Football (soccer) General Discussion Thread - Any & All League-based competitions.

I think he wants to keep Nani. He's a different sort of winger to both Valencia and Young, who play more directly, and are also more hard working.

Hey Volke, It's rumoured we're close to selling Bendtner to some team for 9m, good deal right?

And apparently we're close to sealing deals for Mata and Jagielka, 19m and 15m. If this is true I'm gonna be so happy about Mata, and Jagielka is a great defender, even if 15m is a bit much imo. Think this is true?

« Last edited by geezerguy on Jul 29th 2011 »

Yep, sounds good to me. I think he's a decent player, significantly better than Chamakh/Vela, but I'd say he's come as far as he can go with us. Realistically, we need someone better than him. I wish him luck, though. I've always thought that his arrogant attitude has damaged opinions of him, and he draws a lot more heat than he deserves.

Mata is supposed to be a very exciting player. I wouldn't really know, as I don't follow La Liga (booooorrrrriiiinnnggggg), but a lot of Arsenal fans seem to think he'd be a great replacement for Fabregas should he leave. As for Jagielka, I'd say he's a good player, and he has plenty of Premier League experience - just what we need. I'd be happy to see him join. �15 mil might be a bit steep, but in the Premier League Englishness always increases value, especially if said player appears for the national team (which Jagielka has, on eight recenet occasions, according to Wiki). I think both players will be good signings for Arsenal.

Volke said:

Yep, sounds good to me. I think he's a decent player, significantly better than Chamakh/Vela, but I'd say he's come as far as he can go with us. Realistically, we need someone better than him. I wish him luck, though. I've always thought that his arrogant attitude has damaged opinions of him, and he draws a lot more heat than he deserves.

Mata is supposed to be a very exciting player. I wouldn't really know, as I don't follow La Liga (booooorrrrriiiinnnggggg), but a lot of Arsenal fans seem to think he'd be a great replacement for Fabregas should he leave. As for Jagielka, I'd say he's a good player, and he has plenty of Premier League experience - just what we need. I'd be happy to see him join. �15 mil might be a bit steep, but in the Premier League Englishness always increases value, especially if said player appears for the national team (which Jagielka has, on eight recenet occasions, according to Wiki). I think both players will be good signings for Arsenal.

Yep I definitely think he's better than Vela (hopefully Chamakh can step it up a bit this season, he's said he has settled in properly now, so we'll see..), but he constantly got played out of position and wasn't gonna get very far if he stayed with us. I'll think he'll shine at his new club if he gets regular football.

Mata will be a VERY good player for us imo, I think he'll fit right in with our style of play. And I dunno about replacement for Cesc, I think Mata is more of a winger than a central mid :/ He can certainly play there, but we'll see! I see him as more of a replacement for Nasri (Nasri could play in the centre and the wings, as can Mata).

Regarding Jagielka - Exactly. Tons of experience which will be a MASSIVE help if we get him, and at 28 he has enough time to make an impact, but he isn't so young that he'll completeley block the development of Kosc, and in the future, Bartley. I think if we got Cahill he'd push them out of the picture for too long.

geezerguy said:

Yep I definitely think he's better than Vela (hopefully Chamakh can step it up a bit this season, he's said he has settled in properly now, so we'll see..), but he constantly got played out of position and wasn't gonna get very far if he stayed with us. I'll think he'll shine at his new club if he gets regular football.

Mata will be a VERY good player for us imo, I think he'll fit right in with our style of play. And I dunno about replacement for Cesc, I think Mata is more of a winger than a central mid :/ He can certainly play there, but we'll see! I see him as more of a replacement for Nasri (Nasri could play in the centre and the wings, as can Mata).

Regarding Jagielka - Exactly. Tons of experience which will be a MASSIVE help if we get him, and at 28 he has enough time to make an impact, but he isn't so young that he'll completeley block the development of Kosc, and in the future, Bartley. I think if we got Cahill he'd push them out of the picture for too long.

