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Do new recruits prove Arsenal no longer a ‘big club’?

By 2011/09/01 54 Comments

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Like any self respecting football fan, I spent most of yesterday sat in my office scouring Twitter for the latest transfer rumour and staring intently at BBC’s sports day live patiently waiting for each auto refreshing nugget of drama to unfold. Not a lot of work was done.

Conversely, those behind the scenes at the Emirates were very busy, something we are not used to from recent deadline days. Overall, Wenger has completed eight new signings this summer with over half of those going right up to the wire. This is the largest intake of fresh blood since 1998 when the likes of Overmars, Petit and Wreh, amongst others, arrived in North London.

That particular group marked a shift in the way we play football and the beginning of our domestic dominance of the late 90’s and early 00’s. And of course we don’t need reminding of the other signings that came during that period and cemented AW’s reputation as a master in the transfer market. So how does this new batch compare?

Obviously only time will tell but my initial reaction was one of relief (yes he’s spent some money, plugged some gaps) followed by excitement and then, this morning, back to reality with a disappointing thud. Let me explain. On the whole I think some good business was this summer, the addition of Mertesacker and Santos means we can finally have a back four that inspires confidence. If Vermaelen can keep fit, he and Mertasacker will provide the Vidic/Ferdinand style centre paring that has been so sorely missed in recent seasons.

Benayoun is a wise, if not underwhelming, loan acquisition and he will bring some much needed Premier League and European experience in the middle. Arteta gives us something to be excited about, I’ve always seen Everton’s former talisman as a natural Arsenal player, he’s creative, quick, and intelligent plus we know he can deliver in the domestic game.

Gervinho looks promising (then again so did Chamakh) and Jenkinson and Chamberlain are young prospects who may need a couple of seasons to mature but could play a valuable part this season, just not in the big games. Good so far but no matter how much I play out the positives I keep on going back to something AW said in a press conference a few weeks ago that has probably haunted him ever since…“(if) you see Fabregas leaving, Nasri leaving…you cannot pretend you are a big club”. Well Fabregas left and Nasri left and the money gained has not been spent on adequate replacements.

All around us big clubs, rightly or wrongly, are spending big, offering big wages and big prospects of silverware. The summer transfer saga has demonstrated that Arsenal cannot compete with this, if we cannot keep our star players, how can we expect to attract new ones?

This season will be make or break for AW and Arsenal FC, we must win a trophy and qualify for the Champions League otherwise the allure of the Man City’s and the Barca’s will be too great for the likes of Wilshere and RVP and we may even struggle to sign someone like Arteta, let alone Kaka’s and Messi’s of this world.

ROBERT RANKIN

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  • Nipplrd

    i must have missed the part where we signed samba? what a turdnugget.

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  • Phil C

    What do you know that we don’t about Samba?????
    Good job you’re not running the club isn’t it?

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  • SammyNelsonsPants

    pfft. What to say about this. Doom, doom, doom. Arteta is about as good a replacement for cesc as has moved this close season. I’ll take santos over Traore all day long, Mertesacker is exactly what we needed at the back. Chamack having an inconsistent first season is no good reason to be down on Gervinho. Park will do well , I think. Benayoun stands out as an odd signing, but I’d rather have him than not. We’ve cleared out some dead wood in Denilson, Eboue and  Bendtner. We’ve signed a number of good prospects in Ryo, Alex O-C and Jenko. What, exactly, did you want from this close season? Oh, I get it: Torres, Drogba, Messi, Cech, Hazard, MVilla, Schweinstiger, Benzema.

    We are not run on petro dollars. Accept it, and move on.

    Really, go back to the Xbox lad. And realise that AW does, and always has, played a subtle game with the media. He had no choice but to remain bullish on Cesc and Nasri. If he hadn’t, we’d have had to accept a fiver for the pair. What AW says and what he does are different things, and for good reason, given the state of the modern media, including this poor excuse for a blog. Insider? I think not.

