SSN - Arsenal make contact over Downing

TeeCee · Post by **TeeCee** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:26 am

We won't get Downing anyway, as soon as Liverpool hear we are interested, they'll offer 18m, we won't spend that on him.

Gunnersaurus · Post by **Gunnersaurus** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:27 am

Rosie_titters wrote:
Gunnersaurus wrote:
Rosie_titters wrote:i'll give him a chance, but again it's not position we need filling

nothing against Gervinho, Downing, etc, etc - but we need another keeper and at least 3 more defenders
To be fair our wide players were as weak as our centre backs last year.
that's because Wenger is playing Bentdner, Arshavin and Walcott out of fucking position. True we don't have any decent wide players, but surely the defence has to be sorted first

i can't watch another season of Kos, Djourou, Squilliaci getting robbed at set pieces and corners - every week you can already see what's going to happen. And how long will it be before chesney confidence get's shot to pieces because of the crap in front of him

I'm not disputing that, I'm just pointing out how shit our wide players were for the reasons you stated, if he's trying to fix it then it can't be a negative, I'm sure we will get some defenders.

LDB · Post by **LDB** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:27 am

Rosie_titters wrote:
Gunnersaurus wrote:
Rosie_titters wrote:i'll give him a chance, but again it's not position we need filling

nothing against Gervinho, Downing, etc, etc - but we need another keeper and at least 3 more defenders
To be fair our wide players were as weak as our centre backs last year.
that's because Wenger is playing Bentdner, Arshavin and Walcott out of fucking position. True we don't have any decent wide players, but surely the defence has to be sorted first

i can't watch another season of Kos, Djourou, Squilliaci getting robbed at set pieces and corners - every week you can already see what's going to happen. And how long will it be before chesney confidence get's shot to pieces because of the crap in front of him

The depressing thing is that its more then one area of the team that requires major attention and yet here we are nearing mid-july and we've done fuck all.

arsenalmorris · Post by **arsenalmorris** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:29 am

18m are we mental, wenger spends fuck all the apparently offers this for him

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:31 am

REBEL GOONER wrote:one minute people are moaning about our lack of squad and the next its he's shit lets not buy him

id have him, he was villas best player last year, beats players ,gets goals and who gives a fuck about the price , spend our money wenger

If the Spuds were after him we would be laughing our heads off.Downing is nothing more than average.

Rosie_titters · Post by **Rosie_titters** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:41 am

arsenalmorris wrote:18m are we mental, wenger spends fuck all the apparently offers this for him

maybe the board are doing the bidding, they have packed Wenger off to Asia for a week and when he comes back there will be 8 new signings

the board have no faith in Wenger, so they are now buying the players, just like Ambramovic

safcftm · Post by **safcftm** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:43 am

donaldo wrote:
REBEL GOONER wrote:one minute people are moaning about our lack of squad and the next its he's shit lets not buy him

id have him, he was villas best player last year, beats players ,gets goals and who gives a fuck about the price , spend our money wenger
If the Spuds were after him we would be laughing our heads off.Downing is nothing more than average.

I wouldn't say the lad is average but he certainly isn't good enough to make a real difference to the Arsenal. He'll have improved since he was at Sunderland like, but because he was with us for a short spell I've kept an eye on the lad and obviously seen an awful lot of him with England and Villa. He doesn't really beat his man- he is good at making space and whipping crosses in. That can be useful in its own right, but you need to have the striker who thrives on that kind of service which I think its fair to say (at this point anyway, I dont know if you're going to target anyone) Arsenal don't. He also has a tendancy to slow attacks down which isnt great if, like Arsenal, you are a flowing, fluent side. He needs to work to make space, he isnt quick, he just doesnt seem to tick the boxes for Arsenal.

He is also fairly one dimensional- unlike, say, a Charles N'Zogbia, you know what Downing is going to do, there really aren't many surprises in his locker and that means teams only need to put one man on him, leaving everyone else free to mark their man. Ideally you want a winger who will trouble teams and who can go either inside or outside (Downing will almost never go onto his right foot), forcing them to try and double up when he gets the ball, leaving space for either your strikers or, more likely, your central midfielders to get the ball with time and space to do damage.

No one can say Downing is a bad player- used in the right system he can be effective, but I would have thought that the aim for Arsenal is to try and catch the likes of Man United and try to catch up a bit on the European elite, and a player like Downing simply wont do that and he will be vastly overpriced for what he brings to the table.