I thought Chamakh had a decent start to the season but went downhill from there. He's decent at headers but he's a complete wimp...can't kick the ball very hard whatsoever, and can only seem to score by tapping the ball in if he's kicking it. I hope to see him step up this season, but to be honest I get the impression that he's happy to sit on the bench. We need a better striker than him...hopefully Gervinho will turn out to be good (apparently he can play out wide or up front).

Mata is used on the left side of midfield for Valencia but can play in the centre also. I'd say he'll end up a Cesc replacement...Wenger has said that Nasri loves the club and won't be going anywhere. Wenger also seems oblivious to the fact that if Nasri truly loved the club, he wouldn't have messed around with his contract for so long and ruined his relationship with the fans. I just wonder how shocked Wenger will be when Nasri leaves on a Bosman when this season finishes. I'd rather see Fab stay but with Wenger's most recent comment (that he's unsure about his commitment), I honestly doubt he will.

Yeah, I think Koscielny certainly has potential, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be an understudy to Vermaelen and Jagielka...he'll still get plenty of games. Out of our three signings from last summer he's the only one who I think was worth the purchase (although we didn't purchase Chamakh as he came on a free). I certainly haven't forgotten Koscielny's performances against Barcelona, especially in the first leg. However, I haven't exactly forgotten that catastrophic moment where his mistake gave Birmingham the Carling Cup.

Another potentially good defender for us is Djourou. I know some people think he's a bit rubbish, but before he got injured and that Newcastle game (the one that none of us want to remember) he was putting in some really solid performances. He has been a bit crap since he came back, though. I think he needs someone like Vermaelen next to him.

And speaking of Vermaelen, I will be highly disappointed if he doesn't replace Fabregas as club captain (if Fabregas leaves).

Volke said:

I thought Chamakh had a decent start to the season but went downhill from there. He's decent at headers but he's a complete wimp...can't kick the ball very hard whatsoever, and can only seem to score by tapping the ball in if he's kicking it. I hope to see him step up this season, but to be honest I get the impression that he's happy to sit on the bench. We need a better striker than him...hopefully Gervinho will turn out to be good (apparently he can play out wide or up front).

Mata is used on the left side of midfield for Valencia but can play in the centre also. I'd say he'll end up a Cesc replacement...Wenger has said that Nasri loves the club and won't be going anywhere. Wenger also seems oblivious to the fact that if Nasri truly loved the club, he wouldn't have messed around with his contract for so long and ruined his relationship with the fans. I just wonder how shocked Wenger will be when Nasri leaves on a Bosman when this season finishes. I'd rather see Fab stay but with Wenger's most recent comment (that he's unsure about his commitment), I honestly doubt he will.

Yeah, I think Koscielny certainly has potential, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be an understudy to Vermaelen and Jagielka...he'll still get plenty of games. Out of our three signings from last summer he's the only one who I think was worth the purchase (although we didn't purchase Chamakh as he came on a free). I certainly haven't forgotten Koscielny's performances against Barcelona, especially in the first leg. However, I haven't exactly forgotten that catastrophic moment where his mistake gave Birmingham the Carling Cup.

Another potentially good defender for us is Djourou. I know some people think he's a bit rubbish, but before he got injured and that Newcastle game (the one that none of us want to remember) he was putting in some really solid performances. He has been a bit crap since he came back, though. I think he needs someone like Vermaelen next to him.

And speaking of Vermaelen, I will be highly disappointed if he doesn't replace Fabregas as club captain (if Fabregas leaves).

Yeah he had a really good start, got like 12 goals between August and November, I believe? Something like that. I really hope he does well this season because I thought he'd do well for us :( And yeah Gervinho looks promising, can play up front or on the wing like you said, and on his friendly debut scored two goals against Cologne, and he was only on for half an hour! I reckon he'll have a great season for us. Hopefully..

