All the pre-season games are good for the team,but I ain't impressed one bit about our activity/inactivity in the transfer market.Hope this is not yyet another recipe for disaster

THE KOLO TOURE INTERVIEW


Toure, who joined City for a reported £16m, said Arsenal's reliance on youth has meant they have lacked leadership.

"When you look at Arsenal you see all the great players have left and are now in the past," said the 28-year-old.

"Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Ray Parlour have gone. We lost too many leaders at Arsenal."

Arsenal went through two captains last season, with Cesc Fabregas replacing William Gallas at the helm after the French defender made disparaging comments about his team-mates.

Toure was the last member of Arsenal's 'Invincibles' (the squad which went unbeaten through the entire 2003/04 league season) to leave the Emirates.


You can't be successful in football without money


"Players like Henry, Vieira and Parlour that brought success to Arsenal and I believed it was right at this stage of my career to also move on," he added.

"When we were winning the league the spirit was fantastic, we were like a band of brothers."

The likes of Robert Pires, Ashley Cole, Gilberto Silva and Sol Campbell - who have all since left the club - were also key members of Arsenal's unbeaten squad.

Wenger has recruited promising players like Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey, while he has also been keen to promote youngsters from the club's ranks into the first team.

But he has suggested he could bring the 33-year-old Vieira - Arsenal's captain in the 2003/04 season - back to the club.

And Toure suggested that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger's reluctance to match the spending of the other top clubs has led to Arsenal dropping down the pecking order at the elite end of the English game.

"The best teams are at the top only because they have the best players and to get those players you have to spend a lot of money," he said.

Wenger keeps on talking about the team's potential from last season and it seems he is not really interested in replacing the departed players


"You can't be successful in football without money. This is the football business."

Toure is unlikely to have any such troubles at Eastlands, with City blowing their Premier League rivals out of the water in terms of the transfer fees they have paid so far this summer.

With Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor all arriving for big money, City have signalled their intent to challenge the established top four of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

"City have a project to build a big team and so it is natural it is going to cost money," said Toure.

Arsenal finished fourth in the Premier League last season, as well as and have not lifted a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/8180200.stm



Kolo,you are absolutely correct and I agree with you 100%,even if truth hurts,you said it like it is.
Your contributions as a Gunner are well appreciated

Bye kolo, we shall miss you at the emiratti.

Now which person will replace him, dont tell me its Sivestre

invisible!:

Bye kolo, we shall miss you at the emiratti.

Who are the 'we'.You are a chav!

invisible!:

Now which person will replace him, dont tell me its Sivestre

How is it any of your business?
Anyways, we are bringing back Martin Keown

With due respect to Kolo. . . if after almost 7 years at the club he is still looking for leaders and not looking at himself, then he is a personal failure. He was vice captain and he's talking about Parlour and co?  

Weak excuses in my view, it sounds as if he is simply trying to justify (mostly to himself) why he would move to a club like city - money and a likely longer contract than he would get at Arsenal.

And enough of the ridiculous suggestions that Wenger simply wouldn't buy - there is enough evidence that clearly suggests that any 'refusal' to buy is firmly linked to the cash available.

Yes we haven't 'replaced' as we would have wanted to, but that path had been clear for a while now and everyone at the club should understand that. It's all well and good for you to 'spend' money, but not at the expense of your clubs stability and long term financial viability.

That said, Wenger will buy at least one more player before the window closes - he needs to spend 75% of any proceeds from player transfers on more players according to the financing deal for the Stadium.

Still 28 days to go before the window closes. . . . we'll see what AW does.

I am disappointed in Kolo's remarks.
what a load of thrash coming from him.
I don't wanna bring up that final CC match against the Chavs in 07 again
But he lost his cool as a 'Leader' that day and apart from it costing us the CC cup, It distorted the season
and We fell apart like cards!
Just wondering why he towed that familiar line again, just to justify his moving to Manc citeh
Totally unnecessary!
I moved on, I moved on. . . . end of story!
BTW, still remains a favourite of mine.
Go on with your career at Citeh and wishing u the best.
But stop all these justifications.We, the fans, can decipher!

debosky:

With due respect to Kolo. . . if after almost 7 years at the club he is still looking for leaders and not looking at himself, then he is a personal failure. He was vice captain and he's talking about Parlour and co?  

