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"1 or 2 Signings...." Who would be the second?

NWgunner

Active Member
ibby said:
NWgunner said:
I'm fairly sure Santon is in or thereabouts the Italy squad, I'm sure I read he performed well when given an extended run in the Inter side.

Realistically though, he's not going to get many games unless Maicon is injured, but would he expect to have many more here outside of the Carling Cup? I don't see an offer that we could make him that would tempt him away from Inter short of the financial.

All that said, I think he'd be a decent buy if Eboue leaves, and he could very easily surpass Sagna in a couple of seasons.
He can and has played as a left-back.

Fair point, but we wouldn't be bringing him in as LB cover surely? If he got game time with us, it'd be deputising for Sagna I'd imagine

Edit: regarding strikers, I think its the whole "RVP may or may not stay fit, Eduardo is as of yet unproven regarding fitness and most pundits don't rate Bendtner" mindset that leads to them understimating our attack. WHile #1 is valid, #2 will hopefully be disproved and #3 is total nonsense
 

Nela

Established Member
tam1886 said:
However, quite a few of them have been calling for a new striker too. Charlie Nicholas said we should sell Adebayor, and now in this months Arsenal magazine both Lee Dixon and Charlie George also claim we need to add a striker as well. Now I know with the odd exception such as Kel, most of us feel that we have a good variety of striking options and are relatively happy with them compared to the rest of the squad. Especially with Eduardo coming back from injury. Compared with the others in the big four, we also seem to have more depth there.

It's got me wondering though, are these ex-pros seeing a problem there that we either aren't seeing, or are missing having spent too much time looking at the more pressing issues in the team elsewhere?
The thing is, we do have a variety of options. A variety of good options even. But we're missing someone really great. We're missing a star striker.

Ade and RvP aren't world class. And they're not reliable strikers in the way that a Torres is for example. Bendtner, Vela and Theo are young and not fully developed. And Eduardo is a big questionmark since his injury. We have no idea how good he would have been at this point without the injury. And we have no idea if he can become the striker we need next season.
 

True Gooner

Established Member
JGooner said:
If the above were true, we wouldn't have finished fourth, 18 points behind the champions, who weren't even that good. That's e-i-g-h-t-e-e-n points behind. As in, 10 plus 8.

- Yes, but Fabregas, Eduardo, Rosicky and Walcott were injured for extended periods. (not making excuses, just saying)

- Nasri was finding his feet.

- Denilson had to play as the main man in midfield for the first time in his life.

- Bendtner was not a main striker last summer.

- Wenger did not know his best squad or formation

- Lack of confidence

I think you'll agree with me when I say that the likes of Denilson, Song, Bendtner, Gibbs and Walcott have really come on since the start of last season. Realise that our tragic season was largely down to our abject performance in the first half of the season as opposed to our second half showing.

You'll find that our second half of the season performance was top 3 ish quality despite losing to the rest of the big four (which was down mainly to injuries which is not an excuse here). And as such I use those performances to judge where our squad is at the moment - not where they were a year ago.

What Fabianski has done to be considered a good keeper escapes me, and anyone else who actually watched him last season. If Clichy, Gibbs and Eboue are "great", I'm a leopard. Denilson isn't solid. I could go on but the basic point I am making (and have made before) is that it is not tenable to argue that almost all our players are just fine and dandy when the league table says the opposite. It just metaphysically cannot be true.

You misunderstand me. Fabianksi is a good second choice keeper. Denilson/Song are good back up midfielders. Gibbs is a good back up left back. Bendtner is a good back up striker. I could go on. The problem last season was the Wenger (and injuries) over exposed them to football. They played more than they should have.

See how this goes? Leagues are won based on the strength and depth of your squad and as squad players the likes of Denilson, Song, Gibbs, Bendtner, Walcott etc don't do too badly at all. You can't expect our bench to field Yaya Toure and Gokhan Inler when Fabregas and Melo get injured.

progman07 said:
TG: After the DM we are all waiting for, I'd be delighted with another good player for either the wings, central midfield, or the defense. Of course he needs to be good enough, so not another Silvestre, please.

