What will you do in August if Chamakh is Arsenal’s only acquisition?
Let me just start by making this crystal clear: in yesterday’s transfer rumor column, I was attempting to prove that the Arshavin quotes were FALSE, made-up, junk, a “load of bollocks” as you say in England.
It doesn’t surprise me that any noobs who showed up as a result of the headline don’t understand my writing style or sense of humor but there were a lot of people who have been reading my blog for quite some time who clearly missed the point. In that case, my bad. I was not trying to rip Arshavin, I was rather trying to prove that quotes attributed to Andrei Arshavin were false.
I also found it strange that people needed a link to the source. Maybe it’s because I read so many different papers and blogs that I assumed everyone already knew that the quotes I printed yesterday were from People.co.uk. I mean, don’t you people read Arseblog? If not the most popular arsenal blog in the world, then how about Gunnerblog? That’s where I first read the quote.
You wanna know something even funnier? I might have been wrong in my defense and the quotes might have been true. Arseblog reported today that he’s heard from a source who said that the People has an actual tape recording of Arshavin saying the quotes they published yesterday. Not only that, but as I pointed out yesterday we should be looking for a statement on the dot com denying the quotes and none has been forthcoming, yet. It still might happen today in the Blackburn post-match interview, but the silence on the matter is a bit strange.
But here’s the real point; I find it nigh impossible that the first place some of you went for this story is my blog. If true then it’s a hell of a compliment, if not, which I greatly suspect, then it’s just another example of Gooners and their manufactured, sanctimonious outrage. And as a friend of mine once said “save me the sanctimony.”
It’s been quite the strange week over here at 7amkickoff, what with the Stoke City xenophobes vomiting up a tableau of racism and homophobia on the site, followed by me taking a day off, only to come back and have the piss taken out of me by a bunch of Gooners for an article that I thought was clearly in defense of the little Russian.
I know, “you have a season ticket” and “Wenger never spends” and “I’m the worst blogger to ever blog a blog… blog.” I also know that “everyone’s allowed their opinion” and that “you pay the highest ticket prices in the history of mankind” and that “means you have a right to determine the future of the club” and that “you just checked Football Manager 2010 and we should sell the entire first team, all 30 players, and buy a real team which includes Dutch wonder Klaas Jan Huntelaar.”
And I agree, everyone is allowed their opinion. This blog is mine and in my opinion Arsenal is the greatest club the world has ever seen. I even laugh when I watch a Blackburn match and their fans are singing that song, what a pathetic joke. Or Chelsea fans? Yeah, the greatest club that a billion dollars ever assembled in order to win the club same number of trophies that Arsene Wenger, alone, has won for Arsenal. Or Liverpool, yeah, good luck with mid-table mediocrity next year. Arsene Wenger hasn’t built Arsenal into one of the greatest clubs in England, we were pretty darned great before him, if maybe suffering a bit with our place at the top due to some recent turmoil right before he arrived.
But since his arrival, Wenger has modernized the club, built an amazing training facility which is producing some of the finest English talent the League has ever seen (even Jamie Redknapp is effusive with praise for Jack Wilshere), has kept Arsenal in the Champions League for 13 years straight, and has recently managed to do so on a shoestring budget in order to build a state-of-the-art 60,000 seat arena which will allow Arsenal to compete with the Barcelona’s, Ream Madrid’s, Man U’s, and others on nearly equal footing for generations to come. No, we don’t get a trophy for fiscal prudence but nor do we get a Liverpool Raspberry for fiscal stupidity. Just look at the hundreds of millions that Man City spent and the best they can hope for is a 4th place finish. Now tell me that Arsenal hasn’t improved this season.
Let me leave you with this little mental exercise: what will you do if Wenger goes into next season with Chamakh as Arsenal’s only acquisition?
Wenger said “trust me” today over transfers and I do. I don’t just look at one season but the whole history of Wenger transfers and with just a few exceptions, he’s been solid: for every Jeffers, there’s two Vermaelens.
In the trust category, he’s said that one or two will go out, that we need to shore up defense and that we WILL sign someone before June 11th. In the distrust category, he also said that Fabianski just needs consistency, that the midfield is good enough, and that if Gallas leaves then we will buy a defender.
