Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

Knex*

tayto lover wrote: »

This is starting to get funny if it wasn't already desperate.

Lads NO WAY will there be anything resembling 70 million spent. This is Arsenal.

Do ye not have 180m or so in actual cash, or did I imagine it?

To be quite frank, as an outsider looking in, its shit or get off the pot time for Arsenal and their board.

Scraped in to 4th by a point and Spurs, and even Liverpool, will be looking to improve further and seriously challenge for it. Not a time for a squad to stand still in its development.

Even to take a purely business look on this. If the Arsenal board is considering the club as merely an asset, being in the CL keeps the value of that asset up. That CL status is at a bigger risk now than it has been for a decade and a half. It is within the business' best interest to invest now in securing the future top 4 status, as a minimum, rather than miss out on CL and realise that they either:

A) Have to invest even more as an outside CL club to attract the players. Fee/wages etc would be more on average. Higher risk players too.

Resign themselves to a project similar to Liverpool's with no guarantee of getting back into the CL.

I'm synopsising this somewhat here, but even from the business asset perspective, its financially more prudent to spend that money now than in the future. Investment now to keep the clubs value at its optimum.

The injuries Arsenal have taken of late would make it even more imperative now in my eyes too as the club could find themselves 6 points + behind Spurs and Liverpool already which could be crucial in the long run.

Looper007

Gringo180 wrote: »

The team needs more than 70 million worth of surgery to make us title challengers again thats how deep the neglect has been to the club. Look at our players, we have no truely top class players bar Cazorla and maybe Wilshere? As I said how many of our starting XI get into say Utd or Chelsea's team?? Very few

Well over a 100 million is needed, at least 4 quality/ 2 world class players are needed. Anyone saying we need only two/three are talking rubbish. A GK/CB/DM/ST for our first team and two very good impact players. I can't see Wenger spending anything over 30 million on his usual French league buys and Bargin buys, but I don't think that will go down to well with fans anymore. He's under pressure for the very first time, fan's have turned on him and anything but the best in the next two weeks will either make him or break him.

TimeToShine

Lars Bender or Kondogbia should be our priority, followed by a centre back. A world class CF would be nice but I think we can get 4th through Giroud. It's too late at this stage to challenge for the league, we just need to keep 4th.

Looper007

Knex. wrote: »

Do ye not have 180m or so in actual cash, or did I imagine it?

To be quite frank, as an insider looking in, its shit or get off the pot time for Arsenal and their board.

Scraped in to 4th by a point and Spurs, and even Liverpool, will be looking to improve further and seriously challenge for it. Not a time for a squad to stand still in its development.

Even to take a purely business look on this. If the Arsenal board is considering the club as merely an asset, being in the CL keeps the value of that asset up. That CL status is at a bigger risk now than it has been for a decade and a half. It is within the business' best interest to invest now in securing the future top 4 status, as a minimum, rather than miss out on CL and realise that they either:

A) Have to invest even more as an outside CL club to attract the players. Fee/wages etc would be more on average. Higher risk players too.

Resign themselves to a project similar to Liverpool's with no guarantee of getting back into the CL.

I'm synopsising this somewhat here, but even from the business asset perspective, its financially more prudent to spend that money now than in the future. Investment now to keep the clubs value at its optimum.

The injuries Arsenal have taken of late would make it even more imperative now in my eyes too as the club could find themselves 6 points + behind Spurs and Liverpool already which could be crucial in the long run.

I think the fact our Fan's are now on the back of Wenger and the board makes it even more difficult now for Wenger, not to splash the cash. If he get's knocked out of the CL and loses to Fulham and Spures and doesn't bring in an overhaul of players (one or two ain't fixing the problem) he's already signed his P45. I think he be resigned to the fact he's walking at the end of the season and just go all out with same old clichés in his interviews and try to get 4th.

We have 180 million but no way I see Wenger or our Board spending all that. I think spending over that 70 million is Wenger's only way to show fan's he's not a stubborn old fool who's afraid to spend but wanting to win. Going by the summer I think he's happy with 4th but after Saturday, he's now under pressure to spend. Buying his usual crap won't be any good now, he has to buy talented top quality buys. Two weeks for me, he has to get in 6 players at least three/two who are world class (striker/DM). If he doesn't sign anyone he's a goner. If he sings the usual French league nobodies and bargin bin buys, he's gone.

