A post by Anthony Hawke from our friends over at OTBAG
Time flies by, and so it seems to have again. But you only feel that if you’re really having a good time or are really excited about what’s going on. Such has been the transfer period for Gooners all over the world, ever since we all first heard about Gonzalo Higuain as a probable Gunner next season. Twitter rumours even said that he was at London one fine day for a medical, only to be summoned back by new Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. Now, almost a month later, Higuain ended up joining Napoli instead, who were more than happy to meet the Galacticos’ transfer amount. Fans were already enraged as to why we did not pay so much money for a player who is world class, especially since we so publicly announced we have around 70 million pounds to spend. But just because you have money, you wouldn’t spend because somebody gets greedy. There are some morals to be upheld, to some, they just look at it like ego.
During this month though, we have also been linked with Rooney and Suarez. Rooney is on his second “I want to go” tantrum (remember the first one where he pledged his “loyalty” to United after they bent over and paid him 250k pounds a week?) but maybe this time it may not seem about the money. A certain Dutchman seems to have replaced him as the most valuable player in the squad and he has certainly taken over the shooting boots from Rooney. Currently though, it seems he prefers the blue side of London to the red. That leaves us looking at the next best option – Suarez. The moment this guy’s name popped up, everyone started asking “Why Suarez??” My question – “Why NOT Suarez?”
Let’s look at it in a systematic manner:-
1) Arsenal are in need of a world class striker. Everyone agrees. Even non-Gooners have agreed to this statement ever since Henry left for Barcelona. So when the Summer break began, what did Ivan and Arsene do? Bid for a world class striker. Who? Higuain. Real got greedy, we said no, he went to Napoli. What did they do next? They said, let’s maybe have a backup plan and see who else we have as an option. Two names popped up in the world class criteria who are not exactly settled with their positions in their current teams – Rooney and Suarez.
2) Fans have screamed out that we should try and get someone who is world class talent, proven and has Premier League experience so that he doesn’t take too long to settle to the Premier League grind. Rooney and Suarez are all that. But Rooney wants to go to Chelsea it seems and Suarez… well he currently doesn’t have any other takers even if Liverpool have offered him to clubs around Europe. And that, transfer-market-logically makes sense to us. If Liverpool don’t have any other takers currently, they cannot afford to extort exorbitant transfer money for him either. Suarez wants to leave then Liverpool would be wise to use common sense and take the money and invest in maybe 2 good strikers, rather than say no and end up not selling him at all and sit with a disgruntled player for a whole season (or 6 months minimum till the winter transfer window). Or Liverpool trust their attorneys very much so that they can stave off any lawsuits that Suarez might file against them, which he has done against former club Groningen to join Ajax, so he certainly may not hesitate to do it again.
3) Fans would then ask about his on-field antics – the accusations of racism and known incidents of biting and a bit of unprofessionalism here and there. Let’s take it one by one – As far as racism goes, Arsenal have a very diverse list of players on their roster when it comes to racial backgrounds. What better way than to make him feel at home and also show him players from various communities and races can actually play football together? About biting well, let’s just hope our cafeteria has better food or maybe Wenger will ask him to chew gum while playing the game instead (a little inspiration from Sir Alex Ferguson perhaps). And about the professionalism… I think Steve Bould has that part covered.
4) If you’re the fan who’s going to say “Okay, all that’s fine. But why Suarez? Why not someone else?” And I would respond again “Why NOT?” If you’re the type of fan who refers to a player’s ratings in EA Sports’ FIFA to decide whether a player is quality or not, or maybe you refer to the Premier League’s Fantasy Premier League valuation of a player to see if he’s top quality or not, then you wouldn’t exactly be disappointed. Suarez is amongst the top 5 strikers in the Premier League; the other four being Rooney, Aguero, Ba (debatable) and a Dutchman.
5) If you’re the fan who says “Okay you’ve convinced me. But he still has about 6-7 matches to serve as part of his previous ban by the FA. So what about those matches?” Then I would ask you back if you’ve seen Giroud play in pre-season yet. Agreed, it’s just pre-season and the teams we’ve been playing are only International sides (right…) and Wenger’s former club who are at prime fitness since it’s mid season for them right now, it still doesn’t prove he can handle it, right? Well, I remember people questioning whether Giroud could even amass 15 goals in a season and he sure well did and got his assist count in the double figures too (too lazy to get the actual numbers but you get the drift). Who are these six teams anyway? Aston Villa, Fulham, Spurs, Sunderland, Stoke and Swansea. Neither of these teams are the type against whom we will be doomed if we didn’t have Suarez in the line-up. Besides, I am confident personally that this time we’re going to have a MUCH better start to the season because we will actually have ensured that the core of the group has stuck together for the first time in maybe 3 or 4 seasons which in itself is a great morale boost and a message to the world that perhaps it is time to stop thinking about Arsenal as a selling or feeder club anymore.
