West Ham United Message Board

Tulisa! hahaha!!!

Didn't mean to imply he never goes down easy but, from what I have seen from him both on television and live, he is not like a Bale or Suarez, specially outside the box. He is not an out-and-out diver IMO.

Well if you think it is money he wants than I highly doubt Wenger will match what he currently receives or what Chelsea or City or PSG would pay in terms of guaranteed wage.

I agree with the worry of Rooney turning Arsenal into a circus. On the other hand I like his attitude on the pitch. He doesn't dive and play's physical and doesn't try to get his opponents carded, something I don't like at all.

I find it hard to develop an opinion on whether I would happy or not if Rooney would be our big signing this summer.

On the one hand Rooney has shown that when played as the teams central striker he can score 30 a year. On the other hand having sacrificed this position to RVP, it is difficult to get a grip on whether he still could score 30 as a teams main striker. He has not appeared crucial to Man U's title challenge but on the other hand they have a lot of depth going forward.

His body type doesn't seem to lend itself for longevity, ie he is heavy set which is more taxing on the body structure and this can also mean that he will lose a half a step sooner rather than later and look what that did for Torres.

I would try to support his signing and being familiar with the PL would be an advantage but for me the jury would be out on whether he would be good value or not. In contrast, to me there was no doubt that RVP was good value for Man U last summer.

Going back to reality it seems unlikely to me that Rooney would want to come to Arsenal. Like it or not we would probably appear to him as a step back so IF he could go to Chelsea or PSG or an other club competing more regularly for national titles he would probably prefer that.

I keep hoping for Higuain.

Good post and a football post!! Thank you.

To me I would go with what a player is worth to the buying club. Take RVP, he might have been worth 25-30 to Man U since with him they bought the PL title. I doubt he would have been worth 25-30 to Bayern. For me whether it is Higuain or Jovetic or any striker likely to be more talented than Giroud, they are worth quite a lot and to us and probably more than they would be worth to Man U who have a lot of depth at striker.

If a player is expected to improve the squad meaningfully a "premium" or "reach" should be considered IMO. In our case I would be much less likely to pay a premium for an attacking midfield player given our depth at that position than I would for a central striker since we only have Giroud at that position. 10 more PL goals could well have gotten us 2nd or 3rd and that alone should have or is worth a premium over 4th.

On Fellaini I find him hard to fit into our squad, although I read he would be transformed to a defensive midfield role which he is said to prefer. I don't think we would have to pay that much for a solid DM player no matter how much we need to find a replacement for Diaby or at least no matter how much we need a defensive midfield player. I would think we could buy a defensive midfield player for 15-20.

I think we will have to be willing to pay 25 million for a striker, and 10 for a keeper.

Because you don't respond to my opinion or the point I make but instead rather vaguely insinuate you know me well enough to equate me as a person to a single view on whether it is possible to buy a title or not. In other words you make my post about me instead about the contents of my post without any substance or reasoning as far as I can decipher.

back to your old ways I see. Derogatory and no value added.

To me, and this might be sort a bit of topic, but the the term buying a trophy is coined by jealous fans. Who cares how you got a trophy?

Besides can you really buy a trophy? Real Madrid have spend a fortune on their squads over the years and although they did win some trophies they also failed, as a squad, spectacularly to dominate as one would have expected.

How many squads have predominantly home grown players? Where do the other players come from? They are bought. An important part of our key players last season where bought (Arteta, Cazorla, Mert, Kos, Sagna. Podolski, Giroud, Rosicky, Nacho. Gervinho) does this mean we bought 4th place?

For me there is little doubt that measured over time, more often than not, and no matter what the sources of cash, investment in a squad in terms of player acquisition and player wages, will tend to pay-off in close proximity or near direct correlation to the relative investment made, but it does not guarantee trophies immediately and that is where a stable organization, like Man U or AFC, can add value and stability.

Understood. But maybe disappointed fans some times try to make their points by giving extreme examples. For me there is no doubt that on a relative basis there are fewer players today that would walk into the starting 11 at the big 3 than 10 years ago and I don't think that effects my loyalty to the club.

Cool. What do we bet?

What does a loyal Arsenal fan sound like?

I understand your point of view but don't share it. I think we are in a great place to close the gap to the title challengers. Players like Cazorla, Wilshire, Kos and Nacho would very possibly be starters for the top 3 teams and Walcott could potential also be a starter but would definitely make the bench.. Walcott might be inconsistent but not as much as before and on his day could be as good or better as Valancia for Man U.

I think young players like Ox and Ramsey will also benefit, like Walcott and Wilshire from yet an other year of experience whilst Podolski and Giroud should be more familiar with the pace and play of the PL. On paper we should be OK for next season and if we add selectively but meaningfully we could be more than OK.

Hi John, hope you arekeeping well. I have a feeling and hope that this summer will be different but that is probably what drives my frustration. By the sounds of it your believe might be more stress free since anyone coming in before August is an "upside" surprise for you and in-activity before that is expected.

I love our stadium.

I agree. To me Arsenal have over achieved. They had to deal with the loss of their best player and the integration of a number of new players, having finished way of the pace the previous season and starting the most recent season poorly, my expectations were not high and Arsenal beat my expectations (I am happy to admit).

I think Man U, City and Chelsea finished pretty much in line with expectations as far as the PL was concerned and I think City and Chelsea underperformed in the CL where Arsenal and Man U performed in line with expectations.

Maybe a simple case of cherry picking? But rather predictably leaves him open to the two seemingly conflicting thoughts Freddie seems to express in this article on the one hand the lads are not good enough and have no pride on the other hand Wenger did a good job. A bit of a waste of an article if you ask me.

I have to say that I don't agree with you and Ljungberg. There was nothing wrong with celebrating the 4th place finish. Sure when Freddie played we were at a level in the game with the type of players who could expect to win something but we have not been at that level for 8 years IMO. As such CL football is worth a celebration for a team like ours and after a start of the season like ours.
Not qualifying for CL football would have been a small disaster and I think you fail to realize that if you agree with Freddie's criticism for our lads celebrating.

I know I celebrated.