Arsene Wenger says the club are still on the lookout for new faces this summer, but says deals don’t only depend on what Arsenal do.
Speaking in Singapore after the team’s arrival for the Barclay’s Asia Trophy, the manager was asked about the possibility of further signings following the £11m capture of Petr Cech from Chelsea.
“That doesn’t depend only on us,” he said, “it depends on whether we can find them, but if we can find one or two players we will do it.”
It’s a relatively familiar refrain from a man who likes to give as little away as possible, but it’s probably a further indication that any transfers will most likely be both opportunistic (e.g – a top player becoming avaiable as the market progresses), and one that will improve on what we already have.
Arsenal’s squad, in pure numbers terms, is certainly not lacking in any area, and squad fodder is not the kind of signing we should be making to bridge the gap to the champions.
Indeed, the club have spent quite freely since the arrival of Ozil in August 2013 so it’ll likely be something special that sees us get the chequebook out again.
Spending since August 2013
Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) – £42.5m
Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona) – £32m
Danny Welbeck (Man Utd) – £16m
Calum Chambers (Southampton) – £16m
Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle) – £12m
Gabriel (Villarreal) – £11m
Petr Cech (Chelsea) – £11m
David Ospina (Nice) – £4m
Total outlay: £144.5m
Loving the picture…very “professorial”
I’ve always thought he looks more like a doctor than a prof. ;
http://www.radiotimes.com/uploads/images/original/48758.jpg
when it comes to spending, AW’s handbrake is well and truly off over the last couple of years.
and not a single rip-off or duffer on that list, either. Nice work!
Basically agree, still a little surprised we dropped as much as we did on Chambers (brace for downvotes). But thinking back, a lot of add on fees were involved there and any English player costs minimum 10m plus your first born son, so perhaps we did catch a break.
Long term I definitely think Chambers will be worth the fee, and then some. Can see him taking over for Mertesacker in a few years time. It’s easy to forget how young he still is, I think he did a very good job last season all things considered.
Completely agree, think he molds some of the best of Kos & BFG. All I’m saying is he had only 25 total PL matches & was 19 when we paid in. That’s just a lot to invest for that much risk, in particular for le Prof. However, it’s good to see it end well & definitely was a signature signing I’m terms of our, I won’t say changed but, tweeked approach to acquisitions.
Yes, he lost form as the season progressed and he could even use a season on loan. But we forget so quickly how good he was as a makeshift player early on. The kid’s talented.
He was especially impressive at centre back I thought. Did he have a single poor game in the middle? It’s just once we started playing him at RB that he became less impressive, especially when retrospectively compared to Bellerin.
He doesn’t work well at RB with the way we like to play, the fullbacks give us the width so they gotta be quick, and he isn’t. He may not be quite the “berserk giraffe running up and down the touchline” that someone here memorably described Per Metersacker as in his one-and-only appearance for the German national team as a RB, but it was pretty ugly.
He needs to learn to not give cheap fouls and cards away. Kos had a similar problem when he was younger.
ha, first born son, you made my Monday, good sir.
Nice bins.
Two signings tops, striker and DM.
But only if they can make a difference, which doesn’t happen all the time for new signings. Pires took 6 months to be decent.
Why do City, Chavz and Utd get their signings in early and not us? Their signings have time to bed in and acclimatise, where as we are the last minute trolley dash club!
We need a top striker and a defensive midfielder.
Podolski, Diaby, Sanogo, Flamini, Rosicky, Ospina….thank you and goodbye. Hello Carvalho and Higuian!! Come on!!
Cech?
Not this crap again.
we couldnt get Ozil until after Bale signed with Real (on deadline day), but last year we got Alexis relatively early, because the Suarez move was done quickly – as arsene said, deals don’t just depend on us!
Man City haven’t signed anyone yet. Sterling is close but it took 2 months for them to buy a player whos wanted to leave. chelsea have signed kids from Brazil and begovic. Liverpool are signing average players and manu have just started buying a bit of quality but they’ve let virtually all their strikers go Including the Dutch skunk. Arsene doesn’t go all guns blazing he’s always got a deal in the wings. Stay patient COYG
City have signed one player. Same as us.
