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Another Fruitless Window

Frustrations over the lack of a centre back signing

1 February, 2011 9:00 29 comments
Another Fruitless Window

Squillaci – Can he be relied upon?

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As the clock ticked to 11 o'clock last night, once again I sat dumbfounded as we failed to sign the reinforcements we so obviously require to maintain a push on four fronts. The only signing being the 18-year-old Ryo Miyaichi which doesn't really fit the bill. When Wenger announced that he would need a centre back in the window to cover the injured Vermaelen, I found myself making a shopping list of all the suitable candidates & I sitting back to see which one we would go for.

But as January progressed all the usual soundbites began to emanate from The Grove, "Vermaelen is making quicker progress then we expected", "Squillaci is nearly fit", "If we get anyone it will probably be a loan deal" and my heart sank. After watching the torturous FA Cup tie at the weekend my longing for a new centre half got greater as I watched the inept Squillaci bumbling around before he eventually made the schoolboy error of standing square on as an opponent ran at him, leaving him with little option but to pull the player back. The deserved red card followed.

Should either Djourou or Koscielny be injured (as sadly happened with Nasri) we will be seriously exposed in the centre of our defence. Song is adequate against lesser opposition but not against the top teams (as we saw in the home Barcelona tie). Plus if you move Song from his midfield berth you will only have Denilson to cover him and I don't even want to contemplate that. We have a real chance to bag a couple of trophies this season but if we are found wanting at the back we may well find commentators and pundits banging on next season about "7 years without a trophy".

Will anyone be confident of winning anything if we have a combination of Squillaci, Koscielny or Song to choose from for our centre half positions? No, me neither. Surely there was enough in the kitty to at least sign one big ball-winning centre back, especially when we are still involved in all four competitions. I watched other members of the so-called big four wielding their chequebooks to get what they wanted (in Chelsea's case actually against one of the big four) and I couldn't help but feel envious.

I know that is not Arsene's way but just once I would like us to make someone an offer they couldn't refuse, especially if it secured the one player that would complete the jigsaw. The calls for Arsene's head will be deafening if injuries or our lack of squad depth sees us coming up short again this season. And I for one will not be trying to defend him this time.

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29
comments

  1. Hardcore

    Feb 02, 2011, 15:13 #1470

    So who were the centre backs on your shopping list?

  2. mark

    Feb 02, 2011, 14:40 #1469

    we are tired, undermanned, injured and did not refresh the squad again when we should have done. Wenger's strategy is to finish in top 4 and win the carling cup and no more than that, except that they club will also make another £50m profit when there are alot of us would like it to breakeven and have a PROPER charge at the premier league title !

  3. tpm

    Feb 02, 2011, 13:41 #1468

    okwhy dont people get the fact that regardless of current form, kos is still very much learning and has proved nothing, djo is injury prone, squillachi is not even suitable for 4th choice, and TV may never be the same player agian. itsnot rocket science to see that we clearly need a dominating proven at PL level CB. 15-18 million is all it would have cost to get some quality in, its bollox to say bent, carrol etc prove that....forwards inparticular always cost more. eduardos injury didnt cost arsenal the title, the failure to sign a couple of reinforcements in january did....and it will again this year. also the argument about what AW did ini the past is irrelevent...wrighty was out record scorer, should he still be playing....FFS. AW is hindering the chances of this footballclub ion the present, by not spending the money he has available for transfers....yes AVAILABLE for transfers..by which i mean the spending of will have no financial impact on the rest of the club or its future...thats what transfer funds are for surprisingly....people lik JAmes dont seem to get this.

  4. Nick

    Feb 02, 2011, 10:49 #1448

    Maybe we should give George Graham a job as defensive scout i seem to recall he had a little sucsess with that at one time

  5. JAmes

    Feb 02, 2011, 9:37 #1443

    £15m on a decent centre back? Have you seen the prices people are paying? You are talking £30m for a Vidic type centre back. We do not have the cash to panic buy a Vidic plus pay them £100k a week for the reason explained above. Anyone decent is in the CL already so would be cup tied and their clubs probably wouldn't let them go anyway. As for the clown that said "I'd rather finish 10th" or whatever. You are a twat. Wenger brought 8 years of unbroken success, and has managed to get the team to a CL final and compete in the league (arguably Eduardo's injury cost us the league) while burdened with the massive debt of a self-funded stadium move. In case you didn't notice, Liverpool can't afford to even put a spade in the ground for a new stadium and Spurs are trying to do it on the cheap since they realise the cost will otherwise be a massive drain on resources for years. In 10 years' time Arsenal will be laughing as Mansour/Abramovich etc. swan off and leave their clubs screwed while our debts are paid off and all profits go towards the team. Perhaps it's time for some of you to sell your season tickets so we can get some people into the Emirates that might support the team instead of practising their ability to tut, moan, buy overpriced food and drink and leave early.

