Happier Than Last Week? Yes. Satisfied? No.

By: Homey | September 1st, 2011

Well I’m back as the designated D&G (doom and gloom) blogger of the group, to keep anyone from getting too excited about how the transfer window ended. But there are quite a few positives to take from the last few days, and I want to be fair and balanced. And to be even more magnanimous than usual, I’ll present 10 pieces of good news, coupled with only 5 pieces of bad news. However, I think the five pieces of bad news outweigh the good ones. What can I say – my magnanimity only goes so far.

Most of what I write will be stuff that a lot of people have already been saying in the last few days, but of course I’ll be more long-winded than most people. Hey, we have to fill up the interlull somehow, right? Ok, so here are my pieces of news, starting with the good:

Good:
1) Wenger finally spent some money. Hallelujah. It’s actually possible. A week ago, fans were worried when hearing all the typical rubbish about “maybe one or two more players” and so forth. And to be honest, I think it was at a point where we’d have been happy spending £30 million just on Karim Benzema, while doing nothing about all the other holes in the lineup. Just because it would mean a bit of decisive action and some money actually spent.
2) We plugged all the obvious holes in our lineup. As many have already mentioned, we can pretty much go at least two-deep at every spot on the field. At many positions, there will now be genuine competition for starting roles. That’s a huge improvement over where we were a week ago, and it’s good to not have to hear that new players would only stifle the development of the younger, existing players. I feel good about our depth basically everywhere, with only two question marks left. First, I still want to wait and see what sort of backup RB we have in Jenkinson. But the good news is that we won’t need to shift Sagna to LB anymore, and Sagna is one of the most injury-free players on the team. So I don’t think we’ll need HFP very often. Second, I’m curious who Wenger sees as the backup to RvP. Is it Park? Gervinho? Chamakh? My hope is that it’s Park. I think Gervinho is more suited to the wing role, and Chamakh is more suited to the bench at the moment. So here’s hoping Park can play a bit on the wing, but also play centrally when needed.
3) The existing key players will no doubt be boosted by this news. Jack Wilshere already took to Twitter to gush about all the new arrivals, and I’m sure that many other players are pretty excited as well. There will hopefully be some new life injected into the existing team. In addition, it might be easier to convince the likes of Walcott and RvP to sign contract extensions now that they hopefully will see Arsenal as their long-term home. Mertesacker
4) We brought in some much-needed experience and leadership. I’m not sure how many international captains we now have, but I know we brought in some seasoned veterans to hopefully provide important leadership and direction for the rest of the team. Now we can hope that players such as AOC can ease their way into the lineup through Carling Cup and FA Cup action, rather than being needed in the most critical matches of the season. I greatly prefer to build experience that way, than to throw young players to the wolves before they’re ready.
5) We’re better than we were last week. This one is pretty obvious, but I think it’s safe to say that we won’t have to endure any more 8-2 debacles for the rest of this season.
6) We’re better than we were last season. Ok, now this one is up for debate. But I’m looking at it not just in terms of new acquisitions, but just in every department as a whole. Let me evaluate it according to positions on the field to try to prove my point:
Goalies: Last season, we entered the year with Almunia as our starter, but Wenger was trying to acquire Schwarzer up until the window closed. We then moved on to Flaps, and then Wojo. This year, we’re set with Wojo, who now has more experience at the top level.
Defenders: This one isn’t even close. I hope we can break even at RB. And from what I’ve heard about Santos, he seems to be at least be a mild improvement over Clichy. But the central defense is where we improved greatly. Vermaelen was out almost all of last year. Djourou and Kos (in his first year at Arsenal) were our top defenders, and Squillaci played a ton. This year, we hope to have TV5 available, and an honest debate between Kos and Mert for the other starting role. And the best thing of all? No more Squillaci. Or at least that’s the way it looks at the moment.
Central midfielders: I’ll lump all of them together here (defensive and offensive). Ok, we’re worse in this area, due to the loss of Cesc. But there could be areas of improvement as well. Denilson is gone, Ramsey is back, Diaby is hopefully relegated to spot duty, and Frimpong shows some promise. Now if Wilshere will return and Arteta can stay healthy, we’ll be solid here, without a massive drop off.
Wingers: We lost Nasri, but gained Gervinho, AOC, Park, Miyaichi, and Benayoun. I actually think we’ll come out ahead in this area this year, due to depth. Last year, it was Nasri and Walcott, with Arshavin behind them. Then it was either Rosicky, or using Bendtner out of position. This year, we can roll out Gervinho and Walcott, and still have Arshavin behind them. But I believe Park can slot into that role as well, and hopefully be better than what we had there last season at the 3-4 spots on the depth chart.
Center forwards: As I already mentioned, I’m not sure who’s really behind RvP. But I have high hopes that Park can play there effectively, and at least equal what Bendtner gave us there. So I think we broke even in that area at the least.
7) All of the deals seemed to make financial sense. Time will tell on that, of course. And one could argue we didn’t get enough for Cesc, and I suppose that’s right. But still, we got good money for Nasri and Clichy. And when I look at what we paid for Santos, Mertesacker, Park, Arteta, and Gervinho, I have to think that Wenger did a good piece of business again. For me, it’s easy to simply look at a player’s price tag and make an evaluation from there. And I’m trying to get away from that. For instance, after watching Gervinho a bit, I think he’s similar to Walcott in a lot of ways. But what if we sold Walcott on the open market – what would he go for? Double what Gervinho went for? I tend to think so. Anyway, it seems we got a pretty similar player for about half that price, so that’s a good thing. I could make a similar analysis when talking about some of the others as well. So I don’t think we’ll look back on our purchases and moan about the money we wasted.
Arteta
8 ) Arteta. I’m going to give him a category of his own, since I’m pretty excited about this one. And I just noticed this, but I have him at #8, which is the same number he’ll wear at Arsenal. Total coincidence on my part, or else I’m secretly brilliant. Hmm… yeah, total coincidence. Anyway, I was heading into the final day of the window desperately hoping for some news about a central midfielder. With a few hours left in the window, all I heard about was our deal for Yossi Benayoun. Now until I’m proven wrong, I’m going to refer to Yossi as JCPT. That stands for Joe Cole, Part Two. In other words, I was none too excited. But then we sealed the Arteta deal at the 11th hour, and I finally felt pretty secure at the central midfield position. And with Arteta, it’s actually a player I’ve seen a good bit of, and I’m happy with the type of player we’re getting. He even had a swim through the blue side of Glasgow, so I like him for that as well. He’s not Cesc, but I think he’ll be handy. Some say he’s a bit of an injury concern. But thinking optimistically, even if he misses 1/3 of the matches each year, he’ll still be good in the other 2/3, and we have adequate cover to handle the times when he’s out.
9) We dumped a good bit of our dead weight, and we relegated the rest of it to the bench. Yes, we would have liked to have seen Almunia, Diaby, and Squillaci shipped out as well. And maybe someday soon, we will. But for all practical purposes, at least we won’t be seeing them take the field much. Or ever. And then to find takers for several of the others was a really positive sign for how we’ll look moving forward.
10) We (hopefully) won’t be dealing with any ongoing transfer sagas this season, and we won’t be losing Nasri for nothing next summer. If we had kept Cesc, it would have been another non-stop season of Barca this and Barca that. With our captain, no less. And with Nasri, there was starting to grow this feeling that we’d lose a player for nothing next season, despite getting a lucrative offer this summer. And I’m sure with Nasri in particular, the rumors would have raised their ugly heads in January as well. So now, we can hope that everyone on the roster is stable and ready to be committed to Arsenal this season.