Chelsea have so far signed Falcao (meh) on loan and Begovic (who replaced Cech) so they’re not exactly super gungho in the market either.
United had a shite squad last season so they’re signing a ton of players because they’re desperately behind.
‘Desperately behind’ – well they finished 5 points behind us!
Thanks to their goalkeeper, who seems to be wanting a move to Madrid. Apart from De Gea and a few other players, their squad isn’t all that great. Even with the signings they’ve made so far I still think we’re looking better than them if they lose De Gea.
At any rate, regardless of how much ‘time’ they have to bed in, they’re midfield is going to be an organizational mess for 3 months probably – fresh blood everywhere.
Not just De Gea, but the support that they consistently receive from the third team on the field remains unparalleled.
That’s a conspiracy theory that the Genius Moan-inho should look into. At least he’ll be able to uncover copious amounts of evidence and expose it for what it is. Then he’ll become more Holmes than Clouseau.
They only need to be one point behind us to be ‘behind’.
And they’ve been ‘desperate’ for two seasons now.
Do you really think their current signings are part of a cohesive well-considered plan of integration or holy-fuck-we’ve-got-the-money-so-let’s-spend-it-and-see?
AW has always said the maximum number of new players you can properly integrate is three. When you see how Liverpool and Man United performed last season you can understand why.
United and Liverpool are not going to improve this coming season no matter who else they buy.
If we start the season as we ended the last, which we should given our current squad’s: 1. cohesion (established team) 2. fitness (fingers crossed) 3. belief (all cup winners) 4. hunger (competition + desire for more) … We should have gained too many points by Dec for the Mancs and Liverpool to have a chance. Remember, it’s a short window – by the time their shiny, new, disjointed team is limping into a rhythm, we should be well clear. Of the established teams then, that just leaves Chelsea. Bring it on. So overall, chill! Would love a new singing… Read more »
They spent 66m on Di Maria, 35m on Mata, 27m on Shaw and have De Gea at the back. They spent a lot and still look like crap.
City – only Sterling so far and that have yet to be official. Chelsea – fucking Asmir Begovic and some shithole of a striker on loan. Stop being so dramatic and be optimistic for a change. The windows a long way to go and as it seems Wenger has been looking at those two positions to strengthen.
This time last year we had already added Alexis and were a few days away from adding Debuchy, and this year we’ve already added Cech. Just, shut the fuck up. Really.
I’m sorry, that was probably over the line, sounded a bit more jokeish in my head than it does in text, and now there’s no going back. But man, am I sick of this crap.
With all due respect, had AW acted earlier last summer, in the positions we were short in we may have had a better season. Alexis, Debuchy, Chambers, Ospina were great additions. But as always a DM would’ve been great (thankfully Coq was a revelation from Jan), a striker who would’ve challenged Giroud during pre-season, and back up for Koscielny. Instead we went into the season with only two recognised CBs, Arteta as our DM (great player but aging and top opposition knows how to beat him), and a last min deal for Welbeck. It created a terrible start to the… Read more »
Thimbs down seems rather harsh. I’m not slagging AW off, just pointing out that whilst there were success stories to last summer’s business, there was still some areas of inaction which lead to early dropped points. That’s not even opinion, it’s what actually happened.
I more or less agree with that but you have to admit that our squad looks a lot better this summer than it did the last. I would, like everyone else, love us to add another DM and CF to compete with our Coq and the HFB….. but only if they’re an improvement or there abouts. I feel we already have cover for those positions, now we need genuine competition for those places….. if the right quality players become available. Of all the players that have moved so far, I can’t think of one that I’m gutted we haven’t bought.… Read more »
I think Di Maria was just burnt out from La Liga then a long WC then going straight into the United squad. This season he may be lethal with a proper preseason behind him, post Copa America. I do agree with you though, especially regarding a quality striker, we have alright back up in Welbeck, but a true game changer would be massive. Giroud is great but he can afford to be complacent and let criticism get to him. A proper rival for CF and he’d only have time to focus on competing for his role. I’d go for Lacazette… Read more »
The Immobile move (loan, 10m euro option) to Sevilla sounds really good right about now…
I totally agree regarding Di Maria, I reckon he’ll come good this coming season. Still, regardless of world cup burn out etc, it still takes a lot of players time to adjust to a new team, new league, new country and new home etc. We’ve witnessed it ourselves with some of our foreign players that have needed time to come good. I also feel that this is probably the strongest squad we’ve had under winger, including 2004. Please note that I said squad, not starting 11.
