Tag Archive for afobe

3 Signings Arsenal Could Still Make. Reasons For & Reasons Against

September 1, 2012 Arsenal 22 comments

Transfer Deadline Day for most Gooners was a generally miserable affair. Many had hoped for two or three more players and ultimately we signed none (unless you count that 17-year-old Macedonian goalie).

I’m not going to lie, I too was disappointed, I had hoped for a few more players myself but only for numbers as a few injuries could scupper what this team is capable of achieving and my stance on that has not changed. I believe this team is capable of winning something this year, more than I have believed in other teams we have had since the Champions League final.

If we look at things rationally we can point to the sale of two starters and the purchase of three starters so we are technically one better depth wise and the other players we have moved on couldn’t really be considered squad players so we’ve done well to improve the team (in my opinion) as well as reduce the wage bill which will ultimately allow us to retain our best players and sign better ones too.

Our summer signings

I’m of the opinion that our squad is good enough, deep enough with a few tweaks to playing positions (more on that later) and generally better than last season (maybe not man for man in each position but overall) to do something this season but if we are concerned about depth there are a few players we can still sign despite the transfer window closing.

I’m going to get so much stick for this but before you ridicule me in the comments section, switch off from the blog and unfollow me on twitter (as happened the last time I mentioned this) please stick around for the explanations. I’m going to suggest players we could still sign and reasons for and reasons against. This is not an endorsement of any particular player, just suggestions of free agents who could bring certain qualities to the club now the window has closed. Read more

Why We Should Keep RVP, Theo To Play Striker, Vela Moves On & Campbell To Spain

July 19, 2012 Arsenal, Transfers 11 comments

Has it really been over two weeks since my last post? I have been very busy what with me getting married in 8 weeks (sorry ladies) among many other things and I have neglected my blog a bit.

I have a number of blog topics swirling around my head and partly finished but I decided that I wanted to write another RVP related blog (Oh no! I hear you cry) but I also want to explore some related topics.

I was involved in a discussion recently about how easy it would be for Robin to force Arsenal to sell him this summer but before I get into that I want to talk about why we should keep him.

There will be a lot of people who completely disagree with my thoughts on this and that’s okay but I hope that once I have explained why I think we should keep Robin this summer no matter what I hope a few of them will be convinced or at least respect that there is a legitimate other side to the argument.

Keeping RVP this summer is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, he is the only “world-class” player we have at the club at the moment (even with the new signings). Secondly, we should not look to strengthen any of our league or European competitors in return for money we are not in dire need of. Thirdly, we need to send a message to our players and to other clubs that we are not pushovers. Lastly, we need his experience to afford new signings time to settle and to help us promote youth players into the first team set-up.

This is not to say I forgive him or forget his actions, far from it but I believe that keeping him is the best thing for Arsenal.

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Arsenal Need To Buy Big, First They Must Bargain Hunt

May 17, 2012 Arsenal, Transfers 9 comments

Okay let us imagine that we are super lucky and manage to sell all of our “dead wood” (see my post on end of season fire sale) which I personally don’t think we’ll be able to do.

For arguments sake I am going to say that we sell Almunia, Mannone, Squillaci, Denilson, Arshavin, Park, Bendtner and Vela.

Our squad will then consist of:

Szczesny, Fabianski, Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Santos, Djourou, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Song, Arteta, Frimpong, Coquelin, Wilshere, Diaby, Ramsey, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lansbury, Walcott, Gervinho, Ryo, Chamakh, Podolski, Campbell, Afobe, Van Persie

KEY: GREEN = HOME-GROWN BOLD = Under 21

7 of these players do not need to be registered and probably will not be.

Of the remaining 21 players only 7 are “home-grown” therefore we need one more or we submit a smaller squad.

I think we could lose Fabianski this summer and that would take our squad down to 20. I believe that Afobe will be loaned out next season and we could potentially see Campbell back out on loan, then we’ll only have 3 strikers; RVP, Podolski (who will mainly play on the left) and Chamakh.

I have a feeling that Lansbury will be signed permanently by West Ham if they are promoted (and for the purpose of this blog I will assume they will be promoted).

We are now down to 19 so can sign 4 players. Who should those 4 be? Read more

End Of Season Fire Sale

May 11, 2012 Arsenal, Finance in Football, Transfers 9 comments

Earlier this week I focused on the financial aspects of Arsenal’s trophy drought, in particular the correlation between Arsenal being unable to challenge for the title and the rise in wages elsewhere in a fashion that best attracted top players.

Today I want to explore what clearing out the “dead wood” is actually going to do for us. Will our end of year sale actually make us win something?

As we all know there are players on Arsenal’s books that based on the quality of their performances over their entire career with Arsenal (Ramsey’s few months of bad form not considered) who most Gooners believe do not deserve to be at the club, especially if we are claiming to have designs on winning trophies. More so than that there are players being paid far beyond what the average fan would call acceptable for their worth and value to the squad.

Sell the lot?

I want to examine moving these players on but before we can examine the moving on of players we need to actually see what our squad of 25 could look like and where additions or replacements need to be made.

The premier league 25 rule is this:

A squad can have a maximum of 25 senior players. They can also use as many players as they like who are under 21 or will still be 21 or under on January 1st of the year the season starts.

Of that 25 at least 8 must be “home-grown”. Home-grown means a player that had been registered with an English or Welsh club for at least 3 years between the ages of 16 and 21 irrespective of nationality. If a club cannot name 8 home-grown players then they must sacrifice one of their 25 places in the squad.

With that in mind I want to examine who will make the squad next season, who can we afford to let go and how easy it may be to have a clear out.

It will be our intention to trim a little bit and if possible add one or two players

Arsene Wenger on the summer transfer window

These are the players currently on our books and/or in the first team squad. Benayoun is not included as until such time we buy him he is a Chelsea player next season. (Red means loaned out this year)

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Pep Rice – Arsenal’s new no.2

April 30, 2012 Arsenal No comments

Pep Guardiola has announced his decision to leave Barcelona at the end of the season, a decision he says had been made in his mind as early as September. Pep is someone that has been linked with Arsenal as Wenger’s long term successor and certainly someone that the majority of Arsenal fans would love to have at the club.

I personally have said it would a fantastic dream to have Pep join Arsenal next season as Wenger’s number two with the idea that after a few seasons Wenger would move upstairs and Pep would be the new number one. But that is all it is, a dream. Pep wants a break from the pressures of management and whilst I think he would have a less stressful life as Arsene’s number two I’m not sure that he would be interested. Not because it would be a step back for him, Pep has already said that he wants to take a step back in football which can be read anyway you like really. Guardiola has long been an admirer of Wenger’s and I don’t think he would see it as a step back to learn under the guidance of Wenger. Anyone who suggests Pep with his 13 trophies in 4 years has nothing to learn from Wenger understands seriously little about football.

Guardiola is a fantastic manager but he was very fortunate to inherit a team full of some of the best players in the world in their positions as well as the best player in the world, one of the best youth academies in the world and a board structure that allows him to spend big on players. Barca were in the ascendency, he was a man in the right place at the right time. Read more

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