No Arteta pls thanks.

As for Arshavin I doubt anyone would want him if Zenit still insists on 20m. They were demanding somewhere in the region of that amount at the start of the season as well but that was when he was still eligible for the Champions League.

Probably if we do sign him I guess it will be in the region of 14 - 15 million max or a deal similar to the Reyes one previously, 12 - 13 million upfront with incentives and clauses which could rise to 18 - 20 million IMO.

More media bollocks to entertain yourselves perhaps ?

I hope to be an Arsenal player, claims Zenit St Petersburg striker Arshavin

Denilson ? One of our most consistent performers this season and still not good enough ? Surely he doesn't deserve that. Dear me......

If there is any midfield + attacking to be offloaded the likes of Diaby and Eboue are certainly more liable to offloading than Denilson. Will be very harsh on Denilson IMO.

I'd rather Wenger buy no one with names like Arteta, Upson being thrown around. Their no better than what we already have.

Gallas out for three weeks

French defender suffers hamstring problem

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that key defender William Gallas could be facing up to three weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

The Gunners are already without Mikael Silvestre, who has a thigh complaint, and now Wenger has been rocked by Gallas' fitness setback.

France defender Gallas caused controversy in November when he was stripped of the club captaincy after criticising team-mates and revealing rifts in the dressing room.

But the World Cup finalist remains one of the most experienced members of Wenger's squad and news that he faces a possible 21 days out of action comes as a blow ahead of Bolton's arrival on Saturday.
Toure boost

"Unfortunately we have lost William Gallas with a hamstring problem," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online.

"We lost Silvestre too with a thigh problem last week. I think Gallas and Silvestre will be out for three weeks."

Wenger, though, will be boosted by the return of defender Kolo Toure (groin) and midfielder Denilson (back).

"Kolo and Denilson will be back available," Wenger added.

"So we have lost two players from the game on Saturday, but we have gained two."

Sky

I've seen him a lot. I've highlighted already before Arteta comes across to me as a "comfort" player. Looks fantastic when the players around him play well but next to anonymous and tends to go missing in games when the players around him play badly. Not one to step up and get stuck in when the going gets tough which is exactly what we don't need now.

As for N'Zogbia he was decent about 1 or 2 seasons back which of course I wouldn't mind him then. But some of his performances this season has been appalling and shockingly poor at times. His progress looked to have taken a small step back this year IMO.

Don't think Arsene was even interested in Arteta in the first place. It all started just because of Cesc's injury IMO.

Lineup vs Bolton

Manuel Almunia
Bacary Sagna
Kolo Toure
Johan Djourou
Gael Clichy
Emmanuel Eboue
Denilson
Abou Diaby
Samir Nasri
Robin Van Persie
Emmanuel Adebayor

Substitutes
Carlos Vela
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Lukasz Fabianski
Nicklas Bendtner
Amaury Bischoff
Kieran Gibbs

We must be pretty broke.

Saving on electricity bills by not turning on a portion of the floodlights.

Credit crunch hitting us pretty badly or funding for the Arshavin move ?

One-nil to the Arsenal,
One-nil to the Arsenal,
One-nil to the Arsenal,
One-nil to the Arsenal,
One-nil to the Arsenal!
(repeat)

RvP looks red hot at the moment IMO. A little unfortunate not to end up with a goal but still our MOTM today by miles. We could be looking at our top scorer this season and probably a better chance in the league than what the majority of us actually think if he keeps up his form and stays fit IMO.

A little fact time. It was the 8th time we have hit the frame of the goal this season and Van Persie was responsible for 5 of them including todays. Imagine if he had scored all 5 of them.

Some South American Gooners that follows South American football reckon Battaglia will be an excellent signing. A genuine ball winner and natural leader on the pitch. Stranger things have happened in football and bearing in mind we do have some transfer history with Boca signing Nelson Vivas before so I'm not completely ruling this out.

Watching this game made me realize how much better Man Utd are at crossing the ball than us.

Our fullbacks can't cross for nuts and sadly our best crosser of the ball, RVP is a striker. Eboue, Denilson and Nasri can and has produced some decent crosses but also pretty much a hit and miss.

Wenger believes in Bendtner

Gunners boss has expressed confidence in his young striker

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has expressed that he has full confidence in striker Nicklas Bendtner.

Bendtner scored the winning goal against Bolton after coming off the bench on Saturday with just six minutes of normal time remaining.

