Arsenal Lobby

Guys i think its fair to say that the majority of the writers working for Goal.com hate our club with spite and passion. Have a look at this
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/07/14/2573122/tough-acts-to-follow-wesley-sneijder-the-top-10-dutchmen-to-have-

So according to them, the likes of Kuyt, VDV , Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Arjen Robben all have had more of an impact than our very own Robin.... I am starting to hate that site more by the minute.

LOLOL I was Thinking the same thing, the guy almost won the scoring race playing half the season.

WTF VDV > Van Persies impact ?


I really feel like I'v grown in knowledge ever since I stopped going to that shite

I haven't see anyone post this before even though it's old so i'm gonna do it. It is pretty funny even if you don't like the guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA-DuGGCf68&feature=related

Sorry i don't know how to embed

bloodless wrote:

Kiwigunner wrote:

bloodless wrote:whats the consensus, will wenger actually keep to his words and agree that the project has failed and buy players this summer?

The project hasn't failed. We've struggled, but we were always going to struggle. We're the team without the financial backing, and thats why we've done badly, not because of our youth policy.

---

On my earlier comment, you couldn't say that nasri would be the difference between us winning something and not winning something - unless he's scoring a lot of goals then he can't possibly be that influential for us.

I'm referring to an interview you must have missed...where wenger said about 2 or 3 years ago that if we don't win anything in 2/3 years he will conceede to the project being a failure and going tou and spending.....ask RG for the interview

@nasri, i thot i was specific...If we get into the CL final and we are loosing 2-0 and nasri singlehandedly brings us back into the game and we go onto win 3-2 with him scoring 2 and assisting the other, then he is worth 30 million plus just for tht game alone....

Thts why its difficult to put a value, if we cant find a player as good or better than him then we have to keep him....

Hmm alright i'll have a look for that interview. I'd say Wenger is stubborn enough to say that he's very close to winning something and just has been unlucky, so he'll keep the current style. Also that idea seems to me like fan service anyway. Fans want to be reassured that either they'll win something or they'll become more agressive in the market.

Haha honestly i dont understand that guy at all... ALso the imbedding link is in the full reply window.

Yeah Goal.com and everyone else in the world hates us. Its funny though. Their rumours are shite and their editorials are biased and stupid.

The only good thing about goal.com was the forums. With the forums moving here, I can't recall the last time I visited their s(h)ite.

^^Haha. Koscielny looks tooo happy! lol

Nasri smiling as well. Interesting.

Also, heres a video of wenger dancing on tour http://bit.ly/r77yik

At 10 years old, Fabregas was the perfect age for Barcelona to “steal” him from CE Mataró (just as Arsenal “stole” him from Barca), even though the lower league team tried everything they could to hide him from Barca’s scouts. Installed into the dubious cult-like atmosphere of La Masia, he grew as a player in the defensive midfield position at first, playing alongside current Barcelona first-team players Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, with Pedro and Sergio Busquets joining the club at a later date, but also around the same age group.

Often referred to as La Masia’s ‘golden generation’, or ‘baby dream team’, the class of 2002 was far superior to their competitors in the youth leagues, often winning matches in spectacular high-figure scorelines. It wasn’t unusual for Fabregas to score and assist countless goals every season, despite his reserved position on the pitch.

Yet, Barcelona did very little to keep Fabregas and Piqué from moving to Arsenal and Manchester United, respectively. Some might argue that Barca couldn’t compete with the money the English clubs could offer the players, or blame the rules in Spain preventing domestic clubs from offering contracts to players under 16. But the simple truth is that Barcelona would have had no problem at all holding on to these players if they really wanted to. How? A simple promise of a fair chance would have sufficed.

What Arsenal did with Fabregas is simple, and it has nothing to do with money; they promised him a fair chance to claim his place in the first team. And keep their promise they did, seeing as he made his first team debut only 40 days after joining the north London club.

If Barcelona really wanted to keep the ‘dream team’ intact, there are no rules preventing Spanish clubs from making a promise. Instead, Fabregas was informed that with players like Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Phillip Cocu filling up the central midfield positions, he would find it hard to get into the first team.

So naturally, being an ambitious and competitive individual, Fabregas opted for the choice that would give him the best chance of first team football at the highest possible level, and the only club fitting this description at the time was Arsenal.

After six years of not winning a single trophy, Barcelona started to form a long-term plan with the arrival of hardcore Catalan nationalist Joan Laporta as president in 2003. The outline was to go back to its “roots”, using the teachings of Johan Cruyff on the pitch, and borderline xenophobic indoctrination behind the scenes.

Former Ajax players like Frank Rijkaard (as manager) and Edgar Davids were brought in to encourage the total football-inspired style Barca so desperately wanted the world to admire them for. At the same time, Catalan youngsters at La Masia were being groomed to fully take over the first team in the future. Temporary world class players like Ronaldinho and Deco were signed for short-term purposes, until homegrown youngsters were ready to take over those positions (in this case Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta).

