** ALL NEW (WITH RULES) Summer Transfer Window 2012/2013 Season Rumours/Signings **

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tom84 said:
Is Coquelin that good then? :confused:
Click to expand...

I think they're kidding... :p

If Vertonghen is as good as suggested (he seems very decent) then he'd be right up there with Vermaelen. Having a lot of CB's isn't a good reason not to buy a better one, especially as Arsenal's defence is anything but solid and they seem somewhat injury prone.
 
Robbo said:
I think they're kidding... :p
Having a lot of CB's isn't a good reason not to buy a better one, especially as Arsenal's defence is anything but solid and they seem somewhat injury prone.
Click to expand...

Let's be realistic though, he isn't going to get a start when our first choice pairing are fit, he isn't going to fit into the midfield as we have plenty of central mids so there's no real reason to go in for him if you take our current situation into account. Yes, I imagine he is a much better option than Djourou for example, but Djourou seems happy to sit on the bench and make those stupid video diaries for Arsenal.com, Vertonghen will want to be playing week in, week out and he won't get that at Arsenal.

We all know Wenger doesn't seem to rotate very well/often, so chances are Vertonghen would have very limited opportunities to play.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
Let's be realistic though, he isn't going to get a start when our first choice pairing are fit, he isn't going to fit into the midfield as we have plenty of central mids so there's no real reason to go in for him if you take our current situation into account. Yes, I imagine he is a much better option than Djourou for example, but Djourou seems happy to sit on the bench and make those stupid video diaries for Arsenal.com, Vertonghen will want to be playing week in, week out and he won't get that at Arsenal.

We all know Wenger doesn't seem to rotate very well/often, so chances are Vertonghen would have very limited opportunities to play.
Click to expand...

Your first choice pairing being Vermaelen and Koscielny? You don't think they can be improved?
 
cm1179 said:
so, fork out for another (unproven at chelsea) striker + wages, or keep a perfectly good and highly proven and experienced (at chelsea) striker for another 2 yrs?
Click to expand...
They're keeping Torres. :confused:

K1LLSW1TCH said:
Can you imagine The Coq playing in the hole? :o
Click to expand...
Probing the opposition from deep? Woof.

Tom84 said:
Is Coquelin that good then? :confused:
Click to expand...
Honestly? It's too early to say for definite, but I think he's got a lot of talent. He's very good at breaking up play, seems to be positionally sound (which Arsenal are desperately crying out for :p), and is also very talented on the ball. Hence why he's often played all over the place, he's very versatile.

I'm guessing you've only really seen him in the 8-2 hiding you gave us? I wouldn't judge him on that, based on how bad the entire team was that day.

Also, he has a funny name innit.
 
Moses said:
I'd wager either he's not as amazing as he's made out to be (shirley Vermaelen would be telling Wenger to do all he can to sign him, if he was), or Tottenham are offering big money (in terms of wages, and possibly fee... compensating for their ~lower status~).
Click to expand...

That's the thing, none of us know how good he is defensively, I can't imagine the Eredivise is full of amazing attacking sides.

Weebull said:
Probing the opposition from deep? Woof.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I think he would prefer to hang out the rear... :p
 
Tom84 said:
How realistic is it that Vermaelen will stay fit? Not very realistic is the answer to that one. :p
Click to expand...

Is Vertonghen supposed to sit on the bench for the rest of the time then? There's two issues, the first is you can't fill the squad with players who want to play every game, they become unhappy sitting on the bench week after week until a player is injured. The second thing is we have a fairly big squad and we're going to have to start selling players before we bring more in otherwise there isn't going to be enough room on the roster.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
Is Vertonghen supposed to sit on the bench for the rest of the time then? There's two issues, the first is you can't fill the squad with players who want to play every game, they become unhappy sitting on the bench week after week until a player is injured. The second thing is we have a fairly big squad and we're going to have to start selling players before we bring more in otherwise there isn't going to be enough room on the roster.
Click to expand...

Man Utd have got 5 players all capable of playing CB and all with realistic aims to be first choice, how many do Arsenal have? 2? (assuming Djourou, Squillaci & Mertesacker are all still hated by the Arsenal supporters). Then there's the fact that not only is Vermaelen a sick note but so is Sagna, Gibbs and Santos meaning there may well be times when he is fit that Vermaelen has to be play LB.