Weak excuses in my view, it sounds as if he is simply trying to justify (mostly to himself) why he would move to a club like city - money and a likely longer contract than he would get at Arsenal.

And enough of the ridiculous suggestions that Wenger simply wouldn't buy - there is enough evidence that clearly suggests that any 'refusal' to buy is firmly linked to the cash available.

Yes we haven't 'replaced' as we would have wanted to, but that path had been clear for a while now and everyone at the club should understand that. It's all well and good for you to 'spend' money, but not at the expense of your clubs stability and long term financial viability.

That said, Wenger will buy at least one more player before the window closes - he needs to spend 75% of any proceeds from player transfers on more players according to the financing deal for the Stadium.

Still 28 days to go before the window closes. . . . we'll see what AW does.

When TH14 was skippo. . . .  he tried to practically carry the club on his shoulders and what happened

Kolo or whoever cares to try cannot do it all alone & thats what he is saying! A bit of experience (old capable hands) wouldn't do the arsenal policy of sexy, fantasy footie any harm!

@ Rasputin why you de talk like this ?
So what if Kolo said all those things ? Do you know There's an amount of money that Dubai'll give me that'll make me say even worse about Arsenal in less than 5secs . I believe It's called human nature bro.

BTW

you guys heard that there's a possibility of Patrick Viera returning to the Emirates

Jack Wilshere!

RuuDie:

When TH14 was skippo. . . .  he tried to practically carry the club on his shoulders and what happened

Kolo or whoever cares to try cannot do it all alone & thats what he is saying! A bit of experience (old capable hands) wouldn't do the arsenal policy of sexy, fantasy footie any harm!

He is talking nonsense - TH14 didn't know how to be a Captain simple. While he was Captain, we had Gilberto, Campbell and Toure and Lehmann didn't we? How many 'old capable hands' do you need?  

Kolo is crap under pressure - he flaps and goes to bits so I am not in any way impressed by his comments. It still represents a personal failure if the longest serving person in your side cannot accept personal responsibility for anything that happened but blames lack of leaders.

I'm not buying the 'no leader' theory - it's flawed. We have suffered mostly due to a poor defensive record and regardless of what Kolo says, he is a big part of that failure - he played 38 games last season.

There's a Vieira possibility, but we should know by the end of the week if that's going to happen.

RuuDie:

BTW

you guys heard that there's a possibility of Patrick Viera returning to the Emirates

@Ruudie
It was discussed here, either on friday or saturday.
Looks like he will sign before the week runs out.

Tomas is back

One of two Arsenal players after my heart. . .

debosky:

He is talking nonsense - TH14 didn't know how to be a Captain simple. While he was Captain, we had Gilberto, Campbell and Toure and Lehmann didn't we? How many 'old capable hands' do you need?

Kolo is crap under pressure - he flaps and goes to bits so I am not in any way impressed by his comments. It still represents a personal failure if the longest serving person in your side cannot accept personal responsibility for anything that happened but blames lack of leaders.

I'm not buying the 'no leader' theory - it's flawed. We have suffered mostly due to a poor defensive record and regardless of what Kolo says, he is a big part of that failure - he played 38 games last season.

There's a Vieira possibility, but we should know by the end of the week if that's going to happen.

For the love of Gawd Debo. I dont believe you are the one making these statements about Kolo, but will exenorate TH14 by saying he didn't know how to be a good captain.

Kolo has left Arsenal and has said what prolly he would not have said while at Arsenal because of loyalty and respect. He is getting the flak for it from you.

Gallas is still at Arsenal, and when he spoke his mind everyone turned at him and his captaincy was even taken from him. I guess no player should speak their minds about Arsenal especially if its supposedly a negative comment regardless of if the player has left the club or not.

