By Walter Broeckx
What is this with “having a plan”?
The first “plan” is on the football field. It refers to what you do on the field when things are not working out – you have a plan B. Now I’m not going into that too much for now but I think that for 99% of all the teams plan B is hoping that the ball will bounce kindly. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. And the most successful team of the last decade never had a plan B. They just kept on doing what they know best.
But now we have the “plan” scenario also in transfers.
Going from “we don’t have a plan” to plan A, B, C…Z.
We might have had the plan to sign Messi but Barcelona wouldn’t sell. We might have had the plan to move to plan B and buy Ronaldo. Unfortunately Real Madrid wouldn’t sell.
We know nothing. That is the only plan. That is the plan Arsenal is playing and using. They haven’t sent Tony or I an email saying: now look Walter we will bid £x for player X from team Z. And if that doesn’t work we will bid £y for player W from team R.
And the reasons are very simple. First we have the fact that if we would said we are in for a player then the vultures like Man City and Chelsea come walking in to offer double the money we want to spend as money is no issue for them and then that player is off. So we do have to keep silent on what we want to do.
Second reason is that unlike most other clubs we don’t want to make trouble when it isn’t necessary. All the noise about Suarez came from the Liverpool corner. It is fairly clear they want to get rid of Suarez if someone is willing to offer a truly crazy amount of money. And if possible they would like him to go to a team abroad. Alas for them at the moment there is no other team interested in Suarez apart from Arsenal. And remember it wasn’t Arsenal that came out with saying we want Suarez. It was Liverpool that made the first noise. Arsenal then didn’t deny the interest but always said they want to deal in a amicable way.
And the newspapers know nothing either about our plans. As is shown every day with all the rumours that within a day turn out not to be true and are subsequently confirmed by other clubs or players never to have been true. Stories in which the club we are supposed to be buying from never had contact with us.
If you want to know the plan I suggest it is this: you buy Arsenal and go public with your own plan.
Can you imagine Arsenal going to the press and saying: here look this is plan A with players: (just for fun) Messi, Ronaldo, Ribery, Robben, Lewandowski, Cavani ……
And this is plan B with players (again just for fun): Suarez, Higuain, Rooney, Bale, Dzeko,….
And then we also have a plan C with players (again just for fun) : Benteke, Downing, Carroll, Michu, Whonext,
And so forth and end up with plan Z with players like Melkert, Van Den Heuvel (I didn’t make up those names by the way but threw them in just for fun so they can say they got linked to Arsenal in their career).
Now tell me, do you know any team that goes to the press and says please print our transfer plan in the open so our fans know what we are working on and they can print the list and bar the names that have been sold to other teams already. Is there one team out there that does this? (OK you may say Chelsea, with the announcement that they want Rooney and no one but Rooney, but there is a very strong chance that this was set up only to annoy Manchester United and encourage the player to agitate for a move.) Please let me know if you know of any serious transfers announced in this way, because I don’t know such team in the PL (We know Barcelona did it to get Cesc out of Arsenal, which is why I said “in the Premier League”).
Now they all keep silent about their real intentions for as long as possible. So why be angry at Arsenal when they do this?
Transfers happen or they don’t happen. And when you are looking at Arsenal usually most of us don’t know when a transfer didn’t work out. So the players and the clubs can carry on working with no bad feelings, and a possible transfer next year. If nobody had known known about Suarez then the Liverpool fans wouldn’t have to be upset and started a war against Arsenal. If it depended on Arsenal nobody would have known and the relationship between Suarez and Liverpool and their fans could have been kept intact.
It is a sign of class and respect. And that is how we try to work. And when it fails it mostly is not because of Arsenal making the noise.
Do I think players should come in? Yes I do. And of course I have some names that would make me happy. But maybe those names would make other people unhappy. Some would love Suarez, some would hate the thought of him in an Arsenal shirt. And this goes for many other names.
Is it frustrating? Of course it is. Waiting is always frustrating. Just try to take a bus that doesn’t come on time and you know how frustrating it is. I went to work with the bus for some 6 years and when going home the bus only arrived on time 2 or 3 times in those years. Making me miss out on my next bus on most occasions. That was frustrating. So I understand all too well that waiting for something can be frustrating. But that is life. And instead of being angry while waiting I used that time for other more pleasant things. Reading my book, talking with the regular travellers…. Don’t let the frustration take you over. It is bad for your health as our house doctor will confirm. (Over to you Brickfields.)
What I do know is that the team is thin for the moment. People will come in. If not it will take a medical miracle to get to 11 players at times. And that is the reason why I think we will see lots of players coming in. We would have got one player in but that Perez guy didn’t get a work permit and that was the end of that deal.
My judgement day is the first day after the end of the transfer window. That is when things can be judged. Until then I suggest you do what you should do if you are an Arsenal supporter: get behind the players and support!
Recent posts
- Referee review 2012 – 2013 : Stoke 7
- How can any sane fan not be frustrated after 8 years without a trophy?
- The fashions in statistics: how long do teams go between trophies?
- Ref Review 2012-13: Sunderland. A team with a positive bias.
- Where winning isn’t enough; where winning isn’t necessary.
- The false world. How ESPN is involved in its own match fixing
- Referee Review 2012/13: how did the refs do when Swansea City played?
- Keep calm and follow Arsène
Arsenal Anniversaries: 15 August
- 15 August 1886: Charles Lewis born
- 15 August 1869: Charlie Booth born
- 15 August 1925: a crowd of 11,406 came to Highbury for a pre-season practice match ahead of Chapman’s first season.
- 15 August1992: Steve Bould scores Arsenal’s first Premier League goal
- 15 August 1993: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain born.
- 15 August 2009. Everton 1 Arsenal 6 (again).
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
Spot on walter!
I’m sorry, but when was the last time you saw a team that wasn’t a) skint or b) Everton not sign a single player in preseason by this stage? Especially a top four side.
Stop being such a predictable apologist and put some critical thinking into what you’re saying, here. This has been a shambles of a preseason and there’s only one man to blame: the manager. Now Sagna’s injured, meaning only Jenkinson is able to play RB and we have -NO- back-up at CB.
It’s negligence. Flat out negligence.
Good post, but a couple of points. Firstly about the time of the Birmingham City debacle Arsene boldly claimed that the squad we had was his best. Utter Nonsense in my opinion and that view seems to be backed by the fact that we have spent 3 years desperately trying to offload half of them on free transfers, running down contracts etc..
In my view it seems we didn’t move from Highbury to compete in the transfer market but to get 20,000 more bums on seats to pay ridiculous ticket prices to watch a team that quite frankly, stunk the place out last year and has no chance whatsoever of challenging for the League.
Rant over and bizarrely I still think Arsene should stay as Manager but without a board overhaul the views of the man in the street mean nothing.
Jammathon, what make you so so certain that there is only one man to blame ? no you can’t and don’t give me the shit that grumpy Myles is on about Arsene, to me it is Arsene, the Board and Kronke, all 3 of them had their own fair (not diminutive) of share of what is happen with Arsenal.
Jimmy, you either did not read the article or your comprehension skills are zero. Most likely you’re a spud troll.
Ice Cube says: Better Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self – cos dicks up your ass is bad for ya health!!
Jammathon
Yaya Sanogo is a signing.
Who has Man Utd bought
Jammy: is the window closed now? When did that happen?
Did you tell AW, Kronke or Ivan?
You didn’t?
Then it’s your fault mate, we all thought the window is still open for few more weeks, but strike me bloody pink we were wrong and you are right!!
Funny enough, because the support is what we’ve been offering throughout the 8yrs of trophies drought,,,we supported d club relying on their every descission then we face a massive disappointment, man u even trashed us 8,2…dnt u think its high time we are taken seriousely
This is a ridiculous line of argument. It is quite clear from the results, and quite apparent from the noises out of the club, that a) we do not have an effective set up for getting transfers done b) too much power is in the hands of the manager c) we dither d) we desperately need either a director of football/Dein type character, or for Ivan to take Wengers wish list and go execute. The man is again responsible for a shambolic attempt to strengthen. And i am not frustrated about the lack of ‘marquee signing’ yet because that stuff is tricky. But in JUNE we should have had the goalie, the centre back, the defensive midfielder and if we knew we were selling gervinho, the winger DONE. Then you can spend the rest of the summer, all the way to the wire, working on the ‘icing on the cake’. This is pitiful and any argument to the contrary is naive in the extreme.
MarkyH
And what if all the players we’ve been trying to sign were waiting to see if we are in the CL proper? Should we wait for the players we want, or should we sign someone who is available right then?
Fact of the matter is we’re 2 days away from the beginning of the season and we’re worse off in squad terms as the end of last season where we were 16 points off the top and had the same points as Spurs. Three of the teams around us have improved and have settled squads ready for the new season.
As usual the board and the manager are not pro active enough. We are far from ready for the new season. There may be signings imminent but will they be the right ones? I’m not so sure.
The writer of this article is a medical psychologist, just a thought! Reading within lines, I think the article advises Arsenal fans of keeping away from “the never TRUE” rumours which Wenger too has always addressed. I quote “we never announce players before we sign”. So fans shouldn’t be carried away by the frustrating rumours. Nevertheless, as an Arsenal fan one should question why the team as has remained so silent/inactive in filling gapes which are so obvious? That is where the frustration and anger arise. I too think the Board and Wenger have different focus and objectives than us fans who never have influence on their decision!
MarkyH: How do you know we have dithered and are not effective at getting transfer deals done?
We need a Director of Football OR a Dein type character?
Whats a Dein character do?
What have UTD done this window thus far, they are a club that ‘knows how to do transfers’ but are still hoping to Fabregas.
My bet is Arsenal know who we want and as per every year at the end of the window these deals are done quickly and rushed through before season starts, it happens every year man.
Good sensible article.
2 things
Why must we wait until the end of the windows before bidding?
Why do we never or hardly ever succeed with work permit? Man u seem to get them without a fuss every time.
I can’t remember such an anorexic squad. We also used to have a wealth of youngsters coming through who could step up but our u21s are getting hammered every match.
Good advice “get behind the players and support”. Shouldn’t need to ask, really.
But it’s about time you considered some of the reasons we’re where we are.
Might it just be possible that your beloved M. Wenger has actually lost it? That he believes the mythology foisted upon him to the extent that he operates beyond rationality?
Or perhaps his psychology won’t allow him to spend significant amounts of money. Yes, it appears he’s made offers. But as far as anyone can tell (as opposed to those who like to get their fiction from the media) he hasn’t been offering the asking price (or market value) for these players. Perhaps it’s all been for show? Isn’t it just possible that Wenger is behaving like someone who just can’t part with money. We’ve all met them. But it’s a bit different knowing someone who simply won’t buy a round or scrimps and Scrooges his way though life, and someone responsible for building a title-winning team in a different market from the one we had 10 years ago.
We know we have the finances. Ivan Gazidis has said so. We know the club has ambition. Ivan Gazidis has said so. We know we were under financial constraints in the past. But that’s all gone. New commercial deals and boosts from the Premiership and Champions’ League have made us (even more) one of the five richest clubs in the world.
But this transfer window has been a disaster. Higuain? Suarez? Yes … Suarez. The antithesis of all that’s Arsenal. Was this all for show?
We’ve cleared out virtually all our youth and senior deadwood and first-team peripheral players bar Bendtner and Park. We’ve saved perhaps half-a-million in weekly wages. That’s a huge amount by any standards. But in the process we’ve lost options like Mannone, Gervinho, Arshavin, Djourou, and Squillaci AND NOT REPLACED THEM. I mean, last year we had Fabianski and Szczesny and still Mannone started nine PL games.
So, we now have two goalkeepers instead of three.
We are missing a fourth central defender. And Wenger has always said we need four. Sure Sagna can fill in, but so can anyone else.
We’re OK in midfield, but Coquelin’s gone from there and Frimpong categorically isn’t yet good enough let alone fit enough. Plus Diaby may just as well be a virtual player – certainly no one we can count on.
And on the attacking left we’re missing two.
A nice trimmed-down squad that’ll never last the whole season. The phrase ‘a bit thin’ doesn’t even come close.
I’m beginning to think the best thing about Arsene Wenger’s title-winning years was David Dein. Someone to take the manager to one side and tell him when he’s making a pig’s ear of things. Someone who’d stand up to his intransigence and singular-mindedness. Someone who’ll give him real advice instead of being sycophantic.
Yes, we can all wait until September 2nd, but right now we can at least criticize the club for leaving things too late for the Arsenal FC’s own good.
Remember the last time we went late-shopping though necessity? We got Park and Santos. Do you really want to wait until the TW closes for the same thing again? I mean the management personnel are the same so what are the chances of a different outcome?
Our manager has been brilliant for us – the title-winning years – the transition to the new stadium. But right now he seems to be operating outside the rationality required to take us forward.
There is no earthly reason we should be in this situation given the resources and stature of the club. And most of that has to be down to the manager. Something too many people are in denial to recognize.
Well written article, you summed it up perfectly at the end of your article. Judgement day is the first day after the end of the transfer window. Arsene and Ivan’s ability to sign players cannot be judged until then. At the moment most of what we are hearing regarding transfer rumours is transfer rumours, probably mostly cooked up by agents looking for a slice of that Arsenal transfer “war chest” we’ve heard so much about.
