• Fo

  Wow, I was just posting on the Sunday Round Up article and then PING, it started showing Thursday article… what happened?

• devday

  Technical problems with my ISP meant we lost a week but managed to restore up to Friday with all comments, but then had to manually add in Sunday (no comments!)…!!!

• Fo

  Wow! Well done for getting the site back in as much order as possible!

  I thought Eduardo and Bendtner played very well…! It was a very decent run out. Also thought Wilshere was very inventive. I wonder if we’ll see more of him this year?

• Leeroy.N

  Well done to the lads today. A 5-0 that could have been easily 7 0r 8. Ramsey was cool under pressure today, Bendtner and Eduardo showed how much they could work together and Vermaelen impressed me too. We suprisingly saw Senderos playing the holding mid role and he actually look quite comfortable. Wilshere still has some learning, but I just love this guy, he is going to be a serious force and very soon, a Great talent for us!

  Gooner Til I Die!

• devday

  Definitely agree with both of you! Senderos in DM, I didn’t think it would work as he was never that mobile – but Arsene has experimented twice with this now, so if Senderos doesn’t leave, maybe he will end up a DM.

• Leeroy.N

  I think that role gives him peace of mind to. In one way to look at it. If he miss times a tackle, he not the last line of defence in the manner of speaking. That way he has the confidence to push on and concentrate more on the player or breaking up the pass. And we all saw that run forward.. it was Essien-esc. HAHA!

  Gooner Til I Die!

• zohaib

  I’m not too excited about Senderos at DM. We need a proper experienced professional for that position and it’s starting to look like we won’t get one.
  Arsene seemed to understand that we needed a DM when last season came to an end. It seemed like he was going to buy somebody. Maybe it was just a smoke-screen and more lies to get some rare support and fans behind the club. Because it’s looking more and more like we’re not going to be getting the DM that we need.
  The only way this will work is if somehow we can play an attacking 4 – 3 – 3, with Fabregas as the deep-lying playmaker, similar to Alonso, with 5 players from VanPersie, Eduardo, Vela, Walcott, Arshavin, Rosicky and Nasri in front of him.
  As one could probably tell, I don’t have much confidence in the abilities of Song, Diaby and Denilson to make us the title-challenging team that we need to be.
  There’s no need to mix average players into the playing 11 just to give them experience, if you’re really aiming to win something. Put out your best 11 and win every game. That’s the attitude we need to see. Not schooling average players into Premier League games and expecting miracles.

• zohaib

  And yes I’m very annoyed that we haven’t signed somebody else …

• Leeroy.N

  ZOHAIB – Understandable and I totally agree that Diaby, Song and Denilson have alot of growring to do and experience to be gained, but we don’t have the resources or the money to have experience for every position we lack or lack cover. We have to bring on what we have, train what we do have to the best of their abilities and sign the best we can when available. Believe me, in a perfect world I would have the best of the best signed for us as soon as we could offer them a contract. But we have to be real about what we can do with what money is available and do what we can with the squad we have available.

  Gooner Til I Die!

• Leeroy.N

  I mean Senderos in the defensive mid postion is nothing to shout about. But when the worst come to the worst, we need to be able to be as flexible as possible. Take for instance Essien – can play, defensive mid, attacking mid, centre back and right back, and when called upon he does a decent job.. more than decent. John Oshea (as annoying as he is) play wherever Fergie tell him to and again.. he does a good job, right back, left back, centre back, midfield.. even keeper. there’s nothing wrong in having your own back up plan, being able to look down your bench of subs and being confident no matter what happen before, through out and after a match, it’s pretty much covered. Too many times we have been left in the lurch and it’s a easy way to combat it. But by no means would I like to see it match in match out. We do need those areas filled properly.

  Gooner Til I Die!

• MVES

  I say we really need to buy a striker and a DM ASAP, although Eboue could play DM it did look promising, sell Silvestre, he wasn’t worthy of a ManU start so why should he be worthy of wearing the red and white. Were just feeding off the Scraps of other clubs. Like a waste disposal. Embarassing. Plz spend the money…..

• Mehedi

  “Mirko Vucinic” >>> Awsome ! one of the best strikers in the italy

• Leeroy.N

  MEHEDI – Is he really that good?? I have only watched him on clips here and there, and I don’t really follow the Italian League too much. Looking at his stats he seems not too bad to be fair and after watching the vids of him I said that he is the TYPE of player we could be looking for.

  Gooner Til I Die!