Ah but that's subjective isn't it? What is good enough? Will whoever we sign be good enough just for the bench and nothing more? Or will he be an able starter forced to play on the bench? In which case why is he on the bench in the first place? IMO unless your willing to play huge amounts of money in wages to keep players happy (which may still not work) a bench can either be made up of younger, developing players or older slightly past it players.
 

SPF103

Active Member
True Gooner said:
JGooner said:
If the above were true, we wouldn't have finished fourth, 18 points behind the champions, who weren't even that good. That's e-i-g-h-t-e-e-n points behind. As in, 10 plus 8.

- Yes, but Fabregas, Eduardo, Rosicky and Walcott were injured for extended periods. (not making excuses, just saying)

- Nasri was finding his feet.

- Denilson had to play as the main man in midfield for the first time in his life.

- Bendtner was not a main striker last summer.

- Wenger did not know his best squad or formation

- Lack of confidence

I think you'll agree with me when I say that the likes of Denilson, Song, Bendtner, Gibbs and Walcott have really come on since the start of last season. Realise that our tragic season was largely down to our abject performance in the first half of the season as opposed to our second half showing.

You'll find that our second half of the season performance was top 3 ish quality despite losing to the rest of the big four (which was down mainly to injuries which is not an excuse here). And as such I use those performances to judge where our squad is at the moment - not where they were a year ago.

What Fabianski has done to be considered a good keeper escapes me, and anyone else who actually watched him last season. If Clichy, Gibbs and Eboue are "great", I'm a leopard. Denilson isn't solid. I could go on but the basic point I am making (and have made before) is that it is not tenable to argue that almost all our players are just fine and dandy when the league table says the opposite. It just metaphysically cannot be true.

You misunderstand me. Fabianksi is a good second choice keeper. Denilson/Song are good back up midfielders. Gibbs is a good back up left back. Bendtner is a good back up striker. I could go on. The problem last season was the Wenger (and injuries) over exposed them to football. They played more than they should have.

See how this goes? Leagues are won based on the strength and depth of your squad and as squad players the likes of Denilson, Song, Gibbs, Bendtner, Walcott etc don't do too badly at all. You can't expect our bench to field Yaya Touré and Gokhan Inler when Fabregas and Melo get injured.

progman07 said:
TG: After the DM we are all waiting for, I'd be delighted with another good player for either the wings, central midfield, or the defense. Of course he needs to be good enough, so not another Silvestre, please.

Ah but that's subjective isn't it? What is good enough? Will whoever we sign be good enough just for the bench and nothing more? Or will he be an able starter forced to play on the bench? In which case why is he on the bench in the first place? IMO unless your willing to play huge amounts of money in wages to keep players happy (which may still not work) a bench can either be made up of younger, developing players or older slightly past it players.

A reserve who is able to step in when needed and who does not bring down the play of the team or make unacceptable mistakes when on the pitch. Silvestre, Diaby, and Eboue on the wing are some examples of players who are not good enough.
 

lee1001

Established Member
Wenger's recent comments suggest both Arshavin and Walcott will play more central this season. SO id like to see a another wide player brought in.
 

Jameel46

Established Member
lee1001 said:
Wenger's recent comments suggest both Arshavin and Walcott will play more central this season. SO id like to see a another wide player brought in.

Afellay? what's the situation with him, all I know is that he looks good on the ball and that PSV aren't in the CL.
 

DC Gunner

Established Member
tam1886 said:
I've been thinking about something similar to this for the last couple of days. It's been interesting seeing a host of ex players interview and most of them predictably say we needed a new defender and midfielder. Nothing surprising in that, everyone can see it.

However, quite a few of them have been calling for a new striker too. Charlie Nicholas said we should sell Adebayor, and now in this months Arsenal magazine both Lee Dixon and Charlie George also claim we need to add a striker as well. Now I know with the odd exception such as Kel, most of us feel that we have a good variety of striking options and are relatively happy with them compared to the rest of the squad. Especially with Eduardo coming back from injury. Compared with the others in the big four, we also seem to have more depth there.

It's got me wondering though, are these ex-pros seeing a problem there that we either aren't seeing, or are missing having spent too much time looking at the more pressing issues in the team elsewhere?

