Arsenal News

Arsenal need to stop being cautious – Where’s the romance?

Where is the romance? by DS

Some Arsenal fans struggle to believe in Sky Sports hype that transfer deadline day is must see TV but us Gooners will be in a very unique situation comes Tuesday, we will either have very good news or be very disappointed come 6pm.

As things stand we are the only team in the Premiership yet to sign an outfield player. Failure to do so will have a greater impact than just this season, it will have a greater effect on the long term picture. The next few days will tell us just how ambitious our board are in terms of turning us into Champions. Many including this writer have long known that answer and it’s not a positive one.

Senior staff have come out this summer and said that paying off the stadium no longer affects transfer policy, in fact only Messi and Ronaldo would be out of our price range. In other words there are no more excuses, if we get to Tuesday evening and haven’t spent any money it is because we our board have chosen to, it is as simple as that.

If you leave this squad untouched we will finish in the top 4.

Which is why our board would give Wenger a job for life. While the likes of Spurs and Liverpool have thrown millions at transfers over the years just to have the occasional flirt with the Champions League, Wenger guarantees qualification with a modest nett spend.

I always believed that one day we would look at the handling of the transitions from Highbury to the Emirates as one of the Frenchmen’s greatest achievements. Let’s be honest, once the owner of the club is selling your best players what normally follows is a decline into the Europa League, Wenger made sure that never happened.

I believed in his ethos that once out of that transition we would be in a great position to compete again but I’m not sure the Board will push him enough to make that happen. You can’t be overly critical that we have people who are cautious with our money. I’m sure the likes of Leeds and Portsmouth fan wished that they had had similar owners.

No one though is demanding Arsenal open an unlimited cheque book; just catch up with the times and realise if teams around us are spending, standing still means the gap widens. No fan will believe that there was not significant talent aviable to make our squad together. Already this past couple of months we have seen the likes of Dezeko, Jovetic, Benteke, heck even Van Persie, all were within our budget and could have competed with Olivier Giroud.

Judged purely as businessmen the people who run our club are very good at what they are doing, but what supporters now want to see is a bit of romance…. Romance like when Sir Alex Ferguson signed Robin Van persie. Sir Alex knew that approaching his thirties there would be little resale value of the Dutchmen. However he put economics second to romance, knowing that he was the one stellar signing that would fire him to one last title before retirement. For Wenger to do the same he needs his bosses to equally have romance. Would they for example offer a package to loan a Zlatan Ibrahamovic, putting romance ahead of business?

It has long been said that Wenger spends money like it his own. He does that because of his love for the club but he must realise that other managers are not showing any concerns in burning their clubs money, spending 50 million on average players..

All Arsenal need to do from now till Tuesday night is show some romance.

Dan

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115 Comments

      1. after seeing the weekend matches i agree with wenger when he said he will only watch for exceptional players in the market. fans asked for
        pedro schniderlin and others but they havent helped their teams in any way. we need to build a team around what weve got before searching for world class
        why on earth would reus come when there is a flamini in our team or cavani or even benzema wouldnt they be ridiculed by other people and patience is a virtue or risk ending up like looserpool and manure

          1. with a sanchez ozil cazorla cech ramsey and other top class players like coquelin bellerin and monreal are we really going to expect nothing
            come on you gooners

        2. pedro has in first two games in a brand new league with no pre season to prepare got one goal an one assist
          oh yeah no help

          agree on reus. dortmund look great this season.
          great fans, great football.
          plus if he was available he could pick madrid barca- he could choose anyone

            1. been there 3 times.(Westfalenstadion)
              an watched them alot since the gotze era
              emirates has never been that.
              The tickets – and beer – are cheap, the atmosphere is raw and seductive and fans, not finance, come first. the “Gelbe Wand” (Yellow Wall), a sea of luminous shirts, scarves and flags. Towers of smoke rise from pockets of fans and waves of noise cascades down the steep terrace and onto the players.

              not too different to highbury back in the day

            2. They were there for their players last season even when they lingering at the bottom of the league. Support the players, scold the our stubborn manager. Ramsey doesn’t like playing on the wings.

