interesting... have been reading some blogs overall...

how about this... we keep all our players!

yeah! the most interesting idea came from a comment in soccernet.

we should be happy to sign vermaelen and should stick with senderos and gallas. Reason ? Move Kolo to CM/DM.

whoaa... now.. i know Kolo used to be a striker and i think the idea is not far fetch. Maybe AW is mooting this idea because he did try Kolo in some midfield position last year. I think having Kolo at CM/DM could possibly solve our problem! we've been speculating high and low, but the best possible answer is right in front of us! Having Toure at CM/DM should be our best option. He got the right qualities and he should be able to work well with Cesc and the defense.

Also, this will allow Denilson/Song to be rotated into that role. This should be better for them as they fight for their places in the 1st team. Toure is the perfect mentor, if u ask me.

It'll be perfect for Djourou and Senderos too. Gallas will be their mentor and they could be ease onto the line up and improve. I think it's vital that we re-sign Gallas in order to add experience to the team. so, the 1st eleven should look like :-

                  -Almunia-
Sagna-Gallas/Djourou-Vermealen-Clichy
Walcott-Cesc-Toure-Arshavin-Nasri
                -RVP-

note that i didn't include Ade because i think he's on the way out.

CB Backups? assuming Senderos is back, we have abundance of backups. Sendy, Djourou, Song (can play CB what), Silvestre, Nordveit.

RB and LB should be fine with Clichy, Sagna, Eboue, Gibbs and Traore.

huh... suddenly our squad ain't so bad after all.

Midfield and up front? we have abundance of talent and qualities!! Rosicky is coming back, we still have Bischoff, Ramsey, Wilshere, Denilson, Diaby (urgh), Eboue, Eduardo, Vela, Bendtner.

How about up and coming kids? Watts, JET, Simpson, Randall, Barazite?

hmm.... i think 1 more signing would do good for the team... but i can't blame AW if he decided to stop now and concentrate on pre season.

i don't know y ppl are saying that the new defender is not worth that money! how much does arsenal spent on him? nobody knows and they keep on saying not worth that kind of money! dam ppl...

i don't know y ppl are saying that the new defender is not worth that money! how much does arsenal spent on him? nobody knows and they keep on saying not worth that kind of money! dam ppl...

vermaelen at DM? that was the initial thought that came to mind but really, i think he'll be at CB  rather than DM.

read my post carefully, i did say rotate Toure with Denilson and Song. So, i don't think stamina will be much of a problem.

He might not have the best positioning sense but he got the pace to recover.

yeah, AW has the final say anyway. we can only speculate. i mean, who would've thought he'd pick Eboue and Diaby over Arshavin and Walcott.. rite?

sakaito bro, what i understand from le Boss explanation last time is that Kolo doesn't have the stamina to play in midfield for any match not consecutive matches. so from my understanding, rotating him with Denilson and Alex Song doesn't make a difference anyway

and i also understand that Kolo has pace to recover, but that is only majorly useful when you play in central defender position not central midfielder. you do not have the time to recover the ball whenever you play in the midfield as most of the time the opponent that get away from you already executed the pass, or a shot

yup, we can speculate. or to put it in a nicer words we can put up our argument and reasoning behind it. we might not agree with each other but we sure can have a good discussion about it

i actually want a Matty type of player to partner Cesc. i can only hope Denilson or Alex Song can make that kind of jump performance-wise next season if we do not bring any reinforcement during the summer

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009...omas-vermaelens
I find it very interesting that a lot of people thinks he's not good enough for us, including the previous remarks by Tony. The so-called pundits tend to get influenced too much by various articles and hoohah posting concerns about his height. I don't understand why everyone thinks a central defender must be 3 metres tall - there has been many great defenders who are around Vermy's height.

Welcome Thomas the Verminator... Looking good there in our new pyjamas And looking freakishly similar to Vidic like a twin !!


May you terminate all the vermin plaguing English football !!

Agree with you and most that Kolo in DM is a no-no. Some say stamina, some say positioning... But for me, he cant play in that position because he's a bit too "mengelabah", you know what I mean... He doesn't have the composure or the subtle approach of a Gilberto. And while he has the energy of Flamini, I don't think he has the Frenchman's discipline. Instead of using the energy chasing people around, I have a sneaky feeling he will use it to burst forward instead.

As for Denilson and Song... Well, you can't quite change style of play. I still hope we get that tough SOB Lorik Cana. The guy is totally crazy!! I'm not sure how good he is technically, but we could do with a wild animal in the side! (And he can speed up AW's red card collection!)

Btw, anyone know how to pronounce Vermaelen?

Ver-ma-e-len? 

REM+jude law

verm has some bengis look on his face. a good thing, we dont have much players with a fierce facade