Monday, December 23, 2024

Wenger: I’m happy. Quality in the market is hard to find.

Arsene Wenger insists he’s happy with the transfer business he’s undertaken in recent windows despite the criticism arrowed in Arsenal’s direction for only adding Petr Cech to their squad this summer.

After signing the long-standing Chelsea keeper in June the Gunners were fully expected to splash the cash on a defensive midfielder and striker. In the end, despite links with all manner of big names, further signings did not materialise leaving the Emirates outfit as the only club in Europe’s top five leagues not to strengthen their outfield options.

Speaking to beIN SPORTS in the hours after the UK transfer window closed, Wenger told journalist Matt Spiro, using Manchester United’s acquisition of Antony Martial as an example, that for all the money in the market top quality players remain few and far between.

“What happened last night with Monaco, who sold Martial to Manchester United for 80million Euros, (the fee it could rise to with add-ons) I’ve heard…Martial scored 11 goals in the French championship – that sums it up well.

“That means it’s not the money that’s missing at the moment, it’s not the desire of investment that is missing, it’s the number of players available who can strengthen the big clubs.

“The problem at the moment is finding the players that guarantees you are a better team after, and that example last night shows you very well.

“Am I happy with the investment I made? Yes, every time. I bought Sanchez, I bought Ozil, I bought Cech. I bought Gabriel last year, Debuchy…

“When you have to invest, you have to find the players. The problem at the moment is to find the players that guarantees that you are absolutely a better team after.

“Martial is a huge talent – he’s 19-years-old. The investment is absolutely huge as well. It shows you that there’s not many players in the world who can strengthen these teams.”

In light of the big spending of Manchester City, Chelsea and PSG the boss was also quizzed on whether Arsenal – as an example of a ‘well run’ club that spends only what it earns – are being penalised by the relaxation of the FFP rules.

His response: “No, [we’re] not being penalised. I think well run clubs should just be a normality. Every club should live with the resources it produces.

“What is at the end of the day the size of a club; what is a big club and a small club? A big club should be the club with the biggest fanbase and works the best in its decisions.”

Related articles

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

317 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
AshBurton

Silly season’s officially over. Time for our current players to prove Le Prof’s confidence in them is well placed. COYG!!

Me

I wish people would stop calling him le prof – it is intensely fucking irritating considering how he utterly ballsed up the opportunity to strengthen a team that could only finish twelve points behind the leader…

Pass debuchy from the left hand side

Pfft yeah, what’s Wenger ever achieved!?

arseblog

The ‘leader’ is currently 3 points behind us having lost twice already this season.

GoonieGooGoo

How did this comment make it past moderation? Made so much cents you could almost buy a stricker with the money

chippy's chip

I totally agree with all AW said there. The man is a pr genius. But…

Mr. G

And the team who finished 2nd are 5 points ahead of us, having strengthened considerably more than us.

Two FA Cup wins against crap teams does not make this average squad title contenders. But we’ll probably finish 3rd or 4thto secure the only thing Wenger and the board want, unless more than one of United/Liverpool/Sp*rs/Everton has a fluke season.

Wenger out!!! Short-sighted, arrogant twat is all he is.

arseblog

Is there really any need for the name calling? Couldn’t you have made your point without it?

And I love how people dismiss the FA Cup against ‘crap’ teams ignoring the fact that on the way to the two finals we disposed of Liverpool, Everton, Sp*rs and Man Utd.

Goonermick

Well said blog some so called supporters really do show how Ill informed there really are GTID

Mr. G

Yes we did knock out some big names along the way. But the true pressure of a knockout competition hits in the final. We almost blew it against Hull and if we had I doubt we’d have been ascomposed vs Villa. My point is Wenger thinks this team can compete for the title with just one goalkeeper added to the squad, just because we won the cup the last two years. Any club can win the cup. Wigan and Portsmouth have both won it in the last ten years, and what leagues are they in right now? Nothing but blind… Read more »

Gooner22

So we’re a cup team. Only good enough for a knock out competition but nowhere near good enough to sustain a serious challenge for the league. I’m happy with the FA cup wins but desperately want to win the league, it’s been way too long.

Jozzer

“short sighted” Wenger the mastermind behind a new brand of football at Arsenal, a new training complex, a new stadium, he revolutionised the English league’s approach to health and conditioning, he creates extraordinary teams and nurtures sublime players, he refuses to be influenced by witless pundits, hacks and fans and succeeds when the odds are stacked against him with financially doped opponents. Arsene is a rare and true leader and we are very lucky to have him. Sooner or later you will get your wish with a Moyes, LVG, Santini, AVB or God forbid an Ego driven Bourinho equivalent –… Read more »

Matty Flam Flam

And you think we could have strengthened the same way as Man City? Who could we sign who would be the equivalent of De Bruyne, Sterling and Otamendi? And how do you propose we’d fit their £130m+ transfer fees and their £10-15m per year salaries into our £190m operating budget for the season, which covers our considerable running costs and our wage bill until next summer? And when Benzema and Cavani weren’t available, at least not for reasonable money, who the hell else do you think was available? For the love of fuck, I just wish some of our fans… Read more »

Unnecessarilystupid

Hear hear flam flam!

Gizmo

Would Benteke not have strengthened us at a reasonable price? Perhaps a Lukaku enquiry? This is the manager that reckons Danny Welbeck has enough quality to improve the team – or even Mikael Silvestre a few years ago.

SB

There is a lot that has been said about this transfer window – probably can be summarised as the squad is very good but needed couple of additions to make us title favourites* for the league. There is a lot of discussion on who we should have signed and the value of players bought by other clubs. One point, I wonder especially about Wenger’s view on the inflated nature of this window that passed – while Real spending £ 80M+ on Ronaldo and then Bale, looked big, it changed the market rates, that now Sterling and some teenage potential are… Read more »

Dan Hunter

Maybe Di Maria is not worth £60m but he is quality and would have been a great signing for Arsenal. The convoluted prices in the current market mean you have to pay that to get the player you want. The point is you can’t really look at prices anymore because if you want anyone you have to pay the extra cash. It’s the reality of the transfer market. I don’t think Wenger has woken up to that reality yet. With that in mind I think Arsenal fans have a right to feel aggrieved that we haven’t signed anyone simply because… Read more »

Nasri's missing chinbone

Mr G. Firstly given that everyone is entitled to their own opinion I respect your right to air yours. At least you still have the conviction to despise the only manager who could actually have consistently made us achieve champions league football over the last decade. (I challenge you to name a reasonable alternative) However I therefore would like to voice my own opinion. I personally would like to see vociferous, fickle and short sighted fans not to have their minority opinions jumped on by the media and cretins such as piers morgan. It doesn’t do anything for the game… Read more »

Bouldy's Toupee

Did Man City really strengthen their team? They’ve used the exact same players they had last year with the exception they just so happen to play in form. We added a stronger keeper and experience with Cech. Kolorav is their left back! I really wished we signed another player other two but…fuck, calm your tits! It’s a long fucking season! Fingers cross we sign a striker and Coq stay healthy throughout the season.

