Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Royale with Cheese

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

The Cashley-Gallas swap deal looked great for about a year. Slowly but surely Gallas turned out to be a nutjob and also not as solid as first thought. Clichy's form dropped, and Cashley went on to prove himself as one of the world's best left backs.

And one of the worlds biggest w*nker's!

DB10

L'prof wrote: »

It was the best deal possible at the time.

But it was a mistake though. The difference in class between both players from then on is clearly evident.

DB10

Deleted User wrote: »

really? you'd want to keep that money grabbing traitor at the club? who thought sfa of his own teammates that he slated him in his autobiography?

I thought Gallas done ok for us. He had some mad moments and an unfortunate row with kolo, but he cared more about arsenal then that creature he replaced and gave some fantastic performances and whats more scored some important goals like at emirates v united in 07,chelsea at emirates 07, kyiv 08.
I think he deserves a thank you and i think he'd have like to have stayed with us.

Gallas was a money grabber and a mercenary just as much as Cole. No two ways about it.

Lets not forget this is a guy who threatened to score own goals at Chelsea if he didn't get his way.

Poision in both the French NT and Arsenal dressing room. The guy was a complete nutter.

I rated him as a defender but he is finished at the top level now as we seen in the WC. And I would not think he wanted to stay us at all, he was offered a new 1 year deal and rejected it.

Gallas like many has no loyalty to anyone but himself.

L'prof

DB10 wrote: »

But it was a mistake though. The difference in class between both players from then on is clearly evident.

I don't see how it was a mistake when we had no option!!!

OPENROAD

L'prof wrote: »

I don't see how it was a mistake when we had no option!!!

Could we have offered him the extra money before things got nasty?

DB10

We should have offered him more money. We cannot be stingy and backward like that, we lost out on the best LB in the world and I have no qualms saying that.

He's earning double that right now.

L'prof

OPENROAD wrote: »

Could we have offered him the extra money before things got nasty?

DB10 wrote: »

We should have offered him more money. We cannot be stingy and backward like that, we lost out on the best LB in the world and I have no qualms saying that.

He's earning double that right now.

He was never going to get that contract at Arsenal, simple as. Same as Gallas was never gonna get a 2 year extension. In this day and age, where footballers are paid so much, I find it very hard to believe that wages were a defining factor in his departure. He may be on twice what he was at Arsenal now, but I don't think he'd be too far off that now had he stayed.

x PyRo

If he's gone then hopefully all goes well for him in the future. At least the man showed some pride in the jersey and wanted to win at all costs. If only others were like him we'd be a better team.

Good luck to him, Passion got the better of him but I'll always remember the effort he put in.

DB10

DB10 wrote: »

Gallas was a money grabber and a mercenary just as much as Cole. No two ways about it.

Lets not forget this is a guy who threatened to score own goals at Chelsea if he didn't get his way.

Poision in both the French NT and Arsenal dressing room. The guy was a complete nutter.

I rated him as a defender but he is finished at the top level now as we seen in the WC. And I would not think he wanted to stay us at all, he was offered a new 1 year deal and rejected it.

Gallas like many has no loyalty to anyone but himself.

So did pires if you remember. i thought gallas was ok. good clean centre half. not a great captain but great defender and sorely missed toward business end of last season. Cole not even loyal to his bird who is a pure stunner (well imo anyway ) Yes Arsenal were petty playing hardball with his demands and at time i said it was ridiculous and he did always try but if he gives out about teammates in a book while he still at club then 'Tudeloo loser' to him. We don't need riff-raff like that at the club + Giuly destroyed him in CL final. Matty Flamini was doing every bit as good as him up to final despite being right footed

DB10

Seems we a very close to bringing in Mark Schwarzer as our new number 1...

http://www.cottagersconfidential.com/2010/6/24/1533158/cottagers-daily-rumor-mill-update

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-exclusive-Arsenal-set-to-win-battle-for-Fulham-star-Mark-Schwarzer-article488451.html

Arsene Wenger is set to win his battle for Mark Schwarzer - after going back with a fresh £3.5million bid.
Aussie keeper Schwarzer, 37, is aware of Arsenal's interest and has told Fulham he wants to quit Craven Cottage.
It has left Fulham boss Roy Hodgson resigned to losing Schwarzer as Arsenal close in on their top keeper target, as first revealed in Mirror Sport on May 15.


Wenger sees Schwarzer as the experienced keeper he needs to steady his defence and also not block the progress of his youngsters coming through the ranks.

