Arsenal FC thread

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 09 Mar 2014, 9:10 pm

First topic message reminder :

Use this for the Arsenal debates and such

by Guest Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:27 pm

Champagne_Socialist wrote:
socal1976 wrote:I agree Dolph, even if they finished 5th and didn't win the cup I would want to keep him as well. His problem in transfers is that he likes a bargain too much, sometimes it works out and sometimes it leaves him searching for the deal that is not out there. He won't overpay, which is both a good and a bad thing to have in the transfer market. The reason I went through this hypo was because I think he himself wouldn't want it anymore judging from the things he was saying.

I disagree on Ozil, arsenal has depth, they were hurt by losing key players and a lot of players in their attack at the same time. He should of bought Ozil and spent 30 million on a striker. Other than that we didn't need and don't need to improve half a dozen positions or pull a spurs and spend 100 million with one or two good buys, and a bunch of flops in those buys. When you buy 4, 5, 6, 7 players there is a problem in unsettling your side and incorporating these players.

I think we have the most depth in midfield in the EPL and probably the 2nd most depth in defence behind Chelsea.
Problem we have is that we have 1 striker. Wenger tried to buy Higuin but got outbid and then bid a club record for Suarez (2 times) but Loserpool rejected it.

Arteta, Flamini, Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ox, Walcott, Podolski, Kallstrom, Gnarby, Rosicky, Cazorla

I can't think of another EPl team with as much depth and quality as the Arsenal midfield, possibly Man city are equal to arsenal's midfield but that is just 1 team.

You can think of another team then Laugh

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:40 pm

FreekShow wrote:
Champagne_Socialist wrote:
socal1976 wrote:I agree Dolph, even if they finished 5th and didn't win the cup I would want to keep him as well. His problem in transfers is that he likes a bargain too much, sometimes it works out and sometimes it leaves him searching for the deal that is not out there. He won't overpay, which is both a good and a bad thing to have in the transfer market. The reason I went through this hypo was because I think he himself wouldn't want it anymore judging from the things he was saying.

I disagree on Ozil, arsenal has depth, they were hurt by losing key players and a lot of players in their attack at the same time. He should of bought Ozil and spent 30 million on a striker. Other than that we didn't need and don't need to improve half a dozen positions or pull a spurs and spend 100 million with one or two good buys, and a bunch of flops in those buys. When you buy 4, 5, 6, 7 players there is a problem in unsettling your side and incorporating these players.

I think we have the most depth in midfield in the EPL and probably the 2nd most depth in defence behind Chelsea.
Problem we have is that we have 1 striker. Wenger tried to buy Higuin but got outbid and then bid a club record for Suarez (2 times) but Loserpool rejected it.

Arteta, Flamini, Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ox, Walcott, Podolski, Kallstrom, Gnarby, Rosicky, Cazorla

I can't think of another EPl team with as much depth and quality as the Arsenal midfield, possibly Man city are equal to arsenal's midfield but that is just 1 team.

You can think of another team then

by Fernando Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:46 pm

I believe we have the found the winner for Worse Post on the football board right here.

by socal1976 Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:48 pm

FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

by socal1976 Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:53 pm

John wrote:
socal1976 wrote:CS, I do think he should of paid the extra 5-7 million pounds to get Higuain. I think we offered 25 million and he was bought for 32.5. In retrospect that for me would have won us the league. Gonzalo to me was well worth that money a guy who scored 100 goals at Madrid while sharing striking duties. This I think is a valid criticism of wenger in that maybe he won't swerve from his valuation. Also it is possible that Madrid wouldn't sell us both.

Higuain would of banged 25 by now, i have no doubts in my mind, natural predator & goal scorer. wouldn't of gone missing either against the big sides, like giroud has done - which has ultimately cost you major points in the end.

huge summer for arsene, ozil was the foundation or the cake, now it's time to put the icing on top & get serious. no more excuses, no more february/march meltdowns or crying about injuries ruining another season. win the f.a cup, showcase the club is winning trophies now & that will be just the incentive for the big players to come.