6) If you’re the type who was already oogling over the prospect of Suarez joining us and if you like tactics and numbers and stuff like that, you’re next question – How does he fit into our system? Well, here’s my amateur take on it. Arsene has been widely and constantly criticized for not having a Plan B. He has stuck to his 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 for a while now and the option of including Suarez in the line-up gives him a Plan B of the traditional 4-4-2 as well. Let me try and give you an example of a scenario I’ve played over and over in my head. Szczesny takes a long goal kick, who’s there to head it down? Giroud of course! Who does he head it down to? Either Oxlade-Chamberlain to his left or Walcott to his right or right down the throat for Suarez. Suarez in my books is a bit more skillful and easily faster than Rooney. When you have speed down both flanks, you have a striker who can hold the ball or head it down to a team mate and then you have one hell of a lethal striker, I don’t see an attack being more formidable than that. Oh wait… there actually is a more lethal and formidable attack. Please add Santi Cazorla and Podolski to that list of people who have skill and long shots in them. Oh shit! How can I forget Rosicky then? And just to make sure we have the whole lot in, stuff in dribblers like Wilshere and Ramsey among them and what do you have? A shit scared opposition defense.
But wait. That still leaves approximately 30 million pounds in our transfer kitty (including what we’ve gained from sales). What do we do with that? Well, Suarez is only the hottest transfer gossip we have going in our direction right now but there are undoubtedly other things the club is working on in the background as well so let’s see how that develops. Add the right names to the list of players I just mentioned above, I don’t see anything other than extremely low self confidence and morale, injuries and suspensions denting our title challenge this coming season.
Positively Arsenal 
A good read. I wouldent mind a keeper ad well
LikeLike
After what he did against Ghana in South Africa, his taunting of a black player with racist words (even if it’s fucking Patrice Evra) and his habit of being a spoiled, little prick, I want Luis Suarez as far away from Arsenal as possible. Send his ass to Spain. He’ll fit in over there with all the cheaters and masters of the dark arts. Oh, and fuck all those Liverpool supporters talking so much crap because they feel threatened by us. Have fun watching everyone else play in Europe, you arrogant bastards, and stuff Luis Suarez up your arses.
LikeLike
Also, it’s quite funny watching their owner, John Henry, talking about football being the wild west. Can you imagine that? A capitalist, who made his billions cheating others out of their money, thinks football is way too wild for his tastes. Just incredible. So next time you hear someone claim American sports are better organized than football, slap them in their face and walk away. Don’t even bother talking to them. They obviously have no idea why having an academy and competing for players with teams from seven or eight different leagues may be a tad harder than being handed a monopoly with a feeder system like the NCAA.
Good day! I said, Good Day!
LikeLike
First, also. I’m on fire today.
LikeLike
GAINS
there are rumors ARSENAL is in for GUNDOGEN. you must be in heaven if it’s true and we succeed.
Nice writeup ANTHONY. interesting arguments.
LikeLike
Gains
I’m Irish and when Thierry handballed against us (Republic of Ireland), I had to suck it up. I agree Suarez is a little prick, but he may get us an extra 20 goals a season.
Can you really expect John W letting a £49m asset rot in the reserves, Stan wouldn’t – he’d sell to Manu.
What is John W smoking if he thinks Liverpool are competing with Arsenal in the EPL?
West Brom, Everton and the Spuds is their level. I think however, that win on the 26th May 1989 has left a deep scar in the ‘pools psych – just look at the shit Hansen continuously says about us. The are ultra bitter that us soft southern bastards from posh London are richer and better then them.
You’re right Gains – they are arrogant bastards.
LikeLike
Yeah
Great post Anthony!
Gustavo, Gundongen, Kongdogbia – all quality players. Still plenty of time to get someone like that in.
But, I’d agree with Arsene if he is looking for squad players to fill in the gaps – As PG said -who do we drop from the first XI to let one of these new guys start?
If we get a bunch of injuries (at Arsenal? never!), we will rightly be stuffed – it would be too much pressure on the kids.
LikeLike
You’re going to compare Henry to Suarez because he cheated one time against Ireland? Wow!