Thank You Walter. The most rational article I have read all summer. Some of our fans think the entire business is like playing FIFA Manager or some other useless pastime.
You are, of course, correct Walter. No businessman publicly declares his/their intentions when buying or selling anything, least of all footballers.
I am amazed that there are so many people out there who can apportion blame based on hearsay and guesswork.
There is a theory that the bigger the complainer’s mouth and the more certain he ‘knows’ what is wrong with Arsenal, is in direct inverse proportion to the size of his brain.
And I cannot disagree with that — and neither can the complainer because he would not not understand what that means.
Judgement day will be the day after the last day of the Summer Transfer Window, when all will be revealed.
Hopefully, there will be our “near misses” with reasons.
But before that, I’m convinced there will be the marquees about whom much is going on behind the scenes as I write.
We are not entitled to know the ins and outs of the negotiations at the Emirates but we can play a part by displaying patience until Arsenal FC issue a definitive statement.
I just wish we’d gone public with our intention to buy Gervinho, Bendtner, Chamakh and Squillaci. Then maybe City or Chelsea would have bought them.
I must admit that if all these big clubs think Wenger’s a genius in the transfer market I really don’t understand why we don’t go public with a list of inferior players and pretend we’re after them then we can flood our rivals with crap players. Has no one at Arsenal considered this?
Spot on Shard
Lets have little faith guys…something nice is gonna happen but I thinks its gonna b after our 1st leg champ league qualifier
While we murmur in disgust over the probable end result of this seemingly insipid window,those people know what they are doing. I for once,nt contented with what is going on,but ha s unwaverin faith wenger will surprise us all
Fair enough Walter, lets wait until the window is closed before we discuss transfers again.
If on that day very little in the way of transfers has been done we will expect some reality from this site in terms of the club and managers’s performance.
Am tired of commending about things that will not happen i have given up, i will cheer the team the way it is until we get a manager who can understand the fans wishes.
How anybody cannot totally blame the French plank for this mess is a total mug.been supporting team for 54 yrs.not since 96.! And we have had some bad times.but to start the season with such a small squad??? Tells people the club is in chaos! Wengers lost the plot.his bottle .and no ones even trying to rectify.look at all. Kroenkes teams are run on a small budget. Wengers on 7 plus millions a year .WE pay the highest prices for season tickets.(that’s myself) AS I ACTUALLY go home and away. AND when I hear fans DEFENDING wenger??? WAKEUP .even the small team in seven sisters have been buying quality players and they are not in the champions league!WENGER OUT
Walter its all very well saying we would have had Perez but for work permit issues….the trouble Arsenal has had over the last few years surely there is someone who says “yeah but wont we need a work permit for him or something?”
I think the frustrating thing is we seem to be facing the same old sagas every year. Arsene never moves on. The fact that we are supposedly readying a 50M fee for Suarez, probably 15 more than I thought he was worth is a pretty fair indication the market has moved up. If we are paying the guy with the economics degree 135K per week we should not have to mention things like inflation and suggest he moves his head into the 21st century should we?
and matt if on that day we are sitting pretty with quality signings, we all expect lots of grovelling.
@ Einsteln
Indeed but will have been waiting 8 years.
Expect what you like, Matt.
By “reality” you mean of course your own opinions.
Walter,
You are right. Lets wait until 11pm Sept 2nd to see what happens. It could even be earlier, by 6pm the day before.
If no one comes in. It’ll be interesting to see just how you do judge the situation.
One suggestion I’ve already suggested to Ivan is, if they are unable to spend after he made assurances then a goodwill gesture to all season ticket holders of £500.00 credit. It will only make a small dent in the cash mountain.
So, what if arsenal finishes 6th and spuds finishes above us on upcoming season?
You guys better jump out now, there is no glory at arsenal…….
Woe, woe and more woe’s? Just heard that Arsenal are selling Gunnersaursus to Tottenham?
All in line to keep up with their image of Prehistoric age of winning something of note!
Looks like arsenal fans are giving.They thought this season is going to be different but is turning out to be the worst ever.The writer is saying that Arsenal do their business in secrecy but what advantage has that given us over the other teams over the last 8 years?
You cannot say that man united have not bought anyone just like us. They are the champions and they have not sold anyone so no pressure to buy like us.
we all love arsenal but what most fans want is some plan; at least buy the players you require early enough before the season starts especially when we are rebuilding a team like arsenal.
Pointless talk about plans!
The real point is, Arsenal would have signed big by now if they wanted to but, they don’t want to sign big. They just want us to think they do.
The whole summer has been a smokescreen and a fabrication based on lies to supporters who they want to keep keen and spending money.
The real truth is that AFC (Arsene) have their own agenda which unfortunately means sticking to youth and making profit.
Onwards and downwards (about seventh position this year and knocked out of the CL before it starts)..
@ Michael Staley
Not really, if you believe this squad without additions is good enough to compete this season we know where your level of football knowledge is.
Matt @ 10.11
Short & to the point.
What point?
@ Matt
I’d like to see some signings, and I think that there will be. If there aren’t though, I’ll be a little disappointed but in all likelihood I won’t become a gob on a stick about it. Nor, I suspect, will the writer of this article, or the owner of this site.
It might be the case that your “level of football knowledge” exceeds mine, just as there are doubtless many whose level exceeds yours.
“It is quite clear from the results, and quite apparent from the noises out of the club”
That’s a quote from a comment above, and is of the type that we often hear.
What that quote and the others like it do is present a statement (“I think you’ll find that…” is a variant on it) which makes a statement as if it is a proven fact, when it is simply a personal view.
No, it is not clear, not unless you can come up with detailed evidence.
This whole ‘wait until September 2nd’ line of argument is completely facile in my opinion. Whilst i accept that transfers are complicated business involving a whole myriad of issues, Getting at least some of our business done would have allowed for the new players to be integrated into the set up both on the pitch and with their relationship with the other players. (the podolski deal was sorted before the window even opened last year) Also making those early signings would have served the purpose of creating a feel good atmosphere around the emirates and creating an excitement with the fans that really would have transmitted to the players on the pitch. It would have achieved a sense of oneness with the players, staff, board and fans essentially all components of the club. Instead we are left of the brink of civil war a couple of days before the new season kicks off. You have a point about how little we know, and you are right that we do not necessarily know that its Arsene’s fault, but the fact is that it is undeniable that he knows what the fans want. echo’s of ‘spend some fucking money’ everytime we are losing must be a clue to him that this is what the people in the stadium desire. And the fact that he has not responded to these pleas from the fans, would indicate that he is grossly out of touch. I am devastated at the horrendously inept manner of this window,Its 2 DAYS before i first home game. That is the date you should be looking at, not september 2nd. By the Start of the Season the managers sole focus should be the business of winning football matches nothing else. Instead he will be on the phone the night before the Tottenham game, trying to make a mad trolley dash of players that we never even considered in the first place. WAKE UP!!
Walter wrote:
“Now I’m not going into that too much for now but I think that for 99% of all the teams plan B is hoping that the ball will bounce kindly. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. And the most successful team of the last decade never had a plan B.”
I wondered what he meant by it and then I remember Barcelona and their tikka tikka. Winning or losing they stick to it. Recent results notwithstanding, it has served them really well.
I love it when I read something different. Having plan B is not always a sign of strength or intelligence; contrary to popular belief. It could just mean that you are not really certain of the efficacy of plan A, which with 100% efficiency, should be your only plan.
Thanks Walter. I appreciate this.
I stopped reading “JustArsenal” because it was swamped by miserable negativity. Now all the doom-mongers seem to be landing here
For my own six penn’orth, I think the core of our team is now strong enough to challenge at the top. Giroud will fulfil his potential in front of goal; Walcott is flying; the competition for places in midfield is awesome; our first choice back four are strong; our goalkeeping resources are adequate.
The problem is behind this excellence. We had inadequate cover amongst the back-up squad. The first part of that problem has been recognised and addressed by the club: they have disposed of a surprisingly large tranche of First Team and Junior players during this transfer window. M. Wenger has acknowledged that the squad is now thin, and while I’m personally excited to see something of Akpom, Gnabry, Eisfeld and Zelalem this season, everyone knows that’s not enough.
I therefore have complete trust that we WILL see additions, and I hope they are as exciting as Giroud, Cazorla, Podolski, Ox, Arteta, Mertesacker, etc., have been over the past two summers
It’s clear to him Tony just not clear to you.
Often the articles on this blog are written as if there fact when they are not.
It seems a tactic of yours when somebody has an opinion you dont agree with to ask for facts to back this up.I have seen it on here many time.
Arsenal will finishes 11th this upcoming season, spuds will finishes above us,
You must jump out now, guys, there is no glory in arsenal…….
The squad is thin. No doubt about that specially at the back.
My opinion is there is little money to spend but market value eve of ordinary players has gone up significantly. I don’t think it was expected otherwise Gazidis wouldn’t say what he said.
The expectations of gunners is sky high to see for improved quality and quantity signings.
Yes! ! The transfer window is not yet shut but looking at the squad state i would expect at least the defence should be sorted by now. Sagna got injured during the friendly matches. I don’t know how far is true. Can you imagine to start the season with an amateurish youngsters?
It doesn’t look good to me.
Barcelona didn’t need a plan B, they had the best player in the world and plenty of others that weren’t too shabby either.
Of course they might have wished they had one when they lost to Chelsea and got soundly beaten by Bayern Munich.
Rupert Cook,
Yeah, those are the only matches they ever played. How many trophies had Messi won with the Argentine senior national team again? Messi is undoubtedly important to Barcelona but Spain’s successes based on a core of Barcelona players disprove your point here.
It’s nice to see you ignore: “Recent results notwithstanding”. No one wins them all, no one. But Barcelona’s (and indeed Spain’s) achievements with tikka tikka is irrefutable. It’s a solid plan A.
To be clear, I don’t think having plans B, C, D etc is a bad thing. I have them in my own doings. I just like the fact that Walter has presented a different perspective on having additional plans that counters common wisdom. Of course, Walter’s point is not gospel but it’s always nice to have other perspectives in life.
The truth is AFC (Arsene) Have there own agenda.
Another derogatory comment from above. And yes it’s correct. But should be interpritted in completely the opposite way.
The ‘Agenda’ involved building a new Medical training Centre with the money made from Anelka. (It will be interesting to see if THFC invest any Bale money into there Stadium project rather than try to ponce from the tax payer?) If Wenger was so self serving as some suggest why didn’t he spend that money for his own short term glory rather than for AFC’s long term progression?
The ‘Agenda’ involved building a brand new Stadium fit to take the Club into the future. If Wenger was so self serving why did he not just stay at Highbury and continue winning trophies until he’d drained the well and then jumped ship for one of his many and elustrious admirers and avoid the massive financial burden and subsequent problems that building the Emirates entailed?
The picture is so so much bigger than just a lack of silverware for a measly eigth years. The last eight years has been about laying the foundations for the next 100 years. Thats how revolutionary recent times have been, and whats more these foundations have been layed against a back drop of massive finacial dopeing (for want of a better word) and one of the biggest recessions in liveing memory.
Yes we all hope against hope that the toughest time is behind us but teams are still being ‘doped’ and we are still trying to be self susstaining, so things are NOT going to change overnight and that is frustrateing. But being frustratated is different to the unwarrented and vitriolic critisism that is often leveled at AFC and Arsene. I have every confidence that EVERYTHING they do is with the best interest of our football Club and if you think building the Training centre and Stadium was just a folly to put money in the pockets of Arsene and the board then quite frankly I think you are mad !!!!
@Bootoome, but I actually think we do have a plan B. Look at the way we played our last ten games. We were much more cautious and the football was a little less cavalier. A change of tactics in my opinion.
Barca probably got a bit arrogant which is forgivable when you look at their squad.
Waiting until the transfer window closes before you criticise? By the time the transfer window closes we will have played 3 PL games, including the NLD and the qualifiers for the CL. Whilst our season will not be over after 3 PL games it sets a tone. Equally failure to qualify for the CL will be even bigger.
We should not be waiting for the window to close but have our main signings completed ahead of the start of the season – anything less is simply stupid. It’s not about plans. It’s about action. No signings now means no one ready to play in our first 1-2 games of the season. That is shambolic.
In that respect comparisons to who Man Utd have signed is daft – they finished 20+ points ahead of us last season. They can get away with very minimal signings and still compete. We can’t. If you look at Sp*rs who finished very close to us, they have gone out and strengthened massively. With players that would improve our team. And they don’t have the ‘lure’ of CL football.
What this window has demonstrated is not a lack of a plan but a lack of action and foresight. The manager has left himself no room for manoeuvre with the fans.
Rupert Cook,
Totally agree with you about our change of plan. Our plan B worked. But during those games, it became our plan A. It wasn’t pretty but it worked.
I am not saying that Walter’s point in the article is gospel. I don’t even think that Walter himself is against having plan B (or any other letter). I am just applauding his different perspective on the common wisdom on the importance of having plan B.
For instance, I am not scrapping my own life’s plan B because of what I read here. I am keeping my plan B, thank you 🙂 But it is only because I am not super confident about my plan A; once again, validating Walter’s point.
