duduspace:

Do you really think Arsene bothers about what anyone says? if he did Arsenal would be full of English players by now.
Arsene will always do and say what he considers to be right, that is one of the reasons the English media don't like him. If a player is not performing or if anyone stakes a better claim, Arsene will drop you like a hot potato. Just go ask Gilberto and Lehman, the only thing is he is quite humane and will always look out for an opportunity that will benefit the player if yu're no longer in his first team plans like he did for Gilberto and recently Eduardo.

You are right about that one.
I was shocked at the Lehman issue.
Dude was literally abusing Wenger in the PRESS everyday

Ha Dudu, alas me lad, that was said in jest. Just looking for Debo's trouble.

2 goals in 3 games where he's been heavily criticised as being lazy. There my fellow gunners is why the Assassin doesn't see a lot of the comfy new benches at Arsenal.

Sebi na you Slim, I guessed as much yu were being cheeky. I heard our dear Arshavin put in a masterclass playing for Russia today in his preffered position as he had a hand in both goals. I think they all love that central role  but I'm sure if they were to take a vote all of them would recommend Cesc as 2nd choice for the role after nominating themselves so I think Arsene is calling that right our dear Andrei has to stay on the flanks and try to make the best of it, if he keeps up those goal stats we'll just have to cope with his body language.

More importantly, no injuries yet to any of our players, hope it lasts through this international break

Muki,
Thanks for looking out for a bro Appreciate

slimshay:

The last time AW willingly benched the Assasin, we lost at Wembly sparking off wide off-with-his-head protest at Wenger. Till today Debosky still insist it was Wenger's pride that caused it

I can assure you, Wenger is not looking for the same wahala again.

And I still maintain that stand. . . . .that is the singular event that made me lose the greatest amount of trust in AW. He benched a player who wouldn't play in the CL, just to avoid people saying 'I told you so - signing quality can win you trophies'. If his 'developing' boys had won that game, you'd never hear the end of it.

duduspace:

Do you really think Arsene bothers about what anyone says? if he did Arsenal would be full of English players by now.  
Arsene will always do and say what he considers to be right, that is one of the reasons the English media don't like him[b]. If a player is not performing or if anyone stakes a better claim, Arsene will drop you like a hot potato.[/b] Just go ask Gilberto and Lehman, the only thing is he is quite humane and will always look out for an opportunity that will benefit the player if yu're no longer in his first team plans like he did for Gilberto and recently Eduardo.

Forget it - Wenger is HIGHLY partial in his selections. Some players are unbenchable , others only need a single mistake to be dispensed of.

Diaby continues to screw up regularly and still gets a place, Ditto with Denilson last season. For crying out loud, Fabianski was going to be No 1 this season before conceding 5 in Warsaw, when even a blind man from Mars could tell you that Lukasz is an accident waiting to happen.

The contradictions in his selective thinking are shocking - selling Gilberto who was still good enough to be Brazil captain and could play two roles (CB and DM) just to buy a completely washed up Silvestre from the scumtwats.

Dropping Almunia early in the season because he screwed up, but persisting with Fabianski after the guy was abysmally poor at the tail end.

Once you are deemed to be 'homegrown', then there is little or nothing you can do wrong in Wenger's eyes. If you look back, the players subject to his 'ruthlessness' are often those who've come in established or with their own world view - those ones that don't owe their careers to AW.

Just like his infamous 'I didn't see it' comments, Wenger often doesn't see the flaws in his 'chosen ones'.

I tol ya it was sure to bring the beast outta Debo. . . .lol.

Debosky one day I will show you why that wasn't a gamble on a AW's pride, but more a gamble on these boys' confidence. Either way we lost and both Arsene's pride and the boy's confidence took heavy hits.

Anyways for now we are still mopping up trying to fix the fans that got damage jumping outta the transfer window. Or wtf ya'll tink I'm doing up at this time of the night.

Oh btw ya'll wanna see a prime example crap defensive highline? . . .cyprus vs portugal. Eye opener. Btw eduardo was in goal, you know, that guy wenger was suppose to steal from genoa.

Catch ya folks, dj jus slam my song, no be mistake o eeh, no be mistake o eeh!!!!

slimshay:

I tol ya it was sure to bring the beast outta Debo. . . .lol.

Debosky one day I will show you why that wasn't a gamble on a AW's pride, but more a gamble on these boys' confidence. Either way we lost and both Arsene's pride and the boy's confidence took heavy hits.

I am waiting for that day to come. . . . .I hope it won't take forever to manifest like Arsene's belief that 'this side is very close'.