Why has this comment been thumbed down? This us EXACTLY what happened last year
For the internet is a coward’s paradise.
Manure are rolling in money and spending obscene amounts in an attempt to firmly reestablish themselves….. we don’t have that kind of cash, need or desperation. Other than (pounds£££)Sterling for stupid money and a failed attempt at landing Delph – seriously? who have they brought in so far? And the Chavs, as far as I can tell, have only brought in 3 players and 2 of them only replace players they lost at the end of the season…….ahem, cech, ahem etc. Then there’s Livershite where Brenda, once again, seems to be doing his very best impression of the spuds by… Read more »
I think “Liverpoo” is much better than “Livershite” …just mho.
I totally agree. Thanks for letting me know that you don’t like it….. lol
We are all one team mate, no problem… 🙂
Yawn.
We also have less money so we quibble.
Do we ‘quibble’ or are we firm in our valuations.
Would you prefer we’d bought Shaw for ‘how fucking much?’
Maybe you go through life paying exactly what every salesman asks for but most of us know their first price is rarely the real price.
Get in there, wenger. Splash the money on top player with worthy money!
I’m please for any salesman that has to sell you something (do they call you Mr Monthly Bonus’?).
I do love Arsene but those glasses make him look like the Demon Headmaster from the TV show of what I believe was the same name.
Wow…hold your horses there, blood….this is the Arsenal that we are talking here, go support Manure or Citeh if your wish is to see early useless, big money spent
yes let’s hope Benzema is available!
We have heard it a thousand times before, but Arsenal should sign Vidal and Lacazette. Yes, the current squad is big, but there will be injuries. Why not prepare for it?
Was hoping for Schneiderlin :/
We were never going to sign Schneiderlin. If we were it would have happened already given how long the media linked us with him.
I suspect there was a touch of the Sebastien Frey’s about that one. He’s a decent player but not really what we needed. I wouldn’t have been up in arms if we did sign him but I’m not really bothered that we didn’t. I think we need someone more aggressive than him. Basically someone who does exactly the same job as le Coq so we don’t have to adjust our style of play.
Knowing Wenger, if he wanted him he would tried to sign Schneiderlin. there was never an attempt, hes a French international and we never even tried, that’s telling. I trust Wenger.
Don’t worry Isaac Hayden will be there!
Ohh I don’t think we missed much…
Some one missed maths class.
Points to anyone who finds the irony of this comment!
I dont think we will sign any more first teamers. Maybe a few players for the u21 or academy teams. Unless we have any significant departures, which I don’t think we will have.
If we can find the right striker we’ll sign him. Other than that, I don’t think we’re going to sign anyone first-team unless some amazing chance drops into Wenger’s lap.
That is one MASSIVE game of Jacks going on in the background there.
I’m certainly no ‘Wenger Out’ knobhead, but I am always concerned by our slow activity in the window, especially when teams so often buy the players they need, and far quicker than us. United for instance, in just a short period, have gone from 2015/16 dreamers to potential contenders, they just need a striker or two, a CB, and a GK if De Gea leaves, and given their history (except Moues’ summer) it’s hard to imagine them failing to fill those gaps. Kondogbia, sold. Schneiderlin, sold, Carvalho, probably not ready for PL. Who’s left that would be as good for… Read more »
It’s a shame people find it easier to thumb down than actually have a calm and mature conversation where each individual tries to understand the others point of view.
Your comment was too negative. You were supposed to pretend that manure signings do not improve the team; it does not make them challengers and we certainly didn’t need schnederlin.
Haha sorry mate, here goes…
Arsenals iz da gr8est! Me luv Arsenals! Dis seezan we will again sho all teemz in world socca that we iz da best by winging everytin! Arsenals club footbal number one! I am top Goner!