Agree this FA cup opportunity is too golden to squander. Higuain would have been a huge addition. But I don't think Madrid would have sold us both Higuain and Ozil. I think politics of what that would mean for Spurs and their relationship and what there fans would think and how much Arsenal would be improved would temper their decision. I think even if Arsenal offered as much money as Napoli, unless Arsenal topped Napoli's bid by a good amount that they wouldn't sell us both of them. Still if it was just a matter of 7 or 8 million pounds and we could have got him as well as Ozil than I think Wenger made big mistake there. But again I am not privy to all the details. But Napoli did a shrewd piece of business selling Cavani in the high 50s and then buying Higuain in the low thirties. Cavani is a great player but he is not 25 million better than Higuain.

by Duty281 Fri 14 Mar 2014, 9:54 pm

socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

by socal1976 Fri 14 Mar 2014, 10:21 pm

Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

Ok thanks are you going to correct typos now or contribute to the conversation?

by Duty281 Fri 14 Mar 2014, 10:24 pm

socal1976 wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

Ok thanks are you going to correct typos now or contribute to the conversation?

Well...I did let you off the first three or four times it happened.

by Champagne_Socialist Sat 15 Mar 2014, 12:00 am

Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

Ok thanks are you going to correct typos now or contribute to the conversation?

Well...I did let you off the first three or four times it happened.

I know you look like a geek in your twitter profile picture but try not to act like one as well.

by socal1976 Sat 15 Mar 2014, 4:55 am

CS what do you think about the Higuain situation? Do you think Madrid balked at selling us Ozil and Higuain or do you think Wenger balked at the price? And do you think and I know it is a hypothetical but could a striker like him strengthened our position in the league race? I don't know the answer to either of the first two questions and I think it would be hard to answer without some inside info. But I think Higuain on this squad and we would be in the position Chelsea is in right now. I like Giroud and think he is a good premier league forward but I think Gonzalo is just a notch or two above.

by socal1976 Sat 15 Mar 2014, 4:57 am

Champagne_Socialist wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

Ok thanks are you going to correct typos now or contribute to the conversation?

Well...I did let you off the first three or four times it happened.

I know you look like a geek in your twitter profile picture but try not to act like one as well.

I had to look, I have to say the black and white photo striking a pose is a very artistic. I thought only chicks and entertainment types kept black and white photos of themselves.

by Duty281 Sat 15 Mar 2014, 8:24 am

socal1976 wrote:
Champagne_Socialist wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
socal1976 wrote:
FreekShow wrote:It's been a huge summer for Wenger for the past half a decade.

Top players won't move to Arsenal because they won their domestic cup.

Top players will move to Arsenal if they are in the Champion's league and they know that while we haven't won the event we have made deep runs on several occasions. And top players will value the fact that they are winning major trophies now. It is another selling point. He has never had an 80 million pound transfer war chest. He had it last year and he used half of it, but from what i understand after the new commercial deals he will have another 80 million or so. When in the last few years has he had 80 million to buy players with? The new commercial deals just came into effect the last few months.

*Champions League

I'm sorry, I really am.

Ok thanks are you going to correct typos now or contribute to the conversation?

Well...I did let you off the first three or four times it happened.

I know you look like a geek in your twitter profile picture but try not to act like one as well.

I had to look, I have to say the black and white photo striking a pose is a very artistic. I thought only chicks and entertainment types kept black and white photos of themselves.

Well a colour photo is very difficult. I mean, you have to get the lighting spot on and everything and that takes agesssssss.

Shame though as you could really see the colour in those gorgeous eyes of mine if you did it that way. Especially as the dark hair brings the colour right out. Wink

by **hampo17** Sat 15 Mar 2014, 8:41 am

Duty, why don't you write an article for the journal about Arsenals struggles? Wink

by Duty281 Sat 15 Mar 2014, 8:45 am

hampo171 wrote:Duty, why don't you write an article for the journal about Arsenals struggles?

