There we have it then, the window is firmly shut.
Looking in through the window of summer 2014 I can see a nice collection of players have been acquired for our future entertainment.
We have some genuine competition for the goalkeeping position in David Ospina. He may or may not be better than Fabianski but I feel he is a bigger threat to Wojciech simply because he has no baggage; he has never been dubbed with a disrespectful nickname like “Flappianski”.
The French No.1 RB Debuchy has replaced the French No. 2 LB Sagna, and he looks to have a better delivery and be equal to Bac in other departments. He is of course younger.
Chambers can play at CB, LB and we are assured CDM. That is good news for us going forward and he looks a real gem.
We wanted a world class striker, well that is exactly what Alexis Sanchez is. It’s no good saying he is not a striker – Arsene says that is what he has bought him as. Therefore that is what he is.
Joel Campbell has come in and Arsene has been good to his word and kept him at the club. Had we bought him, people would be very excited about his acquisition.
That’s 5 very good players who have come into the squad before yesterday’s madness.
People (very stupid people) say most, if not all, of these players are replacements and not additions. Completely ignoring the fact that with a fixed limit of 25 squad players, ALL incoming players can only be replacements. All that it is possible to do is replace squad players with better squad players. As far as that goes I feel we have done just that.
In addition to these, yesterday we signed Danny Welbeck from MUFC. With Giroud being long term injured we needed a player who can play at CF and link-up play. It seems he is ideal for that.
Back in June I was arguing on twitter with someone who suggested we should sell Giroud and replace him with Welbeck. This was my tweeted reply
“If we replaced Giroud with Welbeck, I’d join the BSM, AST, start reading Le Grove and be a WOB overnight.”
I stand by that.
Giroud is, in my opinion, a better player than Welbeck, and I would have been furious if we had sold Giroud and Welbeck was his replacement. However as an understudy and cover for injury, he will more than suffice. He is also of an age that a big leap forward could easily be achieved.
Now, looking out of the window I can see some players walking by that we could have bought.
A CB seemed to me a must. Goodness only know why we didn’t get one, and when I next see Goodness,I’ll ask him why!
Perhaps I would also have looked for a DM that could learn from Mikel and cover for him when he needs a rest. But we do have Flamini and perhaps Jack too. I think if jack wants a starting place, the holding role looks his best bet. We’ll see.
All in all I think its been a good window. I also think if the right players had been available then we would have gotten them and it would have been even better.
I feel that had Giroud not been injured it would have appeared a lot more impressive a window than it is currently perceived.
However, whether we are completely happy or not, we march on with the troops we have, at least until January when the madness will begin again.
By pedantic george aka @Blackburngeorge
Positively Arsenal 
Very good summary PG and I agree with all you have written. However, I’m a bit more keen about Welbeck than I was yesterday, perhaps this is because his goal strike rate is about the same as Henry’s was at about the same age. So, who knows with some Wenger magic I should get a whole lot better for Danny and for us…
I’ve just been informed that my ultimate boss, the newly appointed chief executive of the Health & Safety Executive is a massive Gooner…….
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I can’t wait until our next game.
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WOAAAAA…it works ?!
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welbeck is a warrior …the power of W …force W….W FOR WENGETA …
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Cracking post but still wish we’d strengthened defence / defensive midfield, though we still have Diaby to come back, who’s name hasn’t been mentioned at all in the off season. Reckon he could prove to be the ace up Wengers sleeve IF and its a big IF he can stay fit.
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Thanks for the Post George.
Danny Welbeck is a strong addition to the squad (ok, replacement if you will).
He is PL primed and ready to prove a point.
I am sure Arsenal were looking at Centrebacks, but it is hard to sell the role to some player who can see plenty of bench time unless Kos or Per are out for any lenght of time.
And we still have our secret weapon to be unleashed this season: Abou Diaby.
Southampton at home in the league Cup might be a good starting point, assuming he stays fit and match ready. He has been playing un the U21 games recently.
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how dare you speak like that about sagna? sagna is our daddy! sagna is ….sagna..the greatest right back in arsenal;s history…. thats my history book … not some 30’s revisionist . the definition of warrior…silent warrior. ….”he wasnt exactly cafu going forward”….no shit? while jenkinson is/was? or debuchy ? or lauren .? ha… or lee ..big lee dixon pmsl…. lol… after cafu only zambrotta comes to mind and lahm…….
regardless of that…sagan represented the deafult attackign outlay for THE arsenal..whenever the team didnt have a cluw they would pass it to sagna….you could bet he was there to spread the pitch and you could bet he would chase back and save the day…. warrior sagna…respect and praise !
its our fault as a football club ( not arsene) that we could not offer him the 90k he wanted on a 2+1 …just like we couldnt “afford” it for pires…… but not paying pires when you have stadiums to repay makes sense…not paying sagna what he is worth after 7 years of giving his body and soul for the club does not make sense from a fan-club spiritual point of view….
