Gone for a Song?

[Gunnersaurus]

His mum is a living miracle.

[SantaPoldi]

His mum is a living miracle.

LIke pushing a sausage up Oxford Street......

[Gunnersaurus]

Child birth must be easy, none of this 24 hour labour stuff, quick fart and out they come.

[topgoon]

I think the whole Song ideal provides the perfect litmus test to see what Arsenal really is all about.

My theory is this:

-We pocket the money from the Song deal, balancing our net spending from the OG/LP/SC deals = AFC is officially nothing more than a profit driven business

-We spend about 15m on one defensive midfielder of similar quality = we are committed to self-sustaining finances

-We spend more than 15m on two quality midfield signings of similar quality or promise = AFC is legitimately trying to compete for trophies.

I predict we will spend 8-10m on a loan for Sahin, which is a stopgap solution as far as I'm concerned. Then after he goes we say "Oh but we have Diaby and Ramsey and Wilshere there".

On yesterday's evidence Diaby is still a waste of time. Sahin would be a decent replacement for Song( better than him actually) but we could also get De Jong from Shitty for 10million. They want rid to free up money and wages for De Rossi.
All summer no one has quoted him as being for sale for more than that fee. His wages are about 70k which we can increase and still be able to afford with Song gone and 52k a week Barry,80k a week Fat Andy both hope fully leaving.

S**t like that annoys me. If we had Sahin and NDJ I'd feel a bit better about our season but we won't get them we'll rely on s**t Diaby who'll mysteriously get injured about 00:01 on the 1st of September.

[Gunnersaurus]

In your opinion what did Diaby do so badly yesterday?

Forget any pre conceived opinion on him, based on the game what offended you given his role in the team?

For me he dwelled on the ball a bit too long, other than that I don't see what else he did so shockingly bad.

He played instead of Song and did what Song is supposed to have done.

[SantaPoldi]

In your opinion what did Diaby do so badly yesterday?

Forget any pre conceived opinion on him, based on the game what offended you given hose role in the team?

For me he dwelled on the ball a bit too long, other than that I don't see what else he did so shockingly bad.

He played instead of Song and did what Song is supposed to have done.

I thought Diaby had a good game.

[topgoon]

In your opinion what did Diaby do so badly yesterday?

Forget any pre conceived opinion on him, based on the game what offended you given hose role in the team?

For me he dwelled on the ball a bit too long, other than that I don't see what else he did so shockingly bad.

He played instead of Song and did what Song is supposed to have done.

He dwelt on the ball too long always has done, he's not a defensive midfielder and if it wasn't for some generous Chris Foy referreing he should have been booked yesterday for one or two silly challenges.

Yep so basically he did what Song does only I wouldn't want to have to rely on him for a season would you ?

I know it's preconceived but all decisions are always based on things learnt before and I've learnt(frankly we all have) Diaby should not be playing for us bar being AW's love child.

[Gunnersaurus]

No I don't want to rely on him and I don't want him to play but I also think he didn't do that badly yesterday.

Walcott, Jenkinson and Gibbs stood out as either poor or reckless, Diaby didn't.

[topgoon]

I will concede he wasn't that bad yesterday.

To end on a positive note, I'm liking Cazorla. He looks class. I have to admit not rely seen him play before we signed him but he reminds me a bit of Cesc. Good range of passing, can see a pass and when(hopefully not if) get their shooting boots on he looks like he can thread the ball through the eye of a needle. And finally he's not afraid to shoot on sight. What's not too like.

[OneBardGooner]

I think Barcelona see Song as Keita's replacement.
An average all round midfielder who can be on the bench but bring physical presence when needed to a team that lacks it.

I think it is great business for us to sell him.

But we should really replace him with a good ball winner.

I think it is a MUST Quartz..otherwise we is truly f*cked - if we aren't already!?

[arseofacrow]

I think Barcelona see Song as Keita's replacement.
An average all round midfielder who can be on the bench but bring physical presence when needed to a team that lacks it.

I think it is great business for us to sell him.

But we should really replace him with a good ball winner.

I think it is a MUST Quartz..otherwise we is truly f*cked - if we aren't already!?

I also think it's a must but Wenger's balanced the books and I've got a horrible feeling that he's going to go with what we've got.

[Gunnersaurus]

I will concede he wasn't that bad yesterday.

To end on a positive note, I'm liking Cazorla. He looks class. I have to admit not rely seen him play before we signed him but he reminds me a bit of Cesc. Good range of passing, can see a pass and when(hopefully not if) get their shooting boots on he looks like he can thread the ball through the eye of a needle. And finally he's not afraid to shoot on sight. What's not too like.

I was well impressed too and he must be good as Baba seems to be ignoring that we've signed this one.

[highburyJD]

To suggest the only alternative to "project Wenger" was a Leeds, Pompey, Rangers type implosion is just lazy and wildly speculative.

thats obviously not Rosie's proposition,
its a response to the perpetually recycled "only way to win is buying loads of players" trope
buying superstars is indisputably a methodology for success : ManShitty and Chelski have won recent leagues by blowing away all opposition with their wallets
but its important to recognise even if we want to enter that arena we are warchestwise only 4th/5th biggest hitter in our league and probably just scraping top ten in the world
We could treble our transfer spending without 'promoting' ourselves a level in terms of which shelf we buy from:
we would still be miles behind the Shitty/Chav nouveau Oil-igarchs, ManUre's leveraged millions +the Spanish big 2 and several other foriegn clubs (PSG + some more established names)
at the moment 'balancing the books', a much derided concept on here, is achieved by running a transfer surplus (selling more than we buy) - additional transfer spending could only be achieved by borrowing money,
even if SilentStan, Usmanov or one of us post a lottery rollover win decided to simply give the club money (IMO the 3 things have a similar statistical chance of happening) the spike in wages would quickly cause a structural defecit

its neither lazy nor speculative, in order to spend more money - without even actually competing with the big boys,
we would have to borrow money and create a wage structure our income could not match
like Leeds and Pompey (Rangers were a bit different I think, there prob was massively exacerbated by structural tax avoidance that was inevitably called in)

Makes perfect sense to me Wenger doesnt want to go and 'compete' in a big spending arena in which he can't even be a major player, let alone dominate.
Only way we will get anywhere is finding a different way, the trouble is players hold all the aces.
The fact the current 'reboot' has culminated in all the players of a certain agent non grata departing the club makes sense to me.
Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla wont have as much reason to show loyalty as Hleb, Song, RVP and Na$ri but they cant really show less...

[highburyJD]

Sahin would be a decent replacement for Song( better than him actually) but we could also get De Jong from Shitty for 10million. They want rid to free up money and wages for De Rossi.
All summer no one has quoted him as being for sale for more than that fee. His wages are about 70k

is that true??! WTF is NdJ on that at Shitty? Greedybarndoor on 3 x as much? Unbelievable.
Where did you get that figure from? If it is the case I'd jump at the chance (although Shitty might not want to strengthen 'rivals')

[Supagoon]

Carzola has always been great, no surprise if he plays well for arsenal.

Im not convinced about Diaby. We're going to stoke next, I reckon its going to be more apparent the need for a physical prescence in midfield. Diaby may be 6'3" but he is the definition of fragile. When Denilson played as a DM, lower table teams, imposed themselves on our midfield far to easily.

It's imperative we bring in a defensively minded player.