Today,a guest post from Muppet ( @MuppetGooner )
Here we go again, it’s that time of year where everybody gets to play championship manager and decide what reinforcements we need for the assault on the title in May. Costa, screams the Twitter arsenal massive, buy him, and we secure the title. Wenger laughs off this suggestion, claiming he would be an outlay of £145m. Now, I am a Wenger fundamentalist, but, like the Earth was created in 7 days claim, cannot help think that £145m is a stretch. Perhaps £80m, unless those rogue agents are making hideously more than usual.
So, do we join the Costa chorus ? To be honest, I know nothing about the guy. Haven’t even seen him play. He’s 6 ft 2 and bangs the goals in for Athletico Madrid. Now, I might be completely wrong in my contrary opinion, but there are reasons for caution. For an outlay of £80m, Costa doesn’t guarantee success. Sure, he may increase our chances of winning the premiership, but does he win it for us ? Is he the best in the business ? Well – he’s maybe in the top 10 strikers in the world, but for the outlay, that does not compare with, say, Ozil, who is widely lauded as the best no 10 in the world, and has the pedigree, track record and age to prove it. We may do the deal, and I wouldn’t be against it if Wenger went ahead, but it seems to be as though he would present a financial risk. And our club is very cautious.
The “pundits” say we still need to strengthen. Two players is the accepted wisdom. This is high praise indeed, as traditionally we have needed a spine and more. Striker and one other is called for, but not sure in what position. Make no mistake, like dry or wet rot, the moaners will resurface when we lose, citing all the players we need. The strident call was for a DM, until Flamini came in. Before that, the “pundits” called for new centre backs.
This bloggers opinion? Julien Draxler would be nice. Joking aside, let’s give the manager a little credit eh ? Ramsey has come good, Mertesacker, heralded as a donkey in the english press, has come spectacularly good. Rosicknote, who should have been shipped out 3 years ago, according to the gloom-brigade, put Spuds to the sword at the age of 32. Get the idea ? Like some of those dormant stocks in your portfolio, when the money starts gushing in, so it is with some of our squad players. People scream for new incomings, but they ignore the potential of those we have. I am waiting for Wilshere to hit form and have a similar patch to Ramsey. Ox will be back. Gnabry, for an 18 year old, looks like he could be a monster. We’ve not had the opportunity to play Gnabry, Walcott, Ox and Ozil in one game yet. The opposition will require new pants at half time.
Of course, the specific concern is if Giroud is absent. Well – the candidates are Bendtner, Walcott, Podolski and Sanogo. People wrote off Podolski after his lack of success before being subbed against Cardiff. But I would go for another bite of the cherry. So what if Podolski wasn’t sharp. We can always try him again.
Other positions ? We seem well stocked in midfield. Flamini, more streetwise after his stint in Milan and the excellent Arteta in front of the back 4. Cazorla, Rosicky, Wilshere, Ozil and Ramsey is an embarrassement of riches. More power would be good – maybe Diaby will provide that in March. Defence ? No complaints there. It’s the best defence in the league, and possibly the best midfield as well.
The detractors say we need to strengthen further to reverse our recent poor performances against top 4 sides. This may be a point of view. Whilst we’ve been extraordinarily consistent in beating mid and bottom of the table opposition, we have not been great in recent head to heads versus Man U, City and Chelsea. We had unfortunate results against both Manchester sides. The Man U result, for me, was down to the absence of Mertesacker. If he was in the side, 1-0 would have been 0-0. The City result came after two tough fixtures and suspect refereeing. The Chelsea game indicated to me that we were able to play a disciplined and professional game against a side who looked highly dangerous on the counter attack. One can argue that “extra quality” would bridge this gap, but on the other hand, we may be able to do this by tapping into our unfulfilled potential within the squad. Nobody saw Ramsey become the best midfielder in the country this season, and who knows, someone else may become similarly unplayable. We may also just be on an upward swing, with more incremental improvement to come.
Positively Arsenal 
Yes they might sell him, but not loan him.Aman
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Sell – it could be then….works for the theory.
Can he deliver though?
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I wish he had taken a bullet for his country
…….and survived?
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even if Fulham wanted to sell and we wanted to buy it wouldn’t happen until after the Fulham game on the 18th
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Neil Swarbrick – the man in the middle at Villa Park
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/31717
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and as for gnabry…clearly wenger has lost his grip on modern football…… h eneeds to move with the times now…not ten years ahead …. 🙂
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So how long will Theo be out for? Any news on his scan?
