Arsenal
Knee Jerk Reactions so what would you do if you were manager
Groundhog day
By Celine Dion and Boris Mellor
November 24 2014
The defeat against Manchester United on Saturday has divided Arsenal fans. Where I sat a large number walked out early, a few jeering at those who preferred to stay. It was pretty depressing, even though it was worth waiting for the Giroud goal. After the match the discussion in the pubs of Highbury was what should be done about Wenger - could he turn it around?
The discussion was, for the most part far more amiable than is found on the pages of the interweb, but taken just as seriously. The readers of this website have also been arguing over what the way forward is after Arsenal’s worst start in 32 years BG i.e. before George Graham. Some claim that the discussion is a kneejerk reaction to a bad result and challenge those who are unhappy with this state of affairs to say what would they do better than Wenger.
Below is a reply from one contributor to Arsenal Times to that challenge who says what he would do:
Posted by Celine Dion (username) If I was Manager
Firstly, I would make sure I had bought enough centre backs, or had them ready coming through the youth team, so that I’m not having to go into important Champions League and league games with a flippin 5 foot 10 left back as my centre back. This is what most clubs do, it’s not difficult.
I would also not have loaned out my reserve right back to West Ham, at the same time as my other long term right back left the club, leaving myself with only one right back who may or may not get injured, plus a young kid from Southampton who may or may not be a right back, but could be playing in central defence, instead of my left back. Again, it’s not rocket science, if you want to have a go at this yourself, you can buy a copy of 'Football Manager' and practise having two right backs, at least four centre backs, and two left backs, plus some from the youth team who have been sufficiently schooled to step in, in case of emergencies.
So that’s the first thing I would have done differently, I would have started doing this several years ago, so that by yesterday, a couple of defensive injuries wouldn’t have had us in the type of disarray that we have been for the last few months (Swansea, Anderlecht, Hull and Man U etc).
While we are discussing defending, I would have a proper defensive plan for when the team is attacking, for example taking a corner, and make sure the team drilled them continuously, in what are referred to within the game as ‘defensive training sessions’. Therefore when taking a corner, I would make sure I had two players on the half way line, therefore if Manchester United broke quickly with their world class attacking strike force, I wouldn’t have one cone stood there trying to mark three of them.
And if this happened the once, by accident, I tell you what I would do as well, I’d get off my backside and stop fiddling with my coat and walk to the touch line where I would address my team captain in the following terms “Arteta please ensure that at least two or three of you remain in defensive positions at the next corner”, so that Man Utd don’t do exactly the same thing again, resulting in Di Maria walking through our defence in another 5 minutes time’
Mind you, none of this would happen anyway, because I would have a range of imposing defensive midfielders, which I would have bought from other clubs, in what is called the ‘transfer market’. By ‘defensive midfielder’ I do not mean some bloke who was never actually a defensive midfielder, who I picked up from Everton on the cheap and is now completely over the hill, plus another player who left the club acrimoniously several years ago, then mysteriously reappeared to train with the club several years later, who then suddenly mysteriously signed a contract and became our defensive midfielder, but who gets flattened, brushed out of the way, knocked over etc, at least twice a game by opposition players of more imposing physical stature.
No, I would have signed top drawer defensive midfielders for several million pounds. Now, at this point, I can hear you frothing at the mouth, ‘Wenger doesn’t have the money’ you will be screaming at your computer ‘NOTHING is his fault. He’s operating under FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS.
Ah, and that’s the next thing. Although I maintain that Wenger has plenty of money at his disposal, to make some available, I simply wouldn’t have signed Alexis Sanchez or Ozil. Or one, but not both. We don’t really need them, you see. We have far too many attacking players and not enough defensive ones. Meaning perfectly reasonably performers like Lukas Podolski, never get a game.
And if the Arsenal marketing department came to see me, all concerned, because there was an opportunity to sign Alexis Sanchez, and I wasn’t taking it, I would patiently explain, that although he was a mighty fine player, there were more pressing concerns within the team. And if they then said to me ‘NO, you HAVE to sign Alexis Sanchez, because super snazzy footballers like Sanchez make everybody buy our expensive SEASON TICKETS, and Puma Shirts, which is the mean reason for the clubs existence, then I would explain that I was the manager at the club, and that they could clear off’.