FLAMIIIIININIIIINIIIII!!! ⚽️
Your opening sentence is why your an oxygen thief/waste of skin
I’m an oxygen thief because I’m not a ‘Wenger Out’ knobhead? So I should want him out? Is that what you’re trying to say? Or is it because I think that shouting ‘Wenger Out’ makes someone a knobhead? Gooners these days… people either wear rose-tinted glasses and think alls perfect forgetting it’s been a decade since we’ve bagged the title, or they are ‘Wenger Out’ idiots who fail to see what we’ve built. In between the extremities of ludicrous opinion lies this wonderful haven where I and many others live. It’s a place where people can have balanced opinions based… Read more »
Ignore him. He’s a “positive fan”.
He’s a ray of sunshine is what he is. Criticism really turns me on.
Leave it chaps! We’ve all had a drink…:-)))
Not too botherd about the snidey one to be honest….. I think Ushited are doing a certain amount of straw clutching, the way they’re going about their business……. you’d never of seen Fergie snatching at overpriced potential or overpriced stars at the end of their careers, he would’ve preferred to develop young talent and create new superstars for the longer term. What they’re doing right now is worrying about one the immediate, one season at a time. They haven’t signed anyone to make me envious so far. I really love this mythical 30 goal per season #9 everyone’s talking about(without… Read more »
Haha if Wenger doesn’t sign exactly the players I want I am going to do something crazy, then you’ll see! You’ll all see!!! (gets so angry has to lie down, punches a wall, deactivates Twitter account… then starts a new account) I do think United will improve on last season. In the end they weren’t far behind us, and they had a few bad patches. And worryingly, barring FA (soon to be renamed AFC) Cup, we still struggled for important results against them. And Monaco, and Chelsea. We’re looking good, but there’s still work to be done. I think Schneiderlin… Read more »
They will definitely be better next year…..but I don’t think they’ll win it. All I’m saying is I think they’ll be lucky to integrate all their new foreign signings to the point where they all hit the ground running in their first season in the prem. If I’m wrong you can remind me at the end of the season…. Plus if wenger doesn’t bring in the players you’ve requested and you’re still unhappy about it come the end of the season, then I’ll help you throw le proff in the Thames.
C’mon everyone knows Wengers don’t sink! Born floaters.
Nah I’m the same, they won’t win the PL, but if we go through a turdy patch next season we may be fighting them for 3rd. They will be challenging in 2016/17 though. I do think whoever finishers higher than Chelsea should win it. And I hope someone does as that little Portuguese Thunderbird-looking chap forces me to question my faith in humanity far too often.
I don’t want Benzema or Higuain or Carvalho and I didn’t want Schneiderling.
What I want more than any of those players is for Arsenal to have as few injuries as Chelsea had last season.
I honestly believe the squad we have are strong enough, now we have cech, to challenge without any new arrivals, as long as we aren’t hit with a crippling injury list like last season.
I can get on board with this. Don’t got me wrong, if we turned around tomorrow and signed a world-class striker I wouldn’t complain, but I think this squad is genuinely great and I’m really betting on Theo to come good this season, if he can stay injury free. Was superb before he did his cruciat, was great when he regained full fitness. Welbeck could still be really good as well – still young, had an OK first season. All in all I’m pretty happy.
Chelsea has a better squad than we do.
We choked against Monaco with our full team.
Not quite our full team but agree it was pretty close to it and should have obliterated them.
However every team has bad days. Did the Chavs win the CL or the FACup?
With a team that should have easily seen to Bradford, they lost.
The only team that didn’t choke was called ‘the invincibles’.
The Chavs have a lot of attacking depth but less back 4 than we do (ok, maybe the same)
We will win the league if Benzema comes in. He is just the most complete striker out there after Suarez.
you clearly havent see him play then
Ok maybe i’d take Carvalho but only for when our Coq needs a break.
Carvalho costs a starters worthy fee if we match anywhere near asking, which is too much if we keep using our Coq as habitually as we have.
Never keep a good Coq cooped up.
Sorry, was a tad foul…
Wenger should come and read some of our post on here. We know exactly what he should do, who he should be selling and who should/must buy. But never mind
You are joking right?
