Arsene Wenger says his Arsenal team can challenge for the title, even if he doesn’t make any additions to the squad.
While on the one hand you look at it as the Arsenal manager simply bigging up the players he has at the end of a successful Asian tour, on the other it’s kinda familiar and scary.
Arseblog News admits to touching cloth having read what Wenger said in the Mirror. Our turtle’s tail is out. The Arsenal manager has said he’s ready to do business, but after letting so many go this summer, it’s impossible to find any rationale for him to think the group of players he’s got is good enough for a title challenge at this stage.
“We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us,” he said. “But we are prepared to wait. It looks unlikely before the Emirates Cup.
“We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season.”
Having read that and gotten a little bit sick in our mouths, we’re now focusing on the positives and the fact that Arsenal have bid £40m for Luis Suarez suggests there’s a willingness to do business.
“What we want is not as name but as good player,” he continued. “The name is less important. What is more important is the quality of the player. At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.
“We try to do the job and we will try to do it well. But that is in front of us. We have worked a lot but nothing has been concluded with anybody.
“Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them. We have plenty of candidates in midfield now and there is a big fight there. Bacary Sagna settles in well at centre-back with Thomas Vermaelen out.”
All in all, mixed messages. Bid £40m for a player : say you can win title without signings. Look for new players : shift a right back to centre-half.
If doesn’t really speak to a cohesive plan and with no signings likely before next weekend, it leaves little time to get the squad ready for the start of the Premier League campaign.
What’s going on, Arsenal?
Is Arsenal Wenger the biggest troll ever?
Depends.
If we don’t sign anyone, then no, not he’s not.
Think he’s just trying to repair some of the damage that IG did when he came out in the open and said “Hey, up your prices, we’ve got a big truck full of money”. Can’t blame IG either because I think he did it just to calm us fans down. Now all the clubs know we need players, we’ve got money, and so everyone’s playing hardball. Wenger now, so falls back into his trusted and fail-safe technique, “We can challenge with this squad, we don’t need anybody”. Calm down people, let’s wait till Sep 2nd.
so common denominator….its the fans who cause all the trouble with their moaning..forcing ivan to come out and calm them ..and then wenger has to cover both.
or lets take one step back…media playing with fans minds..fans give shit to board/ivan/arsene…ivan/board try to clam fans down….wenger calms everyone down…fans complain again cause that’s all they know.
football in the age 2013
boycott the games!
No that will be a man called Hideo Kojima from Japan. The man behind the whole Metal Gear Solid legacy. At the moment I can’t stand the person
Are you drunk? Metal Gear is fantastic
Metal Gear is easily one of the top ten video game series of all time.
And it easily has the best story.
This is definitely the right place to have this discussion no matter where you stand on the issue However?
MGS…FTW
you’re so right. it’s not like there’s a shortage of things to talk about with Arsenal FC. specially with all of the tireless work they’ve put in over the entire summer
This man Wenger, has one weakness with his age the game he did play with fans on transfer last three seasons is the same today he starts to bid early he could have even offered 50million for Messi so long as Barca would reject it wud please him so that he explain to fans that the squad he has can challenge for Trophies by making outrageous bids the Arsenal players who feel their first team postion are not guaranteed make effort as if it is a CL final, tire themselves in pre-seasonthe way Giroud is doing,teamates lyk Rosicky goes to… Read more »
Wenger saying “we can challenge even without signings” he should get his head examined with what players Girould is just as good as Akpom Clubs that finished above us have spent massively Man city : 90 million still buying Tottenham : 2 players in and more to come Chelsea : 2 and half players and more to come Man city finished above us and they are 4 player up and more to follow Chelsea Europa winner still planing to bring players not school boys like Sanogo who has once suffered double fracture If our mad manager wenger and stupid board… Read more »
Are you retarded mate.Killing our club? This man is a genius and undisputably one of the greatest managers of all time. It is muggy fans like you that are killing our club, with no knowledge or appreciation of the game. What this man has done for our club is beyond epic, but clearly you are too young to realise or have a very short memory. Clearly Yusuf, you are someone who does not have the mental capacity to comprehend what constitutes ‘serious’ bid is. If you want to pick a fight with anyone in the club for lack of expenditure… Read more »
Thanks for cheering up my day man seriously, this was the funniest thing I have read in a minute.
