The Arsenal FC-Related News & Developments for 2016/2017

[theYemster]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

What was the trophy we won for "finishing above these teams" again?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pfft!!!

We win you complain, we nor win you complain. So, so complain sotay complain dey complain say you dey complain.

Like I offered to bet with you at the start of last season, win the EPL/UCL and I won't complain ever again. They don't and no excuses for Wengoat by you.

Of course you couldn't balls up.

[Waffiman]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

What was the trophy we won for "finishing above these teams" again?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pfft!!!

We win you complain, we nor win you complain. So, so complain sotay complain dey complain say you dey complain.

Like I offered to bet with you at the start of last season, win the EPL/UCL and I won't complain ever again. They don't and no excuses for Wengoat by you.

Of course you couldn't balls up.

What bet?

If I want to bet on winning, I place it where it counts. Where it will make me serious money.

[Gooner1]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

What was the trophy we won for "finishing above these teams" again?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pfft!!!

We win you complain, we nor win you complain. So, so complain sotay complain dey complain say you dey complain.

Like I offered to bet with you at the start of last season, win the EPL/UCL and I won't complain ever again. They don't and no excuses for Wengoat by you.

Of course you couldn't balls up.

What bet?

If I want to bet on winning, I place it where it counts. Where it will make me serious money.

Wayo WaffiHill.........you are like wengoat.......talking bets left and right.......but when it boils down to it, Terms & Conditions stalls the deal

[Waffiman]

Guys I see many of us are getting carried away, before we do, let us have a look at our squad as it stands.

As we all know, the Premier league has a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21 of whom at least 7 must be’ Home Grown”.

in effect, ‘Home Grown’ means qualified to play for England or Wales or has been with a UK or Welsh club for at least 3 years prior to becoming 21. Note; a club can have as many under 21 player as they wish. The focus must now be on the over 21. So how many over 21 players do Arsenal currently have? Lets have a look below:

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

According to the above, we actually have 31 players over 21 years old, of whom 16 are homegrown.

I have colour coded some players because of their uncertain status in the squad. Let me start off with Toral, as I posted here a few weeks ago, he has finally sealed a season long loan deal to Granada in Spain. What is not known is if Granada got the option to buy which they wanted. Next, I move on to Wellington Silva, there is talk of a loan deal or sale to a Brazilian club almost being completed. Martinez, Iliev and Macey are goalkeepers, I guess Iliev and Macey will either sold or loaned.

But, the club has a huge decision to make with Martinez and Szczesny. Martinez has always been highly rated, so I doubt, the club will want to sell him, so a loan looks the best option but his status really depends on what the club does with Szczesny. Szczesny is the enigma, he now has relatively good experience and I do not see another loan spell as the answer but will he take 3rd place position behind Cech and Ospina? When you consider Cech may be in his last season, depending on how he performs, it makes the Szczesny decision even tougher. I think Arsenal top 3 Goalies are known for knowing we stick with it.

We cannot have all these over 21s so in the light of my brief analysis, what do we have left? With Toral and Silva gone, we now have 29 players over 21 years old, of whom 15 are homegrown. To meet EPL club rules, we must sell or loan out 5 players before we can buy a single player, 6 if we are to buy 2 players etc. etc.

In addition to the players listed above, Arsenal also have a list of under 21 players who are competing to be in the first team. We know Alex Iwobi, Serge Gnabry and most recently Rene Adelaide have been made 1st team squad members. But we also have players like Zelalem, Bielik etc in this equation but they are not relevant here because I am concerned only over 21 players. One thing is certain – Arsenal are not short of player numbers.

If we are buying 2 more players, who are the players that will be loaned out or sold? I keep on reading the moans and constant complaint here about players to buy but I never see anyone consider the big picture of coming up with a squad that meets EPL rules whilst buying new players because for Arsenal, it means one payer in and one player out.

So to get 2 more players we must remove 6 from the squad. Who are they? I start with the Goalies. Arsenal must sell or loan out 3 goal keepers. Now who will be the out field players. With Welbeck and Jenkinson out injured long term, they will not be in the squad but they are Arsenal players and squad members. My guess is their slots will be filled by under 21s in the interim. This makes 5 players, meaning we can buy one player. So we need to create a place for the 2nd player, obvious player to leave include, Debuchy, Sanogo and Chambers.

Let's analyse by position:

Goal Keepers – We have 6 goalies including three full internationals. With Cech and Ospina numbers one and two, three of; Szczesny, Martinez, Iliev and Macey must be sold or loaned out.

Right Back – We have Bellerin, Debuchy and Jenkinson. Wenger has room to manoeuvre here but it is risky. We can assume Debuchy is to leave. Arsenal have failed to get any cover for Bellerin because no RB fancying understudy to Bells. So Jenkinson until he recovers from injury. Wenger can gamble in the shape of two very able members of the U21 squad and Chambers. If he does this, he definitely has room for the extra player it is rumoured he wants to buy.

Left Back – Our LB positions look sorted but Gibbs and his Agent are a problem. They want silly wages claiming he will get the wages and 1st team start at another club but so far it looks like a bluff because there seem to be no takers. Monreal and Gibbs it is.

Centre Back – We got 4 CBs, Per and Kos are 31 and 30 respectively, but Per is looking slow and error prone. Rumours are now rife Arsenal are trying for a CD from Juve. With Gabriel still unconvincing, it is no surprise Wenger wants more quality in this position. Chambers IMHO, looked very good towards the end of last season and I am hoping he finally gets his chance. For me, Per's time looks to be up at Arsenal.

Central Midfield – Wenger recently said we do not need a Defensive Midfielder, what we needed was a box to box midfielder, he went and got Xhaka. You cannot classify Elneny and Xhaka as DMs, so Wenger's intentions for his midfield are clear. The good thing is despite us not needing a conventional DM we have 3 who can play as DMs – Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. When you add, Ramsey, Santi, Jack and maybe Zelalem, there is no space for any more.

Attacking Midfield – We have with Özil plus Santi, Ramsey, Wilshere plus the very gifted Alex Iwobi (Under 21) ready to fill in as required.

