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 
Rooney, Baines and Hart – get rid of those and England would have a chance.
LikeLike
Do the FA have a quota system for Northerners?
LikeLike
Aman
Some of the fan base is really pissed (se le groan) that Venga didn’t waste at least £100m of the clubs money.
LikeLike
I watched some of the first half of the England game and I thought our lads were showing well, Jack and the Ox, and generally England looked lively, passing and movement crisp. It was a bit difficult to know however to what extent that positive picture was the result of a genuine improvement or because the Norwegians are not very good. As an England supporter however it never does to look a gift horse in the mouth. I did not see Danny and Callum’s late introduction but Welbeck gets some praise in the morning papers which is encouraging and will give his confidence a boost. And Callum – Saints’ reserve six weeks ago, now playing reg PL and CL football, England debut last night. Not bad progress.
Regarding Rooney it struck me last night, and has struck me for at least a year, that he is getting old and physically he lacks the sharpness and speed he had. I do not know if footballers are like cars and have a certain number of potential games in them before wearing out.
In Wazza’s case he started at 16 years old playing regular PL football and as a teenager always looked much older and more mature than other of a similar age. He started young and though his fitness has declined in the past couple of years he has played season after season with no breaks. He is 29 soon, has played 13 seasons at the highest level, and his ‘engine’ I suspect is that of a 33/34 year old.
LikeLike
One persistent whine in the media this morning concerns the 40,000 crowd at Wembley.
Seems to me a formidable number to turn up to watch substandard opposition in a friendly on a midweek evening with the game free on the TV. And all that on the back of a really really great World Cup.
Still the meeja and their half witted audience are never ever happier than when they are whining.
LikeLike
That’s a fair point about Rooney, Anicoll – Man U have certainly got a huge amount of mileage out of him over the years, making him play in midfield, forcing him to win this own ball, and being 2nd banana to Ronaldo, then JvC and gawd knows who next.
I hope I’m not beginning to see a couple of new cliques developing in the England team – the Sterling and Sturridge combination playing for themselves vs Jack and Ox’s more expansive playing.
LikeLike
Anicoll
That would have been an excellent crowd and better atmosphere at St. James Park – maybe closer to home for the Vikings too.
The FA’s incompetence and debt management over Wembley means that these little games can’t be toured around Blighty like they should be.
It’s a National sport, so even the nether reaches (including Norwich) deserve to see the big show on tour once in a while.
LikeLike
Where’s the FA’s vaunted ‘family’ when they need them, eh?
LikeLike
Anicoll
This may be of interest, regarding Rooney:
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/wayne-rooney-s-decline-is-alarming—and-only-van-gaal-can-stop-it-093213382.html
LikeLike
It is probably unfortunate that the FA have a contract to stage England games at Wembley, and only Wembley, that is where we are however and the notion that they can switch games to other venues on the basis that the crowd will probably be poor is not an option. Similarly if The FA have sold all the expensive long term corporate packages on the admittedly dubious benefit that it guarantees England home games, they, and the poor buggers who had coughed up are stuck with it.
Whether if the game had been played in Newcastle or Norwich or Manchester etc they would have got a bigger crowd I dunno, the atmosphere at every England game I have ever been to at Wembley has always been crap.
LikeLike
The piece of Rooney sounds right, albeit the knife is twisted that his loss of pace/fitness he has “brought on himself” !
I have never come across a player who has played at the top for 13 seasons who has not begun to slow down and wear out. The point could perhaps be made that if Wazza were a different type of player he could offset his fading speed and sharpness by playing more intelligent football, recovering his lost yard by thinking more quickly and using his huge experience to anticipate the game. The trouble for him is he ain’t that type of footballer.
LikeLike
Anicoll: “Lukas clumps Zabaleta. The Argentine limps off. Good lad.”
Hahahaha! I saw that. Wenger told Poldi to sweep the leg.
LikeLike
I think Rooney is a better striker than both Suarez and Falcao. I can’t even imagine how good he’d be if he were being fed passes by the likes of Santi and Ozil.
LikeLike
Really Gains? I think he’s the most overrated player in history.
LikeLike
dc, “most of the fan base” remain clueless about the bigger picture.
Venga made a huge statement for protecting identity by signing Dannyboy.
The truth about Man U is clear for all to see now…….
“While it was difficult for United fans to bid farewell to Welbeck, it bodes well for the club this season and beyond that they have regained their BOLD and BRASH identity.”