So that’s that one issue cleared up. In fact, on matters of team planning, I would do a great many things differently. For example, I would have three or four strikers at the club, all with significant goal scoring records at the top level, all with a similar playing style and range of abilities, so that the team had tactical identity in the final third of the pitch.
I wouldn’t let myself get into a situation where I only had three strikers, with one day of the transfer window remaining, one with no goals in first team football whatsoever, and another who isn’t capable of playing in my preferred formation, so spends his entire time mucking around on Instagram on about £115k a week. That way, when my one striker who was any use, suddenly breaks his foot, I wouldn’t have to run out and buy the first striker I could get my hands on. With no time whatsoever to make sure he was going to gel with the rest of the team before throwing him into first team action. No, I wouldn’t have to do that, because I would be really really WELL ORGANISED with stuff like that.
Moving onto matters of team tactics, another thing I would do, is ensure that the team practised and was capable of a range of attacking styles. So if, for example, trying to thread passes through the legs of 10 Manchester United players all standing in their own penalty box wasn't working on any particular occasion, I would try DIFFERENT THINGS. If you don’t know what I mean by DIFFERENT THINGS, for example if you have been watching Arsenal for so long, that you have forgotten what DIFFERENT THINGS look like, then what I mean is, in-swinging crosses, early crosses, high crosses, long balls, long shots, and so on. If you watch ‘Match of the Day’, you will see other football teams doing these things on a regular basis.
There are many many different things that one can do in a football match. There is more to football, you see, than endlessly trying to pick out Kieran Gibbs on an overlap for him to put in a low cross which a Man Utd player will simply smash into the stand with his size 9 boot.
This then brings me onto other matters - If I found myself running out of ideas as to what ‘different things’ I might tell the team to try during a football match, I would refer to my coaching staff, who would be full of ideas. I wouldn’t be such a megalomaniac that I had allowed the marketing side of the club to create a cult of personality around me, and run stadium tours where people would be told that I was such an egomaniac that I had insisted on designing every aspect of the football ground, right down to the flipping door handles. No, I would remain a humble person, and surround myself with coaches and managers who would challenge my ideas and provide me with inspiration for new ones. Arsenal are a huge football club you see, and it isn’t healthy for everything to go through me, with nobody but a couple of muted yes-men to bounce ideas off.
Onto injuries, as everybody knows, Arsenal don’t seem to have much luck with injuries. So I would COMPLETELY CHANGE my approach to injuries, and aerobic training, and the movement of the players. Priority would be given in team building and contract awards, to players with good injury records, and players with bad injury records, would be sold at knock down prices, no matter how good they were. It’s what other teams do. I certainly wouldn’t have anyone in the squad who had only played about 20 games in 5 years; there wouldn’t be any point in them being there.
The other thing I would do, is make a public apology in my next press conference, for all the monumental cock ups I had made in the last eight years, and beg the forgiveness of the hard working men and women who are stumping up 80 pound a throw to watch utterly predictable shambolic events like yesterday, on an increasingly regular basis. I would apologise for allowing a cult of personality to be built up around me by cynical marketing factions within the club. I would promise a bright new future for the club, of openness and humility, where if the club was not acting in the best interests of the supporters, I would be the first to say so, even at the expense of my 8 million pound a year contract.
Then I would retire anyway, because I’ve been in the job far too long, and it’s time for someone else to have a go.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:12:01:19:22:54 by Padre Pio.
I agree with most of what you have said, particually the reference to starting the season with 2 CBs onboard. For me this is the most extraordinary phuckup Arsene has ever made, in his time with us.
The other side of the coin is, that prescribing the corse of action, that you do, is a whole lot easier as a fan writing on the blog-site, to actually doing it in a professional football club environment.
Good centre backs, like Reid, Vertongen and co require a promise of a starting possy before they will transfer here and if you've aready promised the 2 CB starting spots to Per and Kos, the lure of European competition isn't enough to tempt them here.
As a fan writing on a footy blog, I would go out and buy both those CBs and say 'Theres 4 of you now, I'll pick the best combo out of the choices and the other 2 will have to fight to get in.'
But we both know it does not work that way, particually when dealing with highly paid, egotistic athletes.
What I'm say is that it's a lot easier to solve our problems, writing on Arsenal Times, than it is to doing the real thing.
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
What I would do differently is have s different man in charge totally new ideas are badly needed at AFC
Quote:weedz
......