I have seen this before with Arsene, talk about transfers and bring in just one player when the consensus is that we need more than just one. Yes, it could be that Wenger is just deflecting, so he could get a keeper or a guy like Gary Cahill on the cheap and under everyone’s noses. I pray that’s the case, because I don’t know how we’ll make it an entire season with Djourou and Vermaelen as our only center backs or how we’ll stay in the Champions League with Fabianski as our number one.
But what exactly will you do if the club turns up in August and Wenger’s doing the “likeanewsigning” thing and introducing all these young players plus Chamakh?
Me? I think I’ll be angry if we don’t buy a keeper and I would rate our chances of winning the title very low. But, then what? So I’m angry? Am I going to go out and get Dial Square scarfs and protest the club? Maybe. Am I going to call for the end of the Wenger Era? Doubtful.
But what happens if the board says no way, and Wenger gets five more years and it’s another five years of the same beautiful football, no trophies, youth players come in, senior players leave, Arsenal build their property portfolio… you know the same as the last five? Then what?
I’ll probably be a lot more cynical but I know where I will be. Do you?
Comments
Tim… don’t let it get to you. The internet brings out the worst in people, sometimes commenters can’t keep a sane head and the whole thing just devolves (that a word?) into chaos.
Frankly, I still rate your site up there among the best Arsenal Blogs.
That said, I do always make it a point to point to my source
nice blog , keep it up
Wenger said we should trust him!! Hahahahhahahahahahah!!!!
What will I do if we only buy one player? Nothing still support them cause thats really what you’re suppose to do. And I tell you what I’m not gonna do and that is call this person and that person a cunt and then boo my own team before they’ve even kicked a ball. Next season may in some respects be the end of an era and I for one will be backing them all the way. And for those who feel different there’s always the door. Nobody holds a gun to your head to support Arsene and Arsenal football club.
@Marko, This. This. This. If I ever meet you I owe you a pint, or two.
i support ARSENAL, i do not support Arsene, he’s the manager not the club, and if he only brings in one player then i will call for his lying head
But what happens if the board says no way, and Wenger gets five more years and it’s another five years of the same beautiful football, no trophies, youth players come in, senior players leave, Arsenal build their property portfolio… you know the same as the last five? Then what?
Yes i know where i will be. I will be sitting in bedroom of Wenger , while he wakes up.
“Whats that in your hand ?” waffled Wenger asks.
Followed by a swish sound.
@Aman, You need medical help.
Aman
You need to get some help.
@GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye, Ya need to get some sense of hUmour
@Aman, If thats your idea of humour, then you need to get out more.
@GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye, Either that or he needs a girlfriend.
@XTG, and im married
anyways i guess u all took it into wrong sense.
but very dire game even today.we have dropped 15 points from winning positions this season, highest for epl.
RVP 1-0 Blackburn 14-15 min into the game. Vela missed a wide open net.
@ctpa,
Well if ever there was a reason to be unsettled, today it was all there – lateral passing, no finish, Eboue’s characteristic fatal final passes, Walcott’s inability to beat his first man, Sylvestre’s geriatric “defending”, Fabianski’s lack of presence and inability to organize in front of the net, Nasri/Diaby/Traore/Arshevin/Vela’s anonymity. Thank God for van Persie and Campbell! So disgusting, I couldn’t give a toss what these clowns do at home next week.
We need more than one change. There is no guts or commitment in this team. A bunch of pretty boys who play just well enough to seduce us into thinking they are a championship calibre team. It’s not there, they aren’t organized, there’s no real strategy. We can get all the players we can afford and they will all degenerate into the level of skill exhibited today. Short pointless training ground tricks, aimless passes and avoiding tackles to stay healthy. AW may be able to bring the best out of raw talent but he can’t build a team.
I heard from a friend of a friend’s travel agent’s wife’s best friend’s brother who knows gary cahill’s physical therapist’s dry cleaner’s girlfriend’s sister’s school mate that he has alright signed an agreement to come to arsenal.
@mark.sd, i call bullshit, everybody knows Cahill’s physical therapist is a jeans-and-tshirt type of guy who doesn’t use a dry cleaner at all.
I’ll still be a disappointed Arsenal supporter, of course, whose enjoyment of their nice football will be slightly tarnished by observing that the excuse of straightened financial circumstances due to the building of the stadium no longer explains our lack of success at the highest levels.
But, what I would worry about is how many younger fans will have come in–a whole generation or more of young kids who don’t care about fiscal balances but about exciting sporting glory and bragging rights on the playgrounds will have been lost.