Anyways, I've gotten over all that - we look to the future now and hope for the best.

debosky:

For crying out loud, Fabianski was going to be No 1 this season before conceding 5 in Warsaw, when even a blind man from Mars could tell you that Lukasz is an accident waiting to happen.

Haba Debo, how did you know this? you don get winch?  The only day Arsene was specific about who would be his number one Almunia took the gloves that day, he did give all the GKs games during pre-season and I'm sure a lot was also done in training. At no point did he ever suggest Fabianski wld be numero uno.

The only thing that counted against Szczesney was experience as you rightly pointed out at the end of last season, my mind tells me Szczesney might be the one to stay as 3rd choice this season while Mannone goes on loan so he can get some PL games when the games get thick and fast, hope he makes the most of it.

To be honest, Fabianski might have finally run out of time because Mannone seems to have become the Reserves keeper now and he seems to be rated high by Arsene, you might suddenly hear that a deal has been agreed to send him back to Legia. 

This GK business na real puzzle, we have 3 promising GKs all on the verge of breaking through but seem to need experience and games to show what they can do and a number 1 everyone has seemingly lost faith in.

Interesting quotes from Jamie Carragher in a Daily Mail article.

[Quote]
"I mean, the way people look at Arsenal. They do things right, and you go, yep, they conduct themselves in the right way. I think we have been a club who were like that, and we need to get back to that, to do things right. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, that's football - you can't win all the time - but you can still behave in a way where people respect you.
[/quote]

Its amazing some of those who aim jibes at Arsenal actually have some grudging respect for the way the club is run, if only our own so called fans could find a modicum of joy in the way the club is run.

Hello guys. nobody is complaining about how the club is being run bt the way the club is given we the faithful highy blood presure. Maybe u can explain to me why AW faild to get us a new GK when it is clear that curent Gks can nt be trusted or we need ibramovic or drogba b4 we knw we dnt have a Gk

na wa o
Olodo happy new year.
you remember us for Nl today abi

olodo:

Hello guys. nobody is complaining about how the club is being run bt the way the club is given we the faithful highy blood presure. Maybe u can explain to me why AW faild to get us a new GK when it is clear that curent Gks can nt be trusted or we need ibramovic or drogba b4 we knw we dnt have a Gk

I have no issues with anyone complaining about us not getting a GK what I have issues with is people rubbishing everything else the club gets right, it says a lot that a direct competitor (at least in the past) can say good things about us (I wonder why he chose Arsenal as his yardstick and not Chelsea or Manure who I'm sure most on here would choose as epitomes of excellence and silverware). It does suggest that there are a lot of things the club is getting right.

Atimes you have to take the good with the bad, most people focus on only one thing and are never able to see the whole picture, the truth is it is not changing Almunia or not that will determine whether we win or lose this season, it will depend on the strength in depth of the squad and I do believe we are better off this season than previous ones, whether it is strong enough remains to be seen. Almunia was our GK in the 07/08 season and he wasn't responsible for us losing out the PL by 4 points then so why exactly is it impossible for him to man the net towards a title win this season?

Duduspace i heard wenger is looking for a new PA.

please apply

^^^^

Let Debosky take the job,at least that way,I'll know that Wenger will stand a chance of meeting with some inexplicable accident that will send him out nof the Emirates,so we can re-focus

Muki. Yes happy new year. I hav been followg thread wt lot of interest bt some time i just wave it of. As for the job of a pa duduspace need nt apply because wt d way his defendg Aw we will continue to magnify every little comendation by the press thereby missg d important point. For instant why did Aw revert to 4 5 1 last season we playd 433 which kept us in contentn until we bungld it at wigan.

Olodo is right, I mean what has wenger been doing. Nowadays the parting on his hair is to the left and not to the right like last season. I mean how can he just change his shoe size from 45 last season to 44 this season. Somebody has to ask that man!! Enough of all this nonsense.