I'll come back to that when they're knocked out of the FA Cup Semi-Finals!

by Champagne_Socialist Sat 15 Mar 2014, 7:36 pm

socal1976 wrote:CS what do you think about the Higuain situation? Do you think Madrid balked at selling us Ozil and Higuain or do you think Wenger balked at the price? And do you think and I know it is a hypothetical but could a striker like him strengthened our position in the league race? I don't know the answer to either of the first two questions and I think it would be hard to answer without some inside info. But I think Higuain on this squad and we would be in the position Chelsea is in right now. I like Giroud and think he is a good premier league forward but I think Gonzalo is just a notch or two above.

A quality striker like higuin or suarez would have helped us massively. Hopefully we get balotelli in the summer.

by socal1976 Sat 15 Mar 2014, 7:59 pm

Champagne_Socialist wrote:
socal1976 wrote:CS what do you think about the Higuain situation? Do you think Madrid balked at selling us Ozil and Higuain or do you think Wenger balked at the price? And do you think and I know it is a hypothetical but could a striker like him strengthened our position in the league race? I don't know the answer to either of the first two questions and I think it would be hard to answer without some inside info. But I think Higuain on this squad and we would be in the position Chelsea is in right now. I like Giroud and think he is a good premier league forward but I think Gonzalo is just a notch or two above.

A quality striker like higuin or suarez would have helped us massively. Hopefully we get balotelli in the summer.

Balotelli would be a dream signing he brings everything pace, power, technique but the issue with him of course is he is a bit combustible and hard to control. Also I think we may need to replace Arteta. I think he has been a great leader and class professional. And it pains me to say it but at the highest levels he looks a bit out of sorts in that holding midfield role. I know it isn't fair to judge him in one match against Munich but he look overwhelmed in the center of the park against Bayern. Gave the ball away too much and it didn't seem like he was involved that much to begin with and was unsettled by the pressure. He is 31 now so that could be the issue. If he is willing to stay while playing less I would say lets keep him, but I feel like we could use another holding midfielder in there with Flamini. Someone that can play a holding or box to box role if need be.

by socal1976 Sun 16 Mar 2014, 7:22 pm

Without 4 of our 5 best attacking players and playing on the road we still beat the Spurs. 270 minutes of football against Arsenal and they can't score a single solitary goal. Even if we don't win the league (although we are still very much in contention). And there are a number of great goals that are very much in our grasp.

-beat the spurs 3 times and at WHL for the first time since 07
-qualificaton for CL
-Win the FA cup

and better than all

-we are definitely in there for the league as well. Although a tougher ask than the other accomplishments.

by CFCNick Sun 16 Mar 2014, 7:29 pm

Don't take today's result as a massive win. Spurs are awful. They've conceded eight goals in 2 games and 2 minutes when Rosicky scored. They've lost every game after a Europa League game They've earned 1 point from 27 against the current top 4 this season.

by Champagne_Socialist Sun 16 Mar 2014, 8:46 pm

CFCNick wrote:Don't take today's result as a massive win. Spurs are awful. They've conceded eight goals in 2 games and 2 minutes when Rosicky scored. They've lost every game after a Europa League game They've earned 1 point from 27 against the current top 4 this season.

of course it is a massive win, they are 5th in the league. If we lost they would have been hot on our tails but now we are out of sight.

by CFCNick Sun 16 Mar 2014, 9:23 pm

I think the way Tottenham play under Sherwood you would be out of sight even if they beat you today.

by socal1976 Sun 16 Mar 2014, 10:12 pm

Champagne_Socialist wrote:
CFCNick wrote:Don't take today's result as a massive win. Spurs are awful. They've conceded eight goals in 2 games and 2 minutes when Rosicky scored. They've lost every game after a Europa League game They've earned 1 point from 27 against the current top 4 this season.

of course it is a massive win, they are 5th in the league. If we lost they would have been hot on our tails but now we are out of sight.

Exactly, CS Spurs win this match and they are three points behind us in the table although we would have a game in hand. Plus we are playing Chelsea on the road and City at home lose those matches and now all of sudden you are in a dogfight again for 4th place with Spurs. And with Chelsea losing this win keeps us in the title race at least till next week a Stamford bridge. Lose this match and even 4th place looks shaky. Beyond that it has been some while since Arsenal won three matches in a season against Spurs, I don't care if they are in the Championship its the north london derby and we want to beat our cross town rivals.

by Champagne_Socialist Sun 16 Mar 2014, 11:56 pm

socal1976 wrote:
Champagne_Socialist wrote:
CFCNick wrote:Don't take today's result as a massive win. Spurs are awful. They've conceded eight goals in 2 games and 2 minutes when Rosicky scored. They've lost every game after a Europa League game They've earned 1 point from 27 against the current top 4 this season.

of course it is a massive win, they are 5th in the league. If we lost they would have been hot on our tails but now we are out of sight.

Exactly, CS Spurs win this match and they are three points behind us in the table although we would have a game in hand. Plus we are playing Chelsea on the road and City at home lose those matches and now all of sudden you are in a dogfight again for 4th place with Spurs. And with Chelsea losing this win keeps us in the title race at least till next week a Stamford bridge. Lose this match and even 4th place looks shaky. Beyond that it has been some while since Arsenal won three matches in a season against Spurs, I don't care if they are in the Championship its the north london derby and we want to beat our cross town rivals.

CfCNick says that it is no big deal that Arsenal beat Spurs. Surprise surprise, Arsenal do something good and Cfcnick tries to belittle Arsenal's achievements., so predictable.

by CFCNick Mon 17 Mar 2014, 12:12 am

Achievement? You scored one goal against a side that gave up an average of 3.5 in their last two games. Both teams were awful today. I do not have some anti-Arsenal agenda like you claim. You're just a little paranoid and a touch delusion about certain "achievements".

by Champagne_Socialist Mon 17 Mar 2014, 12:30 am

CFCNick wrote:Achievement? You scored one goal against a side that gave up an average of 3.5 in their last two games. Both teams were awful today. I do not have some anti-Arsenal agenda like you claim. You're just a little paranoid and a touch delusion about certain "achievements".

yawn

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 1:52 am

You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was. This victory all but assures champions league football for next year and keeps us in contention for the league. With Chelsea losing this was a huge win. As for arsenal's performance lets remember we were missing 4 of our 5 best attackers. If we had half of this group Ramsey, wilshere, theo, or ozil and got a bogus redcard and penalty like Chelsea then we would have won by three or four goals.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 1:52 am

You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was. This victory all but assures champions league football for next year and keeps us in contention for the league. With Chelsea losing this was a huge win. As for arsenal's performance lets remember we were missing 4 of our 5 best attackers. If we had half of this group Ramsey, wilshere, theo, or ozil and got a bogus redcard and penalty like Chelsea then we would have won by three or four goals.

by Duty281 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 7:00 am

socal1976 wrote:You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was.

That's because it would have been a disaster if it did happen.

by CFCNick Mon 17 Mar 2014, 8:29 am

socal1976 wrote:You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was. This victory all but assures champions league football for next year and keeps us in contention for the league. With Chelsea losing this was a huge win. As for arsenal's performance lets remember we were missing 4 of our 5 best attackers. If we had half of this group Ramsey, wilshere, theo, or ozil and got a bogus redcard and penalty like Chelsea then we would have won by three or four goals.

But you didn't. That's like a team I played against the other night. A few said "If you didn't have your keeper we'd beat you". But he's our keeper so saying that is a waste of oxygen.

by CFCNick Mon 17 Mar 2014, 8:31 am

Are there any Arsenal fans on this forum that don't have an inferiority complex about the team?

Are there any Arsenal fans we can have a sensible conversation? One that doesn't descend into them claiming you hate them because you said they're anything less than perfect.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 17 Mar 2014, 11:13 am

Of course yesterday was a big win for Arsenal in the context of it being a local derby.

In the context of the league, it was one to be expected, Spurs have been on terrible form most of the season, Arsenal are league contenders. That's why I bet on them to win, as that's what I fully expected them to do. And they did.

by Fernando Mon 17 Mar 2014, 12:10 pm

It was a big win in the context with our game in hand we can stretch the gap to Spurs to 12 pts sealing 4th at the least. Personally if we can stay 1-4pts behind or optimistically get ahead Chelsea & Citeh after games against them with our run in we have a very good chance in the title race.

by TRUSSMAN66 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 1:12 pm

Must win for Arsenal on Saturday...........Can't see them going with any ambition though...

The home game against Utd being a barometer..........

Hope they pull it off but can't see it.

by 1GrumpyGolfer Mon 17 Mar 2014, 1:55 pm

Truss, the game against Utd was one that we couldn't lose after having our asses handed to us at Anfield so we were too cautious. Utd seemed to have the same game plan thinking that a draw was good enough.

Yesterday's game almost harked back to the Georgie Graham days of 1 nil up, time to shut up shop. With better finishing or composure the Ox could have added a couple more goals and made it very easy. Spurs always looked menacing but didn't seem to muster enough quality when it really mattered.

Playing the Ox in the centre seemed a good move and will probably be his position but he needs to learn more about the role. He was a bit naive at times in that position and lost the ball in dangerous areas a few times too many for my liking.

The next few games for us will determine whether we continue to keep up with the pace or make it easier for one of the other teams around us.

by Calder106 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 3:41 pm

There is a real dearth of attacking options at present due to a) injuries b) not bringing in any strikers in January. Still not sure why the latter wasn't addressed when it was known Walcott was out for season. The bench yesterday only had Sangogo and Gnarby as potential attacking subs and they are not really experienced enough yet.

Therefore it seemed to be a case of what we have we hold. Defensively they played well with the only clear cut chance for Spurs being when Szczesny mishandled. I can see there being more games like this before the end of the season.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:25 pm

Calder106 wrote:There is a real dearth of attacking options at present due to a) injuries b) not bringing in any strikers in January. Still not sure why the latter wasn't addressed when it was known Walcott was out for season. The bench yesterday only had Sangogo and Gnarby as potential attacking subs and they are not really experienced enough yet.

Therefore it seemed to be a case of what we have we hold. Defensively they played well with the only clear cut chance for Spurs being when Szczesny mishandled. I can see there being more games like this before the end of the season.

Good points Calder, but I really don't think buying a big striker in January was in the cards for a number of reasons. Mainly because I don't think there was a lot of options in the market. What we heard about at least through rumors were a few players that were highly overvalued and would not have been immediate impact players and might take time to adjust in the middle of the season. Jackson Martinez is a good option but he isn't worth 33 million pounds and he has never played in a league of the quality of the premier league. Draxler is still a prospect and not worth 37 million pounds. If we bought an overpriced striker in January that wasn't up to snuff it could prevent us from buying a great striker in the summer window when there will be more options available. Teams are loathe to let go of a world class striker and especially loathe to do it in the middle of the season.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:38 pm

CFCNick wrote:
socal1976 wrote:You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was. This victory all but assures champions league football for next year and keeps us in contention for the league. With Chelsea losing this was a huge win. As for arsenal's performance lets remember we were missing 4 of our 5 best attackers. If we had half of this group Ramsey, wilshere, theo, or ozil and got a bogus redcard and penalty like Chelsea then we would have won by three or four goals.

But you didn't. That's like a team I played against the other night. A few said "If you didn't have your keeper we'd beat you". But he's our keeper so saying that is a waste of oxygen.

