January Transfers -- Speculation & Shit?

[Joker]

Boss, any particular reason you've changed your opinion on Wenger/the direction of the club in general? I remember you used to want Wenger out.

[Boss]

I didn't mention Gouffran...but how you can claim that Cabaye and Ben Arfa are average is beyond me. And I'm pretty sure you haven't seen enough of Mbwia to make that kind of judgement. Would have been more than happy with those 3 players in our squad...instead of Squillacci, Arshavin and Bendtner...just for example...that's if you want to talk about 'average' players!!

I'm sure Arshavin and Denilson would 'shit on' Cabaye and Ben Arfa

I'm not talking about you specifically, the last couple of pages are littered with posts regretting that we weren't in for such players.

As for Arshavin and Denilson, they're squad players that would have been sold by now if anyone wanted them. Doubt either Cabaye or Ben Arfa would come here to play on the bench, and they're nowhere near good enough to displace our first choice midfield (Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshere, nor Diaby as first backup). They've both been ultimately disappointing for Newcastle this season (either due to injuries or poor form) and neither would warrant the 15M transfer fee they'd both command.

Ultimately, I thought people wanted us to challenge for trophies, not consolidate our top four position. Thus, we need players that are better than what we have. Fair enough if people moan about players like Villa, should he move somewhere comparable for a reasonable fee but average players (in terms of world talent) are not what we need and thus I don't care if we miss out on them.

[Özim]

Not sure why people on here are splaffing about average players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Gouffran etc. They're not good enough to play for a side that wants to win trophies and we have options in our midfield that quite comfortably shit on them. As for Mbiwa, there's a reason no top club was interested in him.

Don't see how people on here clamour for star quality and then wet themselves when average talents move to average teams.

Ben Arfa is brilliant to be fair, he's totally good enough to play for a side looking to win trophies.

[Boss]

Boss, any particular reason you've changed your opinion on Wenger/the direction of the club in general? I remember you used to want Wenger out.

In the past I used to be heavily against Wenger, way too caught up in the seven years without a trophy thing but I believe if you look at it rationally, there's not much we can do and I do believe the club has a long term goal that will hopefully see us competitive once again. In the past I used to get hung up over players joining our rivals that I thought could improve us (Carroll, Enrique, Parker, for example) but realised that they wouldn't really make a difference to our current plight.

I've said on here a few times I think it's near impossible for Arsenal to win the league given the competition we have and have been laughed at but I still believe that. Clubs have outspent us by millions to try and compete for our spot in the Champions League and every single year we outperform them. Higher up the table, clubs with more resources than we could ever think of spending have wasted in one window what we've spent in ten to try and compete, and chopped and changed managers with little success. Chelsea spent 75M this summer yet we're as close to them as they are to the top of the league, we're still in the Champions League and so on.

I believe we've looked at it in a pure financial point of view, which fans may not like but it's the best thing to do during these times. We could spend 100M and really go for it one window - which would probably see us in serious trouble if it didn't pan out (unlike Chelsea or Man City), or we can continue to make a profit, pay off debts and rely on Wenger to get us CL footy, waiting for FFP to level the playing field. Wenger is a manager a level below Ferguson, I believe that but I also think he's streets ahead of anyone Chelsea or Man City have employed over the last few years.

[Bergkampwonderland10]

I'm not talking about you specifically, the last couple of pages are littered with posts regretting that we weren't in for such players.

As for Arshavin and Denilson, they're squad players that would have been sold by now if anyone wanted them. Doubt either Cabaye or Ben Arfa would come here to play on the bench, and they're nowhere near good enough to displace our first choice midfield (Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshere, nor Diaby as first backup). They've both been ultimately disappointing for Newcastle this season (either due to injuries or poor form) and neither would warrant the 15M transfer fee they'd both command.

Ultimately, I thought people wanted us to challenge for trophies, not consolidate our top four position. Thus, we need players that are better than what we have. Fair enough if people moan about players like Villa, should he move somewhere comparable for a reasonable fee but average players (in terms of world talent) are not what we need and thus I don't care if we miss out on them.

I wouldn't pay the 15million transfers for either Cabaye or Ben Arfa when it's the other areas of the pitch that need reinforcing. My point is more the prices newcastle picked them up for originally. Hardly Average and very good options to have, just as Mbiwa will be. The fact is, we need a strong squad. On paper we have a good midfield, but if you look at the injuries over the last 2 seasons, Wilshere out, Diaby out, ramsey out, now Arteta ...Cabaye and Ben Arfa would have been good options last season and this.

[Boss]

Ben Arfa is brilliant to be fair, he's totally good enough to play for a side looking to win trophies.

We watch all our games so we tend to think our players are shitter than everyone elses but there is a reason Newcastle are currently 16th in the table. Ben Arfa started less than half of Newcastle's games last season and has been quite injury prone this, his goals scored tally was matched by both Benayoun and Vermaelen last season which doesn't say much about him. He scores a couple wonder goals and everyone wets themselves because the most people have watched of Newcastle, not being their favourite team, is a couple of highlights reels.

He may be a good player but that's all. Nowhere near good enough to start for a top side which is why none have ever been interested.

[Grebbo]

Not sure why people on here are splaffing about average players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Gouffran etc. They're not good enough to play for a side that wants to win trophies and we have options in our midfield that quite comfortably shit on them. As for Mbiwa, there's a reason no top club was interested in him.

Don't see how people on here clamour for star quality and then wet themselves when average talents move to average teams.

I think people on here are just desperate for signings. But I've said all along that for us to improve significantly we need game changers, we need a bertie big bollocks, we need a star.

These French players will get you top 6 but they wont get you top 4.

[Bergkampwonderland10]

In the past I used to be heavily against Wenger, way too caught up in the seven years without a trophy thing but I believe if you look at it rationally, there's not much we can do and I do believe the club has a long term goal that will hopefully see us competitive once again. In the past I used to get hung up over players joining our rivals that I thought could improve us (Carroll, Enrique, Parker, for example) but realised that they wouldn't really make a difference to our current plight.

I've said on here a few times I think it's near impossible for Arsenal to win the league given the competition we have and have been laughed at but I still believe that. Clubs have outspent us by millions to try and compete for our spot in the Champions League and every single year we outperform them. Higher up the table, clubs with more resources than we could ever think of spending have wasted in one window what we've spent in ten to try and compete, and chopped and changed managers with little success. Chelsea spent 75M this summer yet we're as close to them as they are to the top of the league, we're still in the Champions League and so on.

I believe we've looked at it in a pure financial point of view, which fans may not like but it's the best thing to do during these times. We could spend 100M and really go for it one window - which would probably see us in serious trouble if it didn't pan out (unlike Chelsea or Man City), or we can continue to make a profit, pay off debts and rely on Wenger to get us CL footy, waiting for FFP to level the playing field. Wenger is a manager a level below Ferguson, I believe that but I also think he's streets ahead of anyone Chelsea or Man City have employed over the last few years.

Nicely put. But the fact he bent over and sold Van Persie to Man utd and to do it for half of what he should have gone for ...coupled with the fact that he does himself no favours by opening his mouth at press conferences and spouting a lot of repetitive rubbish (with some gems thrown in), coupled with the fact he can be tactically very suspect at times, and places too much faith in players that don't deserve it....has lessened his credentials in my view. Ferguson is light years ahead of anyone...Wenger a rather tame second perhaps these days...but I am sure there are other managers in world football that could come in and do a job for us.

Wenger is probably one of the most intelligent people in football with a huge dose of ethics and values both of which don;t get him too far in today's modern game. It's sad but true. Football has changed and he hasn't - or refuses to.

[Boss]

I wouldn't pay the 15million transfers for either Cabaye or Ben Arfa when it's the other areas of the pitch that need reinforcing. My point is more the prices newcastle picked them up for originally. Hardly Average and very good options to have, just as Mbiwa will be. The fact is, we need a strong squad. On paper we have a good midfield, but if you look at the injuries over the last 2 seasons, Wilshere out, Diaby out, ramsey out, now Arteta ...Cabaye and Ben Arfa would have been good options last season and this.

Do we want to challenge for the league or consolidate what we have? We need a stronger first team to win the league, our squad is fine and adding Cabaye and Ben Arfa for 5M wouldn't have changed much. For all the talk about injuries, Ben Arfa has averaged 20 starts a season or less during the last five years and Cabaye's output isn't good enough for the level we want to be at.

Would we have challenged for the title last season if we had both in our squad? Nope.

[Bergkampwonderland10]

We watch all our games so we tend to think our players are shitter than everyone elses but there is a reason Newcastle are currently 16th in the table. Ben Arfa started less than half of Newcastle's games last season and has been quite injury prone this, his goals scored tally was matched by both Benayoun and Vermaelen last season which doesn't say much about him. He scores a couple wonder goals and everyone wets themselves because the most people have watched of Newcastle, not being their favourite team, is a couple of highlights reels.

He may be a good player but that's all. Nowhere near good enough to start for a top side which is why none have ever been interested.

To be fair, under Wenger am sure Ben Arfa would have developed just as the way we saw nasri begin to develop before he pissed off and did nothing. Ben Arfa was on the receiving end of a horrifc leg breaking challenge which def stunted his developemnt but if you watch him, he has wonderful close ball control, can take on players like they're not there, good vision and if he played in a team that allowed him more freedom...would prob be one of the stars of prem...having said that we don't need another injury prone player...but the reason why Newcastle suddenly went from relegation fodder to competing for a top 4 spot last season was largely down to the strength of a fit tiote, cabaye, and ben arfa.