Carvalho, Ferrera from porto etc etc...
While a few Italian league players have come over and been cr@p

My point basically is, its not the league but the player

eZe^

Nunu wrote: »

Oh yeah, Reyes I forgot about him:D

But seriously have you seen Capel?...he's having a great season and looks like a player that would appeal to Wenger - great skills/pace/counter attack ability.

Capel gets panic attacks when he leaves Seville for too long, doubt he'll be leaving Sevilla for at least another 2 years.. He's only 20 also. Fantastic player btw.

Evil_Clown

I would like to throw the croatian lad Modric in the ring for good wingers Arsenal could sign
He looks a good player from what I have seen (admittedly only in internationals)

eZe^

He's not a natural winger though, he's more of a CMF/ AMF.

Mr Alan

we're in for him as well supposedly, link in the Liverpool thread, quotes from him incl, he was impressed with the game the other night.

eZe^

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/web/gen/20080125/noticia_53430209696.html

So are Barca, his name doesnt look to bad on the back of the blaugrana jersey eh.

Royale with Cheese

Hmmm, Modric 14. Wonder what that could mean.

Xavi6

Evil_Clown wrote: »

The Leagues may be average but some of the players in them certainly are not.
Sagna came fromn Auxerre to the Premiership and settled in straight away, he has been fantastic for me and the best right back in the league this season imo.
Essien, Diarra from Lyon
Carvalho, Ferrera from porto etc etc...
While a few Italian league players have come over and been cr@p

My point basically is, its not the league but the player

Exactly.

I can't believe Quaresma is being written off based on the league he plays in not the player he is.

eZe^

Never noticed that.

PHB

I'm not writing him off, he's a fine player, easily as good as somebody like Lennon.

For every Essien, there's a Djemba Djemba. Bellion is one of the top scorers in the French league. As is Cisse. How'd they do in the PL?

Somebody being amazing in the French league or Portugese league doesn't mean they'll do anything in another country. It does depend on the player.

My point was that Young has done better than all of them this season, because he's got better records in a tougher league!

Galvasean

Havent posted in a while. i was going to but decided I'd wait until the whole influx of gloating Liverpool fans and non-regular Arsenal fans who just dropped by to moan about the match left.

Yeah, we were somewhat (very) unfortunate with penalty decisions over two legs and the AGG score flattered Liverpool, but thats football sometimes (well, actually often times). No point in complainin' now. At least the second leg was a great game of football from a neutral POV.

I'm feeling very pesimistic about the United game on Sunday. I have zero confidence in Gilberto's ability to hold in midfield at the moment.

Evil_Clown

Another 17 year old signed, One for the future

http://arsenal-mania.com/?page=articles&article=3105282&from=rss&title=

PHB

I think Sagna and Flamini are absolutely huge losses.

L'prof

Galvasean wrote: »

Havent posted in a while. i was going to but decided I'd wait until the whole influx of gloating Liverpool fans and non-regular Arsenal fans who just dropped by to moan about the match left.

Yeah, we were somewhat (very) unfortunate with penalty decisions over two legs and the AGG score flattered Liverpool, but thats football sometimes (well, actually often times). No point in complainin' now. At least the second leg was a great game of football from a neutral POV.

I'm feeling very pesimistic about the United game on Sunday. I have zero confidence in Gilberto's ability to hold in midfield at the moment.

Sometimes I wish I had the sense to stay off forums after big losses because I say some silly things! Have to say I feel the same about the game on Sunday, for me our fatigue is going to be the deciding factor...we looked very tired against Liverpool in the end!

Evil_Clown wrote: »

Another 17 year old signed, One for the future

http://arsenal-mania.com/?page=articles&article=3105282&from=rss&title=

I think he's been at the club for a year now, but this is his first professional contract!

PHB wrote: »

I think Sagna and Flamini are absolutely huge losses.

+1

Galvasean

jasonorr wrote: »

Sometimes I wish I had the sense to stay off forums after big losses because I say some silly things!

Thats another reason I stayed clear, in case I let my emotions get the better of me.

jasonorr wrote: »

I think he's been at the club for a year now, but this is his first professional contract!

Correct you are.

keano_afc

Wow, we're gonna be some team in about 4 years.:rolleyes:

Pepe LeFrits

:rolleyes:

Seaneh

PHB wrote: »

I'm not writing him off, he's a fine player, easily as good as somebody like Lennon./QUOTE]


Ricardo Quaresma is 4 times the player Aaron Lennon is.

If you were going to compare him to someone it should have been Figo or Lonardo in their pomp, he is a really classy winger with an amazing right peg and he can spray the ball about with his left too.

Comparing him to lennon is ignorant, he is a totally different player.

PHB

If comparing him to Lennon is ignorant, what is comparing him to Figo, arguably the best winger of his generation?

Seaneh

It's called comparing him to a player who he actually plays like...

Figos game, athlugh bless with a fair deal of pace in his youth was based on ball retention and quality distrubition, where as lennons game is based solely on pace.

