A good summer transfer window

[Gunner Rob]

Warning - Positive thread alert

ok first of all I am not creating a positive thread because we have just won 3 in a row (we have played totally shit teams and made hard work of it)

I just can't help thinking that we did some pretty good transfer business in the summer.
obviously Sanchez is the stand out, but we needed to improve the defence and to be honest we did - Chambers has been outstanding this season and I can't see him leaving the first team any time soon. Long term I see him as a centre back. Have we found a new Tony Adams?

Debuchy we just dont know yet due to his injury but chances are he is an upgrade on Sagna who lets face it has had a pretty poor start at City. Ospina might in time show he is capable of challeging Chesney, again too early to tell yet.

Finally Welbeck - my only concern with him is that he is not a prolific scorer and is he really any better than Giroud? he is still young enough to improve of course. Anyway he is a better option than our postman.

so are we finally seeing the benefits of having more money to spend? Possibly although of course the only problem remains the manager who at the same time as having this extra finance is going increasingly backwards tactically. We are still short in defence and the DMs we have are just not up to it. We also still need to replace RVP - 2 years on and this still hasn't been done.

BUT the transfers this summer have been a step in the right direction and I think the club should take a bit of credit for that.
after all look what £150 million gets you at Old Trafford and the £100 million at Anfield

[augie]

Two things -

1. No point comparing us to what manure did - the general complaint from Gooners in recent years, has been that we are always two or short players short of being a top quality side, and that is something you cannot say about manure. Ferguscum left them an absolute pile of shite (ancient defence and no midfield) and it will take a lot more transfer windows to sort that out especially when they seem to have a scatter gun approach to recruiting players

2. When you judge a transfer window you have to judge it in it's entirety - we didn't have a good transfer window because we are an injury to BFG away from having the weakest back 4 in the history of our club (and yes I am including the humiliations at old shatford in that). For the 7th season in a row we have not got 1 genuine quality physically imposing DM - you simply cannot ignore the same problem for that length of time and still be happy with the business done in the window. Let me finish by saying that wellbeck still hasn't proven himself to be good enough at the top level - people defend him but still say that they know his finishing could be better, but finishing chances is what makes a top striker and he still looks like he is incapable of doing it in the big games where he might only get 1 or 2 chances in 90 minutes. I do also wonder about his character - is he the type of player that feels intimidated or in awe of world class players like sanchez ? Does he really believes that he is good enough to play alongside the top quality players ?

[jonny3110]

I agree with some of what you say in that Utd have a scatter gun approach and have been left in a pile of shite, and also that we should have recruited a top drawer DM and CB...BUT whilst I am not Welbecks biggest fan by a long shot, I like his tenacity, his pace and positioning. His finishing needs improving and whilst we can say that's the mark of any top striker, his age is a very positive here, and it is the hardest thing to nail down. Also saying he is intimidated by big names is rubbish! Played with the biggest in England at United for years, winning everything along the way, so to say he's now intimidated at us as we have Sanchez is rubbish. If Sanogo isn't start struck why on earth would a full England international with 2 Premiership medals be!??

[Theoperator]

[quote="jonny3110". If Sanogo isn't start struck why on earth would a full England international with 2 Premiership medals be!??[/quote]

Wish and hope Sanogo is start stuck for at least a year, he needs some practice before starting in our line up or bench. Worst of it is I read that he had a FOUR year contract. Insane.

Generally agree Rob though the glaring omission is the CB as Augie says.

Can I add though that Cesc really should have returned, that is the worst error by far for last transfer window. Especially as Santi I am afraid seems past it and Ozil is injured and as usual Rambo and Jack miss games though injury or suspension...... .

[Gunner Rob]

the worst error for probably the past 4 transfer windows is the failure to sign a top class striker

although the defence is admittedly still not great we have only conceded one goal more than Chelsea this season.
it is the lack of a top striker that has prevented us from turning draws into wins.

I think what I also meant by my original post is that ok we could have bought more players this summer but that the ones we have bought are all good additions (we havent bought a Chamakh or a Santos for example)

[Eboue-Why?]

I see where you're coming from Rob and don't disagree with a lot of what you've said but it can't be classed as a good transfer window when you've failed to strengthen the 2 positions that the whole footballing world and his mother know should have been addressed.
Oh well Arsene Knows.............