I’ve seen Wenger pull enough rabbits out of his hat to not fret over who he does or doesn’t bring in. The man is a master of the transfer market and if he can’t get a player, it’s because there was no way to get him under reasonable circumstances. What Chelski and Man Shitty do, which we can not, is make offers clubs can’t refuse by laying down oodles of cash.
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And I see George’s friend has penned an interesting piece in yesterday’s Observer – the false 9 ?
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/04/tim-sherwood-arsene-wenger-tactics?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
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Cards on the table – I think we need a back up CF. Will I howl for AW’s head if the TW comes and goes without us buying such a player? No.
January is a notoriously difficult time to buy players for all the reasons mentioned over a period of time on many Arsenal blogs. And it isn’t just knee jerk ‘support the boss whatever happens.
Independent confirmation of the difficulty has come from a somewhat desperate Moyes who said at the week end that Manure needed fresh blood (I think he was talking about players – who knows, maybe they are vampires up there) and then went on to say he was not hopeful of doing so as clubs are reluctant to sell there best players etc, etc.
It is no stretch to see that the same problem will beset AW.
Nice if we can get someone — but not just anyone — and if it does not happen I am sure it will not be for want of trying.
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Gains – been hearing 4 weeks for Theo but not sure the origins of that report. Fingers crossed.
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Well done Muppet. Some very valid points raised. Enjoyed the read but was half expecting it to be in your famously delicious and amusing accent( dialect ). Maybe next time…. peace out…
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Ok, I think I have worked it out (charity shield games count, apparently).
16 games to go.
Assume we keep the cup run going means it Man City at home.
Bring your party hats!
I think my day was more productive than any guess-mongering about who we are not going to buy.
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OG is back , activated??
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Goonerkam – It’s not easy being Green!
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Gainsbourg69
January 6, 2014 at 4:37 pm
we only need one…..we only need to make ONE offer henry/liverpool cant refuse. only once…and for nobody else. just this one time…pleaseeeeee…
ivanovic, luiz, terry …even that useless piece of meat cahill…they laugh when they see walcott and olivier …if they see luis they will start peeing themselves…
we know about the rabbits but now and considering the schedule and circumstances with bendnter theo and poldi all injured or coming back from injury we need both cover and cojones….
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Oh boy
what would I give for AA or CHAMACRONY or GRAVIS to be available for us now. Them damned d••d w0••s. Only good for a fire sale, huh??
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Hunter
Has Suraez scored a big goal against a big club this season?
No.
Totts don’t count. hehe.
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Hey DC & everyone..
Transfer talk in progress, I see. (0(
We buying anyone yet.??
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of course the ball is in owners court..not the manager.
it is the owner who must approach manager and tell him :
” i want the title for the fans, what do you need? name it”
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double canister
January 6, 2014 at 5:21 pm
i know that he was banned and scored 17 in ten games
liverpool does not have the same midfield as we do
its different being set up by henderson and being set up by cazorla rosicky ozil etc..
suarez and jack together = oh yeah!
its xmas 🙂
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and theo is cleared..well done ivan!
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realistically..football can not and should not be anything more than entertainment. a spectacle provided by highly paid professionals to entertain the masses. i can understand getting agitated during the 90 minutes of a game but after it? life is more important. equally during the match/season our unrealistic self will come to the surface and demand this and that, but when the match/season is over we can switch on back to reality and analyse. with arsenal fans what we have is the tension of the games carried on even when no football is being played. for example, those who felt rage when we lost to bradford, carried those sentiments when judging the overall performance of the season in the summer hiatus.
equally i may sound like a bastard demanding kronke buys suarez as a xmas gift to arsenal and wenger but if it dont happen i do have the capacity in the summer to understand why it didnt materialise.
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till then…hope dies january 31st.
do it stan!
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SK ” i want the title for the fans, what do you need? name it”
AW “Well Stanleeee now that you ask a little something in my pay packet might help”
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how can i add picture in avatar like ani ?
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Hunter: “Ivanovic, luiz, terry …even that useless piece of meat cahill…they laugh when they see walcott and olivier …if they see luis they will start peeing themselves…”
Last time we faced Chelsea Mourinho played Cahill and Terry with Luiz sitting right in front of them. In the middle, he kept out all of his creative geniuses in favor of Obi Mikel, Wilian and Ramires. That’s hardly pissing themselves laughing at the site of Olivier and Theo. sometimes you say the silliest things, man.
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Theo out for six months after scan revealed torn ligament nightmare
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And Theo set to miss World Cup, too.
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SIX F****N’ MONTHS!!!!……….damn
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****!
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😥
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the “Arsene-must-buy-2 to 3-new- players” tabloid brigade are about to go all ape-sh*te on the interweb!