• Mehedi

  Yeah, I only saw some vids, he can score man.
  not on roma days, but early in his career. He is good.
  But Roma asking too much >>> 20m
  BTW I don’t know if it’s true but on bachelor report web site
  I found out that toure has signed for man city.

• Leeroy.N

  Oh no! Now I really hope thats not true!

• Mehedi

  LOL
  I think thats true
  Agreed on a 120,000 a week salary

• Leeroy.N

  God Damn! City and that wallet!!

• Mehedi

  we give him 60,000 a week
  Still it’s not clear though
  He has been pretty loyal to us.

• Leeroy.N

  I mean I do understand the motives of a money move. I guess it’s like most people in work. It’s their job and they want to be getting paid top money for what they do. What I hate is when one week they are giving the heart to the press and telling them how much they love the club and want to stay. Then by the next weekend, they’re shaking hands with the new manager. I just would like them to be more truthful and upfront when asked.

  Gooner Til I Die!

• John

  Thought that just having the best game in the world isn`t what we need as fans we want a win this time so do something.

• Debs

  Why on earth would we sell TWO players to City? I don’t think Toure’s going to City. For one, he played for us yesterday. SSN isn’t even reporting it.
  Dev, any truth in that?

• Gooner Get Ya

  We have apparently agreed to sell Toure and we are looking at buying Hangeland to replace him? Don’t see the point in that move unless Kolo wants to leave?

• Yemi

  I hope kolo stays cos i dont see wenger replacing him with hangeland or anyone at that !!!
  Good game yesterday although my link was very slow and hung a lot so i didn’t enjoy it.

• Pete

  The Toure “story” has got to be BS, surely! Selling a problematic and uncommitted Adebayor I can understand (in many ways City did us a favour in that deal!). But Toure is a different kettle of fish altogether. Barring Gallas last year, he seems to get along ok with everyone and loves working with Wenger. With Gallas only having 1 year left on his contract, I think he’ll leave before Kolo does.

  Last nights friendly was a joy to watch Am so pleased for Eduardo. He looks strong and hasn’t lost any of his sharpness. Bendtner was impressive too. Well done to all the lads.

• Gooner Get Ya

  I found this on the BBC Website and it makes interesting reading about our finances and Usmanov’s proposal.

  Are Arsenal in too much debt? By Robert Preston

  I’ve obtained a copy of the financial analysis of Arsenal that was made by the investment bank Lazard Brothers in support of Alisher Usmanov’s proposal that the club should raise up to £150m in a rights issue.
  It’s a chunky 35-page document. But its conclusion can be summed up very simply: Arsenal has too much debt to pose a serious challenge to Europe’s biggest clubs; or to use the jargon, it is over-leveraged, too thinly capitalised.

  This is a verdict that has been rejected by Arsenal’s board, which has been advised by NM Rothschild.

  The North London club’s directors argue that paying down debt would have only a marginal impact on the availability of financial resources.

  Of course, as an Arsenal-supporting BBC journalist, I couldn’t possible take sides in this dispute between the Uzbekistani plutocrat and Arsenal’s directors. But some of you will be interested in Usmanov’s point of view.

  Here are a few bullet points from the Lazard document:

  1) It believes that Arsenal’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will fall from between £55m-60m in 2009 to £35-40m in 2010. The most striking contributor to this squeeze that it cites is a 12-14% increase in costs to £179m “as a result of players being compensated for tax changes and a number of step-ups in wages for individual players”.

  2) It predicts that cash flow will fall by more than that because of some pre-payments on assorted deals that were taken in 2007.

  3) It says that Arsenal’s fans are already paying 40% more than the average for the big four English clubs for match tickets and 24% more for season tickets – implying there’s little scope to increase gate revenues, especially in a recession.

  4) It calculates Arsenal’s gross average annual spend on new players as £18m, compared with £37m for the big four; and the net annual spend, including sales, as precisely zero, compared with a £20.2m big four average

  5) Perhaps most germanely of all, it fears that redevelopment of Arsenal’s former Highbury stadium into luxury apartments may not turn out to be profitable – and that refinancing £140m of property-related debt over the next couple of years will be neither cheap or easy.

  So Usmanov – the second-biggest shareholder in Arsenal with a 25 per cent stake – suggests that investors stump up a maximum of £150m via a rights issue of new shares.
  This would provide additional funds for Arsene Wenger to augment the playing squad, and/or pay off some of the property debt, and/or pay down a substantial portion of the £242m of separate debt incurred to fund the development of the new Emirates stadium.