Forwards – Now to where Gooners have massive issues. We all agree we need a top class forward who is fast, clinical and will get us a guaranteed 20 goals a season in the league. But we currently have forwards to choose from. Alexis, Giroud, Ox, Theo, Welbeck (later in the season when he recovers from injury), Joel Campbell and Sanago. For me, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo are under pressure, with the future of Campbell and Sanogo in doubt. Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo must impress in preseasonto stand a chance of keeping their places. With a signing a high probability, Campbell, Theo and Sanogo may find themselves under pressure to leave. We also have a wealth of talent emerging from the U21s to inject more quality if current senior members do not deliver.

Whosoever we sign between now and the end of the transfer window, I know as things stand right now, we are not far off, the Manager wants to improve in terms of quality and experience but whatever he does, my team has my full support all season.

[Bigpokey24]

109 pages...oh my..this is some serious illness ooo. Una need to see doctor asap

[Waffiman]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

What was the trophy we won for "finishing above these teams" again?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pfft!!!

We win you complain, we nor win you complain. So, so complain sotay complain dey complain say you dey complain.

Like I offered to bet with you at the start of last season, win the EPL/UCL and I won't complain ever again. They don't and no excuses for Wengoat by you.

Of course you couldn't balls up.

What bet?

If I want to bet on winning, I place it where it counts. Where it will make me serious money.

Wayo WaffiHill.........you are like wengoat.......talking bets left and right.......but when it boils down to it, Terms & Conditions stalls the deal

There in lies the koko of the matter - terms and conditions. If there is no agreement, not bet.

[kajifu]

Good write up but most this players have shown they don't belong to a top club.Most are injuries prone.To me Walcott will bring alot of money if ship,it's better to sell him and bring a top CF,Wenger has give this boys alot of chance they will never get in a top club.I think likes of Sonogoal,should be loan out not expect him to show anything in preseason to determine if he stays.
Also our problem of us not kissing epl in the last 3 season has nothing to do with players. Wenger did not manage the team well,he place too much faith to waste pipe when one or two changes would have see us won major trophy.He at one time play Ozil with pain killer ,he was playing Walcott when it was clear the guy was behind Campbell in the backing order.I mean Ramsey was playing out of position most games and worst playing almost all games even when he was poor and need a break.
Cech should not have been make number one even with alot of mistakes. Is he really better than Ospina?

[kajifu]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

Oh please and what did we win?Has it occur to you that even our normal FA cup we didn't make it into the finals.
Spurs finish behind us and we're in the tittle race for the first time while we were not.We finish 10 points behind Champs Leicester.
Chelsea,city,and Manu has react by appointment of new managers and I can bet those teams will improved their places better than us.(Hope it's not for Wenger sake).
Arsenal for life

[Gooner1]

Park Bencher 2.0 cries after he plays his last game in Nippon........I wonder why
Does he know the fate that will befall him?

[Siddonlook11]

Very Interesting..along the same lines . Yesterday I watched Julio Bapstista ( remember him ?) score a goal for orlando vs Vancouver Whitecaps .

Arsenal oh..chei we don sign some kian players sha

Park Bencher 2.0 cries after he plays his last game in Nippon........I wonder why
Does he know the fate that will befall him?

[Skylolo]

Guys I see many of us are getting carried away, before we do, let us have a look at our squad as it stands.

As we all know, the Premier league has a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21 of whom at least 7 must be’ Home Grown”.

in effect, ‘Home Grown’ means qualified to play for England or Wales or has been with a UK or Welsh club for at least 3 years prior to becoming 21. Note; a club can have as many under 21 player as they wish. The focus must now be on the over 21. So how many over 21 players do Arsenal currently have? Lets have a look below:

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

According to the above, we actually have 31 players over 21 years old, of whom 16 are homegrown.

I have colour coded some players because of their uncertain status in the squad. Let me start off with Toral, as I posted here a few weeks ago, he has finally sealed a season long loan deal to Granada in Spain. What is not known is if Granada got the option to buy which they wanted. Next, I move on to Wellington Silva, there is talk of a loan deal or sale to a Brazilian club almost being completed. Martinez, Iliev and Macey are goalkeepers, I guess Iliev and Macey will either sold or loaned.

But, the club has a huge decision to make with Martinez and Szczesny. Martinez has always been highly rated, so I doubt, the club will want to sell him, so a loan looks the best option but his status really depends on what the club does with Szczesny. Szczesny is the enigma, he now has relatively good experience and I do not see another loan spell as the answer but will he take 3rd place position behind Cech and Ospina? When you consider Cech may be in his last season, depending on how he performs, it makes the Szczesny decision even tougher. I think Arsenal top 3 Goalies are known for knowing we stick with it.

We cannot have all these over 21s so in the light of my brief analysis, what do we have left? With Toral and Silva gone, we now have 29 players over 21 years old, of whom 15 are homegrown. To meet EPL club rules, we must sell or loan out 5 players before we can buy a single player, 6 if we are to buy 2 players etc. etc.

In addition to the players listed above, Arsenal also have a list of under 21 players who are competing to be in the first team. We know Alex Iwobi, Serge Gnabry and most recently Rene Adelaide have been made 1st team squad members. But we also have players like Zelalem, Bielik etc in this equation but they are not relevant here because I am concerned only over 21 players. One thing is certain – Arsenal are not short of player numbers.

If we are buying 2 more players, who are the players that will be loaned out or sold? I keep on reading the moans and constant complaint here about players to buy but I never see anyone consider the big picture of coming up with a squad that meets EPL rules whilst buying new players because for Arsenal, it means one payer in and one player out.

So to get 2 more players we must remove 6 from the squad. Who are they? I start with the Goalies. Arsenal must sell or loan out 3 goal keepers. Now who will be the out field players. With Welbeck and Jenkinson out injured long term, they will not be in the squad but they are Arsenal players and squad members. My guess is their slots will be filled by under 21s in the interim. This makes 5 players, meaning we can buy one player. So we need to create a place for the 2nd player, obvious player to leave include, Debuchy, Sanogo and Chambers.

Let's analyse by position:

Goal Keepers – We have 6 goalies including three full internationals. With Cech and Ospina numbers one and two, three of; Szczesny, Martinez, Iliev and Macey must be sold or loaned out.

