Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 10/11

_Bella_

Thought that this was a good article on reasons to support Arsenal:

http://arsenal.theoffside.com/randoms/open-letter-to-new-soccer-fans-why-you-should-make-arsenal-your-team.html

gosplan

DB10 wrote: »

In fairness he was a flop, but that second comment was out of order.

Flop is rather unfair. It implies that there were huge things expected of him and he never delivered.

Galvasean

_Bella_ wrote: »

Thought that this was a good article on reasons to support Arsenal:

http://arsenal.theoffside.com/randoms/open-letter-to-new-soccer-fans-why-you-should-make-arsenal-your-team.html

"Admit it. You could definitely see yourself wearing that. Women would want you, men would want to be you. "

LOL

Arsenal1986

Akinfeev has said he'd like to play for Arsenal, is he on a free in Jan or am I wrong?

Frisbee

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

Akinfeev has said he'd like to play for Arsenal, is he on a free in Jan or am I wrong?

Yup his contract with CSKA is up in January. Definitely a player I'd like to see us get if we don't pick up a goalie in this window. I reckon he'll end up at United though.

yahoo_moe

Galvasean wrote: »

"Admit it. You could definitely see yourself wearing that. Women would want you, men would want to be you. "

LOL

I liked "drinking in the morning is great. I highly recommend it." best.

Although (s)he really needs to watch Eboue more if he thinks none of the Arsenal players dive...

gosplan

Hmmm, this Ozil rumour is a load of pants but liking the sound of it nonetheless. If we're going to continue 4-3-3, he'd be very useful. Yeah you could take the view that his playing might hinder Wilshire or Walcott but as we always say, if they're good enough then they'll play.

Also, sign the Russian keeper, please!!!!! I mean why should Man U get him? By all reports, we can match them in the finance stakes these days.

Arsenal1986

He says in that piece he has a contract with his club till 2013, Akinfeev that is - probably means he'll be too expensive then

Pepe LeFrits

I've never really been impressed by Akinfeev.

Galvasean

Wenger's "We have no number 1" comment sounds to me like Almunia is leaving and he's gonna give the younger guys a shot until January, then maybe move for Akinfeev.

gosplan

Galvasean wrote: »

Wenger's "We have no number 1" comment sounds to me like Almunia is leaving and he's gonna give the younger guys a shot until January, then maybe move for Akinfeev.

Very very poor decision if that's the case. It was unprofessional not to solve the goalkeeping issue last Jan and it'd be doubly so to leave it go through another transfer window.

If Wenger was to do this, he'd effectively be throwing away any chance of a title challenge IMO.

Royale with Cheese

I don't think a title challenge is realistic this year. As things stand the defence situation has only got worse.

Pepe LeFrits

Not necessarily!

Royale with Cheese

Well I suppose Silvestre leaving can only improve things.

Pepe LeFrits

Stekelenburg would be available for around £4m and at 27 would represent a more viable long-term option than Wenger's other target, Fulham's 37-year-old Mark Schwarzer.

An Ajax insider said: "I don't think Luis Suarez will leave us this summer but as for the others, there's a good chance one or two have to leave.

"I know there's an English club interested in the goalkeeper, for sure."

Obviously dubious source but Stekelenburg would be a nice signing.

speedboatchase

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I don't think a title challenge is realistic this year. As things stand the defence situation has only got worse.

Yup, but we all say 'In Wenger we trust' every season.. sigh, could be an absolute disaster of a season if we don't get a few signings

Frisbee

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Not necessarily!

Unless Koscielny proves top be a better player than Gallas we've certainly gotten worse.

Quazzie

Frisbee wrote: »

Unless Koscielny proves top be a better player than Gallas we've certainly gotten worse.

I think he could be. Gallas as competent as he was imo gets a lot more praise than he deserves. He was constantly caught out of position and bad in the air. Whilst I haven't seen too much of Kos I will give him a chance to prove his worth. Its the lack of a keeper that has me most worried.

Ush1

Quazzie wrote: »

I think he could be. Gallas as competent as he was imo gets a lot more praise than he deserves. He was constantly caught out of position and bad in the air. Whilst I haven't seen too much of Kos I will give him a chance to prove his worth. Its the lack of a keeper that has me most worried.

Verm gets caught out of position FAR more than Gallas, and I actually don't think he's as quick as Gallas either.

As things stand, I don't think Arsenal will challenge for the title. Hope I'm wrong though.

Pepe LeFrits

Frisbee wrote: »

Unless Koscielny proves top be a better player than Gallas we've certainly gotten worse.

If he's a 7/10 player who stays fit the whole season then he'll have been better I'd say.

