if AW spends big and we get a torres, what happens?

We decided when to sell Henry and Vieria but let's not pretend that there wasn't something wrong before they left. If Cesc left this season and made a statement saying he wanted to leave because Silent Stan now owns the club now, things aren't the same and he just broke up with his girlfriend so he wants to go back to Spain, would you believe that rubbish? If the club tried to spin it that we sold him because he was constantly getting injured, would you believe that?

Pay no attention to the PR statements. Paddy didn't want to leave things sour with the Arsenal fans. He was flirting with Real Madrid for seasons, told Cashley to demand higher wages and wasn't all that happy in his final days. He wanted a move to Real Madrid, not Juve. Also, how can forget the day Henry was dropped for the Spurs game and came out saying we should sign SWP? The statements from the club and players are just for show. Denilson made a statement about wanting leave last week. Anyone here really think he's winner and has decided to leave because he wants silverware? We all know he's been frozen out of the team and the writing on wall as our season was falling apart. Speculation about him being sold was all over the papers and I'm pretty sure he's read them and decided to jump before being pushed. It's like handing in your resignation before getting fired. You get to leave with some dignity at least.

Back to the original topic. If Wenger were to sign a top quality striker like Torres and play him as a winger, then yes, I will blame him. I think everyone has realised that the problem goes way beyond spending money. We shouldn't need a player worth £50m to beat teams like Birmingham!

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

We shouldn't need a player worth £50m to beat teams like Birmingham!

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And that, my fellow gwebbers, is the crust of the mass 'hysteria'.

Frankly, if he were to buy a Torres I guess the reasons would be that he was the wrong type of Torres. It'd leave the guys who continually bitch about having to pay top prices but never getting any big signings without a leg to stand on but they'd move onto something else cos by that point it'll be obvious that not buying a Torres wasn't the issue, as I and pretty much everybody around here realises.

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Originally Posted by StamfordBrdige

Torres did not fail.

The Torres thing is symptomatic of our crappy season. Our midfield was bone awful and had as much creativity as a vacuum. Torres is a type of striker who thrives on passes played in behind the defence that he can run onto. What he got instead was team-mates mistaking him for Drogba which is most perplexing. If the team actually play in a manner which utilises his abilities properly then he will kick ass.

I fully expect Torres to score tons of goals (assuming he's not perma-injured) next season providing we realise he's not Drogba MK2.

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He failed at Liverpool and he failed at Chelsea. In fact Liverpool seemed to thrive after he left.

Depends on what you mean by fail.

He scored lots of goals at Liverpool but won f all.

Shite at Chelsea though agreed

If a Torres is not the only one to arrive, I suppose it´d be for good of course.

Then id be delighted

I distinctly remember watching Sky Sports News the day Henry announced he would be leaving Arsenal. He was on tour in Asia for one of his sponsors and he stated Wenger leaving the club was why he was leaving. Shortly afterwards he gave other reasons.

Did a quick Google and couldn't find the video but I'm 90% sure this is what happened.

Has anyone every worked for a company with a high turnover of staff and every so often there is some sort of leaving party in the office? Usually, in places I've worked, the person whose leaving gives a speech. I've never once heard someone stand up and tell the cold hard truth about the company when they leave. You'll never hear how they hated their role, were underpaid, hate their boss, staff or whatever. In my experience, you get spin or out right lies. They've enjoyed working for the company, learned a lot, will miss everyone....some of that is true. But it's not the whole truth.

Think of Henry's speech in that way.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Has anyone every worked for a company with a high turnover of staff and every so often there is some sort of leaving party in the office? Usually, in places I've worked, the person whose leaving gives a speech. I've never once heard someone stand up and tell the cold hard truth about the company when they leave. You'll never hear how they hated their role, were underpaid, hate their boss, staff or whatever. In my experience, you get spin or out right lies. They've enjoyed working for the company, learned a lot, will miss everyone....some of that is true. But it's not the whole truth.

Think of Henry's speech in that way.

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Why burn bridges like that

I think my boss is an alcoholic cunt, but if I ever left the company I'd want him on my side within our industry

Exactly. Henry wants to come back to Arsenal one day, he loves London, loves the fans...it would be a mistake to come out and say he's leaving because the club lacks ambition and he doesn't believe we can win silverware again.

I was just noting it as what I believed to be the correct course of events as opposed to what was previously posted.

What about the Benzema talk? And Falcao? I´d become gay if both arrived. It sounds impossible. :(

Don't think there's any chance of us getting Benzema, I also highly doubt he's worth anything upwards of 20M (even in this market) and would struggle if he came to this league.

I'd like to see Falcao here though, he's pretty fucking good. We'd need someone that could cross to take advantage of his great heading ability though, something we don't have.

If we were looking at someone cheaper, Barrios from Dortmund could be a good bet, he's great on FM done reasonably well for Dortmund the last two years and could be the poacher we need.