What I'm say is that it's a lot easier to solve our problems, writing on Arsenal Times, than it is to doing the real thing.
When one is paid 7m pounds, it makes it slightly easier to solve those difficult problems compared to writing on Arsenal Times for $0.
With the clubs now massive reserves and the scouting system they should have found the personnel not to have done so is a dereliction of duty.
He should go at the end of the season.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Summer 2006: Alex Song.
Summer 2006: Denilson.
Summer 2007: Lassana Diarra.
Summer 2008: Aaron Ramsey.
Summer 2008: Amaury Bischoff.
Summer 2011: Mikel Arteta.
Summer 2013: Mathieu Flamini.
January 2014: Kim Källström.
When you think in that time we've had the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby all suffering long spells out injured, players like Frimpong and Coquelin not being good enough, and the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song clearing off, the amount of investment we've put into central midfield is pathetic. No one can look at that list and tell me it is good enough.
We need to sign a top quality centre back, a left sided centre back and we need to revamp the central midfield area with AT LEAST one top quality central midfielder, but possibly more depending on outgoings, and a natural goalscorer. Anything after that depends on outgoings, but there are a few other areas where improvements wouldn't go a miss.
Quote:celine dion
Firstly, I would make sure I had bought enough centre backs, or had them ready coming through the youth team, so that I’m not having to go into important Champions League and league games with a flippin 5 foot 10 left back as my centre back. This is what most clubs do, it’s not difficult.
I would also not have loaned out my reserve right back to West Ham, at the same time as my other long term right back left the club, leaving myself with only one right back who may or may not get injured, plus a young kid from Southampton who may or may not be a right back, but could be playing in central defence, instead of my left back. Again, it’s not rocket science, if you want to have a go at this yourself, you can buy a copy of 'Football Manager' and practise having two right backs, at least four centre backs, and two left backs, plus some from the youth team who have been sufficiently schooled to step in, in case of emergencies.
So that’s the first thing I would have done differently, I would have started doing this several years ago, so that by yesterday, a couple of defensive injuries wouldn’t have had us in the type of disarray that we have been for the last few months (Swansea, Anderlecht, Hull and Man U etc).
While we are discussing defending, I would have a proper defensive plan for when the team is attacking, for example taking a corner, and make sure the team drilled them continuously, in what are referred to within the game as ‘defensive training sessions’. Therefore when taking a corner, I would make sure I had two players on the half way line, therefore if Manchester United broke quickly with their world class attacking strike force, I wouldn’t have one cone stood there trying to mark three of them.
And if this happened the once, by accident, I tell you what I would do as well, I’d get off my backside and stop fiddling with my coat and walk to the touch line where I would address my team captain in the following terms “Arteta please ensure that at least two or three of you remain in defensive positions at the next corner”, so that Man Utd don’t do exactly the same thing again, resulting in Di Maria walking through our defence in another 5 minutes time’
Mind you, none of this would happen anyway, because I would have a range of imposing defensive midfielders, which I would have bought from other clubs, in what is called the ‘transfer market’. By ‘defensive midfielder’ I do not mean some bloke who was never actually a defensive midfielder, who I picked up from Everton on the cheap and is now completely over the hill, plus another player who left the club acrimoniously several years ago, then mysteriously reappeared to train with the club several years later, who then suddenly mysteriously signed a contract and became our defensive midfielder, but who gets flattened, brushed out of the way, knocked over etc, at least twice a game by opposition players of more imposing physical stature.
No, I would have signed top drawer defensive midfielders for several million pounds. Now, at this point, I can hear you frothing at the mouth, ‘Wenger doesn’t have the money’ you will be screaming at your computer ‘NOTHING is his fault. He’s operating under FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS.
Ah, and that’s the next thing. Although I maintain that Wenger has plenty of money at his disposal, to make some available, I simply wouldn’t have signed Alexis Sanchez or Ozil. Or one, but not both. We don’t really need them, you see. We have far too many attacking players and not enough defensive ones. Meaning perfectly reasonably performers like Lukas Podolski, never get a game.
And if the Arsenal marketing department came to see me, all concerned, because there was an opportunity to sign Alexis Sanchez, and I wasn’t taking it, I would patiently explain, that although he was a mighty fine player, there were more pressing concerns within the team. And if they then said to me ‘NO, you HAVE to sign Alexis Sanchez, because super snazzy footballers like Sanchez make everybody buy our expensive SEASON TICKETS, and Puma Shirts, which is the mean reason for the clubs existence, then I would explain that I was the manager at the club, and that they could clear off’.