Similar patterns emerged in recent history with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who spent only a year at the club until Barca could get their hands on David Villa, who was preferred because of his nationality. Dmytro Chygrynskiy was also an expensive temporary signing, but as Gerard Piqué blossomed earlier than expected, the Ukrainian defender had to go back to his original club just 12 months after his dream move.

And so ‘Operation Catalunya’ began in the mid-noughties, echoing the nationalistic approach of Basque-only cantera clubs like Athletic Bilbao or Real Sociedad.

The first step was to bring back the lost generation – the La Masia ‘dream team’. Piqué had also been told he wasn’t wanted, and moved to Manchester United a year after Fabregas signed with Arsenal. He was the first to return through a £5m deal in 2008.

Unlike Piqué, Fabregas was an established first team player at the time ‘Operation Catalunya’ started to gain real momentum. Barcelona enquired about his availability as early as 2007, and as a result of growing noise from the Catalans, Arsène Wenger made Fabregas club captain in 2008, in a strategic move to show how much Arsenal valued their midfield playmaker.

In 2009, ‘Operation Catalunya’ was at full speed, and Fabregas was now viewed as the last remaining puzzle piece of Barcelona’s plans. Arsenal wouldn’t talk to Barcelona about the availability of their captain, so in an attempt to unsettle Fabregas, without blatantly breaking FIFA tapping up rules, the club instructed their players to start talking about Fabregas in the media.

While Barca players were acting as pawns for the boardroom agenda, Joan Laporta was giving another story to the Arsenal board, pretending to have no control of what his players were saying in the media about their old friend. In fact, Laporta was giving the Arsenal board reassurances that Barcelona would leave Fabregas alone, all while instructing his players to ramp up the media tap-up project.

After 6 months of intense media commentary from his employees, Laporta thought he had softened Fabregas enough to test his employers resolve with an insulting €35m bid, which got turned down immediately. Laporta promised the Arsenal board he would respect their position and not come back. But in the shady offices of the Nou Camp, the Barcelona board was furious that Arsenal dared to keep them from what they felt entitled to have.

At this stage, Laporta even started an impressive crusade of unsurpassed hubris, suddenly claiming that the market value of Fabregas was to be set by himself and FC Barcelona – not the club at which he was currently employed. He was also quoted insinuating that it would be in Arsenal’s best interest to sell Fabregas, as if the move would benefit both clubs.

And so here we are today, one year later. Barcelona’s amazing sporting achievements, although tarnished by highly suspicious favouritism from match officials, have only expanded their sense of self-entitlement to what they feel they deserve. Arsenal having the audacity to say no to the Catalan giants is viewed as an insult, and so Barca has decided that it is now a matter of principle that they will get Fabregas for the price they feel is right.

And they will stop at nothing.

@thecatalanconspiracy

wow

Theo Walcott presses his claim to be a central force for Arsenal




At times such as these, when Theo Walcott looks perfectly capable of charming every one of China's 1.3 billion inhabitants, it can appear a trick of the mind that he is still only 22.

The Arsenal player has stolen the show at a series of engagements on the club's Asia tour, his poise, humour and warmth helping to generate a trail of hysteria. He has a line for every question. When Jack Wilshere was asked to describe his childhood dream at a Q&A event here, Walcott interrupted to quip that his team‑mate was "still a child".

Sometimes, Walcott does not have to say anything. After one of the thousands of Arsenal-shirted local supporters yelled at him "You're a Tiger," a reference to his boyhood nickname – they know their stuff here – he gave a pretend swipe of a paw. His colleagues alongside him, in particular Wojciech Szczesny and Wilshere, would have killed him for that. The fans simply went nuts.

Walcott has crammed a lot into his tender years. A World Cup call-up at 17; a World Cup rejection at 21. He has had the big-money move, played on the grand stages and lived under a blazing spotlight. But now, he feels that he is at a crossroads. He is convinced that the time has come for Arsène Wenger to move him in from the wing and play him as a central striker.

It was the career path that Thierry Henry followed, under Wenger's guidance, and the strength of feeling in Walcott's plea to the manager betrayed a certain impatience. It is not in Walcott's nature to be outspoken.

"I was signed as a striker and I want to play up front," he said. "I think I have done my trade out on the wing. I think a lot of people forget that I'm not a winger. I see myself as a striker, although if I get played up front, it will take me a few games to get used to playing there again because I haven't played there for about five years now. I think I have done a fairly good job on the wing for Arsenal and I will play anywhere for this team but, hopefully, the fans will start seeing me a bit more up front."

Walcott will wait with bated breath on Wenger's transfer market moves. The club have already signed Gervinho from Lille and Wenger said that the Ivory Coast forward reminded him of Henry and Walcott, in terms of his pace, movement and finishing. Gervinho is known primarily for playing on either flank but he can operate through the middle.

Wenger is rarely short of players who think that they would excel up front, ideally in a roaming role behind the centre-forward. There is an argument that says Robin van Persie, Wenger's first-choice No9, is more of a No10 while Samir Nasri, Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky and Abou Diaby would each love to make the role their own. And, for the moment at least, there is still Cesc Fábregas.

