I DON'T BUY IT...JUST LIKE ARSENE DOESN'T!

gus ceasar is a legend · Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:25 pm

I am starting to get very miffed now over our complete refusal to strengthen our depleted squad!

On the day when we are given yet another punishing fixture we have again sat on our arses happy in the knowledge we have the happiest acoountants in the league!

Saturday saw us have to move Theo out wide again only a week after Arsene said he cannot play there. Well at least we can look forward to wing wizard Eboue returning soon hey.........ahem!

If he felt it necessary to buy Diarra in the summer, why does Le Boss not feel now that we need more strength in this area after the gutless wimp left us a few months down the line? It certainly cannot be Gilberto's perfomances that have encouraged him! Nor Diaby's recent form. Denilson is injured and before that struggled and Cesc has not looked half as sharp as he did early season.

We have three goalkeepers! One a young unproven Pole. The second a mad German who has stayed at the club for "reasons of security" and our present first choice hardly inspires confidence! So what we are saying is that really we are picking the best of a bad lot! Excellent!

Two of our centre backs have serious doubts over their ability, Senderos and Djorou. so much so that some people were disappointed Song went to the African nations! Added to that Kolo Toure's form being patchy at best and this to me would present another weakness in the squad! Nope not to Arsene though!

Under a week ago it was proved, in humiliating fashion, that some of our squad players just simply are not up to playing regualrily in the the class of the Premiership. Sure they can have the odd decent game in the Carling Cup but does anyone seriously believe that Troare is ready for the Premier League should Gael get crocked? Is Hoyte a decent stand in centre half? Can Denilson fill Cesc's boots? Is Theo.........well what the fuck is Theo?

I am pretty sure that most of us feel that if we have a down turn in fortunes this season that it will be due to tiredness/injuries/suspensions. Why the hell can Arsene not see this! At this point in time an injection of new talent would do wonders for the club. Something fresh and exciting helping to provide some much needed new momentum as well as bolstering out paper thin squad!

I know Arsene is god and I shall probably be hauled over hot coals for this but does anyone else think that this is driven by a personal desire to prove you don't have to buy? I am bloody sure it is!

When I see the Chavs sign Anelka and then hear Wenger say he considered buying him in the summer I start to get wholly pissed off! He is a genuine class act which would have been a fantastic signing as everyone knows he feels he has unfinished business at Arsenal! Instead of Arsenal having his talent we have the double whammy of one of our biggest rivals securing his services! Nice one Arsene! The end result is we did not acquire a thirty goals a season striker and our title rivals have him for the second half of the season!

Everytime we sit and watch the cream of footballing talent move to other clubs we are setting a president for the future. Players want to go to a club that shows ambition and a sign of that is the signings we make! Ask the top fifty players in Europe what club they would love to play for and you see how many say Arsenal! How many think we can win the Champions League! Not many I guarantee! We do not give out the aura of a club going for it! Merely happy with how we are doing at the moment with cute little phrases like "great potential" and "massive belief".

Ask yourself this.......if the players we have available today were the only players we had available for the rest of the season, how do you think the second half of the season would go? Not a pretty or encouraging sight to my mind!

You may feel we are well covered in all areas Arsene but I don't buy it although I wish you fucking would!

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:21 pm

Funny, I thought we were showing that we are fighting for the title and having another shot at the CL. The world knows the way Arsene works by now, they know we do not lack ambition and hopefully we will win something to prove that we are back

I do agree we need more players, even if just for extra depth though I have less concern over our cb's, lb and keepers then you, I would like another defensive midfielder, another attacking midfielder and another left winger but I'm sure Arsene will snap up players that fits the club

Post by **I Hate Hleb** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:38 pm

I DON'T BUY IT...JUST LIKE ARSENE DOESN'T!

NO NEED TO BRAG!! THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE BOTH MARRIED!!

WAIT UNTIL THE DORIS GETS FED UP OF GIVING YOU YOUR OATS - YOU'LL SOON BE BUYING IT THEN (IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER!!)

