Midseason Q&A with Martin!

I understand AW's decision to hire Titi, from a business point of view, and from a psychological/ imspirational point of view. And from there, if anything magical happens, so be it!

I am a business man. I can understand hiring someone back, for the exact period of time some of your workers are on vacation or in seminars, it closes the gap, you fill the positions, you know them well, you keep the business running and their minds are intact, if not better.

Their minds. Because in my line of work, minds and experienced minds are the thing. In football, experience is great but if the body cant follow is not as good.

So it is great to have Titi back and I hope he scores as a back up for RvP or whatever position. But I would feel better to know that he is there because it was convenient for everyone, it was good for everyone, but that it is not what we needed and that we will seek what we need. It kind of happened after the 8-2, now the 1-1 was closer to better timing, come on Arsene!

football 365, and I agree maybe an 80%: "Henry, to my view and memory likes to join in the footballing build-up rather than act as the focal point. It should also be remembered that since he last played here the game has got quicker and more physical; therefore asking the question can he still succeed. Look, if the deal goes through and it very much looks like it, for Arsenal's sake I hope it is a tremendous success."

All in all, I was sad when Titi left, heartbroken, and he has always been a great player for me, since Monaco, through Juve, of course here, and even in Barza and Bulls. So my words arent enough to express my happiness, welcome back Titi.

Titi is back. A post on these news is mandatory, as well as an animated comments section, right?

Just when I think Wenger cannot become any more of a penny-piniching unambitious cunty-chopps, he considers bringing Henry back. It's hilarious. What was that extra 6.5% for then? Remember? Gazidis said it was to compete in an ever increasing transfer market. That'd be the same transfer market that sees us make a profit last summer, and another operating cash reserve of over £90 million.
This Henry thing is a fucking joke, and the only bigger joke are the ridiculous fans who think this is a good idea. It is honestly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. It is the kind of move I would expect from a Hull, a Blackpool or a Swansea. Not even Stoke would have Henry now. There is a reason he is playing in the US. He is finished. Not even loaded PSG who are throwing money at anything would take him back!!!
Whatever happened to Arsene Wenger, the great promoter of youth? Would signing Henry not 'kill' Oxfam Chambermaid? Hmmm? It is just stop-gap, after stop-gap, after stop-gap.
Park = Stop-crap. Chamakh = Not good enough to be a stop-gap
Adding Henry to that list, ask yourself how much money Wenger would have continued to waste on wages for all this mixture of rubbish and over the hill players. FFS Jens Lehmann was in RETIREMENT and we brought him out to keep goal. What an embarrassment, going around with a begging bowl like a bunch of cheapskates when we are loaded. It shows a fundamental lack of class from the club and manager and a total lack of ambition. Sol Campbell who was sent to a League 2 side, was also brought back. Hilarious. Why not go one further and bring back more of the Invincibles eh? How about re-signing Keown, retired Lauren and perhaps Kaba Diawara can be brought back too!
Why do Real Madrid not re-sign Raul then? Why do the Spuds even not go out and re-sign Robbie Keane? He is also doing well in the US? That's the same thing! Would Fergie fancy re-signing Dwight Yorke or Andy Cole if offered?
What I do not get, is that Arsenal are completely and absolutely flush with cash. I'd understand if we were broke, but this is now outrageous. What a Joke. Just as with the whole Wayne Bridge suggestion, there are so many better players that could be signed. Llorente for one. Stefan Jovetic of Fiorentina. If you want a loan signing of someone older and experienced, how about Diego Milito of Inter, who is still considered good enough to be in the squad of a big league but doesn't always start? There are a barrel of better and younger players out there. Henry is a joke suggestion.
I am seriously completely sickened by what Wenger has turned this into. It's like an Orwellian clusterfuck whereby you now have fans who on the one hand are happy to pay up to £1300 a season ticket - and then on the other, they are championing the signings of 'players' like Bobby Zamora (Spuds reject), Yossi Benayoun (Chelski reject), Thierry Henry (busted flush, main career over) and some (a minority I agree here) have even mentioned Wayne Bridge as a credible alternative.
That makes us sound like a desperate Championship level club scraping to stay in the PL whilst getting the dregs that the big clubs don't want. Hilarious.
If Henry comes back, he will deliver the root sum of fuck all. Saying that 'he's better than Chamakh' is no sort of defence. Because even a donkey that has been the victim of a gang-rape is a better alternative than Park or Chamakh!!!
P-a-t-h-e-t-i-c.