I think we be disappointed come September 2nd.

Looper007

TimeToShine wrote: »

Lars Bender or Kondogbia should be our priority, followed by a centre back. A world class CF would be nice but I think we can get 4th through Giroud. It's too late at this stage to challenge for the league, we just need to keep 4th.

What the ****??

I don't want 4th place. I want us to go out and win EPL. We have the money to get a world class forward just our manager is Scrooge. Giroud won't get us 4th anymore. Spures and Liverpool have better forwards and are getting stronger. I'm fed up with us accepting 2nd best. WE have the money why are we accepting average.

That what makes me so angry. We have 180 million we could go out there and get the best players. We ain't a struggling club.

gosplan

I dunno quite what people were expecting to come out of this window with??

We have a very good first team lacking a FW.

We need cover/competition for Arteta and Per.

It sounds like people are going to be disssppointed unless we come out with a city or Chelsea type squad?

The summer has been crap but feet on the ground.

Don't get caught up too much in the match the other day. Wenger bears much more responsibility for the Villa loss than player quality.

TheBza

Whats the point on finishing 4th if we don't make a impact in the champions league or have a hope of winning it? Get extra revenue? which we wont spend, attract world class players to our club? which we don't buy. Its beyond a joke now. We've no fight anymore, sick of it. No wonder all our star players jumped ship.

Looper007

gosplan wrote: »

I dunno quite what people were expecting to come out of this window with??

We have a very good first team lacking a FW.

We need cover/competition for Arteta and Per.

It sounds like people are going to be disssppointed unless we come out with a city or Chelsea type squad?



Don't get caught up too much in the match the other day. Wenger bears much more responsibility for the Villa loss than player quality.

You sound like Wenger's P.R man Gos. I be disappointed if we don't come out with 5 top quality players. You saying we only need 2 is you fooling yourself. Cause our squad is thread bare, Utd, Chelsea and City even Spures have two squads. We barely have one, that's shocking for a team Wenger says can win the league.

"The summer has been crap but feet on the ground."

The understatement of the year. No it's time for Wenger either back up his words or get out. A lot of Arsenal fans have now got fed up with the lies and B.S. This summer was suppose to be us making a statement. We screwed that up and No Gosplan the team isn't good enough to win the league. You are in denial if you think that team who lost to villa at home can get anywhere.

tayto lover

We really need a good result on Wed to lift the spirits.
I think we can still get one but the players need to be liftrd and playing away might actually take some of the pressure off them
Come on Arsenal.

TimeToShine

Looper007 wrote: »

What the ****??

I don't want 4th place. I want us to go out and win EPL. We have the money to get a world class forward just our manager is Scrooge. Giroud won't get us 4th anymore. Spures and Liverpool have better forwards and are getting stronger. I'm fed up with us accepting 2nd best. WE have the money why are we accepting average.

That what makes me so angry. We have 180 million we could go out there and get the best players. We ain't a struggling club.

It's simply too late in the window. We are going to be held over a barrel by any club we try to do business with at this stage. We can complain all we want but in reality can you see us spending over £60m in the next 2 weeks? I certainly don't. We are in a terrible position from a business perspective, I personally would deem it a success if we could get a world class DM (Bender) and a good solid CB.

Now I know you are completely against Wenger so I can see why you're frustrated. I must be one of the few people who thinks it was quite an achievement to get that squad to 4th place last year, and if he does leave at the end of the year we *could* be hopelessly lost. I think our squad is mediocre. We have one, yes one genuinely world class player in Santi Cazorla and perhaps Jack Wilshere as well in time. Sagna is solid and Koscielny is very good but as he showed against Villa he can be rash. The rest of the squad bar 3 or 4 players are most definitely not top 3 finishers let alone title contenders. Say what you want about his transfer policy (or lack there-of) there is no doubt in my mind he has done extremely well with a limited, injury plagued team.