Post by **flash gunner** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:14 pm

Although an outsider reading this thread would believe we are bottom of the league from what youve written Gus, i have to say i totally agree with you. Im not a fan of Anelka (moody little shit) and no way would i want him in the squad but there are so many players out there that could bolster our run in now the end of the season is round the corner. A pretty harsh but fair assessment of our players too i think

augie · Post by **augie** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:18 pm

Whatever bank charges the club is paying it certainly aint for issueing a new cheque book

I believe that if we suffer a downturn in fortunes in the 2nd half of the season then it wont be down to injuries/suspensions etc but rather 100% squarely down to wenger - on his insistance it is his job and his job alone to buy and sell players and clearly he is doing far more of the latter than the former. There are so many holes in wengers theorys of late that you could drive a bus through them - he's disappointed in the progress theo has made but tomorrow night we are short of a winger but its ok cos we have theo

We also cannot loan theo out cos we only have 17 fit players at the moment but yet we aint signing anybody and all this from the man who blamed a lack of cover for our failures of the last 2 seasons

You really couldnt make it up

It has been hard enough dealing with the fact that since last August wenger hasnt done enough(in my opinion) to strengthen the squad but today we are thrown a bone in that we had an offer to sign woodgate accepted only to find out that it was total bullshit

I have said all along that I dont want wenger to buy for buying's sake but buy where it is needed and nobody could deny that a fit woodgate plus anelka would have made a huge difference in our bid for success this season. Sure some on here will knock woodgates for his injury probs and mock the y*ds for signing him but at least there are making genuine efforts to address their weaknesses which is more than we are doing. Even the most optimistic on this forum will acknowledge that last weeks thrashing will have caused serious doubts about the readiness of our kids to step up to the plate now but are we expecting our rivals to stand still in their efforts while our kids "develop" ? If we are then boo to chelski for daring to strengthen their squad in an effort to win some trophies

Facts will show that over the last few seasons we have been left behind in the transfer market by the likes of sp*rts, citeeh, boro and newcastle which is not what I would call a statement of intent - even in germany, which is usually such a 1 horse race that it makes the scottish league look competitive, bayern have splashed out big in an effort to re-establish themselves as a major force again. Arsene, you have been a tremendous influence and success since you arrived at our club but you are seriously in danger of undoing all your great work to date - I have no doubt that it is only because of your past successes that you have been without fan opposition to that point so please try not to take that support for granted

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:34 pm

Spurs, City and Newcastle are doing so well

I think we can rely on the second string to come into holes but just shows 7th choice cb's tend to be poor, Fabs needs time, Theo and Denilson are not on form as talented as they are.

I'm fine with our striker and cb options but I would always fear Anelka's attitude whereas at least Dudu shows no sign of being bigheaded and he is scoring goals.

I fear Arsene may be willing to sacrifice this season by not plugging gaps with the view that Vela and other young players he plans to bring up to full squad status neat season will give us a larger squad. Long term I'm sure it will work but would be nice if we at the very least pushed Man U all the way

augie · Post by **augie** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:48 pm

You think wenger would be prepared to sacrifice this season ??? What the fcuk has he done for the last 2 seasons cos I thought we sacrificed them too

I remember the great Tony Adams statement that big clubs do not have transition seasons but we are expected to sacrifice 3 seasons for our transition in the hope that next season the likes of vela etc will be ready then but we were told last season that this season theo, diaby etc would be ready to make the difference - do you see a pattern developing here ? A good manager will plan for the long term as well as the short term but we seem to be putting all our eggs in the next season basket but the old "if tomorrow never comes line" lurks threateningly everywhere we look. I wonder how cesc would feel if he was told that we were sacrificing a season or 2 last august ? I'm damn sure he wouldnt be impressed and neither should we. I am convinced this squad policy is 100% down to wengers arrogance but he should be aware that if players like cesc, gallas etc start leaving the club cos of a lack of investment then the support he has enjoyed wont be long about leaving too

green gooner · Post by **green gooner** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:00 am

I don't know what you do for a living Gus, but if you are a joiner you must hit the nail on the head every time mate

This thread must rate as the most heart felt summary ever written on here and I praise you for that

I feel exactly the same way as you and fear exhaustion of our paper thin squad will cause our season to implode

Scratch the surface of our first choice eleven and in many areas we lack any real depth, why does Wenger refuse to see this blindingly obvious fact

Enough transition, we want trophies.....NOW

RaM · Post by **RaM** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:39 am

Agree with both gus and augie in everything they've said here.

