Monkey Allen and other Gooners - thoughts on the transfer window so far?
Been highly impressed with the work they’ve done in trimming the dead wood - by my count the only reasonably big earners left on the pay roll that need to be moved on are Bendtner (whom I am very disappointed in as I always believed in him), Chamakh and Park. Gervinho also looks to be on the way to Roma even though I’d rather keep him given there’s no sign of any new signings (except Sanogo).
The incoming side of things has been an absolute shambles. By the looks of it they baulked at a few extra million for Higuain (about from £25m to £30m I think) so decided it would be better to try to spend an extra £15m on Suarez. It’s just incredibly frustrating as it’s the first window in some years where there has been no speculation about big name outgoings.
I really don’t buy all this nonsense that the purse strings have suddenly been loosened - most of the rubbish commercial deals they signed at the time of building the Emirates still have another year to run so the money isn’t necessarily flowing yet. Also, they’ve known they’d be in a position to renegotiate deals shortly so it’s not like it’s all come out of the blue. My reading of the situation is that the club are happy to spend some extra cash but the manager is very reluctant as he doesn’t see value in the market. I thought Ivan’s comment in his interviews about a month ago were very telling when he said they could do things that would excite people but that they weren’t necessarily the things that excited the manager - a very clear message, don’t blame us if we don’t spend, blame the manager.
The most worrying thing at the moment is that there hasn’t been a peep about any incoming players other than Suarez and that’s never going to happen.
I don’t see what the problem is. They’ll get through their group in the ECL, be completely outclassed in the last 16 yet rally to win the trophy awarded for finsihing 4th in the EPL.
[FONT=Calibri]Arguably, this is a more frustrating summer than the last few. In the last two years most Arsenal supporters knew that the club was likely to have to sell the better players and would have to be frugal. However, this was the summer that Arsenal were due to compete for big name players again and most fans had got their hopes up.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]My opinion all summer was that the talk of spending big was just the usual lies from the club as they needed to boost Season Ticket and Corporate Package sales. I didn’t really expect them to suddenly start signing £40m players but I did think Wenger would be in the market for young players around the £15m mark with great potential. It now appears though that the Board are indeed wanting to spend, and that it is Wenger who is reluctant. The quotes from Gazidis appear to back this up as well.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]This makes little sense to me and surely if a manager has no interest in improving the squad then he should not be in the job. This lack of ambition filters its way down through the club right from the top. Will players really push themselves to the limit, when they know the manager doesn’t really have an interest in challenging for league? If the manager and board are not going that extra mile to get in quality players, can they ask the players to go that extra mile on the pitch? At the moment the mindset of the club is “we will make do, we aren’t expected to win the league anyway” and some younger players will take their lead from that. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]It has also been noticeable that a number of the more experienced Arsenal players have called on the manager to spend. They know it will give the team a lift and they want the club to be ambitious. If signings aren’t made then those players will be somewhat deflated and will be questioning where the club is going. However, Wenger is incredibly stubborn and the more people tell him to spend, the more determined he will be to not make any top quality additions. Expect a press conference in the next few days where he sings the praises of the young players, talks about how they will be much better this season and that he thinks the current squad is good enough to challenge for the league. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]So it is hard to be optimistic for the upcoming season. I also wouldn’t read too much in to the unbeaten run at the end of last season. Most of the performances in those games were awful but just happened to be against teams that were in poor form (QPR, Reading, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Norwich) or that had little to play for (Swansea, West Brom and Fulham). I would predict something similar to 2011 – Wenger will be forced to panic buy on 2nd Sept after some indifferent results and we will probably end up with Loic Remy, Mo Diarra and some average French defender who can fill in at full back and centre half (I think most Arsenal fans know that there is little chance of getting Luis Suarez). It will then be the usual season long battle to try get 4th and I don’t really care whether we get it or not. Missing out on Champions League could force the club to be ambitious once again. [/FONT]
Today’s Sun has a headline “UNIQUE” with pictures of Arsenal’s young players. Wenger is quoted as saying that even if he doesn’t sign any players this summer he has a squad more than capable of challenging for a title.
Very sad to hear about Kenny samson this morning, the Sun are reporting that he is now living as a hobo after losing all his money through gambling and alcohal addiction
Wasn’t it Sansom’s mishit clearance in Stuttgart that set up Ray Houghton’s header? Maybe that’s a contributing factor to his problems? If only he’d looked up…
What a mess this Suarez transfer is, fed up reading about it already. I don’t think I can handle this dragging on until September 2nd.
Suarez has given an interview to Marca now also. Again didn’t mention Arsenal and the only club he has mentioned by name in his interviews is Real Madrid. Arsenal have put everything into getting Suarez and he doesn’t even really want to go there.
The most baffling thing is that they haven’t signed anyone else - defender and midfielder both needed. Such a mess.
Anyway - more importantly - five possible opponents for Champions League play-off:
Real Sociedad, Pacas de Ferreira, Fenerbahce, Metalist Kharkiv, PSV Eindhoven.
My initial thought was that maybe a tough draw like that would force Wenger to spend some money and get in a couple of decent players. However, it is more likely that any good player is going to wait till after the qualifier to decide on whether to join. Top class players are not going to commit to the club when there is a good chance they won’t be in the Champions League.
Hard to think how the transfer policy could have been any worse this summer. At the moment Arsenal have one of the smallest first team squads in the Premier League and they are starting the season with only 5 fit defenders. The only player that they are anyway close to signing is a right back from Malaga and that is the one position that Arsenal are well covered in.
The club is such a shambles at the moment that I fully expect them to turn up for the first game of the season against Villa without any kit or footballs. Possibly missing a couple of players too as they were given the wrong kick off time or were told it was an away game and travelled to Birmingham.
[quote=“Monkey Allen, post: 814481, member: 123”]So it’s Fenerbahce in the qualifier.
My initial thought was that maybe a tough draw like that would force Wenger to spend some money and get in a couple of decent players. However, it is more likely that any good player is going to wait till after the qualifier to decide on whether to join. Top class players are not going to commit to the club when there is a good chance they won’t be in the Champions League.
Hard to think how the transfer policy could have been any worse this summer. At the moment Arsenal have one of the smallest first team squads in the Premier League and they are starting the season with only 5 fit defenders. The only player that they are anyway close to signing is a right back from Malaga and that is the one position that Arsenal are well covered in.
The club is such a shambles at the moment that I fully expect them to turn up for the first game of the season against Villa without any kit or footballs. Possibly missing a couple of players too as they were given the wrong kick off time or were told it was an away game and travelled to Birmingham.[/quote]
Fenerbahce have some talented players - the Nigerian striker Emenike impressed me last season for Spartak Moscow against Celtic. They also have Portuguese internationals Bruno Alves and Raul Meireles and the likes of Joseph Yobo. Narrowly beaten by a good Benfica side in Europa League semi-final last season too. Should be a good tie.
It might be no harm in the long run if Arsenal didn’t get through this tie. It might wake a few up in the baordroom when the guaranteed 20m doesn’t materialise.