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It’s funny to see how some Arsenal fans think Loic Remy has all of a sudden become better than Danny Welbeck. Never mind that Remy was a QPR player and was beneath Giroud, who is supposed to be the shittiest striker ever, in the French squad. Now that he has been bought by Chelsea, he’s good, end of story.
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Hunter: “how dare you speak like that about sagna? sagna is our daddy! sagna is ….sagna..the greatest right back in arsenal;s history…. thats my history book … not some 30’s revisionist . the definition of warrior…silent warrior. ….”he wasnt exactly cafu going forward”….no shit? while jenkinson is/was? or debuchy ? or lauren .? ha… or lee ..big lee dixon pmsl…. lol… after cafu only zambrotta comes to mind and lahm……. ”
Jenkinson is better than Sagna going forward. He was never given a proper chance at Arsenal to show what he had been doing for the England U-21 team.
Debuchy is not better going forward, but he’s not on crazy wages like Sagna.
Bellerin. Keep that name in mind.
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lol dude…believe what you want….. sagna is a proven performer….and a fine servant to THE arsenal…..dont begrudge his well deserved status
bellerin? you dont have to tell me…i watch his games…immense.
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and none of them have the heart of sagna….just look at his face when he scores THAT header…you know which one.
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sagna not good going forward…… ??? if you want ….i will admit many of his crosses were blocked by his marker if you admit that the ones that went through were on the spot just not met by ….a slow attacking move ….i.e someone sleeping and mistiming 🙂
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so in bang bang pinball games you prefer the enthusiasm of jenks to run to the corner and whip in a cross like the traditionalist of the 442 up north would marvel at.
how about when youre attackin in the “lets lay siege in their half” arsenal style……. who would you trust to contain opponents in their own half, have the bravity and experience to knwo when to go assist theo and when to hold position next to per or when to keep ball and exchange passes with central midfielders? who do you choose? i choose bacary all day….
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Neither of them are at the club presently, so what does it matter?
I choose Debuchy and Calum.
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george i dont understand this @ lets not talk about players not at the club@
i thought we could talk about anything football related.
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its nto liek were inside the stadium right now pushing the lads on ….lol…we are in a forum and we need topics for discussion/kill time. why not sagna? why not indeed…even briefly….for the memories.
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want to talk about how ozil’s effort to mark/defend got him to twist his ankle? even i cried a bit seeing that ….i mean ok…i dont want to lose his attacking attributes if he is gonna get injured trying to steal ball ….. hence we need the basketball system of unlimited substitutions.
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Good summary George.
Coq could be the cover/understudy for Arteta and Flamini.
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What a coup by le boss. Could never have happened under red nose, only under the watch of self interested men like van gal and woodward.
Also, is it just me or does it seem like FFP is actually having an effect? All clubs except for Manure and maybe psg seem to have been trying hard to balance the books by selling or loaning out costly players.
Good to see you back in flow hunter.
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Chelski has 26 players out on loan. Somebody ought to look into that.
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All quiet on Khedira front, who did the business?
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Very fair George, very fair
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heh apropos….. arsene knows…but fergie knew a few things too…..bastrad….he would never never give him to us……wtahcin rene yesterday in transfer deadline day and his eyes when asked about the move/deal you could tell he was concerned……loveleh
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With this and his other posts, I hope readers of PA appreciate the quality George has brought to any discussion of Arsenal football. Direct, straight to the point highlighting the positives while acknowledging that all is not perfect. This is unique given that 95% of bloggers, tweeters and podcasters have joined the mainstream media by grabbing every opportunity to moan and predict doom for the club in a total dishonest manner. I now have TalkSport on my phone and for once I begin to understand why the average English fan is so ignorant of football matters. The media simply promotes reckless spending and big-name signings as the route to success. So Sanchez is great, Giroud is garbage or Falcao is the dogs bollocks, Welbeck is expendable. The former was disproved in one-half vs Everton and the latter is a story for the future. Don’t be surprised however if Falcao turns out to be another Torres and Welbeck becomes an Arsenal legend.
Then the media will say they were surprised having already siwn the false ideology that both they and their readers become victims of. Thanks George. None of us will be surprised when Arsenal recover from a slow start and make a strong run at the two presumptive favorites; Chelsea and City.
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Great read, George. Yesterday, it was as if we hadn’t bought anyone during this window according to the meltdown.
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Hunter, i suspect red nose would have shipped out dutch boy and crooney before
Welbeck.