  As I say, Arsenal’s board has said no to all this, following detailed scrutiny by bankers from Rothschild – which included those bankers sounding out the most important individual at the club, Arsene Wenger.

  The advice to the board from Rothschild was;

  a) paying down the Emirates-related debt would save a maximum of £5m a year;

  b) there are better ways to rehabilitate the Highbury redevelopment, including a putative cunning plan under negotiation right now – and even if the worst came to the worst, there should be no direct financial contagion to the club, since the providers of the property loans have no recourse to the footballing assets;

  c) perhaps most controversially, the chaps from Rothschild don’t believe Arsene Wenger is seriously constrained by lack of finance in his ability to develop the playing squad – and, more importantly, they don’t believe that he feels fettered (if you see what I mean).

  All of which would be described by some as a courageous blocking tackle: turning down equity finance during a sharp recession, and while the worst conditions in living memory for property developers prevail, well that’s quite ballsy.

  This for me indicates that we are not replacing Ade and we will continue to sell a key player until we are back on an even keel financially. This is a real concern to me as I do not want our best players leaving just to satisfy the business aspect of AFC. At the end of next season I will be thinking who is going to leave now…maybe Cesc for 45m…I’m sure the businessmen in charge will be licking their lips to get their hands on that kind of cash.

• Debs

  BBC are reporting that we are in talks to sell Toure to City. I cannot believe that we are even considering selling Toure to City! If at all we want to sell him, why City? Why on earth would you want to strengthen your rivals not once, but twice? I’m mystified really.

• Debs

  I’m beginning to think we’re more concerned about money, than trophies!

• syah

  i know this is random. but i am in the midst of psychoing my gf to support arsenal. she supports manyoo(i know i know). what im trying to say is the things being mentioned and discussed in this website are too interesting and im using them as propaganda for her.

  off to more relevant discussion. i think the financial analysis is pretty insightful. the more i read it the more im respecting AW. now we know why he is not so generous in terms of bringing in players who cost too much. despite this, he has never failed to achieve more than satisfactory results season in and season out. he is a football realist honestly.

  the game played yesterday was a testament of what dudu can do(no puns intended). he is such a smart player. really hoping he would be heavily featured this coming season. im not bothered bout the lack of spending. i think other teams should be bothered with the way arsenal should be performing this coming season.

  gooner till i die!!!

• Debs

  Toure leaving is one hell of a lot of experience disappearing in an instant! If at all we want to sell any of the defenders, why not Silvestre?

• Gooner Get Ya

  That is my worry Debs. The new stadium has turned our Arsenal in to a quivering mess of a club that appears to be too debt ridden to hold it’s own at the top of the EPL. Until that debt is paid by selling players and eventually the flats our club will suffer.

• Yemi

  Have you guys consedered the players intention himself ? what if he wants to leave ? If we are selling him cos of funds, then we are so full of s..t !!!!!!!!!!!
  I think i will lay off the transfer market gist till season begins. THEN I WILL KNOW WHO IS LEFT AND WHO HAS JOINED COS I DONT EVEN LIKE THE IDEA OF PPLE GOING WITH NO REPLACEMENTS COMING IN !!!!!!
  Why is silvstre still there ? we dont need any cover in LB or CB so he should go. Why ! why !! why !!! is arsenal doing this to my B.P ?
  Got to go. i dont think i wanna know whats going on any longer till season licks off

• Steveyj

  Kolo seems like it’s defo a done deal found this on a blog which wa spulled from arsenal tv online an interview with wenger after last nights match i presume.

  Arsene as good as confirms Kolo is off
  12 guns July 28th, 2009

  In an exclusive interview with ArsenalTVOnline, Arsene Wenger seemed to suggest that Kolo Toure is, as reported, on the verge of a £15m move to Man City:

  “We’ll see what’s happening in the next 24 hours … we have many centre-backs, seven centre-backs and I’m in a position where we have to play some in midfield… but of course Kolo is a very good player – we’ll see what happens in the next 24 hours.”

  Arsene also spoke about the possibility of bringing in some new players:

  “At the moment I’m more focused to get everybody fit for the start of the season. We are looking for opportunities as well, but at the moment we still have some pre-season games to see what we really need, and when the time has come we will do something … I wouldn’t like to set any time on that.”

  “except take from gunnerblog”

  Also i have a reall good news feed for arsenal if anyone would like it?

• mesol

  Yes, Debs I also think that Arsenal management are more concerned about money than trophies. I feel very sad if we sell Toure. He’s very athletics and strong. He is full with experience that we can’t find with other players in Arsenal squad or even in BPL.