Spanish first choice Manuel Almunia, who was axed at the end of the season with the club claiming he had a wrist injury, will be allowed to go but they value Polish youngster Wojciech Szczesny, 20, as a huge prospect for the future.
Wenger sent scouts to look at Schwarzer at the end of the season and has watched him personally in South Africa.


Fulham have knocked back one bid from Arsenal for around £3m but the Gunners keep going back and now the Cottagers are resigned to losing him.
Arsenal have also had an £8m bid turned down for Everton's Phil Jagielka which has scared them off the Everton centre half.
That is why Gunners boss Wenger has now stepped up his attempts to sign French centre half Laurent Koscielny from Lorient.


Arsenal have had a £4m bid turned down, the French club want £8m but Wenger's decision to loan French under-21 starlet Francis Coquelin, 18, to Lorient is designed to ease the move.
Wenger may yet sign two centre halves and is a long term admirer of Jagielka but Everton have told Arsenal that he is not for sale.
Arsenal have released William Gallas - who is set to join Juventus - Mikael Silvestre and Philippe Senderos has joined Fulham.
That leaves the Gunners with just Thomas Vermaelen and Johan Djourou as their senior centre halves while veteran Sol Campbell, 35, has been offered a new one-year deal.

I've seen plenty of criticism of this on other forums. Not sure what is going on with this but John Cross is a very respected Arsenal journalist.

Can't believe Wenger has been impressed with him at the WC and late in the season though....

I mean some of his errors in the WC have been a calamity. Even tonight he made a top class save then an embarrassing mistake to cost a goal second half.

He was also quite poor at the Emirates.

wandatowell

Deleted User wrote: »

Matty Flamini was doing every bit as good as him up to final despite being right footed

There you go mate, the flamster was a professional who went about his work with zero bull****. Hard graft and technical ability to burn and a desire own every player he came up against. Loved watching him play for us

Evil_Clown

Blog on Cesc situation, good read

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2010/06/why_fabregas_is_still_a_gooner.html

Arsenal1986

That BBC article is excellent. Really can't see Cesc leaving in light of that now, maybe next season. Interesting that Forbes has us a sricher than Barca. You'd never know it from the way the two clubs spend in the transfer market.

_Bella_

Yeah it seems pretty accurate, get a year out if Cesc before he leaves

gibson

Schwarzer may not be the best available option but come on hes an improvement on Almunia and Fabianski and is only going to be a stop gap anyway at his age, much like Van Der Saar (not that I think hes as good as Van Der Saar was!).

He did make a few errors in the World Cup but every second keeper seems to be! Made a great save last night at point blank range

Roaster

gibson wrote: »

Schwarzer may not be the best available option but come on hes an improvement on Almunia and Fabianski and is only going to be a stop gap anyway at his age, much like Van Der Saar (not that I think hes as good as Van Der Saar was!).

He did make a few errors in the World Cup but every second keeper seems to be! Made a great save last night at point blank range

If we are going down this route than I cannot understand why we don't go for James...........who would cost NOTHING!!!!

Arsenal1986

Schwarzer is twice as good as James, I think everyone gets a bit blinded by how nice a guy James is, hes not that good at all IMO.

Royale with Cheese

James will be 40 by the time next season starts, I think he's just that bit too old. At least a 37 year old could be useful for a couple of seasons if needs be.

I don't particularly want either of them though, surely there has to be some half decent (and younger) keepers floating around France that Wenger could snap up.

cson

The German keeper Neuer looks fairly decent. I've been fairly vocal on Rob Green in this thread [despite his WC mistake, I still am]. The long and short of it is that any of the other 19 keepers that were no.1 for their clubs last season in the Premiership would still be an improvement on Almunia.

gibson

If Wenger is buying a keeper whos 37 its only for 2 reasons - A) He thinks Wojciech Szczesny is a very good goal keeper but just needs a little more time, maybe even have Schwarzer as a mentor or He's buying Schwarzer as backup because he realises Almunia and Fabianski cant be relied on if number 1 is injured for any lenghty period.

Arsenal1986

God i'd love if it were option 2, whatever about him being a decent/good no.1 - he would be a brilliant no.2 to have.

gibson

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

God i'd love if it were option 2, whatever about him being a decent/good no.1 - he would be a brilliant no.2 to have.

I dont really see this being very likely though cause why would he leave a club where he will be number 1 for a place on the bench at the age of 37

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

James will be 40 by the time next season starts, I think he's just that bit too old. At least a 37 year old could be useful for a couple of seasons if needs be.

I don't particularly want either of them though, surely there has to be some half decent (and younger) keepers floating around France that Wenger could snap up.

