*Official* English Football Season 2011-12

[Jarquis]

He'd be a better signing for United, and Hazard/Kagawa would be a better signing for Arsenal.

We've got attacking wide midfielders in greater abundance than we do holding midfielders so not sure I agree about Hazard and while Kagawa plays more central he'd be taking the place of Wilshere? Possibly Arteta? And forcing Rosicky, Chamberlain and Ramsey into the abyss.

 

[Jarquis]

Would take M'Vila in a heartbeat. Having him in the midfield would add solidity to what is there already (and crucially, depth), and free up other players to play in a more advanced role. Whether he's world class or not, there's no denying that he's widely regarded as being one of the hottest talents out there who's not already signed to a top team. Would be a fantastic signing for my money, and if he's all he's cracked up to be £22m isn't a huge fee, I'd say.

£18m, 22m euros. So cheaper than Downing and Henderson.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, agree with Marcuss here as well. Already have an abundance of attacking/wide players, albeit some better than others. Got plenty of young ones waiting in the wings as well, like Miyaichi, and plenty like Arteta/Rosicky/Wilshere who have been used in deep-lying roles until now, but could be freed up to play higher up the pitch, and of course Podolski is coming in as well.

Would take M'Vila over Hazard/Kagawa comfortably. (provided that Van Persie isn't sold, that is).

 

[Uppercut]

We've got attacking wide midfielders in greater abundance than we do holding midfielders so not sure I agree about Hazard and while Kagawa plays more central he'd be taking the place of Wilshere? Possibly Arteta? And forcing Rosicky, Chamberlain and Ramsey into the abyss.

I would imagine they'd take the place of Walcott/Gervinho/Chamberlain. Having Podolski will definitely improve things there but I think it's still clearly an area in more need of improvement than where Wilshere/Song/Arteta/Rosicky/Ramsey play.

I'd take any of the first four CMs over any of United's (given Scholes's age etc) and obvz Young, Nani and Valencia would walk right into the Arsenal side. So it seems to me that both teams are looking to strengthen their strengths.

 

[Pothas]

If Hazard is as good as all reports (and his goal tally this year) suggest then he would easily improve both sides.

United should go and get Modric if Spurs fail to get Champions League.

 

[Jarquis]

I would imagine they'd take the place of Walcott/Gervinho/Chamberlain. Having Podolski will definitely improve things there but I think it's still clearly an area in more need of improvement than where Wilshere/Song/Arteta/Rosicky/Ramsey play.

I'd take any of the first four CMs over any of United's (given Scholes's age etc) and obvz Young, Nani and Valencia would walk right into the Arsenal side. So it seems to me that both teams are looking to strengthen their strengths.

Well I'm not convinced that Rosicky's resurgence is anything other than a false dawn. I've loved it while it's happened but I don't think we can bank on it continuing or him not getting crocked at some point.

Podolski will definitely improve our wide options and while the players you've listed would make our side I'm not convinced that it's as bad as you're making out. If Walcott and Podolski start then we have Gervinho on the bench (who while he's been slated, has actually been respectable in his first season, besides Ba and Cisse I can't think of any new signings who have matched his output), Chamberlain probably in the squad (who undoubtedly has the talent to make it big next season) and Rosicky who can also play out wide. As well as others in the squad.

We've coped a lot better this season when one of our wide players has been injured/suspended than when we've been without Song/Arteta.

 

[sledger]

If Hazard is as good as all reports (and his goal tally this year) suggest then he would easily improve both sides.

United should go and get Modric if Spurs fail to get Champions League.

Yeah, don't mean to make it sound like I wouldn't go for him if I was in Wenger's position haha. But I really think that Arsenal's problem is not through a lack of goals (despite the heavy reliance on Van Persie), but on a lack of depth running through the spine of the side. I think the first choice central pairing of Song and Arteta is very good, but as soon as one of them gets injured or suspended, the team stops performing anywhere near as well as it can.

 

[Tom Halsey]

And? I said in the last line of my post that even if he doesn't walk into the starting XI he improves our squad massively. The fact that he can outright challenge Song/Arteta for a starting spot isn't something that can be said of anyone else in our squad. When fully fit we have three quality midfielders in Wilshere, Arteta and Song. Now we have four. How is that a bad thing on any level? Each game M'Villa plays is one less that one of the backups has to play. It means it's one less game Ramsey is forced to play so he can be more effective in the games he does play.

He's a great player, touted to become an excellent one. He improves our squad and for those reasons I'm happy. He'll fit our system well IMO and allows us to play a few different combinations in the middle of midfield depending on who we're playing.