First pics up, looks right to me.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140902/welbeck-the-first-pictures
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i think kedhira remained in Madrid.. maybe to leave for free next season… who even know whether that was why we did not risk signing a dm, with him in view?
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I object to Tim Peyton referring to our very own grumpy PG as a northern rodent…..
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PG, you were correct in starting up a site, for the cerebral members of The Arsenal. supporters.
Hunter, has recovered from his chastisement by Mr Wenger!
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dear shotta…whether falcao works for united or not is irrelevant to the quality and status of the player himself. we can not say that falcao is shit. or that united have purchased a dodo….
that falcao costs 360k per week is not falcao’s fault, is it? rather the fault of all us loonies following football 24/7/365 and creating the demand for it. those who smell blood will manipulate the crowds psychological dependence on their football clubs. then the sponsors want in, then lobbying begins …like everywhere…….
take durham for example….he is a fucking genius….hear me out….. he knows for what kind of garbage media outlet he works for and he knows his market and he knows how to play that market. is it his fault that the market in england is infested by people who follow without knowing what theyre watching? when the average england fan comes out with words like “id never heard of cazorla before he joined us” that shows a severely limited football education. the thing is that mendez and durhma make money out of what they do…..what is ast’s excuse? or arsenal bloggers?
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hey i havent recovered the slightest..i still stand by what i said. all of it. come on ….you all know it. imagine vieira’s reaction at ozil losing ball casually and sitting there chewing gum while everyone else is running their socks off…..lol…..frankly i dont even want to imagine……. heh…..too brutal even for my liking….
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Durham ?
Downloading the Talksport app?
Lol
Got you on a string haven’t they ?
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Give up clicking the nonsense
If you know it is rubbish discriminate
The rubbish depends on the oxygen of clicks, exposure, OUTRAGE !
Ignore it
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I know Falcao isn’t crap, but he’s not going to solve Manure’s problems in one or two months. It’s going to take him time to adapt to his teammates, but more importantly to the league. He may not make the impact most deluded fans think he’ll make.
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Good post George – perspective is something that is sadly lacking amongst a certain sector of Arsenal fans. I have no idea about Welbeck, but if Arsene thinks he is the one for us, he’s got my backing and I wish him well.
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I agree with you George, would have liked to have seen us sign a CD, not a knock on CC but an insurance buy. Other than that I think that we did great!
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What’s a CC Jean?
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Nice summary George,we are shorter than Ronnie Corrbetts little brother at centre half though,anyway I’m glad that fucking windows shut.
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calum chambers !
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for A.
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You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down
???????????
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Haha Hunter
Even WordPress is giving you a warning now!
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Players who can play as CB – Nacho, Chambers, Hayden, Flamini.
Atreta is a tad short – but would do whatever Wenger asked of him, Ramsey would volunteer too.
Feck – even Szez can play as a sweeper.
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yeah dc whats that about…cant a man post quickly? with pace and acceleration? this awful world… ts ts ts…
flamini as cb…..hmm not sure i want to see that….he will feel very patriotic that he is the last man of defence ….he might even kill someone……
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rooney is happy for falcao to join…and why not? 360 for you , 360 for me mi casa su casa and may you fucking sink like the titanic you fucking scum with van persie blowing the flute…..do it luis. iceberg.head on.
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I very much like the every player is a replacement concept. Kudos.
I for one am not all that shocked by the CB situation. Unless we bought a really top player any one better than Chambers would push him to 4th choice and anyone worse than Chambers might as well be Nacho or Hayden.
Does Chambers make you any more uneasy than Vermaelen did the last year and a half? Not me. I always had a sense of impending doom when I saw Vermaelen’s name on the team sheet last year.
As for Le Coq. I always liked him and felt he just needed a run of games to really realize his potential. Plus this year is it for him, if he doesn’t make it now it’s off to mid table teams or worse so he should be ready to run through walls.
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Thanks George for an excellent article, and thanks too to everyone else who makes it easier to maintain any sense of perspective.
Isn’t it strange that the profligate Paytonites who are most keen to spend all the money and then some are those who call for the most caution when it comes to having not one, not two but three bodies in reserve for every defensive position.
And on the theme of the defensive midfielder, how much more of a clue could the manager have given that he wasn’t going to sign one than when he made Arteta club captain.
Supporting a club is a funny old business, and it is far too easy to say “if you don’t like it, go and support someone else then” but I honestly wonder at times whether the way the team tries to play and the philosophy of the club are suited to many of the people who profess to be Arsenal fans.
