The one thing that could stop this team seriously are injuries. Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta and Pique have to stay healthy...not to mention "The Football God".
I doubt we'll go unbeaten I hope so though so I can throw at my mandriles friends faces( I got a bunch of those). Madrid has a great team as well so those 2 games should be close and everyone once in a while that team seems to relax too much it happened last year against Hercules and Real Sociedad
Defender 1: Pedro and Cesc are out? Defender 2: Yeah, Xavi and Villa are in. Defender 1: FML. ----------------------------- Game over. I think 5-0 against Villareal > 6-0 against Zaragoza.
Trade deadline madness. Seems like Sunday's humiliation may have been a blessing in disguise for Arsenal -- just snatched two quality defenders in Santos and Mertesacker. Now we need a couple of midfielders -- git'er done Wenger!
Andre Santos is not quality man. I mean he's better than what they have at full back but he's not special. Mertesacker on the other hand... I'm guessing you're an Arsenal fan right? You need midfielders but I figure you guys would also be hoping AW goes after a legit center forward as well. I would cringe if I had to see Bendtner as the option off the bench.
I think they adressed many areas of need after the departure of cesc and nasri. Gervinho is a direct replacement for nasri, and while you can never have a direct replacement for cesc we signed two proven epl players that can hold the line until we can sign hazard or goetze in the next couple years. Also mertesacker is a QUALITY signing and for 6 million and imo is a waaaay better player than gary cahill and jagielka both of whom we were linked with and bid for around 12 million.
He is at least an improvement over Clichy. The back line has gotten significantly better than it was last season -- Merte + Vermalaen + Santos + Sagna instead of the continual comedy of errors between Squillacci, Djourou et al. And Bendtner is gone - he says he'll never come back. Feeling's mutual, Nick. We are all relieved to know you will never be donning red and white again, ever. Arteta was a great signing under the circumstances. He's obviously no Cesc replacement but he is solid and experienced, and he should partner well with Wilshere. And what do you mean CF? RVP is pretty much the best CF in England, when he's healthy ... and in any case, we have a good backup now in Park. I would have loved to see one additional defensive midfield signing -- I hate the way our guys get pushed around especially when Song is not on the field. But this ... all this ... this is good.
our cf trio of gervinho rvp and walcott is pretty good also we can put oxlade-chamberlain and miyaichi or chu young or santos out on the wings and push either gervinho or walcott or arshavin forward
The only team that I think won the Transfer window with smart signings are QPR. I wish I could watch their games more often if at all.
True that Santos is a better player than Clichy. Offensively it's a big difference, diffensively I might go Clichy over him. Either way I'm liking the Gunners backline right now. Merte was a fantastic signing and I think it speaks volumes how he cost less than Cahill would have cost. (F U Owen Coyle and every English Club that overvalues English players! ). I love the Arteta and Benayoun signings. I've been a big Arteta fan since the Rangers days and I think he's been underrated the entire time he's been at Everton. (His wife is equally underrated as a WAG. Damn she's fine). Now we'll see what he's about under the Emirates lights. Where I have to wonder though is it seems you're quite content at CF. First off, come on now bruv, don't say stuff like RVP is the best CF in England when healthy. That's not right. He's one of the best but come on.:grin: Anyway, key word was when healthy and WE KNOW there will come a time this season when he gets an injury setback (not too major as to keep him out the entire season but major enough for him to miss a fair bit of action). If you're relying on the new boy(fresh from a decent stint in ligue 1) Park as your main backup off the bench, I don't know. Granted Chamakh is still there(I've been a fan of his and I still hope things turn around for him at Arsenal) but you guys need AW to buy another striker in the Winter window if Chamakh stays rooted to the bench and Park takes a while to adjust like sometimes happens to foreign players. (Dzeko last season was a good example-even though he only had half a season to adjust but he was already playing at a much higher level personally than Park when he/Dzeko left Wolfsburg). Despite all that, brighter days appear to be hear for you Gooners. Nice bit of business to end the week in my opinion.