RealGM

BlackMamba wrote:give vela some time and i can guarantee you he will shine. henry said that he could accomplish at least what he did for the gunners. i hope so.

He had a goal ranked 29th or so all time for Arsenal. I think he had 2 better goals than that one.

Who is gonna be the Adebayor's replacement?

Maybe Huntelaar?

David Villa (one can dream right?) especially if we get rid of Bendtner surely theres money

Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux is my bet. I don't think we have enough money to get Villa, maybe not even Huntelaar, but we don't even really need a big name striker right now. We have RvP, Dudu is back, Bendtner has improved a lot and Vela is going to need some playing time as well. And then there's Theo and Arshavin who can also play up front.

I think we are much weaker at the defensive midfielder position and that's what Wenger should address.

David Villa is toooooo expensive man, Valencia rejected bigger offers from Madrid & Barcelona (more than 40 M€, and they have lots of financial problems).

Huntelaar's choice of destination is Arsenal and I believe that he struck down a move to Stuttgart recently. Tottenham are also bidding for his services but the attraction of European football might sway him to one of the top 4.

Real Madrid won't sell him to Spurs because they want to pay the fee in installments.

I read on an Arsenal board that a €25 million bid for Bendtner was rejected. With reason, I'd say.

25 mil Euros is quite a bid for Bendtner. I'd probably take it regardless and invest elsewhere for a support striker of equal value.

Milan are about to bid 10 million. Euros or Pounds, I don't know.

Arsenal's in a serious search for a #1 keeper, as apparently Wenger sees Almunia as a good #2 but not talented enough to be a #1....And apparently Fulham won't give up Schwarzer.

That said, here's my list of guys to look at:

Igor Akinfeev CSKA Moscow and Russia
Joe Hart Manchester City and England
Robert Green West Ham United and England
Samir Handanovic Udinese and Slovenia
Maarten Stekelenberg Ajax and Netherlands
Idriss Carlos Kameni Espanyol and Cameroon

I thought I'd bump this because some new Gooners seemed to have popped up on the board.

So how does everyone feel about our backup midfielders? I think for all the talk about or central defenders before the season, this was a huge problem which we failed to address. We have no cover at all for Song, he's our only DM; If he goes down, Wilshere can play there, but then you have Denilson, Rosicky or Diaby in his place, who are all pretty much useless.

I like Ros because he used to be great (mostly at Dortmund), and he seems like a nice guy and he's supposed to be a close friend of Cesc's, but he's just no good anymore.

Denilson is probably my least favourite Arsenal player. He only passes sideways, he can't read the game, can't tackle, he's slow as hell, and worst of all, he doesn't even try. He's a passenger. I just don't see what he brings to the table, other than the occasional average long range shot.

If I had to hold on to one of the three, it would probably be Diaby. He's probably the most inconsistent footballer I've ever seen. When he's on form, he can look like a world beater, but unfortunately that happens about once every ten games. In the other nine, he looks unfocused, disinterested, miscontrols the ball, can't make the easiest of passes, and looks like an amateur out there. Unlike the other three though, he actually has something to offer this team, because he's an excellent dribbler and shooter, he just doesn't seem to use it. He's really frustrating, because I think he's very talented, but most of the time he's just another passenger.

I really hope that two of these three will be shipped out by next season. I don't even want any big name signings to replace them, I'd be fine with Lansbury or Frimpong or some unknown new guy, but we need to make a change there, because these guys don't cut it.

I know we'll probably end up keeping them all, or maybe add another constantly injured, inconsistent, soft midfielder who isn't even remotely capable of playing DM, but one can dream, right?

I'm fairly new to the forums, and a Gunners fan.

I'm pretty much in agreement with you. Rocisky isn't good anymore, Denilson does nothing useful, and while Diaby has some good moments, they are offset by his bad ones. I wouldn't really mind if they hung onto Diaby but I don't see the point of keeping the other two.

On the other hand, I really hope to see Aaron Ramsey get some playing time, hopefully he can be our top backup by season's end.

I'm with you on Rosicky and Denilson.

Rosicky is just past it, he can play well in spurts, but he's not the same player by any stretch.

