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.
g60gooner wrote:Blimey, I only turned my back for a short while and international relations are under strain
Having reviewed the last couple of pages I have assessed that AA is either sat at home with his head in his hands, after a night on the sauce, thinking, 'oh God, what a helmet I've been, best get on the forum and apologise', or he's actually not an idiot and has come up with a genius way of getting the often despised Transfer rumours thread locked.
I mean, can we try and understand how difficult it must be for our Irish cousins to write on the forum with the distraction of horses wandering around all over the place.
p.s. before anyone gets upset, this is not stereotyping, I saw the Commitments you know.
Arsene Wengercunt: I will resist pressure to sign Karim Benzema
Wengercunt said a deal for Benzema may not be the best way to go about improving his squad.
Ex Gunners frontman Thierry Henry said last week that if his former club could bring Frenchman Benzema to The Emirates, they could win the Premier League and also progress further in Europe.
He said: “I heard Thierry Henry say if we buy Benzema we would win the title by a margin.
Wengercunt doesn't feel Benzema would be a good fit for Arsenal
“I respect his views (Henry) but football has evolved and the game has changed since he played here”
“The out-and-out strikers are no longer there. Tactics have changed.
“You do need somebody to score goals and I think Olivier Giroud will not be far from 20 this season. Theo Walcott will be up there too.
“We have to develop our game and depend less on one player.
“I truly believe we can win the league. We look like we can score plenty of goals.
AnotherAmeobi wrote:so no banning of the irish from this thread then? they cant differentiate from british and english, so you think they look at english players objectively?
I don't think a striker is a priority I would prefer to see a quality left back, Gibbs is injury prone and not top drawer and the Spaniard is a liability. We have a top class keeper 2 quality right backs plenty of cover in ctr of defence and lots of options both in midfield and up front so the left back position is a glaring weakness
goonersid wrote:I don't think a striker is a priority I would prefer to see a quality left back, Gibbs is injury prone and not top drawer and the Spaniard is a liability. We have a top class keeper 2 quality right backs plenty of cover in ctr of defence and lots of options both in midfield and up front so the left back position is a glaring weakness
Not having Monreal as a liability. He was excellent last season and the most improved player in the side. The only glaring weaknesses are in DM and CF.
Monreal surprised me second half of last season. I mean he is average at best but if he can produce that level of performance on a consistent level then that's fine. Let's be realistic left backs don't win you trophies (sarcastic comments about Grosso scoring winning WC penalty etc not required!) so no need to go splashing 20m+ unless you desperately need to or if you're getting a class act.
I do think that striker is a priority, but I still find wengers hell-bent insistence on playing a lone striker every game to be just as detrimental. There are probably less than 5 strikers in world football who are good enough to play that role at a top level because it requires absolutely every skill you could expect of a striker. So unless he is willing to splash out on an absolutely class striker (like a Lewandowski if available) then he needs to rethink.
In other news nice to see van Gaal slagging off another one of his players by suggesting de Gea isn't the same player any more. The bloke is the most egotistical manager I've ever seen and I include Mourinho, Ferguson and Fat Sam in that. Done tremendously well to inherit an expensive squad with some excellent players, spend an absolute fortune and still end up with a squad that won't challenge for the title.
It probably says a lot that Wenger takes Coquelin off whenever we chase a game. It shows that Wenger knows he's a limited footballer and also, when you bomb forward chasing a game, you'd think having a ball winner to rely on to boss the space in the emptying midfield would help... yet we always take him off
That suggests Wenger still isn't convinced by his Coq. Maybe we'll sign someone yet