Wenger's shown that this transfer window is going to be different. We never usually act this quickly or convincingly. We usually deal in long drawn out affairs before settling for some cut price deal in the last week of August. Neither Podolski or M'Villa are those kind of transfers. They're both established players who are either proven quality or set to be absolutely quality and from what the rumour mill is saying (and I'm talking about the same people who called the Podolski and M'Villa stuff ages back) we're not done in the market and to paraphrase the general stuff being said, one of the players we're now linked with makes M'Villa old news already.

It's going to be an exciting summer as an Arsenal fan. Just need to get RVP to sign a new deal.

Yeah but the fact he might not walk into your side is sort of the point. As I said, if you take the signing on its own then it clearly isn't a bad one. The problem is the opportunity cost. Why are Arsenal not signing a right winger for instance? Would be money far better spent, because Walcott is toss and Arsenal's current CMs aren't.

 

[Jarquis]

Yeah but the fact he might not walk into your side is sort of the point. As I said, if you take the signing on its own then it clearly isn't a bad one. The problem is the opportunity cost. Why are Arsenal not signing a right winger for instance? Would be money far better spent, because Walcott is toss and Arsenal's current CMs aren't.

Walcott's actually been perfectly reasonable this year. There's also the fact that when we signed Podolski Wenger said "Sometimes it is good to have a left footed player on the right hand side" so that's clearly an avenue we'll be looking at this season. Then there's Oxlade-Chamberlain who has done more than enough this season to warrant more first team opportunities next year.

So those would be the reasons I reckon.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I'd take any of the first four CMs over any of United's (given Scholes's age etc) and obvz Young, Nani and Valencia would walk right into the Arsenal side. So it seems to me that both teams are looking to strengthen their strengths.

This is something that I haven't understood about our transfer policy in the last five or so years. In that time we've consistently bought where we didn't really need to buy and neglected areas in dire need of strengthening (ie. centre midfield, as everyone knows).

If we were to go and sign Hazard this summer and completely neglect central midfield again it really wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. Pothas is right in that he would still improve our side, but not nearly as much as someone like Modric would do.

 

[sledger]

Reckon Utd might try and do with Hazard what they did with Anderson if they manage to get him.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Walcott's actually been perfectly reasonable this year. There's also the fact that when we signed Podolski Wenger said "Sometimes it is good to have a left footed player on the right hand side" so that's clearly an avenue we'll be looking at this season. Then there's Oxlade-Chamberlain who has done more than enough this season to warrant more first team opportunities next year.

So those would be the reasons I reckon.

Don't really agree that Walcott has been reasonable. Sure, he's had some good games (Tottenham at home, Chelsea away spring to mind, there's a couple more too) but he has tended to follow those games up with pap performances. Could list about ten games off the top of my head where he's been completely abject, and obviously I haven't even seen all of Arsenal's games.

Podolski will help, but the right hand side is not his natural position and Oxlade-Chamberlain is promising but not yet ready to warrant the increased playing time that would be required.

 

[Jarquis]

Well I think we just fundamentally disagree.

For me, Walcott's been good enough and we have a number of other options that could do an adequate job there. Namely, Podolski, Chamberlain and even Gervinho could switch flanks.

However, whenever we've missed one of Arteta or Song our performances on the whole have been much, much poorer. Something which M'Villa will undoubtedly rectify IMO.

 

[TT Boy]

Rumour was going around for months that lots of washing was being done at Rovers but the fact that **** hasn’t been sacked yet illustrates that the powers of be are pretty happy to carry on regardless and the end game of administration is still on. If Big Sam, you know the one implicated in that BBC doc was sacked for not playing the game, how bent is what’s his name…

 

[TT Boy]

Reckon Utd might try and do with Hazard what they did with Anderson if they manage to get him.

Ruin him?

 

[TT Boy]

Walcott's actually been perfectly reasonable this year. There's also the fact that when we signed Podolski Wenger said "Sometimes it is good to have a left footed player on the right hand side" so that's clearly an avenue we'll be looking at this season. Then there's Oxlade-Chamberlain who has done more than enough this season to warrant more first team opportunities next year.

So those would be the reasons I reckon.

Only for a club which has no ambitions of winning anything. As George Galloway might say, he and Aaron Lennon are two cheeks of the same ass. If he was as quick as I, he wouldn't be playing professional football. I can't get by Gervinho's hair and inability to score even the most easiest of chances to rate him as anything but serviceable. Thought Andre Santos was more than ok when asked to do anything but defend, he could work as a left winger.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It's going to be an exciting summer as an Arsenal fan. Just need to get RVP to sign a new deal.

Yea riveting, the CDMs might get close to not winning nothing. Lots of room for improvement at least, still have to win their last game this season yet.

 

[TT Boy]

Suarez unplayable so far, running rings around Chelsea and great work for the og. Made something out of nothing.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I just saw Jordan Henderson score.

I think I've eaten too much chocolate.

 

[TT Boy]

Lol @ JT.