You guys should remember that they are also humans and might not say anything as long as they are at the club, but would be free to do so once they have left.

Toure has Left, all of a sudden he is crap and the major problem in your defense, What about your coach that has continually refused to strenghten the team with experienced players year in year out and they(the players) have continued to give their all only to eventually come out trophiless because of lack of depth in the squad.

Am still surprised you called Kolo CRAP. Not that he was an exception player, but i think he gave his best for the club called ARSENAL and should be allowed to bare his mind.

coded guy:

For the love of Gawd Debo. I dont believe you are the one making these statements about Kolo, but will exenorate TH14 by saying he didn't know how to be a good captain.

Kolo has left Arsenal and has said what prolly he would not have said while at Arsenal because of loyalty and respect. He is getting the flak for it from you.

I like Kolo but he has been responsible for lots of defensive gaffes by the side - instead he blames it on 'leaders'? Will leaders teach you to defend and tackle properly when that is your primary role?

Gallas is still at Arsenal, and when he spoke his mind everyone turned at him and his captaincy was even taken from him. I guess no player should speak their minds about Arsenal especially if its supposedly a negative comment regardless of if the player has left the club or not.

Be balanced - Gallas' sin was commenting in public instead of going to the manager, not what he said. Kolo on the other hand is making up excuses to justify his move away. If a 28 year old who has been in the squad for SEVEN years talks about lack of leaders, he is inevitably saying he failed as a leader too- simple.

You guys should remember that they are also humans and might not say anything as long as they are at the club, but would be free to do so once they have left.

No beef with that - Henry left and spoke no one had any issues with that. Pires left and had beef with the manager for taking him off in the CL final and said it – no one at Arsenal had issues with that. We don’t have issues with people speaking their minds, what we have an issue with is when players come up with daft excuses to justify a move instead of just shutting up. Must you talk about Arsenal after leaving the club?

Toure has Left, all of a sudden he is crap and the major problem in your defense, What about your coach that has continually refused to strenghten the team with experienced players year in year out and they(the players) have continued to give their all only to eventually come out trophiless because of lack of depth in the squad.

Stories - looking at our central defence last season, things went bad as soon as Gallas went out injured. Kolo was obviously the weaker one and that is clear. Anyone who watched the CC final in 07 can testify to Kolo's cracking under pressure.

Am still surprised you called Kolo CRAP. Not that he was an exception player, but i think he gave his best for the club called ARSENAL and should be allowed to bare his mind.

Kolo isn't crap in general, he is crap under pressure, especially when there's no 'house nigga' beside him.

I didn't want him to leave the club as I mentioned earlier, but he definitely has flaws which cost us at times as well, so he should quit the sanctimonious 'lack of leaders' story. If there was any failure at the club, he was as much a part of it as anyone else - that is all I'm trying to say.

debosky:

what we have an issue with is when players come up with daft excuses to justify a move instead of just shutting up. Must you talk about Arsenal after leaving the club?

Really, why can't players just shut it whenever they leave a club?
The Journalists, while looking for stories will ask all sort
Maybe these players should get PR people to teach them on what to say!
It's silly

Before one proceeds to bestow gratuitous insults on the person of Kolo Toure, one needs to disentangle the flappable qualities of Kolo Toure from the leadership qualities of immutable stalwarts like Gilberto Silva, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Sol Campbell. Kolo Toure does make some salient points about the leadership qualities (or lack thereof) of the present Arsenal team as juxtaposed against what was obtainable 3 years ago. However the folly of Kolo's assertion is that he tries to bask in the reflected glory of the aforementioned leaders and ropes himself into their comity by association. This is a spurious claim. Kolo Toure was always a junior member of the comity of Arsenal stalwarts and any claim to leadership capabilities on his part portends an erosion of what we have come to recognise as true leadership. However there is no doubt that not a single member of the current Arsenal squad can be classed as a leader.

