Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Wreck

Delighted (and amazed) we've signed Silvestre, excellent defensive cover.

AnCapaillMor

I'm absolutely flabergasted its now and not Aug 31 at 11.59.

pesireland

seen u guys got Silvestre, any idea how much and how you see him fitting into your team??

AnCapaillMor

wtf. wenger has just completly undermined his whole youth policy to sign that washed up united reject. what a f***ing waste! if it was evra fair enough or vidic praise the lord. i suppose inler or michael johnson is out of the question now. jesus why not make blunderos or eboue captain now while your at it wenger.

PHB

That pictures sickens me. Been at United 9 years
But whats more annoying is he is a good squad player. He was our 2nd best LB, now we have O'Shea.
He is now, imo, your 3rd best CB instantly. He does have the ****up thing in him, but he's got pace, can pass a ball, and will fit into an Arsenal team perfectly imo.
Fantastic signing from Arsenals point of view.

It was undisclosed, but it was meant to be circa 750k.

DenMan

Deleted User wrote: »

wtf. wenger has just completly undermined his whole youth policy to sign that washed up united reject. what a f***ing waste! if it was evra fair enough or vidic praise the lord. i suppose inler or michael johnson is out of the question now. jesus why not make blunderos or eboue captain now while your at it wenger.

Don't be so judgemental tipp_Gunner. Silvestre is a very good player, a proven winner. He has great technique, scores important goals and was a lynchpin in Utd's quest for silverware for the past 9 years. He reads the ball very well and gets forward to support the team. I believe he will do very well at Arsenal and can play in a few positions, which shows great versatility. Another very astute signing from the boss. He will do very well at his new club. I read he cancelled his medical at Man City at the last minute to head down the M1.

First player since Brian Kidd in 1974 to make the move from Manchester Unieted to Arsenal. I hope he does very well at Arsenal. The only concern I would have have is him getting called up to the French team again and possibly picking up injuries and missing key games. He will force his way back into the Le Bleus again.

NinjaTruncs

I'm surprised with this for one reasosn, doesn't Wenger have a policy that he only offers players over 30 a one year contract yet Silvestre gets two. Granted i doubt he'd have signed if he was only offered a one year contract.

cson

Well that has to be the weirdest Wenger signing ever.

Two more, (a central midfielder or two) and I'll be happy.

Thinking about it, Diarra was an awful fcuking eejit to pack it in after 6 months. He'd more than likely have been first choice now.

L'prof

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

I'm surprised with this for one reasosn, doesn't Wenger have a policy that he only offers players over 30 a one year contract yet Silvestre gets two. Granted i doubt he'd have signed if he was only offered a one year contract.

I'm pretty sure that only applies to players who are already at the club!

Royale with Cheese

When was the last time Wenger signed anybody over the age of 30? Goalkeepers aside. Although Lehmann was about 35 when he signed, so that's still fairly old for a keeper.

newbie2

A fellow gooner said to me this evening that he thinks this signing has got something to do with utd's bid for Henry. If henry see's us sign a utd player then he might think that a move to utd would be an ok thing with 'his beloved arsenal' fans.... With the looming custody battle, he's attmpting o get back to England. For £750,000 would Wenger help out his buddy?

Boggles

Brilliant theory I doubt it thou.

OPENROAD

newbie2 wrote: »

A fellow gooner said to me this evening that he thinks this signing has got something to do with utd's bid for Henry. If henry see's us sign a utd player then he might think that a move to utd would be an ok thing with 'his beloved arsenal' fans.... With the looming custody battle, he's attmpting o get back to England. For £750,000 would Wenger help out his buddy?

Really can't see that.

Royale with Cheese

Yeah. And Silvestre going to Arsenal would have no relevance to how I'd feel if Henry were to move to United.