Bad:
1) We still ended up as net sellers. Wow, unreal. We heard all this talk at the start of the summer, before any deals had been made, that we had a ton of money on hand, and were willing to spend it. And yet magically, once again, we were a selling team this summer. It wasn’t by a wide margin, and some of the numbers are hard to sort out (when you consider add ons and such). But by a pretty good source I found, we ended up netting an extra £4.6 million when it was all said and done. So once again, we could have been much more ambitious, but instead, the owner/board get richer. It’s good to be Stan Kroenke, I guess.
2) We failed to bring in any of the really big (super quality) players we were supposedly pursuing. It’s rather ironic, isn’t it, that we somehow failed to acquire every single big money player we were supposedly bidding on? And yet we were able to close a ton of smaller deals. So we were left without any real “splash” acquisitions that would really energize the masses, and give us hope we have real world class talent at Arsenal. Last year, we had more world class talent, but also more mediocrity. This year, we have a lot more pretty good, but not as much great. I think we’re still better on the balance, but it’s not what it could have been.
Furthermore, why is it that we somehow thought that teams would be willing to sell superstar players at the very end of the window? I really like what Mick McCarthy recently had to say when there was speculation that Kevin Doyle would be sold at the end of the window:

“I think the end of the transfer window should coincide with the start of the season. We have started well, but can you imagine what that would do if someone took one of my best players away – not only to me, but to all the other players, to the club? It would just rip the heart out of it.”