Right Back – We have Bellerin, Debuchy and Jenkinson. Wenger has room to manoeuvre here but it is risky. We can assume Debuchy is to leave. Arsenal have failed to get any cover for Bellerin because no RB fancying understudy to Bells. So Jenkinson until he recovers from injury. Wenger can gamble in the shape of two very able members of the U21 squad and Chambers. If he does this, he definitely has room for the extra player it is rumoured he wants to buy.

Left Back – Our LB positions look sorted but Gibbs and his Agent are a problem. They want silly wages claiming he will get the wages and 1st team start at another club but so far it looks like a bluff because there seem to be no takers. Monreal and Gibbs it is.

Centre Back – We got 4 CBs, Per and Kos are 31 and 30 respectively, but Per is looking slow and error prone. Rumours are now rife Arsenal are trying for a CD from Juve. With Gabriel still unconvincing, it is no surprise Wenger wants more quality in this position. Chambers IMHO, looked very good towards the end of last season and I am hoping he finally gets his chance. For me, Per's time looks to be up at Arsenal.

Central Midfield – Wenger recently said we do not need a Defensive Midfielder, what we needed was a box to box midfielder, he went and got Xhaka. You cannot classify Elneny and Xhaka as DMs, so Wenger's intentions for his midfield are clear. The good thing is despite us not needing a conventional DM we have 3 who can play as DMs – Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. When you add, Ramsey, Santi, Jack and maybe Zelalem, there is no space for any more.

Attacking Midfield – We have with Özil plus Santi, Ramsey, Wilshere plus the very gifted Alex Iwobi (Under 21) ready to fill in as required.

Forwards – Now to where Gooners have massive issues. We all agree we need a top class forward who is fast, clinical and will get us a guaranteed 20 goals a season in the league. But we currently have forwards to choose from. Alexis, Giroud, Ox, Theo, Welbeck (later in the season when he recovers from injury), Joel Campbell and Sanago. For me, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo are under pressure, with the future of Campbell and Sanogo in doubt. Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo must impress in preseasonto stand a chance of keeping their places. With a signing a high probability, Campbell, Theo and Sanogo may find themselves under pressure to leave. We also have a wealth of talent emerging from the U21s to inject more quality if current senior members do not deliver.

Whosoever we sign between now and the end of the transfer window, I know as things stand right now, we are not far off, the Manager wants to improve in terms of quality and experience but whatever he does, my team has my full support all season.

Quantity over Quality...

The likes of Debuchy, TW14, Jenkinson have no business here while the club should consider selling the likes of Per, Gibbs and even Giroud.

Look up there at the wages tied up in stagnant players, on top of the free 1-2 years we gave Arteta & Rosicky , yet Waffi calls it "silly money" when Manure pay market rate for a productive player in his prime Mikhitaryan The same money Arsenal will tie in players of little or no value to winning football games at the club...

The truth is our squad lacks the required quality and is not primed for success at things currently stand, we are also poor at sealing deals for the good forwards we need...it can't be coincidence that we have year after year missed out on our striking targets Higuain, Suarez, Benzema and even Jamie Vardy !

Massive change is needed at the club....the only thing keeping us in the equation is Wenger's prowess as a "Coach". In many other areas - injury prevention, squad management & player acquisition we are well behind the best clubs.

[Tunisian Gooner]

Guys I see many of us are getting carried away, before we do, let us have a look at our squad as it stands.

As we all know, the Premier league has a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21 of whom at least 7 must be’ Home Grown”.

in effect, ‘Home Grown’ means qualified to play for England or Wales or has been with a UK or Welsh club for at least 3 years prior to becoming 21. Note; a club can have as many under 21 player as they wish. The focus must now be on the over 21. So how many over 21 players do Arsenal currently have? Lets have a look below:

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

According to the above, we actually have 31 players over 21 years old, of whom 16 are homegrown.

I have colour coded some players because of their uncertain status in the squad. Let me start off with Toral, as I posted here a few weeks ago, he has finally sealed a season long loan deal to Granada in Spain. What is not known is if Granada got the option to buy which they wanted. Next, I move on to Wellington Silva, there is talk of a loan deal or sale to a Brazilian club almost being completed. Martinez, Iliev and Macey are goalkeepers, I guess Iliev and Macey will either sold or loaned.

But, the club has a huge decision to make with Martinez and Szczesny. Martinez has always been highly rated, so I doubt, the club will want to sell him, so a loan looks the best option but his status really depends on what the club does with Szczesny. Szczesny is the enigma, he now has relatively good experience and I do not see another loan spell as the answer but will he take 3rd place position behind Cech and Ospina? When you consider Cech may be in his last season, depending on how he performs, it makes the Szczesny decision even tougher. I think Arsenal top 3 Goalies are known for knowing we stick with it.

We cannot have all these over 21s so in the light of my brief analysis, what do we have left? With Toral and Silva gone, we now have 29 players over 21 years old, of whom 15 are homegrown. To meet EPL club rules, we must sell or loan out 5 players before we can buy a single player, 6 if we are to buy 2 players etc. etc.

In addition to the players listed above, Arsenal also have a list of under 21 players who are competing to be in the first team. We know Alex Iwobi, Serge Gnabry and most recently Rene Adelaide have been made 1st team squad members. But we also have players like Zelalem, Bielik etc in this equation but they are not relevant here because I am concerned only over 21 players. One thing is certain – Arsenal are not short of player numbers.

If we are buying 2 more players, who are the players that will be loaned out or sold? I keep on reading the moans and constant complaint here about players to buy but I never see anyone consider the big picture of coming up with a squad that meets EPL rules whilst buying new players because for Arsenal, it means one payer in and one player out.

So to get 2 more players we must remove 6 from the squad. Who are they? I start with the Goalies. Arsenal must sell or loan out 3 goal keepers. Now who will be the out field players. With Welbeck and Jenkinson out injured long term, they will not be in the squad but they are Arsenal players and squad members. My guess is their slots will be filled by under 21s in the interim. This makes 5 players, meaning we can buy one player. So we need to create a place for the 2nd player, obvious player to leave include, Debuchy, Sanogo and Chambers.

Let's analyse by position:

Goal Keepers – We have 6 goalies including three full internationals. With Cech and Ospina numbers one and two, three of; Szczesny, Martinez, Iliev and Macey must be sold or loaned out.