[augie]

I agree with some of what you say in that Utd have a scatter gun approach and have been left in a pile of shite, and also that we should have recruited a top drawer DM and CB...BUT whilst I am not Welbecks biggest fan by a long shot, I like his tenacity, his pace and positioning. His finishing needs improving and whilst we can say that's the mark of any top striker, his age is a very positive here, and it is the hardest thing to nail down. Also saying he is intimidated by big names is rubbish! Played with the biggest in England at United for years, winning everything along the way, so to say he's now intimidated at us as we have Sanchez is rubbish. If Sanogo isn't start struck why on earth would a full England international with 2 Premiership medals be!??

Firstly I didnt say that he is intimidated, but merely raised the possibility of it - you cannot deny that his best performances were prior to sanchez's outstanding run of form, and it seems that he isnt even getting in positions to miss chances now. The comment about him playing with great manure players and winning trophies is not really relevent though is it ? For starters djimi traore has a champions league medal when players much better than him havent even come close (so winning medals is not a reflection on an individual player), but secondly he was no more than a squad/peripheral player at manure so his contribution wasnt that big if we are being honest.

Look, I agree 100% that wellbeck seems to have a great attitude, is pacy and works for the team, but to play at the top level he does need to bring more to the table

[QuartzGooner]

As is a constant refrain from me, I was happy with who we bought but not with who we missed out on.

Basically where were the experienced centre back and commanding ball winning midfielder we so clearly lack?

Sure, Bellerin (internal promotion) has replaced Jenkinson and Chambers has replaced Vermealen, but even when we had Vermaelen we were still a senior centre back short.

[1989]

I like all our summer signings but we should have bought more. Failing to sign a powerful DM yet again is unforgivable. If we had a Matić we would be legit title contenders.

[markyp]

the additions have been great,Sanchez is world class,Chambers is a great prospect who looks the real deal,Debuchy was really looking the part until his injury and Welbeck is genuinely exciting me,i know he isn'ta prolific scorer (yet) but its better than watching that lumbering oaf Giroud prance about,but as mentioned the lack of cover in defense and the constant neglect of a world class DM are unforgiveable,unfortunately until Prof Crackpot fucks off we are doomed

[clockender1]

what we bought in was great - sanchez, debuchy (remember him ?), chambers and welbeck.

but what we didn't bring in was shocking - we needed TWO young, mobile DM's, we needed another CB.


but sadly, none of this makes any difference because wonga could take a mid/fwd line of ronaldo, bale, neymar, Rodriguez, messi and Pedro, and turn them into a plodding tippy tappy sideways passing shadow of themselves.

[SteveO 35]

I like all our summer signings but we should have bought more. Failing to sign a powerful DM yet again is unforgivable. If we had a Matić we would be legit title contenders.

This ^

Plus the fact we let 4 defenders leave on loan or permanent deals and brought in only 2. Shambolic

[GranadaJoe]

We had the money. The whole world knew (and had known for years) that we needed a DM. There were a few about; none ideal imo, but all significant upgrades on our current options, and Lord Wenger decided against.

I was, and am, happy with our Summer signings, but it's like buying new alloy wheels for your car while ignoring the brake warning light.

A top DM and a top CB in Jan would put us on a par with the top teams, but history suggests there's more chance of seeing a heatwave.

[Robin_L]

Chambers hasn't looked outstanding this season. Burnley may have been one of his best games so far, but prior to that against better teams than Burnley he's been done positionally on quite a few occasions. He's only a youngster anyway and shouldn't be relied upon.

He's done quite well, but after Debuchy (who slotted seamlessly into a top team) got injured, our defence was that much weaker. Both Bellerin and Chambers look decent prospects, I'd rather not rely on either long term over the course of this season though.

[gp543]

Chambers hasn't looked outstanding this season. Burnley may have been one of his best games so far, but prior to that against better teams than Burnley he's been done positionally on quite a few occasions. He's only a youngster anyway and shouldn't be relied upon.

He's done quite well, but after Debuchy (who slotted seamlessly into a top team) got injured, our defence was that much weaker. Both Bellerin and Chambers look decent prospects, I'd rather not rely on either long term over the course of this season though.

Chambers has significantly benefited by the collective knowledge that our only other options were Jenks and Bellerin, one whom is not Arsenal starting XI quality and the other who had never made a senior appearance at the time of Chambers' signing.