Well said, Mick. Now, don’t you think that mindset would especially hold true with clubs in the Champions League, like Dortmund, Lille, Real Madrid, and Inter? Why would they sell their best players at the very end of the window, with no time to reinvest? Do we really think a guy like Eden Hazard would be cheaper on August 31 than he would have been on July 31? I just don’t get it. Maybe we could get some peripheral players at the end of the window, but hoping to land a big fish on the last day makes no sense to me. If anything, the prices of those sorts of players would be trending up, not down.
3) We waited too long in general. This one is obvious, and related to the last point. But why is it that we had to wait until the last week of the window, after dropping eight points out of nine to start the season? And risking losing out on a place in the Champions League? I know some might say that we need to calm down, and the season is only a few weeks old. But do you really think those points won’t be important at the end? Last season, we finished three points behind Man City, and six ahead of Spurs. The year before, we were five points ahead of Spurs for third place. In a year where making the Champions League will be as tough as ever, those were crucial points we dropped. For the sake of argument, let’s say we’d settled all our transfer business a month ago. And let’s say with all our new players, we could have beaten Newcastle, drawn with Liverpool, and still lost to Man Utd. That’s not a crazy thought, and it would have earned us three more points. In addition, Liverpool would have two fewer. That’s a five point spread. Keep that in mind as we head toward next May.
If I really thought all of our delaying really got us better deals, I suppose I could stomach it a little better. But do we really think we couldn’t have brought in Park, Mertesacker, and Arteta for the same amount a month ago? Now perhaps Santos was a victim of bad circumstances at Fenerbahçe, and his price greatly declined in the last week of the season. So while on the topic of LB, could we not have spent roughly the same amount of money on Enrique a month earlier, and still gotten a player of similar quality? And please tell me what the plan would have been if Fenerbahçe hadn’t run into troubles recently.
4) Even though we arguably got better, the other top teams really mean business. As I mentioned here once before, last year, the champions had only 80 points. That was the lowest total for a Premier League champion since 1998-99. We secured fourth place with just 68 points last year. Last year was the year for the small and middle-sized teams to take a lot of points off the big boys. Well, this year looks to be the revenge of the big boys. Both Manchester teams look awesome, Chelsea strengthened in a few areas, and Liverpool definitely got better. I think even Spurs will be better, and I must admit I’m a little concerned at what Adebayor might do there this year. Anyway, the point is that this summer wasn’t the summer to break even or get a tiny bit better. It was a summer to get a LOT better, and we failed to do that.
5) As JG already wrote just yesterday, our grade is about a B-. I would have to agree with that. But my point, which I’ve made until I’m blue in the face, is that we’re not a B- sort of club. So what, are we supposed to cheer Wenger that he can see the same holes that everyone else sees? Are we supposed to be happy that he saw the canyon-sized hole at LB, that aliens could see from outer space? It’s just sick how Wenger has lowered our standards to the point where we have to applaud him for this sort of thing, and then give him a standing ovation for squeezing out another Champions League spot. Now to be fair, I’m not sure there was anything he could have done to win us the league title this year. Even if we’d brought in Mario Götze and Yann M’Vila, and had done so with a month to spare, it would have been tough sledding trying to catch the top three/four this year. But still, couldn’t we have at least tried a little harder? Handled our business a little earlier? Had a bit more of a plan? Not needed an 8-2 massacre to open up the eyes of our manager? Anyway, if you’re happy with a B- manager running one of the top clubs in the world, then I guess you can carry on with your undying support of Wenger. But I’ve been for replacing him all summer. I didn’t change my mind after getting by Udinese, and then change it again after losing to Man Utd, and then change it again when I saw the window close. And looking at the transfer window overall, I see no reason to back off my position at this point. I still think we can do better than Wenger, or at least do our best in trying.

OK, well that’s my summation of the transfer window. Long-winded as usual. I think Darren will be back to blogging soon, which is like a brand new signing for us. I’m not sure our exact plans during the interlull, but I have a couple more blogs in mind for the next week or so. And I think my colleagues will have a few as well.

And finally, we’ve gotten reports that readership has gone up by leaps and bounds. Of course the last couple of weeks of the window, along with the start of the season, are the best time of year for soccer blogs. But still, it’s encouraging, and we thank you for reading. Hopefully you’ll keep stopping by now that the window is closed.

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3.

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Liverpool, Transfer News and Player Movement

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Ash

There are some fairly obvious reasons for much of the business to have been conducted late, and it's surprising that they are not more widely recognised.

First, we needed to secure CL football to be attractive to at least some of the targets, and to raise the revenue needed for the budget.

Second, we got dicked around by Fabregas and Barcelona, working together to try and undermine the true value he'd have got on the open market. Their earlier offers were way to low, and the final price is still too low, but we had to close it eventually. We couldn't buy before we sold, and this made it harder to do business earlier.

Third, the Nasri deal was delayed by the City board / agents. Even Mancini alluded to this, which caused us further delays.

Fourth, and very importantly, our financially-far-more-powerful rivals (and some people need to wake up to this reality) can, and did, gazzump us on deals that we tried to push through earlier. For example with Mata, where stories report that Chelsea moved in offering more that whatever we could offer. Only when the squads of the oil funded clubs are full can we move without them outbidding us.

It may well be that our wage structure needs to be modified. However, even if we offer a player £150k/w, the enemy can offer £200k. If we offer £200k, they will offer £250k, and so on. Getting into an arms race can only bankrupt us, while still not being able to compete.

