Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[Tony Baloney]

Arshavin has said he'd 8 2 leave........

That was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

That's the standard unfortunately.

Although getting Arteta in at the last minute might seem good business I think the Gooners would have wanted someone more A-list.

[screenexile]

If he stays free from injury he would be A List imo. As good a midfielder in the Premiership on his day!

[muppet]

Arshavin has said he'd 8 2 leave........

That was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

I h8 2 agree with you but I give 8 out of 2 for originality.

[Tony Baloney]

If he stays free from injury he would be A List imo. As good a midfielder in the Premiership on his day!

To be discussed in April!

[Orangemac]

If he stays free from injury he would be A List imo. As good a midfielder in the Premiership on his day!

He was average enough for Everton last year after coming back from injury but the 2 seasons before that was as good a central midfielder as there was around.

In any other era he would be a Spanish international and he deserves a chance at a bigger club, although how much longer Arseanl are seen as a big club is open to question.

[ildanach]

arteta deal almost through .. was hoping for a holding midfielder though too

[screenexile]

arteta deal almost through .. was hoping for a holding midfielder though too

I hate to be agreeing with Robbie Savage but you would have to think that Arsenal should have went for Scottie Parker for £5m ... Wenger certainly missed a trick there I think he would have been a huge player for them!

[Orangemac]

arteta deal almost through .. was hoping for a holding midfielder though too

I hate to be agreeing with Robbie Savage but you would have to think that Arsenal should have went for Scottie Parker for £5m ... Wenger certainly missed a trick there I think he would have been a huge player for them!

Parker would have been a good option for Arsenal, would have added solidity to the team.

[gerry]

Arsenal players - in      
Mikel Arteta   Everton   MID
Per Mertesacker   Werder Bremen   DEF
André Santos   Fenerbahçe   LB
Yossi Benayoun   Chelsea   MID
Park Chu-young   Monaco   FWD
Gervinho   Lille   FWD
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain   Southampton   MID
Joel Campbell   Deportivo Saprissa   FWD
Hector Bellerin   Barcelona   FWD
Jon Toral   Barcelona   MID
Carl Jenkinson   Chalrton & Finland U19   DEF
      
      
Arsenal players - Out      
Gilles Sunu      
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas      
Joel Campbell      
Henri Lansbury      
Nicklas Bendtner      
Armand Traore      
Gaël Clichy      
Cesc Fabregas      
Samir Nasri      
      

[Billys Boots]

Arsenal are in advanced talks with Werder Bremen's German international defender Per Mertesacker.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14717213.stm

Decent centre-half, but had a horror show during his time at Real Madrid, if I remember correctly.

Mertesacker never played for Real Madrid, that was Christoph Metzelder.

Thanks paco for correcting my senility - in the past I would have been embarrassed by this. 

[ballinaman]

What do the Arsenal lads here make of the signings??

More of the same type of player which they didn't need IMO. Seems like buying Arteta was a panic buy almost.

[Denn Forever]

Arteta - Fabregas lite?

The next game will be interesting as how much time have these signings given Wenger?

[nrico2006]

What do the Arsenal lads here make of the signings??

More of the same type of player which they didn't need IMO. Seems like buying Arteta was a panic buy almost.

Was thinking along the same lines, it seems like Wenger has been in a cocoon all summer and had no idea that he would have to replace both Nasri and Fabregas.  They will struggle to finish top 4 this year, they have not adequately replaced the aforementioned two players and even with them last year, they were not so good.  I honestly think that Wilshere was made to look far better than he is because of the players he had beside him in midfield last year, and I think he will be exposed more this year.  They needed a bit of steel in the team and yet they have not added it.

[ONeill]

There's a chance that the German will be a hit. In a perfect world the back 4 Sagna - Merte - Verm - Gibbs or Santos in front of Chesney stay fit for the next 30 games or so.

Ahead of that you have Song. Then you've Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, Arshavin, Van Persie, Benayoun, Arteta, Gervinho and the Korean to play about with. In this perfect world where the key players (9 at least) have a season-long run of games Arsenal are capable of anything (that is, getting back into the title race and competing well in Europe). That might happen.

The problem is that there's more of a chance it won't happen and if the back 4 are affected, Arsenal are banjaxed no matter how good their attack/midfield is. One more good central defender or a defensive midfielder would have been a successful transfer window.

[Norf Tyrone]

The thing about Wenger/ Arsenal is that you look at some of the 'ins' and you think who the hell are they? However 75% of the time they turn into decent signings. Wenger has a habit of pulling something from the hat.

However I think that United, City, Liverpool and Chelsea will be ahead of them come mid May. IMHO.