We don’t need a football expert/insider to confirm that.
Anybody who has common sense can tell, we are just NOT STRONG ENOUGH to challenge the title.
When you have an American owner who cares his farm more than anything; when you have a board that doesn’t give a fuck on winning something big but pay more attention to the reserve funds; this is not just Wenger in or Wenger out.
They are all turning a football club into a financial institute.
I guess, the owner and the board spend more time on checking the stock, the shirt sale, the tickets revenue, membership application and bank account more than the standing/points/W-L/GF-GA of the team.
Hopefully a few years down the line we’ll have a manager who is actually willing to go into a season with a squad that is capable of competing from gameweek 1.
These transfer windows start to do you in after a while, it’s genuinely so frustrating to be so close yet so far every season.
That’s my main issue that I cannot understand. I have no problem with Arsenal being cautious in the transfer market and I don’t believe that they need 2 or 3 galatico signings to compete.
A top flight striker has been needed for a few seasons now. No one signed.
Per injured on July 23rd and just now looking to bring someone in only after Gabs got crocked too. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Why gamble with Holding and Chambers back there to start? A poor showing will turn the Emirates atmosphere toxic as well as hurt the confidence of these guys.
Shame as Wenger won’t be asked nor answer the direct question of why he chooses to start each season with a weakened lineup. I could kind of understand when Arsenal were in the two legged tie for CL qualification as 4th place finisher, inexcusable to go all summer and not address the striker or backline since the club isn’t waiting to see if they get the $ for the CL.
Rumours of personal terms agreed with so many strikers and no talk with clubs over a fee apart from lacazette and then lacazette gets injured ? If Arsene really wanted him he would have stopped him from playing that match . There wont be a striker signed this season I belive that Arsene will go with what he has .
If we were to get Mahrez before the window closes then I think I’d be partially content with our attacking options.
There just isn’t any #9’s worth investing in at the moment. The positive to signing someone like Lacazette would be that he’s an alternative to what we already have.
Arsenal has a quality striker in Giroud. Welbeck has shown he can be a quality alternative when healthy. He’s just had a bit of bad luck with injuries the past two seasons. There’s still something like two and a half weeks left in the transfer period, so there’s plenty of time left to bring in another alternative. Maybe Arsenal will end up with the right guy rather than just settling for the guy they could bring in quickly.
Arsenal was linked with Mustafi and other center backs long before Gabriel’s injury. That injury made it more of a priority to get it done before the end of the window, but Arsenal was already rumored to be in the market. It’s not as though Wenger planned all summer to start Holding and Chambers against Liverpool. But if you recall, last year Chambers and Gabriel were forced into service against Liverpool and the Gunners still kept a clean sheet. So maybe things aren’t so dire as it seems. And even if Arsenal loses on Sunday, keep in mind that a few years ago they opened the season with a loss to Aston Villa yet still managed to avoid relegation.
And if there’s a toxic atmosphere, that’s the fault of a minority of spoiled fans. Negativity and hostility don’t solve anything.
Lol…ya we were in the market for a CB long before the Gabriel injury…think it was about the time of Per’s injury that we got in for one. What a coincidence.
I like Giroud and think that he is a decent to good player. When Welbeck’s unfortunate injury (liked him too) became know, the club should have made signing either another quality option or a “super” quality option a priority and to get it done.
We’ve needed another quality option prior to Per’s injury. I like the Holding singing as a long term option as did the manager–no way was he signed as a day 1 starter. Per was injured July 23rd. Once the extent of his injury was known, a CB should have been brought in immediately. Why was the only healthy senior CB on the pitch for a friendly in the 90’?
The issue is the club moves at a glacial pace for transfers. I don’t care about a superstar big transfer fee signing (even though it would be nice), I do care that the club dithers about and as a result of Wenger’s actions, the opening day back line is held together by a couple of kids and some prayers.
If it goes tits up for Arsenal the first two weeks of the season, the atmosphere will be bad and Wenger deserves the criticism as he waited and waited and didn’t get the needed transfers done when he has had all summer as striker/CB needed players prior to injuries. No serious title challenger would willing start a season from such a weakened position.
Well, according to Jeremy Wilson of The Telegraph Arsenal has been in the market for a center back since May. It was only the Gabriel injury that made it urgent. I realize that you think you know everything that’s going on from click bait articles designed to wind you up, but you really don’t know what’s been going on.
The Arsenal team seems to have a great spirit. They don’t believe their manager is past it. When some fans were protesting and calling for Wenger’s head last year, the vast majority continued to support the club and the manager. So no, I’m not blaming “the fans.” I’m blaming the dumbasses who think getting rid of the greatest manager the club has ever had will solve all problems. I’m blaming those who purposely try to create a toxic atmosphere because they’re too stupid to understand how difficult it would be to replace the manager they’ve got. Who are you going to replace him with who you can reasonably count on bringing all those trophies?
The season is 38 games long. There’s more to it than just opening day. As the article I linked in response to Morris notes, Arsenal has been looking for a center back and a striker all summer. They could easily have signed players for those positions in June and Wenger could have gone to Fiji or somewhere and relaxed on the beach. But he always says he only wants players who are better than the options he already has. Those sorts of players aren’t that easy to acquire. Mourinho “dithered” over Pogba all summer and only got him signed up this week. City is still looking for players. Chelsea is still looking for players. Spurs are still looking for players. Liverpool is still looking for players. Have all those clubs’ managers been dithering because they haven’t checked off every name on their wish list? Arsene Wenger didn’t know that Gabriel was going to be injured the weekend before the opening game, so there wasn’t the urgency.
There’s still almost two and a half weeks left before the window shuts. Most transfers are completed in August and the last two weeks is the busiest time. It’s foolish to make a judgement before the window shuts.
It isn’t foolish to make a judgement about the window when it isn’t closed when the team will start the season with a weakened lineup. Dropping points out of the gate against two tough teams will really hurt come May.
All teams continue looking for transfers until the window closes. The difference is that Arsenal fancies itself as a title challenger. The other clubs that are, have strengthened their respective teams quite a bit. Those clubs have made more than one signing of a starting caliber player. Chelsea, Manure, and Citeh look much better than the teams they had in May. Arsenal does not as it has no striker to start the season and is shoehorning a player that said he no longer wants to play there. Arsenal’s back line is considerably weaker to start than in May.
Xhaka looks to be a terrific signing.
Yes, the season is quite long–with 7 clubs having a realistic chance at the top 4, why start the season with a weakened lineup?
Firstly, this is a polite response to your post. no hostility or condemnation is intended
Second, i couldn’t careless about other managers/clubs. i care even less if they dither or not. what others do or don’t do is their problem, not ours.
Third, Wenger’s dithering is next to legendary. it’s nothing new and has been going on for years.
As for Wenger saying he’s only going to sign “quality”, even when “quality” is available, gettable and willing to come to our club he still fucks about and ends up losing out.
There was more but i had a phone call and i’ve lost my train of thought
I’m sceptical we will get anything we need, but you are right, there is no point making a judgement until the window shuts. He may surprise us all.
But if it shuts and we’ve got no one extra, then it will be the last straw for many a faithful Wenger supporter, such as myself. I thought last season was going to be the true test of the mans abilities and in all honesty he failed it. For me, this window represents last chance saloon time.