  6. nugs

    Feb 02, 2011, 0:28 #1441

    jj seeing as we are one of the top 3 richest clubs in world football explain how spending 15mill on a decent cb would see us debt ridden like chelski

  7. Pete

    Feb 01, 2011, 23:37 #1439

    This is madness. Djourou and Koscielny are looking better and better. Very few goals conceded in recent games with them in the team. The confidence has also spread to the full-backs with Sagna and Clichy back to their best after iffy spells. Vermaelen, the best of all, will be back soon. Therefore the underwhelming Squillaci will be 4th choice. Nevertheless, he is not that bad a 4th choice! And Song, who I think is an excellent centre back, for emergencies. What is the point of spending a huge amount of money as INJURY COVER for JUST 4 WEEKS!!!? When you have to pay big money for 4 YEARS... Additionally, defence is all about organisation and communication. Bedding in a new player at centre back is not easy mid-season.

  8. Simon Fry

    Feb 01, 2011, 22:32 #1436

    Yes, we need cover in certain areas. But the Goalkeeping situation has improved dramatically, Djourou has improved beyond belief and Wilshere has been a revelation. All a bit unexpected. Watching Liverpool spend a £35 m on potential, Villa £24 M on a proven failure, Chelski £50 m on a player who is injury prone, sulks, had a terrible World Cup and poor season to date. I can honestly say i am pleased we didnt trade in this market!!! Yes we may fail and yes we may get injuries..... But - We have the team that can win this league so lets get our heads down and support them!!!

  9. chrisy boy

    Feb 01, 2011, 17:49 #1434

    reading all of your views it seems we are split 50/50 on this one. I can also see both sides yes i do think the squad needs stengthining, and no i wouldnt pay 18 million for cahill, any players we do bring in this summer need to be winners, players who have done it and been there, yes they may cost more than the 18 million for cahill or the possible 24 million for darren bent but what has either player ever won ! Add 2 or 3 of these players to nasri, cesc, jack, theo, rvp, ramsey, song and chesney then we have a squad that will not only challenge man utd but also barca etc. So ask yourself do u want a cahill or bent now or do we wait 6 months and go for gold.

  10. AvenellRd

    Feb 01, 2011, 17:43 #1433

    It's very simple - Arsenal are 8 points ahead od Scum, top 4 finish seems certain, therefore Wenger didn't buy anyone. When ManUre celebrates record 19th title in may, perhaps unbeaten, will AW come out and say top 4 finish is just like winning a trophy? I can't wait for him to leave, even if it means finishing 10th for next 5 seasons, as his refusal to seriously challenge for title is deeply offensive to Arsenal supporters who are paying highest priced football tickets in the world.

  11. tpm

    Feb 01, 2011, 17:27 #1432

    take it to extremes all the akbs do don't they...all we have wanted is a decent centre back or two to address the obvious problems we have had since sol left first time around. vermalean was one. but there is no cover at all of quality. we dont want 30million spent every year but we want some investment in the team. at the moment there is a tiny net investment and has been for 5 years. don't use kos as an example, what top clubs signs a player to learn on the job as a first choice....only us. we almost signed jagilika, a proven PL centre half, a couple of seasons back for not silly money, cahill could have easily been obtained for reasonable money, if we'd thrown them some loan players. the main problem i have is that the akbs, augustus ceasar a prime example, simply cant see what the media, other clubs fans, any sane person can see, and has seen for the past 5 years....ie that nothing has been done to address the KNOWN weaknesses in the side that have existed during this period. risk losing djorru and kos, admittedly djo hes done ok, but hes injury prone, kos has at times looked awful and should be 4th choice based on his experience and performances thus far. how people can deny this team needs investment beggars belief. still im sure youll be happy with the carling cup come may when we have yet again failed to take advantage of the prime position we were in Jan, because of not signing a couple of players who could strengthen us. still it will be the same old excuses as the last 5 years.