I have enjoyed our conversations on both threads today. I feel like I have to say this because it’s not always the case. I wish you well man!
Jambug,
Isn’t Arsene a strange selfish tyrant? He wouldn’t usurp the club’s resources to inflate his own CV. He would rather we spend wisely to ensure a secure future while his CV remains unupdated for 8 years and simultaneously receiving insults and thinly veiled hatred along the way.
What an odd tyrant!
Love your comment man!
As usual well written Walter. Are we thin, ooooooo yes we are. But Wenger know that much better than we. I dont think he is such masochist to be stubborn as many people believe, but fact is if, you cant buy what is not to be sold.
Many think things can be solved as SAF done with RvP. But things cant go that way, Suarez may be willing to go on strike, and to be in Liverpool only to collect salary, but where it leaves him in season which end with World Cup. Every player trying to find place where he will build him self in national team before WC(Liverpool is well aware of it and play on that card). And thus it is also hard to find player willing to come and to gamble with first team chances. Thats why Gustavo want leave Munich. So there is to many factors which has to be negotiated to bring player. Of course there are plan A, B, C, D some will work for sure, but we are not supposed to know what are they. Why should we, enough harm is done by Gazids just saying what is our transfer kitty this year. That raised prices for each player we are looking for at last for 10%.
@Bootoome, I’m jealous you have a plan for life at all. I’m rather too laid back, despite my sometimes belligerent posts, to make proper solid plans. I let the wife do that (poor woman, pity her, I do), she seems to be doing ok so far.
Well if the plan was to watch all your targets get hoovered up by the opposition, trial a player we couldn’t get a work permit for and make the club a laughing stock by misunderstanding a release clause and making the most cheap assed big bid in history – then I would say job done.rvvv
Add in the inability to persuade a Brazil International to join you over a German non CL team and we’re bang on plan A.
If however strengthening a paper thin squad was plan A, then maybe not so good.
But as you say, wait. Salvation approaches in the 2 weeks we have left ourselves. Hallelujah! Praise lord wenger, our messiah!
Jeez, you guys are really not seeing the unfolding fuck-up are you? Wow.
Max, don’t give up on Untold – while I don’t censor the commentaries of the negativitists they are not always this active – I think maybe they are having an uprising.
But Untold will stay true to what it is – a place giving organised argument and debate rather than personal opinion.
@ Jambug
Great comment; I agree with you 100%.
djr – I don’t think what you have said is true. Arsene did say that he felt the squad he was developing was capable of winning things, but I don’t think he said it was his best. Now I must admit I have not gone back through the speech he gave at the AGM to check, but that’s how I remember it.
My expectations for this summer was
1. to strengthen our team with 2-3 signings that would force themselves into our starting XI
2. Not sell any of our starting XI
3. Move some of the fringe players on allowing for promising youth to get more chances
So far, Arsenal have ticked off no. 2 and 3. However, I would have liked us to get the players in early like we did with Podolski last year. IF, and I think that’s a big IF, Suarez shows up, he will anyway be banned from domestic games until 28th September (Swansea game). Still, he’d be able to play CL but we will save around £150k/week while he’s not with us…
Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours watching the Arsenal-AV game 05/06. Maybe, if we do get Suarez, we can line up in a 442 again?
Sadly, Spurs, has impressed me with their signings. They look like good signings for a total of £60m; Bale has to be sold for them to do that, or…?
Unbelievable post. SO whats the plan then? buy no one? go into the season with a bare thin squad?
Most of these comments are just apologists for Wenger. Amazing, how brainwashed can you get? This window has been a shambles yet you still believe this is acceptable? you still have faith in Arsene. He isnt running this club for the fans anymore – get that in your heads. Disgraceful post.
@ Max
I agree with you about the present team. I think this season will be a good one.
Jesus H Christ… reading through this blog is like walking into the Sahara desert and seeing a load of arses pointing to the sky… get your heads out of the sand guys. This squad barely scraped 4th last season and only managed it because Spurs yet again choked, Our squad is so thin it is genuinely embarrassing and the quality is nowhere near what it should be for the 5th richest club in the world who charge the highest ticket prices in world football.
News now coming out this morning regarding injuries looks as though we are going to have an entire bench made up of reserves that have just been smashed by Luton and Colchester and may even have to field 1 or 2 to start the game… if you find that acceptable then you have mental issues
we should always respect the policies of the club. let the club conduct its business in an amicable way, where is the problem if the manager feels he has a strong team that can compete for trophies? yours is just making noise not understanding what is behind the curtains. watch out please!!!!!
but at the end of the transfer window you AKBs will resort to the argument that the window is closed, theres nothing the club can do about it and ask everyone to support the team until the next window, when the.same things willbhappen and you will rinse and repeat. talk about broken record, if there ever was one
and walter,
every team has a plan, even the ones that get relegated. the problem lies in the efficacy of that pan. is arsenal’s plan effective? @least evidence of the last decade shows it isnt on the pitch
and yes, clubs do own up to being in pursuit of players, to mention a few; madrid- neymar,ronaldo,figo,modric etc, barca- fab,neymar,etc, man utd- fab,rvp man city-rvp,dzeko,rooney etc, chelsea- too many to mention… arsenal on the otherhand, have developed a love for pathological lying. the club will lie about any and everything,to any and everybody.
Bryson – fans like you are the problem. If you cant see the problem then you’r epart of it. I blame YOU along with Wenger and his yes men for the shit we are in. What a disgraceful fan you are. Im so disgusted with that post.
There are two problems with his posting:
1) Judge Wenger when the window closes. The problem here is, What if the team is already six points off the league and out of the CL then? The season starts in two days and the squad is negligently thin. Some commenter keeps writing, “What has Utd done?” Well, Utd has proper cover at every position. Arsenal has not. And, of course, when you go shopping the last day, most of the inventory is gone (and wearing the shirts of your competitors). So no, when the season is two days away and there is no backup for the center forward, either wing, the dm, center back or right back, and when there are only two keepers, both of whom have shown they are not up to it, I won’t wait until Sept. 2. Whatever happens, Wenger has already failed.
2) Framing the argument in terms of the public nature of plans is deceptive. Yes, of course, Arsenal should not announce who it wants to sign. But so what? The real complaint is that nobody has been brought in AND nearly all the difference-making players are either sold or not moving. Other teams made purchases. Players were available and moving.So who cares about public and private plans? Most Arsenal fans are frustrated with the outcome, not the process. The season starts in two days, and there is not a squad that can contend for anything.
On process and results to date alone, Arsenal have been a shambolic failure this summer, period. The evidence doesn’t lie. The squad is the squad. We hope we get lucky and some of our deadline acwuisitions overperform and Arsenal contend, but Arsene has made that longer odds due to his failure this summer to date.
And to be clear, as recently as a year and a half ago, I was a huge Wenger supporter. When he chose to not buy a fullback in the January transfer window the year we had no fullbacks, he lost me.
“It is a sign of class and respect. And that is how we try to work. And when it fails it mostly is not because of Arsenal making the noise.”
we submitted a bloody pound over £40m – classy and respectful. Bet LFC felt respected. Tosh. Please think about what you write before you plant such things in readers heads. Its an insult to your audience.
1st time on this site, will carry on reading , though dont agree with any of the comments suggesting our club is anything but dying under our noses. Oh also I dont understand this quote:
But Untold will stay true to what it is – a place giving organised argument and debate rather than personal opinion –
So are you saying that you arguments and debates can only be held without personal opinion…? not much of a debate /arguement then is it ? – Life is all about personal opinions !!!!!!!
Max – “For my own six penn’orth, I think the core of our team is now strong enough to challenge at the top. Giroud will fulfil his potential in front of goal; Walcott is flying; the competition for places in midfield is awesome; our first choice back four are strong; our goalkeeping resources are adequate.”
you honestly believe that? hand on heart? we are in serious trouble.
Wenger needs to up his game or be released on a free.
@ Ash79
Of course he believes it. Why shouldn’t he? A thought-crime, is it, to hold an opinion other than yours?
Always a good laugh when this site gets hit by waves of the killer-zombies.
Lol, this team is good enough to challange for the title, you are having a bubble, its the weakest team we’ve had since the George Graham era and it is paperthin, we are 2 injuries away from a crisis and how you guys who are happy with the status quo can call yourself supporters is beyond me.
I pay the best part of £1500 a year for my season ticket and I’m wrong for wanting to see a couple of editions to the team am I?
What is different between the squad we have now and the one that crashed and burned to a lower division team in the league cup or who lost to Birmingham in the final of the league cup.
Tell me the difference in the squad now please and if you say OG and Poldi have had time to settle in you are mental, Henry, Bergkamp, Pires etc etc etc didn’t need a season they just got on after a few games (Bergkamp the most with 10).
@ash
sometimes when i hear AKB talk about giroud, i begin to wonder wether we have another giroud that only plays when only AKBs are watching
Tony,
I must be bad luck! Now that I am Back from(sickness) the battles were very heavy all day yesterday. Walter,well done! Does anyone know what Myles Palmer called Wenger? How about Tom Oldfield? I believe Wenger will respond to the needs of the fans whenever it suits the needs of the club. Let’s call that plan A. Other than that I think he could care less. I know I could care less about all the moaning when I sit to wach the competitions. I like the celebratory games and the manager’s touch when everyone is against him. Walter superb insight to what we don’t know and what could happen or not behind the scenes. After all “we can’t always get what you want…but if you try some times you just might find you get what you need……So true as Wenger provides the needs of this club year in and year out……
Seventhewave 101.
Admittedly not one of my best lines. What I mean to say is this. Our comment columns are stuffed with people saying, “This is the worst team for 20 years, and we are going to fail, and if you can’t see that you are an idiot.”
That is opinion which is just opinion. It has no evidence to support it, no historic context, no reference to past transfer windows, no mention of the £51m spent in the last season’s transfer windows etc etc. It is just opinion.
The articles we run try to provide evidence and then interpret it. Sorry I did not make this clear.
What part of overpaying for a quasi-racist with an eating disorder fails to qualify as ‘spending some money’?
And if you were talking to player A’s agent, a certain Mr Guardiola (the other one) and he lets it slip that, yes, player A is interested, but player B has, what he believes to be, a release cause in his contract, why on earth would you bid anymore than is necessary? Bayern did it with Gotze. That it turns out that the clause in Suarez’s contract isn’t what his agent thinks it is, can hardly be Arsenal’s fault – they will most likely never have even seen the contract, as that would be a serious breach of regulations.
I agree that a cheeky, well publicised bid of £40 million for Rooney would be a significant PR opportunity right now. It would suggest to us fans that the club is willing to trade in >£40 million players; that the club is willing to get into a bidding war with Chelsea and most important of all, might sign us a decent striker.
Wenger has lost the plot….
Wenger out.
I still cant understand why some people believe Arsene Wenger is masochist who loves to be spanked by journalists, fans and all others who know how to win trophies. I am also wandering why some people believe board is such blind and give up money we can get for playing Champions League 2014/2015. How can some people believe transfer market is Walmart and you just pick what you want (if you have money) and just bring it to cashier, or tele-shop “Hello I would like to purchase best football player you have, how much it will cost me… Great, send me one at 75 Drayton Park. Thanks, bye”
we are weaker now than we were at the end of last season (the one where we scraped into 4th if you remember)..
Staley – he’s only pointing out the views you’re expressing are out of touch with reality. Topically, even keown has said we need to strengthen on his new q&a. I would imagine even you would admit he knows more about football than the bedroom warriors on this site? Or perhaps not?
Steve of Chiang Mai,
With Perez I think the problem was that first was said that he had a Spanish passport but then later on this turned out to be incorrect and so he had to get a work permit.
AVB says Spuds ‘recruitment is not yet finished’
Perhaps we can lend them funds at 5% !!
Walter
I hope that you do know that both kos and santi are suspended for Fenerbahce away. I hope that delaying the signings don’t come back to bite us.
Untold Arsenal???? should be called Untold Arsene… you lot aren’t Arsenal supporters wanting whats best for the club! You’re just a bunch of Arsene Wenger apologists! Can I ask? when Wenger finally leaves will you lot follow him? I truly hope you do because any supporter willing to support the ineptitude of the clubs hierarchy this summer, as Ash79 said are part of the problem!
Just so I am clear on this… we have 22 first team squad players, of which up to 9 could be out for our first game against Villa this weekend meaning we are going to have to field several of the remaining reserve team… the same reserve team that has been getting obliterated by lower league opposition in recent weeks… and you guys are happy with this? not Wengers fault right? are you REEEAAALLLY that deluded? I am genuinely astounded that people like you exist!
For the first time in about 6 years I started to allow myself to be a bit optimistic this summer about where the club was going… yet again they have proved that putting faith in this current regime is only going to lead to disappointment, anger and frustration! I’ll be fucked if i’m going to pay out the highest ticket price in the world to watch this bang average, thread bare squad!there’s an old saying ‘a fool and his money are quickly parted’ and in the wise words of BA ‘I pity a fool’
Staley – not a crime at all. Everyone entitled to their opinion however the opinion seems so far fetched and out of touch with reality, it reasonable to be dumbstruck and perplexed when you read something like that. I will give you an exmaple to make it clearer – “hmm this apple tastes like a banana”.
