Are we buying anyone else yes or no?

[gunnergreg]

i think we're a dead cert for fourth because i think we are too fast, strong and creative to finish outside the top four. spurs are the biggest threat and they dont have the qualities that we do.

but i dont think we will be finishing above fourth, not unless something dramatic happens between now and august.

the third generation may be a step too far, but fair play to arsene for trying... i mean if anyone can do it, it will be him. it is just all very frustrating along the way.

[Belfast Boy]

..Well Bobby is one of my all time favourite players, but I agree with and understand, AW's rolling 1 year contracts for over 30's are you suggesting that we make exceptions for certain players???

Belfast Boy,

My answer would be a resounding Yes!!, my Irish chum.

I don't think Arsene has got that much wrong in the ten years of his managerial tenure at Arsenal, but one of his biggest mistakes, in my opinion, was implementing this ridiculous '1 year contracts for the over 30's' policy.

Yes, I know the 'he used it for Dennis, and if it was good enough for him' argument, but that was only in the last couple of years when Dennis was already 33/34.

Bobby, at 31, still had another two or three good years left in him and they could/should have been years spent with Arsenal. Would we be having this debate now about the need to find a goal-scoring midfielder who beats defenders with skill and pace if Pires were still at the club? I very much doubt it.

It's actually pretty hard to argue that AW was wrong considering Bobby got seriously injured in a friendly even before La Liga season started, and didn't actually play his first game, until April and exactly the same was true of Edu, injured pre-season and also didn't play his first game until April when the Spanish season is vitually done and dusted!
There is probably no greater analytical mind on the planet than AW and altho nobody wanted to lose Bobby, it's probably a harsh reality that we are going to have to get used to selling our legends a year or two early because of our current financial status, and it is AW's responsibilty to keep track of a players physiology to watch for downward trends to stay one step ahead of prospective buyers, and weigh his value against what he is costing the club and any subsequent fee that might be gained, and this probably being the most demanding league in the world, is pretty shrewd operating!
This stance is part of Wenger's revolution and will benefit the club in the long term as players will be under no illusion that, just as we do not tolerate indiscipline, neither will we carry passengers unlike the Chavs and Spuds who were famous for their pension schemes, and even they are startin to wake up to the unmotivated millionaire pro who is tryin to see out his career with one more lucrative contract!
Ferguson is also notoriously ruthless is this respect havin dumped one of ManUre's greatest ever goalscorers in RvN, defenders in Staam and probably the most famous footballer on the planet while they were still in their prime and Horseface has only gone and won the golden boot in his first season away from OT!
The message is simple maintain your physical fitness, performance levels, prove your commitment and hunger, you can stay and as we all like to say no one player is bigger than the club, so the rule does not get broken for anybody, even TiTi signed a four year jobbie while he was 29 cos the offer would not have been made after his next birthday!

[WalcottSignedMyShirt]

We finished in 4th last year just behind liverpool.

We did this pretty much without henry. I think we will make a CL place this year as well.

We still have a midfield that is as strong as any, we have good strikers.

remeber that DUDU has also hit the back of the net in intl games as well. and put one past JT and co. He wont be a powder puff either as he was playing in physical leuge.

but at the same time if we dont make CL then players might head for the door.

I dont think AW has ever failed to make a champs spot.

[Eboue Can't Defend]

Belfast Boy,

Although I think you make a lot of good points in your last (and very long because it wasn't broken into paragraphs!) post, I do have to pick you up on a couple of things.

Firstly, I just knew when I was writing my previous post about Robert Pires that someone would bring up his injury-hit last season. Just because Pires got injured in pre-season for Villarreal doesn't automatically mean he would have got injured if he had stayed with us! Same with Edu at Valencia. Indeed, Wenger has since said that he regrets letting Edu leave, so that would go against the argument that he somehow knew it was the right time to let him go.

Much as we all admire Arsene, and he obviously does have some inside information as to a player's physical condition, you can't say that even Wenger's renowned managerial skills extend to the kind of predictive powers whereas he can pre-indentify accidents in friendly matches and training injuries!!

The second thing I would like to point out is that in the case of Pires and Edu we made no money whatsoever because both players were allowed to go on a free transfer. Now if we add Wiltord also, and he cost £13 million, that is more than £20 million pounds worth of players that we have let leave for nothing. And all because of a failure in contract negotiations.

Now you could argue that the club is saving money on their wages, but surely that would that be a drop in the ocean compared to what the club could have earned had we kept those two players by the improvement in our league positions; further Champions League advancement and maybe with better domestic cup runs.

Even Edu has subsequently said that had we offered at the beginning what we did after he made his mind up to leave, then he would have definately signed a new contract. And what would it have cost us, a few thousand more pounds per week?

Of course there is no guarantee that we would necessarily have done better then we did, had we kept Pires and Edu, but the strong likelihood is that we would have because of their already proven ability.

