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 
Arsenal Andrew: that is sobering stuff. However, in the long run I think that sides that are built organically are more likely to do well over a number of seasons than extravagantly assembled galacitcos. I have to think that or the notion of fan loyalty to a club goes out of the window.
Or perhaps that is old-fashioned too, and that one day soon we will see fans switching brands each season. No – I can’t believe that would ever happen.
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Foreverheady – with regards to your 9.02 post, I can see the playing ‘logic’ of your post and wonder if there is something in this, at least in Arsene’s innovative mind. Traditionalists amongst us would be likely queuing up at this point to make the case for stability at the back being of the greatest virtue and certainly thinking back to the Adams/Bould defense era and the Kos/Per partnership, I suspect there is a great deal to be said for not swapping or mixing things up at the back too much. That said, those ‘lower’ league teams that set up to defend and hope to catch us on the break could well best be dealt with by employing greater firepower at the expense of a lesser tested defence. Interesting ideas.
With regards to your comments at 9.09 – I guess the key to understanding the possible answer to your first paragraph question is to ask whether football will ever return to its ‘organic’ roots? Is football currently in a bubble which could at some point burst? FFP was at least in part intended to take the heat out of the bubble (excuse the mixed metaphors) but the longer term effects of FFP continue to be a matter of some speculation. If the bubble bursts then the Arsenals of the world will as presently configured clearly benefit. If it isn’t a bubble but simply the 21st Century way of things then things may not appear so clear cut.
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Also wanted to say well done to George for his summer summary which for me was for me a transfer window of three panes (sorry).
In terms of the actual players we signed I could hardly have been happier and I think the club did a marvellous job with all.
In terms of the players we released – in particular Jenks and Vermalean (but to a lesser extent, Bendtner and Sagna), I was puzzled to see them go without evident replacement in numbers. I think I was expecting to see us build on the squad more although losing Bendy and Bacary was hardly a shock.
In terms of the players we didn’t acquire – well this is linked to the previous paragraph; one has to assume certain apparent targets (Carvalho seems a possible example), we just couldn’t get them over the line. It’s such a complex business, transfers – that Welbeck was completed in what appeared to be hours, which contrasts unfavourably with the Carvalho non-deal, with the mixed ownership being at least in part, responsible for one signing that looks to have got away.
There is, of course, a fourth pane and that’s the one through which the progress of Bellerin and Hayden and Chuba Akpom maybe viewed; one, two or all three may be further forward in their development than we have been led to believe, in which case the squad isn’t quite as thin as some say.
So a mixed summer but one suspects we will go again in January – not because the players we have are not good enough, but that we may be one or two experienced players short, at least according to some analysis.
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Great Post and comments too.
Gazprom defenders:
Cahill (CB)
Terry (CB)
Ivanovic (FB/CB)
Azpilicueta (FB)
Luis (FB)
Zouma (CB)
Ake (?)
Arsenal Defenders:
As listed above, though I’d take Coquelin and Flamini out from CB cover, leave them as FB cover in case Debuchy has to cover at CB, haha!
Ignoring my pre-WC fears over Koscielny’s fitness (tendons! Needs rest to recover if so, like Ronaldo etc…) it’s a better selection then that available at Gazprom, if we consider Chambers arrival and elevation to England etc.
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Bellerin is second choice RB for me. Going by comments from the player and manager I think Chambers is going to focus on playng CB for now.
