As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
g88ner wrote:I'm really confused as to why we didn't sign a striker this summer.
David Villa would have done. As would Higuain. Hell, even Soldado. or.. well... a host of strikers would have done.
Wenger either has immense faith in Sanogo/Park/Bendtner or he's decided that Theo is ready to play as a striker if Giroud gets injured/needs a rest.
Strange. Especially as even Wenger (and Giroud) said we needed another striker
Oh well, delighted with Ozil though.
In my opinion from everything I've read I think Wenger was initially confident that he could get Higuain for around £23m and that was what was agreed with Madrid. That would've changed when Napoli came in with their bid of over £30m and Wenger must've been advised that Suarez had a release clause of (over) £40m so the better option would be to spend a little more and get Suarez. Obviously then it turned out there was no such clause and by that point we had already missed out on a lot of the top strikers that had been available. It is a bit of a mess but I'd rather Wenger waited either until January or next summer and got a top class striker than just panicking and buying whoever's available.
I don't think our striking options are horrendous though. Giroud, Podolski and Walcott will probably be the three we alternate between up front and they are good options. I think Walcott's pace in particular with Santi and Ozil in behind will cause a lot of problems as they will constantly be looking to put him through.
The problem we have is that we only ever play with 1 striker though and in a lone striker system I think only Giroud is the right type of player for the role. No, I haven't changed my opinion of him overnight and he still has real shortcomings in terms of pace and technique, but he can play back to goal......and the other two can't do that. I think the real problem comes in those home games where the away team defends deep and doesn't leave any space behind. That's when RvP would be able to conjure a goal from nothing on the turn. Giroud has started to show glimpses of that, but the other two are more like 'second strikers' and better away from home.
We really should have signed someone capable of playing that lone striker role because The King of Denmark and Postman Pat sure as hell aren't capable of doing it
I am really walking on air over the Ozil deal, well pleased
However the fact that we missed out on 'Higgy' will haunt our summer as he was there to be had. Bendy just lingers in the air like a beer fart, why can't we get shot of him
I would rather see Akpom get a run of games than Bendy being brought in from the cold.
Priority in January must be a top notch finisher.
Last edited by green gooner on Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
green gooner wrote:I am really walking on air over the Ozil deal, well pleased
However the fact that we missed out on 'Higgy@ will haunt our summer as he was there to be had. Bendy just lingers in the air like a beer fart, why can't we get shot of him
I would rather see Akpom get a run of games than Bendy being brought in from the cold.
Apparently he's driving the team coach to Sunderland...otherwise we could leave him behind (again!)
Dodgyknee71 wrote:Reading quotes from a few RM PLAYERS who seem genuinely saddened to see him go, there's also a good YouTube video of özils back heel tricks the fella looks mint to me. World class players don't come cheap and at 24 hopefully will be a great assets. Shirt sales will increase etcetc - I just now hope he attracts more players, my fears are unrest in the camp but that's another story.....
As a workmate put it to me earlier (spuds ST Holder) ... We lose our best player and you get Reals best player..you been through the shit period stadium move, limited funds etc.... This will be the beginning of a new era aka bergkamp etcetc...
Fingers crossed eh?
I personally ain't getting involved.... I will still support the ARSENAL whatever the weather.....(a part of me preferred it with 24k in a 70k ARSENAL STADIUM ) I just refuse to be a customer I liked it when we were part of the club
What kind of unrest are you talking about?
He earns more than me, toys out the pram etc etc but I won't get into discussing this area I've had a few tins and still resentful of how the game I loved was killed by money and greed!
Dodgyknee71 wrote:Reading quotes from a few RM PLAYERS who seem genuinely saddened to see him go, there's also a good YouTube video of özils back heel tricks the fella looks mint to me. World class players don't come cheap and at 24 hopefully will be a great assets. Shirt sales will increase etcetc - I just now hope he attracts more players, my fears are unrest in the camp but that's another story.....