      2. Gomis and Ayew both free transfers,just shows you lazy scouting at some clubs(like arsenal fc),well done Gary Monk and his Swansea side. It seems Swansea is testing Microphone with Man U . Last 3 matches Man U vs Swansea 1:2 1:2 1:2.. Reminder for Man U fans. The password to enter the cave of loses is “team kita bodoh”. Chelsea and Liverpool fans already in here. A bit smelly…
        Wenger out!!!

        1. Weren’t we HEAVILY linked with Ayew like 3 seasons ago? Gomis I still don’t rate particularly highly, I saw him alot last season and thought he was very average. 1 good game changes nothing for me. Ayew looks good though, his technique and intensity are top notch. That said we were scouting him so something obviously turned us off. They are both great signings for Swansea, but I do not know how much of an impact to the first 11 they’d make at Arsenal…and at this point first 11 is where we need players. We sorted our squad last season.

        2. They are good players for Swansea. Not what Arsenal need. Arsenal need only elite players and they are much harder to get.

        3. Gomis and Ayew play with a determined approach, hunger and get into the thick of things. Unlike Walcott whose only tactic is to get behind defences and Giroud who waits for the ball and is praised for his hold-up play while lumbering around for most of the game.
          Our strikers are more highly paid and should be more involved in unlocking stubborn defences, in the same we expect Ozil to help with defensive support also. How many times have we seen Walcott head a ball, a key ingredient in any strikers arsenal? How many times have we seen Giroud lose a ball and stick his tongue out, instead of winning it back? Both these guys are stifling our attacking opportunities.

    2. I am happy until Wenger is our manager. I say give him 10 year contract and tells fans we are a
      4th place team.

    3. @muffdiver…….for me, the disappointment started 2weeks after the start of the window bro……..and i have dragged it for too long!

  2. We need to be less cautious at home until we are leading by at least 2-0 then we can defend! Having said that, there’s somebody who from now on needs to be more cautious- Jose Mourhino! His job could again be on the line if he continues to graduate towards the “specialist in failure” Degree!

  3. got some intergalactical source that writting some rumors that our world class ozil didnt want to play if theres no striker coming , refuse to play , asked to put him on transfer list. same thing happen to ramsey, since barca is admit interest with him.
    now man city wont stop till last drop, offer tempting bid to land jack wilshere.
    (STILL DIDNT know the truth, but it already a Very Crystal Clear Sign of getting frustated !!)

    till now i didnt get what was mr manager thinking, didnt want add more 5m poundsterling to land benzema.
    arsenal its a very big club now, spending more 5m? you will get it back in a blink of an eye!!!!

    so its only 2 choice,
    loving clubs money!! every penny of it ,forced to survive with remain squad and keep survive while some players will leaving for money+trophy.

    or respecting club , fans / supporter itself. by add some player and bring some trophy that we waiting for
    choose wisely mr manager

    1. You’re posting this everywhere instead of responding to the thread so I’ll ask again how you know these 4 facts that are not in the public domain:
      1. Arsenal bidded for Benzema
      2. Real Madrid rejected the bid
      3. They would accept a bid 5m higher
      4. Benzema wanted to join Arsenal

      How do you know these truths?

  4. The weekend is about to Look perfect (still mad at our performance tho)……. Pls swansea pLay out a win!…….. Tick Tock Tick Tock

  5. As fans we all forget, our target is the PL but the clubs target is top 4 so there is. No need to shell out 50 m as we almost certainly will achieve this, I cannot see us signing anyone unless it’s an average player to add to the squad, I would love to be wrong but our challengers are UTD and Liverpool neither are far away from us, I’m sorry we can forget city and even Chelsea with their bad start we are not in their league ATM.
    It’s ok blaming Wenger or the board but there is still a lot of fans who actually believe in wenger knows best, until that changes this is how Arsenal will be for a while, Wenger will sign another contract and the money merry go round will continue
    You can’t blame Stan Wenger makes him money he doesn’t care where we finish as long as he makes money

  6. Swansea is about to make it a perfect weekend……..( Still mad at our performance tho)……… Pls swans,,,,grind out a win over manure

  7. at least if no one coming at the end of windows, we still can entertain ourself by make custom
    t-shirt no 9 benzema , no 23 gotze , or whatever you like.

    cheers !!
    stillbeAgunners4ever!!