Even if he isn't, others like Vermaelen, Song, Denilson, Diaby could improve and help matters. Then there's the front 4, who could definitely improve their defensive work rate (hopefully Chamakh can contribute to that, he certainly looks like a harrier and he'd be good at defensive set pieces I'd say). Clichy was getting back to his best towards the end of the season too and having Gibbs fit again as his back-up is an upgrade over Traore...

As is Djourou over Silvestre...

Galvasean

I think we're more or less the same in terms of strenght as last season.

Gallas out (albeit fairly injury prone) - Koscielnyin (unproven at this level)
Eduardo out (albeit he lacked form) - Chamakh in (also relatively unproven at this level

That's been pretty much all of our activity. I suppose Djourou replacing Silvestre is probably a bit of an improvement, but overall we havent strenghtened in any significant way. It was obvious to everyone and his dog that we needed better squad depth last season. We relied too much on injury prone players. The squad looks about the same as last season. Maybe a little better. Possibly a bit worse. Definately not the kind of changes we need to mount a sustained assault on top honours.

Makes we wonder if Wenger might pop the FA Cup up somewhat on the priorities list. I mean an FA Cup would be much better than another trophyless (despite best intentions) season?

Pepe LeFrits

Would anyone fancy a cheeky bid for Carvalho or Robinho?

Both look like they might be available and they'd be great signings if they could be persuaded.

Quazzie

Galvasean wrote: »

Chamakh in (also relatively unproven at this level

Chamakh done pretty ok in the Champions league last year, scoring 5 goals in 9 appearances so although he hasn't proven anything in regards to the EPL he has proven he is capable of goals in Europe.

Quazzie

Carcalho is going to Real and nowhere else and I wouldn't want Robinho.

Pepe LeFrits

Is he, though? I mean it appears Carvalho wants to go there but is Jose interested? If he's not he could be in a pickle.

Quazzie

I think thats what was meant when they stated an agreement in his contract, i.e that he could join Mourinho at Real. I think if Arsenal came in with a bid we'd be told where to go. I think he is being allowed leave to go to Real and if that doesn't materialize he'll be going nowhere.

I could've taken that up wrong.

As for Robinho it'll be interesting to see if he'll ever come back from Brazil whether sold or not.

Frisbee

Galvasean wrote: »

Makes we wonder if Wenger might pop the FA Cup up somewhat on the priorities list. I mean an FA Cup would be much better than another trophyless (despite best intentions) season?

I really hope so, the FA Cup would be great to win after such a long barren spell. If we had have taken it seriously last year and the year before we could have had a shot.

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Would anyone fancy a cheeky bid for Carvalho or Robinho?

Both look like they might be available and they'd be great signings if they could be persuaded.

Wouldn't mind Carvalho, if we could get 20-25 games out of him it would be great. However wages would probably be a stumbling block and why would he move to Arsenal when he'll probably get similair game time in a much better Chelsea side.

Galvasean

Quazzie wrote: »

Chamakh done pretty ok in the Champions league last year, scoring 5 goals in 9 appearances so although he hasn't proven anything in regards to the EPL he has proven he is capable of goals in Europe.

This is true. But his league scoring record isn't great. He strikes me as a 'big game' player who ups his performance when the cameras are about. Of course, we do need more players who can bring it on the biggest stage. We have too many players who cower during the big games. In Chamakh's case I hope he can bring it against the Uniteds and Barelonas without getting lazy/complacent against lesser sides.

Galvasean

Frisbee wrote: »

I really hope so, the FA Cup would be great to win after such a long barren spell. If we had have taken it seriously last year and the year before we could have had a shot.

Last year Pompey made it to the final. In 2008 the final was Pompey and Cardiff. If we had put a bit more energy and ,dare I say it, respect into those cups we would have had astrong chance of winning.

Frisbee

This year we went out because we played a severely weakened team. Fair enough we had CL the next week but we could have still fielded much better players and kept players rested for the CL.

The year before Arsene rested Arshavin when he was on a run of sensational form in order to play Diaby on the wing, something that's never sat right with me, and then we go out to Drogba doing his thing against us yet again coupled with a token Flapianski moment.

If we put some real effort into it this year and maybe won a few trophies then maybe our players wouldn't be constantly trying to engineer moves away from the club for themselves.

Galvasean

IMO an FA Cup win would instill genuine belief in our players that this long promised big success is really around the corner.

Arsenal1986

Frisbee wrote: »

This year we went out because we played a severely weakened team. Fair enough we had CL the next week but we could have still fielded much better players and kept players rested for the CL.

