** Summer Transfer Window 2011/12 Season Rumours/Signings **
- Thread starter Tummy
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His crossing accuracy from the left is over 30%.
He played most his games on the right flank for Villa, crossing with his right foot.
Pass completion including crosses is 69%, which is favourable with all the other leagues wingers as it turns out.
Surely if we're going to be relying on having all them in the team then we're doomed anyway?
Not saying they are terrible players but when it comes to top level international football I can hardly see Spain bricking it at the thought of facing a team that can accomodate all those four.
Soldato
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Downing for £20m is ridiculous. I can see him adding to Liverpool in the same way as I can see Henderson doing so as well but at a combined fee of close to £40m its crazy money. Add in another £35m for Carroll and it truly beggers belief.
As someone who is a not an Arsenal fan (I'm assuming you are not and apologies if you are) what are your expectations for Arsenal? What should they be doing and winning?
It seems to me that every armchair manager, even those that don't support Arsenal, are expecting them to be winning things.
When you take into account that there are 3 teams in the same league who have a lot more money than we do to spend on players, two of which can pretty much spend what they like, how do you see this happening? Do fans in Spain expect Valencia to be winning the La Liga or the CL? What about Napoli in Italy?
Fans speak of winning things as only requiring one or two players but that can't be possible, otherwise everyone would be doing it. Look at Spurs for example. On paper a fantastic team who have spent a fair bit of money but they are not getting anywhere near it. They only effectively need a couple of players you could say to propel them forward but why hasn't Harry bought them?
Arsene said of the Koscielny transfer I think it was how hard it was to get it to go through because of agents and 101 other issues. This is some unknown from the French League. What must it be like trying to sign someone well known?
Arsenal are effectively in the same boat as teams finishing 3rd and 4th in La Liga. We can't get anywhere near the financial clout of the teams above so have to do the best we can with what we have. It boggles the mind slightly that people don't seem to be able to see that. Swapping Nasri for Mata will not make a massive difference in the long run, it's just not as easy as that. It's not that we don't want to win things, just that we are competing with teams with a bottomless pit of cash. If any fan has a grand plan to combat this then please let Arsene know.
Agreed that yes the names might not be big and all that but if they start to play nice football together at Liverpool then I cant see why not, but like previously stated, more than likely wont play well in an England top. Its like some sort of curse we have
Soldato
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The problem with Arsenal is that they are close to being very good and the reasons they arent seem obvious to their own fans but not the manager.
They are obvious to us, who have no experience in what it is like to run a PL team, no experience in the transfer market or dealing with agents, no experience managing players earning far more money than is decent, no experience trying to sign a player when it may attract a team with far more money than you.
So what you are saying is, basically those of us who have no experience at all in anything to do with running a PL or indeed any league club can see the obvious problems, and Arsene can't?
Your statement pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with the modern fan.
Who said broke? I didn't mention it at all. There is a difference between being broke and not being able to compete with oil barons with billions at their disposal. Surely you can see that.
United do it, your income isn't far of theirs yet even though they spend probably 1/4 what City do and much less tan Chelsea they consistently compete.
Arsenal spend less than Utd fair enough, but they moved to this new stadium so they could compete and yet despite having a good turnover they spend sod all. It's been painted as a good thing but if I was a fan i'd be tired of it. You don't have to spend billions, you just have to spend well.
Soldato
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Oh is that so?
Wenger can deal with all aspects of running a club and he has done for a number of years.
My team (Man Utd) identified the players they wanted and went out and signed them, its actually not that hard. You can agree or disagree as to whether they are good enough or the right men but it was all done and dusted with minimum of fuss. Arsenal, regardless of budget, dont seem to be able to do this. Everything turns into a soap opera.
There are obvious weaknesses in the Arsenal squad that many can identify but the manager doesnt seem to see it. Its not about signing specific players, which is indeed difficult, its about recognising problem areas and addressing them.
Arsenal COULD have won the league last season and with a slightly different approach would have done but throughout the campaign i dont remember being that worried about them because you KNEW how it was going to end. Also they seem to have the worst medical team of any top club. Has a player every come back from injury on schedule or not gone on to get injured again?
ManU don't do it that way though do they? They have a fantastic manager and have brought some great young players through but take away the money they have been able to spend on players and they wouldn't have the same success.
