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Ex-Gunner Watch

Is it wrong to still love Giroud

  • Yes he’s no longer a gooner

  • No he will always be a top man


Results are only viewable after voting.

GDeep™

League is very weak
Bentley is a great signing for West Ham, as is Lansbury. My mind is blank, can't think of his name just now, but that left footer from Bolton is great business too by Sam Allardyce. Hopefully they are back up next season.
 

AnthonyG

Arse Emeritus
GDeep said:
We should all get behind Barca.
Agreed.
push-off-cliff.jpg
 

FunGun

Active Member
SA Gunner said:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_7150733,00.html

Painful to read this, as much as I wish Cesc well does reading this make me realise how much we were ****** over in this deal by both FCB and Fabregas himself.

But this point and worse off is needed, as we look to force a change in our approach overall.

This makes me so mad. After all the slagging us off Barca did saying we were holding Cesc hostage and telling us how much he's worth and for us not putting him on the open market. That's 20 million we lost there. Could have paid for a nice holiday and new car for the board!
 

JazzG

Established Member
SA Gunner said:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_7150733,00.html

Painful to read this, as much as I wish Cesc well does reading this make me realise how much we were ****** over in this deal by both FCB and Fabregas himself.

But this point and worse off is needed, as we look to force a change in our approach overall.

We took him from their academy for virtually nothing, got many great seasons out of him and sold him back for £30mill profit. While the conduct of Barca and Fabregas recent months might leave a bit to be desired I don't think we have done as bad as some people are making it out.
 

FunGun

Active Member
JazzG said:
SA Gunner said:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_7150733,00.html

Painful to read this, as much as I wish Cesc well does reading this make me realise how much we were ****** over in this deal by both FCB and Fabregas himself.

But this point and worse off is needed, as we look to force a change in our approach overall.

We took him from their academy for virtually nothing, got many great seasons out of him and sold him back for £30mill profit. While the conduct of Barca and Fabregas recent months might leave a bit to be desired I don't think we have done as bad as some people are making it out.

I'm glad I'm not in business with you.
 

Uncle Mike

Established Member
Well, after threatening to do so, and taking into account all kinds of things, from individual performance to longevity to winning to "class," I've come up with a list of the 100 Greatest Arsenal Players.

Frankly, I'm not really satisfied with the list. Mainly because I'm of the school of "The Best Defense Is a Good Offense," and I ended up with a defender as Number 1. But said defender is, after all, Mr. Arsenal, a name that cannot truly be awarded to anyone else.

Before I present the list, let me go through a little shorthand:

* I only included statistics and achievements a player had with Arsenal. If a player had achievements with another club, or his national side, it is not included in the numbers I used for the rankings.

* I looked at various lists, including players from championship teams, from cup final lineups, and from lists of most appearances and most goals (thus finding some players who might have played well for Arsenal in not-so-good eras).

* While this list does favor players from the post-1998 "Top 4 in Champions League" era, I did try to compensate by looking at top-four finishes from 1886-87 through 1997-98 (not that there were many prior to the first League title in 1931), and gave some old-timers' bonus points. Why should they be penalized for doing things that would have qualified them for an elite competition under today's rules?

* All numbers are from the start of the club in 1886-87 -- although the earliest player I included in my rankings started with Arsenal in 1901 -- through the conclusion of the 2010-11 season. In other words, with the new season just started and thus incomplete, I did not count it. So no matter how well Gervinho, for example, goes on to play for Arsenal, he's not on this list now.

* Of the Top 100, 43 were midfielders, 26 were defenders, 23 were forwards, 8 were goalkeepers.

* 82 of these were from, or at least played their international football for, countries within the British Isles -- 67 for England, 7 from Scotland, 3 from the Republic of Ireland, 3 from Northern Ireland, 2 from Wales. 14 were from continental Europe: 7 from France, 3 from the Netherlands, 2 from Sweden, 1 from Germany, 1 from Spain. 2 were from South America, both from Brazil. 2 played for nations in Africa, 1 each from the Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

* 18 were developed by, or reached their Arsenal peak under, and thus were "products" of, Herbert Chapman. The highest-ranking of these was Number 8.

* 15 were products of George Allison, including some who ended up reaching their peak in the 1948-53 teams managed by Tom Whittaker. Of these, the highest-ranking was Number 23, who probably would have been a lot higher on this list if he had arrived sooner, or if World War II had not ended League football for 6 years.

* 14 were products of Bertie Mee, although Numbers 19, 40 and 87 were developed elsewhere and were purchased for Arsenal by Mee or his predecessor Billy Wright; except for Number 87, all were members of the 1971 Double team. The highest ranking of these was Number 7.

