Why Are Pundits And Experts Against The Arsenal?

15 games in and Arsenal are leading the English Premier League by 5 points from their closest rivals. Arsenal fans could not have asked for more especially considering Arsenal's disastrous start last season.

Arsenal have stood firm this campaign when teams around them are leaking points here and there. Much of the good performance can be credited to their efficient use of the ball as well as their collective play when they lose the ball.

Pundits On a Mission....to Write Off Arsenal

This has meant we have had a lot lesser possession than we are used to in recent years but we have been far more efficient in front of goal while also being solid at the back.

This brings me to the point I want to make. The so-called "Pundits" and "Experts" just cannot let go of their habit of taking Arsenal seriously. Why?

A lot of that I believe, is down to the fact that Arsenal have not won anything since 2005(Yes that is a long time ago!). Also, it is a fact that we have been guilty of completely losing our way (2006/2007 season comes to mind) when we were sitting at the top. It is also true that we are relatively inexperienced at winning trophies(Ok make that "very" inexperienced).

To be honest, I don't have a problem with pundits writing us off regarding our title challenge. It is not that I don't believe Arsenal will not win a trophy but because I think it is still too early. Premier League fans will testify to the fact that the league winner was decided on the last minute of the last day of football a couple of seasons ago!

That was after 38 games and we are not even half-way through! So, I don't think you can say team A will win or team B will not.But I do think Arsenal have a very good chance.

The thing that has bugged me the most about the pundits comes mainly from some of their comments following our 1-1 draw with Everton in the weekend.

These were the pundits who have been shouting at the top their voices, year-in year-out that pretty football alone will not get Arsenal anywhere. They have said on numerous occasions that Arsenal need to learn to grind out results and win by playing "dirty" if need be so that they can win games even when they are not playing well.

When suddenly, they saw Everton playing a better passing game than Arsenal in the weekend, they stick with the "pretty football" and disregard "dirty football" again! If that is not farcical, I don't know what is.

My intentions are not to take away the gloss from Everton's performance. They were excellent and they have been excellent throughout this season so far. Yes, they out-passed Arsenal and enjoyed better possession. But out-passing the opponent or having more of the possession will not win you matches.

Wait a second.Isn't this the same thing Arsenal have been criticized for by the pundits for all these seasons? I am forced to use the "F" word once again.

FARCICAL.

Massive Fixtures Ahead : Arsenal Title Credentials On The Line

They said "Arsenal will be tested by Swansea"; Arsenal won the match. They said "It will be Napoli who will really test Arsenal"; Arsenal won the match- comfortably I should add. We lost against Dortmund but they were champions league finalists last season and Arsenal did not make it a walk in the park for them did they?

Arsenal Flying High But Tougher Tests Lie Ahead

Arsenal are 2 points clear at the top of the EPL and there still remains doubts, in the minds of the so-called football pundits at least, whether Arsenal are genuine contenders to the title. Who cares what they think, Arsenal are top of the league and Arsenal fans are loving the view from the top :). My honest opinion is that it is too early to predict who will win but we will get a better idea at the end of December.

Moving on from foretelling the title winner, Arsenal are heading into the start of a very difficult period in the season with some tricky ties coming up. Staring with the home match against Chelsea tonight in the Capital One Cup, Arsenal host Liverpool followed by a visit to Dortmund in the Champions League and then to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the League and they face an equally daunting task against a flying Southampton side at home in the league.As if that was not enough, Arsenal will arguably have an even tougher December to follow with games against Everton(H), Machester City(A), Napoli(A) and Chelsea(H). It is incredible how these big fixtures have all been put together. No wonder people are reserving their thoughts on Arsenal's credibility, because if Arsenal get past this storm of massive fixtures unscathed, or at least not battered, the title would be Arsenal's to lose.

A short note on tonight's match. Arsene knows that a critical phase is approaching in the season and I think he will be forced to prioritize here. He would want his best players to be fit for all these fixtures ahead and I think he will take a big gamble if decides to start with any of his regulars in tonight's match. Whether he will take that risk remains to be seen.

POLL: Higuain for £22m or Tevez for £12m

Carlos Tevez has just completed a move to Juventus for a reported £12m which seems quite a bargain for what he brings to any team. On the other hand, Arsenal have been heavily linked with a £22m move for Gonzalo Higuain, which is yet to be finalized. Considering how Arsene has been trying to get cheaper players into Arsenal, it looks like we have just missed out on a very good player for a bargain price IMO.