Get behind the team! #COYG

OOzil

Those crap teams beat good teams to get there.. if you have won a competition it implies that you have beaten all the teams.. 4 games done.. and there is already so much hatred.. you guys are just wishing that the team fails to vindicate your points about wenger.. so loyal of you

Kamergunner

“Who could we sign who could be the equivalent of De Bruyne, Sterlin and Otamendi”??

Answer is simple: De Bruyne, Sterling and Otamendi.
Not that I would have signed any of them though.

jiminycrickets

The leader also won the league last season. Contenders have the knack of launching themselves back into the race. We haven’t had have the track record/ mentality for that since the stadium move. It’s always too late or too early. We’re not in the title race, same as Leicester.

Jon

We had haven’t have has a poor start either. Haven’t.

stonroy

Come on the man has a point. Are you telling me that there wasn’t one striker in world football that would have strengthened this club? There is something not functioning properly, AST said it best, we should do a complete reevaluation of our scouting network.

Goonermick

Do u not think that every club is looking for a top striker ?? Cmon name one

Dreamer

Jackson Martínez is one that would have been a great signing went for £25M. Julian Draxler not too sure of his price but not much more than Jackson Martínez, Mario Mandžukić £15M Fernando Llorente not too sure about price but less than Mario Mandžukić and i would even go as far as Robin van Persie for £3.5M there is 5 top strikers that would have improved out squad. Midfield now Arturo Vidal £28M would have made a big improvement Morgan Schneiderlin £25M Lars Bender a bid of £15 – 20M would have got him or his twin Do I have… Read more »

KGforTodayOnly

Chelsea bought falcao , united bought martial. I think that tells the tale.

Dan Hunter

Chelsea bought Pedro who is a positional genius and would have been brilliant linking up with his old mate Alexis. Are you saying £21m is to much for a player of Pedro’s class?

locksley444

I’m sorry blogs, but does the fact that another team has run away with a great start make it any better? Agreed, finding strikers was hard this summer, but we need to have options to rotate Coquelin/play in his absence. I was hoping for a last minute DM loan deal at the least. Arteta tries his best but is definitely not a commanding defensive midfielder(emphasis on the ‘defensive’). Flamini has to launch himself into tackles because he doesn’t have the legs anymore to keep up with quick players. I just don’t see how we can salvage the situation if our… Read more »

He's got no hair but we don't care...

The leaders are currently 5 points clear of us after only 4 games. If you want to bring recent history into it, this does not bode well.

Rob67

Actually he’s ‘Le Prof’ of “Great Expectations” and “Stan’s Financial Happiness”.

And who could want for more – or otherwise ?

chippy's chip

Im pretty sure most people in the world would be happy on £8m pa. The board love him THAT much because he dont spend and gets that FPT every season also lvg, moron,pelli,even brenda are under loads more pressure. He is so happy he is clapping along…

GoonerN16

Grow up, moron.

chippy's chip

Lol x

Gutbukkit

I don’t care whether Me is irritated. Wenger has been doing great work for Arsenal for over 25 years, so I will not judge him over 25 days like Me does.

Gutbukkit

I is an idiot. I means 19 years doesn’t I.

jiminycrickets

I don’t believe in signing unmoveable players like Cavani/Benzema for 60m. They’re overpriced at their age but I think we could have made some 20-30m gambles on “in potential” players or even capable stop gap players. Not every signing needs to be 60m but it’s the small gaps that are not filled that will eventually cost us like the DMs and CBs we didn’t sign in time the last 8 years. Essentially Wenger has thrown his current players under the bus. There will be more pressure when we’re 1-0 down or 0-0 chasing a winner. This will get into the… Read more »

Smart-Arse

“Thrown his players under the bus”??? Is that what you call showing belief in your players? What’s he supposed to do, tell them they’re all shit and that he doesn’t expect anything from them and wishes he could have signed x11 replacements?

If the pressure on them gets into their heads, it will be the fault of the baying mob with half a brain cell

jiminycrickets

Look, nobody injected that fragile and calamitous identity/mentality into the team other than Arsene himself. Showing belief by playing players in positions they’re not comfortable with because you refuse to get in proper replacements?

Smart-Arse

It sounds like your entire opinion of Arsene and his tenure boils down to the West Ham game.

locksley444

Smart-Arse, we started the season with Cazorla on the wings. He doesn’t have the pace to beat full-backs anymore. That makes him very predictable. Dribble, cut-in and either run at goal or play 1-2s. At that point, you’re asking him to produce something extraordinary or waiting on a defender to make a mistake. That’s not showing belief. Ramsey played that first game alongside Coq in deep midfield if I’m not wrong. Second game, Ramsey plays out wide – same story. Cazorla plays in deep midfield and does his best to retain the ball. Well played santi, but even he struggles… Read more »

Unnecessarilystupid

Santi played there all of the second half of last season and did a damn fine job of it.

Andy Mack

He never had pace, he used skill instead.

locksley444

Unnecessarily stupid – Santi did a great job with ball retention and distribution, but can he tackle and recover the ball against people like Wanyama, Cheik Kouyate, Yaya Toure(who was incidentally absent in that game vs city). You could say we have Coquelin for that, but there’s a problem with that. Fabregas played the whole season last year in the same deep-lying position and was highly effective, while this year people are saying he doesn’t contribute enough defensively. He, btw, plays with a certain Nemanja Matic that can physically match all those aforementioned box-to-box players. Coq will do his best… Read more »

Hurensohn

You clearly aren’t a footballer.. How you can think sticking by players and showing trust in them puts more pressure on them than a massively overinflated price tag and 2 players on the bench ready to take their place is beyond me…

Have you started advertising on SkySports.com or something Blogs?

arseblog

Eh?

Andy Mack

He’s suggesting the quality of comments is lowering due to the TalkCrap/SkySports numties coming on here.

arseblog

Ahhh, unfortunately bad news tends to provoke more reactionary comments.

chippy's chip

Must be a moderators nightmare or have they just given up and gone home.

Verminator's Mojo

He probably meant more pressure from the Emirates crowd that seems to have very little faith in the current team. 1-0 down and everyone will be expecting the worst. Unless our seasonal 10-games unbeaten run comes earlier this season.

JET

They expect the worst when the team is down because they didn’t start following the team just yesterday, this team has repeatedly let them know what to expect over the years.

Andy Mack

Jet, I’ve only followed the team for 45 years, so please tell me more BS.

Trez

Woow Mr Mack…much respect to you.
I honestly didn’t know this. Respect.

Nasri's missing chinbone

Hurensohn I feel your comment probably deserves more credit than it’s currently getting.