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2186322-swapping-welbeck-for-falcao-proves-man-united-have-regained-their-identity
In a world of markets & bottom lines, only the intelligently-courageous will survive.
Viva AW!
LikeLike
I beg to differ Gains.
Rooney lost the potential to be as good once he squeezed & received the bumper salary.
Greed comes @ a cost deeper than a cure for baldness
LikeLike
I think back just two seasons to an early visit to Trafford Park, little boy Robin had recently arrived in Salford and Tommy V decided to have a mare.
On that grim afternoon however Rooney, playing in midfield, absolutely destroyed us, no other word for it.
The game ended 2-1, it could have been 8-1.
It was not the first time that Rooney had popped our balloon.
So there is much to dislike about Wazza, and with his boots on he ain’t what he was.
But when he was what he was he was a fine footballer.
LikeLike
The armbands safeguard Rooney’s participation as a starter for club and country.
He really isn’t as good as he used to be, especially when “they’ve” tried to accommodate him as the new Iniesta.
Ask Kagawa.
LikeLike
“I think Rooney is a better striker than both Suarez and Falcao”
mmm certainly……i have decided to say yes to anything he says from now on. the alternative is soul, eye and brain-wrenching and saves us time effort and money…
++++++++
sifu george!!!! any news on that screaming mantis fella?
LikeLike
Interesting thread above.
Me and Zimpaul had the same chat this time last year. Zimba thought the player could still turn it round, I was more skeptical because of his Ricky Hatton inspired training regime, which is probably the reason why Slurgus dropped him inhis last season. Some unfounded rumours that he wanted to sell Rooney and keep Welbeck alongside Judas? He started a more serious routine in the build unto the WC but I think it was too late by then!
Arsenal were a very shy of confidence, Vermaelan shy of confidence and matches, in the 2-1 game Anicoll mentions above. And they were adapting to a new midfield without Song marking Rooney – in previous encounters before that game I’d always felt Song did a good job on Rooney when he was available to play. Shame about his attitude…
The wear and tear logic is sound, but it is also true and it must be considered that Rooney hasn’t looked after himself in the best possible way. How old was Henry when he played LF for France in ’98, eighteen, at the most nineteen? Henry picked up that sciatica problem towards the end of his time at Arsenal, but even then his form didn’t tail off like Rooney’s has done and I think the difference is in in their personal routines, and also in the wisdom of moving to Spain for his later years. I also believe that Henry was under used by young Pep after the first Arsenal encounter because of off the pitch stuff, his comments on the Arsenal didn’t help! Overall his record playing for Bunga Bunga was decent.
LikeLike
On that grim afternoon however Rooney, playing in midfield, absolutely destroyed us, no other word for it.
he destroyed arteta ….. always in his face and very aggressive and unfo mikel had no answer to such pressing.
LikeLike
song owned rooney
LikeLike
When watching Rooneh these days I can’t help but think about the poor innocent little animal which was sacrificed in order to block the glare off of his spam. Either that or they are transplanting the hair from somewhere else up in his body. Best not to think about that. Not after a heavy lunch.
LikeLike
wayne rooney (club) total games/total goals : 520 /234
(international ) 96/41
luis suarez 363/220 (club) ……. international 78/40
YES!! rooney is a better striker than european golden boot winners…
suarez comes top scorer with the great assists of henderson and gerrard (was ist das?) ..but NO….its rooney who would score a ton of goals if he had ozil passing to him…suarez wouldnt benefit from an ozil…… only wayne
and falcao…twice europa league final winner..twice man of the match…with his goals….. i mean we all remember how rooney won it for united in moscow…. not tomention how he has mesemrised the world in three world cups (1 goal…or 2?)
yes yes yes….success!!
LikeLike
dont listen to them gains….im with you all the way. everything you say i take notes so as to use to educate myself and future generations. Leader gains.
LikeLike
According to the records Rooney has scored 10 goals against us in his career – the bastard
If anyone can find another player who has scored ten goals against us let me know, one might exist but I cannot think who it might be.
LikeLike
not counting Droggie obviously
LikeLike
dwight yorke? that lucky little shit scoring with his ass, belly, back…
LikeLike
why should we not count droggie?
LikeLike
messi? lol …
LikeLike
Easy!
Droggie with twelve.
