Arsenal Fan Thread: For Gunners Only

I hope you know that arsenal is in debt over this stadium and are still servicing the debt? Spurs and man city spent more money than arsenal in the last transfer window and see where they ended up. MY POINT IS THAT MONEY IS NOT ALWAYS THE SOLUTION. If money was always the solution then alex fergusson would have WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MORE THAN ONCE IN 22 YEARS.

Galacticos of ronaldo and co post 2002 shows money is not always the answer and money does not gurantee trophies. Talent(youth and experience), Great managers(like wenger,,sir alex and del bosque) and a bit of GOOD LUCK guarantees trophies,  How much does talent cost???  Well juan sebestian veron cost man u 27 million pounds and fabregas came free. Louis saha cost man u 15 million and adebayor cost 3 million? which is talent , which is cost effective you judge.

Ronaldo cost 12 million but is he not more effective than 25 million wayne rooney???

Saha score 30 goals or more  under the surgeons's knife or on the bench 

Usmanov is waiting for you!!!

@ Vicade,

Please, don't compare players the way u are harping about it. Sheeeesh* Veron wasn't a flop at Man Utd. He didn't stay long enough to realise his potentials. If Adebayor had left Arsenal last season, we would all be here saying he is crap. Veron spent only 2 seasons at Man Utd, i don't think that is enough to say he is crap. Wayne Rooney? Crap!!!! It seems u don't know your football. How old was Rooney at Everton? In a season Rooney got injured three different times, i wouldn't say he is crap. Last season, he scored the same goals as Ronaldo so what is your point?

Cesc Fabregas is talent and reh reh reh. . . It took him 4 years to be what he is today. How many goals did Cesc score last season and what was his contribution? If Cesc had left last summer, u won't be saying all these things. Ballack was labelled to be a massive flop but would u say that considering his contributions in the last few weeks? Are u saying Adebayor is now better than van Persie because RVP has never scored 15 league goals in his entire career? Rooney plays for the team, Ronaldo plays for himself. So now, u can list Clichy, Toure and all those mediocre players in Arsenal as talents.

What about Torres, Van Nistelrooy, Rio, Essien,  Henry, Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo and other big money players?

@ Mc Omo,

Saha scored 20 league goals in 03/04 season. I'm sure he was close to 30 goals if u add FA cup and Carling cup goals. When Saha is fit, he delivers.

@ Vicade,

Don't bore me with this argument. First all, how many seasons did it take Drogba to score 33 goals in a season? Was he not bought for 24 million? It sometimes take some players time to bed in especially South Americans like Veron. You even went on to say Rooney is 23? C'mon mate, Rooney is 22 and he is a better player than Cesc or whoever at Arsenal. I saw Wayne Rooney light up the stage at Euro 2004. He was shouldering the responsibility of his country at the age of 18. Where was Cesc or Van Persie or all those mediocre players at Arsenal in 2004?


The mistake u are making here is u think it's all about goal-scoring. In your mind's eye, Adebayor is better than Dennis Bergkamp and Tevez is better than Solskjaer. For players like Rooney, what governs them is not goals but the ability to create. How many times would u see Rooney shooting straight at net when he's got a team-mate in a better position to score? However, Ronaldo will shoot from all sorts of angles. Most times he misses, sometimes he scores which explains his high goal tally this season. Compare Rooney's assists as a striker to Ronaldo's assist(winger) and lets analyse.

Saha scored 15 for Fulham before January transfer, it means Louis Saha scored 15 goals in 19 league games for a mediocre club like Fulham. What does that tell u? Is he prolific or not? I am not sure either Adebayor, Ronaldo or Torres had 15 by January this season despite their goal-crazed campaign. Did i just hear u say Adebayor is better than Van Persie? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeesh********** that ends the argument. You have just poisoned my appetite to continue this.

Thank God the long debate is over,was afraid 't wasn't going to
thanks Vic and Huc though for whatever [i][/i]

Portsmouth midfielder ‘didn’t feel good enough’ at Arsenal

Many have cited Arsene Wenger’s decision to allow Lassana Diarra leave in January as a reason why Arsenal lost some serious momentum in the Premier League title race. While it’s probably absurd to suppose that a squad player (albeit a very good one) was central to any hopes the Gunners had of winning the league, the Frenchman may well have been made to feel more welcome if Arsene Wenger had known that Mathieu Flamini was jumping ship to Milan before the season ended.

The Independent reveals that Diarra never felt as though he could please his former manager at The Emirates Stadium, despite what he felt were some very strong performances when he had the opportunity to play. The midfielder has a chance to be an FA Cup winner with Portsmouth this Saturday and doesn’t exactly have anything complimentary to say about his old club.