So that’s that one issue cleared up. In fact, on matters of team planning, I would do a great many things differently. For example, I would have three or four strikers at the club, all with significant goal scoring records at the top level, all with a similar playing style and range of abilities, so that the team had tactical identity in the final third of the pitch.
I wouldn’t let myself get into a situation where I only had three strikers, with one day of the transfer window remaining, one with no goals in first team football whatsoever, and another who isn’t capable of playing in my preferred formation, so spends his entire time mucking around on Instagram on about £115k a week. That way, when my one striker who was any use, suddenly breaks his foot, I wouldn’t have to run out and buy the first striker I could get my hands on. With no time whatsoever to make sure he was going to gel with the rest of the team before throwing him into first team action. No, I wouldn’t have to do that, because I would be really really WELL ORGANISED with stuff like that.
Moving onto matters of team tactics, another thing I would do, is ensure that the team practised and was capable of a range of attacking styles. So if, for example, trying to thread passes through the legs of 10 Manchester United players all standing in their own penalty box wasn't working on any particular occasion, I would try DIFFERENT THINGS. If you don’t know what I mean by DIFFERENT THINGS, for example if you have been watching Arsenal for so long, that you have forgotten what DIFFERENT THINGS look like, then what I mean is, in-swinging crosses, early crosses, high crosses, long balls, long shots, and so on. If you watch ‘Match of the Day’, you will see other football teams doing these things on a regular basis.
There are many many different things that one can do in a football match. There is more to football, you see, than endlessly trying to pick out Kieran Gibbs on an overlap for him to put in a low cross which a Man Utd player will simply smash into the stand with his size 9 boot.
This then brings me onto other matters - If I found myself running out of ideas as to what ‘different things’ I might tell the team to try during a football match, I would refer to my coaching staff, who would be full of ideas. I wouldn’t be such a megalomaniac that I had allowed the marketing side of the club to create a cult of personality around me, and run stadium tours where people would be told that I was such an egomaniac that I had insisted on designing every aspect of the football ground, right down to the flipping door handles. No, I would remain a humble person, and surround myself with coaches and managers who would challenge my ideas and provide me with inspiration for new ones. Arsenal are a huge football club you see, and it isn’t healthy for everything to go through me, with nobody but a couple of muted yes-men to bounce ideas off.
Onto injuries, as everybody knows, Arsenal don’t seem to have much luck with injuries. So I would COMPLETELY CHANGE my approach to injuries, and aerobic training, and the movement of the players. Priority would be given in team building and contract awards, to players with good injury records, and players with bad injury records, would be sold at knock down prices, no matter how good they were. It’s what other teams do. I certainly wouldn’t have anyone in the squad who had only played about 20 games in 5 years; there wouldn’t be any point in them being there.
The other thing I would do, is make a public apology in my next press conference, for all the monumental cock ups I had made in the last eight years, and beg the forgiveness of the hard working men and women who are stumping up 80 pound a throw to watch utterly predictable shambolic events like yesterday, on an increasingly regular basis. I would apologise for allowing a cult of personality to be built up around me by cynical marketing factions within the club. I would promise a bright new future for the club, of openness and humility, where if the club was not acting in the best interests of the supporters, I would be the first to say so, even at the expense of my 8 million pound a year contract.
Then I would retire anyway, because I’ve been in the job far too long, and it’s time for someone else to have a go.
Good post.
I like how you put 'username' in brackets, so no one would get confused and think celine dion posted this article
Celine, your writing is brilliant. If you ever wrote a book I'd buy it.
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:I called u a moaner the other day and you denied which I sought of agreed, but the truth is when those who don't really moan go ahead and moan, they do a very bad job.MattySadler
I know we haven't always been in a position to spend Ozil/Alexis-ish money, but I recently looked at our central midfield signings over recent years, and it doesn't make for good reading. Here are the central midfielders we've signed since the summer of 2006 (CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS. Actual central midfielders, not attacking midfielders like Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, Cazorla and Ozil):
Summer 2006: Alex Song.
Summer 2006: Denilson.
Summer 2007: Lassana Diarra.