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    • Goonerbart

      agree, with sammynelsonpants. Accept what we have to work with or go and support someone else. since when does having loads of money make you a big club. Arsenal have been and always will be a big club, how the f88k are Man city all of a sudden a big club just because of the money, same as Chelski absolutely fkin nowhere without money either of them. get real

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      • BigL

        well said for a 3 year old

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    • Dlwoods64

      I largely agree with your comments. I think the real surprise could be Benayoun. My daughter is a die hard Liverpool supporter so I got to see a number of his games at Liverpool and it was very noticable what a different team they were when he was on the pitch. Often they would have trouble creating anything around or in the 18 yard box, but when he came on he would run at defenses, sliding across the box, drawing defenders out of position and then passing off to Gerard or Kyut. He brought a real sense of purpose to what was a purposeless side and brought other players into the game. I think one of his problems is that he has not been in a system that suits his technical skills and style of play. I think Arsenals style will suit him much better. let’s hope so anyway.
      Let’s hope Santos turns out to be the goods. I was sick and tired of seeing Cliche do great work between the 18 yard boxes and then put in a cross to no one. Sagnas’s not a lot better.

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  • Supeys

    not enough for title race    = we need cahill , hazard , mvilla &  zarate so we can rock the world

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  • As

    I think Arsenal are a big club in terms of quality of play, history, and size of the fan base, but I don’t think we can be considered on par with the Barca’s, Man City, and Man Us of the world in financial terms. I think the transfers that were made yesterday proved that Arsenal is moving towards being on par financially with these clubs. The combination of the new financial fair play rules, us continuing to pay off our debt, the opportunity to sign improved sponsorship deals in the next couple of years, and our new foray into foreign markets with our preseason preparations means that we will boost our financial might and our competitors (especially those funded by rich benefactors – Man City, Chelsea – or those in loads of debt – most other big teams) will come crashing back down to earth. In a year or two, maybe even sooner, I predict Arsenal being able to have our pick of the best players in Europe because of Wenger’s foresight and commitment to financial responsibility and moving to the Emirates.

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  • Ctheo65

    mertesaker is exactley what we need in the team. strong intelliigent, experianced. santos is a welcome addition for left back given gibbs’s inability to stay fit. arteta is class, who will replace nasri quite comfortably.gerviniho has proved already what a great addition to the team he is. chamberlin, miachi, yossi, jenkinson are better players than bendtner eboue denilson. the only player we cant replace is cesc. frimpong and jack will do there damdest and i have great faith in ramsey. for me, the squad looks far better today than it did yesterday.

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  • Ivan from Bulgaria

    I really like what you wrote down, except the misspelling of Santos (Samba above), but never mind. I also believe that the likes of Hazard, Giotze, Gourcuff and Benzema would have proved that we are big club, and that we can challenge for trophies but knowing how “active”Wenger usually is on transfer windows, I am more than happy with the current situation. At lease we can fight for 4th place in the League and reach 1/8 finals in the Champions League, which was unthinkable of before the likes of Mertesaker, Santos, Arteta and Yossi came to Emirates. 

    PS. I still cannot believe we got Park. So poor record of goalscoring activity he has even in weaker leagues as French and Korean. I would much more prefer we signed Zarate. Hope he will prove me wrong…

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    • http://twitter.com/prathap_r prathap_r

      Zarate – 105 appearances for Lazio – 25 goals
      Young –   91 appearances for Monaco – 31 goals

      They both at least on goalscoring category,pretty much the same.

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      • Duck

        Monaco was a relegated club and yet Park scored 10 goals last season. 

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    • rudy from indonesia

      Yeah, but with logical number 10 he was wearing before in Monaco and like almost always playing in their starting eleven, he must be something mate.. He is actually not a typical target man who will fight alone forward, he is more like a second striker to me who stand behind the striker..
       

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  • Xterminator101

    samba !!…. when did u sign him Le Prof ?? u call urself an arsenal insider?? seriously?? what a lame excuse of a blog !! 

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  • Ctheo65

    quiet relieved the cahill spuds transfer fell through. sort of proves arsenal were right not to bow to boltons unrealistic valuation. harry redcrap must have thought the same, or more likely, cahill told him to shove his crap team and wait for us in january. feel a bit sorry for cahill, he wanted to come but wasn’t allowed to. 

