Arsenal FC 2009/2010

[kawayinet]

More update details for you.
Welcome here.
http://www.nowgoal.com/19.shtml

[Tony Adams]

i know we still have 3 games left but i just wanted to do an analysis of our 4th season in a row of what could of been.

for starters i dont by into the comments that this was a waste for us(not from this forum in particular but in global ones). i really think that we have really finally progressed this year. we did make the semis of both fa cup and cl, as well as still kept our champions league spot and have had an excellent run in the premier league.

gk - almunia - had a solid season and is deffinatly in the top 4 premier league keepers every season he gets stronger, feel confident with him as 1st team keeper again next year.
gk - fabianski - looks the goods but maybe needs 2 or 3 more seasons as 2nd choice before being stepped up.

rb - sagna - is one of the best rb's in the league. and makes great attacking runs, links well with walcott. hasn't been as strong as he was last year but has had some niggles this season.
rb - eboue - suprisingly i rate him almost as much if not the same as sagna at rb. not really confident with him further up the park or in the middle but he also makes excellant attacking runs.

cb - toure - at times has looks average this season but i think that is mostly due to his tenuious relationship with gallas, solution= find a new world class partner
cb - gallas - at times terrible and at times world class, but given his inconsistancy, his rocky relationship with other players and his age, i think its time to go but thanks for the memories
cb - djourou - hasnt stepped up enough imo, similar to the senderos situation. makes a good 3rd or 4th choice but cant see him stepping up to be a world class cb.
cb - silvestre - old slow not really consistant BUT has been value for the money paid and added well to the depth and hasnt been to bad covering in the cb position when called upon

lb - clichy - not as strong as he was last year but still a world class lb with great pace attacking runs and is still only 23 plenty of room to grow
lb - gibbs - has made some gafs but what else would you expect from a kid thrown in the deep end. probably the suprise packet (imo) of the year. im really excited bout the future of gibbs, great to see another arsenal youth product coming through (as well as wilshere).

rm - walcott - either gets bagged terribly or praised endlessly. imo has shown his worth this year but really needs a full season under his belt. lets not forget his only 20 and has plenty of time to work on his flaws. should be again starting XI next year.

cm - cesc -missed him incredibly when he was out. his maturity makes you forget he is only 22. we are not equipped to lose him, and is the key for us much like lampard to chelsea, gerrard to liverpool and ect.
cm - denilson - way to patchy for my liking, can look great but to often looks poor and with ramsey coming up maybe its time for him to look elsewhere.
cm - song - started slowly but has looked real quality in the last few months. it was out of him and denilson imo as to who should stick around and given his form his abillity to surge forward and his abillity to play well at cb he is the def winner for me.
cm - diaby - need to see him more i like him, i rate him, but he just never seems to play.

lm - nasri - great 1st year in the epl, slowed down towards the end of the year but has deffinatly proved his qualtity and is only 21. very happy with him and would expect him to only get stronger next year
lm - arshavin - has played every attacking position and excelled. cant wait to see him with a full pre season behind him. gives us that attacking flamboyance and very real threat that has been missing since bergkamp.

st - adebayor -quality and makes football look fun and really seems to enjoy playing for us hence scoring often and still only 25
st - van persie - no doubting his quality but with clubs like barca chasing him given the right deal will accept losing him as he has missed to much football and we really need to strikers who pla often together to get some real chemistry. dont get me wrong though rvp is one of my fav players but i think its a good idea to cash in on him given a good deal
st - bendtner - its time to go bendtner! has an unbelievable ability to get into great scoring positions but rarley finishes, is to arrogant for my liking and think given a differant type of team around he would excell more.
st - vela - exciting, exciting exciting! hopefully gets much more game time next year cos i think we are ont a gem there
st - eduardo - should be the goods next year with some proper pre season work or at least fingers x'd