I felt Henry come back as a bad move but then I realised it might actually be something positive financially by selling thousands of new made Henry jerseys. Imagine all the Asian fan base rushing into the stores.

Class Is Permanent - Sadly fitness and pace are not. I still think TH14 finally went along with the move to the barcawhores is because he was about to get crucified in the press over the state of his marriage etc...well let's be fair we all know the brit press love to vilify and crucify any (foreign) player - They're bad enough with british players.
As I say Class IS Permanent - and TH14 has it in spades...first touch, vision, positioning, ability to read a game, pick a pass etc - But just a few months ago when he was visiting Arsenal he did an interview and when asked if he would ever return - he said who knows what the future holds, you can never tell, maybe in some capacity other than a player - as the pace of the prem would be too quick for me now..... - also would he upset the rhythm we now have going for us as a team, and would the younger, inexperienced players be afraid Not to pass to him and do things his way
I love the guy - he is a True Legend and my 2nd favourite Arsenal player of all time, but I see this as wenger doing another quick and cheap fix...Rather than go out and BUY a young, 1st class striker ... and Thierry being a genuine Bonafide Gooner - who of us would say no in his position to pull on the old Red & white again

The fact that Arsenal currently have no conventional full-backs to call upon surely didn't help matters much in this game, as, once Stephen Fletcher's close-range header flummoxed and wrong-footed Wojciech Szczesny, Mick McCarthy's merry men were under orders to shut up the proverbial shop and get all 11 men behind the ball. (To be completely fair to young Szczesny, I would have to comment that Fletcher was played onside by a haphazard Arsenal defensive line.)
Would our regular full-backs, who are more used to working in wide areas, overlapping and providing width to the Arsenal attack, have helped unlock the resolute Wolverhampton defence and been more useful as auxiliary wingers? I believe so, but, nevertheless, Thomas Vermaelen tried manfully and impressed me while playing out of position.
Johann Djourou, on the other hand, hasn't even got the hang of playing centre-half properly yet, so playing him as a right-back seems ridiculous to me. We can only assume that Wenger rates Coquelin and Frimpong as worse options as emergency full-backs but I fail to see how they could have done any worse than the gormless-looking idiot that offers nothing going forward and constantly makes Swiss cheese out of our otherwise-improving defensive unit. On more than one occasion, Djourou's panic-stricken passes played our switching wide-men, Benayoun and Gervinho, into trouble and poor Johann looked more like a fish out of water than a ten-foot marlin flapping around on the deck of some huge Red and White fishing vessel. Until Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs and Santos return, Arsène is going to have to take a punt on either Coquelin or Frimpong as emergency right-back because this is not the first time that the hapless Djourou has put in a woeful display in that position.
Arsène's other notable inclusion was that of Thomas Rosicky, who played some lovely passes at times, but, sadly, looks as though he has lost all of his pace and lacks confidence in front of goal. I love Thomas Rosicky, but playing him alongside Mikel Arteta meant that we had two technically-strong playmakers in the central areas but who both lack pace and are not quite able to provide the late runs into the box that quite often can settle this type of contest.
I'm not for one minute suggesting that Ramsey didn't need a rest, because he quite obviously was in dire need of some, after averaging the joint-furthest distance covered per game this season (7.2 miles) of any Premiership player. What I am suggesting is that Oxlade-Chamberlain could have provided the extra attacking threat in a central area that could have opened up the Wanderers’ dogged defence, that is if we are now working under the assumption that the lacklustre displays of Arshavin and Chamakh can only be cured by the short sharp shock and embarrassment of falling behind a very talented teenager in the Arsenal pecking order.
We could try and pluck an excuse out of the ether for this poor result, but that would be both silly and pointless because, in the end these are the types of games you positively HAVE TO win at home if you are going to make the top four come the month of May. We can't even blame the Ref for this one, despite the penalty-appeal from which he cruelly averted his gaze because, if you cannot break down ten-man Wolverhampton Wanderers at home unaided, you have serious problems. It's just such a shame that we don't have some money in the bank for some new signings in January or a billionaire shareholder (or two) to help push us on to the top-four finish that we'll require to retain the services of Robin van Persie. Oh... Sorry... What's that? We do???
A few more frustrating results like this and Kroenke might be able to hear the chants of "Spend some f***ing money" from the Grove all the way across the Atlantic come January, and I'm sure that the Gooner and OnlineGooner can provide the data that proves just which players that the fans would like to see in an Arsenal shirt come Deadline Day: Baines, Gourcouff, Pato, Demba Ba, Soldado, Van der Weil, Hazard, Götze, M'vila, Podolski and Vertonghen. Anyone else I missed, fellow Gooners? Happy New Year, and let's hope we can fare better against QPR with the possibility of Walcott and Ramsey returning and the unlikely prospect that Djourou will play at right-back again!