4 signing will not turn us into title contenders, not this year anyway. Players need time to gel together, to learn each others playing styles and develop rapport. This doesn't happen overnight. We need to aim more realistically for this year at least.

sonic85

no matter what happens now were gonna pay and pay through the nose for players.

clubs will know were desperate and class players wont want to join unless we give them big wages - possibly more than theyre worth because theyll look at us and see a club surrounded in uncertainty.

any names floating about yet? there was something about being linked to two players earlier

TheBza

sonic85 wrote: »

no matter what happens now were gonna pay and pay through the nose for players.

clubs will know were desperate and class players wont want to join unless we give them big wages - possibly more than theyre worth because theyll look at us and see a club surrounded in uncertainty.

any names floating about yet? there was something about being linked to two players earlier

and everyone knows we have that 70mill or whatever it is sitting in the bank.

michah richards, ashley williams and michu doing the rounds.

sonic85

TheBza wrote: »

and everyone knows we have that 70mill or whatever it is sitting in the bank.

michah richards, ashley williams and michu doing the rounds.

those players - :rolleyes:.

id take micah but Williams isn't good enough and £25 million for michu is laughable really. there has to be better quality knocking around

kryogen

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Michu isnt worth that kind of money after only one season. He could easily be a one season wonder.

If you think that you did not watch much of him in Spain, he is far from a one season wonder

Knex.

Knex. wrote: »

Do ye not have 180m or so in actual cash, or did I imagine it?

To be quite frank, as an outsider looking in, its shit or get off the pot time for Arsenal and their board.

Scraped in to 4th by a point and Spurs, and even Liverpool, will be looking to improve further and seriously challenge for it. Not a time for a squad to stand still in its development.

Even to take a purely business look on this. If the Arsenal board is considering the club as merely an asset, being in the CL keeps the value of that asset up. That CL status is at a bigger risk now than it has been for a decade and a half. It is within the business' best interest to invest now in securing the future top 4 status, as a minimum, rather than miss out on CL and realise that they either:

A) Have to invest even more as an outside CL club to attract the players. Fee/wages etc would be more on average. Higher risk players too.

Resign themselves to a project similar to Liverpool's with no guarantee of getting back into the CL.

I'm synopsising this somewhat here, but even from the business asset perspective, its financially more prudent to spend that money now than in the future. Investment now to keep the clubs value at its optimum.

The injuries Arsenal have taken of late would make it even more imperative now in my eyes too as the club could find themselves 6 points + behind Spurs and Liverpool already which could be crucial in the long run.

In terms of absolute, cash-in-hand, spend it now, there's close to £100million. Some has to be kept in a pile due to conditions relating to parts of the debt.


It's hard to see a simple solution though. Despite all the players who left if we sign 4 properly high earners we will have again increased our wage bill. Miss the CL this year or next year and we'll have **** all left to spend. The time for action was the last few years, not necessarily in terms of spending more but getting towards United's pay structure and transfer policy.

cadete

find it hard to understand all the anger towards wenger, im not an arsenal fan but honestly the guy is the best manager in the league(bar possibly mourinho) and with the squad he has had over the past few years has done really well in my opinion.
If he left in the morning who would replace him?
I know it must be extremely frustrating but every club has trouble competing with city united and chelsea transfer and wage wise and the league is very unfair at this point in time(financial fair play me arse) but I am certain wenger has the clubs best interests at heart and will always do whats best by arsenal.
do arsenal fans really want to be like city and chelsea paying ridiculous fees and wages and risking the clubs long term future for short term gain?

interesting article written on 18 april regarding club finances ending last summer
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/apr/18/premier-league-finances-club-by-club

Roddy23

Sorry if this has already been posted but this supporter sums up how a lot of fans are feeling at the minute - let down by the clubs inactivity during the transfer window. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSFEaI4HdA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

gosplan

Looper007 wrote: »

You sound like Wenger's P.R man Gos. I be disappointed if we don't come out with 5 top quality players. You saying we only need 2 is you fooling yourself. Cause our squad is thread bare, Utd, Chelsea and City even Spures have two squads. We barely have one, that's shocking for a team Wenger says can win the league.

"The summer has been crap but feet on the ground."

The understatement of the year. No it's time for Wenger either back up his words or get out. A lot of Arsenal fans have now got fed up with the lies and B.S. This summer was suppose to be us making a statement. We screwed that up and No Gosplan the team isn't good enough to win the league. You are in denial if you think that team who lost to villa at home can get anywhere.