Arsène Wenger promises signings as sales break up dressing-room clique

Arsène Wenger has always been a believer in footballers who emerged out of Africa. With Emmanuel Eboué widely expected to follow Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré out of the Emirates this summer, there appears to be more to Arsenal's sales than a welcome windfall, not to mention the obvious convenience of knowing his squad will not be overly disrupted by the African Cup of Nations.

Wenger is an expert at selling players he wants to offload at a time that suits him, even if the players feel like they are the ones getting what they want. There is something ruthlessly strategic about his willingness to do business on Adebayor, Touré, and in all probability Eboué, who capered through a half of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid. In one fell swoop, it diffuses the three major areas of conflict within the camp.

The tension between Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner has never been particularly helpful. Then there is the mutual appreciation society involving Touré and William Gallas, which manifested itself in a winter crisis that saw the Frenchman stripped of the captaincy and the Ivorian slapping in a transfer request. Eboué's discord is rather more general, considering he managed to alienate the club's fans, who turned on him last term.

Adebayor, Touré and Eboué led a clique inside the dressing room, with Alexandre Song the junior partner. It is natural that men from a similar cultural background should connect and spend time in each other's company, but at times the group seemed a little too exclusive for comfort.

Song, easily the most improved performer at the club last season, is not seen as expendable by Wenger, but he is likely to be the only survivor.

Dealing with the situation so firmly is not ideal for a man who has always been a big supporter of African football, and has had a number of outstanding professionals from the continent under his wing – from George Weah, the striker he helped to become the World Player of the Year, to the three members of 2004 unbeaten champions – Patrick Vieira, Lauren and Touré, who was a dependable servant of Arsenal until he contracted malaria and visibly lost some of his usual sharpness.

Wenger is being predictably coy about what the funds he has generated will be used on, although he is pretty firm that it would not go on any attackers. There is no doubt that the squad is top heavy, with more quality and quantity in offensive than defensive positions. The most punchy of them all here was Andrey Arshavin, who seized upon two late chances with impudence to win the game, and demonstrated why class is worth every penny. "He has what you can't give to a player, he understands when there is danger," said Wenger.

So, too, did the youngest player on the pitch, Jack Wilshere, whose every touch was greeted with unabashed excitement from the Emirates crowd. Having seen Wilshere beef up over the summer, Wenger confirmed the boy is ready to start some games this term. "He is 17 years old, but has matured enough to compete already," assessed Wenger. "He has more power to take people on."

On the subject of more experienced heads, Wenger insisted that what signings he does make will happen sooner rather than later, which is saying something for the master of the deadline-day deal. Unless there are any "accidents" he intends to have his squad completed, and tuned, for the first game of the season.

The importance of a strong start is not lost on anyone. "We have Man United, Everton and Man City away in the first four games," Wenger smiled. "The team is conscious of a difficult start, but very determined to do well."

With that in mind, the question of whether a man of Vieira's stature would be present is moot. One thing is certain. The two men know each other so well that all it takes is a phone call to establish two essential home truths: Wenger needs to be sure that Vieira's knee can withstand enough Premier League football to make it worthwhile.

And Vieira needs to be sure he will see enough action to go to the World Cup as France's captain.

But the "psychological impact", as Wenger described it, of such a signing is a win-win. He cannot always rely on the impudence of Arshavin.

excuses, excuses, excuses.

Let everyone keep yapping. The problems at Arsenal are simple - defensive frailty and lack of bite in the midfield.

To now imply that leadership is the problem is a joke of the highest proportions. Bertie, Pires, Gilberto, Lehmann - won nothing in 06 nor 07. More examples abound.

And to Ibime saying no one can be classified as a leader, I beg to disagree - Cesc is a leader, so is Arshavin and Vermaelen will show he is a leader as well. Besides, the captaincy issue is massively overrated - Neville was the 'captain' but count the number of games he played last season!

Puyol is the Barca captain but was in and out of the side with injuries - I don't remember that stopping them from becoming El Tricampeon.