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That’s bloody awful. We did cope without him in the first half of the season, but it was obvious since his return that he got plenty of goals in him and that his game has reached another level. With ox coming back and Gnabry ready, I don’t think it’s enough to derail our campaign but still a major bummer. Hope his operation goes just fine and he will recover quickly.
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@Aman
Oh yes… not only am I gutted for Theo, but Twitter is going to be hell for the next couple of weeks.
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really sad for TW14….twenty14’s started all wrong!
…aah, Life.
on the other hand young Serge just got his golden opportunity.
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As any Arsenal fan, I was expecting the worst hoping to be proven wrong. Damn it!!!!!! What bad luck. And he came roaring back too. I’m so freaking sad right now that I want to punch something.
Well, time for Gnabry and the Ox to step up and fill Theo’s shoes then.
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Shit….Theo is out for six months!!!!!!
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might have to add Ryo into the mix as well, G69….
(“we’ve” all got to be strong..”we’ve” all got to be strong…)
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God! why???? SIX MONTHS?
cant arsenal just enjoy some moment of respite? theo is the most dangerous player in the squad. no one carries his threat. he scores and assists. this is one of the sadest day of my arsenal life.
i’m not even sure he has played the required ten games for him to get the winners medal if and when we win the league. what happens to him if we win the league?
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i dont care about him missing out of world cup. england has no chance of winning the world cup anyway.
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Layksite, I believe he’s due a medal….
Prem Lge Europe FA Cup Lge Cup Total
Ap Gl Ap Gl Ap Gl Ap Gl Ap Gl
TW 9+4 5 3+1 1 1 0 0 0 13+5 6
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That is very bad luck for the boy, there was little or no contact so it must have been a AC ligament just ready to ping. Gnabry must step up.
TW has started nine and subbed in four so his PL medal is safe
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@anicoll
Weirdly, that’s the first thing that came to mind when I heard about his injury. Hoping that he had played enough so that if we go the distance he gets his due reward. Glad to hear it’s all good on that front.
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Youngsters go 1-0 up in youth cup
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“Last time we faced Chelsea Mourinho played Cahill and Terry with Luiz sitting right in front of them. In the middle, he kept out all of his creative geniuses in favor of Obi Mikel, Wilian and Ramires. That’s hardly pissing themselves laughing at the site of Olivier and Theo. sometimes you say the silliest things, man.”
they dealt with us easily, they kicked us of course, but we couldnt really threaten them and by the time ball reached our forwards not only were they isolated but also outpowered. then the one or two chances we got in second half …a luis would have scored them probably both and at this level thats what makes the difference ( sadly).
when we face teams who come to disrupt us ( with the kind of quality chelsea have) we need killers my friend ..its not silly.
who would you rather have when facing teams of cunts with rich rosters like chelsea ? a vieira or an arteta….answer honestly please..
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the same goes for attack …
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Son of a bh!!!! a nothing challenge. Nothing. Just like the challenge the OX throw himself Into. Nothing. Remember PIERS in Newcastle trying to challenge for the ball as it was going out. Going out ffs. Another needless long term frg injury. Very upsetting. Any of those challenges worth the possession earned. Hell no. Maybe with exception of THEO as hjs man was getting by him . But he could have contained him and use his speed. arrrrreeeeegggggggghhhhhh.
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especially in attack where you might only get one or two chances to win it. there is a reason why suarez is wanted by almost all top clubs and costs in excess of 50 million just like theres a reason why giroud cost 12.
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They dealt with us by parking the bus. They were hardly pissing themselves laughing at Giroud and co. Otherwise, Mourinho would have played Oscar and Mata along with Hazard. That they didn’t just shows you how much respect they have for those players.
Luis wouldn’t have done squat, just like he did squat against us. Sorry dude, but there’s no need to trash our boys in order to big up that buck toothed asshole.
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ah ok i see now…you dont like him …ok that explains a lot.
so what they dealt with us by parking the bus ? …we still need to beat them man. actually destroy them.
mou is a cunt but he also knows that once the midfield of arsenal is negated that we will need some solo uber effort to win..who will provide that?
so what do you do when mou comes and parks the bus ? do you not want a killer to wipe that smug off his face ????
one was a bargain at 12 m which you hope will raise to the level of world beater, the other is already a world beater who delivers first time asked.
against liverpool at home we and id say napoli we had our best performances so far. just cause luis didnt score against us dont make him useless…
its ok my friend …you go play finals and title deciders with arteta and ozil..i prefer vieiras and suarezs…
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