Gangsta

Really don't know what to make of the signing. Been ages since he's played a run of games so his performance aren't that fresh in the memory. But I do suppose he has excellent experience in the competitions we're going for so he can slot in straight away and none of this bedding in shyte.

leninbenjamin

at least he offers viable cover for Clichy without compromising the main partnership in central defence. that's now almost two experienced players for every position (I know wenger would probably play Toure or gallas before Eboue, but RB is still his best position imo and he's more than adaquate cover).

Eboue Senderos Silvestre
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy

which isn't so bad imo. hopefully he might even push Toure and Gallas for their starting spots. in fact i reckon adding the extra competition is the prime motive behind the signing.

still don't know whether i think it's a good move or not though, i'm just trying to be optimistic.

don't know what this means for Armand Traore though, as he's really going to find it really hard now to get even a sniff of a non Carling Cup match. I hope to see him loaned before the end of the window.

GuanYin

You know I always thought that Silvestre was the better of the Silvestre-Ferdinand Center D pairing when they played that way. Ferdinand has come on alot but I think Silvestre is solid.

Could he play midfield? You know what Wenger is like with re-positioning players.

People complain that Wenger didn't sign experience now he does they complain he's mocking the youth system?

jester77

Interesting signing, don't think anyone saw that coming! One good thing about this signing is that Senderos will probably get less games, I'm always in fear when he's playing!

Great finish by Van Persie last night, hope he can stay fit this season!

AnCapaillMor

Maybe he's signing to let someone play somewhere else, silvestre takes up their defensive role, Kolo\gallas\Djorou as holding midfielders?

yahoo_moe

GuanYin wrote: »

People complain that Wenger didn't sign experience now he does they complain he's mocking the youth system?

In fairness, that's only one person on here - most people have been looking for a bit of experience to be brought in. Although I'm not sure that was exactly what anyone expected!

Don't see Gallas ever moving to midfield, I've already expressed my doubts about Kolo's positional sense (I don't think he should be pushed further out the field) and while Djourou's preferred position is CM, Wenger's always said he sees him as a CB. However, he may push him up to give him some gametime and experience, which is the only repositioning I can see that makes sense.

The more I think about it though, Silvestre may well have been signed as a cheap gamble to try and challenge Toure (I think Gallas has been the better of our CBs for some time now) for a starting spot - he's the type of centre-half who'd complement him by attacking the ball in the air, etc. with Gallas doing the covering.

I'll hold judgment till I've seen him play - and at around the 1m mark by most estimates, it's not a bad gamble at all.

Indie18

i still think that a strong centre mid player has to be signed. its all well and good signing cover for the defence which was needed in fairness but we still need somebody solid in the middle of the field.

Galvasean

GuanYin wrote: »

People complain that Wenger didn't sign experience now he does they complain he's mocking the youth system?

Well most of us have been crying out for an experienced defender as cover since the transfer window opened. Now weve got one. Kudos to Wenger on the signing. I think the only reason anyone is raising eyebrows is because he came from United. Had he came from AS Monaco or Werder Bremen nobody would bat an eyelid.
Could this be the end of Senderos? I mean with newcastle reportedly interested in signing him for big money it might be the right time to cash in considering we now have cover at CB. In my opinion our centre backs should be ranked in this order:
Gallas
Toure
Silvstre
Djourou
Song
Senderos

In other defensive news we sold Hoyte for 3million!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/7558322.stm
Maybe we can offload his brother too...


On a side note: Am I the only one who finds it funny that Liam Brady goes to hospital and Wenger signs a 31 year old while he's gone?

AnCapaillMor

Gavin is meant to be the most promising of the 2.

Evil_Clown

Looks like the Silvestre deal has allowed Troare to go out on loan
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/frattonlatest/Pompey-set-to-sign-Arsenal39s.4415973.jp

Also rumour has it that AW was at the Swiss game last night, maybe further signs of Inler's possible transfer

Indie18

i did think that hoyte would be off loaded this season. i remember talking about it at the start of last year that it would baseically be his last chance season at arsenal.