Summer 2008: Aaron Ramsey.
Summer 2008: Amaury Bischoff.
Summer 2011: Mikel Arteta.
Summer 2013: Mathieu Flamini.
January 2014: Kim Källström.
When you think in that time we've had the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby all suffering long spells out injured, players like Frimpong and Coquelin not being good enough, and the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song clearing off, the amount of investment we've put into central midfield is pathetic. No one can look at that list and tell me it is good enough.
For you to look at those players above and instead of praise Wenger for keeping up top with players like that you still went ahead and type something like "not good enough", it shows how deluded some of you really are. Wenger didn't have any money to spend, we were required to generate at least 15m every transfer window and was selling out best players. Anytime you attempt to look back at where we're coming from, you just have to shut up and praise Wenger unless you're blind, deaf and delusional. You think Wenger had all the money but choose to sign the likes of Bischoff and Kalstrom? And if you think he didn't have the money then why bring it up?
Last season we couldn't sign another central defender because we didn't find one, same reason ManU couldn't sign one. In the whole of Europe right now there is only one top class defender that everyone keeps talking about and there is no guarantee that he's leaving Dortmund yet. ManU and Barca were fighting for our third choice defender yet it didn't tell anyone anything, you guys were all asking Wenger to sell him. Most of you just talk, and I'm done listening to fickle fans who make their opinion depending on the result of the last match.
"A club is a union between players, supporters and directors". - Wenger.
Arsene wenger has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has... Every single year, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary. -Gazides.
You have also posted with factual support, although your reasoning is more likely to be gelatinous.
Some of us post more recklessly and emotionally, but that last line of yours contains an accusation that is simply too facile, even by your standards.
This shipwreck did not just happen; a lot of us have seen the doddering fool at the helm for a long, long time.
Quote:De TimesQuote:I called u a moaner the other day and you denied which I sought of agreed, but the truth is when those who don't really moan go ahead and moan, they do a very bad job.MattySadler
I know we haven't always been in a position to spend Ozil/Alexis-ish money, but I recently looked at our central midfield signings over recent years, and it doesn't make for good reading. Here are the central midfielders we've signed since the summer of 2006 (CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS. Actual central midfielders, not attacking midfielders like Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, Cazorla and Ozil):
Summer 2006: Alex Song.
Summer 2006: Denilson.
Summer 2007: Lassana Diarra.
Summer 2008: Aaron Ramsey.
Summer 2008: Amaury Bischoff.
Summer 2011: Mikel Arteta.
Summer 2013: Mathieu Flamini.
January 2014: Kim Källström.
When you think in that time we've had the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby all suffering long spells out injured, players like Frimpong and Coquelin not being good enough, and the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song clearing off, the amount of investment we've put into central midfield is pathetic. No one can look at that list and tell me it is good enough.
For you to look at those players above and instead of praise Wenger for keeping up top with players like that you still went ahead and type something like "not good enough", it shows how deluded some of you really are. Wenger didn't have any money to spend, we were required to generate at least 15m every transfer window and was selling out best players. Anytime you attempt to look back at where we're coming from, you just have to shut up and praise Wenger unless you're blind, deaf and delusional. You think Wenger had all the money but choose to sign the likes of Bischoff and Kalstrom? And if you think he didn't have the money then why bring it up?
Last season we couldn't sign another central defender because we didn't find one, same reason ManU couldn't sign one. In the whole of Europe right now there is only one top class defender that everyone keeps talking about and there is no guarantee that he's leaving Dortmund yet. ManU and Barca were fighting for our third choice defender yet it didn't tell anyone anything, you guys were all asking Wenger to sell him. Most of you just talk, and I'm done listening to fickle fans who make their opinion depending on the result of the last match.
I'm not trying to imply that there was money to spend when there wasn't, I'm not a simpleton, what I'm saying is that the central midfield area has been neglected for years, and we really need to put things right now. Look at that list of incomings and try and say otherwise, it isn't possible. If I wanted though, I could probably think of a few examples of half decent central midfielders who came to the Premiership on the cheap during that time period.
Wenger did a great job keeping us in the top four for years whilst working under great restraints and having to sell his best players. I'm sure when other sides are trying to move stadiums and have to work under the same restraints Wenger did we'll look back and be kinda thankful.
