Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

still surprised a bit that people think only have coquelin is the answer. he played Jan to May and that's it. Surely we need someone else there. The other thing we ended the season well, but we end most seasons well when we are out of the CL. So was Coq driving the improved performances or was it our usual end of season run. Coq did do a good job but I don't think we should be getting carried away about him being the best DM in the league.

I don't expect us to sign any more than 2 more players and then I really only expect us to sign one more and probably knowing Wenger it will be a mini-attacker type.

£6m bid on the table for Joel Campbell from Sociedad - if that's accepted, then that'll be Campbell and Podolski sold, Diaby released, and Sanogo and Jenks out on loan (so far)... regardless of the ins, it does at least look like we're having a damn good clear-out!

I suppose it's too much to hope that we're actually making room for something...

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Is that what strengthening a squad is about -"finding a miraculous player who wins you everything"? And are we seriously using the FA Cup as a measure of our capability to compete with the top teams in Europe? And isn't it taken for granted the squad moves forward together? Is this automatically the opportunity cost of dipping into the transfer market?

If the manager isn't throwing a smokescreen here then it sounds like our summer is done and dusted. In which case, it will be an intersting battle with Utd for 3rd. But not an inspiring one.

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Typical Wenger this, the team have a good run at the end of the season and he thinks they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and are about to dominate football for the foreseeable future.

He never learns unfortunately, else he would have had targets and maybe signed them by now. Hisstubborness is the main reason we're also rans these days.

Yes of course people will say when does he ever give anything away, the question should be when does he actually do enough to address the problem areas by signing adequate players.

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Originally Posted by Dein-machine

Don't you think he's been there long enough & is paid well enough to already know our weak areas prior to pre-season training. You & I both now them & we're not paid £8 mill a year to address it.

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The weak area is up front for sure. But I think we have possibly internal solutions. We can give Theo a run up front for starters and see how he fairs. Wenger should have given Theo a run last season ages ago instead of leaving him on the bench for so long. Also, he could try Sanchez or Welbeck. Some preseason games may sort out the movememt problems we had with them when tried last season.

I can kinda understand the hold up with the striker situation this year. But we really should have signed someone 3 or 4 windows ago.

We've got Alex Iwobi, we'll be fine. He'll bury those Singaporeans for shizure.

Reckon he might give Akpom a shot.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

The weak area is up front for sure. But I think we have possibly internal solutions. We can give Theo a run up front for starters and see how he fairs. Wenger should have given Theo a run last season ages ago instead of leaving him on the bench for so long. Also, he could try Sanchez or Welbeck. Some preseason games may sort out the movememt problems we had with them when tried last season.

I can kinda understand the hold up with the striker situation this year. But we really should have signed someone 3 or 4 windows ago.

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Agree with this - but forgetting our C.L. opposition for the moment ( the forward options for Barca & Madrid are beyond our means ), we have to compete with the likes of City & Chelsea who don't go into a new season wondering who will be their main striker or wondering if they can adapt a winger to become the main striker. Wenger will do this, in the hope that Theo hits the ground running or that Giroud amazingly becomes the best finisher in world football.
Everyone has seen enough of Theo & Giroud to know they are not lethal enough infront of goal & they never will be - everyone bar our manager.

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Originally Posted by Dein-machine

Agree with this - but forgetting our C.L. opposition for the moment ( the forward options for Barca & Madrid are beyond our means ), we have to compete with the likes of City & Chelsea who don't go into a new season wondering who will be their main striker or wondering if they can adapt a winger to become the main striker. Wenger will do this, in the hope that Theo hits the ground running or that Giroud amazingly becomes the best finisher in world football.
Everyone has seen enough of Theo & Giroud to know they are not lethal enough infront of goal & they never will be - everyone bar our manager.

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That's where we differ. I've always said Theo could be a dangerous striker and that's where he should be starting games. He's more likely to score a hat trick and keep up a relentless attack compared to Giroud. But yes, we shouldn't be going into the season in this position. Not at all. But i'd be even more pissed if Wenger decides to start the season with Giroud upfront and go with the tried and tested.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

That's where we differ. I've always said Theo could be a dangerous striker and that's where he should be starting games. He's more likely to score a hat trick and keep up a relentless attack compared to Giroud. But yes, we shouldn't be going into the season in this position. Not at all. But i'd be even more pissed if Wenger decides to start the season with Giroud upfront and go with the tried and tested.

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Yes we do differ - Arsenal football club shouldn't be looking to play a striker who "could" be dangerous. If we are to compete we have to have a striker who is dangerous & able to score 30+ goals a year. Theo is not composed enough infront of goal & physically he is a chocolate teapot. Giroud should be at Stoke. Its normally a fair shout to say that whoever scores the most goals wins the league. With this in mind we can't have "could be good" players in such key positions on the pitch.

I suppose an encouraging thought is that, even though we only finished 2 goals shy of Chelsea's total last year, there's every reason to expect more goals out of this current group of midfielders and attackers? Sanchez, Giroud and Cazorla (from his deeper role) all weighed in with the kind of numbers that I would have hoped/expected from them, but we missed out on a lot of goals through Walcott's absence, and I don't see why we shouldn't be looking at guys like Welbeck(8), Wilshere(2), Ozil(5) and Oxlade-Chamberlain(3) to be doubling (or getting close to doubling) their season-totals next time around? Even Ramsey was down on his previous season's contribution (10 in 41 down from 16 in 34).

Obviously the main concern with this is keeping everyone fit enough to deliver...