  8. If Cavani plays for PSG today then we wont sign him. Kokorin or that Leicester City player could
    be our marquee signing lol.

    1. hahaha.

      u actually believe we will get cavani…an at the end of the window?!

      lol…just very lol

  9. We need to stop looking for the perfect goal by trying to walk the ball into the net, shooting more from outside the box is what we should be doing more of!

  10. Gomis is world class compared to Giroud. That guy should be no.2 France striker,not Giroud.

    Swansea play better football than Arsenal and not passing for the sake of passing.

    1. Only fools sporting red/white tinted glasses could state otherwise.

      Ayew is a fantastic player, has been for many years and Gomis continues to impress when given quality service.

      And Ayew was a free transfer, yet there seems to be no players available in the eyes of Le Prof.

      1. More importantly they Gomis and Ayew want it more you can see from their play, unlike some of our players.

        1. Football fan has short memory and give judgement only on the moment. Gomis is a on form striker but is he the WC striker we need? Pelle did the same last year, and Michu before that. In short all the striker available this summer are no WC – 8/10 at best (I rate Giroud at 7/10) and we are aiming higher than that a 9/10 striker at least.
          I think Wenger got screwed by Perez last minute (the saga drag for a long time but only last week Benzema cleared it up on Twitter and Wenger said it is dead) – but it is also our fault to put all eggs in one basket. Unlike the author of the article we should not invest in fading stars like Jovetic, Dzeko but should gamble on rising starts like Lacazette, Icardi,… as none WC strikers is avaiable

          1. Totally agree, and as I mentioned earlier in this thread or another I’ve rated Gomis for many years. I believe he played for Marseiile back in the day when Arsenal drew them in Champions League and was impressive then.

            With that said I would love to see Arsenal offer $35-40 million for either of these young studs and take a chance. They could be the next Henry or Carrol, only time will tell

      3. @Bigvalbowski
        But most of the fans, especially those here, want marquee signings from big clubs across Europe…
        They think a players price tag speaks to his ability.
        Swansea play the waiting game. No urgency. And they know how to dig in for the win…

  11. OT:

    Giroud offers us hold up play?…even Gomis does that better and still makes good runs to score goals.

      1. Lol sure was…but what would most fans have said if we’d got a freebie? Anything short of 30m and most fans on here would immediately say Wengers got no ambition, Ayew who??

        1. cos we were so incensed when we bought gabriel paulista for 11 million- werent we haha, the rage was uncontrollable lol

          seems ur memory has taken u to an alternate paradise

          1. That’s not a freebie muff. If we bought someone for FA as I say, Wenger would be slagged off for it…no ambition, we’ve got 200m spend it you tight old ****, or Wengers only buying other teams cast offs. Sorry muff, but you know they would.

      2. Gomis makes goal scoring runs and Giroud doesn’t? What? When was the last time a team playing arsenal didn’t sit deep and held a high defensive line? You can’t make runs behind a defense when the other team is parking the bus.
        I do agree that Gomis has been a great free signing along with Ayew, But come on people let’s not get desperate.

  12. I think I just saw wenger in my local second hand shop.. He was down the back in the reduced to clear section

    1. Wow, he’s improving! I saw him a couple of years ago dumpsterdiving at emirates after a 3pm match. He’s actually paying now 😀

  13. Living in the states Im a little surprised that Arsenal season ticket holders allow the club to screw them over on ticket prices year in year out, while the board and there $8M caretaker shows minimal ambition compared to the Manchester clubs and Chelshit. A $1 billion dollar corpiration that robs its fans and deludes them into believing that the fundamental club goal is to win trophies on many fronts.

    Dont know how you all can do it year in year out.

    1. mate i pay just under 2000 for my ticket, i can think of at least 8 people that would buy mine off me if i told them it was for sale.

      bayern fans are very lucky, watch wall to wall world class players for basically f all
      even mancity tickets are quite abit cheaper

      1. Muff,

        I can imagine you would have a bidding war on your hands muff if you decided to sell. I cant fathom voluntarily being sold that bill of goods from Gazidis and company year in year out.

