De Guzman was pretty good for Mallorca though. Was actually surprised when I saw he was a Netherlands player. I'd always understood him to be Canadian.

He is Canadian, IOAG.

Yeah, I know, dual nationality (or triple even?), but I thought he was actually a Canadian international.

comment by Marcelino (U6171)
posted 10 minutes ago
I've no idea, you either sell him or keep him, surely? It's not like he is very young and needed to prove himself. All that's happened is he has ran another year down on his contract.
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Agreed. How many years does he have left on his contract now?

his brother is

De Guzman's? I didnt even know he had a footballing brother.

A lot of noises about Khedira moving to Arsenal. Unlike so many Arsenal fans, I would be over the moon if we actually completed this deal!

Khedira is very underrated- sure there is not a whole lot to his game- but what he does do he is completely World Class at it. If Arsenal signed Khedira I actually think they'd be right up there as contenders.

Like I said Henrik a few weeks ago when "some people" were saying we need several signings to challenge, we only needed 2 to have a competitive team. A forward with pace and a defensive midfielder. In fact I have shouted this at the pub since January!! We have already signed the former and if we now get Khedira we will have a really strong squad with immense depth! A striker was actually third on my priority list as I believed the reason why we lost the big games was partly due to having no pace upfront (with Theo and Chambo injured) and being so open in the middle due to Arterta not being good enough. Love the guy, his attitude and his relationship with the club but we should do better.

Also, about Khedira he always seems to play better for Germany than for Madrid which is quite a mystery to me! So many classicos he has gone missing but he is always one of the best on the pitch for Germany! The reason why I think he is ideal for us is he is 6ft2 and has quite a high level of aerial prowess, he is very mobile, good in the tackle, decent on the ball and finally possesses a great deal of stamina. He and Ramsey will form a formidable midfield two!

I do however feel we need an upgrade on Vermaelen. Like Arsene, I completely lost confidence in him after the NLD in 2013! We need someone who will come in and challenge both Kos and Mert for the starting berths and also give us that bit of tactical flexibility we need when playing a high line as Mert really can't be trusted to play a high line as we saw so many times last year. We get an upgrade on Vermaelen and I am really really confident.

Wump, De Guzman's contract ends in 2016.

I still maintain that Arsenal's squad is not good enough to win the Premier League and do better in the Champions League. However, in terms of a first eleven it clearly is good enough- but sometimes you need more depth in your squad. You are very well covered for midfield this season- but in terms of defence I am not so convinced, and as mentioned many times the likes of Giroud, Sanogo and Park Chu Young are not even good enough for the bench of a team that aspires to win the Champions League, in my opinion.

Knowing Arsenal's injury record it is important that you continue to make some key signings to replace influential players. Hopefully Ramsey doesn't get injured this season and gets a good run of games to really take him to that next level.

Then there is still enough years there to get a good fee for him if you decide to sell him but I would keep him if I was making the decision.

I feel I need to make it clear that my expectation on Arsenal next year is not to win the league but to challenge i.e have a shot at winning it with 5 games to go and also to do better in the big games. As I said before in that conversation we had a while ago, our biggest problem at the moment is tactical in the big games and the general mentality in the team! Some players in the team are real mental midgets! (How do type Cazorla without ioag seeing?)

comment by Marcelino (U6171)
posted 3 minutes ago
I still maintain that Arsenal's squad is not good enough to win the Premier League and do better in the Champions League. However, in terms of a first eleven it clearly is good enough- but sometimes you need more depth in your squad. You are very well covered for midfield this season- but in terms of defence I am not so convinced, and as mentioned many times the likes of Giroud, Sanogo and Park Chu Young are not even good enough for the bench of a team that aspires to win the Champions League, in my opinion.

Knowing Arsenal's injury record it is important that you continue to make some key signings to replace influential players. Hopefully Ramsey doesn't get injured this season and gets a good run of games to really take him to that next level.
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And how exactly is Arsenal's defence a problem again? Don't tell me you are one of those that believe the nonsense lazy pundits peddle every week! Our defence last season was brilliant! We conceded almost half the goals we did in around 4 games against teams in the top 5!!! Don't let the stats skew your view of how good or bad our defence is. Like I keep saying (for the 100th time Henrik) our problem is not an issue of personel but tactics and mentality in the big games. We are really pathetic in those two areas.

Also, who says we are aspiring to win the champions league this year?! We are still not there yet.

Also in midfield for Ramsey we have Wilshere, for Theo we have Chamberlain, for Alexis we have Podolski, for Ozil we have Cazorla, for the new DMF we have Flamini who is a more than capable deputy.

As for the rest of the squad we have 2 good players for each positions except for maybe CF and CB but we did have an incredible luck in the injury department at CB last year didn't we?!

You are confusing what I have said. I meant in terms of your depth. The first team defence is excellent, so I am not buying into the lazy generalisations, far from it. But I am unsure if you have enough cover should the likes of Mertesacker or Koscielny get injured.

It is a long season, the Champions League is getting harder, the Premier League is getting harder and teams are playing more big games. A few injuries here and there- and you could go into one of these big games under-strength that's all I am saying.

I think if Wenger maybe spent £10m each on Ron Vlaar and Loic Remy to be squad members you'd be so much better for it.

Arsenal have dreadful luck with injuries and a player like Sanchez who is so pacy will get kicked about off of Premier League defences.

How would you line-up in the big games, Wump?

No one will disagree with you that we don't exactly have the best CFs in the business but you can't really tell me Remy is a player that will add quality into our team do you? In fact I'd rather have Podolski play as our second choice sub than spend money on an average player like Remy.

About our injuries, although I can't say we have fixed it we seem to have made steps towards fixing the issue with a new fitness coach. We seem to have dinasour methods in that department tbh. The new guys seems to know his marbles. Really good stuff from what I have read.

We could use another CB though for cover I agree.

Wump- I think Remy would be good as a substitute. The guy could get 15-20 goals a season with the chances he'd get at Arsenal.

Do you think Giroud will now be on the bench, and that Sanchez will play centrally or do you think Sanchez will remain wide with Giroud as striker?

comment by Marcelino (U6171)
posted 3 minutes ago
How would you line-up in the big games, Wump?
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Fully fit,

--------------------Scez
Debuchy----Kos----Mert----Gibbs

-----------New DMF Ramsey
Theo------------Ozil---------Cazorla
---------------Sanchez

I would replace Mert a new CB though to enable us press high without getting MURDERED on the counter like we did last year

comment by Marcelino (U6171)
posted 39 seconds ago
Wump- I think Remy would be good as a substitute. The guy could get 15-20 goals a season with the chances he'd get at Arsenal.

Do you think Giroud will now be on the bench, and that Sanchez will play centrally or do you think Sanchez will remain wide with Giroud as striker?
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Big games, Sanchez up top. Other games, Giroud up top.

Debuchy will get found out against good teams. Average player.

Laurie Cunningham tribute thread:

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/276288

Today is the 25th anniversary of his passing.

Wump, imho, a club that wishes to challenge on all fronts - and Arsenal ought to aspire to that - requires real squad depth. You only have one true international-standard centre forward in Giroud, you need more than that to face a 50-60 match season.

Just think of how you end up woeing your injury troubles season after season.

We do have real squad depth ioag but no one will disagree with you that the area we are lacking in depth is upfront. So the question is, do we go ahead and try to fill that gap by getting an average player like Remy who will not make any real impact in the team or do we just use the players we have that could be temporarily be converted to play there when we have injuries, fatigue? I am saying this because I don't really think Remy would have more of an impact than Podolski, Theo or Sanchez upfront so why should we bother buying him. Unless I am wrong he plays best when coming in from wide left doesn't he?

My point is, yes we need a CF but at the moment there is a real dearth of quality players in that positions leave alone those that would be available. If someone like Benz would become available, I am pretty sure Arsene would make a bid.

Apart from that position, we have good depth throughout the squad. We maybe just need a 4th choice CB.

Also, I feel this is one year too early before we can have an assault on the champions league. The season after this would be a much more realistic one.