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  • Curwenator80

    Agreed with the reply’s we haven’t signed samba . Please if your going to blog get it right . And arteta will be the missing link he’s a very good if not world class player who has been loyal to his team over the years and held himself back . This was a very good transfer window for the club . I must admit I thought wenger had screwed it up at first now I’m very happy with the result . For one I owe wenger a big apology for my lack of support over the transfer window .

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  • Bower777

    Another typical doom and gloom materialistic so called ”supporter” (or should we say follower) of Arsenal…. so bored of your lot, bored of listening to you at the Emirates on match day and bored of listening to you on the web…. if your not gonna get behind the team then please jog on down to Stamford Bridge or Man Citeh!!

    As for the Samba comment your probably blind and deaf from the thought of spending 30million on one player just for the sake of it!! Yawn!!

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  • goonernim

    I think u’ll find its 9 new signings! there is so much to be positive about. 
    1) we now have 6 central defenders as opposed to 3 for virtually all of last year. 
    2) we have shipped out a lot of the muppets such as denilson, eboue, bendtner, traore, clichy et al, 
    3) we have a brilliant keeper, 
    4) we have leaders like TV5, JW and RVP and Shez 
    5)we have the emergence of youngsters like miquel, frimpong and coquelin 
    6) Wenger has signed genuine experienced professionals with winners attitudes.

    What strikes me about our squad is that doesnt appear to be any primadonnas. They are all honest, hard working whilst possessing bags of talent. Sure, the loss of cesc is huge, but how many games did he actually play last season. The loss of cesc has been compensated by Jack, Aaron, Arteta and Yossi. My advice to you is to look at the possibilities of what this brilliant squad can achieve. If its Galacticos you are after, naff off up’t'north and go and support city!

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  • Zionami

    Do new recruits prove ManU is not a big club? If it does, then Arsenal is not a big club.

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  • Cheadle

    Did ew sgni Smaba? Gosh how did I miss that????

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  • panicmode

    i find these articles realistic and not the usual rose-tinted childish garbage that reads “now we got gervinho and chamberlain we is gonna win evrything”
    Wenger was forced to make signings after the mauling by man utd. Many predicted 3 or 4-0 to man utd…our team and wengers tactics were shot to pieces. Do you really believe that last minute transfer deals are any way to run a club like arsenal?
    wenger is an embarrassment, a man associated with bargain basement deals…a man with 100 million in his pocket looking for a 1million utility player and tending to rely on french league players.
    In fairness he bought arteta, a quality creative midfielder, but hasnt reclaimed his high quality performance since injury. He bought mertesacker about 9 months too late!….and the other signings seemed to have arrived in a panic.
    I love arsenal with a passion, the same cannot be said about a man that puts his massive ego first !!!!!!
    oh and wheres the striker????? (park scores 1 goal in 5 games)

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    • Duck

      Park played for a relegated team and still manage to net 10 goals. Please think before you speak. No one is expecting Arsenal to win everything. The team is now better with all these signings. 

      People like you often forget that if you buy a new player for 25mil, but has a wage bill that can cost up to 39mil over 5 years will not affect the club in the long run. If that happens, then players like RVP, Vermaelen, etc. will want all their contracts upgraded too. Transfer fee is only the tip of the iceberg.

      Arsenal needs to restructure the entire team by removing players who do not perform and free up wage the wage budget. Right now, we can’t because there are likes of underperforming players getting paid more than they should – this is Wenger’s fault though. Once all these are done, then the club can look into paying more on wages.

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    • OMGArsenal

      Hey Mental………….Rob, this ¨article¨is so pitifully indequate and ill-researched, as well as being anti-Arsenal, that I shudder to think what your mental state must be. Here are the numerous errors you propagate:

      1)Wenger wasn’t ¨forced¨ to sign anyone after the OT debacle, he had been negotiating 12 transfers as far back as May,2011. Mertesacker, Santos, Benayoun and Park were all begun well before the OT event so that shows you what shite you are writing without any forethought. If you knew the least bit about AFC and Wenger’s scouting system you’d realise that the preparation to purchase any player, whether at the end of the window or much earlier, starts months before the actual deal is agreed to. Your ignorance is pathetic!
      2)You are fucking pathetic you moronic cretin! He has brought in exactly what AFC needed, even if it came at the deadline. He has obtained what we needed at half the price other Sugar-daddy clubs paid for lesser ¨big-name¨ players! He is a marvel of inventiveness and superb judgement unlike you who is an embarrassment of anti-Wenger, pessimistic, crybaby moaner, groaner, gloomy, doomer, AAA, loser bad attitudes.
      3)You are such a fucking expert sitting at your FA football manager’s console showing Wenger hod to do things! Why is Mertesacker 9 months too late? He wasn’t available or interested 9 months ago you clown! Arteta is a Cesc clone but with more experience and equal skill, plus he WANTED to come to Arsenal and will stay here for his full contract. Why exaggerate your bullshit by saying he is always injured…or hasn’t played up to his best, which is patently false when you take the time to look at his most recent stats….but that was too hard for you.
      4) Where’s the striker you in-bred buffoon? Let’s see…Gervinho  or Park, OAC, Benayoun, RVP, Walcott, Ryo Miyachi, Arshavin to name a few plus whatever youth players AW decides to promote this year.
      How old are you anyway? you write like a retarded 5 year old so I suggest you go back into the closet , change your diapers, take your Valium and come out when you’ve grown up!

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      • BigL

        I have to say you know naff all about how a transfer is conducted

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  • Iain Adams

    amazing- nasri was bought for a similar amount to Gervinho, whom I believe will be a better player or at least as good . Wenger offered 35 million for Goetz yesterday and had already offer 22 mill for M’Villa. Nothing to say that a loan of Benayoun and the inclusion of Arteta wont stop him looking at the same players again either in Jan or next summer window. The fact he mad these bids indicates he wants players of this class but they werent available this window.

    Stop with all the doom and gloom and get behind the team, they are the mighty gunners and I think you may be pleasantly surprised

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  • Woody5550

    The guy made a typo. Lighten up. I think you’re missing the point of his article. Yes, Arsenal made some nice signings but what they lacked is that really big signing that signals us as a destination for top players. Did we try? I have no idea. But in reality, we lost two of our top players and didn’t replace them with anybody of the same magnitude; although Gervinho might prove that moving forward. So am I happy with the dealings? Yes. We are a much better team and in some ways, better than last year’s version. Would I have liked us to splash the dough on a big name like M’Vila, Hazard, Gotze, Honda? Yes. That’s what I think he was getting out.

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  • dazii

    pls for god sake….if u think all the signing makes Arsenal a mid table team…pls have a closer look on all Arsene signing!!! ashley cole, pires,henry,petit, overmars, freedie, viera,cesc, nasri ..are they all world class signing when they joined Gunners???? Arsene turns them
    to be top player. Arteta is good as Cesc in my opinion..the only difference he played for midtable club..but if he was on big club his name will rise..till season ends keep yr judgement in yr socks!!

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    • Anonymous

      you clearly have a short memory or you were a child when those signings were made. Acole was an arsenal junior so wasn’t signed by anyone. Pires had won a world cup and euro 2000 with france before he joined Arsenal. Henry was top scorer in world cup 98 which france won and had won euro 2000. Petit had been a france international for a while before we signed him. Vieira was an unknown even though he was Cannes captain at just 19 years old so for someone who followed the french league, it wouldn’t have been difficult to spot him as being an extraordinary talent. Overmars had played in world cup 94 and won the champions league in 95 before signing for Arsenal. Nasri was ligue 1 young player of the year in 06-07 and I had heard of him before arsenal were interested. Cesc was obviously a good find but my point is that just because people hadn’t noticed these players in England, it doesn’t mean they weren’t seasoned internationals for the best international teams in the world and they had also been winning major club competitions before they joined arsenal.

      The truth is that back in those days, it was quite rare for any foreign players to join english clubs and was certainly nothing like today, so wenger was one of the first to scout players from firstly european leagues which he can take credit for realising there was an untapped market to exploit, but he was not buying bad players and turning them into world class players. He was simply looking for world class players in a different market to everyone else. He did the same thing with the african market later on when everyone else realised there were top class players around europe they could get for less money.

      It was a very clever and revolutionary tactic, but he cannot turn players who have no talent into world class players, because no coach can.

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  • wenger radio-rental

    the financial fair play rules are being “worked on” by tax lawyers and accountants at clubs like city and chelsea…..one loophole is sponsorship from within…expect more loopholes. Wenger may be a principled man that sees himself as the great footballing moral crusader, but realistically the financial world has accountants and others picking holes in the regulations to create an advantage, and wenger’s idealistic hopes will not materialise. Thats the way it works….dont expect chelsea to suddenly “plummet” in a few years time…..that is just ridiculous..they may have a harder time, but they certainly wont be scared of these regulations as some people naievely suggest.

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  • Ctheo65

    pissed off with people questioning wheather we are a big club or not. do man city and chelsea attract 60,000 fans every week, no, do they have a rich and illustrious history, do me a favour, up to 5 years ago did they have supporters all over the world in the numbers we do, no, does a player go to either club and think, wow ive made it now playing for one of the most famous clubs in europe,no. without the money these two clubs would be no better than wigan, norwich, blackburn and the like. the media like to put the knife into us every time for whatever reason and as often as possible. they want to new breed of nouvo rich to succeed, if possible at our expence. so, as an arsenal fan, i say fuck them all because class and history will provail after the cash has gone. 

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  • Arsenal1Again

    Samba is slang for Brazilian. Oooops, the author has deleted the word ‘Samba’ so I guess he meant the player.

    Santos, Mertesacker and Gervinho are fantastic players. Santos was the first choice Brazil left back until he was dropped for bad time keeping when reporting for training. … nope, zero reflection on his football. First choice German centre-half says it all, especially with 72 caps at the age of 26, lol. Ryo Miyaichai is potential, you’re clueless mate about football, he was opted for instead of Ashley Young who would have come to us over United if we went calling. I don’t think I need to say why he would have come, and it says all you need to know about Ryo. Do you think we would spend 15 Million on potential with Chamberlain??  This guy is already better than Walcott on either wing and through the middle. He’s almost as quick too. Areta is a great playmaker and we’ll not have to worry that much about him and injuries, only when it coincides with Wilshere being injured. Frimpongs move up has been a massive difference in midfield and so to has the emergence of Coquelin at last. The rout by United didn’t start until he came off. 

    Are we a big club? If you don’t know the answer to that then you have NO BUSINESS blogging about my Arsenal. 

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  • Steve of Chiang Mai

    Living in Thailand there were 3 teams shown consistently on Thai TV Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal. There reason being they are the most popular teams in Asia.Even Liverpool who are traditional 2nd most popular after ManU hardly got a look in due to poor form most of last year.

    Hazard, MVilla and Mata – the supposed Big Players all play or played for teams of way lesser stature than Arsenal. Not sure the writer knows what “Big Club” means.

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  • Blu

    Can you be a big club unless you do atleast one 20m+ signing a year? Thatbis what the autor wonders.

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    • Steve of Chiang Mai

      Guess Arsenal has never been a big club then eh?

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  • Calloversheets

    Since when has Wenger made a massive super signing?
    Never! You muppet.

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  • Wallace

    Looks like u are one hopeless person…. What a shame being a gooner u shouldnt be writing smthing like that … A very pessimistic article indeed.
    I want to stress on the point that the players that we have acquired are really really amazing and talented ,,All of them and u can definitely believe that gervinho is going to be a hell of a player for us…
    same is the case with Arteta
    COYGs

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  • Anonymous

    I’ve no idea who Robert Rankin is or what his qualifications are for posting on an Arsenal supporters website, his doom and gloom are suggestive of someone who knows little about our great club or the realities of Premiership football.

    All in all a post worth forgetting.

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    • BigL

      If you dont like it, write your own post instead of moaning.
      I’d love to hear about your qualifications on posting about Arsenal.

      Our great club bla bla bla.
      Fool

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  • sorry fans

    we’re a big club definitely. however, we know what he is trying to say. but actually arsenal did bid for hazard 30m on deadline. well, it shows that we are trying to be on par with the big spenders. agree with the wage structure, deadwood has to be shipped off. cough, diaby.