• Steveyj

  No offense mesol… why is it such an issue that wenger isn’t buying… yes we’ve not the funding of man city or chelsea… But i trust wenger in the business he does. always have always will. No one will rtruely know whats happening behind closed doors… But for wenger is arsenal through and through. He does things the way he wants and he’s not done us wrong so far

• Debs

  I don’t want Toure to leave! I want to cry! I’m definitely gonna miss him. It’s good business though- 16m pounds. But still, he’s Mr Arsenal, isn’t he? So so gutted!
  And now we have no chance of ever getting Yaya Toure…

• Yemi

  @steveyj:Thats why am am trying to reserve my comment till the season kicks off. I want to see who goes and who comes before i talk.
  @mesol: I feel you, same toughts here. Kolo is not one of the players i would release unless of course he wants to leave. He is not getting any younger so if he doesnt make the big bucks now, when will he ? he has a family to feed and a whole lot of other responsibilities. The younger gunners can do with less cash

• Steveyj

  well it’s not a done deal… and there are other defenders out there that are just as good if not better. Toure will be a big loss but it’s not the end of the world.

  The futures bright …. the futures Arsenal

• Yemi

  @debs: We never had a chance of getting yaya except on maybe a free transfer

• Steveyj

  OK ok lets put the whole wenger situation to bed… who’d you prefer as manager… Arsene wenger or Mark hughes? whose spending wads of cash in the hope of buying a title. If hughes was in wenger shoes how long do you think he’d last …a week 2 weeks?

• Debs

  Yemi we’d have had a chance of getting him (maybe not this transfer window though), because he keeps going on about how he’d like to play in the same club as his brother.

• Leeroy.N

  No one wants Toure to leave, but if he does, the decision has come down to him mainly. I think about squad harmony and desire. If you have no desire to player for the club for whatever reason, then you will not help the club when it REALLY needs you, whether it be a crucial tackle, chasing down a player or making a goal stopping block. If he Really want to leave us then we should let us go. I think we made that mistake last season if Adebayor. We remember the major fallout between him and Gallas last season, that put a dent in both their performances for a few matches. He is the last one of the starting Famous XI Invicibles (even though Clichy was there). It would be a real shame to see him leave, I thought he was a prime candidate for vice-captain in this next campaign. Lets see what and who Wenger has in store for us. I back him and his decisons still 100%!

  Gooner Til I Die!!

• Fabrez

  Kolo is the last defender i would sell. As loyal as they come and that is hard to come by in football these days. If Kolo leaves, I highly doubt it is because he wants to leave but bcuz Arsene is looking at the number of CBs we have. Surely he’s better than frickin Silvestre. We have more than enuff cover at LB in Vermaelen, Gibbs and Traore and 9 CBs according to AW so why do we even need a sub-standard Silvestre??? Experience? Oh plz… This is a bit depressing. Kolo loves this Club and will give anything for it but AW thinks his days are numbered by the sound of it. After the 5-0 win Arsene was asked about Kolo and he said his future will be concluded in 24 hrs? Not exactly the same as “We do not want to sell or lose Kolo”….quite the opposite really! Debs…i think we are like most Arsenal fans in that we r distressed about Kolo possibly going…and to Man City! *sigh*

• Jimmy

  I heard we are going to buy Hangeland to replace Toure with the 15m we, would be a great signing.

• Fabrez

  Whilst I’m behind AW all the way, I hope he remembers that this is his make or break season. I trust him but I certainly wouldn’t let Kolo go personally. C’mon Arsenal!

• Steveyj

  @Fabrez matey wenger never commits to anything or very rarely does. Just have have some faith. There is no way wenger would sell without a very good reason… I.e theirry, pat, pires, ljungberg none of those players haven’t been sold without a very good reason. Most of the time was due to the fact they wanted to leave. so be patient… enjoy the friendlies and watch wenger produce his magic as always… tiop 4 finish again you’ll see.

  The future is bright the future is Arsenal!

• Yemi

  @steveyj: Shouldn’t we be outgrowing this top four finish clause by now ?Why not top 2 or champions ? all we hear is top 4 all the time. tired mate, really tired

• Adeniyi

  From all indication Toure is already a Man City Player. That is one defender I wouldn’t let go. But Arsene knows best. I’m really not happy about it and I hope this wouldn’t hunt us.