*ROSICKY - big fan but we have enough quality to let him go
*VAN PERSIE - if barca want him its 1 of three things imo - 30mil, a straight swap for eto or bojan plus 5mil
*CENTRE BACK - need a world class cb to partner toure. these are my picks - sakho, mertesacker, garay, richards
*SECOND STRIKER - villa, aguerro, benzema, to partner ade's we need some with true pace imo maybe martins if the toon go down.
*CESC'S PARTNER - alonso, xavi, cana, inler, barry, some one strong to give song a couple of seasons
*EXCITING PROSPECTS - wilshere, ramsey, traore, gibbs, randall, fran merida, sunu, simpson

[delfino_1936]

hmmmm tony, very interesting read there, i agree with many of your points!

a few i disagree with:

-selling RVP, i think would be a terrible move. I'd say get rid of Ade for 30m and get a partner for RVP....RVP has proved way to important to Arsenal this year with his goals and assists, especially his month of January where he proved that.

-imo selling ade would be a better option, keep bendtner for one more year, he is only 20. lets see if he can walk the walk and bang in the goals next season from his great positions, if he can't then we get rid of him!


imo get rid of Silvestre, keep Djourou as a 3rd or 4th choice, buy a new CB and CM, keep Rosicky and see if he can return next season and play class, otherwise he'll probably head off home.

I agree with everything else, Gibbs has had INVALUABLE experience this year and i think his slip this morning will only make him a better player imo!

i still think that if we want to grow as a club and a team, some of the kids like denilson and a few others need to go to make room for some PURE QUALITY, because they will get frustrated if they won't play, but then yet again, we may have a massive injury list and they may come useful!

IMO BUILD A BIG SQUAD ARSENE, don't let anyone go unless for big cash and bring in some QUALITY!

that's what i think

[jason7890000]

Arsenal failed.
Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal.
http://www.nowgoal.com/19.shtml

[delfino_1936]

Fan hangs himself in Kenya after Arsenal lose to Manchester United

From correspondents in Nairobi, Kenya
May 06, 2009

An Arsenal fan in football-mad Kenya hanged himself following his team's 4-1 aggregate drubbing by arch-rivals Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final, police said.

Suleiman Alphonso Omondi, a 29-year-old Kenyan living in the capital Nairobi's Embakasi neighbourhood, hanged himself in his Arsenal shirt after the match, police said.

"We were watching the match at Bamba 70 pub, and when Arsenal was defeated, Suleiman just walked out in protest and he was crying," Calvin Otieno, one of his friends, said.

"We didn't know he was going to hang himself until this morning when we received the reports and came here to find his body at the balcony," Otieno said outside the deceased's home.

Arsenal slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, capping a disappointing season for the Gunners who were already out of the Barclays Premier League title race early in the season.

Football-related domestic tragedies are frequent in the region, where English clubs enjoy passionate following and European games draw more attention than national and continental games.

[pires7]

:? just justify the loss by saying they spent 200+ million pounds more than us on their squad like the rest of us

[delfino_1936]

:? just justify the loss by saying they spent 200+ million pounds more than us on their squad like the rest of us

true but what are your sentiments atm pires?

[Tony Adams]

hmmmm tony, very interesting read there, i agree with many of your points!

a few i disagree with:

-selling RVP, i think would be a terrible move. I'd say get rid of Ade for 30m and get a partner for RVP....RVP has proved way to important to Arsenal this year with his goals and assists, especially his month of January where he proved that.

-imo selling ade would be a better option, keep bendtner for one more year, he is only 20. lets see if he can walk the walk and bang in the goals next season from his great positions, if he can't then we get rid of him!


imo get rid of Silvestre, keep Djourou as a 3rd or 4th choice, buy a new CB and CM, keep Rosicky and see if he can return next season and play class, otherwise he'll probably head off home.

I agree with everything else, Gibbs has had INVALUABLE experience this year and i think his slip this morning will only make him a better player imo!

i still think that if we want to grow as a club and a team, some of the kids like denilson and a few others need to go to make room for some PURE QUALITY, because they will get frustrated if they won't play, but then yet again, we may have a massive injury list and they may come useful!