As I said at the beginning, I agree with much of your analysis but I do think Arsenal fans like you - much as I admire your confidence - have got to accept that Arsene doesn't always know best!!

[Galasso]

A more hollistic approach should be taken especially with regards to this over 30's issue. Seems excessively rigid to me. No question Bobby would've been an asset.

[MK Gould]

I think I must be Arsene's biggest fan - but yes, maybe once in a while he gets it wrong. Edu, maybe Pires? They really are rare blips though.

Will we buy anyone else? I don't think we will at this stage. Unless he is just playing it cool. Not being desparate so as to get good price. But no, I don't think thats the case. We're well into pre-season training now, friendlies and Champions league kicking off, then the first Prem match (less than 3 weeks away). Especially minus Dein, I can't see him having the time to negotiate a major purchase.

Can we still finish 4th or higher? You betcha! By my reckoning we've lost only one genuine first team player. At the same time we've brought in players with real promise. The Polish guy in goal, sagna, dudu. Hopefully RVP & Walcott will be fit. The highly rated Bendtner back from a successful loan spell. And Cesc & Rosicky suggesting that they may even have discovered how to score goals! The future is bright, the future is red & white (or plain white, or maybe blue, depending on which of the many kits we're wearing!).

[elephant]

Just been speaking to an Italian mate who follows Serie A pretty closely. He seems to think there is the possibility of a swap deal with Juve with Sendoros being exchanged for Chiellini.

I know sod all about this guy, but am told he can play left-back or centre half, part of the Italian squad so must be pretty decent. Wikipedia say he can play in midfield too. He is versatile, but it would certainly hot up the competition for the left-back spot.

[elephant]

Just been speaking to an Italian mate who follows Serie A pretty closely. He seems to think there is the possibility of a swap deal with Juve with Sendoros being exchanged for Chiellini.

I know sod all about this guy, but am told he can play left-back or centre half, part of the Italian squad so must be pretty decent. Wikipedia say he can play in midfield too. He is versatile, but it would certainly hot up the competition for the left-back spot.

[Belfast Boy]

Belfast Boy,

Although I think you make a lot of good points in your last (and very long because it wasn't broken into paragraphs!) post, I do have to pick you up on a couple of things.

Firstly, I just knew when I was writing my previous post about Robert Pires that someone would bring up his injury-hit last season. Just because Pires got injured in pre-season for Villarreal doesn't automatically mean he would have got injured if he had stayed with us! Same with Edu at Valencia. Indeed, Wenger has since said that he regrets letting Edu leave, so that would go against the argument that he somehow knew it was the right time to let him go.

Much as we all admire Arsene, and he obviously does have some inside information as to a player's physical condition, you can't say that even Wenger's renowned managerial skills extend to the kind of predictive powers whereas he can pre-indentify accidents in friendly matches and training injuries!!

The second thing I would like to point out is that in the case of Pires and Edu we made no money whatsoever because both players were allowed to go on a free transfer. Now if we add Wiltord also, and he cost £13 million, that is more than £20 million pounds worth of players that we have let leave for nothing. And all because of a failure in contract negotiations.

Now you could argue that the club is saving money on their wages, but surely that would that be a drop in the ocean compared to what the club could have earned had we kept those two players by the improvement in our league positions; further Champions League advancement and maybe with better domestic cup runs.

Even Edu has subsequently said that had we offered at the beginning what we did after he made his mind up to leave, then he would have definately signed a new contract. And what would it have cost us, a few thousand more pounds per week?

Of course there is no guarantee that we would necessarily have done better then we did, had we kept Pires and Edu, but the strong likelihood is that we would have because of their already proven ability.

As I said at the beginning, I agree with much of your analysis but I do think Arsenal fans like you - much as I admire your confidence - have got to accept that Arsene doesn't always know best!!

Well ECD let's start at the beginning shall we, of course Bobby's injury might not have happened if he'd stayed with us but considering that it happened in a pre-season friendly and given that the Prem is universally acknowledged to be the most physically demanding league in the world, then you gotta admit it's pretty likely to have occurred somewhere in our long season sooner or later, because it is undeniable that beyond 30 injuries become more frequent andworse still, longer to recover from!
I will however agree with you regarding Edu, because he was only 26 when he took the decision to leave cos we fucked him about something rotten, to the point where he no longer wanted to stay, but it could well have happened anyway cos a certain young Spaniard was keeping him out of the first team!
As far as the Bosman/wages thing nobody is perfect but AW is as I said highly analytical and is bound to have crunched his numbers and came to the conclusion that it was better to let a player go for nothin than have him seein his final 3 or 4 yr contract as his retirement fund over which we would pay him 10 - £15M........ that is an awful lot of money to risk in our current financial situation on someone, no matter how much of a legend, who is unfortunately but unavoidably past his peak!
Wenger's record in the transfer market is untouchable and legend has it that the London Colney complex was built off the back of the 22M profit on the Anelka deal!
We are nevertheless under considerable financial pressure and someone has to make the harsh and often highly unpopular decisions which for the moment anyway are probably being for fiscal reasons, it is a delicate balancing act, and altho we flirted with 5th place two seasons ago, we did in fact qualify and can you even think of anyone who could do a better job???
In fact it could be argued that nobody else has managed it or could manage it which is why they have had to succumb to corporate raiders and "investors" which the lack of at our club we should be celebrating yet the short-sighted among us for some absolutely unfathomable reason see these businessmen as saviours - very strange!
Oh and one final point I'm sorry that the layout of my posts doesn't meet your tastes but I think you'll find that the definition of paragraph is beginning your sentence on a new line and ending it without running into the next passage of text in which case my earlier post was composed of no less than 5 paragraphs, and this one has 7