Having the stadium Arsenal have and being able to boast financial security is a great acheivement imo.
Arsenal didn't win the league last year because the teams around them can afford to buy better players and pay them more money. That's basically what it boils down to. It's very simple. We are buying players that we can buy where agents are not trying to get the last drop of blood out of you or trying to attract bigger teams while other teams are paying fortunes in wages and fees for players who already have bags of experience.
We can't compete with that and its just life really and I don't have a problem with it. We won't be able to compete with Man City next season probably. Who in their right minds thinks we can?
Gervinho is a player who Arsene has been watching for a while and so in that sense, your statement about not going out and getting who he wants is not correct.
Soldato
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Thats just excuses. No club has Man Citys spending power or even Chelseas spending power.
We won the league having signed Hernandez for £8m and Smalling for £10m in the previous window (we can leave Bebe out of it!!!
) our squad had players like Park and Valencia, Evra and Vidic who were avialable on the open market and bought for not top top money. Its not about spending the most money and never has been, its about spending the money in the right way.Thats just excuses. No club has Man Citys spending power or even Chelseas spending power.
We won the league having signed Hernandez for £8m and Smalling for £10m in the previous window (we can leave Bebe out of it!!!
What about Rooney, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Veron and many of the other players ManU have bought since Fergie took over? I believe they were in the habit of breaking trasfer records before Abramovic came on the scene. What sort of wages are Vidic and Evra on? Would they have come to Arsenal when Manu were in for them? Probably not.
Sorry but with the greatest respect you cannot say that ManU are in the same boat as Arsenal when it comes to finances. Especially not over the last 20 years. ManU continue to win the league based on having a great manager and good continuity, but also the manager having the finances available to do the big deals when it was required.
that's the point though, teams have to be willing to spend money in order to compete but Utd have shown that you don't need to go throwing hundreds of millions at the market in order to keep pace with the 'oil barons'. You just have to be clever.
A big element in Arsenal moving to the Emirates was to allow them to operate on a level playing field with the likes of United. A look at Arsenal's turnover now shows that while lower it is at east in the same ball park as Utd's, wages are slightly lower and yet none of that seems to be used for transfers in order to push on.
I don't see achieveing financial stability as a great success marker, for a club such as Arsenal it's a base pre- req and success should simply be measured in terms of trophies. Stoke are financially stable, whoop de do. I applaud the fact that Arsenal don't spend more than they can afford but the simple fact is, if the move to the emirates, a 60k stadium with the highest ticket prices/most exec boxes in the country hasn't put you in a position to finance a 15-20mill/year net spend (on a a par with utd's) then there's something very wrong. There's plenty of clubs in 40k seater stadiums who can manage that.
And Berbatov cost 30mill ...Utd still spent around £250 million more than Arsenal over the last 5 years in wages + transfers, that's hardly pocket change and if Arsenal had tried to match that then yes they might have won something but would be woefully worse off financially now than they are currently.
Putting that figure into context the Emirates cost c. £400 million by all accounts so you can see where the money went - there is no way at all they could have matched Utd/Chelsea/Citys spending while also building and paying off their stadium. The fact they even remained competitive is remarkable in itself.
Putting that figure into context the Emirates cost c. £400 million by all accounts so you can see where the money went - there is no way at all they could have matched Utd/Chelsea/Citys spending while also building and paying off their stadium. The fact they even remained competitive is remarkable in itself.
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Soldato
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You can easily go back to the last successful Arsenal team and work from there. Go from the point when they were rivals. arsenal have plenty of cash.
The likes of Evra, Vidic, Hernandez, Smalling etc were and are being MADE by Man Utd, they were there for anyone to buy, Arsenal included. None of them were superstars or marquee signings when they signed.
You could have bought a keeper for about £4m but Wenger wouldnt pay it.
Another solid CB was required when TV was obviously badly injured - it didnt happen.
A partner for RVP or someone to take up the slack when he is injured - again, didnt happen.
Its not about money, its about recognising problems and solving them. Sign Kevin Philips on a free if you want, but at least recognise that you need a striker off the bench in certain games. Sign Joey Barton if needs be but recognise that the midfield needs "something". Or alternatively do absolutely nothing and make excuses.
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