Especially this line:
“He just bought an estate worth 20 million dollars I can bet my life its his share from the sale of van persie the rapist”
Man you would be god at Russian roulette!
fuck off u cunt
apparently we have 53 wanker spuds thumbing down J post….
He’s a Big fool & he has lost his senses of reasoning
Punctuation, please.
Dangerous game that. Trolling your own fans.
wenger have to fuck of no more buying ticket pls
I’m buying a ticket because I love my club unconditionally, that isn’t going to change because I don’t agree with how the manager goes about talking to the media.
the delusion continues
I’m buying a ticket because I love my club unconditionally, that isn’t going to change because I don’t agree with how the manager goes about talking to the media.
I’m buying a ticket because I love my club unconditionally, that isn’t going to change because I don’t agree with how the manager goes about talking to the media.
I’m not realy suprised, we were almost there with higuain, then we backed out, we made a bid for the fat boy knowing fully well it won’t be accepted, we’re running after the bitey, divey fucking racist, knowing fully well that as stupid as the mugsmashers are, they would rather keep him against his will than sell to us, for christ sake, what kind of a game is this? we’re not after any realistic targets such as the soldados of this transfer window. I don’t think i know what to make of this transfer window.
Why buy Soldado?
Exactly the same player as Giroud.
A left winger seems the most obvious choice.
I think Bernard is pretty much tapped up with Wenger listening to offers for Gervinho.
He is the biggest idiot ever. Wenger needs to leave. Senile bastard.
Please use your common sense and brains before you insult your manager. What do you want him to say? Our team is crap and can not win without signing another 5 players? What do you think that does to the morale of the team? His job is to get the most of the team, and not to keep you happy. It is official that we have put in a 40 million bid for Suarez, and there are idiots who suggest that he has purposely put in a bid so that it will get rejected and Wenger can “show the *fans*”… Read more »
If wenger doesn’t need to prove anything to fans, why do you expect a fan to tolerate year after year of trophyless season and sky high prices. Look at the both sides of the coin mate. Club exist because of fan.
We don’t want him to say he is close to signing a talented player. We want him to to do it already; like a month ago.
As long as the board back him he has nothing to prove to the fans? But it’s the same fans that pays to filled up the stadium. Y don’t they bring their families to filled up the stadium? Wenger s buying nobody
If wenger doesn’t need to prove anything to fans, why do you expect the fan to buy all season tickets
ramsey…the fan will tolerate at least a decade ( maybe even 15 years) without the title because the fan knows that the priority is to repay the stadium and not the title. If you didn’t get that back in 2006 then im deeply sorry for the frustration you’ve endured in the hands of media and trolls mocking you every Monday.
the purchase of a ticket is a gesture of support….some of you talk as if its an investment.
no one forced you or anyone to buy a ticket….wenger doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. wenger is a world class football manager
fuck off mate, you’re lowering our i.q
Guys calm down, we will buy some for sure. Obviously, if you say that we need players and we don’t have good one’s then other teams will ask for more money. I am more than sure that we will buy player who are better than last years IN’s
A lowball bid for Remy on August 31 it is then.
I haven’t forgotten 2011…
It all makes sense when you realize 4th is like a trophy. Its almost like a title!
So of course we can challenge. We did last year and we won!
Yes he is and more dick head…why does Wenger do this to us fans season in and out with our hearts in our mouth,i’m so tired of wenger as our coach
Yes, I think Wenger sets out every transfer window to disappoint and anger the fans. I’m sure that’s exactly right. Apparently the board like it too.
I think hes making a point to players like Suarez what he thinks the ambition of Arsenal is.
Hes basically saying you can join us and we will be challenging for the title.