As a workmate put it to me earlier (spuds ST Holder) ... We lose our best player and you get Reals best player..you been through the shit period stadium move, limited funds etc.... This will be the beginning of a new era aka bergkamp etcetc...
Fingers crossed eh?
I personally ain't getting involved.... I will still support the ARSENAL whatever the weather.....(a part of me preferred it with 24k in a 70k ARSENAL STADIUM ) I just refuse to be a customer I liked it when we were part of the club
What kind of unrest are you talking about?
He earns more than me, toys out the pram etc etc but I won't get into discussing this area I've had a few tins and still resentful of how the game I loved was killed by money and greed!
Don't think it will be an issue - just like I'm sure the other players would rather van Judas have stayed on twice their wages than see him leave.
Dodgyknee71 wrote:Reading quotes from a few RM PLAYERS who seem genuinely saddened to see him go, there's also a good YouTube video of özils back heel tricks the fella looks mint to me. World class players don't come cheap and at 24 hopefully will be a great assets. Shirt sales will increase etcetc - I just now hope he attracts more players, my fears are unrest in the camp but that's another story.....
As a workmate put it to me earlier (spuds ST Holder) ... We lose our best player and you get Reals best player..you been through the shit period stadium move, limited funds etc.... This will be the beginning of a new era aka bergkamp etcetc...
Fingers crossed eh?
I personally ain't getting involved.... I will still support the ARSENAL whatever the weather.....(a part of me preferred it with 24k in a 70k ARSENAL STADIUM ) I just refuse to be a customer I liked it when we were part of the club
What kind of unrest are you talking about?
He earns more than me, toys out the pram etc etc but I won't get into discussing this area I've had a few tins and still resentful of how the game I loved was killed by money and greed!
Hopefully that won't happen. Ozil is a genuinely world-class player and there is no one in our squad who deserves to make as much as him. Not even Cazorla or Bendtner
I hope Wenger will put his socialism aside for once
From what I've read was a bit of a farce as release clause had to be activated by paying it himself and this would have incurred a further 5m or so in tax. Apparently it was the same with Llorente not going to Juve last season and that the only reason the Martinez to Bayern deal went through was because Bilbao consented (after Bayern got one of Bilbao's creditors to put economic pressure on them to accept the cheque).
Anyway it's a farce that the champions who should have been bringing in the one or two players they needed early doors instead ended up desperately going in for the player they were always going to and paying £4m more than they could have signed him for before pre-season.
Jonny_Gooner wrote:As everyone else must be, I'm absolutely delighted with Ozil! I never in a million years actually believed that we would have ever spent this kind of money, or that a player of his quality would come to us now, but we did and he has! Couldn't be happier.
Yes it would have been ideal if we had someone like Higuain up front, but with a signing like this, I don't feel like I can moan too much!
Looking forward to seeing the little German in action now!
I don't think anyone is sad to see the arrival of the little German. I haven't seen a lot of him recently because I'm not an avid follower of Spanish football but the statistics about his assists and the Madrid reaction to him leaving say a lot. The way he destroyed England in the 2010 World Cup showed what a special player he was even then at 21.
The problem I think we have now is ensuring we keep an ambitious player who has played at a top club winning trophies for the long term. Best way to do that is to add special players like this on a regular basis. If we'd signed Ozil in the window where RvP was dilly dallying would we have kept him.....possibly.
I just hope the excitement doesn't get dampened by a sense of what might have been if we find ourselves massively short in other areas of the field which is an obvious threat right now
Look forward to seeing a genuinely 'world class' player wearing the shirt though
Yeah I also haven't seen much of him, but everything I've heard has been completely positive. Haven't heard a bad word about him. I'm nothing but excited to see him play!
We certainly do need to keep him happy! Which means actually ensuring that we challenge for silverware, and surround him with other equally class players. I can't imagine there will be many players of this quality added in January, but next summer there should be at the very least two!
I don't like to think of what we'd be like right now if we kept Van Persie, with him being supplied by Ozil
) I just refuse to be a customer I liked it when we were part of the club
