Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[Dein-machine]

Sergi Samper?

Barcelona defensive midfielder who has played for the B team.

Cheap option but if Wenger favours Coquelin could be a competent squad back up

But in relation to our earlier discussion - this ( if true ) should prove to you the difference between Wenger & Van Gaal. Affordable, world class DM's up for grabs Schneiderlein, Vidal - we go for Samper. Will he sit on the bench for 2 years to be finally loaned out to Watford.
Quite simply today - to compete with teams at the top we need real, proven quality in the starting 11 with like for like replacements on the bench. We have the area of attacking midfielders nicely sown up, we have right back sorted with Debauchy & Bellerin - the rest is poor in view of squad cover. Gibbs is an shit footballer & terrible defender, should have been shopped out ages ago. No real proven quality at CB incase of injury to Kos. A forward line of non-finishers, which then means it doesn't matter who you start with, you've got shit options on the bench. And finally DM - this year the expectancy level on Coq is much higher than last. If Wenger didn't go for a Schneiderlein, Vidal or Carvalho because he rates Coq, then thats the level he'll need to be at. Arteta & Flamini backing him up is pub team so Wengers answer is a Barcelona B team player.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

To be honest, I don't have a problem with Arteta he's hardly pub team but he doesn't have the legs to play in the defensive midfield position.
I think Flamini is going to leave therefore it makes sense to bring in a squad midfielder....I could understand your argument of bringing in if Wenger was insisting on playing Denilson there, I think the majority of us happy with Coquelin and it seems to make sense to rest him in games against teams we should be getting three points against anyway and playing someone who could be prodigious talent (and who equally might not be but lessens the risk of Coquelin getting injured)
The position where we need to use Wenger vernacular "top, top quality" is up front where we do need an improvement of what we have.
And sorry I don't agree about the defence, for the first time in a long time I am very satisfied with our centre back options.

[Dein-machine]

To be honest, I don't have a problem with Arteta he's hardly pub team but he doesn't have the legs to play in the defensive midfield position.
I think Flamini is going to leave therefore it makes sense to bring in a squad midfielder....I could understand your argument of bringing in if Wenger was insisting on playing Denilson there, I think the majority of us happy with Coquelin and it seems to make sense to rest him in games against teams we should be getting three points against anyway and playing someone who could be prodigious talent (and who equally might not be but lessens the risk of Coquelin getting injured)
The position where we need to use Wenger vernacular "top, top quality" is up front where we do need an improvement of what we have.
And sorry I don't agree about the defence, for the first time in a long time I am very satisfied with our centre back options.

If Arteta doesn't have the legs for DM, where else can you play in midfield without running? - No legs as a footballer = pub team.

Interested in your comments on the defence. I'm the opposite to you on this. I am already convinced that Merts is past it, Chambers looks like an accident waiting to happen & have any of us seen enough of Gabriel to assume he's good enough. Long term injury to Kos scares the life out of me.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

So Beckham was a pub player for Real Madrid even though he clearly didn't have the legs in the season he won the primera liga with them?

I'm not for a second comparing Arteta and Beckham, also I'd have rather Arteta not stayed with us but pub player is immoderate language. For me I don't think we've utilised Arteta well enough for his dead ball abilities.

Not convinced Mertesacker is past it, he shouldn't be playing every game but that was the case last season because Wenger stupidly didn't bring in a centre back and now he has rectified that mistake....I'm happy with what I've seen of Paulista and I think it's incredibly harsh calling Chambers a disaster waiting to happen, he doesn't have the pace to play at full back where we were sticking him but think he has excellent defensive qualities.

Put it this way I'd rather have our cbs than Man Uniteds or Man City's

[Dein-machine]

So Beckham was a pub player for Real Madrid even though he clearly didn't have the legs in the season he won the primera liga with them?

I'm not for a second comparing Arteta and Beckham, also I'd have rather Arteta not stayed with us but pub player is immoderate language. For me I don't think we've utilised Arteta well enough for his dead ball abilities.

Not convinced Mertesacker is past it, he shouldn't be playing every game but that was the case last season because Wenger stupidly didn't bring in a centre back and now he has rectified that mistake....I'm happy with what I've seen of Paulista and I think it's incredibly harsh calling Chambers a disaster waiting to happen, he doesn't have the pace to play at full back where we were sticking him but think he has excellent defensive qualities.

Put it this way I'd rather have our cbs than Man Uniteds or Man City's

Beckham "legs" were in relation to him being too slow to go past full backs. He still had the legs to track back & do his defensive duties.
Arteta on the other hand simply gets murdered by players running past him in his central defensive role & resigns himself to fouling or pulling at shirts giving away dangerous free-kicks. I feel for him, he was not bought as a DM - he was very creative for Everton but he was a poor version of Fabregas & it soon showed.
Kos gets Merts out of so much trouble at the back & we can't keep relying on him. Someone to slow to play for Germany at CB should not be considered good enough for a team competing a top club level.
Before you say I'm harsh on Chambers, have a look at the time he spends on a pitch against the yellow cards he picks up. I would have thought he tops the all time list already. Needs composure, which I hope will come with experience & time but can't be considered as ideal CB cover, maybe for Palace but not for us.
I agree on the CB's at both Manc clubs, Kompany apart, very poor but I would also suggest that Kos would be the only one of our Cb's either of these club would want to strengthen them.

[Power n Glory]

Agree with of your points made.

Someone to slow to play for Germany at CB should not be considered good enough for a team competing a top club level.

But Merts is a World Cup winner. Too much is made of his pace and I think last season he suffered a bit because he was rushed back to the first team after a long campaign. Kos was terrible without Merts let's remember. Terrible. I think they make a very good partnership and I rate Merts.

[Dein-machine]

Agree with of your points made.



But Merts is a World Cup winner. Too much is made of his pace and I think last season he suffered a bit because he was rushed back to the first team after a long campaign. Kos was terrible without Merts let's remember. Terrible. I think they make a very good partnership and I rate Merts.

My german work colleagues suggest that Merts would have been no better than a German Division 2 player if he was 5ft 11. He has relied on his height throughout his career but in the early days he had a reasonable amount of pace to back it up. Now he doesn't - a sprint from him looks like something in slow motion. He's Ok in the majority of league games when we are dominating possession & only having to deal with the odd long ball but against the top C.L & P.L. strikers he will come unstuck. Remember what Suarez did to him at Anfield & that was a few years ago.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Beckham "legs" were in relation to him being too slow to go past full backs. He still had the legs to track back & do his defensive duties.
Arteta on the other hand simply gets murdered by players running past him in his central defensive role & resigns himself to fouling or pulling at shirts giving away dangerous free-kicks. I feel for him, he was not bought as a DM - he was very creative for Everton but he was a poor version of Fabregas & it soon showed.
Kos gets Merts out of so much trouble at the back & we can't keep relying on him. Someone to slow to play for Germany at CB should not be considered good enough for a team competing a top club level.
Before you say I'm harsh on Chambers, have a look at the time he spends on a pitch against the yellow cards he picks up. I would have thought he tops the all time list already. Needs composure, which I hope will come with experience & time but can't be considered as ideal CB cover, maybe for Palace but not for us.
I agree on the CB's at both Manc clubs, Kompany apart, very poor but I would also suggest that Kos would be the only one of our Cb's either of these club would want to strengthen them.

How many of those yellow cards were picked up as a result of the midfield in front of him not tracking back and covering. Doubtless there is an impetuous side to him which at twenty he has plenty of time to get out of his game, but again you make a giant leap to state that because of this this makes him only good enough to be a squad player for a mid table side.

I think there are plenty of midfielders who don't have the legs to run around the pitch making tackles, but it doesn't relegate them to being pub players. If your saying he shouldn't be playing as a DM absolutely no argument from me but to state that he's closer to playing for the Dog and Duck than maybe producing the odd bit of midfield passing quality to open up a tired defence in a game than I'm not buying it. Do we have plenty of players that can do that and apart from being captain he is surplus to requirements absolutely, but the chasm between that and pub player is a yawning one.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

My german work colleagues suggest that Merts would have been no better than a German Division 2 player if he was 5ft 11. He has relied on his height throughout his career but in the early days he had a reasonable amount of pace to back it up. Now he doesn't - a sprint from him looks like something in slow motion. He's Ok in the majority of league games when we are dominating possession & only having to deal with the odd long ball but against the top C.L & P.L. strikers he will come unstuck. Remember what Suarez did to him at Anfield & that was a few years ago.

Your German work colleague?....because he has the same nationality as Mertesacker he's automatically an authority
But that's why you have a squad, Mertesacker not just for his height is our best player at defending set pieces....Koscielny is no midget and yet it's definitely the weakest part of his game.
Would you play Mertesacker against teams that are going to send surging strikers that could run rings round him? No but would you play him against the Stokes of this world yes

[Power n Glory]

My german work colleagues suggest that Merts would have been no better than a German Division 2 player if he was 5ft 11. He has relied on his height throughout his career but in the early days he had a reasonable amount of pace to back it up. Now he doesn't - a sprint from him looks like something in slow motion. He's Ok in the majority of league games when we are dominating possession & only having to deal with the odd long ball but against the top C.L & P.L. strikers he will come unstuck. Remember what Suarez did to him at Anfield & that was a few years ago.

That's Suarez! Saurez, dude. It's not some bum player we're talking about.

Merts is a World Cup winner and we've had our most successful and stable period in defence for a long time under Merts. Kos was blundering all the time before Merts arrived. It's a good partnership and I think people are a little too obsessed with the sight of his slow movement. He reads the game very well and that's an important part of being a defender. I remember Kolo and Verms having pace but both were stupid defenders. They'd charge in before thinking and Kos has that same tendency.

Merts is the least of our worries. Tell your German colleague to eat a sausage. He doesn't know what he's talking about