34 - The other teams thread [R]

We are preparing a nice fat contract to double his wages - and that should keep him quiet for another year or two if Barca/Real don't meet our valuation this year. By then Barca will need him for more than just political reasons, and we will be more likely to get what we ask for.

That said I'm fairly certain we will get our 40-50m from a Spanish side this summer. Which ever side gets him will "win" the spotlight battle they seem to care about so much.

Cesc staying with us was never tied to silverware anyway. We could make a comeback and do a league/CL double this year and promise a ton of investment over the summer to keep us in the title race for years to come and he would probably still move back to Spain.

 

I see no reason why he is a good player. Starting for the best defense is irrelevant (post hoc ergo propter hoc)

edit: I guess saying he sucks is an exaggeration. I do not think he is very good, decent at best.

 

Well if it is all about wages then he'll be off to Madrid. You'd be fine with that I suppose, that's the way most of your big assets are going.

 

A bit of smash and grab in this one. Fiorentina pretty much controlled the match.

 

As long as we are getting a fat check, I don't mind one bit. They can take any of our other players too as long as they pay up.

 

BTW, no mention that despite no goals being scored in the second half (nor any long breaks from what I remember), there was another 5 minutes of Ferg... errr, Wenger Time in the second half. Can anybody shed light on this?

Wow btw, Garth Crooks just absolutely blew his load over Terry on MotD, flat-out awkward to watch.

 

Very sensible attitude. When a player wants to leave, the best option is to get the biggest amount for them. People think we're always the one's buying (true for the most part) but we've had a few people wanting a move away too (Robinho, Makelele) and each time we've gladly let them go for a ridiculous sum.

If I were an Arsenal fan, the one player I'd miss the most if he left is van Persie. Cesc is great too, but Ramsey looks the part, whereas no other CF in the squad looks able to produce anything close to van Persie.

 

Was watching MOTD2 as well. I switched over when the gushing about Terry started. Anyway, Garth is sure that Chelsea will win the league so we might as well just forget about it.

 

It was almost like Ricky Gervais had written the "eerrrr, right then Garth" reaction from one of the other two guys though. Bizzarely awkward.

Re. Umar. Even given his age, I wouldn't call the £13mn you got for Makalele as a 'ridiculous sum' given the fortunes of Chelsea & Madrid before and after the transfer. I thought his reason for wantnig to leave was down to wages, maybe I was mistaken?

 

We got about 17 million sterling for him, and yes his wage demands were the issue. But as soon as he refused to train with us, I wanted him out asap. Our problem wasn't selling him, it was not getting a defensive midfielder to replace him.

 

I see what you mean about refusing to train (hadn't known that) but it is quite an ask to suitably replace the standalone best DM in the world.

 

We didn't need to get a great DM (although we later should have pushed harder for Vieira, who was more than just a DM), any decent DM would have done. Given our offensive strength at the time, almost any decent and disciplined midfield covering player could have done just enough for us to outscore the opposition.

But we decided to get Beckham to replace him, and got rid of Conceicao, Celades and Campo for good measure, decimating any defensive midfield cover

But that is all water under the bridge now

 

Could have sworn they showed Matt Damon at the Chelsea/Arsenal game today, did anyone else see this?

 

I thought the same thing but figured I must have been seeing things. The announcers didn't say anything and I thought they might go back for another camera shot. Wearing a hoodie or something?

 

Matt Damon was at the match.

 

Marseille impressed today and Ben Arfa. If he plays like this consistantly, he is off to a bigger club and has good potential to become one of the best.

Roma were in 15th position when I was in Rome now they are second, unbelievable achievement, it is all down to Ranieri. Taddei should ride the bench and Menez should start.

This weekend was the first time I was Barcelona on TV for a full 90 minutes and I must say I was impressed with their play. Their defense kept a clean sheet, but seeing how many chances Getafe got, when they face a big club they will definitely concede, although they were playing with 9 men at the end.

Lyon has some potential in the future if they don't let go of their talent. Has anyone seen how good Maxime Gonalons, he has been starting a lot this season and sometimes over Toulalan. Pjanic is also a gem, they have also the young left back by the name of kolodiescziak (sp), so there is some potential there. I think what is killing them is their weak back four with Cris and Boumsong, and Reveilliere.

Robinho debuted for Santos, what a goal! backheeled in the back of the net. Santos will be tough to defeat with Neymar and Robinho.

