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".

Llorente Confirms And Another Defeat

Llorente Is Hot Property In Europe

So, Llorente has finally confirmed that he will be leaving Athletic Bilbao. However, Arsenal fans will be slightly disappointed as he only plans to leave at the end of the season. Asked at a press conference if he will be leaving, he said:

"Yes, I'm leaving on June 30. I want to try other things."

Guess what.
Arsenal slumped to another defeat.
A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Olympiakos last night means that Arsenal finish second in their group behind Shalke. It was hardly a shock really.  A second-string side playing in one of the most difficult places in Europe did not make it any easy; although it would not be wrong to claim that even the first team would have struggled with the kind of football that they are playing, or not playing lately.
I had mentioned in my previous post that Arsene is looking to concentrate on the EPL by sacrificing  the top spot in the group, which is justified in my view given our poor league position at the moment. We cannot expect Arsenal to do a "Chelsea" and win the Champions League. We have to be realistic.

Ox Took to Twitter To Express His Frustration

 I do not want to get into details of yesterday's match but, the better team won. The positive from the match was that J.Meade's performance at left back was really impressive. Ramsey et al failed once more. Alex "The Ox" Chamberlain vented his frustration at the defeat through twitter: "Its times like this a club needs to stick together to pull through. Trust me this hurts us just as much as it does the fans #AFC". Are these signs of dissatisfaction spreading across the Arsenal dressing room? Only time will tell.
Looking forward to the weekend's match against West Brom followed by the mid-week Capital One Cup tie against Bradford City.

WINTERBURN:ARSENE STILL THE MAN FOR ARSENAL

IS WENGER STILL GOOD ENOUGH FOR ARSENAL?

Arsenal FC legend Nigel Winterburn has come out in defense of Arsene Wenger. He said:

  "I think Arsene Wenger is the right man for the football club and I'm sure he can get Arsenal Football Club back to where they were several seasons ago if he was allowed to bring in some real top-quality players."


He further said:

"I love the style of football that Arsenal have played over the years under him"

Do you agree with Nigel? Should Arsene be given a chance based solely on his past credentials? If so, for how long?

In other news, Arsene has named a second-string squad for the trip to Olympiacos with  some completely new faces in Akpom,Ansah and Monterio in the first team squad(click to view complete squad list). It is quite clear that Arsene is happy with 2nd place in the group. I don't blame him for that. We can keep our regular players fresh for the weekend.

THE BUSINESS END

So, the international break is over and we are back to some club football. We are in for some cracking matches this weekend and the weekends to follow.It is now what is described by many as "The Business End" of matches when games come thick and fast.

Points gathered during this time of the season often decides where a team finishes in the table. Arsene described this in his own words recently:

"In October the moment of truth starts for the team.The league establishes itself a little bit and the Champions League goes to decisive moments."


Especially after an International break, matches are often very difficult for teams to cope with as players are fatigued and not in ideal condition for matches.Added to it is the fact that international breaks are always accompanied by injuries to some players(Kos and Wallcot are out for at least the next game!).This makes the matches even more important.

Our next 4 matches read Norwich(A),Shalke(H),QPR(H),Reading(A).The very next match is against Manchester United(A) before we head to Shalke(A) and then host Fulham(H).Only then will we get a 7 day break before we host the North London Derby against Tottenham.It will be breathless football before that!
So, hold on to your seats, because we are in for some treat!