Interesting view in the Times this morning...
Arsenal are a club in no-man’s-land unless Arsene Wenger makes some dramatic signings in this transfer window – and nothing so far has suggested that he will.
This is a strange and uncertain time for Arsenal. It’s hard to be positive, which is bizarre for such a big club that is stable, has talented players and has known great success so recently.
When Arsenal moved to the Emirates Stadium it was a key moment in their plan to become the dominant London club. But where is the great team to match the great crowds? The line-up isn’t worthy of the arena. There’s a contrast between the theory and the reality because the transfer business isn’t in tune with the club’s status or ambitions.
There won’t be full houses at the Emirates in the years to come unless there’s a winning team on the pitch because fans who’ve been spoilt by the quality and success of Wenger’s teams won’t keep paying high ticket prices for an inferior product. No matter what the manager says about this current squad having great ability, they’re not a patch on his title-winning sides and many of their performances last season were indifferent. Anyway, it’s been so long without silverware that attractive football isn’t enough to placate supporters any more.
I disagree that Arsenal are an improving team. They’ll probably look great in the early months of the season when the weather’s fine and the pitches are good, but they can be bullied in midfield, as they were last season. Like England in past years, I don’t see a team of winners – I see a team that can be expected to reach the quarter-finals of tournaments each time but lacking the quality and mettle to do any better.
You’d have thought that the success of the Andriy Arshavin transfer would help Wenger realise the value of splashing out for stars in their prime, for the boost it provides to both team and fans. Obviously not, to judge from his recent comments about not feeling in any hurry to buy again and insisting that the squad is strong enough to challenge. It’d take the pressure off him – and place it on the board - if he was to admit that Arsenal just don’t have the finances to be competitive. But he’s saying almost the opposite.
He was linked with Patrick Vieira this week but it’d be totally unlike Wenger to re-sign a player he’s previously sold. Once he’s decided to let a player leave, they’re gone for good, because he’s formed the opinion that he’s already squeezed the best out of them. Comfortably the wrong side of 30 and in decline, Vieira ticks completely the wrong boxes.
I don’t get the sales of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City. Two strong, experienced men in a squad lacking physical presence and know-how. Even an unenthusiastic Adebayor is more useful than a willing Niklas Bendtner up front, and why did Arsenal go to so much effort to keep Adebayor last year, giving him a lucractive new contract, only to sell him twelve months later?
Are Arsenal a selling club now, both because they need the money and because they’re no longer the kind of outfit that ambitious players want to stay with for long? Has their reputation been dented and will Europe’s best talents increasingly choose to go to other clubs? Will the lack of success prompt Cesc Fabregas to look for a way out, accelerating their slide on the pitch and the decline of their appeal off it?
Unless Wenger pulls off a couple of masterstrokes I see this Arsenal side picking up about the same number of points in the Barclays Premier League as last season, or maybe just a few more. And with Manchester City transformed and Everton without the injury problems that beset them last time, that might not be enough for fourth place. And that would provoke a crisis that Wenger surely would not survive.
Times 31/07/09 Tony Cascarino
wenger must buy or arsenal will stagnate. Times 31/07/09
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Re: wenger must buy or arsenal will stagnate. Times 31/07/09
3 questions.norfbankN16 wrote: Are Arsenal a selling club now, both because they need the money and because they’re no longer the kind of outfit that ambitious players want to stay with for long? Has their reputation been dented and will Europe’s best talents increasingly choose to go to other clubs? Will the lack of success prompt Cesc Fabregas to look for a way out, accelerating their slide on the pitch and the decline of their appeal off it?
Sadly three times to affirm.
- Swale_Gooner1985
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Thats quite a lot of crap if you ask me...
it says it doesnt understand the sales of Adebayor and Toure...quite easy to understand, one was a player who didnt want to be there or make any effort, the other is a player who has declined over the last season...and given 41 million quid the answer is quite simple!
It also says an unenthusiastic Adebayor is better than an enthusiastic Bendtner...total crap!
it says it doesnt understand the sales of Adebayor and Toure...quite easy to understand, one was a player who didnt want to be there or make any effort, the other is a player who has declined over the last season...and given 41 million quid the answer is quite simple!
It also says an unenthusiastic Adebayor is better than an enthusiastic Bendtner...total crap!
- Exiled-Gooner
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Re: wenger must buy or arsenal will stagnate. Times 31/07/09
I don’t get the sales of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City. Two strong, experienced men in a squad lacking physical presence and know-how. Even an unenthusiastic Adebayor is more useful than a willing Niklas Bendtner up front, and why did Arsenal go to so much effort to keep Adebayor last year, giving him a lucractive new contract, only to sell him twelve months later?
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This did make me laugh,i don't know what games cascarino watched but Toure seemed like he has not recovered from his bout of malaria and greedywhore showed he didn't want to play for us!and he's wrong about bendtner,he put the effort in after a shit period and gave some performances from which i hope he can build on.
He has a point about our move to the grove and the purchase of Arshavin and like most fans i'm amazed at our in activity in the transfer market considering our performance last season??where our weaknesses wre exposed but maybe with greedywhore gone wenger can give the other strikers a chance to prove themselves.
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This did make me laugh,i don't know what games cascarino watched but Toure seemed like he has not recovered from his bout of malaria and greedywhore showed he didn't want to play for us!and he's wrong about bendtner,he put the effort in after a shit period and gave some performances from which i hope he can build on.
He has a point about our move to the grove and the purchase of Arshavin and like most fans i'm amazed at our in activity in the transfer market considering our performance last season??where our weaknesses wre exposed but maybe with greedywhore gone wenger can give the other strikers a chance to prove themselves.
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