Who gives a toss if he can get us an extra twenty goals a season? For all we know Giroud may do a Van Persie or Adebayor and score thirty goals this season. Besides, how many points will he loses us when he gets red carded and we are left to win important games with ten men? Nope. This Arsenal supporter wants absolutely nothing to do with that buck toothed idiot. Keep him far, far away, Arsene.
LikeLike
Gundogan would be awesome for Arsenal. Dortmund aren’t stupid enough to let him go, though. Not when they’ve let Goetze leave and are on the verge of selling Lewandowski.
LikeLike
Just a though.
I think we were holding back on a chunk of the transfer funds and even some positions until we were sure the manc scum could get their hands on Cesc.
Now that is out of the way, we can (hopefully) see some more aggressive moves in the market from Arsenal.
Fuck it, we have at least £80m now, ecen without digging into the vast cash reserve, we could buy Ronaldo if Wenger wanted him. With over 20 players gone from the club, wages are not a problem either.
There is no way I’d agree to spend that on Surarez now , not the way the Micky mousers are playing this deal.
LikeLike
Gains,
All I am saying is that supporters ofter turn a blind eye to to the bad boy antics of some of their own.
Adams and Merse? We will always love them.
Bobby’s little dives- we never saw them.
LikeLike
Gains
I ‘d agree Gundongen looks very unlikely. Gustavo on the other hand looks very possible – he could be our new Gilberto. That would also allow Arteta to get a few yards more forward and really dictate the tempo in midfield.
LikeLike
Miguel off on loan to Leicester.
Does that mean Flamini come in as an emergency CB?
Or More Likely the swap deal with Malaga is still on and we get Jesus and Bac keeps training as cover for CB.
LikeLike
“With the transfer window expiring, the difficulties of not only selling Suarez to a competitor but also replacing him makes it practically impossible,” Taylor said.
Are PFA chiefs allowed to say things like that?
Good article. You do make some good points.
Guess the name of the striker we are newly linked with. Hint: He is a transfer season regular.
LikeLike
@Sensational Arsenal
Obafemi Martins?
LikeLike
Nope. Try again.
LikeLike
yes steve I from yesterday glad to mate..reverting with drinking schedule
thank you anthony, well said. the cultured approach proved to be too forward and sophisticated for the epl…..but its ok …we can mix it.
wenger is right in showing confidence to his squad regardless of the suarez case. well done professor! just make sure you slap ivan a few times so that he dont come out telling everyone what we can spend….and now its time for stan to call his mate and compromise a deal..fuck rodgers and the agents
LikeLike
dfb August 8, 2013 at 8:45 pm
H – I don’t respond to you because I vehemently disapprove of how you express yourself. It’s just not polite.
oh so its just not polite right? while its polite of you to talk about me without talking to me
oh dear….i wonder why you think i aint polite. Perhaps if fellow fans had some respect for what the club went through after building the stadium instead of constantly trying to bring us down i wouldnt be as nasty to the PAID journalists who make their living trashing wenger in every opportunity they get.
and why shoudl i be polite when i invest time and effort to explain the difficulties of our projects and the reply i get is ” nonsense”. Is it polite to dismiss the work wenger has done for this club? is it polite to boo and abuse wenger inside the stadium he built for us ? is it polite to constantly question and critisise the manager who knows more about football than most managers put together? does the average arsenal fan realise how lucky he has had it the last 20 years with wenger winning titles with world class players and style, taking us to finals, building us our new home, making us a FORCE WORLDWIDE ? …….
sometimes my dear dfb where words dont apply …the stick does…but lets not get there yet 🙂
and i also disapprove of how some arsenal fans constantly complain like mugs and want this or that so its good to remind them how shit we were before wenger……. thats when they attack me personally and law and behold if i give some back huh….
thansk to everyone who spoke on my behalf but i can take them all on …as long as they dont ban me whenever they are put in a corner…. 😉
LikeLike
hybris my dear dfb…you know what that word means ? its when the stupid think of themselves as capable enough to judge superior beings…… nobody in this country (other than ferguson, purely and only in terms of trophy count- nothing else) is in any position to talk negatively about wenger unless he is a spud whose had his/her butt destroyed the last 17 years…
so forgive me for going bananas when OUR fans…the ones who are supposed to support arsenal through thick and thin ( right?) act like chavs…… or when we have fans who dont even know the sport of football or played it at any level passing around judgement of how things should be done……
LikeLike
I would always prefer an “ARSENAL” player rather than suaz or roo and would rather suaz out of those two if we had to.
