• senham

  what is wenger doing with this 2 uncommitted players?!?!?!

• senham

  wenger’s biggest problem since he has been manager is pretty simple-defence, defence,defence.now he inherited the best back 4/5 in prem lge history. seaman,dixon,adams,bould/keown,winterburn,and build the foundations that became successful at arsenal.while i love his football princibles(attacking football)but you do need a solid defence to build your attacking philosopy. when you think that he turned 2 midfield players into defenders,lauren & toure and both did pretty well,well infact they were in the invincible team so they go down in history.but what frustrates me about wenger is why isn’t he willing to splash big money on defenders.he got campbell on a free,cole came through the youth system and i believe vermaelen is our record buy under wenger for a centre back 10m.see you don’t finish in the top 4 season after season,you don’t get to a european cup final and 2 carling cup finals and blow the prem lge if you are a bad manager,i don’t buy that one bit. wenger has bordered being a genius as well as losing the plot all on not getting a solid foundation (defence) right,it baffles and frustrates the hell out of me.wenger gets the defence right then i think a lot of us fans would have fancied us to have won a few more trophies by now,all on a budget that small change to other clubs,so i don’t buy that rubbish thats hes a bad manager all of a sudden.he has taken risks on too many defenders,senderos, squillaci,djourou,stepanov,etc.if i could have onw wish in this coming weeks is that wenger buys a couple of centre halfs that will make us competative this season.surely he must see that has been his biggest problem since the invincible team,and since he has been manager.so wenger start buying defenders-please.

• Domhuaille

  Finally a positive review from DevDay! One oversight though, since Campbell’s father apparently holds an EU passport (his father was Irish),Campbell should be able to get Irish citizenship as well apparently.
  Has anyone noticed that Wenger has brought in, or promoted 5 British players over the transfer window and only 2 foreigners (Ryo,Gervinho)so far? Cx-cham, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Lansbury,Afobe are almost a backbone of Brits with each capable of playing in different positions – striker,defender, defensive midfielder,cb and attacking midfielder.

• Berth

  Aluminium again?

• agentsmurf

  The “new signing” has already arrived in the form of Miyachi and his work permit.

  In Arsene’s mind:

  Cesc leaves – no problem we have Ramsey, Wilshere and Song as the preferred middle three with the options of Diaby, Frimpong and Lansbury all to come in there

  Nasri leaves – the Ox and Miyachi are wide players. We have strengthened. Gervinho plays wide too.

  All sorted – £50m transfer window profit coming up. Reasons for Stan to be cheerful and hopefully Ivan gets a nice bonus too for all his efforts in this “busy window”

• Berth

  Are u being sarcastic or real Mr agentsmurf?

• yemi

  @ Berth:
  sarcastic of course !!!

• yemi

  Arsène Wenger said: “We are absolutely delighted that Ryo has been granted a work permit. This is almost like a new signing for us, as we weren’t completely sure we would be given the authorisation.

• devday

  Rado – Please don’t copy and paste articles from other blogs, thank you!

• devday

  @ Berth:
  We haven’t seem to got rid of Almunia yet!
  Fingers crossed

• devday

  @ senham:
  I think both Cesc & Nasri are leaving as suggested – we’ve seen a few possible replacements for Nasri – AOC, Gervinho and Miyachi can all play in his position – but in terms of Cesc and central midfield, if he left, then we would definitely need to replace.

• yemi

  France Football says Lorient defender Bruno Ecuele Manga, who was watched by Fiorentina at the weekend, could be a target for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

• Kodjo

  Chamakh cliams both Cesc & Nasri are on their way out…only problem is the lack of ready replacements.

  Pls dont tell me Ox & Miyachi are the replacements for both players…and excuse me Wenger may be stubborn but not stupid…how do you replace the players with combined premiership exp of 10 yrs with youth who havent played in the premiership before???

• Kodjo

  My beef with the Board is allowing Nasri’s contract to run down to the last year???

  Was Wenger unsure about him??? Offering a contract last xmas was too late in my opinion. I do not know the inner workings of the club, but i believe the club should have had a contract on the table before the start of last season.

  Anyhow Nasri’s mind appears to be elsewhere…so we better get rid of him for straight and hot cash! 25 million!!! take it or leave it citeh!