“I don’t think about Arsenal now, I am just focused on Portsmouth,” the 23-year-old Frenchman said as he prepared for Saturday’s FA Cup final at Portsmouth’s Hampshire training ground. “I left Arsenal because I wanted to play every week. When you are in the team, and even if you play well, the manager doesn’t put you on the pitch [for the next game] you have to do something. Every time he put me on the pitch I tried to do my best. For him, I don’t know if it was good enough, but for me…”

As we’ve pointed out in the past, Diarra certainly isn’t short of self-confidence and his performances in a Pompey shirt have been of a very high standard. Indeed, the Premier League outfit will be glad he’s in the team to face Cardiff, especially as a lack of firepower without the cup-tied Defoe means they might have to rely on winning by a solitary goal as they did in the semi-final against West Brom.

Did Arsene Wenger make a mistake in allowing Diarra to leave for the South Coast or was it a case of having his hands tied in so far as he couldn’t offer the player first-team football and the Frenchman wouldn’t hang around to try and hold down a place in the starting XI?

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Gunner4life
please i need link to get theme songs of my club.

@kaydee
Personally, I don't think Sagna or Clichy should make the squad
If there's anything France has got in abundance, it's wingbacks. . .
They've got Abidal and Evra, having two worldclass LBs is enough for any squad.

@ Kaydee
Sagna and Clichy still years to play for France, their time would come one day

And here is a better list of the top 10 best buys.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=534684&cc=3888
Top 10 best buys
(Archive)
Updated: May 13, 2008, 7:55 AM ET
 The best buys can save sides from relegation or secure them silverware. Or they can do neither: Soccernet's choice as the finest acquisition of the last 12 months has simply proved an outstanding addition to his club and provided great value for money. But he is not alone among arrivals in meriting acclaim, or praise for the manager who spotted him.


10. Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland, £6 million)
Seven Premier League goals may appear a meagre tally for a £6 million striker, but the covetous glances directed at the Sunderland target man provide a greater indication of his impact. The comparisons to Didier Drogba don't always seem far-fetched yet, last summer, Jones was wanted at Derby. Having spent much of the season either alone in attack or accompanied by a succession of substandard partners, Jones' contribution goes far beyond his goal tally. Indeed, his total of 10 assists means the Trinidad & Tobago forward was involved in the majority of Sunderland goals. Without him, it is hard to envisage them surviving.

9. Martin Petrov (Manchester City, £4.7m)
Had this list been compiled at Christmas, it might have been dominated by Manchester City players. As it is, Sven-Goran Eriksson is still in credit, with all bar Thaksin Shinawatra, for his signings and Petrov, the speedy, direct Bulgarian, ranks as the pick. While several sides deploy right-footed players to cut infield from the left, an out-and-out winger such as Petrov provides a contrast and there are few better outlets on that flank in the Premier League. It is notable, too, that many of City's best attacks emanate from his flank. A bargain.

8. Wilson Palacios (Wigan, £1 million)
Choosing your friends wisely can make choosing your players much easier. Steve Bruce heeded Arsene Wenger's advice to take Wilson Palacios to Birmingham. When Alex McLeish then showed he didn't share his predecessor's admiration of the Honduran, Bruce brought him to Wigan. Without him, it is entirely feasible Wigan would have been demoted and Birmingham had stayed up. Instead, the energetic midfielder has played an integral part in Athletic's transformation from relegation strugglers to in-form survivors and a succession of forceful displays have elevated his reputation to such an extent that it is now suggested Manchester United and Liverpool are watching him.

7. Phil Jagielka (Everton, £4 million)
No one raids the Championship with quite such cold-eyed acumen as David Moyes. After well-judged moves for Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott, he marked Sheffield United's relegation to the second tier by parting the Blades from their best player. After a gradual introduction to the Everton team, Phil Jagielka has become an essential ingredient. His speed and reading of the game have been particular features of the centre-back's season.

6. Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth, £5.5 million)
It is as much a triumph of Harry Redknapp's powers of persuasion as his scouting. Such was the demand for Lassana Diarra that it was evident he was an emerging force as a midfielder. Redknapp convinced him to choose Portsmouth and the Frenchman has been outstanding. It is likely that such a class act will not be at Fratton Park for long but, besides a hefty profit, Diarra will leave a legacy; arguably his best performance to date was at Old Trafford so, should Portsmouth win the FA Cup, he would merit much of the credit.