Well we'll see, I think he's good enough to be Cesc's replacement, especially with Wilshere and Ramsey in the team. But Nasri doesn't love the club at all, tbh. If he did he wouldn't be demanding 200k a week from us :/ He'll leave at the end of next season on a free no doubt about it, and imo, good riddance. He has one good half-season and thinks he's the best player on the planet. No thank you! And I think Cesc will DEFINITELY leave next season if Barca don't up their bid to 40m in this transfer window.

Koscielny had one hell of a game against Barcelona, I agree, was brilliant! Just a shame about the mix up in the Carling Cup :( And about Djourou, not many people rate him but I definitely think he can be a great defender, just needs to practise his game a bit. If Jagielka comes in we'll have 2 amazing first-team centre-backs and 2 VERY good back-ups in Kosc and Djourou!

Verm definitely deserves the armband, the only other person in the team who comes close to it is Robin, but I think Verm is more of a leader.

geezerguy said:

Yeah he had a really good start, got like 12 goals between August and November, I believe? Something like that. I really hope he does well this season because I thought he'd do well for us :( And yeah Gervinho looks promising, can play up front or on the wing like you said, and on his friendly debut scored two goals against Cologne, and he was only on for half an hour! I reckon he'll have a great season for us. Hopefully..

Well we'll see, I think he's good enough to be Cesc's replacement, especially with Wilshere and Ramsey in the team. But Nasri doesn't love the club at all, tbh. If he did he wouldn't be demanding 200k a week from us :/ He'll leave at the end of next season on a free no doubt about it, and imo, good riddance. He has one good half-season and thinks he's the best player on the planet. No thank you! And I think Cesc will DEFINITELY leave next season if Barca don't up their bid to 40m in this transfer window.

Koscielny had one hell of a game against Barcelona, I agree, was brilliant! Just a shame about the mix up in the Carling Cup :( And about Djourou, not many people rate him but I definitely think he can be a great defender, just needs to practise his game a bit. If Jagielka comes in we'll have 2 amazing first-team centre-backs and 2 VERY good back-ups in Kosc and Djourou!

Verm definitely deserves the armband, the only other person in the team who comes close to it is Robin, but I think Verm is more of a leader.

Yeah, it was something like 12. Problem was, between November and the end of the season, he only got one more goal, and that was in a game we won 5-0 that also involved an exceptionally rare Gael Clichy goal (me and my dad laughed out loud when Clichy scored...not only did he finally actually score a goal, but it was a good one too. I'm still not going to miss him, though) against a mid-table League 1 side.

Yeah. Wilshere and Ramsey are certainly the future of Arsenal's midfield. Add Mata to the mix and we have a great trio, although Wenger will need to use a 4-4-2 formation or we won't have a Defensive Midfielder. As for Nasri, I totally agree! Half a good season and he has delusions of grandeur...did you know he wants the Ballon D'Or but is unhappy because you can't get it if you don't win trophies? It's not like he's ever going to match up to players like Messi anyway. And tell me...where did he go in the second half of the season, when we really needed him? He disappeared, went quiet, and Robin had to take everything on himself.

Djourou was also good against Barcalona, perhaps not as notable a performance as Koscielny, though. I like him. Hopefully he can regain the form he had shown between October and February. He needs to get better at defending set pieces, though. Despite being our tallest centre-half, he's always the one who opponents get the better of. As for Squilvestrelaci, I don't think he'll stick around for much longer. I don't think he's as bad as people make him out to be - he's just not cut out for the pace of English football, especially considering how late in his career he came into it. He was a good player for Sevilla, and apparently played decently for France.

Robin should definitely remain as the club's vice-captain. Vermaelen is more of a leader, but Robin is still a great captain. Remember our victory over Blackpool towards the end of last season, where Diaby kicked the ball away in anger and got booked? It was Robin, not Cesc, who berated him about it. To tell the truth, I never thought Fabregas was a great choice for the captaincy. An excellent player and a nice guy who certainly boosted morale when he played, but lacked the commanding qualities that Vermaelen and Van Persie obviously have.