Instead of e.g. Saurez trying to finish 4th with Liverpool, hes stating to everyone Arsenal has a higher ambition.
Again e.g. Liverpool trying to finsh 4th which they wont and Suarez must know this.
Those hopes of it all being different this transfer window turned out to be about as accurate as a Gervinho goal attempt then.
The hopes of Wenger using all of his transfer lines in one interview were dashed when he didn’t mention Wilshere as being like a new signing. Still, that interview’s a doozy. If you were playing the Arsene Wenger Transfer Window Drinking Game (like I was), you would have been sloshed (like I was) by the time he hit “we are not close to singing anybody.”
Bunburyist:
Haha, my thoughts exactly! At first I really thought this was sublime piece by Arseblog copy/pasting all of the usual Wengerisms from the last couple of years together in one article. No, it’s not. THAT’s what we call consistency and a coherent long term strategy. 🙂
If he decides not to bring at least 2 quality signing, that means he has no intention to compete for titles. In that case he should go. Simple as that.
He thinks we can compete for title with a squad that finished just a point above the 5th placed team/16 place behind the champions. Seriously? Wtf? what is that he is smoking over there at the emirates?
100 million(according to Gazidis) in hand and can’t sign a world class player till now with it? It seems like he can’t lead us to titles anymore.
*16 points
okay
Just to confirm, but i’m fairly sure you can’t be both a point above 5th place, and 16 place behind the champions. Unless you’re in some sort of crazy FIFA international ranking system.
You would have understood what I meant if you were not retarded. Not your problem anyway.
Seriously people, do you think Wenger doesn’t want to improve the team and challenge for trophies? Besides being his job, it’s his life. Of course he wants to win. For whatever reasons the transfers just haven’t happened. I’m sure Wenger is more worried about this than any fan is. And what do you expect him to say? If we really are not close to signing anyone, do you want him to come out and say we have no chance of winning anything and we might not even make the top 5? Is that what you want? Of course he has… Read more »
*top 4
I know I thought it would really be different this time, with all our players staying (so we could only get better). Couldn’t believe we would be so daft not to captalize on that. Still think we are wasting a huge opportunity with the stability we have this summer and the changes elsewhere. Our squad is very thin with all the departures, and two stars would make such a difference! I officialy lost hope until something big happens.
Well, it´s hard to imagine these comments not lighting the touchpaper.
I might go and hide in the bomb shelter at the bottom of my garden for, I dunno, about six weeks?
Not a bit surprised by his comments. Wenger’s tautology.
*sigh*
*Sigh*
I really hope he’s playing with us with a pokerface.
and so it begins…..no wait I mean and so it continues 🙁
I can hear the “Spend some fucking money” chants ringing around the emirates next weekend already.
We do not appear to have a coherent strategy if players dont come:
Benders
Grenier
Higuin
Suarez
Who is next
Fellaini?
We are looking for super quality.
no wonder its taking so long to sing him up, i never even heard of him…
He should already arguably be in the list, potentially inquired and not made a media circus of
If the present situation continues, I’d rather support the Black scarf movement than typing In Arsene we trust in the internet
WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
“At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.” Someone must be really close to signing.
“At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.” Someone must be really close to signing.
wonderful
I told Wenger to stop smoking that Sh!t
I told Wenger to stop smoking that Sh!t
I told Wenger to stop smoking that Sh!t
tell him again
I told him to smoke more, wouldn’t let him leave the room until the whole bud was burnt.
I shouldn’t have insisted on that – look at the state of him now, rambling about buying no players.
FFS!!
Another interesting quote from the presser:
“France suddenly have bought some very very talented players who two or three years ago would all have come to England”
Very worrying, what do those transfers have to do with Arsenal? We didn’t bid for Cavani etc. It sounds like excuse making already.
It means there’s more billionaire money in the market, which drives up prices and makes top players even more scarce. Makes perfect sense to me.
Oh boy, here we go…………..
