< ![CDATA[Watching Arsene Wenger during the defeats last season, I realised that AW will never willingly put himself through such agony again.
I trust him to try and do his best all the time. Our main problem is with guys showing much promise and retrogressing along the line.
AW will get it right this time cos the competition for places is going to be really tough this season.]]>

< ![CDATA[AW knows that Arsenal fans/board are behind him. With that kind of job security, he's playing all the cards he has up his sleeve, and perhaps taking too many risks...
Maybe, just maybe, AW is losing the plot. Maybe, his transfer policy of "buy cheap, sell at peak" has lost its charm, and clubs/players are reading his hand...
Maybe, just maybe, we're becoming complacent on transfers... Just look at Flamini and how we lost him!
But maybe, just maybe, AW still knows what he's doing! Let just hope.]]>

I totally agree with you, whatever plan they had for bringing in a new player did not work. You did mention we should be able to get our man, being one of the best clubs in the world, again, I agree, but perhaps after this summer with the number of high profile players leaving us, we became a less attractive option compared to Chelsea and United who brought in big names, even spurs with Modric and Dos Santos, I don’t want to be saying this but perhaps after this summer we have lost some face in terms of “size” against Chelsea and United. I hope that we do sign Appiah, you say your happy with our midfield, I am happy, but not got full confidence, without Cesc, Denilson looked like a lost puppy against Fulham and if Cesc gets injured, say for a long period, we’re in trouble, Appiah brings some much needed expierence and even though I don’t rate him as such a pitbull that Flamini had become, he is still a better than average player who I think could slot nicely into our set up, especially if he allows Cesc to attack, because none of our current midfields have that tenacity or bite in the tackle that we saw in Flamini or other great CDM such as Gattuso in his prime. But lets hope that we pull through this season and win something, as for Coquelin, I agree, he is a exciting prospect, let’s hope he turns into the real deal.

Don’t forget… Spanish club Villarreal have confirmed they rejected a £7.5m bid for Santi Cazorla from Arsenal on deadline day. Steve Bruce has revealed that Wigan turned down an approach from Arsenal on deadline day for Wilson Palacios. Arsenal’s last ditch attempt to land Fulham’s Jimmy Bullard, some nine minutes prior to the deadline, also failed.