[All_Arsenal_1886]

I really think something special will happen this year i love the fact everyone is writing us off

[lowerwest]

Lets face it the board and the manager have taken their eyes of the ball big time and the thing that has suffered most is the team. The stadium move and the possibile takeover are overshadowing where we truly need to be which is at least challenging within the top 4. Think there is a genuine suggestion that we can keep 4th without investing and while its admirable allowing youth its head we badly need new blood. Some of these squad members will be out of their depth..Walcott,Bendtner,Adebayor even are promising rather than proven.
Its no suprise to hear the senior players openly defying arsene's mantra. Even if their motives are dubious u have to support their sentiments.

[Drone]

About AW and hes ability to buy and release players. He really is doing an amzing job, but leaving Edu go was a blow, just year after we lost Viera, so i might keap Edu. About Pires it was time for him to leave eaven he was bad ass. As for new players he really got style about, dont just be unsure in new players cause they are unproven means they are aslo not known well by rivals, with people that i know beter i doo easier nussines, but those that i dont i cant play as i allways do but stay in defence.

With years after 30 injuries are so bad that u cant be same anymore as was Henry, Pires etc.

And another thingi'm 30, and i aslo do a lot of fitnes and extreme physical workouts, but i still look 5-8 years younger than Henry and Viera or dont even talk about Lehman he looks 15 years older than i do. (Maybe thay change the ages). For guys from Africa dont tell is not true cause i'm grov up in a area of anything is possible.

[njac]

we can moan now about who we let go at the end of their contracts all we like - they won't be coming back ! ...so we have to look at who is left & what we need to do & the bottom line is we need a proven striker, a quality wide player with pace who can score goals & a centre back ! unfortunately with only 2 & a bit weeks to go I don't see Santa coming early !

[Eboue Can't Defend]

Belfast Boy,

First of all, apologies are due to you. I meant to say that your paragraphs were not spaced and thus gave the appearance of being all part of one huge paragraph. Also, because you made some of the paragraphs very long - although still interesting, it made reading the post a bit more difficult. It was not a case of not liking your writing style, just one of wanting to be able to read what you wrote without having to strain my old mince pies!!

Now, back to the substance of the debate. Sorry, the 'Pires would probably have got injured anyway because he is getting old, or playing in the more physically demanding Premiership' arguments just doesn't wash at all with me. Nor would it with most reasonable people.

Pires only sustained one serious injury during his time with us and that was back in early 2002 when he was in his mid-twenties!! He didn't have any subsequent injuries (apart from the usual minor knock that most players suffer from) in the next four years when, according to your logic, he should have been even more prone to injury because he was getting older.

None of us can say that Pires would still have picked up a serious injury with any degree of certainty, even Arsene Wenger and the so-called physical and physiological experts. Bloody hell, it was only a few years ago that them same so-called experts were saying that a player doesn't even begin reaching his peak until 29 or 30 and you become a better player at that age! Now it seems you are past it the minute you reach the big 3-0!!

Come on Belfast Boy, I'm sure we could both think of numerous examples of players that have performed at the highest level even though they were over 30 years of age - just look at Giggs and Scholes at Man United. And there are plenty more out there.

And we didn't have to offer him a 3 or 4 year deal, because he only asked for a 2 year extension. Surely he deserved that after all he had done for the club? Now if offering an extra year would have caused the club financial hardship, maybe we are in a worse position than the Board is letting on!!

Like I said on an earlier post, I agree with a lot of the other assessments you make in both your previous and latest contribution. There seems to be only one issue on which we disagree, and that is whether or not it was right to get rid of Pires when, and for the reasons we did. I still say no and have yet to hear a convincing argument otherwise!!

[michael jones]

hi
l have seen nicklas bendnter play and he looks good
for a young player and with van the man perise we mite have a good strike force once again.
but what about the defence we do need one/two denfenders.
BUT WHO
thanks michael