If the club is so good at long term thinking, it will be deeply concerned about allowing this period to stretch more than a year or two more before irreversible damage to the supporter base and lost opportunities inhibit the long term growth of the club.
I already feel like the board/Arsene didn’t take the necessary steps in Jan to ensure we have the squad depth to challenge for trophies. I overlooked that because Jan is usually a tricky time for transfers with players cup tied and a lot of them just waiting till the summer to make the move. We all know where our weaknesses are. I am not asking that we buy certain players – just that we buy a certain number of players to fill up those weak spots. I trust Arsene with identifying talent more than anyone else which is why all the transfer news before the fact are a joke. Every year we have plenty of transfer rumors floating around and every year it’s someone who wasn’t on anyone’s radar to comes to our club and ends up doing quite well. However, If we do not buy and strengthen the squad, it will only make the feel that the board and Wenger are happy to fight for a top 4 finish with no real ambition to win silverware.
Only Chamakh…fine. Just as long as we get rid of Vela (just watched 1st half at Blackburn…bloody useless), Almunia & Fabianski (I would rather see Campbell with the gloves on) & Silvestre (no comment required).
I’m fed up with hearing about how good Vela will be, he may be good in reserve games but he has shown nothing in the premier league games he has been involved in. I think he will eventually become a very average player with no place in our squad.
Is anyone really surprised that we didn’t challenge for the league ? How can we, we have not had a keeper since Lehman went mad in the European cup final against Barca.
Don’t bother, “…keeper isn’t an area I (Wenger) necessarily want to strengthen”. Says it all really.
if wenger really believes that then he has lost the right to manage this club
@DeeTees, judging Vela on the sporadic first team appearances he’s made is unfair. No player, in particular a young one, is going to shine when you throw him in a game once every two months. Now, maybe he’s been sucking it up in practice and that explains his lack of game time, but proclaiming him “useless” having seen so little of him is bullshit.
@DeeTees, Didn’t challenge for the league? Uh. Up until a month ago we challenged, just we have a few too many injuries. It’s a bit difficult to sprint with only one leg.
1-1 as Dunn ties off a CK.
Arsenal ladies lose the FA Cup to Everton in ET.
It is not new players we need-apart from replacing Silvestre and Vela-it is organisation-we need Hodgson not Liverpool. Wenger has lost it completely.
@goonerjay, Yeah, so we can finish 12th instead of 3rd!
We really need a new keeper. I’m going to be really disappointed if we don’t.
will keep supporting the team but will urge the supporters to remind Wenger and the board that we can not wait forever to win something, we’re not Spurs.We are a team that once made the great alex ferguson moan that we were outmuscling, outplaying evryone. we are a team that went the whole season un beaten and still playing the most beautiful football. So i would support the team but i would urge all Arsenal loving fans to remind the board the we need results.Only a fool will deny the fact that we need a top class finisher to help Van Persie, a solid defender, a top class goalkeeper and maybe a little bit of muscle and height in midfield.
oh and yes we also need players like ashavin to tell us where their heart is.
To answer your question – I’ll still cheer, but be extremely disappointed that we didn’t get a stronger keeper and another CB to add depth.
But then again, I don’t see the young guns enough to say, maybe the guys we have in the pipeline can make that step up. That’s what we’re doing with the youth program right? Building our own stars, instead of trying to overpay to bring someone else’s products here. Bartley, Nordveldt, Chesney, Watt, Thomas, Coquelin, others… we got to assume they’re going to get their chances on the first team eventually.
WTF, man!! Just watched the “highlights” of the game and a few things have come to mind:
1. I miss Lehmann…I know he was nuts, but you would never have seen that many players (our or the opponent’s) right in front of him for a set piece. Lehmann would have cleared them all out long before the ball was put into play. Fabiansky just sits there, hands at his sides, waiting to be shoved aside. Unacceptable. Although a world-class keeper would be great, a competent one who makes the saves he should make is good enough.
2. We need more CB’s with attitude. If only Sol was 10 years younger, I’d feel more comfortable. Silvestre is and always has been crap (Wenger really did drop the ball by picking him up). Maybe we’ve got some guys from the youth squad ready to start cutting their teeth with the big boys. Although Djourou has great size, he’s just too tame. Maybe he should spend the summer being tutored by Martin Keown (I miss that guy!)