5. Carlos Tevez (Manchester United, undisclosed)
Manchester United have not always had a happy history with South Americans, but the future could be very different. Anderson should more than justify his £18 million fee while another short, stocky figure has also attained cult status at Old Trafford. It is not so much Carlos Tevez's goal tally - a respectable 18 - as their significance and timing. His late equaliser at Blackburn showed that the small man with the fondness for the big occasion might just have scored the most important goal of the title race.

4. Sylvain Distin (Portsmouth, free)
The best Bosman signing of last summer. It is to Distin's credit that, having formed one outstanding central defensive partnership with Richard Dunne at Manchester City, he has quietly established another with Sol Campbell at Portsmouth. Distin's speed and silky style make him the common denominator and, like David James, he is a major reason for Portsmouth's greater resilience and vastly improved record on their travels. There are many examples of the strength in depth of French football, but one is that Distin will not be going to Euro 2008.

3. Bakary Sagna (Arsenal, £6 million)
For many, Emmanuel Eboue was the pick of the Premier League right-backs. Ruthlessly, Arsene Wenger exiled the Ivorian to midfield to import a superior alternative. Bakary Sagna, more dependable in defence and suitably enthusiastic when overlapping, has proved an outstanding use of £6 million; some in North London may reflect that Tottenham paid £2 million more for his Auxerre team-mate, the hapless Younes Kaboul. Sagna's place in the PFA team of the season was fully justified.

2. Fernando Torres (Liverpool, £26 million)
For all the millions Liverpool have spent over the years, it is a long time since they signed a genuine superstar. But watching Fernando Torres glide past defenders with conspicuous ease and finish with characteristic precision is to witness one of the world's outstanding strikers in action. Revered at Anfield already, passing the 30-goal landmark in his debut season in England is a phenomenal achievement by the Spaniard. The next challenge is to score more away from home.

1. Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn, £3.5 million)
Mark Hughes has done it again. Strikers of his stature ought to be excellent judges of their fellow forwards, but few have proved it like the Blackburn manager. Twelve months after Benni McCarthy was one of the outstanding signings of the 2006-7 season, Roque Santa Cruz arrived at Ewood Park perfectly suited to both English football and Blackburn's style of play. A total of 23 goals is a remarkable return and, while he may not have outscored Fernando Torres, he arrived for a fraction of the cost. To put it another way, Santa Cruz's fee was barely a fifth of Darren Bent's.

@Whitelexi
I thought the post-Arsenal bad luck that affected Viera, Pires, Sivinho etal had stopped
Now let's see how they'll hold on to Kaka
Soccer's one evil bitch

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=700785

Abeg make him increase the guy money. Na because say him na Afro man.

@ Debo,

Flamini and Lassana Diarra made it. . . . Domenech must hate Wenger's gutz.
Although, he explained he didn't take Sagna because of his injuries and he felt Clichy cannot cut it at the big stage.
He musta watched how Dirk Kuyt ran rings around Gael.

@Debosky

this is why I atimes disagree with your approach to issues   why did u have to add d 66 offsides thingy ? he still has a lot to learn . . .yes we know ! but why after u had said its Barca trying to destabilize us u now castigate the player ?  

is it CR7 that doesnt need to take classes on staying on his feet ? or how to play effectively well against big teams ?

or Torres on how not to miss sitters ?

or Drogba having to stop falling like a chicken each time he is tackled ?

Adebayor could never had said he wants to be the highest paid player, I personally would be the 1st to slate him here, so please guys highlight the dude's strong points, not the weak points !  

y'all never expected him to score 30 goals, I BELIEVED IN HIM SEASON-LONG . . . .leave him be, at least he is not claiming to be Henry  

P.S wonder why Etoo is not even in high demand no more    

@ MC

Of course I have to slate him at times, that will keep him humble.   

Even Henry was never easy on himself and that way became an excellent player. 

I'm not really saying that to insult Ade, its just to dispel the Barca rumors - the truth is that he is not technically gifted enough to play for Barcaeven at Arsenal, for the first two seasons (and even now sometimes) people said Ade is not a 'Wenger player' - that he was bought temporarily to keep the squad till 2009 when there'll be money to buy the kind of players Arsene really wants.

Dunno how true that is, but all I'm saying to Ade isDON'T LET THE CRAP GET TO YOUR HEAD. 

@ X

Flamini played throughout the season, so did Gallas - what 'impact' would they  make that Clichy wouldn't? Dummy Domenech is simply sticking with his usual antics, I don't think Abidal can perform better than Clichy, he's just been a member of the Dommy years thats all.

Tresor Mputu?  Nah, with Vela coming, we'd see a CB and a creative midfielder/winger first.