Rubbish. This is you last week.

Looper007 wrote: »

Very Good performance. Ramsey, Kos and Walcott standing out.
Still think we need signings upfront, CB and DM. But the side looks top notch.

Looper007 wrote: »

I'm not getting carried and I doubt many are. Still think we need strengthen in certain areas but with a few singings we could win the EPL.

So you've gone from '3 signings and we could win the EPL' and a side that looks 'top notch' to a team that won't get anywhere that needs 5 top quality players.

And I'm fooling myself?

So like I said, keep your feet on the ground and don't get too carried away with results - good or bad.


We never could have expected to come out of this window with a City or Chelsea style squad. What we could have expected was that Wenger added quality where it was needed.

Drexel

Id be unsure of signing Michu. Im not even goina mention money cause ive given up giving a sh1t about what players cost. Is Michu that much of an improvement on Giroud? I dunno about that. If we got him great but need to strengthen in midfield and defense first I think.

jester77

Why is Michu even been mentioned? I wouldn't give 5 million for him, we already have Bendtner. This is just pure panic nonsense talk

Looper007

gosplan wrote: »

Rubbish. This is you last week.





So you've gone from '3 signings and we could win the EPL' and a side that looks 'top notch' to a team that won't get anywhere that needs 5 top quality players.

And I'm fooling myself?

So like I said, keep your feet on the ground and don't get too carried away with results - good or bad.


We never could have expected to come out of this window with a City or Chelsea style squad. What we could have expected was that Wenger added quality where it was needed.

complete rubbish, you should work for the board at Arsenal. After that Saturday game, we look awful. We need more signings simple as. We are a rich club not bloody Fulham. You making it sound like we should be happy at what he's doing. getting 4th and winning nothing. Get you're head out of the clouds.

Looper007

sonic85 wrote: »

those players - :rolleyes:.

id take micah but Williams isn't good enough and £25 million for michu is laughable really. there has to be better quality knocking around

Might as well give up. Gustavo couldn't be assed going to a CL club but a mid table German outfit. That's a bloody worry ain't it. Who can we get Guy's? Who would want to come to us that's world class? A Club that lacks ambition and happy for settling for 4th. No top class Footballer wants that.

Alfred Borden

the market has got to start moving for us today, if i dont even see a hint of happeninbgs, im going to be very worried.

gosplan

Looper007 wrote: »

complete rubbish, you should work for the board at Arsenal. After that Saturday game, we look awful. We need more signings simple as. We are a rich club not bloody Fulham. You making it sound like we should be happy at what he's doing. getting 4th and winning nothing. Get you're head out of the clouds.

Ha ha, whatever buddy.

'After the Saturday game we look awful but after the city game, we're three signings from the league'

All I've ever said is the squad needs 3 signings to be competitive.

Last week you were going further than me, this week you're calling me Wenger's PR man.

Joke IMO.

Explain the shift in your thinking over the last week please and less if the silly comments about PR men and 'working for the board'.

speedboatchase

Raf32 wrote: »

the market has got to start moving for us today, if i dont even see a hint of happeninbgs, im going to be very worried.

Yeah it really does. I worry we might have no new signings for the Fulham game but hopefully we start hearing of actual confirmed bids over the next 48 hrs; not 'secret contract signings' guff from Twitter.

Alfred Borden

speedboatchase wrote: »

Yeah it really does. I worry we might have no new signings for the Fulham game but hopefully we start hearing of actual confirmed bids over the next 48 hrs; not 'secret contract signings' guff from Twitter.

Agreed to day is crucial in my opinion, in fairness the secret negoations were on skys transfer talk, saw it myself, were hinting wayne rooney at the end too, not as one of the two we are talking just something seperate. Begovic, Rooney and Bender, i would be delighted, but i know we would still be 2-3 players short. i really would sign flamini as depth can play cm and lb.

bad2dabone

we've got 2 defenders, I expect the ashley williams deal to be tied up today.

And to think at the start of the window I was like "Williams?! not good enough!" now i'm like
"Williams!? oh please I hope he signs!"

Drexel

bad2dabone wrote: »

we've got 2 defenders, I expect the ashley williams deal to be tied up today.