Right Back – We have Bellerin, Debuchy and Jenkinson. Wenger has room to manoeuvre here but it is risky. We can assume Debuchy is to leave. Arsenal have failed to get any cover for Bellerin because no RB fancying understudy to Bells. So Jenkinson until he recovers from injury. Wenger can gamble in the shape of two very able members of the U21 squad and Chambers. If he does this, he definitely has room for the extra player it is rumoured he wants to buy.

Left Back – Our LB positions look sorted but Gibbs and his Agent are a problem. They want silly wages claiming he will get the wages and 1st team start at another club but so far it looks like a bluff because there seem to be no takers. Monreal and Gibbs it is.

Centre Back – We got 4 CBs, Per and Kos are 31 and 30 respectively, but Per is looking slow and error prone. Rumours are now rife Arsenal are trying for a CD from Juve. With Gabriel still unconvincing, it is no surprise Wenger wants more quality in this position. Chambers IMHO, looked very good towards the end of last season and I am hoping he finally gets his chance. For me, Per's time looks to be up at Arsenal.

Central Midfield – Wenger recently said we do not need a Defensive Midfielder, what we needed was a box to box midfielder, he went and got Xhaka. You cannot classify Elneny and Xhaka as DMs, so Wenger's intentions for his midfield are clear. The good thing is despite us not needing a conventional DM we have 3 who can play as DMs – Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. When you add, Ramsey, Santi, Jack and maybe Zelalem, there is no space for any more.

Attacking Midfield – We have with Özil plus Santi, Ramsey, Wilshere plus the very gifted Alex Iwobi (Under 21) ready to fill in as required.

Forwards – Now to where Gooners have massive issues. We all agree we need a top class forward who is fast, clinical and will get us a guaranteed 20 goals a season in the league. But we currently have forwards to choose from. Alexis, Giroud, Ox, Theo, Welbeck (later in the season when he recovers from injury), Joel Campbell and Sanago. For me, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo are under pressure, with the future of Campbell and Sanogo in doubt. Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo must impress in preseasonto stand a chance of keeping their places. With a signing a high probability, Campbell, Theo and Sanogo may find themselves under pressure to leave. We also have a wealth of talent emerging from the U21s to inject more quality if current senior members do not deliver.

Whosoever we sign between now and the end of the transfer window, I know as things stand right now, we are not far off, the Manager wants to improve in terms of quality and experience but whatever he does, my team has my full support all season.

Quantity over Quality...

The likes of Debuchy, TW14, Jenkinson have no business here while the club should consider selling the likes of Per, Gibbs and even Giroud.

Look up there at the wages tied up in stagnant players, on top of the free 1-2 years we gave Arteta & Rosicky , yet Waffi calls it "silly money" when Manure pay market rate for a productive player in his prime Mikhitaryan The same money Arsenal will tie in players of little or no value to winning football games at the club...

The truth is our squad lacks the required quality and is not primed for success at things currently stand, we are also poor at sealing deals for the good forwards we need...it can't be coincidence that we have year after year missed out on our striking targets Higuain, Suarez, Benzema and even Jamie Vardy !

Massive change is needed at the club....the only thing keeping us in the equation is Wenger's prowess as a "Coach". In many other areas - injury prevention, squad management & player acquisition we are well behind the best clubs.

[anikulapo]

Goalkeepers: David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union)

Defenders: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire), Liam Ridgewell (Portland Timbers), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Kendall Waston (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia Union), Andrew Farrell (New England Revolution)

Midfielders: Jermaine Jones (Colorado Rapids), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Mauro Diaz (FC Dallas), Andrea Pirlo (NYCFC), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC), Kaka (Orlando City SC), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Ignacio Piatti (Montreal Impact)

Forwards: Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), David Villa (NYCFC), Cyle Larin (Orlando City SC), Didier Drogba (Montreal Impact), Giovani dos Santos (LA Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Is Drogba gonna come back to punish Arsenal once again when he meets them as a member of the MLS ALL STAR TEAM in 11 days

[Gooner1]

Guys I see many of us are getting carried away, before we do, let us have a look at our squad as it stands.

As we all know, the Premier league has a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21 of whom at least 7 must be’ Home Grown”.

in effect, ‘Home Grown’ means qualified to play for England or Wales or has been with a UK or Welsh club for at least 3 years prior to becoming 21. Note; a club can have as many under 21 player as they wish. The focus must now be on the over 21. So how many over 21 players do Arsenal currently have? Lets have a look below:

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

According to the above, we actually have 31 players over 21 years old, of whom 16 are homegrown.

I have colour coded some players because of their uncertain status in the squad. Let me start off with Toral, as I posted here a few weeks ago, he has finally sealed a season long loan deal to Granada in Spain. What is not known is if Granada got the option to buy which they wanted. Next, I move on to Wellington Silva, there is talk of a loan deal or sale to a Brazilian club almost being completed. Martinez, Iliev and Macey are goalkeepers, I guess Iliev and Macey will either sold or loaned.

But, the club has a huge decision to make with Martinez and Szczesny. Martinez has always been highly rated, so I doubt, the club will want to sell him, so a loan looks the best option but his status really depends on what the club does with Szczesny. Szczesny is the enigma, he now has relatively good experience and I do not see another loan spell as the answer but will he take 3rd place position behind Cech and Ospina? When you consider Cech may be in his last season, depending on how he performs, it makes the Szczesny decision even tougher. I think Arsenal top 3 Goalies are known for knowing we stick with it.

We cannot have all these over 21s so in the light of my brief analysis, what do we have left? With Toral and Silva gone, we now have 29 players over 21 years old, of whom 15 are homegrown. To meet EPL club rules, we must sell or loan out 5 players before we can buy a single player, 6 if we are to buy 2 players etc. etc.

In addition to the players listed above, Arsenal also have a list of under 21 players who are competing to be in the first team. We know Alex Iwobi, Serge Gnabry and most recently Rene Adelaide have been made 1st team squad members. But we also have players like Zelalem, Bielik etc in this equation but they are not relevant here because I am concerned only over 21 players. One thing is certain – Arsenal are not short of player numbers.

If we are buying 2 more players, who are the players that will be loaned out or sold? I keep on reading the moans and constant complaint here about players to buy but I never see anyone consider the big picture of coming up with a squad that meets EPL rules whilst buying new players because for Arsenal, it means one payer in and one player out.