Yeah we know the players far better than Arsene does..
Wenger out!
Don’t get me wrong, I love this club, but knowing I would have that kind of influence would lead to a massive conflict of interests as a commenter. It’d be like giving the asylum to the insane.
Must admit I’m getting a little nervous at what’s cooking in Manchester. United are building a monster fucking squad, you can’t lie.
Really? I just think they needed a hell of a lot more than we do, to be honest. Most of our points that we dropped last season were in the first half and we found long-term solutions to some of the problems that caused that in the second half. Would they have been so close to us at the end of the season had Coquelin been rediscovered sooner? Doubt it. And we alleviated our lack of centre-backs in January – United still have yet to find a single decent one and their back line will be further destabilised if De… Read more »
Really? Schweinsteiger is 31 and has spent half of the last three seasons injured. Schneiderlin is grossly overrated. Di Maria can’t hack the English game. Their best centre back is Smalling, for smeg’s sake! They have only two strikers, and one is out for two months with a broken collarbone.
Not so much a monster as one of those annoying little yappy dogs that just won’t shut up.
Only getting someone in if one of Giroud/Walcott/Welbeck go. Squad is MASSIVE as it is. I would go for another striker, but I have no idea who that would be.
Walcott and Welbeck can play on the left and right if required – I’m not sure it’s even clear that CF is either of their best position. It really isn’t as “massive” a squad as you seem to think, at least not in the main striker position. We’ve got one dedicated CF and two (maybe three if you count Alexis) others who are sort-of half-strikers.
We could easily sign one more striker, whether a dedicated CF or a more versatile type, without ending up too unbalanced.
I’m bored of this now. Hurry up charity shield so that my life has meaning again!
Wenger should wear his glasses more often. What a stud.
Anyway, looking at our recent signings, and the prices of players these days, Gabriel is looking like a real bargain.
To be honest we haven’t really seen that much of Gabriel……. You know its weird the players linked to us this summer all are half arsed. We all knew Cech was gonna happen, now it’s so quiet in the media, it’s almost unbelievable, the biggest stories about us are paying 63 million for Higuain, which we all know no one is gonna pay
Bah, with the exception of Chec, Wenger likes our signings to be hush hush before they are announced (Gabriel, Calum)’ I wouldn’t read too much into that… Just enjoy the summer and watch some best of Wimbledon!
Comment: I’ll be more than happy if we can embrace the service of Higuane, a very good DM, relying on Coq is not good enough for the team remember there’re injuries along the line, what if we don’t make the signing of a good DM like W.Carval and things turn out bad for Coq along the season, its gonna be bad cos Flamini or Arteta are no match for Coq now and we need his replacement or sub. AW you got to look ahead of everyone, everyteam and make that great signing we’ve lacked since the service of P.Viera. Giroud… Read more »
Higuain had the chance to force a move to us but he chose to go to Napoli and take the €uros. It’s unlikely he’ll get a second chance with us and there’s zero chance of it happening at the price reported. He’s a €25m to £25m price player, not €90m-£60m player.
we have a nice squad already, good players in every position, some superstars, good depth with good young upcoming gooners… so to get the team to the next level (final one it is, but not an easy step) I’m not sure what kind of players are needed, actually we arent in a situation which we need a particular player or position to strengthen. we may bring in a top quality young leftback, that seem to ne plenty for once, so it wouldnt be wise to miss out, amavi is top class already, there is baba, ghoulami… we can buy di… Read more »
We need a striker and a dm…don’t care if Arteta just signed a new contract.
Manure adding schweni and schnederlin has closed the gap in quality in midfield. We’re only considerably better than them in defense.
They’re a striker away from really starting to worry us.
Agreed it has closed the gap, they now have 1 quality (and aging) midfielder
….we have 8
Yeah lets pretend herrera and mata are shite…schnederlin is even worse.
There…I’m positive.
I’m not one to usually to this but..
Ozil > Mata
Sanchez > Di Maria
Ox > Young
Coq > Schnei
Ramsey > Herrera
Gnabry > Januzaj
Santi > Carrick
Wilshere > Fellaini
Schweini is class but aging and injury prone
Need I go on?
