What needs to happen to prove Wenger right?

[stg]

But you could say that about any team/squad in any division in any league in the world.

If Man U lose Nani, Vidic and Berbatov, if Chelsea lose Torres, Drogba and Chec, if spurs lose VDV or Modric. It is all a fine line

[augie]

What has wenger to do to be proved right ? Win the league simple as. Anything less is totally unacceptable no matter what some deluded fools say We are within touching distance of winning our first league since 2004 and wenger refuses to do what every man, woman and child knows he needed to do and that was strengthening a squad that is paper thin in crucial area's. As a result of that falling short is not an option and is unacceptable in my opinion and should result in immediate dismissal.

As far as I am concerned we gave up on the champs lge as soon as wenger's pricking about with team selections cost us top spot in our group (we all knew we would draw barca didnt we ? ). Yes we are still in with a shout in fa cup and have a great chance to win the beer cup (yippee ) but the bottom line is that the best teams win the leagues and the secondary competitions (fa cup and beer cup) can be won by 2nd class teams (like the scum). I would have accepted coming up short in our title bid if we had of actually brought in some proven talent but we simply have to show that level of ambition and this is something we no longer do

Anyway it is one thing to defend wenger on a lack of signings but another thing entirely to point to the 35m deal for andy carroll as a vindication of wenger's lack of buying and frankly it is an embarrassing statement to make We made 56m profit last season alone and that money could and should have been used to bring in at least 2 quality players. We didnt look for wenger to overspend on an outdated english style football thug but we looked for him to sign a much needed quality centre back and defensive midfielder and yes the market may well be inflated but sometimes if you need something badly enough (and we do) then you have to pay over the odd's to get it - the bottom line is when you pay peanuts you get monkeys and I am pretty sure that if you look up the definition of monkeys in a football handbook you will see the names of squillachi, denilson and diaby (to name just 3) in there

[piresistible]

So Wenger hasn't bought. He thinks we have enough in the squad. IMO the following needs to happen to allow us to win the League / Champions League.

- Vermaelen comes back from injury in 2-3 weeks and slots straight back into the team.
- Kos and Djourou stay fit and play well in each game.
- Fabregas and VP stay fit for the whole season.
- Arshavin returns to form.
- Nasri is only out for 3 weeks and does not have a recurrence.
- Scezsney stays No 1 for the rest of the season and doesn't drop any clangers.
- Song and Wilshere stay fit for the rest of the season
- Bendtner, Chamakh and co chip in with important goals when needed.
- Theo stays fit as our 'impact man'.
- Chelsea take points off United (probably need to beat them twice).
- We either beat Barcelona or don't go into one of our normal slumps if we get knocked out.
- We win the Carling Cup.

Can we realistically see all of this happening?

That is the same for any team. Take Silva, Tevez & K.Toure out of City, take Rooney, Vidic and Nani out of United, take Terry, Lampard and Drogba out of Chelsea, hell take Messi, Puyol and Xavi out of Barca and all those clubs would struggle.

What do you suggest, two world class 11′s just in case? What happens if both world class right backs get injured, you’re still back to Eboue.

[TeeCee]

Wenger made a very telling comment yesterday, he said "We don't have to start prioritising games yet"

That means that at some point, he is going to play a very weak team in an 'important' match just to rest players for another match he see's as more important. There's a fair chance that the match he plays a 'weaker' team in will be the Carling Cup final because it's in between the Barca games and two important league matches at home. I am amazed people still think the cup is ours because it's Birmingham. I think it will be a very very close final and if we lose it, along with losing to Barca (because that is 100% guaranteed), then a losing streak will quite likely follow as history has proven that time and again with Arsenal.

So rather than making a statement about having to prioritise games Wenger, you could have signed the players necessary to let us push on in all 4 competitions but no, the dictator says we'll do it his way - the proven way.....of losing that is. You senile old muppet Wenger.

[Arsenal 1991]

So Wenger hasn't bought. He thinks we have enough in the squad. IMO the following needs to happen to allow us to win the League / Champions League.