I would also prefer gun to gus although then again Kong looks class
I suppose I just going to trust ARSENE’s judgement can’t go far wrong really
LikeLike
If its Suarez or no one I am all in favour of no one
He’s dirty
LikeLike
I refuse to believe however it is a choice between no one and the Uruguyan
That would be ridiculous
LikeLike
Hubris?
LikeLike
he sure is anicol !!!! but since they play us dirty all these years we might as well pay them all with the same currency heheee
LikeLike
Hunter
i’ve been batting your corner for last 48 hour mate.
mind you, your come backs are worthy of its own DVD.
LikeLike
Please George a 140 word limit for Hunter would make everyone happy,’d even promise to limit my own posts.
insert irony.
If Hunter took over this place i’d still be a no 1 fan.
LikeLike
Sens @ 7.09 pm
Yes, allowing the PFA spokesman aka the manu fan boy to have an intelligent opinion on the contract in public is laughable.
I mean who asked for their ‘opinion’ to be made public.
i only trust one lawyer = lionel hutz,
LikeLike
Top post Anthony. Well thought out and easy to read. Cheers mate!
LikeLike
Arsenal start a new campaign from an excellent position, and almost no one (media) is telling it like it is. I hate to speculate, but a few indisputable facts, trends and the like. They have momentum from the tail end of the last season, and the mini unbeaten run. Everyone (even the Guardian) concedes the spirit is high, is now the strong point, and there no doubts about player movements or unhappiness, or instability from that side; in contrast to several rivals. The ship is steady with no management upheavals, while our rivals welcome new management and new backroom teams, new players starting, some big names leaving and in all this some measure of adjustment, which takes time.
Still I think the most telling plus this season is going to be fresh impetus and energy of yet another wave of upcoming talent eager to reach higher levels, and in some cases start to build a profile as first team contenders; Sanogo, Ryo, Serge and potentially one or two others, including Zelalem and Eisfeld. At a higher level we have good reason to expect Jenks, Ox, Jack, Aaron, Chewie to all make more notable contributions than their last season, with emphasis on Aaron, and, in my opinion Chewie. Progress of younger players comes in steps, not a gentle gradient, sometimes they look as though they are on a horizontal, only to have a sudden spurt to a higher game, such has been the development of Theo, Aaron, and Jack. The first two start to show consistent class, steady development, and we should expect similar process in the others. Finally we have second seasons for Lukas, Santi and Olivier and likely even more effective game and collective cohesion.
It is hopeless to speculate on final positions as Guardian pretends; only to insist rightly that right now, Arsenal are title contenders, more-so than any one of the last 3 to 4 seasons, for the reasons above. Any new player, like Suarez or another, is an addition to a strongly positioned team. I reject the idea that a 30-goal striker (as they are called these days) is the magic wand. I agree we need more depth up-front, no doubt. I am willing to take Arsene at his word about Sanogo, and a few others too though.
LikeLike
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/30413
Interesting post on the transfer tittle tattle.
LikeLike
Fuck me, it’s no negative out there in Gooner blogdom! It’s very quiet here too…..Wenger out you bastards….
LikeLike
Great comment ZimPaul. I like the points you make and your level of educated optimism.
LikeLike
Some Gooners are hoping we get ‘spanked’ today so that Wenger wakes up and brings some players in……I think I will take up poetry and come back later…
LikeLike
I’ve just been engaged in an exchange with an Wenger out chap on Untold Arsenal. Here’s an example of what really pisses me off. It’s typical.
“despite wenger trying to scupper the arteta signing at the last minute, and as the board did with the Monreal signing which wenger was forced into. They have also in no uncertain terms told him to spend big this summer, hence the suarez illusion. The problem is, when the board,over rule him, wenger goes squealing to stan, who is just as,likely to back him as he is the board, not being a football man himself. Stan had to pay an unscheduled visit to sort out a board vs wenger transfer squabble the summer before last, when wenger refused to accept cesc and nasri were going, to the extent he refused to plan for their replacements to the extent he snatched defeat from,the jaws of victory over juan mata”.
All I demand is evidence to back up anything they claim. ‘Evidence’ is a reliable, consistent, publicly available source.
LikeLike
So Arteta and Monreal were going to fall into Arsenal colours by themselves and it was Arsene and the board who were trying to shoo them away?
Maybe Arsene and the board are Tottenham fans underneath… I fully expect some asshole to actually say this.
LikeLike
Things have been going slowly, alright.