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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.
heh bingo
perhaps now people understand my comment….first the football then the club ..and only the club that agrees to my principles/ideas of how the game should be played and a club should be managed/organised..so yes in that sense ..ave wenger….he comes first. everything else is the by -product of the original principle. arsenal? arsenal …f.c dragosn malaysia? fc dragons malaysia it is then…
when arsenal was playing like stoke…yes i followed but only because of bergkamp really, and a hell of a lot more when i had the critical ability to judge on my own and appreciate wenger’s football….that he happen to do it for arsenal…all the better..two birds one stone and all that.
hence i laugh at comical goonies going on about big clubs and greatness and such. and why i was telling goonies that whether arsenal goes for dominance or major trophies or not, is a decission of the owner and not the manager..and that arsenal never used to be the kind of club that woudl go right in the face of a bayern madrid barcelona etc and say “bring it on”…..the club;s status could not allow it….it is with wenger that the club can legitimately “talk” to such clubs on somehow equal terms ( fame, brand name, stadium, revenues, growing ww fan base) even if historically the european success is not there yet………
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We’ll. Chelsea have some big lumpers in midfield who are so used to blocking a ball that playing CB would be 2nd nature to them.
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but thats the problem..they are big and strong and kick us all the time and we cant kick them back too hard …only flamini can…but for some reason wenger didnt play him last year in either game…. with the exception of matic i think we can easily kick ramires oscar hazard and cesc too …
hehe…. from football principles to kicking in 1.3 …… this is alpha patrol do you copy?
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Whatever happened to all the shortarsed hard men of English football, five foot six inches of concentrated violent spite?
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roy keanne? he is a coach at villa i think
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Keane was probably a bit on the tall side but his credential are sound – I had more the dwarf sized hooligan in mind, often who combined their violent streak with good footballing ability, Bremner, Giles, Stiles, Julian Dicks Chopper Harris as examples.
Nowadays Tiote is about the only shortish thug
It may have been free school milk that saw off the breed
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I had more the dwarf sized hooligan in mind,
gary neville ?
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julian dicks ?
chopper harris?
lol…prison rules…
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bob fist, frankie knuckles and joe the knife monroe
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Free school milk? I blame the welfare state but don’t discount Jack when his ankles get stronger and he has a couple more years on him.
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I’ve met chopper Harris, he’s about six feet tall……
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While we’re on the topic of defenders, I just read that Vincent Kompany has been injured twenty one times since joining Manchester City in 2008. I remember him being a prodigious defender at Anderlecht, but he ended up at Hamburg because of numerous injuries early on in his career. I recall that Wenger was a huge admirer of his.
So, if Vincent Kompany is out for any amount of time this season, City have to depend on Sagna and Mangala to play alongside martin DeMichelis. For all the money they’ve spent on their squad, their defence is in no better shape than our own. Which makes all the pleas for another central defender seem quite stupid when surveying everyone else’s set up.
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Another childhood illusion shattered
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Childhood illusions shattered? Imagine the disappointment of a young Pompey supporter when I realised Mike Trebilcock was probably just the same as the rest of us.
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You have the gift Gains
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29046016
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I notice you are careful to say “probably” FH
Anyone who scored twice in the Cup Final will never be the same as the rest of us !
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Anicoll @1:45pm
DC Reporting for duty.
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Aguero has a dodgy injury record too – City always ruching him back half recovered.
That would leave City with just Dzeko and Jovetic, whereas we still have Theo, Poldi, Alexis, Welbeck, Sanogo and Campbell.
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2 goals in the Cup Final and then down to ply his trade on the South Coast. It didn’t take me long in life to realise that all that glitters isn’t gold and that sometimes transfers don’t give you that extra penetration across the front line that you might be looking for.
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You are a lucky man Foreverheady; to be able to share Arsenal with your life partner.
Everyone is successfully getting me excited about Wellbeck. I hope he is given time and not expected to weave magic for 90 mins like Ozil was expected too.
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SA
The exciting thing about Danny’s comments is that he sees himself making the space and the runs behind the lines for the Arsenal midfielders. Getting on the end of the their magic. So he already has a vision of how he wants to play with the players already at the club, which is encouraging. Something that’s been missing since Walcott was lost and now with Alexis settling in, Walcott returning and dat guy Welbeck in the squad…not to forget Chamberlain, Campbell, Gnabry etc. it seems as if there is enough pace in the squad alongside the lead and reserve lumps (Giroud and Sanogo) to even satisfy me!