So to get 2 more players we must remove 6 from the squad. Who are they? I start with the Goalies. Arsenal must sell or loan out 3 goal keepers. Now who will be the out field players. With Welbeck and Jenkinson out injured long term, they will not be in the squad but they are Arsenal players and squad members. My guess is their slots will be filled by under 21s in the interim. This makes 5 players, meaning we can buy one player. So we need to create a place for the 2nd player, obvious player to leave include, Debuchy, Sanogo and Chambers.

Let's analyse by position:

Goal Keepers – We have 6 goalies including three full internationals. With Cech and Ospina numbers one and two, three of; Szczesny, Martinez, Iliev and Macey must be sold or loaned out.

Right Back – We have Bellerin, Debuchy and Jenkinson. Wenger has room to manoeuvre here but it is risky. We can assume Debuchy is to leave. Arsenal have failed to get any cover for Bellerin because no RB fancying understudy to Bells. So Jenkinson until he recovers from injury. Wenger can gamble in the shape of two very able members of the U21 squad and Chambers. If he does this, he definitely has room for the extra player it is rumoured he wants to buy.

Left Back – Our LB positions look sorted but Gibbs and his Agent are a problem. They want silly wages claiming he will get the wages and 1st team start at another club but so far it looks like a bluff because there seem to be no takers. Monreal and Gibbs it is.

Centre Back – We got 4 CBs, Per and Kos are 31 and 30 respectively, but Per is looking slow and error prone. Rumours are now rife Arsenal are trying for a CD from Juve. With Gabriel still unconvincing, it is no surprise Wenger wants more quality in this position. Chambers IMHO, looked very good towards the end of last season and I am hoping he finally gets his chance. For me, Per's time looks to be up at Arsenal.

Central Midfield – Wenger recently said we do not need a Defensive Midfielder, what we needed was a box to box midfielder, he went and got Xhaka. You cannot classify Elneny and Xhaka as DMs, so Wenger's intentions for his midfield are clear. The good thing is despite us not needing a conventional DM we have 3 who can play as DMs – Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. When you add, Ramsey, Santi, Jack and maybe Zelalem, there is no space for any more.

Attacking Midfield – We have with Özil plus Santi, Ramsey, Wilshere plus the very gifted Alex Iwobi (Under 21) ready to fill in as required.

Forwards – Now to where Gooners have massive issues. We all agree we need a top class forward who is fast, clinical and will get us a guaranteed 20 goals a season in the league. But we currently have forwards to choose from. Alexis, Giroud, Ox, Theo, Welbeck (later in the season when he recovers from injury), Joel Campbell and Sanago. For me, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo are under pressure, with the future of Campbell and Sanogo in doubt. Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo must impress in preseasonto stand a chance of keeping their places. With a signing a high probability, Campbell, Theo and Sanogo may find themselves under pressure to leave. We also have a wealth of talent emerging from the U21s to inject more quality if current senior members do not deliver.

Whosoever we sign between now and the end of the transfer window, I know as things stand right now, we are not far off, the Manager wants to improve in terms of quality and experience but whatever he does, my team has my full support all season.

Quantity over Quality...

The likes of Debuchy, TW14, Jenkinson have no business here while the club should consider selling the likes of Per, Gibbs and even Giroud.

Look up there at the wages tied up in stagnant players, on top of the free 1-2 years we gave Arteta & Rosicky , yet Waffi calls it "silly money" when Manure pay market rate for a productive player in his prime Mikhitaryan The same money Arsenal will tie in players of little or no value to winning football games at the club...

The truth is our squad lacks the required quality and is not primed for success at things currently stand, we are also poor at sealing deals for the good forwards we need...it can't be coincidence that we have year after year missed out on our striking targets Higuain, Suarez, Benzema and even Jamie Vardy !

Massive change is needed at the club....the only thing keeping us in the equation is Wenger's prowess as a "Coach". In many other areas - injury prevention, squad management & player acquisition we are well behind the best clubs.

[theYemster]

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

The fact that you list Sanogo just shows how out of touch you are.

Of the main squad,
Debu
Ox
Walcott
Welbz
Wilshere
Per
Chambers
Szsc
Jenks
and of course the aforementioned Sanogo are either not good enough or healthy/durable enough to compete for Arsenal IFF the goal is to win the EPL/UCL. Giroud is at best a backup. Who's left?

I went through this with you exactly a year ago when Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky were included in that list. Sadly I was proven right even though you still refuse to acknowledge it.

[Waffiman]

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

The fact that you list Sanogo just shows how out of touch you are.

Of the main squad,
Debu
Ox
Walcott
Welbz
Wilshere
Per
Chambers
Szsc
Jenks
and of course the aforementioned Sanogo are either not good enough or healthy/durable enough to compete for Arsenal IFF the goal is to win the EPL/UCL. Giroud is at best a backup. Who's left?

I went through this with you exactly a year ago when Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky were included in that list. Sadly I was proven right even though you still refuse to acknowledge it.

You still missing the point.

The above players are registered professionals with Arsenal Football Club, the FA and the EPL. What your opinion is about their status is completely irrelevant. Your opinion about the respective ability of any player is just your opinion, just like I have my opinion on the same issue.

The point is, Arsenal have a budget for transfers, salaries and all expenses that go with player movement like Agent fees, loyalty bonuses etc. etc. Given the above plus the rules set by the EPL on squad limitations, what I am trying to make clear is, the buying of players is not as easy as many simpletons ignorantly try to make it out to be. Besides, Arsenal have never in their history being a club that relied on buying for success, indeed Arsenal's successes as a club have always come on the back of a successful youth policy. In the past 3 seasons, 3 players have broken into the first team from the youth team, when any Arsenal supporter starts shouting off about buying this and that, they must remember there are very talented young players eager to get into the first team like Alex, Bells and Coquelin have shown in recent seasons.

The fact is many here spouting about players to buy did not even know of the players we have at the club in full and the delicate balancing act the Manager has to fulfil. I have put it out there and I hope with this many can now make an educated analysis on this issue.

With regards to Arteta, Flamini and Rocisky, I do not know where you get this rubbish about being right. As far as I am concerned, they were squad players, who in the past have performed excellently for the football club. Flamini proved his worth last season and he was significant in Arsenal winning silverware the season before and finishing 2nd last season. Arteta was Club Captain and like Rocisky were registered members of the squad and are contracted Arsenal players. Unfortunately injuries curtailed their respective contributions.