Proff Gooner

I don’t think you can say first team players in Barca n Madrid at approx £30m were potential players… We have to not get sucked into the media hate against us and see the facts! For one, how many times did Ozil, Sanchez n Girould play consistently without a 1/3 being out. Girould’s link up, Sanchez’s runs along with Ozil’s vision will hurt teams once they fully gel. I also have to say Walcott and Welbeck are still with us. Both have been out for a while but I have to admit even though Walcott hasn’t scored many he really… Read more »

Gutbukkit

Man United showed us that “in potential” players actually cost 50-80m nowadays. No PL club is going to get any decent prospect for a mere 20-30m now that we have all that lovely TV dosh. The prices the rest of the world are asking from us all are now double what they were last season.

David C

agreed, but just wait until January – that silly season will be even more ruthless.

Maybe the club could subsidize away ticket prices or lower the highest tickets in the league since they didn’t spend any money.

Andy Mack

Although I really like the away ticket subsidies idea, money in the bank means it’s available when the manager sees someone that he does rate become available. If they give it all away lowering all prices (that are usually sold out before hand) then that’s no longer a possibility and the doom-mongers can have a field day at every transfer window.

John C

Money in the bank doesn’t win football matches, players do. We know what happens when you don’t improve the team and challenge for the title, your best players leave. How many have we lost for that exact reason? Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie etc etc the list goes on. Arsene Wenger’s job is to produce the best team with the resource’s available to him, not wait for the Goldilocks players of his dreams. If he can’t find the players with the exact qualities he wants, he has to show the pragmatism to produce a team to win the league another way.… Read more »

Andy Mack

How the fuck can you twist a ‘reduce ticket prices’ comment back to a spend spend spend conversation????

John C

I think you need to work on your reading and comprehension skills!

Andy Mack

John C, I don’t think you’ve understood that the bit you’ve added to was David C saying lower ticket prices and me on the same subject followed by you’re usual one-eyed drivel about how crap the manager and management are… Zero about ticket prices…..

John C

Without wanting to sound rude, please read your comment first, then mine and if you still can’t see the link let me know and if i have the time and energy i’ll explain it for you

Andy Mack

You can sound as rude as you want but you can’t tell me a discussion about ticket prices and the mention that we need money in the bank for future purchases in any possible way relates to a tirade against past transfers (or non-transfers). It’s a discussion about the future!
Go peddle your toxic drivel on a discussion that’s relevant.

Byo

I thought the one position needed was a DM. And I had Lars Bender in mind.
Alternatively Calhanoglu (or Vidal/Douglas Cost before both went to BM) for the MF.
I’m not too fussed about a CF.

Goonerrific

Sums it up really.

I would suggest a big club is one that wins the most matches/trophies.

I can see his point, but he’s really betting the horse on having a great season, or the no signings thing will be thrown at him every game where we don’t win.

fabulous

Couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m not nearly as pissed as most of the others are cause I’ve lowered my expectations a while ago. When you see realistic signings being signed by other teams or not signed at all; Kondogbia, Schneiderlin, Higuain, Lacazette, Icardi etc you’re having a good laugh if you think Wenger can pull off the less realistic signings like Benzema and co. Having said so we go into the season with a capable squad, let’s hope they hold on till the January window. But again, we’re gambling on them to actually do well as we have… Read more »

Gutbukkit

Higuain? A 2013 signing? If he counts against us this season then why didn’t you mention Ozil and Sanchez then? You seem a little biased in your judgement, and on those grounds I laugh at your one-eyed view of the world.

Mpls

It’d be that or something else, so no difference to him really.

Jagger

People need to ask themselves which attacker is out there who immediately improves our first team. To my mind, only the following people come up: – Benzema: Will not leave Real despite all our efforts – Zlatan: Too expensive wages wise – Suarez, Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo, Bale: Unobtainable – Lewandowski: Will not leave Bayern for us – Lacazette: Question mark over how much better he is than our first choice strikers – Reus: I don’t know why Reus went under the radar this transfer window and whether we tried to get him or not. Cavani and Higuain, contrary to public… Read more »

Andy Mack

Yep. Zlatan would improve the team whenever he was in the mood to do so. The rest of the time he’s a spectator. I think AW has said he likes Rues, so I’d guess his availability was checked out quite early by the club. Higuain had the chance to join us but decided he wanted the Napoli money more than to wear a cannon on his chest, so he won’t get the offer again. I like Cavani but he certainly hasn’t been ‘clinical’ for a few seasons now. He’d be worth a 25-30m punt but not a 50m punt at… Read more »

Runkeball

Also, Zlatan is 34 next month.

Gutbukkit

Not to forget that our current team have been together for a full season now and they will probably click at some point, after which they will be better than they were last year. This is Wenger’s thought on cohesion, and it sounds very reasonable to me.

arabmoney

We got the OG dude. He already scored 2. And he came for free. Like literally.

paul

I can see OG scoring the winner in the ECL – great signing under the radar!

Liam

I agree with him on the striker issue, the one I’m concerned with is the DM. Schneiderlin not unreasonable value at circa £25m by today’s standards and would have been a fantastic addition to Coq in the middle. No way Coq can possibly maintain his level throughout the season, plus the obv concerns of injury & suspension. Huge missed opportunity to improve the squad. Even if we’d have had a punt on him & been told to do one, that would have been far preferable to just sitting on our hands again

ohhhhRockyRocky

Totally agree Liam There was a lot of folks yesterday proclaiming Dzeko and Benteke as a ‘massive upgrade on Giroud’, sorry, they are not. The stats show it. City would never have let Dzeko go if they thought he was top class. Only Liverpool showed an interest in Benteke, to this point he is very inconsistent and there is little there to justify £32m. There are a load of B grade strikers around and OG is one of them in my opinion. I’d also put Benteke and Dzeko in that category. Welbeck probably slots in there as well. So if… Read more »

Alex

This disregards the benefit of momentum and the perception of the players in regard to transfer activity and new arrivals. I think Benteke would have finished a few of our 50+ chances but I can’t prove it. I also think Podolski would have but I can’t prove it. Podolski would have given us an option in those games, that’s Arsene’s decision. If you play in a team with 12 points and your club signs De Bruyne, don’t you feel like you are part of something….going somewhere? That your whole club structure is chomping at the bit for results? Arsenal were… Read more »

locksley444

Firstly, Podolski neither has the pace to outrun defenders nor the physical attributes to win against them in the air. The only 2 ways I see Podolski scoring is a winger giving him a cutback and a defender giving him space to shoot. Way to predictable and easily shut down by tight marking.