I was thinking this too but I dunno, even the French no.1 has looked pretty ropey at times in the WC too. (I know they don't necessarily have to be French to be playing in France)

Frey was another name that was being bandied around for a while and he would seem to be about the right age and experience levels but I haven't seen him play recently so don't know how he'd get on.

Pepe LeFrits

If Schwarzer comes its as a stop-gap until Fabianski overcomes his match-day jitters I'd say.

Not overly excited by the prospect but at least it'd be something. He's a decent keeper.

Galvasean

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

If Schwarzer comes its as a stop-gap until Fabianski overcomes his match-day jitters I'd say.

Or untill Shezzy becomes the new pole in goal.

Pepe LeFrits

That'll be a couple of years if ever.

Galvasean

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

That'll be a couple of years if ever.

True. It would be nice to see him take Fabianski's place as back up keeper sooner rather than later.

kronsington

christ, it is so disheartening being an arsenal fan sometimes. once again i suspect there'll be very little transfer activity this summer- arsene will waffle about his belief in the lads etc, theyll look pretty decent up until february and capitulate like they always do

gandalf

So what is the solution spend a heap on guys who may or may not gel with the team?

I still have faith in Arsene as the manager and I am very worried about the day he leaves Arsenal.

fulhamfanincork

I do believe that Schwazers agent has already agreed terms with Arsenal a few weeks back.

Be disappointed to lose him, good keeper.

Paleface

gandalf wrote: »

So what is the solution spend a heap on guys who may or may not gel with the team?

I still have faith in Arsene as the manager and I am very worried about the day he leaves Arsenal.

I too worry about the day he leaves. He's the best in the business at keeping a team competitive on a shoestring budget compared to the other top managers.

Hopefully though when that day eventually comes Arsenal will be in a very healthy financial position and laws will have ben introduced to end the day of the sugar daddy.

yahoo_moe

We could well be going back for another go at Schwarzer and might get him - but for a supposedly reliable source, John Cross' rep has taken a serious hit this summer. Didn't have a breeze what was going on with the Cesc situation.

However, I'm worried he might be right about Koscielny being our only CB signing - it seems to have been in the pipeline for long enough that we could have wrapped it up by now and moved onto CB target #2... but I'm worried that the club aren't really aiming for anyone else.

I'd rather Koscielny + another CB than Koscielny + Schwarzer.

gibson

yahoo_moe wrote: »

We could well be going back for another go at Schwarzer and might get him - but for a supposedly reliable source, John Cross' rep has taken a serious hit this summer. Didn't have a breeze what was going on with the Cesc situation.

However, I'm worried he might be right about Koscielny being our only CB signing - it seems to have been in the pipeline for long enough that we could have wrapped it up by now and moved onto CB target #2... but I'm worried that the club aren't really aiming for anyone else.

I'd rather Koscielny + another CB than Koscielny + Schwarzer.

I think it totaly depends on the other defenders. Gallas looks gone so Koscielny could replace him. Senderos gone his place could be Djourou I suppose if he stays fit. But then I think it all depends on Silvestre and Campbell. Think Silvestre is gone but unless Wenger thinks Bartley can step up theres no one really in the team and if Campbell goes as well, Wenger has no option but to sign another CB. If he doesnt hes gonna put huge pressure on himself if Arsenal fail to perform.

Paleface - Is he the best now though? Has he kept Arsenal competitive for the last 5 years? I think his lack of spending in Jan cost us and failure to replace players and relying on poor players like Alumina, Silvestre, Denilson

Pepe LeFrits

What has Cross reported about the Cesc situation that has shown to be false?

Schwarzer, Koscielny, Cole, Chamakh and Campbell sticking around would be a pretty handy summer for me.

Royale with Cheese

You need 4 centre backs minimum. Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou, Campbell (hopefully).

That would be enough if Koscielny turns out to actually be quite good, and if injuries were kind. That's not gonna happen though, would like to see a 5th brought in but I'm not holding my breath. Though if Campbell goes Wenger just has to sign another CB. He could always sign another defensive midfielder and use Song at centre back if there's a crisis.

Royale with Cheese

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Schwarzer, Koscielny, Cole, Chamakh and Campbell sticking around would be a pretty handy summer for me.

Cesc sticking around would be nice too.

Pepe LeFrits

That's a given.