For many, recognition of this cold reality and acknowledging that we can't outspend the financially-doped clubs on transfer fees & wages is a 'lack of ambition'. What they really mean, is that they want us to either spend money that we don't have, or get bankrolled by a gazillionaire, regardless of the oncoming FFP rules which, if enforced, could see us returning to the top table. Then, when we can re-work our commercial deals, it will be us and Man Yoo again duking it out like the good old days.
Andylowe14

its hard to really understand whats going on behind the scenes because none of us know the true reasons for not landing players. Id have liked to see juan mata coming in as a direct replacement for nasri but you know chelsea are paying him high wages that we probably couldnt compete with. that may be the theme of the transfer window as players move for wages. Regardless of out pot of money from cesc and nasri, if you have people on long contracts the wage bill is the most important thing. If we cant sustain that then its bad for the club. So i think we have been again a responsible club and stayed within our limits. Yes we were still a net gainer from the transfer windon but as you said cesc was irreplaceable, theres no sense in just spending 35mil on 'someone' so that it can somehow make you feel as though we are moving in the right direction just because out transfer dealings were a net spend rather than a profit. and back to my previous point, even if we could have bought a great player for big money, could we afford or compete with the wages offered elsewhere? when all this is considered, the lack of spending all the money is not a particularly big one for me. The main critisism is still the way we waited so long before bringing in defenders, should/could have been done as soon as we sold clichy
Perry S.

Pretty fair comment, I must say.
Perry S.

Here's to hoping all of our players on international leave come back unscathed.
FredJacob

and also hope they come back in the great scoring form which they had for there country
FredJacob

Premier League 25 man squads

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.u...
FredJacob

Interesting Theo and Kieran has they same middle name and also injurypron
ASDF

RvP got 4 goals today for Netherlands in their 11-0 rout of San Marino
Casimir

I feel so bad for San Marino. At this point why even send a team? They have yet to ever record a victory against European competition, if I recall correctly.
Bertrand

Did he injure himself as well?
Casimir

Szczesny isn't in goal today :(. Guess they're saving him for the Germany game.
Chicago Gunner

Everyone seems to think Arsenal waited too long to make moves, but I believe that was a carefully calculated strategy. Waiting deters bidding wars and increases Arsenal's leverage. I stronly suspect Wenger planned to wait all along. He knew Arsenal would get smoked by Man U, but figured 1 league loss was worth it, given how significant the transfer activity was going to be. If Wenger hadn't waited so long, I doubt he'd have been a successful in the transfer market as he was.
bobj canada

Wow. And i suppose you also believe that the only reason the sun came up this morning is because of Wenger
Darren_V

I didn't know there was an alternate theory....
Perry S.

After 30+ years of supporting the same club, seeing every high and every low, you tend to learn how to appreciate the bad with the good. You take the losses with the wins, and you learn to see past what the media wants to you believe. I've dealt with years of no trophies with other clubs I support along with this club alone, and to be a pessimist in most regards with the team I so soundly support seems pretty pointless.

Napoli, Liverpool, Reading, and on and on...I haven't seen a trophy come through in years, but I'm not talking "D&G" every moment I can. Time to move on, admit Wenger did what he could & did it well at that, made the team better, and really get behind your club. Enough of this, lets see some posts about how this team can really suprise, how it has every opportunity in the world to beat the odds (place top 4, qualify UCL, maybe win a cup), and how we can be great again.
Kanjar

Good post, sir. I was getting quite anti-homey, but this is the best summation of our recent state of affairs I've read. I'm still behind Wenger 100% though...well, 90% at least...
Nastytrick01p

Dear Homey,
You need to be a little more positive, instead of depressing me with your posts so much. They are a good read, but the negativity is unbearable. I understand you are a frustrated arsenal fan waiting for trophies for he last 6 going on 7, but good hints will come in the future. Liverpool haven't won the league in 20+ years, and were recently bit** slapped in the face when united won their 19th, so they have more to worry about than us. Plus I believe arsene>Kenny and arsenal>>>liverpool so we will once again finish above them at least in the top 4. And don't worry man city are like the 2000's galacticos of real Madrid. All individuals and the last galacticos project didn't really end well. Wait for FFP, city won't even be able to cover their wages let alone all their other expenses. That os when we will see the rise of Arsenal
Playitagainsam

It's not just that he has this opinion, but that he needs to drill home the same sentiment/agenda in every post he makes. He can't let a few days go by without another "But seriously, Wenger should go, now let me explain how shitty everything is and how it must remain shitty, to make it easier for you to agree with me that wenger should go" post. you already covered that ground dude, spare us the reruns, it really isn't good for business.

You will drive this blog to the ground before wenger ever does the same to our club
Bertrand

You take the words right out of my mouth.
Martin

Thought this was a pretty fair summation of things. As I said previously, I think this transfer window is a bit of a Rorshach test as to how you feel about Arsenal in general, and Wenger in particular, at the moment. Optimists can seize on the fact that we made a host of what appear to be good signings for good value, and filled our positions of need with experienced players. Pessimists can focus on the fact that we failed to hold on to 2 out of our 3 best players, did not improve upon the team that stumbled to a 4th place finish last season, and waited until we were 6-8 points behind our rivals before making most of our signings.

But I think you did a good job hitting on both of these, and a B- is probably about a fair grade.

Also, credible reports broke yesterday saying that Wenger offered 30 million for Hazard, and 35 million for Gotze. The Hazard deal didn't happen because, even though Lille were okay with that offer, they weren't going to do it on the last day of the window when they could not find a replacement. And the Gotze deal didn't happen because Gotze and his family did not want to leave Dortmund/Germany at his young age (19). Just thought that was interesting -- Wenger getting blasted in some quarters for going bargain hunting again, but it does seem like we were willing to double our existing transfer record to replace Cesc. There's also a real possibility that we renew our interest for these players next summer, I'd say.
Gigi_man

AW should have done it earleir then as Homey said. If thats true its too bad it didnt happen because of the deadline.
Still, I am happy about the signings.
I guess if we managed to score 2 vs Manure, and have a decent defence now, we can fight for things.
Perry S.

