Arsenal Thread

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

He's not performing aswell as he should be, but I agree with Gooner here, he's got the potential to be one of the worlds best in the future, and for that reason we need to keep him, he needs to get a few goals to help him settle and boost his morale.

I've also decided that the Spanish media, are much worse than the British, usually they publish utter bullshit, I hope we can keep him.

[TMM]

He's not performing aswell as he should be, but I agree with Gooner here, he's got the potential to be one of the worlds best in the future, and for that reason we need to keep him, he needs to get a few goals to help him settle and boost his morale.

I've also decided that the Spanish media, are much worse than the British, usually they publish utter bullshit, I hope we can keep him.

←

Oh don't get me wrong, I have no desire whatsoever to see him go at all. He will be world class down the line, but what I'm saying is if he really wants to go, and he does then I hope we get Emre because he has the ability to be world class as well, so he'd be an adequate replacement.

Oh, Ryan Garry is FINALLY set for a return. He's been out since May 2003 with all sorts of bloody injuries. Aliadiere scored a hat-trick for the reserves against Chelsea the other day...now if only he can transfer that form to the first-team I'll be happy. And Gilberto played 60 minutes in that game and came through ok. Thank god

[FLiam]

It is good to see Garry on the comeback trail, but he won't make it at Arsenal now. He is 21 now, and his chance has gone I think now, he will probably go down a league to Div 1 next season.

On another note, has anyone else been impressed by Mathieu Flamini this season?

I mean, he has been fucking outstanding when called upon in my view, everytime he plays he covers nearly every blade of grass and never gives up on any 50-50 ball. He is one of the only players that closes down people for the whole 90 minutes too. I think he has been our young player of the year, I would have said Fabregas, but for me Flamini has been much better in the last 2 or 3 months.

Edited March 15, 2005 by Gooner4Life

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Reyes is a great player, certain to be a huge future star and he's shown that a few times, plus he's improving as time goes. He's had amazing moments so far for Arsenal, like the game against Middlesboro for instance. I actually hope Arsenal can keep him.

As for Emre, he'd fit perfectly at Arsenal. I just look at him and he looks like an Arsenal player for some reason. If you can get your hands on him then you've got a great buy there.

Oh yeah, when is Pires retiring or leaving Arsenal or whatever? I hear time and time about how he is pretty much done so I'm just wondering. The guy has always been my favourite Arsenal player and for some reason I always see people slag him off at times so I kinda see him as an underrated player.

[FLiam]

This morning I have read reports about Jermaine Jenas being linked with us and Man Utd. Take it for what it's worth.

[public enemy]

Who the fuck would want Jermaine Jenas?

[FLiam]

Arsenal and Man Utd by the looks of it.

[supergrass]

The Sun are reporting Robert Pires to have said he wants to finish his career at Arsenal. Apparently it would all depend on contract negotiations, and if that didn't work out he'd like to go to Spain, but I appreciate the sentiment and that he's open to staying. Even at 32 he's still one of the best attacking midfielders around, I'm hoping he'll stay with us for good.

Jenas has looked good but still needs some work. Not an obvious choice for Arsenal I have to say but again I think anybody who works with Wenger will develop well. Emre added to Vieira, Gilberto, Flamini, Fabregas, Pires and Ljungberg (assuming Edu is on his way out) looks like a good strong midfield list for next season (it could even grow bigger with links to Shaun Wright-Phillips). That's the kind of competition we must have in every part of the team, not just midfield.

[FLiam]

Alexander Hleb's agent has revealed that Arsenal have renewed their interest in his client.

Niki Spilevski believes Arsene Wenger wants to take the Stuttgart midfielder to Highbury in the summer as the Frenchman embarks on a spending spree in what looks likely to be a bid to wrestle the title back from Chelsea in 2005/2006.

"Arsenal have made an enquiry," Spilevski told Kicker.

"He has a top contract but who knows what will happen with regards to Arsenal?"

Wenger first tried to lure the 23-year-old to North London in the summer of 2004, but Hleb instead decided to renew his contract with Stuttgart until 2008.

However, the Belarus international has a get-out clause in that deal, believed to be fixed at around €15 million, which would facilitate a move during the close season.

Hleb is ready to leave the Gottlieb-Daimler outfit even though he is keen to take drastic measures to stay out of the limelight.

"There are a couple of teams," he stressed. "Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal.

"I'd like to play on their level and, although I don't like to be the centre of attention, I am ready to wear dark glasses and a fake beard to make sure nobody recognises me in my private life."

source: planetfootball.com

Now that would also be a great signing.

This summer is going to be very interesting, I can tell.

Oh yeh, I forgot this.

That made my day. I knew Servette went bankrupt because of somebody, but I didn't realise who it was. Wanker.