  Fingers crossed

• Debs

  On an unrelated note, is anyone having trouble watching ATVO on firefox? I’ve got the latest edition. I did watch the match yesterday on ATVO, but today, it says that my browser is not supported! Not the best of days! *sigh*

• Leeroy.N

  16 mil, City open that cheque book and its confirmed! Farewell to an Arsenal great! Good Luck Kolo.

  Gooner til I Die!

• Yemi

  @Adeniyi: It surely will, strenghtening a rival club with two players all in one season is not palatable !!!

  I just hope we have 2 done deals as replacements. i am personally impatient now !!!

• Steveyj

  @yemi with the way things are going in the league and multi billionaires taking over clubs at there lesiure… i’d rather stick with arsenals way. A few questions for you guys and ladies.

  How many clubs have tried to buy the premiership?
  What will happen when a club spending that type of money fails to achieve it’s goals?
  How many managers have the clubs who are mega rich with this influx of cash had?
  How many are play football the brings in praise and draws in crowds?
  How many of those teams have an amazing youth team set up?
  How many of those teams have the trainers and back room staff that we do?

  and the last but main question…

  How many teams have an arsene wenger?

  The future is bright… The future is Arsenal!

• Bergkamp4Eva

  With all due respect SteveyJ i do expect more than just a top 4 finish again. Now im not some trophy hunter and i do have ultimate faith in Arsene but we have to be aiming for more than just finishing in the top 4, especially with Man City looking as though they could mount a serious challenge this season and looking at how close AV pushed us last season we can’t take a top 4 position for granted anymore. If there are problems within the club financially and we do have to sell the odd player every season then imagine what would happen if we did finish out of the top 4. Without playing in the Champions League and the money that brings we would be in a lot worse situation. The truth is there are fans that are beginning to lose faith in AW and if Kolo does go to Man City that isnt going to ease their worries. No i know we have no idea what plan AW has if he does indeed plan to bring other players in we can only wait and see but what i do know is that if next season we do finish again without any silverware there are only going to be more fans possibly calling for a change. Something i woudn’t want to see happen. There will be more pressure on Arsene, more players leaving. So as drastic as it sounds i do believe this is a make or break season not only for Arsene but for Arsenal Football club as a whole.

• mesol

  with this situation, I think all major player like Fabregas and Arshavin will leave Arsenal soon.

• Steveyj

  @mesol nice to your positive attitude. Toure wanted to leave in January. why would he change his mind 6mths later

• Yemi

  @Bergkamp4Eva: You have said it just the way it is.

• Fabrez

  This was how much Kolo loved the Club…

  arsenal.com/news/news-archive/toure-the-reason-i-considered-my-future

  With that said Djourou, Gallas, Vermaelen are pretty good quality CBs so we do have good cover in that position. I think Kolo going hurts bcuz he was one of my favourites. I wouldn’t have minded if he was Club captain to be honest. Buy hey…as Steveyj has said, we should be proud of having Arsene. Top top manager he does deserve the trust of his fans. And Steveyj, i do have faith so no worries there. I do continue to hope for 1 or 2 additions so we can at least be among the top 2 in the Prem again. Champions again maybe? You never know!

• mesol

  Sory to say I very upset with wenger strategies,..If we lose again this season, he will say it is bcoz we lose several key player..player still young & improving .injuries..blah,blah.blah..that are the answer..and ur all still back up wengers with 100%..pity Arsenal

• Steveyj

  @Fabrez… that my boy… just to think past the small picture and look at the bigger plan… Wilshire and ramsey will start to feature this season and both lads look extremely promising… i’m also a big fan of djourou he’s young and he’s showing alot of promise maybe it’;s his season. Song can also play at the back and he seems quite solid when he does.

• Yemi

  Fiorentina are still thrashing out terms with Arsenal over a fee for defensive utility Emmanuel Eboue.

  Corriere della Sera says Fiorentina have found agreement with Eboue’s minders over a five-year contract, but are still to reach common ground with the Gunners.

  Fiorentina have so far offered £5 million for Eboue, but Arsenal are holding out for nearer to £8 million.

• Yemi

  Lazio are eyeing Arsenal defender William Gallas.

  Corriere dello Sport says Lazio chief Ighli Tare is considering a move for Gallas as they prepare for the sales of David Rozehnal to Hamburg and Lorenzo De Silvestri to Fiorentina.

  Gallas is inside the final year of his contract and Tare is hopeful of landing him for a cut-price fee.

• paul korir

  wenger will make 2 steps back en the seson will will be over b4 he can rectify!

• paul korir

  great backwords strides 4 wenger!

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