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True Fins. I thought Sanchez would be making those runs for Ozil, but he seems a different kind of player. Maybe he just needs to get on the wavelength of the midfield. From what little I saw of Campbell in the Benfica match, he seems exciting. Walcott had a good game as a striker against Tottenham and then got injured.
Some people are saying that Welbeck can do a good job with his back to goal as well as running in behind defenders. That is exciting.
Wenger usually plays an extra midfielder on the left wing, but there might be situations where we go for Sanchez, Wellbeck, Walcott. Now that is a pace battery!
Also, people seem to be forgetting Podolski. Two seasons ago we had a front three of Podolski, Giroud and Walcott. I liked that combination. Seemed to be a deadly trio about to take off, but it is probably not going to happen with the new personnel we have and Wenger usually playing Santi on the left.
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george …forget twitter for a while. we have serious business ….
sifu bryan burnes …Shantung Nothern Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
do we know him ? is he any good? will i learn anything or will i just waste my money ?
do you know any good sifus in london ?
im not exactly looking to become bruce lee but im getting fatter and fatter and i need the discipline to wake up for work every morning.
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Who else did just google that?
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Sifu George Hajnasr is a seasoned MMA instructor and practioner with over 40 years of training, specializing in the Art of Jeet Kune Do
is that you ? ???
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heh…apropos..its the interlull…time for reflection…masturbation …astral projection…and education..
alpha patrol do you copy ?
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Watched the video. We know a better way to use our fingers. We stick them up the air for all the doomers to see.
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“Any lengthy absence for their skipper would be keenly felt by City, with a key eight-day period in their season about to begin.”
Yet it’s our defence that’s being held together by twine and chewing gum, right?
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Good grief – the Germans shocking tonight 0-3 so far and it ain’t over yet
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0-4
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1-4
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Germans finally awake – they could get back into this !!
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No Ozil or Mertesacker, that’s their problem!
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Lukas clumps Zabaleta
The Argentine limps off
Good lad
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2-4 with 12 minutes left
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Defensively Germans very poor Pass, no Per, no Boateng, no Hummels, no Lahm and no Schweini in the engine room
Reus and Muller still horribly good
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2-4 finish in Dusseldorf – good game for a friendly
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what??? im watching england – norway….. 1-0..pelanty….
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Jack had a good first half, Ox huffed and puffed, Welbeck made a huge difference when he came on for Rooney and Chambers won his first cap. A decent and encouraging night’s work for our England boys.
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agree on jack. he is in very good form.
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What – Welbeck saying in other words he always dreamed of playing for Arsenal and follows our games? Sounds like a fan.
He’s not been been briefed to say blah blah, this is the biggest club in the world (yep looking at Barca & Man U PR people) or this is a massive club with a massive history (yep looking at Liverpool) when joining.
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.wilshere ramsey theo alexander oxlade chamberlain welbeck….world cup…w for wengeta
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A challenge during the England match for ITV’s commentators (not noted for their mental agility) to remember that they are no longer required to be sycophantic to Danny Welbeck, but have to start treating him like an Arsenal player.
Refreshing, though, to hear their admission that he can’t be selected for the qualifier on Monday because a place has to be kept for the wretchedly incompetent Rooney.
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Merlot: and that will be the problem for United all season too.
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Agree with most…Welbeck a perfect fit for us for many reasons.
Would have been perfect if we got that perfect nuGilberto but he’s still being constructed somewhere in Neverneverland.
3 players with ONE/2 YEAR(S) LEFT on their contracts will reprise that role while Hector & Isaac stand as able deputy-deputies elsewhere in case we’re stricken by the hibbygoonajeebies.
Approximately 40m spent in the silly season once you factor in Sociedad’s 12m for Vela.
Not a bad summer at all Ivan Gazidis.
Glad to see that it’s in Arsene ye do trust too, guy.
Like every true positivista
Lets keep the good times arolling.
COYG!
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