Nordtveit may yet prove to be our 5th CB.

gibson

If Koscielny is going to be the only centre back signing Wenger must feel that Koscielny will have the same impact as Vermaelen....I still dont know how to pronounce Koscielny!:o

yahoo_moe

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

What has Cross reported about the Cesc situation that has shown to be false?

http://twitter.com/johncrossmirror/status/14238394267 wrote:

Sorry, but he's going and it may get messy. Shame to end like this for #Arsenal. The story is well sourced, believe me

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-Exclusive-Cesc-Fabregas-to-quit-Arsenal-after-Hill-Wood-bust-up-article440669.html wrote:

Transfer exclusive - Fabregas to quit Arsenal after Hill-Wood bust-up

Once it wasn't done in the initial couple of days, he changed his tune. I'm not saying he's crap or anything, just that he's more fallible than a lot of people let on.

If Wenger knows for sure that Campbell's sticking around, grand. But he made some very worrying comments about the Celtic interest that would scare me.

OPENROAD

How do people feel about Cesc?

Has your opinion of him gone down over the summer?

Pepe LeFrits

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Once it wasn't done in the initial couple of days, he changed his tune. I'm not saying he's crap or anything, just that he's more fallible than a lot of people let on.

I still don't see what he's written there that has been proven false? Do you really think Cesc doesn't want to leave?

Paleface

OPENROAD wrote: »

How do people feel about Cesc?

Has your opinion of him gone down over the summer?

If he came out and said he wanted to sign for Barca then I would have lost faith in him. But he didn't so I guess thats why I haven't.

He's the most committed player in the team so I don't see a problem with that side of things if he stays. Everyone wants him to stay aswell obviously.

He's been let down by everyone else mouthing off on the Barca side which he has no control over.

Royale with Cheese

OPENROAD wrote: »

How do people feel about Cesc?

Has your opinion of him gone down over the summer?

Not really. He's allowed to desire a move back to Barcelona, and he hasn't really done his talking through the media like a certain African last summer.

However Arsenal have the right to tell Barca where to go considering what they're offering. I would expect him to understand that, play to the best of his ability and not piss and moan about it all year. He'll get his move eventually but things have gone quiet as of late, and if Barca had any sense they'd leave this deal for at least another season. They've successfully unsettled the player and have laid the foundations for a deal they can afford in a year or so.

OPENROAD

Paleface wrote: »

If he came out and said he wanted to sign for Barca then I would have lost faith in him. But he didn't so I guess thats why I haven't.

He's the most committed player in the team so I don't see a problem with that side of things if he stays. Everyone wants him to stay aswell obviously.

He's been let down by everyone else mouthing off on the Barca side which he has no control over.

But he hasn't really come out and said anything, he either wants to stay or he doesn't, the silence is telling imo.

Royale with Cheese

OPENROAD wrote: »

But he hasn't really come out and said anything, he either wants to stay or he doesn't, the silence is telling imo.

He's not going to come out and say he wants to stay if he doesn't actually want to stay. I don't blame him for wanting to go back to Barca, it shouldn't change anyone's opinion of him. He hasn't blabbed about his desire to leave through the media, he's done nothing wrong really.

Paleface

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

He's not going to come out and say he wants to stay if he doesn't actually want to stay. I don't blame him for wanting to go back to Barca, it shouldn't change anyone's opinion of him. He hasn't blabbed about his desire to leave through the media, he's done nothing wrong really.

He's an intelligent guy and is playing his cards close to his chest.

He'll do his talking on the pitch no matter who that is for.

OPENROAD

Paleface wrote: »

He'll do his talking on the pitch no matter who that is for.

I'm sure he will, but rightly or wrongly on my part he has gone down in my book.

Galvasean

OPENROAD wrote: »

But he hasn't really come out and said anything, he either wants to stay or he doesn't, the silence is telling imo.

He could well be doing exactly what he said he would do. ie: not talking to the press about transfer speculation while he tries to help his country win the World Cup.

yahoo_moe

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

I still don't see what he's written there that has been proven false? Do you really think Cesc doesn't want to leave?

Of course he wants to. He would've said (again) that he didn't if that was the case. Clearly isn't anymore.

But I would've thought it was fairly obvious that this:

Sorry, but he's going... The story is well sourced, believe me

has turned out not to be the case (this, remember, was at the time that "the story" was 'Cesc to sign for Barca within a week').

OPENROAD

Galvasean wrote: »

He could well be doing exactly what he said he would do. ie: not talking to the press about transfer speculation while he tries to help his country win the World Cup.

But when reports come out stating he wants to leave, he is desperate to leave, please let me go and yes I realise the media can blow things up, it is annoying, I have supported The Arsenal for over 20 years now and have to say for the first time I am a bit pissed off over this transfer situation. This news broke prior to the world cup, was he not quoted back in April as stating he had no intention of leaving?