        Its sadly to the point that Im seriously considering cancelling a trip I had planned to hit London and the Emirates for either a Champions League or Premier league fixture later this fall. Not willing to spend that cash on the current squad and Wenger.

    2. The only people who have a right to moan about ticket prices are those that either buy them or those that wish to buy them but cannot afford to. Everyone else ie: most of those that whine about it, should STFU about it – they are just feigning indignation and it is just a mock concern. And theorising as to how the price level of tickets equates to what quality/price player(s) you are entitled to as a spectator is just plain stupidity. Are we saying if AFC halved the ticket prices we would have no expectations and would be happy whoever we signed and wherever we finished in the league? Let us all in for free and the no-one would moan about anything. Anyhow, anyone who goes to the Emirates know that it is only a small % of the tickets available at £2000 that grab the headlines – there are plenty of cheaper tickets at prices comparable to other London clubs.

  15. Off Topic: You got to love ‘Gomis(Swansea)’ celebration after scoring the winner against Manchester United….#EPL is truly spicy. The 1:0 defeat against newcastle suddenly looks like a big result. You win some, You lose some….That’s why we love the game’ Sometimes You’re happy’, another time You’re angry with your team.

    Cech (2clean sheets) so far…

    Defense looks alright (BellerinGabKosMonreal)

    Midfield looks good too (hoping for another DM)

    Attack/Striker is my major concern.

    Anyway, COYG!

  16. Anyone heard of Andriy Yarmolenko? Ukrainian national, he’s 25 years old, playing for Dinamo Kyiv. At 1,87 height, he’s really quick and deadly right winger. This season he has managed 6 goals, 5 assists in 7 appearances.

    14/15: 43 appearances, 21 goals and 19 assists.
    13/14: 39 appearances, 19 goals, 8 assists.
    12/13: 40 appearances, 13 goals 9 assists.

    Now he might not a ‘marque’ name but he is really talented player. If anyone watched Europa League last year, he completely destroyed Everton. Lots of talented players have come from the Ukrainian league (Mkhitaryan, Douglas Costa, Fernandinho).. He’s a free agent next summer so as Benzema etc. are def not coming, maybe he could be turned into a striker?

    1. Oh and I know YouTube can make Gervinho look like the Ivorian Messi but it doesn’t change the fact that Yarmolenko has one MEAN curved shot! Check him out

    2. He looks decent but tends to play more of a wide role, very quick feet good finisher and good technique, makes Giroud look like a donkey but that not hard

    1. the beat us twice last year an drew with chelsea an beat united so far this season…without montero playing an bony gone.

      garry monk is working wonders

      1. @muffdiver
        They turn up for top 4 teams and fold against relegation stragglers…Never understood that.

      2. Ok muff….but today was manu that post there and that is a reason to celebrate today…not o remember rant thing bad from the past…no?

  19. Gary Monk might just be the next big thingvin English football, quality manager who is 5-0 against Manure and Arsenal over the last couple of years. Tactically brilliant, and playing a beautiful brand of soccer that may even have surpassed Wengers east west passing masterpiece. Lol

    1. @Bigvalbowski
      Martinez had Swans playing that way. Then Rodgers, Sousa and Laudrup continued to tweek their form. Monk was the Capt. under all of these managers and has surely picked up a thing or 2…

  20. Should our manager now be learning a thing or two from Gary Monk on how to tactically change a game from being a goal down to coming out 2-1 winners eventually? He’s done it time and time again much more than can be said for our boss!

    1. Monk didn’t really change anything from what I saw of the game. His team were defending deep and had quick attackers who broke away and scored against a naive and silly Man Utd. If the opposition is defending deep and nick a goal and continue to defend deep, what do you do to nick a goal? ALSO defend deep and hope to nick a goal like Swansea did?

      *face palm*

  21. Four games played and it is clear that Man City is the title contender. Better yet everyone is sure that City will win it this season. They have two quality in every position and they are still singing players.