Trez

Dzeko is a second choice striker who has near identical stats to our first choice Giroud. Put Giroud in dzeko position at city and he wouldn’t do half as well. Giroud has the luxury of being first choice and having a superb midfield behind him yet he’s average.
Jackson Martinez would do better with this midfield, so would Higuain, Lacazette Bacca, Mandzukic, and probably Dybala, Vietto and Pato.

lordgunner

absolute tosh, dzeko got quality midfield too if not better , giroud is has good if not better than him , ho yes >>>our “superb” midfield who got overunned by a shit Pool side and couldnt pass 2 ball together in first half , own by west ham and teenager who was making his debut ….ho wait that was giroud fault too martinez so good he has to wait he is 28 for somebody to take a chance on him,lacazette (not yet),dybala(barely score in seria A),vietto,higuain not good enough, bacca could have been a decent gamble but i dont think… Read more »

Trez

Higuain is not good enough?? Go and compare his stats with that of giroud. Dzeko is bloody second choice, you think giroud would score half of dzeko goals if he had aguero to compete with?? The same edin dzeko who scored the same amount of goals as giroud despite playing less games?? Has giroud ever scored 4 in a game?? You mean the same giroud that was busy trying to cross the ball instead of being in the box?? the same giroud that was making predictable runs?? The same one who missed 2 clear chances that any top striker would??… Read more »

ZA Gunner

Yup. Agree. Plus both Arteta and Flamini are in their final year I think? So that means we’ll need someone in there soon enough…

Crash

Liam, you may be right, but I also think it’s easy to look at transfers a little bit too objectively and take all subjectivity out. For instance, I think it’s entirely plausible and logical that at Schniederlin’s age and level of his career that if he were to break away from Southampton, to whom he stayed remarkably committed to even when they lost many key players in 13/14, that it would need to be for a Champs League team AND for regular, week in week out football. Thus maximising his development further at a key point in his domestic and… Read more »

Crash Fistfight

No, we only go up to £140k/week for players to sit on the bench and do nothing when they do play.

(Sorry for the cynicism but the Walcott deal and subsequent poor performances have gotten my goat).

GoonerN16

Liam how do you know that Arsene did not make a bid for Schneiderlin? You dont. But I agree that another player in at DM would be a plus, but we will have to see how it all pans out, not forgetting that we have young talent coming through (and on loan) at DM, maybe he is bearing that in mind.

- DFS

It’s was widely reported Wenger dismissed Schneiderlin, who then still refused Man United’s first bid still wanting Arsenal to come back for him.

Schneiderlin had publicly voiced his intention to come to Arsenal for over a year as it would have been the perfect fit. He would have joined his ex Southampton teammates (being the fourth) and several French team mates.

Apart from Schneiderlin there were numerous quality midfielders who moved such as Kondogbia…

TeeCee

Ah. “Widely reported”.
Usually that means “some journalist made this shit up”……..

gooner1981

yup that’s the one position we definitely could have strengthened, and there were even options out there that didn’t cost record transfer fees. It’s obvious Flamini has fallen down the pecking order, and Arteta isn’t really a defensive midfielder to boot. I think Coquelin hasn’t let us down thus far (his tackles against Liverpool literally kept us in the game), but to expect him to play all games on all fronts is a bit too much. Krychowiak, Kondogbia, maybe even Thiago Motta from PSG could have been good options for us. I never believed Wenger would sign Rabiot as a… Read more »

Nasri's missing chinbone

Can’t sign schneiderlin for 25m and not play him. I would rather coq plays. We finally have a real DM and we are still fucking moaning.

Yorkshire Gunner

Which of the two would be happy on the bench? Schneiderlein wants high profile CL football and it seems harsh to bench Le Coq for his efforts so far which on the stats make him one of the best DMs in Europe. Getting an upgrade happy to sit on a bench is not easy unless you are Man City and can pay enough to overcome any concerns a player might have.

GoonieGooGoo

I’m with Arsene on this one – market was thin and seems the only reason he didn’t go in. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you have the god given right to plunder any club you choose. At the end of the day, target clubs saw that Prem clubs were in the money and decided to play hard ball to drive up the prices of mediocre players, I can only imagine how much they wanted for the “world class” players. Too many “fans” chucking a tantrum because we didn’t “JUST GET BENZEMA”. Our squad is decent and we’ve got… Read more »

jiminycrickets

Nobody is throwing a tantrum. This just means the results will be scrutinized even more closely.

GoonieGooGoo

Are you on Twitter or have you listened to Talksport recently?

Hari

How do I get to this place you’re at where nobody is throwing a tantrum?

AGunner

Whilst I agree with the fact the market was thin, I don’t agree with what we’ve done this window. I support the manager and team as always, but why we insist on making life hard for ourselves is beyond me. We have had a great squad for the past 2 seasons, and every time we should be kicking on and building that unstoppable team, we just don’t. 2 seasons ago we won the FA cup, awesome, now we add to the squad and go for the title right? Wrong. Yeah we got Alexis, but should’ve got one or two more.… Read more »

gooner86

You say that players like Chamakh and Gervinho couldn’t hack the pressure to perform and then go on to say that we should’ve spent in the region of £16-25m players… err.. so considering current market prices, we’d end up with Chamakh and Gervinho type players who you just admitted weren’t up to scratch. We do have back up players in people like Welbeck with Alexis and Theo capable of playing in the striker role if really needed. I’d rather give them a go rather than get new players of the same ilk who will probably not just slot in like… Read more »

AGunner

Gooner86 – it’s not s contradiction. Gervinho and Chamakh were panic buys, and they had all the pressure lumped on them too, so it was a long shot they would do well. Things now are different though – any player we buy won’t have as much pressure on them and so could potentially thrive. We’ve given Theo enough opportunities to show that he’s not a striker, doesn’t matter how much he wishes he was. Only way he can be one is if he can develop his hold up play, or learn to go past players using skill and pace, rather… Read more »

King_bilo

No. We don’t have the talent to push for the title. It is the same exact team that played last season minus podolski , diaby and szczesny plus cech. Over 38 games, we are likely to be in exactly the same position or lower than last season. You cannot play with the exact same team and expect different results. And the past few games have shown you cannot shuffle this exact same team and get good results. So will we win the league? I’d bet 3 peanuts and some pocket lint on it.

Canuck Gunner

Although there is some merit to your comment, one major flaw is that you assume your existing players don’t improve – which kind of goes against our whole focus on developing players.

Trez

Watch people shoot you down with Cohesion, automatism and team spirit. Chelsea and city who were ahead of us felt they should improve their squad, but we somehow think we didn’t need to because cohesion and automatism closes gaps in quality that easily.

Andy Mack

It’s not the same team as we had too many of them injured to play in the team last season.
However it is the same squad and if we get the same injuries then we’ll get the same results.
But what happens if we don’t get the same injuries?

Trez

You honestly think we’ll go the whole season without injuries?
Fact is we are close to full strength. The players that has played in the last 4 matches are our best. Do they look like title contenders to you?? 3 goals in 4 matches?? come on man…

Andy Mack

1) No ones suggesting zero injuries. But less injuries is a possibility.
2) This is the same squad that did rather well in the last half of last season.
Was I saying we’d win the league?
Or was I saying that if the team plays as we know they can, could we be contenders? Yes It’s unlikely but it’s possible.
After only 4 games it’s an unknown and everyone telling us ‘facts’ about the future is as useful as an psychic (as in ‘NFU’).

Trez

You’re forgetting one little point – teams are stronger now than last season.
A lot has changed since that run of ours and why you think the SAME team will challenge against teams that have already upgraded with better personnel is weird.
Look we can all go on about cohesion and automatism being our new acquisitions, heck i bet you mou thought he probably didn’t need much at the start of the season…look where they are…this is a team that finished 12 points ahead of us.
Barring any miracle, we’ll not come higher than 3rd.