You claimed it was a poor performance by Arsenal and you pointed out the Chelsea and Benfica result. You made the comparison about how many goals Spurs gave up in the last couple of games. Well the difference between the Chelsea result and Arsenal result was plain to see. You guys got a bogus penalty on a dive and a bogus redcard that was later rescinded that blew a 1-0 game open. Also you didn't have 4 out of your 5 best attackers out injured. These are facts that bear mentioning when you contrast our game against Spurs at WHL and Chelsea's.

by Calder106 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:44 pm

I understand that. All the efforts seemed to be focussed on getting Draxler until Wenger (if you believe what the papers say) felt he was too dear. Don't disagree with that. However by that time the window was nearly closed and attempts to get someone on loan didn't really stand a chance. Just feel they shouldn't have left everything to the last minute.

by Nakatomi Plaza Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:45 pm

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Must win for Arsenal on Saturday...........Can't see them going with any ambition though...

The home game against Utd being a barometer..........

Hope they pull it off but can't see it.

Got to disagree with you there Truss, I think it's a must not lose game on Saturday. The proviso being that we pick up a win against your boys the follow week. (easier said than done).

Arsenal will probably go to the Bridge with a safety first attitude, which cannot really be faulted, as we tried to play expansive football at Anfield and at the Etihad and look what happened there.

by Nakatomi Plaza Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:47 pm

Calder106 wrote:I understand that. All the efforts seemed to be focussed on getting Draxler until Wenger (if you believe what the papers say) felt he was too dear. Don't disagree with that. However by that time the window was nearly closed and attempts to get someone on loan didn't really stand a chance. Just feel they shouldn't have left everything to the last minute.

I thought getting Berbatov in on loan was a no-brainer. He's a player who knows the league, and would have been a good short-term alternative for Giroud.

by Calder106 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 4:55 pm

Nakatomi Plaza wrote:
Calder106 wrote:I understand that. All the efforts seemed to be focussed on getting Draxler until Wenger (if you believe what the papers say) felt he was too dear. Don't disagree with that. However by that time the window was nearly closed and attempts to get someone on loan didn't really stand a chance. Just feel they shouldn't have left everything to the last minute.

I thought getting Berbatov in on loan was a no-brainer. He's a player who knows the league, and would have been a good short-term alternative for Giroud.

That's the sort of short term deal I thought they might go for. Don't think Chelsea were ever likely to loan them Demba Ba given the league positions at that time.

by Nakatomi Plaza Mon 17 Mar 2014, 5:03 pm

Arsenal were supposedly quite close to getting Ba in August, but Mourinho put the kibosh on the deal when it was clear Ozil was joining for the same reason you mentioned.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 5:06 pm

I wouldn't want Berbatov I am sorry. I would rather play Podolski than Berbatov at top. He is lazy, arrogant, and is way passed it. I doubt he would have been a difference maker at Arsenal and could have ended up being a negative. A talented player in his day but I doubt signing or not signing him would have changed things in any of the competitions we are currently in.

by 1GrumpyGolfer Mon 17 Mar 2014, 5:32 pm

A lot of the time we've had good teams but not good squads and without a good squad you can't compete over the season. Wenger has his player philosphy; athlete, technical, under 30. Along with that he also seems to have has his own valuation of a player that he doesn't want to go above. That's all well and good but if the market says he's worth an extra 5 million quid then that's what you have to pay. It's like the housing market; if you want a 4 bedroom house in a nice part of town then it's expensive, you won't always get it for the price you really want to pay.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 5:56 pm

Golfer I agree I think it is a valid criticism that come hell or high water Arsene will not overpay for a player beyond what he thinks the value is. From what we heard for a few million pound more we could have had Higuain. I don't know if that is the case but if so then it was a bad miscalculation. Having a reputation as a value buyer though also has its benefits. Anytime city or real want a player just because of the nature of what kind of buyer they are the price seems to skyrocket

by Nakatomi Plaza Mon 17 Mar 2014, 6:02 pm

My thinking is that Arsenal thought they'd be able to get Suarez, so went cold on the Higuain deal. Obviously Napoli stumped up more cash than Arsenal to get their man, and Liverpool refused to sell leaving us short.