    1. My question is, where do they find these quality players but our manager seems to think he can’t find them?

      2. Well when your manager is convinced or more appropriately deluded that his current squad is good enough to compete for the EPL title and perhaps more criminally overrrates those said players at the expense of potential quality additions you have the current reality that is Arsenal football club. Although West Ham have been jeckyl and hide so far this season, the additions of Payet, Ogbonna, Kouyate, Sahko, Jenkinson and Song over the last two windows is an incredible piece of business without spending a bloody fortune. Are they all world beaters, definitely not but I would take Sahko, Kouyate and Song in a second to add depth.

        1. We lack quality up front, not depth. We have young players who should have step up.
          So many are turning frustration to acceptance of mediocrity players. Will be just a waste of money

  22. Ok chelsea lost pool lost manure lost and we won.
    Nobody is gnna rain on this parade hahahahah
    Happy Sunday everybody

      2. Strange comment. Personally I think it’s great that Chelsea (with their obnoxious manager) suffered their second loss in 4 games, that Utd (with their new expensive central my pairing and so highly rated miss firing striker couldn’t control the game) and that Liverpool (who think spending 100m each season creates success) also got taken apart at home. And WE WON. Great weekend as far as most AFC fans are concerned.

        1. thats cos u have a top 4 mentality.

          title winners dont focus on others losses -only there wins.

          enjoy liverpools loss mate, throw a party- go u!

          3. So….how do you explain all the rivals comments on us dropping points when we do? come on man…u r kind of extreme today

      3. Well…feel free..
        I for one celebrate anybtime our rivals drop points as they do when we drop. That’s how championships are won u know?

        Oh and I am not ONLY celebrating that…Ian case ubdidnt notice we won yesterday…so all the rivals dropping points are icing on the cake.

        But again…anyone feel free to be happy or not haha

  23. the same thing y’all said about Brendan Rodgers at Swansea until he was exposed. flavour of the day lots.

    1. Look @ his record against the EPL heavyweights over the past two years and the budget hes accomplished it with.

      Give him Arsenals quality and purse strings and w’ed forget about Wenger in a New York minute.

  25. Signing of the season: Gary Monk.
    I would love see him like arsenal manager right now. Is more clever and tactical that wenger in every aspect.

      1. 3 titles in 20 years is awesome for you??
        at this moment, i would risk everything with a new manager instead of another 10 years of failure.
        BTW, his record against the EPL heavyweights over the past two years is bigger than wenger…
        if i’m a deluded for look something different and maybe some silverware, you must be an mediocre as* licker

        1. I was talking about monk. You’re unable to understand our past or Wengers history evidently. As for 3 titles, have from great, but I can reason, more than most of you can manage.

        2. Monk has done well. BUT Swansea are an inherited team that were already playing good football before he came. Against the big boys he pays fast counter attacking football and shuts up shop. There was a game a while back where they beat us fair and square but Monk was not the manager then.

          Counter attacking football is the obvious tactic to use against big teams. If you out defend their attack you might nick a goal up the other end. This is exactly what Swansea have done. It doesn’t suddenly mean that Arsenal can do the same thing because quite often the opposition will accept a draw against us. Look at United doing the deep defending lark last year. Or Chelsea for that matter. Conversely, City and Liverpool attacked us and got done because we countered them.

          The tactics of your opponent dictate how well you will do. If you’re gonna settle for a draw and play counter attacking football you make it so that you have the highest chance of getting a point against the better side. You’ll always get at least 1 chance – if you take it, you can get more than a point. This is why mid table teams like Swansea can suddenly get great records against the big boys but the big boys might struggle to do the same.

    2. In the future perhaps. He looks a very good young manager, but he’s still relatively unproven. Needs a bit more experience under his belt first.

  26. Not to jump on the bandwagon, but that second goal from Swansea, Gomis’ goal, was how I expect Arsenal to play. Quality, and it’s hard seeing another team play that football when we seemingly can’t. Especially a team with fewer resources than us. At least it’s Swansea though, a likeable team.

    1. But Man Utd were high up the pitch. Arsenal play like that when teams are high up the pitch. Teams don’t play high up the pitch against us because THAT happens. Man Utd were hugely naive and stupid in that game. They kept throwing waves of players forward with no focal point and no base to start from. EVERY time Swansea won the ball back they only had to find 1 good pass and they scythed 50% off Man Utd out of the equation.