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Originally Posted by Boss

I'd like to see Falcao here though, he's pretty fucking good. We'd need someone that could cross to take advantage of his great heading ability though, something we don't have.

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I suppose that the question here is whether the inability to cross is a consequence of not having someone in the middle capable of taking advantage of a cross?

It's about the quality of the cross. Put David Beckham into our team and the strikers would anticipate a cross from deep and act accordingly. It becomes routine. Runs into the box, near post back post movement would become natural instinct. At the moment, you don't know what your going to get from our players.

Theo and RVP have formed a good partnership and they've come a long way. I remember all sorts of mix ups between the two in the early days. RVP's movement was chaotic and Theo just had his head down, after burners on and wouldn't know when to release the ball. Now, the two seem to know what they're doing and you hardly see them shouting at each other over a breakdown of communication. Theo's delivery is miles better and RVP knows where to go and where Theo's likely to give him ball. Before, he didn't have a clue when he'd release it. If you trust a player can deliver a certain ball, you'll make the run.

We need to work on our fullbacks. It's 50/50 with those guys. You just don't know if they'll cross or pass it short, if will be a good cross, or bad cross that sails right across the pitch or into the stands, if it will beat the first man...they're just not consistent and you can't develop a routine and pattern like that.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

It's about the quality of the cross. Put David Beckham into our team and the strikers would anticipate a cross from deep and act accordingly. It becomes routine. Runs into the box, near post back post movement would become natural instinct. At the moment, you don't know what your going to get from our players.

Theo and RVP have formed a good partnership and they've come a long way. I remember all sorts of mix ups between the two in the early days. RVP's movement was chaotic and Theo just had his head down, after burners on and wouldn't know when to release the ball. Now, the two seem to know what they're doing and you hardly see them shouting at each other over a breakdown of communication. Theo's delivery is miles better and RVP knows where to go and where Theo's likely to give him ball. Before, he didn't have a clue when he'd release it. If you trust a player can deliver a certain ball, you'll make the run.

We need to work on our fullbacks. It's 50/50 with those guys. You just don't know if they'll cross or pass it short, if will be a good cross, or bad cross that sails right across the pitch or into the stands, if it will beat the first man...they're just not consistent and you can't develop a routine and pattern like that.

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:gp:

More about understanding than our forwards being shite in the air or the rest of the team being unable to cross, ofc for most of them that's still true but that's not the point.

We need another summer of 2001.

Ooh, for the summer of 2001 again :cloud9:

So close to winning the cup before the Scousers robbed us forced Wenger to go mad in the transfer market. In come Jeffers, Campbell, Inamoto, Richard Wright, Geo van Bronckhorst. Out, no-f***in one.

THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout.

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Originally Posted by Ernesto

We need another summer of 2001.

Ooh, for the summer of 2001 again :cloud9:

So close to winning the cup before the Scousers robbed us forced Wenger to go mad in the transfer market. In come Jeffers, Campbell, Inamoto, Richard Wright, Geo van Bronckhorst. Out, no-f***in one.

THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout.

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The problem with that list is that only Campbell was a real success; van Bronckhorst was okay, and the other three were bigger flops than Barcelona players with an opponent within 10 m.

Was going to say the same thing. But the new signings could have pushed the existing squad members to play harder to keep their first team status. It showed Wenger's intent. Mess about and you're spot is under threat.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Was going to say the same thing. But the new signings could have pushed the existing squad members to play harder to keep their first team status. It showed Wenger's intent. Mess about and you're spot is under threat.

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It will kill them, and we don't want that do we?

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We need to work on our fullbacks. It's 50/50 with those guys. You just don't know if they'll cross or pass it short, if will be a good cross, or bad cross that sails right across the pitch or into the stands, if it will beat the first man...they're just not consistent and you can't develop a routine and pattern like that.

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A bit unfair, the FBs have been extremely consistent with their crossing over the past season. Both have been beyond the pale diabolical.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

A bit unfair, the FBs have been extremely consistent with their crossing over the past season. Both have been beyond the pale diabolical.

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On a more serious note, your sig rocks.

Our crossing is pretty awful on the whole, clearly something else we don't put much focus on in training. The full backs can't cross for toffee, seems like they just take a swipe at the ball, hit and hope merchants tbh.

Tbf, Sagna hasn't been so bad this year and given the amount of players most teams have in the box at any given moment when playing us, a half decent cross can look awful as it clears the first 5 men but is nodded away by the 6th, Clichy though has had about half a dozen decent crosses in 3 years which is slightly worse than shite.

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Originally Posted by ItsMe

Our crossing is pretty awful on the whole, clearly something else we don't put much focus on in training. The full backs can't cross for toffee, seems like they just take a swipe at the ball, hit and hope merchants tbh.

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Whats the point of crossing in the box when none of our players are ever in the box.. everybody is hungry as a hyena outside the opposition box waiting to play pretty triangles