No sign of a midfielder yet as Arsenal get set to lose one more

Aaargh – where do I start today?

First things first, I regret to inform you that the midfield signing that Arsene Wenger promised before the FC Twente game has still not been made. By my calculations that means the manager now has just over 36 hours to make something happen.

Unfortunately this looks increasingly less likely after Wenger made the following comments following the loss to Fulham:

“When you lose a game the solution is not always to buy. Did we play at our best? I say no and so we have to look at why?”

Now, I agree that when you lose a game the solution is not always to buy. Fair enough – I didn’t expect purchases to be made last season after we lost to Middlesbrough, Manchester United or any of the other sides we lost to. That would be stupid. Not because the transfer window was shut at the time but because it would just be stupid.

But for Wenger to think that the combination of Denilson and Emmanuel Eboue in the centre of the park did not have an impact on the Fulham result is ridiculous. I admit that if Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby were playing we probably would have won. It’s a no-brainer. But as I said yesterday, we can’t rely on just two quality players to last the whole season – especially when one of them is as unreliable as a car with no wheels.

A signing needs to be made. Simple. End of story. If it doesn’t happen then I will be most upset and – dare I say it – worried about this side’s ability to win a major trophy this season. Please don’t let us down, Arsene.

The lack of a signing today has been coupled with the rather peculiar news that Philippe Senderos is set to leave the club. It has been reported that the Swiss defender is set to attend a medical at AC Milan later today with the intention to join the Italian club on a one-year loan deal. There will be an option for Milan to make Senderos’ move permanent so this could well be the last we see of the Swiss defender.

It’s certainly strange news but I might surprise some people when I say that, on the whole, I’m not too upset about this one. I think it’s probably best for both the club and the player. I’ve always admired Senderos as a person but the truth is that he has never quite fit in at Arsenal. He’s shown glimpses of talent but has continuously been undermined by a lack of self-confidence over the years.

Some might argue that this confidence might come as he gets older but I honestly feel the big fellow just doesn’t quite have what it takes to play at a top club in the Premiership – unlike fellow countryman Johan Djourou. I think the slower pace of the Italian Serie A will bring the best out of him as a player and I wish him all the best for his time in Milan.

My one worry about Senderos’ move is that it would leave Arsenal short at the back if Djourou goes to Rennes on loan, as reports have suggested he might. It would mean the club would have just three centre-backs – William Gallas, Kolo Toure and Mikael Silvestre – a quota of one less than when Senderos and Djourou were part of the squad and before Silvestre signed from United.

Djourou must not go – it’s as simple as that. Every top squad needs four centre-backs competiting for starting spots and with Gallas, Toure, Silvestre and Djourou we have that. If the latter goes out on loan then it would be an absolute travesty, especially given the excellent start to the season he made. In my opinion Wenger made a huge mistake to drop him for Toureon the weekend and he’ll be making an even bigger blunder if he lets him join Rennes.

So in summary, Senderos going is not so bad unless Djourou follows. If he does then I really won’t know what to think.

And on top of that, if a midfielder is not brought in before the game tomorrow night I think I will cry. And punch things. And eat a lot of ice-cream. I’ve got faith in you Wenger but you’re really testing me just now.

Make it better. Please.

Have your say on Senderos’ inevitable exit, Djourou or the lack of a midfield signing by leaving a comment.

Loading...

Comments

  1. Well a move should be made to say the least! I do believe that a midfielder will be brought in but when is the aggravating part. SF – don’t punch things…make for bruises and the like…not cool. Senderos’ leaving the club is not a total surprise and like you I wish him well.

    Make a move Arsene for the betterment of the club. I am confident he will. By the way one loss does not the season make. I am a supporter of ARSENAL FC for the duration, win or lose.

  2. Man, what the hell?

    If Djourou leaves, it will be one of the dumbest things in Arsenal. And there are a lot of other things would be up there with it. He has a pretty flawless performance and gets dropped and then possibly loaned. I can’t work it out. He can get experience here if the manager has faith. Don’t really care about Sendoros although I don’t like to lose many players.

  3. im really disapointed by Senderos leaving i really rated him he was treated like shit by a lot of us so called arsenal fans.Is it a suprise that we conceeded less goals when senderos was patnering either one of gallas or toure. people point to him getting beaten by drogba he was 21 for gods sake john terry use to get destroyed regulary by strikers at that age. I just hope this loan deal dosent eventuate into a permenanat deal.
    For all those who bag him just look at the calibre of the club hes joing its AC milan not some shitty club like sunderland or totenham.