3. We need to learn how to shoot. We have missed more sitters over the past few seasons than many teams get shots – Vela’s miss was pathetic. Any player with a hunger to win should have scored there…heck, I could have scored there, and that’s a sad commentary in and of itself.
4. DirectTV lied to me…last Friday, the guide showed that FSP would televise the game, so I set it to record. Had a crappy day at work, but hey, I had an Arsenal game to watch when I got home…NOT!
5. Tim, this is a great blog and I think you do a fantastic job here! Keep doing what you do!
6. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chamakh is one of two signings for the off-season…I think Wenger has a CB in mind.
7. Although we’re going through a rough past few years, I still have faith in Wenger – Remember a few years ago when Ferguson was taking a lot of heat at ManUrinated? Guess, what, he’s gotten back to his winning ways and Wenger will as well. More importantly, as has been noted many times, Wenger is setting the stage for years of domination with the academy…It will happen!
8. The other day, with all the Stoke posters on here was one of the funniest comment sections, ever! Bunch of neanderthals!
These days Wenger is a long list of platitudes and insignificant bullshit,i used to adore his press briefings in the early days when he usually said something profound.These days it is excuse after excuse and rambling after rambling,he has clearly lost his rack and is not the cool.calm and collected maanger he once was.
@Danish Gooner, Do us all a favour and crawl back under your rock
gunnersince…..
nice constructive retort to Danish gunner. i spose you are one of those arseholes who denigrates anyone who is not sat salivating and wanking in agreement with all things wenger
@silent stan, Nio you sad plastic, I am sick of twats like Danish Gooner, who fills every Arsenal blog with nothing but bile and doom mongeriung bull shit.
You make a lovely couple, you sad glory hunting cunt from where exactly?
2-1 blackburn, another fabianski flap.
we need a world class keeper and a world class centre back. further proof today. wenger needs to stop worrying about finances and more about winning.
i’m living in toronto and the maple leafs here haven’t won the stanley cup in 43years, they haven’t been in the playoffs for 5 years but they still fill the place every game. so the owners don’t give a shit about winning anything. well i dont want to see the same at arsenal. the board loves wenger, full stadium, money rolling in, he wont spend on players, why would they give a damn about trophies.
the fans want trophies and if you say you don’t care you’re either a fool or you’re lying.
how will you feel when fabregas leaves because he’s tired of waiting for a trophy and tired of the lack of the desire from the board to strengten the team?
@TonyM, Not you again. I told you yesterday, and I’ll tell you again. Go support Grimbsy in League 2 on a rainy evening in the cold against Tranmere, losing 4 – nil. Then, and only then can you whinge about Arsenal.
@XTG,
you’re just another idiot who supports the team blindly. what use are you? winning is the whole point of the game.
@TonyM, At least I’m not a plastic cunt like yourself.
@XTG,
its funny how you tell danish gooner he hasn’t made an intelligent comment on here when most of your comments seem to just abuse people whose opinion you don’t agree with
@TonyM, You sound like a glory hunter.
@GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye,
nah, i just want arsenal to be the best. if some of the players had the same passion for this club that i do then we’d be winning things.
sol campbell for instance, the desire and heart we have seen from that man has been incredible, a true gooner legend. he has put some of the young players to shame
@XTG,
when i did the legends tour 2 months ago perry groves said the exact same thing, he wanted trophies and he didn’t give a damn about the finances, let the board handle that. he’s a true gooner legend, are you going to tell him go support grimsby??
@TonyM, I feel the same, and I was pissed off when the squad wasnt added to adequatley yet again, but the amount of injuries has really fucked us up and the team are limpi9ng to a close, hopefully we will beat Fulham so at least can finish 3rd.
That was special. Not. You could feel the writing was on the wall just reading the text of the match. Setpiece + Fabianski = goal. Wigan redux.
Song, Eboue, Senderos, Fabianski. 50-50 shot that Fabianski actually becomes decent. problem is I would rather he become decent on loan rather than killing our chance for 3rd. Did Almunia’s hand fall off. WTF is that wrist injury all about?
I am currently watching the BR game live with the gunners 2-1 down.To be honest the in Arsene we trust brigade will have dwindling support.I am afraid based on this display,the gunners won’t be able to challenge for the title let alone win it.
i am afraid there is too much deadwood floating around.Players are running into cul de sacs and passes are going astray.The defence is the main problem and has been for the last four to five years.On top of that the gunners have not been able not that many fashion shots at goal.
