Arsene Wenger was pressed on transfers after Arsenal’s win this evening after a day in which the club were ludicrously linked with Serbian beanpole Nikola Zigic.
Asked about the eastern-European Peter Crouch he said, “No!”, the same answer he gave to a question about Danny Welbeck’s potential arrival.
However, he didn’t rule out more arrivals, even if he did try and play down the demand for a new striker.
“If you want to make everyone happy, you just always buy players,” he said.
“But what is important is the performance on the football pitch and the solidarity we have shown tonight. Having said that, if you look at the players we have on the bench and those who are injured, we have players.
“I believe you cannot every time buy when a player is injured, but we are open for any position as long as we feel that the player can strengthen the squad.
“Buy to buy, I don’t see the purpose of that. If we find the players who we feel can give something to our squad, we will do it in any position. We are open but it has to be enough to buy. It has to make sense.”
Would a striker make sense? Yes. Would a centre-half make sense? Yes, it would make all the sense. Would a defensive midfielder make sense? Indeed it would.
But then maybe our sense and Arsene’s sense are very different. But hopefully not so different that it’s the kind of sense that sees a creepy little boy see a dead Bruce Willis who doesn’t know he’s dead.
That’s the main thing.
Carvalho, Rabiot, Cavani, Remy, Falcao. Any of these players would be massive for us. Where’s that grin, Mr. Wenger? #COYG
I’m not reallly a fan of Remy, he’s distinctly average
Remy is ok, I mean he’s better then Welbeck, although admittedly so is syphilis
Yeah, at least with syphilis you can finish.
*snigger*
Manure will not sell Welbeck to a rival team.
QPR and Stoke have changed their search
I think if arsenal should buy a CB who has the ability to also play as a defensive midfielder, for example Callum chambers can play RB and CB and Sanchez can play on the wing and as a striker so Arsene needs to bring a versatile player
Highly doubt you have ever seen Rabiot play & how would signing a centre midfielder ease our striker crisis?
Hey, why not Bony?
He’s strong, knows where the goal is, and can surely play like we want.
He can score too!
As long as we bring in a CB the rest is all extras to me (I want a DM and CF but don’t really expect both at all)
The most important bit for now is that we’re through
Yep, CB is absolutely essential. It would be straight up insane to go into the season with just six first team defenders and only two of those being out and out CBs!
I’m sure will get a CB, just not a very good one. It’s hard to sell someone on being 4th choice. If only Miquel was able to grab his chance, but he seems not to have Wenger’s trust.
Including Calum, we have 3 CB, 2 LB & including Bellarin, we have 2 RB. Jenkinson wasn’t going to get sufficient games, hence loaned out. We only need a 4th choice CB. A good DM who can play CB should address that requirement. In the central striker department our 1st choice is out injured till new year. We only have one other choice – Sanogo, who has never scored for us competitively. The way our team plays currently with a main focal point with a good old big man CF. We don’t any of those in the team. Either we… Read more »
you can’t count a player twice for two positions.
I wasn’t trying to be creative 🙂
Let’s see, 2 LB – Gibbs & Monreal. 3 CB – Koscialney, Mertesaker & Calum. RB – Debuchy & Bellarin.
A DM covering CB when our 3rd CB is talented-but young and raw would be beyond a mistake
No Zigic? Fuck! NO! God no!
Don’t worry. Kalou is waiting for Arsene’s call any minute now.
Well, I could see us going for Peter Crouch.
The only reason I would want Crouch in Arsenal is to see Abbey Clancy in an Arsenal jersey..
Press Conference Poker. He is a master.
Sanchez was great replacement tonight!!
I’m pretty sure after tonight’s performance that Alexis will be enough, especially as the team get sharper each week.
#COYG
If that means we add to our options with a Defensive Mid and Centre Half, I’m okay with that. For now at least.
Let’s all pray to Bergkamp he doesn’t get injured even for a week until after the new year at least
The difference between us being genuine title/CL contenders and making up the numbers is two players. One DM (who could also cover as CB) and a top class striker. I believe Carvallo (spelling) is available, but not sure who ‘realistic’ striker options are.
Also just goes to show we make £25m from winning this match, it’s worth investing in quality.