Mommy has been remembered quite a few times in the comments section below, so here's a shout out to Sairax...hope she's enjoying whatever she's doing and is being an ardent fan of the Arsenal. Hope she can do a guest blog/Q&A here sometime!!

Podolski is not inconsistent at club level...don'st be ignorant martin. Watch the bundesliga and you will see. He has 14 goals in 16 games, for KOLN who are 10th in the bundesliga. 

He scored 43 goals in 91 games for Germany and as far as I remember he always performed in international competitions so i say take him!

Podolski's goals for his club:

2010-2011: 14
2009-2010: 3
2008-2009: 9
2007-2008: 10
2006-2007: 7
2005-2006: 12

I fail to see how calling a striker who just a few years ago managed to only score 3 goals in 31 appearances for his club "inconsistent" qualifies as "ignorant."

Arsenal brings back Henry, and we bring back the Martin.  Only difference is, the Martin is still at the top of his game.

Podolski's 14 goals have Koln in 4th, actually. 

I think he was referring to every year before this year. He's never really been consistent until this season.

and last season, he was also good last season. 

14 goals in 34 games is decent for a striker, but not what I would consider top class, compared to his 14 goals to 18 apps this year.

14 goals for Monchengladbach last season was excellent. They were really quite poor. 

Thanks so much for treating my views with anything approaching relevance and letting me come back and do this.

Also, not only did I buy the Sagna jersey this year, but the two other options I was seriously considering were Wilshere and Gibbs. So the curse is now spreading to any player I even consider....

And just to be clear, isn't this the third season in a row that your shirt curse has struck? 

Yep, debatably 4.

Sagna this season -- broken leg
Vermaelen last season -- missed almost entire season with achilles
Song the season before that -- only played one match after April 3 with injury
Clichy the season before that -- missed almost all of April and May with injury

If you ever, ever buy an RvP shirt I am flying to whatever racist hick town you live in and hunting you down. 

This comment made me laugh.  I'm sure you would say the same words about my town too, huh?

will this also work on other team players?? if yes, i have a list :D

So what did you do to Abou Diaby exactly?

He has a full set of Diaby jammy-jams.

Yep, they even have little footies on them, although one of the footies keeps tearing.

Sky Sports reporting that the King will re-sign for 2 months, within 48 hours.
This will be an interesting January.

I can understand recruiting old glories like Campbell or Lehman to bring experience and confidence in defense but bringing an old legendary striker now seems weird. Maybe Henry will the 12th man as a cheerleader something we deeply miss at the Emirates

I am actually very wrong it's a marketing move trying to sell thousands of Henry Jerseys with Martin probably getting one. Quite similar to Beckam at PSG

Already got one, so we're presumably safe on that count.

