The last time Arsene had to rush-buy backup for the DM position, he setup a loan for an injured Kim Kallstrom.
sachmoney said:Obviously, adding a world class striker (should we just start saying Benzema now since he seems like the obvious target) would certainly improve Arsenal's chances of winning the league and make them a possible favorite. However, I think that we should not discount how much of a difference a healthy Theo or Ox or both would make. They're easily capable of contributing 15-20 goals and the team may score more resulting from how much their pace changes games. I am by no means claiming that Arsenal will win the title if this happens, but I do think that the odds are much more favorable than people may think.
Not each. Total.coremiller said:
Lol, wut? Walcott, maybe (although he's already 26, plays a game heavily dependent on pace, is recovering from an ACL tear, and has scored more than 9 league goals in a season exactly once, when he got 14). Oxlaide-Chamberlain has 6 goals in 78 career league appearances. He started 17 games last year and scored one goal. Yes, he's still young and developing and blah blah blah, but just because he scored a nice goal yesterday doesn't mean you can just write him in for what would be a top striker's return. The odds are heavily against him turning into Eden Hazard.
sachmoney said:Not each. Total.
Where did I say I was counting on it?teddykgb said:
It was still an incredibly optimistic assessment. Which is fine, this is the time of year to be overly bullish. Surely you recognize that having those guys actually on the pitch contributing has been one of the major issues at Arsenal the last few years. Counting on it at this point is kind of silly.
sachmoney said:However, I think that we should not discount how much of a difference a healthy Theo or Ox or both would make. They're easily capable of contributing 15-20 goals and the team may score more resulting from how much their pace changes games.
sachmoney said:What is wrong with you?
blueguitar322 said:The last time Arsene had to rush-buy backup for the DM position, he setup a loan for an injured Kim Kallstrom.
Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:A backup DM would improve the team but there's no way its as valuable as potentially bringing in a world class first XI attacking player like Benzema.
People really exaggerate the importance of the backup DM issue. Its a spot we can and should improve but the idea that the entire team will instantly fall apart if we lose Coquelin for a few games is not realistic.
I think we would ideally buy a backup DM as well, preferably a young athletic type that could offer a facsimile of what Coquelin brings to the table. But having less than stellar backups at some positions is routine, even for top clubs. City's backup DM is Fernando, who sucks. Chelsea's backup DM is Mikel, who is pretty medicore, and they have absolutely nobody who can provide what Fabregas brings at the other CM spot if Cesc gets hurt. United now went and bought a bunch of midfielders but they went through last year with Blind as backup DM, who also sucks. Even Real Madrid played Sergio Ramos at DM when Modric went down last spring because Ancellotti had no faith in Illara.ConigliarosPotential said:I think saying "the entire team will instantly fall apart if we lose Coquelin for a few games" exaggerates the response to the importance of the backup DM issue. But what if Coquelin misses a few months and not just a few games? What if he's forced to play in virtually every match and is in the proverbial red zone by Christmas? Or what if his form is generally worse this year than it was last year, just like Ramsey's was after his incredible 13/14 season? The team only started to hum in the second half of last season after Coquelin moved into the middle of the park and stayed there. You take him out, and when Arsenal is playing a tough away fixture in the Premiership or the Champions League and needs a water carrier to do the dirty work, who is going to do that - Arteta? Flamini? Chambers or some other youth team project like Bielik? No, you're left with square pegs in round holes and a top-heavy shape which didn't work very well very often last year. I think the shiny glow of Arsenal's performance toward the end of the Premiership campaign has made some people forget just how bad Arsenal looked at times throughout the first half of the season.
Arsenal's squad is now deep enough to have quality layers of redundancy built in at every other position except DM. Even up front, Giroud, Welbeck and Walcott between them offer different looks against different opponents, and usually only one of them will be needed at a time anyway (unless Walcott is on the wing, of course); Benzema is effectively the shiny new toy everyone wants for Christmas, but at this point he's a luxury item, and figuring out how to properly incorporate him alongside the rest of the team without completely freezing out Giroud and/or Welbeck will also take time. (I also happen to think that the stability of our current group of attackers will itself yield benefits that we might lose if Benzema arrives.) I'd love to have these problems to worry about, of course, but I'm still more worried at present about losing matches 3-2 than 1-0..
To be fair, I'm willing to believe that Cech's presence will help solidify the defense in front of him, and particularly with Gabriel more integrated into the CB rotation, that may in turn help solidify the midfield even if Coquelin is absent. And the early returns from our three prestige friendlies (Lyon, Wolfsburg and Chelsea) are very positive, not that I'd read too much into them just yet. So maybe all of this worrying and wittering is meaningless. But it's precisely because Arsenal seems so close to being a real title contender again, and possibly even a Champions League contender as well, that this one gap feels so important to me...and it feels like we're all being asked to trust the form and fitness of Francis Coquelin far more than we ought to.
I should have specified that I meant in total, but both of them jumped the gun rather than asking for clarification.DLew On Roids said:Most of your fellow English-speakers will look at that or and think you're splitting the two and saying each could score 15-20 goals if healthy. But why go back and be thoughtful when you can dismiss teddy like he's being stupid?
Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:https://twitter.com/mrjakehumphrey/status/629724235196448768
"A source who is rarely wrong told me that Arsenal are close to the signing that would make them genuine contenders. We shall see..."
This the most legit link yet IMO. This guy is the presenter for BT sports football coverage and not somebody who normally traffics in transfer gossip.
I don't know what to believe but I want to believe.
Well, I do believe that. But I 'd need fewer drinks to convince myself if we got Benzema.soxfan121 said:
I'm confused. I've read this thread and y'all seem to think they are "genuine contenders" as-is...correct?
Well, at least Arsenal's keeper didn't get sent off?mikeford said:Trash. Utterly devoid of any positives.
sachmoney said:This is from Arsenal's Communications Director:
https://twitter.com/MarkG_Arsenal/status/630440766448488448
High on the "take that how you want" because if you actually read the article:Luis Taint said:The Telegraph just posted a story that said we signed Benzema for 48 mil, take that how you want.
"My mate told me that it's done and he's never been wrong."That's according to former player Rodney Marsh, who told talkSPORT that a contact of his, who he claims has never been wrong on such matters, confirmed that Arsenal have made an official approach.
Marsh said: “I had a phone call from a mate of mine, and he’s been right on many things, and he said that he believes Real Madrid have accepted a bid somewhere in the region of £48million for Benzema from Arsenal.
“In the past this guy has always been right, he’s never been wrong yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.”