Gutbukkit

Chelsea don’t look stronger.

Gooner

What about Schneiderlin? He was available and wanted to come.
Remember, Coq came into first team because of injuries and not because Le Prof had some sort of epiphany about him. He has a blind spot when it comes to defence and he proved it again this transfer window.

zizou

Economist he is!! love it.

Florin

Monsieur Wenger failed to offload Flamini and buy someone like Schneiderlin or Lars Bender instead. As for the whole world class striker thing, if none is available then do something about it: unsettle one, be ruthless. Learn from all these years when we at the wrong end of such practice, and make things happen. He chose not to, and we get to have Joel warm our bench every now and then, and be happy about it.

Ed

The issue with this is that when other clubs were doing it to us, they were able to because they were bigger clubs with more money (especially at the time) and therefore more likely to compete for titles. How are we supposed to “unsettle” top players at City, Chelsea, Madrid, Barca or Bayern?

Akkimaniac

That, my dear friend, is the concern, don’t you think? Aren’t we supposed to be a big club now? A manager with that attitude is aiming for top 4 trophy.

ZA Gunner

One of the great things about supporting Arsenal, even in the absence of trophies from time to time, is that we seems to play above board most of the time. I for one am bloody happy that we don’t go about our business like Madrid etc using the press and third parties to unsettle our targets. Stay classy San Diego!

Eduardo Stark

Stay classy indeed. Wenger is not entirely right but quite spot on. Apart from City and Leicester (!) I don’t think any team in the league is having great business in transfer. United and Liverpool don’t know what they’re doing, Chelsea key players are off form let’s hope a long season that way, Swansea built with their core like us… While Sp*rs is shite. I mean Arsenal is there at the title contention even with current squad! It’s great to notice some people underrate and overrate us in the same moment. The hell cares with it. Let’s urge the players… Read more »

Gutbukkit

You can’t simply offload players who aren’t at the end of their contract. If they want to stay then they stay. Flamini always does this, which Wenger knew when he re-signed him. However, at the time Flamini was very useful to us. You shouldn’t bash Wenger for not breaking the law. It’s not nice.

Mickkey3d

Wenger’s approach seems reasonable to me, and I expect the team to fight for first place. Of course adding one or two players would have been great, but 80 million for a prospect seems totally mad…

GoonerN16

‘Seems mad’? Its insane imo. Imagine the pressure on the player at 19 years old. What a punt.

Heroldgoon

But Indosat, our new signing is an improvement though. On the clubs finances that is, then that fella called High ticket price should really rack up the assists on the same.

Kami

Huge desire here to see our Welbeck shine ! Come on son !!!

voldermort

It’s been almost 3 years that we have been crying out for a top quality striker.

Ferngunner

Lol he thinks we are donkeys.

For Wenger a player has to meet his valuation and not the other way around. That’s why we have signed fuck all. Why then were Draxler and Kondogbia target yet they moved clubs?

Dale Cooper

Maybe they realised how rubbish Draxler is.

Deano

Had his fair share of injuries but he is certainly a top talent.

A better answer would have been we already have enough creative midfielders not the regular goal scorer everyone crying out for.

shitbird

I haven’t watched him, but given the dearth of attacking talent on the market there has to be reason that he ended up going from Schalke to… Wolfsburg.

RamseyMidfieldNightmare

Runners-up last year and turning into a top team in Germany. Plus they have TGSTEL!

Gutbukkit

That’s the New, Improved TGSTEL who actually wins the occasional game for them. All that training we gave him is finally paying off. Or perhaps he plays better for a club whose supporters don’t boo him. Who knows? Football. It’s a funny game.

Dale Cooper

Joel didn’t get out while he still could 🙁

G-Man

What has happened has now happened. This Arsenal team need to now push forward and reach the CL Final, win an FA/league cup or both and Boss the premier league to win or at least come a very vey close second (2 points or something). Otherwise the manager and the players will not be forgiven.

GoonieGooGoo

We’re good at cups…

2 cups 1 squad?

RamseyMidfieldNightmare

It is almost like you are saying our squad is shit!

Mark

As much as everyone wanted a top striker Wenger’s not signing one now (though not sure how much, if any push, he made for Jackson Martinez who was much more affordable) is somewhat understandable given the inflated values of them and also the fact that one wants to leave their current club to come to Arsenal. What is not understandable is how he did not sign a DM no matter how good he thinks Coquelin is. Even if he had to overpay a bit for one we didn’t need a superstar in that position (it would certainly help though) just… Read more »

Gunnertv

Don’t buy in to the whole well run club thing. Chelsea and City have owners willing to put money in to win titles, the risk is they might one day leave with a huge debt on the club. It’s the risk that comes with the return. Wenger is too smart not to know this. Arsenal just don’t want to take that risk which is fine doesn’t mean others are not well run.

Chimichanga Monreal (cuz that's way more fun to say)

Great. Please give me your bank account information and I will run it really “well” for you. Let’s see you react when it’s your money. It’s no different for the board. They want to see their assets well cared for and earn a decent return. They didn’t get rich by being foolhardy, they did it by being prudent.

Even if it was a supporter owned club the board wouldn’t risk the future of it like that.

jiminycrickets

Time will tell. But I think the manager has had too much time.

JJ's Bender

And too many trophies! Damn that guy!!

Pass debuchy from the left hand side

Jeff.

malomo Gbemi

Thank you Mr. Wenger for reminding us we are Arsenal !

James

God help the £12 million lamp post to shine this season

Mpls

He’s done pretty fuckin’ well so far for a 12M lamp post.
Far more confidence in him than United’s 36M path light.

It’s Theo and Welbz we could really use some stepping up from now. Get one or both of them where they should be and it’s a different picture.

Sean

Too soon, Arsene. Too soon 🙁

That being said, let’s prove the naysayers wrong and mount that challenge 🙂

Sideshow_bob

Just 2 players just 2. All that we needed. If not a striker atleast should have signed a cdm. There were soo many. Last 2 days has been bloody depressing

Why u do this Wenger 🙁

Shadow

I hope that the players will repay arsene’s faith on them. This can work on our favour or it will fail miserably. Fingers crossed..

shokim

Wenger not adding to the squad is either very brave or very foolish. Hope it doesn’t backfire on him.

In my opinion Transfer Deadline Day is a media circus. The press shamelessly milking it for all it’s worth. It’s sad people live for transfer activities / headlines. Glad it is over till the next one strikes again. Cue the thumbs down.

Bobby Dazzler

Bang on, I said something similar. It’s a bloody joke and I hate the transfer window.

TheRealJenkooooooo

Bar a miracle there can be no hope for this season. Just compare to the best teams in the world. Barcelona is the best team in the world winning the treble and even with a transfer ban still signed players. Bayern Munich destroyed their league and still bought vidal, costa etc. So how anyone can justify a team who came 3rd last season and knocked out early in the champions league will somehow challenge this season. If teams like barca and bayern are not happy with stagnating how on earth can we. Its a farce, an absolute emberassement.