- Vermaelen comes back from injury in 2-3 weeks and slots straight back into the team.
- Kos and Djourou stay fit and play well in each game.
- Fabregas and VP stay fit for the whole season.
- Arshavin returns to form.
- Nasri is only out for 3 weeks and does not have a recurrence.
- Scezsney stays No 1 for the rest of the season and doesn't drop any clangers.
- Song and Wilshere stay fit for the rest of the season
- Bendtner, Chamakh and co chip in with important goals when needed.
- Theo stays fit as our 'impact man'.
- Chelsea take points off United (probably need to beat them twice).
- We either beat Barcelona or don't go into one of our normal slumps if we get knocked out.
- We win the Carling Cup.

Can we realistically see all of this happening?

That is the same for any team. Take Silva, Tevez & K.Toure out of City, take Rooney, Vidic and Nani out of United, take Terry, Lampard and Drogba out of Chelsea, hell take Messi, Puyol and Xavi out of Barca and all those clubs would struggle.

What do you suggest, two world class 11′s just in case? What happens if both world class right backs get injured, you’re still back to Eboue.

Barcelona were missing quite of few of their players last season and look what happened last season.

Nobodies asking for two world class 11', we just want dependable backups. We lack that at centre back and we are seriously short in midfield. Eboue is also not good enough, he has no positional sense.

[highburyJD]

the bottom line is when you pay peanuts you get monkeys and I am pretty sure that if you look up the definition of monkeys in a football handbook you will see the names of squillachi, denilson and diaby (to name just 3) in there

monkeys like Vieira, Anelka and Kolo Toure?
or Henry and Pires who were bought in for a fraction of the players they replaced?

those three, Den, Diaby + Toto, are 2nd choice players.
Squillaci has not yet settled into a new league + is basically 4th/5th choice CB. Den + Diaby will be in a battle with Ramsay and Lansbury to even be 2nd choice next season.
Buying expensive, + therefore highly paid, players to replace our 2nd string makes no sense.

The position I wanted us to sign a player in was was back up def mid - preferably an experienced well priced player. We had Frimpong but he obv got a serious injury at the start of the season. Parker is good but was massively overpriced, not sure if Senna, who I would have liked, was available. There was talk of Madj Bougherra who can play there...

I regret our failure to sign a back up def mid - which would release Song as an additional CB.

But some of the "sign X,Y and Z for a gazzilion pounds and we win everything" solutions are the stuff of computer games not reality

[marcengels]

the bottom line is when you pay peanuts you get monkeys and I am pretty sure that if you look up the definition of monkeys in a football handbook you will see the names of squillachi, denilson and diaby (to name just 3) in there

monkeys like Vieira, Anelka and Kolo Toure?
or Henry and Pires who were bought in for a fraction of the players they replaced?

those three, Den, Diaby + Toto, are 2nd choice players.
Squillaci has not yet settled into a new league + is basically 4th/5th choice CB. Den + Diaby will be in a battle with Ramsay and Lansbury to even be 2nd choice next season.
Buying expensive, + therefore highly paid, players to replace our 2nd string makes no sense.

The position I wanted us to sign a player in was was back up def mid - preferably an experienced well priced player. We had Frimpong but he obv got a serious injury at the start of the season. Parker is good but was massively overpriced, not sure if Senna, who I would have liked, was available. There was talk of Madj Bougherra who can play there...

I regret our failure to sign a back up def mid - which would release Song as an additional CB.

But some of the "sign X,Y and Z for a gazzilion pounds and we win everything" solutions are the stuff of computer games not reality

Bankrupt arguements mate, from beginning to end.

I'll leave it to someone else with more patience to deal with this.

[rigsby]

If we'ld signed any of the players gone in this window for that money people would still moan.

Lets just see how it pans out eh?

