Karl,OJ,Warlord the Arsenal is in good hands

[Dunny]

I can confirm that the Gunners will be up there challenging for the prem title this season.I was at the Emirates yesterday to watch the Arsenal first hand and i can confirm that we are in good hands.I looked at the starting line-up yesterday,there was no Arshavin,Fabregas,Silvestre,Senderos,Diaby,Song,Cl ichy,Nasri,Walcott,Vela,
Vermaalen and Eduardo and we still gave Athletico Madrid the run around.Rosicky was outstanding(what a player)and if there is a better 17yr old player than Luke Wiltshire i would like to see him,this kid is ready for the Prem.The fans were singing Viera's name all game and his re-signing seems a possibility.The other two signings expected this summer are Blaise Matuidi from ST Ettiene and Maroune Chamakh from Bordeaux,if we can make these 3 signings there is no doubt we would have one of the best squad in the Premiership.

[Dunny]

And then there was none. As Kolo Touré, Arsenal's last surviving member of “The Invincibles” of 2003-04 , put the finishing touches to his move to Manchester City yesterday, so did the perception grow that, with another senior player heading north, the club's prospects had gone south.
Inside the Emirates Stadium and at the club's training ground in London Colney, Hertfordshire, they do not see it that way. Arsène Wenger, along with the board, had weighed up the potential downside to selling Touré, along with Emmanuel Adebayor, to the club who have designs on Arsenal's place in next season's top four.
And while bookmakers were offering short odds yesterday on City finishing above Arsenal in the table, Wenger feels that, regardless of whether he succeeds in securing his top targets in the transfer market, his team will be challenging for the main prizes next season rather than simply looking over their shoulder at Mark Hughes's expensively assembled squad.
There remains a calmness at Arsenal that calls to mind the tongue-in-cheek observation of David Dein, the former vice-chairman, about when Roman Abramovich turned up at Chelsea in 2003, “parking Russian tanks on our lawn and firing £50 notes at us”. They, like their counterparts at Liverpool, Manchester United and indeed Chelsea, are noting the impact of the extraordinary spending of City and Real Madrid this summer, but have not been panicked. The board's faith in Wenger and, by extension, in the Arsenal way of doing things - a patient process that is the antithesis of the build-'em-quick policies at City and Real - remains total.
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Thomas Vermaelen, a 23-year-old central defender signed from Ajax, is Arsenal's only addition this summer, with no sign yet of the player that would add aggression and physical presence to the midfield or of any kind of replacement for Adebayor. For all the complaints about his workrate, the Togo forward weighed in with 58 goals in his three full seasons at the club. As for the players being targeted, most of the names mentioned in dispatches, such as Marouane Chamakh, the Bordeaux forward, fall into the familiar category of work-in-progress, rather than ready-made acquisition.
Unrest among supporters has been fuelled by assertions from Farhad Moshiri, business partner of Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is the club's second-largest shareholder, that Arsenal cannot compete in the transfer market without agreeing to their proposal of a rights issue that would significantly reduce the club's £318 million debt. The board, though, remains resistant to Usmanov's proposals and is eager to dismiss the notion that the club are being strangled by the £133 million loan for the Highbury Square development. That loan, while burdensome and in need of refinancing, remains ring-fenced from the club's football budget.
One senior figure at the club complained of the “frenzied attention on how much money you have spent in the transfer market, as if that is the only indicator of success” and pointed out that Arsenal have not been alone among the “Big Four” in treading cautiously. Wenger, like Sir Alex Ferguson, handles his club's money with care and, while his needs may appear greater than United's, the Arsenal manager has articulated to his board the belief that, with players such as Cesc Fàbregas, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie a year older and a year wiser, and with Andrey Arshavin now integrated into the Premier League, he expects his team to make significant strides in the coming season.
It all comes down to whether you trust Wenger's judgment. There have been times in recent years when his unswerving faith in this group of players has looked like a flaw, not least as they succumbed to a comprehensive 4-1 aggregate defeat by United in the Champions League semi-final in May. To the outsider, there is a glaring need for more experience, more physical presence and more character - shortcomings that would seem to have been compounded, rather than addressed, by the sales of Touré and Adebayor. But when Wenger, while continuing to search for reinforcements, has told his board that Arsenal will be a force to be reckoned with next season, he has done so with conviction, rather than hope.
The question is how much longer Arsenal can keep doing this, how much longer they can remain truly competitive while selling established players every summer. Where once Wenger prided himself on offloading players, such as Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, when they were at or just beyond the peak of their powers, the past 18 months have seen them lose Lassana Diarra at 22, Mathieu Flamini at 24, Alexander Hleb at 27 and now Touré and Adebayor at 28 and 25 respectively, while the word on the Spanish football grapevine is that Fàbregas, the club's captain at the tender age of 22, will rejoin Barcelona next summer.
It does not appear to be a recipe for on-the-pitch success, but as always the focus is on the long term. Wenger has weighed up the threat posed by City and concluded that his club's needs are best served by selling them Touré and Adebayor. It is a risky strategy, one that may feasibly backfire, but Wenger believes that it will make Arsenal stronger.

[Yuttie]

you can confirm?