Central defender-wise, it wasn't even a case of signing a worldie like Hummels right away. We'd already signed Alexis as our "marquee signing" for the summer, and I don't expect us to make more than one "marquee signing" per summer. We literally just needed to replace Vermaelen and provided left-sided cover for Koscielny. One example that springs to mind, Marcos Rojo went to Man United for £16 million, just £1 million more than what we sold Vermaelen to Barcelona for. I know he is injured now, but I thought he looked pretty good. He could've been a perfect Vermaelen replacement and left-sided Koscielny cover.
Good morning
I knew during the transfer window that Koscienly was going to get injured. Know how mate? Yes yes it's because I do possess oracle-like capabilities but more so because there was talk coming out about Koscienly having a problem which was very likely to get worse. I'd find the links for these articles but I can't be arsed.
Regardless of any impending injury concerns, you simply don't go into a season without a backup CB. It's unbelievable this is even up for debate
Quote:PKGooner
Good morning.
Regardless of any impending injury concerns, you simply don't go into a season without a backup CB. It's unbelievable this is even up for debate
I didn't say we shouldn't have bought another CB. I specifically said Rojo might not fancy the move just to sit on the bench. That could equally apply to other decent quality left sided CB's. Which mightexplain why Wenger decided to wing it with Kos and a couple of dodgy back-ups rather than p.iss away money on an iffy replacement for TV.
Now Good day to you sir and @#$%& off.
I'd instill confidence in himself so he would have confidence in his chances of getting a first team place, and he would know that, if he performs well in training and matches and shows the right attitude, he has every chance of usurping Mertesacker or Koscielny from the starting lineup.
Quote:.MattySadlerQuote:De TimesQuote:I called u a moaner the other day and you denied which I sought of agreed, but the truth is when those who don't really moan go ahead and moan, they do a very bad job.MattySadler
I know we haven't always been in a position to spend Ozil/Alexis-ish money, but I recently looked at our central midfield signings over recent years, and it doesn't make for good reading. Here are the central midfielders we've signed since the summer of 2006 (CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS. Actual central midfielders, not attacking midfielders like Rosicky, Nasri, Arshavin, Cazorla and Ozil):
Summer 2006: Alex Song.
Summer 2006: Denilson.
Summer 2007: Lassana Diarra.
Summer 2008: Aaron Ramsey.
Summer 2008: Amaury Bischoff.
Summer 2011: Mikel Arteta.
Summer 2013: Mathieu Flamini.
January 2014: Kim Källström.
When you think in that time we've had the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby all suffering long spells out injured, players like Frimpong and Coquelin not being good enough, and the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song clearing off, the amount of investment we've put into central midfield is pathetic. No one can look at that list and tell me it is good enough.
For you to look at those players above and instead of praise Wenger for keeping up top with players like that you still went ahead and type something like "not good enough", it shows how deluded some of you really are. Wenger didn't have any money to spend, we were required to generate at least 15m every transfer window and was selling out best players. Anytime you attempt to look back at where we're coming from, you just have to shut up and praise Wenger unless you're blind, deaf and delusional. You think Wenger had all the money but choose to sign the likes of Bischoff and Kalstrom? And if you think he didn't have the money then why bring it up?
Last season we couldn't sign another central defender because we didn't find one, same reason ManU couldn't sign one. In the whole of Europe right now there is only one top class defender that everyone keeps talking about and there is no guarantee that he's leaving Dortmund yet. ManU and Barca were fighting for our third choice defender yet it didn't tell anyone anything, you guys were all asking Wenger to sell him. Most of you just talk, and I'm done listening to fickle fans who make their opinion depending on the result of the last match.
I'm not trying to imply that there was money to spend when there wasn't, I'm not a simpleton, what I'm saying is that the central midfield area has been neglected for years, and we really need to put things right now. Look at that list of incomings and try and say otherwise, it isn't possible. If I wanted though, I could probably think of a few examples of half decent central midfielders who came to the Premiership on the cheap during that time period
You don't say certain areas of the pitch has been neglected if you agree there was no money, it's contradictory. And there was players playing in central midfield for us in the past 8yrs, Gilberto, Lassana Diarra, Flamini, Denilson, Song and Arteta. That's not too bad for a club who didn't have any money to spend. Now, how many players in the league were really better than those players? Or did you expect us to sign Yaya Toure who was the player we were constantly linked to back then? The press kept murdering us because they set us up to sign Yaya Toure and when we couldn't they painted us as if we failed.