Oh god, not another one of those summers
of-fucking-course…
Oh no. Here we go…
Michael its not really necessary to wish a man dead is it?? I know we.are ! All frustrated but come on, Be a rational human being
Yes, this means next summer our war chest will be bigger than Katie prices cunt
I fucking fell for it again.
‘No this time it’ll be different.’
Everyone told me not to believe it until it happened and here we are again.
Can we get a ‘technical director’ or whatever in so that we actually sign some players?!
You’re not alone… I guess as long as there’s even a tiny thread of hope, gunners will cling to it!
Problem is next summer we’ll have an even bigger warchest. And clubs will want to rip us off even more. And players will want to come less and less because we can’t compete.
What do you think Arsene Wenger is smoking at that press conference?
Why you ask? Do you want some?
Yes. I’ll take two ounces.
Surprise surprise. Sound familiar? I stopped watching his interviews, press conferences two seasons ago. Different day same old bullshit
Amazing, like clockwork. We knew exactly what was coming. Another season we’ll be going for fourth place. We won’t get it with this current, unrefreshed, squad. Wenger is just about the most predictable man in the world. The ‘Mr Bean’ of soccer. He is just about the biggest joke in football, and he’s our f*****g manager. What have we done to deserve this.
He created the greatest team in Premier League history and has built Champions League quality teams for 16 consecutive years, turned down moves to more glamorous clubs and stuck to his guns in completely reshaping the club and allowing us to create a self-sustaining club in a perilous economic environment where many clubs’ fortunes are entirely dependent on the continued support and investment of third parties.
What have we done to deserve him? I dunno. Maybe an Arsenal supporter cured smallpox or something.
I’m no AKB but don’t spit in your mother’s face because she didn’t make you a birthday cake this year. Or last year. Or the year before.
Right with you there mate, the man deserves respect after everything he has done for us. Its not up to us if he leaves, that decisions is his, or the boards. Until then we should concentrate our effort on supporting the club and the decisions they make.
I for one would like to see him stay to see where this new ‘spending power’ gets us over the next couple of seasons, thats the least Wenger deserves after his loyalty to the club.
completely deluded/biggest balls on the planet
He’s a card that Wenger. One more year of putting up with his nonsense. One more year.
*sigh*
I’ve long been a staunch supporter of Wenger, but this snacks of a man who has spectacularly lost the plot. To make no signings after the bombastic assurances of money to spend, two feeble exits from winnable cup competitions and a fan base (and squad it seems) sick of losing players and not properly augmenting the squad-that is simply unacceptable. What was the point in moving to the Emirates if when we finally have the resources to be competitive we don’t use them? If we sign no one and struggle then I’m sad to admit that I will be joining… Read more »
Let’s do it your way:
“We can’t possibly compete with the squad we have and therefore you should charge us as much as possible for the players we want.”
Are you happy now?
If you want a report of what he’ll ACTUALLY do, then you’ll need to speak with him in private and sign a nondisclosure agreement. Good luck with that.
Indeed. I fully understand the frustration reflected in many of the comments here, but frankly, I’m not sure what Wenger was supposed to say. A lot of people have been criticising Gazidis for boasting about Arsenal’s new-found wealth, claiming that selling clubs would now try to leach more money of us. I personally don’t buy that argument (because selling club already knew we had cash to splash), but what do you think would have happened if Wenger had telegraphed a message along the lines that “we desperately need to sign somebody, and we need to sign them fast”? In summary:… Read more »
this is my personal translator for the article above
I take your point that it is a newspaper interview, but the fact remains that it is nearly August and we have made one signing, a player definitely bought for the future. Given the player losses we’ve suffered and the injuries to key players in recent times, one would have thought that transfer targets would have been identified and lined up as soon as the whistle blew at St James’s Park. Actions speak louder than words and here his words seem to be backed up by the club’s lack of action. I will always be a great admirer of Wenger,… Read more »
I should have read Arseblog’s post today before replying. Could have just linked that as a reply and saved myself some typing. Spot on.