Edited March 17, 2005 by Gooner4Life

[FLiam]

Here is an article I just read on Arsenal-World on Robin van Persie, quite interesting read.

There have always been those players who have divided a crowd. At Arsenal the likes of Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and, before THAT goal, Mickey Thomas were as jeered as they were cheered during long spells of their Arsenal careers.

Those players, the very sort I tend to get into heated debates about in the North Bank, are usually the try-hards. They aren’t the most skilful players in the squad, no matter what the term Romford Pele suggests, but their effort and enthusiasm makes them loveable to a Highbury elite.

Then there is the second group of players; the type who are never fully welcomed at the club until they have been shown the red card. If they are sent off, it shows they care. Of course it helps if they are sent off against a big rival and preferably without deserving it. Look at Freddie; after scoring with his first touch against United, he struggled to make an impact until a shove and a sending off against Spurs showed he had the mettle for Arsenal. We could be indignant for them; they, and consequently we, had been cheated. There isn’t anything the average Arsenal fans loves better than a little unfair treatment and a whiff of a FA conspiracy.

The Arsenal of today has more than one of those players who split the Arsenal crowd in to two opposing, and often belligerent, camps. For some, Reyes is a lightweight who will never make it in the Premiership; for others he is a young player on the cusp of something great. For some, Jens is a world-class keeper who may have the odd misjudgement but helped to keep us unbeatable for the whole of last season; for the guy invariably sitting next to me in the North Bank, he is nothing more than a liability.

Perhaps the biggest opinion-divider in the present squad is the man touted as the new Dennis Bergkamp. Of course it was never going to be easy to live up to such impossibly high expectations. Van Persie had to be given a little time and a lot of support if he was to achieve his unquestionable potential. It’s just a pity that the average football fan considers a month an overly-generous length of time for young players to reach legendary status.

His equalising last-gasp goal against Southampton bought Robin a little time. He had shown a flash of Dennis Bergkamp-like flair and it was enough to convince some that he was something a little special. In the Carling Cup against Manchester United, he showed another side not too dissimilar to our deified Dennis - his temper. He isn’t afraid to use his strength - or his elbows - to win the ball. Of course, against Manchester United at Old Trafford this aggression was allowed, welcomed even. If he had been sent off then he would have returned a Highbury Hero. A few months down the line, against a ten-men Southampton and protecting a one goal lead, such rashness equates to nothing more than stupidity. Indeed, whilst some red cards have been known to endear a crowd, this one merely incensed them.

Of course we all know what happened next. Wenger, whom the arsenal fans have lauded as the epitome of cool and patience, lost both and we lost a vital 2 points. Van Persie was, without question, stupid; the foul was at least a second booking; the crowd understandably disappointed to see the team draw another match we should have cruised through. Yet, the censure that followed seemed a little over-the-top. The media, albeit in my opinion wrongly, accused the Arsenal fans of welcoming the introduction of van Persie against Pompey with murmurs of discontent. There was, however, an undeniable question mark placed over Robin’s temperament. Is he really talented enough to compensate for the risk poised by his Bergkamp-like red mist?

My simple answer is, unsurprising to anyone who has ever heard me in the North Bank, yes. He has a long way to go but even the Great Dennis loses his temper sometimes. Wenger, perhaps Robin’s severest critic, has not yet forgiven him for his red card madness, but Robin seems to me to be a very young player willing to learn from those around him. You can, at times, see the mist descend and my heart is in my mouth as I see his studs up but something, perhaps a little Wenger in the back of his head, stops him from following through.

In terms of skill, he is undoubtedly a potential Bergkamp in the making - it takes a special player to make a goalkeeper in the calibre of Friedel look ridiculous. In fact if you ask an increasing section of the North Bank at least, there is something about Persie, something quietly exciting. Perhaps he will be the next Dennis; perhaps he will emerge from the great man’s shadow and transform into something entirely different yet equally integral. All I know is that behind the anger and the attitude is a legend waiting to step forward and repay the faith of both his manager, his mentor and, hopefully, his fans.

And one more from Arsenal-Mania on how Chelsea are killing football, also interesting.

Why Chelsea are killing football

Chelsea are going down and indeed already are well down the track of being the most hated side in England and possibly Europe.

When Abramovich came in, for neutrals it was exciting. For years that had seen Arsenal and Manchester United dominate the Premiership but suddenly there was a 3rd rival who on paper, could completely dominate them.

Plus, the manager who seemingly benefited from it was one of the nicest in the game. Can anyone here seriously say they dislike Ranieri? I doubt it, the guy is a complete gentleman, and the only good thing I took from us losing to Chelsea in the Champions League was the sheer joy in his eyes. It wasn't arrogance like Mourinho running down the touchline at Old Trafford, it was pure unadulterated joy, it was like he couldn't not believe what had happened. I was devastated we lost, and did not want Chelsea to win the CL because of our rivalry, but deep down if they had done I would have been pleased for Ranieri.

