Arsenal Thread

[TheArsenal]

I think you're just scared of how much you really like it....

[TheArsenal]

In other news,

David Bentley has completed a permanent move to Premiership side Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee.

Bentley (21), who had been on loan with Mark Hughes’ side since the start of the season, spent the whole of last season on loan at Norwich City, making 26 Premiership appearances and scoring twice during his time with The Canaries.

In 2003/04, the former England Under-21 International made eight first team appearances for Arsenal and scored his first senior goal against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup Fourth Round at Highbury.

Everyone at Arsenal wishes David the best of luck for the future.

Edited January 31, 2006 by TheArsenal

[Turbo Yannis]

What is it with Aliadiere? Did Strachan and Pardew not fancy him or is he just a bit shit?

[TheArsenal]

I think Celtic signing Chris Sutton meant Aliadiere was no longer needed, so they decided to ship him abck to us but we sent him straight on to West Ham.

Not sure why he's left Upton Park.

[Darloboy]

Chris Sutton signed for Celtic long before Aliadiere was there.

[TheArsenal]

Chris Sutton signed for Celtic long before Aliadiere was there.

[Turbo Yannis]

You should. SPL > Premiership

As far as I know at Celtic, Strachan hadn't counted on Craig Beattie and Shaun Maloney breaking in the way they did. Plus they signed Zurwaski or whatever the fuck his name is.

So, to anwser my own question, Pardew must've thought he was shit.

[Guest muddatrucker]

In fairness, he never gave him a chance, he can be a good player with good skill but he's been a bit lightweight in the past, but if you're gonna take someone on loan, you might aswell use them or let them go somewhere else.

[Lord Nibbler]

I'm surprised Quincy went, wasn't he supposed to be a hot prospect?

[Guest muddatrucker]

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie says the signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott signalled the end of his Arsenal career.

The Holland Under-21 star joined Russian side Spartak Moscow on transfer deadline day and the 19-year-old says his lack of chances at Highbury prompted him to leave.

Arsene Wenger brought two new forwards to the club during the January transfer window and Oqusu-Abeyie says he had to leave to be sure of playing.

"I'm a young player and I need serious playing time at a high level," he told Sport-Express.

"Spartak have a chance to play in the Champions League next season. I understood that I needed to change my situation and I've joined a good team.

"Everything has been decided for about a week. Many European clubs were interested in me but Arsenal had refused all the offers.

"But the situation changed a week ago. Arsenal have signed two players who can play at my position - (Emmanuel) Adebayor and (Theo) Walcott.

"After that my move became possible and Spartak have made an offer quicker than the others."

Spartak sporting director Vladimir Fedotov said that he spotted Owusu-Abeyie at the Youth World Cup last year and was impressed with his skills.

"I saw Owusu-Abeyie at the Youth World Cup last summer," said Fedotov.

"He was one of the best players at that tournament. He is a very quick player with good dribbling."

Meanwhile, Spanish side Celta Vigo have signed Arsenal's young Mexican striker Carlos Vela on loan until the end of the season.

The Gunners bought the rights to the player last year after he impressed in the World Under-17 Championships in Peru.

The Guadalajara marksman has not yet made it to Highbury and will now head for Spain to link-up with Celta for some valuable experience.

[TheArsenal]

You should. SPL > Premiership

As far as I know at Celtic, Strachan hadn't counted on Craig Beattie and Shaun Maloney breaking in the way they did. Plus they signed Zurwaski or whatever the fuck his name is.

So, to anwser my own question, Pardew must've thought he was shit.

[TheArsenal]

So......it's 24 hours after we sell David Bentley and what happens?

We lose at home to West Ham, while Bentley scores a 21 minute hattrick against Man United. No wonder we've got problems.

Campbell to blame for both the first half goals. Glad to see he went off at half time. Van Persie is looking amazing for next year.

Edited February 1, 2006 by TheArsenal

[supergrass]

I can see the argument for taking Campbell off, but if he's fit, for me he's got to stay on. Granted he's having a shit run at the moment, but when he's the only first team defender we've got I think he should be on the pitch ahead of Larsson (not only is Larsson not a left back, he's never played in the Premiership before).

With regards to David Bentley, hat-trick or not he's no Arsenal player. Still, seeing him do that to United on MOTD has lightened my mood a little. At least United, Liverpool, Spurs, Wigan and Bolton have all dropped points too, I still see us taking 4th.

Edited February 1, 2006 by supergrass

[TMM]

I can see the argument for taking Campbell off, but if he's fit, for me he's got to stay on. Granted he's having a shit run at the moment, but when he's the only first team defender we've got I think he should be on the pitch ahead of Larsson (not only is Larsson not a left back, he's never played in the Premiership before).

With regards to David Bentley, hat-trick or not he's no Arsenal player. Still, seeing him do that to United on MOTD has lightened my mood a little. At least United, Liverpool, Spurs, Wigan and Bolton have all dropped points too, I still see us taking 4th.

Question is (with regards to Sol Campbell) did he get substituted or did he just leave? He showered and left before the second-half started and left before kick-off as well, which has raised some questions as to what actually happened.

[TheArsenal]

I can see the argument for taking Campbell off, but if he's fit, for me he's got to stay on. Granted he's having a shit run at the moment, but when he's the only first team defender we've got I think he should be on the pitch ahead of Larsson (not only is Larsson not a left back, he's never played in the Premiership before).

With regards to David Bentley, hat-trick or not he's no Arsenal player. Still, seeing him do that to United on MOTD has lightened my mood a little. At least United, Liverpool, Spurs, Wigan and Bolton have all dropped points too, I still see us taking 4th.

Edited February 1, 2006 by TheArsenal

[FLiam]

Sol Campbell can fuck off.

We really don't need players feeling sorry for themselves right now. If he doesn't play for a while and Gilbert is injured we have two defenders available, Senderos and Djouoru. This season needs to die. We also need a 26-29 year old established defender in the summer and Campbell can go.

Unleash Walcott on Saturday Arsene, you know it makes sense.

[Guest muddatrucker]

As for Bentley, a few years ago he was the next Bergkamp. The only reason he's not "Arsenal material" now is that we don't nurture enough of our youth. We expect our young talents to be able to match up with the biggest and best, and we just send them out on loan to Belgium, the SPL or the Championship. Pennant and Upson were both billed as the next big thing, and as far as Arsenal are concerned, they were totally wasted. Same goes for Quincy, only less hype because he wasn't English. Graham Stack could have been the next David Seaman, but instead he spent his Arsenal career at clubs like Reading and Millwall. Stuart Taylor could have been huge, if he ever got a game. For every talent Wenger has found, there's been another he's totally wasted.

[TheArsenal]

Bentley was ready, but never got a decent chance.

They could only ever get better by playing against the best opposition and being given a challenge. I'm not saying we should field a side of teenagers in the Champions League - but we need to nurture our own youth and get them ready for playing at Arsenal standard, not the standard at Reading, Millwall, Wolves, Beveren, or anywhere else. When Van Persie signed he wasn't really good enough for the first team, but he was actually given some chances and his game improved for it.

Now we've got Walcott, Wenger has another talent discovered. If he loans him out, we'll waste him and in 5 years time he'll be moving to another club for an "undisclosed fee". If we play him and nurture him like we should, we might just get somewhere.

[Summers]

Wenger had nothing to do with the talent of Walcott being discovered. :\

[Guest muddatrucker]

Bentley was ready for first team football, but he didn't fit in the Arsenal side and his attitude means he won't be a squad player either, thats not Wengers fault.

Van Persie is making it because he has the talent to do so, you can give everyone chances, but those chances alone aren't going to create natural talent.

We haven't wasted anyone, sometimes we have to let a player go because they're not good enough, I know people who represented their country at sports as a youth, where are they now? doing nothing, its got nothing to do with chances, its got to do with natural talent and if you can keep that as you grow great, if you can't, bye.

And especially with 'keepers loans deals are great regardless of the league, thats giving them a chance against players who want to win, fine if you put Fabregas in the conference he wouldn't develop, but theres more of a difference between outfield players in lower leagues than there is between keepers in lower leagues.

At the end of the day, I don't think you understand the age old saying of 'you can't polish a turd', training can only do so much, if it could do more we'd be getting our players from factories, if they don't have what it takes they move on, thats not our fault.