 

Agree with this, these are the remaining fixtures:

Arsenal:

Liverpool (H)
Sunderland (H)
Stoke (A)
Burnley (H)
Hull City (A)
West Ham (H)
Birmingham (A)
Wolves (H)
Tottenham (A)
Wigan (A)
Man City (H)
Blackburn (A)
Fulham (H)

Chelsea:

Everton (A)
Wolves (A)
Man City (H)
Portsmouth (A)
West Ham (H)
Blackburn (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Man United (A)
Bolton (H)
Tottenham (A)
Stoke (H)
Liverpool (A)
Wigan (H)

United:

Aston Villa (A)
Everton (A)
West Ham (H)
Wolves (A)
Fulham (H)
Liverpool (H)
Bolton (A)
Chelsea (H)
Blackburn (A)
Man City (A)
Tottenham (H)
Sunderland (A)
Stoke (H)

Quite clear that we have the toughest remaining schedule.

 

We're capable of winning all those games. Whether we actually do is another story.

 

Do not underestimate these games for Arsenal, especially if they come in between or just after European games - possibly even Hull as well if they can get into a little run of form after their last two results. If Arsenal lose to Liverpool and we and/or Chelsea take advantage of it, I am 99% sure Arsenal won't be making up the 10-12 point deficit that it would create.

A win against Liverpool (especially an emphatic win, or a last-minute winner) could send them on a streak though. Wednesday (both our result and theirs) is going to basically decide if they have a chance of keeping in the title race, imo.

 

The next two games are huge for us if you ask me. If we come away from Villa Park & Goodison with six points I would figure us to go on and win the next three. 15 from 15 would put us in a position where we would have three games (Liverpool, Bolton, most importantly Chelsea) that could effectively good-as decide the title race (if Arsenal are out of it by then).

If our defense keeps playing to it's best, Rio gets his best form back, and Rooney keeps doing what he is doing (knock on wood), I really fancy our chances.

 

I'm not entirely sure what he is supposed to do differently. I think hes doing an amazing job. I wonder if he is not naive as many suggest, but pragmatic. I think he is using the correct approach that suits the clubs financial and footballing goals.

Arsenal are currently operating as a small selling club at the moment. From 06/07 to now Arsenal have had a staggering -£34.6M transfer budget. Apart from not being able to sign quality, they are also unable to keep it, due to wage limits.

To compensate, Wenger is signing technically proficient youth and using them in passing / attacking formations. Its very clever, because as we know, the key to performing well in the league is the ability to batter the bottom half of the table. And his current team can do that. Unlike Liverpool, who are set up defensively, and therefore need to spend huge sums of money to have a (slight) improvement in quality in the squad to get mostly the same results.

Of course he is not hitting the level that Barca does, he does not have the quality. He has a poor defense, no bench, and little quality in finishing. His young team can only really do one thing, so he has no plan B when plan A fails. They are streaky, and struggle against physical teams, and are hot and cold against top teams.

But thats fine, because currently, Arsenal are not in to win it (despite what Wenger says, which is purely for the benefit of the players and the fans). They are in it to come fourth. And Wenger is doing a great job to achieve the clubs goals.

The other thing that is brilliant about Wenger's approach is that as these technically proficient youth develop they can be sold for wads of cash. Which as a selling club, fits the bill perfectly.

So to me, what Wenger is doing makes perfect sense. Do well enough to come fourth, or if lucky have a half hearted run at the title or a cup. Develop youth and sell. Rinse and repeat.

What I am not clear about is why Arsenal fans would be so happy about it all. If you want to win, you need to develop or buy and then keep star players. Which is what we spend a lot of time talking about. Arsenal fans talking about being happy about the amount of profit star players are worth speaks volumes about the club and its current objectives.

 

It's at times like these when it really sucks to be Manchester United because you know all those teams are going to play like their lives depended on it.

 

That idea that Wenger is doing amazing with a really tight budget sounds like a myth to me. Arsenal's spending is far higher than Liverpool's, yet Liverpool have been more successful than them the last five years (despite having Benitez as a manager! And starting with a far worse squad)

 

That's not true though - Liverpool have spent more than any other team bar Man City & Chelsea since Benitez took over. The one thing I will say in Wenger's defense is that he does run at a transfer budget of essentially less than nothing, Arsenal have the lowest net spending of any Premiership club over the last 5 years iirc (they have made far, far more money on selling players than they have spent buying them, actually).