I also heard we offered pires, bergkamp, and Ljungberg 2 months loans in hopes for a FA cup trophy   

Eric Cantona?

Surprise, surprise.  Wenger goes the cheap route again.  I'm stunned.

Here's what I'd do: Ship Walcott, Arshavin, Chamakh, Gibbs. Sign Podolski, Gotze and a left back to compete with Santos. Send Frimpong out on loan.

You must be out of your mind. Ship Walcott and Gibbs? Walcott is just starting to really shine. He's a fantastic player and a constant threat. Gibbs has had injury problems, but if he can stay fit, I'm sure he'll come good. Just look at the RVP situation. I bet you're glad we stuck with him even though fans have been calling to sell him for years.

If Gibbs can stay fit... that's an optimistic phrase. I'm guessing he retires at 28. 

As was "if RVP can stay fit" a couple years ago. Look at him now.

thats you being a fan right?

It sounds good except for the shipping Walcott part.  But I'm one of the bigger Walcott fans around here, so I'll admit my bias there.

Looks like Henry is coming back. I look forward to it as long as we still buy the other attacking player we desperately need. I agree with you on Podolski. Seems to have temperament issues, but is definitely a good player. If your going for a German, I think we should get Reus for 'Gladbach instead. Younger and more promising. 

I like Martin and Sairax as much as anyone, but this whole mommy and daddy thing is just weird. Seriously. Stop it.

I wish I could 'like' this more than once

Some people on Twitter actually thought we were married, and thought there had been some sort of big personal drama when we started separate Twitter accounts....

well the mommy and daddy thing isnt weird if you read all the jokes and hwere it came from. If not of course it sounds weird. (I think it was only one post and comments and then nobody talked about it anymore until they had an argument, and then it went on and on,
As per young and promising, I would prefer already established and experienced, not as Titi but somehwere in between, just for the sake of one trophy this season (yep, I am still dreaming...)

It's still weird.

If you want to blame someone for the mommy and daddy thing, I'm pretty certain I invented it.  But then again, I still think it's funny.

yeah...its funny :)

Hello  daddy!
Nice piede, good to see the Martin around.
Accurate answers to specific questions.
I still dream a little though...

When is mommy coming around? :)

The reason why Spurs are ahead of us is simply because Redknapp has built a very competitive team with top quality players and good bench players whereas Wenger continues to buy unknown young talents and average confirmed players and at the same time selling our best players. If you look at the rosters on paper there's no argument which side is better. I can see them beating us at the Emirates and it's very optimistic to think that we'll finish above them at the end of the season.

The fact that we are so angry when an "unknown young talent" turns out to be nothing is testament to Wenger's talent as a scout. You don't really think AOC will amount to nothing at all, do you? Also, I hardly think Benayoun, Mertesacker and Arteta fall into that category. I do agree though that it was brave of Redknapp to keep Modric.. although in the end I think he will just leave Spurs, and we made the right decision to offload Cesc before he became worthless to Barcelona and totally demotivated.

I still have a bitter taste in my mouth when the so-called young talents of AOC, Jenkinson, Traore, Coquelin are hammered 2-8 by ManU. It's always the Wenger lab experiment lottery and I am not convinced by Fripomg or Miguel either. When you compare to ManU young talents Smalling, Jones, Gibson, Cleverly, Hernandez, Wellbeck and so on  the gap is abyssmal

To an extent, this comes down to budgets as well.  Besides AOC, those other guys were either developed from youth or bought super cheaply (Jenkinson, for instance).  With Man Utd, a few of those guys are quite young, but also cost a ton of money (Jones, De Gea, Smalling, etc.).  It shouldn't be a shock that some of those guys are doing well, considering how much Man Utd paid for them to start with.