  12. Shheriff

    Feb 01, 2011, 17:06 #1430

    @JJ, AKBs like you pisses me off time and time again!! When are you going to see the light?? Arsene's failure is always someone elses fault!! WHICH CB are out there?? One player we misssd out there?? January is hard to find a player? Please Im tired of the Excuse..Do you think any top 6 in the preniership would loan u there Defender? La Liga, leaves Barca, Valencia and Real but we cant afford to pay their wages, Italy, same we cant afford to pay their wages..France? we already got a few poor ones from their...So the only option is to pay if £18M for Cahill or watever and if Vermaleen come back we have 5, then we can send KOS onloan for a year....SIMPLES.. But people like you are forever coming up with bloody excuses like if we bought a £20M defender ARSENAL would go broke, Im sorry to dissapint u BUT NO, we wont go broke, the only problem is Arsenal would win trophies and everyone who's said Arsenal needed a proper CB would be right and that would hurt Wenger's Ego becus hes stubborn and wants to show the world project Youth or watever works

  13. EborGooner

    Feb 01, 2011, 17:04 #1429

    Given the Verminator's return, Djoure's emergence and Kosckielney's improvements I agree it would be madness to spend big on Centre Half cover. I'm more worried about our injuries. Sure every team gets injuries but we seem to get more than our fair share of strains and pulls (Cesc and Sami BOTH have had hamstring problems recently) as opposed to contact injuries. Are the players stretching, training and warming up and down properly?

  14. tomstoned

    Feb 01, 2011, 15:27 #1425

    anyone surprised... you really shouldnt be..we have world class players all around..Almunia is back..Squillaci is superb...Denilson the new wonder...Bendtner have proven jus how terrific he is..Eboue..great..and just remember we have Wermy back soon ..he shouldnt need more than a couple of days before he is back to super form..ha hasnt been out too long.. and the best part is...we have loads of money to invest in the team...sorry just kidding of course we wont..no proud financial institution like The Mighty Arsenal would do that..im happy with the Board always on the look out for a sound investment..we are all about property and heey and behold..growing tomatoes up Kentish Country... the future looks great...if just we could up the ticket prices a bit..but then again Hill-Wood promised just that.. great i love being a Gooner and being ripped off..lied too..and in general being treated like s**t

  15. Ian McCarthy

    Feb 01, 2011, 15:12 #1423

    Agree entirely but its the same old same old with AW. We've seen our seasons capitulate from Feb for the last 4 and worried it will happen again as squad players just aren't good enough. TV will only return early March if that and as we know with our injuries there is always a setback. Sometimes I feel that our fans aren't always being told the truth.

  16. JAmes

    Feb 01, 2011, 15:00 #1422

    Did the author even watch the game? Squillaci obstructed the Huddersfield player. He didn't pull him back. As for "In 13 yrs, I still cannot point at any decent CB that Arsene has bought" - anyone heard of Vermaelen, Djourou, Toure and Campbell? What the "spend more" idiots fail to understand is that the "cash" in Arsenal's accounts is not "cash to spend on average overpriced defenders like Mertersacker, Cahill, Samba etc.". A lot of that cash has to be siphoned off to pay bondholders and is in a blocked account. Abramovich can just dip into his billions whenever he feels like it. The great news for Arsenal is that we don't have to play Chelsea in the league again (and possibly in the FA Cup), so all it means is Man U (twice) and Man City have to face a strengthened Chelsea team. In any event, this porous defence you are all whinging about has conceded one more, yes one more, goal in the league than the MUFC "invincibles" that the media are creaming themselves over. In case you didn't notice, Man U struggled to beat a team below Huddersfield in the league with 11 men, and lost to the team we just beat in the FA Cup last year. Presumably this means Man U have a useless defence and Ferguson should get his cheque book out immediately. What a joke.

  17. AugustusCaesar

    Feb 01, 2011, 14:45 #1421

    “but we barely have one top class centre back. and he may never even play again, let alone be as good as he was. Arsenal need two new first choice cbs, with djorrou and kos as 4th and 5th choice” Have you been watching any of our games this season? Can you not see how Djourou and Koscienly are getting better all the time and developing in to really good centre backs? 4th and 5th choice?? So we relegate them to the fringes and bring in two older players for big money (to which there is no guarantee they will be a success) and risk losing both Djourou and Koscienly somewhere down the line. And should our expensive centre backs not bear fruit presumably we just keep buying more expensive centre backs until it works out?? While Wenger’s frugality occasionally irks me I find this approach a bit short-sighted and not that sensible.

  18. AugustusCaesar

    Feb 01, 2011, 14:12 #1420

    But yeah, we do look a little stretched right now in terms of numbers at centre back. An injury/suspension to either Kos or Djourou at this stage would be catastrophic. Well, very damaging. Koscienly looks like he's getting better game by game to me. Ditto Djourou. Add Vermaelen to those two and I think you have three very good centre backs personally. Squillaci? Hmmm. I wouldn't shed a tear if he was deemed surplus to requirements in the Summer and we splashed some cash on a Cahill or a Scott Dann or someone.