Starting the season with two players covering CB and only two actual centre backs would be a horrendous gamble
I think if we get a DM that makes Chambers a CB for the season. He sure looks like one at the moment, so it’s not that huge a gamble. We’d have three CBs and one midfielder covering CB, which I think is pretty much perfect, as it’s hard to give 4 CBs enough playing time. It’s true that Chambers also covers RB, but Wenger doesn’t seem to see him in that position long term, and if Debuchy gets injured/suspended/rested we also have Bellerin to come in/put on the bench. On the other hand, if we get a CB, we’ll… Read more »
A CB is more important than either of those. We have more cover at DM -even if it’s not the ones some folks like- than we do at CB.
I’d happily take all three though!
Zigic’s agent though; he hears voices not spoken.
What about BA or Higuain?
I think BA is a little past it these days and doping his milk for every flight would surely see him failing a drugs test regularly
What do we need with British Airways?
I think he means BA Baracus (formerly of the A-Team). He’s a strong, no nonsense type, but he’s no good in the air.
Defensive midfield, that mythical creature whose mere presence will supposedly stop Lukaku charging at our defence on the counter attack. We know not what this defensive midfielder is. We just hear of him, uttered both in hushed tones and loud proclamations by the empty vessels. He is the solution, they say, he will bring calm and peace to the land, and erect a wall to protect the villagers. Amongst his many virtues, tales are told about his unrivalled ability to slot in at centre half, and yet this fabled being supposedly possesses the artistry to instigate many an offensive enterprise… Read more »
Sounds like Viera or Toure Yaya.
Yep, Yaya Toure is a beast at CB
Haha, this cracked me up. The amount of hype we see when it comes to this mythical being and what kind of difference he makes is crazy. Yet Luiz Gustavo, often mentioned as one of these mythical beings, was present in Brazil’s midfield when they got completely flattened 7-1 by Germany.
He must have had an off day though, or I’m sure he would’ve prevented all 7 goals on his own.
Gustavo is better than what we have…germany would’ve scored more with either of them playing for brazil.
That’s just beautiful :'(
It’s like reading Alex Song’s self-published autobiography
I don’t see him buying a striker. He will use Alexis and Yaya until OG is back. The Ox will cover for Theo on the right and it looks like he wants to play Ozil on the left. As for CB coverage I think he will stick with Chambers. We might go for a DM since both of our current ones are getting on. So, my prediction is we sign a DM possibly Carvalho or Rabiot. Hope I’m wrong and we get at least a CB and DM.
I agree that he’ll use Alexis and Yaya, I think he sees the potential of a Suarez type of striker in Alexis.
I’m not so sure about DM, I wouldn’t be suprised if he tries Chambers there soon and then rotates him with Arteta and Flamini in that deeper role.
Either a young or old cheap CB to come in..
Not saying it’s what i’d do
Hilarious how quickly the atmosphere can change around a club. Yesterday evening I was praying we’d sign a striker, yet I just found myself writing a comment that though one would be nice, once our team settles and Walcott gets back we’ll be in decent shape. Fickle, eh? Trying to look at it objectively (difficult after Sanchez put in such a great performance), still reckon we’re a bit short, as everyone says, but the one thing that stands irrespective of the mood around the club is this- if we get Ramsey and Wilshere playing together at their best, it won’t… Read more »
Thumbaholic awareness
I love the way this rabiot fella, who most of us wouldn’t know if he lived next door gets mentioned somewhere on a blog and suddenly he’s one of the guys we need in the team.I call it the Aurrier factor, someone somewhere mentioned his name so Arsenal need to sign him. And why anyone would even mention Falcao is beyond me. Can you imagine Wenger smashing up his precious wage structure again??
Yeah, I’m not sure whether people realize that he’s absolutely not a defensive midfielder, despite his height.
Rabiot has played as a dm a couple of times for the french u21. He played mostly as a cm for psg. you should do some research…his defensive stats aren’t that bad
Transfermarkt lists it as one of his secondary positions, along with LM.
To be honest, the whole DM thing smells a bit of the whole “we need this or that!”. Our defensive record last year was amazing, except for a few games where a DM would not have made a difference as we got our tactic completely wrong. It all started some time ago when some pundit or other mentioned how we needed a “proper DM”, which I’m not even sure what is. Most seem to think that Yaya Toure is one, despite the fact that he’s really not all that good defensively. All we really need at this point is a… Read more »
We do need a midfield enforcer who can also pass like a matic, javi martinez etc. We lost against the big teams because arteta was overran in the midfield.
I think it comes from fond memories of the invisible wall, Gilberto.
Defensively we need reinforcements whether it’s a centre back or defensive midfielder who can play at centre back.