And to think at the start of the window I was like "Williams?! not good enough!" now i'm like
"Williams!? oh please I hope he signs!"

Williams didnt cover himself in glory against UTD the other day but we badly need him. PL experience. He could slot right in

bad2dabone

jonny666 wrote: »

Williams didnt cover himself in glory against UTD the other day but we badly need him. PL experience. He could slot right in

he was probably just concerned in case he hurt RVP, you know he attempted to murder him last season.

Drexel

bad2dabone wrote: »

he was probably just concerned in case he hurt RVP, you know he attempted to murder him last season.

Sign him up!! :pac:

danlen

Looper007 wrote: »

I be disappointed if we don't come out with 5 top quality players.

How do you figure that? Once we take a step back and look at the team objectively (without all the anger and frustration influencing our thinking) then it's clear that the team is actually pretty f*cking good.

A couple of smart additions is what's needed. Not a complete overhaul.

Yes, squad-wise we are very short but in terms of how many genuine very top quality players we need to come into the first XI or thereabouts, we hardly need 5 now. Two genuine top-class players would make all the difference to us. Then add a few more squad players.

If we sign 3 players, 2 of which are good enough to make a big difference to the team then I'd be happy.

gosplan

bad2dabone wrote: »

we've got 2 defenders, I expect the ashley williams deal to be tied up today.

And to think at the start of the window I was like "Williams?! not good enough!" now i'm like
"Williams!? oh please I hope he signs!"

Kind of damning for Wenger that we had to wait all summer for Ashley Williams.

We could probably have closed that deal in 45 mins in June.

Alfred Borden

danlen wrote: »

How do you figure that? Once we take a step back and look at the team objectively (without all the anger and frustration influencing our thinking) then it's clear that the team is actually pretty f*cking good.

A couple of smart additions is what's needed. Not a complete overhaul.

Yes, squad-wise we are very short but in terms of how many genuine very top quality players we need to come into the first XI or thereabouts, we hardly need 5 now. Two genuine top-class players would make all the difference to us. Then add a few more squad players.

If we sign 3 players, 2 of which are good enough to make a big difference to the team then I'd be happy.

with injuries and that we need alot more then three im afraid.

gosplan

Raf32 wrote: »

with injuries and that we need alot more then three im afraid.

Chamberlain needs to be covered. Without him we've only three wide players for 2 positions.

Alfred Borden

gosplan wrote: »

Chamberlain needs to be covered. Without him we've only three wide players for 2 positions.

He is the only player at the club that can go and beat his man, its a massive loss i feel. needs replacing with someone who can do the same in stead of the one dimensional walcott.

Colonialboy

Aside from everything else we do need a few more squad players ...
main reason being we get rid of a few of the half decent ones we had....
shifted them out on load after giving them new contracts.


Coquelin was rewarded with a new long-term contract in January 2012 and played a further 22 times for the north London club last season.
A brief statement on the Arsenal website said: "Everyone at Arsenal wishes Francis success for his time in Germany."

Wengers French-centric policy hasnt been producing the goods in young players coming thru into the first 11 for a few years, and he has let some English based players built for the PL slip thru his hands when he could have snapped them up .

The only reason we have CL spots the last few years is cos of other teams implosions not due to Arsenal development.

Wenger too stubborn to change his tune and try another transfer policy.

Im not so sure the boardroom thinks its financially in our best interests to even spend 40-60 Million to improve the squad and hope for CL spot this year. Whas CL worth 40 Million.. net gain is zero.
Maybe someone in the boardroom did some mathematical simulation and discovered we might be better off if we dont spend big in transfers, fail to get CL, lower wages restructure the club and RELY that in two years a new crop of players come thru on lower wages and long contracts that get us a CL spot.

gosplan

Looper007 wrote: »

complete rubbish, you should work for the board at Arsenal. After that Saturday game, we look awful. We need more signings simple as. We are a rich club not bloody Fulham. You making it sound like we should be happy at what he's doing. getting 4th and winning nothing. Get you're head out of the clouds.

My head's not in the clouds btw. I'm judging the strength's if the team by more than the last match.

After the City game, you were talking about titles and looking down your nose at Madrid and Barca ... Really!!