Frisbee

Evil_Clown wrote: »

Looks like the Silvestre deal has allowed Troare to go out on loan

Thats good, especially after Pompey couldnt secure Wayne Bridge over the summer. Means he'll probably get some game time at left back...

Galvasean

That's a massive move for Traore! Getting Premiership experience under the watchful eye of Tony Adams.
Their Arsenal relationship grows.

Fratton Fred

Gaviscon wrote: »

That's a massive move for Traore! Getting Premiership experience under the watchful eye of Tony Adams.
Their Arsenal relationship grows.

That's a very good signing for us, he looks like a good up and coming player, hopefully for us it will turn permanent.

its nice to have a big club like Arsenal as our feeder club

L'prof

Fratton Fred wrote: »

That's a very good signing for us, he looks like a good up and coming player, hopefully for us it will turn permanent.

its nice to have a big club like Arsenal as our feeder club

You'd be very lucky to keep him permanently!

leninbenjamin

i see City signed Kompany. can someone tell e why Wenger wasn't in for him? he's an outstanding prospect by all accounts, and on top of that he can play as a DM. hmmm...

yahoo_moe

leninbenjamin wrote: »

i see City signed Kompany. can someone tell e why Wenger wasn't in for him? he's an outstanding prospect by all accounts, and on top of that he can play as a DM. hmmm...

Isn't his attitude supposed to be pretty crap? I know that doesn't show up in Football Manager but he seems to have burned a lot of bridges in his time at Hamburg, according to reports?

Frisbee

leninbenjamin wrote: »

i see City signed Kompany. can someone tell e why Wenger wasn't in for him? he's an outstanding prospect by all accounts, and on top of that he can play as a DM. hmmm...

+1
Would have been a great signing...

Galvasean

Fratton Fred wrote: »

That's a very good signing for us, he looks like a good up and coming player, hopefully for us it will turn permanent.

its nice to have a big club like Arsenal as our feeder club

You mean where our has beens (Kanu), crazies (Campbell) and request transfer on the day of signing (Diarra) guys go?
I wouldn't expect Wenger to let Traore go on a permanent. he rates him very highly.

leninbenjamin

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Isn't his attitude supposed to be pretty crap? I know that doesn't show up in Football Manager but he seems to have burned a lot of bridges in his time at Hamburg, according to reports?

dunno about that. i thought this falling out centred about his participation in the olympics? Hamburg wanted him to return i think after the group matches, even though Belgium made it to the semis, which seems a bit unreasonable to me.

leninbenjamin

****...

Ramsey called up for Wales

not happy. too much pressure to soon imo, Toshack should wait for these players to become starters. don't want the extra pressure to have a negative impact on development like what happened Walcott.

L'prof

leninbenjamin wrote: »

****...

Ramsey called up for Wales

not happy. too much pressure to soon imo, Toshack should wait for these players to become starters. don't want the extra pressure to have a negative impact on development like what happened Walcott.

:rolleyes: It's only Wales :P

Frisbee

I didnt really expect him too but its nice to get some confirmation...

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-toure-will-not-move-into-midfield

Frisbee

That was emabrassing.
Outclassed by fcuking Fulham?!?!

More than ever its shown we need a decent CM partner for cesc.

Denilson was complete muck

van Persie couldnt hit the broad side of a barn door today

Even Clichy, who's usually one of our most solid performers seemed completely off the pace in the first half, played well in the 2nd half though

~Rebel~

How did Nasri look today? I didn't get to see any of the match, any stream kept dying on me, i thinks its the weather out here.

Frisbee

~Rebel~ wrote: »

How did Nasri look today? I didn't get to see any of the match, any stream kept dying on me, i thinks its the weather out here.

Seemed to be spending too much time on the ball, really wasnt moving it quick enough...

Mossy Monk

Wenger looks like he has made a complete balls of the transfer window unless he can bring in a decent CM. What i saw this evening was embarrassing.

cson

One thing I know for sure about the Fulham match; Had we either Mathieu Flamini or Gilberto playing today we would not have been beaten. We may even have won.