  No player is bigger than the club….my problem is that Wenger has not had a stable midfield since the invicibles….whether its his fault or not i do not know. Its difficult winning anything without a solid and consistent group of players.

  Check out the # of midfielders who have been in and out of the club since that time

  Hleb, Flamini, Rosicky (injury), Reyes (personal reasons), Cesc (probable), Nasri (probable), Denilson (loan)

• Berth

  Guys this video is insanely cool.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDBLSUKJiDY

• yemi

  @ Kodjo:

  Same for defenders too

• Bonathan

  I’m quite keen to see arsharvin given his chance in the middle. If we sign mata as well, then he can play out on the left or in the middle if required.

  I think it’d be a bit foolish to hope ramsey can step into the boots of fabreags and be a world beater all of a sudden. don’t get me wrong, i think he could be, but i don’t think lumbering that sort of pressure on him now would be a good idea. this is how i see us lining up

  Chesney hawks
  Sagna Cahill/jagielka vermaelen gibbs
  song wilshire
  gervinho arsharvin mata
  rvp

  that would still give us plenty of good back up options:

  gk: fabianski/manonne
  rb: jenkinson
  cb: djourou/squillaci/KOS/miguel
  LB: traore (as well as vermaelen)
  DM: frimpong/diaby
  CM: ramsey/diaby/henderson/lansbury
  AM: ramsey/rosicky/lansbury/chamberlain (as well as mata)
  wide: walcott/rosicky/ chamebrlain/vela/miyichi (& arsharvin)
  cf: chamakh, vela, walcott (& gervinho)

  we have never consistantly seen the best of AA, and perhaps playing him centrally is the only way we will.

  the main weakness for me (assuming we sign mata and a CB) is LB. I know I keep saying it but please sign Jose enrique. money isn’t an issue for him, compared to waht we’l get for fab and nasri, so take no chances. gibbs will be injured in a months time for a long spell, it’s almost guarenteed. that’l mean playing TV at LB, or playing the useless traore. we cannot afford to be playing traore for long spells, we’ve been there, it’s a bad idea. and moving TV about isn’t a great idea, not when we can just sign a perfectly good LB, possibly the best in the league (certainly the best under the age of 30), and espeacially when we do not know how injury free TV will stay after his long lay off.

  why would we take this chance???

• AmriGooner

  News that the departure of Fabregas will be announced
  yonight. Anyone can confirm that?

• AmriGooner

  * tonight

• salom

  People go on and on about Wenger inheriting Adams et al, and yet it was Wenger, not Graham, who assembled the Invincibles back four of Lauren, Campbell, Toure, and Cole. This was a greater feat than anything George Graham did.

  In short, Wenger DOES know how to put together a defence, but for a variety of reasons–not least of which financial, and having to compete with sugar daddy clubs for Europe’s top players–has found it difficult to do so in recent years. “Replacing” the Invincibles with players of equal quality was a difficult task made almost impossible by the building of a new stadium in the midst of an economic meltdown, all the while trying to operate in a self-sustainable way.

  I’m not saying I like the team as it is, and my posts on here often reflect concerns I have with personnel and managerial decisions, but the level of vitriol aimed at the club is baffling. I completely understand the frustration experienced by supporters. I, too, am frustrated, and there are times I want to bash my head against the wall, particularly when we seem to continue to prioritize the signing of potential in a summer which demands proven experience, but I cannot see the sense in people then calling Wenger a “cunt-faced wanker” (as some have done here and elsewhere), not now nor ever, and certainly not before the transfer window has closed.

• ZimGooner

  This is gonna be one hell of a scary season. I’m usually an optimist but unless Wenger buys a world class defender and striker by the 31st of August then we’re damned. I don’t think the likes of Squillachi deserve a first team jersey and Rosisky’s form has been suspect since his injury. Part of me tells me Cesc and Nasri should go coz we’re better off with committed players than one who aspires to be in Spain playing for his boyhood club and another who values glory and fame in Manchester City. The Arsenal is bigger than that but perhaps there is a lot of behind the scenes actions as I don’t seem to get Wenger’s vacillation in spending a respectable amount for world class players. In Wenger we trust but what’s point in losing a world cup winner (Cesc) and replacing him with untested players like Oxtail Chamberpot or whatever? As a way forward Wenger must sign Per Meterseker, Juan Mata and a good back up for the great but injury prone RVP. Another part in me tells me Wenger is stubborn like a gambler who raises the stakes when he’s lost all consecutively. I wish the club the best but I have doubts we’ll clinch any silverware by the look of things. We should aim for the no. 4 spot this season.

