Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[fakeyank]

I really want us to sign Kalou

[rodders]

We will not progress until Arsene goes!!!

[Dein-machine]

If Wenger is indeed after a striker & we are now looking at an unknown, then it would suggest he wanted a striker pre-season. If he was under some misguided impression that Benzema would join us then there would be a reason for late bids for other strikers but if we've never been in for Benzema that excuse doesn't exist. Therefore, the question is - Why do we always leave things so long. He moans about the transfer window being open after the start of the season but this is when he does most of his business.
If he thinks this guy is better than what we have, why wasnt he signed during pre season - giving him time to get to know his team mates & be ready for season opener - its not as if any other top teams have been after him.
There's a reason why other top teams aren't after him. Its the same reason that other top teams weren't interested in Chamakh, Sonogo & Giroud when we bought them - simply not good enough. Welbeck couldn't even get in a struggling Utd side & yet we bought him to be our 30 goal a year dream machine that we've been missing.
Wenger is a total liability in the transfer market - its beyond a joke to not have improved the squad this summer & yet he carries on without a care in the world with a bunch of pussies on the board too scared to question him.

[Fist of Lehmann]

You can't quote me on this, but I think I've seen Kokorin play.

If I recall correctly, which I probably don't, he was a great big steaming sack of shit and decisively worse than anything we currently have (bar Sanogo).

Still, let's not write him off just yet. He might turn out to be above average.

[Niall_Quinn]

If Wenger is indeed after a striker & we are now looking at an unknown, then it would suggest he wanted a striker pre-season. If he was under some misguided impression that Benzema would join us then there would be a reason for late bids for other strikers but if we've never been in for Benzema that excuse doesn't exist. Therefore, the question is - Why do we always leave things so long. He moans about the transfer window being open after the start of the season but this is when he does most of his business.
If he thinks this guy is better than what we have, why wasnt he signed during pre season - giving him time to get to know his team mates & be ready for season opener - its not as if any other top teams have been after him.
There's a reason why other top teams aren't after him. Its the same reason that other top teams weren't interested in Chamakh, Sonogo & Giroud when we bought them - simply not good enough. Welbeck couldn't even get in a struggling Utd side & yet we bought him to be our 30 goal a year dream machine that we've been missing.
Wenger is a total liability in the transfer market - its beyond a joke to not have improved the squad this summer & yet he carries on without a care in the world with a bunch of pussies on the board too scared to question him.

He's just trying to make it to the close without spending, hence the haphazard and bound to fail approach. When top, top, top quality is under his nose he does nothing except say he would sign top, top, top quality if it was available. When results go to shit because he hasn't signed the top, top, top quality that was under his nose he goes on a panic spree and buys top, top, top quality like Santos, Park and Sanogo. He says one thing, does the opposite. It appears he didn't sign Ozil or Alexis for their ability to transform the team, but rather because they would be better bets to make his absolute bullshit vision of suckball work - the tippy tappy, eye of a gnat's cock, one hundred passes and lose it nonsense that hasn't worked, doesn't work and won't work. It's a complete fucking bore having to put up with his antics.

[Kano]

I think that's just a minor issue that papers over the cracks. You can point back to the 07/08 season and say it was down to being more cynical that lead that title run but we came close recently with the 12/13 season. Top of the table up until January and we could have won the league if he had signed a striker and looked after our players with better rotation and resting. It was clear we needed a striker in the summer, we fluffed our lines with Suarez and Higuain but could have rectified that problem in January but we didn't. We signed Kim Kallstrom. A player with a back injury that couldn't play and fill in for Ramsey who was crocked. And speaking of injuries, that's down to Wenger's poor man management. After crocking Ramsey, he goes on to crock Ozil and we slowly slip down the table and into 4th.

That wasn't the only season that we came close and fluffed our lines either. I can't remember which, but I think it was 09 or 10 where we were looking good, picked up injuries, didn't use the January window and then just went flat. It's these sort of decisions that have cost us when it looks like the team are in their groove but the manager does nothing to support it and keep the momentum going. Having tougher players in the squad would help but Kos turning his back on one or two shots isn't what's costing us week in week out. Giroud being soft isn't costing us either. It's the lack of quality in other areas that kills us because we could live with a less physical striker so long as they have the quality in other areas.

Wenger is just a problem. Even when our flawed tippy tappy approach is working and all the players push themselves to their peak he can't make the right decisions to maintain it.