Gigi -- One thing I think everyone seems to not take into account is what triggered all of these moves. I STILL FIRMLY believe the board is behind allowing Wenger to finally spend and it took the 8-2 thrashing for them to wake up. Had we not been spanked, he would have had his hands tied still.

So for him to try to buy these big named players the last day, be fair to Wenger and say he tried his best when he was finally given the green light.

Like I said in a previous thread and comment (which you liked :), there is still January...
Gigi_man

Yep. Actually I write Wenger but I almost always mean Wenger and the board. And as you might have seen, I sometimes had a tendecy to think it was the board and not AW.
And yes, I still like that theres January haha.
But for some reason I am confident, I dont know but the signing of Arteta and Mertesacker give me the impression of warriors-mentality type of players, which i believe we lacked.
SJGgumby

If either of those reports are true, I could see another inquiry being made in January. Though I agree that this summer is more likely.
Casimir

Summer is more likely. I don't think these teams would sell mid-campaign if they are still in the CL or challenging for their domestic title.
Homey_Mills

Hmm... well it certainly gets back to my point that we shouldn't have waited until the final day to try to bring in the biggest quality player. I have no idea why those supposed offers couldn't have been made as soon as Cesc was sold.
Perry S.

See my response to Gigi above. There's your answer, seriously man, give Wenger a break & benefit of the doubt...he did damn well with what he could.
Alexinho

My one response to this is regarding point number two of the negatives, that we didn't bring in any of the "super-quality" players we were "supposedly pursuing."

Like who? Christopher Samba? Is Gary Cahill "super-quality?" Was Hazard ever a bona-fide transfer target that management was pursuing (I don't think so)?

I would argue that the four deadline-day signings have a fair shot at being called higher-quality than any of the names being thrown about all summer.

I have to say, I am very, very pleased by the signings. The board, or Wenger, or whoever is running things, did precisely what the angriest fans have been calling for--they spent some f'in money.

Most importantly, they spent money on E X P E R I E N C E.

My oh my, I hope that Benayoun comes in healthy, that Mertesacker comes in rejuvenated and ready to recover from an awful last season at Bremen, and that Santos and Arteta come in guns-a-blazin'. Their average age is, what, 29? Just what the doctor ordered.

The most damaging thing about the Man U game could be the presence of such young players in the side--Szczeney, Ramsey, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin to say the least, but even relatively (emphasis on relatively) experienced players like Koscielny, Walcott, and Djourou. Even the young'ns on the bench.

That kind of loss is the kind of thing that shatters a kid's confidence, the kind of thing that can sour their play for months to come. The psychology at Arsenal at the moment could not be worse, and that leaves a residue in the minds of young players.

It is critically important that the youngest players take some time off the field, to think, to recover, while the REAL veterans rack up some points. On deadline day, Arsenal acquired four members of a starting XI.
Perry S.

Thank you.
Satan

Park has already scored twice today for South Korea in their World Cup Qualifier. Good to see him in top form.
will

thrice, actually.
Patoux21

Oh the opposing teams will be shitting their pants when they will face Arteta and Youss when it could have been Mata and Hazard. The fact that Arsenal didnt get these players when they were actually top targets is either a pure lack of ambition, being very stingy or the club wasnt attractive enough. Wenger and the board out I dont want a club managed with cheap signings and profit-making only
Gunnerson

Our problem never was 'cheap' signings, it was the lack of them. Wenger signed players with experience, where they were needed. When Wenger signs players, he usually signs them well, and between Per, Arteta, and Benayoun, they have shown glimpses of their brilliance in the past. Who are you to say Wenger can't bring them to their best (which is worth 20 million+ for each)? Remember Bergkamp? Santos is a Brazilian international, Park: the captain of SKorea. Gervinho is showing himself to be a very solid player. I agree we got them for cheap, but last time I checked: paying less is better than paying more, and apart from the price there is no reason to presume these signings are shit. Wenger has money to spend, tons of it. He could have bought Schweinteiger and made me jizz my pants. He could have bought Arjen Robben and caused a similar reaction. Yet, he is being careful. Where will that money go? It's the clubs money. He knows what he has lost in Cesc and Nasri, better than any of us. His calculated plans have faltered and the Arsenal train derailed. If he has better ideas for putting us back on track than blowing the money off on inflated player who might never prove their worth, then I'm in. We might need that money in winter if injuries hit. We might need it next summer when we are forced to offer players like RvP new, very pricey contracts. Am I saying we are suddenly title contenders now? Hell, I'm not even ruling us out of Europa next season. All I saying is wait and see, and show some trust. And please reach a realization that there is no player we can buy who will replace Fabregas. No one. Even if there was an actual Fabregas clone, playing for a team like Lille, and wanted out... there are clubs out there who would have outbid us, and given him a E200K weekly salary. Its a sad reality, but its not new news. Be happy for the signings, and hope they can bring us a trophy. Up the Arse!
Gigi_man