And that takes me back to the time when I first discovered this site. New to twitter and the internet I happened across a spirited debate, a veritable war of the roses between George and the east northerners – and what I read then, and the links I followed, led me here. I suspect that many genuine Mancs are faced with just the quandary that George posited: is it possible to continue to support a club whose philosophy has changed, changed utterly. I didn’t like Man U, but I always admired and respected them: it is impossible for me to do that right now, such is the speed with which they have seemingly turned their back on all that made them great.
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Early start Foreverheady?
You make a point that always bubbles just below my surface most of the time when hearing and reading comments about Arsene and Arsenal. Most people cannot fathom Wenger, they would never have done the things he has, built a team his way, play his way, buy his way. They just don’t think his way. They just don’t get it. That’s why they will never be happy. They cannot be brave, courageous and take the risks Arsene takes…..that’s why it’s fun watching all this happen…….but I do want us to start winning everything now…..
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Manu really do look like a case of going for fourth place or bust.
I have no idea how they are financing the current galatico-esque spending spree (‘spree’ doesn’t quite cover it) but when highly leveraged businesses start to spiral there is no knowing where they may end up. Loss of Champions League revenue for a second year would be compounded by structurally diminished commercial deals (we know their shirt deal is predicated on achieving certain numbers) all at a time when transfers and salaries have gone way north and beyond. Supposedly, four players alone now command combined weekly salaries of £1,000,000 – and there appears to be the willpower within LVG’s head at least, to add to this in January.
The last time I can recall a club throwing the kitchen sink at success in anything like a comparable fashion was Leeds. At risk of collapsing the whole financially shambolic house, United appear also to be throwing the entire kitchen at the problem.
There is more than the whiff of panic-buying to the acquisitions of recent days.
Whilst some Manu fans panic about the evident lack of balance in the side whilst mourning the loss of a favoured son, this appears as nothing compared to the alarm bells set ringing in the MU boardroom by LVG’s claim of needing at least a year to sort things out, two to start competing.
It’s possible their owners may not have two years in which case the spectre of another sovereign wealth fund pitching up in the league would be impossible to discount entirely. Hard to imagine a Usmanov (to name but one possible candidate) keeping his ill-gotton powder dry. How Financial Fair Play would impact on this is hard to imagine, especially if the club is sold as a going concern.
Bottom line is, the league would be saddled with three financially doped, potentially limitlessly funded, entities. To say the least, a miserable prospect and ultimately the pressure on Arsenal to go the same route is hardly likely to diminish.
United’s travails may yet end up diminishing us all.
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One of the joys of an insomniac wife is waking up to emails like this.
I was looking at AFC’s academy squad last night in light of what you said about players being promoted to the first team, but what is weird is that there are currently only 4 defenders listed at the academy.
This seems very odd, but also in keeping with the senior squad. It’s odd, because, as with the senior squad, there are multiple midfielders and forwards in the academy squad, but only a very lean looking 4 defenders including Bellerin.
I then read the below article about Flamini (scroll down to the bit about Flamini):
http://www.football365.com/faves/9453274/F365-s-Top-Ten-Winners-Of-The-Window
It got me thinking – and obviously this isn’t perfect, and we clearly could have done with a decent defender of some sort, but what if AW is doing the same at the back as the middle/front, and really moving people around? Obviously we have the ideal starting squad, which is something like CDM Arteta, then Gibbs, Kos, per and debuchy.
But of the five defensive positions (including CDM) I could imagine a case for all of the following providing “cover” in the following positions:
CDM: Arteta – Flamini – Diaby – Coquelin – Ramsey – Wilshere – Oxlade – Monreal – Chambers – Bellerin
RB: Debuchy – Chambers – Bellerin – Flamini – Coquelin
CB1: BFG – Chambers – Flamini – Coquelin – Monreal – Hayden
CB2: Koscielny – Chambers – Flamini – Coquelin – Monreal – Hayden
LB: Gibbs – Monreal – Flamini – Coquelin
Maybe I’ve made a few errors as don’t quite know all the players exact capabilities, but you’d like to think that in any case you’d ordinarily expect to have 2/3 positions with their first choice players and could fill gaps where needed? We’ve got rid of so many young defensive players either sold or loaned. It seems notable that Coquelin, Bellerin and Hayden are still here.
No one really knows how Coquelin is playing – he could be equal to Carvahlo, we don’t know.
So anyway, I also wonder if Wenger perhaps thinks we may not need such a defensive side in most matches against lower table teams. Whenever we play them they retreat so far back to just try and get through with a 0-0 draw against arsenal, that it makes sense to have an extra more attacking player in the squad in place of a defender to try and break up the cluster of shirts in the box.
Obviously in the bigger matches of course we have to hope that our solid defensive starters stay solid and start, but there are an awful lot of matches to get through where our main job in the first half will be almost entirely to attack.”
I think she may have a point!
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