Pardon to ask little bit off the topic (and rather stupid one),
Why are there 2 contradicting news on gustavo and wolfsburg?
@goonerjay
Maybe it’s best for your health to go and support other team…
Goona – perhaps you could explain how.
Subeke,
because that is what sells newspapers and generates clicks on websites.
It is part of the plan. The media plan of course… 😉
I sometimes wonder if some of the “negative commentators” even read the articles at all….or do they just start their usual rant? Oh well…
sukebe – why should he? Atleast he cares about the team. What are you doing bar accepting the status quo?
Tony because we released 30 players. And have 16 fit players for FIRST game of season.
@walter
Thank you, why didn’t I think of that?
Stupid me #banginheadtothewall
Walter – come now, thats a pretty lazy remark. You take the time to write something, we take the time to read it and comment. None of these comments are ever personal, nor should they be. However if you see a man dyingin the street youtry to help and thats how I and many supporters feel when we see apologists etc making execues for Arsene and trying to cover his arse time and time again. Its not too late, save yourself. We have the largest cash reserve – why? why wont he spend it? dont spend for the sake of spending but bring in quality players. Desist with the nonsense about no quality out there, or people havent bought yet or whatever. Worry about your own club. Strengthen. Stop making excuses for the mad man.. stop it. Makes us supporters cringe.
@ash79
By ranting through internet? And calling names? And then blaming everything?
LOL
Sounds like my girlfriend
sukebe;
Change her !
lol @ doublegooner
sukebe – no rant. We just want to help you. YOu love ARsenal the way it is, you dont see how you’re being muugged off and we just want to shine alight on whats going on. Whether you want to believe it or live in denial, your call. I didnt call namees or blame everything – clearly you made your comments try and fit your joke. Keep it real mate, open your eyes.
if anyone with any passion says anything about the club, they’re deemed as negative or a doomer. Its just easier to say that then actually recognise that the guy may have a point. Says it all really. Enjoy your cuppa tea and scones in Wengerland where all is well.
Okay so to the guy that said Luis Gustavo has to want to come to Arsenal. Well, here’s the article with the quote from the man himself.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/8867960/bayern-munich-midfielder-luiz-gustavo-interested-in-arsenal-move
He has since moved to Wolfsburg and a GERMAN newspaper has now come out with NO QUOTES from the player and made the ASSUMPTION that Gustavo SHUNNED Arsenal (bollocks) for a move to Wolfsburg.
If we cant get a player who expresses admiration for the club for 17 million pounds over a club like Wolfsburg, where is Arsenal? What clout does this team actually have. Because from what I can tell, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Everton have been successful (so far) in keeping and signing WORLD CLASS players while we have signed no one and lost Fabregas, Van Persie, Song , and Nasri in recent years.
If you don’t think there is a price to pay for choosing not to live in the reality that is the economy of modern football, here’s your proof that there is. We have made some great signings yes, but in what circumstances? Cazorla and Monreal from a desperate Malaga? Giroud, an underpaid, unknown entity coming off of the most successful season of his career at Montpellier? Koscielny, a Ligue 2 bargain? Podolski, a man from a relegated Koln? Per Mertesacker, a German National defender that was unwanted by any German teams (probably because of his lack of athleticism and the fact that he scares me every time he has the ball)?
These are not signings…these are NO BRAINERS. A signing is a player you identify, not a player that falls into your lap because of circumstances. How can we ever build a championship team with pieces that weren’t meant to fit together? Credit to Wenger and the boys for achieving fourth place and making the knockout round of the Champions League. I mean that. It’s a great feat of Wenger’s managerial abilities, but this team has always looked like patchwork.
As for identifying player’s Wenger has done that many times, and it really kills me to think about the possibilities (these are all players linked with Arsenal where Arsenal was the first team in England to have interest):
1. Suarez (when he was at Ajax)
2. Mata
3. Hazard
4. Victor Moses
5. Jovetic
6. Falcao
That last one really hurts. Arsenal were in for Falcao before anyone knew just how brilliant he was. But did we sign him, no. We just waited for him to fall into our lap, and that’s not signing him.
No sukebe… by educating people like you on the lack of logic behind your ‘support’ and then maybe all us Gooners (supporters of Arsenal Football Club) can maybe stand together as one voice and ask the club to do whats best for the club… even if that does mean replacing our most successful manager of all time because right now what is happening at the club is a disaster and AKB’s are only helping to make the issue worse by accepting this current plight!The whole time the club have fans like you, nothing changes and we continue this trending of becoming weaker each season
I’m going to say something controversial here, but the last REAL signing we made was who?
ANDREI (fucking) ARSHAVIN
We identified him. We brook the record fee for him, and we fucking got ‘im. And man was he magnificent. Did you remember how brilliant he was when we first got him. Fuck me, what a player.
BUT THEN, he fell apart. We played him out of position on the left (we had no wingers at the time). Our striker was the one and hopefully only Niclaus daftCock Bendtner (Arshavin had to play with that shit)!!!! Then we had no strikers and all of a sudden ARSHAVIN was our STRIKER. And yeah he scored a winner at Anfield and did his best, but with no wide support and being crunched week after week the man fell to pieces.
THIS is what happens when you spend and you don’t mean it. It’s one thing to sign someone, it’s another thing to surround that person with shit and watch the man fall out of love with the game.
At least now, by some miracle of God Arsenal has a well rounded, talented squad that is 1 or 2 major pieces away from being a world beater. Now when the stars have aligned and we have the cash guess what? No one wants to come to this vacuum and have the life sucked out of them. Truth.
Arsene has said “We will be active in the transfer window”
Stop worrying everybody he knows what he’s doing.
What’s he been smoking at the Emirates is what i want to know? And where can i get some?
@ash79 & @goonerjay
Thank thou Lords for shedding thou brim lights to thee closed eyes that walked in darkness of uneducated realm.
Shall we march forward to free our bewitched arsenal from the grasps of they evil hands wengaria worshipers…
We shall triumph!!
damage is already done Matt… we are about to start the season with 12/13 fit first team players which is negligence at it’s most pure form! A season where all the promises from moving to the Emirates was meant to come to fruition we are seeing the worst summer transfer window in living memory and about to start the season in 2 days time with the weakest squad of the last 2 decades…. whilst we have £180m in cash sat in the bank… that cash isn’t going to score a goal or keep a clean sheet… are we a bank or a football club???
sukebe, let me guess you’re that type of fan that aint too fussed either way if we win or lose. “Hurrah the Arsenal won, great stuff” or “oh dear, never mind, always next weekend”.
Takes all I guess.
@ Goonerjay
Maybe we could stack the cash in front of our goal to stop the buggers scoring?
May aswell put it to some use.
sukebe – if that was your attempt at humour, you failed! If you choose to support Wenger ahead of supporting the football club, that is down to you! Nobody is bigger than the club and right now my only concern is how much more damage can this stubborn, once great manager do to the club before his legacy is obliterated and the fans force him out? That scenario is getting ever closer… don’t believe me? just look at any other Arsenal blog on the internet or indeed Twitter to see how the mood is changing… those once like you are now seeing the light! will you or will you disappear when Wenger does?
Aww ash, you got me there…
Jambug…amazing comment.
While I am one of the so-called AAA, I don’t think it’s some Wenger led conspiracy to horde mounds of cash in some vault somewhere (although I can’t be convinced that isn’t what Kroenke is in it for).
Wenger is a good man and has good principles, and no one can fault him for his principles (except his wife, but I am not his Misses). Wenger believes in this squad, but there is such thing as too much belief in my opinion and that is what Wenger is guilty of. His faith in his personal principles and his squad have combined to make the club stagnant. It’s almost as if the club is immune to the effects of entropy, as we have seen each season for the last 6 years play out in identical ways.
When you close your eyes and cover your ears to the world it’s a form of selfishness and a sin of pride. Being too involved in the world is another sin, but I am not asking Arsenal to become Man City, Chelsea, Monaco etc… And let me tell you something else about our situation, it seems the more we fight to not become a Man City or Real Madrid, the more we have to become them to keep up. 40 million pounds is fucking ridiculous money for Luis Suarez.
How did we get to the point where we’d have to make such gross bid for a player (it makes me feel dirty too thinking about spending that sum of money). It’s because we chose not to see what was going on in football for the last 4 years. We could have bought those players I mentioned earlier for 20-30 million pounds easily. Would it have been a club record fee? Yes. But now do you see the position our pride has put us in? A bid for Suarez of 40 million pounds, and thanks to the Bale situation I don’t think 40 million pounds is even close to the evaluation in the current market. Suarez is probably worth north of 50 million.
Point is, Arsenal is letting itself be victimized and while building buildings for our future is all well and good…well let’s just say, there are plenty of ghost towns in CHina with brand new empty houses and brand new empty roads, that Juventus walked out of their brand new stadium because it just didn’t feel right. You can build for the future, but if you ignore the fans in the present, who are you REALLY doing this for? (Hint: It’s not for us)
Jay, so sorry to dissapoint you, I’ll make another joke, please don’t get mad…
sukebe lol
Why would Arsene then publicly speak about Suarez and say to have a transfer you need the agreement of all three parties? Quite obviously he is our plan A. I agree that it is not wise to mention the players who you are courting but in the modern day & age it inevitably gets out or is discovered by someone who cannot be stopped from leaking the story.
The fact that the only noises we hear about is Suarez shows he is our only CF plan. There is no plan B. If we give up on Suarez we will move our attention to another CF, who will then become our plan A. There will still be no plan B.
If Arsene’s reason for pulling out of the chase for a player is “others know about us wanting him” then we will never get anyone of note. As I said: the times have changed. Thanks to social media there will always be eyes around who see when things are happening. Agents are not stupid and they want their clients to get the most (because then they get the most). They let the dealings leak, obviously not alweays directly/in a way that can be traced to them, but it gets out none the less. So too the current clubs of our targets will let the story get out to fish for a greater transfer fee. Before the prolifiration twitter & the like it was possible for things to happen quietly, but to stay relevant in the transfer market we quite simply have to change our behaviour, we certainly can afford to do so!
Personally I’m sick to death with the virtual season of transfers that’s been going on since the final real game of last season and the first real game of this one on Saturday. Every man and his dog has become glued to the race between clubs to sign the most players and spend the most money in the meantime.
Well, the virtual season is coming towards its end with Arsenal in bottom position. Nobody likes being in last position and it’s made some supporters go apoplectic. But there is still a chance of a late surge in the next couple of weeks.
But thank heaven that by this time next week we will have a couple real games to occupy us, with players who we actually know about instead of the myriad of names linked in the media, but never to materialize.
Bring on the Villa next Saturday!
sukebe – are you 5 or just void of any valid point in this discussion? Just put your fingers in your ears and say lalala and all those nasty people questioning why our club is going backwards will go away! Seems to me you ‘lack mental strength’ and ‘debate with ze handbrake on’
Last season our players were bought in early, they had a large part of the summer to get used to each other. The stuttering start we had was put down to getting used to each other, fine, no problem there. Leaving potential signings to the last minute this year, with injuries it is likely they will be straight into the first team. No matter how good a player is they still have to get used to the players around them. Points lost can never be retrieved.
If the plan is to scrape CL qualification ie risk v reward, well what can I say.
hahaha goonerjay
“i cant hear you, i cant hear you, i love arsene, i cant hear you”
Arsenal FC
NOT
Arsene FC
i know its hard to believe lads
@jay
Right, I am an uneducated 5yo debating with no mental strength…
GoonerVance how did you conclude that Arshavin was last “real” signing?
Carzola is 2 times UEFA champion for Spain when we bought him.
Yeah, sure, waiting for us to sign someone significant is exactly like waiting for a bus and exactly as frustrating. I tried it earlier and you really couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe I should try it again once the transfer window closes just to re-live the torment.
Then there’s “transfers happen or they don’t happen”. Are you sure about this? Erwin Schrodinger says otherwise. But even if dear Erwin is wrong, isn’t it a bit like “I can’t see who’s in the lead (The Boat Race) but it’s either Oxford or Cambridge.” Oh, how we all laughed at that.
But the prize must go to “It is fairly clear they want to get rid of Suarez if someone is willing to offer a truly crazy amount of money.”
You see, previously you said “We know nothing” and then went on to say why. But here you fall into your own heffalump trap. You do exactly what the media does when they want to pad something out or are being lazy.
Is it “fairly clear” … No! Anything but.
Were you being ironical? Again, no. Checked and rechecked. I have an app*.
Do they want to get rid of Suarez? … No indication that they do … lots of indicators that they don’t. Oh cripes, that must be confusing for the anti-empiricist.
Would they change their minds if they were offered “a truly crazy amount of money”? … Again, we’ve no idea because nobody has. It’s your “nobody knows” rule, you see.
So, why do you say this stuff? Saying something sensible one minute and something incoherent the next? Or do you just make it all up as you go along just like the media?
My last post spent over three hours in moderation. But then this is YOUR own little fiefdom. Not mine. And in your little fiefdom you can say and do as you like. But just know that someone notices. And not just me.
*Now that’s irony. See the difference?
@ Ash79:
“Enjoy your cuppa tea and scones in Wengerland where all is well.”