I would give it a shot for some games, given the fact (important imo) that these guys already have EPL experience.
The EPL, again imo, is the best league out there, Spain and Italy come close, but Spain (even Villarreal coach agreed on this) became a 2 team league, and Italy is too park.the.bus sometimes. Germany is a good league, but the Bundesliga is not too steady at some points.
Any way, my point is that players coming from other leagues have to adjust, and may I say, step up a little even if they are talented (example Gervinho, even the almighty Henry when he landed).
Granted that Mata begun in a really amazing way (I saw the game), but they had other (good) circumstances at that game (better than us ..ouch).
So I think that in our current situation 2 guys (especially Arteta) with EPL experience will do us good.
Bertrand

A club is a business.
ASDF

and yet some of those businesses manage to win trophies while Arsenal and fans like you are happy to finish 4th.
Bertrand

Not exactly happy, but I understand the constraints under what the club is operating under. Not going to say that the board did a stellar job (they didn't) or that Wenger didn't make some mistakes (he did), but overall, I think we are on the right track. It gets on my nerves when people (especially our resident blogger) moans and whines even when we had a decent year with some very memorable moments (win against Barca anyone?), and wants to oust our most successful manager ever.
Darren_V

It's amazing how I can actually appreciate a comment from you when you actually cease from insulting someone.
You should try this more often.
Martin

In my experience, I'm not sure I would say Bertrand is "happy" about anything...
formos

I would disagree with D&G comments on Wenger. I think
fans discarded him way to often in previous years but he showed that team can always
reach CL place.

While craving for creative central midfielder everyone seems
so skeptical on Ramsey. Just a 1 year ago he was emerging as being more talented
than Wilshere and future of Arsenal, unlucky trauma undone all his progress,
but not his talent, he will rise again.

With both young players and Arteta we have solid creative
force, Song is rather good DCM with one young player knocking his doors.
Although I believe we lack in DCM (box-to-box) role one more player and more
natural creative LW, we are by no means worse than any of the teams in EPL.

We strengthened vastly in defense whilst our attack seems pretty
much the same. We added depth in squad and I can see us fighting for 3-4 spot
this year, or even having a surprise run for higher places. All teams bound to
loose points.

I would wish Arsenal signed more players with higher
profile, I believe we lack 2-3 quality players (DMC, LW and maybe Striker to
add equally competition for glass legs RVP) to launch a challenge for title. I
hope that Arsene will buy player of M’Vila quality whilst allowing wingers Ryo
with Oxlade develop and hoping for Theo to become a striker with good goals
return. I think that is the plan, and actually a rather good one. In Arsene I
trust.
Gigi_man

Re Ramsey I think he got a little stagefright , maybe felt that with cesc gone h was at the spotlight too exposed, dont know, just one thought
Hec

Yes I AGREE with you it all looks a little desperate , why no flagship buy, to prove intent , we are hoping these players will be good enough, no slight on Arteta/Benayoun who would honestly have them instead of Fab/Nasri , the others Turkish league, 2nd tier French league , are these the the players he really wanted or are they all our esteemed owners would allow him to pursue , were they in the right price bracket for these new owners of our great football club.
Bertrand

2nd tier French league?

1st tier French league more like (considering he hasn't played a single game in 2nd tier), and national team captain. And 1st tier German league club captain as well.

Turkish league? Brazil NT team first team member..with 22 caps to his name.

Why so pessimistic?
brenton

For those interested in a more positive spin on our transfer dealings, check out Yankee Gunner's summary of the transfer window. He's less concerned with the business side of things (who cares if we're a net seller if we're vastly improved on the pitch?) and more concerned with the actual team. Because the finances don't play the game.

yankeegunnerblog (dot) com/2011/09/01/summer-transfers-did-we-do-enough/
Orion

Agreed, excellent read.
formos

Very good post, I recommend it to Homey as a beacon of optimism ;)
Gigi_man

No. Leave Homey as Homey, we need the balance, balance is the force.
Simimply21

I'll ask the same question I ask every time I hear somebody asking for Wenger's head; who on earth could we possibly get to replace him who would likely do a better job?

If there's a manager out there that is better at 'making do' and still being competitive (at the highest level) than Arsene, I'm yet to see him. We can't afford to support the spending of the 'top' managers in world football.
Gigi_man

Agreed, actually I have written the same question, evene when wanting Wnger out. A very big issue because even if he does so bad we all agree on that, the question remains, who is at his level or better level and available to come manage the club
Homey_Mills

Well I covered that topic about replacements a few weeks ago in my big "Wenger Must Go" blog. But everyone laughed at my thoughts anyway. Even though I thought they were good thoughts, of course. Ha.
Wenger the muppet out

Idiot! Some fans are really stupid!
Homey_Mills

I almost think this post was a false flag attack. You know, an actual Wenger supporter, trying to make the anti-Wenger side look silly. But it's just another one of the many conspiracy theories that I believe. So I dunno.
Drew Dewsall

Personal attacks kind of make you sound less intelligent than the person you are attacking. Answering with a counter argument would be more productive but I fathom you do not have the mental capacity to come up with an example of a manager who is as a consistent performer than Wenger.
Wenger the muppet out

Go and play your silly air guitar, knob!
ASDF

Awesome post Homey!! An astute and realistic analysis of our transfer window activities.