This is another one of those where we'll keep circling each other and not reaching full agreement and in fairness, I can't be arsed to continue really. We agree about most things here.

So let's just be sensible and agree that you're wrong and you'll come to your sense in the end. Good man.

[Dein-machine]

He's just trying to make it to the close without spending, hence the haphazard and bound to fail approach. When top, top, top quality is under his nose he does nothing except say he would sign top, top, top quality if it was available. When results go to shit because he hasn't signed the top, top, top quality that was under his nose he goes on a panic spree and buys top, top, top quality like Santos, Park and Sanogo. He says one thing, does the opposite. It appears he didn't sign Ozil or Alexis for their ability to transform the team, but rather because they would be better bets to make his absolute bullshit vision of suckball work - the tippy tappy, eye of a gnat's cock, one hundred passes and lose it nonsense that hasn't worked, doesn't work and won't work. It's a complete fucking bore having to put up with his antics.

Either you & me ( & plenty of others on here ) are absolutely way-off the mark & seriously wrong about Wenger or Wenger & the board are seriously mugging us off. There is nothing inbetween.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

There is nothing inbetween.

That kind of remark is why even when you make insightful remarks I don't perhaps take you as seriously as I should

It's not that difficult to understand, we have a laisse faire board who don't want to interfere with the football side of the club and a manager who despite having more money to spend won't spend it. Dein has remarked upon Wenger and how indecisive he is at times, and when it comes to making money signings he'd rather do nothing than what he thinks might have been the wrong decision and often we end up with bargain basement people because it's less of a risk.
Is that a good way to run a football club by having a manager who is as worried about the clubs finances as those who are paid to have that responsibility? Absolutely not but the board are happy because as a business we are flourishing.
But there's no deliberate attempt to mug off the fans from Wenger it's just part of his personality....he is an oddball character. One that is too old to change his ways and one the club don't want to be rid of a) out of a sense of loyalty and b) because it means they'd have to actually give some thought as to who would replace him.
It's a house of complacency and if it's not broke don't fix it rather than contempt for fans

[Niall_Quinn]

That kind of remark is why even when you make insightful remarks I don't perhaps take you as seriously as I should

It's not that difficult to understand, we have a laisse faire board who don't want to interfere with the football side of the club and a manager who despite having more money to spend won't spend it. Dein has remarked upon Wenger and how indecisive he is at times, and when it comes to making money signings he'd rather do nothing than what he thinks might have been the wrong decision and often we end up with bargain basement people because it's less of a risk.
Is that a good way to run a football club by having a manager who is as worried about the clubs finances as those who are paid to have that responsibility? Absolutely not but the board are happy because as a business we are flourishing.
But there's no deliberate attempt to mug off the fans from Wenger it's just part of his personality....he is an oddball character. One that is too old to change his ways and one the club don't want to be rid of a) out of a sense of loyalty and b) because it means they'd have to actually give some thought as to who would replace him.
It's a house of complacency and if it's not broke don't fix it rather than contempt for fans

Doesn't that amount to contempt for the fans though. Milk them for every penny and then allow the personal interests of a minority to flourish while the majority has to sit there and put up with it? Pretty contemptuous. All told the fans have been, and many still are, ridiculously patient. We have bought into the stadium thing, why? Because we wanted to see the asset value and share price of the club rise? Fuck that! The whole stadium thing was so we could compete with the best. Now we get to season +2 after the money freeze was lifted, the old fuckers admit there's millions in the bank, we went into the season with ambitions to finally (fucking finally) mount a challenge but we still come up short with the same bunch of cocks sitting on their wallets. When they said compete with the best in Europe, I think it was fair enough to take it as read they meant on the football pitch. But maybe that's not what they meant at all, because we're top of the balance sheet league, top of the cash in bank league, top of the ticket prices league, top of the share price league. Bit one sided, isn't it?

Damn, the HAD to sign the players this summer that closed the gap. It was essential. That was the fucking deal. They are days away from breaking that deal. Deal's a deal and if they don't deliver then what are they other than con-artists?

[Master Splinter]

You can't quote me on this, but I think I've seen Kokorin play.

If I recall correctly, which I probably don't, he was a great big steaming sack of shit and decisively worse than anything we currently have (bar Sanogo).

Still, let's not write him off just yet. He might turn out to be above average.

I can indeed confirm he's a bit shit.

Berahino/Austin/Marica it is.