Song didn’t play in all games against Utd when here, such as that game shortly after the F Word F’d off…
LikeLike
…when Rooneh scored a hat-trick.
LikeLike
The ten will include some pens too (I guess) an assisted goal by master Riley in ’05, and for the hardcore statto’s out there two of them were for Everton including that famous first goal.
No one said he was a crap player. Just a tad chubby looking, as one of his opponents from the other night observed.
LikeLike
when he played he owned him though.
rooneh may have scored a hat trick that day but shcesney’s was very raw back then and his footwork and positioning was a bit …shit.
also the real traitor..robin… missed a penalty (won by theo) to equalise….if i remember correctly
LikeLike
We never count Droggie H
LikeLike
Corr.:
Says here the Drog had fourteen. I can’t remember any of them.
LikeLike
and for the hardcore statto’s out there
heheh well played sir!!
the hardcore stattos only come out when they want to talk ozil and assists trying to belittle every other ten in the world.
for everything/everyone else ‘stats dont show the whole story’
textbook durham
LikeLike
i agree A. i see it now. too painful.
LikeLike
Aha!
Darren Bent. Of course.
13 Apps – 8 goals
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/him-again-players-who-love-scoring-against-your-club
I bet his agent used those stats when negotiating his transfer to Tiny Tottenham (for the same fee Arsenal just paid for Welbeck! In 2008. Le Groan was bang on as usual, Levy really does know what he’s doing compared with the dithering Arsenal.
I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. Neither could any professional comedian. Surely there’s mileage to be made out of a proper spoof of the amateur football blogger….no…no, wait. Steve Coogan already beat me to it:
Ladeeeeez & Gentleman I give you: Alan Partridge, plundit extraordinaire.
A parody made before it’s time.
Aha!
LikeLike
LikeLike
Levy really does know what he’s doing compared with the dithering Arsenal.
no.1 entrepreneur in football
like no other
LikeLike
Truth is hunter that the real hardcore statto’s are now employed directly in Arsenal’s data analytic department, which they recently spent some farking moolah on. They even write their own statistical software. That is beyond hardcore.
And now every other club will copy the Arsenal and build their own department as opposed to using other sources for data. Stats very much are the story,especially when there are more people on the planet and more people playing football and more people looking for the best players. You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but it is an outdated one.
Moneyball.
LikeLike
oh i agree 100% in the importance of stats and wenger being a technocrat he always use stats/numbers as his bible. no doubt.
perhaps you didnt get my irony……which is cool….
its to do with online experts mostly and stats used say for rooney/suarez and how an anticipated response would read “stats dont show the whole truth though” …yet if it comes for say ozil v. other tens i bet you 1,000 pounds on the spot i will be directed to look at his “stats in europe”… 😉
LikeLike
…that software probably has a copyright or patent equivalent for such things…
But ignoring all that, statistics have always been important in football.
Points secured, goal difference…etc. if you are going to try and waste your time arguing against the value of stats in football, you will lose the argument.
LikeLike
George: “Really Gains? I think he’s the most overrated player in history.”
Falcao, Suarez and Rooney are all the same age. While Falcao and Suarez were killing it in the Argentine Primera Division and the Eredivisie, Rooney was tearing up the Premier League and winning Champions Leagues with Manchester United. And it’s not like he was a fringe player either.
LikeLike
so its nto the stats im having ago at…but the people who will use stats where it suits them
LikeLike
rooney tearing up the premier league huh??? not ronaldo….
LikeLike
The book on footie stats that DC recommended last month ” The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Football is Wrong” says exactly that about Darren Bent.
Based on stats he is well ahead of any other PL striker as a scorer of important goals
LikeLike
Sorry hunter.
If your attempting to slag off an Arsenal player, you will also loose the argument. Not least because the manager who has managed both players himself has given his own personal opinion on the subject, one that was reflected in his own pursuit and signing of the player back in the day. He didn’t go for the Arsenal player last summer because he had players like mat ain’t he squad already, the timing and circumstance have dictated which player ended up at which club. Get over yourself. And get over the player who nearly destroyed the club with his actions three years ago. Because otherwise you look like a bit of a knob, this being an Arsenal blog.
LikeLike
if you are going to try and waste your time arguing against the value of stats in football, you will lose the argument.
i forgive you cause my 5:54 must have crossed with your 5:55 …which makes your words unnecessary…but we are all cool here…..no need to get stressed or anything.
LikeLike