What do our transfers tell us about our club/manager?

[IBK]

Top, top posts Big Nev and LDG.

1. I agree 100% that our transfer signings still amount to hedging our bets re a CL place, and that January has been held in reserve in case we haven't quite done enough to get there. Great point.

2. LDG has picked up on a crucial point. The club has been crying out for confidence that was leeched out massively as a result of last season's embarrassing collapse, and brought self-evidently to rock bottom with the Fabregas and Nasri departures. Whatever the merit of our signings, the manner in which they have happened has very seriously reduced the confidence boost that could have resulted from a decisive and sure-footed transfer season. And it remains to be seen whether in this regard it is too little, too late.

And for fans - we still feel rather like muppets who have been taken for granted by our club.

[Niall_Quinn]

And for fans - we still feel rather like muppets who have been taken for granted by our club.

So we're normal fans then?

[IBK]

So we're normal fans then?

Not so sure - because I don't think any other club has so obviously penny pinched out of principle when it has the cash....and therefore cut off its nose to spite its face. That's why we look so stupid.

[Niall_Quinn]

Not so sure - because I don't think any other club has so obviously penny pinched out of principle when it has the cash....and therefore cut off its nose to spite its face. That's why we look so stupid.

That's the very essence of football now isn't it? Fans who are loyal to a brand (to the exclusion of all other brands) being exploited for as much as possible? And that's the problem because if a corporation wasn't doing that, it wouldn't be fulfilling its reason for being. Which is why business and football really don't mix on an ideological level. It's a marriage of convenience at best, albeit abusive on one side. It's weird in a way because the owners who dump their cash in seemingly without any requirement of a return (like Abramovich) are shunned and accused of destroying the sport. They are accused of running bad businesses whilst the positive effects on the football team itself are ridiculed as being phoney. I'm not saying what they do is right either, it's just funny to listen to people who claim they love the game giving entirely business based reasons why the game must play second fiddle. We wanted a big name signing this transfer window, something handed back after years of penny-pinching and paying homage to the bottom line. They wouldn't do it, not even on the heels of a terrible season and the worst hiding ever dished out in the history of the PL (Ipswich does not count, this was Arsenal shipping 8). Most other clubs would probably play it the same way don't you think? It would only be the "financial dopers" who allowed that bit of fantasy.

[bignev]

I don't have confidence in the team at the moment.

If we get some wins in the next few games then that will change but at the moment too much negative stuff has happened for me to forget so easily. A few decent signings still hasn't convinced me we're good enough.

[Niall_Quinn]

If we can't get a win at home against Swansea we might as well pack it in. We have to view that as the season re-started and take it from there. The players coming in don't carry any of the baggage we're lugging around from the last few seasons so that's got to help with confidence levels.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Pretty much.

The transfers are a result of us panic buying.

Wenger hasn't learned anything.

Of course he has, Its not like he panic bought a bunch of kids is it. he got the exprience we all wanted. I agree its panic buying and should have been sorted out ages ago. but it was not.

Bui i think AW has learned something Project youth has failed.

[Coney]

Very unWenger like signings. It does suggest panic buying particularly after what happened last Sunday. It's unheard of to buy this many players in 24 hours. It's a shame it's taken a shocking start to the season for the club to realise what every man and his dog already knew about how poor the squad was.

Anyway, slate wiped clean for the time being, let's see what these guys can do!

Well, I was hoping for some unWenger-like signings this transfer window. It is nice to have big fancy names but I don't think that was our problem over the last couple of seasons. A lot of the first team players have, in some matches, shown that they are capable of producing top class football and the skills of many of them are top notch..... when they can be arsed... when they are on form. What I wanted to see is players on the pitch around them to kick their asses when they need kicking if their heads go down. These experienced players, while not necessarily the greatest in their positions, are nevertheless good players and ones who are likely to keep the others moving.

If that means unWenger-like players, then that is a good thing and is what I had hoped they (Gazidis and Wenger) meant at the end of the season when they indicated a change of approach.

I am disappointed that we did not at least get the FB and CB sorted earlier because allthough there was uncertainty over Nasri and Cesc (fuck you, Barca) so he might have been justified in hedging in the midfield area, Wenger should have got them in earlier, so that at the start of this season, we had a defence who had a months or so to practice in before we had to face the likes of Liverpool and manu. Had that happened, while we might still have lost at OT, it would perhaps have been by 1 or 2 goals and in the case of the Liverpool match, we would probably have had at least a point and maybe more.

So while the transfers are not megadeals, I am not too unhappy with what we have got. If they perform, then it might well be enough for us to make a decent fist of the season, getting some silver.

One thing I did notice that does please me a great deal is that Arteta took a pay cut to come here. At 29, he sees this as his last chance to get something to put on his mantlepiece, so I am expected a massive effort from him during the season. Also, I liked Wenger's reason for Benayoun - if he is right, then we might well not miss Cesc as much as some think.....

Yossi Benayoun
"I think he's a very experienced, accomplished and intelligent midfielder and will bring a lot to the Arsenal midfield. He's played at a high level for a number of years and quite a few people will be sad to see him go from Chelsea, even if it is only on loan.

"He was probably Chelsea's best performing midfielder during pre-season, and to be honest since he came from Liverpool he has been extremely unlucky with injuries. Hopefully this will be the good fresh start he needs.

"I think versatility is one of the things you get with him. His big strength when he was at Liverpool was finding the ball to thread through to pick out one of the strikers, and when he's played for Chelsea he has been very good at doing that.

"He just never found that understanding he had with Torres at Liverpool, and at Chelsea he has not had much chance to do it. He should be very good at playing balls to the likes of Walcott. I think he is also the type of player that Arshavin would really benefit from.

[Champagne Charlie]

I said something similar in another thread but it's probably more applicable here:

For me this transfer window, and particularly the last few days, has highlighted what I’ve thought to be the case for a while; that the club are only ever willing to spend big money when finishing outside of the top four is a real possibility. Whether that’s down to AW or the board I don’t know, probably a bit of both, but it seems that the club sees finishing in the top four as it’s only priority. Challenging for any cups or the league along the way would just be an added bonus.

If we’re scrapping about in 5th or 6th place come January I fully expect us to go out and spend the remaining £20 million odd we’ve made on net transfers this summer on some top quality players. Whereas if we’re sitting 2nd and looking like we could mount a title challenge (far fetched I know!) then there’s no way in hell that we’ll add anyone of note to the squad to help us push for trophies.

But on the plus side, it’s good to see us moving away from just buying young players with potential and actually adding some experience and leadership in the areas we really need it.

[Power n Glory]

Real happy to see that we've signed players and they're good players. I don't have a problem with any of them.

I've got a problem with the timing. If it wasn't for the Sunday Massacre, would we have made so many signings? I doubt it. That is what bothers me.

Also, I hope Wenger has finally woken up and these signings were his idea. I hope he wasn't pressured and forced to sign players otherwise he hasn't learned his lesson.

It also annoys me to hear that Arteta had to take a pay cut to join us. We really are tight buggers. It's his last major move and knowing our over 30s policy, it will probably be his last major contract. At least match his wages or give him a little top up. I know it's business and all, but damn!