Football

Our defence is shit though.

Ole Gunnar sacked in the morning

I just hope the Arsenal board watched what happened at Old Trafford last summer and learnt a few lessons.

I'm not sure that there's any lesson there, apart from that it's really difficult to replace any manager that has been at a club for 10 years or more.

No way that's absurd.

If Arsenal wanted him, I doubt there would be many better offers. Wenger is one of the highest paid managers in world football at a club with significant cash reserves.

so liverpool leading the way in europe
as usual

It is probably paper BS but apparantly we are looking at Lugano and Yobo to solve our defensive frailties...ffs

Saw that this morning, if true, that is fucking astonishing. Al that cash swilling around and you are fishing for scraps. Comical.

yobo ... where the hell is pisti

Sums up their transfer policy rather accurately.

Yep read that this morning, nearly choked on my cereal.

Isn't there a youth player they could use rather than panic sign someone?

Clearly Wenger doesnt trust any of the youth. Sign of how bad the scouts/training facilities/youth coach are?

Remind me who we signed Gibbs & Wilshere from?

*Current crop.

Isaac Hayden, Tafari Moore, Semi Ajayi and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill are the regular defenders in the reserves but I would say only Hayden and Ajayi are CB's and neither is ready for first team football. We shipped out Vermaelen and Miquel and while the latter wasn't up to starting, he at least offered cover. We got a good price for Vermaelen but didn't re-invest that money.

Manolas, Medel, De Vrij, Vlaar, Benatia, Caulker, Reid all could have been signed with relative ease early in the window. We left it till the last minute, shat our pants and signed nobody.

I think that there are very few teams in the top 6 who have any players in their reserves who could step up to first team duty. Blacket at United and Stones at Tottenham have shown there are players but most CB cover is bought in.

Might I remind you that Man U paid £16m for Marcos Rojo and £30m for Luke Shaw. I don't see United solving their CB crisis either.

Can I remind you of your £90m spend on the square root of fuck all.

Centrebacks were over priced in the last window. Arsenal should have been looking at someone like Diego Godin.

Godin has a 36m Euro release clause, so would've been a significant outlay. His defensive partnership with Miranda is the foundation of Simeone's Atletico team.

Manolas left Olympiakos for £8m and Medel for the same price.

There were plenty of good covering options out there for less than the £17m received for Miquel and Vermaelen.

Bayern have one of the best defences and best midfield in the world yet they still added Benatia as cover at CB and Xabi Alonso as cover in CDM. Arsenal have neither a worldclass CM or CB and added nobody.

And Varane has signed a new 6-year contract. Which should stave off interest from potential suitors for a while

How about even buy a world class defender that could replace Mert maybe?

Glowing piece about Hamlet's manager Gavin Rose here

"Hidden away in a leafy borough of South London, Dulwich Hamlet have been making waves in non-league football this season. Enjoyable, attractive, attacking football has put the club and its feverish supporters on the cusp of a second consecutive promotion, this time to the Conference South – almost unprecedented in the club’s proud history.

Gavin Rose is coming towards the conclusion of his fifth season at Champion Hill, and barring any last-minute changes he will end it as one of only seven black managers in the top eight divisions of English football. The other six are, like the 37-year-old from Peckham, managing in non-league football."

http://sackpardew.com/