Oh…my…GOD!!!!!! FFS
ummm… are we playing poker
Ok. Wenger has smoked that stuff again
I wonder if Wenger is ok mentally?
“i said ‘look fo ol look what you do, you talk until the needle brakes in you’ ”
at least we’ve won the saitama cup already. We are good to win the emirates ‘gallas cup’ without new signings though
Chill out, Wenger never goes public in transfer. Talk like this just part of hyping/downscaling negotiations. Everyone knows fuck all about what’s going on. At all.
“With or WITHOUT additions we can be title challengers next season.”
Just started my new 500 page book, ‘The Delusion of Arsene’. This quote is the first line of the final chapter.
What I don’t get is, we have money, and a strong name in world football. Bit those scammers have signed a few players and we seem to be lurching from one impossible deal to another? Surely, this method is not viable?
A weak squad both in talent and number asks a lot more of the players, so, is that another reason for those injuries that happen to us more than others? I don’t know.
Is anyone really surprised? It’s the same as before but with a slightly different twist. He can now say we did our best blah blah blah we made bids….. we cant force them to sell…… Its £23m for fellaini, don’t quible over 2/3m just do it if you want him Now I suspect we will wait another 2 weeks to bid £45m for Suarez. We bid under the value for players yet expect to sell players like gervinho well above market value. Take the b52 bomber, we want rid yet no one can match the ridiculous wages, again well done… Read more »
So Gazidis says we are targeting big players and its absolutely neccessary that additions will be made because now we have the financial power to do so. And here we have wenger saying the squad is good enough to challenge for the title. Baffling…
Not if you think about it… try once more.
Dooomed! We’re dooooommed I’ll tell ye!!
Getting very close to the panic button time here…
I blame the fooking dick law & order in this
So what he’s really trying to say is….”Gotcha! You bunch of gulliable gooners!”
Blogs I’m no fan of Wengers and I openly admit and have for years I can’t wait for him to go but is there nothing you can do with these silly cunts wishing him dead??
A nice MAC and IP block should do the trick.
Yes, lots of deleting and blocking/banning going on.
Nice one, it’s bloody ridiculous.
these are not true arsenal fans, just some sick fucks that support spurs
Oh brother. I want to say the biggest frustration/heart attack inducing thing is that there seems to be no cohesion or plan (really it’s just general freaking out about all the usual bunk happening). Of course clubs play these games, especially today with the ridiculousness of the people in media/internet who just make up stories (Blogs has covered this well) but the higher ups at Arsenal have got to be better at either keeping completely quiet (which they used to do) or actually doing something. Instead we’ve got the keystone cops. This is very disheartening, more than anything. GIANT SIGH….
yup just the arsene i know, likes to defy logic.
On a serious note though? FUCK!!!
It’s almost this time of year, Arsène, when you “inform us” what we have is good enough but if we find ‘one or two’ but they have to be …..
Oh and tangent time. Loving the Russian chick on the advert.
Mine is Asian for some reason
changes all the time, normally I don’t pay any attention but this one took up my iPhone screen and I drooled a little.
The pressure on Arsene to buy top quality is clearly too much for him. I think he’s too scared to improve the squad and then fail. It would expose him as not being able to compete anymore at the top level. Until the club grows some balls and moves into a different direction with fresh ideas, then Arsenal will be stuck in a rut. And it looks like another season of scraping top four to look forward to. Of course there is a bit of time left and he could actually sign some players, but business should’ve been done and… Read more »
I completely disagree with your opinion. How does signing players expose him to more criticism than is being hurled at him right now? So many other clubs sign players and do a worse job than arsenal in the league. Do they get criticized as much? No! Because they tried. Nobody expects you to get it right all the time. But not trying is a deadly sin IMO.
:'(
Oh bollicks there it is,
no signings
close the book
we start with what weve got
You berate him when he doesn’t talk and suggest he is not talking open and honestly. Now he speaks clearly and honestly and yet you still run him down. Some supporters you are.