IMO BUILD A BIG SQUAD ARSENE, don't let anyone go unless for big cash and bring in some QUALITY!

that's what i think

*im in the middle with your rvp opinon, but in all comps rvp has started 35 and 6 appereances off the bench with 18 goals.
ade has started 30 with 6off the bench and is on 16 only 2goals shorter so ade has proven his worth as much and seen as the interest is in rvp this year i think we should capatilise.

*with silvestre i'd keep him as an experienced depth for when we have 2 cb's out

*rosicky is quality and i think he will come back well. BUT we have plaenty of wide players - walcott, nasri, arshavin. eboue, ect plus when that depth falls thru we have guys like wilshere who should get a go

*i think to keep up we need to spend about 50mil more to have true quality in a squad and that would still keep us 50-100 mil lower then the other 3 in the top 4

[pires7]

we aren't good enough but that doesn't mean Wenger isn't doing a good job with the resources he has available which is why the board would be along way from removing him, not atleast until the GFC appears to be over and we get a good handle on our debt payments.

[Tony Adams]

i agree wenger is the man for the job, BUT perhaps he needs to be a bit more lenient with his transfer policy

[delfino_1936]

i agree with your points there guys, hence why i've never said for AW's head because he is the man plain and simple

IN ARSENE WE TRUST

i think Rosicky could be ployed in the middle as a play maker, he would be brilliant there if he can get back to his best

AW needs to make some sort of signing, GO FOR DAVID VILLA!!

[Tony Adams]

[quote="delfino_1936"]i agree with your points there guys, hence why i've never said for AW's head because he is the man plain and simple

IN ARSENE WE TRUST

i think Rosicky could be ployed in the middle as a play maker, he would be brilliant there if he can get back to his best

AW needs to make some sort of signing, GO FOR DAVID VILLA!![/quote]
here-here

[pires7]

Scoring goals isn't really the issue though. We turned Adebayor into a decent forward and there is probably another just like him in Ligue 1 as we speak. A decent back 4 should be priority #1. Keeper and DM have question marks hanging over them. Almunia clearly should have saved Ronaldo's free kick today.

[Tony Adams]

Scoring goals isn't really the issue though. We turned Adebayor into a decent forward and there is probably another just like him in Ligue 1 as we speak. A decent back 4 should be priority #1. Keeper and DM have question marks hanging over them. Almunia clearly should have saved Ronaldo's free kick today.

i disagree on the scoring not cos we arent scoring but cos of how much we should be considering how much build up we are having each game, also ther have been plenty of games this year where we have had over 20 shots and lucky to have 1 goal. you give torres rooney drogba ronaldo the same amount of shots and they will finish with more goals imo. im happy for song to play the dm role but there are better options 2 we are heavily linked with are matuidi (st ettiene) and coutadour (le mans). we r also apparently linked with Edin Dzeko the wolfsburg striker who is 3rd highest scorer in the bundesliga at the moment

[delfino_1936]

Almunia is quality, i think he has proved that this season. Kept us in it Leg 1 and kept it from being embarrassing this morning

[barbarez01]

Fan hangs himself in Kenya after Arsenal lose to Manchester United

From correspondents in Nairobi, Kenya
May 06, 2009

An Arsenal fan in football-mad Kenya hanged himself following his team's 4-1 aggregate drubbing by arch-rivals Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final, police said.

Suleiman Alphonso Omondi, a 29-year-old Kenyan living in the capital Nairobi's Embakasi neighbourhood, hanged himself in his Arsenal shirt after the match, police said.

"We were watching the match at Bamba 70 pub, and when Arsenal was defeated, Suleiman just walked out in protest and he was crying," Calvin Otieno, one of his friends, said.

"We didn't know he was going to hang himself until this morning when we received the reports and came here to find his body at the balcony," Otieno said outside the deceased's home.

Arsenal slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, capping a disappointing season for the Gunners who were already out of the Barclays Premier League title race early in the season.

Football-related domestic tragedies are frequent in the region, where English clubs enjoy passionate following and European games draw more attention than national and continental games.

what a hard nut.