Walcott played on the right flank in Wednesday's 4-0 friendly win over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur – he scored the team's second goal – and in a 4-1-4-1 formation, Wenger started with Wilshere and Ramsey in the advanced central roles and, later, Rosicky and Nasri. Walcott has to hope that it was not a sign of things to come and, realistically, he needs Wenger to put his faith in the 4-2-3-1 system that he employed for the bulk of last season.

"I'm upbeat about the new season," Walcott said. "It will be interesting to see which players come in and what I get out of the pre-season matches, not just me but the whole squad ... how we play together, and if the boss is going to change anything like formations or anything like that."

Walcott enjoyed what was comfortably his most prolific season last time out, with 13 goals in all competitions, and he missed 13 weeks through injury. He has not been afraid to set himself a bold target for the upcoming campaign. "Fifteen to 20 goals is my target," he said. "If I have a whole season without injuries, I will be flying."

Walcott, though, does not want to look too far ahead. The European Championship looms at the end of the season and it is fair to say that major international tournaments have not been kind to him.

"I want to concentrate on Arsenal and just try to win something for Arsenal first," he said. "It's important to have a starting place consistently for the whole year and then look forward to the summer [with England]. Maybe a couple of years ago, I looked at that like I was going [to the World Cup] and it didn't happen so I don't want to be looking too far ahead and getting disappointed at the end of it."

For his next trick, Walcott will play against Hangzhou Greentown in Yiwu City on Saturday night and, doubtless, thrill the crowd and the large television audience across China. Arsenal's players will have the names on the back of their shirts in Mandarin.

Walcott has not been the only one to cause a frenzy on this tour. Far from it. Van Persie and Wilshere are hugely popular and so is Nasri, although he has not done any public relations. A highlight here was the chopstick challenge that Van Persie, together with Rosicky, Thomas Vermaelen and Kieran Gibbs, took part in before 600 screaming supporters at the team hotel.

Walcott, though, has taken centre stage. He hopes to do likewise on the field.

Guardian

"...I think I have done a fairly good job on the wing for Arsenal and I will play anywhere for this team but, hopefully, the fans will start seeing me a bit more up front."

this guy is soo humble... I really hope he ends up retiring as a club legend. There is no reason why cannot be amongst teh all time greats.

lol theo stealing the show, huh?


it's still amazing the fact that he's still only 22

Arsenalfaithfull wrote:Guys i think its fair to say that the majority of the writers working for Goal.com hate our club with spite and passion. Have a look at this
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/07/14/2573122/tough-acts-to-follow-wesley-sneijder-the-top-10-dutchmen-to-have-

So according to them, the likes of Kuyt, VDV , Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Arjen Robben all have had more of an impact than our very own Robin.... I am starting to hate that site more by the minute.

what a joke goal is for not including RVP, on the other hand many former Arsenal players were on that list

RAPTORGUNNER, JUST AS I GET THROUGH BLOCKING THE IMAGES IN YOUR SIGNATURE, YOU GO AND CHANGE THEM =='

Slightly more child-friendly please :3

beatrixasdfghjk. wrote:RAPTORGUNNER, JUST AS I GET THROUGH BLOCKING THE IMAGES IN YOUR SIGNATURE, YOU GO AND CHANGE THEM =='

Slightly more child-friendly please :3

:lol!:

You scored 4 against Malaysia....we scored 6

Sepi wrote:You scored 4 against Malaysia....we scored 6

you forgot to say they score 3 against you.

Arsène Wenger: Manchester City's Roberto Mancini is 'out of order'

"This comment is out of order," Wenger said, before addressing the issue of its disrespect. "I cannot say otherwise. These comments are not allowed. They are against the basic rules of football and he should be informed [of that].

"I don't know what should be done. I don't spend my time worrying about what other people say because we are focused on our game. But what we want is respect and we don't make these comments about players who are under contract at other clubs. It's time football in England came back to these basic rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjN9UhJ3Tw&feature=feedu

Raptorgunner wrote:Arsène Wenger: Manchester City's Roberto Mancini is 'out of order'

"This comment is out of order," Wenger said, before addressing the issue of its disrespect. "I cannot say otherwise. These comments are not allowed. They are against the basic rules of football and he should be informed [of that].

"I don't know what should be done. I don't spend my time worrying about what other people say because we are focused on our game. But what we want is respect and we don't make these comments about players who are under contract at other clubs. It's time football in England came back to these basic rules.

"I said only that Nasri, (Sergio) Aguero are two good players and I said also that Nasri is under contract with Arsenal," said Mancini. "I don't know why he's upset, but only this.

"Because the question was about some good players, I say that like this. I said also that Nasri is under contract with Arsenal, it's difficult. Only this."

Didn't know where to put this and didn't think it was worth its own thread.. But watching the Brazil Paraguay match, I was wondering.. Will Denilson ever be quality enough for their NT?

also made me wonder how wasted Robinho was at Shitty..

srigooner wrote:Didn't know where to put this and didn't think it was worth its own thread.. But watching the Brazil Paraguay match, I was wondering.. Will Denilson ever be quality enough for their NT?

no. he hasnt established himself yet, and there are already too many better brazilians plus up and comers that will come in.