Is the player better than what you have ? YES (Even better than Walcott atm)
Is the player available ? Crystal Palace could not wait to get rid of him.
Will his club let him go for a reasonable price ? Again CP sold him for a mere 2.5m to Wigan
Does the player want to come? He wants a place he can be developed, he wants to stay in London, he turned down Man City!!!
What does the player want to earn and is this in line with the rest of the team? He sure won’t cost as much as Walcott, Denilson and Bendtner…

This is just an example of what the blind faith brigade fail to see, I am all for controlled spending, but to say we have done things right so far, is to lie..Man U did not need to splash 30m on Berbatov to win anything, they had the core of Giggs, Scholes and Neville, something Wenger has done away with …a blatant foolish policy!

Oh yes indeed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7013260.ece

i have no doubts about the talents arsenal has and our manager. but i have noticed that he isn’t as tactically astute as say…hiddink. i’m not saying he is a tactical blunder, he is good, but tactics aren’t his strongest point i think. though i do think he did get it right against manure – you can see that by the chances arsenal somehow created in spite of the terrible performance. even gallas had a chance.

my only worry is the psychology of the guys…they seem to get over-anxious against the big teams and then they end up playing like crap. and then wenger gets all the nonsense from the media and other “fans”. i really really think some sports psychology would be good for them if they are not already on it.

As proposals stand, clubs have to show they are not subsidised. Chelsea have cleared the past losses by changing debt to shares, but that is past money. Now they have to break even – and the problem is that their salaries are so big they can’t do it. If they take on more top performers then the situation gets worse.

They have tried to set up a youth system – remember they stole that bloke from Tottenham to do it – and then sacked him. Under the Abramovich reign only a handful of young men who have either come up from the youngsters aged 13-14, or who have joined aged 16-18, have actually made any impression.

So they do have a problem.

Incidentally on Man U bonds, the interest rate promised was raised during the issue, so it now sits a mere 1% below the bank rate being charged before.

It is an absolute time bomb, because come redemption day the owners have to have that £500m plus interest to pay out ALL IN ONE DAY.

They can of course raise another bond – but that would have to be for this bond’s £500m plus interest, plus the costs of raising the current bond, plus all the money to Glazers are allowed to take out in directors’ fees.

I would put the chances of that happening at minus 257 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Arsene, however, will not be pushed quit easily. He predicted the scenario that we witnessed during the Transfer Window. Didn’t they laugh at him and mock him? They said Arsenal was broke and almost chocking to death with debt. Well, how many times has this man been proved right?

All those who view player purchase/transfers as easy do not need to fret. Just go get or start a football club. You’ll be free to do whatever you want, like Abromavic (sp). Alternatively, go apply for a REAL manager’s job – not Football Manager – and prove Arsene wrong.

Else, save your breadth, your pen and your typing finger(s). No amount of capitalisation will get you Wenger’s job. Computer Punditry has now officially become part of the iZombie entity (Non-entity would have been more apt).

“In a benign credit market, Manchester United is one of the worst performing bonds since the beginning of 2009″ Suki Mann, a credit strategist in London at Societe Generale, told the Financial Times.

The loss means little to Man U, but represents a lot – on paper – to the pension funds and insurance companies that invested as the only way to get all the money back is to wait for the bonds to mature in 2017. On the other land they’re enjoying the guaranteed 9% interest.

Chelsea on the verge of imploding – and those left standing will toddle off to the geriatric home.
Mancs held together by Rooney glue, and the fact they seem to be playing on muscle memory – like the proverbial headless chicken it seems only a matter of time before they realize they are dead.
Who does that leave – only Man City really, and they are a work in progress.

So its not really the time for the 5th column to start squealing – well it never is really.

Arsenal just need to stick together, there are some great leaders coming through, Diaby and Song, and some great young players in the wings, or sidelines, Eastmond , Gibbs to name a couple.

Okay we giot battered a couple of times, so what?

Let’s just learn from it. Its no biggie.

But I think in general I try to look at live in a positive way so I guess that is why I look at Arsenal mostly in a positive way.

You may recall the Rioch year. We had the famous back five. We had Bergkamp. We had Ian Wright.

And…

We just crept into the UEFA cup on the last day of a miserable season. And this with a team that had won the league twice under Graham.

If you have read your history on Arsenal you will know of the time when in one summer Liam Brady and Stapleton both left – our two wonderful world class players. Brady, if you never saw him, was the cream of the cream of the cream. And we lost him, and had no replacement.

And what happened? We started losing matches at home that we would have never lost before.

I’ve stood and sat through all that, and compared with the past this is heaven.

And that is before I even factor in my view that in 5 years Man U and Liverpool will be of no consequence to us, and that we will be back to the sort of scenario we had before the Glazers and Abramovich – where it is the quality of the manager and the size of the support in the stadium that affects who wins the league.

I have only one fear and that is that the press and their allies in the doom and gloom brigade will make Wenger feel he has had enough.

I’m a goon from Mumbai,India, following Arsenal since the Tony Adams days.I read your blog almost everyday. I have one simple question to ask. How on earth do you manage to be o-so-optimistic about Arsenal and life in general?
The team just had a bitter defeat against its biggest rivals that too at the grove.
I know some of the criticism was over the top but can’t argue much with the frustration that every gooner goes through after a humbling like that. All the other arsenal places on the web are engaged in negativity. I feel positively refreshed by being at this place and reading your blog.
I know where to go after a defeat like this..Its here!!

Looking forward to your next post as usual.