Gunners gamble: Arsene's faith might just prove a stroke of genius for Arsenal
If blog posts could sigh, then this would be almost passing out through lack of breath. My mood when I woke in the early hours of this morning to check the various football news feeds was darker than the Earl of Hell’s waistcoat on national gloomy day. In a power cut.
I’m pretty sure I was not alone.
But looking around at other Arsenal blogs, I’m trying very hard not to fall into the trap of blasting the club and our esteemed manager, so you’ll have to forgive me for some blind optimism.
I’m expecting that Arsene Wenger might make some sort of statement to allay fears that his team are under strength for the season ahead and while there will be plenty of people who are convinced the team is weaker (and even a few idiots calling for Wenger’s head), you have to admire Le Boss for showing faith in his existing players.
The players who left in the summer included Gilberto (£1m), Alexander Hleb (£11.8m), Jens Lehmann (free), Mathieu Flamini (free) and Justin Hoyte (£3m). Also off on loan are Kerrea Gilbert, Nacer Barazite, Armand Traore, Philippe Senderos and Havard Nordtveit.
So in other words, the club received at least £15.8 million, plus the loan fees that others paid for the benefit of using Arsenal personnel.
New faces in the squad include Mikael Silvestre (£750k), Aaron Ramsey (£5m), Samir Nasri (£12m) and Amaury Bischoff (free) – a total of nearly £18 million, but more if you consider the extended contracts given to the likes of Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Adebayor, who, lest we forget, was the leading striker in the Premier League last season.
Wenger admits that the contract given to Bischoff was a gamble and that’s exactly what I reckon his strategy was in not bringing and more players in on transfer deadline day.
The faith he is showing in his young team is fantastic from the players’ point of view and the challenge for the likes of Denilson, Abou Diaby and Alex Song will be to repay that faith and show that they can step into the role vacated by Mathieu Flamini…
There are still a few desperate believers out there who are grasping at the ever so feeble straws that Arsene has tied up a deal or two, but the club have yet to announce anything.
Well, I don’t profess to be an expert, but wasn’t that the sound of the transfer window slamming shut I heard last night? And didn’t all transfers have to be registered by midnight?
So we’re all going to have to accept that the club has not added to the squad.
Putting things into perspective though, we lost four players and signed four players. Only time will tell if those new Gunners are better than the talent they are replacing, but Samir Nasri has impressed me more in his first four games than Alex Hleb did in half a season, so on that score, I think Le Boss comes out ahead.
Mikael Silvestre over Justin Hoyte? I’d go with that too. Aaron Ramsey over Mathieu Flamini? It doesn’t look that good on paper, but let’s be honest, who would have been disappointed if the Flamster had departed at the end of the 2006/07 season? And Amaury Bischoff? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see on that score.
The plain fact of the matter is that Arsenal did not significantly add to the squad and we’ll probably never know the truth behind who the club was chasing and whether Le Gaffer failed to attract players or just couldn’t meet valuations.
But the bottom line is that we will all continue to support Arsenal Football Club, whether we’re disappointed or not today.
If the team can continue to improve on the display that saw them rip apart Newcastle on Saturday, then just maybe the faith that Arsene Wenger has in his players will start to grow among us fans.
And with Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky still to return, if the Gunners can stay in touch at the top of the league for the next couple of months, perhaps the belief that we can be genuine title contenders will not just be held by a certain French economics graduate.
We finished last season four points behind the league champions and as I recall, the gloom and doom of 12 months ago when we started the season without Thierry Henry was even worse than we’re all feeling today…
GM
Reader Comments (115)
Good post. Good outlook. I had been one of those clinging onto the hope that AW had pulled off something last night, and might be preparing the announcement as we speak. I still hope this is the case for a defencive midfielder, but as you say, we lost 4 and gained 4. We could however have signed some lower rated 'squad players' as cover (not youngsters).
Good article and I for one hope you are right! I think all Arsenal supporters would love to have seen us sign a Viera-esque type of player gobbling up opponents in the midfield but lets hope that what we got is good enuough. There is some stellar talent at the Emirates now they have to gel and ensure that Fulham was an aberration!
Saying that I would love a 6-3' classy defender in the ranks.a brute with panache to make us Drogba proof!