The year before Arsene rested Arshavin when he was on a run of sensational form in order to play Diaby on the wing, something that's never sat right with me, and then we go out to Drogba doing his thing against us yet again coupled with a token Flapianski moment.

If we put some real effort into it this year and maybe won a few trophies then maybe our players wouldn't be constantly trying to engineer moves away from the club for themselves.

I remember that game, Arshavin came on with ten minutes to go and was unreal, constant threat went close once or twice. What a dfifference he would have made had he been on all game. Have no idea why he didnt start, Diaby was on one wing and Walcott the other. Wasn't like Walcott offers that much more defensivly than Arshavin.

Pepe LeFrits

Diaby started to give the team the belief they could win the CL semi. It was one of Wenger's worst decisions.

Also in that FA cup game Silvestre got raped by Drogba. Now we'd have Djourou who of all our CBs has handled Drogba the best!

Arsenal1986

Ah so that was the logic behind it. I can see how that would kind of make sense to him. Had it worked, he would have looked like a genius! Thats mad treating the FA cup semi as a practice match for the CL more than going all out to win that.

yahoo_moe

Frisbee wrote: »

However wages would probably be a stumbling block and why would he move to Arsenal when he'll probably get similair game time in a much better Chelsea side.

Plus he'd only be offered a one-year contract, you'd have to assume.

I'd love to get him though, absolutely tremendous defender. And while in theory he's yet another of the sweepy/intercepty CBs (I think that's more Vermaelen's mode than a ball-attacker), (a) he's a class act and (b) I think that's just the type of CB Wenger likes so may as well be Carvlaho rather than some randomer.

But I doubt it'll happen - if he was French, he might have a yearning to work with Wenger but I don't think that would come into it.

yahoo_moe

Compilation of JET's contribution in the last friendly by the way, for anyone who missed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYJ-kVKIP9w

Arsenal1986

Jesus that was a seriously impressive performance. I know that the opposition were rubbish but still.

x PyRo

He's a monster of a man! Hopefully Wenger gives him a few games to strut his stuff this season.

His link up play is superb.

flahavaj

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Compilation of JET's contribution in the last friendly by the way, for anyone who missed it:

Who or what is JET?

OPENROAD

flahavaj wrote: »

Who or what is JET?

http://www.arsenal.com/reserves-youth/players/jay-emmanuel-thomas

flahavaj

He's a horse of a man.:pac:

Seaneh

doods, question.


Did that yank buy Arsenal outright?

He is listed as the owner of the club on an article on forbes website.

When did this happen?

gosplan

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I don't think a title challenge is realistic this year. As things stand the defence situation has only got worse.

Reckon it is. We won't run away with it for sure but another low points total for the winner is on the cards. If we can eliminate the 0.5 goals per game conceeded due to retarded goalkeeping howlers and get lucky for once with injuries, we definitely have what it takes.

Frisbee

Seaneh wrote: »

doods, question.


Did that yank buy Arsenal outright?

He is listed as the owner of the club on an article on forbes website.

When did this happen?

Yeah I saw that on the rich list on the Forbes website also. He hasn't bought us out yet, hes majority shareholder tohugh afaik so they could have just listed him for that reason.

speedboatchase

Sol undergoing medical at Newcastle. What a depressing summer this has been...

Frisbee

Link:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_6281043,00.html

Sky Sports News understands Sol Campbell is to undergo a medical at Newcastle United ahead of joining the Premier League new boys.

Campbell is currently searching for a new club after his short-term contract at Arsenal expired at the end of last season.

He has held talks with both Celtic and Sunderland, but the 35-year-old now appears poised to link up with Newcastle.

The centre-half is due to be put through a medical on Tuesday and, providing there are no major problems, he is expected to sign a contract within 24 hours.

Magpies boss Chris Hughton knows Campbell from his time at Tottenham Hotspur and has previously been non-committal on his interest in the former England international.

However, it now appears that Hughton is ready to add Campbell's experience to his squad as he seeks to establish Newcastle back in the top flight.

Hughton has so far snapped up James Perch and Dan Gosling over the summer and the capture of Campbell will be a welcome boost for the club.

lord lucan

Arsene better get the chequebook out. We can't go into the season so light in defence. Quite a depressing turn of events.:(

Quazzie

Instead of bolstering our defence we've depleted it even more. FFS Wenger get your act together! :mad:

Ush1

Quazzie wrote: »

Instead of bolstering our defence we've depleted it even more. FFS Wenger get your act together! :mad:

Agreed.

Really suprsied that Wenger has not realised his value to the squad.

greendom

Campbell and Gallas were both out of contract. If they wanted to leave, there wasn't much he could do really, was there ?