As for striker, unless we offload someone like Campbell or Podolski, it’s hard to see us signing one.
I think Wenger knows we need a CB and a striker, but he’s not just going to sign someone to fill a gap today if he’ll be deadwood tomorrow.
Not many top CBs on the market. And the likes of Cavani and Falcao are on nonsense wages we could never match.
The numbers do not add up. We were short for defenders last year and have not even fully replaced the ones we lost (verm, sagna, jenks, replaced by chambers and debuchy). Now we loose our only true centre forward – the others are supporting attackers. We MUST sign a defender and a striker. Surely?
ZIGIC would be a massive signing
I don’t know, it’s a tall order.
I’d say it would be the height of panic buying
can we stop with all this zigic nonsense. It’s just a tall tale alright.
We can have no higher hopes.
It would be a gigantic blunder.
We definitely need a striker though methinks much depends on if we can flog Podolski for a fair amount. If one can add £17 Million or so I think we may get the world class striker we all would like to see.
Ergh, Arsene and transfers really winds me up.
No-one is suggesting that you always have to buy when you have an injury, but when you have obvious gaps in a squad (CB.DM,CF) then you have to add.
In four games we’ve picked up three injuries, one is long term and the other two have no definite timescales when they are back, add thee to the exsisting gaps and you have to add.
I really hope Arsene doesn’t revert back to type and doesn’t supplement the squad with the numbers needed.
It is becoming transfer window déjà vu…… It always seems we’re just a couple of signings from being real title contenders.
Still , there’s 4 days left……..
Alexis seems to be our Aguero – CF. He never got a chance at Barcelona with Messi playing in the middle, but Alexis has the qualities to be a World Class Striker, just needs to be more clinical like Aguero. Expecting to see in the next 3-4 months :
Alexis
Cazorla – Ozil – Walcott
I know it’s easy to get carried away, but perhaps Alexis should score more than one goal for us before we pile on the pressure and compare him to Aguero? Aguero had the best goal per min ratio in the league last year if I recall correctly, which is difficult to match.
I agree but i was thinking that before his goal today, i was actually thinking that when we signed him. the only difference i see between Aguero and Alexis is experience at the top level as a Striker and being clinical. Alexis for the past 3 years only played as a CF for Chile while he has been playing as a winger at Barcelona, unlike Aguero who plays as a striker for years. Give Alexis time as the role and i believe he will thrive there. He is as strong and fast as Aguero if not more and is a… Read more »
… I didn’t know the Rabiot kid was a DM … According to scouting rumors is an attacking midfielder … So, Nah … I rather Carvahlo and the CD which I don’t have a clue who is half decent and available to play for us out there …
CBs we should seriously look at getting: Nastasic (pellegrini alluded to the fact that he might be on his way and now that roma have signed manolas it is possible he comes to us) Toby Alderwerild (mind the spelling, He is very versatile and can play cb rb and lb and considering our injury hoodoo he might come in handy) Winston Reid (Cheapest and i think could be an eventual replacement for Kos as he gets older) I think top target should be Nastasic though simply because he is the best defender out of the three and he is only… Read more »
I love how the ones “we should look at signing” are always ones we’ve been linked with. Doubt you’d name those three had newspapers not linked them with Arsenal.
Nb there was.dissimulation in my sentence thanks thumbing down idiots. ZIGIC is massive plus fucking shit.
DM & striker pls Arsene
If Arsene can’t get the players he wants then we won’t buy anyone.
He won’t pay more than his valuation either, even if there’s a potential of a deal being done.
He won’t change his ways, love him or loath him at least he’s consistent
I might be the only one, but I don’t want Arsene to buy another CB. I want to make sure that Calum gets plenty of game time there. I don’t think that Arsene will buy another striker, as I think he sees a lot of our wide players as depth at that position. I do however want a DM, but a young one with potential, like Carvalho or Rabiot. I just don’t really see either of them coming though. That being said, I think we do not add any more players this transfer window, and I will be happy if… Read more »
Actually, we did lose key players:
– We lost both Verm and Sagna as CB options, yet only brought in Chambers. That’s one CB option less.
– We just lost Giroud for well over half the season. By the time he’s back, we’ll be at round 22 out of 38 or so in the Premiership.
It’s also worth considering that Chelsea and City are both stronger than they were last year (especially Chelsea). In other words: We not only have to deal with our losses, we have to strengthen on top of that.
What a great team.I love the display tonight..we need DM and attacker…kudos to alexis sanches.