Arsenal DO have a better squad, but your view is terribly rose-tinted. Where’s Rooney? Gnabry hasn’t played for a year, whilst I think he’s going to be ace, you can’t compare him when he’s been injured for so long. Comparing Santi with Carrick? I know Santi ended up playing deep but they’re such different players, can Carrick operate on the wing? Can Cazorla play in defence? No, they aren’t the type of players one should compare, if being fair. Given Schneiderlin’s slightly different role to Coq’s, and his wealth of experience in the english leagues I certainly wouldn’t say Schneiderlin… Read more »
Coq is NOT better than schnederlin! I repeat he is not better than schnederlin.
Not only did schnederlin have a better season, but he has been doing what coq has done for us for 3 seasons now.
Ramsey vs Herrera is very debatable. So I’ll put that asat least a =. So do you see that manure has more than one quality mid.
Trez – I’m glad you’ve also got a realistic head on your shoulders mate. People acting like Schneiderlin isn’t a decent player really mustn’t watch much football. He does a superb job of doing the Arteta and the Coquelin roles at the same time. People forget how good Southampton’s defensive record was last season, especially before Schneiderlin got injured.
Genuinely think there’s a fair few Spurs fans troll this site, I hate to think that some Gooners are so deluded/ill informed.
When you look at the difference Coquelin made in how we played and the results after getting his chance you’d think Wenger would look to get another player in that mold as we are just a tweaked hammy away from Coquelin being out for a long period. Even last year he battled the broken nose and concussion (which as we all know concussions, especially multiple ones, can keep players out for long stretches). If he’s healthy and plays most matches great, but if he is out at all we don’t have a true backup for him. Arteta, Flamini (if he… Read more »
DMs don’t tweak hamstrings. Not normally anyway.
Oh shit, now I’ve gone and said it. :\
Cech signing and Shad Forsyth are worth 15 extra points this season. Any more top class signing (striker mainly) makes us real title contenders.
I can’t believe I’ve got a pasting on here…
Welbeck, Walcott, Ox, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky….always fuckin’ injured.
Alexis isn’t going to play till Sept…Coq and Ozil irreplaceable in our team….we could be 6-9 points behind the leaders early doors again. We need two first team players to be brought in….
Ok, we won the cup…but in league and Champs league we were miles behind.
So you’re saying that we should bet on our players getting injured and stack our squad with new players even though we’ve made huge investments in the injury department?
So what happens when such investments improve and we have overpriced acquisitions not even able to make the bench?
Sell them for a profit, like any good football club would. Why would you risk a season over money? Why are Arsenal increasing their revenue in the first place if not to stack the team and make it better.
So you’re telling us that a player that’s sat on the bench because he’s not good enough for our 1st 11 increases in price. Thanks for that insight.
I think you got a pasting because the other top clubs haven’t acted quickly this window as you suggested.
Also we trust Wenger to bring in the right players (the list speaks for itself) and bringing in the right players depends on other stuff as Wenger said which can take time.
Chin up mate it’s not personal.
I suspect we’ll do most of our business at the tail end of the window. It’s too chaotic now in the sense that some players are either still on holiday or being pimped out to various clubs in order for their respective clubs to get the most cash out of them. By the last week of the window, the ‘big’ clubs would have assessed their squad and homed in on their targets. At the moment, it’s all enquiries and rumours. I have doubts we’ll sign a forward when you consider Wenger spent the best part of £50m on Alexis and… Read more »
Top site Arseblog, keep up the excellent work!
I love the set-up of our squad right now. If anything I think we should look for a pure finisher to give our attack a different option. Regardless of incoming transfers though, the season ahead is shaping up to be a good one!
Let’s face it, our current squad is not strong enough to impose a serious challenge on the title. It is also ridiculous to expect Coquelin to play all 50 something games (champions league, EPL, FA cup, even if we rotate our squad for the Capital one cup) and stay fit and not tired. We need another strong DM to rotate and compete with the coq and play double DM when facing a stronger side (basically like what Chelsea did when they play against top teams, with matic + zouma/mikel/ramires in midfield). I have always think Schneiderlin is a good fit… Read more »
What quality players have Liverpool bought? Genuinely curious.