  4. JD to stay please PS no real loss didnt do it when it matterd had the look of a carthorse the prem was too fast for him italian football/international football he looks and will look good because he will have more time on the ball/think about what he does.I would like AW to buy us a quality midfielder we have the money please buy,however somehow i dont think he will.PS will be a gooner 4 ever and ever,come on you red machine

  5. i can only go by wengers previous tranfers and he very realy makes a bad tranfers very hard question is gudgement when it comes to tranfers.i dont think dijouro is going, to me him and song are both better than senderos and i am not over suprised about his departure

  6. Sendy can make a hit in AC Milan.But we’ll miss this young man.Every summer we lose 4-5 players,including some good lads.What more can i say?If i hear Cesc will leave next summer,I will be pissed off about this.Why Wenger not leave Arsenal instead of he buys lads and sells lads?What’s worse is that the former lads are about 15-19.The latter are 23-36.Isn’t him the oldest in the squad?Why?Why?Why?Of cause he’s the legend boss of gunners.He brings beautiful football to us.Compared to other top 3 teams,they buy and sell and buy.The happiness thing is that they may win at least one trophy!What about us?Can’t you say we love this team,we enjoy their beautiful passing so that we don’t need them win a trophy ??Oh,hold on,hold on.Really enjoy their games??Really don’t care if they can’t win anything??Really?I really am upset about hearing our lads leaving Arsenal.What a shame to a team branded themselves playing beautiful game and a joy to watch but can’t win anything in every season!But we’re still their firm of fans,aren’t we?
    About a new signing,oh,can’t see this will happen before the next game.If Arsene really signs someone,it’ll be a good news for us.But if not,i for one will be very disappointed.

  7. I agree that I think the move is best for all parties concerned, but only if the deal is a loan not a permananet one (for the tiem being anyway), Senderos can learn a hell of a lot at a club like Milan and I agree that the slower pace could suit him, if he does well there it shoudl give him confidence to come back to Arsenal and say to Arsene Wenger “I deserve to be in this Arsenal team”.
    But it is very worrying that if he goes it leaves us short at the back and short in midfield, and with 36 hours to go before transfer deadline, I cant see him buying 2 players.
    Our major priority is signing somebody to protect the back four, I still want Barry but Alonso would be a great addition, its amazing to think he is only 26 but yet so accomplished.
    If we do get another midfielder I think the plan would be to use Eboue as a defender which isnt a bad idea as personally I think he is a very decent right back and can play centre back – he just isnt a midfielder, so if Senderos does go and we do sign a midfielder then at least we have defensive cover with Eboue.
    The fact is though that we do need to sign someone with premiership experience because we need somebody to come in straight away and sort things out immediately, I think if Wenger continues to play Denilson in the DM role then the kid is just going to lose confidence, i think he is a great player but against Fulham he really struggled, this isnt his fault, he jsut isnt ready to play there

  8. Well bye Sanderos, thanks for your service and best of luck at Italy, time to move on,we actually have another body in center back, his name is Song, played well in Cameroon so hope he got a chance to shine there with the departure of Sanderos, may Song be our new favorite there at the Center back…..In Wenger We Trust….Go Gunners

  9. I do not really want Senderos to go but it would ease the pain if he took Adebayor with him.

  10. Look AW hasent let us down I have full faith in him he has done so much for the club and I know he will buy ILL PUT MONEY ON IT cause WE all know we need a DM or even CM and I know he knows that. But ppl take it easy and hang in there I know how it feels but I clamed myself down and had A think bout it and I know WE will be fine. 🙂
    But I tell U what I cant wait till “THE ONE” is back he should be back this week right SF and that will be A gr8 sight to see :). Cant also wait to see rocky back he will add alot.
    KURUPT 😉

  11. What the F*** is going on am i missing something or is our squad thin enough already, AW is decimating our beloved gunners!

  12. I think Wenger should now use Djourou more, alternating with Gallas (who I must say is just not up to the mark anymore)

  13. I know – Eboue as a centre back isnt a pretty option but lets face it, if Senderos goes and someone gets injured or suspended what other choices do we have? This is why we need to sign 2 players, a midfielder and a defender but Wenger has said he doesnt want to strenghten the defence, i recall reading somewhere that Sagna started his career as a centre back so he could put Eboue at right back but we shouldnt have to chop and change like that, what separates us from the likes of Chelsea and United is quality back up. dont get me wrong we do have great young players but I am sick of hearing that this team will be great in 3 years time, its not an excuse anymore, sure they will be but the season ticket holders dont pay hundreds if not thousands of pounds to see a team week by week just becuase “they might win the CL in 3 years” its a waste of their money.
    Dont get me wrong, I defend Wengers transfer policy and I know that we have some of the best young players in the world here but the fact is we need experienced players right now, we need to get in Alonso or Barry and we need to sign a top quality centre back, what happened to this alleged £25 million transfer funds this year because when you think about it we havent spend any of it, Hleb’s sale funded Nasri, Bentleys move to Tottenham paid for Ramsey, and we sold Hoyte, so by my reckoning we should actually have about 30 million to spend, i know everyone talks of Wilshere and Vela but they are wingers/ strikers, what about strengthening where we really need it, like I said before I personally like Senderos but we need a world class centre back who scares the shit out of strikers, a Tony Adams / Martin Keown type of defender, not one where somebody like Torres, Drogba or Ronaldo says “i fancy getting a hattrick here today”
    I know Wenger said he might not sign a “big name” player but actually I think we do need one, because at least that gives us a phycological edge against strong opposition.