WHOA there, spoilers
If Sanogo runs a bit like a pissed-up giraffe would, then Zigic is the result of an unholy union between Sharron Davies and the actual pissed-up giraffe I mentioned mere moments ago.
Matt gets a thumbs-up from me for his use of the word ‘dissimulation’, and the football-friendly equation, ZIGIC=MASSIVE+FUCKING SHIT
Why is Özil playing on the left? He hasn’t played one decent game on the left since he arrived. He is too slow and he tends to hold on to the ball too long. In the middle he’s got passing options on both sides, that’s where he belongs. With Ramsey out today I was absolutely sure he’d play Özil at COM and Cazorla at LM. Why Arsene?
I don’t know if it’s just me but Mesut played on the left the entire World Cup for Germany and was immense there, in every game. At the same time when Santi arrived at the Emirates he was deployed down the middle where he was our best player going forward, surely he has way more confidence playing in that position as he enjoys it. Merge that together (Ozil on the left, Cazorla down the middle), we see players who are awesome on the ball who can interchange positions seemlessly and be dangerous either way then it can only make Theo… Read more »
I’m not sure a CB should be our top priority. The way Bellerin played in the preseason I wouldn’t mind having him play a few games at RB this season. That would make Chambers more or less a lock at CB. Also, I think Monreal did okay at CB in preseason. I’m not saying we don’t need a CB, I just think a striker is more important right now.
Rabiot is an AM.. just thought I’d provide you with a reminder
Carvalho is the DM that can make a huge difference, Ozil should play down the middle & there still needs to be a World-class LB & CB (Mertesacker too slow) brought in. The icing on the cake would be a 30 – 40 goal per season game killer, add a large dose of bad intention (still a bit soft) to the team & we could win the CL……..
I seriously don’t think we really need a striker. Joel Campbell should be given chances and I am sure he will give his best. The need of the hour is a CB who can really challange both kos and per. Once we get CB them a DM. If we get these players for these two in the next 4 days we will be good.
4-4-2 with poldi and alexis up top…
And the answer is… Diaby!
Just bring back Bendtner.
we need Cavani and Calvanho
I’m happy with Alexis up top, was even before this game, and always assumed Wenger bought him to play a lot of time at CF given that we’re already well stocked on the wings. There’s no need to rush out and buy a Falcao or a Cavani, but there’s a need to ensure we have adequate backup and don’t rely on Alexis managing to start every game between now and New Year. It’s hard to count Sanogo as adequate backup yet. It’s this failure to have adequate backups, rather than a failure of the first team squad, that has caught… Read more »
Arteta has lost his leg…just because people are asking for a dm doesn’t mean they want someone “big and strong” per say…matic is big but he’s also a great passer…thats what we need. We don’t get a dm…forget about third place talk of winning the title. dm, cb and a WORLD CLASS striker, the i can confidently say we stand a big chance of winning the league.
*legs
Not bad at all BUT we can’t rely on Arteta all season and he’s getting on. Need a solid DM IMO, preferably Carvhalo to share the load and plan for the future. And for sure another CB or we could be in all sorts of trouble. A new striker would be nice but not as essential as the other 2.
Don’t forget last year no one had an inkling of Ozil joining us – I have a funny feeling we may get a very pleasant surprise on Monday!
Difficult pickings at the moment in the market but now that we have scrapped through to the group stage, we can at least kick on with signings. Evidently despite the performance by Alexis, we are still in need of a CF. Alexis IMO is better wide with mobility and ability to roam. At CF, he is restricted and not as physically imposing albeit he is able to squirrel through gaps. CF – As Wenger mentioned, we are looking for players better than what we have but we also need to be able to afford them. The likes of Remy does… Read more »
While we search the internet for transfer rumours, arsene is watching good work on the training pitch. The chemistry in the team will grow and the goals will come. I am hoping for oxlade chamberlain goals.
Haha lolz to the person saying united are rivals haha
MK Dons gave us the best fucking LOLZ in years! Now my favourite second team!
The last comment not only refers to 6th Sense,,,, it also refers to 12 Monkeys…. think about it..
I don’t see dead people, just that woman with the big ass foot for a body that I won’t believe actually exists.
What happened to Diaby? ANSWER ME!!
He’s gone out and may not be back for some time………………………….
Yes, where is Diaby, I really want to know……. He was in training recently, or so I read somewhere…… I so hope he is fit again…… that would be ace….