This week, after a loss, you're indignant with rage and if someone suggests something other than your latest assessment of the squad, they're cast as Wenger's PR man.



Homer: Woo! 'Topes rule! [guzzles a mug of beer]
Brockman: Well, here's a die-hard fan. Sir, your beloved Isotopes are
about to make history. Any thoughts?
Homer: Uh-huh, it's a great team, Kent. We never gave up hope...I wanna
thank Jesus, and say hi to my special lady Marge. We did it,
baby! Whoo! Whooooo!
Brockman: The inspiring words of a fan who'll always root, root, root for
the home team. Even if they lose this ga...
Homer: They lost?! Those losers!
Brockman: No, no, no, the game's not over.
Homer: Whoo! Not over! Whoo!
Brockman: There you have it...whoo.

L'prof

Lads we're clearly gonna sign Casillas, Fabregas, Robben & Falcao. Prolly still have money left in the bank too. Gonna be a great season.

Alfred Borden

L'prof wrote: »

Lads we're clearly gonna sign Casillas, Fabregas, Robben & Falcao. Prolly still have money left in the bank too. Gonna be a great season.

Not Arsenal quality, we need flamini :pac:

bad2dabone

Even Giroud has said this morning in laParisiene that we need a striker

danlen

Raf32 wrote: »

with injuries and that we need alot more then three im afraid.

Probably but if we take the matchday squad from the Villa game, add back in Arteta, Monreal, Vermaelen, Diaby (yeah I know) plus three new signings, that should get us almost there imo in terms of numbers. Plus I really wanna see Ryo, Eisfeld and Gnabry get some chances this year.

Alfred Borden

danlen wrote: »

Probably but if we take the matchday squad from the Villa game, add back in Arteta, Monreal, Vermaelen, Diaby (yeah I know) plus three new signings, that should get us almost there imo in terms of numbers. Plus I really wanna see Ryo, Eisfeld and Gnabry get some chances this year.

Yup agreed, but we will never have the full compliment of players, way too many injury prone players at the club.

bad2dabone

Raf32 wrote: »

way too many injury prone players at the club.

always seems to me that we have more injuries than we should - we spent a fortune on a new medical centre and it does look amazing (there's a vid on the arsenal player) but i wonder why we suffer so many injuries. Is it down to training methods or poor physios?

Alfred Borden

bad2dabone wrote: »

always seems to me that we have more injuries than we should - we spent a fortune on a new medical centre and it does look amazing (there's a vid on the arsenal player) but i wonder why we suffer so many injuries. Is it down to training methods or poor physios?

agreed i never understood it at all, always long term injuries followed by niggles. Look at van persie a small little knock which he missed one game i think at united, compared to what he was at us.

speedboatchase

After selling Gervinho and the horrible news about Ox, should we really be standing around while Spurs and Liverpool move closer to signing Willian? He's better than what we have on the left.

danlen

I actually really liked Coquelin as a player. Was disappointed he left.

bad2dabone

Raf32 wrote: »

agreed i never understood it at all, always long term injuries followed by niggles. Look at van persie a small little knock which he missed one game i think at united, compared to what he was at us.

i still think he's a time bomb of injury.

Alfred Borden

bad2dabone wrote: »

i still think he's a time bomb of injury.

Hopefully your right and then watch Uniteds season go up on flames :pac:

gosplan

bad2dabone wrote: »

always seems to me that we have more injuries than we should - we spent a fortune on a new medical centre and it does look amazing (there's a vid on the arsenal player) but i wonder why we suffer so many injuries. Is it down to training methods or poor physios?

We did OK last year but I really think it's the thin squad.

Utd have had really bad injuries over the last few years too. Their squad can cope though and in particular, when they've an injury crisis and end up doing something like shifting Carrick to CB, they've Rooney and RVP to win games for them.

Their defence was all over the place for the first few months last year. Ferdinand out, Vidic coming back etc. Didn't matter too much in the end though.

We need a star. Injuries didn't matter nearly as much when we had people like Henry and Fab (unless they were injured).

danlen

speedboatchase wrote: »

After selling Gervinho and the horrible news about Ox, should we really be standing around while Spurs and Liverpool move closer to signing Willian? He's better than what we have on the left.

I really wish we had managed to sign Mirallas the time we were in for him.