Now here are my reasons for not rejoicing after the transfer window closed:
Arteta is no Cesc, Jack is still recovering from injury, Arshavin's crappy run is still continuing, Chamakh is against the notion of kicking a ball in the net, Gibbs is made of poor quality plastic, Song gets fits of madness (or Bartoness) on field, RvP and Theo have history of long absence due to injury, Gervinho is in his 1st season in EPL and can fizzle/burn out (remember how good Chamakh was from August to Dec 2010 and then...), Santos is not as good as Gibbs, Ryo, Frimpong and AOC are kids (albeit all 3 are DEEENCH), no one new Park and Jenkinson till we bought them, even though we have depth but in worst case Squilaci can still play for Arsenal (shuddering, spine chilling scenario), Nasri turned into Na$ri and left, we let Mata join our rivals and finally Hazard and MV'ila are still in France.
Homey_Mills

Wow, you're more D&G than I am. You see everyone, I'm really right in the middle!
ASDF

What's D&G??
Homey_Mills

Doom and gloom. It's my new catch phrase. Well, that and JCPT. I'm hoping JCPT catches on. Well, maybe not. I'm hoping Yossi proves me wrong, actually.
Bertrand

Park is Captain of the Korean team.

I'm sure plenty of people knew and watched him play.

What an ignorant post.
Marloneious

Quick question Bertrand, did you know who Park was? Cus I'm sure 99.99% of the Arsenal fans didnt.
Perry S.

I did. If you watched World Cup with intent, you'd know too. Stop coupling a typical club fan with an actual footballing fan.
Marloneious

I watched the World Cup with intent. That does not automatically mean I would've heard of Park. And I'm a footballing fan. Trust me.
Bertrand

Your actions show who you are. Not your words.

Muppet.
Marloneious

My actions show me as a true footballing fan. But you wouldn't know that because you're on the other side of a computer screen.
ASDF

man you are rude!!!
Perry S.

Hardly.
Bertrand

Think he was referring to me :P
ASDF

My point exactly...I dint care to watch South Korea games in WC or Asia Cup or whatever its called. The only Park i knew was the friggin goal scorer from Man Utd who would play so well against Arsenal.
Bertrand

My point is, people who watched Ligue 1, fans of AS Monaco, and South Koreans all would have known who Park was. That hardly constitutes as being an 'unknown'.
Brae

most....negative....blog....ever.....
Homey_Mills

It's not even the most negative blog I've written in the last month. Go back and compare this one to a few others. =)
Savage

@Brae - I guess you are just a B- type of guy! Shame......
ASDF

most....realistic....blog....ever....
Bertrand

Not really. Ignorant and overly pessimistic, like all of Homey's other posts, , despite all evidence to the contrary.

Not quite sure what it would take for him to change his opinions.
Darren_V

A trophy
Orion

I must point out that today's urban youth colloquially refer to the above comment by Darren as a "win".
Bertrand

No not really.

I doubt he would've been satisfied with a Carling Cup. And he sure as hell didn't stop whining even when we were on a good streak last season.
Orion

No no, most of the criticism came after the slump that followed the Carling Cup Final loss. Do you know that since the Carling Cup Final Arsenal's League form is DDDWDDLWLLDDLL? I wouldn't think anyone would be happy with that sort of form, let alone supposed title challengers.
Tfcinet

who would you replace wenger with? we need the yank to sell to the russian so then we can compete. wenger is not the problem, the yank with the doggy barnet is .
Gigi_man

In a more serious note, I agree with you a lot, (I am still at the door, ready to jump anytime into the wagon).
But not completely, I think that we could have definitely done things earlier. But at least we have known names and maybe thats a sign of AW changing because he saw that shameful historic loss, a bit late yeah, but still.
Mertesacker may e the only really ig name, but for me Arteta is on that level.
I still have a vote for that Claw thing I mentioned, I think we got it and that can win you things.
Arsene's wallet

For
all the 'big name' targets, how many of them stayed where they were?
M'Vila is still at Rennes. Hazard is still at Lille. Martin didn't
move. Cahill didn't move. Gotze didn't move. Jagielka, Jadson, Samba,
Ayew, Sneijder. You can say all day long that Arsenal should have got
them, but NOBODY got them.

Why? Maybe they were overpriced, maybe the clubs really wanted to keep
them, maybe they aren't as special or as necessary as the blogosphere
make them to be.

Very hard to grasp why Arsenal (and it's usually pointed at Wenger
specifically) not getting these players shows a lack of ambition, or
cheapness, when NO OTHER TEAM got the player. If these guys are so good, and so easy to get, why did nobody get them?

