Arsenal: a sinking ship. Discuss

[ChelseaSmile]

1). Thierry looks to be headed out

2). Bergkamp is retiring soon

3). Pires looks to be moving on

Maybe its time for Arsenal to end the Wenger era. Thoughts?

[Grah]

Completely the opposite, not a gooner by any stretch of anyone imagination. But as the CheatSKI have brought the league what a better time to start building for the next couple of seasons.

The cost saving of releasing the big names and blooding some new youngesters will in the next couple of season pay huge dividends.

How much money would have it cost Arsenal to compete this year with cheatski?

Then what happens in the next 3-5 seasons?? Trouble will be if they are not in the top 4 come the end of the season..

['Strobaby]

Why end the Wenger era? He's been great at discovering young, cheap talent. Let him do that with an eye on the future and Arsenal should be fine. It would mean losing, sometimes painfully, for a couple of seasons, but it should pay off in the long run.

[jimi hendrix]

the fall of arsenal and the rise of spurs :D

[Prenn]

Just a note that the mods will be watching this thread carefully.

[sinner78]

Building the new stadium has put them in the poor house for the time being.
I guess they had to take a gamble on the new stadium because they were missing out on millions of possible gate money at Highbury .But unfortunately for them the premiership crowds have started to drop this season so it could be the worst time to build a new venue.

as for the team..
lack of transfer money has seen the team lose strength . They sold Viera for cheaper than he is worth and havent replaced him .I thought they had needs in defence ,goalkeeper and defensive midfield department but wenger seems to always buy forwards and strikers. so now they are top heavy with strikers and badly lacking in defence .

[Colm]

Arsenal will still finish in the top 4, they'll just be bad for one season, once they are in there new stadium and the young players gaining more experiance they'll be challenging for the title.

Remember people said this about Liverpool last season and went on to win the champions league

can Arsenal do the same? who knows.

[Crest_of_the_stars]

The cost saving of releasing the big names and blooding some new youngesters will in the next couple of season pay huge dividends.


These the youngsters that got knocked out the CC last year by a United second string, and were lucky as fck to overcome Doncaster?

Not 100% convinced that they are going to find replacements to previously WORLD CLASS players like Bergkamp, Campbell, Pires, Vieira.....Henry?

[jimi hendrix]

Arsenal will still finish in the top 4, they'll just be bad for one season, once they are in there new stadium and the young players gaining more experiance they'll be challenging for the title.

Remember people said this about Liverpool last season and went on to win the champions league

can Arsenal do the same? who knows.
i wouldn't bank on that. they'll most likely finish in the top 4 this season (or maybe not). then henry will go, pires will go, bergkamp will quit, the youngsters will find out they have to learn english to communicate with each other, then they will crash and burn!....... your very negative. believe

[liverbird]

Teams go through cycles. The jury is out on the younger players. Certainly, we are seeing the end of that very exciting team of the last 5 or six years. I am not going to rush to an early judgement.

[minorthreat]

Building the new stadium has put them in the poor house for the time being.
I guess they had to take a gamble on the new stadium because they were missing out on millions of possible gate money at Highbury .But unfortunately for them the premiership crowds have started to drop this season so it could be the worst time to build a new venue.That could concievably be the beginning of the end for Arsenal if their results continue to go south. With the way the stadium deal is structured, one or two seasons without Champions' League play would put them in serious financial trouble.

[Cannon]

That could concievably be the beginning of the end for Arsenal if their results continue to go south. With the way the stadium deal is structured, one or two seasons without Champions' League play would put them in serious financial trouble.I'd love to hear more on this. :rolleyes:

Having looked into the figures over the last couple of seasons, I don't agree. If you are basing this on that stupid article in December on the perils of the new stadium, you should check out the thread in our board that completely debunks it or the one from last season on the financial details behind the stadium. The only thing that could put us in "serious financial trouble", by which I assume you mean that we'd do a Leeds or worse, is if we don't come anywhere close to filling the new stadium while missing the CL for multiple seasons before getting relegated. We'd have to have Sunderland-like % of seats unsold, sponsors pull out, Wenger start spending like crazy, etc. Not going to happen outside of a Spurs dream.