[Tony Adams]

Walcott signs new Gunners deal

New deal for Arsenal goal scorer.

The 20-year-old England international, who joined the Gunners from Southampton in January 2006, is reported to have agreed a four-year deal worth £60,000-a-week.

Walcott has now made more than 100 appearances and scored 14 goals for Arsenal and is in no doubt the Emirates Stadium is the best place for his career to develop.

"I am so happy here and just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point in my career,'' Walcott said in a statement.

"Together with the belief of my team-mates, the boss and everyone on the staff, everyone has got behind me here at Arsenal which is brilliant.''

Walcott added: "It is fantastic to work with the best manager in the world and play at Emirates Stadium, which is an unbelievable place to play in.

"I just want to continue playing my football at this club and look forward to many successful seasons ahead.''

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger believes Walcott is integral to the club's future.

"Theo is an intelligent player with amazing ability and speed, and has developed extremely well this season,'' said the Gunners boss.

"At still only 20 years of age, Theo has huge potential for the forthcoming years and we are all looking forward to see him grow even more in an Arsenal shirt.''

Dutch striker Robin van Persie is set to follow suit with a new five-year deal in the next few weeks.

"I am hoping he will sign a new deal and I am trying very hard to get him to sign. I want Robin on board," said Wenger.

"He is a very important player in the squad and on the pitch he is a very efficient player."

Wenger added: "We want him to stay because we gave him a chance when he was in a very bad position at Feyenoord.

"I think he developed well here and I don't see a reason for him to go and he loves the club.

"We will let you know as soon as we get close."

Wenger maintains the club must do all they can to keep the players they have nurtured.

"You cannot imagine that we work as we did with young players and give them a chance, then let them go," he said.

"We are criticised because we play young players, then we are supposed to let them go when they are in a position where they start to perform at the top level? That is not acceptable."

[Tony Adams]

Arsene Wenger maintains there is no reason for Arsenal to be panicked into buying new players - and has told his squad to focus on their own performance rather than worry about who may be joining the club in the summer.

Following the midweek Champions League exit to holders Manchester United, the Gunners now have little other than pride left to play for ahead of the summer.

As Arsenal face up to another trophyless campaign - their last being the FA Cup in 2005 - there have been calls for Wenger to invest in some fresh talent to complement the potential of his youngsters or face being left behind.

Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia accepts that maybe "now is the time" for experience to be added, while Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor feels both the team and himself have "gone backwards" this season.

However, Wenger - boosted by the news England forward Theo Walcott has signed a new long-term deal - remains committed to his own philosophy of developing a side capable of beating the best once again.

"I believe that you have to take a distance with the statements of the players. They are not managers or coaches," Wenger said.

"They are responsible for their own performance on the pitch and not for general assessment of the team.

"You go to Chelsea, to Manchester United and you ask them if they feel they need to sign players, you will get everywhere a positive response. Yet if you ask the players in what position, you will never get their position.

"Every player wants to play with big names because it is reassuring."

However, Wenger insisted: "If you look at our team on Tuesday night, our oldest player in midfield was 22. They are in the best four in Europe, so why should we panic?

"I believe we have to take the critics on the chin, but at the end of the day, it is down to how strongly we believe in ourselves and how good I think the team is.

"We live in a world where everyone can have opinions, but it is people in a position of responsibility who make decisions.

"There is a big difference, because people who make decisions have responsibilities for the longer-term of the club, for the survival of the club and for the financial resources of the club."

Wenger maintains his young side are not that far from attaining the consistency of United, who killed off the second leg of their semi-final with two early goals at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

"I do not deny United deserved to go through over the two legs, but we did not have an opportunity to show our good we are," he said.

"Afterwards people always take definite conclusions, but I believe that the distance between the two teams is not as big as people make it today."

Like Arsenal, Chelsea crashed out of Europe in midweek, losing to a stoppage-time away goal to Barcelona in controversial circumstances at Stamford Bridge.

Wenger believes the events of earlier this week will make Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash between the two sides at Emirates Stadium all the more intriguing.