[augie]

the bottom line is when you pay peanuts you get monkeys and I am pretty sure that if you look up the definition of monkeys in a football handbook you will see the names of squillachi, denilson and diaby (to name just 3) in there

monkeys like Vieira, Anelka and Kolo Toure?
or Henry and Pires who were bought in for a fraction of the players they replaced?

those three, Den, Diaby + Toto, are 2nd choice players.
Squillaci has not yet settled into a new league + is basically 4th/5th choice CB. Den + Diaby will be in a battle with Ramsay and Lansbury to even be 2nd choice next season.
Buying expensive, + therefore highly paid, players to replace our 2nd string makes no sense.

The position I wanted us to sign a player in was was back up def mid - preferably an experienced well priced player. We had Frimpong but he obv got a serious injury at the start of the season. Parker is good but was massively overpriced, not sure if Senna, who I would have liked, was available. There was talk of Madj Bougherra who can play there...

I regret our failure to sign a back up def mid - which would release Song as an additional CB.

But some of the "sign X,Y and Z for a gazzilion pounds and we win everything" solutions are the stuff of computer games not reality

Again who the fcuk is asking wenger to spend a gazzillion pounds ? And who the fcuk is stating that spending money would guarantee success ? I mean you quoted me and you sure as hell wont see any such statements in my posts

Anyway seeing as you mention a few of our past players in relation to my peanuts/monkeys comment I feel I should say this....PV4 cost 3.5m fourteen years ago so given the rate of inflation how much do you think that would translate into in todays market ? Henry cost 11.5m and regardless of how much we received from selling his predessor it was still 11.5m nearly a decade ago

Finally buying "expensive and highly paid players to replace our 2nd choice players" makes total sense if your back up players are not good enough or in some cases just absolute shite. We will not win a league having to call upon denilson, diaby and squillachi as our back ups and in this league, with our injury record plus wenger's fondness of squad rotation we will without doubt be calling upon them. I also have to say that I think you are underestimating the importance of diaby in wenger's eye's - watch and see how many games he gets as a starter when/if he gets fit and wenger will cite the need to rest wilshire as his excuse

PS Dont even bother trying to defend squillachi on the basis that he has not settled into a new league yet........he is an experienced international (go figure ) and appears to be no better that a sunday league player and certainly not as good as senderos was.

[clockend_tom]

Easy Now!!!!

[highburyJD]

I have also been disappointed with Squilaci
I was feeling the same about Kos but he's starting to change my mind
they dont really work as a partnership but playing Djourou week in week out is asking for trouble with his injury record

it's just that buying Cahill (prob the best rep CB we've been linked with) would have cost a ridiculous amount of money
and sounded the death knell on Bartley's career

as I stated I would rather we signed an older backup for song

who are these good cheap players that you guys would sign...?
Even excellent players have taken half a season or more to settle - henry, bergkamp, pires
Even Sol who knew the league back to front had his dodgy moments in his first few months
well thats no good to us in a Jan signing

[flash gunner]

I have also been disappointed with Squilaci
I was feeling the same about Kos but he's starting to change my mind
they dont really work as a partnership but playing Djourou week in week out is asking for trouble with his injury record

it's just that buying Cahill (prob the best rep CB we've been linked with) would have cost a ridiculous amount of money
and sounded the death knell on Bartley's career

as I stated I would rather we signed an older backup for song

who are these good cheap players that you guys would sign...?
Even excellent players have taken half a season or more to settle - henry, bergkamp, pires
Even Sol who knew the league back to front had his dodgy moments in his first few months
well thats no good to us in a Jan signing

Sorry mate but fuck Bartleys career there is a massive chance he will not make it with us anyway like Rui Fonte, Nordviet, Anthony Stokes, Merida etc etc etc

I want and we can win the league this season. If only!!!!

[selsdon]

Who's Bartley and what career please?

[augie]

Who's Bartley and what career please?

Bartley is the centre back that we have now sent on loan 3 times in the last 2 seasons and the latest at a time when we are way beyond stretched at the centre back position

[donaldo]

Who's Bartley and what career please?

He played in the championship and has now taken 5 steps down and gone to play in the SPL.Kill his career?Its dead mate