It’s not what we expected, or were ‘promised’ by Ivan.
bragging about the transfer kitty kind of showed our cards too early to potential sellers.
Suarez’s agent has made a fuck up of not double checking the contract, but I find Gordon Taylor’s comments perverse.
Still have enough time to get the reinforcements in. These will be squad players, we have the superstars already it’s just some people won’t admit it.
LikeLike
Excellent statements from Gains on Suarez. Post was rife with poor rationalization and seems quite out of step since the Suarez story looks far from over and not necessarily ending with his transfer to Arsenal.
As far as the team spirit, I hope it stays positive and confident. But 7 or 8 players have publicly expressed their hope for top class additions in order to improve the possibility of challenging. If it doesn’t happen, there could be a loss of confidence and disappointment from that group that includes an influential core of established players. It wouldn’t hurt the squad depth or spirit/confidence to have a CB now that Miquel has been loaned and a midfielder (maybe one like Gustavo?).
Gains, what are your impressions of him?
LikeLike
Limey
The players did not make those comments with the consent or consideration of the much maligned PR team (still don’t like the badge *ibsf* ) at AFC. Arsene’s Eyes and Ears, The Prince is an influential presence in the camp, it’s why we call him the Prince. It is not rational to consider that he is marching to a different rhythym, he is carrying the banner and urging the rest on. And his transfer took a whole window to negotiate (MAs comments on his transfer are on the record).
Always like to hear Gais thoughts on players, He is was right about Pato’s injuries eh? Young players, they need the luck with injuries.
In the interests of karma and anti-jinxes I’d recommend holding fire for the moment considering the very very recent jump in certain rumours. Most of us saw the confed cup final! *ibsf II*
LikeLike
with<without
LikeLike
Limey, Gustavo would be a magnificent addition to the team. I saw him this summer for Brazil in the Confeds cup and thought he was their best player. As far as the way he plays, he is a physical player who will not get pushed off the ball easily, has an eye for a pass and can keep the ball as well as any of the better dribblers on a team. For Btazil, he covered well when the fullbacks went forward and was the one who set the tone for their counterattacks. He reminds me of Sergio Busquets, except more dynamic and willing to get forward. He is the type of player you don’t really notice, but has an immense impact on a game.
LikeLike
Arsenal happy to soak it up for now. Deeper lines for the start?
But there’s the beautiful pass and Walcott scores! First attack? Great goal.
And now they step forward a little. City counter. Eeeek. Phew Milner shoots over.
Gonna be a good game I hope. I’m missing the cricket for this.
LikeLike
Sagna long range off the post! Chamberlain doing well on the left too. Koscielny? He’s not bad.
LikeLike
The pressing is on point and the entire back line have been the best players on the pitch thus far. I like Ox on the left. He seems to cover well for Gibbs and can dribble past players quite easily. This is one of those games where Oli Giroud’s physicality could help keep the opposition pushed further back. I hope he plays a part in the second half.
LikeLike
Quality goal! Walcott the playmaker heh.
LikeLike
My word.
What. A. Pass.
Nice finish too.
LikeLike
So what will we read tomorrow in the Arsenal blogosphere? “It was just a friendly before the season, doesn’t matter one bit, we still need loads of new players. SPEND SOME MONEY!”
Funny thing is, if we would’ve lost, the story would’ve gone something like this: “There have been worrying signs and City showed that this current squad just isn’t good enough. SPEND SOME MONEY!”
LikeLike
Sebastian Perez is apparently one of the crown jewels of the Colombian youth set up. Which is not bad, considering the wave of talent coming out of Colombia at the moment. In his bio, he talks about being a big admirer of Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Andrea Pirlo.
The trolls at Le Shite are fucking amazing. Lose against Galatasaray and the team is shit, Wenger out, yada, yada, yada. Thump Man City and it’s just a friendly with no real implications. It’s funny to see how most of them preface their posts with, “I always want Arsenal to win, but……”. Bunch of reactionary wankers.
LikeLike
This is going to be the year of the Ox. The more I see of him, the more I am convinced the kid is going to be the best of the English core Wenger is developing at the moment.
LikeLike
I guess Chambo is going to play CM and LW this season. Favourite Chamberlain highlight from last season was that assist for Giroud against Norwich. The move started on the right of the centre circle, two combinations with others and Chamberlain before that final pass from Carzola.
Possibly more effective from CM then AM at this moment?
LikeLike
< final pass from Carzola that played him in on the left side of the penalty box.
LikeLike