"I believe Chelsea have the right to be more disappointed than us because they were qualified and you could not see how Barcelona could come back," said Wenger, his side six points behind the Blues with three games left.

"The game on Sunday will be down to the team who deals best with the disappointment, who wants it more and who has more strength of character."

Wenger added: "I know we live in a world where when you lose a game, everybody gets hammered - but to get where we were you need some quality.

"For me it is not hard to try to re-motivate the players, but what is hard is to get the players' belief, desire and a bit of joy back in the squad.

"However, this team have no attitude problem, they always train focused and well."

[Tony Adams]

Wenger - My summer transfer window plans

Arsène Wenger is chasing “one or two” experienced players this summer – but not a striker.

With this season’s trophy-hunt ending on Tuesday night at the hands of Manchester United, it was inevitable that the Arsenal manager would be questioned about his transfer plans at Friday’s pre-match press conference.

As usual, Wenger stated his first job was to keep the existing squad together. And he added, if he does dip into the market, it will not be to make wholesale changes.

“I’m not chasing any player at the moment,” he said. “I believe my priority is to stay with the squad we have.

“We will try of course to bring in one or two players to strengthen the squad but we have plenty of strikers.

“And if we buy, it certainly won't be players who lack experience. We have enough of those.”

[Tony Adams]

Arsenal aim to trump Everton for Marseille's Cana

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is poised to beat David Moyes to the signing of midfield enforcer Lorik Cana.

Everton boss Moyes has been tracking the Marseille and Albania star for some time, and is ready to make an £8m move for the 25-yearold, who has also been linked to Liverpool.

But Wenger has made no secret of his admiration for Cana and will move for the player this summer.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/arsenal-a ... 758?page=1

[Tony Adams]

apparently we have made an 8mil bid for fulhams hangeland

[delfino_1936]

interesting transfer news, thanks for that Tony, we'll keep all transfer gossip, talk and debates in here!

good work TA

[haywood djablowme]

Would be able to get that Beye from Newcastle at a cut price now they got relegated + still would like to see Alonso behind Cesc but if not that Cana will fit the bill nicely

[Tony Adams]

we need a cb and preferably one with height to partner kolo so hangeland would be great, proven epl experience and an international player!
cana(marsaille), inler(udinese), matuidi(st.ettiene), johnson(man city), makoun(lyon), toure(barcelona), alonso(liverpool) or muntari(inter) would be great players to partner cesc. all are strong defence minded players yet not out and out cdm's

[Tony Adams]

I WANT TO BE A GUNNER

Gareth Barry is holding out for a summer move to Arsenal.

Aston Villa captain Barry is desperate to play Champions League football during the best years of his career – and the Gunners are his No.1 option.

Though Villa want him to see out the remaining year of his contract, Starsport understands he wants out now.

Barry believes he has been loyal to the club by staying for an extra season when he could have made an £18m switch to Liverpool last year. But after Martin O’Neill’s side failed to secure a top-four finish last year, the England star knows he is running out of time to test himself at the highest level.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is still an admirer, but is not keen on splashing out most of his transfer budget taking him to Anfield. That has left Manchester City and Tottenham hopeful of securing a deal – but it is Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who is considering a £12m bid for the 28-year-old.

Wenger is searching for a dominant midfield player to add to a squad which has plenty of talent but lacks genuine bite, and he has watched Barry several times in the past few months.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/vie ... -a-Gunner/

[Tony Adams]

i'd be a happy man if we snapped up both barry and hangeland.

[Tony Adams]

Bordeaux star Marouane Chamakh has issued a come-and-get-me plea to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger after describing a possible switch to The Gunners as a ‘dream’.

The striker who had previously expressed a desire to join Arsenal’s North London rivals Tottenham, intends to leave Ligue 1 at the end of the season with a switch to The Premier League high on his agenda.

The Morocco international, who has scored 11 goals in 30 games this season, insists he is aware of rumours linking him with a summer switch to Emirates Stadium and hopes a deal could be in the pipeline.