The press/lazy analysts will always come up with new reasons to explain stuff at Arsenal - first it was a love for Franco-African players, then youth, now leadership, then not able to coach defenders, then not being able to manage players and so on and so forth. When y'all come up with something slightly intelligent then let's see.

An exclusive African clique?

I can't count how many articles have read that pointed Eboue as the comedian in the dressing room and portrayed Toure as Mr.Nice Guy(you gotta love Toure till his ball-less arse started yarning tosh a la Adebayor).Thus apart from that tact-less long-man from Togo who can't get along with anyone to save his life,i don't know how this article came about.

Oh and Song,can't be sure but i read an article somewhere too that claimed he was "rude" to Toure on the pitch during the Sunderland match(away) as he refused to heed to instruction from him  

Plus i though Cashley reffered to a French sect rather than an African clique  

And is Mr.Gallas part of the African clique ?

Why is it that most players who leave Assanal dont have good words for the team?

That must mean that something suck in that club.

Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor, Pires, now Kolo

debosky:

Let everyone keep yapping. The problems at Arsenal are simple - defensive frailty and lack of bite in the midfield.

As much as I do not want to go back to AA23 discussion, but you do remember that I mentioned that this was your main problem.

On Adebayor and Kolo: Well, you folks must understand that it's not like they went to the press and started singing like canaries. . .a question must have been put to them. They had 2 choices of either talking or keeping quiet.
They preferred to talk but seriously, do you care about what they say? They are history as far as you Arses are concerned. True or false?

I'll suggest Kolo and Adebayor shut up and concentrate on taking Manchester City to the fourth position. How come most of our ex-players shoot their mouth rather than play to impress in their new clubs.

ayusman16:

I'll suggest Kolo and Adebayor shut up and concentrate on taking Manchester City to the fourth position. How come most of our ex-players shoot their mouth rather than play to impress in their new clubs.

I am just waiting for someone like Ade:when the going gets rough a little,
I wonder what he will say, I can't wait for the season to start.

debosky:

I like Kolo but he has been responsible for lots of defensive gaffes by the side - instead he blames it on 'leaders'? Will leaders teach you to defend and tackle properly when that is your primary role?

Who has not been responsible for one gaffe or the other in your defense? You can actually pick everyone on the defense for Arsenal save for Sagna. so saying Kolo has been responsible for a lot holds no water. What exactly would you say about clichy, whose gaffes always almost leads to a goal.

debosky:


Be balanced - Gallas' sin was commenting in public instead of going to the manager, not what he said. Kolo on the other hand is making up excuses to justify his move away. If a 28 year old who has been in the squad for SEVEN years talks about lack of leaders, he is inevitably saying he failed as a leader too- simple.

What difference would it have made, He is in Arsenal and may have known that going to the manager would not achieve anything, AW has been doing the same thing for over 5 trophiless seasons, and mr Debo, that can be frustrating to a player who wishes to win things during his active years on the pitch.

In what context are you talking about leadership! As a Captain or as someone who's been in the team for long. Kolo can only do his part and expect thers to do theirs, including the coach.

debosky:

No beef with that - Henry left and spoke no one had any issues with that. Pires left and had beef with the manager for taking him off in the CL final and said it – no one at Arsenal had issues with that. We don’t have issues with people speaking their minds, what we have an issue with is when players come up with daft excuses to justify a move instead of just shutting up. Must you talk about Arsenal after leaving the club?

To Kolo its not a Daft excuse, its a way of venting the frustraion of playing for a team that does nothing year in year out to improve its chances of winning a trophy. Check the last five years.

debosky:

Stories - looking at our central defence last season, things went bad as soon as Gallas went out injured. Kolo was obviously the weaker one and that is clear. Anyone who watched the CC final in 07 can testify to Kolo's cracking under pressure.

Well i guess Ibime's assertion of the type of "nigga" you are may come into play here.

debosky:


Kolo isn't crap in general, he is crap under pressure, especially when there's no 'house nigga' beside him.

I didn't want him to leave the club as I mentioned earlier, but he definitely has flaws which cost us at times as well, so he should quit the sanctimonious 'lack of leaders' story. If there was any failure at the club, he was as much a part of it as anyone else - that is all I'm trying to say.