* 14 were developed, or brought to Arsenal, by Terry Neill. The highest-ranking of these was Number 16, and that's mainly due to his longevity. Having Number 25 at that number will disappoint some of you, but the truth is he, like his 1979 FA Cup-winning teammates, simply didn't have the kind of success here that those ahead of him did. Remember: What a player may have done elsewhere was not included here. If he, or Number 34, had simply made a certain penalty, this would be a very different list.

* 18 were products of George Graham -- who, at Number 40, is the only Arsenal manager to make this list as a player. Many of these were holdovers into the Wenger era, including the men at Numbers 1, 5, 6, 10 and 12.

* 19 were products of Arsène Wenger -- with only one "inherited" by him. These 19 include Numbers 2, 3 and 4. Personally, I would have put Number 3 at Number 1, and his comparative lack of longevity with the club (and the fact that success with other sides, including national ones, does these players no good here).

* Only 2 players, Numbers 93 and 96, do not fit into any of Arsenal's glory eras.

* 66 are still alive.

* Only Number 70 currently plays for Arsenal, and thus only he has a chance to improve his ranking. In addition to he, Number 57 is the only player on this list to have essentially played his entire first-team Arsenal career since the last League title in 2004. I did crunch the numbers for all Arsenal players from 2004-05 through 2010-11, but only Numbers 57 and 70 made the Top 100. In fact, the next-highest-ranking current Arsenal player is Theo Walcott, at Number 111. Had Samir Nasri stayed, he wouldn't even have been that high.

Here's the list:

1 Tony Adams (Captain of this team, and highest-ranking CB)
2 Dennis Bergkamp (highest-ranking FW)
3 Thierry Henry (would be the "other" starting FW)
4 Patrick Vieira (highest-ranking MF)
5 David Seaman (highest-ranking GK)
6 Lee Dixon (highest-ranking RB)
7 John Radford (highest-ranking player who would not start, sub FW)
8 Cliff Bastin (highest-ranking player who could be LW)
9 Alex James (sub MF)
10 Nigel Winterburn (highest-ranking LB)
11 Pat Rice (sub defender)
12 Ian Wright (sub FW)
13 Robert Pires (starting MF)
14 Alan Smith (highest-ranking player who wouldn't even make the bench)
15 Paul Merson (highest-ranking player who could be RW)
16 David O'Leary (starting CB)
17 Ray Parlour
18 George Armstrong
19 Frank McLintock (sub defender)
20 Joe Hulme
21 Freddie Ljungberg
22 Martin Keown
23 Ted Drake
24 Paul Davis
25 Liam Brady
26 George Male
27 David Jack
28 Steve Bould
29 Eddie Hapgood
30 Charlie George
31 Nwankwo Kanu
32 Reg Lewis
33 Joe Mercer
34 Graham Rix
35 Peter Storey
36 David Rocastle
37 Michael Thomas
38 Sylvain Wiltord
39 Frank Stapleton
40 George Graham
41 Sol Campbell
42 Ray Kennedy
43 Bob Wilson (sub goalie)
44 Brian Talbot
45 Kenny Sansom
46 Jimmy Logie
47 Jack Lambert
48 Peter Simpson
49 Ashley Cole
50 Herbie Roberts
51 Tom Parker
52 Alan Sunderland
53 George Swindin
54 Lauren
55 Doug Lishman
56 Kevin Campbell
57 Cesc Fabregas
58 Marc Overmars
59 Pat Jennings
60 Jon Sammels
61 Bob McNab
62 Jack Kelsey
63 Sammy Nelson
64 Perry Groves
65 Bob John
66 Eddie Kelly
67 Alex Forbes
68 Leslie Compton
69 Wilf Copping
70 Robin van Persie
71 Ray Bowden
72 Jens Lehmann
73 Gilberto Silva
74 Kolo Toure
75 Jimmy Brain
76 Nicolas Anelka
77 Gael Clichy
78 Edu
79 David Price
80 Anders Limpar
81 Don Roper
82 Charlie Nicholas
83 Charlie Jones
84 Martin Hayes
85 Walley Barnes
86 Jack Crayston
87 Alan Ball
88 Laurie Scott
89 Willie Young
90 John Lukic
91 Tony Woodcock
92 Lionel Smith
93 George Eastham
94 Alf Baker
95 Cliff Holton
96 Billy Blyth
97 Alex Wilson
98 Malcolm Macdonald
99 Frank Moss
100 Jack Butler
 

JoeyGooner

Well-Known Member
Nice list, but I think I'm going to be mainstream and put Henry on top, but this list is pretty spot on, but even though Cesc didn't win anything we can't downplay his ability and commitment whilst he was still OUR player (would say until 2010-11) so I would probably rank him a bit higher.
 

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