There is some risk with the new stadium but its quite manageable. The greatest risk already disappeared when we got the finances in line to finish the construction. We would have faced a serious cash crunch had that not occured and risked losing the millions already invested. Once we passed that gate, the risk dropped greatly. Color me not worried.

[OrlandoSPUR]

...they're not a sinking ship, that's going a bit far, although it would be very satisfying to see the nomads do a Leeds. They are in a transistion period, and it's obvious to all, except the blinkered Arse* supporters with their rose tinted glasses on that they're not the team, or even close to the teams Wenger has produced since the late 90's. Other teams who would hope not to lose in the past feel they can turn them over. In other words there is no fear facing them.

I can't look into the future and say they'll make or not make the CL. I actually think Colm is being his usual pesimistic self and should take a look at the Arsenal, they're no longer an exceptional side, but a side who have a number of issues. In MF, defence and a loss of some very important figures through injury, and will lose others due to them being OAP's. In goal they have a total wanker who at times can be very dodgy, imo Sendoros, Cygan, Campbell and Toure are nothing special, and Lauren can be turned by a player with pace. Flamini and Gilberto are average and Fabregas although a fine prospect still is a long way off being the player he will be in a few years time.

As a bias observer I hope to see them stay out of the CL, and if that is the case that is where they deserve to be on merit.

[The Potter]

...have a total wanker who at times can be very dodgy, imo Sendoros, Cygan, Campbell and Toure .


Not sure about this one Orlando he's still a excellent defender imo I also quite like Toure. But these prospects Arsenal go on about don't look all that special (aside from Cesc and RVP).

[OrlandoSPUR]

...well of course I am bias over Campbell, given he is a fine player, however has been prone to injury in the last couple of years and is not the same player of a few seasons back. I don't believe the Arsenal backline is as strong as it once was, maybe they're exposed more by the loss of Vieira, and the trouble in CM who knows? I feel that is an area that requires a bit of work.

[ChelseaSmile]

I loved watching Arsenal play a few seasons ago but it seems they are losing their touch. The 4-5-1 mind numbing draw against Manchester United put me to sleep. It seems they are lacking something. Maybe confidence, maybe a midfield leader. Robin Van Persie if he can stay out of trouble is Arsenals next worldclass striker. The same can be said for Fabregas.

[Mac_Howard]

It's far too early to tell and letting Wenger go would be the worst thing to do. He's done a terrific job with a limited budget and if the fans flock into the new stadium then he can do it again. The squad is currently only a couple of players from being close to the team they were. Maybe the youngsters will come good, maybe it'll take a couple of good transfer deals but Wenger has the nous to do it.

Foolish to write them off right now.

[michaec]

I think we need a couple of good players to be brought into the squad, certainly a tough tackling central midfielder is a priority, in the current transfer window if at all possible. There are players coming towards the end of their careers, but we already have a replacement for Bergkamp in Van Persie who has pretty much taken over as first choice partner for Henry. This is the way it should be really, the senior man makes way in his last year and the younger man gets plenty of playing time while still being able to benefit from all the experience and advice of a player who's been there and done it. Pires also looks to be on the wane a bit, but once again, Reyes looks to have more or less established himself as our left winger now anyway. So the things that need adressing are a tackler in the midfield and hopefully some squad players in order to give us a bit of depth.

If Henry does go it will obviously be a huge blow, but I and all Arsenal fans hope that the manager will be able to persuade him of the merits of staying. Building a new squad, moving to a new stadium and captaining the side there, finally having the money to be in the market to buy the best could be strong arguments and set a challenge rather than going off to Barcelona to join their galaxy of stars. We'll see what happens on that front at the end of the season, but we should also remember that Vieira was rumoured to be leaving for years and only went when the club decided it was time for him to go. The bond between the manager and the players is strong, whether it's strong enough to keep Henry remains to be seen.

[chrizzah]

I pretty much hate Arsenal, but I think a period of transition would be a better term than sinking ship. Viera's departure is a big problem and if Henry were to leave, the club would be set back a little more, but Arsenal is a big club with money (albeit not Chelsea's) and Wenger is an excellent manager. Barring a Wenger departure, the club will make a serious run in the next couple of seasons.

[King-James]

They sold Viera for cheaper than he is worth and havent replaced him

15-20 million USD for one season?