“I have heard about the Arsenal rumours,” he told Aujourd’hui Sport. “But my agent does not want to talk to me about them so that I stay focused until the end of the season.

“I want to play in The Premier League and a club like Arsenal would be a dream. If they were to come calling, I would certainly give them a positive answer. But there is nothing concrete at the moment.”

It was only a matter of weeks ago, however, that Chamakh had his eyes trained on a possible switch to White Hart Lane.

In a previous interview with France Football, he said: “I am not greedy, but I target a club that is just under the top big four. To be honest, a club like Tottenham could interest me.”


http://www.setanta.com/uk/Articles/Foot ... nid-52021/

[Tony Adams]

Wenger will demand strong start from Arsenal


Arsene Wenger intends to follow his tried and trusted pre-season campaign - but knows Arsenal must not get off to another slow start if they are to mount a challenge for the Premier League title.

There are expected to be one or two new faces, and perhaps not some of the old ones, when the Gunners squad reassemble at London Colney on July 6.

A club of Arsenal's stature and global brand would always find welcome hosts for what could be a lucrative foreign trip in the build-up to the 2009-10 campaign, which starts on August 15 and will roll on to the World Cup in South Africa.

Wenger, though, prefers to focus on finalising the team's preparations at a secluded Austrian training camp before returning home to the Emirates Cup on August 1/2, set to also feature Scottish champions Rangers.

However, there is also the small matter of a Champions League qualifier to safely negotiate.

Next season that comes after the opening round of domestic fixtures and will see Arsenal among one of the seeded 'best-placed' teams, but who could yet face Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon, Celtic or even Steve McClaren's FC Twente, whom they beat en route to the group stages last year.

Wenger accepts Arsenal cannot afford another slow start, when five defeats from the first 14 games all but ended their title bid before it had a chance to get going.

''We will have the same structure as normal to pre-season this summer,'' insisted the Arsenal manager, whose start their preparations for the new campaign on July 18 with the now traditional trip to Barnet.

''We will have progressive training and the training camp in Austria and then the Emirates Cup as usual, then we want to be ready to start the new season.''

Wenger added: ''The league title is a marathon, in which we had a bad start, and when you are running against people who are quick, it is difficult to catch them up. That is what we want to change next season - we want to start strongly, it is very important.''

Despite their failure to deliver a big performance in key games - notably the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and Champions League - Wenger feels the way his young squad performed from late November until the league defeat by Chelsea on May 10 shows great strength of character.

''The first part of the season was terrible for us - we lost five of our first 14 league games, after that, we went on a long, long unbeaten run,'' he said.

''We only lost one game against the rest of the top four and that defeat was under special circumstances. So I believe overall that the team have moved forward, improved and are ready to challenge next year.''

Key to Arsenal's progress in 2010 will be not only keeping the likes of captain Cesc Fabregas but also adding to a side which came up short when it mattered.

Fulham centre-half Brede Hangeland, Ajax's £7.5m-rated Belgium international Thomas Vermaelen are both reported defensive targets, while Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso and England international Gareth Barry, of Aston Villa, have been linked with a summer move to Emirates.

Should Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor be cashed in on - with reports of a £20m offers from AC Milan, Manchester City and Chelsea all in the pipeline, then Wenger could well turn to Blackburn forward Roque Santa Cruz, who will almost certainly leave Ewood Park.
Fabregas said: ''It is very important for this club to start winning trophies again, to be back at our best, so we are annoyed we could not do it this season.

''We definitely need to improve in some areas and do better as a squad. I believe that, next season, we will be stronger.

''We are really disappointed because we did not achieve what we wanted to this year, so it is up to us to come back stronger next time. I am confident we can do that.''

Fabregas added: ''We will see what happens in the summer, but the boss knows what is missing and I am sure he will do something about it.''

[ForzaChievo]

Adebayor, Eboue & Gallas, all rumored to be leaving in the summer.

[unitedwestand]

Adebayor, Eboue & Gallas, all rumored to be leaving in the summer.

Any substance to these rumours?

They are all easily replaced, just need to spend the money. Ive been sayn that one for a while.