Some players need an arrow head to bring the best outta them, Kolo may be that kinda player. If there was or is a failure in the club, the coach should be held responsible.

I'll suggest Kolo and Adebayor shut up and concentrate on taking Manchester City to the fourth position. How come most of our ex-players shoot their mouth rather than play to impress in their new clubs.

That is a valid question most Gayyners would prefer to avoid, obviously the structure inside your club sucks with is not known to the hopeless fans cos I dont know which other teams get slated like Assanal by former players

Flamini, Hleb, Pires, Ade, Ljungberg, Lehmann and now Kolo

Former Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg last night revealed for the first time the bitterness behind his departure from the Gunners and his fall-out with Arsene Wenger

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1024009/Still-sore-departure-bitter-Ljungberg-lashes-Arsenal-Wenger.html#ixzz0N7l8j7UP

dayokanu:

That is a valid question most Gayyners would prefer to avoid, obviously the structure inside your club sucks with is not known to the hopeless fans cos I dont know which other teams get slated like Assanal by former players

Flamini, Hleb, Pires, Ade, Ljungberg, Lehmann and now Kolo

And we saw and will see how they performed or will perform in their new clubs!

coded guy:

Who has not been responsible for one gaffe or the other in your defense? You can actually pick everyone on the defense for Arsenal save for Sagna. so saying Kolo has been responsible for a lot holds no water. What exactly would you say about clichy, whose gaffes always almost leads to a goal.

Clichy is still a young player and incidentally got into the PFA team of the season in 07/08. . . besides he's a LB I'm talking about CB gaffes here.

I can clearly say that Kolo is far below Gallas in terms of quality, and coupled with the kind of rash mistakes he makes at times, he cannot come and preach about leadership when his own competence (at the end) was questionable.

What difference would it have made, He is in Arsenal and may have known that going to the manager would not achieve anything, AW has been doing the same thing for over 5 trophiless seasons, and mr Debo, that can be frustrating to a player who wishes to win things during his active years on the pitch.

That is why I don't beef Gallas - he said what he had to say, then got his head down and excelled. I don't like people who talk too much.

In what context are you talking about leadership! As a Captain or as someone who's been in the team for long. Kolo can only do his part and expect thers to do theirs, including the coach.

Kolo was vice captain and wore the band for almost 3 months while Cesc was out, in addition to being the longest serving player at the club! If that is not a 'leader' then I don't know what is.

To Kolo its not a Daft excuse, its a way of venting the frustraion of playing for a team that does nothing year in year out to improve its chances of winning a trophy. Check the last five years.

In those five years, point to one season Kolo has covered himself with glory and shown he is an exceptional individual in a bad team. Even in those 5 years, we've seen Sagna, Fabregas and even Adebayor showing quality performances. .  . we cannot really say the same about Kolo.

Some players need an arrow head to bring the best outta them, Kolo may be that kinda player. If there was or is a failure in the club, the coach should be held responsible.

Then he is going to fail at City, since he was taken there to be the arrow head as a 'premiership experienced world class defender', or so Hughes believes. The coach takes ultimate responsibility, but we can critique players on an individual basis too.

You guys should pardon Kolo.Arab Money has turned him to a Kolomentalist i mean even Judas one of the 12 disciples betrayed Jesus for 30shekels of silver he is probably planning on saving for his retirement like Adebayor.I ain't pained by his departure one bit my only pain is knowing that Arsene may not buy quality replacements i mean how much can a Bassong or a Steven Taylor cost i hope he is not fooled by them Emirates cup results Rangers's mediocre attack flattered our shaky backline because as far as i'm concerned Gallas is the only quality defender we have Toure's departure means we need at least two CB's anything short of that and we dont have a prayer this season.

P.S: Wilshere is the shiznit i'd rather see him on the flanks than a lumbering Diaby or an offensively challenged Eboue who just cant direct shots towards goal not forgetting Denilson either