If you were given a choice, what would you do?

Who would you rather have in an Arsenal shirt?

 

An Appeal To Arsenal Fans

"Man City sign........Manchester United sign.........Chelsea sign.........(even) Liverpool and Tottenham sign.......Arsenal linked with......."

I think the sentence speaks for itself here.

While other rival clubs of ours are busy signing players, most of us Arsenal fans are celebrating the 'big' players being linked with moves to the club, most of which are obviously fabricated. The more worrying thing for me is that we do this during every transfer window!


Its not that we do not sign players at all. We do. Over the years we have we signed Chamakh,Squillachi, Santos, Arteta, Mertesacker, Gervinho, Giroud....... after being linked with Ronaldinho, Sergio Ramos, Yaya Toure, David Villa, Fernando LLorente among others.

People come up with fantastic stories every year and every year, most Arsenal fans fall for it; every year. The more ridiculous the story, the more popular it is. The writers get their desired number of hits on the story and the readers get their dose of  "day-dreaming".

You have to look no further than comments on such stories. Comments like "...now Arsenal will win it this year......Arsenal triple winners this year.......Invincibles again.....a new dawn at Arsenal..."..... it goes on and on. And if you reply to such comments with comments like "we have not signed anyone yet" all you get is.... don't make me swear now! 

It is not a crime to be apprehensive. Being naive and "living in a bubble" is.

I am not saying we must be pessimistic about our team. We should always remain hopeful. We should hope that it will be different this year. But, we should keep our celebrations to ourselves until we actually sign a player or risk being ridiculed by "other fans" year after year.

You also do not have suffer the disappointment of broken promises......because the promises might not have been actually made in the first place!

Fellaini To Arsenal And The Negredo Connection

Fellaini Could Be Heading To Arsenal Next Season

First of all, let us answer an important question : "Will Fellaini be a good signing for Arsenal?"

The answer would be a resounding yes. A combative midfielder, good in the air, good on the ground...he  is exactly what Arsenal have been missing since Patrick Viera.

Fellaini, with a price tag of £22m , would be a dream signing for any Arsenal fan, especially because we have never spent so much on a single player. Its too good to be true right!

That brings me to my other question. "Is it really true or just another fabricated rumor?"

I cannot be 100% sure.Until Fellaini actually signs for Arsenal no one can be fully certain. But, I can tell you that Sky have reported it and usually when they report it, it turns out to be true!

We could end up signing the player...or not signing him if he decides to stay at Everton. But, what I am happy about ( and I am sure most Arsenal fans and critics are too) is that for once, we are showing some intent to strengthen the team and take a step forward after all these years of dissapointment.

Moving on to my final question "Where does Negredo come in all this?"

A few days back, Sky revealed, what I call, the "Negredo incident", according to which, West Ham had a  £14.5m bid rejected for Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo. Here was a guy who scored 31 goals in all competitions for Sevilla last season, who was apparently, linked with all the top clubs in Europe and then receives a bid from a team that finished 10th in the EPL. Fantastic...maybe. If you don't have wings, it does not mean you cannot dream of flying one day!

This tells something about the intent of this "10th placed club". To move ahead to; to reach for the next level. This is what is/was severely lacking in our own club Arsenal, needless to say. We have sold our best players each season and replaced, or at least tried to replace them with unproven talents.

We have never spent money on marquee signings and all of a sudden we come up with a massive bid for Fellaini! The "Negredo incident" might just have woken up our board from their slumber!

POLL : Will Wenger Break The Bank?

Arsenal fans need no reminding of the bitter truth that the club manager Arsene Wenger has been very miserly when it comes to spending on good players. Although Arsenal have been linked with moves for many top players in the past and present, in the end, the fans have largely been disappointed. There have been numerous talk of "war-chest" and "large transfer kitty" made available to the manager but fans have never seen funds being fully utilized to take Arsenal to another level.


As the season closes and the transfer window re-opens, the media is full of talks of funds available to Arsene and the list of players linked with moves to Arsenal seems to grow by the day. History suggests this will be another disappointing transfer window for Arsenal fans. But like every year, most fans, if not all, still believe that this will be "the" year when ARSENE WILL BREAK THE BANK.

Do you think this will finally be "the" year?

Will it Be Thumbs Up From Arsene To Break The Bank This Year ?

The Fall From Grace - Part II

A Ray Of Hope

So, where do Arsenal go from here?