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  • Yalam

    Totally disagree with your assessment. my friend this comes from your illusion of watching too much of skysports or reading biased op-eds. Big money signing doesn’t make the club big. Look at Torres. For me, Arsene has bought players who will do the job. Not a big fan of Mertasacker but he will certainly ‘command’ the back. Only worry is his pace if we hold a high line. Park looks like a good goal poacher similar to ‘Pires’ (a player Arsene never replaced), Benayoun can link-up with the strikers & Santos certain seems to have the pace & attacking mindset. Arteta will be influential with Song protecting the back four. i am still unconvinced with Song & he does not seem like a typical holding midfield. M’Villa will certainly fit the bill & hope we get him. For me the fightback has started.
    I hope they still fire Gazidis for the debacle and the way negotiations have collapsed over some good signings. And, i sure hope that AST will take-up seriously the need to call for competitive pay structure & negotiation of players contracts to the Idiot Board.

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  • n1n1

    sort your life out mate and f*ck off to city, you obviously have no idea what arsenal have ALWAYS been about

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    • BigL

      F**k off to Scunthorpe, I’m sure they will meet your needs

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  • Bigsyisback

    I think the only way to assess a transfer window is if the squad has been strengthened, Arteta for Cesc is weak, Benayoun for Nasri is weak, unknown brazilian left back from turkish football is debatable for Clichy, Mertsacker is exactly what you have needed to prevent this aeriel onslaught by everyone who plays Arsenal, but not convinced Mertsacker is quick enough for the prem, only time will tell , but he has always looked short on pace and the prem will certainly expose this with it being so intense and the closing down unlike anywhere else on the planet…good stabilising signings but hardly Arsenal quality of years gone by..

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    • Anonymous

      These signings are obviously not the first choice targets that arsenal (wenger and/or the board) wanted. Gervinho is an example of a priority signing and he was bought long before the season started. The club tried to get their first choice signings the whole summer and failed so in the end they had to go for for their second choices on the last day.

      We wouldn’t have bothered with Arteta or benayoun if we had managed to get Hazard or jadson.
      We wouldn’t have signed mertesacker if we had got Cahill.
      I don’t know who the first choice left back target would have been but I doubt it was santos or, for 6 million and not massive wage demands he would have been signed before the season started.

      This is just guesswork as to who our first choice targets actually were but the players we signed certainly weren’t the first choice signings. I think that is the most likely explanation as to why we were so busy late on, signing lots of cheaper experienced players who don’t command high wages. We couldn’t get the few super quality players that wenger wanted so we went for lots of good players instead.

      And by the way Gervinho is more likely the replacement for Nasri than Benayoun who won’t start many games.

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  • Khalilmamouri

    So many retards commenting on this. This guy clearly loves the club and is giving is honest opinion and who would u guys prefer Mata or Benayoun?? Arteta or Ashley Young?? We are investing in good players but not amazing players but i have all the faith that Wenger will produce excellence from them but this writer is also right we do need to qualify and win something otherwise WE WILL fall behind. Wenger knows this which is why he made the biggest spending spree for decades

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  • Mark

    First of all, I must say I’m extremely happy with our signings. However, it makes me wonder why did Wenger not do this last season? If he had done this last season, perhaps we would have won something? And perhaps Cesc and Nasri might not leave?

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  • BigL

    Lovely, we sign a couple of players and every AKB for 300 miles comes out and becomes a keyboard warrior insulting bloggers.

    Robert thank you for your blog post, please ignore every muppet that cant’t formulate an answer in a constructive way. Pointing out spelling mistakes is akin to a 9 year old crying because his mother wont buy him chocolate. Those that mumble about go support xzy are no better. You really are low life, try starting your own blog.

    Personally I hardly ever agree with the former FTK but if you take the time to blog your opinion then good for you. I may not always agree but I respect your POV.

    I am somewhat excited and disappointed with our signings. None were quite what we expected and they don’t really make us a better team that we were last year. We are better than we were last week but I still think we are a couple of players short. And thats the problem. We continuously say we are 2-3 signings off a perfect team and we are left no better. These are signings that should have been done a few seasons ago to strengthen us. Now we are less Cesc and Nasri we have made 2 steps forward and 2 steps backward.

    That said, I had given up on watching Arsenal, watching left me unsatisfied and angry. However I feel strangely excited with the prospect of watching our new toys. It shows that a few new faces excite the fans and hopefully will excite the players.

