woodgate

Post by **REB** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:39 pm

woodgate not going to spu*s,, heading to newcastle ,, sky have announced it

augie · Post by **augie** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:42 pm

Still think woodgate would have been a great but for us and his attendance record for boro stands at 72% which is way higher than van persie's is for us. I know people go on about the possible conflict of buying a quality centre half and then have 3 battling for 2 spots but I would move kolo alongside cesc - he could certainly "do a job there" eh gus.

Post by **REB** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:48 pm

got to agree, ive always rated woodgate as a player and would have been a fine signing for us,, but 8mill was the price and wenger wouldnt pay that even if he wanted him,,

TheOne2Smooth · Post by **TheOne2Smooth** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:04 pm

Magic Hat wrote:Holland was one game against a great team, Lescott has played badly against Albania, Estonia, Russia and Croatia.

I dont think he played 4 games and no one in that England team was doing to much anyway

Number 5 · Post by **Number 5** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:05 pm

Augie, I really can appreciate the point you are trying to make. It just seems to me there is a certain element of cutting off your nose to spite your face about not rolling over and playing dead when a player wants a move. At times I've had the attitude of sling em in the reserves, let him rot, you'll only be going where we say you can go etc. But in general I prefer to look at the wider view and longer term. Mainly when Arsenal sell big players they go abroad, we have never strengthend any of our major rivals, with possibly the exception of Cashley, but then we equally weakend them by procuring Mr G. That is a major plus I think. When you look around Europe you can see how many inter league transfers go on between the big clubs. I think Arsenal take a classier view in these situations of shipping out the player if they demand/engineer a move elsewhere. I mean how would you like to read in the papers about an Arsenal playing threatening to go on strike, or score an own goal if he doesn't get a move? By allowing the move it keeps the negative headlines out of the press and the manager gets to work with the players he knows he has 100% commitment from and can get the best out of, rather than have a player sulking around the club because he wants a move elsewhere disrupting the team ethos.

augie · Post by **augie** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:29 pm

Again Number 5 I totally understand where you are coming from but my opinion of the wider/longer term view is that it gives off a very negative message to our players and potential transfer targets. In the short term it may help the team harmony not to have an unhappy player but these players will also being looking at our club thinking that (a)they cannot keep their best players from going to another big club & (b) that our club doesnt fight hard enough to keep our best players and neither of these are good signs. Whatever knocks may be on some of our players I will say with certainty that they all strive for success to the extent that we have seen a few of them moaning in recent years about a lack of quality signings. They are wise enough to know that everytime we lose a quality player(through selling or indeed injury) or everytime one of our rivals sign a quality player it is getting that much harder to get that success. I really worry that another barren season will see cesc under immense pressure to sign for 1 of the big spanish clubs next summer and I am just wondering how long the manager,the board and the fans expect the likes of cesc to hang around in the hope of winning honours with Arsenal again ? I again will say that if this squad isnt at a high enough standard to win trophies now(& I dont think it is) then we need to bring in extra quality right now cos we do not know who will want out in the summer and should we lose cesc or any of our key players it will again put us further away from the much coveted success

Number 5 · Post by **Number 5** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:01 pm

Ok, lets take the player whose name started this thread, Woodgate. Undoubtedly a quality player, but realistically? An Â£8m substitue. Wenger rarely rotates the centre backs and Woodgate is in no way better than Kolo or Gallas. How long would it be till he complained of lack of opportunity and wanted out? When you talk about quality signings Augie I can only get behind them if they are going to go straight into the starting line-up. And so far this season I've seen 2 main area's where this could happen. 1st the flanks, considering the amount of games Eboue and Diaby have started on the wings this season, we could easily splash a good Â£10m on a proper wide player who would have a more devaststing impact than those 2 afore mentioned. 2nd. Upfront, you'd do well to find a bigger fan than V.Persie than myself but again considering the amount of games he hasn't started, again a good Â£15m on a top striker I could get behind. What I don't want to happen is to spend on quality players only to see them not make the team.

augie · Post by **augie** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:22 pm

Totally agree re striker but have to say that a quality keeper would be very high on my list of priorities - it is often said that you shouldnt buy a player unless he is an improvement on the player currently in that position and if there isnt at least 20 better keepers in europe than almunia then I'm taking up goalkeeping at 38 years of age. The centre half is a trickier situation in that, yes kolo & gallas are good(although neither will head those longs punts raining in on our defense), but when you look behind and see our swiss re-inforcements who both appear to have gone backwards then you have to worry about this position. As for the winger I spoke all summer long about queresma as a good winger and the only thing that has now changed is that he is now cup-tied for europe

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:25 pm

TheOne2Smooth wrote:
I dont think he played 4 games and no one in that England team was doing to much anyway

are you saying nobody else performed well and that you don't think Lescott played those games? Honestly I can't understand your post, sorry Smooth

To his credit, he played Austria and did well against them.

Red Gunner · Post by **Red Gunner** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:48 pm

I wouldn't mind Woodgate in Arsenal but he is too injury-prone and is too good of a player to be a back-up. I remeber we were linked with him when he was playing for Newcastle and I watched him play for Newcastle in the UEFA Cup the following week and he looked very good; I wanted us to sign him but he went to Real Madrid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3717023.stm