But this year it has all changed. They sacked a gentleman who got Chelsea to their best finish in 49 seasons, and who also took them the furthest they (and indeed we) have been in the Champions League. Instead they installed a guy, who while brilliantly football wise, was only interested in promoting himself and how great he was. Slowly as the year has gone by he has become more and more full of himself and Chelsea are just acting like they can do what they want, when they want.

To make things worse for neutrals, Chelsea have actually gone the other way this season, instead of competing with us and United they, through spending a ridiculous amount of money, have been far too good for both of us. The fact is that without Chelsea, we would be on for a SENSATIONAL title race this season, United leading us by 2 points with 8 games to go. But no, Chelsea have ruined that too.

Now it should be said, that the Chelsea players deserve all the accolades they will get. They have been SUPERB, both in performances and commitment, and it's not fair to taint them with the same brush. Even Chelsea's fans, while sometimes embarrassing are only doing what any other set of fans would. If a billionaire bought Arsenal tomorrow, gave Wenger £220 million and we won the Champions League would we give a damn? Probably not, in fact I'm sure we would revel in it.

But the management at Chelsea, Abramovich, Kenyon and Mourinho look like killing the game. If Chelsea have £50 million to £100 million to spend every summer then how can ANYONE compete?

Worse of all, when Chelsea act like they own football, like in the Cole saga, or in this case, what can you do? Fining them is pointless because unless you going into the hundreds of millions range its nothing to them. But at the same time, you cannot say, deduct Chelsea 5 points for tapping up Cole when Villa only got a £20,000 fine for tapping up Beattie. Chelsea would take the FA to court and win.

So where does this leave us all? God only knows, we can only hope at some point the Russian pulls out and hopefully ask for his transfer money back.

I feel for Wenger, having read books on him he was denied a legacy at Monaco because he could not play Marseille on a level playing field due to match rigging. Now Chelsea have done nothing illegal, but instead of having a chance to dominate English football with a combination of established quality, impressive youngsters, a great new stadium AND finally some cash to strength the squad, he is going go have to work miracles to stop Chelsea because of their unlimited cash flows.

The only good thing to draw from the situation at Chelsea is this:

While it may be hard for us to stop them over the next few seasons, any trophies we do win will mean all that much more and ANYTHING they win will be tainted because they, literally, would have been NOTHING without a Russian oil oligarch.

Edited March 23, 2005 by Gooner4Life

[supergrass]

I think we'll have to wait until next season before anybody can really say that Chelsea have ruined football in the Premiership. After all, we had been sitting pretty on the top of the pile until our monumental blip, had that not happened and had we held Chelsea off (as unlikely a situation as that may seem now) would people still be saying the same about Abramovich and his millions/billions?

Next season will say a lot about the Cheslea situation. Is it killing the league or will it just make us and Manchester United better? Hopefully it'll inspire the current squad and some new signings to put more in and hopefully get more out. Should Chelsea run away with it again next year the criticisms of their spending habits would probably be a lot more justified then.

On the van Persie issue, the only thing I can say is it's going to take time and patience. Flamini, Fabregas, Senderos, Clichy, van Persie himself and some other youth players on the fringe don't have the experience of our other players. The fact is to become great (or better) players they will have to learn from their mistakes which will inevitably mean making some of them from time to time. With us being at the top it's debatable that we don't have the time to let these players find their feet throughout a season, but with our inabilities to match Chelsea in the transfer market bringing these youngsters through will be key to us.

I'm all for van Persie. Anelka, Vieira, Petit, Bergkamp, they all had a temper on them (not to mention Keown, Lauren and the others involved in the wars at Old Trafford), but under Wenger all have learned to keep things under control most of the time and hopefully van Persie will too.

As annoying as Bergkamp's petulance can be from time to time, and as inappropriate as it might be, there's something strangely watchable about his attack on Steve Lomas from many years back.

Edited March 24, 2005 by supergrass

[botchedpiledriver]

Who would you Arsenal fans like to see bought in next season? I've heard rumours of Lucio, Michael Owen and Essien so far.

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

A keeper, Hildebrand is on a free in the summer I believe, so I'd like to take him, although Frey has recently declared his desire to move to a bigger stage so he's still a possibility. Kuffour is leaving Bayern too, he's pretty much said he wants to move to Arsenal as far as SkySports will have us believe, so I'd like him too. Emre is leaving Inter, I'd like to see us snap him up, good replacement for Edu.

