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 
Our three goals were works of art
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You lot on here are deluded. ManShitty just spent £90m. That means their new recruits are better than any of our players and will improve more as the season unfolds. That’s what you pay for. Wenger get your cheque book out.
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Super satisfactory result.
If it wasn’t for DROGBREATH and his cheating basterdly ways we would be riding a seventeen game unbeaten streak right now. THE OX is so effective working it on the left. Welcome to the EPL Manuel. Enjoy.
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Mansor must be having a coronary. All that money spent and we still get thonked by THE ARSENAL. new campaign??
Bring it the f••• on.
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It may be the Bangkokpost but fuck me, dis they watch the same game as I did?
“Arsenal underlined why they are still in the hunt for Liverpool’s controversial Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez on Saturday when they scraped a largely unconvincing 3-1 win over Manchester City in a pre-season friendly played in Helsinki.”
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/364044/?
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Hahaha, brilliant, GP. To me it looks like the text was largely pre-written with just some match events added in. Unfortunately the agenda set was not relayed down to our boys who decided to do their own thing.
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goonerkam at 8:15 pm
Mansour couldn’t give a flying f**k about ManShitty football scores. He’s practising ‘soft diplomacy’ in buying ‘high profile cultural icons’ in the west in the hope of buying some protection from Israel or Iran.
http://youtu.be/GmCtci6cen8
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Hahaha what a bunch of wankers GP!
Once again, Wenger Knows.
Which team spent $90m on improvements?
A friendly my arse, the city scum were kicking the shit out of us, thank God jack got pulled in at half time.
Rambo is a Fucking diety.
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Some similar horse manure GP
http://m.thenational.ae/sport/football/premier-league-round-up-arsenal-lack-firepower-in-win-over-manchester-city
Yeah, no fucking fire power at all there. wankers.
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Hey DC
My wife supposedly is a spud. She just served me up a very weak cup of tea. Now she reassures me that her Irish ancestors from county Mayo do that if they are pissed off with you……she certainly is pissed off with me….and the Arsenal…
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DC
That is almost word for word the Bangkokpost! Maybe it’s syndicated? Interesting.
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GP & DC
our passing is becoming exquisite. All goals were worked very well. Credit to AW and the coaching staff.
Funniest part was joes slip and fall on the third goal. Poster perfect. I must have laughed five minutes on that alone. We are ready. THE ARSENAL will be top three possibly top two with this present team.
What I don’t get is why FRANCIS and MIGUEL were loaned out. Surly good enough by now.
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Ah. Buying protection from Israel & Iran ??
GP , can you expand please. I don’t get it.
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Goonerkam
Just watch the youtube clip of Matthew Syed. All is explained and so much more.
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@DC
Yeah, I noticed that as well. There was some real malice in City’s tackles and Jack was clearly targeted. Probably tried to weaken us a bit for the start of the season. Thankfully, it didn’t work out.
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Also, has anyone noticed how many Arsenal fans there were in the stadium? Boos for Nasri were loud and clear on my stream. It’s amazing just how much our club is supported all over the world and I really loved the contrast of us playing City, who bought their success and still aren’t as big internationally as we are, despite our trophyless seasons.
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Evil
Your observations are spot on. It is my firm belief this all because of Arsene Wenger. People love our style of play, we always try to entertain and are good to watch even when we lose. In all the Wenger years I think I have watched a handful of uninspiring games. I’m quite excited about the coming season. I expect to witness some superb football. People all over the world are responding to this in droves. It’s all because of the professor…..we are very fortunate to be alive now and witnessing this period of football history….
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Hah. I had listened to this interview before and I must have missed the part regarding conflict with Israel. I don’t know about that but conflict with Iran and internal sheaat majority is certainly possible and even foreseeable. The Syrian civil war will most possibly spill over to all neighboring countries.
GP
if you don’t mind me asking did you know about your wife’s sporting affiliation and support for the spudniks before or after you were married.? And do you suffer from loneliness each year during st. Totteringham festivities? smiley face.
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Of course I knew about her delusions. But she has other qualities….Anyway, after 30 years being abandoned on St. Totteringham’s day is rather welcome….smiley face.
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GP & EVIL
it was the same here in the states up until six or seven years ago. You same ARSENAL jerseys and manure second . A handful of pool supporters. Lately you see more and more shitty and chelski shirts around but they are still in minority. I dare say that pattern is probably the same around the globe..
People appreciate good football that is not bought but earned. Makes one hopeful about the future and keeping faith that mercenary teams are just a fad and will fade away with time.
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GP
my family are from Mayo too, and a cup of weak tea is about as big an insult as you can give someone.