Come on you GUNNERS!
I'm absolutely dejected. i was hoping the club might even have something to announce in the morning. You cant beat the optimism a new signing brings to the team and the fans. really really disappointed.the money is there too. so hard watching united and city mak those huge signings. fed up
Idiotic, idealistic post. Especially the part whether you weren't sure whether Flamini is better than a seventeen year old who only managed a handful of games in the Championship last year. Having faith in good young players is fine, Clichy and Fabregas have proved it is possible. Relying on poor players such as Diaby, Denilson and Song to anchor your midfield for a notoriously attacking side is just plain stupid.
I think what's disappointed most Arsenal fans is that Weger has lied.Getting a def midfielder in before the FC Twente game was just one.What is the point of having money in the bank and don't get me started on the glowing reports of Eboue and Veal on the official site.Talk about PR puff
Many thanks for this different perspective. I had sky sports news on last night waiting for a big name signing. But part of me did not want a new signing. I would rather see Diaby or Song making it, just like Flamini did last year. It would be so much more rewarding. And, besides the financial issues, this is what makes Wenger stick with his raw findings - pure satisfaction in making them stars.
Wenger is hopeless with new signings. He took god knows how long to bring in nasri, which wasn't an encouraging sign. he shouldn't get involved with bringing in the players. city did it without mark hughes, why couldn't we do it without wenger. and he got us hyped up and expecting a new signing on deadline day. what did we get? two youngsters renewing contracts. not impressed wenger.
You have forgotten to add in the Bentley and Muamba windfalls
I'm ok with Wenger's approach and the way he conducts business. What's going on now in the transfers is madness! What will happen to Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barca, Inter, etc. when (not if) EUFA introduces measures to curb spendign beyond club resources or a cap is introduced (the cap could be a percentage, which would be ok with the EU, I think)? Then those clubs will have to sell to balance their books and players will have to take pay cuts everywhere across Europe. Do we want to engage in this madness? Unfortunately it causes problems in the short term as players chase the big bucks and selling clubs look for a fortune. But this is unsustainable. People, can anyone really tell me that we do not have the best 35 players in the world? Who has better? That's how you build lasting success. And once you accept that (if you do), you must also accept that the priority must be to nuture what we started and only fill in small holes. And Wenger clearly tried, without success. Would you pay 18m for Alonso or Barry? Or 30m for Berba? Or 35m for Robinho? Or even 24m for Veloso? Are they all that much better than what we have? And will they be better still in 6, 12, 18 months? I also want Arsenal to compete, but not at that sort of cost. It's better to wait for the rats and mice to burn themselves out while we beat them 3-0 with kids. If we come short at the end, I cannot think of a better reason than lasting success.
What is football without idealism and hope? We are football SUPPORTERS not directors, presidents or agents. We believe, we hope and we have faith.
I would rather us continue our policy than throw money around like City or Chelsea. How can you support a team that is artificially rich, with owners who dont give two shits? Would Abramovich and the rest really fight tooth and nail to keep hold of the club if a richer businessman offered more like The Arsenal have done? No chance.
We may not be as successful as Chelsea recently but ask yourselves this: What is our identity and raison d'etre and what is Chelsea's?
I think that with Man City's new found wealth Aston Villa continuing to improve and our dearest neighbours not reluctant to spend relistically means that in the Mid season window they will all significantly improve their squads and if they are still close enough at that stage could be a real threat to our and Liverpool's champion Leaque positions. Failure on that score would be awful and one that as supporters we would find unacceptable. I am not hugely worried about not winning anything this season but a top four place is an absolute must. Failing which I believe our Russian Investor will make his move to take over the club, and who knows if that's a good thing or not. With all that said losing Horrendous and Gilberto was no loss at all, Helb and Flamini were class acts last term, I believe Nasri is a superb buy and Aaron Ramsey will in the fullness of time also be a great signing, Our friend from Man U will if fit be very good cover. We have a lot of young player s with a lot to prove this time around.
I am cautiously predicting another 3rd place but some way off in terms of points of the top two
I agree, everyone who is blaming wenger are stupid because he did try to sign Alonso and Intler.