Olodo is always wrong as the name implies

Ibime just saying am wrong without anything to back ur point make no meaning to me. Maybe  i shld tell u more. Aw is playing this partern because of inability to buy quality striker into d team. Abt 5season when d like of TH14, Rvp. Adebayo. He was playg 442. When TH14 left  for baca  he went back to 451 becos Rvp pick up an injury and so he has no choice than to play 451. That was how ade inefectivenes in front of goal post was expose  becos out of every 6clear chance he will score one. Ibime u knw all this story but just incase u hav forgoten. At end of the season  Aw bot  dudu and bentner to join d striking role and so he he revert back to 442 so its dudu and ade infront untill dudu pick up an injury @bemingham ade could nt help our situation we lost d title with 4draws. The rest of d story u knw. What am saying is Aw has lost it. Its only a foolish man that does thing d same way and expect a diffrent result. What do u expect from this formation. From d 2nd match of the seasoo we have started managing wt players. Rvp is injured we are left wt chamach? GOD forbid if anything happens to him. That what we are saying. Ibime  I love Arsenal  to a fault but A. W has lost it.

duduspace:

Haba Debo, how did you know this? you don get winch?  The only day Arsene was specific about who would be his number one Almunia took the gloves that day, he did give all the GKs games during pre-season and I'm sure a lot was also done in training. At no point did he ever suggest Fabianski wld be numero uno.

We've been watching Arsene's pre-season antics for a few years now - once a SENIOR player starts featuring sparingly in the pre-season, his time is nearly up. The last game in the Emirates cup and Warsaw ended the chances of Fabianski being No 1. Besides, if it was NOT a slight against Almunia, why would he even say he doesn't know his #1 in the first place?

This GK business na real puzzle, we have 3 promising GKs all on the verge of breaking through but seem to need experience and games to show what they can do and a number 1 everyone has seemingly lost faith in.

Stop smoking the ganja - if Fabianski is a promising GK, then I am Jack Wilshere's father. Wenger has NO CLUE on how to develop keepers - I very much doubt if ANY of the so called 'promising' GKs will make it. Wenger will stubbornly stand by them as we know, but that will simply be at the cost of titles for the club.

rasputinn:

^^^^

Let Debosky take the job,at least that way,I'll know that Wenger will stand a chance of meeting with some inexplicable accident that will send him out nof the Emirates,so we can re-focus

Nah, I won't kill him. . . .I'll just cut off one toe for every day he spends without signing a proven keeper in the next window, then I'll move to the fingers.

duduspace:

Atimes you have to take the good with the bad, most people focus on only one thing and are never able to see the whole picture, the truth is it is not changing Almunia or not that will determine whether we win or lose this season, it will depend on the strength in depth of the squad and I do believe we are better off this season than previous ones, whether it is strong enough remains to be seen. Almunia was our GK in the 07/08 season and he wasn't responsible for us losing out the PL by 4 points then so why exactly is it impossible for him to man the net towards a title win this season?

You've been listening to yourself way too long. EVEN WENGER HIMSELF was desperate to sign another keeper and you're here preaching about what Almunia can do?

Get it straight - I have nothing against Manuel, he's an ok keeper who should be a No 2. Wenger KNOWS he's not good enough, that was why he was chasing a GK all over the place.

Secondly, you CANNOT talk of strength in depth when you have an ok 2nd choice GK, a disaster waiting to happen and two 'promising' GKs. That is NOT strength in depth. If strength in depth is what will determine where w will finish, the abysmal nature of our GK situation is the clearest indication yet that we are likely going to fall short.

On the contrary Debo, £2m in may and same offer in August hardly constitutes all over the place now does it.

AW was not looking to replace Almunia. As far as I have tried to look at the situation that is my conclusion.

And meanwile, no disrespect but who be this olodo guy. His comments are so 2000 and late. Apologies black eyed peas.

Thanks Muki for saving the hunk in distress who was too proud to beg for help.
I know say my Gooner family no go fail my hand.
Now, back to the business of supporting Lord Wenger in all he does.

[s]The bot thinks you are supporting Unku wenger more than how he supports himself[/s]

hunk

slimshay:

On the contrary Debo, £2m in may and same offer in August hardly constitutes all over the place now does it.

AW was not looking to replace Almunia. As far as I have tried to look at the situation that is my conclusion.

And meanwile, no disrespect but who be this olodo guy. His comments are so 2000 and late. Apologies black eyed peas.

Wenger has never spent more than 2-3m on a GK - so don't let the bid price be an indicator. He got Lehmann on the cheap and fully expected to get Schwarzer on the cheap too. The only flaw was that AW felt that MS handing in a transfer request would make things easier. Some sources even indicate he went in with 4m on deadline day, but the injury to the Fulham replacement ended the chances of a deal.

Wenger wanted to replace him alright, but he's too proud to be 'kept to ransome' - so he'll delay regardless of cost to the club, just like he did with Chamakh.