Milner and Clyne are damn good acquisitions. Milner is an upgrade on the aging Gerrard, and one of City’s best performers in recent seasons, and now he’ll be in his favoured CM berth. Clyne was statistically one of the best all-round defenders in the PL last season, and arguably the best RB (though being biased I prefer Bellerin). Firmino and Ings could be risks, not sure, they could also hit the heights, hard to tell right now. Though both do have the potential to surprise most next season. Not sure we need to be worried, but they’re certainly going to… Read more »
And of course, BOGGY DAN!
Of our RB who would you swap for Clyne, out of interest? Personally, I wouldn’t, not because he isn’t good but just because I feel we have better. All but Clyne are potential gambles, plus we have a surplus of quality in those positions. I hope we make another signing or two but right now I feel us and Chavs have the strongest squads in the league.
None. That wasn’t the question, the question was ‘what quality additions have Liverpool made?’. In no way have I made out they’re players we need/I want. Fact is, Clyne is a decent player, replacing one that wasn’t, Johnson. They’ve improved RB. Milner has proved himself for club and country, playing in a role that isn’t his preferred/natural, and he’s replacing Gerrard who’s struggled at times in the last 2years, so they’ve improved CM. I’m sorry but Milner on a free is no gamble, look at his stats for City and Villa, and England, the guy is very effective even out… Read more »
Sorry, didnt mean to start that so defensively. I know you were just asking out of interest, not trying to put me on the spot, sorry.
I couldn’t reply on the message about choice of RB for some reason? Anyway, of all their signings I do think that Milner and Clyne will definitely strengthen the scousers……. the other two are maybe a bit more of a gamble. I just feel that those were either not the areas we need to strengthen or we already have better. I honestly think we are only 2 players short of having a truly amazing squad. If we were to sign a quality DM and CF we would be laughing but I just think we need to a) be patient and… Read more »
Ah those three magic words, ‘Henry and Vieira’. We’ve got a half decent chance now yes, but with those two we really would be the team to beat. If we are watching the purse strings I’d happily take Wanyama/vin Dijk(both are young, talented and can play DM & CB), and say Lacazette (predominantly a CF but very capable winger, wouldn’t expect to start every game). I do have a slight suspicion Wenger has at least one nice surprise lined up, hope I’m not day dreaming…
Danny Ings bahahahahahaha
First Season in Epl
Ings: 11 in 35 games
Giroud: 11 in 34
Welbeck first season with us : 4 in 25.
Laugh at loserpool sure, but ings has potential.
Exactly, potential. Hardly something for us to feel like we’ve missed out on at this point though.
It’s not as easy as that – we need world class players so we just go out and by them? Unfortunately, every other club (and clubs with more money than us) think the same thing. Also, it’s difficult when there’s not enough available quality out there. Barcelona play Mascherano in defence – that suggests that there’s not a lot of quality centre backs available (otherwise they’d be playing for Barcelona). Also, with the emergence of Coq it’s easy to forget that we still have Arteta (it’d be harsh to write him off based on his performance last season, as he… Read more »
I agree with Eleventhdoctor that Schneiderlin would have been the perfect it. cover for Coq in case he gets suspension or hurt and viable option as second holding midfielder when away at top EPL teams or CL. I also have to believe he would have chosen us over LVGs arseholes had we been in play. But that is now too late. I really hope that AW has another DM in mind. Arteta can provide occasional cover and leadership, but Flam needs to be moved on. I think $30M for Schneidelin would have been god business for us. I would also… Read more »
“Let’s face it, our current squad is not strong enough to impose a serious challenge on the title.”
Disagree!
All we need to do…. is combine the start of the season before last, with the finish of last season.
Injuries have cost us and hopefully they will not be at the level we have suffered before, and our squad is better than ever!
COYG!