Ajinkya

I remember when Chelsea signed Hazard for 32 million and Wenger said the exact same thing like he did now. That Hazard was overpriced. I think the evidence is there for all to see how that is playing out. Now that the transfer window is over, no point in bitching about stuff and we should get behind the team in their quest to make the top four. It is incredible and we have to admire his balls when he doesn’t buy a single player but the problem I think is that our players having been complacent and are not going… Read more »

gooner bank

Hazard was the Ligue 1’s player of the year, two years before that. Not so so with Martial

Ajinkya

And still we said that he was overpriced which says a lot.

Ferngunner

Wenger probably valued him for less so didn’t pay up.

Ajinkya

Yes, that was his exact quote. That it is crazy to value Hazard that much.

Hurensohn

Also just because one overpriced gamble turned out to be good business doesn’t mean they all will….

I have a mate who won some money on a bet last week, so from now on I’m going to spend all my wages on bets and I’ll get super rich in no time! No, no I won’t and nor would Arsenal by making crazy money signings just because there aren’t any sensible ones knocking about.

Ajinkya

Every player that every team buys is a gamble to a certain level. I pointed out that example because it was like deja-vu when I read what Arsene had said. My mind immediately went back to Hazard and Wenger’s quotes then. Nobody is expecting to throw around money to make crazy signings like ManC or ManU can afford. But surely, you believe too, that this squad needs improvement. Every squad does. And please don’t ask me to point out which player would have improved us. Just have a look at all the transfer dealings that have taken place across the… Read more »

Trez

The same could be said of people who think Joel Campbell and Welbeck will step up because Coquelin and Bellerin did.

Andy Mack

how do you make that comparison…….

AntiSpud

Ajinkya this was very well documented in the fremch papers and is not a fiction. Wenger was the first to spot hazard. He approached lille and they had an agreement. Lille were fighting for the french title at the time so the agreement was Hazard to sign for arsenal at the end of the campaign, fees agreed and everything. Then Lille planned to sign Park. They did all the negotiations and Park was at the hotel waiting to just go and do the paperwork when he was visited by Giles Grimandi and another fella. They convinced him to take the… Read more »

Ajinkya

Okay, I accept I didn’t know this fact. But the point that I was making was not limited to Hazard. The point is that the nature of discourse hasn’t changed over the years. We are still behaving as a club who is under the debt taken to build a stadium and are limited by their budget. Even though we come in the top 8 or 9 of the financial spectrum of clubs world over, we rarely behave in that manner. We are still baulking at prices that other clubs are paying. We are assessing player’s value according to our club… Read more »

bournegooner

Over priced by Arsenal’s standards at that time. There’s no “overprice” for the market. An apple can be sold for either a cent or a dollar. It all comes down to the depth of the buyer’s pocket.

He spent 32million on Alexis in 2014, when Arsenal was in a position to pay for such a player.

dan

Food for thought spending big on big name players does not always work out, case in point Torres at chelsea and Falcao at man utd, if martial cost 35 mill pounds how much would a cavani and benzema cost. even though you sign big name players it doesn’t necessarily mean that it would guarantee success and the same fans who are now baying for wenger’s head for not signing a big name player would turn on the player in this case, its a gamble always and you can never 100% guarantee successs

Bobby Dazzler

Di Maria, Cuadrado etc. Even hilariously Soldado and co.

Sam

Soldado currently the leading scorer in la Liga. He’s a good striker, just unhappy at Spurs. Can’t say I blame him on that one.

Arsepedant

Which proves how much better overall the PL is than La Liga. La Liga might have two teams that can win the Champions League, but the PL has 20 teams that could finish third in La Liga.

Bob's Mexican Cousin

Unhappy is when you find a curly hair in your pizza. Being at spurs is like finding out that last night’s chick was actually a dude.

Mpls

Carroll.

Andy Mack

Even the ones that do well usually take a season or two before they hit their best form.

Tiku Onya

Arsene is a great coach, we don’t need to buy cos we have the money but cos we have the player. we don’t need an average player all we need is top quality player that’ll guarantee us a great team

Bobby Dazzler

Funny how people are quick to criticise, and some I note, are the same ones who were predicting a title challenge only a few weeks back with this current squad! This is no Wenger love in, but I didn’t see too many players move that we should have moved for, or really needed for that matter. As for Benzema etc…maybe they just don’t want to come to us just yet? Maybe they never will, they are on massive, massive wages, change of winning endless trophies and their transfer fee would be through the roof. Even if they were available surely… Read more »

Trez

You mean the same guy who had the highest number of assists in the bundesliga??
The people who predicted we’d challenge for the title obviously saw our challengers strengthened and move further away from us hence the reason why they are worried.

Gus Caesar

You need to realise that buying players doesn’t necessarily make you a better team in itself, we’ll only know whether that’s the case once the season is over. Who knows, maybe us not bringing in a load of half-rate players just to please a few unbalanced ‘fans’ will make us even stronger. We’ll see but we certainly don’t know the answer now. The transfer window is not and will never be a competition in itself, you don’t get trophies for spending more money than other clubs.

Trez

I didn’t say buy for the sake of it like manure; i meant plugging the holes we had in the team. The weakest part of the team was striking. Giroud is the only TRUE out and out striker we have and i don’t how many times it has to be said he’s just not good enough to win us the title. This nonsense about an upgrade on Giroud not being available is frankly nonsense. Giroud has been in this club for 3 seasons and he has done nothing to prove he can fire us to the title. So unless giroud… Read more »

Gutbukkit

Who was the plug for our Giroud-sized hole then? You’ve seen the deals that were done, and some of the ones that were refused. So who should we have bought? Try to be reasonable with your answer. You may be able to say “Messi” but that doesn’t mean failing to buy him was due to our incompetence. Who was the striker who wanted to play for us and whose club were happy to sell but we didn’t bother to buy?

Gus Caesar

He thinks Benteke, see what he says below! I haven’t laughed so much since I saw Benteke vanish at Wembley in May…

Trez

Benteke disappeared in the FA cup final with a Villa team who barely survived relegation with a midfield of delph, carlos sanchez and grealish or whoever; while Giroud disappeared against a second string monaco team despite having our midfield behind him. Now if we’re going to be logical and ignore both matches and compare both players, you’ll see that they both have similar stats despite Benteke playing in a FAR inferior team. Comparing Costa with benteke is laughable; but there’s nothing funny about comparing Giroud to him. They’re both on the same level and Benteke will most likely do better… Read more »

Gus Caesar

There are various ways that not signing an average striker could actually help the squad, i’m sure it doesn’t take too much thought for you to come up with some. For all the stuff I read from you on here about it being a nonsense that there aren’t available upgrades on Giroud, you have yet to identify one single credible player who was both available and an upgrade. Even those who you think are available you don’t really have a clue about because the fact is that you’re just speculating from a position of weakness – none of us really… Read more »

Trez

Jackson Martinez, Mandzukic, and Carlos Bacca. 3 strikers who have produced better than giroud while not having the privilege of having mesut ozil and santi cazorla behind them.
All 3 while not as good as Aguero, Suarez or benzema, are better than Giroud.
I’ve seen nothing in the 3 seasons Giroud has been with us to suggest he’s in the top 8 strikers in the world like some of you say…nothing!.