I'd also like to take Owen too, aswell as Wright-Phillips, but it all depends on how much each will cost.

Basically I'll take anyone we've been linked to recently, even some of the smaller unknowns, since the chances are they're going to be good.

[TMM]

I'd like to us to sign Hildebrand, Emre and, Kuffour (maybe) and a good strong central defender. Someone like Gonzalo Rodriquez would be nice.

As annoying as Bergkamp's petulance can be from time to time, and as inappropriate as it might be, there's something strangely watchable about his attack on Steve Lomas from many years back.

When I first saw that happen, I burst into laughter. I remember it like it was yesterday. It's the fact hejust essentially throws his entire arm in his face and then is all like "what...me?" to the referee.

[FLiam]

I was at that game, and to be honest, and this is no joke. I didn't actually see that incident, I missed it and was wondering why the hell he got sent off.

Then I saw it when I got home, it was great.

[supergrass]

Before I start, this is a paper story so I'm not sure how much it's really worth (although the general jist is certainly there). It's been written today Ashley Cole will either leave for cash in the summer or walk out on a free when his contract is up (in 2007 I believe), he's been reported as saying he feels let down by Arsenal asking for an official inquiry over the tapping up row and the charge given out by the FA is the final straw. If this is true, hopefully somebody will point out Arsenal did the right thing and had he not gone off for his illegal meeting with Chelsea then Arsenal would have had no need to take any action. I really have no sympathy whatsoever with Ashley over this whole incident.

Patrick Vieira is also in critical mood of the team and squad that has failed for the last seven years in the Champions League. Again, as bad as we've faired in Europe Pat must be aware he played in virtually all of the games and was as much a part of the failure as anybody else. The only good news comes in the suggestion that he's staying for the foreseeable future and not entering into another transfer dispute with Real this summer.

Just all of this added to Reyes AGAIN pleading for Real to come and get him has left me annoyed with the team this morning. I think Peter Hill-Wood has got the right attitiude, he's quoted as saying "We only want players who want to play for us." I'm behind the suggested decision that we'll dump some players who aren't committed to the club, it's all very well kissing the badge when we're going unbeaten for 49 games, but things get tough you start to see who wants to stay and play for Arsenal and who doesn't. Thus concludes my rant of this morning.

[FLiam]

On the Ashley Cole case, if he doesn't sign a contract because of this supposed £60,000 a week down to £55,000 then fuck him.

So much for a lifelong Arsenal fan, he can fuck off to Italy or Spain, I would be happy with £20m, add that to the money we already have and thank you very much Ashley.

[supergrass]

Two more words to add to that: Gael Clichy.

I don't want this or myself to turn into part of an Ashley Cole hate mob, I would like him to stay ideally. But if he does go it really won't be the end of the world for us. We have a great prospect in Clichy and with the money could strengthen our squad further.

[FLiam]

Arsenal are believed to be stepping up their interest in Espanyol's highly-rated keeper Carlos Kameni.

The Cameroon international has been regularly reviewed by Manchester United but Arsene Wenger has reportedly muscled his way to the front of the queue in the race to sign the oustanding goalie.

Catalan media reports claim Wenger spoke with Kameni during the recent Camp Nou charity match in aid of the victims of the Tsunami.

United sent goalkeeping coach Tony Coton to see the Espanyol number one but Arsenal are emerging as the favourites to sign him, if his club agree to any move.

"The idea of the club is that Carlos remains on our staff," coach Miguel Angel Lotina told Sport.

"He is a player who is growing and his value is increasing which means that if an offer came, then we could not reject it automatically and for that reason the sports director is looking at players each day.

"In England there are various teams that have problems with their goalkeepers and so it would not be strange if an offer is made for him.

"The game against Barcelona was seen across Europe and Kameni's actions were sensational.

"But we hae not received any offers for Kameni."

The African shot-stopper has a buy-out clause of €6 million which the club have been trying to renegotiate.

"The only thing I can say is that the player will improve more and, in some years, his value in the football market will be over €6 million," added Lotina.

Kameni was previously a target for Wolves when at Le Havre but the Molineux club could not obtain a work permit.

source: planetfootball.com

Right, now looking at it realistically, what goalkeepers are available, not many. My other choice is not going to be coming, that being Timo Hildebrand.

This guy is now on top of my list, I seen him a few times and he is a great keeper, he does make a few errors occasionally, but he is young and a long term solution. And he has great agility, and I have always thought we have needed a keeper more like Cech and Casilass who have great reflexes and agility and he fits the bill.

[TMM]

Sebastien "Fucking" Frey for god sake!

He wants to leave Parma, and we're loaded with Frenchies damn it! One of the best 'keepers around, SIGN HIM WENGER DAMN YOU!!!