"We've momentum and we can't afford to lose it tbh"- The '13-'14 summer transfer window thread for PL and beyond

diaby, wilshere, rosicky

central midfielder is a bit of a non-definition tbph

he's the screening presence they don't have

Eh, ok, 2 "central players" and a playmaker/attacking mid type. Diaby, Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla, Ramsey, Arteta, should be able to piece together a 2/3 man midfield out of that lot, no? Obviously take the point about Flamini being a different kind of midfielder to those guys though.

Making a mountain out of a molehill obvs, good player on a free transfer to a club rolling in money. But looking at the current Arsenal squad the midfield's the only area that looked pretty serviceable for top-level competition.

idk, this isn't a very good example of it but I feel like lots of the transfer stories I'm seeing atm seems a kinda unnecessary purchase, or at least that the funds could and possibly should be diverted to other areas. but yeah, these guys are the experts etc.

Tbh I liked the idea of Wenger pursuing some combo of Diaby / Rosicky / Arteta / Wilshere / Cazorla (sod Ramsey) and I'm just butt-hurt that he quite sensibly feels the need for a little more negativity in that midfield

he can play at right back as well, will be useful come Sagna's inevitable injury and Jenks's inevitable Barca move.

Diaby, Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla, Ramsey, Arteta, should be able to piece together a 2/3 man midfield out of that lot, no? Obviously take the point about Flamini being a different kind of midfielder to those guys though.

not really.

diaby plays nowhere
wilshere doesn't do anything
rosicky is a link man
ramsey has played well twice but isnt rly defensive
arteta similar to rosicky and ramsey both, not a defensively minded player

i mean you can say that a footballer with the minimum required levels of fitness and strength could fill in and do the donkeywork but rly im not convinced that that's anything more than a patch solution to an issue that many league-chasing teams allocate one if not two specialist players to

Diaby, Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla, Ramsey, Arteta, should be able to piece together a 2/3 man midfield out of that lot

three with 50%> injured rate, one deputizing regularly on lw while aoc recovers from longterm injury

yeah, aside form that i mean

i deleted and retyped 'form' three times there before just giving up tbh

atm we have 14 fit senior players a few days before playing Spurs. the attempts at signing players have been astoundingly incompetent. welp.

Completely disagree with casting of Diaby and Wilshere as being guys who play nowhere and do nothing, both pretty fucking good when fit and properly deployed (aware that this is a big "when").

And for the sake of argument I'll say that if Utd can sweep the floor w/ everyone else in the title race when their midfield comprises Carrick, Cleverly and sometimes Giggs, then Arsenal's current midfield should be able to do a job as well.

But we're arguing over nothing here, I've already acknowledged that Flamini is a good purchase and wasn't a good choice of signing to support my 'no one wants to buy the players they actually need' line of thought.

Anyway Deems I reckon you've just got unrealistically high standards based off of the frankly monstrous midfield selection your lot have got to choose from

at this point i want more chelsea fans xp

Arsenal haven't really had a midfield that can adequately protect the back four since Flamini left. He's definitely necessary.

ya not only is he totally necessary but they could do with another there as well

has anyone here watched any of flamini in the last five years btw

Shows how good Arsenal's ability to sign players and spend money is as the fees touted around proportionally reduce. Bender! Gustavo! Some other guy! Cabaye... hey, Flamini is knocking around for free right?

Now lets bring back Hleb to entice Fabregas by reforming the old gang of winners

oh right

I have seen Flamini as a sub for Milan, and know that he has mostly been injured for the past few years

Who woulda thought it eh

Diaby doesn't count as an anything anymore btw, we all have to give up sometime

I checked the Arsenal website earlier and there are a ton of exchange tickets available for the Spurs game - like a hundred or more, when normally there'll be one if you're very lucky. That was before the Flamini news though.

I've gotta get along to a game soon, whenever I try it's already sold out or just too expensive. I'll try and get some capital one action for sure if they do cheap tickets again

Wayne Rooney @WayneRooney

Diaby is a player don't know why he doesn't play more games

More distinguished company I could not wish for

Following several spells on the sidelines during February and March, it was announced on 28 March that Diaby had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and that after surgery, he would be out for approximately 8–9 months.

2013-14

On 5 July, Arsenal announced that Diaby will move from his ever present number 2 to a new number of 24

They should have a countdown on the website

Completely disagree with casting of Diaby and Wilshere as being guys who play nowhere and do nothing, both pretty fucking good when fit and properly deployed (aware that this is a big "when").

diaby is a total nothing. when fit he has no position, he is that rare specimen who not only spends more time injured than fit- he is actually better on the treatment table than on the pitch.