Volke said:

Yeah, it was something like 12. Problem was, between November and the end of the season, he only got one more goal, and that was in a game we won 5-0 that also involved an exceptionally rare Gael Clichy goal (me and my dad laughed out loud when Clichy scored...not only did he finally actually score a goal, but it was a good one too. I'm still not going to miss him, though) against a mid-table League 1 side.

Yeah. Wilshere and Ramsey are certainly the future of Arsenal's midfield. Add Mata to the mix and we have a great trio, although Wenger will need to use a 4-4-2 formation or we won't have a Defensive Midfielder. As for Nasri, I totally agree! Half a good season and he has delusions of grandeur...did you know he wants the Ballon D'Or but is unhappy because you can't get it if you don't win trophies? It's not like he's ever going to match up to players like Messi anyway. And tell me...where did he go in the second half of the season, when we really needed him? He disappeared, went quiet, and Robin had to take everything on himself.

Djourou was also good against Barcalona, perhaps not as notable a performance as Koscielny, though. I like him. Hopefully he can regain the form he had shown between October and February. He needs to get better at defending set pieces, though. Despite being our tallest centre-half, he's always the one who opponents get the better of. As for Squilvestrelaci, I don't think he'll stick around for much longer. I don't think he's as bad as people make him out to be - he's just not cut out for the pace of English football, especially considering how late in his career he came into it. He was a good player for Sevilla, and apparently played decently for France.

Robin should definitely remain as the club's vice-captain. Vermaelen is more of a leader, but Robin is still a great captain. Remember our victory over Blackpool towards the end of last season, where Diaby kicked the ball away in anger and got booked? It was Robin, not Cesc, who berated him about it. To tell the truth, I never thought Fabregas was a great choice for the captaincy. An excellent player and a nice guy who certainly boosted morale when he played, but lacked the commanding qualities that Vermaelen and Van Persie obviously have.

Hahaha yeah, in the whole time Clichy was with Arsenal he scored a grand total of 2 times XD

Yeah, if we get Mata I can't wait to see him to play with Ramsey and Jack :D And argh, really? He will never get the Ballon D'or in his life, even if he is with a team and winning trophies :/ Exactly! Second half of the season he did naff all, like you said everything was on Robin's shoulders, really.

Yeah I hope Djourou can regain his form and prove his critics wrong :D And yeah I noticed he's terrible at defending set pieces, always loses his marker I think. :( Yeah, I really hope Squillaci doesn't play at all this season ._.

Yep, RVP as Vice and TV as Skipper. A good pair :D And oh definitely, everybody knows Fabregas was only given the captaincy to keep him at the club for longer, which is a shame really. :(

Aaaaand I went to the Emirates Cup today, watched Boca V PSG, but more importantly Arsenal V the Red Bulls. The return of King Henry! :D He got a great reception! But the game ended in 1-1, RVP scored for us, but we didn't play all that well. Gibbs was surprisingly our best player on the day, Gervinho also played well, as did Ramsey. Wilshere was brought off within 10 minutes as a precaution because he hurt his ankle. :(

Conceded on like, the 82nd minute which was a massive bummer. Henry set up the goal.

geezerguy said:

Volke said:

Yeah, it was something like 12. Problem was, between November and the end of the season, he only got one more goal, and that was in a game we won 5-0 that also involved an exceptionally rare Gael Clichy goal (me and my dad laughed out loud when Clichy scored...not only did he finally actually score a goal, but it was a good one too. I'm still not going to miss him, though) against a mid-table League 1 side.

Yeah. Wilshere and Ramsey are certainly the future of Arsenal's midfield. Add Mata to the mix and we have a great trio, although Wenger will need to use a 4-4-2 formation or we won't have a Defensive Midfielder. As for Nasri, I totally agree! Half a good season and he has delusions of grandeur...did you know he wants the Ballon D'Or but is unhappy because you can't get it if you don't win trophies? It's not like he's ever going to match up to players like Messi anyway. And tell me...where did he go in the second half of the season, when we really needed him? He disappeared, went quiet, and Robin had to take everything on himself.