The Denmark international has found chances hard to come by at the Emirates after bursting onto the scene while on loan at Birmingham in the Championship in 2006.

This season the 20-year-old, who turns 21 later this month, has started eight times in the Premier League, scoring twice with six goals from 24 appearances overall.

Despite preferring Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin Van Persie up front, Wenger insists that he has total belief in the youngster's ability.

"The fans judge on the game but the manager has to consider what he can display in one year," he told the club's official website.

"Today they wanted to see the finished article, that is normal.

"He has spoken to me and he knows I have full confidence in him and people are sometimes surprised that I stick with him.

"I think he has scored a very important goal (against Bolton) and it is not the first time.

"He can be decisive, for me when a striker is in the air, or on the move for a set-piece, he understands football.

"For the goal he scored he was on the move at the moment he scored. So you can say this guy is a striker and has a chance. He is 20-years-old but it is very young."

Sky

This Diakite lad is 6'4 but is supposedly quick at the same time it seems. Sounds plausible and looks like a typical Wenger signing if we do sign him. French, relative unknown, floundering at his current club (If I'm not wrong he has only made somewhere in the region of 10 appearances for Lazio), will only cost between 5 - 10 million. Checks all the boxes.

Btw he started for Lazio in their last match. Not sure how he did though lol.

15 million + 5 million depending on clauses is decent IMO. I've said before I rate Arshavin at around the 15 million area and usually the clauses are not fully fulfilled so probably we will only have to pay a little above 15 million which I feel is just about right. Definitely not a good bargain though but reasonable to say the least.

To be honest I have not been yearning for any signings and seriously I'm OK even if we do not sign anyone at all but at the same time regardless of what position would welcome quality additions into the team anytime of the day.

Arshavin will not be signed as a replacement for Cesc. He will only play one the wings or probably as a second striker in a 4-5-1 formation. IMO. Something tells me either Rosicky or Eboue could depart come end of the season if we get Arshavin IMO. Both contracts expire at the end of the season.

As for the defensive area yeah I do agree that our defense has been comical at times but I don't think Wenger will sign any CB unless someone leaves with us having 4 centrebacks already with the addition of Song able to play there and Senderos due to return at the end of the season. Just a hunch though.

I read a more detailed article on this somewhere but I can't quite remember what website where they reported that Arshavin will only top that 5 million if he signs a contract which matches his current wages at Zenit of 85 k a week which would put him on par with Cesc on the Arsenal pay roll.

Well I think if he does top up the 5 million himself I would think that its fair we offer him the 85k a week he wants IMO. Will be the same as 15 + 5 like we initially offered if earlier reports are true.

I'll try find the link when I get home from dinner if you guys want it but meh.... probably it would have already been reported by another website and you guys will probably have seen it by then anyway.


PS: Feed the troll at your own risk . Cheers.

Well probably we do not need Arshavin but like I've said before I'll always welcome a quality signing with open arms at any time of any day. Anyway Arsene would rather not sign Arshavin than pay tha 20m IMO. I'd be fairly surprised if he actually caves in to that 20m cash upfront demand by Zenit.

I'd say our midfield needs a kick up the arse IMO. The service to our forwards from our midfield bar Nasri has been poor in a lot of games recently and we can't expect Nasri alone to bear the midfield creative burden for another 3 to 4 months till the return of at least Walcott or Cesc, assuming the others like Diaby, Eboue etc remain in their slump till then or hope that the individual brilliance of RVP bails us out week in week out.

As for Vela, the Boss knows his players best and I'm mighty sure there is a reason why he ain't starting Vela just yet.

I'd say Wenger or the board would be stupid not to sell. Whether Cesc will leave for Man City is another matter. 120m for a single player is just plain ridiculous in epic proportions, no player is worth that kind of money. Not even Cesc.

Bro best asset or not it would be crazy to turn down a 120m offer. Imagine who we could buy with 120m.

For example with 120m we could get: (Below is clearly for fun and example purposes.)

10m for Yaya Toure
30m for David Silva
30m for David Villa
15m for Cristian Zapata

The rest totalling 35 million into the stadium fund and wage bill.

We will have a lineup like this assuming all stays fit:

---------------Almunia-----------------

Sagna-----Toure----Zapata-----Clichy

-----------------Yaya--------------------

Walcott---------Nasri-------------Silva

-------------Villa-----Van P------------

Stronger if we don't sell Cesc or if we sell Cesc ?

This post has been edited by sigheart: Jan 17 2009, 03:42 PM