Also, all this bollocks about Arsene 'lying'.
He said he would bring in 'one' (not a DM) before Twente. He did.
He said not to expect anyone so that if we do manage to get someone it will be a 'good surprise'. He tried but saw no one who we could get for a reasonable price.
Senna and Inler decided to stay, Liverpool didnt get Barry so we couldnt get Alonso. Transfers are complicated, its not like bloody Football Manager where an offer is accepted straightaway.
I'm fucking disgusted that AW didn't buy anyone. Denilson and Diaby just aren't good enough to deal with the best attackers. Song is the only solution but Wenger is so thick he wont play him there because he says he isn't able to play 90min there. I'm going to be a cynic here and say Wenger is ruining our club. Bischoff, Silvestre, Eboue and , dare i say, Gallas aren't sit to wear the shirt because clearly their priorities lie elsewhere.
GARYC: Both Vela and Eboue were excellent on Saturday.
And may I claim the prize for the first ever use of "Eboue" and "excellent" in the same sentence.
Still true though.
Hey this "keep the faith" bit....and Arsene knows crap seems very familiar to the passengers on the Titanic after it had hit the iceberg!!!!!! ............ And that ship sunk and took most of those people down with it!!!!!
The games against Fulham and West Brom showed exactly what we are in for this season.........and if Fabregas gets injured, be prepared for a lot worse!!!!
This season will be a case of No big spending = no trophies, no top 4 finish ...... but maybe then all you Arsene lovers will then admit he has to go!!!
some people said football transfers getting sick or crazy, i don't think if Arsenal were that rich, our fans would go against spending spree in the market. i really doubt.
I agree with you, showing faith in the players will pay off, but the problem is that we have long term injuries and WHEN we get more, or suspensions, loss of form. We WILL be screwed. I'm all for believing in the players, they are good, but there isn't enough of them.
Ramsey and Wilshere are good, but too young to play a prolonged role in our season, and poor Denilson; not played that much for us and he has just been thrown in at the deep end, he has played so much football, with a shitload of expectation on him. He's had no chance to find his style, rhythm, or blend in with the team style. He must be tired already.
We will do well, but we will suffer at some point in the season, will we hear the same excuses then about injuries and the like?
we were invincible and we only signed a keeper so have faith. signing players is good but they need to gel. they can also come with egos an disrupt team unity.
do you really believe man city are better off; who do they drop phillips or petrov.
a close nit group is good. we have more cb's we got rid of senderous for now. song is like a new player; he is more mature than the rest of the cm contenders so he gets my vote. and yes its true that flamini only showed glimpses the previous year of his true quality. so song can do it. i think denilson and diaby loose the ball trying to impress. who knows...........
wenger does. i have faith. ps nasri is class.
Berbatov is a sulker and Robinho is a circus act. Those are not the kind of auctions I want Arsenal to get involved in. Wenger is gambling on getting the central midfield and central defence right from existing resources. I don't know if he can but I hope that he succeeds. On a more general point I think that older people like me (over 50 seasons of going to home matches) who lived through 17 seasons without a trophy (1953 to 1970) have rather more patience and a greater feel for the differences in approach Arsenal have from the Rancid Kenyon and the yankee owners. If Dein and his sickening backer ever gain control then, like Chelsea, our club would cease to exist.
i am impressed by most of the responses to this blog.
whining fools calling for arsenes head are ridiculous.
acting like a spoil tchild who doesn't get the toy they want at christmas. "buy! buy! buy!" buy who? the only player it would seem who was good enough and available was alonso but he simply isnt worth the 17/18 mil demanded by the fat spanish waiter. I bet they expected us to capitulate and spend the money...you have to love wengers resolve...he has a clear plan for our club we will win honours with this team...except those of us supporting the club will get satisfaction from this...the idiots can eff awf!
I think it's time to turn Arsenal into a religion: not for normal football fans, not for those who want 1.5 trophies for every two seasons, but for footie fans who BELIEVE in total football and ze mysterious dietary regimes and training stratagems of Le Boss.
May sound silly, but I say: if your heads on straight stop supporting Arsenal. If you're in love with Wengerball, think of it as a thankless (well, until we win the CL) cause... Just a thought, it's becoming hard to support the Arse on normal terms.