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 6:23 pm

That could be true nakatomi I think that the Suarez bid probably put Gonzalo on the back burner and opened the door for Napoli to take it. Still I think it is a valid critique to say that Arsene won't overpay on his valuation. This may not be a bad thing all the time as over the years Arsene has found a large number of bargain buys

by 1GrumpyGolfer Mon 17 Mar 2014, 6:40 pm

I think Wenger tried to be devious with Suarez and thought he would ultimately sign Higuain and upset Liverpool. I made this comment back in August

Let's see if I can articulate this; we want Higuain from Real Madrid but they want a replacement lined up before letting him go. Suarez has said recently he would love to play for Real Madrid. We bid for Suarez in an attempt to unsettle him at Liverpool but Liverpool don't want to sell one of their best players to a domestic rival. The unsettled Suarez asks for a transfer and Liverpool look for a buyer from abroad; hello Real Madrid. Real Madrid sign Suarez and then sell Higuain to us. Job done and Liverpool have sold one of their best players

If only....

by LastDamnation Mon 17 Mar 2014, 6:55 pm

It's not difficult to understand, they thought they could get suarez for a bargain at 40m, which was clearly preferable to overpaying 32m for higuain (he's not top tier).

Surely we'll sign a big name striker this summer, just not sure who yet

by socal1976 Mon 17 Mar 2014, 8:07 pm

LastDamnation wrote:It's not difficult to understand, they thought they could get suarez for a bargain at 40m, which was clearly preferable to overpaying 32m for higuain (he's not top tier).

Surely we'll sign a big name striker this summer, just not sure who yet

I disagree about Higuain, I think Suarez is a better striker so is Zlatan, Aguero etc. But I think Gonzalo in this market is very much worth 32 million pounds. If Cavani goes for 56 million or Jackson Martinez is worth 37 million how can Higuain not be worth the price. The guy has 100 plus goals for Madrid and has never been their sole striking option although after Ronaldo he was their best goal scorer. He has played a great many internationals for Argentina at a time when the Argies are bursting at the seems with striking talent. I think Napoli did a great bit of business selling Cavani for high 50s and buying Gonzalo in the low thirties. Suarez was never going to be bought for anything under 50 million maybe not even 55 or 56 million. So the 40 million bid was a huge longshot.

by CFCNick Mon 17 Mar 2014, 8:32 pm

socal1976 wrote:
CFCNick wrote:
socal1976 wrote:You can bet your bottom dollar CS that if we lost to spurs and sat three points above them in the table people would be talking about what a disaster it was. This victory all but assures champions league football for next year and keeps us in contention for the league. With Chelsea losing this was a huge win. As for arsenal's performance lets remember we were missing 4 of our 5 best attackers. If we had half of this group Ramsey, wilshere, theo, or ozil and got a bogus redcard and penalty like Chelsea then we would have won by three or four goals.

But you didn't. That's like a team I played against the other night. A few said "If you didn't have your keeper we'd beat you". But he's our keeper so saying that is a waste of oxygen.

You claimed it was a poor performance by Arsenal and you pointed out the Chelsea and Benfica result. You made the comparison about how many goals Spurs gave up in the last couple of games. Well the difference between the Chelsea result and Arsenal result was plain to see. You guys got a bogus penalty on a dive and a bogus redcard that was later rescinded that blew a 1-0 game open. Also you didn't have 4 out of your 5 best attackers out injured. These are facts that bear mentioning when you contrast our game against Spurs at WHL and Chelsea's.

What I'm saying is ifs and buts aren't worth mentioning. You have to play the cards you're dealt.

I didn't compare the previous games. I merely mentioned the goals given up because even a weakened Arsenal should have gotten more. Plus if Spurs had their shooting boots they could have won.

I never claimed it was poor performance by anyone but it was on the eye a general disappointment when you think back to previous NL derbies.

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