In my opinion, the way forward for Arsenal is to look back.

The Arsenal team with which Arsene initially  had so much success was handed down from George Graham. This team had the meanest defense on the land.So much so that"1-0 to Arsenal" was the cliche at that time. What Wenger did to this team, after he came in, was that he bought some players with attacking flair to give our club some "Style". However, and most importantly, the back four remained unchanged. What I am trying to say is that we have to have a strong defense if we are to succeed. The team must be built from the back. If Wenger looks back in time, he will realize it. Obviously,he has not done so yet. He has even claimed many times that he will be happy as long as his team scores more than the opponent! That will just not work.Definitely not if the club sells its best attacking players each year!

We all know how the teams that have the best defenses or defend the best get to win trophies(Chelsea anyone?). Our defense is among the worst in the league. You might argue that we have conceded the third lowest number of goals in the league. But, at least in the league,the defense with the most clean sheets win. Just look at Manchester City last year or the Manchester United team this year and the previous years and Chelsea. It would be very bold to predict that Arsenal will keep a clean sheet, even if it is against a "lesser" side. Just look our recent matches. Bradford, we conceded 2, scored 2. Blackburn, conceded once and lost.Bayern,we conceded 3, scored 1. If we had managed to keep a clean sheet in all these matches, we would have still been these competitions. The thing with keeping clean sheets is that we give ourselves every chance of winning.

The worst part of all this is that, we can just sit there and point to our team's nooks. We know that our protests will fall in deaf ears and we can do absolutely nothing about it. Its painful and difficult. To look at a club's rise to the top and fall so dramatically. Well, we were with the club when Arsenal were at the top, lets get behind the club when we are on the way down. "Through Thick and Through Thin" as they say.

The win yesterday was a pleasant welcome. But again, we made it difficult for ourselves and until the final whistle blew, we never knew what could have happened, against one of the league's minnows this season, Aston Villa.

The Fall From Grace - Part I

Is he to be blamed?

So we are out of the trophy hunt. Yet again.
Our hunt for a trophy(if we are looking for one at all!) continues for yet another year.

I doubt anyone would have expected such a trophy drought when Arsene was sweeping everything before him when he first arrived at Arsenal. The pinnacle of his achievements would unquestionably be the 2004/2005 season when Arsenal won the league without a single loss all season. After the victorious campaign, I still remember what he claimed to the world : "There will be a new power shift from Manchester to London". He could not have got it more wrong.

It would not be wrong to say that Arsenal are no longer a power house.(The talk of "power shift" is out of the window)! They are a good club no doubt. But, we are no longer a force. It was made apparent by our tame defeats against Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and more recently against Bayern Munich.We were well outclassed in all these matches. Even Arsene admitted it. After the defeat to Bayern, Arsene claimed "Bayern were class". (Of course, that means we are not!). Defeats against League Two side Bradford and Championship side Blackburn suggested we were not even close.

Is it the fault of the Board or Arsene or both? We can blame whoever we want to but the fact remains that Arsenal have become just another average team.

Win Marred By Wilshere's Loss

Wilshere Will Be Badly Missed

It was a resolute performance for the 1-0 win from Arsenal yesterday. We were able to cling on to the one goal lead ,especially when we were under immense pressure in the second half after we lost Jenkinson to a red card. The win was more important as it meant we are still in the race for a top four finish after Spurs had earlier won their match against Newcastle.

We witnessed some excellent football in the first half from Arsenal. Wilshere and Cazorla were involved in most of the attacking threats that we had against Sunderland. The only downside in the first half was that we could not score more goals when maybe we should have because the slim lead placed us under immense pressure in the second half. The second half did not start well. We lost Wilshere, our main man, on 50 minutes to injury. And then Jenkinson got sent off for a second yellow following a rash challenge. We had to play the last half an hour with ten men and just about hung on for the win. We missed very good chances to go up 2 or 3 goals up and had to thank Szczesny and Sagna for helping us keep a clean sheet.

The good thing to come out of the match is that we were resilient as a team and were hard to break down even after being reduced to ten men. But the biggest loss is undoubtedly Wilshere. He will be a big, big loss. He has been such an influential player for Arsenal. I wonder how we will cope with his loss. His loss could be season defining for Arsenal, such is the importance of this player. Lets just hope we perform well without him and pray for his quick recovery.