The fact is that Young and Downing aren't good enough to assist teams in a quest to succeed in Europe, and Downing in particular isnt good enough to help a side win the league. He's a borderline 4th, 5th, 6th place player imo and if the height of your ambition is to stay top 4 then he is a half decent signing. If you want more than that, which Wenger seems to suggest he does, then you need to target the likes of Juan Mata instead

And if its true that he'd prefer Liverpool then he doesnt even have the right commitment and should definitely be avoided. Seems strange that after crying out for a keeper, centre back and dominating midfielder for so long, Wenger seems tempted to spunk money on a fairly average in the grand scheme of things winger

Post by **REB** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:43 am

arsenal have offered 18mill

im in shock

OneBardGooner · Post by **OneBardGooner** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:06 am

Gunnersaurus wrote:The thing with players like Downing is while they don't capture the imagination they are team players, we are not a team, we are a collection of ball players put together in the hope of Gelling and its failed as we got players not playing where they want to play.With Downing you know he would come to play on a flank and provide service for those that are supposed to be spectacular, United have their stars but they also have their team players, I'm warming to the idea.

Also because they've been put in positions (square pegs in round holes) they simply cannot and do NOT know how to play in....also Downing does know how to shoot from more than 6 yards.... !...something most of our oplayers seem incapable of...

OneBardGooner · Post by **OneBardGooner** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:09 am

REBEL GOONER wrote:arsenal have offered 18mill

im in shock

WHAT!!? for Downing!??? FFS

Chips and Chocolate · Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:32 am

REBEL GOONER wrote:one minute people are moaning about our lack of squad and the next its he's shit lets not buy him

id have him, he was villas best player last year, beats players ,gets goals and who gives a fuck about the price , spend our money wenger

This. He's a natural winger and can cross a ball. Could add a bit of diversity to our line-up!

TeeCee · Post by **TeeCee** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:50 am

What are people expecting? Seriously? We've had comments that Samba isn't good enough, nor Cahill, nor Downing etc etc. Who the fuck do you think is:
A) going to sign for Arsenal?
B) likely to have huge money spent on them under Wenger?

Face facts, we can't and won't sign the likes of Sneijder, Ronaldo, Rooney, Villa etc. People throw ridiculous names in the pot who are either way out of our league or who are one season wonders - Hummels and Subotic for example. Get real, Arsenal can't and don't shop at Waitrose, we are at Lidl currently, hoping to have a couple of shopping sprees in Tesco FFS!

Samba, Cahill and Downing are all miles better than half of the players we currently have (at least) so they ARE a step forward and an improvement.

safcftm · Post by **safcftm** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:53 am

TeeCee wrote:What are people expecting? Seriously? We've had comments that Samba isn't good enough, nor Cahill, nor Downing etc etc. Who the fuck do you think is:
A) going to sign for Arsenal?
B) likely to have huge money spent on them under Wenger?

Face facts, we can't and won't sign the likes of Sneijder, Ronaldo, Rooney, Villa etc. People throw ridiculous names in the pot who are either way out of our league or who are one season wonders - Hummels and Subotic for example. Get real, Arsenal can't and don't shop at Waitrose, we are at Lidl currently, hoping to have a couple of shopping sprees in Tesco FFS!
Samba, Cahill and Downing are all miles better than half of the players we currently have (at least) so they ARE a step forward and an improvement.

What about Juan Mata- probably no more expensive than Downing and a much better player who would bring a lot more to your side than Downing will? I think there are much better players than Downing that you could very realisitcally be targetting. As a slightly more unrealistic one (but still not a Villa), go and get Llorente and Mata along with Samba and you might actually challenge for the title- someone like Downing wont help you get near to the top spot

TeeCee · Post by **TeeCee** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:00 pm

I'd love us to get Mata mate

He has something like a 22m buy out clause, would he want to go to Arsenal? Buy Mata and guaranteed, inside 2-3 years Barca or Madrid will come in for him. Yet again we would be buying youth with potential.....not an uncommon thing at Arsenal!
I'm not saying we should all be delighted if we got Downing, but if he came in along with 3 or 4 others then overall he could be a decent signing.

Supagoon · Post by **Supagoon** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:01 pm

of course we need a winger!!!

do people actually enjoy seeing, arshavin wide losing the ball?, nasri doing his will-he-wont-he cut inside routine?

we dont have a winger in the team!

but stuart downing isn't good enough for arsenal , we need good wingers!!!

Wont believe this rumour about downing, he is the last winger we should get, rather have got young, much rather!!