Bale is a superb talent and Modric is very good, but I think you are wrong about their squad being better. Our youth system is by far the best in the league and is probably up there with Barcelona's, and I don't think Spurs have the depth we have when our squads are fully fit; you can't blame Wenger for squad injuries or general bad luck (Santos was not meant to play at Olympiakos; it was a necessary last-minute change in plans). Sagna, Verm, Kos, and Santos together are one of the league's best back fours, and IMO is right up there with Utd's. Don't think Spurs' defence can say that.. our midfield is also better, which I know is a controversial thing to say. I do think Arteta is as good as Modric even if older, and that Wilshere is a much better talent now and in the long run. Ramsey is always surprising and is doing fantastic in his first season back from injury. A good a talent as the other Welshman. Up front, I don't think there is any question about which squad is in a better position. Walcott for all is imperfections is a great winger that cannot fail to improve at just 22, and Gervinho was a good buy who's finishing touch will come in time. Benayoun has proven he can substitute in that position when Gerv leaves for Africa. Only in the striker position are we truly lacking a substitute; in the form van Persie is in, would they even get playing time? That seems to me why Park has not played much, not because he has not proven anything to Wenger in training.. any manager'd want to use a player with a history of injury in brilliant form while possible, especially at this vital point. Perhaps Park will prove a good substitute, as he's already grabbed a goal in all of his 2 matches... Don't see how you can argue Spurs have the better squad, let alone think there's "no argument" about it.

OK let me give you my view. I agree that on defense Arsenal fitted back four is better but not by much since Spurs have as much quality and depth in the centre position with King, Gallas, Dawson and Kaboul. And I am still not convinced about Mert with his pace and physical strengh against quick strikers like Hernandez or strong ones like Drogba.
Spurs weakness is at full back where Assou-Ekoto is awful at defending but so is Santos. At right back Sagna is better I guess ...
About midfield I would say Spurs is better they have probably the best player in the PL in that position with Modric and combined with Van der Vaart in terms of talent and skills no way Arteta/Ramsey combined with Wilshere are at par. In the holding pos Scott Parker is still better than Song at present in terms of composure but they are even defensively and workrate.
In wingers Bale destroys Gerv anytime and Lennon is still above Walcott even though he improved his delivery and decisions this season.
As striker Arsenal has the best in the PL with RVP but on a off-day like last game there's no relaible scorer on the bench whereas in Spurs they have Adeb, Pavlyu, Defoe ... I think it's clear.
Now looking more closely on depth Spurs have plenty of quality in Huddlestone, Kranjcar, Piennaar, Dos Santos and a few others ... In Arsenal we have Gibbs, Arsh, Cham, well in fact nothing really exciting so overall imo Spurs have a better squad.

 the argument that parker is better than song is wrong must be kidding right? you've got to be joking. disclaimer i dont give a shit about spurs hence only watch them when they play us.

Song will become better than Parker with experience and will learn to balance between offense and defense but for now he's somretimes too wasteful in possession or make strange decisions like wtf are doing u dribbling close to our surface or keeping the ball when there are 3 available players around him or make horrible passes (remember the beg of the game against Spurs and Adeb?). On offendsive situations I admit he:s a real threat.

Oh, whoops, I thought you said "Parker will be better than Song." Nevermind.

You know that Parker is 7 years Song's senior, right? He's already 31 or thereabouts. He's been playing great for Spuds but I can't see him getting so good in the next couple of years that Song will never get better than Parker in the remaining 8-10 years of Song's career. Anyway, Ferguson seems to agree with you about Spuds' quality this year.

You make a point, but Mert is not in the starting XI when the squad is fully healthy, and I'll have to disagree about Parker/Song and about Lennon/Walcott. I think Gerv might be as effective as Bale eventually but Bale is Spurs' star player; it's like comparing RvP to Ade. Midfield quality imo is up for debate. Basically, I'm with Darren on this one. And, on the topic of youth development, I do in fact think our youth player are as good as United's. The famous hammering at OT was pretty unlucky, and you have to remember that was right after the departure of our longtime captain, the end of the Nasri saga, in the midst of a defensive crisis, etc, etc, so it's no surprise there was so little team confidence that day. I think our youth team proved their real worth at Emirates in the CC against MC, where they really held their own and could've/should've won. Plus, all these youth players have off days, given their lack of experience. Smalling was abysmal at Basel, and I don't rate Gibson too highly. You must remember Utd fielded a mix of youth and experience similar to our 8-2 squad at Basel, arguably the worst team in the CL, and managed to lose. And they were in the middle of no confidence crisis. Smalling was involved in both goals, but I'm not going to write him off at this stage in his career.