  14. wenger is the most stupid being i have ever seen he promised a new signing before CL return leg coming up tomorrow yet nothing has be done he continues his over reliance on kid which make nonsense for a big club like ARSENAL please for God’s sake am not an arsene wenger fan but ARSENAL fan please save this club by sacking arsene wenger and bringing in RIJKAARD or GUUS HINDIK.

  15. why should we keep senderos and djourou when we have….EBOUE, I mean honestly i AW’s eyes he is a footballing god that can play anywhere!!!

    why Wenger even thinks he can use Eboue in midfield i dunno, you need footballing intelligence to play in that position not some brain dead guy who failed at right back, failed at Right mid, I cant recall if he ever played CB but i suspect he failed there too!!! Denilson needs a solid partner if he is going to play in MF. Song has the skill and experience to play in Midfield but do you think he will ever get a chance!!!!

  16. “When you lose a game the solution is not always to buy”… well neither is it to sell 🙂

  17. Senderos went out on loan. He is still an Arsenal player, just like everyone else who went on loan. Fans couldn’t get off Senderos’ back so it is better for him to get his play time somewhere else. Who knows, he might return a better player(which he is) and fans would give him a clean slate.

    If Senderos is gone, Djourou is not going to leave. Last season was Djourou’s to go on loan, this is Senderos, no harm, no foul.

    Eboue – Denilson partnership shouldn’t concern us too much as it is a game by game arrangment waiting for Cesc to be back, which he should be this week.

  18. Sendi out on loan? Only if Djourou isn’t. I really hope we don’t give up on Sendi at the end of the year though.

    Speed might not be his strong suit but I thought he was coming along nicely. He’s that tall strong defender that every club could use. By the end of the season last year I thought he had done quite well for us. That first leg Champions League match against Liverpool I distinctly remember him using his angles well and forcing Torres to run himself silly.

    Let’s not forget too that unless I missed it we’ve got Song who can play at CB too. And Wenger who seems to hint that Songs best suited for CB. That of course still doesn’t mean we should loan JD.

  19. Nice rationalisation there Taygoon. It’s simply Senderos’ turn to be loaned out for experience. He still isn’t quite ready as SF implied and maybe he will come back better than ever. Somehow I am still unhappy that he is going though… Maybe it’s because of how much I now hate AC Milan. Such arrogance from them and their supporters… A decorated club they may be, but they have no class at all as a club. That Galliani fellow speaks to the media almost as much as Calderon… God how I hate the continental clubs… First they steal our Flamini, then they try to steal our Adebayor and now they have stolen one of our promising centre-backs(for the season). I hope they win the UEFA cup! Yay for them! Another European trophy! (Sorry about the bitterness here… I think I am just upset that Wenger said the key over this transfer window was to keep the squad together and so many of them have now left…)
    I am still hopeful though. We always have enough quality and the style of play to beat anyone – four trophies coming our way this season!!

  20. also silvestre is more of a lb but can play cb he lost his place to evre. Richards has also signed a new deal well 6 mill for kompany wouldn’t of been too bad either and again we missed out. At least we are still above spurs even if we are 13th

  21. Senderos….meh, good luck mate.

    Gokhan Inler has extended his contract with Udinese. Barry or Alonso anyone???

    I’m starting to get really really concerned now that we wont sign a DM.

  22. Senderos to AC Milan is great news for me, ive never liked him, and maybe he could do well in Italy but after the loan move sell him, because he cant play well in England. Shevchenko played great in Italy but not in England, same with Senderos maybe, im glad he is going to a high profile club like Milan but i do not wamnt him back!! Djourou should not go though!! Song id a good CB to!! AW has signed a player on the last day of the transfer window last 2 seasons, this season the transer window has been extended to 1st September 2008.

  23. Appalling performance against Fulham. Awful from start to finish. Sickening.

    Diarra, Gilberto and Flamini have left our centre midfield looking short of talent, experience and the ability to mix it with the big boys. Our squad lacks “winners”. Chelsea, Manchester Utd have men in the their squad who refuse to be beaten. Ballack, lampard, Essien, Drogba, Ferdinand, Vidic, Ronaldo, Tevez etc etc.

