We fucking win the Prize™ 2013-14: Page 11 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

We fucking win the Prize™ 2013-14

flobaba

arsedoc md wrote:
I read that from mourinho. Seems very small time. Even after all those money spent?.. Very small time..

Or, very smart. It's obvious to anyone with any sense at all that a competent striker in addition to Ozil will give us a great chance of bringing home trophies this season.

Not Mourinho's job to facilitate that, and if he can indeed hinder our chances, as an opposition manager, why not?

If the rumors about Levy holding up the Bale transfer till the last minute to prevent us dealing with Real are true, then it was a similar situation there as well. You don't go about deliberately strengthening your rivals. Unless you're real foolish, and your first name is Arsene.

invisibleman18

Absolutely. Good on Mourinho here (words I never expected to say!). You don't strengthen your rivals. Wenger should have done what Mourinho did last summer.

Burnwinter

I read that item mainly in terms of it exonerating Wenger and co on that specific deal, when it had sounded like they cheaped out on the loan fee.

Clearly the transfer wasn't on at the end. The question lingers as to whether it could have been had we kept Ozil under wraps for a few more hours, perhaps another issue of process not decision-making.

Timbob

The collective Arsenal fan base would have exploded if they'd kept the Oezil deal under wraps for any longer.

lorddulaarsenal

I think we can win the league now. Vibe is awethome

DKGooner

Think the league is still beyond us. We have a decent squad, but we are still short largely due to injury concerns.

We are still waiting for players like Wilshere to show some consistency and have Podolski and Arteta out for a while. Will Vermaelen come back as a consistent option or another liability? The more Sagna needs to play at CB, the more Jenkinson will play at FB. Ozil is going to need time to adapt to the PL and likewise we will need to see how our midfield is set up with him going to be the main man.

We are heavily relaint on Giroud upfront and any injury or loss of form leaves us with Sanago.

I think we will get top 4 and will probably try and strengthen again in January, but not with the aim of going for the title this time round.

y va marquer

Of the votes cast so far in the arsenal.com poll 29% think we'll win the league, 11% plumpled for fourth and 5% limped in with outside the top four.

I think the picture of Mesut accompanied by the question "Will he help Arsenal climb the table?" may have influenced the vote.
http://www.arsenal.com/fansforum

kamikaze

Burnwinter wrote:
Clearly the transfer wasn't on at the end. The question lingers as to whether it could have been had we kept Ozil under wraps for a few more hours, perhaps another issue of process not decision-making.

maybe chelsea would have had their sources anyway, but i had the same thought - if we'd kept our mouths shut about ozil until we'd finalised ba, could we have had both?

Burnwinter

It's implied they found out on the last day, so obviously it was under a few wraps at least.

Could be we just couldn't control the information for some reason - must be hard to prevent leaks - and were left disappointed when it got to Mourinho. It'd be a frustrating business to be in.

Best of all, of course, would've been to press them for a loan of Ba a week or two earlier, but I guess they were still holding off on Eto'o at that stage.

Pepe LeFrits

You can't really keep a deal like that under wraps. No matter how well you control the information on your end, you're still only controlling one of many parties involved.

flobaba

Especially if you've got a face like this when asked a question about transfer deadline day.

I reckon Mourinho was just about to sanction the Ba loan when the interview came on, then he was like: "Oyyy, 'ang on a minute..."

Biggus

invisibleman18 wrote:
Absolutely. Good on Mourinho here (words I never expected to say!). You don't strengthen your rivals. Wenger should have done what Mourinho did last summer.

Indeed Invis, people are entitled to dislike Jose if they wish but lets not forget that he's not the issue he's only being discussed as he is presently Ba's manager- Fact is Wenger should have bought Ba in January Mourinho shouldn't have come into.

Burnwinter

Doubtful really, Ba was expensive in January and not really a long term option. Not "super quality" if you will - not enough of an upgrade on Giroud. By that stage we would've been planning a summer spend on a striker.

A one year loan of Ba to plug a gap in the squad was a different and altogether more desirable option, but our real fuckup was not signing Higuaín.

Of course, it'd be nice to delude ourselves that had we sealed the deal on Higuaín in July, it wouldn't have affected the subsequent outlay on Özil, but I don't believe that for a second.

In short: there are a few ways to skin this cat, but whichever you choose it still ends up dead in a pool of blood.

Biggus

Wouldn't have been that expensive, he had a 7M (or 7M+1 if you prefer) release clause so the fee was certainly in Wengy territory, the wages may have been a bit high but well y'know......

Burnwinter

The wages may have been a bit high? We would've been in a bidding war with an Abramovich ridden with guilt over Torres's shit performances.

After the close of the January window we went WDL 11-2-1 until the end of the season.

I think given our summer activity and Ba's calibre, it's fairly safe to assume Wenger and Gazidis's intent by January was to go after a big fish in the summer. That's why I'm suggesting that's where we really fucked up.

Bold Tone

Burnwinter wrote:
Doubtful really, Ba was expensive in January and not really a long term option. Not "super quality" if you will - not enough of an upgrade on Giroud. By that stage we would've been planning a summer spend on a striker.

A one year loan of Ba to plug a gap in the squad was a different and altogether more desirable option, but our real fuckup was not signing Higuaín.

Of course, it'd be nice to delude ourselves that had we sealed the deal on Higuaín in July, it wouldn't have affected the subsequent outlay on Özil, but I don't believe that for a second.

In short: there are a few ways to skin this cat, but whichever you choose it still ends up dead in a pool of blood.

I think Ba is a significant upgrade on Giroud due to his strength, pace and general physical presence. I don't pay attention to Wenger saying "super quality" when he is bring in Gervinho, Giroud and Sanogo who are never going to achieve that status. Pires, Overmars and Ozil are the only super quality players i can think of, that he has bought for us in his 17 years here.

Burnwinter

Point taken, but we're talking about last summer not recorded history - and in the summer Wenger brought in Özil after failing in bids for Higuaín and Suarez.

That's the bracket we're discussing by comparison to Ba that he probably had on his radar by January. All three would be considered by most critics to be a tier above the Senegalese.

Biggus

Burnwinter wrote:
The wages may have been a bit high? We would've been in a bidding war with an Abramovich ridden with guilt over Torres's shit performances.

After the close of the January window we went WDL 11-2-1 until the end of the season.

I think given our summer activity and Ba's calibre, it's fairly safe to assume Wenger and Gazidis's intent by January was to go after a big fish in the summer. That's why I'm suggesting that's where we really fucked up.

Obviously I'm speaking of the situation that existed in the pre-Ozil paradigm.
Wenger should have bought Ba then it shouldn't have come down to this.

Whether the Ozil transfer was a desperate Gazidis inspired purchase to appease us or an actual realisation by Wenger that its a big bad world we'll have to wait and see.

Bold Tone

Burnwinter wrote:
Point taken, but we're talking about last summer not recorded history - and in the summer Wenger brought in Özil after failing in bids for Higuaín and Suarez.

That's the bracket we're discussing by comparison to Ba that he probably had on his radar by January. All three would be considered by most critics to be a tier above the Senegalese.

True. I know i am in the minority as i have rated the guy for years and was disappointed we didn't put in more of a fight for him as, unlike the rentboys, we could guarantee him a first team place.

Burnwinter

He was pretty exciting when he came to Newcastle, no doubt. There was a reason Chelsea wanted him too. I dunno. See if he gets anywhere this season I guess.

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