We were terrible in the first part of last Season;Alexis almost single handedly kept us in the top half of the table.People seem to have very short memories…or certainly selective ones.Then as a result of a chronic injury list, Coquelin ended up playing in a role that had been largely ignored since the days of Gilberto.Suddenly we had someone in the side capable of shielding the back four;someone who could stop an offensive player walzing straight through the centre of our team;someone who brought a greater confidence and desire into a team that previously seemed all too keen to roll… Read more »
So we need a DM then?…Ok but don’t diss Dad!
Please stop throwing the word “spine” around. It’s just a word pundits and journalists use to sound like they know what they’re talking about, nothing more than PR guff.
Sorry but no. We use it in coaching to identify the focal point in each layer of the formation. Traditionally it refers to a GK, CB, DM/CM, and ST, but in recent times it can encompass a more continental flavour in utilising SW, CAM and SS into it. It’s centralised players who are not only quality but can take responsibility/show leadership within their line of attack/defence.
lacazete, his top strike..
Wengerbluff – reus
Carvalho and Lacazette!! What do we think?
we think we love that 😀
Cheers, or if we want world class experience, go for Vidal and Benzene or Cavani. Personally though, I’d prefer the youngsters.
Speaking of which, when does FIFA16 come out?
Ok, I wouldn’t normally, but let’s address the thumbs here. I mean, we can buy these with the profile we have now, but do we really want to spend excessive amounts of money on these guys just because of the name? Vidal has a drunk driving charge he’s dealing with back at home, plus we already have Ramsey & Wilshere who are of a similar mold, so no need to duplicate and halt progression. Benzema struggles to really rack up the goals he ought to as the 9 at Real so he’ll not only be expensive but I can’t imagine… Read more »
Yep, this confirms it, we’re in for a big signing that depends on other big signings. He always says that when shit gets real.
there’s no excuse not to bring in DM cover. funds are available. i really feel an injury to coquelin will derail our season without an additional signing in this position. this should be prioritized over a striker.
Leicester have just signed Claudio Ranieri………..if only we’d acted quicker!
Damn you Tinker Man!!!
Has he managed since guiding Greece to defeat against the Faroe Islands?
He’s managed to get himself down the Job Centre every second Thursday. Bless him, he’s been applying for all sorts.
Not even halfway through July and people are complaining, to the point where they’re dismissing the major signing we actually have made. For the love of God, chillax.
i’m surprised how many people forget the start of last season when we trusted wenger and he decided to start the season with only 2 centerbacks. and then he only stumbled across the impact a true defensive midfielder would have on our results after an injury crisis forced him to play one. and how long did he put up with szcz letting the first shot of every game in before he finally benched him (but not before he cost us another 3 points at southampton). and the season before when we were in first spot and desperately needed additional cover… Read more »
So what happened to this Ozcan dude who promise us more info on the “transfer of the season” by Arsenal? Silly ITK.
Decent cover for our Coq and a striker who’s an out and out goal scorer please…unless of course the boss throws the kitchen sink at Theo playing there this season?
There’s nothing ‘opportunistic’ about transfers. Fortune favours those who are prepared. Luck + preparation = Opportunity. We have our targets. Whether some materilise depends on others in market. At the moment the market is HOT. City and PSG have been given green light to spend. United are also in market as are Italian clubs free of spending curbs that have plagued them for several years now. Demand for certain players (Strikers and DMs namely) is HIGH. Supply is low. Prices therefore are upward. We do not have to spend to plug gaps in the squad for the first time in… Read more »
i believe we have a very strong squad and are really close but not there yet and that is what worries me.
new signings or not i really want us to win thia seasons pl and show our real quality in cl. i wish wenger will take us to next level.
This yearly ignorance is somewhat frustrating… 2013/14 – Ramsey carried us through the first half, in emphatic form, as he showed something the rest of the squad generally lacked. “What if he gets injured?” Our squads big enough to cope… He gets injured, nobody fills his boots. Title challenged derailed. 2014/15 – Start the season with 2 genuine CBs, a unique and highly effective bond between Per & Kos. “What if they get injured?” The weight of every game wears Kos thin, Per’s head still hadn’t adjusted from the WC, cover was brought in from fullback, efforts were admirable, but… Read more »
I just love how Arsene looks during pre season with his glasses on. Complete stud.