I can guarantee there will be revolt at the ES if only Chamakh is the only signing. Even a blind man will know the defence needs shoring up, he must have been listening to the radio.
Arsene ask the fans to trust him.Well based on this display and if he doesnt add more ready made players he is asking for trouble.Btw Robinson has been having quite a care free time. Don’t be surprised the gunners finish fourth.
1 win in the last 8 games.
4 defeats and a draw in the last 5. acceptable??
not in my eyes
Well that was fucking hopeless.
Horrible,horrible performance from overpaid fancy dans.
oh dear, no handshake? Well, at least there won’t be much written about the game itself then i guess.
@b, There was a handshake
Here’s a more appropriate question. What will we do if we lose at home to Fulham and Spurs win their last two games? With our loss just suffered today at Blackburn, we have won ONE match in the last 8 matches. ONE. We are at the VERY least, THREE players (not counting Chamakh) away from challenging for the title in this league. A goalkeeper on par with Cech or Van der Saar, another centre back as talented, if not more talented than Vermaelen, and a striker.
If Wenger only brings in Chamakh, my faith in him to do the job will be gone. I will be rooting for the team regardless, but I will be sorely, sorely disappointed in Arsene. Arsene knows more about football than any of us ever will, but sometimes when you’re so immersed and so inside the bubble as he is, one has a hard time seeing what’s seemingly so glaringly obvious to everyone outside that bubble. What’s obvious is that this squad needs upgrading and this squad needs some addition by subtraction too.
What is the point of Nasri ? He is at best a traffic cone,walcott the same,silvestee the less said the better,Fabianski,sub standard keeper,the new Rami Shaaban,ohhh but wait for it,Wenger says he will be world class and you know,in Wenger we trust.
@Danish Gooner, Oh shut it, you imbecile, you haven’t EVER, ever made an intelligent comment ever. Your like a fucking drain, you moan all day every day. You could win the fucking lottery and you’d whinge that you had to go to the bank to cash the check.
@XTG, Hahahaha! Spot on!
What the fuck is the ES?
A truly disapointing result especially given the fact that Blackburn offered fuck all and only won thanks to the hapless Fabianski gifting them both goals.
Of course there will be new additions to the squad.
TonyM, perhaps you missed it, but Wenger said recently that the finances are now sufficiently sorted to allow him to spend this summer. If he doesnt there will be alot of disgruntled Gooners.
Football isnt rocket science,if you assemble some talent,tells them to defend for their lives you will eventually end up being successfull,but these fancy dans have no professional pride,they are hughly overpaid and pampered beyond belief,they dont have a clue on defending as a team and what is worrying they dont have a clue on how to attack as a team and what is seriously worrying they dont seem to have the fire i n the belly and at some point i think they dont actually care.It is a damaging indictment of all at Arsenal but eventually the buck stops with the manager who is so lost and so stubborn it is actually killing the club and yhe players.
If we get a GK and chamakh and then gallas and campbell stays i’ll be happy. If we only sign chamakh well then i’d say chesney will be making his league debut next season with bartley!!!!!
If you think Wenger will spend…..you are naive beyond belief.
@Danish Gooner, I’ve told you already,. gert back under your rock!!!
@GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye, don`t you know more than that? i mean are you that limited that you can not even present a argument for your belief?
@Aman, Oh I am really sorry, perhaps I should post something about slitting his throat instead. You’d like that.
@Danish Gooner, just a GK with a swap back to 4-4-2 and we’ll be fine next season so there isn’t a need to splash the cash. Heard today that we haven’t conceded this many goals since the 02-03 season so the 4-3-3 must have something to do with that.
The problem is Arsene is treated like god. The board are afraid he will join another club and they pamper to his every whim and fancy.So he thinks he is like god and can do what he wants playing beautiful football and getting beaten.let’s be brutally honest. If the top managers think playing such soccer can win you trophies,they would have done so.
1. I will be supporting the Arsenal, no doubt.
2. It seems I missed all the fun with stoke fans.
3. How in hell can we lose to such a poor and cheater team? I think that in both goals Fabianski was pushed, but here’s the thing: The world knows he is on the verge of a dangerous mistake every minute. Add to that poor refereeing and we get what we got today, and end up playing victim, which makes me even angrier. What happened with the shielding of the GK that Denilson use to do at set pieces?
