Agree with this - other than Cole, the invincible team were ageing quite quickly and we moved them on at a good time. Where we messed up was in not recruiting well post 2009.
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Arteta and Edu Transfer Targets: Summer 2020
- Thread starter DanDare
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Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
Think it was more a case of not replacing the Invincibles well enough, than we messed up not keeping them, most were approaching the end when we sold them anyway.
Almunia for Lehmann, Gallas for Campbell and no quality DM to replace Gilberto were the real mistakes.
Almunia for Lehmann, Gallas for Campbell and no quality DM to replace Gilberto were the real mistakes.
Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
Anyone else feel we should have taken a big cash fee for Cole and bought Woodgate instead of Gallas?
Think he would have went well with Kolo at the time.
Think he would have went well with Kolo at the time.
benjamin86
Established Member
Campbell when he resigned for us was good and i think we should have kept Gilberto and Pires in the squad. Maybe they wouldn't have started (silva probably would have) but they would have been great voices in the dressing room.
Mitch
Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
In hindsight yes. However at the time Gallas was highly rated by everyone and just wanted to force a move out of Chelsea as he wanted to play CB instead of LB. Mourinho actually picked Gallas ahead of Cole in his all time best 11 at LB.
It's really a shame because I feel like the basic idea behind who the club started to bring in post 2010 was the right one.
A lot of the immediate Invincibles successors who hit form, consistency and their mid 20s had left or were leaving by 2010: Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor, Kolo Touré, eventually Fabregas. One or two more seasons from them for Arsenal to get the pieces together and there might have been a league title. A new GK / Sagna Touré Koscielny Clichy / new DMF Fabregas / Hleb Rosicky Nasri / Adebayor or van persie - that's a title winning team. Guys like Ade and Hleb just spent 3 seasons at Arsenal before looking for apparently greener grass but eventually derailing their careers.
Anyway. After around 2010 because of those players leaving, the team was littered with inexperienced U23 players: Walcott, Vela, Ramsey, Wilshere, Nasri, Song, Denilson, Bendtner, Szczesny, Djourou, Gibbs, Cesc. There weren't many "peak" players left and e.g. with van persie, Arshavin, Diaby, Rosicky among them not the most, let's say robust guys who'd get you through a season.
The idea to add a bit more consistency and experience to this overall young team was the right one, as it had just lost exactly that over the last 2 seasons: Consistent performers in their mid to late 20s. It just backfired because absolute dross was signed in the following years while the club seemingly got deeper into this sell to buy lockdown before "the shackles came off" in 2015, iirc. The emergence of City who poached Ade, Kolo, Clichy and Nasri in short order and other super pumped up clubs didn't help either, I guess. It was also ridiculous how the money was being diverted: Instead of investing the van persie money + some in one top striker, it got the club Giroud and podolski; possibly because the club also failed to offload failed players like Chamakh, Arshavin, Bendtner fast enough.
Country: Wales
I have a personal loathing of Gallas but I honestly believe that making him captain was where things spiralled out of control.
I remember reading at the time players would complain about the Francophone influence at the club with him as the ringleader.
Look at this video here. He just looks such a d*ckhead when the camera keeps cutting to him. Imagine if you’re Kolo or Jens, going from Vieira as captain to this w*nker.
After the whole Birmingham fiasco should’ve been sold as soon as possible, but he was allowed to poison the club even more and the next summer Kolo hated him so much he told Wenger “either he goes or I do.”
Of course the club chose Gallas who then went on to join Sp*rs the next year. F*ck knows what his final year was like, Nasri refused to shake his hand the first time we played them afterwards.
I mean what the f*ck was going on
Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
I have a personal loathing of Gallas but I honestly believe that making him captain was where things spiralled out of control.
I remember reading at the time players would complain about the Francophone influence at the club with him as the ringleader.
Look at this video here. He just looks such a d*ckhead when the camera keeps cutting to him. Imagine if you’re Kolo or Jens, going from Vieira as captain to this w*nker.
After the whole Birmingham fiasco should’ve been sold as soon as possible, but he was allowed to poison the club even more and the next summer Kolo hated him so much he told Wenger “either he goes or I do.”
Of course the club chose Gallas who then went on to join Sp*rs the next year. F*ck knows what his final year was like, Nasri refused to shake his hand the first time we played them afterwards.
I mean what the f*ck was going on
Remember when he gave an on camera team talk when we were playing Chelsea, and you could just tell everyone hated him by how they were looking at him...will never understand why Arsène picked up as captain, you have Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann and Kolo Toure, Arsenal Invincibles...and you give it to the nutter, with the only person who liked him having just been sold to Barcelona...and let's also give him Bergkamp's number for extra bantz
Think we needed some British characters in that time, think Given and Woodgate would have been great additions on and off the pitch at the time...2008 is where **** started to really turn for the club.