After the match, our players were looked extremely tired and fatigued.Our next opponents are Blackburn at home in an FA cup tie on Saturday, which means our players will get some well deserved rest. Thank god we don't have Champions League match this week!

Arsenal Top of The League And Sunderland Vs Arsenal Preview

To Start off with, it has just been revealed that Arsenal would be joint top of the league if we were to remove the first half of matches! Here is the link to how the table would look.

The race for the top four is hotting up. Arsenal are five points behind third placed Chelsea and four behind fourth placed Spurs. Everton are just a single point ahead of us at fifth.  The first team to blink will be left behind.

Arsenal, needless to say are placed much worse than the other three above us.Such is the situation that Arsenal  put themselves in that anything less than three points will pile more pressure on us as we will slip further behind in the table which could open the doors for Liverpool to take over us!.

The team news ahead of the game is not encouraging too. Vermaelen and Koscielny are out and it could mean Sebastian "What is defending?" Squilachi will start in defense alongside Per Mertesacker.We have  been leaking goals even with Vermaelen or Koscielny in defense. With Squilachi, we are most certain to do it!

We have seldom performed well immediately after an International break. Fatigue will be an issue as most of our players played over 60 minutes during the break. Lets hope a certain "Wilshere" will bail our team again.

Wilshere's Progress: Good or Bad?

Wilshere Has Grown In Stature

Now, don't judge me by the topic heading here. I know it is stupid. Of course Wilshere's progress is GOOD for everyone!

Wilshere is an outstanding player which he proved again in the mid-week international friendly against Brazil by running the show in mid-field and claiming the MOTM award in the process. He was praised for his performance from everywhere. The papers, the pundits, fellow players,fans...everyone. If the world had not realized what Wilshere could do, they were left wondering what he could not do after the match.

What is my point? Let me sum up my point in a sentence : "If Arsenal were badly in need of a trophy, they need it sooner than ever". Otherwise....its back to "reality check".....like every year for the last few years at Arsenal.

POLL: Monreal Vs Gary Neville!

I just went through some of the images of Arsenal's new signing Nacho Monreal and realized that he looks strikingly similar to the Manchester United great, Gary Neville.

Do you agree with me?

Get Real! Its Mon"REAL" : Who Is Monreal?

Nacho Monreal Completed His Move To Arsenal...Just

In the end, we did come up with a signing. I did not see that one coming to be frank. It looked increasingly like we would not make any signings at all. Fans and the media were expecting so many "big name" signings. They were virtually linking everyone seen playing with a football! Its almost as if Arsene made the signing just to dodge the question "Why didn't you sign anyone in the transfer window?".

So who is Monreal? The 26 year old former Osasuna youth and senior player(127 appearances for senior squad) only moved to Malaga in 2011(42 appearances in total). Here are his stats so far for the 2012-2013 season:
Appearances            : 14
Goals                        : 1
Assists                      : 2
Pass Completion%   : 85.3
Man Of The Match   : 3
Average Rating       : 7.19
 (stats from whoscored.com)
He is not a bad signing by any means. In fact,if you look at how well Spanish imports have been doing in the premier league, he could well turn out to be a very good signing. Many expected big name signings like David Villa or a physical enforcer like Diame to come in but...I guess something is better than nothing! The fact of the matter remains that one player cannot change the way we play, given how poor we have been this season, especially defensively(defense has been our Achilles heels for some years now!). Maybe we needed more signings...quality...signings..but our "ambitions".....(just read THIS. I already have a post about our ambitions). Only time will answer all our queries.
                                                                                      

New Heights In Poor Defending And Bergkamp Back At Arsenal

Poor Defending Cost Us Vital Points

 Arsenal have never known what is defending...it seemed that way when you watched them in action yesterday,especially for the goals. That was no defending. That was calamity. No wonder Arsenal are lingering at sixth. No wonder Arsenal are written off to win any trophy at all.

Not that we were defending like champions before last night. But last night, it almost seemed like we were trying to beat our own mark at defending poorly! We all know that a good team is built on the foundations of a strong defense(at least I do...just read my previous posts). Based last night...we were far from a good team. Yes, we came back after going 2-0 down and created a lot in the second half, maybe we could have nicked a win. But, we have to remember that we were playing against a side that had, before last night, never won against a to 10 side in the premier league and had just lost to a league one side. Liverpool are a big club but no longer do they have a competitive team at the highest level. Sadly, nor do we.

Bergkamp Heading Back To Arsenal

In other news, Arsenal.com announced yesterday that Liam Brady, our youth coach, is leaving the club after 25 years of service to the club. He is a true club legend and had a glittering career, both as a player and as a youth coach. It is sad to see him leave. However, it has emerged that Dennis Bergkamp, the legend himself, is poised to fill in the vacant post left by Liam Brady. At least, we can be assured that our youths will be in good hands. And who knows, it could be a trial for Bergkamp to ultimately take the helm at Arsenal's first team!

Arsenal's Ambitions Revealed

Arsenal's Ambitions Questioned Again

 So, the transfer window is about to come to a close and Arsenal have made no signings so far. Did we actually need any signings? We have never broken any transfer records during Arsene's reign before have we? In fact, we have never spent over 16mil pounds on a single player! Yet, we read in the media and from fans about "Arsenal to spend 40mil on this....." "30mil on that...."....."60 mil on pair....". You just have to wonder how people come up with such outrageous claims.

I do not intend to bore you with all this. We all know how we have fared when it comes to transfers. But I want to share something that I came across yesterday.

BBC 5 live broadcasted a short interview with the Galatasaray chief yesterday( I don't remember his name). What he said in the interview took me aback, as much as the interviewer himself. As you all know, Galatasary recently completed the "high profile" signings of Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba. Asked about how far Galatasary wanted to go in the UEFA Champions league, he replied "All the way!". He actually claimed that Galatasary were now well equipped to actually win the tournament.!
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Now many people will say it is a foolish claim. And I agree. Two players won't win you the Champions League. But, what does it say about the club and the people running it? The way I see it ,"AMBITIOUS" is the right word to describe them. They made it to the knockout stage and now they sign two former Champions League winner to boost their chances of going far; how far;we can't answer that. But what is true is that they have at least increased their chances to go all the way.

Back at Arsenal, we sell our players to other clubs every year and buy "unproven" talents every year and the what we hear from our chief and the manager is "We can compete with the best".

Yet Another Loss For Arsenal Fans

Clash Among Arsenal Fans Is Not Good For The Club

 News of clashes between Arsenal fans protesting with "Wenger Out" banners and those against it in the FA cup tie against Brighton is something that is not a complete surprise but certainly not something that you like to hear as an Arsenal fan.

There are many fans who are frustrated with the Club and the manager.They seem less interested in making a good team than making more money. Most of all, they seem to have complete disregard towards the fan. Yet, what is also true is that there are those who think we should stick with the manager and get behind the club. That is not wrong by any means. A coin has too sides to it.

What is wrong is fighting amongst ourselves. It is as if we were not satisfied with a weak team, now we are making the unity of fans more weaker. What it only does is create divisions and make the club weaker. We are entitled to have our opinions. Lets not force our opinions on others, especially on those who support our own club!

Why Arsenal Proved Again They Won't Win Any Trophy For A While

Arsenal's Defense Not Scary Anymore

Arsenal lost against a league two side Bradford.
We were taken all the way by Championship side Brighton Hove & Albion, conceding 2 goals in the process.

I can't remember when we last kept a clean sheet..can you.

Where am I going with this?

Our defense is no longer mean. It seems like ages ago that we had a mean defense and teams would be scared of our defenses. They knew it would be tough to score against Arsenal and more than that, they knew that they would get hassled and kicked throughout the the 90 minutes. Team were genuinely scared of the presence of Martin Keown, Sol Cambell and Patrick Viera. They were the enforcers,leaders,commanders... whatever you want call them. I don't think I need to tell everyone that we won when these players were in our side and when they left, we never won anything....zero....zilch...absolutely nothing at all. You don't need to know rocket science to know that we need such players in the side to win trophies do we?

THE TEAM THAT CONCEDES THE LEAST GOALS WINS IN THE END. This is a golden rule that applies to all winning teams. We need to look no further than last season when Manchester City won the league on goal difference because they conceded less than they scored compared to Manchester United.

The most sickening part of all this is that even after 8 years since the last of our "commanders", Patrick Viera left, there has been not a single player who has come in and claimed to have come close to replicating them. Many compared Diaby to Viera but just because they look alike does not mean they have the same presence. Who would be scared of seeing Diaby in the team sheet?

We keep conceding goals against every side and cannot keep a clean sheet at all. The manager says that as long as we keep scoring more than we concede, he is happy with this team. But until and unless we are capable of keeping clean sheets with the use of some "commanders", 8 years will soon be 16years.