Maybe these ex-gooners don't have the inclination to prove Wenger correct 100% of the time as some people :p

I agree with ADE/RVP assessment, I think they are good quality, but not as the main load bearers in the Attack, we need an Arshavinesque striker [quality/class wise] leading the line, that would definitely give both RVP/ADE more room to work with as well as keep them competing for the second forward/striker option all the time.

Lots of us agree on the need for DM, I would like him to have some scoring tendencies in him [not a major requirement, but that would be a plus]; On the other hand, if we failed to get a DM, I would really really like our FB not to both go forward at the same time, but here is not the place for that anyway
 

NIPOLOPO

Established Member
True Gooner said:
I miss _scorpion_.

He was one of the top top posters around (Exiled hasn't been around either) shame he more or less got ousted and ridiculed for his claim to be itk. I also miss the dude who had the Domo-kun shagging a cereal grain ( -or was that Biggs old avatar!)
 

kamikaze80

Established Member
tam, it's an interesting point, and i'd tend to agree with those who say we're missing a true superstar forward. we're talking about the level of torres, drogba a few years back, henry and bergkamp in their prime. i think van persie is capable of reaching that level - so is arshavin. depending on whether it's easier to find a star wide mid or a star forward, the solution may involve moving arshavin up top.

as for the rest, i agree with jgooner. we needed at least 2 european class first team starters at CB and CM this summer. hopefully vermaelen is one - we still need the other. at that point, we'd be in contention for the title but might still need some tweaking here and there to get the right balance.
 

air

Well-Known Member
Signing a forward wouldn't be very Wenger. We have the numbers so he would be turning his back on people he has long ago decided that they are good to play for us.

Perhaps we are missing a superstar forward like Henry but again this is like that 6'7 midfielder with great stamina, strength, ball control and vision. If both are available then why don't we get two or three of each while we're at it? We have a better chance of having one of our own make that step into superstardom.

As for the midfield it would make sense for Wenger to sign one just by looking at the age of our midfield. It wouldn't be changing his mind about somebody which he never seems to do, just strengthening the team in general. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the possibility of us signing nobody. I guess Vermaelen and Wenger's words have got the hopes up but I'm still concerned because we really need to add a player there.
 

Biggus

Established Member
I don't take anything Wenger says at face value, not because he's a liar but because he obviously has to keep his cards close to his chest. Selling clubs and rivals will be keeping a close watch on what he says, so a whole thread on what Wenger hinted he might do is a bit pointless.
 

Lazaq

Well-Known Member
air said:
As for the midfield it would make sense for Wenger to sign one just by looking at the age of our midfield. It wouldn't be changing his mind about somebody which he never seems to do, just strengthening the team in general. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the possibility of us signing nobody. I guess Vermaelen and Wenger's words have got the hopes up but I'm still concerned because we really need to add a player there.
I think our minds are protecting themselves, shielding us from the horrible, horrible thought of not signing at least a DM. When even the players themselves (Cesc in particular) are crying out for that position to be strengthened, then it's blatantly obvious that we need to sign somebody. And that's why we don't talk about that possibility. It's just too painful, too much to bear.

We are signing someone. We are signing someone. We are signing someone. We are ...
 

CrazyInLoveWithArsenal

Well-Known Member
I think it's safe to sya we will definately sign a central midfield player, most probably Melo if Marcotti's comments are to be taken seriously. I won't say no to added cover in the central area, flog Diaby or Denilson (I would be against letting Denilson go for the record) and bring in someone with a bit of experience like Hitzlsperger. One would be enough though as that is all we really need in that area in my opinion, we have yet to see the lenghts at which the likes of Ramsey, Denilson, Diaby and Song can grow. I wouldn't bet against atleast two of them turning out to be Arsenal quality players and maybe one going beyond.

Should we then make a third signing, I would expect it to be someone in the niche of Ramsey, maybe Delph or some other young talent. That or a second choice keeper, Fabianski didn't deal at all well in the big games he was called upon and Wenger may seek to bring in a cooler head in that department. I expect the third signing to be pretty inconsequential.
 

sabret00the

Established Member
This club doesn't produce winger. I have no idea why but it's something we seem incapable of doing. So in that regard, we really need to either promote Wilshere to add some depth to our wings or preferably, sign a winger. Ribery's available ;)
 

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