Good and balanced post,mosr supporters would like to see a big signings. however Wenger will not pay silly money or be blackmailed for any player.wenger is the most sought after manager in the world, I have complete trust in his judgement! look at his great record at The Arsenal,great football,new training facilities, the best stadium I believe in europe, the best youth system in the U.K.As a season ticket holder for 30 years, who still remembers Ian Ure, Fingers Furnel!, John Radford.I fly from Bahrain at least 12 times a year to watch the games which costs alot of money. If the Arsenal do have a bad run the good thing is we will get rid of the plastics and the johny come latelys. we will have some atmosphere at the emirates at last, like the old days. Always up the Gunners.
wengers way use to work spending no money but times change the last 3 years should have told him that if your not moving forward then your going backwards and if things dont change we will soon not be fighting for top 4 but top half. Wenger does not need to be sacked thats rubbish look what he has done but he does need to get his checkbook out im never sure if the board are telling the truth that there is money available but something needs to change soon or else we could be the next big team to fall away all the talk of the future is all good but what good is it today if we win nothing soon cesc wont stay niether will half the team then we dont have a future in football you need to live in the day cuz who knows what the future will hold. Wenger messed this transfer window up and probably the whole season
We need to have faith and support our team. Spending big does not guarantee success. Look at Tottenham's situation now. Spurs has spent so much money but after 3 games, still no win.
agreed. we have signed nobody before the close of the window but we must build a bridge and get over it. now is the time to get behind the team.
There seem to be some people who appear to think that because there have been big money moves for Berbatov and Robinho that we can't spend a reasonable amount of money on a player. People are so bias in their judgement of Wenger it is pathetic.
Just for a couple of home truths. A season ticket at the emirates is higher than at any club in the world. We've spent less than any Premiership club this season and have banked a profit in the transfer window three years in a row. This is not ambition.
Also to the person who said that Wenger tried to sign someone because he made a last ditch attempt to sign Alonso, perhaps he should have gone in a little earlier than 11:55.
This club shows nothing but a lack of respect to the fans and a lack of ambition to the way the club is run. We don't have sufficient playing staff, hell, we don't even have an MD anymore! How many years is it that we been looking for a Director of Football now?
This club is run by people who insist on cutting corners and misleading the fans but I suppose that has become synomous with doing it "the arsenal way."
I am dissapointed that we did not sign anyone, this is becuase Arsene is a control freak and thinks he will always get his way (every year we have signed people at the 11th hour), but this time he messed up, trying to play his poker face but got it seriously wrong, why leave it to 11pm on the final day when you have months to prepare?? please explain the logic?? oh I know so you can get a good deal right?? I don't want Wenger to leave but he has to accept that his attitude towards the fans is not acceptable, tell them what they want to hear, but have no intention of sticking by wat you say, and continously deliver nothing...
Don't you think he should have the balls to come out and make a statement?? oh no! rub salt in the wounds by saying how great Eboue is on the web site...unbelievable
In football today it is not about 11 players it is about a squad, because... our strategy for success (which is now all about getting into 4th place in the Prem! nothing else!) is lets hope Cesc can play every game at the very best level, we get no injuries, people will not lump high balls into our defence, people will not play a hard game against us, espicially in our midfield, we never have to play on a bad pitch, or in poor weather, and everybody else has a nightmare with injuries, al decisions will ALWAYS go our way, and if all this happens.... we might get into 4th spot... I applaud your positivity, but cringe at your pathtic blinkered view to try and justify to yourself and everybody else, that signing nobody was good for us, didn't you learn anything last Jan, everybody said we need to strengthen, we didn't and we won SFA, but this time it will be completely different will it???? - YOU ARE A JOKE!
MrT - you are a crazy fool ;-)
Very well put Mr T.
im down with arsene til the end but i just think the big money men will win the lot now,even real madrid are being made to look stupid , a few weeks ago they were bullying manure now city are bullyin them,dear oh dear!
Spot on Bahrain Gunner - lets get rid of the plastics, they're becoming a real embarassment now!!