Andy Mack

Trez, In 14/15 HFB scored 19 in 36 games (No Penalties) with 4 assists. While Bacca scored 28 in 56 games including 8 penalties (plus 10 assists). So not better than HFB. Mandzukic scored 20 in 43 games including 3 penalties (plus 5 assists) So not better than HFB. Martinez (Who I’ve liked and watched quite often, for a few years now) scored 32 in 42 games including 2 penalties (plus 7 assists). So he does have better numbers than HFB however if you’ve ever watched some of the lower Portuguese teams then you’ll wonder why his numbers are so… Read more »

Arseblood

Should have got Schniederlin….

Lass

Maybe he preferred United? Most certainly they offered a higher wage

Gus Caesar

Maybe we decided that making a decent Southampton player with no top level experience our highest paid player would be a silly thing to do?

Rob67

Few – sensible – fans want us to do anything finically stupid. But there’s a world of difference between avoiding that trap and doing what Wenger did – nothing. Is anyone really comfortable with the fact that we are the only team in all major European leagues not to purchase a single outfield player in this window ? Wenger has – supposedly – a world wide scouting network across the football world. He’s had 4 months to mull the options over. We certainly do have considerable reserves available. And the first four matches have been a huge disappointment in terms… Read more »

jiminycrickets

we can aim for 3 staright FA cups…that’s something tangible

Gutbukkit

It’s clear that you have no faith in our ability to win the Premier League this season. Please do not celebrate if we happen to do so anyway, as there is no guarantee that we would continue to win it every year after that. One PL win can never be enough to satisfy you so if we get one it is only an Indian Summer and you should continue your complaints without pause.

阿拉伯

I think at this point the fans can afford to get behind the team in full, instead of whining for additional transfers. I still believe from preseason and even from the first four games that there are more than enough goals in the squad when they start to click and put away their chances. That we set up and missed so many chances but still found a way to put the ball in the net at Newcastle can be seen as a positive. As good a signing as a “world class striker” might be, Arsenal’s offensive tactics and philosophy depend… Read more »

Mpls

I am in total agreement.

The odds of only getting two forced OG’s and one Actual OG goal in the next 83 attempts are infinitesimal. With that many chances it simply will not continue like this. We will see goals. With these players and the chances created, I think we’ll see a few drubbings as well- with us on the side of them we want to be.

I am looking forward to the inevitable better performances and good times ahead.

Trez

“When they start to click”? you mean after January when we’re well out of the title race or when we get knocked out at the 2nd round in the ucl and everybody will say “well played, we can really do it next season”??
What good will that do us?? The market is inflated and will not change anytime soon. Unless you have a La masia or Ajax academy or maybe porto’s scouting network, you better get on board and stop thinking it’s 2004.
We have the damn money…take a bloody risk for christ sake

Rickyftb

Sick ioff hearing him trot out the same bullshit year after year! Spent well for two years and built a DECENT squad which was rewarded with two good league runs and two fa cups. The dogs in the street knew if we strengthened again this summer we had a real shot at the title. Unforgivable mismanagement. And I can’t even watch him trot out the same bollocks on TV anymore. He seems to do the opposite of what everyone thinks to try and prove himself as “le prof”. When in reality he’s just a sad old man whose well past… Read more »

indrossi

“Unforgivable mismanagement” ??!?!?!?? I think you’re confusing us with those shites up the road. Baffling.

Hutch

Have a little respect for Mr Wenger, my friend.

Without him turning up 19 years ago, we’d be just another mediocre-Liverpool type of team.

oly

I am an Arsenal fan, but if you think we are bigger or better than Liverpool you are having a laugh.
When we have won 5 CL cups you can start saying that.
And this ultra deluded man can NEVER ever win a CL cup, his best ever team could not.

David

I think thats a problem with our fans tho, one thing is supporting u like and love thru thin and thick, i understand that, and thats one thing we should do (no matter how much annoyed we can get from things like this) but another thing is being deluded thinking we’re the best thing ever, as you said, we arent bigger than liverpool (at least historically, perhaps at the moment we’re a bit better team, but that doesnt mean we’ve reached the same success they did) is just being silly, I suppor this team but supporting this team doesnt mean… Read more »

Rickyftb

So by your logic we should sign Wrighty, Charlie George or titi again. They were class acts years ago too……….

Izzymuzzet

We are a mediocre Liverpool standard team. How many of the fans who think Arsene knows best and why waste money actually pay for a ticket? Most of you seem to live abroad. I was an arsenal fan before Arsene and will be after him. I pay my hard earned money (the highest prices around) but the club just sit on it and are happy with 4th place. There is little ambition. I don’t really care how the club is run or if we have billionaire owners. I just want to see some ambition, and some good football. The football… Read more »

John C

Absolutely, most of the people on this board don’t come from the UK let alone London, have never bought a ticket in their life and aren’t the one’s having the piss taking out of them by the manager and board of directors.

There’s no connection between Arsenal’s £200m in cash reserves and the money coming out of their pocket and for me that makes their opinion pretty much worthless!

Gutbukkit

You aren’t all that important mate. I don’t think you actually are the arbiter of success or failure for Arsenal, no matter how much you throw your weight about. I think you’re just a supporter like the rest of us, but with a huge sense of self-importance and entitlement because you’ve spent some money following the team. Your opinion is actually no more important than anybody else’s and a damn sight less important than those of Arsene Wenger and the board when it comes to running the Club and choosing the team. Complaining here is a waste of your valuable… Read more »

not deluded

Bye then.

confucius

We’ll be ok. I do wonder, however, whether Wenger’s refusal to sign but the very best players may be preparation for his exit, leaving behind a pile of cash for his successor to rebuild the squad to his liking. I hope not, I really like the man.

Let’s win some matches now.

rohit

Quite a sensible comment actually. Something to think over. It may very well be the case.

indrossi

I’m happy. This was a squad that put together incredible runs at the end of last year and has put in some excellent performances along the way. Man City away last year. Monaco away. FA Cup Final. Chelsea in the Commie Shield. I was happy then, and I’m happy now. Take five minutes and just think about Francis Coquelin. He’s racking up better stats than Schneiderlin and Kondogbia combined and has all his career ahead of him. He’s doing incredible things and has been ridiculously consistent since January. Can we say Walcott is LANS? He didn’t play for like 95%… Read more »

Rickyftb

Easiest £20 the bookies will ever make. Absolutely deluded hahahahaha

indrossi

It’s fucking September 2nd and you’re writing us off? I’ll assume you’re proper giving up and aren’t going to bother supporting the team or watching the matches then.