You've got 9 days to sort it out Arsene! :mad:

Edit: We're like the Galway Hurlers of the EPL, loads of young talent but no leaders and no trophies.

Frisbee

cson wrote: »

One thing I know for sure about the Fulham match; Had we either Mathieu Flamini or Gilberto playing today we would not have been beaten. We may even have won.

+1
Denilson was kack.
If we dont sign someone the sooner diaby comes back to partner cesc the better...

Frisbee

Frisbee wrote: »

That was emabrassing.
Outclassed by fcuking Fulham?!?!

More than ever its shown we need a decent CM partner for cesc.

Denilson was complete muck

van Persie couldnt hit the broad side of a barn door today

Even Clichy, who's usually one of our most solid performers seemed completely off the pace in the first half, played well in the 2nd half though

your spot on there. cannpot understand why Djourou was dropped after 2 clean sheets.

Very disapointed with Denilson. This is his big chance and hes not taking it. very very poor.

for once i wont be heavy on 'everyones favourite african', Eboue. i have to say even though he didnt set the world ablaze, he at least won a few frees. made ok runs from midfield but didnt put through any balls.

sagna and clichy had a bad day at the office. they're entitled to one every now and then i suppose.

Willy G made a huge slip for the goal.

the one shining light was Alex Song in my opinion. covered the cbs and made great runs. cant see any reason why he cant make midfield his own. ive always liked him. as a 17 yr old he got unneccessary stick, but in my opinion if your prepared to work hard on the pitch then everything will fall into place.
he has improved vastly on numerous aspects of his game. Gice the boy a chance i say Arsene! You cant do any worse

Hero Of College

Not wanting to offend anyone, but can anyone here offer an explanation for the double standard which exists in the Irish media? Arsenal lost yesterday but Whelan was Johnny On The Spot with the excuses, saying Roscisky and Fabregas are the main men at Arsenal.

But Liverpool won and Mascherano, Lucas and Babel are key for them too.

Somehow Whelan seemed to miss out on that.

Frisbee

Hero Of College wrote: »

Not wanting to offend anyone, but can anyone here offer an explanation for the double standard which exists in the Irish media? Arsenal lost yesterday but Whelan was Johnny On The Spot with the excuses, saying Roscisky and Fabregas are the main men at Arsenal.

But Liverpool won and Mascherano, Lucas and Babel are key for them too.

Somehow Whelan seemed to miss out on that.

You cant really compare what babel/mascherano/lucas do for liverpool with what fabregas does for Arsenal. He is a million miles ahead of any of them.

Also its not just Fabregas, we're missing most of our midfield from last year

Fabregas, Rosicky, Flamini, Gilberto, Hleb...

Mr Alan

emm Frisbee-3 of those players have been sold-if thats the reason for the unconvincing form surely the pundits should in fact be having even more of a pop at Arsene?

and i think its very fair to compare the loss of Mascherano to the loss of Fabregas, they are different types of midfielders, but both are arguably the top midfielder in world football for their position and their loss to any team would be huge.

Royale with Cheese

This is the Arsenal thread. Piss off to your own thread to talk about Liverpool.

eZe^

I think yesterday proved that Arsenals young core could be their downfall if relied upon too heavily. The midfield was just too soft, Arsene needs to sign a strong imposing CM like Yaya Toure. De Rossi would be the perfect player, pity he aint on the market.


And it is unfair to compare Mascherano's absence to Fabregas'... Liverpool's problem yesterday was that they couldn't string enough passes together and were just hoofing it up to the front men, Mascherano is a destroyer, they needed a creative minded player to solve the problems they faced yesterday.

Arsenal on the other hand were over ran in midfield, Denilson and Nasri were just not good enough to dominate and impose themselves in the centre of the pitch. Fabregas would have been a great addition, he would have added guile, experience and creativity.