I think we will be fine. At the end of the day we could have gone out a brought player X £15m and him get injured for the season the next game. I think we will be in a better state january to asses the squad and the market. Plus it would be unfair on the kids if they weren't given chance and that is what arsenal under wenger has always been about and i for one am glad
Nice article, but the fact is there are glaring weaknesses on this team, mostly central defender as Gallas can't get it done..Few other issues...Without Fabregas this team is barely competitive, so we better hope none of our big guns get hurt, because we simply do not have the depth that ANY of our competitors do. We had needs last year, we were one player away from winning the title and Wenger dicked it. It's nice to see confidence in the young players, but he isn't going to fool the rest of the soccer world. This team needed reinforcements, he didn't do his job, and Arsenal are not a top team. I think it's also important to note that Adebayor has looked awful (selling him at his peak this offseason would've been the best) and Van Persie looks nothing like himself yet ( i know he scored 2 goals, but he's still off) Anything can happen, but it's likely this team will come up short again and we can all point back to this transfer window when Wenger chose to pocket his 30 million euros instead of improving his team.
All the Wenger knockers have short memories, had it not been for Wenger we would not be where we are today,Without Wenger we would not have our state of the arts training centre, the Emirates Stadium, and for the last eleven seasons not finishing out of the top four, in fact for the first eight full seasons not out ofthe top two,so I think we should at least give him the chance to get it sorted in his own way.
Can you imagine what it would have been like if we had got some of the managers that have been about.
I would like to finish by wishing Kevin Keegan all the best in his new career.
What people seem to have not realised is that the Man City takeover should help us because now you have two clubs trying to buy a very limited number of top class players. If there are 15 top class players instead of Chelsea having all of them, Man City will have half and Chelsea will have the other half. Add to that Man Utd and Liverpool willing to spend top money for one off players then I see it as a good thing for us.
I should think four years is ample time to sort out the team.
Its a very easy option for you defeatists isnt it!!! If we fail this season again its so easy to point to the transfer window and say we needed more players- we lost because you didnt.
Its the same with last January, RvP was just coming back Eduardo was getting in the groove..and then woops Wenger should have known that that careless Croazilian would break his leg!
You have no idea what is going to happen!!
Are you going to blame us losing a champions league final because the ref gives a penalty...ooh we needed more experience and Wenger should have bought, then we would have won it!!
Good post - and to the guy that compared us to the passengers on the titanic...dont forget that was a maiden voyage...not one with an incredible round the world record
2 Doubles
1 Unbeaten Season
1 Champs legaue final
The best football in Europe...enough for me
It's all very easy to spend money that doesn' personally belong to us. Arsene spends his arsenal money as if it was his own...... Not just trying to preserve his own game, C'mon on a serious note , would Arsenal fans have been seriously happy if we has spent 32 mil on robinho, and then Arsenal comeback to us and said, "right season tickets are going to start from 2.5k onwards!!!! We have got a worldclass stadium, a world class team built free of charge, players any team would pay millions for, a team that probably plays the most attractive football in the premiership.....Just look at the last 2 games..... And we are still moaning.....
I personally would have kept Gilberto, and got rid of all the other non-runner's and mercenaries.... failing that would have been nice, to get Torsten Frings or Gattuso, for the experience, mind you "stephen appaih, is still a free agent, and a bit of a brickwall to sit in front of the defence,, but don't expect silky skills from him.
Looks what happened to Keegan, Look at spurs, all their transfer dealings, have left them with 2 recognised striker's... So as far as i am concerned, we have the best run club in the country, the rumour mill and transfer speculation has gone, and now is time, to get wholeheartedly behind all player's including Eboue, otherwise , there's plenty of season tickets still for sale at eastlands....
i can't see why people associate us buying big players with having ambition. the only ambition that would show in arsenal's case is the ambition to have more famous and expensive players. you can't seriously think wenger doesn't want to win the league just because he isn't spendiong money? all that says is rightly or wrongly he thinks we don't need to spend because he thinks we cna already win the league without spending. if he is wrong, then fine, but for your information it's far more ambitios to try and win the league the way wenger is than trying to win it by throwing money at the problem.
like i said he might not get it right, but he's showing more ambition than anyone right now to play a risky game this way. THAT is ambition.
I think we've got players to win any trophy; what we don't have is a sound tactical manager who knows how to mix it in order to come out with a strong and winning team, rather than having a one dimentionalteam. That's why we don't seem to be able to turn games around when we are often behind against tough oppositisions.
and this whole statement of intent crap.
the only statement it gives out is that the team wasn't good enough before so we needed to buy someone. they don't need to show they plan to do big things by buying a player, they need to show it by winning games well.
spurs show 'a statement of intent' every summer but what is it worth? same for liverpool. people just make excuses for being angry that they didn't get their fix of excitement from a new signing. the point is that a new signing is not a statement of intent, he's just a signing. a statement of intent is to come from 2-0 down to win the game against the run of play in the second half. THOSE are the important things, not just the fun of saying we have a new guy.
wow some of my fellow arsenal fans are seriously morons and it's sad to see. i wish all of the morons would go away and we could save supporting arsenal for people who make reasonable, logical and sound comments rather than just mindless drivel.
rant over.
all that says is rightly or wrongly he thinks we don't need to spend because he thinks we cna already win the league without spending. if he is wrong, then fine,
Trying for four years using the same plan not long enough to realise it isn't working then fella? Having the weakest squad you've had in that time whilst everyone else is stronger than ever before also isn't enought to convince you we aren't going to win anything let alone the league?
Sheesh, some people just are blind.
there's plenty of season tickets still for sale at eastlands....
I believe its Middle Eastlands Now
I think Arsenal will finish easily in the top 4. The game against Newcastle was probably their best performance in years in terms of totally dominating the other side. We used to do that all the time when Vieira was running things in midfield and it felt a little bit like the good old days against Newcastle.
Having said that, is there anyone who wasn´t frustrated by Hleb´s shyness in front of goal? The game is about scoring, not passing so I´m very pleased with getting Nasri who seems to be a lot more direct and aggressive. I also totally agree that most of us wouldn´t have been sad to see Flamini go before last season. I´ve always thought that he was replaceable, I just hooe it´s Denilson or Song that replaces him rather than Diaby.
So what´s the problem? That Man City have bought a Real Madrid sub? That´s enough to displace us from the top 4??? Give me a break, Mark Hughes isn´t half the manager Wenger is. Walcott is improving game by game now and we have a brilliant midfield now if someone steps up to replace Flamini and give Fabregas cover.
I want wenger to saty but i want him to start worrying more about strengtehing the squad and winning trophies than balancing the books. Buy the players, get the success and the financial side will sort itself out. Balance the books now and drop out of the top 4 and then we're fucked. In a way, the 2 results this week were a bad thing because it gave AW an excuse not to buy. Yes i think its great he believes in his players, but just because you sign a couple of players doesn't mean you are telling them they're not good enough. Its competition, its makes players try harder. And when the injuries happen we have the squad to cope with it. I'm sorry but they're is no way anyone cam support or make excuses for not buying.
Tony - I would point to Liverfool, signed a 20m player in Robbie 'the perfect foil' Keane - Last game...
0 shots on target !!!
Top post mate!! You do speak some serious sense. My only only gripe is we did not get another body in CM.Just another body would have been fine.
However, Alonso , is he really a DM??? I don't think so....He would never have done what Flam did. Therefore its not necessarily true that he would have been the answer to our troubles. I pray that we can get a full season out of Diaby. If we can he really could be our answer. If not January is always an option and what ever deal we were unable to arrange this window we may be able to in the next. We got ample strikers and defenders now I believe. Centre backs, Toure, Gallas, Silvestre,Song and Djoure. Full backs is nicely covered. Rosicky and Eduardo to come back as well, RVP on all cylinders...guys its not that bad. Lets wait and see how we progress. I'm not overly worried by what I've seen so far in the prem this year anyway. I dont believe Wenger has blind faith because he has a huge repuation acorss the globe and he wouldnt jeapordise that by sending out a mediocre team. You can't play football the way we do if you are a mediocre team or player!! A little Faithe people, if it weren't for Arsene we would n't be moaning about anything as we would be languaising somewhere around 10th like in the first prem season!!!
Liar this is the right word that u can describe wenger where's the fucking player that u wanted to sign him after twente game?