We will see in May whether the refusal to offer 4m earlier on was a wise investment.

debosky:

Wenger has never spent more than 2-3m on a GK - so don't let the bid price be an indicator. He got Lehmann on the cheap and fully expected to get Schwarzer on the cheap too. The only flaw was that AW felt that MS handing in a transfer request would make things easier. Some sources even indicate he went in with 4m on deadline day, but the injury to the Fulham replacement ended the chances of a deal.
Wenger wanted to replace him alright, but he's too proud to be 'kept to ransome' - so he'll delay regardless of cost to the club, just like he did with Chamakh.
We will see in May whether the refusal to offer 4m earlier on was a wise investment.

Mark Hughes confirmed there was no further bid after the initial 2 2m bids but there are also reputations to be protected here, if you get known to be a mug in the transfer market people tend to take advantage like they currently do for Man City, we are known for not paying over the odds for players and that reputation had to be kept, ultimately we couldn't do a deal.

To be honest, I personally don't think a 37 year old with a year left on his contract is worth more than the 2m we were offering, maybe 3m at the most, Fulham were being greedy becos the media had painted us as being desperate for a new GK, what Arsene has shown them is that we are not, I can almost give you a 100% assurance that Schwarzer is still coming to Arsenal, I think a deal can be done in january maybe Hughes would have gotten the sack by then. 

Just took a look at Van Dar Sar on Wikipedia again, he is quite a hulk and you can see why he can't be bullied on set pieces, if he gives you a slap if you get too close to him, yu'll still be clearing your head by the time the corner is taken. if you throw a hulking Rio and a no nonsense Vidic into the mix, what you get is a water tight defence on set pieces that would make even the Blackburn thugs think twice.

duduspace:

Mark Hughes confirmed there was no further bid after the initial 2 2m bids but there are also reputations to be protected here, if you get known to be a mug in the transfer market people tend to take advantage like they currently do for Man City, we are known for not paying over the odds for players and that reputation had to be kept, ultimately we couldn't do a deal.

Wenger is obsessed about not 'paying over the odds' and ends up doing harm to the club - he has lost perspective completely. After the club wastefully splashed 3m on upgrading restaurants at the Emirates, why on earth would paying 2m more for a GK be untenable? The fact is, when it comes to making the necessary transfer deals, our intransigence on price has been taken to the extreme and is costing us. You need to be flexible at times to get who you want.

To be honest, I personally don't think a 37 year old with a year left on his contract is worth more than the 2m we were offering, maybe 3m at the most, Fulham were being greedy becos the media had painted us as being desperate for a new GK, what Arsene has shown them is that we are not, I can almost give you a 100% assurance that Schwarzer is still coming to Arsenal, I think a deal can be done in january maybe Hughes would have gotten the sack by then. 

His worth is not in the fact that he is 37 with a one year deal, it is the effect it has on our season. Again, you can't see the bigger picture here and factor in the impact of this transfer on our season's fortunes - instead you're too busy pinching pennies.

Just took a look at Van Dar Sar on Wikipedia again, he is quite a hulk and you can see why he can't be bullied on set pieces, if he gives you a slap if you get too close to him, yu'll still be clearing your head by the time the corner is taken. if you throw a hulking Rio and a no nonsense Vidic into the mix, what you get is a water tight defence.

And we have none of those.

debosky:

Wenger is obsessed about not 'paying over the odds' and ends up doing harm to the club - he has lost perspective completely. After the club wastefully splashed 3m on upgrading restaurants at the Emirates, why on earth would paying 2m more for a GK be untenable? The fact is, when it comes to making the necessary transfer deals, our intransigence on price has been taken to the extreme and is costing us. You need to be flexible at times to get who you want.

But Arsene is not in charge of restaurant now?  , but maybe its because Arsene knows Schwarzer is not that much of an improvement over Almunia to worth 2m more of expenditure, it all boils down to a cost benefit analysis, instead of getting Schwarzer for 4m it might even be better to go for Given at 8-10m (if city were at all inclined to selling him) or Lloris at 12 - 15m. The purse strings have been loosened a bit this transfer window but not that much, at the least relative to the last 2 windows we've had a greater net spend.

debosky:

His worth is not in the fact that he is 37 with a one year deal, it is the effect it has on our season. Again, you can't see the bigger picture here and factor in the impact of this transfer on our season's fortunes - instead you're too busy pinching pennies.

I don't think it is to anyone's advantage to spend more on something  than what you value it to be, even in personal life, it often makes the difference between penury and riches, to do so would be a sign of desperation and even if most fans have reached that level of desperation, I don't think the board and Arsene have quite gotten there yet, its unfortunate but that is the truth. What we can all hope for is the best, I personally never saw buying Schwarzer as the magic wand that would suddenly land us a trophy, if it were then you would be right in saying that extra 2m would have  been worth it. he would definitely have been an improvement over the almunia we saw last season though, but by how much is subject to speculation.