Why dont our players get a little dirty too? I mean, when sexy footy doesnt work, start pushing, grabing shirts, balls, a little foul here, push the keeper, whatever it takes! Sagna almost dislocated his shoulder when going for a high ball because of some dirty asshole(not that he doesnt wipe his own). I rambling, but my main point is this: Our players better start believing in themselves, and playing like they mean it. Its all it takes for this squad to start clicking. Once a good run starts, even refs will be on our side. As a side note, spanish commentators on ESPN gave MOTM to Fabianski.
Shit! My mum always told me never to trust anybody who says “Trust me”.
@PTangYangKipperBang, Mum’s know best!
Its sad to say that real Gunners expected no more than a defeat especially when RVP scored. How many times this season have we lost a lead? Apart from RVP, Sol, Song, what of the rest can be called men in the footballing sense? The rest disappear and go crab like into the mist.
Finally……I dont know about the rest of you but if passing sidewways until the opposition have all 11 back is beautiful footie then you can keep it. Try looking at recordings of the first 10 maches this season and see how many shots we were taking! then tell me how many we have actually taken in the last 8 matches?
We are now an average side and will be lucky to get the points to finsih third….BUT DONT WORRY TRUST ARSENE HE SAYS …well mate I have been a devotee for over 11 years and ive had enough.
@GunnerPete, The team was playing really well, this season, up till a few weeks ago they were challenging for the title and have seen the heart ripped from the team thru an unbelievable amount of injuries. But now we are average?
In hindsight the manager should’ve added to the squad and hopefully that will be addressed in the summer. Wenger needs to sort out the keeper position for sure and a new CB or 2 if Gallas goes too. Add Chamakh and maybe a midfielder (depending on how the likes of Eastmond, ramsey, Wilshire, lansbury etc look in pre-season)
What a way to be closing out the season. All the good feeling i had about the direction at which the club was moving is now on a razor’s edge. We will win f*** all without squad depth.
IF I WERE FABIANSKI…
I WOULD HAVE BROKEN ONE OF THE BLACKBURN PLAYERS JAWS WITH MY ELBOW AFTER THE FIRST COUPLE OF TIMES THEY CAME CRASHING IN ON THE HIGH BALLS.
That would have fixed a lot of problems for me career wise… yes – I would have gotten a red card. But you know what? The next time around other teams may wonder about the wisdom of trying to unsettle me in that fashion. And the Arsenal fans would have saluted some toughness finally showing up in net.
Jesus, we were manhandled out there today. It is getting shameful.
What we really and truly need is a good defensive coach who can teach them the basics of defending. No protection for our GK on set pieces, poor ball distribution out of the back and chaos in knowing when to step up is very coachable. We don’t seem to practice anything other than passing.
GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye i fucked your mum and got the craps.
@Danish Gooner, The craps???? That sums you up, your come backs are completely lame and miss their intended target, you plastic fuckwit.
That was special. Not. 3rd place is definitly in danger now. Can we cater S***s pre game meal
Song, Traore, Clichy, Eboue, Senderos, Fabianski. See the pattern. Fabianski could become the next big thing but could he do it via a loan to Grimsby
Bottom line today is that we got beat. Blackburn are effective at home (unbeaten by the top 3) and we see why. Gotta respect that. The game will always pit football versus anti-football. One cannot exist without the other. Mourinho does not exist without Guardiola. Allerdyce without Wenger.
One thing is for sure, as long as Wenger is in charge we will get football!
Let’s be philosophical about defeat in general.
Cheer when they win, cry when they lose. Invest as much emotion as would be considered healthy. Always move on because success and failure in this game are fairly fleeting. If Chelsea win on Sunday, United are also-rans like us and their past success is just history. The same history that sustains us when we lose. The same history that Liverpool cling to and Ferguson chases. The history of this beautiful game.
Next season we will start strong and with the same optimism as ever. The squad will be strengthened with fresh bodies or just the experience of this season alone. The latter you might believe to be insufficient to challenge for the EPL or the UCL but we’re all supporters to the end regardless of who’s at the helm or between the sticks or on the bench. Wenger, Alumnia, Silvestre. We’re all Arsenal!
Come on The Arsenal!
I had a laugh you ignorant tool.
GunnerSince!WasAGlintInTheMilkman’sEye din mor knepper godt men din luderkæreste kan ikke få den hårdt nok i røven, din omvandrende herpes sperder.I am sending you loads of compliments !!!!