Denilson just isn't strong enough to play the holding role. He has 1 game in 5 where he's all over the place and links play well, runs everywhere intercepting passes, but for the most part he's not good enough.

Diaby is a tough one really. I just think all the injuries and poor tackles have gone into his head. He was fantastic when healthy, looked like the new Patrick Viera. But the injuries have clearly gone to his head. He's not as aggressive anymore, and you could see it when he snapped after Bartons B.S. tackle in the Newcastle game. He takes too long on the ball and dramatically slows down our build-up play. Most of our players take one or two touches and pass it on, Diaby has to have a think, dribble a couple yards, stop, think again, and then pass it. A decision will have to be made on him soon, I'd say give him one more season to turn it around, and I hope he does, but he's not bringing anything to the team at this point.

If Ramsey comes back and picks up where he left off we're getting a fantastic player. He was looking like he was on his way to being one of the best players in Britain before Shawcross' brutal tackle. There's always the chance he doesn't come back to be the same player he was, but as many people have said, Aaron seems to be made of sterner stuff than Diaby or Eduardo.

I really hope Ramsey can do it, but I'm not sure we can count on it. I doubt if he can make a significant contribution this season, I guess that would be too much to expect, but maybe next year.

Anyway, I kind of wrote this tirade with a bit of reverse jinxing in mind, let's hope it works

Looks like we're down to two competitions. At least the EPL is looking like a closer race than it was a couple weeks ago. A game on hand to Man U and 3 points down. That game on May 1st might be a season deciding game.

Any updates on Szczesny? Last I heard during the Champs League game is that he might have a ruptured tendon on his finger. IF that's the case then he's out for the rest of the season.

kromoszoma wrote:So how does everyone feel about our backup midfielders? I think for all the talk about or central defenders before the season, this was a huge problem which we failed to address. We have no cover at all for Song, he's our only DM; If he goes down, Wilshere can play there, but then you have Denilson, Rosicky or Diaby in his place, who are all pretty much useless.

Last season we played Attacking midfielder - Box-to-box midfielder - Defensive Midfielder, we went into this season with
AM: Cesc, Rosicky
B2B: Diaby, Denilson
DM: Song, Frimpong, Eastmond
with Wilshere and Ramsey as potential AM's, though Ramsey had been playing B2B and Wilshere had been forward.

Defensive midfield had been our weakest spot depth-wise by far, Denilson and Diaby were rubbish back there and the young guys were too green. We were extremely fortunate that Song held up during the season so well.

This season all were calling for Wenger to sign a DM, but to his credit he merely adjusted the formation so instead of AM-B2B-DM it was one attacking mid with two defensive mids behind, one moving forward at a time. This meant Diaby and Denilson could play back there and not have to act alone, it gave us more depth and flexibility across the board. Wilshere also was transformed into a defensive mid to amazing effect.

To be honest although Diaby and Denilson are shown up at Nou Camp and the like, I don't think they're that bad as backups. You'll find it difficult to find anyone better to come and play backup, not getting a starting spot. With Frimpster and Eastmond returning I think Cesc-Aaron-Jack-Diaby-Frimps-Eastmond-Song is okay as a rotation, given that Jack-Eastmond and Jack-Frimpong should be perfectly operable DM lineups when Song's out.
Agreed another DM this season would've been nice but next year I'm not worried.

My concern was and is centre back; we've been ridiculously lucky with injury this season, Vermaelen might not ever return and Squillaci isn't good enough. CB is arguably the most important field position and Kos-Djourou with Squid as backup isn't enough over four competitions. Heck, if Djourou hadn't accidentally turned into an A-grade CB over the offseason we'd have been royally ****'d.

FA Cup question....


This weekends matches are only 1 rd right? Not 2 legs? Penalties if they tie? Or 2nd leg?

Replay if they tie.

J.Kim wrote:Looks like we're down to two competitions. At least the EPL is looking like a closer race than it was a couple weeks ago. A game on hand to Man U and 3 points down. That game on May 1st might be a season deciding game.

Any updates on Szczesny? Last I heard during the Champs League game is that he might have a ruptured tendon on his finger. IF that's the case then he's out for the rest of the season.

Early news say it's a dislocated finger.

i'm too distraught to have any long term thoughts at the moment

but i do want an arsenal sig if anyone has a good source