Anyway, the bin dippers were playing the soap dodgers in Dublin today, ‘pool looked piss poor without the bitey one. Kolo scored but it was offside.
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DC
Her maiden name was Reynolds. They pop up every fucking where……
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KOLO. our good KOLO. how lost he must feel right now. One of our best GUNNERS.
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I’ve just been reminded by my philosopher, Gooner friend on twitter that ‘friendlies are for fitness. The score doesn’t matter’….so on that note I’m hitting the sack….goodnight all you happy Gooners…
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You too GP. have a great weekend everyone…..
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Wenger chucking in Perez was very interesting, he’s not even an arsenal registered player.
Well. it looks like he has got to the top of the list of midfield cover players.
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Was just looking at Arseblog, who certainly has a fickle side, imo, and one line from today’s blog sums up, for me anyway, why there are so many doomers. That line is this:
“We are an average side who had an average season…”
If we are average, what does that say about the 88 teams below us in the English leagues and their equivalents in the Spanish,German,French and Italian leagues? Surely we called only be called average (in premiership terms) when one looks at the top 7 or 8 teams in isolation (based on our recent finishing positions). It is a Fact that we are considerably above average in world football, when I say consderable I mean “fucking substantially above average”
I believe It is the fickleness of folk, the glory hunting, impulsive, greedy sides of their natures that decide we are average. By any stretch of rationality we are nowhere near as low as average; BUT if one accepts that we are, then the doomers arguments hold some water. However, if one thinks we are average then I say this to that one… “fuck off you complete arse, whatever argument you try and give me against Arsene is invalid before you start. Your own insecurity is where the problem lies”.
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Gains, I agree. I watched him in the Confed Cup and the season before last for Bayern and was very impressed. I hope the emerging reports are true as he has the physicality and technique to contribute something unique and needed to our midfield complement as well as the versatility to drop back in two positions in which we have injury questions.
Always have valued your assessments of players.
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Steve, that line from Arseblog struck me as going too far as well. We finished 4th and that is quite clearly well above average. But we aren’t quite a title challenging team as things stand, to my mind either. We might well challenge, but I wouldn’t expect to. We could likewise fall out of the top 4 though I don’t expect that to happen.
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that line totally sums up the change in attitude that our fickle fans have adopted since Arsene raised the bar. All my footballing life we have been mostly an average team from a very big club with exceptions being the 71/87-93/ and the Terry Neil side that come so close in the late 70’s until Arsene rocked up. If you appraise us logically and neutrally at our worst we are very much a top end side. millions of years of champions years football and our European coefficient it all points to very few European sides being above us. when you then consider the financial irregularities at most of the clubs above us makes us pound for pound the best team in the world. o.k. that last line may have strayed abit from the neutral line but the ” average” line is just illogical and incorrect.
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I think it’s quite funny that the Guardian, who predicted us to finish 5th this season, doesn’t have an article about our match against City. They have articles for almost every other friendly played this weekend Manu, Chelsea, Liverpool, Sp*ds et al but somehow the teams that finished 2nd and 4th last season don’t warrant an article? Or is it maybe because the result wasn’t in the script and now they can’t be arsed to rewrite a proper article?
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Evil they must be waiting for an exclusive from their Arsenal specialist. Or maybe not.
Writing a match report on a game of football is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman. Ooops. I think I might have offended DFB. Ohdearohdearohdear. Where’s Swiss Harry when you need him?
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Good morning all
Well after the euphoria of yesterday may I remind you all that the game was utterly meaningless!
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For my sins I’m still going to enjoy a cup of tea this Sunday morning whilst reading Meanies match report #delusionalcultist
http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/my-vision/4344-arsenal-3-man-city-1-why-did-podolski-start-rambo-a-theo-on-the-rise-a-more.html?
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Reading some of the match report headlines is very educative as to the media’s anti-Arsenal agenda – ‘gunners lack firepower’ (but somehow manage to beat MC by scoring 3 goals?) ‘Arsenal lacking’ ‘defensively weak City’ etc etc. good job we have our own eyes to tell us otherwise.
City are a good team, they’ve certainly spent enough money to buy top quality, so of course we were not going to have the run of the game and they were always going to create dangerous moments. The difference was that we dealt with most of it and were ruthless in taking the opportunities that we created. Long may it continue.
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Passenal,
I noticed that too. arsenal dammed with faint praise.
Since when did kompany and clichy become defensively weak?
That was a full strength city team taking the game very seriously.
And we strolled past the team most pundits predict can win the league, and people are screaming for us to buy in a whole new XI?