  19. AugustusCaesar

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:57 #1418

    "In 13 yrs, I still cannot point at any decent CB that Arsene has bought." Kolo Toure and Sol Campbell. Ok, Sol was free but if you mean 'signed' when you say 'bought' there's one. Toure - while I think we were right to let him go when we did was a great player for us for a few years and part of the Invincibles back four alongside Sol. Kolo looks like he's found a bit of form as well just recently, annoyingly.

  20. NorthBankJay

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:37 #1417

    You lot are a disgrace, Djourou and Kos have been solid and Verminator is on his way back. Did you not notice that the teams buying last night are the same teams that are struggling! Liverpool will be lucky to get into the UEFA Cup and Chelsea will struggle to get in the top four. Is it not funny how the only teams that didn't buy are the Mancs and us and maybe you should have a look at the league table! We are still in three cups as well you mugs. Stop being so negative and get behind the team. Agree Squillaci is dog shit and Lansbury needs to take Denilson's place. Come on you Gooners

  21. JJ

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:32 #1415

    Who would you have signed then??? Sick of you idiots, banging on about not signing a CB. Do you think Gary Cahill would have come cheap? Name me one player we missed out on in the window?? If there is one manager you want in charge of your transfer kitty its AW. If you want gala signings and then a club in debt go and support chelski or spuds! If this window has taught us 1 thing its that the transfer window is a sellers market, why should we sign a player with a massively inflated transfer fee just to appease the ignorant fans! And its not a case of AKB, its pragmatism and a does of reality.....too many 'fan's get caught up in this media frenzy, it is the pure ignorance of some fans who support our great club that astound me!

  22. beck

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:31 #1414

    not brought a decent centre back in 13 years? sol campbell and kolo toure was a very good conversion

  23. nugs

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:22 #1413

    totally agree, oc theres plenty of centre backs out there better then what weve got! wake up man

  24. tpm

    Feb 01, 2011, 13:02 #1411

    oliver chessis, but we barely have one top class centre back. and he may never even play again, let alone be as good as he was. Arsenal need two new first choice cbs, with djorrou and kos as 4th and 5th choice

  25. Dave

    Feb 01, 2011, 12:45 #1409

    Looking at the vastly inflated fees that have been paid over the last week, starting with Darren Bent (Steve Bruce must be kicking himself now), I can see why Wenger didn't want to buy. Given a half decent CB cost Chelsea £21m last night, how much would Cahill, Mertsecker etc have cost. I do agree we looked vastly overstretched in the squad, especially given as now the fixtures will pile up, and we will be playing 2 games a week for the foreseable future. He must have more than 1 contingency plan in place - lets see how he gets on. Come May and the trophy cabinet is empty again, then I think we have every right to demand why business wasn't conducted at the start of the window....

  26. Dennis Wheatley

    Feb 01, 2011, 12:42 #1408

    I totally agree with your comments. AW has plenty of cash to spend in a season where we well placed to win a trophy or four ! How on earth can he possibly defend his actions in relying upon an inept second rate central defence which has suffered repeatedly in January against Leeds,Ipswich and Huddersfield .Any other reputable manager in his position would have gone all-out to replace the problem in a timely manner NOT within hours of the "window closing"

  27. Oliver Chessis

    Feb 01, 2011, 12:41 #1407

    And what top class centre back was Wenger meant to get on the premise that "you MAY play if our players get injured, otherwise you are 4th choice"? PLEASE PLEASE name me one club with 4 top class centre backs. Most don't have two!

  28. Stumpy

    Feb 01, 2011, 12:40 #1406

    Could not agree more, what these players are showing Wenger on the training ground I expect is totally different to that which they show on the pitch. We know who is good enough to wear the shirt and those that are not. I have followed this club for over 40 years and always will, but at times when I see players not giving their all and playing with the same passion and pride that I have I feel gutted. Why can the boss not see what we do every game with certain players, the only thing we can hope for is that come summer we have a good look at ourselves and get rid of those not good enough and reinforce those that are with players that do want to play for the club with the passion we all have.

  29. bobdenjy

    Feb 01, 2011, 12:36 #1404

    I think you have hit the nail right on the head. It is blatantly obvious that we are short at the back and that we do need additional cover. In 13 yrs, I still cannot point at any decent CB that Arsene has bought. What's his problem this time that the frailties at the back have been constantly exposed and to think this is our best chance of putting a trophy in the cabinet. Well, if at the end of the season[God forbid}, we find the cabinet bare again, only one person should get the blame and we kow who- AW. Even the 'livers' have made a tidy profit of £30m odd pounds on a player they bought barely 4 yrs ago and who is not even in great form and has been dogged with injuries. It only confirms that not all big money buys ends up not being shrewd buys. I shudder to think however how much Arshavin would fetch now and we all know the peanuts we got for Reyes. So, it seems the magic touch has deserted our prof!