Quaresma is a ball carrying winger with exclent vision and passing range, much more like figo than lennon and every aspect of his game, he is also still pretty young and still has the potential to be as good at 28-29 as figo was.

Paul Tergat

Lehman

Toure
Song
Gallas
Clichy

Eboue
Gilberto
Fabregas
Hleb

Van Persie
Adebayor

leninbenjamin

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Lehman

Toure
Song
Gallas
Clichy

Eboue
Gilberto
Fabregas
Hleb

Van Persie
Adebayor

Song? that's interesting. is Senderos injured then or is he finally being dropped? and will songbe the one on the right or will Toure stay there?

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Hmm its an interesting one. It could also be Song in midfield with Eboue RB and Cesc right mid or van Persie left mid and Hleb on the right with 3 in the middle. Not sure which I'd prefer to be honest, none of them are ideal exactly.

p.s Clichy to score today;)

patrickc

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Lehman

Toure
Song
Gallas
Clichy

Eboue
Gilberto
Fabregas
Hleb

Van Persie
Adebayor

why lehman? last time he played was the fa cup with them, if im not mistaken, and that was a disaster.

glad sendros isn't on either

Lehman? Not exactly like he's played recently?! Maybe his last little outburst worked?

patrickc

overall good 1st half by us, i was hoping eboue was injured enough to go off, and let theo on..

leninbenjamin

patrickc wrote: »

overall good 1st half by us, i was hoping eboue was injured enough to go off, and let theo on..

Eboué's not having a bad game by his own standards. still erratic going forward but he's a bit more solid defensively than usual (although i'm watching a ****ty internet stream so i could easily be mixing him up with toure at times).

patrickc

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Eboué's not having a bad game by his own standards. still erratic going forward but he's a bit more solid defensively than usual (although i'm watching a ****ty internet stream so i could easily be mixing him up with toure at times).

no in fairness, it is one of his better performances of late...

OPENROAD

I just want the season to finish now please

CantGetNoSleep

OPENROAD wrote: »

I just want the season to finish now please

So Wenger can buy a few unknown youngsters

Pepe LeFrits

Usual story, good performance, deserved more, got less.

I was impressed by Song again today. I feel he is ready to play a more important role next season as second choice DM and fourth choice CB (Toure, Gallas, someone else, him).

Eboue has got to go.

OPENROAD

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Usual story, good performance, deserved more, got less.

I was impressed by Song again today. I feel he is ready to play a more important role next season as second choice DM and fourth choice CB (Toure, Gallas, someone else, him).

Eboue has got to go.

I would keep Eboue but only as a squad player. Lets hope Spain and France and Holland are stuffed in the Euros.

Pepe LeFrits

True he'd be a better squad player to have than Hoyte (marginally), but he's such a spa and a total embarrassment to the club.

It was blindingly obvious today that Fabregas, Toure and to a lesser extent Hleb and Adebayor were absolutely destroyed after about 70 minutes. Cesc and Kolo could barely lift their legs, and all the off-the-ball running from there completely disappeared about that point in the game. A quality defender and a quality attacking midfielder to lighten the load on them is necessary if this side is to win the league. Perhaps the players are already there to do that but if that is the case, then Arsene has to trust them to do it.

lordgoat

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

T.

It was blindingly obvious today that Fabregas, Toure and to a lesser extent Hleb and Adebayor were absolutely destroyed after about 70 minutes. Cesc and Kolo could barely lift their legs, and all the off-the-ball running from there completely disappeared about that point in the game.

I'd agree with that, especially Fabregas and Toure, they tired really badly towards the end of the season, i do think next season if two senior players are signed Arsenal will have a great chance at the title.

Galvasean

Well thats that!

Who wants to come to the Emirates Cup?

Mossy Monk

I would love to go but am on holidays :mad:

PHB

Are Arsenal going to be in trouble keeping the team together like Wenger says? Flamini could well be on his way, and there's no doubt going to be interest from a lot of people in a lot of the young stars.

OPENROAD

PHB wrote: »

Are Arsenal going to be in trouble keeping the team together like Wenger says? Flamini could well be on his way, and there's no doubt going to be interest from a lot of people in a lot of the young stars.

Those comments do worry me, I think it mainly refers to Flamini though and not anyone else, Juve apparently really really want him, I think it is 50/50 as to whether we keep him, I hope we can convince him to stay, this team has done very very well this season, yes we have fallen short in the end, some key decisions have gone against us,our sqaud has lacked quality and depth and so when we have had key injuries we have not been able to replace these players, hopefully Arsene can convince him to stay at the club,with a couple of expereinced additions and some squad players, Flamini will have a key part to play next season.

Irish Gunner

TBH I thought we were going to get stuffed

After going 1-0 up I thought we were doing well and for a team savaged by injuries we stuck it up to them

Song did well much better than his last first team appearance v Fulham

Eboue is a big bag of ****e and should be sent home

2 dead ball goals we conceded which we should have contained them free kick nothing we could do about but like to see again the incident the brought about it Sky showed no replays

Ade should have put away in the first half and the ball did not go our way when Drug dodger Rio and waste of space Brown nearly put in for OG, not going to be our day I thought

How the F did Rio get MOM ????