Joe Hart though, just gets worse and worse. I really wanted to see the ox’s shot go in as he was completely out of position for it.
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ManCity, studded with super-expensive high-profile stars and superb skills, will be a handful this season but it’ll take Pellegrini and his staff a while to get the whole working tactically as a unit, their weakness is always going to be player ego undermining team tactics. I suspect by the time Pellegrini is able to motivate his penchant for super-fast well-constructed one-touch attacking flair through the middle, it will be a little late. I begin to think Pellegrini will probably produce exciting but less consistent football, more akin to a ManCity one might even like a little, only much better.
Arsenal are not better (nor worse) as individual players if one chooses looks at things in such a laughable way, but ahead as a team, tactically, understanding roles and positions, predictably effective (decision-making) in possession across all areas of the pitch. Theo is interesting; he has arrived as a team “senior” in more ways than one. Ox’s confidence looks high, and he is a confidence player at this stage in his career; he was exciting on the left a few times earlier too, feeding and playing off RvP, and like some other right footed players, has a knack of creating space on the left. Aaron, for me, just gets better and better and in surprisingly unfussy and often unnoticed ways.
Of course it means little, a pre-season tester, but it helps a lot that our final tester produced a decent outcome and a good performance, especially going forward, chances taken efficiently (as opposed to chances created and not taken) has been something we have lacked, proportionately, so we’ll see. For now, no more time, everything will happen fast, we’ve prepared well I think; now international week, and straight into the business, and then the interesting matter of Fenerbahce.
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City spent close to £85 million on Fernandinho, Jovetic, Negredo and Navas. What they have spent on four average players is what Arsenal have spent in the last decade. Despite all this spending, they’ll more than likely not win anything this season.
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I’d back our first XI and a decent ref against Manu, city, chelski, spuds, ‘pool, Everton all day long.
we probably won’t get Suarez, maybe at Christmas. Poldi will have to up his game, it’s his position that is most under threat- the Ox should be getting more game time this season.
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“I’d back our first XI and a decent ref against Manu, city, chelski, spuds, ‘pool, Everton all day long”
stolen for twitter.
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Your welcome PG
Gains – I’d say Jovetic, Navas and Negredo are a bit better than ‘average’.
But it just replaces what they lost with Balotelli and Tevez going.
After yesterday – I’d think our midfield can dominate theirs.
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I like the article.
On a statistical note, I’m no fan of Suarez. His pass ratio is well below that of any Arsenal first teamer. We are all in the 80%+ bracket whilst Suarez is in the low 70% but that maybe due to the way Liverpool play. Suarez gives the ball away 25% of the time and I think that would frustrate all of us, but yet again that stat is subject to change, under the way we play.
His goal scoring record is not shabby but he needs more opportunities than a lot of other forwards. Most of his goals have come from within the 18 yard box, but as we have seen in pre-season our midfield is looking to get past our forwards so the question I have is; where will he play? So far his stats are telling me his is not a team contributor but a finisher. Again this could be down to the way Liverpool have been set up. He does not set up others very often.
For me, he is a box player. A finisher of moves. Is he good enough to adapt to the way we play. I would say yes.
On a personal note, he seems to be a despicable sporting character, who first appalled me at the World cup with a blatant hand ball, and I’m not even going to go into his antics on our shores.
So, I think if he does turn in for us we will have to change slightly on-field to accommodate him, or he has to adapt to playing slightly deeper, maybe shuffled over to the left, probably both.
However, he will not get my instant support, because of his past on-field antics.
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Hey everyone great news “Billy’s Boots @OutforaCorner” has surfaced .Follow him .One of the very best.
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Back on topic,
Brenda was all ‘big man’ again yesterday at the post match press conference in Dublin.
He want’s Suarez to make a public apology.
He’s been on the Guinness, methinks.
Adam, very good point – I’ve noticed Suarez stats are a bit dodgy (apart from goal/games) but what other half-wit in a red shirt is there to pass to in LFC?
Once he gets the final pass, he’s going for goal, no other option.
You should have seen how shite they were yesterday without him.
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What’s so special about Navas, Negredo and Jovetic?
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Jonjo Shelvey was sold to Swansea so they have no midfield to speak of either.
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GAINS , I’m surprised. NAVAS is quality.
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What’s so special about Navas, Negredo and Jovetic?
Answer; Their price tag.
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Gains
I said better than average.
That’s not the same as special.
They’re City players – did I bitch about them not coming to Arsenal?
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Sky Sports News report that Wenger has confirmed AFC in talks with Bayern Munich over transfer of Luis Gustavo
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