      Gomis’ goal was also poor goalkeeping. Theo’s missed 1 on 1 yesterday had a very similar style of finish but their keeper didn’t flop it, unlike Romero. It was a great pass by Ayew, but nothing else about that goal was anything special and mostly down to some very naive Man Utd defending.

  29. i will keep insisting that we need to use the available players to achieve something before going higher otherwise no one would want to carry one team only to transfer and carry another

  32. Did any body saw Szczesny’s last minute save against Juventus? Fantastic save, saved his team from a draw.

  33. I think this is the first season under Wenger I’ve felt genuinely angry about him. I was confused for a while why we weren’t buying good players a few years ago – then realised we were totally hamstrung by finance and couldn’t do it. It stretched on and on and I began to believe we’d never have money and the Emirates had eaten away our credentials completely.

    Then can Ozil. Finally we spent money on a class player. Then came Alexis. Then came a flurry of good signings made for the right reasons in the right positions. We still lacked a DM but hell, every other position had seen strengthening or the attempt to without going into Man Utd spending territory. It was great.

    Now we signed Cech. I think he’s a solid signing but we already had Ospina who was doing a perfectly good job. We make NO further additions despite still having gaps in our squad. Our first 11 still looks short of the quality in direct comparison to other top teams, especially the European elite. SO why with money available are we making NO purchases?

    I understand the concept of not buying a player who doesn’t add as much to them team as the price tag detracts. What I don’t understand is how we cannot value any player to be adding to the team. DM/LW/CF are all positions that can have additions easily add quality to the squad. CF is possibly hardest due to the reluctance of teams to sell, but LW should be easy to secure. DM is equally not that hard. ANY forward player who offers a different approach would be good to see and it seems we are getting none.

    I don’t care that we’re not splashing huge sums…more that we are not addressing issues when the money is there to address them. It makes no sense. Furthermore, this is showing on the pitch where we are becoming stale and easy to defend against due to outdated managerial tactics that are persisting DESPITE the option to change them by purchasing new players who can offer new tactical approaches.

    IF we do not do well this year after having not purchased, I think that’ll be the time we have to look at Wenger and say “Please go upstairs”. I love the guy, think he’s done wonders, but when you have the option to sign and choose not to then you are saying your players are good enough and the impetus is with you as a manager to ensure the tactics and morale encourage a team that flourishes. If you fail to do so, you are to blame and you cannot blame lack of the best personnel. Wenger is allowing himself to slip into this hole now and I will no longer advocate absolving him of some of the fault when he has failed to make the changes required despite having limited restraint (i.e. teams unwilling to sell) on making those changes.

  34. Oh and about Swansea game… Please don’t tell me that you didn’t saw an highly open game. Both teams were willing to attack from one end to another. And look at the space provided by Man Utd defense for both goals. Agree both goals were fantastic and quality… heaps of praise for Swansea to take benefit of it. But at least Man Utd were playing a high line. Offering that much space against Arsenal and our team not taking chances, then you can criticize the team.

    1. Finally, someone who notices that the depth of a defence actually makes a difference to how you can attack!

      I’d say Swansea were willing to attack but they weren’t heavily committing. They were pretty much counter attack + in the game – they retreated damn quick to the 18 yard box for a team who were “open”. Man Utd didn’t get much space in behind them and they weren’t pressing the ball particularly high. Counter attack isn’t always a rare occurance, just depends on the quality of the team countering.

    2. Don’t mean to completely dispute what you’re saying but, about your last sentence… are you by any means implying that we’ve not been creating enough chances because the teams we’ve played are defending too deep? ‘Cos the way I see it (and the stats are there to confirm) we have created enough chances this season. Just that we haven’t been scoring them. I reckon there are reasons to criticize the team. But we are not alone in this “mess”. Chelsea is in a bigger mess right now.

  35. Don’t worry. Rumour is that we are in for Mahrez. He has scored 4 gaals in 4 games so far.
    The PL Tittie is as good as ours.

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