But they can bring on the likes of Tevez Giggs etc and thats were we lack. Arsene saying 'one big signing' but we need competition all over.

Still more than happy we have over achieved this year but bitter pill to swallow when you are 5 pints clear and then bugger it up

Ok will be at the Everton game and still follow the gooners next year

Until then C'mon u Gooners

Mitch Connor

Are there many Arsenal fans that want Gallas to retain the captaincy next season?

He looked like he was a great captain earlier in the season, but over the last month or two he has been terrible. He doesn't seem to try to get the team going in games, or talk to players that need a bit of encouragement. His display at Birmingham was a disgrace and yesterday he looked like he was sulking from the moment he gave the penalty away right to the final whistle and beyond. In comparrison, Rio (who most non-Unite dfans hate and love to havea go at) was constantly talking to the United lads, shouting them on, encouraging them at set pieces and getting them to keep the celebration of the first goal to a minimum and get the focus back on winning the match.

Pighead

Arsenals form in the last 13 games:
L D D D W D D L W D D L L
F 15 A 20

smemon

Arsenal's form was inevitiable, they were never put under serious pressure at any stage up until they lost got hammered at Spurs & Utd. All of a sudden seeds of doubt were sown in their heads and things started going against them.

I agree Gallas is a poor captain and a disruptive influence on the side imo. He believes he's too big for the side and not willling to put the team above himself. Clearly evident against birmingham and the BBC caught him yesterday on camera, when Utd had a corner after having equalised - not one word to his fellow teammates, head down, not looking at whats going on, just chewing gum and walking over to his marker.

They also put on a show imo when it comes to team building. Yesterday it looked like they were holding a team meating amongst themselves when one of their players was down injured - hugging each other and what not

The big motivational speech from gallas before matches also seems to go down a treat :rolleyes:

Just sets them up to fall imo and doing it out in full view of fans, players and camera's serves absolutely no benefit to anyone as imo, it highlights a lack of control by wenger if all of it isn't done internally.

PHB

I think people will talk about Arsneal crumbling, but they failed because they got injuries up front, and they had no depth in central midfield.

arbeitsscheuer

PHB wrote: »

I think people will talk about Arsneal crumbling, but they failed because they got injuries up front, and they had no depth in central midfield.

It's not that simple mate. As Adebayor pointed out in his interview with the Guardian (I think) on Saturday, after the Birmingham game too many players suffered a catastrophic loss of form simultaneously. If one or two players have a few games where they're ineffective somebody else will generally chip in with a big performance, but over the course of march our most influential players had a dip that proved crucial.

Granted, you'd imagine that if Rosicky, van Persie or Eduardo had been fit at that time they might've put in potentially match-winning performances, but that doesn't disguise the fact that had those players who had been so amazing in the first 6 months of the season - Fab, Hleb, Ade - kept that performance level up in March, we would have won the league.

Those four draws against Birmingham, Villa, Wigan and Boro were what cost us.

Mitch Connor

In fairness to all the other sides in the league, it has hardly been plain saling for everyone else. United have missed Rooney for periods, Solskjaer retired and Saha has played about 5 games all season. We lost scholes for a while, hargreaves has been in and out with niggly injuries. Neville and Silvestre have missed the entire season. United haven't had an easy season in comparison really - the difference is the way we have coped with it. You can say Arsenal do not have the depth, but that is all down to Wenger. We have always heard how he has built the side on a shoe-string budget an dhas had no money to spend; but seemingly he did have money to spend and chose not to spend it, keeping faith with what he had. He has also let players like Diarra, Ljundberg and Pires without fully replacing them.

I do think the squad Arsenal have got has done very well, but they should have a better squad cause they have had the money and time to build it.

eZe^

Eboue really need to be shipped out, I can honestly say I never ever expect him to score a goal or to set someone up nicely when I see him get in advanced positions, he's too clumsy. buy someone like David Silva ffs.

arbeitsscheuer

eZe^ wrote: »

Eboue really need to be shipped out, I can honestly say I never ever expect him to score a goal or to set someone up nicely when I see him get in advanced positions, he's too clumsy. buy someone like David Silva ffs.

Yeah I think most of us agree with this. Eboue is appalling, a genuinely ineffectual player who contributes little except dire passing, feigned injuries, laughable dives and non-existant shooting ability. Why Wenger has persisted in him I have no idea, but then Arséne is a genius so I guess I'll shut up...:D

PHB

I think Abedabyour and Hleb could have maintained their levels if they had been able to rotate. Also for example, I think Eduardo would have put away a chance in the first half against United.

Creative central midfield is the only real area where Arsenal are over-reliant on a player, Fabregas, and he has certainly dropped off, largely imo because he's played non-stop.

However I would say that the weakest areas of the squad are certainly the LB's, where as United showed, Hoyte and Traore are just nowhere near high enough quality compared to Clichy and Sagna, who has been a huge injury loss. Wenger has to address those areas this summer.