I would take Santos over Essou-Ekoto everyday of the week.

Scott Parker is NOT better than Song. Song is just as good defender and offers an infinite amount more going forward than Parker.

Lennon better than Theo? Extremely debatable, but there is an argument. Martin would disagree strongly.

RvP better than Ade. Pav is useless, ask any Sp*r fan, and Defoe is better thank MC.

The only place Spurs are clearly better is in the midfield with Modric, and Bale is a good winger. VdV is talented, but a terrible tactical player so depending where you play him he is an asset or a liability.

This whole notion that Sp*rs have a better squad is abit of a myth, aided by Arsenal's poor start to the season, and a poor display at WHL when just put together earlier this season.

Sure, you can make the argument they have a better squad, but I can just as easily argue for the Arsenal squad. In reality, there is very little to choose from. They are both squads filled with talent, but holes remain for each club.

I guess the reason that Patoux's analysis was interesting to me was not that I agreed at all positions, but that it at least made me stop and think.  Traditionally, we've thought that the gap in class wasn't particularly close.  Now we have to actually wonder if we have the better team. 

I think you make a good argument, and frankly, it's a bit troubling.

That's why I am on the first row of the Homey train. Arsenal is consistently playing the CL for the last decade but yet the investment in terms of quality is IMO below Spurs right now. But on a positive we can pretend that our squad is slightly better if we consider inclusion of a healthy Diaby and reborn Arshavin

Why are idiots allowed to post?

See below. He makes a pretty good argument, parts of which I agree with. 

Right calling people idiots without any argument is very clever indeed

It's in the equal rights clause

Homey, isn't there any fullback in arsenal youth system we can call upon? I remember hoyte from years ago, even if wasn't any good, he put in some serviceable playing time, am just worried about 2 fullback positions. Also any insight on why arsene is not buying french plays when they're young and cheap like he once did with e.g. clichy, seems there are a lot of good young players coming out from france.

There is still Daniel Boateng in the reserves. Big guy, but mistake prone from what I've read.
As for Hoyte, he has been loaned out 3 or 4 times to League One and lower, and barely played. Been struggling with injuries lately and word is that Arsenal are just allowing his contract to run out.

There are others who are much better experts on our youth system, or you can try Bird's site on Arsenal Youth.  He did a Q&A for us a while back.  I would think that Yennaris might be the best fullback project in the system, but I'm open to being corrected on that point.

Yennaris actually prefers the CDM spot like Coquelin unfortunately.

Bird's site is excellent. If there were any fullbacks good enough to start for the first team they would get a chance. Yennaris and Angha (both capable youth fullbacks) have trained with the first team many times so I would trust AW's judgement. I'd rather have a PL CB a little uncomfortable out of position than an untested youth team kid getting roasted.

Angha was meant to play in Greece but didn't have the proper registration, which is why Santos played. 

Agreed, but there is a big difference between playing in a meaningless CL match to gain experience and being relied on in vital PL matches.

Would have been a great chance to see him in a competitive match. Remember, Olympiacos still had something to play for.

Competitive match, yes. The game was still meaningless for Arsenal, so there was no pressure on the players to perform other than to show AW their talent. 

There's a big difference between "go out there and show me what you can do" and "we have to win this match".

Thanks guys. But they guy above that says parker is better than song must be kidding right? He's got to be joking. 
disclaimer i dont give a shit about spurs hence only watch them when they play us.

Please get Squillaci's shirt next!

If common sense is to prevail, Squizz won't be here comes next season.

amen to that

And here I was thinking that Martin had joined the Spuds offside :P :P
Great to hear from "daddy" after so many days!! Also, if the jersey and injuries theory is true then I wonder how many Diaby and Gibbs jerseys does Martin own?