Rickyftb

No fella, i’m a fucking realist. There’s nothing I would love more than to see us win the league. Will I part with £20 of my hard earned to put faith in it? Will I fuck! Ps, there’s no such thing as Santa either you know? As a matter of interest, what odds did you get on us winning the title?

indrossi

Can’t remember exactly, but I was getting over £200 back. Anyway it was payday and I’ll have forgotten about my £20 come spring next year.

AntiSpud

Correct. By this logic palace and Leicester are title contenders. Could be interesting

oly

You are way too kind!…………..far more than deluded!

Gus Caesar

I had £20 on us winning the FA Cup last season so the bookies are still trying to make back that loss…

Geefive

A little disappointed we didn’t pick up someone, but not nearly as nervous going into the season as I was pre-Ozil/Sanchez. Before that, I shat my pants every year worried we’d lose CL qualification. I still think we have a team that can comfortably qualify for CL. I feel it will be a hard push for the title though, but still, COYG! The worst thing is, like Goonerific says, we’re going to have to listen to every pundit and paper bringing this up every game that we look to struggle in. Sigh. I wonder (hope) sometimes if Redknapp can feel… Read more »

Rodriguino

We resigned Walcott, Santi, Arteta and signed an amazing keeper and leader in Cech. I’m not arsed about whom we didn’t overpay for, let’s push-on! COYG

indrossi

Well said.

chippy's chip

Arsene knows….Akpoms gunna do a Coq.

JH

I would blame Philip Harris this time around, why would someone stupid enough to announce that you have £200mil in the bank so that other clubs can hold Wenger in ransom? We all thought that there was a good chance that we could sign Benzema for 40mil, then they asked for 46, then 63. Probably the same happened to PSG. I guess Wenger is not as stupid as VG to have paid so much money for Martial? The one thing that I don’t understand is, why Wenger did not sign someone like Cabaye who can certainly improve our midfield, at… Read more »

oly

Why sign Cabaye when you have world class Arteta/Rosicky/Flammini etc………quality my ass!

Mpls

Does Cabaye get in the squad ahead of Cazorla or Ramsey?
Not in my squad he doesn’t.

He went to Palace. Pretty clear he’s not going to sit on a bench if that was his choice.

- DFS

Since when was there an actual offer made for Benzema let alone an escalating one to 63 million?

Even Henry admitted yesterday he had no direct knowledge any bid had been made to any club.

Gervinho

I like his rationale – very rare these days. People say we have 200m to spend, but it’s not like that money went away. It’s still there, and will be there when the right player is available.

If we threw 40m at a club to prise their teenager who scored 11 goals in League 1 last year, then the money would not be there when the right player becomes available.

Would have liked to see Kondogbia though.

Rickyftb

There will be more than a few fisticuffs at the grove this season too. Our fan base is so divided atm.

Yaya Binks

If he doesn’t need to spend any money this season can I look forward to a 10-15% rebate off my season ticket?

Gus Caesar

Not sure it works that way mate…

WizardofOzil

It doesn’t really matter at this stage. I mean we’ve signed Ozil and Sanchez in the last two seasons and we still play that slow, pedestrian, movement-shy brand of football that no top team is going to struggle to deal with. The best teams can change gears, we operate in autopilot mode, so until Wenger decides to call it a day the best we can hope for is that he adds quality when he sees it (no doubt he has an eye for a good player) and leave the club in the best possible financial position for the next manager.

naijagooner

Arsene claimed they were working 24/7 on transfers yet we end up with only one completed deal for Chelsea’s reserve goalie. He has blind faith in players who will not be able to deliver at crunch time. Giroud is a decent second tier striker but Walcott and Welbeck are third tier strikers yet Wenger claims there is nothing better in the maket apart from Benzema, Suarez, Aguero, Lewandowski etc. I beg to differ, Jackson Martinez, Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano, Mandzukic, Dybala and Benteke all made moves and are better than what we have upfront. In defensive midfield, Schneiderlin, Kondogbia, Krychowiak… Read more »

Paa Tomy

so what was all the working hard all about? I guess those lots at citeh don’t sleep.

Mpls

Don’t think we are exactly desperate for CB’s or playmaking midfielders.
Or 50M quick wingers who don’t score consistently, come to think of it. Got a few of those already.

leon

A friend of mine told me two years ago that Wenger and the board ambitions are to secure champions league each year and nothing else.

GoonerN16

Really?! And I assume that your friend has been to at least one AFC board meeting and lives next door to AW, or maybe he is Arsene’s best friend?

husni

we’ve been looking to bring in a top center forward since we got giroud and poldi in during the 2012-13 season, I find it hard to believe or get my head round the fact that in the seasons and transfer windows following, that we have not been able to scout, identify and put together a deal for a player that can strengthen that center forward position. yes there have been good signings along the way( credit where credit is due) but this gap in the squad didn’t just appear this season or in this transfer window….It has been a long… Read more »

oly

The sort of top strikers this deluded man can now identify is the likes of Sanogo.
Imagine the guy couldnt even make it at Palace yet this idiotic man was playing Sanogo against top class teams in the CL., expecting to win?!!! Funny enough some fellow deluded fans believed in his crap.

sid

He may be happy but are the fans happy?

tommo

If you’re not going to be clinical enough in front of goal because you fail to identify a new striker (by pushing aggressively for either of Alexandre Lacazette or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang perhaps) then you MUST AT LEAST make sure you are defensively rock solid – it’s easier to address this area of the teams weaknesses. One word: BACKUP. Wenger should have added some defensive backup, spacifically an experienced PL central defender, a defensive midfielder and an all round defensive bloke cum utility geezer. They could have been identified and signed – easily. Change the style for a season, be solid… Read more »

MannyG

I believe a lot of us suffer from supporter’s bias. When you bid huge on a player, we have to ensure that player actually wants to join us. You can bid 50 million on Cavani, but if he doesn’t want to come here, there’s not much to be done. Also, clubs don’t have to sell their players. If PSG bid 60 million for Sanchez would we accept the bid because it’s a lot of money? No. Because we do not need to sell him. When we look at the transfers being made, bar schneiderlin and maaaaybe Pedro, none of the… Read more »

jamie

Your comment really does sum up the stupidity of so many of our fans. Do you really think Stering isn’t better than Oxlade? Oxlade must be one of the most overrated players in our squad. He’s shown no sign of improving in 4 years yet people want him to start every game. His short passing is shit. He needs a big touch all the time. He doesn’t stick on the wing and lets games go by him. He’s scored 6 league goals in 4 seasons. ‘You know what would help more than transfers? Not abusing our strikers/forwards every time on… Read more »

JJ's Bender

So Dumb

MannyG

I don’t even take you seriously as a human being. Move along.

Mpls

Apparently being a footballer or manager justifies disgusting verbal abuse for some.

Green arrow> Red arrow

My first Arsenal match against Stoke should be an interesting atmosphere.

just telling it like it is

Yh lol if we lose due to the sending off of Coq & a series of missed chances by Giroud & Walcott the house will go nuts.

Share article

Featured on NewsNow

Support Arseblog

Latest posts

Latest Arsecast

317
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x