£2m in may, £2m in august Debo, it is not the figures, it is the fact that he couldn't be arsed to
increase the offer. I still maintain a new number was not a priority. He was clear abt what he wanted to do, revamp the defense and that he did.

I think the debate realy should be about whether his priorities were the right now. But the not the fact he was searching for a new number one because asides from a meager bid for a 37 year old there are no indications that he was. I will wait a couple more matches before I formulate an opinion as to whether we have made the right choice.

olodo:

That was how ade inefectivenes in front of goal post was expose becos out of every 6clear chance he will score one. Ibime u knw all this story but just incase u hav forgoten. At end of the season Aw bot dudu and bentner to join d striking role and so he he revert back to 442 so its dudu and ade infront untill dudu pick up an injury

Bros, You are completely wrong.
Arsenal did not buy Dudu and Bendtner at the same time.
Bendtner was bought in the summer of 2004 and played in the reserves for a while
before being loaned to Birmingham city for a couple of seasons before returning to Arsenal at the beginning of the 07/08 season.

To win a championship you need a champion goalkeeper - Mourinho

duduspace:

But Arsene is not in charge of restaurant now?  ,

So you don't know? Arsene even picks the colour of tie worn by P Diddy Hill to the AGMs.

but maybe its because Arsene knows Schwarzer is not that much of an improvement over Almunia to worth 2m more of expenditure, it all boils down to a cost benefit analysis, instead of getting Schwarzer for 4m it might even be better to go for Given at 8-10m (if city were at all inclined to selling him) or Lloris at 12 - 15m.

You don't get it bro. . . .the 'marginal' improvement can lead us to winning a league title - you can't quantify the benefit that brings, both financially and otherwise. It attracts players, increases followership,amongst others. To simply look at it as a comparison with Almunia is poorly narrowminded.

The purse strings have been loosened a bit this transfer window but not that much, at the least relative to the last 2 windows we've had a greater net spend.

Loosened indeed - sold Dudu for £7m, bought Koscielny for £4.4m (plus add ons in future) bought Squillaci for £3.3m. Net spend £0.7m. What an amazing loosening of the purse strings.

The fact of the matter is, Wenger would rather FAIL because he didn't spend than attempt to take a risk by spending. For crying out loud, an extra £2m on such a vital position as a GK would not be out of place, but then again, Wenger's fear of 'wasting money' has reached such ridiculous levels that it is holding the club back and will perpetually keep us in the 'almost there' category, unless Wenger's dream of all our rivals collapsing under debt comes true.

I don't think it is to anyone's advantage to spend more on something  than what you value it to be, even in personal life, it often makes the difference between penury and riches, to do so would be a sign of desperation and even if most fans have reached that level of desperation, [b]I don't think the board and Arsene have quite gotten there yet, its unfortunate but that is the trut[/b]h. What we can all hope for is the best, I personally never saw buying Schwarzer as the magic wand that would suddenly land us a trophy, if it were then you would be right in saying that extra 2m would have  been worth it. he would definitely have been an improvement over the almunia we saw last season though, but by how much is subject to speculation.

The truth is, the board and Arsene will never reach there - they will be content with coming 4th and staying in the CL. They will not stick their necks out, nor take a reasonable risk (e.g. spending £2m, less than a matchday's income to secure a credible GK) to move the club forward. They are paralysed by inertia and won't do anything to change - they will simply hope AW's methods pay off someday, but if it doesn't, they are very much content with the status quo.

slimshay:

£2m in may, £2m in august Debo, it is not the figures, it is the fact that he couldn't be arsed to
increase the offer. I still maintain a new number was not a priority. He was clear abt what he wanted to do, revamp the defense and that he did.

The reason he couldn't be arsed to increase the offer is clear - he felt he could get a player on the cheap. He did the same with Chamakh and waited till he was available for free. If waiting for Chamakh doesn't imply that Wenger 'couldn't be arsed' then his dilly dallying over Schwarzer simply shows the same trait. He puts financial discipline (to a ridiculous extent) above success on the pitch.

I think the debate realy should be about whether his priorities were the right now. But the not the fact he was searching for a new number one because asides from a meager bid for a 37 year old there are no indications that he was. I will wait a couple more matches before I formulate an opinion as to whether we have made the right choice.

Wenger's only priorities are to keep his experiment ticking over, hoping that he will 're-invent' football by winning trophies with his methods - he will not deviate (unless forced) and will continue this experiment till he is forced out, or if/when it works.