Were Barcelona and Guardiola branded cheap, stupid, or unambitious
because they didn't get Fabregas last year (or the year before)? He was
their #1 target and yet he stayed where he was, they didn't get
him!?!? Not even in the winter transfer window??? Stupid Barca!
Guardiola out!

ManU wanted Sneijder, yet it didn't get done??? Typical ManU, cross Ferguson off the list to replace Wenger...
Homey_Mills

This comment seems to ignore the TONS of deals made this transfer window for big name, big priced players. Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Madrid, Barca - all of them bought players for far more than our most expensive purchase this summer. So I'm not really sure your point. It's just that they didn't really target those same specific players on our list.
Happy_Mills

My
point is simple: the overwhelming majority of supposed Arsenal targets
did not go anywhere. This blog has a HUGE love crush on Hazard, for
example. He went nowhere to nobody. Why does his staying at Lille
reflect poorly on Wenger, whereas Cesc staying at Arsenal had nothing to
do with Barcelona's lack of ambition or frugality, not to mention the
blame was never put on Guardiola? It had NOTHING to do with Barca, that's why. Cesc's team wanted to keep him, so he wasn't going to be sold.

You don't shy from the dramatic, so I'm curious to see the TONS of deals
done for big priced players. I'm seeing about 10 in the EPL from those
teams you listed, each of whom also paid a lot for overpriced players
and/or flops in their recent history: Caroll, Torres, Shevchenko,
Robinho, Stam, Veron, Hargreaves all come to mind. Man City paid £25
million for Adebayor--was that a smart move too? Must have been because
it was a big name, big price. So I'm not really sure YOUR point.

I'm not gonna change your mind. You have an axe to grind, and I doubt
very little would change that, regardless of what I say or what Arsenal
does.
Loh

This is probably one of the most fair comment ever and I agree with most points! I do have to say the so called "super quality" signings did came in the end but because of the price we got them for, lots will feel they are not that sort of "marque" signing that we should be getting.

In my opinion, Gervinho, Mertesacker and Arteta are all "super quality" signings! We have seen Gervinho's impact on the game against Udinese and I think we can safely say that he will definitely do as well or better than Nasri. Mertesacker is a quality CB and I think he is at least on par or better than Cahill and Jakielka. I think we will be very solid when he and TV is playing with Kozza being there as a quality backup. We have seen him play well with TV and I can only assume that he will be good when paired up with Per. And I've said this a few times, I do think Arteta will offer as much to us as Cesc last year or a Cesc with his mind and heart already at Barca. Don't get me wrong and I don't question Cesc's commitment to us if he stayed but I would like to think a fully focus Arteta who probably knows this is his last shot at glory will do better for us than a Cesc who is not fully focused.

That being said, I agree with the comments and the concern that is highlighted. But I would like to stress again that we should have a look at how this new look team fare in the next few weeks / months before we draw conclusion on how well we have done in the transfer market.
formos

Gervinho could be more useful than Nasri, but Nasri was
quickly becoming world class player, complete midfielder. In addition, Nasri
mostly featured on the left side of midfield. Gervinho is more a right sided
player (Hazard played on left) or striker. They are different, initially I
thought Gervinho would come as improvement on Theo as right winger and maybe
releasing him to play as a striker, but since then Oxlade came in as RW and
Gervinho was used as a left inside forward (he done very well though). I’m still
not sure if Gervais Yao Kouassi can be an answer on left side, I see this
position (LW) as weakest in the team and would prefer more natural left winger bought in the team.
Gunnerson

From what I hear, Santos is better at playing down the wing than hanging back to defend, considerably better. Gibbs is better at getting forward too. I think Wenger's tactics give the wing to the fullbacks, while the right and left mids cut inside, as you said. I feel our biggest miss in this transfer window was a player like Yann M'Vila. Arsenal's play is too reliant on the two holding players, and if there is any achilles heel for us it was be the holding role. Although, I would like to see BFFs Jack and Frimpong tear it up side by side and tweet about it after.
bobj canada

Hey Homey;
I'm a fellow traveller on the D&G side of things, and am in agreement that AW's best days are long behind him.

This was a good summation of the State of the Arsenal Union. Yes we're better than we were a week ago (doesn't take a lot), but we're not any better than a year ago when we plainly weren't good enough. And since the others in the Top Tier of the league (No this doesn't include us any more), have improved, we're farther behind. Thats because we are, for whatever set of reasons, a selling club now. We've handled that v well; we get good value in the selling and buying market, to raise the cash for the much needed extension of the wine cellar in the directors box, but we're not going to win anything anytime soon.

It will be v interesting to see how AW will deal with a some experience in the locker room now; Is he going to try to turn them all into tippy-tappy boys? He may have to try and learn some new tactics; God knows he's short of them now. Last Sunday, staring blankly at the pitch, he looked like Steve McLaren without the umbrella.

But hes's done enough to warrant staying the season, and we'll see what he can do with what he's built. For our sake, I wish him well.
Gigi_man

Mrs. Gigi thinks we improved a lot with Arteta. Yeah, she thinks he is hot (and I think its because he looks like me hahahah