Thanks. I will.
wenger said that we are active in the transfer market.we are in the same situation as chelski and man utd.no,wenger.they are miles ahead of us, while you dither making excuses and bringing in teams that are already better than us just shows how deluded he is.
The season starts Saturday Walter. One day you will have to stop making excuses.
Are we about to see the demise of Arsene Wenger from our club? If as reported, we have a number of knocks for the weekend, then he is going to have no hiding place, from the accusation of not doing his job properly, if we have to put out a weakened side with no proper backup. Especially if Villa sneak a result. Surely the press and TV will hang him out to dry. If Wenger does not realise this, then he must have totally lost it. Or is it all part of a cunning exit plan? I for one, cannot see any other reason why a highly paid and revered figure of the European game, would act like this. We must all be missing something here. Why would someone do this to themselves?
The spuds continue to offload players who would still be playing for us i.e.Huddlestone and Parker and sign another decent player in Capoue. £60 + million already spent and they could still hang onto Bale. Take note Mr Wenger….this is what real ambition looks like!
@Michael
lol, you do
You just have to laugh at the appaling contempt Wenger holds the fans in.I just picked up my local free paper and on the back page, there he is saying that we need a stronger squad . Apparently he’s optimistic about the new season. I’ve never heard such nonsense. He would be an excellent politician he’s really so full of it he squeaks. We won’t progress until he’s out I’m afraid.
Looks like Wenger is suggesting the fans maybeat fault for Gervinho not performing at his best during home games !
I didn’t pay £12m for him, or coach him, boo him, slag him off, did any of you ??
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-why-i-let-gervinho-leave
How does on so successfully take what really should have and could have been a summer of delight and ecstacy for the fans over outstanding, high quality signings due to the huge financial fortune we now sit on, and turn it into such a disaster and a farce? We had a chance for the first time in years to be all happy and deepen solidarity with the club, but they go ahead and cock it up this bad?
In any other business, heads would already be rolling over such an incompetent approach to such a critical organisational task as hiring new employees in timely fashion for them to have a solid preseason and quickly integrate with the rest of the team before the season kicks off.
It’s amateur time at The Emirates boardroom! Has been for the past eight years and people like walter worship wenger like he’s some sort of God. Get a grip please
@ joe
“Are we about to see the demise of Arsene Wenger from our club?”
Probably not.
@ joe
“Has been for the past eight years and people like walter worship wenger like he’s some sort of God.”
No, I don’t think he does.
Lets be honest,what world class player would want to play for this loser,world class players want to win,thats why we have none on our books,just ask Cesc or Robin,its all about winning for these guys,they all have their money made now.
Do you people realise how fucked we might be?Any player signed now cannot play a part in the CL qualifiers, our players(as usual) are dropping like flies.Nightmare scenario we take our U-21s that can’t beat fucking league 1 reserve teams to Istanbul on Wednesday.We are royally fucked if we get dumped out of the CL.
A perfect summer – and FORGET money, it’s not our problem, remember?????? Remember those days like 10 years ago where we didn’t give a shit about money Bring them back. Anyway…This was the summer we were meant to look at our bank balance and say ‘fuck you, football world, we’re back. And we want him, him and him’ and taken whichever players we wanted like a big club does.Perfect summer:BegovicPapadopoulosSuboticA RBL Bender (pronounced Benter for all you who don’t realise btw)Grenier (trust me)Suarez= All the players we’ve sold, plus Vermaelen/Mertesacker gone too.A good summer:Mignolet/Vorm/KrulWilliams (keep our players)Gustavo/Gonalons/Capoue/FellainiPromote Eisfeld and Zalalem I guessNaniLewandowskiA poor summer but still good:Schwarzer on a freeSeb BassongSchneiderlinNaniBentekeOur summer:…failed to load. Retry?
Arsenal have got the worst negotiators ever.How many quality players have we linked with,and how many have we acquired.How much more longer are we going to blame Wenger and Gazidis.Any club is represented by it’s fans,and without it’s fans it is meaningless.I don’t like Piers morgan but when he says that Arsenal is in this postion because of the fans,He is 100 % right.The fans have let this happen,and are letting this happen.If the majority had any passion for the club,or common sense whatsoever they’de joining us protesting.Just for one game I hope whilst the match is going on,the whole stadium’s fans should boycott the match,and stand outside the emirates protesting against the Arsenal board for lack of ambition.But again,who am I even asking.
Why must we wait until September 3rd, when we’ve already played three PL games and two crucial, CRUCIAL CL qualifiers? Why? Why does he delay? Why does he spin such bullshit? Why do people still believe in this? Why have we not strengthened when the FUCKING sp*ds have spent £60m on building a fearsome team with twice as much depth as us?
Really don’t understand this attitude any more. People said this last season around this time, we trusted him, and managed to just – JUST – squeak fourth, no thanks to his inaction. This time round, no mercy.
We better fucking go in all guns blazing in these upcoming games, or there really will be hell to pay.
Sorry, but talk is cheap. Wenger’s actions or lack of action suggests there’s no plan. I’m wrong, I mean there’s a plan, of course. Let the money pile up in the bank and continue to fleece the fans. Arsenal Corporate Machine at its best. Wenger the accountant to ensure the money keeps coming. Money, Money and Money. Money over football, money over trophies, money over glory, money over fans, money over Arsenal.
@joe spot on
I haven’t laughed so much in years.
There comes a time when you have to take that risk you have to go for it.This summer should of been that time! We couldn’t of really asked for a better opportunity 3 of the top clubs having new managers, fergie retiring..Its like we had the other boxer on the ropes but decided not to go for that knock out punch and have backed off.By the end of this season all those teams with new managers will have adapted and are potential advantage will be lost.
You won’t be laughing when your lord buckles it once again
I read his comments and earlier and I had to laugh else I’d just end up crying. “We will be active till the end” which implies that we have been active right at the beginning and the middle. Perhaps there’s a typo and they’ve missed the IN off the ACTIVE. The man is delusional now. Apparently he watches a lot of football programmes in his spare time. Does he ever watch interviews of himself? He can’t do because if he did he’d end up thinking to himself “did I really say that?”. It’s embarrassing. Don’t worry there’s loads of time left. A whole massive 18 days left to do our business. The fact that we haven’t managed to close a single in almost 3 months in neither here nor there, is it? Presuming that we will attempt to do our shopping at the 11th hour when all the cheap stuff is in that chiller cabinet with all the marked down orange stickers, just how easy is it going to be to sign players when the international break begins? I have whined all over the blogs and forums so I am now venting my spite on the Arsenal Facebook page as I cannot believe the marketing department at the club have the nerve to post such utter bullshit given the dire situation we are in. Nothing offensive but just asking certain questions in a certain way. Obviously, they are removed asap. However I would urge everybody to do the same.
@ Will
Anytime you lot show up again, it’ll be guffaws galore.
Looks like the the other adults have gone, leaving you lot to rant amongst yourselves. Might as well join them; ta-ta for now.
Good riddance
Two years ago we signed 6 players in the last few days of the transfer window. Yes, it included Park and Santos (who wasn’t a bad footballer), but it also had Arteta, Mertesacker, and Benayoun on loan (as well as the Ox a few days before-to much uproar). All the naysayers ascribe that as ‘panic buying’ brought about by the loss to ManU, rather than the fact that we managed to confirm CL football for ourselves.
Last season, we didn’t need to go through a CL qualifier. We had already bought Podolski (who I think was meant to partner RVP) and then we got Giroud (through a release clause, no haggling) and Cazorla in early August(who we’d tried to get a year earlier to replace Cesc)
I don’t remember further back than that, but having confirmed CL football seems to positively affect our ability to do business. In years past, it would be very much to do with what we could afford, but also to do with whether players would want to join us. The first aspect may not be so important right now, but the second surely remains.
Luiz Gustavo. Sign him a year ago, and everyone will say we only buy inferior players, or other clubs cast offs. Now because the media decides he’s a good fit for Arsenal, not signing him is criminal. Do people really not like to think anymore?
And Arshavin wasn’t played out of position. We had no ‘wingers’. It didn’t seem to affect Freddie or Pires. Nor does it affect Cazorla when he’s played there. But Andrei (fucking) Arshavin’s decline was only due to Wenger, and not being played ahead of a certain Cesc Fabreags in the middle. Another example of how just by repetition, an opinion with no basis, can become fact.
It’s funny that the people accusing Arsenal of only caring about money, are the ones who are more likely to care about how much a player cost to buy. Example, Yaya Sanogo. Nobody has seen him play. None at all have seen him in training. What makes everyone so sure that his impact will be none to minimal, or that he’s not good enough? The fact that he came on a free, and that the media hadn’t bigged up his name.
Money money money..Signings for big money. That’s all some fans seem to care about.
Shard @ 7.33pm
We signed these players after what appeared an after thought after being humiliated at OT, 8-2. lets repeat that we lost 8-2.
Even the players we bought could not be considered the very top standard even though I agree Mertesacker & Arteta have generally performed reasonably well I can’t imagine the teams above felt they missed out on their signatures, except perhaps The Ox as a future prospect.
Shard:
Seriously, are you not concerned at all as we stand today ?
Will you feel any different come September 2nd if we’ve either signed no top quality players or if we were to get beaten on the 1st or both ?
Talking of transfers, if you ever wanted evidence of vapour transfers :
Footballers’ dirty transfer tricks http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23703265
Sorry it’s taken a while to come back at comments about my comment, but…
The bit about strengthening the squad was in the BIG paragraph (which might be too difficult for some red-top readers). Is there anyone, including the club itself, who thinks the squad is deep enough?
I am excited to discover that because I have an opinion about the strength of the first team, we’re all doomed. I didn’t realise I had such influence!
I have read somewhere that Olivier Giroud scored more goals in his first season than Thierry Henry, but this is probably some calumny and should be ignored like all other facts that weaken AAA. And what’s not to like about his efforts per-season? That the opposition was weak?
Oh, and I don’t have a season ticket. May I have one of yours, as you clearly don’t value your team…
I) PRE-season – apologies
II) I will pay for it in full. Honest Injun! (Am I still allowed to say that?)
We signed these players after what appeared an after thought after being humiliated at OT, 8-2. lets repeat that we lost 8-2.
Doublegooner
after what APPEARED an afterthought. Doesn’t make it one. As I pointed out, there was also the small matter of getting into the CL which was around that time frame. Last season that wasn’t there and we signed players fairly early.
As to your statement of other teams not feeling they missed out. Who cares what they think? Why should that be any concern in judging the players they are for us? If we sign any player, some people’s first instinct is to say that because we got him, it must mean that no one else is interested, ergo, he’s not a player that is good enough. That’s annoyingly obtuse, and negative of course.
I am concerned about where we stand today. That’s actually the point. All of us here would want some signings. They’re exciting you know. More than that, I think almost everyone would agree that the squad could do with a few quality additions. There is no difference as regards that.
Where the difference comes in is the reaction to this desire not being fulfilled, and the reasoning (or what passes for it) that goes into filling the gaps in knowledge.
You and others like you always assume the worst of the club, whereas I feel that the persons who have worked so hard (and quite successfully) to build the club up from a stage where we were training on university grounds, to being among the biggest clubs in the world (despite all setbacks) cannot be completely incompetent. So I give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s not like more reasonable explanations for their actions don’t exist. You just choose to ignore them.
Shard – so you think the 8-2 was planned? And the sudden influx of players on deadline day was planned? Aren’t you the least bit curious why the players were signed after the 8-2? And why we signed Santos and park, two of the worst signings in living memory?
Doofus
Stop acting like your name is reflective of your intellectual capacity. How the fuck do you go from what I said to saying the 8-2 was planned?
Why we signed Santos and Park? I have no idea. (Although I maintain that Santos is a decent player) It’s ok to say you don’t know when you don’t. But you’d probably say it’s because Wenger is useless at recruitment, or something else similar which just fits your agenda rather than the facts.
Max – the reason that most fans are turning on people like you is that most (free thinking) fans can see that there are clear issues at the club. £150m in free cash, and no spending.
There have been articles in Forbes and telegraph last two days (not the red tops you so superciliously deride) questioning what’s going on. 50% of arsenal.com pollers think we’re going to finish below 4th. There’s a mounting swell of questioning of the emperor’s clothes.
So you can choose your blind faith to a flawed dictator, or you can choose to read more widely than the PR that’s written here and look at facts.
But you won’t, like asking an alcoholic to try water.
Shard – did you ever see the overweight, I’ll disciplined, positionally poor Santos play? Watch him walk back as we were countered on?
And then the shirt swapping. Oh dear. Worst player in living memory. Indicative of your time spent watching the team perhaps?
LOL – You can’t make THIS shit up: reports coming out of the club that Arteta is out for 6 weeks injured.
So all you AKBs, please now detail the genius that is Wenger not signing any cover?
Really looking like a great decision, no? Explain this my deluded friends!
Shard..regarding Sanogo..:
“Example, Yaya Sanogo. Nobody has seen him play. None at all have seen him in training. What makes everyone so sure that his impact will be none to minimal, or that he’s not good enough? The fact that he came on a free, and that the media hadn’t bigged up his name. ”
C’mon give fans some credit. Unlike Wenger with his disingenuous comments that fans may not rate Sanogo because he didn’t cost 50 or 100 M or some equally made up arbitrary figure that supposedly fans think a player is shit unless he costs that…
The concerns are pretty obvious and rational where Sanogo is concerned at it has precious little to do with his price tag or lack of.
Rather most would agree we need a striker (pretty sure Wenger has alluded to the same in some of his comments recently)..
You really think it’s irrational that fans will be concerned about what the impact will be from a player who is:
1- 20 years old.
2- has a very concerning injury history at that young age.
3- has never kicked a ball in any top division anywhere.
4- Has played relatively few games.
Now when juxtaposed with our needs to strengthen AND our resources as STATED by the club, it’s hard to accept that this is the best we can come up with. Please don’t, like Wenger, be disingenuous to suggest that there aren’t better option out there that costs CONSIDERABLY less than 50 to 100 M. Let’s be real, it doesn’t take working in football for 30 years to figure that out.
Now what has plagued us for years too? Injuries, so fans were rightly concerned that not only are we signing a woefully inexperienced kid (even for his age) who as things stands is arguably our only out and out striker behind Giroud, but we are signing one with a very troubling injury record…
And guess what….
He’s injured.
So people need to cut this crap about people aren’t giving Sanogo a chance because he didn’t cost 50M.
People are concerned because he is a woefully inexperienced, injury prone kid, who has played top division football, but is yet as things stand out backup striker, for a club who states it has considerable resources to do much better (and that again doesn’t automatically mean 50 or 100M).
Maybe Sanogo may be the next coming of Henry, but it’s not irrational at all to think, that even if he wasn’t injury riddled, even if he had played in League 1 vs League 2…that STILL, despite all that it will as we see with all our youngsters, take time for him to get to a needed level, even without his inherent disadvantages.
Lastly, I doubt anyone would care if Sanogo was singed amongst several positions of quality/experienced players needed to strengthen the squad.
But the reality he is as things stand now, our only signing in a squad that is now CONSIDERABLY fewer in numbers and experience.
One last unrelated point..People are going on and on about the team is actually being strengthened because players like Giroud, Podolski and Cazorla have settled with a year under their belt. As though that is unique to Arsenal.. Doesn’t the same logic apply to players like..Coutinho, Hazard, Moses, Oscar, Vertonghen, Lloris, Kagawa, Nastasic and several other examples of impressive/talented second year players at our competitors also? So basically (assuming the logic that second year players must improve which actually isn’t always so, then) the net gain of that internal strengthening is zero, because every other club should experience it also to some degree, and on top of it, many have strengthened externally by adding pieces to supplement that internal strengthening, while we have stayed still, if not regressed with the dwindling size and experience of our squad not being replaced and improved on as was obviously needed.
Very well said A. Stewart.:-)
Yeah. It kinda does effect Cazorla when he plays out on the iwng. He basically just comes inside and crowds out whoever else is supposed to be playing the CAM role, which is normally Jack…hence why playing Jack and Santi together hasn’t really work.
Doofus. Thank you. You have provided more illustration of the word ‘presumption’. The depths of your “argument” are plumbed with the appalling news that 50% of people responding to a poll have an opinion that challenges mine. Tell me, if a majority of respondents decide that Arsenal are going to finish bottom, they will? I’m fairly sure the same view was supported last season – well, if not, I’m afraid I was in a minority, because I told a fellow-supporter that we would finish sixth.
I’m fascinated that you infer I have any opinion about the club’s management, because I don’t remember commenting on them, other than the quote about the thinness of the squad.
With regard to this particular forum, I am attracted to it by its intelligence, humour and erudition, not because it is an apologist for Arsenal FC. I was disappointed today, because most (thankfully, by no means all) of the critics of AFC management, express ill-considered, badly-argued opinions, relying largely on bile and vituperation.
Finally, I admire the red-tops. If I feel supercilious, it is to people who only can read them, and believe them. I lost faith in the honesty of the fourth estate shortly after I potty-trained.
By the way, can I buy your season ticket?
A. Stewart
Sanogo was only an example I used to demonstrate a larger pattern. Plus it was not a serious example because the comment I was responding to is such a nonsensical one, though oft repeated, that I don’t take it seriously.
Sanogo isn’t likely to be enough for our striking department. I agree. I’m not sure the second season syndrome applies equally to everyone. Why? Because we have a manager who has a proven record of getting more than expected out of a squad. Especially if it stays stable. None of that is a reason not to buy players. I want signings and I will be disappointed if we don’t strengthen. I am sure this will happen.
We’ve only lost Gervinho and Mannone from the first team squad of last year that contributed in any way. You’ll have the Ox take a bigger role and I’m guessing Gnabry/Ryo/Eisfeld between them will be enough to replace his contribution. Martinez will take Mannone’s place in the squad. We’re not necessarily weaker than last year despite losing a glut of players. Most of them weren’t involved. However, as I said, I’d like more signings too. So I don’t see where our disagreement comes in in this case.
Max – this is what you wrote: “which might be too difficult for some red-top readers)”. Not very respectful??
Have you read the telegraph and Forbes articles? Not really red top are they?
But no, you will peddle your view mindlessly and slavishly.
And no, I intend to make my views clear. Its interesting, my block mates used to be 50% akb 50% AAA. Now even the most akb-y akb is pissed off about the lack of players ambition. I will be booing at some point, as is my right. Although the stewards are a bit fascist!
Yeah. It kinda does effect Cazorla when he plays out on the iwng. He basically just comes inside and crowds out whoever else is supposed to be playing the CAM role, which is normally Jack…hence why playing Jack and Santi together hasn’t really work.
Goonervance
Cazorla drifts in because that is exactly what his role is. We don’t play traditional wingers. We haven’t for about 10 years now. Gervinho was the closest to a line hugging, running up and down type winger and even he wasn’t quite that. What you see as crowding out, is also what is seen as creating an overload on the defense. It also allows Gibbs the freedom to move forward as the RB comes in with Cazorla. Gibbs has improved his crossing. You may or may not agree that this is the best use of Cazorla’s individual talents (I happen to think it isn’t) But I don’t see how you can argue that Cazorla doesn’t fit into that system or that it affects him adversely to such an extent that the system should be changed.
By the way, the CAM is usually Rosicky, not Wilshere. And the longer Wilshere plays with Cazorla, the more easy they’ll find to coordinate their movements better.
Using being played on the left when that was basically the role he played in Zenit and with Russia (despite what the TV graphic said) as an excuse for Arshavin’s laziness is just plain wrong. It’s giving a player who threw away his talent a free pass. Not even Messi gets that. And why do you do this? Because you want to criticise the manager. That’s all.
“did you ever see the overweight, I’ll disciplined, positionally poor Santos play? Watch him walk back as we were countered on?
And then the shirt swapping”
Yes. I also saw him score a very good goal against Chelsea which set us on our way to victory. Neither of those incidents define Santos as a player.
See this is the problem. Just because you perceive something a certain way, doesn’t make it the truth. First, the shirt swapping. You know where he’s from right? Brazil. You probably don’t know that even the most heated of rivals in the most heated of derbies swap shirts and this provokes no comment let alone outrage. You know why knew that it would provoke outrage? Van Persie. And that is exactly why he gae his shirt in full view of the cameras. He shat on a player who considered him a friend just to score brownie points by causing further division. And you, fell for it.
Secondly. Overweight?
http://i.imgur.com/jFp6AhM.jpg
i know for a fact that if i didn’t work saturdays i’ll be home & away most saturdays.instead i go with my uncle to watch the swans and attend up to 12/15 afc matches per-season.knowhere near enough to my satisfaction but at least i get to see the team where countless millions of afc fans around the world can’t.i would have normally bought the new away shirt by now but after last years experience of buying the home shirt with wilshere(19) on the back.afc decided to give him the no10 shirt a week or two later.i love buying afc gear,but now resort to not buying anything in the amoury or that rubbish junk food inside the ground as a protest to my beef with wenger and the club over its transfer policy.in fact,i found a cracking little restaurant called the “pizzadelique” on chatterton road near the old highbury where the grub is awesome.i think when the club exploit its own supporters then you must respond in anyway one seems fit.i’ll never stop going to the games because the players don’t deserve that.its not their fault that their own manager is leaving them in limbo.i have heard some say that afc fans lack passion.what a load of tosh.i see plenty of passion for afc on here.we all love the club and want it to be at the top of the tree again kicking butt.my uncle once asked me,why afc and not swansea.my answer was simple.when the swans win, lose or draw i don’t feel a thing.but when afc lose,win or draw i feel everything.the frustration,joy,exctasy,jubilation,despair.for me there will only ever be one team,and thats the mighty arsenal.shame the club exploits fans that spend a bomb on them.
Sigh. Doofus @ 9.33
Is it so hard for people to understand that there is middle ground between everything being great and everything being useless? Nothing is purely good or bad.
I’d like signings to have already been completed by now. The injury problems do seem to be piling up and this isn’t..ahem…healthy.
I blame the club for this. But that blame is also tempered by the understanding that players are not bought for 2 weeks, but for 3 or 4 years. If the option is to risk 2 weeks with the current squad, who should be good enough to get through their tests, for getting in the right players by the end of the window, I’d reckon that is the right call.
So I shall be judging the transfer period once it ends. Not when we’d like it to have ended.
Are we about to see the demise of Arsene Wenger from our club? If as reported, we have a number of knocks for the weekend, then he is going to have no hiding place, from the accusation of not doing his job properly, if we have to put out a weakened side with no proper backup. Especially if Villa sneak a result. Surely the press and TV will hang him out to dry. If Wenger does not realise this, then he must have totally lost it. Or is it all part of a cunning exit plan? I for one, cannot see any other reason why a highly paid and revered figure of the European game, would act like this. We must all be missing something here. Why would someone do this to themselves?
The spuds continue to offload players who would still be playing for us i.e.Huddlestone and Parker and sign another decent player in Capoue. £60 + million already spent and they could still hang onto Bale. Take note Mr Wenger….this is what real ambition looks like!
lol. Spuds have real ambition because they want exactly what Arsenal already have. And yet Arsenal are unambitious for having gotten there and staying there despite some financially tough years. Spurs talk about the top 4 as a goal, and they have ambition. Arsenal get top 4 and it’s meaningless. Spurs also plan to build a new stadium. We’ll see how that goes for them, although I suspect Bale’s imminent sale will help move them along in that direction.
Anything that Arsenal do must be bad. Anything that Arsenal’s rivals do, must be good. Neat logic which assures us that the club is mismanaged, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It’s also instructive that although theories about referees manipulating results, despite proper evidence to back it up. are dismissed as ‘conspiracy theories’, while theories about the board stealing money, Wenger earning a share of the profits etc, despite having zero evidence (and in fact often evidence to clearly show them as untrue) are never considered to be conspiracy theories themselves. Why? Because the media doesn’t countenance the possibility of the first, and portrays the second as fact through sheer repetition.
“And now the time is near”
Arsene has screwed up. He promised a “spectacular” signing a few weeks back. Is he all hot air these days?
It’s not the first time he’s signed a cheque with his mouth that even if his backside can pay, the bank has refused to cash…
which segues to the heart of the problem. Arsenal are the team equivalent of persona non gratia
Everyone knows this. No player wants to come to Arsenal because they are second class citizens, ostracized by the FA, the Referees, and the Media. That’s the nub of the matter really. everyone knows we’ve been blackballed, and hence the impossibility of signing anyone. Besides, move to Arsenal and you risk permanent disfigurement…
which segues neatly to my next point. Suarez is the racist villain of choice of the media. However let’s take a leg check
We have had three players maimed
One black African, one black South American, one Welshman.
All were maimed I believed by white Anglo Saxons….no wonder the press prefers to carp about that “awful racist” Suarez.
Shard -http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/andre-santos-lovely-guy-but-the-worst-brazilian-left-back-ive-ever-seen/
Doofus
One guy’s opinion. So what? Once again, there is a middle ground between being terrible and being great. I was happy to see him go. His last contribution was almost costing us 2 points as I recall, and that for me was the final straw with him.
But that doesn’t mean he was a terrible player. There are plenty of reasons a player doesn’t perform. Personal issues (we know he had that), unfair pressure from the media and fans (shirt swapping) inability to adapt to a system (I think Podolski wasn’t the best matched to Santos’ game) He didn’t work out for us, but he’s still a more than decent player and I wish him well.
A perfect summer – and FORGET money, it’s not our problem, remember?????? Remember those days like 10 years ago where we didn’t give a shit about money Bring them back. Anyway…This was the summer we were meant to look at our bank balance and say ‘fuck you, football world, we’re back. And, we want him, him and him’ and taken whichever players we wanted like a big club does.Perfect summer:BegovicPapadopoulosSuboticA RBL Bender (pronounced Benter for all you who don’t realise btw)Grenier (trust me)Suarez= All the players we’ve sold, plus Vermaelen/Mertesacker gone too.A good summer:Mignolet/Vorm/KrulWilliams (keep our players)Gustavo/Gonalons/Capoue/FellainiPromote Eisfeld and Zalalem I guessNaniLewandowskiA poor summer but still good:Schwarzer on a freeSeb BassongSchneiderlinNaniBentekeOur summer:…failed to load. Retry?
It’s not one guys opinion is it though? People are finding out what a fucking phoney this clown is… I guarantee you he will walk before Christmas.
Gentlemen, try spotting the differences below.Spurs have Franco Baldini and Daniel Levey.Both footballing men with a huge wealth of knowledge, contacts and ambition between them.They also have a young ambitious and determined manager.They will spend the vast majority of the Bale money before letting him leave for a record fee.This will ensure the best possible reinvestment in order to minimise Monkey boys loss and attempt to compete this coming season.We on the other hand have the now pitiful Wenger & Gazidis the eunuch.One was once a great manager who’s star has now sadly faded with the onset of Alzheimer’s.The other an ex snakeoil salesman with absolutely no soccerball knowledge whatso fucking ever, who’s lack of testicles has him cuckolded regularly by his supposed employee.These 2 men have sanctioned the sales of Arsenals finest players over recent years yet reinvested minimal amounts, often on pure gash!These two clowns are also among the highest paid professionals in their fields.Along with their master, Darth Kronke, these men are responsible for this once proud clubs demise……….in the name of pure fucking greed.
Joe:
I agree with your concerns.
I may be wrong but I wonder whether top players actually see Wenger as a top drawer manager to sign for these days.
If we fail to sign any top players and with this current small squad dont be surpised to see Jack have a super season then make noises about wanting out next summer.
Gentlemen (and ladies) spot the fact that although the above statement makes a lot of noise, especially in the form of insults and disgusting abuses towards Arsenal, and exalts the men associated with Spurs, he doesn’t acknowledge the fact that the Spurs aren’t paying for a new stadium yet because they haven’t gotten around to building it, and that when Arsenal were at a similar stage of stadium planning they turned down a then astonishing 50m bid for a certain Theirry Henry.
Hypothetical based on a hypothetical that might occur in the future, but we should start worrying about it now. Because we must have as much negativity and outrage and fear as can be built up, regardless of whether the situation demands it. Who has the patience to wait another 20 days, let alone another year to see how it pans out. But we can’t miss out on our daily quota of outrage now can we?
Repent, or the end might be nigh, provided the conditions are right, which they should be because after all, we’re doomed! Not even a soapbox preacher can get that message across so well. You have some talent doublegooner.
Shard regarding your point above on this page by comparing spurs’ ambition based on wanting what we have (cl, stadia, etc.). Well yes obviously that shows ambition, ambition to move up, as opposed to us who seem complacently content to maintain our status quo, as opposed to doing all within our capabilities to close the gap on those above us..even though nothing is guaranteed
A.Stewart
And how did we get there without having ambition to move up? Also read my point about context about paying off a stadium.
You could also argue that because over the years the Spuds haven’t lost many players to the oilers, it shows ambition on their part. Or you could say that they haven’t had their players taken away by the oilers because a)they weren’t that good, and b)they weren’t a threat to the likes of City (who even paid part of Adebayor’s salary to play for them) The same fact can be presented both ways.
Arsenal have been through a tougher financial period than you seem to realise. Getting CL has been vital in that regard if we were not to potentially go into free fall. We clearly prioritised that at times over the cup competitions. That doesn’t show a lack of ambition. That shows a realistic understanding of where we are, and how to get where we want to be. Spending 70m doesn’t guarantee you anything like permanent growth, even if you win the title. Having a strong financial footing to stand on, and then making an assault on the big prizes makes much more sense.
No other club showed the ambition that ARsenal did in financing a stadium move, and they managed it so smoothly. To suggest that the same organisation is now unambitious and/or incompetent seems like an unrealistic theory, especially when with the growth in the commercial sphere, the plan seems to be progressing (even if it is at a rate slower than originally hoped for)
Sometimes I wonder if the best signings we could make would be to bring Denilson, Santos and djourou back to get rid of the deadwood fanbase.
Would be worth the money just for the laughs.
As I see it, many clubs are broke while Arsenal is richer this year. Hence other club just want to juice out more from us. Every negotiation of transfer would be dragged. Our money is hard earned, Arsene would not let these vultures to get their hold of things. Lets await for another 2-3 seasons, players will be knocking at clubs for a job since many clubs can’t afford transfer fees any more.
It’s only really since the inception of TMS that Arsenal have been engaging in the late registration of players. In the lead up to it’s implementation Arsenal concluded there business within reasonable time. Yet as all clubs have gotten use to the new system (mandatory since November 2010) most have been waiting it out until the last possible moments to register there acquisitions, similar to slow playing a hand at poker.
I would like to remind people that what you know as “the transfer window” doesn’t actually exist. The transfer of a player can happen at anytime and that player is available to train and commence work for his new employers, but he cannot participate in official matches until registered within a “registration period” such as we are in.
Hence the illusion of a transfer window which would be against the free movement of persons within the EU. It is an exemption that the football industry has been granted, Some thin lines we don’t cross.
To state that a company or sporting club should be adhering to your own personal wishes is some thing akin to disillusion.
Would anyone dare to tell BP, BT, Gazprom or Microsoft what they should spend there profit on? There is no real difference apart from being within an emotional and entertaining industry.
Some are too heavily invested and need to find some perspective.
Sorry above should read delusional.
Here is a former professional EPL footballer telling it as it is: does it sound familiar?
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/db2hs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=world-football
The answer is out there – if we realy look for it !
THE 18TH CAMEL
There was a father who left 17 camels as an asset for his three sons.
When the father passed away, his sons opened up the Will.
The Will of the father stated that the eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of total camels while the middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third) and the youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total camels.
As it was not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons started to fight with each other. So, the three sons decided to go to a wise man.
The wise man read the Will patiently. The wise man, after giving due thought, brought one camel of his own and added the same to 17. That increased the total to 18 camels.
Now, he started reading the deceased father’s Will.
Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 camels
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 camels
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 camels.
Now add this up: 9 plus 6 plus 2 is 17 and this leaves one camel, which the wise man took back!
Moral: The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is to find the 18th camel i.e. the common ground. Once a person is able to find the 18th camel the issue is resolved. It is difficult at times. However, to reach a solution, the first step is to believe that there is a solution. If we think that there is no solution, we won’t be able to reach any!
What concerns me the most about this “conversation” is just how divided and extreme fans views have become. Alex Ferguson’s legacy seems to me to be that he always appeared to only have one thought in mind: winning at any cost. In this way he kept the fans happy and the value of the team and club high. I can’t recall him making comments on the owners other than, saying that his only concern was to make sure he always got the money and support he needed to strengthen the team so that he could do the only task that he was concerned with: producing a winning team.
Historically, my opinion is that when the board fired David Dein the club sustained a terrible injury from which we still haven’t recovered. I was shocked by Arsene’s immediate reaction the next day which was as usual positive and polite. But it now seems like the kind if thing that happens to most if us: when you have a very serious injury your body produces endorphins to help you cope. Many people think: I’m still alive so that’s great. It’s not until the endorphins and painkillers wear off that you realise how badly damaged you are and takes a lot longer to recover than you think. And positive thinking alone just won’t get you there. I think David Dein’s sacking was the equivalent of Arsene and the club getting run over by a train, and Arsene’s reaction was that of any positive thinking warrior – Ill soldier on and do my best. But his greatest supporter, the guy who got him his job, and did all the deals, his right hand man, and greatest fan on the board, disappeared overnight and that must have been a scary moment for AW. And I don’t think he or the team have ever truly recovered.
Just saying.
Shard you are really overthinking it..it was you that said/implied spurs weren’t showing ambition because of striving to get what we regularly have, I simply illustrate that makes little sense as they are showing and have been tremendous ambition to move up. Secondly no one is denying the reality of what we have been through financially, however resource as admitted by the club, and illustrated in published accounts etc have shown that we have the ability to much more now and in recent seasons to try to improve on the field in our sporting product, but have made ideologically driven choices that weren’t necessarily and any longer born purely out of financial realities. And have not utilized our available resources efficiently enough or fully within our power (and without threatening or financial viability, remember you stated that why do people always see things in extremes, I agree) to show the ambition of doing all we can within our ability to close the gap with those above us. Lastly, regarding guarantees, just like I said, sure nothing is guaranteed, but simply not being able to guarantee an outcome or predict the future is not an acceptable reason for avoiding investment, and its quite a silly argument that is constantly offered to justify not utilizing our available resources efficiently. If it was a sound reason, no business would ever invest or take on risk. And while nothing is guaranteed, it is simple logic that dictates it is far more probable (and thus mitigates inherent risk) that there will be a successful sporting outcome by investing in quality to supplement what we are doing, than not not doing so. And it doesn’t necessarily mean “spending 70 mil” or getting players with a 50 mil price tag. . For example it has long well been within our capabilities to, for the same or less money, invest in a smaller number, but still several top players over the course of the same very financial circumstances you refer to over recent years, rather than propping up a veritable plethora of kids, squad players and average players who have contributed little to nothing and have consumed collectively copious amounts of millions and millions of wages and fees with no impact…
@ Walter – Just able to read the article in full just now ,the house doctor was ill yesterday !Probably something I ate or maybe something I read here ! Lot of shit spewed about of late !
@ Jambug -15th.Aug.11:24 am.- Very well put – my sentiments exactly .
@ Stuart -Aug.15th. 8:23pm- Nice link about one of the notorious players of recent past .What made it intresting for me was that it reminded me of the AAA the trawl here.So quoting from the article ( with apologies to Robbie Savage &
thanks to The BBC ), here goes –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23703265
1) Sulk
“Sulking is horrible and can have a really negative impact ….. When you sulk, your whole demeanour changes and you bring people down with you.”
( Sometimes it just makes me laugh !)
2)(Won’t ) Stop communicating
“Clamming up and staying silent is a very effective tool.
.. so if I stopped communicating, people knew straight away that something was up. I just wouldn’t speak to anybody.”
(If only they would do it here !)
3) Faking injury
“Feigning injury is probably the most popular way of letting a club know you aren’t happy. When you feign an injury, there is no need to limp or play act. Just say you’re not right.”
( We already know that you’re not ‘right ‘ !
4) Make up newspaper stories
“…have friends in the media and make use of those contacts to get the move they want. ….flush out possible interest. It’s harder to do that nowadays because the media often know what’s true or not, but I called people I knew a few times and got them to make up a story. You have to be realistic, of course. ”
( Of course )
5)Use the media
” You can go one step further with the media and enlist the help of the television companies. .. It was then that I knew I had made myself look a fool.”
6) Undermine the manager
( Non sequiteur !)
7) Fight with team-mates (AKBs)
With friends like these…..)
8)Moan to backroom staff ( Fellow deluded AAAs and lackeys )
“… so if you want to create a stir, have a moan when these people are in ear shot. It won’t be long before the manager finds out how you’re feeling.’
( Don’t be dissapointed if he doesn’t call you personally!)
9) Be a bad influence
“Any…can cause havoc … You just need a bad attitude. It doesn’t matter what it is, do it badly and you soon get a reputation the manager cannot ignore. If he doesn’t, then the risk is you start affecting everyone around you.”
( Yeah .I agree – I get sick reading some of your tripe !)
10) Don’t put the effort in
“It can be hard to do, …”
( That’s right – just rehash old rumours ,outright lies , innuendos and falsify fact to suit youself. That can’t be too hard ,can it ?)
11) Let other clubs know you want to move-
( Please do , they mnst be estatic !)
Wenger comments on Sanogo:“We have signed Yaya Sanogo – he has not made headlines. Why? Because he is not £50 to £100 million. I’m quite confident he will make them soon on the pitch.” Wenger here is not talking whether the fans rate him or not.He is rather talking about the media and their cringe-worthy obsession with Players worth astronomical amount. The media isn’t so much obsessive about players coming on for free. It was the media he was talking about. There wasn’t a mention of fans, not even implicitly. In fact, sanogo is pretty much the butt of a joke among arsenal blogs currently. This joke extends to twitter too.
And as far as I can remember Koscielny used to play Ligue-2 the year before we signed him. Now he is a ‘great wall’. And I don’t think so Sanogo will be used as a cover for giroud. I believe there will be signing in that department as sanogo isn’t enough to give giroud competetion. AW said ‘We will add players who are better than the players we currently have’. If Sanogo was a cover up for giroud, wouldn’t AW be betraying his own words?
Goonernim says it well. It is stupid to keep going on about the transfer window not being shut yet. I too assume he will sign SOMEONE by sept 2nd or we won’t have a squad. HOWEVER – the point we are trying to make is that the failure to get the basics done in June or July is either negligent, stupid, or incompetent. Where is the GK, the CB, maybe the RB, the DM? Get this done, then make us wait for the icing on the cake. We are potentially going through the first 3 games of the season (inc Spurs) and two vital champions league qualifiers with a paper thin squad and a growing injury list. WE SHOULD BE PREPARED, the new players should be integrated, we should have the appropriate back up and we have none of those things. Ivan has been pressuring Wenger to spend. The blame doesn’t lay anywhere else but the frenchman. Wake up people.
The first team members are injured lets buy a new team.
What is most worrying is the increasingly indefensible position people on this site ate putting themselves.
Still a devotion to all things Arsene (not Arsenal) when the cold hard evidence is poking them in the face like a rogue erection in a sauna.
Now arteta is looking out we have frimpong or a player out of position. What total and utter incompetence. Sackable at any well run club. But at least there’s money in the bank for the panic buys, right?
Have always loved this prayer .Seems apt .
The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
–Reinhold Niebuhr
More likely we haven’t a prayer…
Once I was like Paul Ashworth , the year began in August and ended in May .But many a year it ended in the 1st week of January ( out of the league ; out of the Milk/ Littlewoods/Carling cup and being knocked out the FA cup 3rd round )
I too waited for “18 fucking years ‘ !And yes -it was not ‘just a bloody game ‘ !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCLdhrhd7jQ
When it did happen in 1989 , I was estatic and was thankful that I had lived ” A Micheal Thomas ” moment in my life . But there were to be further greater moments in Arsenal’s history as well as in my life .
May it also be joyous to you , all thee of great hope .May you too be blessed on this , the eve of the new season.
Up the Gunners !
A.Stewart
My point was not that Spurs aren’t ambitious. My point was to show how laughable it is to point to Spurs’ ambition to suggest Arsenal aren’t ambitious.
We’ve had resources to invest, and we have done this. In infrastructure (paying off stadium loans and medical centre -which itself has had an impact on the playing side) we’ve also invested money in getting the basis of our team signed up on long term contracts. We couldhave spent more, but
a) we didn’t know where and how much our next payday was coming from. In such a scenario it is good sense to not deplete all resources. Also, if we deplete our resources, and are desperate for cash, like we were when we started building the stadium, we’d end up getting lowballed (to some extent) by sponsors, like we got before. Now that we have cash saved and know our new streams of income are on their way, we should be spending more for the on field product. Especially because the infrastructure is now taken care off (this is what I meant by building a base before launching an attack) So we have invested. Just not as much in the things you’d like to see. This should change soon.
b) even if we bought players who were better, would we have been able to get the players in our budget who would propel us to a different level? That is entirely a judgment call, and while it is emotionally satisfying to be able to say we tried by buying the players that we could, ultimately emotions don’t carry any weight. Finances determine the health of a club. At worst you can accuse the club of being too conservative. But that still shows concern for the health of the club and nothing else. So if the choice is between spending 15m on say Cabaye, but this having the expected outcome of not being any higher in the table than we were, or managing with what we have, so that two years down the line we could get (say) Gotze, then I’d agree with the logic. And this is actually what Wenger does. We waited a year to buy Cazorla as Cesc’s replacement after the Mata deal fell through. In the meantime, we got by. But this getting by didn’t just happen. We didn’t get by with kids. We bought Arteta. Building a team isn’t about one season. Limited resources, unlimited options, but there is no one ideal way to use them. I feel frustrated too at times, but on the whole, if you look at the transition we faced and traversed largely smoothly, I don’t think it would be fair to complain too loudly. Because there is a clear method to what we are told is Arsenal’s madness.
Shard… the ambition of a FOOTBALL CLUB should be judged by their on field success. How exactly does spending money on Infrastructure show ambition???? do enlighten me! Please explain how this infrastructure has helped to improve our on field performance? It fucking hasn’t! New state of the art medical centre but still have one of the worst injury records going. State of the art training facilities but the team has fallen in quality in recent years!State of the art stadium that was meant to be all about improving match day revenue to help us compete in the transfer market… which we were told was going to start happening this summer, it didn’t and we have now been left with 16 fit 1st team players to start the season… of which a couple of those players are not of the quality we have come to expect at Arsenal and aren’t of the quality to win us anything!
Where is your ambition as a fan? you’re happy that we have a big flash stadium we have to pay a fortune to get into and a squad lacking in both quality and depth? you sir are a loser and all the while we have fans like you the status quo at the club which is currently making us a laughing stock, will not change!
Please explain how this infrastructure has helped to improve our on field performance? It fucking hasn’t!
The point is that it fucking will.
You can avoid acknowledging it all you want. It’s mundane, it’s unromantic, it’s depressing even, but the product on the field always follows from the strength off the field. AT least if you want a good product on the field for any length of time.
Shard we have been at Colney and the Emirates for 7 fucking years… please tell me when these improvements will start occurring? We wont start improving until the manager is either replaced or pulls his head out of his arse.
We have ambition but Tottenham don’t? there was one point between us last season and only one of the 2 teams has tried to strengthen its playing staff! Spurs have been soooo unambitious that even with their measly infrastructure they have beaten our transfer record on 3 occasions this summer… how gutless that lot are… should have used that £60m+ on improving their training ground to improve Lennon and Huddlestone instead of buying better players!
Don’t know why i’m arguing with a Wenger apologist… you’re not an Arsenal fan and will blindly and happily follow anything that negligent manager of ours does! In any other sector in the world or even at any other club in the world if a manager had shown the incompetence Arsene has shown this summer, they’d be shown the door!
Adam
Why would the introduction of TMS have the effect of clubs delaying registrations?
when did I say Tottenham don’t have ambition? Your propensity to put words in my mouth to suit your agenda show you up for what you are Goonerjay. Spare me your wisdom. You wouldn’t know a debate if it hit you right in the kisser. Not that that is what debates do. You just wouldn’t know it.
Shard that is highly hypocritical and extremely small minded considering you haven’t even attempted to answer any of the questions or points I made… simply trying to deflect the discussion by trying to belittle my character! You’ve said nothing of substance and if you’re happy with the way the clubs being run I genuinely pity you! Any Arsenal fan happy with this current mess clearly has no desire for Arsenal to be a successful football club and if your support for a football club comes without the want of success, what’s the point?
Doofus is right and the blindeness is shocking. Nonsense being written includes
a) this ridiculous assertion that we shouldnt judge until sept 2. why not? can someone please explain to me why it is sensible management to go into the first 3 games of the premier league AND the champions league qualifiers with a threadbare squad? can someone please explain to me why we shouldnt have done what city or spurs have done and get some of the required players in early so they can integrate with the squad and then be ready to start tomorrow?
b) this nonsense that we shouldnt buy new players because the 1st team players are injured. No – you should set yourself up with a sensibly sized squad, who you have trust in, so that when 1st team players are injured you have appropriate back up. We are too thin post getting rid of the deadwood and so now vulnerable to addl injuries because of the lack of depth. Again- we should not be starting the season like this we should be planning ahead and being READY for Aug 17th.
It is incompetence rather than a lack of will i think. But that doesnt make it any easier to put up with . Wake up people.
MarkyH
1) Nobody, least of all Wenger, says we shouldn’t have bought players early. I wonder why you suggest this is deliberate. The fact is that the transfer window ends after the season starts. To conduct a transfer you need 3 parties (mainly) to agree. It is not in all of those parties’ interests to conduct the business quickly. Offering more money also is not necessarily a solution, let alone the right thing to do.
ManCity are in the CL, Spurs are not in the CL. There is no uncertainty surrounding their situations. The same is not true of us. Certain players might want to wait to see if we make CL before signing da ting.
2)Simply a corollary of the first.
Incompetence? What makes you qualified to judge that? You have zero idea what is happening behind the scenes and what is holding up the transfers. Incompetence is just a theory. It might be true, but it equally might not be. Considering that Arsenal, despite being called incompetent so often, have achieved what so many for so many years say they won’t, and so many other clubs would like to have (such as ambitious Spurs) suggests that incompetence is less likely than other factors.
Goonerjay
All you’ve done is called me a loser, question my love for Arsenal etc etc. I’d say I was pretty mild with you.
Arsenal are not a mess. They are a well run club, putting in place the infrastructure to drive the success on the field while maintaining a level of security and stability that not all clubs enjoy. The only mess is the one created by the media and lapped up by people like you. My desire for success doesn’t make me lose my ability to think rationally. Doesn’t mean I have less desire. Just means I don’t run head first into a boiling pit of rage lava simply because I am programmed to.
Shard, at first clubs were getting their targets in early but now they are getting used to the system they seem to leave it late so the competition has less reaction time.
Deals could be in place already, but clubs wait to register them on TMS for the above reason.
Adam
I’m sorry to be dense, but what does TMS have to do with that? Before TMS came in, were transfers being done late so as to avoid competitors having time to react?
And isn’t the fear of losing out on targets to competitors enough to ensure that clubs would be wary of leaving their business late, rather than worry about how competitors will react to it.
And why are clubs like ManCity then buying early?
Oh/ Apologies. See. I am being dense. You did say that deals might already have been concluded but simply not registered. That takes care of my second paragraph.
Also, if teams were buying players late before TMS (need confirmation of this) then I think I might understand your point here too. Teams bought late – TMS came in- teams react by buying early – teams learn how to work the system – they go back to doing business late.
That just leaves the question about ManCity (and I realise they might just be an exception, but still, they must have a reason)
Why did we waste time playing Perez in a friendly when it was plainly obvious that he would’t get a work permit? POOR POOR management yet again by Wenger and co.This transfer window has been a total disaster AGAIN,the manager said TWO weeks ago noone but City had bought,now he is saying he is surprised how quickly clubs have moved.Which is it then? It is about time that this club had a director of football.Whats the point of being “innovative” off the field if you are stuck in the 90’s on the pitch,WHERE IT COUNTS>
Linz
Why was it plainly obvious? And what would not playing him have achieved?
Just my opinion shard, I have looked around at the transfers around the time TMS became mandatory and it encouraged the clubs to deal early so as not to miss the automatic cut-off, as some did, getting use to the system. Man city for me have the money to not haggle too much and just pay what’s required, as Arsenal probably haggle and use the cut-off as a bargaining chip, so it’s two fold for me.
Just saw your second reply. Looking at it from a poker table, Man city have the money to buy the pot and scare everyone out of the hand.
The thing that gets me is this; Everyone understands when a manager won’t reveal his team for a match too early, why not apply that same logic to the registration period.
I am sorry for coming to this discussion late and without reading all of the preceeding comments but here are my thoughts anyway.
1.The players remaining are good and form the basis of a team capable of playing at the highest level.
2. We are short in terms of numbers to maintain a credible challenge for the title,
3.Any players we buy in need to be at least as good as those we already have.
4.Players coming in must want to play for Arsenal ang be willing to ‘bust a gut’ for the team.
I have watched all of our pre-season games in full as well as some featuring other teams and there haven’t been many so far that meet point 3. Drogba is the one that most comes to mind, he made the difference in the Emirates Cup and certainly still seems able to successfully ‘con’ referees so how about him as a short-term additional striker.
The only other ‘wasted talent’ I have seen is Berbatov at Fulham, exquisite player, clinical and totally out of place at Fulham. In their game against Betis he was constantly bemoaning his team mates inability to play anywhere near his standard. He is also far more willing to work than most fans realise.
either of those two would enhance our current squad now albeit as a stop-gap until Sanogo and/or Akpong finish filling out and become ready to lead the line in a couple of years. They would certainly be able to pass on much needed skills to the youngsters.
Adam
So one last question to make sure. If the deals have been signed, but not registered under the TMS, are they still legally binding?
As far as my understanding goes yes. But you have to understand this is only my opinion. You look at two seasons ago we registered 5 players on the last day of the registration period. negotiations for these players couldn’t have been concluded in one day. So most of the paperwork must have been in place. The transfer contracts, the playing contracts and the contracts between agents and clubs and agents and players. the very last piece of the jigsaw is the registration of the acquired player with a new association.
The only rule I have come across, that is interesting from a media perspective is; A players contract cannot be made subject to passing a medical examination. So when we hear the media stating that a player has signed his contract subject to a medical, this is actually against the “player status and transfer regulations”. The club must insure the player is fit for purpose before he signs a contract. And, this is the only real rule around contracts of footballers that I could find that FIFA insist upon.
So it would actually make sense for a club to agree with another club the release of the player (fee or allowed to talk), have him pass a medical before wasting time discussing a playing contract.
If a player signs a contract with a club then fails a medical, the club has to honour the contract.
My point is that the media love to state a player is in town for a medical, but the way the rules are set up, you would expect clubs to want the medical out of the way first so as not to waste time on negotiating a contract with a player who will fail a medical.
Sorry to wander slightly off topic but they are related.
Not at all Adam. Very interesting stuff.
Adam,
I think your explanation is perfectly logical. Signing a player before medicals is akin to to buying a used car before giving it a proper check up. I don’t pay much attention to the media. Many of these writers are mediocre thinkers anyway. Otherwise, they wouldn’t continue to peddle the nonsense.
Thanks Adam for this information. I never new that and probably 95% of those journalists are not aware of that. Amazing in fact….
Hey my baby goonerjay is commenting…
You go get them, you little smart bunny…
Tell them who you really are.
PS: please wear pink tonight ok sugar..
Adam,
Will you be producing more articles this season related to transfers and agents etc…? I really enjoyed reading your previous articles and would love to see some more.
Stuart, I’m not sure? I think I’ve said all I can. Anyway, I’m permanently on-call these days and don’t have much time, I have only just walked in the door after a trip up to Northampton, chilling reading this and having a cold one. I would like to write more but I’m not sure I’ve got anything else to say?
I’ll start researching again and see what comes up?
Bootoomee, I would love for football to be logical????????
Stick to your Guns people, and don’t let them negative bastards wear you down.
Those negative bastards have only 3 things to say : could have been, would have been, should have been.
Keep it real people : it is what it is