• hemash

  Why is everyone so broken up about Arsenal selling Cesc and Nasri? If they truly are, that means that they have found replacements. At least that’s what they promised us.

• hemash

  People go on and on about Wenger inheriting Adams et al, and yet it was Wenger, not Graham, who assembled the Invincibles back four of Lauren, Campbell, Toure, and Cole. This was a greater feat than anything George Graham did.

  In short, Wenger DOES know how to put together a defence, but for a variety of reasons–not least of which financial, and having to compete with sugar daddy clubs for Europe’s top players–has found it difficult to do so in recent years. “Replacing” the Invincibles with players of equal quality was a difficult task made almost impossible by the building of a new stadium in the midst of an economic meltdown, all the while trying to operate in a self-sustainable way.

  I’m not saying I like the team as it is, and my posts on here often reflect concerns I have with personnel and managerial decisions, but the level of vitriol aimed at the club is baffling. I completely understand the frustration experienced by supporters. I, too, am frustrated, and there are times I want to bash my head against the wall, particularly when we seem to continue to prioritize the signing of potential in a summer which demands proven experience, but I cannot see the sense in people then calling Wenger a “cunt-faced wanker” (as some have done here and elsewhere), not now nor ever, and certainly not before the transfer window has closed.

• agentsmurf

  I really don’t understand Wenger. You obviously needed the money early to buy a replacement but he tries playing hard ball with a player that Barca clearly new wanted to go to them and them only. To have bargaining strength over the fee you have to have other clubs competing for his signature. So in this situation dragging it out to nearly the end of the transfer window absolutely worked to Barca’s advantage. Why? because Cesc had told Wenger he didn’t want to play for the club and Barca new this. The only option open to Wenger would be to keep an unhappy player who would underperform. So why oh why didn’t he sell him early because the whole saga has had a bad effect on team morale and Wenger has not come out of it smelling of roses either. Totally baffled.

• sharad

  Regarding 1:1 spending.. It depends. What are you spending it on. Like for like replacements for Cesc and Nasri? Nasri perhaps but I really don’t think there is a like for like replacement for Cesc.

  I’d like to see money reinvested in the squad. But depending on if we have enough money for it or not, some of it should certainly go towards extending the contracts of RVP, Walcott and Song. (who are apparently all out of contract next year) You know I agree on us needing a striker. I have a feeling though, that it’s going to be Joel Campbell. A 1m signing isn’t anywhere near 1:1, but I don’t care about that, as long as he can perform at a level required of him. Would a marquee signing be prepared to sit on the bench behind RVP? Bendtner’s leaving for the same reason anyway. I’d like a defender, a striker, and a creative replacement for Cesc/Nasri if/when we sell them.

• gareth

  Hi all first time on here – nice work on the blog by the way Editor. There seems to be a lot of concern about replacements for cesc and nasri. Well, I think in wilshire and ramsey we have two exceptional talents who will be able to take responsibility in central midfield. I know they are young , and in ramsey’s case especially, lack experience, but I think they are good enough. Also they have not been part of the recent debacles, so psychologically they will be stronger perhaps. We still have arshavin, walcot, song and rosicky who are all capable players, and I’m looking forward to seeing frimpong and oxelade chamberlain. Overall, even without cesc and nasri, it’s a pretty exciting looking midfield. What is absolutely paramount however, is that wenger strengthens the defence. With the money we get from cesc and nasri, wenger will be able to do this. So, no excuses arsene, we need two centre backs a left back, a midfield destroyer and especially since bendtner’s leaving, another striker.

• Bonathan

  i hope these scott dann rumours are not true. surely we can’t be picking him over cahill, jagielka, hangeland.

  Is he even as good as JD? probably not

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