    Please do continue to blog your opinions and ignore the dicks.

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  • E C U_luis_

    I think you’re looking at this completely wrong! How else could we land Mertesacker? At over 60 caps for Germany and the captain of Weder Bremen. Andre Santos with more than 20 caps for Brazil and relieved the mighty Roberto Carlos from the LB position at Fener… Arteta and Benayoun great signings!! But have you not also thought about the situation we are in. Take a look at the age and how long the contacts run. These are ergancy quality replacents in order to get CL football. I believe that Wenger will rip this team apart and start again next summer when he’ll have more time now that he comes to the realisation that Arsenal need a make over. With the exception of Mertesacker these deadline day signings will be gone in two years max

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  • E C U_luis_

    Emergency quality signings* And also to compete with the biggest clubs we must get rid of all the drift wood within the team and not give fringe players high wages! We will compete! Right now Arsenal will go through a detox process lol

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  • molosser

    Our latest signing has made Arsenal the best team in the world! I can prove that.
    We thrashed Barcelona 5-1 in my FIFA2011 game, on Legandary-difficulty level.  with the following line up:  
                          Scz
    Sagna – TV – Mertesacker – Santos
           Song – Diaby
    Walcott  - Arteta – Gervinho
                 RVP

    score :
    RVP bagged 2, Walcott 1, Arshavin 1, and Mertesacker 1

    and Barca with their regular first team!! hahahaha – Mertesacker is a beast in that game, he won most of the balls on air, and TV’s mobility made Messi look like a crown,  so is Santos who can deliver crosses much better than Clichy, and intercept much better than his predecessor.  His crosses resulted in one goal from RVP header.  Gervinho is rather weak but i sub him with Arshavin in second half.   Arteta didn’t score, but his long range shots caused valdes few desparate saves, and he delivered with same efficiency and effectiveness as Fab.  Song and Diaby in midfield made Xavi and Iniesta inefffective.  First goal by RVP penalty earned from walcott’s being brought down by Puyol; second goal from RVP header, cross from Santos, third from Mertesacker header from corner delivered by Arshavin, fouth from walcott shot from a killer pass from arteta cut through puyol and Busquet. Arshavi’s fifth from a typical arshavin run-at and dribble pass-defender and slot in a low shot to near post.   
                   
    In the past,when i played with Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy and Kosc on the same level, i’ve never won a single game !!

    hahaha…funny and dumb post..i know, but what the heck..no EPL this weekend, have fun in FIFA11.

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    • Anonymous

      haha… nice one.

      Its not surprising cos in fifa what matters the most is pace and power. And that arsenal team has lots of it and Barca’s team doesn’t. Players who do skills, you can tackle, but players with strength like Drogba cannot be tackled without fouling them. Try playing against Chelski and see what happens!

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      • molosser

        agree, but when i played with fab, nasri, clichy, Kos against the same barca team, they often get bumped off and seldom win any tackle!! with Arteta, Gervinho and Santos, Mertesacker (especially him!!), they win most tackles, so we have some steel in the team now!!  I will play them against chelski tonight !! 

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    • Arsenal92

      This made me laugh 

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  • DD in LA

    Spot on blog. Fascinating we buy a few players in a panic and all is forgiven by the AKB crowd ?

    That’s the relief after being whipped when it stops for a minute. The relief that “something” has happened.

    However what happened here was Wengers hand was forced by that pounding at manure. These are not our first choices they didn’t want to come to a team falling apart. There was no grand plan this summer and I believe Wenger is so out of touch we wouldn’t have bought anyone I’d we has come away with a draw up there.

    Still I have always admired Benayoun he walked all over us on the famous 4.4 draw with Liverpool and I remember thinking I wish he was ours. Arteta also
    but injuries, injuries. The German seems sound.

    This is finger plugging the dyke stuff. The “young team” he was endlessly “building” for the last three years is gone, a phantom, shredded. Not sure what this new one will be because it’s being built on the fly in the season, these new players will be playing with each other for the first time in real games. Whereas Man U knew who they wanted and bought early in the window. That’s good management.

    I still predict we won’t finish top four, Liverpool is back so it’s crowded and we have dropped 8 points already. I hope we do it.

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