1.st time in Arsenal history without British-born player

[Chicago]

isn't this whole issue bordering on racism? something the football association is so vehemently trying to wipe out?

 

[AFCG7]

Well we can debate about whether or not there are good enough Englihs players at Arsenal.. but i still find it scandalous that we did not even have ONE in our entire squad list for that game.. not having any in the starting 11 is one thing but none at all in a complete lineup is ridiculous.
When Chelsea had their all foreign 11, there were English players on the bench and none of them would have been considered top players.Would it not have made sense to even put one on the bench to avoid this issue..even if it was tokenism?

 

[RocktheCasbah]

But we, as a football, club aren't about and shouldn't be about tokenism, that's where players like Junichi Inamoto get involved!

 

[AFCG7]

Maybe you're right, maybe not.. but i was disgusted when i heard on the TV commentary that we put out a squad without any home country players. There isnt another top club in any country in Europe or even in the world with this problem.. if it were to happen in Serie A with say Roma or Milan, it would be a national scandal.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

There's nothing to be disgusted about IMO, earlier this season we had a back four including Hoyte, Campbell and Cole, so it's not if we don't have the players.

 

[sabret00the]

heh now we're getting sitck from merson and taylor and tbh i'm very dismayed, we should've atleast had one on th bench even if they weren't gonna get a minute on the pitch, we're evidently not putting enough effort into home made talent, as i said in anotehr thread Sp**s got an english defender, an english midfielder and an english striker for 12.5 million, if that's what you call over priced you're having a laugh, we need to make more of an effort.

 

[invisibleman18]

good point sabret, im getting fed up with people saying english is too expensive, so thats a good point about what Sp**s just got. heres another point, reyes and defoe were available around similar times. we went for reyes of course. defoe wouldve cost HALF the price, for twice the player. and as one or two people have said, surely there is an english player around who is better than cygan or almunia or lehmann, in fact we do have one better than the latter two who will unfortunatrely never be given the chance.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

If the talent was there, wenger would have picked it up. You know Wenger admires the english fighting spirit. So I don't see how he will ignore a talent kid with that kinda spirit. Do you know what Wenger can get you with that $12?

The british needs to stop whignig and face reality cos its all there to see when the English national team plays. Don't use Wenger as a scapegoat. Go back to basics and work on your youth to create that talent.

 

[Aussie]

I and most others have nothing against Wenger and i agree with the fact that he couldnt have done much yesterday as really who would he play. Im just dissapointed with the fact that for the first time in our History we didnt have a Englishborn player on the pitch or the bench. Its just a little dissapointing for me. I didnt go out and hang myself like some are trying to make out i did. :|

Just my luck as well. For the first time just about in the history of my local paper they do a decent sized article on Arsenal and its bagging us for not having any English players.

 

[sabret00the]

fact of the matter is, Carrick wanted to come to us, said it was a dream (as did defoe for that matter) and we didn't go for him, then what happened we turned out to be light in central midfield and he was just the type of player we needed this season to fill in for Gilberto.

another point in fact is that Dawson a very capable quality defender was available and we've persisted with Cygan, i know Wenger says the right tings in the press but the fact of the matter is the only English signings he's made have been under pressure from the board, perhaps if he looked at English players he could find one he likes as i'm sure their must be one out there to sign.

How many players have we brought on and have flopped a fair few, building a wenger choice english to foreign ratio wouldn't hurt it shouldn't be on the board to pressure him to make these signings he should do it by himself and for the club, although we all just want winners, we're an English club and thus should be working harder to bring through english players, as i said i would've been happy if just one was on the bench but we didn't even do that, we're falling way short of the mark.

 

[patrick42uk]

the more i watch defoe, the more i understand why wenger chose reyes. defoe is as selfish as they come and putting him in our team could really have affected the fluidity of our football. defoe v reyes isnt about money or nationality, it was about signing a player most likely to fit into our system.

 

[JazzG]

fact of the matter is, Carrick wanted to come to us, said it was a dream (as did defoe for that matter) and we didn't go for him, then what happened we turned out to be light in central midfield and he was just the type of player we needed this season to fill in for Cygan.

Carrick was the player we needed to come in and play CM and fill in for Cygan? :?

We had Vieira, Gilberto, Edu, Fabregas and Flamini as our CMs. You need your head checked if at the start of the season Wenger should of bought more cover in, hindsight is a wonderful thing but how was Wenger to know 2 of the senior CMs would be out with long term injuries.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Defoe is twice the player that Reyes is?

Are you sure? Twice the goalscorer maybe... and last time I checked he wasn't even that!

 

[Mark]

After all this stuff about racism in football, I think it's ridiculous that UEFA are encouraging players to be picked for their nationality rather than their talent. We had no English players out there last night because they were injured. I can't believe the fuss that's been made over all this.

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

we all know what happend last time Wenger decided to go "english". Franny is at charlton and Wright is backup for 36-38 year old Martin at Everton. Nuff said.

 

[patrick42uk]

if it were to happen in Serie A with say Roma or Milan, it would be a national scandal.

i think seria is a very bad example. which other top league allows such freedom of movement of players between big clubs? all the big clubs can afford the players and all the players arent afraid of moving to rivals. it is probably the only perfectly competitive league in that sense hence italians can flourish at the top clubs. spain is a better comparison point because the barrier of high costs/unwillingness to move across clubs exists. how many spaniards are in the starting line ups of the two top clubs? barcelona have two (three if oleguer plays) and madrid have 2.

 

[AFCG7]

A lot of people here are missing the point.. its not as if i'm saying we should play English players for the sake of it, i'm saying we should never ever have a stuation like we did against Palace where not one was in the 16..forget the starting IX , as this has been done before by CHelsea and even Lazio 4 seasons ago..but at least have a player on the bench. Chelsea had one John Harley on the bench..can anyone honestly say that against a club like Palace, we couldnt even find ONE English substitute? Even if he wasnt going to play?This is a major oversight and really, when we get criticised for this we have to acknowledge : "We were asking for it".

 

[kel varnsen]

good point sabret, im getting fed up with people saying english is too expensive, so thats a good point about what Sp**s just got. heres another point, reyes and defoe were available around similar times. we went for reyes of course. defoe wouldve cost HALF the price, for twice the player.

wrong. sooooo wrong... defoe is a simple player, quick and he scores a few goals, but he is not an arsenal player. doesn't have the vision and flair for it. he is completely dependant on other players; kind of like owen. he is a striker. a star amongst average players; he is perfect for tottenham. not us...

 

[RockyRocastle]

good point sabret, im getting fed up with people saying english is too expensive, so thats a good point about what Sp**s just got. heres another point, reyes and defoe were available around similar times. we went for reyes of course. defoe wouldve cost HALF the price, for twice the player.

wrong. sooooo wrong... defoe is a simple player, quick and he scores a few goals, but he is not an arsenal player. doesn't have the vision and flair for it. he is completely dependant on other players; kind of like owen. he is a striker. a star amongst average players; he is perfect for tottenham. not us...

I think a better example would be we signed Jeffers when we could have signed Defoe. A missed opportunity in my opinion.

 

[kel varnsen]

that is true; defoe is ten times the player jeffers is and ever will be. that i can agree with. i never understood why wenger brought in jeffers.