Was Rockstar by NERD briefly playing during that crossbar challenge, swear I could hear it for a bit
Country: Wales
Remember when he gave an on camera team talk when we were playing Chelsea, and you could just tell everyone hated him by how they were looking at him...will never understand why Arsène picked up as captain, you have Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann and Kolo Toure, Arsenal Invincibles...and you give it to the nutter, with the only person who liked him having just been sold to Barcelona...and let's also give him Bergkamp's number for extra bantz
Think we needed some British characters in that time, think Given and Woodgate would have been great additions on and off the pitch at the time...2008 is where **** started to really turn for the club.
Was Rockstar by NERD briefly playing during that crossbar challenge, swear I could hear it for a bit
Ah yeah the game where we choked away a 1 goal lead to Drogba. Great times.
I’ll be honest the whole potential Woodgate transfer never sat right with me. Him and Bowyer got off really easy with what they did, also Leeds pressuring Michael Duberry to be a character witness was disgusting.
Yeah think it was Rockstar. Also heard these two as well. Great selection of old tunes.
Slightly disagree on Chamakh, he faded badly but at the start he slotted in so well that there was even a debate as to whether RVP could get back into the side:
https://www.arsenal-mania.com/forum/threads/whos-first-choice-striker-now.24210/
Shalmaneser V
Active Member
Just hearing that Adil Aouchiche(CAM) and Tanguy Kouassi(CB) are both free agents in the summer with PSG willing to let them walk away. If that’s the case we should be all over that before some sneaky Bundesliga club snaps them up and turns another tidy profit.
Country: Wales
I remember watching the games as this was pre-AM for me and he missed so many easy chances from almost day one. Remember him missing an open goal against Blackpool in his first game.
He’s another one who benefitted from playing with prime Fabregas, Arshavin and Nasri.
As a signing looking back it was questionable because he wasn’t exactly banging them in for Bordeaux. This is when moving for Cavani or Lewandowski would probably have cost about 5M.
Mitch
Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
Chamakh was never a big goal scorer but known for very good link up and hold up play and formed a good partnership with Gourcuff. Chamakh was very good for a successful Bordeaux team which won 5 torphies in his last 4 years with the club. Chamakah in his last season won Bordeaux's player of the season having notably scored against Bayern and Juventus in the CL. Bordeaux turned down a £18m bid from West Ham for him the season prior, so at the time getting on a free transfer appeared to be a coup.
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SingmeasongSong
Right Sometimes
So close...
...look at that team, so close...
Of course this team was tier1, but we are talking about a club's stature.
You got to harden your place at the football olymp. Real and Barca can live off their name to begin with - they call a player, he'll most certainly come.
Country: Wales
So is it controversial to say Chamakh was a flop then? After about half a season he was barely a rotation player for us.
Made eleven appearances the next year and was then farmed out to Palace on loan.
Country: Wales
They literally nearly mudered an Asian student if I remember correctly, footballers eh...his debut for Madrid was hilarious, they sign him injured for a season, they he scores an own goal and gets sent off on his first game next year
It’s hilarious how short our 07/08 team was, especially for the English league...imagine if we could have had peak Per in that side with Toure or even Sol at a very good level...would have made such a difference to the team.
Nah it was GBH but they really f*cked him up iirc.
Their whole defence seemed to rest on the fact that there was five of them doing the beating and they couldn’t tell who’d done what as if that’s any better
Dutch D
Well-Known Member & FPL Champion 19/20
This Kouassi kid is quite good, right? Even made some minutes in the first team at 17. We obviously need more established players at CB, but on a free and with an immediate loan could be a smart medium term pick-up. Don't know this Adil. Would be a Chelsea-esque strategy to pick him up as well though.
Aouchiche is brilliant. Watched him for France u17 and he was impactful every time he got on the ball. Hed be a good pickup although we have a few good AMs already, he could be top class.
Shalmaneser V
Active Member
Yeah that should be the plan. Get them for nothing now, tie them down and send them on loan to a mid-table German, Dutch, French or maybe even a championship club to get minutes. If they don’t amount to much at worst we’ll turn a small profit when we move them on. If they get near their maximum capacity then we potentially have two top ballers on our hands. It’s a win win situation. They may even sign new deals you never know.
Personally I see them both making good careers, they have the talent. Two of the biggest prospects in Europe for their age group and positions. Surprised PSG are letting them go without a fight.
Unfortunately we’re usually not proactive and forward thinking enough to make these kinds of deals.
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truth_hurts
but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
No the players in that 07/08 squad only had 2 pairs of bollocks between them and that was Gallas and Cesc.
Drawing that game vs 10 man Birmingham aet out club back a decade. Will never forgive Clichy for that.
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