I also think that Wenger doesn't buy as he believes he has a point to prove. I also think he wants to be able to say that he won the league or the champions league by developing youth players and not spending money on big signings.

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:45 am

Two seasons as we are fighting on three fronts but sure, I agree with augie in that Man U and Real Madrid are not great clubs after all look at how they had transition periods recently were they won nothing.

WengerKnows · Post by **WengerKnows** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:26 am

If we were in Liverpools position at this point of the season it would be alright to concede the season as a transition and focus on success for the next season . However we are level on points at the top of the table and on the financial side our coffers are bursting . Why the hell should this be a transition season ? One or two big signings and we can cover up the weaknesses in our squad and have a bloody good shot at all three of the big prizes .

Sure we have a solid first eleven but a few untimely injuries / suspensions can seriously dent our chances .

Post by **REB** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:27 am

Magic Hat wrote:Two seasons as we are fighting on three fronts but sure, I agree with augie in that Man U and Real Madrid are not great clubs after all look at how they had transition periods recently were they won nothing.

com on magic

we won the fa cup 3 seasons ago and hav'nt had a look in at the league since,, the point is as we are a big club in the pl we shouldnt be shopping at tesco's when we have the money to go to harrods,, we all love the club and some of us on here do not want our club not to challenging because our manager wont spend money just like gg did after we won in 91,,

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:34 am

Excellent write up Gus and Augie. I've disagreed with alot of stuff that Augie has posted (but always respected his opinion) but those two posts are pretty bang on.

I've hardly ever been one for the old glass is half empty view, but I'm starting to get a little disillusioned with this non-buying thing too.

The club say the money is there. Surely there is someone that we could afford that will add to the squad's strength. We are only one or two serious injuries away from this season going down the pan.

We have to be brutally honest here; Theo, Traore, Song, Denilson and Fabianski are not good enough (YET) to play at the top level; they need to learn their craft on loan or in the reserves for a while yet. If we play them now we risk falling into the transition period thing again while we wait for them to develop. Can we afford that? No. The f*cking 1980's was a transition period to my mind and it sucked rancid tuna from a wino's ass.

Also, Senderos IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I too genuinely like the bloke but he is simply not a PL class player, and someone being likeable is not enough of a contribution to help us win trophies. One or two half decent headed clearences do not make up for the amount of errors he makes. Sorry, I will never rate him - sad but true.

I still trust Arsene and believe that he has the club's best interest at heart but I'm starting to think more and more that he feels he still has something to prove with regard to finding players on the cheap and turning them into stars.

Arsene, mate; YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO PROVE ON THAT FRONT. STRENGTHEN THE SQUAD NOW. BUY - PLEASE.

crocit · Post by **crocit** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:42 am

Senderos is a good/decent back up squad player, hes proved it since Kolo's gone, what mistakes has he made since Kolo's gone?

Cockerill's chin · Post by **Cockerill's chin** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:52 am

During Man Utd's transition period they didn't fall over twenty points behind the champions. Although we are not going to do that this time around I think we are probably going to fall away. The form of the team in the opening half of the season has suprised fans, pundits alike. The squad is punching above its weight, just as the club has punched below its weight for the past two years.

This long term philosophy doesn't sit with me. I dread the long term. Spuds, Villa, City will continue to invest heavily and have good managaers in place. We are entrenched in some organic grow your own footballer movement which I don't see us getting out of anytime soon. Put away your wellies and compost AW and blow the cobwebs off the chequebook. The likes of Magic Hat can put in the sly little winks emoticons about City/Spuds this season, but for me that is being shortsighted. Spuds have massively underperformed this year. With more investment and their current manager they will push top four next year. Best start searching out the embarassed emoticon MH.