Unbelievable

The likes of Bigi and Hiadara probably. I can't see Maher fitting in that category for us as he'd be the cost of a "purple" ().

Shame, thought at one point he looked a decent Premiership goalkeeper. Surprised nobody wants to take a chance on him.

Damn.. think he is only doubtful for the 2 Europa games as the first one will come too quick and they would have kept him here anyway to be fresh for the Southampton game. Possibly, but these games are important to our season, and Ben Arfa may well need the playing time to get his match fitness back up. Would be a real shame if he wasn't involved at all in the two Metalist matches.

Why did it need to be said? I honestly don't know the background of those comments, and you may well be right, but what did Bird say/write/do that made such an outburst "necessary"?

Damn..

i'd guess it's easier to identify good players than to actually persuade them to come to your club when you quite possibly aren't the best option. you never know carr may even have a hand in this, who knows ? Based on the endless list of s**** signings we have made over the years, and other clubs as well of course, I would say one is just as important/difficult as the other tbf. For what it's worth, I believe Carr is also very instrumental in making initial contact with the players' agents/clubs to find out the situation and whether they would be interested in playing for this club.

Must.not.get.excited.

Can you both not agree that for a transfer strategy to be successful you need to both target the right players and then get them in? If you have one, but not the other, it still doesn't amount to much..

love that smiley

I've just read debuchy to be annihilated by bale and lennon to have perch for breakfast down the right. Well informed. The former might well happen tbh, considering what happened when Agbonlahor came on in the second half at Villa.. Everyone gets annihilated by Bale basically, so it's not really worth worrying about. Well, it is and it isn't. I sincerely hope Debuchy can cope with Bale's pace on Saturday, as so far, based on very limited evidence, that might be his one and only weakness. I do however agree most full backs, and most certainly our alternatives to Debuchy, would not normally be able to cope with such pace.

Contrast that to the Luke Edwards "article" about Llambiass/QPR and it's hard to imagine these men are in the same profession.

I've just read debuchy to be annihilated by bale and lennon to have perch for breakfast down the right. Well informed. The former might well happen tbh, considering what happened when Agbonlahor came on in the second half at Villa..

at myself

Again, Gouffran isn't registered, as he has already played in the Europa League for Bordeaux.

Nonsense. I saw Van Persie play as a 16 year old, and you could see then how ridiculously talented he was, especially technically. I don't think it was ever in doubt how good he was going to be. Wenger just eased him in very slowly, as he tends to do with young forwards. Mario is obviously talented too, but is a fruitcake mentally, so it is a big question mark if he will ever be able to live up to his potential imho. How is what I said 'nonsense' exactly? Because Mario doesn't have more to his game than Van Persie did at that age. What exactly are the attributes you see in Mario that you feel RvP didn't have? I think as far as footballing ability goes they are probably quite similar. I would say he is stronger, mentally* and physically, and can produce more moments of magic if you will. I can't recall Holland relying on a 22 year old RvP dragging them though a major tournament. I'm not really a fan of his either, far from it truth be told, but he's proved himself already at a high level, his downfall is his stupidity and his temperament often works against him. RvP has always had that toys out of the pram behavior too. The blokes a total f***ing dick really. Do you think RvP would have developed better without being eased into a team or new position under a different manager? We'll have to agree to disagree on Mario being stronger mentally and able to produce more moments of magic, because you'll never convince me of either of those claims. Regarding your last question: yes, I do believe Van Persie was held back in the early stages of his career, both at Feyenoord where he was behind Van Hooijdonk as an 18 year old, forced to play on the left wing, and at Arsenal, where he was groomed for years before finally being allowed to be the main striker well into his twenties. I understand why, I mean Henry and Bergkamp were phenomenal of course, but if Van Persie had gone to another club where he would have been the main striker at an earlier age, say a club like Ajax (as much as I detest them), where they are not afraid to hand the number 9 shirt to a teenager, he could have been the player he is now considerably earlier. The talent was always there in my opinion.

Power I'll grant you. Pace, I don't think so. A better goalscoring record is not an attribute in itself; RvP is/was comfortably the better finisher imho. If he had been played centrally from the start (which he didn't at Arsenal, understandably), he would have had a similar if not better goalscoring record then than Mario does now. I respect Mario Balotelli as a promising striker, but he doesn't have much more to his game than Van Persie at that age, not in a million years. [/bias]

Do you think things would have turned out the way they have if, as he suggests, he would still be our manager to this day?

Nonsense. I saw Van Persie play as a 16 year old, and you could see then how ridiculously talented he was, especially technically. I don't think it was ever in doubt how good he was going to be. Wenger just eased him in very slowly, as he tends to do with young forwards. Mario is obviously talented too, but is a fruitcake mentally, so it is a big question mark if he will ever be able to live up to his potential imho. How is what I said 'nonsense' exactly? Because Mario doesn't have more to his game than Van Persie did at that age. What exactly are the attributes you see in Mario that you feel RvP didn't have?

Why exactly? There have been suggestions a few of our players had their heads turned in the summer, so I have no reason to believe all the major players staying on can be taken for granted.

Fair play

Nonsense. I saw Van Persie play as a 16 year old, and you could see then how ridiculously talented he was, especially technically. I don't think it was ever in doubt how good he was going to be. Wenger just eased him in very slowly, as he tends to do with young forwards. Mario is obviously talented too, but is a fruitcake mentally, so it is a big question mark if he will ever be able to live up to his potential imho.

This is true IMO. Van Persie scored only 10 goals in the league in his first two seasons with Arsenal. Playing as a winger, as Wenger tends to do.