Senegal's Arsenal Thread 2012/2013 : featuring positive negativity

[Retro]

A new season, some new signings and new hope... well for most of us.

Fixture list to be found here: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-to-face-sunderland-in-opening-game

Sunderland at home for the first match and matches with Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea in the first month.

MON YOU RIP ROARING REDS!!

[Chr1s Lawson]

Nice welcome to 2012/13

[ajw10]

Tradition \o/

a trophy this season please. And some Jack Wilshere minutes.

[Suggy33]

Gotta hope that Cameroon don't qualify for ACoN with such a difficult January month.

[Carmi88]

Looking forward to this season with those new signings plus Ox and Wilshere raring to go

[dfgrigg]

Ugh. Clean forgot there was another ACoN.

[Sparky9334]

good thread title \o/

Difficult September and November too, especially with CL ties!

[Razzler]

Is Wilshere going to start the new season?

[Samba Magician]

Hopefully this season goes a lot better than the last. I've come to accept that in the era of sugar daddy owners we may never win the title for a while but hopefully we can challenge for it convincingly

[SJ234]

Last season was a crap start and the rest was okay. Just need to keep ourselves in that top 4

[Glenn Wakeford]

France Football are reporting we've signed Giroud on a 4 year contract...

[Retro]

It was a pretty poor finish as well to be fair... and a dip in the middle too.

[Ayub95]

Gotta hope that Cameroon don't qualify for ACoN with such a difficult January month.

If we get M'Vila or Capoue, we'll be sorted.

[SJ234]

It was a pretty poor finish as well to be fair... and a dip in the middle too.

Before the end dip I saw something like that since October 10th we were equal with City and United on points won which sort of excuses the middle bit as sort of part of the course for last season. It was rounded by two excellent spells. It is just the beginning and the end which frustrate me

[Retro]

The two spells we had that were unbeaten definitely made up for the middle dip. We need to sort out our end of season form though because it's happened for a few years now.

[Sy13]

Looks like Giroud is coming in. I hope he settles quickly and can replace RvP but I doubt it.

Difficult opening 10 games - we need some proper steel in the squad to stay the pace.

[ajw10]

Sy, why do you follow Arsenal and football? You seem to get zero enjoyment out of it.

[djvandyke]

We can't afford for Wenger to fail to squad prepare for the start of the season again.

[Chr1s Lawson]

What could be key to the start of our season is the fact we have no cl qualifiers

[THEEEEEO]

The signs are all positive so far, one big deal done and another seems pretty much wrapped up and the transfer window isn't even open yet, lessons have been learned.

I do fear RVP is off, but if he stays and we can get Wilshere and Sagna fit for the start of the season then there is no doubt we are in a stronger position than last year.

[djvandyke]

Sky are reporting a Arsenal & Montpellier have agreed a fee for Giroud but personal terms still to be negotiated.

[Glenn Wakeford]

Sky are reporting a Arsenal & Montpellier have agreed a fee for Giroud but personal terms still to be negotiated.

Won't be a problem. He's not on huge wages and has said he would like to play with us. Formality.

[H.O.V.I]

I'm still unsure about Giroud, just don't think he looks that good from what i have seen but he does score goals i guess.

Hopefully this means we can get chamakh out of the club now though.

[Klimowicz]

I'm still unsure about Giroud, just don't think he looks that good from what i have seen but he does score goals i guess.

Hopefully this means we can get chamakh out of the club now though.

Loads of players I didn't really like the look of until a good while after their debut down the years. Arteta being the latest one, took me ages to appreciate how important he was.

[Chr1s Lawson]

Loads of players I didn't really like the look of until a good while after their debut down the years. Arteta being the latest one, took me ages to appreciate how important he was.

Ill second that, he is an important link in the midfield and to be honest I didn't appreciate it until he missed the end of the season.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Giroud's only on around €15-20,000 at Montpellier. The highest earner there, I'm led to believe.

Love Giroud. Burly, but surprisingly athletic. Brings others into play very well. Has a footballing brain and, most importantly, scores goals.

[SSC]

Seems strange Arsenal are signing strikers if RvP was going to stay. Do you think they maybe agreed in those post season talks that he would leave this summer, but would keep his mouth shut until after the Euros, allowing you to buy replacements at non inflated prices? How many strikers have you got on the books now?!

[Suggy33]

I saw something earlier saying that we are interested in Victor Moses. Can't remember where I saw it but the guy also said he'd been talking to Utaka and confirmed the Giroud move a couple of weeks back.

[SSC]

Seems strange Arsenal are signing strikers if RvP was going to stay. Do you think they maybe agreed in those post season talks that he would leave this summer, but would keep his mouth shut until after the Euros, allowing you to buy replacements at non inflated prices? How many strikers have you got on the books now?!

Actually just had a look and although these arent all technically forwards, your wiki page lists:

RVP

Park

Walcott

Ox

Gervinho

Chamakh

Miyachi

Bendtner

Podolski

If you sign Giroud, that makes 10!

We've only got Gio and Defoe

[\'GillesGrimandi_18]

Judging by a Youtube clip Giroud is another left footed player, bit heavy on the lefties aren't we?

Excited by Podolski, can't get excited about Giroud at the quoted prices. Appears to have been playing lower league football until recently.

[Suggy33]

Judging by a Youtube clip Giroud is another left footed player' date=' bit heavy on the lefties aren't we?

Excited by Podolski, can't get excited about Giroud at the quoted prices. [b']Appears to have been playing lower league football until recently[/b].

Can say almost the same for Kos, in fact, they've essentially had exactly the same career.

Tours in Ligue 2 - Lorient/Montpellier - Arsenal.

Kos only had one season at Lorient whereas Giroud has had 2 years at Montpellier, making a vast improvement on his overall performance in the second year, going from 12 goals/2 assists then 21 goals/11 assists, which is almost the same as his tally as his final season in Ligue 2 (21 goals/7 assists).

This indicates that he'll perhaps take a season to adjust to the Premier League, but as it is one of the more similar leagues to Ligue 1, he might be okay. Kos had a transition period of maybe a couple of months before he was consistently good, his first couple of games were a tad shaky (red card on debut etc).

[ajw10]

Seems strange Arsenal are signing strikers if RvP was going to stay. Do you think they maybe agreed in those post season talks that he would leave this summer, but would keep his mouth shut until after the Euros, allowing you to buy replacements at non inflated prices? How many strikers have you got on the books now?!

We'd need strikers even if RvP was to stay. In fact if RvP does go I expect that we would sign another forward.

[Klimowicz]

Actually just had a look and although these arent all technically forwards, your wiki page lists:

RVP

Park

Walcott

Ox

Gervinho

Chamakh

Miyachi

Bendtner

Podolski

If you sign Giroud, that makes 10!

We've only got Gio and Defoe

Bendtner wants out so you can cross him off that list imo, Chamakh & Park will look elsewhere for temporary or permanent deals if they have any sense as they are even further down the pecking order now and Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho & Miyachi will not be used as central attackers too often if at all. Anyway, I'd rather buy before we sell strikers than pay more for them when other teams know that we're in need.

But I can't help but feel a tad uneasy that we're buying strikers before RvP's deal has been sorted. Hopefully his Euro 2012 performances have put potential buyers off and he stays

[Razzler]

Sy, why do you follow Arsenal and football? You seem to get zero enjoyment out of it.

Isn't that what football is about for most people, pain and misery with tiny bits of joy thrown in?

[Valin]

But I can't help but feel a tad uneasy that we're buying strikers before RvP's deal has been sorted. Hopefully his Euro 2012 performances have put potential buyers off and he stays

The danger being if he has decided to leave and is willing to run down the last year and go for nothing, I would hope the club aren't prepared to risk that but then I hoped they would have signed him up again before it got this far.

[Chr1s Lawson]

So what does everyone think? With the imminent arrival of Giroud, are we a M'vila away from overhauling a twenty point deficit on the machester clubs or is there still quite a bit of work to do. Does it all hinge on Rvp?

Personally I still think we desperately need a playmaker as Rvp was our assist leader last season followed by song who regularly abandoned his defensive responsibilities to make up for the void left by cesc and nasri!

[Sparky9334]

If M'Vila comes in then Song will probably have a free-er role should they play together.

If Fab is off we need a decent backup who can push Woj.

Also as much as I want Jenkinson to do well, I still think we need a back up RB.

[H.O.V.I]

Personally I still think we desperately need a playmaker as Rvp was our assist leader last season followed by song who regularly abandoned his defensive responsibilities to make up for the void left by cesc and nasri!

I agree with that 100%, even with Wilshire coming back (still think he is better playing deeper but he is young so he may develop like fabregas did) i think we need an attacking playmaker who can score goals aswell as create chances for the other forwards.

It looked like they tried to sign in kagawa so it seems we were looking for that kind of player but if we do sign M'Vila i don't see us signing another midfielder.

[Ayub95]

M'Vila and Song can do a job creating and with Wilshere 'supposedly' being ready to start the season, it will probably be enough in the midfield. Plus Ramsey can play well if used sparingly.

[Chr1s Lawson]

I wouldn't want to rely on Song to be a playmaker, maybe Wilshere's got it in him if he was pushed further forward? We've been spoilt over the years with players like Bergkamp & Fabregas!

[dustygator]

Capoue makes more sense than M'Vila IMO. Whereas M'Vila gets a lot of praise for his ball distribution, Capoue is more of a "destroyer". Given than Arsenal already have a glut of deeper midfielders who can pass (Arteta, Song, Wilshere, Ramsey) while their closest true defensive mid is what, Frimpong?

[ajw10]

[djvandyke]

M'Vila for me. I see no need for a "destroyer" as any combination of M'Vila/Song/Arteta/Wilshere offers plenty of defensive resistance.

[SJ234]

I want us to sign a creative player but I expect it won't be a central one but someone who plays outwide a la Silva or Mata. However holding mid is much more important tbh. I am fine with Jenkinson as a back up rb.

Also expect Wilshere to be pushed forward

[ajw10]

Agreed. I dont really see the need for a destroyer type midfielder considering we've been successful over the years without one. In fact, have we ever had one in the Wenger era?

[Sy13]

Agreed. I dont really see the need for a destroyer type midfielder considering we've been successful over the years without one. In fact, have we ever had one in the Wenger era?

Erm, Vieira?

[SJ234]

Erm, Vieira?

He wasn't a destroyer. He was much more box to box.

[ajw10]

I KNEW someone would say Vieira. Not a destroyer.

[djvandyke]

Rémi Garde / Emmanuel Petit

That was a BIG fail Sy!

[SJ234]

Flamini was the nearest we have had in recent years from memory to a destroyer. Gilberto has been our best DM in my time as a fan and he was miles away from a destroyer.