Wilshere is another joe cole. so technically gifted and possessing of flair england is just delighted to have him, never mind that he doesn't, afaict, do anything more notable than getting booked.

And for the sake of argument I'll say that if Utd can sweep the floor w/ everyone else in the title race when their midfield comprises Carrick, Cleverly and sometimes Giggs, then Arsenal's current midfield should be able to do a job as well.

well it's troubling i know. but utd have a vg defence and a few goalscorers. neither of our teams can boast this imo.

Anyway Deems I reckon you've just got unrealistically high standards based off of the frankly monstrous midfield selection your lot have got to choose from

― Third Rate Zoo Keepers With Tenth Rate Minds (Windsor Davies),

tbrr i don't anticipate anything more than a battle not to be fifth again. we have no first choice full backs and only one first choice striker. bale's loss has been very sensibly offset by strengthening in depth and balancing the first team out a bit better. whether the synergies align to improve the overall team or not is too hard to call. but, allowing that we had to lose bale, it's been a successful window for us, and not for you, and with only one point between us last season and in full expectation that utd will be pressed by us this season, i'm looking forward to it.

At work so can't respond to all that as fully as it deserves, but this "us" and "you" nonsense cannot pass unchallenged, for all my championing of Arsenal's midfield options

yeah i confused myself rightly for the duration of that tbh wtf

really tho the haddington rd agreement added 27 mins to my working day and i am just so. fuckin. delighted to have the season back again the more easily to ensure i don't accidently do any work for a single second of it, because fuck them heartily, fuck them all.

lol

http://www.chelseafc.com/javaImages/ca/e7/0,,10268~12183498,00.jpg

what do u think of his shoes

I have a set of slippers like that

patent leather?

absolutely not. Very soft uppers, regularly dubbined

Is he wearing a plaster on his face like Nelly?

torres back to liverpool doing the rounds a bit. or to arsenal.

https://twitter.com/Torres/with_replies

this is perfect

Shay Given as well, didn't see that coming. Utd seem to be serious about Fellaines - £36m now, I assume they'll agree £40m on Monday.

Luka Modric, Giovani Dos Santos, Heurelho Gomes, David Bentley, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka

this was our last spree in the summer of ramos

i know bentley turned out a cunt but tbh that was not a bad summer of buys tbftc

Wouldn't take Torres back to drive the coach tbh.

yeah he really is shot isnt he

to go back to an earlier conversation, tom carroll is a better player than wilshere ito product

Yeah I'd have Ramsey over Wilshere atm, Wilshere needs to go back to being a youngster being introduced to first team football rather than supposedly the teams biggest star. He's not even close to that, he's just English

But tbh I'd take Torres at Arsenal too, but that's mostly because I'd take anything right now

I like this idea that Arsenal will fund the purchase of Bale by buying three Madrid players for 70m or so which is why Tottenham are delaying the deal, if only because it's so stupid

I mean nobody could worry about Arsenal completing any deals by this point, they're like the piggy in the middle of world football

Alderweireld is off to Atletico btw, so no Liverpool or Arsenal

that 70m bid is a pisspull tbh, you'd do well to get ozil and benzema for that.

other news

kevin prince-boateng medical at schalke

kaka announces he wants to leave real

trying to think of an epl club could afford him and likely to gamble on him. coming up with chelsea tbrr.

Yeah I was trying to figure out how you could fit Benzema, Ozil and Di Maria in to 70m unless Real are desperate for cash and there's no buyers... huh

Think Arsenal should pull out all the stops for Kaka and Torres, they fit their current mentality perfectly

I like how in all the talk of Real having to shift some players from midfield when they get Bale nobody remembered to mention Kaka before, it's like he isn't there anyway

Kaka to Arsenal would be quite fun, Chelsea boring. Could Milan afford to have him back? That always felt like a possibility

lets be real tho if arsenal bid for any of these players liverpool will agree a fee and we'll steal them and they'll end up at chelsea

love that the rumour mill on the guardian has "will arsenal sign ozil, di maria, and benzema?" as its headline.

it's like the negative of "does the pope shit in the woods?"

They're gonna blow everyone's minds and sign all of them! And kaka

Oh god I can't even pretend

Flamini though hey