    Adebayor is good enough, but he has to prove that he isn’t a one season wonder and this will hopefully come true. Diabolical so far this year though.

    Walcott -All the promise and pace in the world but no real effect against Fulham, West Brom or Twente.

    Up front I’m not to concerned with on the whole. I hope to god Van persie stays fit (probably wont though) and also hope to high heaven that Carlos Vela excells after a good spell in Spain. Bendtner is not good enough yet, but can be a good substitute. Eduardo is a class act but whether he comes back from injury the same player is a talking point.

    Playing Eboue in centre Midfield is pointless this year. He cant defend or attack -Why Arsene continues to play this man I don’t know.

    Gallas should be dropped and Djourou given a chance, due to his quality pre season. Captains Armband? Give it to Kolo Toure.

    Without Fabregas our midfield has no creation or cohesion. Diaby is injury prone, Rosicky is as well. Denilson is 2 years at least away from first team professional football and Song is too. Aaron Ramsey, as promising as he is, also to young and Raw. Jack Wilshire the same.

    Clichy and Sagna are class, no doubting that. Letting Senderos go to Milan is crazy, given the lack of depth. Silvestre (Out until mid September bu the way) is a good deal I think but loaning Senderos counter acts this majorly!

    Going back to Van persie and Rosicky – If they have similar bad luck with injuries as they have had last 2 season, I think their places within the team need to be seriously looked at. Replacements are needed if this happens.

    FACT: ROBIN VAN PERSIE HAS COMPLETED 90 MINS IN HIS ARSENAL CAREER 14 TIMES. SIGNED IN 2004 – THATS 4 SEASONS.

    We are being left behind by Man United and Chelsea. The improve and move forwards and we seem to be going backwards.

    Arsene, please buy Gareth Barry or the Swiss lad Inler! Diarra of Real Madrid is an awsome player, although I concede that it would be hard to prize him away though.

    Arsenal is a not a crèche – Its not your job, Arsene to improve Young players, it’s to win trophies and this will not happen unless A CENTRE MIDFIELDER IS BOUGHT NOW.

    Arsenal is becoming a stepping stone for young players who show their talent and then go abroad.

    Let’s stop this, we need a trophy – The fans are growing tired of watching stunning football with no end product.

    Prove us wrong Arsene.

  24. I have decided not to be shocked any more with events at Arsenal,as a Gunner, I only feel sorry for those of us that have made such huge emmotional investments in a team with a board that is insensitive!

  25. I am sat here tonight watching the dismantling of Spus at WHL 2004 as we stroll to the title…I am drolling…then I think back to Saturday…now I am vomiting. Where has it all gone wrong?…
    Henry, Bergkamp, Viera, Pires vs Walcott, Eboue, Gallas and Denilson.

    The great Lord sends things to test our faith and in Arsene I trust but boy oh boy he is testing me to boiling point….

  26. Three games in I’m almost a nervous wreck and I can’t see it getting any better unless some serious cash is spent. What I can’t understand why is AW leaving the posibility of siging any one so late if AW has the money he should stop being tight fisted and buy some quality players, if he has no money he should shut-up and stop givng us false hope.

    I hope for all the loyal fans that those at the top including the so called planners (board members) get on with the job including AW and stop thinking everying can be done on the cheap with yougster.

    Now is the time to spend and bring in some quality (midfielder x 2 and a defender) still not too late 36 hours to go.

  27. To compare the following players is ridiculous: Henry, Bergkamp, Viera, Pires vs Walcott, Eboue, Gallas and Denilson.

    You’re comparing our strongest players 3-4 years ago to our weakest players this season!! For every one of those players 3-4 years ago I’ll give you a Stepanovs, Upson, Bentley, Pennant!!

    If you compare them players to Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, and Adebayor, does that not make you feel better?

  28. Im really speechless.Sendros is off to Milan with no hopes of coming back yet he used to be the only one available in times of injuries to cover up in defence.Wenger shows no interest of signing a def midfielder.Im begining to lose hope and my remaining trust in Arsene.Cant someone advise Wenger??Thats my only worry.

  29. If wenger bought a top player and he failed well I could cop that.But if we do not buy anyone and fail that would be inexcusable

  30. if this is how you run one of the best clubs in the world today its no wonder we hvnt won anything in 4 years, if he doesnt buy any one with quality i dnt see us even winning the carling cup let alone finish fourth

  31. who is our 2nd right back? any1 for n idea- please dont tell me toure as he is well suited to CB n we all knw AW wont push brainless eboue back 2 RB!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.