It is easy to seat from the outside pontificating from a position of pure ignorance about this player and that player getting injured or being injury prone, saying get rid of them. I do not deal in such nonsense, I deal in what I know and what I know is these players are Arsenal players on a salary and they are expected to perform for the club when fit. If they are not fit, then I understand. When these players were given contract extensions the news was universally welcomed. As usual with most of you here, you are always the best after the event. You lot are the greatest hindsight Managers, always coming up with that crap, I told you so.

[cchinukw]

Guys I see many of us are getting carried away, before we do, let us have a look at our squad as it stands.

As we all know, the Premier league has a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21 of whom at least 7 must be’ Home Grown”.

in effect, ‘Home Grown’ means qualified to play for England or Wales or has been with a UK or Welsh club for at least 3 years prior to becoming 21. Note; a club can have as many under 21 player as they wish. The focus must now be on the over 21. So how many over 21 players do Arsenal currently have? Lets have a look below:

Mathieu Debuchy
Hector Bellerin
Carl Jenkinson
Aaron Ramsey
Jack Wilshere
Mesut Özil
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Santi Cazorla
Mohamed Elneny
Kieran Gibbs
Nacho Monreal
Wojciech Szczesny
David Ospina
Emiliano Martinez
Petr Cech
Deyan Iliev
Matt Macey
Alexis Sanchez
Olivier Giroud
Theo Walcott
Yaya Sanogo
Danny Welbeck
Joel Campbell
Wellington Silva
Francis Coquelin
Granit Xhaka
Jon Toral
Per Mertesacker
Gabriel
Laurent Koscielny
Calum Chambers

According to the above, we actually have 31 players over 21 years old, of whom 16 are homegrown.

I have colour coded some players because of their uncertain status in the squad. Let me start off with Toral, as I posted here a few weeks ago, he has finally sealed a season long loan deal to Granada in Spain. What is not known is if Granada got the option to buy which they wanted. Next, I move on to Wellington Silva, there is talk of a loan deal or sale to a Brazilian club almost being completed. Martinez, Iliev and Macey are goalkeepers, I guess Iliev and Macey will either sold or loaned.

But, the club has a huge decision to make with Martinez and Szczesny. Martinez has always been highly rated, so I doubt, the club will want to sell him, so a loan looks the best option but his status really depends on what the club does with Szczesny. Szczesny is the enigma, he now has relatively good experience and I do not see another loan spell as the answer but will he take 3rd place position behind Cech and Ospina? When you consider Cech may be in his last season, depending on how he performs, it makes the Szczesny decision even tougher. I think Arsenal top 3 Goalies are known for knowing we stick with it.

We cannot have all these over 21s so in the light of my brief analysis, what do we have left? With Toral and Silva gone, we now have 29 players over 21 years old, of whom 15 are homegrown. To meet EPL club rules, we must sell or loan out 5 players before we can buy a single player, 6 if we are to buy 2 players etc. etc.

In addition to the players listed above, Arsenal also have a list of under 21 players who are competing to be in the first team. We know Alex Iwobi, Serge Gnabry and most recently Rene Adelaide have been made 1st team squad members. But we also have players like Zelalem, Bielik etc in this equation but they are not relevant here because I am concerned only over 21 players. One thing is certain – Arsenal are not short of player numbers.

If we are buying 2 more players, who are the players that will be loaned out or sold? I keep on reading the moans and constant complaint here about players to buy but I never see anyone consider the big picture of coming up with a squad that meets EPL rules whilst buying new players because for Arsenal, it means one payer in and one player out.

So to get 2 more players we must remove 6 from the squad. Who are they? I start with the Goalies. Arsenal must sell or loan out 3 goal keepers. Now who will be the out field players. With Welbeck and Jenkinson out injured long term, they will not be in the squad but they are Arsenal players and squad members. My guess is their slots will be filled by under 21s in the interim. This makes 5 players, meaning we can buy one player. So we need to create a place for the 2nd player, obvious player to leave include, Debuchy, Sanogo and Chambers.

Let's analyse by position:

Goal Keepers – We have 6 goalies including three full internationals. With Cech and Ospina numbers one and two, three of; Szczesny, Martinez, Iliev and Macey must be sold or loaned out.

Right Back – We have Bellerin, Debuchy and Jenkinson. Wenger has room to manoeuvre here but it is risky. We can assume Debuchy is to leave. Arsenal have failed to get any cover for Bellerin because no RB fancying understudy to Bells. So Jenkinson until he recovers from injury. Wenger can gamble in the shape of two very able members of the U21 squad and Chambers. If he does this, he definitely has room for the extra player it is rumoured he wants to buy.

Left Back – Our LB positions look sorted but Gibbs and his Agent are a problem. They want silly wages claiming he will get the wages and 1st team start at another club but so far it looks like a bluff because there seem to be no takers. Monreal and Gibbs it is.

Centre Back – We got 4 CBs, Per and Kos are 31 and 30 respectively, but Per is looking slow and error prone. Rumours are now rife Arsenal are trying for a CD from Juve. With Gabriel still unconvincing, it is no surprise Wenger wants more quality in this position. Chambers IMHO, looked very good towards the end of last season and I am hoping he finally gets his chance. For me, Per's time looks to be up at Arsenal.

Central Midfield – Wenger recently said we do not need a Defensive Midfielder, what we needed was a box to box midfielder, he went and got Xhaka. You cannot classify Elneny and Xhaka as DMs, so Wenger's intentions for his midfield are clear. The good thing is despite us not needing a conventional DM we have 3 who can play as DMs – Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. When you add, Ramsey, Santi, Jack and maybe Zelalem, there is no space for any more.

Attacking Midfield – We have with Özil plus Santi, Ramsey, Wilshere plus the very gifted Alex Iwobi (Under 21) ready to fill in as required.

Forwards – Now to where Gooners have massive issues. We all agree we need a top class forward who is fast, clinical and will get us a guaranteed 20 goals a season in the league. But we currently have forwards to choose from. Alexis, Giroud, Ox, Theo, Welbeck (later in the season when he recovers from injury), Joel Campbell and Sanago. For me, Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo are under pressure, with the future of Campbell and Sanogo in doubt. Theo, Ox, Campbell and Sanogo must impress in preseasonto stand a chance of keeping their places. With a signing a high probability, Campbell, Theo and Sanogo may find themselves under pressure to leave. We also have a wealth of talent emerging from the U21s to inject more quality if current senior members do not deliver.

Whosoever we sign between now and the end of the transfer window, I know as things stand right now, we are not far off, the Manager wants to improve in terms of quality and experience but whatever he does, my team has my full support all season.

Quantity over Quality...

The likes of Debuchy, TW14, Jenkinson have no business here while the club should consider selling the likes of Per, Gibbs and even Giroud.

Look up there at the wages tied up in stagnant players, on top of the free 1-2 years we gave Arteta & Rosicky , yet Waffi calls it "silly money" when Manure pay market rate for a productive player in his prime Mikhitaryan The same money Arsenal will tie in players of little or no value to winning football games at the club...

The truth is our squad lacks the required quality and is not primed for success at things currently stand, we are also poor at sealing deals for the good forwards we need...it can't be coincidence that we have year after year missed out on our striking targets Higuain, Suarez, Benzema and even Jamie Vardy !

Massive change is needed at the club....the only thing keeping us in the equation is Wenger's prowess as a "Coach". In many other areas - injury prevention, squad management & player acquisition we are well behind the best clubs.

I've been away too long.

[cchinukw]

Very Interesting..along the same lines . Yesterday I watched Julio Bapstista ( remember him ?) score a goal for orlando vs Vancouver Whitecaps .

Arsenal oh..chei we don sign some kian players sha

That would be the guy the press once heralded as 'The beast'

Gear nor gree enter beast mode

[Waffiman]

Quantity over Quality...

The likes of Debuchy, TW14, Jenkinson have no business here while the club should consider selling the likes of Per, Gibbs and even Giroud.

I see far more quality than quantity but of course it depends on how you want to look at it. Above all, the Manager makes the call, if he disagrees for whatever reason, it is his decision that count. Having said that, Sky, you are a reasonable guy, so I cannot fault your your concerns. But let's have a look at your issues in a bit more detail. Note, I am all for a improvement in quality but I disagree with your take on the squad quality as it is because it is not as bad as you make it out to be.

Debuchy is an understudy to Bellerin. He was 1st choice for club and country until injuries effectively wrecked it all for him. He wants out and if the club gets a good offer for him he will be gone. But if he stays, as a backup RB, there are few out there that are better. If you want to have a look at it, I say, look at the back up RBs in the top 6 and tell me how many are better.

Jenkinson is 3rd choice RB, he is currently out injured having ruptured his cruciate ligament whilst out on loan at West Ham, he performed creditable enough for West Ham to want to sign him but Arsenal refused. He got vital game time at West Ham and improved immensely before his injury. We will have to wait and see how he comes out of his injury to decide. I think he will be sold at the very offer for his services because there are 2 young boys who I see at better replacements even if we failed in out attempts to lure the young Naija RB from Chelski.

Theo is also a backup attacker, he was a huge disappointment last season. Currently he is under serious pressure for his Arsenal career and he wants to fight for it. Like the vast majority of Gooners, I lost faith in Theo last season as it all came crashing down on him. But I have a long memory, Theo actually had a good start and was part of an Arsenal team that went on a good run until he got injured as Sheffield Wednesday and upon his return, Coquelin and Santi were gone from a team that could no longer utilise his talents as effectively. Where Theo failed was he did not adapt, instead he sulked and eventually lost his confidence as Giroud took his place and he was out of the team.

Theo has shown in the past that he is not a bad player, indeed he has delivered in the most critical of moments for the club, as a squad player, he is more than good enough but I will understand if the Manager feels his time is up. Theo is under pressure from Alex, Chuba, Adelaide and Gnabry. Arsenal will buy anyone if Theo is sold and quite rightly too.

Show me a better backup Left Back in the EPL. Gibbs Agent says he is good enough to be a starter at other clubs and is refusing to sign the contract on the table. Gibbs is a Gooner and a youth team product, he is moe than good enough to be a backup and who knows, if he stays fit, may one day show us he is good enough to be number LB at Arsenal. I am desperate for him to sign that contract and stay. Why? Finding a LB as good as him as backup to Monreal will be almost impossible.

Arsenal are looking to sign a CB. I am actually surprised Per is still around because there is a lot of interest from Germany for him. I guess the fact that we have so far failed to secure a CD has meant he is still around. Per's time is upas 1st choice, but we need Gabriel to come through quickly. IGabriel was a leader in that Villarreal team but we keep hearing he still cannot understand English and this is a problem. Even Monreal said this publicly last season. We need a leader to replace Per at CD, Kos like Gabriel had his problems when he first started but Kos is not a leader by nature. Gabriel is but he lacks the confidence to do so cos he cannot communicate and his form has suffered. A top class CD is needed and Arsenal are in the market for one.

I want to be objective so I argue, apart from Zlatan, who is a better number 9 than Giroud? Zlatan is way past his prime and has been playing in a weak league. Is vastly superior to Giroud at his age? I have my views on Zlatan but I focus on Giroud. He gets it from everyone including me but I admire the player because what he does and the role he plays on the pitch game in and out muscling and fighting two CDs is just tremendous. He has a wonderful first touch, superb vision and his set up one touch play in tight spaces in 18 yard box is unmatched in the game. For what he does plus his goals, Giroud has no equal in the game. But we cannot hide from one fact, he does not score enough goals and defences cope better if we only have Sanchez offering pace in the forward line.

We have seen, and the evidence from goals scored is clear, the Arsenal team benefits hugely from having a fast CF even if that CF does not score the goals. We saw this with Theo with Santi playing as the deep lying play maker, we also saw this with Welbeck as the CF and Alex was the wide play maker. In effect, with 2 creative players and a fast CF to stretch defences, Arsenal terrified the opposition and wrecked havoc scoring a lot of goals in the process.

I am a fair person, Giroud is a good player who offers a completely different type of skill sets to our offence. His presence in the squad gives Arsenal tactical flexibility. Today the game has changed, formations and tactics now change with the opposition you face. Formations even change with and without the ball. What you need are players who give you as much tactical variation as possible. What we lack is the alternative to Giroud. We need Giroud because he offers Arsenal options but we do need an explosive, powerful, rocket paced and clinical CF. Wenger wants one but he will not pay silly money for an average CF.

Look up there at the wages tied up in stagnant players, on top of the free 1-2 years we gave Arteta & Rosicky , yet Waffi calls it "silly money" when Manure pay market rate for a productive player in his prime Mikhitaryan The same money Arsenal will tie in players of little or no value to winning football games at the club...

Remember when we first singed Arteta and we did not have the money to meet his salary demands and his Agent did not want to know. Remember at the last minute Wenger spoke to the player himself and made promises to him. He joined on the promise of Wenger and Wenger kept his word and gave him the salary via an extra year in his contract. I have no qualms about this because Arsenal were on the floor that season Arteta joined, he was huge for us for 3 seasons until injury and age crept in. Arteta's salary was no waste. Rocisky is another who over the years at Arsenal earned his money. He would have been at Arsenal last season but for the injury that prevented him joining Dortmund. Rocisky played more games for Arsenal than RvP, he contributed more to the Arsenal cause than RvP, I never hear you say RvP salary was a waste. We need to put these things in context, it is too easy to be dismissive about players and their contributions, Rocisky and Arteta are two players we must never dismiss because they stood with the club when we were down, they contributed to the position the club now finds itself.

Arsenal have paid top money for Santi, Ozil and Sanchez, as much as I like Mikhitaryan, we have no business spending our finite resources we do not need. We have a number 10 in Ozil, unless we use him as a wide play maker there was no other option. But doing this meant the risk of losing a young talent like Alex. I am glad we ignored him.

The truth is our squad lacks the required quality and is not primed for success at things currently stand, we are also poor at sealing deals for the good forwards we need...it can't be coincidence that we have year after year missed out on our striking targets Higuain, Suarez, Benzema and even Jamie Vardy !

I argue if we have the type of injury problems we had the last 2 seasons, then our squad lack quality. However, if Wilshere, Ox, Theo, Ramsey all stay fit for 90% of the season, we have the quality to win the league. The problem is, even me the eternal optimist, will say that having these players fit for the majority of the season is wishful and in effect a huge gamble that will most probably fail. If we suffer like the last 2seasons with injuries, we will sendup relying on kids and this is not fair. It is only for this reason I am calling for us to get a top quality CF and CD.

As for sealing deals, you and I do not know the real position because we have not been present. But we can make an educated guess and say it is Arsenal not wanting to pay over what they see as the right price for the quality they want. I applaud the club for this principled stance but I must admit, that I am becoming a minority amongst Gooners in this regard. The widow is a long way off, so I'm cool.

Massive change is needed at the club....the only thing keeping us in the equation is Wenger's prowess as a "Coach". In many other areas - injury prevention, squad management & player acquisition we are well behind the best clubs.

On injuries, we are actually now at the forefront. Arsenal completed their medical centre and brought in some of the best fitness and conditioning coaches, this season Gary Lewin is returning to club from England duties. Many have said, our injury issues started when he left to join the FA, this is not correct, but what is correct is, since he left, we have been dogged with persistent injury woes.

Research has shown the injuries that really cause damage to us are impact injuries and they are responsible for 96% of the time Arsenal player have taken out due to injuries. Impact injuries have costs us players like Diaby and Eduardo.

When it comes to expertise to do with injuries, Arsenal have worked on this and are now at the fore front when it comes to sport science. Go speak to anyone in the game, they will tell you the same. Most of the staff to do with fitness and conditioning just joined the club, many say things have settled down and they expect the club to get the benefits of its huge investments from this season. But of course, you cannot legislate for impact injuries that keep our players out for long periods like Coquelin, Santi, Ox, Sanches and Welbeck suffered last season. The loss of Coquelin and Santi cost us the league last season.

Squad management will improve because the financial constraints are no longer there and we are shedding players who we needed when we had financial constraints.

As for out buying policy, you gotta be kidding. It is out astuteness in the market that has put us where we are. Just look at our squad, cost it and compare it to our rivals. Indeed, since we built that stadium, it is our transfer dealings that has stopped us from going down and getting relegated like Leeds or the other clubs that built new stadiums. Of course we need to step this up now that the competition is tougher than ever. I trust the club will. When I hear rumours from good sources at Arsenal that say we put a bid of £30m for Daniele Rugani (a young CD of the highest quality at Juve) I know we are not looking for bargains. Juve has refused but the player is agitating to leave, I am hoping we go back increase the offer to even £35m to even £40m because he is that good. When I hear good rumours from good sources that Lacazette is being enquired about, and I hear similar rumours that Griezman has changed his mind and now wants a crack at the EPL with Arsenal making serious enquiries, I am hopeful because I know we do not want to pay £30m plus for average players like I have since all this summer.

Arsenal cannot go to the super market and buy what we want because we have not won the lottery. But we ave kept money for a rainy day and I know the money is there for us to buy the quality we need. If we cannot get what is better than what we have, Iwill stick to what we have because I am convinced with a bit of luck, they will not be far off.

[SylverEagles]

Say it ain't so?! Are we sure the world never end? I can't believe I just read Skylolo disagree with Waffiman! So Skylolo don become one of the so called moaners used to abuse not so long ago? Abi this one na different level of moaning?

I didn't really buy the new found act last season but now you have officially joined the dark side! Welcome oh!

[elerineye]

Say it ain't so?! Are we sure the world never end? I can't believe I just read Skylolo disagree with Waffiman! So Skylolo don become one of the so called moaners used to abuse not so long ago? Abi this one na different level of moaning?

I didn't really buy the new found act last season but now you have officially joined the dark side! Welcome oh!

Im don see de light...

[PapaK]

The annual CE Arsenal meltdown is well on its way, chei look at this nonsense.

We finished above these teams you guys are jealous of last season without signing a single outfield player and off course they signed the whole world didn't they?

Yes I am frustrated too that a deal for a striker hasn't been completed, but not like you lot damn.

oh. ok. I thought only 4 or 5 of us (Waffiman, Thunder, Robbynice and someone else like that) still have our heads properly screwed on here. With the amount of wailing & whining going on among so called Arsenal fans, you would have thought the team was relegated alongside Newcastle & Villa last term.

[Coach]

^^^^^^The Sky(lo) is falling. Welcome to the red pill brethren.