And that is what you're saying back here, just drawing memories from what the clueless press back then thought and then come here to say we neglected. Did we have the wages of Yaya Toure? There were other positions we couldn't strengthen back then, in fact we didn't really strengthen any position by buying in the market, did we? What we did was to buy younger players and groom them into what we wanted. That was why we bought Denilson, Diarra, and Diaby, they were young, cheap and with a lot of potentials. It is a lot easier to fully comprehend what Wenger went through back then and empathise with him with the benefit of hindsight.
Quote:Who said we wanted a worldie? We just wanted competent defenders but the fact that ManU and Barca were coming to us for our crock defender should tell you that there the market was dry. ManU couldn't even sign one defender, and please don't count Rojo, he is a left-back forced to play centreback because they couldn't buy a proper one. There is no difference between Rojo and Monreal and we couldn't afford to spend that much on a player we didn't really need.Central defender-wise, it wasn't even a case of signing a worldie like Hummels right away. We'd already signed Alexis as our "marquee signing" for the summer, and I don't expect us to make more than one "marquee signing" per summer. We literally just needed to replace Vermaelen and provided left-sided cover for Koscielny. One example that springs to mind, Marcos Rojo went to Man United for £16 million, just £1 million more than what we sold Vermaelen to Barcelona for. I know he is injured now, but I thought he looked pretty good. He could've been a perfect Vermaelen replacement and left-sided Koscielny cover.
People like you needs to understand that Arsenal doesn't have the same flexibility in the Market as the likes of ManU, we can't afford to sign players just for signing sake, especially when that player cost many millions.
"A club is a union between players, supporters and directors". - Wenger.
Arsene wenger has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has... Every single year, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary. -Gazides.
Quote:De Times
People like you needs to understand that Arsenal doesn't have the same flexibility in the Market as the likes of ManU, we can't afford to sign players just for signing sake, especially when that player cost many millions.
Thats an interesting statement De Times. Can you outline the specific requirements for Meszut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez at the time they were signed? Whose positions were they signed to replace a player in, and were those players identified as underperforming at that time?
Quote:plonkyQuote:PKGooner
Good morning.
Regardless of any impending injury concerns, you simply don't go into a season without a backup CB. It's unbelievable this is even up for debate
I didn't say we shouldn't have bought another CB. I specifically said Rojo might not fancy the move just to sit on the bench. That could equally apply to other decent quality left sided CB's. Which mightexplain why Wenger decided to wing it with Kos and a couple of dodgy back-ups rather than p.iss away money on an iffy replacement for TV.
Now Good day to you sir and @#$%& off.
Plonky, you were one of the few who said we didn't need to buy another CB.
In a vacuum the Utd defeat was ok, but the defeat by Man U is part of an ongoing trend of losing to big teams. It's always the player's fault whilst ignoring the fact that with different player's in the past the defeats have consistently happened.One factor is consistent in all the losses, but questioning it is kneejerk ?
No suggestions or ideas are acceptable to Akb's unless they are pro Wenger. Everything is filtered through the lense of how it will affect Wenger not the Club.They are so convinced Arsene is the only man capable of running the club so any ideas without him in the equation are unworkable.
Quote:I quoted you mate, and I responded to those quotes. If there was no quote you would've said I put words in your mouth, but there is a quote for you to check. If you don't want to be taken out of context, then stop saying things that imply something else you didn't say.MattySadler
Pointless trying to speak to you, De Times. Whatever people actually say, you just put words in their mouth.
The problem with trying to double-speak is that it makes you confuse, you can't be in the middle so you won't offend anyone. It's either you believe we're doing a fantastic job or we doing a bad one. You have to be really smart to be able to draw a line, and you're not that smart.
"A club is a union between players, supporters and directors". - Wenger.
Arsene wenger has done an absolutely masterful job within the constraints he has... Every single year, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary. -Gazides.
Some men say their erections aren't as big as they recall them once being. But then their partner says, "Well, dear, you overestimated them back then, too."
Dr. Paul T. Costa
As they said, size does matter.
And all those current verbal sniping against De Times is akin like that urban legend in the Arsenal dressing room of Vieira's biatch-slapping a recalcitrant Nicholas Anelka with his dong.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
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