Djourou was also good against Barcalona, perhaps not as notable a performance as Koscielny, though. I like him. Hopefully he can regain the form he had shown between October and February. He needs to get better at defending set pieces, though. Despite being our tallest centre-half, he's always the one who opponents get the better of. As for Squilvestrelaci, I don't think he'll stick around for much longer. I don't think he's as bad as people make him out to be - he's just not cut out for the pace of English football, especially considering how late in his career he came into it. He was a good player for Sevilla, and apparently played decently for France.

Robin should definitely remain as the club's vice-captain. Vermaelen is more of a leader, but Robin is still a great captain. Remember our victory over Blackpool towards the end of last season, where Diaby kicked the ball away in anger and got booked? It was Robin, not Cesc, who berated him about it. To tell the truth, I never thought Fabregas was a great choice for the captaincy. An excellent player and a nice guy who certainly boosted morale when he played, but lacked the commanding qualities that Vermaelen and Van Persie obviously have.

Hahaha yeah, in the whole time Clichy was with Arsenal he scored a grand total of 2 times XD

Yeah, if we get Mata I can't wait to see him to play with Ramsey and Jack :D And argh, really? He will never get the Ballon D'or in his life, even if he is with a team and winning trophies :/ Exactly! Second half of the season he did naff all, like you said everything was on Robin's shoulders, really.

Yeah I hope Djourou can regain his form and prove his critics wrong :D And yeah I noticed he's terrible at defending set pieces, always loses his marker I think. :( Yeah, I really hope Squillaci doesn't play at all this season ._.

Yep, RVP as Vice and TV as Skipper. A good pair :D And oh definitely, everybody knows Fabregas was only given the captaincy to keep him at the club for longer, which is a shame really. :(

Aaaaand I went to the Emirates Cup today, watched Boca V PSG, but more importantly Arsenal V the Red Bulls. The return of King Henry! :D He got a great reception! But the game ended in 1-1, RVP scored for us, but we didn't play all that well. Gibbs was surprisingly our best player on the day, Gervinho also played well, as did Ramsey. Wilshere was brought off within 10 minutes as a precaution because he hurt his ankle. :(

Conceded on like, the 82nd minute which was a massive bummer. Henry set up the goal.

I honestly don't care if Nasri's off before the season begins. All he's done is ruin his relationship with the fans. If he's not going anywhere, Wenger shouldn't play him at all this season, just so he'll be rubbish when he leaves on a free next year. Problem is, Wenger is the one refusing to sell him. Idiot!

Problem is, Squillaci probably will play this season. We haven't signed anyone and I'm willing to bet a ludicrous amount of money that, come August 31st, we still won't have.

Yeah, it hasn't helped in the long term, though. I'm surprised he's still around. I just hope we bring him to the Champions League qualifier against Udinese, just to annoy Barcalona (he'll be cup tied ), although we'll have to keep him for at least that long.

Yep. After seeing the team play like that, I have absolutely no hope whatsoever that we'll win a thing this season, even if it was just a friendly. It was good to see a return from an Arsenal legend, though. He could teach the current team a thing or two.

I'm a Manchester United fan, but even I felt sorry for Arsenal today. We played incredibly well today, but Arsenal's defending was just awful. They really need to make some signings, and I think they should seriously consider a new manager.

Lol the game was absolutely horrific. I was watching it at a mates house, about 15 of us. It was 3-1, about 60 mins in. I went for a cigarette for about 10/15 minutes, went back inside and it was 6-1.

I went mental. :/ Terrible display, we need a centre-back, a left-back, one or two centre midfielders and a striker to fill in for Van Persie when he inevitably gets injured. Gibbs and Traore aren't ready yet, we need a fourth centre back, we need to bring in an extra midfielder or two because of the loss of Nasri and Fab, and our attack needs bolstering.