@Danish Gooner, Oh dear, I didnt think it was possible, but you are showing yourself up even more than usual.
So, as well as being a whiny friendless inadequate, you have a twisted and warped little under developed mind too.
I begin to miss the old P. Vieira. Then he gets a lot of red cards but no team dares to bully the Arsenal. Now everybody does it, particularly that old dirty Bulldog Sam.
And English referees allow such bullying.
So it becomes a vicious circle. Teams bully us, because they believe this tactic can reap results. Such bullying and tough tactics will lead to more injuries and leg breaking…and we will lose points, which will lead to more teams bullying us…and more leg breaking. The bookmakers can lay down the odds which midfielder and striker will break his leg next season…
We must stop it!
I think you are all missing the point.
I guess the question is: Why would Arsene sign only Chamakh? (if we go for this mental ride, of course)
Is it because he says that he does not have the money,
Or he says he believes this team only needs one more player to play for trophys.
Of course, he can never say the first, so he will always go for the second.
This of course leads to the obvious reaction from the fans, and whatever they may say,
all can agree that with only one player added, we will win zip again next season.
And since we can never know the real reason for the signing of just one player, what’s the point in getting angry.
What I am scared of is that I will become indifferent to the club.
And with this type of transfer activities, and final games of the season so passionless that my blood pressure drops, I’m afraid that just might happen.
As a true Arsenal fan, we must support the team as well as Wenger our greatest manager. We must not behave like Abramovich, who kicks out any coach or manager when his team does not perform to the standard he wants and win trophies. Getting rid of managers and bringing in new ones and buying expensive players do not guarantee success–on the contrary, it just unsettles the team. Those anti-wengerites should take note of this. Chelsea is the good example. After JM the despicable Special one, how many trophies have Chelsea won until this season despite the change of managers? How does Mancity and Real Madrid fare after spending an indecent amount of money?
I dont believe in Wenger but I respect his philosophy. I have already said that he is stubborn in bringing up this squad to win something. This is his last project–and since he cannot bring in another Vieira or Henry, he must believe in these youngsters. I think he is entitled to such an idealistic project after what he has done for the Arsenal. If he uproots his squad and wins another trophy, that will not be a success to him, but a failure. Only when he can win a trophy with this squad, then he will consider himself a success.
However, it is at this point I dont believe in him, nor his squad. As Wenger has given up on the Carling Cup, the only trophy he can win is either the League, or the Champions League. But I cannot see this squad of players winning either of these two trophies. The team has no spirit when down, it has no leader other than Cesc in midfield or attack; no organisation in defence.
With this squad, it will take at least 2-3 years more for them to realistically challenge for anything. It is because then they will be at the ripe age of 25 years or older.
I will not be disappointed if Wenger falls short of bringing in enough good players for next season because I dont expect him to. Just dont expect too much and aim too high–Arsenal historically have never been a team like Liverpool or ManUtd which can dominate the League for long. So be it!
As a true fan, it is indecent to put your team on a pedestal and then cause its fall! That is what the anti-Wengerites do.
If Arsenal next season can fight like this season until April, I will be happy. I am afraid they wont start the season well…
is this a record? (number of lines of reply postings for a blog post?)
Greetings from 10 AM kickoff area (although it was 12 today). I only discovered your blog a couple of weeks ago, so I can’t yet say for sure if it’s consistently good — which is more than I can say about Fabianski.
But what these numpties don’t seem to get is that you are a fan, not a journalist. You do not have a responsibility to report on the facts and then form opinions thereon. You are fully entitled to be as opinionated as hell, even if you’re wrong. As long as you don’t outright lie, you’ll be fine — unless, of course, you want to write for an English or Spanish media source, ha ha.
It’s your site: If you don’t like the comment that an opposing fan posts, you are free to smack him around. You’re the boss here, and you can shove the truth down those bastards’ faces. Who’s gonna stop you, Mike Dean? He and his card-happy hands ain’t here. Sic ‘em.
@Uncle Mike, I’m not consistently good. I’m largely mediocre punctuated by occasional brilliance and occasional crap. That’s always been my lot in life.
If you stick around, you’ll see what I mean.
Sorry, I meant either “shove it IN their faces,” or “shove it down their THROATS.” This is what Arsenal have done to me, playing in my language’s homeland and making me muss it up.
Joe Hart or Robert Green?
Joe Hart. Question is how much. $15-20M?