BOYs don't win Championships, MANu does!

[Karl]

I watched the game on Gol at 2.00am Eastern this morning. I was satisfied with the display.

GolTv - I'll be watching the match against
Rangers today. Starts in approximately 25 minutes.

[OJ]

the question is not wether we can play good foot ball. ONly Barca can play better consistently.. What I worry about is can we compete day in day out 3 competitions.. Kid normally cannot, but I would not like being wrong..

[Dunny]

the question is not wether we can play good foot ball. ONly Barca can play better consistently.. What I worry about is can we compete day in day out 3 competitions.. Kid normally cannot, but I would not like being wrong..

Kids dont stay kids forever.Arshavin,Rosicky,Eduardo and the biggest plus-no Adebayor.

[Karl]

...as you say that...and that is an important consideration...and like you I am concerned about that...

...I did not like how Rangers walked through our defense so often! Having said the foregoing Rangers looked a good team save and except being good in that last 3rd of the field!

Finally that Wilshere http://www.arsenal.com/first-team/players/jack-wilshere impressed!

[Karl]

Eduardo was excellent save for a little rust in front of goal! Took one in excellent manner and should have had two more!

[Warlord]

Dunny, you say this based on what? Have you seen this team throughout pre-season? You cannot tell me that selling Adebayor and Toure can be good for the ambitions of the club if you want to win and challenge for trophies. That isnt logical in modern day football. Wenger has been selling his best players every summer ova tha last couple seasons while replacing them wit scrubs or inexperienced youngsters.

[Dunny]

Dunny, you say this based on what? Have you seen this team throughout pre-season? You cannot tell me that selling Adebayor and Toure can be good for the ambitions of the club if you want to win and challenge for trophies. That isnt logical in modern day football. Wenger has been selling his best players every summer ova tha last couple seasons while replacing them wit scrubs or inexperienced youngsters.

Warlord,Arsene Wenger is hardly ever wrong when he moves a player on.His judgement is second to none,so i am backing is judgement 100%.
I've watched all Arsenal's pre-season games and was at the Emirates on Saturday watching the game against Atletico Madrid and there is strong backing for Wenger for getting rid of Adebayor,most Arsenal fans believe he didn't give everything for the club.Once he signed that new contract last year he cheated us,we are better off without him Eduardo is a better finisher.Kolo Toure as regressed is sale is a fantastic piece of business.Arsenal will be stronger this season and will be up there challenging for silverware dont you worry about that.

[Karl]

Warlord,Arsene Wenger is hardly ever wrong when he moves a player on.His judgement is second to none,so i am backing is judgement 100%.
I've watched all Arsenal's pre-season games and was at the Emirates on Saturday watching the game against Atletico Madrid and there is strong backing for Wenger for getting rid of Adebayor,most Arsenal fans believe he didn't give everything for the club.Once he signed that new contract last year he cheated us,we are better off without him Eduardo is a better finisher.Kolo Toure as regressed is sale is a fantastic piece of business.Arsenal will be stronger this season and will be up there challenging for silverware dont you worry about that.

Agreed!
...we need Senderos back from his loan. ...and a top central defender would also be good.

...having said that I saw Wenger matching these 4 - Gallas, Alex Song, Silvestre and Djourou! It appears he would like to play Gallas as anchor, rotating the others around him. Problem is Gallas tends to puck up slight injuries every season.

...and then there is this versatile player - http://www.arsenal.com/first-team/pl...omas-vermaelen

[Dunny]

Agreed!
...we need Senderos back from his loan. ...and a top central defender would also be good.

...having said that I saw Wenger matching these 4 - Gallas, Alex Song, Silvestre and Djourou! It appears he would like to play Gallas as anchor, rotating the others around him. Problem is Gallas tends to puck up slight injuries every season.

...and then there is this versatile player - http://www.arsenal.com/first-team/pl...omas-vermaelen

Senderos is back at the club,but i'm not sure if he is in Wenger's plan.I've had a look at the new signing Vermaelen and he looks classy.He is not very big but looks like a bargain at ten million pounds.

[Karl]

Senderos is back at the club,but i'm not sure if he is in Wenger's plan.I've had a look at the new signing Vermaelen and he looks classy.He is not very big but looks like a bargain at ten million pounds.

I think we shall be very, very strong this season! ...in any case, last season this time I gave up on our season, this season after see the last two games...I am confident that BoyU, Chelsea, Liverpool and the rest should quake!

[Assasin]

I can see why Wenger wanted to break the African group up.

Both my college coaches told me they don't like having too many caribbean players because they normally stick togather in a group.

As they some writers said it was like two groups in the dressing room and players like toure and Gallas didn't talk.

[Dunny]

Agreed!
...we need Senderos back from his loan. ...and a top central defender would also be good.

...having said that I saw Wenger matching these 4 - Gallas, Alex Song, Silvestre and Djourou! It appears he would like to play Gallas as anchor, rotating the others around him. Problem is Gallas tends to puck up slight injuries every season.

...and then there is this versatile player - http://www.arsenal.com/first-team/pl...omas-vermaelen

Karl,Senderos is on his way out.He should be signing for Everton within the next 48 hours.