Terrible really.

Left back's been sorted out. Andre Santos. I've only seen him play during the last World Cup and the recent Copa America, and both times, I couldn't help wondering why Marcelo wasn't played. Mertesacker is also supposedly on his way to Arsenal, and that seems like a good deal. Park Chu Young was signed by Arsenal too, I think, but I've never seen him play? Does anyone know if he's any good?

^All three have officially signed. The only one I really know anything about is Mertesacker - good signing in my opinion. Apparently Arteta and Samba may well be on their way in today, although I don't know how much truth there is to either.

Sunday's game against ManU was an absolute catastrophe. Worst Arsenal defeat in 115 years...doesn't surprise me one bit that it came from the current Arsenal. Djourou and Traore (who ended up being sold to QPR a couple of days later) were both awful, and it was very unfair on the youngsters playing to expect them to make any kind of impact. Even a few ManU fans I know have said that they felt sorry for Arsenal during the game.

You can't help but look at Wenger when it comes to that defeat. Arsenal could barely maintain a proper shape, and it is his job to sort that sort of thing out.

Yossi Benayoun signed for Arsenal, though he's a bit old. Definitely a good player, in my opinion. Arteta was also just confirmed.

On a different note, Raul Meireles just signed for Chelsea. Liverpool's best player last year, imo. Why in the world would they go and do that? I know they spent a lot on central midfielders over the summer, but not one of them is better than Meireles.

« Last edited by danzx on Aug 31st 2011 »

Meireles submitted a transfer request on deadline day haha, that's why.

And VERY happy with Arsenal's signings. I think we finally have a solid defence..

Santos-Vermaelen-Mertesacker/Koscielny-Sagna

Looks good to me!

I think Benayoun and Arteta are very good signings as well, no harm in more depth to the squad and hopefully Arteta can get over his injury problems he's had. Park looks decent, probably similar level of a ability to Chamakh but works harder.

geezerguy said:

Meireles submitted a transfer request on deadline day haha, that's why.

And VERY happy with Arsenal's signings. I think we finally have a solid defence..

Santos-Vermaelen-Mertesacker/Koscielny-Sagna

Looks good to me!

I think Benayoun and Arteta are very good signings as well, no harm in more depth to the squad and hopefully Arteta can get over his injury problems he's had. Park looks decent, probably similar level of a ability to Chamakh but works harder.

I'd probably guess at Mertesacker partnering Vermaelen (Vermertesacker!) with Koscielny as backup. Fine by me. As long as Squilvestrelaci is pushed further from the first team (I reckon he'll go in January), and Djourou too, who went from being a great player to a terrible player, hitting rock bottom against the Mancs last weekend. Not sure what happened to him. Hopefully Sagna won't get injured too much...Jenkinson looks decent enough but he needs a lot more experience. Gibbs (when not injured) will be perfectly fine backup to Santos.

Yep, I'm happy with Benayoun and Arteta. Benayoun might be 31 but he's only here on a loan's deal. I think he'll be great. Arteta is a player I've always rated. He ticks all the boxes for me.

I hope Park is better than Chamakh. Chamakh is a useless, ineffective, rubbish player who I never want to see in an Arsenal shirt again. Got nothing against him personally, I just think he's crap. But Park seems like a decent player. He'll probably remain RVP backup, but RVP is less likely to have an injury free campaign than I am to quit drinking.

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With Liverpool's large amount of midfield signings, Meireles probably felt he wouldn't get as much pitch time as last season. Even so, he still would have been their best midfielder if he'd stayed. Last season, I thought it was him (and also Suarez, but I don't feel like talking about him as I despise the bloke) that really helped Liverpool get back on track under Kenny.

Also, what do you guys think of Spurs signing Kaka on loan? Personally, I couldn't care less. Kaka's been playing terrible recently and I always thought he was quite overrated (anyone who plays for Real Madrid or Barcalona seems to be automatically excellent in the media's eyes, although to be fair most of them actually are).