I agree Arsenal probably need to remove some of their more rubbish players in defence but I cant believe that the majority of Arsenal fans dont agree that they need seriously strengthening in that area :confused:
 
Last edited:
Tom84 said:
Man Utd have got 5 players all capable of playing CB and all with realistic aims to be first choice, how many do Arsenal have? 2? (assuming Djourou, Squillaci & Mertesacker are all still hated by the Arsenal supporters). Then there's the fact that not only is Vermaelen a sick note but so is Sagna, Gibbs and Santos meaning there may well be times when he is fit that Vermaelen has to be play LB.
Click to expand...

Capable of playing at CB we've got Squillaci, Djourou, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Song, Coquelin, Frimpong (maybe). Wenger isn't going to get rid of Mertesacker, I actually don't mind him anyway, he's not going to be selling either Koscielny or Vermaelen, Djourou has just been given a new contract. Squillaci will be gone in the summer I imagine, you can't go replacing him with somebody who wants to start every single match, or who is used to being a star player for their team and then finds themselves stuck on the bench game after game, which is exactly what will happen whenever Koscielny or Vermaelen are fit.

Sagna is far from a sick note, he's had his leg broken twice this season, Vermaelen has played 40 times for us this season so I've no idea how that constitutes him as a sick note. Santos has only been with us one season so it's a bit early to say much about him and Gibbs has 22 appearances this season which is hardly Diaby-like is it?

Tom84 said:
I agree Arsenal probably need to remove some of their more rubbish players in defence but I cant believe that the majority of Arsenal fans dont agree that they need seriously strengthening in that area :confused:
Click to expand...

I have no idea where you got the idea that Arsenal fans don't think we need to strengthen the defence. We do, but there's absolutely no point whatsoever saying we should sign X, X and X when we know full well that Wenger isn't going to get rid of some of the players already at the club, we need more strength in depth, as in second choice players, Djourou isn't particularly amazing and neither is Squllaci. In my opinion there's nothing wrong with a first choice starting back 4 of Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Gibbs. We need some right back cover because Jenkinson is too young and not ready, but central defenders are the last thing on my mind. Not because I don't think we need to strengthen, but because it's completely unrealistic to expect anything signifcant to happen in that department this summer.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
We need some right back cover because Jenkinson is too young and not ready, but central defenders are the last thing on my mind. Not because I don't think we need to strengthen, but because it's completely unrealistic to expect anything signifcant to happen in that department this summer.
Click to expand...

I know Fergie wont sign a central midfielder doesn't mean I wont partake in transfer muppetry ;)

As for the sick note comment is this not the third time Sagna has broke his leg since being at Arsenal? I seem to remember something similar happening in 07/08. As for Vermaelen well he missed most of last season injured, did he not start this season injured? Seem to remember he then got fit and then got injured again? Fair play if he ended up making 40 appearances over all but his fitness record is sketchy imo.

It does seem by your tone though that you're happy with the mediocrity at Arsenal though because if it were me I'd want the club to get shot of the likes of Mertesacker, Squillaci (although you say he is on his way) & Santos. You're right your first choice defence does look good on paper but you being an Arsenal fan should know better than anyone that Arsenal suffer more injuries than most clubs so simply having a capable first choice defence is not good enough you need pretty much a second choice back 4 that isn't a total nightmare waiting to happen as well
 
Last edited:
Tom84 said:
I agree Arsenal probably need to remove some of their more rubbish players in defence but I cant believe that the majority of Arsenal fans dont agree that they need seriously strengthening in that area :confused:
Click to expand...
Why on earth do you keep confusing KILLSWITCH saying Arsenal don't need another centre-back (until we sell some of our existing ones) with "the majority" of us saying we don't need any new defensive signings? :confused:

Even he's said that we need another RB.
 
Sagna:

Capture-16.png


Vermaelen:

Capture2.png


As you can see Vermaelen was out for pretty much the entirity of the 2010/11 season, he's missed a few games in the season just passed but nothing that would cause me any concerns about his fitness. Sagna has been virtually ever-present. He's had some nasty leg breaks but that's something inflicted on him by another player, rather than a weakness in himself. I was under the impression that broken bones usually heal stronger, as far as I'm aware his two this season were different bones in the same leg.

Of course I'd like to strengthen our backups, Djourou had a decent patch last season but has been pretty much terrible ever since, Squillaci barely even features and Mertesacker has only had half a season with us before succumbing to a bad injury. I'm interested in seeing how Mertesacker does in the Euro's actually, I didn't get to see much of him when he first joined us and then of course he got injured. He had a good reputation in Germany and I'm sure you don't get that many caps for the German side if you're not a good defender.

The only things I'm concerned about this summer is wrapping up a new contract with van Persie, getting Wilshere fit, getting rid of some of the dead-wood and possibly signing a backup right back. Our defensive woes were mainly when we had no fit full backs whatsoever.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom