There is no better master at pulling the wool over your eyes in a press conference than our very own Arsene Wenger. As we move ever so closely to the closure of the January Transfer Window the signing of players at the club is a big fat zero and it’s now hard to envisage that changing.
As Arsenal fans we have to trust in the manager’s thinking and believe he has explored every option and has made the best choices to benefit the club. I still believe this season will be make or break for the manager and he will live or die based on the decisions he makes or fails to make during this window if at least 4th place isn’t achieved this season. The board won’t necessary sack him, he has their trust as he has taken position in the front line and used his earned respect from Arsenal fans to deflect all the negativity.
That respect has been chipped away over the years as the patience has run thin with many fans, this season especially has seen many question whether he is the man to turn our fortunes back around without the willingness to spend the money that is regularly touted as available to spend on players.
The problem for Arsene this season is this has been one of the most inconsistent campaigns competed by the Arsenal in recent years. There has been no sustained run of form to calm the disbelievers. Like a pot threatening to bubble over there has been no one to turn down the fire, the pot keeps on bubbling and refusing to go away, one way or the other it’s going to get messy.
For every one or two games we come away with a good result there follows an awful game that reinforces that the squad is maybe not good enough to compete for the title (or even 4th place). The further we fall behind in the title race the more the fans call for changes, the fact our best player last season is now sitting pretty at the top of the table for Manchester United stings the tails of all the passionate Gooners out there.
It seems with every defeat Wenger has talked to the media and claimed he is looking for the right players to improve the squad but with every victory he then champions the players we already have and pleads the case for not adding players.
He is content with the squad stating that he has able cover for every position and so the squad is satisfactory for him but one glance at the premier league table shows us more than 20 points behind the leaders. I refuse to condemn the manager but it doesn’t stop me from assessing where we are at right now and applying some logic to the situation.
M’vila: Potential move tarnished by his antics
If we accept that Arsene will only sign exceptional players that become available during the window we must also recognize exceptional players do not become available unless they have done something fundamentally wrong to force them into the situation. Once a player falls under that bracket then they rule themselves out of an Arsenal move because Wenger would not sign a disruptive or dirty player. The only way to sign an exceptional player is to actively seek out the talent, negotiate and make them and their club an offer they can’t refuse. That’s the only way it works, if we can’t guarantee titles we don’t have the bargaining chips to ensure an exceptional player would want to join us. So apart from players with release clauses in their contracts I don’t hold too much optimism to seeing a marquee signing to boost our season.
Emmanuel Frimpong yesterday sealed a loan move to Fulham for the rest of the season, could that signal the one in one out policy Arsene talked about? Who knows, in the grand scheme of things it’s a good move for Frimpong; another chance to prove himself in the premiership and overcome the injury sustained last year.
Beyond the talk of the transfer window we have a game coming up today against Brighton in the one competition we have a realistic chance of picking up silverware, the FA Cup. Maybe in the past this may have been looked upon as a fixture that shouldn’t pose too many problems, a draw as a worst case scenario. However the result against Bradford has put everything into perspective and Brighton cannot be taken for granted. Wenger’s pre-match talk has already been done for him; he only needs to hold up a newspaper clipping from that game to the players; they don’t need reminding of what complacency can give you.
Lets hope the boys approach the game focused and grind out a win with a good performance.
Enjoy your day people.
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Gambeano Snitch AFC 
I totally agree with all the above I’m an arsenal fan and to be honest I give up with arsenal I couldn’t give a rats ass anymore arsene wenger so blind to see this team needs work in deparments but he raver believe in the team fair play to him but every arsenal fan out there can see we need fresh faces but I hope they loose today so he can see what’s he’s doing?
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i dont want us to lose but i do want him to realise before its too late, once that window shuts he is in the firing line. any defeat will be met with a torrent of abuse because he had an opportunity to fix things and it looks like he doesnt see anything wrong.
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He’s waiting to the last day to bag Villa.
But the Diame deal will happen before West Ham’s midweek match.
Expect Diame to not be in their squad.
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Last day might be too late, if a club isnt desperate to sell then they can raise price on final day its a risky strategy
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Couldn’t agree more. Did anyone honestly, hand on heart, think we were gonna blow £30million on one player for example? When in his long career at arsenal has Wenger ever looked like doing that? I think this transfer window will play out like the end of the summer one…disappointing silence. Obviously I want to beat Brighton, and for us to play fringe players ans for them to play well, but this will again paper over the cracks so an unconvincing victory could be a blessing if it encourages Wenger to strengthen.
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ill accept an unconvincing victory as long as it is a victory
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Anybody hoping to get a new signing arrive Arsenal this month does not know Wenger. It will not happen. Period. I have said this repeatedly long before the window. Wenger closed shop for the season when he quickly acquired three players.
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I had hope leading up to window but now the reality has kicked in
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I think the part about Wenger only signing “exceptional players” is key to understanding the vision he has for our Club. He’s trying to incorporate a Barcelona-lite model where the team is built around a core of academy graduates and then only looks to add a few top-class players from the outside. The difference between us and Barcelona is that they are decades ahead of us with this model. They also don’t have to pay for a new stadium and play in a very financially monopolised league and so therefore, can afford to get any player in the world, “available” or otherwise, because of their status and that financial power. For us to get the “top top top TOP quality” that Wenger always talks about, we have to be a little more “tactful” with our transfer dealings, ie taking advantage of Podolskis’ and Cazorlas’ former teams’ situations (relegation and financial problems) and activating Girouds modest buy-out clause which the Montpellier chief has called a massive error on their part.
The other problem we have ofcorse, is that we help teams like Barca perfect their models to the detriment of ours by allowing them to take our players, u can defend Wengers “socialist” wage policy, his sometimes frustrating faith in youth, but if your aim is to be classed as one of the elite clubs in world-football, it is indefensible to allow those frustrating youth to leave every year once they realise their potential. If we hadn’t sold HIM to united and MORE IMPORTANTLY kept, or atleast adequately replaced, Song, I think last summers transfer window would be hailed as one of the best in Wengers reign
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I think the project youth plan did create players good enough but by selecting the best from around Europe and world we did not comprehend that they would eventually like to return to their homeland or equally like to experience other leagues
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.. And realise they could make more money elsewhere. Which is why “project youth” is now being made into “project british youth”. We’ve some players who have a genuine attachment to the Club, let’s hope they stick around long enough to bring us back to cosistent title challenges and maybe even take Arsenal to the next level..European and World honours
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i agree, the new british core is more likely to stay around and see this through
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@ annoymas really? You hope the team is kicked out of the only realistic chance of picking silverware. We all want Wenger to sign but like the writer most of us have already realized Wenger is playing the same cards he’s played in previous winter windows. His latest comments which he bemoans the January market comes to mind, but hoping the team loses thats just ‘wow’. ‘It seems with every defeat Wenger has talked to the media and claimed he is looking for the right players to improve the squad but with every victory he then champions the players we already have and pleads the case for not adding players’ I couldn’t agree more.
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@ annoymas really? You hope the team is kicked out of the only realistic chance of picking silverware. We all want Wenger to sign but like the writer most of us have already realized Wenger is playing the same cards he’s played in previous winter windows. His latest comments which he bemoans the January market comes to mind, but hoping the team loses thats just ‘wow’. ‘It seems with every defeat Wenger has talked to the media and claimed he is looking for the right players to improve the squad but with every victory he then champions the players we already have and pleads the case for not adding players’ I couldn’t agree more.
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i can see where he is coming from but i dont think he means it. i think the point coming across is it will take something really drastic for Wenger to opt for several signings this window
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