Wenger: We Won't Sign Anyone And Other Teams Should Do The Same!

Arsene At it Again

 These were not the exact words of Wenger but he sure meant it when he said:

 "I think the transfer window should be all completely cut out or limited to two players.It is unfair for the league." 

He also confirmed that the rumors that Arsenal are chasing  Barcelona's David Villa and Dortmund's Mats Hummels are not true.

"We have been linked with David Villa. We are not on the case.I can't imagine Dortmund selling their defenders in the middle of the season anyway and we have not made any approach there."

Here is what he had to say when asked if he would make any transfer dealings at all:

" We have a good squad with two players playing in every position. We will only buy if there are exceptionally good players in the market and if we think they are good enough to play for Arsenal."

The fans who were expecting to see some money being spent, this comes as a major blow, especially after it was claimed by the media that Arsene had been given "significant" amount to spend in this window. Even Arsene himself came out and said we were short in terms of quality in the squad and we needed some strengthening. But this was when we were going through a bad patch. Now, all of a sudden, Arsene has made a U-turn on his own statements. 

What do you think.....is Arsene right if he does not bring in any signings in this window?

Arsenal Vs West Ham: Preview

After 22 games in the EPL, Arsenal are sitting "comfortably" at 6th position, 7 points adrift of the fourth placed Tottenham Houtspur and 4 points behind Everton. I don't think I need to emphasize on the fact that we have been poor this season.

It seems like this is going to be the season that Arsenal will finally finish outside the top 4 as it stands. People had been predicting Arsenal to finish outside the top 4 ever since Henry left the club. They were proved wrong every year. Every year, they predicted Arsenal to finish outside the top 4 and every year, they were proven wrong. This year in no different. But, we are still in it mathematically and until the end of the season, you never know. We might yet pull it off again.

Tonight's game is against West Ham, who are themselves going through a bad patch of form. They were very promising at the start of the season but have been quite inconsistent from then on.( It is almost like I am talking about Arsenal!)Arsenal too had a good start but then the inconsistencies crept in.

In all honesty, we could win this match very easily, 4-2 or 5-3( We cannot defend well to keep clean sheets at the moment.Fact) or we could lose 2-1, 1-0,2-0. That is what the problem is with Arsenal this season. We cannot predict what they will come with because they have been so inconsistent. Yet, it is also a fact that we seem to win quite a lot of the matches against Allardyce's men, although most are goal fests(which I don't like as I love our team to keep clean sheets). I still remember the 5-2s and 4-2s scorelines which we achieved against Blackburn when they visited the Emirates with Sam in charge.

Gilbert Imbula? Just What Arsenal Needed

Another Youngster To Arsenal?

News has surfaced in the media that Arsenal are looking to sign Gilbert Imbula, a promising 20 year old from the French Second Division side Guingamp. I need not say more.....

I can never understand Le Prof. When we are 1st in the league, we go for an unknown French youth, when we are 2nd.....the story repeats itself.....and even when we are 3rd or 4th or 5th or 6th......same old story. Why can't we produce our own youths rather than buy them from elsewhere? So much has been invested...time and money on our academy and still we need to buy promising youngsters? Only Gibbs and Wilshere truly represent Arsenal academy at the moment. I do not see a "genuine" academy player coming to the first XI for the next 4 years! It is funny how Arsenal are lauded for their youth policy and actually we produce very few of our own. Aston Villa, Southampton, Everton and Leeds are way ahead of us in terms of actually producing good young players. We buy youngsters from somewhere else....they play for a few years in our team....and then they go back to their beloved clubs or somewhere else because they do not have a deep connection with our club.

 If we can produce more players like Gibbs and Wilshere through our Academy who are born and bred Arsenal players, they will stick with their club. Just look at how they signed new deals for staying at Arsenal without much fuss. We all know how Wallcot, a player bought from Southampton at age 16, almost dumped us. I don't need to say more about other players who were bought young before being sold off (Fabregas 16yrs, Nasri 19yrs, Adebayor 19yrs,Van Persie 19yrs........ Hleb, Flamini, Clichy, Toure...too many to remember!).

It seems Arsene will wait till the last minute of the transfer window to buy players because, as he admitted himself, the prices of players fall drastically in the last moments of the window. So, I would suggest everyone to be patient till the last second of the transfer window. Big names have been linked with Arsenal....Cavani, Zaha,David Villa to name a few. But we all know who we will get in the end. A promising youngster from the French......you get the point.