Volke said:

geezerguy said:

Meireles submitted a transfer request on deadline day haha, that's why.

And VERY happy with Arsenal's signings. I think we finally have a solid defence..

Santos-Vermaelen-Mertesacker/Koscielny-Sagna

Looks good to me!

I think Benayoun and Arteta are very good signings as well, no harm in more depth to the squad and hopefully Arteta can get over his injury problems he's had. Park looks decent, probably similar level of a ability to Chamakh but works harder.

I'd probably guess at Mertesacker partnering Vermaelen (Vermertesacker!) with Koscielny as backup. Fine by me. As long as Squilvestrelaci is pushed further from the first team (I reckon he'll go in January), and Djourou too, who went from being a great player to a terrible player, hitting rock bottom against the Mancs last weekend. Not sure what happened to him. Hopefully Sagna won't get injured too much...Jenkinson looks decent enough but he needs a lot more experience. Gibbs (when not injured) will be perfectly fine backup to Santos.

Yep, I'm happy with Benayoun and Arteta. Benayoun might be 31 but he's only here on a loan's deal. I think he'll be great. Arteta is a player I've always rated. He ticks all the boxes for me.

I hope Park is better than Chamakh. Chamakh is a useless, ineffective, rubbish player who I never want to see in an Arsenal shirt again. Got nothing against him personally, I just think he's crap. But Park seems like a decent player. He'll probably remain RVP backup, but RVP is less likely to have an injury free campaign than I am to quit drinking.

---

With Liverpool's large amount of midfield signings, Meireles probably felt he wouldn't get as much pitch time as last season. Even so, he still would have been their best midfielder if he'd stayed. Last season, I thought it was him (and also Suarez, but I don't feel like talking about him as I despise the bloke) that really helped Liverpool get back on track under Kenny.

Also, what do you guys think of Spurs signing Kaka on loan? Personally, I couldn't care less. Kaka's been playing terrible recently and I always thought he was quite overrated (anyone who plays for Real Madrid or Barcalona seems to be automatically excellent in the media's eyes, although to be fair most of them actually are).

I think Wenger will rotate Koscielny and Mertesacker, playing PM against physical teams such as Stoke, Chelsea, etc. and Koscielny against teams that have quick players such as United or Villa. And I think that is a great prospect having two very different type of defenders that we can play against different types of teams. Good stuff! Squallaci won't get ANYWHERE near the team, TV, Per, Kosc, Djourou and even Miquel are all ahead of him in the pecking order imo, and I really hope Djourou will get back to his best, I really like him for some reason but if he continues playing like he is then boooo.
Sagna isn't a very injury prone player, but I definitely think Jenkinson is a capable back-up, looking forward to seeing him develop alongside Gibbs. Santos will give us more options going forward imo, I watched some videos on Youtube and he LOVES getting forward by the looks of it, looks good at finishing and free kicks as well. But hopefully he can defend as well, haha.

Yeah, Arteta will be our new creative spark, relishing seeing him in an Arsenal shirt! Benayoun is very good cover for Left wing and the centre, and both of them are very experienced in the PL and will settle in fine imo.

Park will have to work his way up to get past Chamakh, but tbh that shouldn't take long at all. And what would you think about a change of formation to 4-4-2? Could be interesting, line-up could look like this:

Szczesny
Santos-Verm-Mert/Kosc-Sagna
Gervinho-Wilshere-Song-Arteta
RVP-Walcott

I doubt Wenger would change this as the seasons already started, but I think it would work well. But what do I know :P

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Meireles is a very good signing by Chelsea, I hope he gets enough game time as he's a brilliant player. Definitely helped Liverpool get back up there, and I think they'll miss him a bit, even with Adam and Co.

And what? That never happened? o:

« Last edited by geezerguy on Sep 2nd 2011 »

Spurs got Kaka on loan? Since when?

They didn't o: